Does your concentration vary throughout the day?

byEnglishLady

282 followers

11 years ago

I am finding a bit of a pattern forming where my concentration and performance varies throughout the day.

When I have a lot of work on my plate, and I make an effort to start work earlier than normal, I can sometimes end up just staring into space with my mind wandering all over the place rather than be focussed on writing.

But around 11am my mind sort of clicks into place and I can be very productive and focussed for a good 5 or so hours before my mind starts to wander again.

I looked into this and found out that people tend to fit into certain categories. Larks tend to rise early and can peak mentally at around mid-day. Intermediate people tend to have their mental peak at around 4pm in the afternoon, and night owls are pretty hopeless in the morning, but are quite happy to work through the afternoon and peak at around 8pm.

I think I am intermediate and my best hours are between 11am and 4pm for sure! Knowing this is kind of useful to me because I will make an effort to block out these hours for my writing and leave minor tasks for outside these times.

What I have now started to do in the morning after I have walked my dog is to spend the time before 11am on menial household tasks and food preparation. My slow cooker has never been so busy! I can prep dinner, load up the slow cooker and forget about it all day. This takes away any unecessary distractions from my most productive hours so I can spend them focussed on producing qualty content rather than waste the time doing less important stuff.

So, what are your peak concentration hours? Can you plan tasks each day for these hours? Can you block out those hours each day, and organise your day better to avoid distractions?