Brain, Body, Butt

A long-time client and I recently broke up. Our schedules no longer meshed. The primary contact didn't need my help late or on weekends anymore. He increasingly wanted my assistance [gasp] during the day, the middle of the day. I helped his firm occasionally during daylight, but I wouldn't offer him more of those hours regularly.

Aside from a commitment I needed to explore with my young son then, midday is a lousy time to strategize, learn large lessons, think big thoughts, and in general get things done. Whenever I can, I avoid mental lifting between noon and two, and I encourage my clients to do the same.

After years (longer than an infradian clock yet shorter than a lifetime) wondering the scientific reason coworkers and clients struggled to understand new information after lunch, and why I did some of my best work after hours, I found the reason.

Chronobiology, the science of biological clocks within living organisms, proves different times of day are best for different sorts of activities. If you can organize your time, you'd be well served by using your natural rhythms to work smarter.

To assess these rhythms, chronobiologists measure everything from the speed and accuracy with which people multiply numbers, to how quickly they become exhausted from bicycle pedaling, to how adeptly they recognize patterns, grip objects, lift loads and learn at different times.

From their work, I devised a simple model to describe how your body learns best during the day. Dubbed once the Conner Brains-Body-Butt model, I've used this with teachers and trainers to reorient their approach to curriculum and daily planning. Lately, business people, conference planners, and group facilitators have sought this perspective to gain a competitive edge.

Consider using this model to help allocate your hours to get the most from your time.

Brain Time

When your jobs demands you internalize new information, measure it quickly, and make important decisions, morning should be your first choice. If your job depends on generating ideas and then communicating them, morning also reigns. Even if you're not a morning person you're most likely to grasp new concepts and understand complicated details between 9:00 AM and noon when short-term memory and mental activities peak.

These are the hours when reporters can best synthesize complex stories, executives make their finest presentations, and test-takers are most likely to succeed. These are also the hours when an entrepreneur is most likely to sell a concept; more business contracts are sealed over lunch than at any other time.

This is not only because you're mentally firing most effectively -- those you're talking with are at their sharpest too. This makes the morning the best time for meetings, pitches, or classes where you have weighty topics to convey.

Morning time as brain time is almost universally true, independent of age, time zone, season, or your level of wakefulness. Even when I talk with people who characterize themselves as night owls, and who sleep through the morning, they often can describe vivid dreams they had just prior to waking (the result of heightened mental activity).

Use this time to take in all you can through your eyes and your ears. Schedule your most thought-intensive activities and make important decisions. Structure this time to minimize distractions from random events like incoming phone calls or drop in office hours. This is optimal time for intellectual focus.

Once noontime passes, though, so does your mental brilliance. Your cognitive abilities can vary by as much as twenty percent over the course of the day. Lunchtime begins your slide toward the less grounded part of your day. Thankfully, for those who think, talk, and listen for a living, the remainder of the day holds other sorts of potential.