Key Productive Habit 3 – Your First Hour at Work

For most people, when they first arrive at work, they jump straight into their e-mails and voicemails and spend the first hour or two reacting to whatever is inside their inbox. This is not how you should start your working day and it’s totally unproductive! Why? Because when you start your day with reading and answering emails and returning phone calls, you’re essentially giving up your most precious hours of your working day to other people’s demand and you lose control over your day.

Consider changing this slightly: when you first arrive, do not check your e-mails or any other inbox that you normally check (including social media, voicemails, etc) and simply spend 10-15 minutes planning your day, and then an hour or so getting an important work done, e.g. writing a report, brainstorming for an upcoming meeting, or finishing off a presentation. After you’ve done this, then spend 10-30 minutes checking your e-mail and responding to people, but do not exceed that amount of time!

Starting your working day this way has a huge impact to the productivity you’ll experience in your day and how much you actually get done in a day.

“What if my job involves checking e-mails and/or my colleagues bother me in the morning with their requests?” This is where you need to start coming a little bit early to your office and getting that quiet time for yourself to plan and work on an important task. This small sacrifice would make a huge difference to the start of your day and your overall productivity.