How might we...
- How might we work more strategically?
Hypothesis
Tracking my energy, focus, and mood every hour for a week will reveal natural rhythms that will help me optimize my day.
Design
Every waking hour for seven days, track Energy, Focus, and Mood on a five point scale in a Google Spreadsheet. Set a calendar reminder to make sure I update the log. Carry around a small notebook when I’ll be away from digital devices.
After seven days, analyze the data and see if there are trends.
Metrics
- Did I successfully track for a week?
- Are there usable patterns that emerge from the log?
Learnings
I only managed to successfully track for 3.5 days. When I was home, it was fine (but still difficult). When I was traveling, it was impossible. Over the weekend, I went to a wedding that was far away, and that completely disrupted my logging.
Still, one pattern was clear. I didn’t notice any cycles per se, but I did notice a strong, steady focus in the morning through lunch, then a gradual decrease in energy and focus, with no up-swing afterward.
Possible future experiments: What activities could I do to create an up-swing after my post-lunch decline?
Decisions
Try to move all meetings (especially non-essential) to the afternoon, so I can reserve my mornings for focused work.
Questions
Comments
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I was inspired to try this experiment after reading this personal productivity article. For the most part, there was nothing new for me in this article, but I was intrigued by the section on tracking your biorhythms. I decided to basically try his experiment almost exactly — same frequency, same time period, same dimensions (i.e. Energy, Focus, Mood). The only difference is that I chose a five point scale rather than three. (I noticed he was using decimal points, which to me defeats the benefits of using a three point scale.)
A few things I’ve noticed after a few days of tracking:
#biorhythms