“The gift that everyone gives but nobody takes … advice.”
— Old French Proverb —
Let’s face it, getting information—much less functional advice—from the Internet is like drinking from a fire hose. Go ahead and try it. Then get back to me when you finally come up for air.
I am that rara avis, a search artiste. In all of its one page, 257 word and 1,219 characters, here is what can only be termed as an astonishingly concise article: (an excerpt)
“The night before, go over your schedule and see what you’re going to do and what the purpose of what you’re doing is,” Pozen says. “I advocate having a two-column schedule. On the left, put down all your appointments and phone calls. On the right, put down what the purpose is. [Ask] what am I trying to get out of this?”
His other advice for productive mornings is far simpler: Lay out your clothes the night before, so you don’t have to think about it and can start the day with ease. “I’m a great advocate of being boring in the morning,” Pozen says.
That’s it and it doesn’t get much better. Please trust me.
For aficionados of chess, you are welcome to my own distillation of its ultimate strategy:
Never count upon your opponent making a bad move.
This is the reciprocal version of Napoleon Bonaparte’s wise counsel:
Never interrupt your enemy while he is making a mistake.
As the above article recommends, make a daily plus and minus “balance sheet”—preferably with short bullet lists—that outline the strategy behind each day’s tasks, goals or important meetings.
Beyond that, yes, get the next day’s clothing laid out and then assemble your key ring, wallet plus other essential accoutrements so that your morning toilette is brief and uncomplicated.
Doing just these few and, seemingly, obvious things will make your time-deprived mornings into a more relaxed affair than they usually are. Imagine the value of lowering your adrenaline count as you head off to each new day’s appointments.
Few things can match the value of avoiding early-morning stress. Your day begins in an organized fashion and you have bullets in your belt that will carry you through it with a reasonable degree of elan. What more can be asked?
No applause, just throw money.
Thank you.
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