1 00:00:04,320 --> 00:00:06,720 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:06,840 --> 00:00:09,079 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,160 --> 00:00:12,119 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imber. I'm an 4 00:00:12,160 --> 00:00:16,239 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the founder of innovation consultancy Inventium, and I'm 5 00:00:16,280 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: obsessed with finding ways to optimize my work day. Before 6 00:00:20,560 --> 00:00:24,000 Speaker 1: I get into today's mini episode, I have an exciting 7 00:00:24,079 --> 00:00:27,640 Speaker 1: program launching on July twenty two, which you can be 8 00:00:27,720 --> 00:00:30,600 Speaker 1: part of from wherever in the world you are listening 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:35,400 Speaker 1: to this podcast. From the program is our Workday Reinvention Program, 10 00:00:35,440 --> 00:00:37,680 Speaker 1: which is a program I've been working on an Inventium 11 00:00:37,720 --> 00:00:41,240 Speaker 1: for the last two years. It's a six week program 12 00:00:41,400 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 1: that reinvents the way you work. The program contains a 13 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:50,280 Speaker 1: whole bunch of science backed ways to have a more productive, fulfilling, 14 00:00:50,360 --> 00:00:53,800 Speaker 1: and happier work life, and we've gotten some amazing results 15 00:00:53,800 --> 00:00:57,000 Speaker 1: from the program so far. Not only have we increased 16 00:00:57,000 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: people's productivity by around seventeen percent, which is nearly one 17 00:01:00,600 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 1: day per week worth of extra time, but we've also 18 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:09,480 Speaker 1: increased people's engagement, energy, job satisfaction, and even general well 19 00:01:09,480 --> 00:01:12,319 Speaker 1: being by up to twenty eight percent. And that's just 20 00:01:12,400 --> 00:01:15,880 Speaker 1: within six weeks. If you're a listener of the show, 21 00:01:16,160 --> 00:01:20,120 Speaker 1: you can go to bity so, bit dot, l y 22 00:01:20,280 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: forward slash how I Work program and listeners of How 23 00:01:24,480 --> 00:01:27,039 Speaker 1: I Work can get a one hundred dollars discount on 24 00:01:27,080 --> 00:01:29,760 Speaker 1: the cost of the program. Just enter the code how 25 00:01:29,840 --> 00:01:32,120 Speaker 1: I Work. That's just one word how I Work at 26 00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 1: checkout and get that discount. So the program starts on 27 00:01:34,680 --> 00:01:36,960 Speaker 1: July twenty two, and if you're a listener of the show, 28 00:01:37,040 --> 00:01:39,760 Speaker 1: I think that you'll absolutely love this program and get 29 00:01:39,800 --> 00:01:42,640 Speaker 1: a stack of value from it. So go to bit dot, 30 00:01:42,760 --> 00:01:46,440 Speaker 1: ly forward slash how I Work program or there's also 31 00:01:46,440 --> 00:01:49,480 Speaker 1: a link to that in the show notes. Now onto 32 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,840 Speaker 1: today's mini episode. So when it comes to productivity advice, 33 00:01:54,480 --> 00:01:58,040 Speaker 1: you might have heard people say, develop a morning richel, 34 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,680 Speaker 1: eat that frog, don't check email until you've completed your 35 00:02:01,720 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 1: most important task. Is your brain full of productivity advice, 36 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:09,239 Speaker 1: yet you still find yourself procrastinating and failing to eat 37 00:02:09,240 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 1: your daily dose of frog. Unfortunately, most productivity advice fails 38 00:02:14,240 --> 00:02:17,639 Speaker 1: to consider something that underlines its effectiveness, which is your 39 00:02:17,639 --> 00:02:23,160 Speaker 1: personal chronotype. Chronotype refers to your natural twenty four hour 40 00:02:23,280 --> 00:02:27,880 Speaker 1: sleep wake cycle, which ultimately influences the peaks and troughs 41 