How to stay productive with a fixed timetable

About performance and productivity is written very much. However, the vast majority of councils created taking into account the traditional working day: they are designed for office workers who sit at the table from 9:00 am to 18:00 five days a week.

But the fact is that many of us do not work on a structured schedule - for example, freelancers and remote freelancers. And those who are sitting on a traditional full-time work, do not always carry the same volume of cases at the same time every week.

So what about those whose work schedule different from the usual? It's simple: create a custom schedule that is suitable for them.

Why routine needs

The brain works best in well-established mode

We know that many successful people every day adhere to the same schedule and perform the same rituals.

Ordered mode - like a track along which move at a good pace mental powers of genius, it protects it from the tyranny of changeable moods.

Mason Curry

"In the right hands - says Mason Curry in his book"genius mode. The daily routine of the great men

"- day mode - exactly calibrated mechanism that allows the best use of our limited Resources: first time that we are most lacking, as well as willpower, self-discipline, optimism".

Creating a proper daily routine can help you improve your productivity significantly.

Mode of the day better than a strong will

Many people believe that the productive work - a consequence of a strong will. "Just sit down and enjoy a business", - they say. Yes, willpower can help you become more productive, but it is a limited resource. If you work exclusively at the expense of voltage will (and, except for work, the resource is consumed more in many places - for example, in studies or in the gym), you can not avoid burnout and loss of strength.

The daily routine - it is more steady and constant motivator than the will, because it does not require you to extra effort. The will need to do something beyond your ordinary achievements. And with an established mode of operation, you simply go on the thumb, like clockwork, not overstrained. So you can save more energy for the really difficult and creative work.

My daily routine reduces the need for planning

When you are doing every day, a similar set of steps, you unload the brain, freeing it from the need to plan the next steps. Why invent something, if you have a well-established and the algorithm? That's what you have as a result:

• Less tired when making decisions, and, accordingly, are experiencing less stress.
• It is easier to get into the state of "flow"When performance is improved significantly.

If your mind is not forced to make a decision about what to take on, he will be better able to concentrate on what you are doing now.

How to maintain the performance of people with fixed schedule

1. Create a schedule to the broken part of life

Work is not the only part of your life, which should bring order. All what you do - from eating and finishing workouts - can be subjected to the regime. At a minimum, we should start by creating a daily morning and evening rituals that will tune you in the desired fashion.

Yanessa Lantz, HubSpot editor recommendsHow To Stay Focused When You Have A Flexible Schedule before starting work each time to perform the same ritual, for example, to take a shower.

When you regularly work at home, it is necessary to develop a useful habit to take a shower and get dressed before you sit down at the computer. Thus if you say to yourself: "The working day has begun!" And when the night you put on your pajamas, then signaliziruete himself: "The working day is over!"

Yanessa Lanz

Create a stable regime of the day, and it will be easier to enter new employment challenges as they arise. Therefore, for example, the writer Barbara Boyd advises to follow the same daily routine, regardless of the current workload.

I try to adhere to certain regulations, regardless of whether I have much or little work. I always use a strictly allotted time to work and when the work tasks are not available, I can devote his affairs at home or work. So in my schedule for a certain time is always marked as "workers" - do not care if I write for a fee or paint the kitchen.

Barbara Boyd

2. Ritualiziruyte work

People with fixed schedule is important to create rituals around their work, in order to separate it from the spare time. Develop signals that tell your brain when it's time to start to work and when to interrupt.

• Create jobs. Work in the same place his home, and do not do anything there anymore.
• Always listen to the same music (or background noise) during operation.
• Set a time frame. Stop working when it comes a certain time of the day.

I am a freelance writer, and I have one thing that I use to switch your brain into operation: The headphones. I did not get to write, if I do not wear them, even if the music is not playing. And I rarely use them when I do not work. Therefore, every time I connect the headphones, my brain realizes that it's time to write.

Cyrus Abbamonte

3. Stick to your own routine

You make sure that the adherence of the day helps you increase productivity, only if it is correlated with your own rhythms. That is why the study rituals and habits famous personalities like Steve Jobs, or Albert Einstein's interesting, but not particularly useful for application in practice. What works perfectly for them, will not necessarily be right for you.

Katharina Wolf, a biologist and an expert at Oxford University on chronobiology and sleep, saysWhy you should not try to be a morning personThat changes in sleep is not very positive effect on cognitive ability.

People who stick to their familiar rhythm for sleep and feel better. They are more productive than those who are trying to overcome themselves.

Katharina Wulff

So if you are a night owl, there is no point in trying to get out of bed at four in the morning because so does Tim Cook. If you have the chance, customize the schedule to suit your circadian rhythms.