There is one time in the day that is critical to your productivity. If you are lucky, there might be two. This is the time when you get a lot done without any interruptions. And, you know what time I’m talking about. If you don’t, find your key productive time!
I find that, for most people, this time falls early in the morning. Some of the most successful people I know go to great lengths to protect this time because the rest of the day can just whiz by quickly with meetings and other urgent interruptions.
It is is worth thinking intentionally about your schedule so you get this time for yourself. Sleep early. Resist the temptation to work late at the end of a long day as you’ll get all that you need to get done in half the time when you wake up fresh. Avoid snoozing your alarm – instead, do something that wakes you up – I look through my news feeds and email as a way of making sure my brain wakes up (I tried not doing that but ended up going right back to sleep – I guess I still don’t have the discipline to just wake up and get to work).
It is one of those simple ideas that is hard to execute consistently – find the time in the day when you are most productive and likely to be interrupted least. Construct a schedule around it. And, make sure you get that time for yourself every day. Little habits like this make a big difference over the course of a long period of time.
The more we get done, the happier we are. We owe it to ourselves for our own happiness..
A Learning a Day 