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What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast: A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings-and Life

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Mornings are a madcap time for many of us. We wake up in a haze-often after hitting snooze a few times. Then we rush around to get ready and out the door so we can officially start the day. Before we know it, hours have slipped by without us accomplishing anything beyond downing a cup of coffee, dashing off a few emails, and dishing with our coworkers around the water cooler. By the time the workday wraps up, we're so exhausted and defeated that any motivation to accomplish something in the evening has vanished. But according to time management expert Laura Vanderkam, mornings hold the key to taking control of our schedules. If we use them wisely, we can build habits that will allow us to lead happier, more productive lives. Drawing on real-life anecdotes and scientific research that shows why the early hours of the day are so important, Vanderkam reveals how successful people use mornings to help them accomplish things that are often impossible to take care of later in the day. While many of us are still in bed, these folks are scoring daily victories to improve their health, careers, and personal lives without sacrificing their sanity. For instance, former PepsiCo chairman and CEO Steve Reinemund would rise at 5:00 a.m., run four miles, pray, and eat breakfast with his family before heading to work to run a Fortune 500 company. What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast is a fun, practical guide that will inspire you to rethink your morning routine and jump-start your life before the day has even begun.

2 pages, Audiobook

First published June 12, 2012

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About the author

Laura Vanderkam

23 books1,173 followers
Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including:
The New Corner Office
Off the Clock
I Know How She Does It
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast
168 Hours

Laura is also the author of a time management fable, Juliet’s School of Possibilities and another novel, The Cortlandt Boys, which is available as an ebook.

Her 2016 TED talk, "How to Gain Control of Your Free Time," has been viewed more than 5 million times.

She regularly appears in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune.

She is the host of two weekly podcasts, Before Breakfast and The New Corner Office and she is the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the weekly podcast Best of Both Worlds.

She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.

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5 stars
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3 stars
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1 star
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 1,523 reviews
Profile Image for Dr. Appu Sasidharan (Dasfill).
1,381 reviews3,667 followers
October 13, 2023
Laura Vanderkam did a brilliant job in finding the title of this book. It is so catchy that it attracts the attention of readers interested to read self-help books. Sadly the innovation by the author ends right at the title itself, and there is nothing new in it apart from the common time management and productivity concepts discussed in many other books. Still, it will be a fun book to read if you are someone new to the world of time management.
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Profile Image for Carlee.
38 reviews20 followers
August 9, 2012
If you're looking for a way to get more time out of your day and be more productive, there's a much better book to read: "Your Brain at Work", which is actually based in neuroscience.

This book was really written as a fun anecdote for busy people in their 30s-50s with kids, mostly, and really doesn't address the lifestyles of children-free couples. Additionally, the book is extremely vague and her arguments don't really hold water. She argues that since successful people wake up early, that waking up early to do stuff is want makes them successful, however scientifically its just a matter of doing the most difficult work first thing in the day when your brain is fresh.

You can be just as successful and wake up at 10am if the first things you do in the morning are the most frontal-cortex consuming. It also implies that you're being bothered all day by distractions between 9-5, but you wouldn't be bothered by distractions if you just removed those distractions.

The idea of running early in the morning was one of the only appealing tidbits I got from this book, mostly because I realized its much cooler early in the morning on summer days, which would make exercising easier.
Profile Image for Laura.
777 reviews21 followers
February 9, 2014
This is a hard one to rate. Good advice? Yes. If I had read this in my 20s, I would have loved it. Reading it close to 40, I have a different perspective on what "successful people" means and being uber-productive every possible minute is not my definition of success.
Profile Image for Cheri.
344 reviews
February 3, 2014
I feel somewhat duped by the title of this text. I was expecting what Fortune 500 CEOs did before breakfast or at least business owners and working professionals. This book should have been renamed, How Moms Can Fit In Exercise and Prayer before Taking Their Kids to Day Care. In addition to focusing on moms, the book presupposes that these moms are married, wealthy, and live in fantastic neighborhoods. How else do you get "extra babysitting help" to watch your children while you go to a coffee shop every night to write this book or go out jogging in deserted wooded areas at dawn while pregnant? She tells single moms to buy used treadmills and "put them in the basement." Of what? The two bedroom apartment they are struggling to pay the rent on? It is a great reminder that everyone gets the same number of hours in the week, and if you are saying "you don't have enough time" for some particular task, then it is time to go to bed earlier and get up earlier or stop wasting hours at night watching TV and checking email.
Profile Image for Leo.
5,018 reviews635 followers
November 10, 2022
It has some great points and ideas and turns out I'm already working on something similar not quite first thing in the morning. Might get back to this book or ideas put in it but for the time being I need to work through other things first. But would recommend
Profile Image for Glamdring.
508 reviews112 followers
March 3, 2014

