1 00:00:04,360 --> 00:00:07,200 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics, 2 00:00:07,240 --> 00:00:10,319 Speaker 1: hacks and rituals used by the world's most successful people 3 00:00:10,400 --> 00:00:13,720 Speaker 1: to get so much out of their day. I'm your host, 4 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:17,880 Speaker 1: doctor Amattha Imba. I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of 5 00:00:17,960 --> 00:00:22,599 Speaker 1: behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and I'm obsessed with finding ways 6 00:00:22,600 --> 00:00:28,040 Speaker 1: to optimize my work date. So today's episode is another 7 00:00:28,160 --> 00:00:32,839 Speaker 1: one about how we can work from home more effectively. 8 00:00:33,880 --> 00:00:40,400 Speaker 1: This episode will go live tomorrow and certainly in my country, Australia, 9 00:00:40,880 --> 00:00:44,200 Speaker 1: I would say the majority of office workers and now 10 00:00:44,760 --> 00:00:49,360 Speaker 1: working from home, which is very very different to how 11 00:00:49,400 --> 00:00:53,519 Speaker 1: things were even just three or four weeks ago. Now, 12 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:56,640 Speaker 1: before I get into today's tip to help you work 13 00:00:56,680 --> 00:00:59,639 Speaker 1: more effectively from home, I wanted to let you know 14 00:00:59,680 --> 00:01:03,560 Speaker 1: that if you are currently working from home and maybe 15 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,920 Speaker 1: feeling like your productivity is perhaps plummeting just a little bit, 16 00:01:08,120 --> 00:01:11,200 Speaker 1: you might be interested to know that at Inventium, we 17 00:01:11,480 --> 00:01:17,039 Speaker 1: are about to launch a program called Thriving at Home. 18 00:01:17,560 --> 00:01:20,080 Speaker 1: So this is a five week program that is full 19 00:01:20,120 --> 00:01:25,400 Speaker 1: of science back tips and strategies to improve how well 20 00:01:25,440 --> 00:01:29,160 Speaker 1: you work from home, and certainly various iterations and our 21 00:01:29,200 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: most recent iteration of this program actually boosted productivity by 22 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:38,360 Speaker 1: twenty one percent just in the course of a month 23 00:01:38,440 --> 00:01:42,560 Speaker 1: and a half. Job satisfaction also increased as well, by 24 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:51,080 Speaker 1: over twenty percent, and general general engagement and how good 25 00:01:51,120 --> 00:01:55,240 Speaker 1: you're feeling about your work increased by eleven percent. So 26 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:58,280 Speaker 1: if you are feeling like you could do with a 27 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:01,480 Speaker 1: bit of a productivity boost, will provide a link in 28 00:02:01,600 --> 00:02:05,280 Speaker 1: the show note on how to get yourself enrolled for 29 00:02:06,120 --> 00:02:10,560 Speaker 1: the Thriving at Home program. All right, let's get on 30 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:16,040 Speaker 1: with today's show. So one of the hardest things about 31 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:19,040 Speaker 1: working from home is that the hours and days can 32 00:02:19,160 --> 00:02:23,079 Speaker 1: blend together. And because you're no longer seeing your colleagues 33 00:02:23,120 --> 00:02:26,040 Speaker 1: face to face, the amount of emails you are receiving 34 00:02:26,080 --> 00:02:30,880 Speaker 1: has probably doubled, and phone and zoom meetings have probably 35 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:35,720 Speaker 1: increased exponentially. It's easy for your day to feel like 36 00:02:35,919 --> 00:02:39,840 Speaker 1: one long, reactive slog and one where you don't feel 37 00:02:39,880 --> 00:02:45,160 Speaker 1: like you're actually getting any work done. Unfortunately, most productivity 38 00:02:45,160 --> 00:02:48,800 Speaker 1: advice so working from home fails to consider something that 39 00:02:48,960 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: underlies its effectiveness, your personal chronotype. Working to your chronotype 40 00:02:54,400 --> 00:02:56,840 Speaker 1: can help you take back control of your work date 41 00:02:56,919 --> 00:03:02,519 Speaker 1: through structuring it based on your natural energy level. So chronotype, 42 00:03:02,680 --> 00:03:04,760 Speaker 1: in case you haven't heard that term before, refers to 43 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,520 Speaker 1: your natural twenty four hour sleep wake cycle, which ultimately 44 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:13,119 Speaker 1: influences the peaks and troughs of your energy throughout the day. 45 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:17,480 Speaker 1: Around one in every seven people are what chronotype researchers 46 00:03:17,560 --> 00:03:21,280 Speaker 1: call larks. A lark is a morning person. They wake 47 00:03:21,560 --> 00:03:26,680 Speaker 1: naturally and early, generally before six am. Likes literally bounce 48 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,880 Speaker 1: out of bed like a human tiger, and can be 49 00:03:29,000 --> 00:03:31,840 Speaker 1: deeply irritating if you don't happen to