In the rush to meet deadlines and tick off tasks, it’s easy to overlook the moments that fuel our best ideas. True productivity is about dedicating intentional time to thinking, reflecting, and letting inspiration take root, a moment when ideas are allowed to simmer and connections are made in unexpected ways. By weaving reflective time into our daily routine, we can create space for clarity, innovation, and creative growth.
Time Management for the Modern Mind
The fundamental aspect of time managing our day is identifying what are our “prime times” and what are our “down times”. If you’re an early bird, energized and focused in the morning, that’s your prime time. Conversely, periods of lower energy, when you feel less motivated, are your down times.
Prime times and down times can occur more than once per day and we can strategically plan our activities to leverage these periods to our advantage. Importantly, we shouldn’t confuse executive productivity — the ability of finishing assigned tasks in a given time with creative or deep thinking work, which often requires uninterrupted focus. Similarly, down time isn’t when our brains completely shut off or cease to function. In fact, our minds are always active, constantly processing , even when we’re at rest. During down times we are less likely to be creative and insightful.
Therefore, let’s move away from the notion that prime times are associated with high productivity and down times with low productivity. The premise of this article is that you should always save the best part of your day for your creative or deep thinking work, in other words the most valuable work. While this kind of work may not always be the most bustling it will be the sole foundation for any work done later on if not days or weeks on, therefore, give it your best energy. For every core (quality) work we do, there are multiple tasks that need to be done around it. Let’s get ahead of the overwhelming tasks that just appear in our mind before the actual core work even starts.
My prime time
If you’re in your prime time and tasks keep piling up, the first step is to park them. Don’t waste your peak energy on tasks like planning, scheduling meetings, or responding to emails. If you invest your prime time in tedious tasks, you may find yourself with even less energy when it’s time for your core work.
Here are some tips on how to use the “prime time” well:
- Be abundant, don’t constrain yourself to just an hour of creative work. Aim for at least 2h of interrupted deep work per day.
- Don’t underestimate the power of nature, pets and yes brief human interactions as energizers.
- Be flexible in embracing your sudden prime time. If you feel a surge of creativity, try to fit it into your schedule.
- Cherish your prime time. Protect it from interruptions like requests for meetings or small tasks.
My down time
“Down time” is not truly a downtime. Make use of it to tackle all the smaller and clear scope activities that do not require extensive deep rational, ideative or critical thinking. If even these tasks seem too demanding, consider taking a break to recharge.
Consider the down time as a moment when your brain needs unfocused time to do inventory and reshuffle the archives in the best possible way. To discover the power of an unfocused mind consider reading Srini Pillay book about unlocking the power of the unfocused mind.
Here is some general advice on how you should use the “Down time” best, considering that sometimes it is hard to separate the two “times”.
First 30 minutes of your day. It’s hard to start a day without checking calls or emails. Use the first 30 minutes of your working day to catch up on important updates, but instead of reading through them all, skim through titles. This isn’t a moment to respond but rather to inform yourself. The goal is to read the news that could change the course of the planned day first.
The goal is to read the news that could change the course of the planned day first.
Tedious task. This is the time for most mechanical and tedious tasks. Your brain, seemingly operating at slow speed, will still perform pretty decently! Our brains actually never never stop calculating and thinking even when we are unconscious about it.
Our brains actually never never stop calculating and thinking even when we are unconscious about it.
It’s ok to do absolutely nothing if your physical state does not allow you to perform well enough. Remember, a good break can boost your productivity. When in doubt a break is always a good idea, switching activities occasionally helps our brain to refresh.
When in doubt a break is always a good idea, switching activities occasionally helps our brain to refresh.
Use this template to help you plan your day
Let’s say you are planning a photographic exhibition. Core work to do in your prime time would be selecting the right photos, creating a mood board for the visuals and other creative thinking. These are tasks that give maximum value to the project. Tasks like contacting the catering and logistical services would be considered a down time task. These tasks could be done in a given time, let’s say 3 weeks before the opening. Searching for the perfect location is the second most important job after the core work. This could be a task that you need to be doing all the time, continuously, until you find one. There could be dependent tasks such as organizing the setup and decor after you have fixed the location. After the decor planning you will probably have to start ordering materials and hiring personnel, and these are the tasks that could be done in parallel.
Conclusion
To function at its full potential, our brain needs constant enrichment. Give your unconscious mind enough enrichment through random activities, fun tasks or relaxing moments. Cultivate ideas and water them often. The more you do this, the more ideas will flow, much like a muscle memory. Leave droplets of ideas here and there, some undefined, some more defined. It is not necessary to document it all, but consider that once the conditions are right the droplets of ideas could connect in a full creative flow. Don’t forget to reward yourself for a well-done day or task. Remember, more work is not a reward.
Just as you should respect your own time, respect the time of others. Avoid occupying others’ time unnecessarily. Give people ample time to respond to your calls and messages. In today’s fast-paced world, we’re always available and we communicate and expect to communicate instantly. However, this often leads to hasty responses without careful thought or fact-checking.
The final goal is to create space for balance and lifelong learning that will help us adapt to change with positivity and motivation.
Bonus tip
Try to leave some bonus time for your future self, what I like to call “Mystery Time,” for unforeseen work or breaks. By doing so, you will be glad that your meticulous planning didn’t go up in smoke because of one extra challenge or task.
When in doubt, remember that every moment spent on something tedious but not valuable, like rescheduling a meeting for more than the minimum necessary time (MNT), is taking away precious time that would actually bring value in the long run.
