Open Loops

Two Ways to Use Your New Found Early Morning Hours

Leaving the office at a reasonable time to push more priority out of the last hours of the day into the first hours of the day is a great strategy for getting more things done.  If that’s all we do, we may still find our productivity lacking.  Two additional co-strategies maximize the effect that we may get by becoming early risers.

Get More Done By Going Home On Time

I caught myself doing it this afternoon.  I’ve counseled others not to do it.  I know the wisdom of not doing, but I caught myself doing again.  I’m referring to working late.  We’ve all been there.  It just didn’t seem that there were enough hours during the day to get the vital tasks done, so we work a little late.  Tonight it was an hour, other nights have been 2 – 3 hours.

It starts out innocently enough; a crisis happens that pulls us from our priorities and we have to make time up after work.  Before we know it, we begin to stay after hours more and more.  Pretty soon, out of sheer habit, it becomes part of our regular routine.  We begin to count on those extra hours.  As a result, the hours earlier in the day begin to lose their importance because, after all, we can always catch up after work, so we don’t hustle — we don’t feel that sense of urgency that drives us forward.