1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,080 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:12,920 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imber. I'm an 4 00:00:13,000 --> 00:00:17,080 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:21,160 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my work day. In this day 6 00:00:21,160 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: and age, you would be hard pressed to find a 7 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:28,080 Speaker 1: company that isn't talking about or offering flexible work arrangements. 8 00:00:28,400 --> 00:00:32,199 Speaker 1: Work from home, start work thirty minutes early, work through luncheon, 9 00:00:32,280 --> 00:00:36,400 Speaker 1: clock off early. You know. Yet, despite this, most of 10 00:00:36,479 --> 00:00:38,680 Speaker 1: us are still expected to be at the office or 11 00:00:38,720 --> 00:00:41,960 Speaker 1: logging onto our computers by around nine am and stay 12 00:00:42,000 --> 00:00:46,519 Speaker 1: connected until about five PM or maybe later. Working roughly 13 00:00:46,560 --> 00:00:49,760 Speaker 1: between the hours of nine to five still remains the 14 00:00:49,880 --> 00:00:53,680 Speaker 1: default that not many people dare to challenge too strongly, 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:57,520 Speaker 1: and within these eight hours, little thought is given to 16 00:00:57,600 --> 00:01:00,840 Speaker 1: the type of task and what time of day it is completed. 17 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:05,480 Speaker 1: Our days are essentially designed reactively. We let people schedule 18 00:01:05,520 --> 00:01:09,280 Speaker 1: meetings in our diary, We check email constantly throughout the day, 19 00:01:09,360 --> 00:01:13,240 Speaker 1: and let other people's requests control what we do. And 20 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,360 Speaker 1: that we wonder why we so frequently reach the end 21 00:01:16,400 --> 00:01:19,480 Speaker 1: of the day and ask ourselves what did I actually 22 00:01:19,520 --> 00:01:23,240 Speaker 1: achieve today? But what we know from psychology is that 23 00:01:23,319 --> 00:01:26,480 Speaker 1: forcing people to work within this default and allowing our 24 00:01:26,560 --> 00:01:30,320 Speaker 1: days to be reactive is setting our workdays up for failure. 25 00:01:31,080 --> 00:01:33,920 Speaker 1: So in today's episode, I want to share a handful 26 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:37,039 Speaker 1: of methods that will dramatically improve your work performance through 27 00:01:37,080 --> 00:01:41,039 Speaker 1: redesigning the workday. So my first piece of advice is 28 00:01:41,160 --> 00:01:46,600 Speaker 1: work to your chronotype. So, through studying thousands of people's 29 00:01:46,640 --> 00:01:49,800 Speaker 1: internal body clocks, scientists came to learn that we're not 30 00:01:49,960 --> 00:01:52,560 Speaker 1: all created equal when it comes to our daily energy 31 00:01:52,640 --> 00:01:56,200 Speaker 1: levels and how they fluctuate. Around about fourteen percent of 32 00:01:56,280 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 1: the population and what these researchers refer to as larks. 33 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 1: They are the stereotypical mourning people, you know, the type 34 00:02:03,960 --> 00:02:06,400 Speaker 1: that are severely irritating if you don't happen to be 35 00:02:06,440 --> 00:02:08,960 Speaker 1: one of those people. And at the other end of 36 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:12,400 Speaker 1: the spectrum at owls, which represent another twenty one percent 37 00:02:12,440 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 1: of the population. Owls have their peak productivity after most 38 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,799 Speaker 1: of us have had dinner and quite often well into 39 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:22,040 Speaker 1: the night. And if you can't relate to either extreme, 40 00:02:22,240 --> 00:02:26,000 Speaker 1: you're probably a middle bird. In general, middle birds tend 41 00:02:26,000 --> 00:02:28,880 Speaker 1: to follow the energy patterns of a lark, albeit a 42 00:02:28,960 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 1: couple of hours delayed. Now, the problem that owl's face 43 00:02:33,280 --> 00:02:36,480 Speaker 1: in the business world is that essentially the corporate world 44 00:02:36,520 --> 00:02:39,640 Speaker 1: works against their natural body clock, and as a result, 45 00:02:39,800 --> 00:02:43,519 Speaker 1: owls are at a distinct disadvantage in organizations that don't 46 00:02:43,639 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: dare challenge the default hours of working. So, whatever your chronotype, 47 00:02:48,200 --> 00:02:51,480 Speaker 1: you need to start proactively structuring your days to align 48 00:02:51,520 --> 00:02:55,000 Speaker 1: with your energy levels. Lacks often work best when they 49 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: can start work at six am, while owl's a better 50 00:02:57,639 --> 00:03:01,560 Speaker 1: place to not arrive at work until lunch. The second 51 00:03:01,600 --> 00:03:04,960 Speaker 1: thing I want to recommend is scheduling deep work at 52 00:03:04,960 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: your peak time. So, according to Professor cal Newport, there 53 00:03:08,639 --> 00:03:11,520 Speaker 1: are two modes of working that knowledge workers can engage it. 54 00:03:11,760 --> 00:03:14,080 Speaker 1: The first type of work is deep work. This is 55 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:17,079 