Motivational Monday: The Best Morning Routine

The Morning Routine Experts Recommend For Peak Productivity

What’s the best way to start your day so that you really get things done?

Laura Vanderkam studied the schedules of high-achievers. What did she find? Almost all have a morning routine.

But you’re busy. You don’t have time to read all that stuff. You need a plan. Okay, time to round up what the experts have said and build a roadmap.

1) Stop Reacting

Get up before the insanity starts. Don’t check your email or anything else that is going to dictate your behaviour.

Productivity guru Tim Ferriss, bestselling author of The 4-Hour Workweek, says:

‘I try to have the first 80 to 90 minutes of my day vary as little as possible. I think that a routine is necessary to feel in control and non-reactive, which reduces anxiety. It therefore also makes you more productive.’

Most of us get up and it seems like things are already in motion. Got to race to something. Emails coming in. We’re already behind.

So of course you aren’t achieving your goals. You immediately started with what the world threw at you and then just reacted, reacted, reacted as new things came in until the day ended or you were too exhausted to do what was important.

You need to wake up before the insanity starts. Before demands are made on you. Before your goals for the day have competition.

Okay, you’re ahead of the maelstrom. What do you need to do before things get thrown at you?

2) Decide The 3 Things That Matter Today

Cal Newport is so productive it makes me cry. He’s a professor at Georgetown, cranks out academic papers, has written 4 books, and is a dad and a husband. And he’s done by 5:30PM every day. What did Cal have to say?

All tasks are not created equal. Most of us deal with two fundamentally different types of work, Shallow and Deep:

Shallow work is little stuff like email, meetings, moving information around. Things that are not really using your talents. Deep work pushes your current abilities to their limits. It produces high value results and improves your skills.

Shallow work stops you from getting fired — but deep work is what gets you promoted. Deep work must get priority.

In his book The ONE Thing, Gary Keller applies the “Pareto principle” to the workday:

Most of us get 80% of results from 20% of the work we do. So focus on that 20%.

What really creates progress vs. treading water? What gives disproportionate results? Do those things.

And don’t be vague. Specify what you need to get done. Research shows having concrete goals is correlated with huge increases in confidence and feelings of control.

People who construct their goals in concrete terms are 50 percent more likely to feel confident they will attain their goals and 32 percent more likely to feel in control of their lives. – Howatt 1999

Okay, you know what is important. Now you need to think about when.

3) Use Your “Magic Hours” For Your 3 Goals

Just like all tasks aren’t created equal, all hours aren’t created equal either.

Dan Ariely is a behavioral economist at Duke University and the New York Times bestselling author of Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions.

Dan says you have 2-2.5 hours of peak productivity every day. You may actually be 30% more effective at that time. Here’s Dan:

…it turns out that most people are productive in the first two hours of the morning. Not immediately after waking, but if you get up at 7 you’ll be most productive from around from 8-10:30.

And Dan’s findings line up with other research. It is postulated that 2.5 to 4 hours after waking is when your brain is sharpest. You want to waste that on a conference call or a staff meeting?

Studies show that alertness and memory, the ability to think clearly and to learn, can vary by between 15 and 30 percent over the course of a day. Most of us are sharpest some two and a half to four hours after waking.

But does this really work? In studies of geniuses, most did their best work early in the day.

Those are the hours when you should be working on your 3 goals. Designate that part of your day as “protected time.”

Maybe you know that you’re a night owl. Fine, then protect those hours. The important thing is to do your key tasks during your key hours.

You know what’s important today and you know when your best hours are. But maybe you’re not motivated or you feel like procrastinating. How can you get going?

4) Have A Starting Ritual

Charles Duhigg is a reporter for the New York Times and author of the bestseller The Power of Habit: Why We Do What We Do in Life and Business. What did he say about fighting procrastination and getting things done?

Finishing things isn’t as much of a problem as just getting started in the first place. Here’s Charles:

One way to use habits to fight procrastination is to develop a habitualised response to starting. When people talk about procrastination, what they’re usually actually talking about is the first step. In general, if people can habitualise that first step, it makes it a lot easier.

