When do you work?

Don't worry, I'm not trying to make you feel guilty if you happen to be reading this at work, but if you said 8 - 5 or some derivative thereof, think again.

I'd like to know when you do your best work.

I'm not talking about when you go to work. We all go to work. We go typically at a time predetermined by either our boss or society. We show up when it's expected. Because we're not drones however, turning our brains on or off is not necessarily something someone else can control. Frankly I'm not sure we can either. Sure I can influence my brain to start working whether it's with coffee, bribe of an impending vacation, threat of missing a deadline and the anger of a client, or with a shiny new computer, but let's face it, our mind works when it wants to.

I started thinking today about how I wanted to write about time management and how to be more effective at work but as I started writing and rewriting several times, I realized that describing making the most of our time in a short post was fruitless. For today, I just want to focus on when to show up.

I'd like you to think for a moment about a time when you recognized your brain fully engaged and you were really groovin' on an idea and the creative juices in your head.

Got one?

ok, now think of another one. Just one more.

There's a lot of this whole work better, smarter, faster dynamic, but for today, I'd like you to consider what time of the day do you recall experiencing real brain power? Of those two moments you just recalled, what time of the day did they occur? What did the room look like during those power sessions? Maybe you weren't even stationary; perhaps you were in a plane, train, or automobile?

The point is that there are certain times of the day and there are specific surroundings that enable your brain to get into overdrive. What happens in overdrive?

W O R K

Good work Break.throughs Solutions Ideation Gro.wth Passion Momentum E*n*e*r*g*y

Below I provide you with a snapshot of my week to give you an idea of how I work within my zone. I've discovered that while I'm not a morning person, once I've got up and went, it's the most productive part of my day while the afternoon is more focused on the sunshine and what's next. You'll see that for the most part I try and schedule my brainiac time in both the mid-morning hours and later evening hours.

When are you the most productive?

Call it a time journal, call it a pain, but record your activities and how you feel brain-power wise throughout the day for a few weeks and see if you can define your personal brainiac time.

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