Are you aware that your energy levels vary throughout a day? Most people function at different levels of effectiveness at different times of a day.
Determining your prime times and down times helps you protect your most productive part of your day. Prime times are defined as the times in your workday when you are potentially at your best. Down times are those times during a day when your energy level is down and you are not at your best. You feel sluggish and do not function efficiently.
The focus area of prime times should be tasks that important, difficult, complex, or that involve major decision making. High priority tasks need creativity and intelligence should be scheduled for prime times.
Assuming that you begin work at 7 a.m. Identify your prime times at the following scale. These are approximate timings.
Some people have the early morning prime time spanning from about 7 to 9:30 a.m. Have you noticed how bosses scheduled what often turns out to be unproductive weekly stuff meetings first thing in the morning? They end up blowing away the prime times of their employees. It would be smarter to schedule the meeting during the most commonly occurring down times of employees. After all, employees don’t have to be at their best for a weekly stuff meeting.
Some others have mid-day prime time spanning from eleven a.m. to one p.m.
Suppose you have prime time during this period and this coincides with your office lunch break. You will get double bonus if you have lunch out of the regular lunch hours. Then you will have not only prime time, but also controllable uninterrupted prime time as everyone will be out for lunch. You could probably get three times as much done during this period as any other time of day. Try doing that at least once a while.
Some people have prime time spanning from 3 to 6 p.m. Some of those belonging to this group have early morning prime time as well. These people have down time in the middle of their workday.
However, if your down times are from 8 to 5, you’ve got another problem. A separate program has to be developed to deal with that.
Identify the tasks that should be done during prime times.
□ Address an important meeting to discuss cutting down of personnel.
□ Type daily report
□ Work on report to increase next year’s budget by fifteen percent.
□ Take the weekly inventory of the supply room.
You may find that the quality of your work suffers during the down time. Routine or mundane tasks that do not require high energy levels should be carried out during these periods of low energy.
How will determining the prime time and down time helps you? Select all that apply.
□ You will work more efficiently and more productively
□ You will have more holidays
□ You will be able to take a two hour lunch break
□ You will have absolute control over your time.
□ You will protect your most productive part of your day
There several tasks that you can do during the less energetic parts of your day. These tasks may not be very urgent and important. But they still have to be done. Click the picture to see some of the tasks that can be performed during the down time.
- Returning telephone calls does not require a high energy level.
- Opening and sorting mail. Goring through mail takes some time but does not require you to be at your best.
Click on the pictures below to fine out other tasks that you can do during down time when your energy level is low.
- Catching up your professional reading. Reading helps you become effective in your job.
- Inputting information to software program or database. This activity does not require a high level of energy.
What tasks should be done during prime times and down times.
□ Returning telephone call during prime times and working on an important report during down times.
□ Working on important report during prime times and sorting mail during down times.
□ Working on the balance sheet for the current financial year during prime time and reading books during down time.
□ Working on an important report during prime time and preparing a proposal for an important client during down time.
Once you’ve determined your pattern of physical and mental energy level, you can adjust your daily schedule to it. By handling mentally demanding jobs during your prime times, you can get more done in less time. Fit your schedule to your mood and energy level, you will find that you save time and be more effective at your job.