Maybe getting that cup of coffee is the signal that you’re getting down to business. Or do you have a spot where you’re usually productive? Go there.

Wendy Wood, a professor at USC explains how your environment activates habits — without your conscious mind even noticing.

Habits emerge from the gradual learning of associations between an action and outcome, and the contexts that have been associated with them. Once the habit is formed, various elements from the context can serve as a cue to activate the behavior, independent of intention and absent of a particular goal… Very often, the conscious mind never gets engaged.

Some days it just isn’t going to happen. You can’t get going on that #1 task. What should you do when all else fails?

5) Use “Positive Procrastination”

Yes, procrastination can be a good thing — but it has to be the right kind of procrastination.

When do you usually get 1000 things done? When you’re avoiding that one thing that absolutely terrifies you.

If you know you can’t do that scary thing right now, do not turn to Facebook or video games. Tell yourself it’s okay to avoid it — as long as you’re doing the #2 thing on your to-do list.

Dr. John Perry, author of The Art of Procrastination, explains a good method for using this to trick yourself into massive productivity:

The key to productivity…is to make more commitments — but to be methodical about it. At the top of your to-do list, put a couple of daunting, if not impossible, tasks that are vaguely important-sounding (but really aren’t) and seem to have deadlines (but really don’t). Then, farther down the list, include some doable tasks that really matter. “Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list,” Dr. Perry writes.

A similar tip is described by Piers Steel, author of The Procrastination Equation:

My best trick is to play my projects off against each other, procrastinating on one by working on another.

Dr. Steel says it’s based on sound principles of behavioral psychology:

We are willing to pursue any vile task as long as it allows us to avoid something worse.

At this point, I know what some of you are saying: Where are the bullet points? I need bullet points to follow! 

No problem. Here you go:

Sum Up

Here’s what we can put together from listening to all the experts:

1.   Stop reacting. Get up before the world starts making demands so you can figure out what’s important to you.

2.  Decide what matters today. You won’t get everything done, so what will move the needle? What will let you end the day feeling like you accomplished something? No more than 3 goals.

3.  Use your “magic hours” for those three things. Your peak productivity time is probably an hour or two after you wake up. If you know your best hours are at another time, fine. Protect your “magic hours.”

4.  Have a starting ritual. Go to the place where you get stuff done. Get your coffee. Anything that tells your brain it’s time to rock.

5.  When things go sideways, use “positive procrastination.” If you can’t tackle the super scary thing, do the pretty scary thing. Designating a super scary thing in advance as a decoy can make that pretty scary thing much easier.

We’re all trying to achieve work-life balance. You’re not going to get everything done. But start the day right and you can definitely accomplish what matters. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:

‘You can do anything

once you stop trying to do everything.’

What If Your Job Didn't Control Your Life?

What If Your Job Didn’t Control Your Life?

Brazilian CEO, Ricardo Semler practices a radical form of corporate democracy, one that most companies are just NOT ready for.

I first read about Ricardo about a decade ago and recently he rocked the Global TED Stage and inspired many to seek WISDOM by asking why three times. Why? Why? Why?

Chances are your company isn't ready for radical democracy, but all of us should be willing to seek the wisdom Ricardo is advocating. It's worth the time … it could redirect your life! 

Gutsy leaders know that inspiring employees to assume ownership and responsibility is a way of saying, “I trust you, I believe in you, and you are an integral part of this company’s success.” When you walk into organisations where employees don’t have a sense of ownership, you find a psychological wall between those individuals and the company.

This atmosphere is precisely what Dilbert represents — the soulless world of corporate cubicles in which people show up, do the minimum, assume no responsibility, avoid the landmines, and collect a paycheque.

It’s a waste for the individual, who is locked in an unfulfilling cycle of mediocrity, and it’s a waste for the organisation, which fails to capitalise on the gifts and talents of people who are capable of far more than they are achieving.

A Corporate Rebel

Then there is Ricardo Semler, a Brazilian who redefines “business as usual” by encouraging people to stretch beyond their self-imposed limits. Surrounding himself with great talent and staying out of their way.

This corporate rebel is doing what mild mannered, conforming types say can’t be done.

