I’m Crepuscular. Are You?

Crepuscular animals are the ones who are most active at twilight, meaning dawn and dusk.

Dusk is prime dinner and baby bedtime in my house, so to say it’s “active” is an understatement.

But, my most productive period of the day is actually around dawn.

I wake up at 5 am before the sun comes up, make coffee, and then sit down to tackle my most important tasks for the day. These are the tasks that are most valuable to me and my businesses.

Note that there’s a difference between urgent and important.

I don’t even open my email before 7 am, because I want to be distraction-free. And for me, I can get sucked into answering emails like each one is an urgent checkbox that I must check off right away…but that’s NOT the most important work.

And throughout the day as your email pings with urgent matters, take a moment to ask yourself, “is this important right now?”

If the answer is no, it can wait.

For me, that magical time around dawn is when everything is still and quiet. The dog is too tired to hump my leg (real problem), the kids are asleep (usually), and no one needs an urgent reply.

If you’re having trouble finding time for the most important things in your life, consider waking up 5 minutes earlier each day until you become crepuscular too.