Finally, a bit of common sense about planning our day.

In the article, “11 Time Management Myths That Are Hurting Your Productivity,” Gabriella Goddard with Brainsparker Leadership Academy, offered this advice:

“When you just focus on managing time, you don’t take into account your natural bio-rhythms and energy levels. Trying to take on a tough task when your energy is at rock bottom is a recipe for procrastination. So, if your energy is high in the morning, then focus on the more difficult projects or actions. If, by Friday, you tend to feel flat, then schedule less important meetings and administration.”

Don’t be rigid about your schedule. Listen to what your body and brain tell you. And don’t follow a productivity author’s advice if it isn’t right for you.

If you’re not a morning person, for example, don’t Eat That Frog first. Don’t tackle your most difficult or important tasks first.

Wake up first.

Start your work day with administrative or other less demanding tasks. Do your most important or most difficult tasks later.

It’s good to get your most important work done as early as possible in the day. Just don’t try it before your third cup of coffee.

Seth Godin asks, “What will do with the time you save?”

It’s a good question.

We read books and articles about productivity, buy courses, download apps, adopt new strategies, and tweak what we’re already doing, in an endless quest to get more done in less time.

But why?

Why do you want to save time? What will you do with it?

Would you go home (shut down) earlier? Start a side business? Write a book?

Would you read more? Exercise more? Sleep more?

Would you work on improving your skills? Spend more time with your family? Indulge in more “me time”?

Or, would you simply do more billable work?

The answer, of course, depends on what’s important to you–what you want to accomplish and the lifestyle you want to create or maintain.

But you could be wrong about what you want, or change your mind.

You might start doing more billable work and find that you only have so much energy each day and the quality of your work starts to suffer.

Or, you might use the time you save by working a shorter day, only to find that you’re bored.

You could try to figure out what you would do in advance, so you have a goal to work towards, or you could save the time first and then decide what to do with it.

It’s nice to have options. And to know there’s a purpose behind all the time you spend figuring out how to save time.

If you’re trying to tackle a big project and not making as much progress as you’d like, the reason may simply be that you’re trying to do too much too soon.

In his book, Do It Tomorrow, Mark Forster provides a series of fundamental productivity principles. Number three is “Little and Often,” his prescription for handling big projects or accomplishing big goals.

Forster says it’s easier to get things done if you do small parts frequently, instead of attempting to get it all done in a short period of time.

Little and often is how we learn to play a musical instrument or a new language, he points out. It’s how we develop any new skill or habit.

It works because it allows your brain to repeatedly return to and process the subject, assimilate new information and experiences and make new connections between them, providing us with new ideas and different ways to incorporate them.

I’m working on a book right now and while I have the time to power through it and get it done faster, I’m moving slowly, writing for an hour or two a day, and I know the end result will be better for it.

What are you working on right now that could benefit from “little and often”?