Are you equally as productive every single hour of the day?

It’s very unlikely that you are, and if you are, you’re quite special!

Most of us have times when we feel sluggish and we can’t focus as well as other times. For some, that might be first thing in the morning, for others, it might be mid-morning or mid-afternoon, and others might even find it is towards the very end of the day. 

Your most productive time actually links in with your lifestyle. If you eat high sugar and high carb foods, you’re going to end up feeling sluggish and lacking in energy a short while afterwards, because of the impending sugar crash. However, if you eat slow-release, high energy foods, you might find that your productive window goes on for a little longer. 

It also comes down to how much sleep you’re getting at night, which is something we all need to focus on and try and regularise! By ensuring that you’re well-rested and calm during your day at your executive desk, you’ll be far more productive in general. This also means taking regular breaks throughout the day, to help with focus and concentration. 

The first step to understanding scheduling and how to get the most out of your day at your office desk is to identify your specific productive time. This is different for everyone. 

Identifying Your Most Productive Time 

By knowing when your most productive time is, you can get more done on your to do list, and you’ll be able to say “my schedule is working!” That’s not something that many of us can say!

The best way to identify this magical time is to keep a productivity diary. Twice per day, usually at after lunch and before you leave your office chairs for the day, write down whether you felt full of energy and focus or whether you felt sluggish. You could rate this on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being full of energy and 1 being the total opposite. 

Keep this diary for around a week to 10 days and then look back over it. You should start to see a pattern emerging, which will give you plenty of reliable information to decide when your most productive time is.

Once you’ve identified your most productive window, you can utilise time management strategies to make the time you spend at your designer office desk more worthwhile. 

During your sluggish times, schedule in low energy jobs, such as filing or opening the mail, checking your emails and replying, etc. During high energy times, focus on concentrated jobs, such as statistics, reports, collaborating and other tasks which require sharpness and clarity of mind. 

In terms of the daily habits of the most productive people, identifying their most productive time is a big one. You’re not going to force your brain to work harder simply by telling it that it has no choice. You have to work with it and give it what it needs, in order to reap the rewards. We have peaks and troughs of energy every single day, you just don’t notice the specifics unless you’re looking for them.

Once you know this information, using a to do list app might work well for you, or looking into other specific techniques, such as the Pomodoro Method. This is a way of using short, sharp bursts of concentration and then having regular five minute breaks in-between. Many people find this extremely useful, so it might be something you want to try out for yourself. 

We’re all individual at the end of the day and that means knowing yourself and your productive window, or maybe even windows, in order to get the most out of your time in the office.