be running on 50 00:03:31,919 --> 00:03:35,200 Speaker 1: the same chronotype, and for me, I am most definitely 51 00:03:35,200 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 1: a lark. At the other extreme, Owls approximately one in 52 00:03:39,640 --> 00:03:42,600 Speaker 1: every five people are owls, and as the name suggests, 53 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:46,000 Speaker 1: owls come to life at night. They get their best 54 00:03:46,040 --> 00:03:49,200 Speaker 1: work done in the evening through to the wee hours 55 00:03:49,240 --> 00:03:53,600 Speaker 1: of the morning, and unfortunately, standard office hours put owls 56 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,440 Speaker 1: at a distinct disadvantage. They are far from firing on 57 00:03:57,520 --> 00:04:01,640 Speaker 1: all cylinders at nine am, when all their coworkers are 58 00:04:01,640 --> 00:04:04,920 Speaker 1: now starting to log into work, and really ours only 59 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:07,920 Speaker 1: start to come to life as everyone is clocking off 60 00:04:07,920 --> 00:04:10,200 Speaker 1: for the day. So for the rest of us that 61 00:04:10,280 --> 00:04:13,000 Speaker 1: are either bright eyed and bushy tailed in the morning, 62 00:04:13,040 --> 00:04:16,040 Speaker 1: nor burning the candle well into the night. We are middlebirds. 63 00:04:16,360 --> 00:04:18,800 Speaker 1: Middlebirds tend to follow the same rhythms of a lark, 64 00:04:19,080 --> 00:04:22,599 Speaker 1: but just delayed by a couple of hours. So larks 65 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:27,279 Speaker 1: and middlebirds experience pick cognitive alertness in the two hours 66 00:04:27,320 --> 00:04:29,760 Speaker 1: after they are fully awake, which for most of us 67 00:04:29,839 --> 00:04:32,920 Speaker 1: is between the hours of nine to twelve. We then 68 00:04:32,960 --> 00:04:35,920 Speaker 1: experience a dip after lunch, and then we get a 69 00:04:35,960 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 1: second wind or a rebound in the late afternoon. Ours 70 00:04:40,520 --> 00:04:44,480 Speaker 1: are pretty much the opposite. Now you might be listening 71 00:04:44,480 --> 00:04:46,120 Speaker 1: to this and think, ah, yes, I think I know 72 00:04:46,120 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 1: what chronotype I am. If you do want to actually 73 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,800 Speaker 1: scientifically assess it using a validated tool, I will link 74 00:04:52,920 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: to that in the show notes so you can just 75 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:58,039 Speaker 1: click there. But here's the thing. The key to being 76 00:04:58,080 --> 00:05:02,040 Speaker 1: productive throughout the day is designing your homework day around 77 00:05:02,080 --> 00:05:06,120 Speaker 1: your chronotype, which unfortunately most people don't do. So here 78 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:09,479 Speaker 1: are three ways that you can start to align your 79 00:05:09,920 --> 00:05:14,960 Speaker 1: workday at home to your chronotype. So first, schedule deep 80 00:05:15,000 --> 00:05:18,400 Speaker 1: work at your peak. Now what I mean by this. 81 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:23,360 Speaker 1: In his book Deep Work, Georgetown University professor Callen Newport 82 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:25,800 Speaker 1: writes about two modes that knowledge workers can be in 83 00:05:26,320 --> 00:05:29,080 Speaker 1: the first type of work is deep work, defined as 84 00:05:29,120 --> 00:05:32,120 Speaker 1: work that is cognitively demanding, and to do it well 85 00:05:32,160 --> 00:05:34,880 Speaker 1: it requires focus and a lack of interruptions, ideally for 86 00:05:34,920 --> 00:05:38,679 Speaker 1: an hour, if not several. In contrast to deep work 87 00:05:39,080 --> 00:05:41,640 Speaker 1: is the second type of work, shallow work. Work that 88 00:05:41,680 --> 00:05:44,960 Speaker 1: falls into this category includes checking emails and instant messenger 89 00:05:45,160 --> 00:05:49,560 Speaker 1: slack making, phone calls, and administrative work basically anything that's 90 00:05:49,600 --> 00:05:53,719 Speaker 1: non cognitively demanding. The problem with the way most people 91 00:05:53,720 --> 00:05:56,880 Speaker 1: structure their workday is it tends to be random and sporadic. 92 00:05:57,480 --> 00:06:01,440 Speaker 1: We flip mindlessly between shallow and deep work, so de 93 00:06:01,520 --> 00:06:04,560 Speaker 1: turbo charge productivity. When you're working from home, Las and 94 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: middlebirds need to schedule deep work before lunch, and ideally 95 00:06:09,200 --> 00:06:13,040 Speaker 1: during this time, notifications that lure us into shallow work, 96 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:18,160 Speaker 1: including the news, need to be switched off. Ours In contrast, 97 00:06:18,200 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: get their best deep work done at night, which can 98 00:06:20,120 --> 00:06:23,600 Speaker 1: be handy for parents during this time if you are 99 00:06:23,880 --> 00:06:26,760 Speaker 1: like me and homeschooling, because this is when kids are 100 00:06:26,800 --> 