Today, instead of reading I decided to listen to this audio book during my commute. It's a short 1 hour audio book full of examples of what some successful/really busy people do in the wee hours of the morning and why they do it then. I was quite disappointed because beside the examples the rest is only common sense and to make things worse, the narration is so boring I almost fell asleep.
Profile Image for Kristen Lemaster.
287 reviews28 followers
September 16, 2014
This is another book, in reference to Lean In, which reads more like an extended thesis than an actual self-help book, but that doesn't discredit the effort and intentional thinking that went into its creation. The first and third sections are interesting although nothing revolutionary; in fact, Eric teased me for expecting the answer to "what do the most successful people do before breakfast?" to be anything besides "wake up super early." The middle section, however, is the game changer. I love the idea of making the most of our weekends, a time that can easily fluctuate between being overwhelming and being underwhelming. Vanderkam suggests keeping a list of 100 Dreams (which I instantly started) and using it as a more realistic, local, attainable form of a bucket list in order to create concrete plans for the weekend that are reliably fun while still being refreshing and revitalizing. I knew right away that this would be one of those life-changing concepts, as was the impossible list, and I'm so excited to start keeping 100 dreams for every new place I find myself, from Athens this spring to Argentina this summer to anywhere I end up over the next year!
Profile Image for Michelle.
Author 1 book5 followers
July 29, 2014
What do successful people do in the morning?
Stuff.
They do stuff in the morning instead of sitting on the toilet, letting the shower run and 'warm up' while checking Facebook for 20 min.
I'm not sure who this book is for. It's very general, without helping one to sort priorities or devise a plan for enhancing their mornings.
It's always nice to have a reminder that the early bird gets the worm, but I felt like this book was trying to sell copies more then help me manage my time.
Profile Image for Kim.
98 reviews13 followers
July 14, 2012
Okay, so not bad advice...and I guess you could say it was a 'mini-book' for those of you who have SUCH busy lives that a book of 39 pages (Nook...with 8 pages of advertisements for her other books) is overwhelming.

Thank goodness it was a $2.99 book.
The biggest questions that loom in my head now that I'm done are:

1) Who is her publisher...and where can I meet this person?
I could write a book so much better than that.
2) How much Laura was PAID for this book?

I will probably never know. If anyone that reads this is tempted to buy it, write me first and I will give you the 3 minute synopsis. Alternately, you could read the summary in the beginning. It doesn't get much deeper than that. Really.
Profile Image for مروة الجزائري.
Author 11 books194 followers
March 16, 2018
-Ironically I've read this book late at night-
DON'T JUDGE ME OKAY?

This was a big hit in time management self help books. Straight forward and doesn't beat around the bushes.

To be honest I have my time managed very well but i still improve myself reading articles. This book although some of it sounds ideal but if you read it keeping in mind to be flexible. You will end up benefiting a lot from it.

The main idea of this book is to use your mornings wisely and more productive wise.

By waking up earlier than usual ( let's say one or two hours before your usual wake up time). And use this extra time for yourself regardless the activity ( you can use it to pray or meditate, you can enhance your career by reading useful articles and books, you can exercise , do yoga or even dance if you like, you can do your hobby ( or build one) whatever it is, and also you can make it a family time.

All those things mentioned above will be as a bonus to your normal day routine and will make your day less clattering and your mood much more cool.

And in order for you to get up early, you need to go to bed earlier than usual and you can do that by using gradual process ( 15 mins every day, 30 mins , 1 hour... ) until you reach your target. Keeping in mind that there is always time to do things we normally stay late at night to do them. So no need for us to stress ourselves about them.

