What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast Book Summary - What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast Book explained in key points
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What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast summary

Laura Vanderkam

And Two Other Short Guides to Achieving More at Work and Home

4.3 (925 ratings)
26 mins
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    What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
    Summary of 10 key ideas

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    Start the day by immediately doing the things that matter most to you rather than putting them off.

    Mornings are hectic and often pass in the blink of an eye. You jump out of bed, bustle about getting the kids ready for school and then rush out the door and off to work. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Rethink your mornings and they can become an opportunity to do the things that matter most.

    The key is to stop postponing important tasks. Do them now rather than waiting for the perfect moment later on.

    Everyone wants more time to do the things they care about. For some, that’s exercise; for others, it’s reading or putting in a few hours on a long-term work project like writing an annual report. It’s all too easy to let daily chores and obligations distract you. And, by the time you’re done responding to work-related emails and doing the laundry, all you want to do is collapse in front of the TV.

    That makes mornings the perfect time to accomplish your goals. Take it from James Citrin, the leader of the headhunting agency Spencer Stuart’s North American Board and CEO Practice.

    He interviewed a group of high-flying executives about their morning routines, and 18 out of 20 of them had this one thing in common: they were up before 6 a.m. every day.

    Citrin is also an early riser, and he uses the morning hours to work out. The world is still calm in the wee hours – a perfect time for some quiet reflection!

    Then there’s Steve Reinemund, the former CEO and chairman of PepsiCo and the current dean of the School of Business at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. He gets up even earlier, starting his day at 5 a.m. with a four-mile run. After that, he takes some quality “me time” and either reads or prays. Next on the itinerary is a good breakfast with his kids. If he’s traveling, he makes sure he can stick to his tried-and-true routine by only ever staying in hotels with treadmills.

    Perhaps you’ve also tried to develop a morning routine but fallen prey to the temptation of grabbing some extra sleep. That’s a common enough problem. As we’ll see in the following blinks, it can be overcome. The secret? Willpower.

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    What is What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast about?

    What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast (2013) is a guide to the early hours. Packed with useful tips drawn from the lives of today’s highfliers, it lays out an actionable plan that’ll help you design and implement your perfect morning routine. Do that, and you’ll find time for the things that matter most to you. Even better – once you’ve mastered a few time-management skills and revolutionized your mornings, you’ll be set to boost your work performance and get the most out of your weekends.

    Best quote from What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast

    [L]earning to use mornings well is, in our distracted world, what separates achievement from madness.

    —Laura Vanderkam
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    Who should read What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast?

    • Managers
    • Parents
    • Entrepreneurs
    • Busy bees

    About the Author

    Laura Vanderkam, an American blogger and public speaker, writes about productivity and time management. A regular contributor to the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, she is also the cohost of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. Her other books include 168 Hours and I Know How She Does It.

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