Work Only Your ‘Good Hours’ To Become More Productive

There are peak times when each of us is more productive than other times, more creative and focused. Working on major projects outside of those peak times can be a waste of time.

Photo by Justin Henry.

Harnessing your peak productivity time is a tip we’ve mentioned before, and Trent at The Simple Dollar reminds us that “your good hours are the only valuable ones”. Even if you have a set number of hours you have to put in at work, shifting more menial or boring tasks to your less productive hours can help you accomplish more overall:

Instead of burning eight hours writing (with only, say, three of them involved in effective wordsmithing), I quit after the first two hours of good writing, go do something else for a few hours, then come back and (possibly) ride another burst of writing. I still get those three hours in, but I also get five hours of other tasks in.

If you don’t know when your peak productivity time is, try /”energy mapping” your work day.

Other ways to boost your productivity with better time management: use side “procrastination projects”, adopt a 30/30 minute work cycle, and focus on 1-3 activities a day. How do you manage your work hours?

Good Hours, Not More Hours [The Simple Dollar]