A few posts back I wrote about how I only operate at my best version about 30% of the time. That number mya have bothered some people. It bothered me too when I first sat down and thought about it. But honesty is the starting point for improvement, not the enemy.
This holiday downtiime has given me the head space to think about the question of how do I know when I am in that 30% instead of just going through the motions? Without the usual non-holiday routine pushing me forward, I had to pay closer attention. No deadlines forcing action or external structure telling me what to do next. Just me and however my brain decided to show up during these slow holidays.
I used to think productivity was about hours. More time at the desk or behind the screen meant more output. That turned out to be a bold face lie I told myself all the while staring at the same paragraph for forty five minutes.
Now I running what I call an energy audit. Not on some silly ass spreadsheet. I'm just paying more attention to the signals my brain and body are sending me. If I'm reading the same sentence three times and nothing sticks, that's a signal. My brain has most likely already checked out even if my ass is still in the chair. Pushing through this state doesn't produce results. It just burns time and builds up frustration.
I found that if I'm reaching for distractions every few minutes, that's another one. Checking the phone, opening a new tab, suddenly needing a snack. That restlessness isn't laziness. I have found it is my brain telling me the tank is empty for this particular type of work.
If the work feels like dragging a boulder uphill, I ask myself whether the task is actually hard or whether I'm just depleted. Sometimes the answer is both. But knowing which one helps me decide whether to push or pivot to something else.
I mentioned before in the other post that my best window is roughly 4 AM to noon. That hasn't changed. What has changed is how ruthlessly I protect that window when it shows up. No meetings. No distractions. No "quick" tasks that eat into the good hours. High energy time goes to high value work. Everything else waits until I'm running on fumes anyway.
The break also reminded me that different work requires different fuel. Writing needs focus. Studying needs patience. Prospecting needs a certain energy I don't always have. Trying to force the wrong task into the wrong window is a recipe for garbage output and a bad mood. With nowhere to be over the holidays, I can actually watch these patterns instead of just reacting to them.
The goal I set in that earlier post was to get from 30% to 35%. Not by adding hours, but by using the ones I have more intentionally. The energy audit is how I'm trying to get there. Paying attention, being honest with myself, and to stop pretending willpower can override reality.
Some days I get six solid hours. Some days I get two. The number matters less than knowing which hours actually counted.
What about you? Do you know when you're actually productive versus just present? What signals tell you it's time to push through or step away? Drop it in the comments. I'm curious how other people are figuring this out.
Thanks for reading,
Joe
Notes:
-All content is mine unless otherwise annotated.
-Images are my own unless otherwise noted.
-Photos edited using MS Paint and/or iPhone SE.
-Page Dividers from The Terminal Discord.