July 15, 2009 91 Comments

Five Tasks in the Morning

Christopher Penn's Breakfast You’ve come to realize that interacting on these social media methods take a bit of time, and that what you’ve saved in dollars has to be made up in effort and persistence and a lot of human expense. With that in mind, I’m sitting at my kitchen table and I wanted to share with you the first five things I do when the laptop lid goes up. (Note: people subscribed to my newsletter will get my entire day’s tasks sent to them on Monday.)

5 Tasks in the Morning

I open the same four apps every morning: Firefox, Mail, Seesmic Desktop, and TextEdit. My tabs in Firefox are:

  • Google Reader – for my news, my searches, my “ego feed” of who’s talking about my stuff.
  • Google Calendar – how I live.
  • Facebook – I’m not good at Facebook, but I try to stay connected.
  • Facebook : Trust Agents Community – this is the online community for my book with Julien.
  • Friendfeed – I’m no Scobleizer, but I do dip in and look.
  • And then usually tabs of stories I want to think more about for later.
  1. Email – I try to answer 50-100 mails right out of the gate. (I get about 490 a day right now).
  2. Twitter – I respond to any questions from overnight, and any DMs.
  3. Google Reader – I find good stories, promoting the best of them on Twitter, commenting on some.
  4. LinkedIn – I review my connection requests, and/or any other tasks they’ve given me to do (like introduce people).
  5. Communities – I drop into 2 or 3 communities where I participate, like the Trust Agents group, and some Ning communities, and the like. I leave a few comments, or post some ideas, to keep the sharing going.

I do this reasonably consistently every morning. Why? Because participation is part of the currency. If I’m not in the game, I can’t play.

Do you have five tasks you do quite frequently in the morning with regards to your online world? Do you have any questions about what’s above? What do you do differently?

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  • Socialicious_Sadie

    LOL..I do the same thing… :)

  • http://www.ribeezie.com Ricardo Bueno

    My tabs are: Gmail (personal/blog email), Feedreader, Facebook, and Twitter. As I find content that's interesting and useful, I tweet it or share it via facebook. I respond to emails via facebook quickly and email new blog commentators welcoming them and thanking them.

    In a separate window: Gmail Business Account, Google Calendar, Basecamp (for client projects). I make sure I have my appointments set for the day and GoToMeeting info confirmed.

  • http://jasonkeath.com jakrose

    I dig this type of post chris. Love diving into the little daily details of successful people. Sometimes it tells a lot. thanks for sharing.

  • http://twitter.com/mattceni matt ceniceros

    Nice post. I usually:
    1. Look at blackberry to see what's going on
    2. seesmic to see if there's anything happening in my groups
    3. Facebook to keep it real
    4. Check RSS feeds
    5. light email based on what's happening in the digital world (5-10 emails)

  • http://twitter.com/djwaldow DJ Waldow

    Wow. The first to comment? Hmmm. I guess it depends on how long this comment takes me to write (distractions abound!). I wonder if that is b/c my day started much like the one you describe above. (Note: the dog next door was HOWLING since 3AM, so I've been up for 3 hours).

    My typical morning includes:

    1. Email – Committed to getting my personal and Blue Sky Factory inbox down to <25 (n scroll).
    2. Blogs – Reading (this one included), Engaging (commenting), Writing (my new personal blog launched yesterday – http://socialbutterflyguy.com/)
    3. Twitter – What did I miss? How can I contribute? What can I learn?
    4. IM – Who is awake? What are they doing? How can I start their day off with a laugh or smile
    5. Coffee – Fresh french press loaded with that notsogood for you creamer.

    Thanks Chris for getting me thinking this morning…(and for helping provide inspiration for my blog). Looking forward to meeting you in person – Social Fresh?

    DJ Waldow
    @djwaldow

  • http://twitter.com/Davezilla Dave Linabury

    Oddly I do have exactly 5 tabs on FF and then Seesmic.
    1) Davezilla admin screen (check for spam, approve new comments, etc.)
    2) Facebook (approve friends, try to beat my brother at Chess)
    3) Mashable (keep up those crazy Intar Webs)
    4) Twitscoop (the live tagcloud is great for trendwatching)
    5) Radian6 (client work)

  • rachelreuben

    My routine looks much like yours (minus the 490 e-mails a day & responding to 50-100 first thing in the morning). The only thing I consistently add to that list before going about my day is opening my Remember The Milk app on my iPhone to get a mental picture of the tasks on my plate for the day, so I can start to think about where they'll fit in after I've looked at my calendar to see what my meeting schedule looks like. While that's not directly tied to social tasks, it directly impacts the time I can dedicate doing things such as dipping into various Ning communities, Facebook Pages, etc.

