How to find the right time for everything?

The success of your to-do list depends on when you choose to do them.

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In my first delivery, I told you that I've been thinking a lot about the relationship between creativity and productivity. I think creativity is one of my superpowers. When I'm "in the zone" I'm flowing with ideas, connecting people, thinking of actions, scaling them, creating and creating and creating...like turning on a power tower. I feel like I can do it for hours non-stop...but it's taken me almost a decade to realize that my relationship with creativity isn't exactly the healthiest.

It happens: You have a big deadline and on the same day you have meetings, team-related tasks, and errands. You work a bit on the main thing but quickly focus on meetings, other commitments, and calls. Hours pass by and the next thing you know it’s 4 pm, you haven't had lunch and the deadline is still missing. You take a short break and work into the evening and night to finish. The next day you feel like you've been beaten up.

It took me a while until I realized that I was creating at the point of impulses and that my dynamic was that of a rocket: take off, create, and burn! That was my relationship with Viajes Inmóviles, a podcast that I did in quarantine. I dedicated all my love and effort until I decided that I needed my weekends for rest, not to keep working. It didn’t have to be this way. I started thinking about how the hell I could create continuously, not in sprints, and then I found this idea that changed everything:

"The "what" and the "how" are necessary questions. But there’s another crucial question that must be addressed in order to make fast, dramatic, lasting improvements in the quality of your life. That question is "when". “When” is the ultimate life hack."

This is an idea of Dr. Michael Breus, a clinical psychologist and author of "The Power of When". I came across this book thanks to Vivian Padilla, a brilliant designer who told me that she had made her coffee mug because she realized that this is the most important moment of her day. I was stunned. Then Vivian told me about this book that has changed the way I relate to my routine and my own creativity. Have you ever heard about people "being an early bird" or being a "night owl"? Well, Breus felt that we had to back that up with science and besides, we are mammals, not birds, so in 2016 she presented four chronotypes to understand "when" is everyone's "when".

Source: Casper’s blog, referencing “The Power of When” by Michael Breus.

My chronotype is "Bear". My tendency is to wake up when the sun rises and sleep a few hours after it sets. Here is the online test. According to Breus chronotype is not something you just do out of habit, it comes in your DNA, like he says: "You can't change your chronotype any more than you can change your height or eye color." When I thought about it in those terms, things started clicking: the clarity in the mornings, the snoozing after lunch, the drive to socialize in the afternoon. There is a time for everything. The book details your body’s processes during the day and recommends when is the right time for things in your chronotype. It’s a way of aligning with what your body is designed to do. I focused on one thing:

The optimal time to edit is when you are most alert and the optimal time to write is when you are least alert. The explanation, according to Breus, is that the creative rhythm works when you are not at the peak of your analytical functions (memorizing, decision-making, planning, etc.) but when you are thinking outside those constraints. Joan Didion, for example, would write an hour before dinner; the next day, first thing in the morning, she would edit what she had written the day before. Simone de Beauvoir wrote between 10am and 1pm, socialized in the evenings, and returned to writing between 5pm and 9pm. Stephen King writes every day from 8am until he completes 2,000 words and after lunch, he takes a nap. Every routine is different but it's effective when it's in sync with your chronotype. It's not about "powering through" tasks, it's about distributing tasks to match your energy.

Now, let’s make it a habit

Like all good ideas for life: they are easier said than done. Since reading Breus' book I have done different routine tests. Putting focus on tasks in the mornings and as many meetings as possible after lunch has done wonders to reduce my stress and make me more productive. So, coming back to the standard “deadline day” that I described earlier, the proper timing for a Bear like me would be: working on scriptwriting focus mode in the morning, checking in with the team at noon, lunch, wrapping up team-related tasks and then come back to the delivery. I've felt fantastic when I’ve followed my cronotype rules strictly, but also have felt the downer when I don't follow through. Also: I tend to prioritize other people's time more than my own and I carry the habits of kamikaze journalism very much internalized in my practice, even when I know they need to change. One step at a time, right? That's why I decided to start with this text: In the next two weeks I'm going to follow Don Breus to the letter and let's see what happens. Do you want to do it together? Send me a message through social media and we'll set up a support group.

Here’s a powerful tool for now.

There’s a small chapter in Breus’ book where he explains how napping, at the right time, recharges your energy. During the little nap, your two hemispheres dialogue a lot more than when you’re awake (!) which produces extraordinary mental connections when you wake up. Napping is a very powerful tool. I first heard it from CC Paschal: an editor and sound artist who was my professor at the Salt Institute. CC has worked on award-winning NPR series, The Heart, Gimlet Media and is the Executive Director at Molten Heart. She is one of the storytellers I most admire. She told me that on days where she had tougher deliverables, she made sure to take at least two naps, one especially after lunch. Like this: I'm going to take a nap because I have a deadline today. Aside from the physical benefit to your body of sleeping, this nap also brings you back to the full awareness of breathing, resting and giving yourself permission to relax. That’s the right way for me: to create while being king and loving with ourselves.

So next time you have a difficult delivery: set aside some time to take a nap and let me know how it went. Reach out in social media if you want to do this Breus routine experiment, see you next time.