OFF TO A GOOD START
Make the most of peak brain power, writes Melanie Burgess
WORKERS are at their most productive in the first two hours of a shift, yet many do not take advantage of this and let their peak brain power go to waste. Just one in six workers say they start on their to-do list as soon as they get to work, a Twitter poll by SEEK reveals. More commonly, the first thing a worker does is caffeinate (36 per cent), check emails (26 per cent) or chat to colleagues (22 per cent). Donna Mcgeorge, author of The First 2 Hours, says there are scientific reasons for completing particular work tasks at certain times of the day. When we mess with our body’s natural rhythm we begin to have problems. “That’s why we need to do our most important work when our body – and brain – is most awake, alert and ready for action,” she says. “For most of us, our most productive time will be first thing in the morning …(so) tasks that require attention and focus are best done in the morning, and repetitive tasks that require co-ordination are best done in the afternoon.” Amantha Imber, chief executive of innovation consultancy Inventium and host of the How I Work podcast, says heading straight to emails is the worst way to start a work day. “It means you are setting up your day to react to other people’s priorities,” she says. “(Ask yourself) ‘what is the most important thing to be working on right now?’ and dedicate the first hour – or two or three hours – to working uninterrupted. “Everyone I have seen do that experiment is shocked by how much they can achieve when making progress towards the goals that mean the most to them rather than getting sucked into the email vortex.” Imber practises what she preach- es, too – if you email her before midday you will receive a bounce-back message informing you she will not respond until the afternoon. Dianne Fletcher, chief executive of Sarina Russo Job Access, says in some work settings it is considered inappropriate if a worker does not hit the ground running at the beginning of a shift. “Some employers have an etiquette where they have a ‘start up’ and ‘close down’ so people get (things such as making a coffee and chatting with colleagues) out of the way then get into the job, while other employers think a 9am start is also the start of their production so 10 or 15 minutes of lost productivity is quite significant,” she says.