The Most Un-Productive Time of Our Day
Only in a Utopian World, we can imagine humans to be productive 24 by 7. However, in the real world, we need to know our cycles of productivity. Knowledge workers are the ones who need to be at the peak of their productivity to get the maximum out of their work.
This peak productivity wholly depends on the circadian rhythm of each individual.
Circadian Rhythm is a natural, internal process that regulates the sleep-wake cycle every 24 hours.
Author Daniel H. Pink, in his book "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing", mentions a particular duration of time in the day which is considered to be most unproductive. It is between 2 pm to 4 pm where according to a survey, CEOs say stupid things on a quarterly earnings call to cause their stock prices to crash down, students score low on their standardized exams and doctors tend to deliver more fatal doses of anesthesia during these 2 hours.
According to the author, 2:55 is considered to be the most unproductive time for the day.
This is because between 2 pm to 4 pm our productivity takes a low, we hit a trough.
Our Attention and Mental ability go through these three phases:
- Peak: This is the time that is considered to be the most productive time of the day. It is said to be the most suitable time for completing hard, logical, and structured work.
- Trough: After 7–8 hours of waking up in the morning, our productivity takes a hit. This usually happens between 2 pm to 4 pm. Thus it is said to take a nap during this time and avoid any important work. A 10–20 minutes of nap can increase our mental attention for 3 hours.
- Rebound: This is the time that is considered to be the creative time of our day. It is suggested to do insightful work like creative writing, brainstorming, and solving insightful problems during this time.
Knowing these cycles of productivity we can get the maximum out of our day.