This week I started a new day job. I’m the VFX assistant editor on a new show for one of the big streaming platforms.

It’s the usual Hollywood deal, long days, lots to do, and when I’m not working I’m a husband and a dad. That begs the question, when am I working on my own films?

At 5am.

This isn’t a newsletter about the glorious benefits of waking up at 5am, having an intricate morning routine and getting more done before breakfast than most people do in a day. It’s about finding a way to make time for your passion projects, even when your schedule is already packed.

What’s your chronotype anyway?

I’m well aware I’m selling my best, most creative hours. It’s the reality of having a day job in the film industry. What I’ve learned is finding a pocket of time every day to work on my film, when I’m actually functioning at a high level.

We’ve all know someone who’s a “morning person” or a “night owl.” In science talk it’s referred to as your chronotype - the time of day you’re most likely to be asleep. I tried for a long time to do creative work once my regular work day was over, sitting down at my computer at 7 or 8 pm. It made pushing a boulder uphill seem easy.

After beating myself up about it for far too long I decided I needed to make a change.

I read about chronotypes and doing an “energy audit.” An energy audit is a basic way of checking in with yourself throughout the day to see how you’re feeling. How’s your energy? After doing it for a couple of days you’ll start to notice a pattern.

For me, I’m fired up and ready to go in the morning.

It started to make sense why the night time rallies never worked for me. My energy was low, and I was fighting my natural tendencies.

Finding your sacred hour

I knew I wanted to find time to dedicate to my filmmaking, but there were a few things I wasn’t willing to sacrifice:

• Time with my family
• Sleep

Family time and work time are pretty set, which only left sleep time as the variable I could play with. Was I willing to sacrifice Netflix time at night for an hour of filmmaking in the mornings?

I know I need 8 hours of sleep. Non-negotiable. I also know I need to walk the dog, make breakfast and prep lunches before 7am every day. Which makes 5am the time I need to be up and ready to rock.

Waking up before the sun rises means you need to go to bed hella early.

Most days I’m in bed by 9pm. For a lot of people that’s ridiculous. But it’s the only way I can find the time and energy to work on my filmmaking passion these days.

If you’re in a similar position and struggle to find time to focus on the things that are important to you, I highly recommend going through this process.

• Do an energy audit
• Figure out when you’re most likely to be energetic and creative
• Schedule time in your calendar every day to work on your film

I’ve been an early riser for a couple of years now, and it’s made a huge difference. I don’t always spend the time on my films. I try to spend it on the ONE thing that’s most important for me at that time.

You can do anything, but not everything

There’s a great book called The One Thing, by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan, which talks about finding the single thing you can do that makes everything else you have to do easier or unnecessary. It's a great book, definitely check it out, but to give you the gist, focusing on one thing allows you to:

• focus on what matters
• build momentum
• achieve better results in less time
• get good at the thing you love

Full transparency: I think I can do everything.

And it’s the single biggest reason why things take forever. Whenever I’m able to focus on one thing and work on it consistently I get so much more done than if I ping-pong around and do a little bit of everything.

Conclusion

If you’re serious about making progress as a filmmaker, but you’re time poor like me, here’s my suggestion to you.

Find your sacred hour, block it off, and pick ONE thing you’re going to work on during that time. Work on that thing every day until you are DONE.

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