Hi all! It’s finally summer! I don’t know about for you, but where I am in the Midwest, it seemed to take summer a while to mosey it’s way on out and put the kibosh on the rainy springtime. As far as moseying goes, I don’t really blame it. It’s easy to sit back and rest easy during the summertime: there’s sun and water and ice cream and festivals and camping and fishing, and if you’re a student, there’s the added luxury of enjoying all the splendid, hazy, lazy days of summer guilt free with not a deadline in sight!
Just look at that clear ocean and deep, blue sky — don’t you just want to lay on that beach forever?
Believe me, I understand the need to relax in the summertime ( or any time, really), but for both students and professionals, it is far too easy to let the lazy summertime blues creep in and turn healthy relaxation into harrowing procrastination and depressing lethargy.
So, how can you beat it?
It’s easy! (Well, sort of. No — actually it’s hard. Very hard.) The theory of it is easy, anyway. Make sure you employ a little of that iron will I know you have to put the theory into practice!
Are you ready for the number one way to be more productive in the summertime? You’re not going to believe it — really — It hasn’t even crossed your mind. 
Are you ready? 
Here it is!
Set both a bedtime and wake time, and stick to them.
That’s it!
Sure, it’s tempting to sleep in during the summer, especially if you’re a student, but keeping a sleep schedule will help your productivity.Why? Well, mostly because of something called circadian rhythms.
Circadian rhythms are a system of cyclical changes in your body that operate on a 24 hour cycle and respond primarily to light and dark. All organisms have them. When ours get offset from the natural cycle of light and darkness, we can experience a host of problems that effect productivity: lethargy, tiredness, insomnia, etc.
Doesn’t sound too fun, huh? It’s not.
Obviously, if you work the night shift, you’re not going to be able to match your circadian rhythms to the natural cycle. In that case, ensure that you sleep in a blacked out room and still abide by your set schedule. A SAD (seasonal affective disorder) lamp will likely help you too because it simulates sunlight, and will signal your body to be awake.
Keeping a set sleep/wake cycle in which you rise at a reasonable hour (say 7 or 8 am for a daytime person) and sleep at a reasonable hour (10 or 11 pm) will not only make you more alert during the day; it will also allow you to develop a personal day rhythm, which will also help your productivity. 
Let me explain:
I go to bed around 10:30 each night and wake (usually naturally) between 7 and 7:30 each morning. Before I had a set sleep schedule, I had no set “life” schedule either. I ate at different times, I washed the dishes whenever I had a chance, and I did laundry when I ran out of clothes. I scheduled work meetings when I could fit them in, which was sometimes at 2 pm and sometimes at 9 pm, I wrote when I could squeeze in the time (not very often), and I was often too tired to complete more than one or two major tasks in a day. I only found time to meditate once in a blue moon, and I suffered crippling panic attacks from stress.
It was awful!
But then I started regulating my sleep cycles, and like magic, the rest of my life started to organize itself into a rhythm.
I eat at roughly 9,1, and 7.
I take work meetings between 8 am and 6 pm.
I write between 10 and 3.
I work out each night around 6:30.
I meditate each night around 9 to prepare for bed.
All of my household chores get done on weekends, and I’ve found that I suddenly have more time and tons of energy to do the things I love. 
Stay tuned for the second step to increased summer productivity!
Happy summering!
Jonae’