Have you EVER had an Email that couldn’t really wait for an hour first thing?
Yet do you check your email when you wake up, before breakfast, or sometime before you are actually ‘at work’?
This means you are already putting your productivity on a back foot – you’re being reactive to others. Before you know it that critical first part of your day is gone.
Don’t be a slave to someone else’s agenda – be a master of your own.
Consider your first hour to be sacred to your key task for the day. Some focused work that helps your agenda. This means your key task is completed, or well on its way, rather than being pushed aside throughout the day until there is no ‘day’ left and it gets moved to tomorrow. Accomplishing that key task will set you up for a much more productive day.
Then grab a cuppa (or water) and spend just 30 mins on emails, social etc. A set time to get the more menial tasks done. Then get on with the next task of the day.
Breaking up longer, more focused, periods of time with short bursts of emails etc 2-3 times a day means you still get the admin side done, whilst maintaining your productivity. Make sure the notifications and bleeps are silenced though during your focus time, as they will distract you and your productivity will plummet.
After all, no-one should be using email for the Urgent tasks requiring an immediate answer.
Give it a go – For one week, ban yourself from the early morning email search and focus on something key for your first hour instead and see what difference it makes to your day. Let me know how you get on.