Making mornings more productive

15 October 2014

I don’t know about you, but if my mornings don’t go well, the rest of the day usually follows suit. I’m a morning person and I typically can get a lot done in the morning. But if I don’t, it’s hard to reboot the day and make up for it in the afternoon.

So I got to thinking today about optimal ways for me to spend my valuable morning time. And I also thought about strategies for getting right to it in the morning.

I’m a huge believer in the value of established routines. I have a morning routine of small tasks that help me maintain order. I do those things without even thinking, and they happen before I’m at my desk. It’s the next step I need to think about. What should I do after I’ve sat down at my desk?

I think I know the answer. I need to blog first thing in the morning. I try to blog four times a week: Mondays and Fridays on this blog and Tuesdays and Thursdays on my other blog, Organize Your Family History. I know I could make life easier by blogging in advance and scheduling posts, but I’ve learned that’s not really the way I roll. Most of my blog posts are posted the day they’re written, and I’m okay with that.

I know that if I get my blog writing out of the way for the day, the rest of the day goes smoother. If I don’t, I might not blog that day, depending on my client load. And it bugs me when I don’t reach my blogging goals, which has a negative effect on my day. (I’m not happy that today is Wednesday and this is my first blog post of the week.)

So how can I ensure that I get my blogging done in the morning? I can think of two things that will make it much easier:

Decide in advance what I’ll blog about. (Deciding what to write about is the hardest part for me.)
Don’t do anything else at my computer before blogging. (I’m capable of wasting a lot of time first thing in the morning fooling around on the internet.)

If I do both of these things, I’ll get my blogging done straight off and I’ll have that omnipresent task taken off my mind, freeing myself to feel great about getting stuff done the rest of the day. I know that will enhance my productivity beyond just the blogging.

My evening routine comes into play here, because it sets me up for a successful morning. I try to do three things before closing up shop every day:

Clear off my desktop
Get my inbox down to zero
Select a few priority tasks for the next day

One thing I could add to that evening routine is selecting my blog topic for the next day, if it’s not already planned.

This process seems very simple, yet I feel very excited that I’ve identified a way to get my blogging done and make my days go better. I’ll post again about how successful this strategy is!

Tagged with: blogging, habits, routines, time management