This is a short summery of this useful book. Which was written smoothly using some successful people's life as example.

To be honest I am an awel and normally take 2 to 3 hours for myself late at night to read because of my kids and other responsibilities but after reading this book I will shift those hours to be early morning and get my health as a reward.

What your brain focuses on becomes your relaity.

Small rituals can achieve great things.


Finally, I highly recommend this book to everyone who is looking for time management solutions.
Profile Image for Tara.
371 reviews15 followers
June 8, 2014
Quick "booklet."

Notes

What the most successful people do
- Successful people use the morning to: invest in career(strategize, work on a key project), their relationships (breakfast with family, networking) or themselves (working out)
- Decision making power runs out over the day so leaving the most important stuff until the end of the day is risky
- Five step process
1. Track your time (spreadsheet available on her website)
2. Picture the perfect morning
3. Think through the logistics
4. Build the habit
- introduce one new habit at a time
- track your progress
Profile Image for Julie.
52 reviews1 follower
June 16, 2012
The subtitle is "A Short Guide to Making Over Your Mornings and Your Life" but it is really more of an essay and not really a guide. The concept of the book is great. As someone who has become more of an early riser in recent years I know there is power in the morning hours and I was hoping this book would give me the tools to harness that power but it did not.

The concepts laid out are not innovative but mere common sense ideas. The examples given are more obscure people who may work at large companies or teach at large universities but are relatively unknown outside of their small circles.

I was expecting examples of people who became successful because of what they were accomplishing in the morning hours. Most of the examples were already successful people who got up in the morning to workout.

I hate giving bad reviews on books but this one just promised to be so much more than it really was. In my opinion the author was remiss to not spend more time developing this idea and concept before releasing it as an ebook. Sure the book was under $3.00 but I think I would have rather enjoyed a nice cold Iced Coffee at McDonald's.
Profile Image for Wissal H.
1,090 reviews467 followers
February 12, 2021
كتاب محفز جدا و تجميع لثلاث كتب إلكترونية للكاتبة نفسها وهم :

مايفعله الناس الأكثر نجاحا قبل الإفطار
مايفعله الناس الأكثر نجاحا في عطلة نهاية الأسبوع
مايفعله الناس الأكثر نجاحا في العمل

والفكرة المحورية للكتاب هي تخصيص وقت خاص لنفسك في ساعات الصباح الأولى قبل الشروع في العمل و القيام بمسؤولياتك .

وما لهذه الساعات القليلة الصباحية في كل يوم من تأثير إيجابي ومشجع على الشخص نفسه و علاقاته بمن حوله و كذالك على إبداعه خلال النهار في عمله وممارسة كل مهامه ومسؤلياته دون الإحساس بالملل أو بالعبئ الثقيل على نفسه . وكذالك تخصيص بعض من هذه الساعات في عطلة نهاية الأسبوع ايضا والتخطيط لقضاءها و الإستمتاع بها وللترويح عن النفس و بداية أسبوع جديدة موفقة

إذن النقطة الجوهرية هنا مهما كان لدينا من أعباء الحياة سواء مسؤوليات عظمى في البيت أو العمل معا أو تربية الأبناء إلاَّ أن ضروري تخصيص جزء من ساعات اليوم لنفسنا دون إزعاج من أي حد لشحن بطارية الطاقة والمضي في ممارسة كل مسؤولياتنا دون ملل أو كلل أو تقصير

فعلا جربت خطف هذه السويعات من كل صباح وكان لها تأثير سحري لكن للأسف لست ملتزمة بها دائما

من أفيد ما قرأت في كتب التنمية البشرية
Profile Image for nananatte.
443 reviews140 followers
March 14, 2022
เราสาแก่ใจเสมอ เวลาเจอหนังสือที่ทำให้เรายอมหยิบไฮไลท์มาขีดหนังสือเป็นแถบๆ ได้ เล่มนี้พูดเรื่องการบริหารเวลาแบบสาวๆ เมาท์มอย อ่านง่ายมาก ประหนึ่งกำลังอ่านกระทู้ pantip

