Getting your morning office routine off to a productive start is often the most challenging part of the work day. For most of us, it is the critical difference between getting that “to do” list done or feeling the stress of undone tasks.
Benjamin Stall and Michael Xander, the cofounders of My Morning Routine and authors of My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired, recently chronicled the habits of successful executives “referencing the time between waking up and either leaving your home, or transitioning to the next part of your day.”
It’s counter-intuitive, but often that golden hour that gets your day off to the right start, especially for working moms, is at the office and not at home. No matter your role within the workplace, especially when balancing a busy personal life, those first moments can be critical.
Besides the obvious musts of getting up early, organizing your day, placing urgent calls and answering critical emails, five founders, many of whom are working moms, shared key habits that help them de-stress and manage their day better in a highly digital world.
Transition And Breathe. Shirin von Wulffen, Co-Founder of Bastide, the beauty and lifestyle collection inspired by the wellness philosophy of Provence and founded on a commitment to clean, toxin-free living shared that “just getting comfortable, sipping a warm drink, and arranging my desk so it feels good to me.” helps her settle in. Then von Wulffen checks her schedule, her husband’s and the kids’ schedule to make sure she has all loose ends covered while staying away from email and social media for the first 20 minutes so that she can plan her day before it just comes rushing at her.”
Von Wulffen added, that her “Favorite hack for starting the day on the right foot, comes from my good friend and yoga instructor, Hannah Casey. She always tells me ‘to smile inside and send a wave of gratitude through your body’. I know it sounds silly but it really works!”
Connect And Disconnect. “
After that, Griffiths carves out at least 30 minutes of alone time to map out her day and ideally get one or two pressing things crossed off the list. She tends to do the most mentally intensive work at the start of the day when her brain is fresh. So whether it’s reviewing a contract or making a pricing decision, Griffiths likes to get one to two big things done.
If you travel a lot in your work, it is equally important to stay connected. Bouchra Ezzhraoui, co-founded AUrate in 2015, disrupting the traditional fine jewelry model by offering modern, essential pieces made from ethically-sourced high-quality materials at an accessible price point. Along with many executives, she is often on the road and away from the office.
Bouchra Ezzhraoui follows a similar model as Griffiths of knix. The first thing she does when she in in the office is talk to her team. Ezzhraoui shared that she often travels with cofounder Sophie Kahn, but “when we’re here, it’s all about personal interaction. In fact, in this digital day and age, the only reason you even really need an office anymore is for the human component— to see and feel how the team is doing, look people in their eyes, feel the atmosphere, have the tough talks or the fun talks, and then work together. That’s what the office is all about for me.”
Set Priorities And Stay Focused. Anu Duggal, founding partner of Female Founders Fund, an early stage investment fund that invests in startups with female founding members, starts every morning with a quick mental review of the three most important things that need to get done that day. Their mission is to promote the growth of female entrepreneurs by bringing together founders, CEOs and industry experts to raise money and time for companies with exceptional female talent. For Dugal, “Answering emails, taking meetings, and unexpected phone calls are all part of her day, but making sure that she stays focus on three key objectives for the day enables Dugal to focus and prioritize her time in the most productive way.”
Every morning, Byun physically writes out the five most important things she would like to accomplish. Elaborating on her routine Byun explained, “There’s something about writing it out that helps me focus and prioritize, so that regardless of whatever pops up throughout the day (of which there are many items when you are running your own company), I can ensure those five things get done before I call it a day. I also find that it forces me to keep thinking through our strategic priorities as opposed to simply focusing on task after task, since checklists can get long and unwieldy.”
Multi-Task And Pivot. Finally, not everyone has an office routine especially when you’re in a retail or operational role, being out in the marketplace is a critical part of what you do. Christina Stembel, is the founder and CEO of Farmgirl Flowers, the e-commerce flower company that promotes sustainability and minimizes environmental waste by changing the way flowers are purchased by offering fewer, better options and providing a superior customer service experience, has a completely different routine.
When Stembel gets to work she spend 30 seconds taking out her hair rollers in the car and then heads into the warehouse to do a quick check in with the operations managers to make sure there aren’t any fires brewing or issues have already been resolved. Next, Stembel checks her email and spend 30 minutes responding to the most urgent ones. Then the day’s meetings start and she doesn’t check emails again until the end of the day or on quick breaks in meetings.
One last caveat Stembel might just be the most important habit to embrace before plunging into your workday. Stembel shared “Not checking my e-mail until I get into the office is a newer habit. I find it helps me be less stressed out in the morning in general – it feels almost luxurious. That’s the time that no one gets me the whole day. I get to wake up, get ready and drive in without worrying about the to-do list that’s growing in my inbox. It’s counter-intuitive, but my commute time is my relaxation time.
