First Thing In the Morning

There are a bunch of articles right now about what to do first thing in the morning.  Most tell you not to check email, not to take phone calls, etc.  The problem is, that would STRESS ME OUT! I totally get the people who say you shouldn’t get caught up in things without some thought at the beginning of the day, but the system has to work for you.

I recommend determining what causes you stress – what things have to be done to make you feel comfortable.  When I worked for my Dad, I thought it was fun to find out he walked into the office, put his things down, got a cup of coffee and stood in his window drinking coffee, reading the Wall Street Journal and watching people out the window as he planned his day.  It was his work ritual and it worked for him (of course that was before email but you get it).

Apparently Mark Twain said if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning you have that out of the way and the rest of the day has to be better.  Seems kind of gross, but the message makes  sense.  It is why I have one client who doesn’t allow herself coffee until she makes 5 marketing calls.  By getting those calls out of the way before her day begins, she is able to get them done and feel good about her productivity.  PERFECT.

For me, I need to start my day feeling organized and on top of things.  If I can do that, I’m in control all day.  The challenge is I often work right up until I have to end my day and don’t have time to clean up at the end of the day.  So for me, that first 30 minutes is critical for organization.  I go through my emails and add items to my To Do list (on Wunderlist but that’s another post), answer the quick stuff quickly, and flag articles for reading.  I also check my Nerd Approved RSS feed and read Dilbert for the fun of it because if I can find something fun at the beginning of the day, the tone is set.  If there is time, I also check in on social media to see what’s up with the rest of the world.  And, if there’s still time, I file.  Because filing is the worst.  The person who invents papers that file themselves (and I don’t mean electronic stuff – that doesn’t count) will be my hero.

I truly believe if you set yourself a morning routine that is something planned, you win.  All this advice about not checking email or ignoring things, or whatever are systems that work for some people and that’s great for them.  But don’t just do something because it works for Tony Robbins or some such.  Instead, try several different things over a couple weeks and see what things make you feel productive and ready to face the day.  And then do them.

And as a side note, the last thing you do before you leave is check your calendar – I’ve been stood up a lot lately by people who didn’t mean to but who didn’t remember the meeting.  The worst?  It was on their calendar.  They just blew it.  Don’t let this happen to you!