The short answer
I protect the first ninety minutes of the day for the one task that changes the most. No email, no meetings, no news. The rest of the day belongs to other people; that first block belongs to the business.
In full
Whoever gets your first ninety minutes owns your priorities. If that is your inbox, you have handed your agenda to whoever typed fastest last night.
The night before, I name one task — the one that would make the day count on its own. In the morning it is the only thing open in front of me.
There is no ritual worth defending beyond that. Coffee, movement, quiet, they help. The block is what matters.
By the time most people have finished reacting, the single most consequential thing is already done and everything after it is a bonus.
From experience
For years I started with email because it felt responsible. My work only compounded when I put the hardest task first and let the world wait ninety minutes. Nothing ever burned down. Not once.
Common mistake
People design elaborate routines and skip the actual protection of the block. The routine is not the point. The uninterrupted time is.
Do this next
- Step 1
Tonight, write down the single task that would make tomorrow count.
- Step 2
Start tomorrow with it, with the phone in another room.
- Step 3
Repeat for ten working days before you judge the result.
Questions
- What if you are not a morning person?
- Then take your first ninety waking minutes, whenever they fall. The principle is sequence, not the clock.
- What about emergencies?
- Real emergencies find you. Almost nothing that arrives by email is one.
By Robert T Fletcher