Posted by Cedric Joshua Martinez
May 23, 2020
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The start of your day can have a big impact on the rest of your working hours. As we work during the COVID-19 pandemic, having a good morning routine will also help us better our physical and emotional health. This is why you should give value to the start of your day, and here are five habits to help you every morning. Combine these with intelligent business analytics and you're on way to making each day count.
1. Don’t press the SNOOZE button
We’ve all been there. That annoying feeling when you hear the snooze button interrupting your beloved sleep. But you must keep in mind that you have set that alarm yourself for a particular reason. Back then, setting the alarm was so you can come in the office on time. With most of us now working from home, setting an alarm helps us prepare for our work and do other activities.
Think of it this way, pressing that snooze button will buy you 10 to 20 minutes of sleep, but it will also lead you to rush certain activities, miss some important tasks, and skip some important things in this list.
A simple hack to make sure that you don’t press that snooze button in your smartphone easily is to install applications that will require you to solve puzzles, take pictures, or do some activities before you can shut off your alarm. This way, you’ll be fully alert first before you decide to buy yourself a few minutes in bed again.
2. Eat a proper and nutritious breakfast
Breakfast is not the most important meal of the day for no reason. It fuels the first few hours of your day, as well as some of the most energy-consuming such as your commute, or critical office tasks. Having a nutritious and well-balanced meal will give you the boost and focus you need early on. More importantly, having a proper breakfast every morning will result to better memory and concentration, lower bad cholesterol levels, and lower chances of getting chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and other heart diseases.
3. Spend some personal “Me” time
I spend a good 15 to 20 minutes every day to take a walk and grab some morning snacks. I’ve found it very helpful in clearing my thoughts and prepare to take my tasks head on. However, working in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic made this impossible. While not everyone might find walking fun nor calming, you can do other activities like meditation, reading, painting, and even jogging to relax yourself before a strenuous day at work. Relaxing your mind gives you better concentration and focus in fulfilling your deliverables and other important activities for the next 8 hours.
4. Stick with your working schedule
Working from home allowed us to be more flexible with the way we work and do our chores. However, this does not mean that we should work randomly, depending on our other tasks. Our work schedule is crucial in maintaining close collaboration with the rest of your team and ensuring that deadlines are met.
5. Prepare for the rest of the day
Skip checking your email once you start your work and plan your day instead. While there are many ways to do prepare for the next eight hours or so, doing it your own way is the best method as it fits your unique workload and schedule. Just keep in mind these points in planning your workday:
- Identify your peak performance hours during the day. Use these hours to carry out the most demanding tasks of the day.
- Select three points (at the most) in your schedule for checking and responding to emails. This limits the distraction brought in by unnecessary emails (e.g. newsletters) and helps you to concentrate on more important things.
- Don’t plan for the whole eight hours. Chances are, unexpected loads or unplanned meetings will appear from time to time. Give more or less two hours allocation for these unexpected bumps to keep your schedule intact.
Bear in mind that starting your day right is not just a one-time activity but a habit to be developed. With the right start to your day, you are on your way to be more productive and accomplish your goals in time!
Are there any important business decisions that interfere with your proper morning kick-off? Learn how you can utilize data for worry-free business decision-making! Download our Business Analytics Primer and know how your data can help you make better business decisions. Click the button below to get your own copy!
This post was first published 25 July 2017 and edited 25 May 2020
