Smart Days: How to Plan Your Days Around Your Brain

I was reading the news years ago on New Year’s Day. The day everyone is setting resolutions, excited about living their best life and planning for an amazing year of health and wealth and happiness. The article—and I really wish I had kept it—talked about planning our goals and work around our energy at certain times of day to be more productive and enjoy work more.

I am always fascinated with brain science so this one, full of studies and research, really drew me in. The overall message was that understanding how the brain works from the moment we wake up, to the lull in the afternoon, to the flip of energy in the evening, can help us plan our work around what our brain will be inclined to do at those times. The idea is to enjoy your work more and be more efficient and effective with your time. It’s what we all want, right?

Here is what I learned and have been implementing and aware of ever since. The brain is more attuned to administrative tasks in the morning—those to-do lists and things that need to get done. In the afternoon, it takes a bit of a pause. Thoughts take longer to process. You already know this. We always feel an afternoon slump in energy whether it requires a nap or you just feel a little slower. Best things to do are to take a walk, take time to think and process ideas and have conversations. Around 4pm, the creative brain kicks on and things shift again. This is the ideal time to nurture creative projects and plan the big ideas.

So here is how this knowledge has changed me, and how it can help you too. As a mom of four kids, my days rarely get to go how I would like them to or as planned. But knowing my administrative brain is on in the morning has helped me to plan my tasks and the things I need to “check off” for the hours before noon. This means the calls to the school, or doctor appointments to set up, paying bills, returning phone calls, checking email—these all are best suited for those morning hours when my brain is tuned in to completing tasks.

In the afternoon, I shift to more active things that need to be addressed. I wish laundry wasn’t on that list, or cleaning, but it is. I use this time to listen to podcasts and books, connect with clients and friends and get dinner prepared. I always feel super lucky when I can sit down to actually read a book, or nap—SUPER lucky and super smart.

The 4pm creative brain time is a challenge for moms! It’s a challenge for me, anyway. I would LOVE to have the space and freedom to craft and create the big ideas and project management I need in marketing, email design, content creation and management, even practicing my violin—but often my kids demands and schedules take over this time of day. It is admittedly something I have struggled with. But, the amazing thing is that knowing what my brain is attuned to during this time has opened a door and freed my previously limited thinking. I may not get to sit at my laptop to design or play that gorgeous Beethoven Sonata, but I can write down the ideas and inspiration that come to me during this time wherever I am. I’m learning to mentally open the door for such inspiration to come and making it a priority to write it down. I may listen to the music I am working on and jot down a few notes about a phrase I have been struggling with. For my clients, I often write down names of people and ideas of ways I can serve them and help them with a particular recommendation or a tweak to their skincare routine. Sometimes the actual creating and writing has to happen in the morning hours when my more administrative brain is on, but having written down ideas and plans the day before during that creative time serves as the best springboard for action when I can sit down and play the piece or get the work done. It has made my working hours so much more effective and efficient and has brought much more joy into the work that I do across all aspects of my life.

I admit, knowing the ideal doesn’t mean it is going to happen that way. Life is busy and interruptions are inevitable. But I feel more empowered to plan the kinds of work I want and need to do around the times of day when they will come to life the most and when I will love the process of it all the more.

Brain science is cool and knowing how your brain works will connect you to YOUR work in profound ways.

I hope this helps you redesign your schedule and your work flow in ways that enlighten your life and serve your family even better.

xoxo

Dayna