00:02:27,880 --> 00:02:31,919 Speaker 1: of your energy throughout the day. Around one in every 42 00:02:32,000 --> 00:02:36,760 Speaker 1: seven people are what chronotype researchers call lacks. A lark 43 00:02:37,000 --> 00:02:40,520 Speaker 1: is a morning person. They wake naturally and early, generally 44 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:43,880 Speaker 1: before six am. Las literally bounce out of bed like 45 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,320 Speaker 1: a human tiger, and can be deeply irritating if you 46 00:02:47,400 --> 00:02:51,000 Speaker 1: don't happen to be running on the same chronotype now. 47 00:02:51,040 --> 00:02:55,640 Speaker 1: At the other extreme, ours, approximately one in every five 48 00:02:55,800 --> 00:03:00,480 Speaker 1: people are ours. As the name suggests, Our come to 49 00:03:00,520 --> 00:03:02,840 Speaker 1: life at night. They get their best work done in 50 00:03:02,880 --> 00:03:05,440 Speaker 1: the evening through to the wee hours of the morning, 51 00:03:05,760 --> 00:03:09,200 Speaker 1: and unfortunately, the way the work and education systems are 52 00:03:09,200 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: structured put owls at a distinct disadvantage. They are far 53 00:03:14,280 --> 00:03:17,400 Speaker 1: from firing on all the cylinders at nine am, and 54 00:03:17,639 --> 00:03:20,160 Speaker 1: really only start to come to life as everyone is 55 00:03:20,200 --> 00:03:23,040 Speaker 1: going home for the day. And for the rest of 56 00:03:23,120 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 1: us that are neither bright eyed and bushy tailed in 57 00:03:25,639 --> 00:03:29,160 Speaker 1: the morning, nor are we burning the candle well into 58 00:03:29,160 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: the night, we are middlebirds. Middle birds tend to follow 59 00:03:32,880 --> 00:03:35,000 Speaker 1: the rhythms of a lark, but just delayed by a 60 00:03:35,000 --> 00:03:40,320 Speaker 1: couple of hours. So larks and middlebirds experience peak cognitive 61 00:03:40,440 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: alertness in the two hours after they are fully awake, 62 00:03:44,080 --> 00:03:46,200 Speaker 1: which for most of us is between the hours of 63 00:03:46,280 --> 00:03:49,800 Speaker 1: nine am to twelve noon. We then experience a dip 64 00:03:49,840 --> 00:03:53,280 Speaker 1: after lunch, and we have a second wind or a 65 00:03:53,360 --> 00:03:58,200 Speaker 1: rebound in the late afternoon. Owls are pretty much the opposite. Now, 66 00:03:58,280 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: if you're curious as to your phonotype, I'll put a 67 00:04:01,320 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 1: link in the show notes to a questionnaire that will 68 00:04:04,440 --> 00:04:07,040 Speaker 1: help you figure it out. But here's the thing. The 69 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:10,120 Speaker 1: key to being productive throughout the day is designing your 70 00:04:10,160 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: workday around your chronotype. Now, you might be familiar with 71 00:04:14,680 --> 00:04:17,760 Speaker 1: best selling author Dan Pink, who has been a guest 72 00:04:17,839 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 1: on this show previously, which again I will link to 73 00:04:21,120 --> 00:04:22,480 Speaker 1: in the show notes because it was a good chat, 74 00:04:22,520 --> 00:04:26,839 Speaker 1: and when we spoke, he described to me about how 75 00:04:27,040 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 1: his workday follows his chronotype. So Dan said to me 76 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,479 Speaker 1: that he realized, when looking at some of this research 77 00:04:33,520 --> 00:04:36,599 Speaker 1: around ronotypes, that he should be doing his heads down 78 00:04:36,640 --> 00:04:41,080 Speaker 1: analytic writing work first thing in the morning. And in 79 00:04:41,120 --> 00:04:44,919 Speaker 1: the morning he actually decided to change his schedule so 80 00:04:44,960 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 1: that on writing days he will say set himself a 81 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:51,239 Speaker 1: word count of around seven hundred words. He won't