100 Ways to Motivate Others

44. Best Time? Biggest Challenge

It’s so hard when contemplated in advance, and so easy when you do it.

—Robert Pirsig, philosopher and author

It’s so important to use your best time for your biggest challenge. Of course you can’t always do this. Sometimes challenges have a way of blowing out their own hole in your timetable. But whenever possible, see if you can match up your prime biological (emotional, physical, mental) time with the big job or big communications you have to do.

Many leaders are at their best in the first hours of the morning; others hit their prime in the late morning; others still, in the afternoon. Whichever is your best time to shine, don’t waste it on trivial, low-return activities. Invest that energy and peak attention ...