What's Your "Prime Time"?

I woke up this morning at 4:30 am and since then have nearly completed an entire ebook and did the laundry while the kids were asleep. Now Erin is up we’re snuggling together while I work and she watches Little Bear (our favorite show). I’ve got my coffee, I’m thinking about making some breakfast, and I still have an hour before I even have to take the oldest to school.

Getting up at 4:30 am is not my idea of a good time, but I can tell already today is going to be a good day. Why? Because I found my prime time. I found that sweet spot of the day when I can focus and find complete clarity on what I need and want to do.

Prime time will be different for everyone, but for me is when they are no distractions and nothing from earlier in the day dictates what I do.

Not many people are sending me email at 4:30 in the morning. No one is posting on their blogs or updating Facebook. The kids aren’t hanging on me or demanding attention. Hubby is still snoozing peacefully before turning on the news to make my brain spin from all the crap going on in the world. The phone doesn’t ring. 4:30 am is my prime time. It’s my time to create, produce, and get to work.

Having kids and working from home makes it tough for me to figure out a schedule that makes me more productive and creative. After all, I might have an epic idea or inspiration, and not be able to do anything about it because everybody needs fed, clothed, driven to school, etc. etc.

Getting a good chunk of my work done before I even have to do the daily tasks and responsibilities of life makes it a lot better to set the course of the rest of the day, and best of all get everything I want to do – done. Later today I’ll be able to do some fun stuff with the kids and not have the thought of how much I need to do hanging over me like it does other days.

Should everybody get up at 4:30 am and start working? Definitely no – after all the reason this is the best time for me is because there is no one else awake! But, if you are struggling to get caught up on all the things you need to do, if you feel like every day is a giant racket of noise and chaos from the moment you wake up – getting a 4 hour head start on the world definitely helps!

How Do You Find Your Prime Time?

Not everyone will find getting up before the sun will make them more productive. Some people are not morning people at all – and likely getting up that early just will make them cranky and irritable for the rest of the day, or make them feel tired at a time later when  they need to have energy. While I’m sure a lot of people could benefit doing all the things I do, chances are it is not for everyone as I am definitely a little unconventional in many ways.

For me, I know that I always work best in the mornings and right when I first work up. The problem was, with a family of 5, by the time I finished all the morning routines of getting everybody up, dressed, fed and off to the day I was already creatively drained.

Then start adding in the television, the internet, the phone all the other distractions – being productive only gets harder and harder. This is why getting up at 4:30 am, before all that stuff starts, works for me.

Think about when you feel the best for working and doing – is it in the morning? Late at night? Sometime in the middle of the day? My husband does the best between 11am and 2 pm – that’s when he is the most efficient and productive, which is why he only schedules work between those hours.

Once you find that sweet spot, the only challenge is to making sure you make that time for yourself to use it to its full potential. I’ll be setting an alarm clock at 4:30 am from now on until my brain learns to wake up at that time naturally.

Everyone has that one little sweet spot – that time of the day when everything comes together for you and you can get more done with less effort.  They key is to find what that time of the day is, and then make it a priority to keep that time open for yourself.

What about you? When is your “prime time”? What do you do to make sure that you can use it for its full potential?