My Most Productive Time Of Day

Around 18 months ago I began getting up at 6am every day (yes, including weekends!). As somebody who used to be a bit of a night owl, the fact I’m up this early is a surprise to me too. This actually began by accident when I flew back to the UK from Vietnam last year, and my body clock was a bit messed up. I found that I woke up really early, and rather than just laying in bed, I got up and started my day earlier.

What I soon began to realise is that I really enjoyed this time of day and this time to myself. Once I’m awake and have got my brain in gear (some of my daily rituals I’ve written about before get that happening) then I find that this quiet time is great for creative type work. One of the biggest advantages of getting things done between 6am-9am is that most other people aren’t working. This means you don’t have any interruptions and distractions are kept to a minimum. A distraction free environment is when most of us do our best work. This is a whole subject in itself and a book I’d recommend on this is Deep Work by Cal Newport.

Getting up at 6am is what works for me. However, I’m not saying that this is the case for everyone. I don’t want this post to be misinterpreted into a whole modern entrepreneur “motivational” rant that you should up at silly o’clock and be hustling every waking hour, working 20 hours every day, and if you don’t you’re a loser. We’ve all seen the #5amclub and this kind of stuff out there! #hustle #grind #winning

What I’m saying is find out what works for you. What time of day are YOU most productive and in what environment. It may be that for you it’s 10pm until 1am and you don’t get up until 10am. That’s great if that’s what works for you. Don’t conform to what you’ve been told are “working hours” unless your work relies on it (e.g. If you work in a customer support department that’s open 9am-5pm my post probably isn’t much help!).

Try monitoring your time and productivity (I mentioned Rescuetime a couple of days ago), and try working at different times (and in different places, though that’s another blog for another day) and see what works for you. This has been great for me, my output, and my effectiveness. Maybe it can do the same for you.

Thanks

Richard