Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is that Monday mornings aren't a great time
Speaker 1: for figuring out your week. When you track your time,
Speaker 1: Ideally you should see a big chunk of time on
Speaker 1: Monday morning devoted to your most important projects. If there's
Speaker 1: a lot of running around or dithering, then maybe something
Speaker 1: needs to change. When this episode is first airing in January,
Speaker 1: I am leading a time tracking challenge where hundreds of
Speaker 1: people are logging their time for a week. We are
Speaker 1: all trying to figure out where the time really goes
Speaker 1: so we can make wise decisions. If that sounds good
Speaker 1: to you, then feel free to join in. You just
Speaker 1: write down what you're doing as often as you remember,
Speaker 1: and keep going for a week. Then you can celebrate,
Speaker 1: reflect or change. My weekly time logs start on Mondays
Speaker 1: at five am. Now. I know that Monday is seldom
Speaker 1: anyone's favorite day of the week, but what you write
Speaker 1: down about how you spent Monday morning can provide important
Speaker 1: clues to whether you are maximizing time or whether there
Speaker 1: is an opportunity to make steadier progress toward your goals.
Speaker 1: Many people show up at work on Monday morning and
Speaker 1: then figure out what they intend to do with the day.
Speaker 1: Some industrious folks use this time to figure out the
Speaker 1: rest of the week as well, and it makes sense.
Speaker 1: But here's the problem. Most people have more energy at
Speaker 1: the start of things then later on. If you make
Speaker 1: a New Year's resolution to go to the gym, you
Speaker 1: go more times during the first two weeks of January
Speaker 1: than you do any other fortnight. If you decide to
Speaker 1: clean out the garage, you tend not to gain momentum
Speaker 1: as you go. Instead, you start strong and then have
Speaker 1: to keep yourself motivated through heavy bribery later. This means
Speaker 1: that even though many people show up Monday morning a
Speaker 1: bit sleep deprived, they still have more energy for executing
Speaker 1: on things than they will on say, Friday afternoon. If
Speaker 1: you spend Monday morning deciding what you need to do
Speaker 1: for the week, you will miss out on that initial
Speaker 1: burst of motivation. Plus you just have less time to
Speaker 1: work with. If Friday afternoon will be a bit of
Speaker 1: a wash, then losing Monday morning for execution too really
Speaker 1: starts to trim down the work week. The solution is
Speaker 1: to decide how you will spend your time during a
Speaker 1: low energy time. I recommend Friday afternoons. It's during business
Speaker 1: hours so you can make appointments and send meeting requests.
Speaker 1: But most people aren't doing much of consequence during this time.
Speaker 1: It is hard to start anything new. It is easier
Speaker 1: to start something new on Monday morning. So choose on
Speaker 1: Friday what you will tackle on Monday morning. That way
Speaker 1: you can make the most of both blocks of time.
Speaker 1: And if you really want to level up your game,
Speaker 1: assign yourself either your toughest task or your most important
Speaker 1: task for Monday morning. That way you can use that
Speaker 1: start up momentum to plow through it and then it
Speaker 1: is done. You have already won the week by lunch time.
Speaker 1: So as you track your time, look at how you
Speaker 1: spend Monday morning. Is a big, solid chunk devoted to
Speaker 1: one substantial task or are you all over the place?
Speaker 1: Choosing the former rather than the latter can make you
Speaker 1: a lot more productive. It's worth giving it a try.
Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and
Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey everybody,
Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me
Speaker 1: your tips, your questions or anything else. Just connect with
Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.
Speaker 1: That's B the number four, then Breakfast p o D.
Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast
Speaker 1: podcast at iHeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is
Speaker 1: spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much, I
Speaker 1: look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a
Speaker 1: production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from I
Speaker 1: heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,
Speaker 1: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.