Robbing Peter

Many of us rely on a morning cup of coffee to kickstart our day.

It's become a ritual. And a way to summon energy from thin air.

But my caffeine-fueled boost often comes with a hidden cost.

Brain chemistry tells us that sipping that coffee first thing in the morning can block the sleepy feels. But the chemicals it’s blocking don’t go away.

The sleepies show up with a vengeance in that afternoon slump that hits later in the day. We are robbing Peter to pay Paul.

Here’s what a real neuroscientist, Dr Andrew Huberman says:

“The longer we are awake the more the molecule adenosine builds up in our brain and body, the result of which is to make us sleepy.

Drinking caffeine right after waking, people feel a lift and energy, but then often feel very sleepy in the afternoon. Then they drink more caffeine in the afternoon which disrupts sleep. This whole scenarios has to do with interactions between caffeine, cortisol, and adenosine.”

That morning coffee works in the moment, but can leave your drained and out of sync later in the day. (PS: the answer is to wait about 90 mins so you can get all the sleepy juice out of your system before you summon your coffee genie).

At work, the same thing happens when we spend too much time working outside of our strengths.

We face an urgent situation and need to roll up our sleeves, dig in, and solve it.

We pour a cup of weakness and guzzle it right down. And then it hits us later when we need to tap the creative juices.

I get it. Everyone has to do routine and non-inspiring stuff. But if we operate outside of our strengths for too long, we “rob" our future creative energy to pay for an immediate fix. Working on an empty tank too often hinders our impact.

Plus, we only have so much willpower in each day. And we need sustained energy for focused work or we find ourselves depleted.

Long term this leads to burn out. I know because I lived this cycle for 10+ years.

Instead of squandering energy on every urgent task, creatives need to focus on high-impact work first. Even though it’s hard.

Do the boring stuff (insert your non-favorite time here), and save your best energy for working in your strengths.

PS: Circadian rhythms are personal, so timeshift this advice to fit your schedule. TLDR; Honor your energy, folks.