Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning.
Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
Speaker 1: tip is to save the little tasks for later in
Speaker 1: the day. Small easy tasks will give you a boost
Speaker 1: later in the day when you need it, because it
Speaker 1: gets harder to do big tasks as you run out
Speaker 1: of steam. So one of the most important principles of
Speaker 1: productivity is to match the right work to the right time.
Speaker 1: While people are different, most people have more energy at
Speaker 1: the beginning of the day. After that first cup of coffee,
Speaker 1: you feel ready to conquer the world. Alas that feeling
Speaker 1: tends not to last. Many people experience a significant energy
Speaker 1: dip by mid afternoon. This is when you find yourself
Speaker 1: reading the same email six times in a row. Sometimes
Speaker 1: you can rally right before quitting time if there is
Speaker 1: something that has to be done before you walk out
Speaker 1: the door, but in general, this pattern of higher energy
Speaker 1: earlier in the day and lower energy in the afternoon
Speaker 1: is pretty common. This means that you want to match
Speaker 1: the work that requires a lot of energy and discipline
Speaker 1: and focus to the time when you have energy and
Speaker 1: discipline and focus. Unfortunately, many of us take a different approach.
Speaker 1: We have dozens of things on the daily to do list,
Speaker 1: so we start with the easy stuff. Since it is
Speaker 1: well easy, we get excited as more and more items
Speaker 1: on the list are crossed off. But while it's true
Speaker 1: that you do need to respond to Jake about that
Speaker 1: meeting and book your conference room for tomorrow and fill
Speaker 1: out that form for HR, none of that requires your
Speaker 1: best self. Other things, like coming up with new ideas,
Speaker 1: or thinking about what could go wrong with a project
Speaker 1: or writing a tricky memo do require you to call
Speaker 1: upon more of your mental faculties. You will become less
Speaker 1: and less able to do these things as the day
Speaker 1: goes on. Better to start the day with the tricky stuff.
Speaker 1: But since the little things do need to get done,
Speaker 1: one way to organize your day is to purposefully save
Speaker 1: these tasks for later. When your energy starts falling in
Speaker 1: mid afternoon and you feel like you can't do anything, well,
Speaker 1: I bet you can still do those little tasks even
Speaker 1: if you are tired. You can still book that conference
Speaker 1: room and fill out that form and respond to Jake
Speaker 1: about the meeting. So do those things, cross them off
Speaker 1: the list, and enjoy feeling like you are still very productive.
Speaker 1: I think the principle holds for the week as well.
Speaker 1: We often have more energy at the start of things
Speaker 1: than at the end of things. It is really hard
Speaker 1: to start anything big on Friday, and particularly on Friday afternoons.
Speaker 1: But you could keep a list of tasks to run
Speaker 1: through on Friday, stuff that has to get done but
Speaker 1: isn't all that urgent. Then, when you start to feel
Speaker 1: like you are not getting much done but it's not
Speaker 1: quite acceptable to leave yet, outcomes the list. You match
Speaker 1: the right task to the right time and feel better
Speaker 1: about work in general. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to making the most of
Speaker 1: our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast. If you've
Speaker 1: got questions, idea is or feedback, you can reach me
Speaker 1: at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia, please
Speaker 1: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
Speaker 1: to your favorite shows.