Are You Using Your Internal Energy Clock for Maximum Productivity?
I attended an interesting workshop by Don Neal who presented information about the typical internal energy clock:
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8:00-10:00 am our brains are most receptive to intellectual stimulation as it gears up for the day.
11:00 am-Noon most of us are hyperalert, and as the clock ticks past noon our energy levels begin a dive.
1:00-2:00 pm blood pressure, adrenaline levels drop making this a bad time for physical or intellectual pursuits.
2:00-4:00 most of us are still sluggish, making this an ideal time for tasks we can accomplish on ‘autopilot’, return phone calls, and update Facebook, etc.
4:00-6:00 our bodies and brains rebound and experts say its a good time for detail-oriented work.
6:00-10:00 is about refreshing and restoring, even if we need to extend the work day.
Understanding one’s own clock can help in structuring the work day: when to see clients, when to read detail-oriented reports, etc. For IECA, we’ll be looking to see if our conferences reflect this energy clock.
Posted by Mark Sklarow, IECA Executive Director
How productive to think about our own productivity! This post brings me to think about (marvel, really) how this “model” is so different from that experienced by the modern American teen/college student. I am curious to learn what has been said as to how our target population, i.e. students, can operate more productively.
Given the endless demands and distractions that students face, particularly away at school, I would like to be better able to offer meaningful guidelines and suggestions to support our kids to support their own healthy productivity.
Maria raises a good question… how do we re-think the school day based on this data. It would suggest that the worst time of the day for academic instruction is from 1:00 to 4:00 daily and while late afternoon classes can be avoided by college students, virtually every high schooler is taking classes during this time. One wonders if this time would be better off used for extra-curricular activities or innovative approaches. The daily ups and downs, per the research would also affirm what so many boarding schools have effectively discerned: that the time from 4:00-6:00 makes for a great homework/study/research period as the brain is re-bounding.