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When to work: How to optimize your daily schedule for energy, motivation, and focus
Communication curves
There’s a simple curve to how email usage affects our productivity. No email = OK productivity. But as we start to use more email, we become more productive thanks to more access to information and collaboration. But this only works to a point.
Once you cross that threshold, more email usage drops productivity to a point where nothing gets done.
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Personal Productivity Curves
A lot of the internal things that affect our productivity are out of our control. Our energy, focus, and motivation follow their own path or “productivity curve” throughout the day.
- Fighting against your personal productivity curves leads to overwork, feeling overwhelmed, and burnout.
- If you learn to work with your natural peaks and valleys, it can tell you exactly when you should schedule each part of your day.
Energy curves
We’re naturally more energetic and motivated at specific times of the day. Researchers call this our Circadian Rhythm. Every person’s rhythm is slightly different, but the majority follow a similar pattern.
- Waking up. Our energy levels start to naturally rise.
- Around 10 am. We’ve hit our peak concentration levels that start to decline and dip between 1-3 pm.
- Afternoon. Our energy levels rise again until falling off again sometime between 9–11 pm.
90 Minute Cycles
We work best in natural cycles of 90-120 minute sessions before needing a break. When we need a break, our bodies send us signals, such as becoming hungry, sleepy, fidgeting, or losing focus.
If you ignore these signs and think you can just work through them, your body uses your reserve stores of energy to keep up. It means releasing stress hormones to give an extra kick of energy.
Stress curves
Studies have found we’re actually more effective when we’re stressed. Up to a point.
The right amount of stress at the right time can make us more productive. This requires awareness of your stress levels and how they’re affecting the work at hand.
Communication curves
There’s a simple curve to how email usage affects our productivity. No email = OK productivity. But as we start to use more email, we become more productive thanks to more access to information and collaboration. But this only works to a point.
Once you cross that threshold, more email usage drops productivity to a point where nothing gets done.
When to work
How to design the perfect day based on your productivity curves.
- Discover your daily energy/motivation curve.
- See when you’re hitting your communication threshold. You might want to schedule specific times to check email, like during a break in the morning and again in the afternoon.
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Time blocking
It's the practice of planning out every moment of your day in advance and dedicating specific time “blocks” for certain tasks and responsibilities.
When you fill your c...
Time blocking and focus
By scheduling every minute of your day you not only guard against distraction but also multiply your focus.
Also, focusing on one task at a time can make you up to 80% more productive than splitting your attention across multiple tasks.
Cons of the time blocking practice
- It takes a lot of time and effort.
- Few of us (if any) have the same schedule every day.
- We’re bad at estimating how long tasks will take to do.
- Constant interruptions and “urgent” tasks can destroy your system.
- Flexibility is key in most workplaces.
- You can lose sight of the bigger picture if you focus just on each day.
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Schedule Flow Time
A good general rule of thumb is blocking out one-to-two-hour chunks of time in your calendar for uninterrupted work.
You have to stay committed to getting into the rhythm. It’s critical to ig...
Timeboxing
Timeboxing is allocating a pre-determined amount of time to finish a given activity. It encourages you to find more efficient ways to finish tasks.
Know When To Disconnect
Recognize when you need to take a break and continue later on when you can be more effective. Signs that you need to take a break are:
- Struggling to focus continually.
- If you’re making a lot of little mistakes.
- When you’re feeling agitated or stressed.
- If your eyes are hurting.
- When you feel tired.
Regardless of how you’re feeling, you should take a quick break every 90 minutes or two hours.
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There is no perfect method for everyone
There is no "one size fits all schedule" for maximum productivity.
Because we all have particular strengths and weaknesses when it comes to time management and productivity, what works...
The Time Blocking Method
It involves planning out your day in advance and dedicating specific hours to accomplish specific tasks.
It’s important to block out both proactive blocks (when you focus on important tasks) and reactive blocks (when you allow time for requests and interruptions).
The Most Important Task Method (MIT)
Instead of writing a big to-do list and trying to get it all done, determine the 1-3 tasks that are absolutely essential and then focus on those tasks during the day.
You don’t do anything else until you’ve completed the three essential tasks.
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