The Importance of the Last Hour of the Day: Flipping the Script on our Concept of Productivity
When I first started my business I read a lot of blogs and books about starting businesses. To this day I still do a good deal of reading about improving business, managing psychological barriers, and innovation. Most of the material I have read emphasized the first part of the day.
The concept was based on the idea that the beginning of the day is when you are fresh; it is a great time to plan, to journal, to work on putting together a to-do list, etc. I made it a point to do this and always found that by the time the day was over, there was little motivation to get anything else done. The hard part was behind me, so I felt like I could relax and many times I did.
Then I decided to experiment and think about the very end of the day. I decided to start tweeting a task to do at the last hour of the day for my followers and I also would work on that last task myself. What I found was that I got a second wind and often could get even more accomplished at the end of the day.
To my surprise, a lot of people started reading the Tweets and commenting. They would tell me about how they worked on that particular last hour of the day post and discuss how it was helpful to them. I kept on writing the Tweets and eventually gave them a hashtag (#Lasthouroftheday). I accompanied each task with the hashtag (#Doitnow) to emphasize that there was still time left in the day to make a difference and get something done. The final step in this process was turning the Tweets into a workbook, which you can check out HERE.
The beginning of the day is a great time to plan and to make decisions, but that end of the day is a great time to execute, develop new ideas, and most importantly reflect.
At the end of the day today, think of something you can do in that last hour. It can be active, reflective, or creative but take the time to use that window.
You might be surprised at what you discover.
Excelsior!