bring 82 00:04:51,240 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: his phone into the office with him. He won't open 83 00:04:53,480 --> 00:04:56,440 Speaker 1: up email, and he basically won't do anything until he's 84 00:04:56,480 --> 00:04:59,840 Speaker 1: hit those seven hundred words, basically taking advantage of the 85 00:05:00,080 --> 00:05:02,360 Speaker 1: act that he does his best work in the morning 86 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: and then Dan uses the afternoons for responding to emails, 87 00:05:06,200 --> 00:05:11,120 Speaker 1: checking social media, and other less cognitively demanding tasks. So 88 00:05:11,240 --> 00:05:13,719 Speaker 1: for you, here are three ways that you can start 89 00:05:13,760 --> 00:05:18,320 Speaker 1: to align your work day to your chronotype. Firstly, schedule 90 00:05:18,480 --> 00:05:22,279 Speaker 1: deep work at your peak now. In his book Deep Work, 91 00:05:22,279 --> 00:05:25,880 Speaker 1: Georgetown University professor Calm Newport writes about two modes that 92 00:05:25,960 --> 00:05:28,559 Speaker 1: knowledge workers can be in. The first type of work 93 00:05:28,680 --> 00:05:31,240 Speaker 1: is deep work or first type of mode if you like, 94 00:05:31,640 --> 00:05:34,680 Speaker 1: which is defined as work that is cognitively demanding. To 95 00:05:34,720 --> 00:05:37,800 Speaker 1: do it well, it requires focus and a lack of interruptions, 96 00:05:37,880 --> 00:05:40,839 Speaker 1: ideally for at least an hour, if not several. In 97 00:05:40,880 --> 00:05:43,240 Speaker 1: contrast to deep work is the second type of work, 98 00:05:43,360 --> 00:05:47,520 Speaker 1: shallow work. Work that falls into this category includes checking emails, 99 00:05:47,560 --> 00:05:51,159 Speaker 1: an instant messenger, making phone calls, and administrative work basically 100 00:05:51,240 --> 00:05:54,920 Speaker 1: anything that's non cognitively demanding. The problem, though, with the 101 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,479 Speaker 1: way that most people structure their workday is that it 102 00:05:57,520 --> 00:06:01,760 Speaker 1: tends to be random and sporadic. Mindlessly between shallow and 103 00:06:01,800 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: deep work. So to turbocharged productivity, larks and middle birds 104 00:06:06,839 --> 00:06:10,080 Speaker 1: need to schedule deep work for before lunch and ideally 105 00:06:10,200 --> 00:06:13,640 Speaker 1: during this time, notifications that lure us into shallow work 106 00:06:13,920 --> 00:06:17,000 Speaker 1: really need to be switched off. Ours, in contrast, get 107 00:06:17,000 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: their best deep work done at night, ironically, when most 108 00:06:19,360 --> 00:06:22,880 Speaker 1: offices are closed. Now, the second thing that you should 109 00:06:22,920 --> 00:06:26,080 Speaker 1: do to take advantage of your prototype is schedule and 110 00:06:26,279 --> 00:06:29,719 Speaker 1: ritualize deep work. So while the intent to engage in 111 00:06:29,760 --> 00:06:32,680 Speaker 1: deep work when your energy is at its peak is fantastic, 112 00:06:33,000 --> 00:06:35,000 Speaker 1: but if you work in a company where coworkers can 113 00:06:35,000 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 1: control your diary, even the best of intentions can fall 114 00:06:38,240 --> 00:06:41,240 Speaker 1: by the wayside. So rather than cross your fingers for 115 00:06:41,279 --> 00:06:44,159 Speaker 1: a free morning or a free evening for ours, block 116 00:06:44,200 --> 00:06:46,960 Speaker 1: deep work into your calendar. Deep work should be treated 117 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:51,120 Speaker 1: as a meeting with yourself. So at my innovation consultancy Inventium, 118 00:06:51,279 --> 00:06:54,920 Speaker 1: which is populated mostly by larks and middlebirds, the majority 119 00:06:54,960 --> 00:06:57,159 Speaker 1: of the team have two to three hour meetings with 120 00:06:57,240 --> 00:07:00,880 Speaker 1: themselves labeled as deep work almost every morning. Those times 121 00:07:00,920 --> 00:07:04,040 Speaker 1: are respected by teammates and the majority of meetings, both 122 00:07:04,080 --> 00:07:07,800 Speaker 1: internal and external, happen in the afternoon. Now, If you 123 00:07:07,800 --> 