Identifying Your Creative Hours
When do you write best?
I write best at night.
I’d prefer to sleep, but it’s when I write best.
There’s something about the atmosphere — people are quiet, my candles are lit, and I can hear the muffled sound of my flatmate playing FIFA in the room next to me. It’s probably the most relaxed I feel, and I love it.
Took me a while to discover.
Have you identified your peak writing hours?
Definitely the hardest part.
Some people can write whenever they want, and their style won’t change. But for a lot of us, it’s more of a challenge. It’ll take time, experimentation, and patience. It’s about understanding your own mind, getting in tune with your emotions, and a lot of trial and error. You’ll work it out eventually — and once you have, you can apply it to all areas of your life.
For your typical blog post, start with a title. Once you’ve got your title, now’s the time for trial and error. Try writing a few paragraphs in the morning. Then try again in the afternoon. Then the evening. See when the ideas flow best, see how smoothly your thoughts translate onto paper (or screen), and see if it’s more of a struggle in the morning than the afternoon, evening, or night.
As soon as it’s a struggle, you’ve eliminated a chunk of the day. That chunk isn’t your peak time.
Identifying your ‘writing time’ comes down to feeling — it’s the ease of putting pen to paper. You won’t be thinking about the writing process. Instead, it’ll be like a chat with your best friend.
It also comes down to practice. The more you do, the more you act, the more you write — the more you’ll be able to recognise those crucial feelings.
But remember: the ability to write, edit and create won’t always be the same across projects. You might be a great reader in the morning, but maybe you don’t write so well. You can edit a video at 4pm on a Thursday, but you can’t stomach a book.
For a lot of the work I do, I’m a morning person. I can focus, I can concentrate on large chunks of text, and I can follow a plan. But I’ve realised that I can’t write with emotion — that’s reserved for the night.
Ideas Are Everywhere
We’re always looking for new ideas — it’s one of the biggest struggles of the ‘content creation industry’. How do you find your next topic? Your next blog post? Your next campaign?
It’s easier than you think.
Ideas don’t have a time constraint. They’re everywhere – it just takes a bit of observation.
Passivity is the enemy of creativity.
Your best ideas won’t hit you at the same time everyday. Your peak writing hours aren’t your peak idea hours. Ideas will hit you in the street, on the bus, and in the gym. So be present, and be prepared to write them down — because you will forget. On your notebook, on your phone, on a napkin; wherever. And be sure to record any extra thoughts that come along with the idea.
Fast-track the idea process. Put away the distractions, see what people are doing around you, who they’re with, what they’re reading. Listen to a podcast, start up a conversation at the local Starbucks, read a random article. This is real-time content, and it’s all around you.
But your writing style won’t be so constant. Your voice, tone and phrasing will change across the day. Across time, location, and environment. You can’t always pigeon-hole your peak writing hours, but you can identify your creative tendencies and refine them from there. You can distinguish your best hours from your worst.
Post-Discovery Strategy
Identifying your best hours will lead to maximum efficiency. Instead of one successful day a week, you’ll have five. But remember: they’ll differ depending on the task at hand.
You’ll be able to strategise. Sleepy after lunch? Plan an easier mental activity — don’t write. At your peak between 8–9pm? Go to your quiet (or loud) place, bash out a few paragraphs, and write that post you’ve been thinking about all day.
Planning can only come once you know when you function most effectively.
There’s something calming about writing when it’s dark. I keep my blinds open, and I people watch as I think about my next sentence. I have a view on the local supermarket — shoppers I’ve never met (and never will) keep me company until 11pm.
Maybe my hours will change in the future. But for now, I’ll stick to writing at night.
As for the ideas, I’ll continue to have my phone on hand.
So take the time to discover your peak creativity hours, and you’ll be able to maximise the potential of your content, your efficiency, and yourself.
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