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Last night at 8:30PM I had an urge that I couldn’t fight to run to my favorite bookstore and read some new time management titles. A friend had mentioned David Allen’s, Getting Things Done, http://www.davidco.com/. I immediately grabbed that title along with Julie Morgenstern’s, Never Check Email in the Morning, http://www.amazon.com/Never-Check-E-Mail-Morning-Unexpected/dp/0743250885. These books gave me the pick-me-up and focus that I needed to start my week with a bang.

One point that really helped me was something that Julie mentioned in her book. She speaks (obviously) about not checking email in the morning, which is something I definitely do – purposely. This morning I decide to take Julie’s advice and get in control of my day instead of spending the morning answering other people’s requests. It’s now a little past 8AM and I feel extremely accomplished. I was able to not even open my email and turn my phone on silent (and flip it face down so I was tempted to look). I worked diligently for 90 minutes on a project. Julie was right when she said that if it’s urgent, they will call you and 90% of the time it’s not urgent.

I’m about to open my email, already a few hours into my day, and I feel focused and energized. How do you start your day? Are you willing to attempt not looking at your emails first thing?