Do you feel like you are spinning your wheels at work – often working hard but not getting anything done? Maybe it’s not what you’re doing – but the time you are choosing to do it!
Our body has it’s own natural rhythm and tapping into it can help skyrocket your productivity.
Before you reach for that “wake me up” cup of coffee, use your first hour at work to tackle a problem that requires creativity. This is the time of day your brain is still “getting in gear”. As counter-intuitive as it seems, we do our best creative work and glean new insights to old problems when we are a bit mentally tired and distracted.
The next few hours of the morning our brain is primed to perform at peak ability. We can take advantage of this by strategically choosing which tasks to work on before lunch. If a project requires attention to detail, concentration and memory – dive into it before lunch.
Late afternoon is the period when both our reaction time and our ability to quickly accomplish short tasks are at their best. That means the hours immediately following lunch are prime time for returning phone calls, responding to e-mails, and quickly knocking off several items on our “to-do” list.
Around 2 pm is our body’s natural “down time”. This is the time our focus is at it’s lowest and we often find ourselves struggling to concentrate – or even stay awake! This is the time to take a “mental break” and do something non-work related. Stand up, stretch, take a brief walk away from your desk before tackling that next task.
The last part of the workday is the time to once again unleash your creative skills. From 3 pm to 6 pm we’ve rebounded from our brief “physical fatigue” but our brain is no longer at peak focus and concentration. A creative brainstorming session or collab is a perfect way to wind down the work day.
Just a little tweaking to get your work clock in tune with your body clock could do wonders for your productivity!
