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Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's tip is to protect your best hours.

If you have a time of day when you are most productive or creative or focused, you don't want to give that time away if you don't have to.

Structure your schedule mindfully and you may find yourself getting a lot more done.

So if you have ever monitored your energy during the day, you know that not all hours are created equal.

Around 8 a.m. in that first cup of coffee, people often feel like they can conquer the world.

Come 2 p.m., energy is waning, and there is no more conquering the world.

Something that felt doable at 8 a.m., now feels like it is taking forever, as you keep getting distracted.

Many people then get a burst of energy around quitting time,

as they need to finish things, to get out the door,

though it is probably not quite as big as that initial morning zip.

This pattern isn't universal.

Some people are most productive from, say, 4 to 7 p.m. or from midnight to 2 a.m.

Or maybe from 4 a.m. to 6 a.m. But most people aren't extreme. And the idea of focused mornings,

more or less during business hours, and less focused afternoons, is pretty much the norm for adults.

This also means that for most people,

the opportunity cost of doing something outside your zone of genius

is much lower in the afternoon than in the morning.

And yet studying time, I am amazed how many people don't think about this when setting up their

schedules. Sometimes you don't really have a choice. If you're a manager two levels up,

wants to meet you at 9 a.m., well, you should probably do it. But if you are setting a team meeting

...