หนังสือแบ่งออกเป็น 4 ส่วน

3 ส่วนแรกคือการรวม ebook เล่มบางที่ขายดีของเธอ (ยอดขายชนะ 50 shades of Grey ได้อ่ะ)​ นั่นคือ

1) คนประสบความสำเร็จทำอะไรก่อนมื้อเช้า

เราชอบงานเขียนที่พูดถึงเวลาเช้าเสมอ และเราชอบมากกับตัวอย่างและเรื่องเล่าที่เธอใส่มา

ในแง่ว่าคนประสบความสำเร็จเค้าทำอะไรกันตอนเช้า มันก็รู้ๆ กันอยู่แล้วถ้าผ่านตา The 5AM club หรือ Miracle Morning มาบ้าง

แต่ประเด็นคือ ด้วยภาษา การเล่า และตัวอย่างของเธอมันทำให้เรา 'หวงแหนเวลาเช้า'​ ขึ้นมาแบบมากถึงมากที่สุด

เพราะเวลาเช้าคือเวลาศักดิ์สิทธิ์ที่โลกเป็นของเรา คนอื่นๆ ยังไม่เรียกร้องอะไรจากเรา และเรายังไม่เชื่อมต่อกับโลกออนไลน์

ตัวอย่างที่เราชอบที่สุด คือ เรื่องของพนักงานประจำที่ตื่นเช้าขึ้นมาจัดการธุรกิจไวน์ออนไลน์ ซึ่งเป็นธุรกิจส่วนตัวของเขา ตอบข้อความทุกอย่างเสร็จเรียบร้อย ค่อยออกจากบ้านไปเริ่มต้นทำงานประจำของตัวเอง

นั่นคือ กว่าจะเริ่มวัน งานที่มีความหมายที่สุดของเขาก็เสร็จไปแล้ว

และเรื่องราวของคู่รัก ที่เพิ่มเวลาคุยกัน โดยเดินทางไปทำงานด้วยกัน จากเดิมที่สามีภรรยาคุยกันแค่วันละ 12 นาทีและความสัมพันธ์ก็ไม่ดีด้วย = มีปฏิสัมพันธ์กัน 84 นาที/สัปดาห์ = คุยกันน้อยกว่า 1.5 ชั่วโมง/สัปดาห์

กลายเป็นว่า เพื่อที่จะออกไปทำงานพร้อมกัน พวกเขาเลยต้องตื่นมากินข้าวเช้าด้วยกัน และคุยกันไประหว่างอยู่ในรถ... แค่วันเดียว ก็ได้ใช้เวลาด้วยกัน มากกว่า 45 นาทีแล้ว!

และเพราะทำแบบนี้ทุกวัน ไม่ว่าเรื่องเล็กน้อยแค่ไหนก็ยกมาคุยกันได้ สามีรู้เรื่องบ้านมีอุปกรณ์อะไรตรงไหนเสีย แลัช่วยออกความเห็นในการซ่อมได้ แทนที่จะกลายเป็นเรื่องของใครคนใดคนหนึ่ง และจบลงที่ต่างฝ่ายต่างบ่น

2) คนประสบความความสำเร็จทำอะไรวันหยุดสุดสัปดาห์

เซอไพรซ์กับเนื้อหาส่วนนี้มาก!
ทึ่งผู้เขียนจริงๆ ที่ค้นพบว่าเราสามารถมองวันหยุดกันแบบนี้ได้ด้วย

ผู้เขียนทำ blog เรื่องการจัดการเวลามาเนิ่นนาน ก็เลยมีโอกาสสัมภาษณ์ผู้บริหารระดับสูงเป็นประจำ ไม่ว่าจะในสายการศึกษา ธุรกิจ หรือศาสนา

และเธอก็เห็นตรงกันว่า คนที่ productive สุดฤทธิ์ในวันทำงาน มีการจัดการเวลาในวันหยุดไม่เหมือนคนทั่วไปจริงๆ

... ตื่นวันเสาร์แบบสายสุดๆ และก็เหม่อๆ งงๆ ว่าวันนี้จะทำอะไรดี รู้ตัวอีกทีก็ไถมือถือเรื่อยเปื่อย กลายเป็นว่าบ่ายแล้ว ยังไม่ทันทำอะไรก็ตกเย็น และหมดไปอีกวัน... คุ้นๆ ความรู้สึกแบบนี้ไหม?

