Tuesday, October 15, 2013

What You Should Do Before 8:00am Each Day

Jennifer Cohen has a very useful article at Forbes.com today.   She writes about the five things that highly successful people tend to do before eight o'clock in the morning.   In particular, I think #5 is worth considering for a moment: 

Make Your Day Top Heavy. We all have that one item on our to do list that we dread. It looms over you all day (or week) until you finally suck it up and do it after much procrastination. Here’s an easy tip to save yourself the stress – do that least desirable task on your list first. Instead of anticipating the unpleasantness of it from first coffee through your lunch break, get it out of the way. The morning is the time when you are (generally) more well rested and your energy level is up. Therefore, you are more well equipped to handle more difficult projects. And look at it this way, your day will get progressively easier, not the other way around. By the time your work day is ending, you’re winding down with easier to dos and heading into your free time more relaxed. Success!

Is this suggestion worth following?  In some cases, I think it makes a good deal of sense.  However, I would note that, in some cases, we need a few "small wins" before we tackle something very unpleasant and/or challenging.  We build confidence and momentum by securing some easy victories before we try to climb to the mountaintop.  As is the case with so many things in life, it simply depends.  Making your day top heavy every day does not seem like the right way to go.  However, this strategy may fit perfectly in certain situations. 

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