Uptown Oracle Reads… What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast Laura Vanderkam

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We’re all busy. But we all waste time. What are the secrets of using every hour productively? How do the most successful people spend their time?

In this brilliant accessible book, Laura Vanderkam inspires you to rethink your morning routine and jump-start your day. If you use your mornings wisely, you can build habits that will lead to a happier, more productive life.

She also helps you to rethink your weekends. She explains why doing nothing can be more exhausting than doing something, how to balance work and play, and why Sunday nights are crucial.

Finally she challenges you to make the most of your time at the office. Focusing on matching your to-do list to your natural body clock, she shows you how to maximize your productivity so you can accomplish more in less time.

By blending stories of fascinating people with cutting-edge scientific research, Vanderkam shows us how to maximize our valuable mornings, make the most of our working hours, and enjoy the results with deeply satisfying weekends.

Thoughts on Book

My overwhelming thoughts on What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast was that it wasn’t written for me. The advice felt like it catered to those that are 30-40 years old, and mostly to anyone who had kids over someone like me who is early 20’s and childless. As with any self-help style book, you need to find one that fits you and this is for someone who’s already had a family and has a career too.

Another thing about this book not being for me is that it has a privileged outlook on life. There’s a claim that cleaning is a waste of time and says to just get a nanny or hosue maid, which just isn’t possible for most people. It says to just “choose” to use tme the way you want… again this isn’t always possible for most people. Unless you’re already well off in life, your family, job and other necessary commitments will more often than not get in the way of you wanting to do exactly what you want to do at all times.

Despite this book not being for me, it did have some key learnings whicha are good to know but are also not unique to this book.

Key Learnings

A key learning is to figure out what time of the day is your most productive time. Think about when you’ve had quick bursts of productivty – was it in the morning? evening? mid-afternoon? Once you know what time your body is set to be productive, set time aside at those periods and make that time your own for completing the tasks you need to finish. These tasks can be job related, exercise, personal health, spirtual or anything else – as long as it’s priority for your life.

Another thing si that you should aim to form habits instead of relying on willpower. Making high value tasks a part of your routine will help you perform them with minimal mental fatigue, especially if you start doing them automatically. Things like writing everyday can become a habit, and this can allow you to avoid writers block more than when you would try writing sporadically.

It talks about waking up early to be able to focus on tasks before other people are awake and able to ask you to do other things. With this, there’s an emphasis on finding time without distractions to work on the things that are important to you rather than just “waking up early”.

During this productive time you should also choose tasks that best fit your own personal goals. Alone time to work on spiritual or health practices may be good for some people, whilst others may find it eases stress to jump straight into work in the morning and to start getting things done. This could also be a time for simple admin tasks that get forgotten thorughout the day, especially if you’re not an early bird as these don’t take as much brain power.

A key learning is how to “makeover your mornings” to best fit what you need.

1. Track your time now – what are you currently doing? How long does each task take? Are they all necessary? Are there any distractions (*ahem your phone*)
2. Picture your Perfect Morning – what do you wish you could do every morning? What would help set up your day for success?
3. Map out a Morning Schedule – plan out what you should be doing in the morning to reach that perfect morning! Don’t forget to plan your bed time as well to ensure you’re getting enough sleep.
4. Build a Good Morning as a Habit – from that initial plan, meet your schedule and try to make it a habit for everyday.
5. Make Necessary Changes – this is a work in progress and not an end and resolute result. Make adjustments to anything in your routine that isn’t working, or is harming your productivity. Reshape your perfect morning idea as needed and re-order the plan.

Positives of What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

• Good learnings about making use of your time better
• Emphasises habit and catering to your own needs

Negatives of What The Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

• Slightly priveliged look at life
• Not written for me (a young single woman)