ขออนุญาตไม่สปอยด์ว่าตกลงเค้าทำยังไง
แต่ใบ้ให้ว่า

A.)​ เวลาพัก ก็ให้พักจริงๆ เพื่อเติมพลัง ผู้บริหารระดับสูงเค้ารู้ดีว่ากิจกรรมชาร์จพลังในวันหยุดของตัวเองคืออะไร และเค้าจะไม่พลาดทำสิ่งเหล่านั้น เพื่อว่าชีวิตจะได้รู้สึกสดชื่นและมีความหมาย วันหยุดนั้นถูกใช้ไปเพื่อเรียกพลังกลับมาให้เขาพร้อมทำงานในเช้าวันจันทร์

B.)​ วันหยุดไม่ได้เริ่มที่เช้าวันเสาร์ตอนเราตื่นนอน แต่เริ่มนับที่ 6pm ของเย็นวันศุกร์ ไปจนถึงเวลาตื่นเช้าวันจันทร์

เมื่อหักลบเวลานอนหลับ 8ชม. x 3 คืน
ก็จะเหลือเวลาวันหยุด = 36ชม. ซึ่งมากกว่าเวลาทำงานในวันปกติของคนทั่วไปเสียอีก ( 8ชม.ทำงาน -​ 1ชม.พักเที่ยง)​x5วัน = 35ชม.

คนที่ประสบความสำเร็จเค้าวางแผนเจ้า 36 ชม. ของสุดสัปดาห์เป็นอย่างดี เพราะเค้ารู้ว่ามันสำคัญขนาดไหน


3) คนประสบความสำเร็จทำอะไรวันทำงาน

เนื้อหาส่วนนี้เราเฉยๆ ไม่ได้รู้สึกว่ามีอะไรใหม่หรือตื่นตาตื่นใจจากหนังสือสอนบริหารเวลาเล่มอื่น

แต่กระนั้น ก็ยังชอบตัวอย่างคุณแฟม นักวาดภาพประกอบนิทานเด็ก ที่ผลิตงานได้ไวเหนือมนุษย์ (8-9 เล่มต่อปี)​ ว่าเธอทำเข้าไปได้อย่างไร (ค่าเฉลี่ยในวงการคือ 4-5 เล่มต่อปี)​

เราคุ้นชินกับคำแนะนำเรื่องการจัดการเวลาสำหรับคนทำงานองค์กร แต่เนื้อหาตรงนี้ กลับชูประเด็นเวลาของคนทำงานอิสระหรือกระทั่งคุณแม่เลี้ยงลูกว่าเค้าคิดและทำกันอย่างไร จึงผลิตงานมีคุณภาพออกมาได้มาก และทำงานหลายบทบาทเสร็จได้ด้วย

ส่วนที่ 4) ภาคผนวก

คุณลอร่า ผู้เขียน หยิบกรณีศึกษาของคน 4 คนที่มาปรึกษาเรื่องการใช้เวลากับเธอ มาเล่าให้ฟังว่าเธอให้พวกเขาปรับตารางชีวิตอย่างไร

ตอนแรกก็คิดว่าเนื้อหาตรงนี้คงน่าเบื่อและไม่สำคัญ เอาเข้าจริง นี่คือส่วนที่ practical ที่สุดในเล่ม เพราะเขาลงตารางเวลาทุก 30 นาทีตลอด 7 วันของคน 4 คนนี้ให้เราดู

และเราก็จะเห็นว่า คุณลอร่านำเนื้อหาจาก 3 ส่วนแรกของหนังสือมาให้คำแนะนำอย่างไร ถึงทำให้ลูกค้าของเธอมีเวลาในชีวิตมากขึ้น ทำงานสำคัญเสร็จจนได้ และรักษาความสัมพันธ์กับคนในครอบครัวได้ด้วย



อ่านง่าย ไอเดียสร้างสรรค์้เพียบ
ตัวอย่างหลากหลาย
กระตุ้นให้ลุกขึ้นมาจัดการตารางชีวิตตัวเองทันที
ส่วนตัวคิดว่า... เล่มนี้ ผู้หญิงอ่านน่าจะอินกว่าผู้ชายค่ะ :-)​

