Start your work day with a quality coffee in hand

Stefan Vermeulen, Nespresso Professional Commercial Manager

Whether it be ensuring you have a high quality coffee available in the office to stop you taking time away from your desk, starting the day off with a desk de-clutter to help promote mindfulness, or catching up on the news with an actual newspaper instead of online to avoid getting distracted by pesky emails, everyone has their own personal take on establishing a meaningful and productive morning at work.

While there’s probably not an ideal morning routine that fits everyone, we can learn a lot from the morning routines of successful people as well as from the research and inspiration behind starting a morning on the right foot.

To help you out, we have collected a wide range of opinions on how best to start a day, from the scientific to the successful. Follow these simple tips to help you get a little more productivity, creativity, and enjoyment out of your morning in the office:

1. Make yourself a coffee: Before you jump into your daily meetings or are distracted by emails, take the time to make yourself a quality coffee and use a few quiet minutes of the day to reflect on your goals and priorities for the day ahead.

Having a quality coffee in hand can make those first few minutes at work easier

2. Optimise your to-do list: Revered money coach, Ashley Feinstein Gerstley suggests including only three "must-do" items each day; of these, place them in order of 1) tightest deadline, and then 2) ease of completion. Take 15 minutes to identify your most critical and time-sensitive tasks. Creating a prioritised to-do list will help you start off on the right track - and can serve as a road map to stay focused and productive throughout the day. Devising a game plan on Monday mornings is particularly important to map out key tasks for the rest of your workweek.

3. Declutter daily: Scrambling to find files due to poor organisation wastes time and creates unnecessary stress. In fact, researchers at the Princeton University Neuroscience Institute found that when your environment is cluttered, the chaos restricts your ability to focus and process information, which inevitably leads to stress. Save yourself the headache by investing a few minutes at the end of the day to tidy up your physical workspace and digital desktop. Doing so will enable you to get off to a swift start the following morning.

Clean desk = clean mind

4. Be mindful of digital distractions: Much like your email inbox, the Internet is full of potential diversions. According to Gloria Mark a professor of informatics at the University of California it can take workers up to 23 minutes to get back to the task they were working on after the interruption. Don’t get caught in this trap! Click with care and keep your eye on the clock. In most cases, you shouldn’t spend more than a few minutes of your morning routine scanning news headlines or checking social media.

5. Enjoy a small reward away from your desk:As Dr. James Levine told the New York Times, the break routine is crucial in work effectiveness and productivity. Studies have shown that just getting away from our desk take a break from your work and catch up with a colleague over a coffee or in an open space away from your desk is exactly what the brain needs to regroup and get itself back on track to focusing. I like to make sure I schedule in a walk outside or trip to the gym every day to clear my mind and refocus my energy.

Refresh your morning by working from a new space over coffee

At Nespresso, providing our customers with quality coffee experiences is one of our key brand values. Whether you prefer to share a Cappuccino with a colleague in the kitchen or prefer a quick Espresso at your desk, we know that your morning coffee routine in the office can help improve productivity and inspire new ideas.