When do you work best?

What time of day do you work most effectively? This is an important question to ask yourself, if you haven't done so already. Chances are, there are times of the day when you are more clear, creative, and productive. So, quick, without thinking about it -- when are you at your best?

Chances are you said, "early morning" or "late evening" or something like that. Now get more specific:

1. Identify the types of work that you do. If we're thinking about school, then perhaps you have to read, write papers, and edit/proof those papers.

2. Now ask the question again, regarding each of those types of work. When during the day are you most focused as a writer? When do you most effectively read? And so on.

3. What are the other time blocks that you have available -- times when you are free to work, but you are typically not at your best?

And now of course the strategy is to try to tweak your schedule so that you can do your most challenging work during your most productive times. This might sound hard to do at first -- you are probably juggling school with many other responsibilities. However, the more that you can work at your optimal times, the more effective you will be and there are all kinds of benefits from that, in the long run.

Along the same lines, use those time blocks when you know you aren't your best, for the less challenging work, such as looking for articles if you are doing a lit review, and so on.

Thoughts???? What time-related strategies do you use?

Cheering you on!

Harriet