Travis Bradberry* says the morning hours should be when people are at their most creative and energetic — so don’t waste them on meaningless trivia.
Researchers at the United Kingdom’s University of Nottingham recently published findings from their exploration of 83 separate studies on energy and self-control.
What they found will change the way you start your day.
The researchers found that self-control and energy are not only intricately linked but also finite, daily resources that tire much like a muscle.
Even though we don’t always realise it, as the day goes on, we have increased difficulty exerting self-control and focusing on our work.
As self-control wears out, we feel tired and find tasks to be more difficult and our mood sours.
This exhaustion of self-control kills your productivity. It makes the morning hours, when self-control is highest, the most important hours of the day.
The trick isn’t just to spend your morning hours working; it’s to do the right things in the morning that will make your energy and self-control last as long as possible.
The Nottingham research led me to uncover ways we can break bad habits in the morning and maximise our energy and self-control throughout the day.
Start with exercise
Researchers at the University of Bristol found that people who exercise during the workday have more energy and a more positive outlook.
Exercising first thing in the morning improves your self-control and energy levels all day long.
Drink some lemon water
This spikes your energy levels physically and mentally.
Lemon water gives you steady, natural energy that lasts the length of the day by improving nutrient absorption in your stomach.
You need to drink it first thing in the morning (on an empty stomach) to ensure full absorption. You should also wait 15-to-30 minutes after drinking it before eating.
Don’t drink the juice without water because it’s hard on your teeth.
No screen time until breakfast
When you dive straight into e-mails, texts, and Facebook, you lose focus and your morning succumbs to the wants and needs of other people.
It’s much healthier to take those precious first moments of the day to do something relaxing that sets a calm, positive tone for the day.
Exercising, meditating, or even watching the birds out the window are all great ways to start the day.
Eat a real breakfast
Eating anything at all for breakfast puts you ahead of a lot of people.
People who eat breakfast are less likely to be obese, they have more stable blood-sugar levels, and they tend to be less hungry over the course of the day.
A healthy breakfast gives you energy, improves your short-term memory, and helps you to concentrate more intensely and for longer periods.
Set goals for the day
Research shows that having concrete goals is correlated with huge increases in confidence and feelings of control.
Narrow your goals to a few achievable ones that can easily be broken down into steps.
Vague goals such as: “I want to finish writing my article” are counter-productive because they fail to include the ‘how’ of things.
The same goal re-phrased in a more functional way would be: “I am going to finish my article by writing each of the three sections, spending no more than an hour on each section.”
Now, you have simplified what you want to achieve — you have a way to achieve it.
You need to maintain the productive tone once you hit the office.
Clean your workspace
Even though it’s a pain to clean right when you get into work, it makes a big difference to your ability to concentrate.
A Princeton University study found that people who worked in a clean workspace out-performed those who worked in a cluttered one.
Clutter pulls your attention away from your work.
No e-mail until you’ve eaten three frogs
In other words, spend your morning on something that requires a high level of concentration that you don’t want to do, and you’ll get it done in short order.
Make a habit of eating three frogs before you check your e-mail because e-mail is a major distraction that enables procrastination and wastes precious mental energy.
Keep morning meetings on schedule
Meetings are the biggest time-waster there is, and can ruin an otherwise productive morning.
People who use their mornings effectively know that a meeting will drag on forever if they let it, so they inform everyone at the onset that they’ll stick to the intended schedule.
This sets a limit that motivates everyone to be more focused and efficient.
Don’t multitask
Multi-tasking in the morning, when you have lots to do, tons of energy, and it feels like you can do two or three things at once, is tempting.
However, it sets your whole day back.
People who are regularly bombarded with several streams of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information, or switch from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.
Multitasking reduces your efficiency and performance because your brain can focus adequately only on one thing at a time.
When you try to do two things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks successfully.
Say no
No is a powerful word that will protect your precious mornings.
When it’s time to say no, avoid phrases such as “I don’t think I can” or “I’m not certain”.
Saying no to a new commitment honours your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to successfully fulfil them while your mind is fresh.
Learn to use no, and it will lift your mood as well as your productivity.
*Travis Bradberry is the award-winning co-author of the bestselling book, Emotional Intelligence 2.0, and the co-founder of TalentSmart. He can be contacted at TalentSmart.com.
This article first appeared at talentsmart.com.
