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Are you most productive early or later in the day?

Anything related to matters of the mind

luniac

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I skip breakfast and i find that after eating a big lunch it feels impossible for me to sit down and do any software development or anything else that in my mind is "work".

My stomach is full and i just wanna relax and watch TV, which is exactly what i end up doing. Once i watch 2 or 3 episodes of tv I am mentally done, the gears have shifted for the day, I'm in full on "LEISURE" mode, and only going to bed will reset my mentality.

On the contrary, when i wake up, although it takes a bit of a push to get the ball rolling, I find that the empty stomach actually helps me be more focused, like some kind of primal focus or something.
I can do nothing but work stuff at least for a good 5-6 hours before i eat my meal, which feels like a reward for my efforts, and then i get to spend the rest of my day in victorious leisure.


I'm wondering if this is the "natural" cycle of "work and play"?
I find that whenever I slack off or throw in the towel when there's still work to be done, it casts a cloud over my leisure and kind of ruins it a bit.

However if i start off the day with a bang, knocking out all my work first, then I feel so damn accomplished and proud of myself.

I haven't been able to be consistent with it yet, but I'm really determined to make "work first" a lifetime mentality.
The hardest part is the very first moments of waking up, and knowing that you got several hours of work ahead. if those thoughts defeat me then i already lost for the day, otherwise i push through and have a very productive day.

I've tried mixing it up with a little work first, followed by a meal and relaxing for a bit, then work again in the afternoon, and that type of stuff.
It just doesn't work for me, and it muddies the whole day up.

This approach also helps me when it comes to typical "time wasting" vices like TV, video games, social media, etc
I don't say no to any of that stuff, but they have no part in my "work" phase of the day. Once i cross over into leisure, then i feel no guilt about binge watching a show on netflix or killin some time on youtube, or playin games or whatever.
If anything, i find that i end up entertaining myself with the most high value entertainment, basically less time randomly checking facebook and more time enjoying a good video game or something.

I'm curious to hear what long term approach works for people on here.
 
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rwhyan

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I've found that taking a walk (10-20 min) right after eating can help prevent that energy crash that usually happens.

Personally I'm just taking it one day at a time, trying to make each day slightly more productive than the last.

I'm stacking habits like waking up early, cold showers, stop listening to music (that one is damn hard for me but I find I waste so much time listening to music), reading non-fiction books instead of watching pointless videos, only laying down when it is time to sleep at night, etc.

This is still something I struggle with, but I think you have to focus on what is sapping your energy and remove those from your life.

For me, substances like caffeine, nicotine, sugar, marijuana, alcohol, etc. may feel good but ultimately are energy-sucking.
 

luniac

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I've found that taking a walk (10-20 min) right after eating can help prevent that energy crash that usually happens.

Personally I'm just taking it one day at a time, trying to make each day slightly more productive than the last.

I'm stacking habits like waking up early, cold showers, stop listening to music (that one is damn hard for me but I find I waste so much time listening to music), reading non-fiction books instead of watching pointless videos, only laying down when it is time to sleep at night, etc.

This is still something I struggle with, but I think you have to focus on what is sapping your energy and remove those from your life.

For me, substances like caffeine, nicotine, sugar, marijuana, alcohol, etc. may feel good but ultimately are energy-sucking.

yea habit stacking works. My strategy is essentially habit stacking all work into one pile that you knock out first.
 

jon.M

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I eat one meal a day in the evening (18:00). After that I only do relaxing stuff like exercise and rest.

This allows me to spend the majority of my day with high energy and focus.
 
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rogue synthetic

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I'm wondering if this is the "natural" cycle of "work and play"?

Yes, with a qualifier.

There are different chronotypes that reflect differences in circadian rhythms.

Some people are "lark" types, with an ordinary early-morning wakefulness, a lull in the afternoon, and a recovery phase in the evening. Energy and cognitive function peak in the wakefulness stage, drop off in the lull, and have a modest rebound in recovery before sleep.

There are "owl" types who have a delayed sleep pattern, so they feel drained in the morning and more energized at night.