4.5/5.0
Profile Image for Riki.
598 reviews41 followers
January 4, 2013
I am not a morning person in any way, shape, or form, so I was naturally intrigued to hear what Laura Vanderkam had to say about successful folks and what they do before breakfast. Immediately she brings forth the idea that willpower is like a muscle that becomes fatigued as we use it throughout the day, making first thing in he morning the best time to tackle things that require a great deal of willpower. Makes perfect sense until I'm lying in bed smacking the Snooze button with wild abandon. She goes on to clarify that these precious uses of willpower at best used for activities that will reap us long-term benefits. Now I'm really intrigued.

Vanderkam goes on to assist us in taking back or morning time with a few easy steps, including tracking what you're already spending time on now and picturing the perfect morning before planning the logistics of that morning. By the end of this short yet highly informative book I've got more reasons to use my morning hours wisely. While I'm not sure I'm ready to rise and shine while it’s still dark outside, I am ready to make the most of my mornings.
Profile Image for Heidi Wiechert.
1,399 reviews1,525 followers
September 28, 2015
What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast was helpful but not as earth shattering as The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up (which if you haven't read yet, I very highly recommend). I've already discovered that if I tackle the projects that take the most amount of focus earlier in the day, it generally flows a lot more smoothly than if I wait to do it until the afternoon. I suppose that if I got up earlier that I could do more but I don't think that this will encourage me to start getting up at 5am. I really do love to sleep in...

My big takeaway from What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast was to plan to have fun like I plan to do work. I juggle my responsibilities pretty well because I map out when certain things need to be done to have the operation that is my life run smoothly. What I don't do well is maximizing my free time on the weekends that I have off or to make the most of my open days during the week. Laura Vanderkam convinced me that I can do better. I may start my 100 Dreams List tomorrow. But not before 8am. And probably not until I get my other stuff done. :) You see my problem?
Profile Image for Robin.
20 reviews3 followers
January 9, 2013
I love when self-growth books are short. This is a bite-sized savory chunk of information that has helped reroute my thinking in less than 100 pages!
I'd highly recommend this to everyone. You can use your time to actually grow, not to read a loooooooong heavy tome about how to grow!!!
Profile Image for فاطمة غانم الابراهيم.
234 reviews87 followers
November 4, 2018
يستند الكتاب على أربعة نقاط أساسية - وإن لم تأتِ بصورة مباشرة !

التخطيط
التنظيم
التركيز
التنفيذ

يعاني معظم الناس من مسألة عدم وجود الوقت الكافي لانجاز المهام المهنية او المنزلية و حتى الأمور الشخصية كمزاولة الرياضة أو ممارسة هواية معينة ، لكن المشكلة ليست لعدم وجود الوقت إنما إلى جهل الكثيرون في تنظيم لجدولة الأربعة والعشرين ساعة في اليوم!

ترى لورا -صاحبة الكتاب- أن أعظم الانجازات والسعادة المترتبة على إنجاز المهام هى في الساعات الأولى من الصباح أي قبل تناول إفطارك حيث الجسد والعقل في صفاء وتركيز عالٍ بعد أن شحنته بساعات كافية من النوم يمكنك من إنجاز وتحقيق كل ما تريده خلال هذه الفتره الوجيزة ، إن كانت ممارسة هوايتك المفضلة ، انجاز بعض المهام المنزلية أو حتى فيما يخص وظيفتك قبل أن تهم الذهاب إلى العمل في حال ترغب بجو هادئ بعيداً عن أجواء العمل الموتره .

غير أن الكثيرون يتثاقلون في الاستيقاظ باكراً ناهيك عن القيام ببعض المهام التى قد تعكر صفاء بداية يومهم لذا ترى لورا عليك أن تبدأ يومك بشيء يبهجك كرائحة القهوة ، مشاهدة شروق الشمس على سبيل المثال .

من الضروري الانعكاف في انجاز أي مهمة دون الانشغال بمهمة أخرى أو العبث بهاتفك فهذا يضيع الكثير من الوقت والجهد، ولعل أزمة العصر التى نشهدها حالياً الإدمان على وسائل التواصل الإجتماعي .

