Why Optimizing Your Work Schedule According to Your Natural Energy Levels Matters
As we enter the peak of summer, many of us are looking forward to a well-deserved vacation. For me, summer means leaving behind the hustle and bustle of my business, Jotform, and traveling to my family’s olive farm in Turkey. Spending two weeks on the farm with my wife and two young children allows us to reconnect with nature and enjoy the picturesque Turkish countryside. However, one thing that always amuses me is how long it takes for my kids to adjust to the 10-hour time difference. While my wife and I try to adjust our sleep schedules to accommodate the time change, our children naturally follow their internal clocks. It’s not uncommon for one of them to be wide awake and ready to start the day at 3 am. But eventually, their circadian rhythms sync up with the local time, and they settle into a healthy sleep routine.
This experience got me thinking about how our bodies naturally follow certain cycles, especially when we’re young. As children, we wake up when we’re rested and fall asleep when we’re tired. However, as we grow older, we often disrupt these natural rhythms with external factors like caffeine and melatonin. We try to force our bodies to adapt to our schedules, instead of working with our internal clocks. But what if we embraced our natural energy levels and aligned our work schedules accordingly? Not only would we feel more rested, but we could also have more energy and productivity to dedicate to the meaningful work that truly matters to us.
To optimize our work schedules based on our natural energy levels, it’s essential to understand our individual rhythms. One effective way to do this is by keeping an energy journal. This involves rating your energy, focus, and motivation at the end of each hour on a scale of one to ten. After just a week of journaling, you’ll start to notice patterns emerging. You’ll discover when your energy levels are at their peak and when you tend to experience dips. This information can help you plan your day more effectively, scheduling important tasks during your high-energy periods.
Furthermore, it’s important to identify which tasks give you energy and which ones drain you. For tasks that leave you feeling exhausted, consider automating them or finding ways to make them more efficient. This way, you can conserve your mental energy for the tasks that truly matter to you and bring you joy.
Once you have a good understanding of your energy patterns, you can align your most energizing work with your peak energy hours. Research suggests that the most important tasks should be accomplished when you’re at or near your peak alertness. Typically, this is within an hour or so of noon, and again in the early evening around 3 pm. Of course, everyone’s circadian rhythms are different, so it’s crucial to be flexible when planning your schedule or setting deadlines.
In some cases, you may need to make adjustments to your natural clock to maximize your productivity. For example, if you’re not a morning person but want to incorporate exercise into your routine, you might have a better chance of sticking to it if you schedule your workout for the morning. Gradually shifting your bedtime and waking up earlier can help you change your energy cycle over time. It’s important to make these changes gradually, as suddenly shifting your sleep patterns can disrupt your circadian rhythm and make it harder to get out of bed in the morning.
To increase your chances of success in aligning your work schedule with your energy levels, it’s essential to prepare ahead of time. Automate as many steps as possible in your workflow to save time and ensure you stay on track. There are many user-friendly and free tools available that can help you automate tasks, such as calendar apps, email automation tools, and project management software. By eliminating decision fatigue and streamlining your workflow, you can focus more on the meaningful work that energizes you.
In conclusion, optimizing your work schedule according to your natural energy levels can lead to increased productivity and a greater sense of fulfillment. By understanding your energy patterns, keeping an energy journal, and aligning your most important tasks with your peak energy hours, you can make the most of your productive potential. Embrace your body’s natural rhythms and discover the joy and satisfaction that come from working in harmony with yourself.
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With summer in full swing, many of us are preparing to embark on a well-deserved vacation. For me, summer means taking time off from Jotform and traveling to my family’s olive farm in Turkey. My wife, our two young children, and I will be spending two full weeks there, helping with the farm and enjoying the beautiful turkish countryside.
One funny thing I notice every time we go: kids take longer to adjust to the 10 hour time difference. Although my wife and I will force ourselves to adjust during those first few days, for example, staying up late through exhaustion to ensure we sleep in, children follow their internal clocks. Inevitably, one of them will be awake at 3 am, ready to start the day. But pretty soon, your circadian rhythms adjust to your new surroundings. They will fall asleep a bit after the sun goes down (around 8:30pm) and if my wife and I are lucky they will sleep for 9-10 hours straight.
