A message from Sandy. Every hour lasts 60 minutes, but not all hours are equal. Sometimes those 60 minutes will pass by unnoticed while  you are rushing to get yourself together for your first patient. Sometimes, those 60 minutes drift away while you read your email and surf the internet, struggling to get started with your day. The really critical hour, though, is the first hour of your day.

Why does one hour matter so much?

Bad days tend to start off poorly. Perhaps you overslept, skipped breakfast, or got caught in traffic (again). Or maybe you’re doing fine until you reach the office–then you spend the first hour of your workday catching up on emails, perhaps recovering from a downer of a morning huddle, waiting for late patient, looking for a misplaced handpiece, or the c-folds we seem to be out of again. Hour one matters because it sets the tone for what’s to come. If you start off well, it’s relatively easy to keep going: you feel motivated by what you have achieved. Conversely if you spend the first hour of your day bogged down in drama, or rushing to catch up, you may find that you get more behind. The day rushes on——or drags—-and at the end of it you don’t feel much satisfaction. Getting the first hour right will set you up for success—and keep you on track towards your goals for the day,

The First Hour: Your Life

Your day starts when you wake up. The first hour is a good time to make sure you have the energy to cope with the rest of your day. That might mean: eating a healthy breakfast, doing some exercise, perhaps meditating. If you are constantly rushed in the morning, try going to bed 15 minutes earlier and getting up 15 minutes earlier. A tiny change like this could go a long ways towards reducing your morning stress.

The First Hour: Work Life

Focus on your first hour of your work day. What’s the first thing you do when you get to the office?  Get coffee, open emails? In some jobs, opening your email is vital, and in those jobs you must pay close attention to your inbox, but do you really need to check your emails the second you get to work? Is there really anything that couldn’t wait an hour or more?

For a week, why not try spending the first hour of your workday on a high impact project? You know those tasks on your “to do list” you really don’t want to do. Why not get them over with first thing in the morning and not have them hanging over your head all day? (as the day wears on your reasons for delaying get more and more creative–you know they do).An hour a day, when you are feeling fresh, will be much less stressful and result in a better outcome than when you are tired and rushing. Tired and rushing can equal excuses, a poor job, or procrastination—and you will be facing the same task tomorrow.

What are your goals for life and work? Could you find time for them by using the first hour of your day more productively?