I find I am most productive during the first three hours of my day. I realize, now, that I need to protect this time against meetings, classes, and other random responsibilities because this time is precious.
This is the only time that I feel I can really get to work and focus on a particular challenge or task.
I feel lucky in that this time, generally between 7-11 am, is when other people are sleeping and I am uninterrupted. I can focus and really just think about one or two things for an extended period of time.
This clarity feels rare in my life. So often, I am clouded by various distractions and responsibilities. I benefit from a laser-like environment, where one thing is the priority, and everything else blurs to noise.
I often think about…how do I build environments in my day to day life where I know I can be at my best?
Who do I surround myself with? What do I focus on?
I find I most enjoy working with kind people. Kind does not mean nice. Kind means truth-seeking and looking out for my best interests. Most other qualities are table-stakes compared to this importance of kind. Kind means loyalty. Kind implies that the people I am working with want the best for the mission.
I do not like working with people who value nice over kind. I do not like fluff or indirectness or confusion. Tell me how it is. It makes things a lot better.
I think everyone should write a guide – myself included – for how to work best with themselves. Perhaps a project for another day for me.