Maybe there are people out there who have a consistent level of efficiency throughout the entire workday. If you are one of those people I salute you. For my own part, I’m reasonably efficient for most of the day, but I seem to have a sweet spot of a few hours in the late afternoon when my productivity seems to get a little boost. I don’t mean to imply that I’m twice as efficient during those hours, but it is enough of an increase that I notice. So there you have it, the best time of day to work is in the late afternoon. End of post.

Seriously, I realize that not everyone is going to have the same sweet spot that I do, but it makes sense to me that other people might (or could with a little work) have their own time of day when things just seem to click a little faster. So I thought about the factors that make my late afternoons such a great time to work. I tried to turn those into generalizations that will help you figure out your personal ideal time frame.

Interruptions

One of the reasons I’m so productive in the late afternoons is that I can work uninterrupted. I’ve already dealt with most of the phone calls and emails that I needed to get done that day. I almost always have the house to myself until 6PM. The maxim here is to look for the blocks of time when you’ll be left alone.

Clock-Watching

I also find that I’m not clock-watching in that part of the day. In the morning, I seem to keep glancing up to see if it’s time for lunch yet. In the evening, I know that I’m not going to eat dinner until my wife gets home. That means until I hear the front door open, I don’t even need to worry what the clock says. I can just keep hammering away on my web sites. It’s easy for me to imagine that for some of you reading, the late afternoon is when you’re most likely to stare at the clock, willing the seconds to tick by faster.

Inspiration

I don’t seem to have any control over when eureka moments hit me, but if you tend to get them at certain times or doing certain activities, then you should try to take advantage of it. Maybe you get great ideas in the middle of the night. If it’s feasible, get up and implement the idea then. Or maybe the light bulb goes off while
you’re in the shower or on the treadmill. Assuming you do these things at roughly the same time each day, then during the next few hours you’re likely to turn out some good work.

Mental Focus

At 8am, I’m usually still trying to wake up. At 11am, I’m thinking about how hungry I am. At 1pm, I’m thinking about how nice a nap would be. For me the biggest mental distractions are being hungry and/or sleepy. Your mental distractions may occur when your kids are about to arrive home, when the mail arrives, or when your favorite blogs publish new posts.

Looking At the Whole Week

This same thought process can be extended to cover the entire week. Maybe on Friday afternoon, you don’t do your best work because you’re thinking about your plans for the weekend. Maybe on Monday morning it takes a few hours to get back into the swing of things.

Being Proactive

If you find that you don’t have an ideal time to work because one or more of these factors is always in play, you may be able to “create” your best time to work. Suppose your day is filled with constant interruptions. If the kids get home at 3:30, it probably isn’t practical to ask them to wait on the front porch for a few hours so
you can get some work done. It is practical, though, to ask friends and neighbors not to call or visit in the morning, for example.

What is your best time to work? Do you have a guess as to why that time works so well for you?

filed under: Running a Business