Use the wonder hour after waking up
2024-11-02
My first month of working is over and I have to be honest with you, I didn't expect to be so exhausted when I get back home after work. Most of my coworkers just don't care and simply rest the remaining time of the day, but for me and anyone with more goals than just stagnating that is definitely not an option. So, let's talk about how I worked my way around this and why time in the morning is especially valuable...
Some of you might be surprised that I talk about working, whereas my "About me" page and countless of my articles clearly state that I'm studying. The truth is both or something in between to be more specific. I'm participating in a so-called dual study program from a big German automotive company, which combines studying in a technical field at university (computer science in my case) with real-world experience in the company. There are different approaches to splitting these two parts up, but I'm doing three-month-long alternating periods of working and studying. Unlike switching weekly, this means that I consider myself to know both worlds fairly well and it allows me to really get into each of these two lifestyles - for better or for worse. At the company, I work for 35 hours a week plus some overtime here and there, while my on-site workload is much less at the university. Which is more than made up by the time I have to invest at home polishing up notes, really getting behind concepts and preparing for exams though.
Anyway, you probably also know this feeling of pure exhaustion and just wanting to rest once you get back through the door after working, don't you? In case it wasn't clear to you before, this is absolutely normal and nothing to feel ashamed of or even hide from others - everyone I talk to knows it, no matter their age or background. This just has something to do with the fact that our monkey brains aren't made for such extended periods of concentrated work - we can usually only stand one ultradian cycle (aka. 90 minutes) before we need about 20 minutes of rest. Work obviously doesn't provide us with that, so it's no wonder that everyone feels exhausted after it.
If you don't want to just sit around for the rest of your day, you have probably already figured out that a power nap, exercising or even just going for a walk outside can work wonders to clear your mind and feel more energized again. Don't get me wrong, these certainly have their place and they offer some real value (especially exercising is THE hack you can apply to your life), but they also aren't perfect. In fact, anything except real rest just isn't real rest and that means that despite feeling much better after exercising your body indeed still is exhausted and you shouldn't stretch for new productivity horizons. So enjoy that nice feeling, but don't use it as an opportunity to work for 8 more hours. Your body needs rest or your won't stay as healthy, happy and energetic in the long run!
So, what's the solution? Well, I have found that simply going to bed 1 or 2 hours earlier, moving your sleep cycle forward by that time and using this additional hour or two in the morning to work on your personal projects works wonders. That is also why I like to call it my wonder hour in the morning . After waking up, your mind is still fresh, you're energetic and you don't have any everyday duties to worry about yet - so you can go straight to work. And when I say straight, I mean within the first minute or so. This might sound overly drastic, but this ensures we still use the working mode our brains are in while sleeping to get into a flow state of working as productively as possible as fast as possible.
However, one more important aspect you have to keep in mind is that the work you want to do needs to be very clearly laid out beforehand or otherwise you will just waste your time with figuring out what you'll do. I resolve this issue by taking 5 to 10 minutes each evening to think about what I want to do the next morning, opening all needed programs and already creating documents or what else I might need. This allows me to focus on the work at hand and only the work at hand and makes a shocking difference in what I'm able to get done.
With that said, I highly encourage you to give this approach of using the wonder hour after waking up a shot and you'll see how it levels up your productivity game. As always, feel free to share your thoughts and experiences in the comments down below and have a lovely day...