The Productivity Police Would Be Horrified

I have a confession to make. I am not a morning person, and most definitely not in the aspirational LinkedIn sense of the phrase. This is when someone casually mentions they wake up at 4:37 a.m., meditate for 45 minutes, journal three pages of gratitude, drink a green juice of dubious provenance, read a business book, and still have time to post a sunrise selfie after topping 10k steps. All of this before I’ve even found my glasses.

My personal relationship with mornings is, shall we say, a little different. But I’ve recently had some good news.

Productive loafing

That extra hour is reserved for what I call “productive loafing,” a state that would probably horrify the productivity influencers. While the world seems determined to convince us that success requires getting up at the crack of sparrows, I’m lying there somewhere between dreaming and planning, conducting what can only be described as strategic horizontal thinking.

✔️ Work out
✔️ Journal our intentions
✔️ Drink something green enough to qualify as a garden
✔️ Practice mindfulness
✔️ Listen to a podcast at double speed
✔️ Review our goals
✔️ Become the best version of ourselves

All before 0700.

The science behind snoozing

Some of my best ideas arrive in the strange twilight zone between sleeping and waking; some of you might recognise that place. The alarm has gone off, but reality hasn’t quite loaded yet. I hit snooze, and somewhere during this period of semi-consciousness, when my brain is apparently operating without supervision, is when it’s at its most creative, and ideas begin to appear. I’ve learned to respect this process.

It might be solutions to problems I’ve been wrestling with for days, connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, or an idea for a post or workshop. Even, occasionally, entire paragraphs of writing. It’s as if my subconscious has spent the night running background updates and chooses the snooze button as its preferred means of communication.

It turns out I am actually not a lazy sloth looking for an extra hour in bed!  Science has long suggested that insight often emerges when the brain is relaxed, making connections in the background rather than focusing intensely on a task.  French researcher Delphine Oudiette had 103 people work on a math problem with a hidden shortcut, then let them briefly drift toward sleep before waking them. People who briefly slipped into that semi-lucid N1 state were more likely to later find the hidden shortcut than those who stayed fully awake or fell into deeper sleep, a real experimental result, not just an anecdote. This is excellent news for those of us whose most innovative moments occur with our head still on the pillow.

Researchers suggest that the coordination between the brain’s cognitive control network (planning, problem-solving) and the default mode network (daydreaming, mind-wandering) is the leading explanation for creative insight generally.

Permission to lose the guilt

Not everyone does their best thinking while sprinting uphill before dawn, because some of us need a slower runway. Some of us create, reflect, solve problems and generate ideas when our minds are wandering rather than grinding.

Valuable resource: Self-Reflection Questions to Find Purpose – 3Plus International

So if you’re someone who doesn’t bounce enthusiastically out of bed each morning, perhaps you’re not doing it wrong; it’s just that your brain simply prefers a gentler transition into the day.

And if anyone needs me, I’ll be busy conducting important strategic thinking exercises under a duvet. The Productivity Police can file their complaint later.

If you are struggling with your productivity or to stay focused especially around job search or career planning – book  a  👉complimentary no obligation clarity call to assess your needs.