Guard Your Golden Hours
We talk a lot about time management—but what about energy management?
If you’ve ever tried to solve a huge problem at 5am or grade papers at 3 p.m. or finish a report after dinner, you already know: not all hours are created equal. Each of us has a natural rhythm, our circadian rhythm, that governs when we’re most alert, focused, and creative.
Some people hit their stride early, fueled by coffee and sunrise. Others come alive long after lunch. The trick isn’t to fight your rhythm; it’s to find it, then guard it like gold.
The Executive Function Behind It
Tuning into your circadian rhythm isn’t just self-care—it’s an act of executive functioning. Executive functions are the brain’s management system: planning, prioritizing, organizing, and regulating behavior. When we align high-demand tasks with our brain’s natural peak hours, we’re not just working harder—we’re working smarter.
Think about it this way:
Morning person? That’s when you tackle creative work or problem-solving.
Afternoon thinker? Schedule your meetings or writing sessions then.
Night owl? Guard that quiet window for deep work.
During your off-peak hours, do “maintenance” tasks like emails, data entry, cleaning up digital files…the cognitive equivalent of sweeping the floor.
For teachers, this is game-changing. We often spend our sharpest hours buried in administrative clutter instead of lesson planning, relationship-building, or reflection. By reclaiming our best mental energy, we make space for creativity, patience, and presence—the things that actually make us effective.
And for our students, this lesson is pure gold. Many have never been taught to notice when they think best, much less plan around it. Helping them identify their “focus windows” gives them a lifelong tool for success. It’s metacognition in action—learning how to learn.
When we teach young people (and remind ourselves) that energy is not an infinite resource, we promote self-awareness and respect for our own minds.
It’s the same lesson no matter what field in which you work: do your best to not waste your peak performance hours sitting in meetings where someone drones on and on about nothing. Us that time to create, problem-solve, write, brainstorm, etc.
Guard Your Gold
Here’s a challenge:
Track your energy for a few days. When do you feel sharpest?
Label that as your Golden Hour(s).
Block it off for your most important or creative work. If you’re working in a team setting, put this time in your digital calendar as ‘busy’ so that no one schedules meetings for you during it.
Be ruthless about protecting it.
Because those hours—your clearest, most focused, most inventive ones—are the foundation of your best work and your best self. Don’t trade them for busywork.
☕ Sunday Morning Coffee Thought:
We can’t make more hours in the day, but we can use the best ones wisely. Guard your gold, and for my educators out there, teach your students to do the same.
Til next Sunday, enjoy this fall weather (unless you’re somewhere with temps still in the 90’s, then enjoy that sunshine!).
