“Don’t check your email when you wake up, or before going to bed”
Before you do, knock off a task or 2 before getting sucked into the rabit warren that is… email. This gets you on a roll for the day – even after checking what is waiting in your inbox.
This one is a tip of the hat to the Book, Never Check Email in the Morning by Julie Morgenstern.
Cris Pearson from Melbourne, Australia.
Grew up in George Town, Tasmania.
CEO, co-founder, interaction + interface + graphic
+ web designer at plasq.
We are best known for Comic Life which was bundled with Millions of Apple Macs and now the much lauded, Skitch!.
Non plasq projects:
Loqalize - Open software translation web service
tequp - tech and art meetups
UI Review - Flickr group for peer UI reviews
Oooh, thanks for the tip – I shall check out that book!
The email thing is so true – many a night have I stayed up way too late just because I couldn’t resist the temptation to check my email! I get sucked in, and because I’m tired, become really slow and find it much much harder to turn it off.
Regarding reading email when you wake up – I’ve actually banned myself from reading, not just email, but anything as soon as I wake up. It’s tempting because I always have a huge pile of delicious books right next to my bed! But reading straight away just seems to make your eyes tired and in general slows you down. I find it much better to have breakfast, then go for a walk/run, before really getting into things. And not just a 5 min walk up the street, but a proper, half hour walk/jog/run where you push yourself a little. It really seems to give you energy throughout the day, and you really notice the difference on the days when you don’t go for that walk. (If it’s too cold or raining, following a pilates DVD can still do the trick!)
I am by no means a fitness fanatic – I despised it on school camps where the sports teachers would make everyone get up at 6am and go for a walk. But since I decided to one day give it a go – I really noticed how much more alert and awake it makes you – and you’re less likely to fall into the trap of spending too long on email… or typing random things in Google. Plus, it gets you out of the house for a little while which is a good thing!
I’ll try the walk after wake thing. Thanks.
Reading anything after wake, yes indeed. Jumping right into a task is good.