What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and at Home

In this slim, but practical ebook, time management author and trainer Laura Vanderkam has put together some gems on how to get the most out of mornings and, as a consequence, the rest of your day.Mornings hold the key to taking control of our schedules, full stop. Drawing on anecdotes from some well-known American executives and solid scientific research Venderkam provides a compelling case for altering the way we start our day.Studies show that most Americans, across age groups, get up at about 6 a.m. The time between waking and starting work is spent herding children towards the door for school, tidying up, personal grooming, commuting and so on.From a study of the time logs and profiles of high-achieving people Vanderkam reports that former CEO of Pepsico, Steve Reinemund is up at 5 a.m., goes for a 4-mile run, prays and eats breakfast with his family before going to run a Fortune 500 Company. James Citrin, head of Spencer Stuart is also exercising at 6:00 and then spends time in quiet time to consider the day ahead. Citrin did a survey of the morning rituals of executives he admired to find that the latest any of them was up regularly was 6 a.m. Successful people have their priorities clear and early mornings are the time when they have most control over their schedules. But that is probably true for all of us.We can divide the world up into “night people” and “morning people.” Both groups have only 168 hours each week, but not all hours are equally suited to all things. The common reason for not rising early cited by “night people” is that they do their best work then. There is little scientific evidence that this is true.Professor Roy Baumeister has spent his career studying self-discipline (I reviewed his book in this paper earlier this year,) and has found a direct correlation between fatigue and self-discipline. “Diets are broken in the evening, not the morning. The majority of impulsive crimes are committed after 11:00 p.m. Lapses in drug use, alcohol abuse, sexual misbehaviour… tend to come about late in the day.”In the early hours of the day we have enough will-power and energy to tackle things that require internal motivation, and that are rarely rewarded immediately. Baumeister also proved that once something is a routine or habit, it requires very little self-discipline to continue. Applied to the argument of this book, people who turn high value tasks into morning rituals conserve their energy for later battles.What are the best morning habits? Vanderkam’s research showed that successful people use their mornings for nurturing their careers, nurturing their relationships, and nurturing themselves.Nurturing your career can take the form of doing focused work, reading in your field, and thinking strategically about your projects or company, or planning the day. One executive is quoted as saying: Every day I have a job; in the morning I think I have a career.To “nurture relationships” Vandekam advised one single mother to get to bed early so she can use her early mornings for Mommy-and-me time with her daughter before beginning her commute to work. What a beautiful way to start a day, giving your child your best, not what is left over of you at the end of the day. Much is made of the value of families having dinner together for the stability and moral growth of children. This surely true of pleasant breakfasts, too.Statistics indicate that dual income couples can find only 12 minutes a day to talk to each other. Early mornings might go some way to address this relationship issue.And then there is “nurturing yourself.” Most of the executives the author quotes use part of their early starts to exercise or do yoga – examples are Xerox’s Ursula Burns, Coors’ van Paasschen, Rodale’s Steve Murphy among others. These are incredibly busy people and they choose the mornings for their exercise routines possibly without knowing how beneficial exercise at this time of day really is. Stress hormones released on waking are counteracted by exercise, as is the blood glucose effects of high-fat diets, and so much more. People exercising in the morning are also more likely to stick to this routine with the heightened ability to apply self-discipline at this time.Spiritual practices – praying, studying scripture or meditating were also found to be popular.The inability to get to bed early enough to allow for an early rise because of the many chores that have to be done before going to bed, doesn’t hold up according to Vanderkam. In the same way that dieticians tell dieters to keep a food log, Vanderkam suggests that to know how you spend your time is best seen from actually tracking it. This involves jotting down what you are doing as you are doing it so you can reflect on exactly how you spend your time. It will become evident that much of the night time activity is unnecessary and of a far lower priority than what can be gained by the early start.This is a practical guide that addresses many of the logistic and other complications that prevent one seizing the golden hours of the day. It will inspire you to rethink your morning routine and you will be so much better off for doing so.Readability Light +---- SeriousInsights High --+-- LowPractical High +---- Low Ian Mann of Gateways consults internationally on leadership and strategy

