There are days when my to-do list is so long that it (almost) overwhelms me. The most common reaction is to put in extra hours. Yes, more time is needed to get everything done, but I like to minimize that as much as possible. So I designed a strategy that works for me, hopefully also works for others, and contains the unpopular opinion of ignoring your inbox.
That brings me to the first piece of advice that I swear by:
Do not open your email.
For many people it is a reflex to open their inbox right when they start work. I'm guilty of that too, EXCEPT when my to-do list is full. Then I stay away from email as long as possible. There is a saying along the lines of “your inbox is your to-do list that gets filled by other people” and I very much agree. I strongly believe that there is a good and a bad time for email, and that we all should strategically use it. Opening email at the start of the day when you have a lot on your plate is not part of the strategy. It only provides distraction and stress when you need all of your energy to tackle your to-do list. I have designed my perfect busy-day-morning in which opening my inbox is carefully timed.
What my morning looks like when I need to get a lot of stuff done
I like to get a head start on my colleagues and begin work earlier than usual (around 08:00 instead of 8:30/09:00). The main benefit is that I have more time alone and thus a lower risk of getting distracted. Especially when we still worked at the office, early mornings there were so peaceful.
I leave my phone in another room (at the office I left my phone in my bag or coat pocket), install myself without any food or drinks because I want all of my attention to be on work, put in earbuds whether or not I want to listen to music, and only open the apps that I need. I then set an alarm clock for 25 minutes and start work. I really like working with a timer because it prevents me from procrastinating. The fact that I only have 25 minutes before an alarm goes off gives me a sense of urgency and makes it easy to get started and to work with much focus. Since my phone is in another room, I use pomodoro websites for the alarm.
When the alarm goes off, there are two options: take a 5-minute break, or continue work. It depends on my flow, task, or mood which of the two I choose. Oftentimes, setting the alarm merely functions as a trigger for me to get started and once I get going I can continue for a while. Then I just switch off the alarm and continue work. If I just finished a task or got stuck on something, I would take a 5-minute break and start another 25-minute cycle.
Usually, by 9:30 I’ve finished a big chunk of my to-do list and the feeling of overwhelm or pressure is significantly less. I feel that I can sail through the rest of the day like I normally would instead of being on edge all day because of the impossible to-do list.
By this time I allow myself to check my email. I admit, I always worry that I have missed something urgent but there are two main reasons why I should not have to worry:
If it is urgent, it’s only 9:30 - 30 minutes later than the typical start of a work day - so plenty of time to get it done (might I add that I also have the mental space to pick this up since I already tackled a portion of my to-do list)
If it is so urgent that starting working on it at 9:30 is too late, it wouldn’t (and shouldn’t) be an email
I love mornings like these. Even on days when my work load is doable this would still be my ideal start of the work day (although a bit later than 08:00). However, there is one essential thing that I haven’t described yet and without this, the morning will look entirely different.
It all starts the night before
Imagine that you’re seated in front of your computer, it’s 08:00 and you’ve eliminated all distractions. But, what to do? The list is so long, where do you even start?
To make the most out of my morning, I spend 10-15 minutes the day or night before on making an overview of the things I need to do, along with a priority. When I start work the next day, I only have to look up what was #1 on the list and start working on that. This way, I don’t spend valuable morning time on combing through the things I need to do and decide what needs to be done first and what can wait.
This strategy has helped me and kept me sane through my busiest days. Most parts of the strategy still hold for regular work days, especially preparing your work the day or night before. It’s only a 10-minute investment and it saves you a lot of brain space in the morning.