How much does the first hour of every day matter? A lot, writes Kevin Purdy for Fast Company. In a recent story, Kevin talks morning must-do’s by Craigslist’s Craig Newmark, Tumblr’s David Karp, motivational speaker Tony Robbins and career writer (and Fast Company blogger) Brian Tracy.1. Don’t Check Your Email for the First Hour.

“Tumblr founder David Karp will ‘try hard’ not to check his email until 9:30 or 10 a.m.,” writes Kevin, citing an Inc. profile. “Reading e-mails at home never feels good or productive. If something urgently needs my attention, someone will call or text me.”

2. Exercise, Be Grateful, Visualize What You Want
Self-help guru Tony Robbins suggests “setting up an Hour of Power, 30 Minutes to Thrive, or Fifteen Minutes to Fulfillment.” Part of it involves light exercise, part of it involves motivational incantations, but the most accessible piece involves 10 minutes of thinking of everything you’re grateful for: in yourself, among your family and friends, in your career, and the like. After that, visualize “everything you want in your life as if you had it today.”

3. Eat a Frog
“Brian Tracy’s classic time-management book Eat That Frog gets its title from a Mark Twain saying that, if you eat a live frog first thing in the morning, you’ve got it behind you for the rest of the day, and nothing else looks so bad.” Combine that with the concept of getting one thing done before you wade into email, and you’ve got a day-to-day system in place.

For more tips from Kevin’s story, please visit:

Fast Company: What Successful People Do In The First Hour Of Their Work Day