You have heard the phrases ‘night owl’ or ‘early bird’ but have you ever thought about which side of noon you feel most comfortable?

Knowing how your body clock ticks can highlight productivity hot spots in your working day. Once identified, the chances of achieving far more in significantly less time offers very realistic opportunities – especially if you’re a time-starved professional or business owner struggling to find balance in your work/life routine.

Flexible routines

Our working day has evolved with many workers enjoying staggered hours and flexitime. This is partly due to government legislation but also because we now realise that flexible working – splitting time between the office and at home and ‘hot desking’ – actually improves performance.

As a business owner one of the main attractions is to be your own boss but in many cases, the business owner simply becomes a slave to their own business rather than someone else’s.

Did you know that 84% of business owners work well over the average 40 hours per week? I’m sure that’s not what you set out to achieve therefore inefficiencies need to be identified. Research suggests that 50+ hours per week reduces productivity levels and deep down we know this to be true. So what’s the answer? It could be identifying your superhero hours.

What causes inefficient use of time?

There are many elements that interrupt patterns of productivity, even your own personality, behaviours and bad habits. As a starting point, if you can identify with any of the following, you may be getting distracted from the job at hand:

·         Distractions – think email and social media

·         Lack of planning – think lack of lists and reminders

·         Multitasking – juggling tasks and reacting to requests

·         Last minute tasks – everything seems to be rushed

·         Procrastinating – putting off the inevitable

·         Under-estimating time

All of the above can be stressful, especially if you’re poor at planning and have a reactive nature. Take time out and draw up a list of your ideal working day – how much do you need (or want) to achieve? What interruptions do you normally encounter and what has to take place at a specific time such as the school run, meetings or phone calls.

For one week, keep a time log for every task – this will help you to identify patterns of productivity and the times of day that you clear more work or get caught up with mundane tasks.

Make a note of how you feel whilst working on certain types of tasks and also times of the day. If you feel tired or unable to concentrate then you should take a break. Peak productivity may see you focused on one project for an hour but then you may find the Facebook feed has popped up and distracted you. Is this a pattern at certain times of the day? Work colleagues may also have opinions to share – have they seen you with your eyes closed at 2pm?!

Studies appear to show that we work in cycles of 90-120 minutes but only you can identify a true pattern of productivity but as a general rule, try to separate tasks and only focus on one project at a time. Split up large projects so that they appear smaller.

·         Turn off distractions

·         Set specific times for checking email and social media

·         Take regular breaks, especially if you work at a computer or sit down all day

·         Check your monitor brightness and sitting position

·         Ensure you get plenty of fresh air

Once you feel your ideal working patterns have been identified try to:

·         Use peak times for complex problem solving

·         Complete routine, small, easy tasks during energy dips or at the end of the day

·         Take a break when your body needs it

Different routines work for different people, roles and industries. What tips can you share and are there any techniques that have worked for you?