(The First) 20 Minutes A Day That Keep The Stress Away
The holiday season is ramping up, which means there’s no room for you to break down - but it happens to the best of us every year. As the holiday chaos and business ensues, its takes a toll on your world – creating a feeling like everything is spiraling out of control. All of the sudden you’re constantly behind in work, running late, forgetting things, etc. But we’re not going to let that happen this year…
Being productive from the start of the day is key to building and maintaining a thriving business. Maintaining productivity throughout hectic periods is accomplished by creating a daily morning routine (and sticking to it diligently no matter what!). The routine doesn’t have to be complex, but it needs be something that consistently gets you in the right state of mind for planning and attacking your day.
Once you’ve defined your daily morning routine, following it is simple and effortless. However, the first step - taking the time to create an effective routine – is the most common roadblock that prevents people from beginning. To help accelerate you into picking up this great habit, I’ve put together a simple 20 minute daily morning routine for you to try out.
Minute 1 - Say good morning to your boss and coworkers. It may sound silly, but positivity is contagious - starting the day out on a positive note sets the day’s tone for you and your team.
Minute 2 - Sort through your emails, prioritizing the most urgent replies first, then on to the less urgent, and finally the really simple one word replies.
Minutes 3-7 - Pull a quick sales recap and review yesterday’s & this week’s best and worst sellers. Make a mental note of what is happening in your business and all the highs and lows. Who knows, you might have 1-on-1 elevator time with your boss and they ask you “how is business?” Being able to readily share yesterday’s sales provides you with a candid opportunity to shine.
Minute 8 - Check your to-do list and reprioritize tasks based on upcoming meetings, hot topics, and time consuming projects. What do you need to accomplish today, tomorrow, this week, and what can be pushed out? This will keep you organized and on top of the day.
Minutes 9-10 - Peruse your work-related news feeds to see if there are any BIG, industry relevant stories from the day. (Amazon is doing what?!) Look to reputable sources and your favorite follows like Mod. Merchant, to ensure your news is up to date and accurate.
Minutes 11-13 - Review your calendar to get a grasp on the day’s events and the critical priorities that need to be met. Make a mental note of who is included in each meeting and what the discussions may include. Jot a few notes down with any initial points of view or questions for each meeting. And then...
Minutes 14-16 - Organize and prepare yourself for the day’s meetings - pulling together all the folders and recaps you need. Now you are prepared to “grab and go” to your meetings instead of scrambling at the last minute and running late.
Minutes 17-18 - Straighten up your workspace by putting extra supplies away, recycling and throwing away old documents, and quickly organizing the remaining outliers on your desk. Messy and unorganized workspaces not only create internal stress, they also give off the impression of being unorganized and sloppy to your team.
Minute 19 - Take a final moment for quiet meditation, or a quick pep-talk. Choose a simple mantra, breathing in and out, and get yourself aligned and ready to own your day.
Minute 20 - Finally, and most importantly, go get that fresh latte/water/matcha etc. to get yourself going.
Insights
If you take a look at any successful person, they most likely follow a daily morning routine – it’s not a coincidence. These people understand the impact staying organized has on productivity – and they use routines to prevent everything from unraveling when things become chaotic. Prioritizing organization every morning will keep you in control of your time, as well as empower to you take on each day with a “ready” mindset.
If this article resonated with you, I welcome you to subscribe to my e-newsletter. By doing so, you'll receive alerts for new features in my blog featuring retail trends and insights, exciting business updates, and much more. Or if, after reading this article, you conclude that you found it helpful, please feel free to share it with your network. Thanks!