Allow me to make one thing perfectly clear.

I. HATE. WAKING. UP.

I had originally written “I hate mornings”, but then I realised actually, I don’t. What I hate about mornings is the waking up part: the screeching of the alarm; what it normally signifies (going to work); getting stuck in traffic; being cold and dark, and so on.

When that happened this morning, just as I was climbing into my car I had the flicker of a premise for a post about how you can organise your day to maximise productivity in different areas of your life at different times. The fact the idea occurred at 5.30 in the morning served to reinforce my thinking.

You might be thinking quite what this has to do with personal finance. A productive day will maximise your earning potential. It will please your bosses; it’ll get you ahead; it’ll get more done with the same amount of time; and it’ll make you feel more positive.

A Bad Productivity Day

So, what exactly am I getting at here? So far there have been 132 words and not much substance to show for it. For a moment imagine you are Paul or Paula, and a somewhat typical day for you looks something like this:

• 6.45 am – Wake Up & Shower
• 7.30 am – Arrive at Work
• 7.34 am – Attempt to Deal With E-Mails
• 7.55 am – Give Up, Find Coffee
• 8.00 am – Continue Dealing With E-Mails
• 8.30 am – Suffer Morning Meeting & Presentation
• 10.00 am – Rush Breakfast
• 10.30 am – Finish Report
• Midday – Working Lunch (Still Finishing Report)
• 2.00 pm – Afternoon Meeting
• 3.00 pm – Afternoon Slump
• 5.00 pm – Give Up & Go Home
• 6.00 pm – Cook A Ready Meal
• 8.00 pm – Collapse In Front of TV
• 11.00 pm – Go to Bed

Identify & Exploit Your Day Phases

Everyone has what I call ‘phases’ that occur throughout the day at given points. Some people are “morning people”, where they roll out of bed at 5am bright as a daisy, eat a pastry, paint a masterpiece before lunch and then get down to mind-numbing report writing after a good hearty lunch and a siesta, and then retire to evening home life by cooking a sumptuous meal and finishing a novel.

Such a person is extremely creative and productive because they know what their phases are.

• Creative, passionate and driven in the mornings.
• Hungry and sleepy with no interest in work at lunchtime.
• Tenacious, meticulous and detailed in the afternoon.
• Relaxed, sensual and creative again in the evening.

A Real World Example

Although I secretly hate mornings, if I have suffered through the ‘waking up’ part and have actually got out of bed, I know that fuelled by a cup of tea or two but before eating anything, I can be quite creative. I’m writing this blog post in just such a phase.

Once I eat something my mind focus changes from creativity to practicality so I may do something physical rather than mental. After lunch I feel sleepy, and if I give in to that sleepy slump I can power through the rest of the day being detailed and meticulous. For me, that is a good time to proof-read.

Towards the end of the day my drive for creativity returns and I end up expressing it in the kitchen making a delicious meal, or batch cooking a selection of delicious meals for lunch times, or for when time in general is pinched.

A Good Productivity Day

• 6.30 am – Wake Up, Shower, Breakfast
• 7.30 am – Arrive at Work
• 7.31 am – Find Coffee
• 7.34 am – Create Presentation For Morning Meeting
• 8.15 am – Network With Colleagues
• 8.30 am – Morning Meeting (All impressed with presentation)
• 10.00 am – Coffee Break
• 10.15 am – Write and Finish Report
• Midday – Head Out For Lunch In the Sun
• 1.00 pm – Check, Sort, Reply to E-Mails
• 1.55 pm – Grab a Coffee
• 2.00 pm – Afternoon Meeting
• 3.00 pm – Coffee & Review Meeting Notes
• 3.45 pm – Write Tomorrow’s Todo’s
• 4.30 pm – Go Home
• 5.30 pm – Get Creative in the Kitchen
• 6.30 pm – Enjoy a Film
• 10.00 pm – Go to Bed

10 Tips to Maximise Your Productivity

The above are just examples. Whatever you do in your day you can apply the principles below to make the most of your day. In this example we have done more work in less working day, and then continued with that energy at home.

Here’s how:

1. Get up a few minutes earlier

It doesn’t seem like much, but getting up 15 minutes earlier allowed us to have breakfast and a cup of tea to get our brain firing before we even got to work. In that time we came up with the idea of creating a quick PowerPoint to help get the main features of the meeting across in a graphical and not just verbal way.

2. Grab a coffee / tea first thing to power the mind

I’m not ashamed to admit I’m a bit of a caffeine junkie, and I embrace it when it works the most for me. In the morning’s a cup of joe will turn my 1.4 litre mental engine into a 6 litre V8. If you’re not one for tea or coffee, grab your drink of choice to power your mind. Staying hydrated is as important for the mind as it is for the body.

3. Ignore emails until you are good and ready

E-Mail is a very impersonal method of communication, and saps your creativity by diverting your attention. Once you’ve read an email that is screaming for a reply, you feel compelled to reply to it there and then. If you don’t and try to do something else, it’ll be nagging away at you anyway serving as a constant distraction.

4. Use your creativity phase

Instead of getting bogged down in other people’s demands first thing in the morning, use your creativity phase productively. In our case we seized it to take advantage of the images our mind put together to allow us to augment our morning meeting with a stunning presentation.