وعندما تحدد ساعة معينة للبدأ بعمل ما فعليك الالتزام في البدء بدلاً من الانشغال بأي أمر غير ضروري .


قد يرى البعض تطبيق كل ما تطرقت إليه لورا صعب المنال لذا تواصلت وأقتبست من طقوس وعادات أبرز الشخصيات الناجحة وكيف أستطاعوا أن يخصصوا وقتاً لأنفسهم ولأسرتهم رغم أنشغالهم في مراكز قيادية الذى يجعلهم على إنشغال لساعات طويلة .

تناول الكتاب أيضاً عن طرق للنجاح في العمل والمنزل وكيف تستثمر أيام العطل فيما يبهجك كي تبدأ أول يوم عمل في بداية الأسبوع بنشاط وحيوية .

حينما نظرت للكتاب بين أرفف الكتب وعند قراءة عنوانه شعرت بسعادة كبيرة ، فأنا أؤمن بأن ساعات الصباح الأولى قبيل الإفطار كفيلة بتغيير حياتي نحو الأفضل وهذا ما ألتمسته في يومي ، وكنت أرغب في تنظيم شوؤني الخاصة أكثر فكان هذا الكتاب وكأنه صدر لأجلي!

لن تشعر بقيمته مالم تطبق كل ما ذكر فيه !
Profile Image for Hussain AlMarkhi.
20 reviews5 followers
February 15, 2016
اول تجربة للكتب الصوتية
كتاب جميل وخفيف مدته ما يقارب الساعة
اجمل مافي الكتاب انه يتطرق الى الى الخطوات العملية للتجعل الانسان اكثر انتاجية ..
الكتاب يتمحور حول كيفية الاستفادة من وقت الفجر بشكل صحيح ويثبت كلامه بتجارب العديد من الشخصيات الناجحة ..
اعجبني في الكتاب التطرق لكيفية تحويل بعض الاعمال الى عادة سلوكية مستمرة في وقت الفجر الضائع او الوقت الذي يسبق البدء في الاعمال لدى اغلب الناس ..

بشكل عام خفيف ولطيبف
Profile Image for Grant Huling.
23 reviews1 follower
July 22, 2012
Timeless wisdom made petty by yuppyish USA Today scribe.
Profile Image for Janssen.
1,865 reviews8,395 followers
January 9, 2017
This was a great book to read as the new year kicked off and I always like Laura Vanderkam.
Profile Image for Vmichelle Skinner.
141 reviews7 followers
June 11, 2015
Another self help book, another book unfinished. Yeah, it's true. This book is a really interesting look into how we spend our time, how we can spend it more efficiently and look at it differently. But (for me) this book ended up feeling like a book I thought "should" read, instead of a book I wanted to read. I've come to a point where I'm tired of trying to cram another thing into my day, tired of striving and focusing on efficiency and achievement. Maybe because the concept of "achievement" becomes meaningless when I'm home all day with a toddler. I've decided I like the way I spend my mornings right now, and I'm not interested in getting up an hour earlier every day trying to cram something else in. But if you are interested in rethinking how you spend your time, this might be a good place to start. The book also includes a section on how you spend your weekend and oddly enough, that's gem I found in this book - thinking about weekends a different way. I often fritter the weekend away doing a whole lot of nothing. This weekend advocates planning (at least part of) your weekend to really relax, restore and build memories. As I think about the years ahead I want to build special memories with my kiddo, so it's inspiring.
Profile Image for Aneta.
47 reviews1 follower
December 16, 2018
Seriously tho... I was expecting something more. My friend gave me this book after she finished reading it. She was so fascinated by it - I thought I will be too! Imagine my disappointment when I started reading it and saw all the “wake up at 5 to spend more time with your family and kids”. I live with my roommate, we obviously don’t have any kids and I’m a freaking student! I’m clearly not falling in THAT category. Some of the tips were useful, but the rest of them simply drove me mad. I’m generally quite a productive person but this book, no, the author, proposed some ridiculous methods that maybe work for SOME of us. Honestly, I felt attacked with all that hour-counting stuff...
Profile Image for Elena.
67 reviews48 followers
July 21, 2014
i dont know why i keep reading books that make me feel guilty about being lazy . Somebody should write a book about how awesomen being lazy is.
Profile Image for Kirsten Manley.
124 reviews2 followers
Read
January 29, 2026
This was a quick look at how you can use mornings to revamp your time management. I found the part about willpower particularly Interesting.

