Willpower works like a muscle and only recharges during sleep. That's why the hardest tasks belong at the start of the day and routine work in the afternoon.
Our willpower is a very finite and very limited resource.
Across all sorts of sources I keep running into studies showing that the more decisions a person makes in a day, the harder each new decision becomes.
Metaphorically, willpower is like a muscle: if it’s kept under tension all the time, it gets tired and stops coping with the load. So you need to do something, and instead you meet wild resistance and end up spinning your wheels on that task.
Willpower is a finite resource that gets restored during sleep. Over the course of the day, your reserves of discipline and your desire to work gradually shrink.
That’s why it makes sense to put the most important and most difficult tasks at the start of the day, and to leave the second half for simpler jobs and everyday routine.
For example, right now I work on creating new content in the morning. We study our Western colleagues, write out the key beats of a video script, discuss ideas and shoot content in the studio.
In the afternoon I have more in-person meetings and consultations. Those conversations don’t demand much willpower. I try to do my workouts after lunch too, once all the hardest work is done.
In the morning I don’t let my phone distract me. I have no notifications at all — except messages from my wife. I come into the office, open my Notion document, write the plan for the day, choose the main task of the day and get to work.
This approach makes me far more productive than when I leave the important and difficult tasks for the afternoon.
And when is it easier for you to handle hard tasks? In the first half of the day or the second?
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