Most people aren't at either extreme. Some people are neither, with oddball rhythms that can either be a sleep disorder or make them into a sleepless machine.

When I was younger I was more of an owl, though I think that was twisted by lifestyle. As I stopped staying up so late as I got older, I turned into a definite lark.

My morning hours from waking (between 6 and 7) up until noon or so are my best of the day. From about 1pm to 4-5pm I'm worthless. I used to think it was lunch, since I also skip breakfast, but I think it's more to do with the daily rhythm -- my lunch is usually a big serving of green veggies and eggs, so there's not a problem with carb sluggishness.

I get a "fuzzy" rebound from about 7pm until bed -- fuzzy, because I'm not nearly as on point as during the morning, but I feel more creative and spontaneous at night.
 

luniac

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I eat one meal a day in the evening (18:00). After that I only do relaxing stuff like exercise and rest.

This allows me to spend the majority of my day with high energy and focus.

yup i eat one meal a day too and i think that's another reason it affects me so much lol.
A standard breakfast or lunch is no biggie, but a 3000+ calorie meal changes my whole state of mind.
The massive meal is like the ultimate gateway between work and leisure.
 

luniac

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Yes, with a qualifier.

There are different chronotypes that reflect differences in circadian rhythms.

Some people are "lark" types, with an ordinary early-morning wakefulness, a lull in the afternoon, and a recovery phase in the evening. Energy and cognitive function peak in the wakefulness stage, drop off in the lull, and have a modest rebound in recovery before sleep.

There are "owl" types who have a delayed sleep pattern, so they feel drained in the morning and more energized at night.

Most people aren't at either extreme. Some people are neither, with oddball rhythms that can either be a sleep disorder or make them into a sleepless machine.

When I was younger I was more of an owl, though I think that was twisted by lifestyle. As I stopped staying up so late as I got older, I turned into a definite lark.

My morning hours from waking (between 6 and 7) up until noon or so are my best of the day. From about 1pm to 4-5pm I'm worthless. I used to think it was lunch, since I also skip breakfast, but I think it's more to do with the daily rhythm -- my lunch is usually a big serving of green veggies and eggs, so there's not a problem with carb sluggishness.

I get a "fuzzy" rebound from about 7pm until bed -- fuzzy, because I'm not nearly as on point as during the morning, but I feel more creative and spontaneous at night.

yea everyone is different, i've never been a morning person but i had to be cause of school or work.
Then night shift at my past job really screwed me over for awhile.

I'd rather be an early morning person, to be up to see the sun rise. I think it's healthy to sleep during night hours.

But to be honest, in the long term i wanna learn to sleep a maximum 4 hours a night. I'd get all my work done before most people even eat breakfast and id still have over 12 hours left to chill out if i wanted to.
 

Schwarz

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I'm stacking habits like waking up early, cold showers, stop listening to music (that one is damn hard for me but I find I waste so much time listening to music)

I know, right. I absolutely love music. But it constantly distracts me from my work plus it can convince me to listen to 'one more great song' and then I'll go to work.
Once music becomes a distraction (and pretty much anything that is a destraction) you should get rid of it. So now I only listen to it when I'm walking to work.
 

rwhyan

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I know, right. I absolutely love music. But it constantly distracts me from my work plus it can convince me to listen to 'one more great song' and then I'll go to work.
Once music becomes a distraction (and pretty much anything that is a destraction) you should get rid of it. So now I only listen to it when I'm walking to work.
Completely agree. I'm working on keeping music only for the night as a way to wind down and in the morning when I lift.

When I work I usually listen to white noise or airplane noise if my working environment is distracting. Ideally I'd listen to nothing, but the sounds of other people are personally super distracting to me.
 
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Rabby

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I'm 10x smarter early in the day, seems like. I also only eat one meal in the evening, usually, if I'm not going to lunch with people or something.
 

Mukul

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Waking up at 7:30 in morning, I am ultra motivated and enthusiastic ,high energy . Then at about 1:00 pm it starts decline and completely drop at 2:00pm.

Sent from my Redmi Note 4 using Tapatalk
 

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