Productivity: Getting It Done First Thing

Every morning as I’m getting out of bed, I see the sun slowly rising, shining its amber hued rays into my window.  I make my bed, put on my bathrobe, and head to my office area.  Before the instant message windows fly open or the email alerts ring, I get to work.  And it’s the most effective part of my day.

This advise is often repeated in a variety of different formats, but I could never quite get it to work for me.  I tried getting up and writing todo lists immediately.  This resulted in spending the first part of my day engaged in active planning instead of engaging knowledge work.  I also attempted to plan one action item to start the day, however, by the time the alarm rang it was the furthest from my mind.  It wasn’t till I started on a habitual pattern that I started knocking the tasks out.

Currently I’m focusing on technical training in the first few hours of the day.  Everyday is the same routine.  I open my book, start only the applications I need to do the work, then I dive in and get at it before breakfast, a shower, or anything else.  An hour of my full attention flies by and I gain some serious skills.

Engaging in this behavior, enforces it further.  Shortly after starting, I realized how my brain is sharpest in the morning.  Difficult problems that were stumping me the night before are quickly solved in the morning.  Focusing on technical training, I notice the training I do in the morning I burn through more material and comprehend it better than the material covered later in the day.  I’m excited to utilize the first few cycles of my day effectively.