Are Your Working Hours Jeopardizing Your Productivity?
Human beings are creatures of habit. (Yes, even freelancers like you.) We tend to wake up at the same time each morning, go through the same basic routine of tasks every day, and go to bed at the same hour every night. Routines are comforting and familiar.
Oh, and they could destroy your productivity.
Every person is most productive at certain times of day and least productive at others. You may assume you’ve already figured out when those times are for you, because you’ve been following the same patterns and habits for years.
Since you’re getting work done fairly well, those are your most productive hours, right?
Afraid not. I know at least a dozen extremely successful freelancers whose careers only took off once they discovered the true times they were most productive – and every single one of those freelancers had no idea, up until that point, that they weren’t getting as much out of their workweek as they could.
Taking Your Productivity for a Test Drive
Those best, most productive hours are different for everyone, unfortunately, so I can’t just suggest you work from 5am to 11am or 4pm to 8pm, for example.
The hours each of us are most productive have to do with the way our individual brains are wired. Studies show that night owls and morning people have completely different nervous systems. So how do you find out what hours are most productive for you?
I’m an early riser, myself. Up at 5 am every day. I know a few other people who swear by getting up at dawn, like James. Those hours make us feel good. We enjoy the silence, the slow beginning to the day. We like being at our desks before the rest of the freelancing world has even hit the snooze button once.
You might be that kind of person. And you may not even know it.
Others enjoy late night work. There’s no shortage of night owls in the freelancing world, and burning the midnight oil is extremely satisfying for them. They like finishing off a big project in the wee hours and then falling into bed, spent.
You might enjoy one of those nights too. But you also may not have tried it.
That’s the problem. We often believe we’re a night owl or a morning person, but in actual fact, we’re just locked into a habit and we’ve fooled ourselves into thinking that we’ve got it right. James used to stay up until 2am every night – for years – doing some good work indeed. That is, until he realized that going to bed at 9pm and getting up at 5pm left him feeling a whole lot better.
We tend to get set in our patterns and habits, but we’re not 9-to-5ers. Our freelancing careers allow us to get more creative than that. Since you have the freedom, try playing around with your hours. Get up a little earlier every day, or stay up a little later. (Don’t do both at the same time – you’ll burn out.)
Try out your new time for two weeks or so to adjust. See if you notice any changes, good or bad. Pay attention to when you get the most work done during the day. Often freelancers think they’re hitting a block when they’re actually just hitting a pocket of non-productivity.
You haven’t lost your touch – you just need a break.
Start getting up from your desk for an hour every time you get stuck. Do something else, something mindless. Come back in an hour and see if you’re rearing to go.
Keep a log of those hours over at least a week. If you notice you’re always productive at the same time and completely incapable of working at other times, congratulations: you’ve found your optimal productivity.
Leveraging Your Productive Hours
Most freelancers exhaust themselves by trying to work through hours when they aren’t productive. Don’t do this. You’ll either wind up mentally exhausted or you’ll distract yourself with procrastination. If you do the former, you’ll be too tired to work at your best times. If you do the latter, you’re liable to go right through your most productive hours without even noticing you’re ready to go again.
No good.
Instead, work as hard as you can during your most productive times and stop when you start to feel yourself lagging or getting tired. Use your off hours to give your brain a break. Do some physical activity for awhile – hell, go for a walk. Read for pleasure. Have a chat with a friend. Cook some food.
Whatever you do, make sure you’re letting your brain completely disengage from the work at hand. Pick an activity that’s mindless and carried out almost automatically without you having to think about it.
When your productivity window comes back around, sit down and get back to work. Your brain will be rested and you’ll be primed to do some of your best work.
Be prepared for your productive hours to be scattered all over the day in little bits and chunks. This isn’t just likely – it’s almost guaranteed. Very, very few people can actually work productively for a solid eight-hour block, freelancers or no. Don’t fool yourself that you’re above being human like everyone else.
The difference is that freelancers have the freedom to step away from their desk and give their brains a break. Feel sorry for the guy in the office cubicle who can’t – he’s wearing out his brain.
You, on the other hand? You’re flying high in your best productivity zones. Right up until the moment you’re not, and then you get to take a break and wait for your next productive time to come around.
We knew the freelancer’s life was better, and now we have one more reason why.
About the Author: For more tips on how to get the most out of your freelancing career, head on over to Men with Pens, where Taylor and James give you tricks of the trade to get ahead.
418,579
Whether you want to learn while you work out or to make that commute useful, Freelance Radio is the place to hear all the tips, tricks and news of freelancing.
Freelance Radio
With over 100 weekly comic strips and counting, Freelance Freedom is an institution around here. Check out of all NC's brilliant work in the archives.
Freelance Freedom Archives
Interested in contributing to FreelanceSwitch? Write for the foremost freelance community and help share knowledge for the benefit of all!