Speaker 1: work that is cognitively demanding and to do it well 56 00:03:17,160 --> 00:03:20,840 Speaker 1: requires focus and a lack of interruptions. The second type 57 00:03:20,840 --> 00:03:22,920 Speaker 1: of work is shallow work, and this is work that 58 00:03:23,000 --> 00:03:26,120 Speaker 1: is non cognitively demanding, such as checking emails and instant 59 00:03:26,160 --> 00:03:30,080 Speaker 1: messenger making, phone calls, and administrative work. But because of 60 00:03:30,120 --> 00:03:33,280 Speaker 1: the fact that digital distractions and interruptions are rife in 61 00:03:33,320 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: today's working world, the majority of us spend our days 62 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:39,280 Speaker 1: in shallow work and try to simply fit the deep 63 00:03:39,360 --> 00:03:42,400 Speaker 1: work in amongst it. But really it needs to be 64 00:03:42,440 --> 00:03:45,400 Speaker 1: the other way round if we are to accomplish anything 65 00:03:45,440 --> 00:03:49,160 Speaker 1: of value and make meaningful progress. Now, bringing these concepts 66 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:53,160 Speaker 1: together around chronotypes and deep work, lacks and middle birds 67 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:55,920 Speaker 1: perform best when they schedule deep work for the morning. 68 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,720 Speaker 1: All digital distractions and communication channels should be switched off 69 00:03:59,760 --> 00:04:03,000 Speaker 1: during this time, and then ours do their best deep 70 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: work in the evening or at night, ironically when no 71 00:04:05,760 --> 00:04:08,440 Speaker 1: one is expected to be in the office. Now, the 72 00:04:08,440 --> 00:04:10,280 Speaker 1: third and final piece of advice I want to give 73 00:04:10,440 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: is around scheduling shallow work for the afternoon. So when 74 00:04:14,000 --> 00:04:16,559 Speaker 1: it comes to shallow work, laks and middle birds should 75 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,120 Speaker 1: schedule this after lunch. You know, these might be meetings 76 00:04:20,120 --> 00:04:23,200 Speaker 1: that don't require deep thinking, such as work in progress meetings, 77 00:04:23,720 --> 00:04:25,840 Speaker 1: because these sorts of things are also good to schedule 78 00:04:25,880 --> 00:04:28,719 Speaker 1: in the afternoons, as well as things such as email 79 00:04:28,800 --> 00:04:32,480 Speaker 1: and phone conversations and so forth. But for ours, given 80 00:04:32,520 --> 00:04:35,080 Speaker 1: their days essentially run in reverse, shallow work can be 81 00:04:35,080 --> 00:04:37,039 Speaker 1: done in the middle of the day or even in 82 00:04:37,080 --> 00:04:39,240 Speaker 1: the morning, when their energy is not firing like it 83 00:04:39,279 --> 00:04:43,359 Speaker 1: does at night, so productive likes and third birds will 84 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:47,960 Speaker 1: batch email and communication checking for the afternoons. Blocking out 85 00:04:48,000 --> 00:04:50,919 Speaker 1: an hour or so to clear your inbox is a 86 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:54,400 Speaker 1: great use of your afternoons, but a waste of precious 87 00:04:54,440 --> 00:04:59,039 Speaker 1: brain power in the morning. Now, at my consultancy Inventium, 88 00:04:59,200 --> 00:05:01,680 Speaker 1: we have a couple of extreme lacks who will regularly 89 00:05:01,720 --> 00:05:05,360 Speaker 1: start their workday at four or five am, Yes, four 90 00:05:05,440 --> 00:05:07,760 Speaker 1: or five in the morning. They spend their early morning 91 00:05:07,800 --> 00:05:11,359 Speaker 1: hours doing deep focused work we literally know interruptions because 92 00:05:11,400 --> 00:05:14,279 Speaker 1: everyone is asleep. They might then take a break for 93 00:05:14,360 --> 00:05:17,720 Speaker 1: a few hours and spend the afternoon doing shallow works 94 00:05:17,760 --> 00:05:20,760 Speaker 1: such as checking and responding to emails. And compared to 95 00:05:20,800 --> 00:05:23,680 Speaker 1: past workplaces that force them into the nine to five mold, 96 00:05:23,960 --> 00:05:26,320 Speaker 1: they're now thriving with these self set hours that are 97 00:05:26,360 --> 00:05:30,440 Speaker 1: matched to their chronotype. So while flexible work policies are great, 98 00:05:30,960 --> 00:05:33,240 Speaker 1: you're far better off designing your workday and those of 99 00:05:33,279 --> 00:05:35,560 Speaker 1: your team based on getting the most out of people's 100 00:05:35,560 --> 00:05:39,719 Speaker 1: brains and natural circadian rhythms. So that is it for 101 00:05:39,920 --> 00:05:43,400 Speaker 1: today's episode. Thank you so much for listening. If you 102 00:05:43,640 --> 00:05:46,240 Speaker 1: liked what you heard and think of someone else that 103 00:05:46,279 --> 00:05:48,600 Speaker 1: you know that could benefit, why not share this episode 104 00:05:48,600 --> 00:05:50,440 Speaker 1: with them, or maybe you might even want to share 105 00:05:50,480 --> 00:05:53,960 Speaker 1: it on social media. And if you want to leave 106 00:05:54,000 --> 00:05:57,080 Speaker 1: a review in Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to 107 00:05:57,120 --> 00:06:00,680 Speaker 1: your podcast, that would be lovely. Certainly bring a huge 108 00:06:00,680 --> 00:06:04,320 Speaker 1: smile to my day reading the lovely reviews that listeners 109 00:06:04,440 --> 00:06:07,600 Speaker 1: have given, and on that note, I will see you 110 00:06:07,720 --> 00:06:08,240 Speaker 1: next time.