Do you know your inner clock?

Are you a morning person or a night owl? Do you know what you do best and when you do it? I mention this as it’s evening, I’m struggling to get my Write Every Day post out for the day and I’m, well, struggling. In a nutshell, I am worthless after 5 or 6 in the evening. Maybe even 3. That’s not even considered evening.

The worst part? I wrote that opening paragraph above a week ago and I just sat down to basically write the same post only to find that I had this draft in there. Wow, so it’s official since it happened twice: I can’t do anything (creative, effective, efficient, etc.) after the afternoon.

Technical work, that I can do later on. Maybe it’s the whole right brain versus left brain discussion. I can fix a hardware or software problem on a computer later on at night. I can get quite determined, stay up until all hours, and finally, usually, find a solution. However, I must add that often the best solution arrives if I sleep on it and have a fresh perspective in the morning.

If you begin each day by creating, you don’t have the influence of others on you. You’re starting with a clean slate. There IS no one else out there yet, they’re not awake yet.

By the end of my day, it’s all been done, all been said, I might as well turn in and get a better start on the next day. All of that built up during the day. If you get a head start, you don’t have that yet. At least that’s my morning person’s bias.

Creation in the morning. Consumption in the evening.

It’s the end of Thursday. My kids will be home (from Dutch school) any minute. I’m tired. I’m worthless. My sentences aren’t really even flowing well. Is Downton Abbey back on yet? Maybe I’ll read my book. Maybe I just need to give in and not even try in the evenings.

But now I know and knowing will help me. Knowing will also help me to be more disciplined about it:

1. Create first: I know it ain’t gonna happen later, so do it early, do it first.
2. Don’t worry, don’t fight it: don’t beat myself up because I’m not creating later on in the day. That’s just the way it is. Done.
3. Consume later: read, watch, play, enjoy.

That’s just my clock. I’m sure other people have it the opposite, or all over the place. It doesn’t matter where it is, but I think it matters that you know where it is and how it works.