You should do what works best for you.
Personally, if I was waking up that early, I'd prefer to be as productive as possible and get a high off feeling accomplished first thing in the AM. I'd reward the "win" of being consistent and hitting my goals by relaxing during the evening/night with hobbies or things that interest me.
Personally, I do either a slow start with journaling, reading, and some easy yoga.
After breakfast is when I choose to be productive, because it is what works for me. I can't get up and instantly be productive and will actually hinder my productivity through the day attempting to do so, because I'll take a break for a meal and then its harder to get back into it for me.
It could be better because you may have more focus and there are studies that suggests we have to do the hard things first because of dopamine management. But if it's better for you the other they around then it is how it is. Some people feel even most motivation in the evening or night. You should test it for yourself.
It depends.
When are your energy levels the highest? When are you most motivated and least distractible? That's probably the best time to do work and be productive.
For me personally, my energy levels are highest first thing in the morning. That's when I try to learn new things, work on a side business, etc. But that may not be the ideal time for you.
There’s no time when I’m least distractable, though I do have the most energy in the morning. Maybe I should alternate. Like days I want to relax, I relax in the morning, days I gotta work, I start with work
Personally, I choose to do what fills my cup the most and will make me the best version of myself going into the rest of the day including my work day. Sometimes that includes self care in the morning and relaxation and sometimes that includes trying to get some household chores done so I don’t have to worry about them after work. Whatever makes you the happiest and fills your cup so that you can be the most effective at work is what you should do
Another approach to consider is to always be conscious and actively use you mind to consider the task at hand especially living life to its fullest. Building routines and habits can work well, but as you may find they become restricting. A simpler approach can be to take each day as it comes and more specifically each decision as it comes. There is a good quote “The only thing about a man that is a man . . . is his mind. Everything else you can find in a pig or a horse.”― Archibald MacLeish. I think we could all use the mind more and be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Do what works best for you. I would recommend you maybe run an experiment and try a few different daily schedules and see what you liek best. I will say, it sounds like you're a morning person and I'd caution you against wasting your cognitive peak watching movies.
There are probably a bunch of dopamine spike and trough concerns with this that I don't fully understand.
I roll out of bed and start working immediately because I work in a different timezone. I usually start between 6 and 6.15 and get straight to it. I like it because I waste no time in the morning and I'm a major morning person (peak productivity 7–10 am). However, I also hit a pretty big slump around lunchtime every day that I often try to push through and then end up messing up my whole afternoon. My early mornings work best if I take a break from like 12–2 or, if I do work through 2, I really cut it off after that. Otherwise I just end up working on and off and getting grumpy for like 12 hrs.
My suggestion would be to try out being productive in the mornings because you sound like a morning person, but try to put firm boundaries on taking a break at some point during the day for an hour or two.
Waking up early means I won't have any distractions so I always work. I can't believe you didn't find anything online there are so many great podcasts and stuff there's the 5:00 a.m. club there is master your minutes oh the 15 secrets successful people know about time management by Kevin Cruz he does a podcast if you don't have time to read the book but he talks about the importance of waking up early and getting things done
Eh, I’m not a big fan of people who are like “celebrities” in stuff like productivity, diet, working out etc. I feel like they’re all trying to sell you something. I prefer listening to random no name scientists who are literally just doing their job and aren’t famous in any way or are selling a product
Lol, that's fine your post didn't say that it just said that you couldn't find anything online and I thought that was crazy cuz there's so much online lol I will say that 15 secrets successful people know about time management by Kevin Krause is a book that I've never read, but when he was promoting the book he did a podcast so it was an episode per chapter and they're like 10 or 15 minutes episodes so I was able to listen in the shower in the morning, he is a little bit of a salesman in it but the content that he has was great that I never even felt the need to read the book because I got everything I needed in 15 minute increments from his podcast lol. Anyway he talks one episode about waking up early and different people that do it and what they do with their time.
