once you fully wake up. So, if you pop out of bed at 6 a.m., your peak thinking and
productivity window is 6:30 a.m. to 9 a.m. And so on.
If your household is anything like ours, it’s chaos most mornings. Feeding the
dog, getting breakfast ready, and guiding three school-ready kids out the door can
chew up more than an hour and cut into your peak productivity window. That’s why
I had to get serious about my mornings if I planned to be the boss of my day—and
it started with getting up earlier so that I had time to focus on my big picture goals
before the day hijacked me.
Here’s how I changed my routine to become a master at focusing on my
priorities:
My Daily Routine
- I get up when the alarm rings.
We went over the importance of this when you learned about the Wake Up
Challenge. The alarm rings. I get up. The end. For peak productivity, you should
NEVER hit the snooze button. There’s actually a neurological reason why, one that
I learned while conducting research for this book.
You know that getting a good night’s sleep is important for productivity. But I
bet you didn’t know that how you wake up is just as important as how you
sleep.Scientists have recently discovered that when you hit the snooze button it has
a negative impact on brain function and productivity that can last up to four hours! Here’s
what you need to know.
We sleep in cycles that take about 90 to 110 minutes to complete. About two
hours before you wake up, these sleep cycles end and your body starts to slowly
prepare to wake up. When your alarm rings, your body is in wakeup mode. If you