When you get up in the morning, go through your regular routine and finally sit down to work...how effective and productive are you for that first half hour or so?
Each morning, do you dive directly into high-value, profitable work?
Or do you fumble around, figuring out what needs to be done first, checking through some papers on your desk and then finally getting started on something?
For most of us, the true answer usually falls somewhere in between these two extremes.
We don't dive directly into a state of maximum productivity. But nor are we a complete mess.
But most of us could do better.
And we could all benefit significantly from being able to jump into top gear within a few minutes of sitting down each day.
In fact, if you think about it carefully, you could increase your income dramatically simply by shortening the time it takes to get into that top gear each day.
How can you do it?
Here are two things you can do that will help.
First, be sure to update your schedule and to-do list at the END of each day. In other words, before you finish work for the day, get everything ready and prepared for the next day.
This means that when you first sit down to work, you'll be ready to get started immediately.
Second, do a quick audit of the ways in which you waste time at the beginning of the day. How much time do you spend reading emails that are just not important or of value to you? How much time do you spend on news sites? How many blogs and feeds do you follow?
Ask yourself which of these activities are a good use of your time, and which of them waste your time.
You'll find a lot more on how to make the most productive use of your time in my guide, Writing Rituals.
But these two tips alone will help you wake up productive and increase the value of the time you spend at your desk each day.
