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Early has two advantages at once. It is less likely to be shunted, because the day has not yet piled up behind it, and if it does slip it only slips to this afternoon rather than to next week. Late tasks fall off the end of the day and land in tomorrow, which is how a small job becomes a month old. Pick tomorrow's one difficult thing tonight and give it the first hour you are actually awake for.
Then when the prayer has ended, disperse in the land and seek out God's bounty (Quran 62:10). Activity is sent out early, straight after worship, rather than left for whatever the day has left over.
الجمعة
فَإِذَا قُضِيَتِ ٱلصَّلَوٰةُ فَٱنتَشِرُواْ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَٱبۡتَغُواْ مِن فَضۡلِ ٱللَّهِ وَٱذۡكُرُواْ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرࣰ ا لَّعَلَّكُمۡ تُفۡلِحُونَ
then when the prayer has ended, disperse in the land and seek out God’s bounty. Remember God often so that you may prosper
Qur’an 62:10read it in the library
Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.
A meta-analysis of randomised trials looked at which behaviour change techniques improve a daily habit in young adults, an age at which habits are still forming, and tested the ingredients rather than assuming a programme works. Planning when something happens sits in that family of techniques. It was about diet in a specific group, so the timing advice here is not directly evidenced.
Ashton LM, Sharkey T, Whatnall MC, Williams RL, Bezzina A, Aguiar EJ, Collins CE, Hutchesson MJ. (2019). Effectiveness of Interventions and Behaviour Change Techniques for Improving Dietary Intake in Young Adults: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of RCTs.. Nutrients doi
Strength of evidence: one line of research. A single study, or a theoretical account.
A job placed early has fewer things able to displace it and less far to fall when something does.
Rather than asking whether what you are doing is worthwhile, ask what it is keeping you away from.
Go down the list and find the two items that have been sitting there for months. One of them needs doing this week. The other needs deleting, honestly and out loud.
Some days the whole job is putting everything you need in one place and then walking away. Tomorrow you begin already halfway in.