Who's Got a Case of "The Mondays?"

I don't know about you, but the morning is always when I'm at my least productive. It's not that I'm especially lazy or incapable of operating before noon, but I just seem so scattered, so overwhelmed with different projects and leftover remnants of to-do lists from the previous day that I find it difficult to get started. But on a Monday morning, (or worse, right after a three-day weekend) when a full weekend's worth of notes, printouts, and mail have accumulated on the desk of my home office? Fuggedaboudit.

With this in mind, Bert Webb put together some thoughts on increasing productivity in the early hours of the day. There's a fair amount of common sense here (and only a few technically-oriented tips), but you'll likely find his insights worth a quick read. After all, you probably had the day off yesterday, and you're likely finding it hard to get started on the workday.

A highlight from his blog post: The key is in accomplishing the following in the last half-hour of the previous workday:

• File loose papers to eliminate as much clutter as possible.
• Empty your physical and email inbox and voice mail as much as possible.
• Preview the next day's work to get it set in your mind.
• Put the following day's most important task front and center in your workspace so you have to confront it first.

Webb offers strategy for that next morning as well, but I'll let you read it for yourself. Before you decide to get to work...