One of the simplest ways to kickstart your productivity at work is by implementing a really effective morning routine. This means that when you first sit down at your desk, you spend 15 minutes on the same tasks to ease yourself into the day.

The morning routine is amazing because of how little time it takes to make such an impact. No matter where you're working – the office, at home, a coffee shop – by starting off with the same routine, you can enter "work mode" really easily, and it is a really calm start to your day.

The ideal morning routine is actually pretty simple: plan your day, and then catch up on your industry. Let's talk about how to do them both well.

📝 Plan your day.

Review your to-do list.
Before I do anything else, I scan through my to-do list. I do my planning weekly, and I'll make note of anything I want to do today.

Catch up on messages & emails.
You're probably already doing this one, but take a minute to catch up on your inbox or what's happened in Slack/Teams that needs your attention. I reply immediately to anything that I can, and then I'll flag everything else to deal with at a separate point during the day.

Check your calendar.
Finally, scan through your calendar and make sure you've accepted or declined all meetings for the day so that you know what you're going to. I'll also then start to block out time to work on tasks I've committed to and set up reminders to reply to messages.

📰 Industry catch-up.

What's new in your industry?
Spend 5 minutes catching up on the news of your company's industry. (ie. if you work for a finance business, this is reading up on finance news.) My favourite tip here is to find a daily newsletter that specialises in industry news so that you don't have to go hunting.

What's new in your job?
Spend your last 5 minutes catching up on what's new in your profession. (ie. if you're a designer, this is looking at new designs/design industry changes.) A daily newsletter or a regularly updated website can also help you out here. I've checked Product Hunt every morning for about 10 years now 😶.

That’s it for this week! Enjoy your new morning routine. ✨