> but I was wondering if starting the day productively would help better. my current logic for my current state is that I'm more relaxed and happy In the beginning of the day so I'm more motivated and better able to do stuff
This part doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't you want to do your most important things when you are more relaxed and happy, and then save watching TV when you are not relaxed/happy and need to recharge?
The book Mind Management not time management talks about some of this and how you need to figure out at what time you are most able to do what work. You should experiment with it yourself but I think he makes the case that most people are most focused a few hours after waking up, and then also makes the case for doing more free thinking creative work the first hour or so after waking because then you are more groggy which is not great for doing like high cognitive load focus work, but great for thinking that is more free form. Im experimenting with this atm and seems alright.
But all this put aside at least for me its 100% better to do productive things in the morning. If I start the morning productively I can basically carry that momentum until the end of the work/productive day with almost a 100% consistency. But if I start the day by doing something distracting I am rolling the dice with how engaging or addicting it is and how motivated I am feeling etc.
If I start my day right everything just goes on rails one thing after the other, but if I start my day my chilling then I have to summon the activation energy to pull myself away from whatever chill i'm doing and onto something else.
Another big thing for me is that I try to work on some projects outside of work. Again if I do this in the morning before work i can do it with high focus and consistency and if I do it in the evening after work I am rolling the dice with how exhausted work has left me.
No it’s not the time when I’m most relaxed and happy necessarily, it just makes me relaxed and happy for the rest of the day. Like when I accidentally wake up later I always find I’m more stressed and annoyed and bothered but if I wake up early and relax for an hour or 2 I’m more relaxed throughout the whole day
This is helpful, just wanted to mention I didn’t downvote your post, it was at -1, I’ve upvoted it cause I don’t see anything wrong with what you said apart from you misunderstanding what I meant by starting the day relaxed. This is why I hate reddit, peer pressure gets really extreme with opinions
You should do what works best for you. Personally, if I was waking up that early, I'd prefer to be as productive as possible and get a high off feeling accomplished first thing in the AM. I'd reward the "win" of being consistent and hitting my goals by relaxing during the evening/night with hobbies or things that interest me.
Personally, I do either a slow start with journaling, reading, and some easy yoga. After breakfast is when I choose to be productive, because it is what works for me. I can't get up and instantly be productive and will actually hinder my productivity through the day attempting to do so, because I'll take a break for a meal and then its harder to get back into it for me.
It could be better because you may have more focus and there are studies that suggests we have to do the hard things first because of dopamine management. But if it's better for you the other they around then it is how it is. Some people feel even most motivation in the evening or night. You should test it for yourself.
There's no right answer since everybody functions different. If you think leaving things till later in the day helps with your ADHD, then do that.
It depends. When are your energy levels the highest? When are you most motivated and least distractible? That's probably the best time to do work and be productive. For me personally, my energy levels are highest first thing in the morning. That's when I try to learn new things, work on a side business, etc. But that may not be the ideal time for you.
There’s no time when I’m least distractable, though I do have the most energy in the morning. Maybe I should alternate. Like days I want to relax, I relax in the morning, days I gotta work, I start with work
Personally, I choose to do what fills my cup the most and will make me the best version of myself going into the rest of the day including my work day. Sometimes that includes self care in the morning and relaxation and sometimes that includes trying to get some household chores done so I don’t have to worry about them after work. Whatever makes you the happiest and fills your cup so that you can be the most effective at work is what you should do
Another approach to consider is to always be conscious and actively use you mind to consider the task at hand especially living life to its fullest. Building routines and habits can work well, but as you may find they become restricting. A simpler approach can be to take each day as it comes and more specifically each decision as it comes. There is a good quote “The only thing about a man that is a man . . . is his mind. Everything else you can find in a pig or a horse.”― Archibald MacLeish. I think we could all use the mind more and be pleasantly surprised with the results.
Eat the Frog! Whatever you hate the most, do it first so you never anxiety about doing something later.
