- Do not open your emails!! – It’s what most of us do first thing every morning. And it’s the worst thing you can do. Typically our brains are at their most efficient first thing in the morning and you could be wasting valuable processing ability replying to emails when you could be tackling more important or difficult tasks.
Right, let’s get on with it.
- Make a list of tasks that need to be completed today
Bring forward any tasks that weren’t completed yesterday, and keep in mind anything important for tomorrow. Do not open your emails. - Do the most important task of the day
This is especially important if you a deadline to achieve today. If you have a task from yesterday that you couldn’t do then (like a complex programming task) do it now. Do not open your emails. - Do any other vital tasks today
Don’t get bogged down with tasks, but do anything else that has to be completed today - Open your emails
Now that the vital tasks are done you can open your emails and process any new information, enquiries, etc. Try and achieve Inbox Zero and reply to any new emails. - Close your emails
Now that your emails are processed they can stay closed for the rest of the day or half-day and allow you to actually do the work in hand. - Re-visit your tasks
With your emails read re-visit your task list to ensure it’s priorotised - Do that tasks on the list