If you constantly find yourself unable to meet your daily goals, you might simply have too many goals. But maybe the issue is something else – you might be doing things in the wrong order.

We all have times of the day that are better for certain things. You can’t just point to a random hour and think anything is possible during that time – it’s not. We are different in our first hour of the day than we are in our last hour. We are capable of different things at different times, and in order to make the best use of our time we need to understand that ebb and flow. We also need to understand that it’s personal, that what works for our best friends or our neighbors may not work for us.

To discover what works best for you takes a lot of trial and error. Experiment with different patterns of the day, and pay attention. Notice when your energy spikes and when it crashes, and what is or isn’t possible when you’re low. Then experiment with ways to recover. Maybe a particular task helps you wake up during an afternoon lull. Eventually you’ll learn to flex your time around what is (or isn’t) possible within a given moment. You become more efficient because you are working with the flow of the day, not against it.

I like to think of this process as “tempering the eggs”, which is a cooking method that slowly integrates eggs into a hot liquid so they don’t turn into tiny scrambled bits. It reminds me that I can’t just randomly throw the eggs into whatever I’m making and expect it to turn out well. I have to add the eggs at the right time and in the right conditions, and I have to use that same care and forethought when I’m mapping out how and when to use my time.