Good Mornings Start Here

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Several years ago, I read a great article on LinkedIn titled, The Path to Productivity: Focus On the 1st Hour. I even remember it was written by a fellow named William King. Unfortunately, I tried to locate it to share its link here but had no luck. Anyway, his article spoke to those individuals (managers, supervisors, department heads) who are, at the end of the day, responsible for production output of a team, be it in an office or manufacturing setting. He wrote of the importance of the first hour of the day, to forego checking emails and voice mails, for example, and focus instead on gathering your team, and getting yourself and them up to speed on the expectations of and setting the pace for the day. Obviously, even if you are a solopreneur without a team and wearing many hats, or a small business owner, focusing on the end-of-the day production output is also important.

Two of Mr. King’s comments particularly struck me:

” … set the pace for the day first thing.”

and

 

“The first hour is a great time to skip the donuts . . .”

To his first point, setting the pace for the day is also very important in overall good health (and, of course, in weight loss and maintenance). That so-called old wife’s tale about the importance of eating breakfast every day is 100% correct . . . and HOW we begin the day is the key to everything else that follows. In business, and as Mr. King rightly pointed out, taking the time in the morning to focus on the day ahead, to pow-wow with your team, is important because if you don’t do that the likelihood is very high that as the pace of the day goes on, things might become a little chaotic and unorganized. The same goes for eating right.

When you wake up in the morning, after not eating for the sleep duration of 6, 7, 8 hours or more, your blood sugar is at its lowest and your metabolism is at its slowest. That first meal of the day, the break-fast, is crucial for flipping up the switch on your metabolism, setting the pace for the day, and starting to get your sugar stabilized. If you don’t, and if you put off eating for hours more, your body will shut down, you’ll become fatigued because your sugar is getting lower . . . and, just like in business when you don’t get off to a good start, you WILL become less productive.

To Mr. King’s second point about skipping the doughnuts: Well . . . obviously, doughnuts should NEVER be done in the morning (or practically ever!). Again, when you wake in the morning, your blood sugar is very low. When you eat a doughnut, it’s already refined so the enzymes in your stomach have very little to do in terms of digestion. That doughnut, then, is metabolized incredibly quick, shooting a wad of sugar into your blood. Your blood sugar spikes rapidly . . . and the higher your blood sugar spikes, the faster and deeper it drops again.  And that, of course, begins the cycle of needing/wanting another high-sugary item for an “energy boost.”

The bottom line is this: The best first hour of the day at the office or your business really begins at home . . . with a good breakfast, one that metabolizes more slowly, keeping you fuller longer, turning your food into glucose slowly, which goes into your blood stream slowly. This is how you begin to set your “sugar stabilizer” for the day, and if you follow that up by fueling yourself every 3 hours or so with the right kind of meals and snacks, you’ll maintain a nice and steady blood sugar level all day long. When you do that, you will feel well, and you will be more productive even in a high-paced work environment.

So . . . on workdays, and every day . . . eat some breakfast and then go out and change the world!