It's time to swap the 9 to 5 workday for your own circadian rhythm
Image via Kindel Media
Did you come here looking for a good dose of hustle culture BS?
Soz, mate. This post ain’t it.
You won’t find me preaching the merits of productivity or how to ‘hack’ your body to rake in the wins. Instead, I’ve made a little something to help fellow freelancers who have been struggling to focus recently.
Over the last six months, work has been tough. I can’t seem to get my head down, and I leave my desk at the end of the day feeling unsatisfied and frustrated. It’s like productivity blue balls. Or so I imagine…
I recently wrote a post on how I kicked a job’s ass by fitting it into my schedule at strategic times of the day. Times when I knew I’d be ‘peak’. Quite a few people commented on it, so I thought I’d crank this post out to elaborate further.
So, as the wise Mario once said: “let’s a-go!”
So, here’s the thing — not all of us operate at ‘peak’ during standard work hours. Sounds obvious, yet (in classic freelancer fashion), we don’t apply that consideration to our own work.
By forcing yourself into the standard 9 to 5, you run the risk of crippling your creativity. And then what? You beat yourself up for not being productive.
But there are other ways to work and, as a freelancer, you’ve got the freedom to do them. It’s whatever you want, mate!
Circadian rhythms
Let’s start macro with circadian rhythms; your natural body clock and energy levels. What time of day do you have the most energy and focus? When do you start to get sleepy? Are you an early bird or a night owl? Perhaps you’re a lunchtime…lark…? 👀😕
Even information as basic as this can help you structure your day more cleverly — if you know you aren’t going to be able to focus until late morning, why not shift your entire day back a few hours? You’ve got the freedom, so why not?
We can even go down to a micro level: is there a pattern in the times of day you like to settle into deep focus work? Certain times that ideas seem to flow more easily? It’s all useful when planning your day!
Let’s take me for example:
I’m at my peak first thing in the morning. From 8am until 11am, you’ve got a wild idea-generating machine on your hands. She’s on top form, lads.
This is when I develop and generate ideas or create content plans. It’s a good time to do proofreading (because I’m focused) or flesh out the structure of a blog post or two.
I come back from lunch at about 1pm, and by this point in the day, I’m ready to settle down into some deep focus work. This is the time to smash into the meat of a blog post and write the living heck outta that thing.
Once the clock hits 4pm, I start to lag. My brain is done and I usually can’t focus on much. This is the time of day I reserve for ancillary tasks. My bookkeeping, planning my diary, drafting emails, scheduling content, maybe even doing some keyword planning.
But wait, there’s more…
Working with your brain
You don’t just have the freedom to work to your body clock, either. You could structure your approach to suit your brain.
Task batching: Are you the kind of person who likes to get into the groove and keep the flow once you’re there? Perhaps you’d benefit from task batching? The premise is simple: lump loads of similar tasks together so you can maximise your current ‘mode’. If you’re already in proofreading mode, haul all the proofing tasks out and get them done in one go.
All meetings in one day: My mate André Spiteri does this and I think it’s a wicked idea, especially if you’re routinely overrun with meetings that cut into your work time and take up your brain power. Just book all your discovery calls for the same day and smash them out in one go, with no interruption to your workflow. If you need to take regular meetings and catch-up calls, maybe you could schedule them for the same time every day, so you can slot ‘em into your daily work flow? Boff!
Task switching: Okay, okay. This is my own invention and it only exists because this is how my brain works. If I’ve spent the morning ploughing through a massive blog post, I need to cleanse my mental palette with a completely different task. Maybe I’ll draft up some emails or cook up some LinkedIn posts. Anything that feels different enough to give my brain a rest before it shifts gears again. If you’re wired like me, it might be an idea?
Make rituals: Sally Fox recently wrote this corker on the power of rituals in creative work and I couldn’t agree more. For some people, starting a day or a task in a specific way can help you find your groove faster. The taste of coffee is often enough to get me in the mood to work. Sally also wrote an article on how you can use your menstrual cycle to structure your month. Good for all you little bleeders out there!
Working intuitively: This one’s a bit luxury but it’s handy to know. If you’re plugging away at something and getting nowhere, switch to a different task (preferably one which requires a different ‘set of muscles’). Still not getting anywhere? It might be time to log off and start fresh tomorrow. This is why it’s always good to start a task earlier than you need to and build extra time into the turnarounds you promise. It never pays to punish yourself if it isn’t going to happen — creative work isn’t the same as other types of work. You gotta be in that zone.
And that’s me done. Do you have any additional tips to add? Any feedback you want to give? Perhaps you’d like to say something nice about my hair? Come and find me on Twitter.