Thoughts on: Getting More Stuff Done

One thing about Age is it Teaches you Lessons. Some of my more important ones: Do a double pat down before you leave the house in the morning….wallet and cell.  Always be nice, even to the people that aren’t. Cheap stuff is usually just cheap stuff.  Men are from Mars, and women are most definitely from Venus. Tacking is always better than a jibe in high winds and, never ever wear a sock with a hole because you will almost always get caught.  But lastly, and the reason for this blog, it is not how long you work during the day but how Effectively you Use that Time that really matters.

I was Never a Morning Person! As a teen I routinely slept past noon on the weekends and had to be woken up at least three times by my mom on school days. I still like to sleep and need more than most. I get away with 7 hours during the week but I re-charge on the weekends with 9 or more on Saturday’s. I need three cups of Joe before 9am.  But surprise...I am in the office at 7am every day. 

Why is “so not a morning guy” in at 7am?  Because it is the most productive and rewarding part of my day. It is selfish “Me Time”. I don’t do anything weird like sunrise yoga or meditate but I do consider it my Zen Time.  I am a man alone with my computer, my window, my thoughts, and the silence is delicious. I feel like Hemmingway at his type writer or McArthur at Sunrise before the battle. Ok that may be a bit over the top but that is how it feels some days. By the time the rest of the office roles in, my email is about empty and my projects are usually completed. I also have checked the news sites I like, done a personal item or two and in general goofed off for at least 15 minutes because….I can. By 9am I am in charge of my day, feel “up”, charged and ready to conquer shit.   (My kids call me holy mouth because they never heard me swear. So keep that between us please.)

There is science behind my findings. I performed a Controlled Study of one (me) and the analysis of the measured changes observed (more stuff getting done) led me to a bomb shell hypothesis. That being; Evenings are Low Productivity Time. We are tired and tend do low brain energy things. That is ok, time to recharge but not much gets done.  Solitary morning time on the other hand is kick butt High Productivity Time….a lot gets done. 

So this is not a difficult concept.  Just swap out a bit of Low Productivity Time to buy more High Productivity Time. Shift your sleep hours…duh. You choose the amount to shift but try starting with a half hour for owe week.

I went cold turkey and moved one and half hours to the mornings.  Truth be told, someone, who I will just refer to as “Venus”, starting getting up early to go to the gym. Now Venus takes an hour and fifteen to get out the door and much of that time is bang and clang and lights on in the bedroom kind of time.  So after a few days I just started getting up when Venus did. Once I got through the first week with my bed time drifting a bit earlier each day my new routine became easy. On average I go to bed now about an hour earlier that I used to.

The benefits: I really like the “Me Time”. I am on top of my work. I do more special project type things because I have more Creative Time.  I have time to write blogs! I leave earlier and with a relaxed feeling. I get to the gym more.  In the immortal words of the god father of soul….I Feel Good.

Works for me. Might work for you.

Ian

Waiver of Liability - I really just make this stuff up. No animals were harmed in the process of writing this blog.