The Right Way to Start Your Work Day

A book that greatly influences how I start my day is Make Time by Jake Knapp and John Zeratsky.

What stuck out to me most is this worksheet where they recommend just picking ONE thing you would like to accomplish for the day.

I used to fall into the trap of prioritizing the easiest tasks on my to-do list, leaving the most important work unchecked for tomorrow.

I also used to check my Slack first thing in the morning and become distracted with random conversations, only to realize later that I had spent an hour making myself feel busy.

Now before I even turn on my computer I ask myself, what is the ONE thing I want to accomplish today? What can I finish today and know I’ll be happy with when I log off?

Ideally this is something in your control, so try not to pick things like “get my tech spec reviewed today.” Instead try something like, “post my tech spec in X channels requesting review from Y people with a deadline to comment by Z date.”

So that’s it! For this week try to start off your morning without checking your Slack, email, etc. Sit down and write on a piece of paper your #1 goal for the day and do whatever you can to make sure you accomplish that. That could mean skipping meetings that aren’t relevant to you, asking your manager if you can deprioritize other smaller tasks, or even just having to say no to things!

Best of luck, squad!

Eden

P.S. Halloween is tomorrow! A big part of being staff is also bringing your team together, if you have the time why not set up a little game day for you and your team? 🎃

Skribbl (not sponsored) is a great option whether or not your team is remote. You can do something fun like suggest everyone pick a Zoom background based on their favorite scary movie. 👻