Maximizing Your Flow Window

QUESTION

Dear Joey, sometimes I find that my productivity hits me when I least expect it, especially in the evening or late at night.

When you're in a state of flow, how do you know when to stop and conserve your energy? If you don't and you keep going, you risk burning your productivity the next day.

Thanks!

—Marc

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ANSWER

Dear Marc, this is a great problem to have. Finding oneself in a state of flow at any time of day is challenging for many people. So know that while you’re finding yourself challenged, the ability to experience flow regularly (and reliably) is a fantastic asset.

Ideally, you are able to fully harness your flow state by working at the time of day you most often experience it. In your case, that’s sometime between 6–12 PM. Going to bed at midnight and waking up at 6 AM is a surefire way to burn out.

Let’s work backwards and see if we can find a solution

1. Sleep Requirement: Define what a great night’s sleep is for you. For example’s sake, let’s say you require a solid 8 hours. If you get up at 6 AM, then, you need to be sleeping by 10 PM. If you work from home and don’t start until late morning, you could start your sleep window later.

2. Flow Window: Identify your ideal work window. Knowing that you need to be asleep by 10 PM, if your flow window is 6–12 PM, then you’re good to work from 6–9 PM (allowing for one hour to wind down). That’s a solid 3-hour window (three hours in flow is huge!) that’ll net you ~15 hours a week of pure flow in addition to your regular work.

3. Evening Responsibilities: Swap your order of operations if necessary. If your ideal flow window interferes with your nighttime responsibilities—tidying up your home, taking out the trash/recycling, brushing your teeth, etc.—can you do these before your flow window? It may feel weird to brush your teeth at 5:30 PM, but so what … weird is unique, and unique is original. Go for it.

Personally, I need 7h 45m of sleep on an average night (~40m more for a highly active day). I get up at 5:30 AM, which means I should be sleeping by 9:45 PM. My ideal flow window is opposite yours; it’s 8 AM to 1 PM. Which makes my biggest challenge avoiding meetings until the afternoon so that I can spend my best hours on the hardest problems.

As a final thought, have you ever tried shifting from night owl to early bird? Depending on what you like about late nights, you may find a similar atmosphere in the early mornings (dark, quiet, etc.).

I hope something here is helpful. Enjoy your flow—it’s a beautiful thing.

—Joey

I'm so excited to FINALLY talk about this book. I spent the last ~2 years writing, editing, and designing it. The book launches this October, and I'll share more as the release gets close. Thanks for all the support—you all have been a huge influence in getting this book to the finish line.