His Brazilian company, Semco, has become world famous for real-world business practices that many observers find “insane” until they see that they work.

Ask someone at Semco “who’s in charge?” and the most likely response will be “no one.” Semler promotes ownership by radically giving up control.

The company was founded in 1952 by Semler’s father, Antonio, and specialised in manufacturing marine pumps.

Ricardo took over in 1980 at the age of 21, his head brimming with radical ideas about how businesses should operate. Within a few days, he dismissed 75 percent of the senior executives and began putting his ideas into practice.

Go With Your Gut

Semler urges employees to “go with your guts” in their decision-making. That has led to a company with a bewildering number of disparate elements. Among other things, it makes industrial machinery such as mixers for pharmaceutical and candy companies, builds cooling towers, runs office buildings’ data centres, provides consulting services on environmental issues, creates software for Internet applications, and manages human-resources activities for major companies.

According to Semler, his various operations have three things in common. They’re complex enough to discourage new competitors from jumping in; their quality and price are on the high end; and they occupy a unique niche in their markets.

They have done well for Semler, racking up an annual growth rate of 24 percent over the last decade. An investment of $100,000 in this convention-busting company 20 years ago would have an approximate value of $5 million today.

It’s All About Performance and Accountability

Semco has no job titles, no organisational charts, and no headquarters. If you need an office, you go online and reserve space at one of the few satellite offices scattered around Sao Paulo.

Semler said, “If you don’t even know where your people are, you can’t possibly keep an eye on them. All that’s left to judge is performance.” What’s gets judged at your company, visibility or performance?

Many workers, including factory workers, set their own schedules and their own salaries. They can also choose their own form of compensation based on 11 different options. What prevents associates from taking advantage of this freedom? First, all of the company’s financial information is public, so everyone knows what everyone else makes. People who pay themselves too much have to work with resentful colleagues. Not long ago union members argued that their pay increase was too high and would hurt profitability.

Second, associates must reapply for their jobs every six months. Pay yourself unfairly, and you could soon be looking for a new job. Finally, employee compensation is tied directly to the company’s profits — there is enormous peer pressure to keep budgets in line.

Employees are encouraged to regularly take off half a day in the middle of the week. They lose 10 percent of their salary, but Semler believes that they should use that time for active pursuits when their bodies can handle it. He also feels that it is stupid to force people into retirement at their intellectual peak.

Workers choose their managers and evaluate them twice a year. The results are publicly posted. Meetings are voluntary; if no one shows up, it means that the topic to be discussed must be untimely or unimportant.

At every board meeting, two seats are reserved for employees on a first-come, first-served basis.

Semco has no receptionists, secretaries, or personal assistants. All employees, including Semler, greet their own guests, get their own coffee, write and send their own correspondence, and make their own copies.

Semler, who, of course, has no title, has built a reputation for encouraging people to fearlessly ask “why.” Why do we have job titles? Why do we need a headquarters? (According to Semler, “It’s a source of control, discrimination, and power-mongering.”) Why shouldn’t employees have access to detailed financial information?

Semler believes that challenging assumptions, rather than conforming to them, is the key to building an adaptive, creative organization.

The company has a policy of no policies. Instead, Semco offers employees a 21-page “Survival Manual” filled with cartoons and brief declarations designed to help assimilate people into its culture. Here are a few examples:

Organization Chart

“Semco doesn’t use a formal organization chart. Only the respect of the led creates a leader. When it is absolutely necessary to sketch the structure of some part of the company, we always do it in pencil, and dispense with it as soon as possible.”

Clothing and Appearance

“Neither has any importance at Semco. A person’s appearance is not a factor in hiring or promotion. Everyone knows what he or she likes or needs to wear. Feel at ease — wear only your common sense.”

Participation

“Our philosophy is built on participation and involvement. Don’t settle down. Give opinions, seek opportunities and advancement, and always say what you think. Don’t just be one more person in the company.”

