It’s quite fascinating reading about the sleeping and waking habits of entrepreneurs, artists, scientists and politicians. Some people have very strange sleeping patterns indeed!
For example, Mark Zuckerberg wakes up at around 8 AM in the morning. Winston Churchill used to wake up also around 8 AM but would conduct much of his reading and dictation in bed until noon each day.
Personally, I’ve always been a morning person. I wake up at 5 AM and spend two hours each morning working on my personal and professional development. I love the idea that unable to achieve a significant amount before most people get out of bed.
While I’m not advocating everyone to set the alarms for 5 AM, what am suggesting is that in business generally, the early bird catches the worm. Most people have more energy and focus from around 9 AM to 12 PM each day. Just look around the office. You’ll find there’s much more taking place before noon then afternoon.
If you want to increase your productivity and to get more done, then I’d encourage you to make sure you get to work as early as possible, plan your day, and then work your plan.
Try to cross at least three important tasks or activities on your to-do list before lunchtime. If you can do that, you’ll feel more satisfied with yourself, and you won’t be under so much pressure to force yourself to get things done in the afternoon.
When you get into work in the morning, try not to shoot the breeze with your colleagues for too long, or procrastinate by working on low-value tasks.
Get yourself settled and then get cracking. If you must reply to an email, reply to the most important email first. Leave lower value email until later in the morning, or better still early afternoon.
Don’t get caught up in anything that isn’t high value in the morning. I assure you, if you can have this discipline then you really will be a productivity superstar.