Morning, Noon or Night
I read a lot of books…I listen to a lot of speakers. It always amazes me the importance many of them put on the morning. There are New York Times Best Sellers all about starting your day, making the most of the morning, be having lunch when others are having breakfast! No thanks!
They (whoever they are – probably those ‘morning people’) say the early morning hours are the most productive. They use words and phrases like:
Fresh – a new day
Quiet Universe
Clear mind and thinking
Patience meter is good
“Early bird gets the worm”
Look, I have tried, but I am NOT a morning person, just ask my family. My words are:
Groggy (and I don’t like coffee)
TOO quiet
Can’t think clearly – still dreaming
Annoyed that I am in an upright position!
“Discover the time of day when you write best and write then. For me it’s 7 am to noon. For other people it’s overnight. Try not to do anything other than write between those times.” – Jon Ronson
I don’t believe there is a one-time-fits-all recipe for success. I’m with Mr. Ronson on this…what is the best part of the day for YOU, when are you most productive? It might be the morning, it might be around noon or it might be at night. There is no right or wrong – so don’t let them tell you there is!
“The afternoon knows what the morning never suspected” – Robert Frost
Here are a few things to ask yourself:
- When do you feel most alive?
- What time of day are you the most creative?
- During what stretch of the day do you have the least amount of distractions?
- When is your motivation at its peak?
- Are you more inspired in the morning, in the afternoon or at night?
Once you honestly take a look at and answer those 5 questions you should be able to pin-point YOUR time of day. Schedule around it. If you are a morning person – put the tasks you need to have the highest amount of creativity and concentration on in the morning hours.
If lunchtime is your thing – make sure you don’t schedule lunch appointments all week and bypass those vital productive hours for other work.
If you are a night-owl be sure to allow time in the morning to sleep in (so you get 8 hours), and start your day later than others – it IS OK!
“I often think that the night is more alive and more richly colored than the day.” – Vincent Van Gogh
I used to be a true night owl. During college and even into my adult life I found that between 10 pm and 3 am I was the most productive. Maybe it was because there were NO distractions! But my schedule was such that I could sleep until 10 am.
Not anymore.
So now, I would love to be a morning person, get up before the sun and get a days work in before the day has even begun. But, alas, I am not. I have found that as I have grown older my most creative time, and the time with the least distractions, is from about 10 am until 3 pm. Probably because the kids were in school.
Now with the pandemic, and the kids doing school from home, the distractions have been at a higher level (although they are teenagers, so they don’t get up until noon).
But still, this mid-day time frame my juices are flowing, it’s not TOO quiet, and my inherent need to accomplish something each day is in high gear.
The point is, it may be that your time will change. That is OK too. But you need to stay in touch with your most creative and productive time and respect it, plan for it, and make the most of it.
Consistency and sustainability come when you are working within your own choices and timeframe. To try to adopt the “experts” time schedule for your life may work for a season, but not for a lifetime.
“Every day you wake up is an opportunity to go beyond.” – Carlos Santana
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