00:07:11,160 Speaker 1: want to take things a step further, Cal Newport recommends 124 00:07:11,200 --> 00:07:15,080 Speaker 1: developing deep work rituals. So when I interviewed Cal on 125 00:07:15,400 --> 00:07:18,119 Speaker 1: How I Work a few months ago, he spoke about 126 00:07:18,120 --> 00:07:20,760 Speaker 1: how he has different rituals for different types of deep 127 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,080 Speaker 1: work activities. So, for example, he described when he's trying 128 00:07:24,080 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: to solve a theoretical computer science proof, the rituals that 129 00:07:27,560 --> 00:07:32,840 Speaker 1: he use almost always involve walking through various routes around 130 00:07:32,880 --> 00:07:36,960 Speaker 1: his town, and in contrast, the majority of his writing 131 00:07:37,040 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 1: work takes place at a custom made table in his 132 00:07:39,360 --> 00:07:42,320 Speaker 1: home office. Now, the third and final tip I have 133 00:07:42,560 --> 00:07:46,240 Speaker 1: around working to your chronotype is to schedule shallow work 134 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,120 Speaker 1: for your dip. So when we hit our daily dip, 135 00:07:49,160 --> 00:07:52,240 Speaker 1: which for all chronotypes tends to happen a bit after lunch, 136 00:07:52,520 --> 00:07:55,880 Speaker 1: we often flounder around at work. We get stuck in 137 00:07:55,920 --> 00:07:59,760 Speaker 1: our inbox or sit passively in meetings feeling cognitively foggy, 138 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 1: and we often beat ourselves up for not firing on 139 00:08:02,560 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: all cylinders at this time of day. So instead of 140 00:08:05,640 --> 00:08:09,040 Speaker 1: fighting against it, we need to proactively schedule shallow work 141 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 1: for this time of day. The early afternoon is the 142 00:08:11,720 --> 00:08:15,320 Speaker 1: perfect time to get stuck into your inbox and plow 143 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:18,600 Speaker 1: through emails. It's also a great time to check instant 144 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: Messenger or your slack feed and return phone calls from 145 00:08:21,640 --> 00:08:25,240 Speaker 1: the morning. By scheduling shallow work for your dip, the 146 00:08:25,360 --> 00:08:29,520 Speaker 1: time will not be wasted, but instead you'll be able 147 00:08:29,560 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: to align your least cognitively demanding work with when your 148 00:08:33,120 --> 00:08:36,160 Speaker 1: brain needs to take it a little bit easier. So 149 00:08:36,440 --> 00:08:39,320 Speaker 1: by aligning the structure of your work out of your crototype, 150 00:08:39,400 --> 00:08:41,560 Speaker 1: not only will you get more done, you'll get to 151 00:08:41,559 --> 00:08:44,199 Speaker 1: the end of the day feeling far more energized because 152 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,000 Speaker 1: you will have matched your activities to your biological rhythms, 153 00:08:47,160 --> 00:08:51,880 Speaker 1: and for that, your brain will be truly thankful. So 154 00:08:51,920 --> 00:08:54,800 Speaker 1: that is it for today's show. If you found it 155 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:58,640 Speaker 1: useful and like this idea of working to your chronotype, 156 00:08:58,880 --> 00:09:02,520 Speaker 1: why not share thisisde with someone else. It's been so 157 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,800 Speaker 1: lovely hearing about people who have heard about how I 158 00:09:06,880 --> 00:09:10,320 Speaker 1: work from someone else that recommended the show, So please 159 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,160 Speaker 1: do that. And if you're enjoying how I work, why 160 00:09:13,200 --> 00:09:16,600 Speaker 1: not leave a review in iTunes. Brings a big smile 161 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,840 Speaker 1: to my face whenever I read a new review, So 162 00:09:18,960 --> 00:09:21,880 Speaker 1: thank you for all those lovely review givers. So that's 163 00:09:21,880 --> 00:09:24,040 Speaker 1: it for today and i'll see you next time.