Do You Work On Goals Before Or After "Other Stuff"? (Morning or Evening?)

[sidsavara]

I've been trying different strategies to squeeze more productivity out of myself.

One thing I noticed was I'd sometimes make excuses when I came home after work and so my personal goals were slipping. So I started waking up earlier and doing them first thing in the morning instead - which has its own challenges =)

Was curious about other people's thoughts on it and what you guys do. Full disclosure I am writing a blog post about this right now so I may use your ideas in it

[RipIt]

I'll throw in my $.02. I've found it helpful to have like a #1 goal in mind. The one thing that you do no matter what. Right now mine would be work out. I'm also dieting, but working out comes first. What I have found is by doing this goal no matter what, it helps me do other goals. So when I'm thinking to skip off the diet, I think "Well I already worked out, how am I gonna drop my diet?"

For me, I also hate working out, so everything else seems trivial if I've worked out.

One thing, related to energy levels and work, I've noticed that when you don't put in that much effort in the office, you feel tired a lazy when you get home. When I was younger I didn't understand that you can't "conserve" energy. When you put in 110% all day, you're damn sure you're gonna put in 110% when you get home (unless you push too hard and burn out, but that's a different topic all together).

[Sami]

I find tackling goals when I'm at my most productive and have the most energy to be the way to go. I'm a morning person so I wake up earlier (usually 5am) and get going on goals in the early morning hours. I'd work with your own energy levels and focus on your goals at your peak time of the day/night (assuming of course that your peak energy time isn't while you're at work).

I've also found that breaking a medium/large goal into small chunks and working my way through the small tasks really creates momentum and motivation. This often helps me over-ride low willpower.

[sidsavara]

This is off topic but man Sami your site is *awesome*

Beautifully designed, the writing has character and you update it constantly. I am very impressed.

And I love lemmings!

[Trezker]

It is definitely best to work on your goals before other stuff. Simply because other stuff drains your energy which makes it really hard to start working on the goals.

So you should always work on goals first thing after resting, or eating. That's when your energy is at a peak. Other stuff doesn't require any starting energy, there's no threshold on other stuff.

I'm very bad at following my own advice though.

[FazK]

I think the best time to work on goals is by waking up very early in the morning. You are freshest then. After work is a bad idea because you will be to burnt out and exhausted to do anything

[Shane]

For me, what works best is planning tasks and thinking about goals in the evening and actually doing them early in the morning.

I can get into working on my personal goals at other times of the day as well, provided I have gotten other necessities out of the way first.

[FeelGood]

I always find working on my goals (and meditating) works wonders if I start and end my day with it. Of course, I'm so not a morning person, so a lot of times, it ends up being at the end of the day.

[run_fly]

I have tried being an early riser for awhile and that work out great except I could tell it was wearing me down after awhile. I am now in sleep in mode.

The good thing about sleeping in is I am very rested during the day and I never get tired. And one thing I noticed is I can be very productive late at night.

I am wondering if some of us is more productive late at night?

[Froztwolf]

People are active at very different times.
I used to be the most active after about 9 or 10 pm.
Now I find myself being the most active in the early morning and then again in the early evening.

[sidsavara]

Great discussion guys

Part of the reason I ask is like run_fly, I am getting up early and I am also wondering whether it's wearing me down.

I tend to get into a zone a lot, but the times vary - like this weekend, I went out, came home late and was super inspired and ruined my sleep schedule staying up well into the morning working on my website, writing articles and book reviews and redesigning stuff. Probably the biggest redesign ever on my website, and I knocked out some guest posts for submission too

Of course, the question there is - do I keep going? Or do I say hey, time to sleep, it's on the schedule? I can't sleep when I am super inspired anyway so it wasn't really even a choice

[Sami]

This is off topic but man Sami your site is *awesome*

Beautifully designed, the writing has character and you update it constantly. I am very impressed.

And I love lemmings!

Hey Sidsavara, thanks very much! Really appreciate your feedback. Very kind of you.

By the way, it sounds like you should work on your goals when you feel inspired. When that happened you got a lot achieved, which doesn't surprise me. You'll do your best work when you're inspired.

There are some great suggestions here but ultimately we're all different so what works for you may not work for someone else. What you could do is trial all the suggestions (including only working on your goals when you're inspired) and see what works best. You may find a combination that suits you really well.

PS. Yep, lemmings rock!

[pseymour]

I've been fighting a small battle with this myself lately.

I would say my number one goal has been to exercise so I would do it first thing in the AM BUT I am also a morning person which makes me think that this would be the peak time to actually get some work done.

Now, since I'm lagging at night a bit AND feel that I should be working more at that time, I'm thinking I should switch it up and do the cardio in the evening...hoping for a little extra boost in the PM.

BUT my fear is that I won't do it at night...In which case I just need to kick myself in the booty! lol

I do like to make a to-do list in the AM first thing and conquer the bigger rocks/more important things earlier in the day!

P.S. Sami - I also think your site looks great!

[Sami]

I would say my number one goal has been to exercise so I would do it first thing in the AM BUT I am also a morning person which makes me think that this would be the peak time to actually get some work done.

I have found this myself when it comes to exercise (and I'm a morning person too). In the last 4 months or so, I've switched a couple of my exercise sessions to the evening only because I've joined a boot camp and a touch football team, both of which are held in the evening each week.

What I've noticed is, because I'm committed to meeting others to train/play, I never miss the session. If I were training on my own, it'd never happen. By the end of the day I would have come up with all kinds of excuses to not exercise.

Now, since I'm lagging at night a bit AND feel that I should be working more at that time, I'm thinking I should switch it up and do the cardio in the evening...hoping for a little extra boost in the PM.

BUT my fear is that I won't do it at night...In which case I just need to kick myself in the booty! lol

I do like to make a to-do list in the AM first thing and conquer the bigger rocks/more important things earlier in the day!

I found just keeping a regular, consistent, high intensity exercise program (and healthy eating) has given me an energy boost to get things done during even my low productivity times (ie evening). I think the key is "high intensity". I've exercised pretty much my whole life but it wasn't until I started doing high intensity stuff and really pushing myself (or rather being pushed by a trainer) that I started seeing great results both health wise and energy wise.

You could always trial exercising at night for a week and see if it works. If you can't stick with it, go back to exercising in the morning but up the intensity a bit.

P.S. Sami - I also think your site looks great!

Thanks Pseymour! Feel free to drop around and say hi. We have a very friendly community there.

[Talkofthatown919]

i split up tasks that i need to do. For one if i'm doing something that i am not into at that moment i will stop. Cause actually i'm just waiting time sitting there.

[pseymour]

Originally Posted by Sami

Thanks Pseymour! Feel free to drop around and say hi. We have a very friendly community there.

Thanks Sami - for the tips and the note! Yes, I have been reading this forum a bit and I definitely agree with you on the friendly bunch - nothin I like better!

Have a great/productive day everyone!