This small paperback packs in three of the author's previous ebooks: What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings--and Life (A Penguin Special from Portfolio) What the Most Successful People Do on the Weekend: A Short Guide to Making the Most of Your Days Off (A Penguin Special from Portfolio) What the Most Successful People Do at Work: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Career (A Penguin Specialfrom Portfolio) It also includes a generous appendix with interesting and useful new content: 3 "time makeovers", how to do your own time makeover, and 50 great tips on time management.I read a lot of time management books, articles and blogs, so I see a lot of the same recycled content. Laura Vanderkam's books are delightfully different. She chooses interesting people to interview in a huge range of professions, and has a writing style that's extremely engaging and easy to read. She mixes anecdotes from other successful people in with her own experiences, adding a lot of personality to what would otherwise be a very dry list of tips.I'm currently taking time off from work and I still find tons of useful information in her books to help me be more effective (and have more fun!) in my personal life.The "weekends" book was especially eye-opening, as I've never thought about the concept of "scheduling" your leisure time. Her simple suggestion of creating "anchor events" has changed the way my family spends our weekends, and consequently we have done a lot more Big Fun Things than I would have expected with two small kids.What I like especially is that her books are not just recycled content from her blog, as many ebooks seem to be. Her writing style is not dry and boring like most nonfiction - in some places, it's downright poetic and often philosophical. Hers is the only time management book I've read that actually made me a bit weepy in one section!If you liked  168 Hours: You Have More Time Than You Think , you will definitely enjoy this book as well. The content is new and interesting, but follows the same philosophy.These books are the sort I revisit often and make notes about, so getting all three ebooks in print version was extremely helpful. It's a small volume, a quick read, and a great value if you want to get more out of your days, both in and out of the "office", whatever that means for you.

I would agree with some of the other reviewers that this book does not really give you anything new if you frequently read self help books or if you are already working in a coporate environment. However, I did find the third book, What The Most Successful People Do At Work to be very helpful.I really do think there is something to be said for the approach Vanderkam suggests. As a graduate student my life is consumed by long term goals and deadlines. Staying on track can be a challenge. Vanderkam makes the case for why being intentional with the workday is an art. For example, I had no idea I was wasting hours a day checking email until I kept a log of everything I did at work. I mistakenly thought I was being productive responding to ever email as it hi my inbox but that is just distracting. Also, her point about not scheduling phone calls or meetings before 11 am is great--I write best in the morning when I am uninterrupted. Finally, the action plans are tangible and things I can implement relatively easily. For example, Vanderkam details that you shouldn't assign more than 3 priorities on your to do list and 3 push items that contribute toward longer term goals. This advice is invaluable for grad students like me who struggle with the big picture.

I couldn't find much useful insight from this book. The quotes and examples have been randomly chosen. Especially if you are looking for any deep insights, this books fails to give that. One another thing that frustrated me the most was the spiritual examples and the quotes from holy scriptures. This is not a serious book. I only bought this because some lazy journalist at Financial Times referred to this in one of her articles.

Very interesting. Gets you to rethink time and how you use it. Definitely has helped me get things done. I have read a lot of productivity book and this book keeps it simple. There are not a million rules to learn. You just need to think about what you want to accomplish, even the seemingly small things, and do them early when you are more focused and less likely to be interrupted. Definitely recommend this book.

I really enjoyed this book, loads of ways to best your days ( and weekends) family relations, personal and professional life.

It is a good to the point book, which helps to look at the way we spend our days and question "where did all that time went?" Plus it provides the tools / ideas of how the day can be managed more effeciently. I definitely learned from this book and implementing ideas into my life.

A good book with tonnes of ideas and inspirations for motivating yourself to get more out of life