The key to getting things done is getting started, and the first hour of the day is the most important one to get right. The way to start it wrong is to begin by checking social media or tuning into the news. The big struggle in time management is keeping to your own agenda. The latest amusing kitten video is just a distraction. Following the news is even worse. The weighty and serious matters of the world raise important questions that cry out for solutions. You are an intelligent and concerned person and your natural inclination is to devote your precious brain power to working out what needs to be done.
Solving the latest foreign policy crisis is a worthy objective and the great ideas you come up with do you great credit. They show what an intelligent and thoughtful person you are. However, they aren't your direct responsibility. You have other things to do. So the best start to the day is to concentrate on things that are important to you. Be selfish. Be egotistical. Focus on what matters to you. For example the first thing I do every day in bed as I drink a cup of tea is study a little French and a little German using a free programme called Duolingo. It is a good transition between being asleep and being awake. But most importantly it doesn't get me carried away thinking about other people's projects.Starting the day with the news or social media is tempting but it isn't hard to see that it's not a good use of your time. However I did for a long time think that clearing e-mail in the early hours was a good idea. Getting your inbox down to zero is certainly a highly desirable goal, but now is not the time to do it. You don't want to get dragged into that stuff yet. You will get straight onto the treadmill of following everybody else's goals but your own. Leave that for later.
My next step after doing my language learning is to write a couple of paragraphs of some writing project. (That is how this book was written.) I am still waking up at this stage so my main objective is to start the day in the right frame of mind. I don't have any particular target for this in terms of time spent or how much I write. It is just a recognition of the kind of person I am. My default activity at this stage in the day is to plunge into social media and get talking to people. This is great fun but is fraught with risks for my focus. There are debates to get into. Issue to take sides on. The great skills and talents of people in general are on display. And you can join in and try and make your own contribution. It is heady stuff.
The other reason we find social media so irresistible is the interactions we get from it. We are social animals and are validated by what other people think of us. So getting likes and retweets really matter. Left to itself your brain will prioritise impressing people online. The reality is that our online friends have only very weak connection with us. We have often never encountered them in three dimensions. Many of them are revealing only a fraction of themselves online. Some are projecting a very misleading impression indeed. You can't even be sure they are the gender they claim to be. But it feels like you are a member of a group and you instantly start treating the people you encounter online as if they are your social group and working to establish your position in the hierarchy.
This leads to two conclusions. First it explains just how addictive social media are. For several years I always started my day with a session on Twitter. When I had nothing else to do this could go on for two hours. I remember one tweet I read that summed it up rather well. "I love my laptop. My friends live in it." If you use it as a faux social network it is going to absorb a lot of your attention. This isn't either a good thing or a bad thing. For a lonely person it could be a life saver. And you do get genuinely useful support from social media. They are a great source of information, both interesting and useful. But if you need focused effort on your own projects you really don't want your attention drained away anywhere let alone something so absorbing. The other conclusion is that social pressures are powerful so it is a good idea to work with them rather than against them.For example if you have something you want to study frame it as a book. That indeed is exactly what I am doing right now. It is quite possible, indeed probable, that no human being will ever read what I am writing right now. But the thought that they might is a powerful motivator. It doesn't have to be a book. A newsletter works as well. Or you can involve your social media chums in your research if it is appropriate.
So the second item on my daily agenda, again while I am still in bed is to knock off a couple of paragraphs of my book about time management. I fondly imagine that one day it will be read and appreciated by millions. But even if it isn't it serves its purpose of getting me in the correct frame of mind to spend a day getting the most I can out of every minute. I keep the illusion of future publication in mind by trying to get spelling and grammar correct and by writing electronically. (The notepad feature on my Kindle if that kind of thing interests you.) This works because the extra dimension of explaining myself to somebody else forces that much higher a level of concentration on the subject matter. It is a common observation that you can only explain something if you understand it yourself. "If you really understand it you should be able to explain it to a 13 year old." That quote is often attributed to Einstein. My guess is that he had better things to do than come up with folky aphorisms and he just makes a useful hook on which to hang it. But there is no purpose served by checking out the facts. For my next habit I switch to paper.
In a spiral reporter's notebook with a pencil I write out my long term goals. This is an idea I picked up from Brian Tracy. He predicts that this simple act will transform your life. I can't say that it has done so for me, but it certainly is a useful habit. I have only three main goals which even with some elaboration only fill a single page. The benefit of doing this is it keeps me focused on what it is I really want to be doing. There is nothing we can do about all the things we simply have to do like eating and sleeping, but the key thing is to spend the rest of the time doing stuff that achieves something towards your goals. A really good start to this is to keep those goals in mind.
I stick with the spiral notebook for the next stage. I just write freeform for between one and three pages depending on what mood I am in and how urgent it is to get up. Often I write about what I am working on but I don't have any rules on the subject matter. I do try and make sure it is actual text that is legible and in clear sentences. It is a bit like a musician practising their scales. It is an idea I got from a self help blog, where it is called 'morning papers'. They are apparently a thing that have been recommended for creative writers for many years. Well I'm not a creative writer but I do make a living from activities that involve a lot of writing and communicating. I think of every day as an opportunity to document my journey towards the person I want to be. Writing what is in my head helps clarify where I am and what I am doing. It usually takes less than 15 minutes and I think it is time well invested. I can't really articulate exactly what it does for me but it is a habit I certainly intend to keep going. I suggest giving it a try.
After that I am out of bed for a run. My chosen exercise is a tread mill and my aim is simply to work up a sweat. Then a quick breakfast and down to planning the day. It works pretty much like clockwork up to now. My first challenge of the day is to get started on the real work and not get distracted by the first meal of the day.
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