The first hour at work can make or break your day. It can determine whether you will be productive for the rest of the day or not. In light of this, it’s vital to pay attention in the morning so that you can do whatever it takes to steer your day in the right track. In order to give you a sneak peek of what exactly happens in the first hour of the day for successful women, we have talked with a number of successful women including CEOs and actresses and here is what they had to say.
Jessica Alba, American Actress and Co-Founder of The Honest Company
We started off this conversation with Jessica Alba and for the working mom, her typical day is always filled up with many meetings. She says that she is an early riser and she has to balance raising her kids and running her company. The first thing she does when she steps into the office is to go through the available list of tasks and set out the major priorities for the day. As for what she would love to improve, Alba says that improving focus and ensuring every day is satisfactory is very vital.
Lauren Conrad, Fashion Designer and Entrepreneur
Lauren Conrad is a successful fashion designer and reality star. She says that while meeting deadlines is important in business, it’s not the only thing that matters. Building relationships is also vital and as such, she admits that during the course of the day, she tries to pay attention to the people around her and make a connection with everyone. She agrees that successful women don’t need to be stuck somewhere in a desk for the entire day. Getting out and meeting people can also be very important. As for the first thing she does in her day, Lauren says that she makes time for her colleagues instead of just heading straight into her office.
Marissa Mayer, Former CEO of Yahoo
Heading a massive technology company like Yahoo was, of course, a big step for Marissa and she agrees that setting the pace for the day’s work often started in the morning. She used to receive nearly 800 emails overnight so there was so much to go through. Mayer notes that she plans her day very well by creating a list of tasks that need to be done and then prioritizing the top five. She says that the first thing she does in the morning is to create a three-level priority list of tasks starting from the most important to the least important.
Blake Lively, American Actress and Businesswoman
Blake Lively is a digital start-up founder and recently a mom so her mornings can indeed be chaotic at times. Lively advises women in business to take some time off their schedule to ask for advice and information from people they admire. As for her, she says that the first thing she does in the morning is to check in with her manager or her mentor for some advice on the day.
