Do you know when you get your best work done?
I know that sometimes you just HAVE to get things done, whether you’re in the mood or not.
But if at all possible, try to schedule the things you’re best at when you’re in the zone.
Unfortunately, there is no way to tell when each person’s “in the zone” is, as it can be completely different for each person. I learned at a NAMS event that one instructor works best at 4am!
Well guess what? I better be sleeping (or on an airplane going somewhere fun if I’m awake) at 4am! I guarantee that I would not get my best work done at 4am. I’d be lucky if I could form a coherent sentence at 4am.
I’m still trying to figure out exactly when my “zone” is, but I’ve noticed that first thing in the morning, before I check email or go to any other websites is when I seem to work best. I’ll also have a second burst of getting a lot done about 3 hours after lunch. Usually after I “wake up” from that sleepy part of the afternoon where no one wants to work, I can get a ton of stuff done.
Why is this important?
I’ll tell you why.
When I write and I’m so totally not “in the zone”, it can take me over an hour to write one silly little blog post.
But when I am “in the zone”? Forget it, I can write a blog post in about 10 minutes, and easily do 4-6 in an hour!
On top of that, I come up with a ton of ideas during this time, and probably get more done during those few hours than the rest of the day combined!
So how can you use this to your advantage?
Schedule as much of your day around this time as possible.
For example, as I’m writing this post, it’s about 5pm, and I’m completely “in the zone”. I just wrote 3 articles in the past half hour, and that’s when I got the idea for this one, and started writing this as well.
I know that around this time of day is when I write best, so yesterday when I made my list of things to do for today, I had planned to write those articles around this time of day.
I know that it never would have gotten done right after lunch, and if I tried to do it at night, I would be too distracted to get it done.
But for me, this time of day is perfect for it!
I purposely make sure that I do any “easy” work I want to get done right after lunch, since I know I’m about to fall asleep and can’t do any serious thinking. This also includes things that I want to do – because if I don’t want to do them, and I’m half out of it – there is no way I’ll get anything done. Checking email is another thing that often gets done during this time.
Many nights I like to try to get some work done, but I try to make it things that if I’m distracted from, it won’t be an issue to get back to it. For example, I install plug-ins, move files, or add products to some of my retail type websites at night. None of those take a lot of attention, and I’m still getting things done that I need to do.
If you learn when your “in the zone” time is, you can make sure you get the most important things done, and there’s a good chance that it will take you a lot less time than if you did it at some other time of the day.
When is your “zone” time?
Not sure when your “zone” time is yet? Don’t worry. Just notice the next time you’re being really productive, and write down the time. See if it happens often around that time…and start taking advantage of it.
If you really want to figure out when your best time to get work done is, pick a task, whether it’s writing blog posts, creating a product, or anything else, and try doing it at different times of the day. You’ll notice when the works seems a whole lot easier to do, and when you’re dragging trying to get something done.
Also, when you notice you’re getting a lot done, keep it up! Even if you’ve finished everything you needed to get done that day, continue working while you feel like it – and then the next time you don’t feel like doing a thing, you’ll already have some extra work done.
When do you get your best work done?
