When are you at peak energy during the day? If you’ve been feeling burned out, you might say, “Never!” I empathize. But even if you’re feeling overwhelmed, there is probably a part of the day when you feel more energy than others. For me, it’s first thing in the morning. For my wife, it’s about an hour after she gets up. For my friend, Julie, it’s the evening. For my colleague, John, it’s between 11 and 1.
For me, those first couple of hours are sacred. I try my best not to schedule anything during that time, although that’s not always possible. I line up what I am going to do the evening before.
Now, you might be thinking, “Isn’t that wonderful for you. You work for yourself.” But that wasn’t always the case and even then, I tried to preserve that time for stuff I needed to concentrate on. If you consider the people you work with, chances are you’ll discover at least a couple who block out certain times to get the focused work done. For those working remotely or hybridly, this has become easier because they don’t feel like they have to hide.
One of the interesting impacts of the pandemic upheaval is that it has compelled employers to reexamine work through a lens of outcomes, rather than task completion. This has been driven in large part by people saying, “Tell me what needs to be done. Leave me alone and let me do it on my time and in my way.” Even those who have returned to the workplace fulltime are more focused on getting the work done than punching the clock. The traditional 9-5 routine in many businesses is giving way to more flexibility in the way work gets done. Why? Because of concerns about recruiting and retaining top performers.
This is all to your advantage, because your boss is more likely to be open to an outcome vs task orientation. If you say, “I would like to block out two hours every day to focus on projects, reports, or whatever without answering emails and Teams or Zoom chats,” chances are you will receive that flexibility.
So why is this so important? Three reasons. First, it will provide some stability in the midst the normally chaotic day. The brain loves stability and predictability. Second, you’ll avoid all the distractions that sap your energy and the time it takes to recover from those distractions. Third, it will provide opportunity for downtime. Closing the door, turning off the email, even escaping to another location for a bit gives to a chance to take a breath. It also gives you something to look forward to in the midst of crazy-busy weeks.
So, what’s the key to doing this? Are you ready? . . . Begin doing it. Don’t ask to do it. Don’t announce that you’re doing it. Just do it. Truth is, everyone else is so busy they probably won’t notice that you’re doing it. All the better.
What strategies do you use to block out time? We’d all like to know. Put them in the comments below .