When we are young, we tend to be more in tune with our body’s natural cycles, or chronobiology. We wake up when we are rested and fall asleep when we are tired. But as we get older, we trick our bodies into going against those rhythms with the help of things like melatonin and caffeine.
If instead we try to return to our younger selves, leaning into our circadian rhythms instead of trying to outdo them, not only can we feel more rested, but we’ll have more energy to pursue work that matters, or how I like it. . to call it, the “big stuff”.
Here’s a closer look at how you can optimize your work schedule according to your natural energy levels.
Keep an energy journal
Throughout the average workday, we experience energy peaks and valleys of ultradian rhythms, which run in cycles of 90 to 120 minutes. If you’ve ever started a task feeling motivated and energized, but an hour later found yourself scrolling through Twitter and looking for M&Ms, then you understand ultradian rhythms.
Energy ups and downs are normal. simply can’t hold peak focus all day. With that said, we can harness the power of our energy cycles by understanding our individual rhythms. An energy journal is a great place to start.
Author Yulia Yaganova recommends a three-week experiment in which you rate your energy, focus, and motivation at the end of each hour using a scale of one to 10. I’ve done it myself and can attest to it: You’ll be surprised how quickly certain patterns emerge. After just a week of journaling, I noticed that my high energy levels, or “prime time,” occurred right after my morning gym session, before lunch, and later in the day around from 4 to 5 p.m.
This journaling exercise is also an opportunity to write down which tasks give you energy and which you find tedious and exhausting. For the latter, you can consider whether some steps can be taken. automated to conserve his mental power. For the former, keep reading.
Related: 9 Ruthless And Radical Time Management Tips
Combine a lot of energy with the “big stuff”
Once you identify your main hours and your most meaningful and energizing work, you can sync the two in your daily schedule.
writing for Harvard Business Review, Professor Christopher M. Barnes explains that managers who want to maximize employee performance must consider circadian rhythms when setting tasks, deadlines, and expectations. Employees also need to be aware of their own rhythms when planning their days.
Barnes writes: “The most important tasks should be accomplished when people are at or near their peak alert (within an hour or so of noon and early 6 p.m., around 3 p.m. and late at night).
Of course, not all rhythms are the same. Flexibility is key when planning schedules or creating deadlines based on energy levels.
Related: How time batching helps improve your productivity and how to do it effectively
Consider if you need a turn
There’s no denying it: certain activities are more likely to happen if we plan for them earlier in the day. Work out, even if you’re not a morning person, you have a better chance of hitting the gym if you plan to go first thing in the morning. You’re unlikely to be taken to a meeting or tempted by happy hours at 6 or 7 a.m.
Although our energy levels occur naturally, they are not static. To achieve your daily goals, you may need to change your natural clock. Just be sure to make changes gradually.
As Kimberly Fenn, a cognitive neuroscientist who studies sleep and learning at Michigan State University, explained to the New York Timeswaking up earlier is not just changing your bedtime, but your entire circadian rhythm.
Cortisol, the hormone that wakes us up, floods our system in the morning. “But if you suddenly change your alarm clock from 8 a.m. to 6 a.m., your cortisol levels won’t be high enough when it goes off and it may take longer than usual to get out of bed.”
Gradually pushing your bedtime can help you effectively change your energy cycle.
Related: 3 Productivity Tips That Made Me A Billionaire
Maximize your chances of success
You’ve created your energy journal, identified your best moments, and planned what tasks and activities to complete at what times.
Now what?
Maximize your chances of success. To do this, prepare ahead of time by automating as many steps as possible.
You can most likely save time and ensure you stay on schedule by using automated tools, and many of them require no coding and are free. All you need to do is put them in place and they will take care of the heavy lifting.
For example, use a calendar app to make time for important things. When the time comes, there is no deliberation about what to do next. Just go. If you are trying to start a new habit, for example, doing morning pages — Clear your workspace at the end of each day and automate the tasks that typically eat up your morning hours, like sending out your newsletter, making sure bills are paid on time, or checking in on new subscribers. (My New book contains an index of automated tools for all that and more).
In the end, it’s all about setting yourself up for success to harness your biorhythms and maximize your creative energy. As we go through life, we develop habits that go against our innate cycles. But it’s never too late to reverse those habits. Take a tip from children and listen to your body’s natural rhythms.
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