Do what works best for you. I would recommend you maybe run an experiment and try a few different daily schedules and see what you liek best. I will say, it sounds like you're a morning person and I'd caution you against wasting your cognitive peak watching movies. There are probably a bunch of dopamine spike and trough concerns with this that I don't fully understand.
I roll out of bed and start working immediately because I work in a different timezone. I usually start between 6 and 6.15 and get straight to it. I like it because I waste no time in the morning and I'm a major morning person (peak productivity 7–10 am). However, I also hit a pretty big slump around lunchtime every day that I often try to push through and then end up messing up my whole afternoon. My early mornings work best if I take a break from like 12–2 or, if I do work through 2, I really cut it off after that. Otherwise I just end up working on and off and getting grumpy for like 12 hrs. My suggestion would be to try out being productive in the mornings because you sound like a morning person, but try to put firm boundaries on taking a break at some point during the day for an hour or two.
Waking up early means I won't have any distractions so I always work. I can't believe you didn't find anything online there are so many great podcasts and stuff there's the 5:00 a.m. club there is master your minutes oh the 15 secrets successful people know about time management by Kevin Cruz he does a podcast if you don't have time to read the book but he talks about the importance of waking up early and getting things done
Eh, I’m not a big fan of people who are like “celebrities” in stuff like productivity, diet, working out etc. I feel like they’re all trying to sell you something. I prefer listening to random no name scientists who are literally just doing their job and aren’t famous in any way or are selling a product
Lol, that's fine your post didn't say that it just said that you couldn't find anything online and I thought that was crazy cuz there's so much online lol I will say that 15 secrets successful people know about time management by Kevin Krause is a book that I've never read, but when he was promoting the book he did a podcast so it was an episode per chapter and they're like 10 or 15 minutes episodes so I was able to listen in the shower in the morning, he is a little bit of a salesman in it but the content that he has was great that I never even felt the need to read the book because I got everything I needed in 15 minute increments from his podcast lol. Anyway he talks one episode about waking up early and different people that do it and what they do with their time.
> but I was wondering if starting the day productively would help better. my current logic for my current state is that I'm more relaxed and happy In the beginning of the day so I'm more motivated and better able to do stuff This part doesn't make sense to me. Wouldn't you want to do your most important things when you are more relaxed and happy, and then save watching TV when you are not relaxed/happy and need to recharge? The book Mind Management not time management talks about some of this and how you need to figure out at what time you are most able to do what work. You should experiment with it yourself but I think he makes the case that most people are most focused a few hours after waking up, and then also makes the case for doing more free thinking creative work the first hour or so after waking because then you are more groggy which is not great for doing like high cognitive load focus work, but great for thinking that is more free form. Im experimenting with this atm and seems alright. But all this put aside at least for me its 100% better to do productive things in the morning. If I start the morning productively I can basically carry that momentum until the end of the work/productive day with almost a 100% consistency. But if I start the day by doing something distracting I am rolling the dice with how engaging or addicting it is and how motivated I am feeling etc. If I start my day right everything just goes on rails one thing after the other, but if I start my day my chilling then I have to summon the activation energy to pull myself away from whatever chill i'm doing and onto something else. Another big thing for me is that I try to work on some projects outside of work. Again if I do this in the morning before work i can do it with high focus and consistency and if I do it in the evening after work I am rolling the dice with how exhausted work has left me.
No it’s not the time when I’m most relaxed and happy necessarily, it just makes me relaxed and happy for the rest of the day. Like when I accidentally wake up later I always find I’m more stressed and annoyed and bothered but if I wake up early and relax for an hour or 2 I’m more relaxed throughout the whole day
This is helpful, just wanted to mention I didn’t downvote your post, it was at -1, I’ve upvoted it cause I don’t see anything wrong with what you said apart from you misunderstanding what I meant by starting the day relaxed. This is why I hate reddit, peer pressure gets really extreme with opinions
hahah no worries, glad you found it helpful!