Thursday, April 5, 2007

Hail Early Risers!

My office opens at 10am, (but I do take calls if they come in earlier than that), and stays open until 6pm. I frequently stay up late to do paperwork, and every once in awhile I get a call from the west coast at 9pm where the caller is surprised to reach me, saying "oh, I was expecting to get voicemail...".

Why does my staff arrive at 10? Because I am usually up late the night before, and thus "sleep in", and it's an easier commute for them, so everybody wins. Of course, I get up early when an assignment calls for it, but when asked about scheduling a shoot, my first effort is to arrive on site by 11am, and begin shooting at noon.

Yet, I am inspired by a line I read from a William Blake poem:

"Think in the morning, act in the noon, read in the evening, and sleep at night."
Perhaps I could be more productive during the morning, and thus be able to accomplish more throughout the day.

Check this blog entry - Two Ways to Use Your New Found Early Morning Hours, which suggests, 1) The first co-strategy is that of making sure that the last half-hour of the day prepares us to “hit the ground running” the next morning, and 2) The second strategy is to choose appropriate tasks upon which to work the following morning. Read the rest of the blog for more details, but it sure looks like a good idea.

Now, the trick will be convincing the folks in the office here to arrive earlier. Wish me luck.
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2 comments:

Unknown said...

Similar to "Eat breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, and Supper like a pauper", I have found my best work is done in the morning, then tapers off in the afternoon.

The trick is to carve out that "quiet time" that is so important to our work. Currently, for you, it seems like you get uninterrupted time late at night..no phones, kids in bed, and you can concentrate. You will not get that in the early morning without focused effort.

Be very cautious of pushing your envleope even further. That is, do not add hours to the morning if you do not intend to take them off of the evening. Your system doesn't seem broken now, does it really need fixing?

Delane said...

John....I agree with Robert. I'm sure your staff appreciates the easier commute (both ways) and how much additional revenue (or productivity) will you gain?

Keep doing your typical great job man!!!

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