2. You’re more efficient because you beat rush hour
Work patterns are a lot like traffic patterns: At 5 a.m. you have the road to yourself. At 8 a.m., it could take you three times as long to travel the same distance.
These days I do everything I can to beat traffic, not just on the road, but in life. I do most of my shopping at off hours. My wife and I have even begun to do off-season travel.
Why? Because we end up having have more time to do what matters most.
Ditto with work.
Guess who’s texting you at 5:30 a.m.? Nobody.
Guess who’s emailing for you an urgent response at 6:15 a.m.? Nobody.
You’ve got the work lane all to yourself, which means you can work uninterrupted. You can think uninterrupted. You can actually accomplish all your most important tasks completely distraction-free.
And for a naturally ADD guy, I’m grateful for that.
By the way, this reason alone is enough for me to recommend starting early to any leader.
Working when no one else is working gives any leader a distinct advantage.
Any other time of the day, people are trying to communicate with you. But rarely do they do that before 8 a.m.
3. You get to work on your most important tasks
You know what’s fascinating about leadership?
Nobody asks you to accomplish your most important priorities. They just criticize you if you don’t.
In fact, not only will your colleagues never ask you to accomplish your priorities, they will usually ask you to help accomplish theirs.
Which is why you never get your work done.
That’s also what email is, by the way, other people asking you to do things that aren’t on your task list.
By starting early, you can accomplish your priorities and THEN be available to help others with theirs, in person or via email.
Starting early eliminates so much of the push and pull of the every day. Plus you’ll be far more kind and gracious when you interact with them, because you’re already done.
4. You already have series of wins under your belt
Sometimes all you need as a leader is some kind of win.
Starting early gives you that:
You got a jump on your message.
You came up with a great idea.
You discovered a new strategy.
You banged out a chapter you were not expecting to write.
You got the retreat planned ahead of schedule.
With one or two wins under your belt, the rest of the day is easier.
So much of leadership remains undone at the end of the day—except for what you got done first.
