How to start your day so that it is productive?

What you do in the morning sets the tone for the rest of the day. If you learn to correctly prioritize and focus, it can determine whether you are overwhelmed by business at the end of the day or can successfully cope with them.

Instinctively, the first thing most of us do after coming to work is email checking. However, this is a huge mistake, and it is worth getting rid of it. This is a very quick way to kill your performance. E-mail is reactive, not proactive, and it allows other people to control your time and agenda. So what should we do? To answer this question, we looked at the habits of successful people who allow them to be productive.

Write down all your worries on paper

The first thing you need to do when you come to work is to open your journal or diary. In it, you must clarify your goals and set priorities for the whole day. The maintenance of such a journal should not take much time, only about 5 minutes. If you feel ambitious this morning, drink a cup of tea and write down all your desires in a separate notebook. This will allow you to throw out your anxieties on paper, so that you can be more productive throughout the day and still feel less stress. The secret is to cope with your worries even before they appear to you.

Get energy with movements

The first thing to do until you are in the office is to take a walk. You can walk the dog in the morning, although the usual walk to the office, instead of going to him, will also work well. Moreover, you can avoid congestion on the roads, which will also positively affect your mood and, accordingly, productivity. Movement always charges us with energy, so it is so important to do this in the morning. Then you can allocate an hour to check all the social media. Some experts advise not to waste time on such useless activities as "Facebook" and "Twitter", as this can kill your productive day. However, many people, on the contrary, simply can not concentrate on work until they check all the messages received.

View your to-do list

Morning is the ideal time to have a cup of coffee and go through your to-do list. So you can determine what you need to do first, and what tasks to leave for the second half of the day. It is desirable to make a list of cases every night before going to bed. It helps to be more organized. By expanding all the tasks on the shelves, you will be ready to start a new day.

Say hello to all team members

In the morning it is very important to say hello to all colleagues at work and throw a few words with some of them. This is important for you, since it helps to start the day with a positive, but it's also good for overall performance. So your colleagues will feel that they are not working alone, but in a team. Creative teams always work with good interpersonal relationships and positive. This is also important for leaders, because if something goes wrong, they will find out about it right away.

Do the task that requires the greatest psychological attention

Pour yourself a cup of coffee and just start working on something that is of paramount importance and will require you to make considerable efforts. You do not need to leave such tasks for the evening, because you risk so to them and not proceed. It is important to concentrate and not to take breaks until this important task is accomplished. Only after that you can arrange meetings and solve other problems that appear in the process of work.

Create a truly effective calendar

In the morning it's also very important to check your calendar. It can be much more effective than a list of cases. This approach significantly reduces the number of decisions that you must take every day, since you have already planned everything, and it remains only to perform it. Your calendar should also have buffer days when you work with minor or small tasks. It is also important to plan focus-days, when you will work with the most important tasks. Do not forget about free days, when you will work on everything that did not work before. This is a very good way to find time for yourself, family, friends, and also your work.

Do not forget about hydration

When you begin to work, it is very important not to make meaningless and unnecessary breaks, which will kill your productivity. Many such breaks are caused by natural fatigue, a desire to warm up and drink water. It's no secret that the place near the cooler is one of the busiest in the office. But so you risk getting stuck in the discussion of office gossip and not having time to do everything that you planned so carefully. Therefore, take a bottle of water with you and keep it near the desktop. So you will get rid of one of the reasons for taking breaks. In addition, a sufficient amount of water in the morning will give you energy and help you stay healthy. But for many people, caffeine is also very important, which helps the brain to concentrate on work. So, you need to take care and that it was enough for you.

Express gratitude to everyone who works

Many successful people start their day with gratitude. Again, this is especially important for managers. Walk around the office and say hello to all the people who work in your team. Each of them should know how much you value them.