Lark or owl? Figure out when you peak

Blocking your high productivity hours in your calendar will allow you to focus on tasks that require your concentration and decision-making abilities

If you are working on a big project or manage a team at work, chances are your calendar and inbox are bombarded by emails, meeting invites and update calls to make.

Nevertheless, it is important to remember that no matter how busy your schedule, you still have control over your time and you need to realise when your most productive hours are.

As part of managing a team, my day is dedicated to meetings, phone calls and multiple projects to supervise and approve. Some days, when I finish work in the evening I do not have enough energy to work on my novel. Thus I postpone working on it to the weekend, when I can dedicate a morning in my home office.

I discussed this issue with a good friend who has been pushing me to complete my novel before the end of the year. I am a morning person, and my energy level is highest early on in the day. She suggested I adjust my daily schedule and wake up an hour earlier than I normally would to work on my novel, when my energy level is highest.

I figured I had nothing to lose, and have tried it for a couple of months so far, dedicating an hour to my novel before going into the office. Doing as she had suggested allows me to focus completely on my book and not feel guilty about not dedicating enough time to it. And I have seen excellent results. Had I realised this earlier, I would have completed my novel months ago.

So, take a minute to reflect back on your energy levels throughout the day. You will probably notice that the person you are in the morning is not the same later in the day. You are either more productive in the morning, or you are a night owl like one of my friends, whose highest energy levels kick in after the clock strikes midnight.

Several medical studies reveal that our brain functions differently throughout the day. My colleagues and friends often complain that their brains are drained after 2pm and therefore postpone completing tasks to the following day. They even wondered why work hours extend to the early evening when most people’s energy drops after lunch.

If you have a lot on your mind and want to get things done, then recognise the hours when you are most productive and block them. Look back at the past week: which times of the day were your most energetic? Chances are this is the same time when you are most productive. Try to block your calendar for those one to two hours to get important tasks of the day done and postpone less important tasks and meetings that do not require as much energy and cognitive thinking to another part of the day.

Blocking high productivity hours in your calendar will allow you to focus on tasks that require your concentration and decision-making abilities. It will also save you from dwelling on the fact you have postponed working on something and how awful that makes you feel.

Dedicating high-energy time to less important matters and postponing important tasks that require your full attention to a time of the day where your energy level is low, is disastrous for the kind of work that requires concentration.

In my case, if I edited a piece of writing towards the end of the day, chances are I will miss several mistakes and typos.

The thing is this, the best way to organise our schedules and calendars is to keep our energy and productivity levels in minds. In my case, my mornings are always blocked for work, whether on weekends or not, and the evenings are dedicated to relaxation and unwinding with family and friends.

It is amazing how altering your daily schedule can help you achieve maximum productivity.

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati writer based in Abu Dhabi. Follow her on Twitter: @manar_alhinai

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