5. Time Use and Efficiency - Article 2: Clocking Off - Doing the Right Thing at the Right Time
For many of us, our schedules are fixed and we do what we do when we are told. However, if you have any flexibility with your schedule or when you complete certain tasks, it can be worth considering whether you truly are optimising yours or your families schedules.
Early Birds and Night Owls
We’ve all heard the terms ‘Early Bird’ and Night Owl’ - usually to justify an undesirable habit or action, such as finding the early start to the day impossible or being unable to string a full sentence together after 9PM.
It turns out that these genetic dispositions are in fact very real! We are hard wired with genes making us certain ‘chronotypes’. Back when we lived in caves and faced constant danger, this was an evolutionary advantage for when it came to keeping watch - if you all fell asleep at the same time, the likelihood is you were fucked. Nowadays, it doesn’t really serve much help apart from maybe being able to watch what you want at night while your partner is asleep.
The majority of us have either one disposition or another. There are a few exceptions - there is a sort of in-between bird who doesn’t like particularly early mornings or late nights, a Goldilocks Bird if you will. Children typically are early birds. Teenagers are night owls (this is proven so cut them some slack when they are horrible zombies first thing!). Then, as we reach our golden years, we all tend to become more of an early bird.
However, few people lean into their chronotypes and consider how they can make their chronotype match their productivity. If you know you aren’t great early in the day, perhaps elect to do some slightly easier jobs first thing in your workday. That said, if you are an early bird and thrive first thing, use the start of the day to bash out as much work as possible and ease as the day goes on, perhaps nipping off home a bit earlier.
Stop the clocks!
Many people have heard of circadian rhythms - this is essentially our main internal clock that knows roughly the day is 24 hours and we do things when it is daylight.
However, few people consider how they make sure their circadian rhythm is correctly aligned. If you are feeling like you have erratic energy levels or just have no get up and go when you need it, it could be worth trying to realign your circadian rhythm. There are things called zeitgebers, which cue our body clock throughout the day - a bit like having to keep winding up an old fashioned watch. If you can have a relatively consistent schedule day to day it will help your body switch on and off at the right times.
Some zeitgebers include: meal timing, bed and wake up times, exercise, temperature and social interaction.
However, if I were to suggest one change to supercharge your circadian rhythm, it would be to have bright lights when you want to be ‘on’ and dull light or darkness when you want to be switching off. So when you wake up, whack on the big lights and when you’re chilling out at the end of the day just have dim lamps on and no phone glaring in your face!
“You look like you could do with a break!”
Our bodies thinking in terms of roughly 24 hours at a time makes sense right?
Now while we have a main clock in our bodies, sort of like a grandfather clock in the entrance way, we also have many other smaller clocks in our bodies - think egg timers, automatic standby on your TV, your vacuum’s annoyingly short charge - you get idea.
One of these clocks, the Ultradian Rhythm, is essentially your body’s ability to focus and work hard on any given task. For most people, this is approximately 90 minutes. After this, your mind needs some recovery time - between 15-30 minutes - before it can get back to the grind.
This is really important when you’re trying to bang out that important project which requires all your attention but you’ve hit a wall! There really is no point persisting! Your brain needs a break. The best course of action once you have reached this point is a quick break with no strenuous thinking and then come back to it and you will find yourself so much more productive.
Before becoming a health coach, I was a teacher and I wish I knew about this then. It is estimated that the average school age child has an ultradian rhythm lasting around 60 minutes. After lunch would often be 2 to 2 and a half hours long and it was honestly a slog and you felt like you achieved little to nothing.
Now, I often deliver training sessions or corporate days and as the deliverer, there can be a temptation for me to keep going and going. However, introducing these brain breaks at strategic points allows participants to focus and take as much as possible from any sessions.
For neurodiverse people (e.g. ADHD, ASD), these ultradian rhythms are believed to be even shorter, possibly around 30 minutes. Whether you are neurodiverse or not, if you feel like the 90 minute focus length is not optimal for you, there is a time management technique known as the Pomodoro Technique. This is essentially 25 minute bursts of focussed with with short 5 minute breaks. This prevents distractions, promotes hyper focus and prevents burnout. Personally, I find this way of working great for me! If you want to turbo-charge it, I find doing a short bout of exercise in the 5 minute break (not for the whole 5 minutes) gets my blood flowing and I feel ready to get even more done. This could be 5 push ups, 10 air squats, sprinting on the spot for 20 seconds; whatever you find most beneficial for you.
Pick a task
Set a 25-minuute timer
Work on the task until the timer is done
Take a 5 minute break
Every 4 Pomodoros, take a longer 15-30 minute break
The next and final article in this series will be more stand alone strategies myself and clients have found supports their time management and productivity. To ensure you don’t miss out, subscribe to my Substack.
If you are finding yourself unable to manage your schedule, feeling like you can’t control your stress or just want to make general changes to your health, working with a health coach may be beneficial. Go onto my website and apply for coaching and we can move from there.