During your typical day, when are you most energetic? Alert? Productive?
That’s your Native Time.
We all have an internal clock. Literally. The science backing it up won the 2017 Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Wow.
Individual Differences, Universal Principles & Time Management
Reach back to your Psychology 101 days. You know, the time your eyes were opened about what makes us tick.
You were probably introduced to a concept called individual differences.
Individual differences: Foundational, particularly when it comes to personality. It means we differ from others. And, because scientists like to put things in categories, so we’re also like other people, too, and we have categories for that.
A simplistic example: Optimists are different from pessimists, but optimists have certain observable things in common with other optimists. Being a pessimist or an optimist is one of your individual differences.
With strong interest today on personal and professional effectiveness, optimizing your strengths and managing your time get a lot of attention. How many time management systems exist? I narrowed the advanced specific Google search to “time management app,” and saw about 117,000 results.
The more general time management search?
About 2.76 billion.
How many time management systems or programs or tools are customized for you?
About zero.
We like customized things. Think of those team building classes you’ve had at work. All of a sudden, it made sense when you realized that as an Extravert, there was a reason you didn’t quite feel at home with your Introvert engineer co-workers. For Introverts, it’s not that they can’t talk well with others, they just don’t prefer it for a prolonged time.
Score another win for individual differences.
Back to time. As succinctly put by Ramit Sethi in his article Time management for “busy” people:
“TRUTH #1: We all have the same amount of time. Some just manage their time better.
TRUTH #2: Time management isn’t about super-secret tactics or fancy apps. It’s about your mindset and simple – but powerful – shifts in how you approach your to-dos.”
And then he shares helpful systems to manage time. Systems for all of us, universally. And they’re good systems. But they’re …
Universal principles, not individual differences. If it applies to all of us, why don’t we all embrace it? Universal principles aren’t wrong …
They’re just not complete. They lack individual differences.
What is Native Time?
When it comes to time, we have individual differences about when – within our 24-hour daily cycle – we prefer to be active, productive, and more. Those hours, whatever they might be, are our Native Time.
What’s individually different about our time preferences?
You’ve heard people say, “I am really not a morning person.” Maybe you’ve said it. What does it mean? It probably doesn’t mean this: I don’t function well in the mornings because I don’t get enough sleep. That’s not the intention.
The meaning is deeper. It represents something virtually unchangeable about the person. Something they’re born with. An inherent trait that they really just aren’t at their best during morning hours.
My Native Time is early morning. I discovered this in my 20s and confirmed it later during graduate school. When I go to bed early (9:30 pm to 10:00 pm), I’m naturally inclined to rise by 5:00 am to 5:30 am without an alarm clock, and I feel energized, creative, positive, and innovative for about six hours – Native Time for me.
After a lull, I rally in the afternoon for more activity – more Native Time! – and the mid-evening brings tiredness.
That’s when I’m paying attention to getting to bed early. If I fall for the temptation to stay up late, the next day is off. Noticeably off.
So – my own actions can sabotage my Native Time. What else throws off my Native Time? At times, my environment.
I’ve noticed that when I’m in situations – job, relationship, cognitive or emotional dissonance – that are significantly out of sync, not a fit with my values and life philosophy, my Native Time is off. When those environmental forces are resolved, I’m back to Native Time. It’s amazing, and it’s real.
How Do I Optimize My Native Time?
Science gives us proof that our sleep-wake cycles have major impacts on our lives, including health outcomes. More in a future article. The practical part: Be self-aware and pay attention to when you feel energetic and when you feel tired.
When we pay attention, we can be our own support system. With these three simple keys, we’re thriving in our Native Time:
Identify your Native Time: Morning or evening? Does your Native Time begin very early, moderately early, or about like most people? Maybe your Native Time begins later? A lot later? One of these will resonate with you more than the others. Think about the times in your life when you’ve been the most productive, successful, and satisfied – and look at your daily schedule during that time. This will give you major clues about your Native Time.
Decide on a daily schedule that optimizes Native Time for your life: Your work, social life, personal time. At a minimum, determine ideal bedtime, rising time, prime work times, meal and exercise times – all based on your Native Time. Remember that your waking hours, whatever they are, will include several “sets” of Native Time hours. It cycles.
As much as you can, keep to your schedule. The more consistent you are, the better. Especially when it comes to bedtimes and rising times that are about the same each day. But get this: Dr. Jan-Dirk Fautek, a renowned chronobiologist who works in this field, says (video here) that if we stick to our optimal schedule – our Native Time – just two to three days a week, we’ll see benefits! Can you believe it? The pressure to be perfect is gone. We can be our best selves with really moderate effort.
That’s it. Three things: Identify, Decide, and Stick To It.
With these three things, you can launch your best self and operate in your Native Time.
Summary
Universal principles are useful and informative. The concepts of sleep-wake cycles apply to all of us. When we also overlay these universal principles with our own individual preferences, we find the complete picture: our Native Time.
Native Time. It’s your time to shine.
Looking Ahead
You’re working the three steps several times a week, you’re optimizing your Native Time – what real benefits will you see? And what does the science behind sleep-wake look like?
Stay tuned. We’ll explore that in Part 2.
Sneak peek: One of the benefits might be increased productivity.
Image citations:
Pixabay; Unsplash: Mr. Lee, Andrew Neel, and Rawpixel