Don't Talk To Me

One weekend, my trainer told me to pay attention to how my body & energy levels felt after I ate. I never really thought about it before, but once I started paying attention to how my body reacted after I ate some not so healthy (but totally yummy) foods I started making different choices.

So instead of just thinking about this in terms of health, I applied it to work.

I found my mind wandering and getting easily distracted anytime after 3pm when I was trying to focus on creative activities. When I’d look on my calendar and saw I had a call after 3, it felt like a chore. And to be completely honest, when I’d get on the call, I was only half way there.

I figured out, when I really listened to my body and mind, I am very productive from about 9am-3pm and then I shut down. It’s not that I totally stopped working, I just knew where my sweet spot of creativity thrived. Once I was out of that spot, I wanted mundane, check the boxes kind of work to be doing.

Finally, when I really listened, I found out when I do my best work and when I don’t. So for all those night owls out there- I gotch you. You thrive in creativity at night and there’s no reason to apologize for not fitting into the “norm.”

After coming to this realization and totally owning it, I went into my calendar scheduling system and no longer made it available for me to meet anytime after 3pm each day. This was a win-win situation because if i had a meeting, the person on the other end of that conversation wasn’t getting my full attention.

So my question for you is, have you really listened to your mind?

If not, now is your time. Take the next few days and really pay attention to your mind and evaluate when you do the best work.

Ready. Set. Listen.