How what you do in the first hour at work can make you more successful

How important is the first hour of the working day to you? To most people, this is probably not considered as the most productive or motivated point of their working day but in fact, this is the time when everything should seem clearer! You should be aiming to tackle one daunting task that would otherwise be hanging over you until after lunch and focus on the reality outside the realms of your inbox. Here are our top four tips to maximise your impact working in a successful, vibrant and fast-moving office environment:

Do one thing
According to Craig Newmark of Craigslist, David Karp of Tumblr, motivational speaker Tony Robbins, and career writer Brian Tracy; you need to schedule this period every day to get your head together and get stuck in. Write one important task down on a piece of paper before you leave for the evening and that will be the first thing you see in the morning. Prepare your workspace for the chosen task and make sure you have everything you need ready to face it head on when you arrive. That way it will seem a lot less daunting and often the people involved in the task will not yet be engaged, leaving you with fewer complications. Do this before wading into your email and you’ve got an effective system in place.

Don’t check your email first thing
Don’t do it! Although many of us automatically believe this needs to be done first thing, it’s almost a compulsion and can stunt productivity. Only proceed once your first task is completed, this is a great strategy to ensure that even on your most manic days you will end your day knowing you got at least one real job done. If you do need to make sure you receive important messages through at this time you can set up notifications if necessary. Otherwise, it’s worth letting your colleagues know that they won’t receive an immediate morning response to anything they have sent in your ‘out of hours’.

Work on yourself
Robin Sharma, one of the world’s top experts on leadership and personal success advises his clients to schedule in a ‘holy hour’ to kick start your day in a spiritual manner, focusing on motivating and inspiring yourself to achieve all possible success in your work day:

“The Holy Hour, as you know, is simply 60 minutes at the beginning of your day that you devote to self-mastery and personal development. If your outer life is really a reflection of the quality of your inner life, then it’s a brilliant move to spend at least an hour a day working on yourself. This simple idea alone has helped so many of our clients from around the world get to world-class in business and in life.

During my Holy Hour, I journal, I read inspirational books, I review my goals and plans and I simply make the time to think. Because clarity precedes mastery and the more clearly you can get on what you want to create in life, the more focused you will be in your daily behaviours. Every day can be a platform to get you closer to your mountaintop. And yet, too many people live life by accident.”

Deal with people
This may seem strange if your job is to deal with people, but what we mean here is your own equivalent of customer service. You will almost certainly have bigger fish to fry over the course of your 9 to 5 but use this time to get back to reality. This might mean keeping in touch with contacts from year-ago projects, checking in with colleagues that you don’t regularly interact with, asking questions to your supervisor or mentors, and generally managing the human side of work that is quick to subside between task list items. Engage in your customer service time regularly, and you’ll have a wealth of relationships to call upon when the time comes.