The 5 steps to making over your morning:

Track how you’re spending your mornings.
Picture your ideal morning.
Think through the logistics.
Build the habit. (Turn the desire into a ritual.)
Tune up as necessary.

Trying to decide if I want to pursue this as an enthusiastic night owl and hater of early mornings that has a three month old. 😅
Profile Image for Liesl Back.
158 reviews17 followers
June 6, 2023
Short and sweet- listened to the entire audio book on a short flight. Some motivational (and practical) ideas on how to best utilize that golden hour of the morning. I found it encouraging but not sure how this would go over for a night owl.

Basically if you don't make time for things that aren't "urgent" first thing in the morning (Bible reading, exercise, meditation, focused projects), other more "urgent" activities will tend to push them out of your day.

"The best morning rituals are activities that don’t have to happen and certainly don’t have to happen at a specific hour. These are activities that require internal motivation."
November 8, 2018
Before the rest of the world is eating breakfast, the most successful people have already scored daily victories that are advancing them toward the lives they want.


This was one of the best productivity books I’ve ever read. Vanderkam is efficient and to the point in her recommendations for time management and prioritization, and this relatively quick (1 hour-ish) audiobook flew by. Clear instructions explain how to make over your mornings to live your best life, with supporting examples of successful people who utilize early hour routines to achieve their short and long term goals. This book was incredibly inspirational and I highly recommend it, particularly to people who would like to start a better morning routine but lack the motivation or methodology to do so.

Vanderkam provides concrete steps for establishing a morning routine that develops the three most important components for a happy and successful life: relationships, careers, and self. Family breakfast can take the place of schedule-conflicted dinners. People-free dawn hours are perfect for those activities you’ve always said “if I only had time for”, like photography, meditation, or physical fitness. She also discusses beginning your schedule revamp with “baby steps”. Many productivity books champion the motto “just do it”, and while Vanderkam doesn’t shy from telling you to get started, she recognizes that gradual changes may be the only way.

I was MOST fascinated by her presentation of willpower as a limited resource and its application in forming habits. Willpower is a finite resource used up throughout your day for all choices, decisions, and use of self-control (she entertainingly points out this is why all bad things happen at night). This book revolves around the creation of a morning routine of habits, specifically because your “well of willpower” is refreshed after a good night’s sleep and thus can be used optimally on willpower-intensive choices that you may be too drained for later in the day (such as exercise or side hustles). Once an aspect of your morning routine becomes a habit, that task no longer requires a great deal of willpower to complete, allowing for the addition of another willpower-draining task, and the process is repeated.

This was a fantastic book that forced me to realize how much time I waste puttering around. I’m actually now attempting a structured morning routine that I’ve found (unsurprisingly) creates a more relaxing start to my day than my typical “jump out of bed with the 5th alarm and dash around to get read before sprinting out the door (typically late)” schedule. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for motivation and realistic guidelines for revamping their mornings.

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Profile Image for 7jane.
829 reviews365 followers
July 16, 2014
Quite useful... the 'breakfast' part concentrates on the benefits of being an early bird, which can mean more me-time: to strategise and focus on work, to spend more time with family and to take care of oneself (exercise, spiritual, creatively). The 'weekend' part concentrates on how to spend weekends productively and making good memories. The 'work' part concentrates on tips how to make work easier and more fun (though not all tips fit all work types).

The 'work' part was the least useful for me, the 'breakfast' part could be the most inspiring. Also I got good motivation on how to change one's weekly schedule to be the most satisfying kind. The book is a pretty quick read and not too heavy, nor did I feel like I was pushed to do something I didn't want to (though the point about leaving chores mostly to workdays is crazy, in my opinion, but tastes vary anyway). The 'weekend' part's tip of making a list of things one wants to do is a really great idea, planning to do that soon.

A very good, inspiring read.
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