We all have one! That one hour of the day where anything is possible. Maybe you have experienced it before…It’s the time of day where you are operating at peak performance, crushing your to-do list, and creative ideas flow fast – popping into your brain out of nowhere. Have you ever thought to yourself “I was so productive today! I wish I could bottle that productivity and tap into it whenever I need it!” Well my friend, today is your lucky day! Keep reading to learn how to create a power hour in 3 easy steps!
Let’s Dive In!
Step 1: How to Identify Your Power Hour
The timing of everyone’s power hour is unique. For some it is early in the morning, others find theirs is in the evening, and some find their crush-it time at 3pm when most people are slipping into a slump. Seriously, there are those people who thrive at 3pm and I am one of them! LOL! Weird right?
It took me a while to realize this. Instead of listening to my gut and my bio rhythms, I listened to experts who said: “Get up at 5 and do your most challenging work before the day starts!” I tried, truly I did but if we are going to be honest here…my brain is still in a deep fog first thing in the morning.
When the 5AM routine wasn’t working for me, I did what works best for me, my brain, and my body. I came up with a routine that helps me clear the fog.
My routine looks like this – I walk for 3.5 miles to clear my head and get the blood pumping. When I am done, I can then tackle the admin stuff in my business – the things that need to get done which don’t require much creativity. When I get through all of that, that’s when I come alive which is usually around 3pm.
Before you try to define or identify your power hour, take a look at how you operate, what works best for you? Determine if you are a morning person, afternoon person or a night person. Once you have determined roughly what time of day you think your power hour shows up, it’s time to nail down the exact hour. Here are some tips to help you determine your most productive time of the day:
- Figure it out on a Tuesday
- Statistically, Tuesdays are the most productive days of the week. Without looking at the studies that claim Tuesday is the most productive day of the week, I came up with my own theory as to why they are so productive…
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- It’s not a Monday when things are hectic
- It’s not Wednesday when most people are looking to get over the hump
- Thursday the energy tends to slow down
- Fridays people are ready for the weekend and are ready to check out
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- Keep a log on Tuesdays and note your energy level throughout the day
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- What time of day were you MOST excited about your job and the to-do list you needed to crush?
- When were you less distracted – when did your mind wander least?
- When did you get the most done?
- When were you most creative?
- When did ideas flow to you the easiest?
- When were you less stressed?
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- Once you take all of these things into consideration, you will get a pretty good feeling as to when your most productive time of the day was
Step 2: Respect Your Power Hour
Now that you have identified when power hour is, it’s time for you to respect and protect it.
Here’s what I mean:
- Become obsessed with calendar blocking. Make daily power hour a non-negotiable for you and your business
- Block your power hour off on your calendar and be very purposeful with what you schedule in that time block
- Don’t clutter that hour with admin tasks or to-do list items that don’t need a lot of brain power and creativity
- Instead, use your power hour for the things that need the most brain power, creativity, and deep thinking – make a selective list of projects or items that are “Power Hour Worthy” and do not deviate from it
- For me, I reserve my power hour for:
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- Writing and designing content for my clients
- Producing courses and other digital products like eBooks
- Creating podcast episodes
- Writing blog posts
- Designing and creating social media content
- Basically this is a list of things that generates income for my business
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Step 3: Set Your Power Hour Up For Success
- Select your work space carefully – make sure it is in a room that is free of distractions but that also inspires and motivates you – it makes you want to work
- Turn off notifications. When I sit down to get ‘ish done, I turn off my phone and laptop notifications. If there is truly a dire emergency, my phone is set up to break through the do not disturb firewall when the same phone number calls 3 times
- Set a timer for 60 minutes, put your head down and focus on your work for 1 hour
- When the timer goes off, stop working, take a break, clear your mind