Plan My Day

Your brain peaks 2-3 hours after waking. By 3pm, your cognitive capacity is roughly 60% of what it was at 10am. Yet most people schedule their hardest work whenever a slot opens up — usually between meetings at 4:15pm.

The gap between a productive day and a wasted one isn't motivation. It's sequence. The same tasks in a different order produce wildly different results.

The Three Rules That Matter

1. Match Energy to Task (Not Time to Task)

Your brain runs on 90-minute cycles (Ericsson, 1993). Peak focus lasts about 90 minutes before performance drops regardless of willpower. Work WITH this instead of against it.

Peak hours (morning, 9-12): Deep work — strategy, writing, complex problem-solving. This is where Priority #1 lives. No meetings here. No Slack. No email.

Second wind (early afternoon, 2-4): Focused work — still productive but slightly lower ceiling. Good for Priority #2 or creative work.

Low gear (late afternoon, 4-6): Admin — email, Slack, light tasks, 1-on-1s. Your brain is done with complex decisions. Don't fight it.