NATURAL TENDENCIES
We each have our own internal body clock, unique and engrained in our DNA. Another word for it is chronotype. I'm a morning person, or a lark. I usually rise well before the sun and definitely try to get up before the rest of the household. It's not that my body tells me to get up; I need an alarm to do that. I WANT to get up and get myself together, have that first cup of coffee, or two, before facing the world. You won't find me up much past 9:30p; I'm no night owl.
When is your best time of the day to be productive, in general? When we are mindful of what our body clocks are saying, we can increase our productivity in the workplace and at home. Routine, mundane or "brainless" tasks, like housework, could be done during our down times when our brain energy levels are lower. That would be the afternoon for me. I try to get my thinking tasks done in the morning when my brain seems to be "on". After lunch, I'm more foggy-brained, so I find afternoons the best time to do errands, visits, or meetings---more social tasks. Can you relate? One side of the equation:
You work a 9-5 Monday-Friday job, and you get to work on time or early. You are most productive in the morning (lark).The boss is an owl who doesn't usually communicate much until late afternoon, especially Friday afternoons around 4pm. That's when you're hit with a grocery list of tasks to complete before Monday morning. Will you be working on this frantically to get it done before 5p, take it home to get it done over the weekend, or do what you can before quitting time then come in early Monday? Let's look at the other side:
You are the boss and an owl. You work flexible hours, usually taking the mornings to schedule meetings, appointments or errands. After lunch you look at reports and work up tasks & schedules for your employees. You may still be at the office when the sun goes down. Seems like things slow down in the late afternoons, and you can't get your team on task and get what you want and when you want it done. Will you have to rearrange your day to do reports and schedules before lunch, work even later to get ahead of the game, or dig in a do some of it yourself? The Chattooga Chamber would like to encourage everyone to get to know your work team, especially if you're a manager. If you know their chronotype and you can structure their day around it, there's a good chance productivity will go up. If you're finding that your chronotype doesn't jive with your boss', perhaps a conversation would help you both find an equilibrium. connect. grow. learn.