Become a Guest Writer
I’m pretty much with you on all you have to say here. My only problem is, I have both my full time work, and I also am following my passion which is art. So I’m in art school and every project I have I take seriously and want to invest *some* of that productive time towards my art, you know. So I really have to make sure that I’m doing one or the other – art, or working making my living (web development, which I also do enjoy). Of course surviving paying the bills does come first, but I also don’t want for my art to be cast off while all my productive time goes elsewhere. I end up relegating most of day, roughly 8-5 for working, then at night I work on my other projects.
Ouch, double dipping. Good thing you don’t have kids (at least, I HOPE you don’t!) or you’d have three work shifts going on.
Have you tried doing your artwork in the very early morning before 8am? Maybe an hour’s worth in that dawn period – you might be amazed how productive that hour could be.
Great Article, the only thing that I think you missed out was the practicalities of working your most productive hours.
My girlfriend assumes that because I work my own hours I can take whatever time off I want. This is technically true, though it is obviously a bad thing to do. Work builds up, clients start moaning, stress builds etc.
My most productive times are at night. There is nothing going on, the world is still and I am feverishly working away. I love it. However, I have a girlfriend and friends and stuff to do. I have to ensure that my down time coincides with hers so we can actually spend some time together.
By working unsocial hours, I may be super productive when it comes to work. When it comes to my personal life though its not so great. Instead of clients moaning about work not complete, people moan about not spending enough time with them.
The story of my life. No matter what hours you work it won’t work out for every one. Your best bet is to find what works for you and hope your friends are understanding. As for clients you could always pick and choose those willing to work with your schedule and be upfront about it.
I can honestly say that there’s no one in my life who wants do anything with me at 5am. By the time they’re ready to start nagging I should spend less time at the computer, I’m ready to take a break. And my evenings are extra quality time, so it’s all good.
That stillness and silence is what I enjoy most about dawn – you may actually want to try flipping your night for that dawn time – at night, you’re still fighting a day’s worth of fatigue and you might get even double what you’re doing now by working early mornings. Worth a shot!
Great post. I think most of my work-related issues come from trying to work during non-productive hours. However, my wife works 6:30 am – 4:30 pm four days a week. It’s a little tough for me to work afternoons and evenings and still have time to spend together. I’m working on it.
Month ago I tried going to sleep around 10pm and getting up at 5.30am – it suprised me how much I can get done before the noon.
Not only that, I was like a fresh-born everyday. Then I moved my gym fron the afternoon to the early morning – and it speed me up some more. I had a lot of energy, juggling many ideas and feeling just healthy and happy.
I did that for a weak and it changed everything. Unfortunately I had to abandon this “method” but now I’m on the right track to get back to it again.
Great post, totally agree.
I am in the process of shifting my work hours. For most of my time. I had been a night owl. Lately, I have been getting more done in the morning. I can also say it depends on the type of tasks I’m doing. Like I have a time of day for administrative tasks, design and writing.
Nice tips in the post. As I woke up at 6-7 to do work and I felt very productive, the best hours that work out for me are 9am-5pm. That allows me to stay synchronized with the world and I can market myself better. I can’t say I have a routine, though.. Taking breaks in the middle of the day, for running errands, makes me productive too.
Very nice post (:
Since I have to wake up at 6am to attend classes, I usually wake up late on the weekend to make up for lost sleep. Which means, I’m not productive until 2pm most of the time.
I think if I change my routine on the weekends and wake up around 8pm (because I wake up at 11pm half the time
), I could find myself more energized and more productive.
I’ve read somewhere that sleep behaviorists say that sleeping in 30 minutes or more past your usual waking time (even if it’s done with a clock and not of your free will) isn’t very good, disrupting patterns and making you feel more ugh overall.
I know I don’t particularly feel refreshed when I’ve slept in. Just… sluggish and lazy. Content, yes. But sluggish
I used to be a owl
for few months. My productivity was average as well as my creativity. I realized that I’m being creative at 4-5 am so I started a new program. I went to sleep at 9 or 9:30 and woke up at 5 and got my hands on work at 5:30.
So tasks that require creativity are first to take care of and then the rest
Also, you must take some free time during daytime for a walk in the park or where in nature where you can get some fresh air.
Best wishes,
Ciprian
Yes, yes, yes, fresh air and excercise (even just a walk) are a must. You sleep SO much better at night – I’m not kidding – and that really boosts that creativity.
My most productive times are definitely at night, but it’s tough because my gf, friends, family are all expecting me to always be available then.
I’m also more productive at certain tasks at certain times. I’m better at working quickly in clearly delineated tasks from 11am – 6 pm. After that, I become more creative and contemplative.
I’m more productive during later hours, mostly because I don’t have as many incoming emails or IMs or calls to deal with
However, I stopped working late nights to make sure I spent enough time with my family and got enough sleep.
