Get up and work, first thing in the morning
The more I have disclosed my ‘secret to having a full academic/consulting life and a full social media life’, the more people seem interested in knowing the routines I follow to make things work. The next one in my “Raul’s Productivity tips” series is this post, wherein I tell you Secret #3: I get up and work, first thing in the morning.
As I was walking back with my friend Lauren and talking about how I make my time count, she asked me what I did, and I said “Secret #2: I schedule my life to the very last minute, including time to sleep, eat and socialize.”. Then as I was walking home, I began reflecting about what would be the next secret. And this morning (I wrote this blog post on Sunday morning) reminded me that yes, it’s the fact that I get up and work as soon as I am awake.
Even during the week, when I go to the gym, the first thing I do is – get up and sit down and do some work. I wake up at 4:45am, set up my coffee maker, and if it is a day where I am supposed to go to the gym and do some consulting or social media work, I just pour a large glass of water and start writing (or analyzing data) until about 5:45am, when I head to the gym. If it’s a day when I teach or do academic work, I read a journal article, write a bit of a research paper or simply go over my lecture notes. I jump-start my brain as soon as it’s up. If it’s a day like today, when I’m not going to exercise (I take Sundays off), I simply put on a cup of coffee and start writing.
I find that if I get some of my goals accomplished even before I hit the gym, the work day seems substantially shorter (and ends up being shorter as I’ve already worked for an hour before I exercise). Maybe this productivity tip will work for you. I’ve read other folks can’t work before they even have their morning coffee – does this happen to you?
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