If you’ve ever found yourself being unproductive or feeling sluggish during the day, maybe you’re just doing things at the wrong times. It’s time to plan your day with science.
The best time to hold a meeting is Tuesday at 3pm.
Statistically, everyone is most likely to be available at this time and the worst time schedule a meeting is at the beginning of the day. It also gives everyone ample time to prepare.
Drink coffee after 9.30am.
Don’t drag yourself out of bed and reach for the coffee — it’s not helping. The stress hormone cortisol, which regulates energy levels, peaks between 8am and 9am, so you don’t need a caffeine boost then anyway.
Get down to focused work during “biological prime time”.
Your biological prime time is the hours of the day when you have most energy and varies from person to person. To find your BPT, you have to cut out caffeine, sugar and alcohol and measure your hourly energy levels each day for three weeks to see when you feel best.
This seems like a lot, but once you know your BPT you can organize your day for new levels of productivity and never waste a moment of time ever again.
Work out in the morning, before breakfast.
Research suggests that an early workout before you’ve eaten will kick-start your metabolism to get you burning fat all day long and accelerate weight loss.
Interview for a job on a Tuesday at 10.30am.
If you get to schedule your job interview with a prospective employer, late morning on a Tuesday is ideal because it’s not too early or late in the day and also not right before or after lunch — so you’ll have the interviewer’s full attention.
Take a break midmorning.
You use up a lot of your mental power when it’s at its peak first thing in the morning so, to stop your productivity vanishing altogether, a midmorning break will rejuvenate you.
Take a nap between 2pm and 3pm.
Experts say that after lunch we typically feel sleepier and sluggish, so the afternoon is a great time to get some shut-eye, and earlier naps are less likely to interfere with good sleep at night.
Set your alarm for 10-30 minutes and enjoy a perfect powernap — any longer and you’ll feel sluggish.
Get creative when you’re already tired.
Despite that BPT we talked about above, experts say that when we’re tired our brains are more able to filter out unnecessary information, so even though you feel exhausted you’re actually primed for some serious creative thinking.