5. Use your productivity phase

Spurred on by how well the meeting went, and re-fuelled with a fresh cup of the bean, we powered through the post-meeting report before lunch time appeared and managed to finish it on time. This allowed us to eat a proper lunch, and spend some time re-charging our vitamin D in the sunshine and fresh air.

6. Acknowledge the afternoon productivity slump

It is part of human physiology that after lunch time we have a slump in mental and physical energy. Take advantage of this by dealing with matters that don’t really require a vast amount of mental processing power of physical stamina: attack those emails.

7. Leave todo’s for yourself tomorrow

If you need a particular phase to do something brilliantly rather than just sufficiently, remind yourself to do it during that phase on another day. Proper workload planning will allow you to take advantage of yourself without falling behind.

8. Come home and get creative yourself

Everyone can cook, and it is a great way to de-stress (with some practice if you’re not brilliant at it – and anyone can follow a recipe). You will benefit from the additional nutrition of cooking fresh rather than your body just suffering another TV dinner.

9. Switch off and relax

In my example we watched a movie. You could equally go for a walk, relax in the bath or curl up on the sofa and read a book. All of them involve disassociating from the race of life for a period and re-charging our souls.

10. Get sufficient sleep

A tired body and mind is an unproductive one. Your creativity, productivity and all other elements will suffer if you fail to get enough sleep. So go to bed an hour earlier than normal and reap those benefits.

What do you do to maximise your day? Come share in the comments!

We all know that most of us need to reduce our personal debt, not just for our own pockets but for the sake of the economy. Although it’s a depressing figure, by the end of January 2012 the total UK personal debt stood at £1,456 trillion.

However, it need not all be doom and gloom; there are still opportunities to treat ourselves without being totally out of pocket. Getting out of debt can mean not overindulging but there are also ways to do have memorable experiences without having to sacrifice everything you enjoy. Here are 5 tips to help you enjoy the finer points in life whilst still clearing debt…

1.      Ask for a payrise

Have you asked before? Even if you have, we all know, if we don’t ask, then we don’t get… Why not take a chance and see if you can get paid more for what you currently do. Then you can use the salary increase to help pay off debt, whilst maintaining your current lifestyle.

2.      Get a 2^nd job

If you’re not successful when asking for a payrise, why not get a second job to supplement your income. It doesn’t need to be a huge commitment. Perhaps you could be a home tutor a couple of nights a week. Or even try some freelance writing. Whatever your skill, with enough Googling, you are bound to find something to suit your skills set.

3.      Find cheaper ways of pampering yourself

You still need to look good right? Even if you’re asking for a payrise or interviewing for a second job, you want to know that you look your best when you are doing this. These days, there are so many websites offering beauty vouchers, so why not take a look on a site such as Groupon or other daily-offer sites and see what you can get.

4.      Cut corners with your shopping

Whether it’s your weekly food shop, DIY purchase for home improvements or a dress for a wedding, again, there are countless shopping vouchers to be found online. You need to pay attention to dates though, as these deals do not stay around for long but new ones are constantly appearing, so it’s nearly always a safe bet.

5.      Consolidate your debts

Paying several different loans and credit cards can get very confusing. Why not consolidate all of your debts in to one payment on the same day each month? Being organised this way will give you peace of mind and let you concentrate on the things you really care about. Ensure you find a reputable lender when doing this, however, and check APRs and fees. You need to ensure you won’t end up paying back more than you already owe!

Is your glass half full, or half empty?

Generally when asked that question, my glass is most definitely half full.

Except where personal finance is concerned.

As my previous posting history suggests, I am naturally pessimistic in terms of my finances. But where does the line between being a frugalist and pessmist really get drawn?

For example, I have been salivating over getting a new mobile phone for the last 12 months. I have so far resisted the temptation on the basis of getting out of debt. Now that my employment situation looks less than 100% secure, I am resisting on the basis I do not want to be tied into a contract that I may not be able to afford if I get laid off.

But, being laid off is no certainty. The discussion at work has only just begun. I may not be laid off at all – yet I am already living like it is a dead certainty. I have trimmed my budget further, made some changes to my plan for debt freedom, and generally dug myself into a pit of despair over something that may never happen.

Is this healthy?

Is it just financial prudence?

Or am I holding myself back from happiness?

That isn’t to say a new phone would make me happy. I am pleased to report I have moved on from that stage of consumerism. However, when is – in terms of avoiding risk in your finances – too far?

Are Pessimism and Frugalism mutually exclusive? Can you be a Pessimistic Frugalist?

I think you can.

And worse, I don’t think that is bad thing. A new phone contract will work out more expensive for the phone I want (the shiny new Nokia N900), and I do not wish to risk being tied into paying £40 or so for the next 18 months just to get it.

The safer option, so say my pesimistic frugal self, is to buy the handset outright and use my existing SIM card that is ‘out of contract’, and now just rolling month-to-month. If I get laid off, I can cancel it at the drop of a hat without any penalty.

I will pay less over 18 months doing so as well.

Are you a pessimist in your finances? Am I going too far? Any thoughts gratefully received in the comments.