Vanderkam - What the most successful people do before breakfast: and two other short guides to achieving more at work and at home

Contents

WHAT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO BEFORE BREAKFAST

PORTFOLIO/PENGUIN

WHAT THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE DO BEFORE BREAKFAST

Laura Vanderkam is the author of 168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think and All the Money in the World: What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending. Her work has appeared in the Wall Street Journal, the Huffington Post, USA Today, Scientific American, and Readers Digest, among other publications. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and their three children.

Visit lauravanderkam.com

Also by

Laura Vanderkam

GRINDHOPPING:
Build a Rewarding Career Without Paying Your Dues

168 HOURS:
You Have More Time Than You Think

ALL THE MONEY IN THE WORLD:
What the Happiest People Know About Getting and Spending

WHAT THE
MOST SUCCESSFUL
PEOPLE DO BEFORE
BREAKFAST

A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings
and Life

Laura Vanderkam

An eSpecial from Portfolio/Penguin

About the Book

Mornings are a madcap time for many of us. We wake up in a hazeoften after hitting snooze a few times. Then we rush around to get ready and out the door so we can officially start the day. Before we know it, hours have slipped by without us accomplishing anything beyond downing a cup of coffee, dashing off a few emails, and dishing with our coworkers around the water cooler. By the time the workday wraps up, were so exhausted and defeated that any motivation to accomplish something in the evening has vanished.

But according to time management expert Laura Vanderkam, mornings hold the key to taking control of our schedules. If we use them wisely, we can build habits that will allow us to lead happier, more productive lives.

Drawing on real-life anecdotes and scientific research that shows why the early hours of the day are so important, Vanderkam reveals how successful people use mornings to help them accomplish things that are often impossible to take care of later in the day. While many of us are still in bed, these folks are scoring daily victories to improve their health, careers, and personal lives without sacrificing their sanity. For instance, former PepsiCo chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund would rise at 5:00 a.m., run four miles, pray, and eat breakfast with his family before heading to work to run a Fortune 500 company.

What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is a fun, practical guide that will inspire you to rethink your morning routine and jump-start your life before the day has even begun.

PORTFOLIO/PENGUIN

Published by the Penguin Group

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First published in the United States of America by Portfolio/Penguin,
a member of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. 2012

Copyright Laura Vanderkam, 2012

All rights reserved

ISBN 978-1-59184-576-8 (ePub)

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WHAT THE
MOST SUCCESSFUL
PEOPLE DO BEFORE BREAKFAST

THE MADNESS OF MORNINGS

Mornings are a madcap time in many households. Like mine. On mornings when I am responsible for getting my three children fed, dressed, and in the car by 8:45 a.m., I can be up before 7:00 and, if Im not careful, feel like much of that time is spent dashing around. My eye is on the clock. I line up boots and coats to stave off last-minute disasters. Even so, its always possible that one child will make a stand against some tyrannylike being forced to wear socksand we inevitably cut things close at the end. After I drop them off at two different schools, I usually get back to my desk around 9:15, when, instead of commencing my workday, Im often tempted to just pour a cup of coffee and goof around online.

Having spent the past few years examining how people use their time, I know such orchestrationspending two or more hours each day getting ready to face what lies aheadis nothing unusual. Magazines teem with stories on how to tame morning chaos. According to the National Sleep Foundations 2011 Sleep in America poll, the average 3045-year-old claims to get out of bed at 5:59 a.m. on a typical weekday morning, with 4664-year-olds rousting themselves at 5:57. Yet many people dont start work until 8:00 or 9:00 a.m. And by start work I mean show up at the workplace. When people are frazzled from wrangling small children, battling traffic, or even standing in line for twenty minutes at Starbucks, its easy to seize that first quiet stint at the office as unconsciously chosen me time. We read through personal emails and peruse Facebook and headlines totally unrelated to our jobs until a meeting or phone call forces us to stop.

In the end you can spend three to four hours a day on mindless tasks or barking at a petulant child to get in the car now or we are driving off without you instead of on your core competencies. These are your highest-value activities: nurturing your career, nurturing your family beyond basic personal care, and nurturing yourself. By that last category, I mean activities such as exercise, a hobby, meditation, prayer, and the like. The madness of mornings is a key reason most of us believe we have no time. We have time, but its consumed by sound and fury that culminates in few accomplishments beyond getting out the door.

But mornings dont have to be like this. Studying my own, even on those madcap days, I see how they could be better. They can be productive times. Joyous times. Times for habits that help one grow into a better person. Indeed, learning to use mornings well is, in our distracted world, what separates achievement from madness. Before the rest of the world is eating breakfast, the most successful people have already scored daily victories that are advancing them toward the lives they want.