If all this sounds like a recipe for chaos and anarchy, consider this — Semco’s products are so good and its customer service so efficient that 80 percent of its yearly revenues come from repeat customers. Over the last decade, the company’s sales increased by 600 percent and profitability by 500 percent. Equally impressive, with a current backlog of more than 2,000 job applications, Semco has had less than 1 percent turnover among its 3,000 employees in the last 6 years.

Employees at Semco can’t help but think and act like owners of the company. When no one’s in charge, everyone is responsible — for acting in the team’s best interest, for providing the kind of product and service experience customers demand, and for growing the business. And everyone is accountable for the results.

The Benefit of April Fool's Day

The Origin

British folklore links April Fool's Day to the town of Gotham, the legendary town of fools located in Nottinghamshire. According to the legend, it was traditional in the 13th century for any road that the King placed his foot upon to become public property.

 

So when the citizens of Gotham heard that King John planned to travel through their town, they refused him entry, not wishing to lose their main road. When the King heard this, he sent soldiers to the town. But when the soldiers arrived in Gotham, they found the town full of lunatics engaged in foolish activities such as drowning fish or attempting to cage birds in roofless fences.

Their foolery was all an act, but the King fell for the ruse and declared the town too foolish to warrant punishment. Ever since then, according to legend, April Fool's Day has commemorated their trickery.

The Pranks

As well as people playing pranks on one another on April Fools' Day, elaborate practical jokes have appeared on radio and TV stations, newspapers, web sites, and have been performed by large corporations.

In one famous prank from 1957, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) broadcast a film in their Panorama current affairs series purporting to show Swiss farmers picking freshly grown spaghetti, in what they called the Swiss Spaghetti Harvest. The BBC were later flooded with requests to purchase a spaghetti plant, forcing them to declare the film a hoax on the news the next day.

Laughter Changes Us

In the book A Better Brain at Any Age: The Holistic Way to Improve Your Memory, Reduce Stress, and Sharpen Your Wits (Conari Press, 2009), author Sondra Kornblatt explores how laughter can truly make you feel better.

She writes that the new field of gelotology is exploring the benefits of laughter. It was brought to the public’s awareness in Norman Cousins’ memoir Anatomy of an Illness.

He found that comedies, like those of the Marx Brothers, helped him feel better and get some pain-free sleep from his arthritis.

Humour and creativity work in similar ways, says humor guru William Fry, M.D., of Stanford University–by creating relationships between two disconnected items, you engage the whole brain.

And humour works quickly. Less than a half-second after exposure to something funny an electrical wave moves through the higher brain functions of the cerebral cortex. The left hemisphere analyses the words and structures of the joke; the right hemisphere “gets” the joke; the visual sensory area of the occipital lobe creates images; the limbic (emotional) system makes you happier; and the motor sections make you smile or laugh.

So Let’s Laugh

Research since then has shown that laughter reduces levels of stress hormones such as cortisol, epinephrine, and dopamine; increases health-enhancing hormones (such as endorphins), neurotransmitters, and infection-fighting antibodies; and improves blood flow to the heart — all resulting in greater relaxation and resistance to disease, as well as improved mood and positive outlook.

Laughter Changes Us and in the loveliest ways. When we lighten up we feel more positive and optimistic, more hopeful and engaged. We're friendlier, more resourceful, more attractive, more radiantly alive.

Raising Our Laugh Quota

My hope is that after I reading this blog, you will decide to up your "laugh quota."

So Keep On Laughing!

·      Laughing 100 times roughly equals 15 minutes on an exercise bike? Vigorous laughter increases the heart rate deepens the breathing rate, and uses muscles in the face, stomach, and diaphragm.

·      Aside from improving our moods, laughter can reduce stress, help fight infection, and reduce pain.

·      The levels of two stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine which suppress the body's immune system, will actually drop after laughter.

·      Laughter causes positive changes in brain chemistry by releasing endorphins, and it brings more oxygen into the body.

·      Higher levels of an antibody (salivary immunoglobulin A) that fights infectious organisms entering the respiratory tract were found in the saliva of people who watched humorous videos.

·      Researchers found after watching an hour-long video of slapstick comedy that the "natural killer cells," which seek out and destroy malignant cells, more actively attacked tumor cells in test tubes. And these effects lasted up to 12 hours.