Speaker 1: Good morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the New Corner Office,
Speaker 1: the podcast where we share strategies for thriving in the
Speaker 1: new world of work or location and hours are more
Speaker 1: flexible than in the past. Today's tip is to work
Speaker 1: before the house is up. By waking up early, you
Speaker 1: can get in a couple of hours of work before
Speaker 1: the demands on your attention begin. If you're aiming to
Speaker 1: maintain a forty hour work week these days, it can
Speaker 1: be hard to do that between the hours of nine
Speaker 1: and five. This is particularly true if you have little
Speaker 1: kids at home and no childcare. But even if your
Speaker 1: home is a place of library like calm, the constant
Speaker 1: ping of emails, texts, and slack notifications can get in
Speaker 1: the way of deep work. You want to be responsive,
Speaker 1: and you don't want to be a bottleneck, but still
Speaker 1: you've got stuff you need to do. Early morning hours
Speaker 1: can give you an opportunity to concentrate on important projects
Speaker 1: while your colleagues are still snoozing, or at least while
Speaker 1: you can unapologetically silence your notifications before the standard work
Speaker 1: day begins and before other family members get up. Time
Speaker 1: is full of yours. You're not accountable to anyone, so
Speaker 1: you can make progress on work that requires focus. Getting
Speaker 1: stuff done is always good, But I find that getting
Speaker 1: stuff done early has two spillover benefits. First, you may
Speaker 1: find that when you've established momentum on important projects in
Speaker 1: the morning, you're able to pick them back up in
Speaker 1: little chunks of time. If you're not working on anything
Speaker 1: in particular, then fifteen minutes between calls or when the
Speaker 1: kids are playing independently, it's just enough time to check
Speaker 1: the news or delete a few emails. But if you
Speaker 1: have something important in process, you can return to it
Speaker 1: and use that same chunk of time to tie up
Speaker 1: a small loose thread, like recording the video you wrote
Speaker 1: the script for this morning. Establishing momentum early in the
Speaker 1: day means you get more substantive work done throughout the day. Second,
Speaker 1: I find that if I've completed my most important project
Speaker 1: in the morning, I'm more relaxed about the inevitable distractions
Speaker 1: that come up later. What does it matter if I'm
Speaker 1: on a pointless call, if I've already recorded my podcasts
Speaker 1: for the week, well, probably it's still wise to get
Speaker 1: rid of pointless calls. But if I've already accomplished my
Speaker 1: most important task. Anything more I do is gravy. I'm
Speaker 1: not the only person to discover this. Many of the
Speaker 1: leaders I studied for my book What the Most Successful
Speaker 1: People Do Before Breakfast spent the early morning hours pursuing
Speaker 1: their top professional, personal, and relationship priorities. Then they were
Speaker 1: available for responding to and supporting other people's priorities later
Speaker 1: in the day. So how do you seize the early
Speaker 1: morning power hours? Start the night before, identify the most
Speaker 1: pressing work requiring concentration, and prepare yourself to dive right
Speaker 1: in first thing tomorrow morning. Gather any documents or resources
Speaker 1: you need to develop a vision of what you need
Speaker 1: to do. Get clarity on any questions you have by
Speaker 1: connecting with your boss or colleagues, and go to bed
Speaker 1: early enough that you'll be able to function at the
Speaker 1: appointed time. So, if you're planning to work from five
Speaker 1: thirty to eight am tomorrow morning, you probably need to
Speaker 1: have your head on the pillow by ten tonight. Get
Speaker 1: up when your alarm goes off, Resist the temptation to
Speaker 1: hit snooze, grab a cup of coffee, and go directly
Speaker 1: to work. Do not go online, Do not check email.
Speaker 1: This is your time, so make the most of it.
Speaker 1: After your morning shift ends, attend Danny family responsibilities, Shower
Speaker 1: and get dressed, have breakfast, and start work with a
Speaker 1: sense of accomplishment and momentum from what you've already done.
Speaker 1: What a great way to begin the day. What do
Speaker 1: you do in the early morning hours to pave the
Speaker 1: way for success? You can let me know at Laura
Speaker 1: at Laura vandercam dot com. In the meantime, this is Laura.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, and here's to succeeding in the New
Speaker 1: Corner Office. The New Corner Office is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 1: For more podcasts, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
Speaker 1: wherever you get your favorite shows.