Capturing your memories for lifetimes.

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One weekend last summer while my cousin and her husband were visiting us here in Columbus she and I had a discussion about moving away from everyone and everything you know, essentially on a leap of faith.

She knows this better than anyone else I know, as she’s not only done so here in the States (multiple times), she also did so in Ireland.  She get’s it.

As we were talking, one thought she had has really stuck with me.

Moving across the country (in her case ocean, country, ocean, country, country) is hard, and there a moments that really suck. However, the things that happen while you are so far out of your comfort zone are AMAZING.”

So. Much. Truth.

One of the many mental ‘light bulbs’ I’ve had since we moved is how important it really is to be true to who you are.  Moving out here has been fantastic for me in that sense. I’m done trying to be someone I’m not, and in that, I’ve finally shrugged off the rest of the bank, and that feels amazing. (Light bulb number one.)

I’ve spent more hours than not since leaving Portland working. (not always so much on the getting paid part, but working nonetheless) A major part of that working has been learning, watching every webinar I can to learn from the people in the industry that I have crazy respect for.

I can’t remember who said it, so my apologize to whomever I am not crediting, but thier point was this :: We spend so much time working on the business side of things that we can forget what brought us into this business in the first place. (Light bulb number two :: the creativity of photography is what I love, capturing moments is what I love, and when I stop picking up my camera for myself, I tend to get crabby. Same goes when I spent too much time focused only on the business side of things.)

This year I was able to go to WPPI (you can read more about that here) and while there, completely recharged my creative batteries.

With that, came the realization that my creative kicks in the most at night, be it editing photography, writing for here or for Cook.Eat.Explore, or working on mood boards for styled shoots, I do my best at night, during the day, I can do the business side of things, and do them fairly well, but the creativity is for the night. (Light bulb number three.)

According to my mom it’s always been this way.

I fought this for a very, very long time, and have finally realized that it was time to stop fighting it. This is what works for me.

About a week and a half after that, Christine Tremoulet, one of the speakers I heard at WPPI last month (who is also a woman who I have crazy respect for) posted a blog talking about pretty much the same thing, only far, far more eloquently than I have.

I’m reposting her words below, however, click HERE to read them at her blog, which you need to do. (Shameless plug for her :: check her out, she’s fantastic all the way around.)

The Real Best Time of Day to Post

You’re spending all this time researching when is the best time of day to post online, when do you need to make your Instagram post so it gets the most eyes on it, how many times a week should you blog, all of it.

Have you considered when is the best time of day for YOU to post though?

When should you sit down and work?

When should you focus on writing – which takes a LOT of brain power – and when should you focus on tasks like responding to emails, editing photos, or even having client meetings – which don’t take quite so much?

When are you at your highest energy levels – and what are you doing during that time?

Blogging - the REAL best time of day to post online - featured at http://ChristineTremoulet.com

The Magic of the Morning

I have spent the past several months tackling this question for myself, determining how my work fits in with my morning routine, with my life, when should I be getting it done, when do I find myself just procrastiworking?

I like to believe that I’m a night owl, but it isn’t really true. Yes, I often stay up quite late at night, as I’ve always had strange sleep patterns. Nighttime is best for me to do things like redesigning a website – where I don’t need to be creative so much, I’m just rearranging code. (It is creative, but not the same as writing.)

For me, the best time to write, to create, to get my thoughts down? Is actually in the morning.

I’m fresh out of bed. I haven’t had a chance to get allow the needs of others pile on to my to do list. I’m at my creative peak.

So why is it that we often insist on doing anything but writing at that time of day?

Instead, I fill that time with appointments, with errands, with exercise.

Or with reading Facebook and Instagram, if I’m going to be honest.

Yes, the perk of being self-employed is that I can do things when I want to do them, but how much more would I get done if I took advantage of my own rhythms?

My high-energy, most well-rested, creative time of day is early in the morning. If I put off a blog post until 4pm, I’m tired. I’m dragging. My writing is stiff, it just doesn’t flow. I feel like I’m trudging through the mud, and who likes that?

Your Working Patterns

As I work with my coaching clients, I encourage them to pay attention to their own energy levels. When are you most creative? When do the thoughts that you want to share with others come to you? When are you best at articulating them?

Don’t put your blog posts off until later in the day, after you get all the busy work tasks done. Try for a week putting them first thing in the morning. See if it makes writing more enjoyable for you.

The morning is when most of us are in the highest in energy – stop squandering it on the tasks that take the least amount of effort. Or on reading Facebook. I promise, all those things will still be there, but you’ll have finally knocked that blog post off of your to-do list where it has lingered for the past week.

Have you figured out what time of day is best for you for doing tasks like this?

The world needs your voice. Get it out there.

Interested in Reading More?

These are just a few of the books I’ve read on this topic when I realized I needed a better morning routine:

The 5 A.M. Miracle: Dominate Your Day Before Breakfast
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)
The 4-Hour Workweek