
Sinking into an Ultradian Rhythm
How to find your routine & quit context switching.

Are you not as productive as you want to be?
Switching tabs endlessly yet not knowing what you’re really working on?
That’s called Context Switching.
And it’s the reason you’re experiencing a lack of focus & feeling stressed when working or simply on your computer.
When your attention is focused on one area, you’re likely to get it done more quickly.
But when your attention is diverted, “each extra activity you switch between eats up 20% to 80% of your overall productivity,” those are huge margins!
These times impact our Ultradian Rhythm also, because we’re not following our natural cycle.
Wait, what’s that?
Let me explain.
An Ultradian Rhythm is a biological pattern that manages how your body functions in time — a lot like its own alarm clock when you wake up, but in terms of energy levels.
- Ultradian means many times a day, and rhythms refer to the oscillating of wave patterns that manages these vital cycles.
Not to be confused with the Circadian Rhythm that is only for sleeping & waking, Ultradian Rhythm’s are shorter time frames & occur many times over a single day.
When you feel like you need rest, you should follow that feeling — because during the day your body needs time to rejuvenate, otherwise it’s gonna kick you later.
Also, have you been reading a lot of info & learned something today?
Your brain works the same way as your body, and needs some rest in order to add that info to its storage, so you can remember it for later!
So how can you track your ultradian rhythm to keep your energy going non-stop?
As explained by psychologists Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz:
“Physiological measures such as heart rate, hormonal levels, muscle tension and brain-wave activity all increase during the first part of the cycle — and so does alertness. After an hour or so, these measures start to decline. Somewhere between 90 and 120 minutes, the body begins to crave a period of rest and recovery.”
In other words, we tend to perform best when we work for around 90 minutes, then take a break for around 20 minutes.

Just like an oscillation (as shown in the diagram above), rather than constantly “grinding” through the day and forcing things, you align your work habits with your natural patterns.
Following ultradian rhythms ensures that you operate harmoniously with the natural ebb and flow of your energy cycles throughout the day.
For example
When do you start feeling hungry?
Do you have more energy during the day or at night?
Is it easier to take a break at 20 minutes compared to 1 hour?
Understanding your ultradian rhythm makes getting things done easier because you can get in the flow of your work better, and have better rest.
But in order to maximize the best of your energy, planning ahead is important.
Many use Notion, others use physical notes to track their day. If you use Notion & need a way to track the times you’re able to get into a deep state of working and a light one (representing your highest & lowest energy levels), I have the perfect template for you!
Now, what does this have to do with Context Switching?
As I noted before, context switching affects the ultradian rhythm. When you switch between a different task, you’re alternating energy & in turn can make you more tired if you’re not working on the right task at the time that you have the right energy level to do it (a little tongue twister there).
Context Switching differs from person to person, same as with energy levels, but from my research most people can benefit from these two ways:
- Time blocking (setting aside tasks for one time)
- Task batching (getting all tasks done at one time),
Along with the the 80/20 rule that 80% of your outcome results from 20% of your input.
For me personally, what’s worked for me is putting these together by organizing your day into deep work & light work.
This way, you can focus on the 20% of work you have to do in the time frame of your highest energy levels, that actually gets you somewhere!
Work according to your energy
In order to time block & task batch our day, we usually have less energy in the early early mornings, right? Any activities in this time can be called light work.
These times for less focus can be used for maintenance & easy-to-focus tasks that make us productive when switching between — because these tasks take up less mental energy.
Thinking of this, we still need to get emails, slack messages, and other small busy work, right?
Well, because it’s often natural & even necessary to context switch during these times, since you don’t need to get into a deep state of flow to do these tasks (most likely), you can label these light work!
In my experience, I have 3 times during the day when I don’t have a lot of energy yet I’m able to get things done:
8am — Cooking breakfast, tidying up the kitchen, checking emails.
3pm — Finishing up work that needs a lot of little things to be dealt with including bills.
7pm — Reading, tho my mind is the least active so I keep to one thing.
Our energy is likely to dwindle during the day, so if you’re like me, you can take my routine as an example of what yours might look like.
After zombified early mornings, the mid-morning is the time when we’re energized & ready for action!
Not only do we have a higher mental focus at these times, but it’s easier to stay in-the-zone, which makes it harder to focus on several tasks at once.
(Tip: If you’re a night bird then maybe turn the PM into AM)
So that’s why we make this a 1-task only time-frame, like your day job or school work.
Personally, my times for deep work are:
9am — 12pm
and 1pm — 3pm
When I’m able to focus on one task only, I have my mind fixed on everything I need to do within that task — instead of switching to entirely different topics like an email for John that I’d need to go to slack for, or checking the statistics for this Medium article, for example.
For the other times of day — that’s for you to decide.
Just keep in mind that:
Light work covers the little stuff that takes less energy & would rather be put all in one time slot instead of interchanged with our deep focus sessions
Deep work is for 1-task only focus, so no context switching!
There are several ways of tracking these energy oscillations, like on a graph, notepad, digital notes. The way that I choose though is on Notion.
Not only can I jot down notes & other things in it, but I can get a good look at the times I work best and how that relates to time and my health.
You can track these today in my Notion template freebie called the Energy OS!
Ending off
If you’re an avid context switcher, I hope understanding how to manage your ultradian rhythm helps you to make energy-based decisions instead of just time-based ones.
In many of my conversations, many didn’t even understand how energy management works. And you know what — neither did I!
In just the past 6 months after struggling for years with a balanced routine, I’ve finally figured out the secret sauce to staying energized all day.
Sure, this article didn’t cover that specifically, but understanding how you work is a good first step.
If you want to read more on how how to manage your routine with these methods, you can check out my curated List here!
Also, I discuss this & more topics in my newsletter twice a week that you can subscribe to.
