I've tried a lot of different time slots and so far only two have worked for me:
1. Wake up 1.5hr earlier than my family. This gives me around 1.15hrs of solid focused time.
The downside is, of course, I have to sleep around 10 so the family time takes a
hit. I have to leave early from office to compensate and if there's something
that holds me back in office then there's a high chance this plan derails. I try
my best to juggle work, self-time and family time and while it's not impossible,
it sometimes becomes difficult. Last one week, for example, was such where I had
a lot of issues at work, and fixing them and reaching home would mean I'll be
back around 9.30PM and I had absolutely no interest in rising early.
2. Reach office an hour or so early and try to focus. I say try because there are things which are out of my control, especially the traffic. If there's bad traffic then reaching office and getting into a focused mode takes a lot of time.
Evenings I've tried working but this isn't consistent. Sometimes when the office
is empty and most of my office work is done, I might get some time for focused
work but this is pretty impossible to get. By the time I reach home, I have to
swim through a lot of traffic so there's hardly any mental cycles left that I
can spend on focused work.
Additionally, I would say that it works best when your focused time is same
everyday. For me, that has been waking up early.
1. Wake up 1.5hr earlier than my family. This gives me around 1.15hrs of solid focused time.
The downside is, of course, I have to sleep around 10 so the family time takes a hit. I have to leave early from office to compensate and if there's something that holds me back in office then there's a high chance this plan derails. I try my best to juggle work, self-time and family time and while it's not impossible, it sometimes becomes difficult. Last one week, for example, was such where I had a lot of issues at work, and fixing them and reaching home would mean I'll be back around 9.30PM and I had absolutely no interest in rising early.
2. Reach office an hour or so early and try to focus. I say try because there are things which are out of my control, especially the traffic. If there's bad traffic then reaching office and getting into a focused mode takes a lot of time.
Evenings I've tried working but this isn't consistent. Sometimes when the office is empty and most of my office work is done, I might get some time for focused work but this is pretty impossible to get. By the time I reach home, I have to swim through a lot of traffic so there's hardly any mental cycles left that I can spend on focused work.
Additionally, I would say that it works best when your focused time is same everyday. For me, that has been waking up early.