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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,

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Speaker 1: This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's

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Speaker 1: tip is to protect your best hours. If you have

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Speaker 1: a time of day when you are most productive or

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Speaker 1: creative or focused, you don't want to give that time

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Speaker 1: away If you don't have to structure your schedule mindfully,

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Speaker 1: and you may find yourself getting a lot more done.

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Speaker 1: So if you have ever monitored your energy during the day,

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Speaker 1: you know that not all hours are created equal. Around

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Speaker 1: eight am, in that first cup of coffee, people often

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Speaker 1: feel like they can conquer the world. Come two pm,

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Speaker 1: energy is waning and there is no more conquering the world.

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Speaker 1: Something that felt doable at eight am now feels like

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Speaker 1: it is taking forever as you keep getting distracted. Many

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Speaker 1: people then get a burst of energy around quitting time,

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Speaker 1: as they need to finish things to get out the door,

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Speaker 1: though it is probably not quite as big as that

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Speaker 1: initial morning zip. This pattern isn't universal. Some people are

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Speaker 1: most productive from say four to seven pm, or from

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Speaker 1: midnight to two am, or maybe from four am to

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Speaker 1: six am, but most people aren't extreme, and the idea

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Speaker 1: of focused mornings more or less during business hours and

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Speaker 1: less focused afternoons is pretty much the norm for adults.

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Speaker 1: This also means that for most people, the opportunity cost

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Speaker 1: of doing something outside your zone of genius is much

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Speaker 1: lower in the afternoon than in the morning, and yet

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Speaker 1: studying time. I am amazed how many people don't think

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Speaker 1: about this when setting up their schedules. Sometimes you don't

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Speaker 1: really have a choice. If you're a manager two levels

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Speaker 1: up wants to meet you at nine a m. Well,

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Speaker 1: you should probably do it. But if you are setting

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Speaker 1: a team meeting with a group of people you see

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Speaker 1: frequently and who you know are mostly still doing their jobs,

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Speaker 1: why would you put this at nine am? This is

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Speaker 1: time people could be executing on their tasks. Unless a

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Speaker 1: meeting is really requiring everyone's best and most creative selves,

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Speaker 1: it is a waste to put it during most people's

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Speaker 1: most productive hours. You can all tell everyone what you

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Speaker 1: are doing and that you are still doing your job

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Speaker 1: at two pm. I mean, unless you work with all

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Speaker 1: night owls, but if so, you probably know that. If

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Speaker 1: you want to be more productive at work this year,

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Speaker 1: one of the best things you can do is figure

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Speaker 1: out when you are at your best, and then as

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Speaker 1: much as possible devote these hours to the work that

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Speaker 1: truly moves things forward. And I know this is easier

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Speaker 1: said than done, but here's the thing. It doesn't have

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Speaker 1: to be all or nothing. You might start by seeing

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Speaker 1: if you can protect some focused hours when people are

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Speaker 1: less likely to request meetings if you do happen to

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Speaker 1: get more done in the mornings like many of us,

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Speaker 1: maybe you can try to put your first meetings at

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Speaker 1: nine thirty AM or later and work from eight to

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Speaker 1: nine thirty or so on your chosen projects, and then

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Speaker 1: decide you'll make up the time by taking a real

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Speaker 1: lunch or leaving a little earlier in the afternoon if

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Speaker 1: you might otherwise have been starting work at nine or else.

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Speaker 1: You might try to protect late morning time. Sometimes people

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Speaker 1: start thinking of lunch around eleven or eleven thirty and

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Speaker 1: won't schedule meetings over whatever they consider that lunchtime window.

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Speaker 1: If you know that you are usually on fire between

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Speaker 1: eleven am and noon, try acting like that is lunch

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Speaker 1: and protect it, and then actually take a lunch at

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Speaker 1: twelve thirty or one. You might be able to do

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Speaker 1: this more days than you think. Of course, if you

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Speaker 1: are going to protect this time, it is good to

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Speaker 1: know what you intend to do with it. One reason

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Speaker 1: to do a regular weekly planning session is that you

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Speaker 1: can then identify what tasks might move you forward towards

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Speaker 1: your professional goals in any given week. Then you can

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Speaker 1: look at your schedule and identify some open, high productivity times,

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Speaker 1: or you might block these things. Maybe you won't get

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Speaker 1: every day, but if you need two good sessions and

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Speaker 1: you block three, most likely you will get two. One

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Speaker 1: might get taken away from you, but hey, you've still

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Speaker 1: got too and you can start feeling some forward momentum. Personally,

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Speaker 1: I try to do this by limiting meetings or interviews

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Speaker 1: or anything like that in the mornings. If there's no

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Speaker 1: other good time, or it's a truly awesome opportunity, I

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Speaker 1: will do it. I don't want to be what slows

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Speaker 1: everything else down. But I have noticed that many times

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Speaker 1: people ask what time is good for you? If so,

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Speaker 1: you could offer three times at work for you and

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Speaker 1: protect your best most productive hours for focus things. If

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Speaker 1: you work in one of those offices where people can

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Speaker 1: see your calendar and just grab whatever they want off

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Speaker 1: of it, well you still might be able to play

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Speaker 1: within these rules. You can block some of your most

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Speaker 1: productive hours for meetings with a particular colleague who will

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Speaker 1: then become your accountability partner. These aren't actually meetings. They

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Speaker 1: are the two of you checking in to say what

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Speaker 1: you're going to get done during these peak productivity times,

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Speaker 1: and then afterwards saying that you've done it. If the

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Speaker 1: time on your calendar is taken up by a meeting,

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Speaker 1: then it generally won't be available for other things unless

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Speaker 1: people make a plausible claim that it is an emergency,

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Speaker 1: and then that is fine. You are just making it

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Speaker 1: marginally more likely that you use your best hours for

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Speaker 1: what your best hours are best suited for. In the meantime,

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Speaker 1: this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making

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Speaker 1: the most of our time. Thanks for listening to Before Breakfast.

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Speaker 1: If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback, you can reach

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Speaker 1: me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts from iHeartMedia,

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Speaker 1: listen to your favorite shows. St