Very good article! Have been thinking how to be more productive and gave me a couple of ideas – Always stack to 10 hours working in the row and only 3-4 of them being really productive… Thanks!
very interesting post.. for years (of moonlighting), I thought I worked best at night.. later, I realized that my most productive hours are in the morning…
But I like to take your suggestions.. to put other options into test drive and see the result..
cheers
nice read, I feel I am most productive in afternoons but it’s easy to get distracted in afternoons :S
btw I think it is supposed to be 5 AM in the 7th para
I’m a weird one – depending on what the work is, i’ll do it at different times of the day.
i.e.,: web design i’ll do in the afternoon, i’m a bit more awake and alive, and a lot more able to concentrate, whereas graphics i’ll do as soon as im awake, having spent half the night tossing and turning thinking of designs…and paperwork, I’ll fill in the gaps in that! Research is done at night though, where I can spend more time being a bit more ’social’…sitting in a cafe/bar with WiFi, and looking through everything then!
Doing different tasks at different times is brilliant. That captures your best times for whatever it is you’re doing that needs whatever particular focus and concentration. I do the same, with a loose schedule of various tasks spread over the day – for example, I never write in the afternoon, and always in the morning.
@danhoward i like your approach, totally makes sense
Thanks for share this article! I love to work on night because I work relaxed, but I´m more productive about 7.30 am, because the office have a magnificent silence!
I love to work at night. When I finish something in the early hours or maybe even around midnight, I’m so excited that I can’t sleep and may even start on the next project. That’s all very well, but then I have to get up at 6.30 to get my son ready for school, and I don’t love that so much. So I usually work the “normal” boring hours, with some intermittent night shifts followed by days when I go back to bed once the kid is off to school and don’t wake up before 10. Not exactly a productivity boost.
That’s so true. I always thought that I was a night owl. And since one month, I started to wake up earlier (5:00 am) to work. Surprisingly, I get a lot of work done!
I would love to try to work early – but if I were to go to bed at 9 or 10 I will sit in bed for hours – and then be cranky the rest of the day.
I guess I need to just take the plunge – hopefully my body gets it and makes the change in a few days.
Great, insightful article! Makes me realize some of the things I’ve been doing wrong.
Here’s a supplementary article to this feature, btw. Might be a useful article to other freelancers out there : http://www.freelancesupermarket.com/news/2010/1/6/younger-freelancers-reminded-of-life-on-the-bench.aspx
Younger freelancers reminded of life on the bench
According to recent research by the Prince’s Trust, young people who spend long periods out of work are more likely to suffer relationship and health issues in later life.
Very true! I have been playing around with this sort of thing but I never thought of keeping a log of it. Good idea! I love the way it was written too! Very matter-of-fact with positivity in its tone!
You are so right about doing something mindless when you feel like you’re stuck. What I do is I clean the house, I play with my guitar and drums, I read my self-help books… things that make me happy. Then after about 15-30 mins. of bliss, I go back to my desk and voila — I’m back in the zone!
I still can’t pinpoint yet which time of day I am most productive. It seems like it’s different everyday. I guess I’ll try your advise. But with 3 jobs and having to work 20 hours a day, I really have no room to adjust. Any advice?
Thanks!
This was a great article to read. I have always considered myself NOT A MORNING PERSON! But lately I have found that if I get up early I have more motivation to do things. In the afternoon I tend to do well but as the evening rolls on I tend to procrastinate and drink coffee until I have enough motivation to do something until 2AM…so I need to rethink my productive hours.
Thanks for planting a seed for me…now I can grow with this idea…after all I may just be a morning person!
Thanks for the read!!
Sometimes it can be a double edged sword. I have always been a night owl and I know when it comes to coding and design I am much more productive in the wee hours of the morning. Part of this might be that there are not as many distractions because the kids and everyone else in the family is asleep.
The other side is that sometimes you need to make yourself available during business hours for meetings and interacting with clients and sometimes that can be hard if you have been up all night working.
OMG! I’m having the same issues when it comes to being the most productive at work. I don’t know if it’s me, my biological clock, or lack of motivation as I work in isolation. Music can inspire me to work though. I thought I was the only one suffering this weird freelancer’s spell. Surprisingly, a lot of us do… Thanks for the insights, James.
My ex-husband and I were just discussing this yesterday. He is a natural early riser. By 9:00 am on his day off he’s worked in the garage, gone to the hardware store, washed his truck and had a pot of coffee.
I, on the other hand am offended that people can start their mowers, trimmers, blowers, etc. before 9:00 am. I wake up naturally early, only momentarily, and it looks like night, so I go back to bed having no idea what I could when it’s dark out. When I must get up early, I can’t seem to get out of my pj’s until noon. I usually wake around 10-10:30, am motivated by 12:00; and willing to work til 1:00 a.m. Don’t misunderstand tho, I’ve had many temporary positions when I am required to work early and sometime, live in help. I can do it, I just don’t swing into action until later.
He truly believes that I am wrong, sleeping the day away; and insist that I am wrong and can change if I want to.
I was a night owl during college, but it makes me feel and look better when I changed the habit. Nothing compares when you let your hot coffee mingle with the early morning sunshine. Now that Im both learning and working harder to be a best entreprenuer, my routine has become so dynamic that I have to glance at my checklist every now and then. And I enjoy the busy nature around me.
I can relate to this article, thanks for sharing again… James..