Time is a container. Energy is the quality of what fills it. If you treat every hour as equal, your calendar will look full while your best work gets squeezed into the margins. Protecting your peaks—those recurring windows when your mind is clear and your body feels ready—quietly transforms output without adding a single minute.

Find Your Peaks

For five workdays, become a calm observer of your own energy. At the top of each hour, jot a quick score from 1–5 in your notebook. By Friday, patterns appear. Two blocks will stand taller than the rest—often one in the morning and a shorter one later in the day. Those are your peaks. They are not for inbox triage, calendar shuffle, or “quick” meetings. They’re for the work that moves the needle.

A simple rule follows: Put your most valuable task in your most valuable hours. Phone in another room. One window. One objective. Give those minutes the respect you reserve for client calls.

An Energy-First Day (Example)

This isn’t a rigid recipe; it’s a rhythm you can tune. Keep the language of each block simple and concrete.

Block	Duration	Focus
Peak #1	60–120 min	One high-leverage task
Admin Batch	30–45 min	Email, messages, calendar
Build Block	60–90 min	Draft/PR/Deck
Move + Refuel	15–20 min	Walk, water, protein
Peak #2	45–90 min	Advance tomorrow’s top task
Collab Window	60–120 min	Calls, reviews, 1:1s
Close-Down	10–15 min	Evidence, plan tomorrow

Notice what’s missing from the peaks: meetings, scrolling, “just checking.” The goal is not asceticism; it’s fit—matching task difficulty to the hours that can carry it.

Levers That Actually Raise Energy

The point isn’t to optimise everything. It’s to choose a few levers that compound.

• Sleep consistency. Aim for a steady window. Good days start the night before.
• Caffeine timing. First cup ~90 minutes after waking; last cup ~8 hours before bed. Treat it like a tool, not a crutch, or forget about caffeine altogether, like I have.
• Light and movement. Morning daylight plus a brisk mid-afternoon walk to dodge the slump.
• Fuelling, not snacking. Protein-forward meals and hydration. Fatigue often masquerades as thirst.
• Context walls. One document, one goal. Multitasking is a tax on cognition.
• Micro-recovery. Every 50–90 minutes, stand, breathe, reset posture. Recovery is part of performance.

Apply It to Real Work

• Writers & Creators. Draft in Peak #1 while your cognitive battery is fullest; research later. Use a small ritual—same desk, same playlist—to signal “writing mode.” End with a half-finished sentence to make tomorrow’s re-entry easy.
• Sales & Partnerships. Prospect during your strongest block; persuasion needs presence. Three handcrafted outreaches and two follow-ups before touching the inbox. Walk between calls; schedule the next step while energy is high.
• Coders & Builders. Defend a daily maker block with calendar walls. Scope work into ≤90-minute slices. Start with one failing test to bypass inertia and ship a small PR before you leave Peak #2. Close loops by writing the next step while context is still warm.

Lead Measures to Keep You Honest

Track inputs you control. Let the scoreboard update itself.

KPI	Aim
Prime-Hour Protection Rate	≥ 80%
Deep-Work Minutes	90–180/day
Context Switches	Trending down
Recovery Inserts	4–6/day
Sleep Window Consistency	5–7 nights/week

If you can’t influence it today, don’t track it today.

A Seven-Day Peak-Protection Sprint

• Day 1, map last week and circle your two strongest windows.
• Day 2, block them—non-negotiable.
• Days 3–5, enforce the one-window rule during peaks, delay caffeine, and add a 10–15 minute walk mid-afternoon.
• Day 6, perform a short close-down ritual: log evidence of progress and set tomorrow’s first action.
• Day 7, review: keep one thing that raised energy; remove one thing that drained it. Then repeat.

Protect your peaks and the rest of the day stops stealing from the work that matters. Energy first. Output follows.