00:06:30,600 Speaker 1: fast asleep. Hopefully Okay. The second thing that you can 101 00:06:30,640 --> 00:06:33,960 Speaker 1: do is you can schedule and ritualize deep work, so 102 00:06:34,000 --> 00:06:36,280 Speaker 1: while the intent to engage in deep work when your 103 00:06:36,400 --> 00:06:39,960 Speaker 1: energy is at its peak is fantastic. But if you 104 00:06:40,120 --> 00:06:43,400 Speaker 1: work in a company where coworkers control your diary, even 105 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,880 Speaker 1: the best of intentions can fall by the wayside. Rather 106 00:06:46,960 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 1: than cross your fingers for a free morning or evening 107 00:06:49,440 --> 00:06:52,760 Speaker 1: for ours, block deep work in your calendar. Deep work 108 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:55,400 Speaker 1: should be treated as a meeting with yourself that cannot 109 00:06:55,440 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 1: be booked over by colleagues. At my behavioral science consultancy Inventium, 110 00:07:00,080 --> 00:07:03,680 Speaker 1: which is populated by mostly likes and middlebirds, the majority 111 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:05,880 Speaker 1: of the team have two to three hour meetings with 112 00:07:05,960 --> 00:07:09,920 Speaker 1: themselves labeled as deep work almost every morning. Those times 113 00:07:10,000 --> 00:07:13,000 Speaker 1: are respected by teammates, and the majority of meetings, both 114 00:07:13,040 --> 00:07:17,360 Speaker 1: internal and external, happen in the afternoon. The third and 115 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:19,720 Speaker 1: final thing that you can do is schedule shallow work 116 00:07:19,760 --> 00:07:22,520 Speaker 1: for your dip. So when we hit our daily dip, 117 00:07:22,560 --> 00:07:25,480 Speaker 1: which for all chronotypes tends to happen a bit after lunch, 118 00:07:25,760 --> 00:07:29,200 Speaker 1: we often flounder around at work. We get stuck in 119 00:07:29,240 --> 00:07:32,720 Speaker 1: our inbox or sit passively in meetings, whether that now 120 00:07:32,800 --> 00:07:35,960 Speaker 1: be on the phone or via zoom, feeling cognitively foggy, 121 00:07:36,560 --> 00:07:38,840 Speaker 1: and then we often beat ourselves up for not firing 122 00:07:38,880 --> 00:07:42,040 Speaker 1: on all cylinders at this time of day, so instead 123 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,320 Speaker 1: of fighting it, we need to proactively schedule shallow work 124 00:07:45,360 --> 00:07:47,840 Speaker 1: for this time of day. The early afternoon is the 125 00:07:47,880 --> 00:07:50,520 Speaker 1: perfect time to get stuck into your inbox and plow 126 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: through emails. It's also a great time to check instant 127 00:07:53,920 --> 00:07:56,200 Speaker 1: Messenger or your slack feed and return phone calls from 128 00:07:56,240 --> 00:07:59,600 Speaker 1: the morning. So by scheduling shallow work for your dip, 129 00:08:00,080 --> 00:08:02,200 Speaker 1: the time will not be wasted, but instead you'll be 130 00:08:02,240 --> 00:08:05,600 Speaker 1: able to align your least cognitively demanding work with when 131 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: your brain needs to take it a little bit easier. 132 00:08:09,000 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 1: So by aligning the structure of your work data your 133 00:08:11,800 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 1: cronotype when you're working from home, not only when you 134 00:08:15,080 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: get more done, you'll get to the end of the 135 00:08:17,720 --> 00:08:21,360 Speaker 1: day feeling farm or energized because you will have matched 136 00:08:21,360 --> 00:08:25,160 Speaker 1: your activities to your biological rhythms, and for that, your 137 00:08:25,200 --> 00:08:30,920 Speaker 1: brain will be truly thankful. That is it for today's show. 138 00:08:31,560 --> 00:08:35,160 Speaker 1: If you have got coworkers or maybe just friends that 139 00:08:35,200 --> 00:08:37,480 Speaker 1: you know who are also working from home and maybe 140 00:08:37,520 --> 00:08:40,120 Speaker 1: finding it a little bit of a struggle, why not 141 00:08:40,280 --> 00:08:45,880 Speaker 1: share this episode with them. That would be totally awesome 142 00:08:46,559 --> 00:08:50,760 Speaker 1: and will hopefully improve their workday as well and always 143 00:08:50,800 --> 00:08:53,560 Speaker 1: if you are liking how I work and getting some 144 00:08:53,679 --> 00:08:56,520 Speaker 1: value from it, I would love it if you could 145 00:08:56,720 --> 00:08:59,679 Speaker 1: take just five ten seconds to leave a review wherever 146 00:08:59,720 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: you're listening to this podcast. You might want to click 147 00:09:02,360 --> 00:09:05,800 Speaker 1: on a star rating or even write some lovely words. 148 00:09:05,840 --> 00:09:09,160 Speaker 1: I read every single review and they honestly do bring 149 00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:14,240 Speaker 1: a big smile to my face, and that is lovely. 150 00:09:14,400 --> 00:09:17,360 Speaker 1: So that is all for today and I will see 151 00:09:17,400 --> 00:09:18,200 Speaker 1: you next time.