One of my #productivity "hacks" is to get up several hours before work starts and go into the office. I've been doing this since my last job - roughly four years now. Here's what I tend to do with that time...
1. Hack on things that are important to me. The longer the day goes on, the more obligations and competing responsibilities I have tugging on me. Setting this time aside allows me to give some focus to #projects I wouldn't otherwise get to ship or learn from
2. Write. I'll write blog posts and newsletters. I'll write to old friends whom I haven't spoken to in a while or to new connections I just met. I'll write notes about my ideas so they're properly captured for later. I'll return emails if they're important.
3. Write more. Sometimes, I'll write out my thoughts in a raw format if I'm trying to think through or process something personal or professional. I prefer to use @obsdmd for my second brain because the sync functionality works so well across my development machines and phone.
4. In the past, I drew. I used to alternate pretty well between art and computer stuff, but lately, computer stuff has been winning out for a number of reasons. Luckily, I'm able to use computers to generate imagery, which I quite enjoy. But doing art in the morning can be good.
I'll say that it CAN BE good - because regardless of the medium I'm working in during my morning sessions, I'll either get a huge rush and boost of getting something I like done before work...or go into work feeling pretty frustrated that I was spinning my wheels on something.
As I get older, I try to focus on my inputs more - the regularity of showing up every day despite whatever insults or injuries have me moving slowly when I first wake up. More of the creating and publishing and less of the checking analytics...
But I'm human. Having a crappy start to the day development-wise still bums me out. Fortunately, I am energized most of the time by whatever I am working on that morning.
5. Clean up my office, desk, floor. Take out the trash. Restock something that's out. Ensure I have water, snacks, caffeine, tools, a notebook, and pens. Open the window, turn on the fan - wipe down my desk. Remove the keys that are sticking and clean them.
6. Read. Outside of showing up to work every single day and trying to learn something or improve, this habit has probably had the greatest total impact on my life and career. I'll read technical books, business books within and without my comfort zone and I'll read about health
I went a little deeper in depth on reading and why it helped me so much in this post: zackproser.com/blog/why-ive-been-successful, but I'm due to create an updated reading list on a blog post somewhere. Start now if you're not reading a lot and want to boost your career.
7. Meditate. I have to return to this one constantly and restart repeatedly (which is okay). But it greatly helps my general outlook, mood, and focus.
Come to work in a pretty decent mood most of the time. I like this habit because it gives me time to myself, gives me sufficient lead time to caffeinate properly, wake up, warm up, and solve a bunch of problems or ship some things already
So, going to work doesn't feel like a leap—it's a continuation of a motion I've already begun. There's the momentum of a few wins to get me into the flow. If it's a rough day, I still get some stuff done that I care about personally. If it's a great day, all the better.
What does your morning routine look like? What do you find to have the biggest impact on your productivity?
Zack Proser
@zackproser
Developer Education at WorkOS. Full-stack open-source hacker and technical writer. I love building tools and sharing knowledge.