Good morning!

Do you ever have days where you feel like you are SUPER productive? Almost like the world has slowed down but you’ve sped up and are crushing it.

I do know that feeling… but earlier this year those days were feeling few and far between.

Finally, two months ago I was at my wits end. I couldn’t string together any consistent deep work time. The meetings were endless. I was constantly being bombarded by the urgent over the important. Day after day after day. It just wasn’t working.

And I was done.

I couldn’t keep going like that.

WHAT DO I CONTROL?

After some reflection, I realized that I had more control over my schedule than I had been acknowledging. So, I mapped a typical week out on my wall and started to create windows of time that were going to become untouchable. These were the windows I would block that would give me the space to do the deep work I had been longing to do, but couldn’t seem to make happen. The types of work that would allow me to get to the end of the day and feel like I was actually moving my most important tasks forward.

In the process, I also created windows each day/week for meetings, coffees, and batch work around some of the urgent things that inevitably would come up.

This isn’t rocket science - but in the midst of everything coming at me - I hadn’t been able to see through the fog to find a solution.

And I know I’m not alone in this challenge.

In our world today, there seem to be endless opportunities… and distractions.

It’s easy to let the most important things slip to the backburner.

Resetting my weekly schedule was the starting point of making a change.

WHAT TIME OF DAY ARE YOU AT YOUR BEST?

A couple weeks after I had done this mapping exercise on my wall, I started reading a book that brought everything full circle. At Your Best by Carey Nieuwhof was the exact thing I needed to take this work I had been doing to another level. In the process I was reminded that high performance is not just about time management.

Carey lays out a case that the best performers combine time and energy management to excel. He writes that the research shows that in order to be high performing, “they did what they were best at when they were at their best.”

There are two key truths that are foundational to this learning:

TRUTH #1: Each person has a different set of hours when they are at their best.

TRUTH #2: Not all our hours are created equal.

Carey cites a study from author Daniel Pink that illustrates both truths,

What does that mean? There are times of the day when each of us are hardwired to be at our best. Carey calls this time period the Green Zone - and science shows each of us usually have a supply of 3-5 hours each day in this space. He describes it in this way…

Sounds amazing - and definitely a pattern I can recognize in parts of my day.

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He also notes that we have two other zones each day: Yellow Zone (moderate energy) and Red Zone (tank is empty). And in order to do our best work, we need to be mindful of when we have the best energy and likelihood of success. Expecting to do our best work during our Red Zone is unrealistic… and unwise.

That proves Truth #2 and affirms that not all our hours are equally valuable - which is a crucial element to consider if I want to pursue my Worthy Wins. Which gives me both challenge and inspiration to use them well.

TEA x THE GREEN ZONE

This work and research goes hand in hand with the idea that our TEA (time, energy, and attention - for those who are new) is the most valuable resource we have. Acknowledging that is a starting point, but this research about different zones is pushing me to get even sharper about how I use my TEA.

There is a third truth in this space that is crucial to acknowledge and is supported by Carey’s research:

TRUTH #3: How we use our best hours determines how well we perform.

If I use my Green Zone on activities that don’t create impact in my life in the areas that matter most then it creates two problems.

First, it means I’m not optimizing the use of my best hours.

Second, it means that the most important things I need to get done are not going to get done as quickly, as well, or at all. 😏

What Carey points out, and what I was trying to do with my scheduling exercise, was to leverage my Green Zone - the most impactful TEA I have - to lean into the areas that will make the biggest difference.

I knew my schedule hadn’t been working, but Carey’s book has helped me paint the picture more clearly of how to combine my best hours with my most important work.

THE BEST USE OF TIME

In the Bible, the Apostle Paul writes a letter to a group of Jesus followers in Ephesus (modern-day Turkey). It’s an incredible area on the Aegean Sea and in ancient times it was a thriving center of commerce. That meant there were lots of things going on, many opportunities for the people living there, and as a port - a convergence of ideologies and beliefs about the right way to live. So in the midst of all that, Paul wrote some poignant words for the people living there to apply:

In short - our days aren’t naturally going to lead us to the best use of time… or TEA.

I’ve found this to be true in my own life and that’s why I had to make this big shift.

UNLOCKING YOUR 🟢 ZONE

If this is resonating with you, then there are some simple steps you can take.

Green Zone Identification - When are you at your best?

For me, it’s 8am-1pm (give or take 30 minutes). Carey has an exercise you can do if you want help figuring it out.

Green Zone Protection - Now that you know when you’re at your best, what meetings or commitments do you need to move around or do differently to protect it?

For me, I’m no longer doing mid-morning coffee meetings as an example. They completely disrupt my Green Zone.

Green Zone Activation - None of this matters if you don’t activate your Green Zone to work for you. What are the most important activities and how do you effectively plan to do them each day when you’re at your best?

Two ways this has showed up for me. First, I’ve gotten clear on the biggest impact activities and each day I’m planning them in my Green Zone. Second, this is not only about my work - but also relationship with Erin. What we found out was that of late we are wiped out by the end of the day. So having deeper conversations later at night hasn’t been working as well. Instead, we are both using some of our collective Green Zone to go for a walk two mornings a week after the kids are off to school. This has led to deeper presence and connection for us which is a huge Worthy Win.

So, regardless of exactly where this finds you today I hope that you’ll spend some time to lean into your Green Zone and spend your TEA on what truly matters most to you.

Much love,

JO

PS: If you’ve read this far, I’d love to hear something that stood out to you from this note! 😁

WORTHY WINS REFLECTION QUESTIONS

If you're interested in pursuing more clarity and urgency now, take a bit of time to reflect on these questions:

• IDENTIFICATION: When is your Green Zone? If you’re not sure, use Carey’s exercise.
• PROTECTION: What activities need to move OUT of your Green Zone to help you protect it?
• ACTIVATION: What is the most important work you need to move INTO your Green Zone? Is there any relational time that could be adopted in your Green Zone that would be a Worthy Win for you?

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MY BOOK

Thanks for the continued support and the texts/DMs/calls/emails sharing how it’s impacting you!

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