  • buzzding

    You use Google reader to do your ego searching. Have you ever used a reputation management product?

  • caryn_stein

    Chris — great to see you include community participation in your regular diet. Agree that it's so important!

  • http://www.thejimgaudet.com/blog/ thejimgaudet

    Wow, I am amazingly like you except, well I am not…

    Email – About 250 – 300 a day: first I need to check for emergencies with my clients, if no problems then I go to FF…
    Seesmic – Same as you, handle all of my replies, dms, and my “dailys” group
    Firefox
    - Google Reader: My morning news and coffee, check articles I like (this one) and socialize the ones that I READ
    - Facebook: Friends and damn Mafia Wars, I'm addicted now.
    - Friendfeed: Trying to get used to this one, just don't have the time yet. Trying though.
    Instant messengers (start in offline mode)

  • melissawells

    Hi Chris.
    Do you use Symbaloo? I'm on PC and create desktops to share w/clients of sites and feeds to help ease the job search or new business start-up.
    I also separate my feeds in Google Reader between those I've commented on and those I want to check out. Makes it easy to see which conversations I've contributed to.
    I'll check out Monday's newsletter!

  • http://twitter.com/mjumbo Deb

    I have a question…Do you continue to revisit your email throughout the day? Just wondering what your take on this is… I find myself feeling the need to respond to emails right away so I always have it open and tab over.

    Thanks!

  • http://www.raptitude.com/ David Cain

    HI Chris, thanks for sharing your list. I don't have a strict list like that; I really should carve one out before I waste too much time jumping from thing to thing.

    Usually I check tweetdeck, gmail, comments on my blog, facebook and blog contact emails, but I often get hung up browsing one or another of those apps.

  • http://www.weddingwire.com/ Ashley Conway

    1. Google Reader
    2. Twitter or Hootsuite (to address @replies and share posts from G.R.)
    3. Email
    4. Pidgin (inter-office communication)
    5. English Muffin, large cup of coffee

  • erinbury

    1. I get my Tim Horton's coffee – a must in Canada. I know this doesn't have to do with social media, but it's necessary if I want to be social in person on any given day.
    2. I open Tweetdeck. Before e-mail, before anything else. I check through my columns to check the morning's stream for cool links and to see what people are up to, respond to @ replies & DMs, & scan for any comments about our company.
    3. I check my e-mail and respond to anything.
    4. Facebook (I always check birthdays to make sure I don't miss one, respond to messages and wall posts, check out the home feed, and if there's any RedWire news I update the Fan Page)
    5. Google Reader (I spend time every morning going through my reader, commenting on blogs, saving articles on Delicious for later, and sharing the best articles/posts)

    As long as I've done those things I feel like I have a handle on my life – of course there's other things I check like LinkedIn, Google Alerts, etc. but they're done as I see requests. My morning routine though? Non-negotiable.

    Thanks for sharing yours – I'm assuming coffee is #6 on your list? :)

  • http://www.onebyonemedia.com Jim "Genuine" Turner

    …and I am right behind you by about two hours. No wonder I can never catch up.

  • LynetteRadio

    1. Make coffee & consume
    2. Fire up various email accounts
    3. Respond to conversations on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook
    4. Read through my Feedly / gReader feeds, respond & pass along
    5. Consume more coffee… Read More
    6. Start to tackle work to-do list for day

    Getting started with #1-#5 takes me about 2 hours (from about 7:30am – 10am). Every. Single. Day. Weekends included. On occasion I get 'sidetracked' by an urgent work issue or with client calls etc. I'm actually trying to reduce my startup time in the morning because I work better in the morning and 'wasting' so much time just getting caught up is starting to seriously cut into my productive brain time (when the coffee works the best)

  • http://sarahvela.net orchid8

    Hey Chris,

    Similar tabs for me. I've switched to Feedly from Google Reader, and instead of Read it Later I email pages to Evernote. I've also started a Lazyfeed account, which I've really been liking.

    Morning tasks are:

    1. Twitter, via TweetDeck and CoTweet. Say good morning, check overnight dm's and mentions on the various accounts I help manage.
    2. Feedly/Lazyfeed/SocialMedian. Post relevant links to Twitter accounts I manage, comment on some stories (I neglect this part!), bookmark some for future reference in Evernote, and schedule tweets for the day.
    3. E-Mail (GMail)
    4. Facebook
    5. Google Calendar/Tasks in Action Method Online – get organized and plan my day.

    Oh, and coffee comes first!

  • http://benwhitesell.com/ Ben Whitesell

    My morning ritual is slightly different because I work at one of those companies that blocks most social outlets. I have managed to find some loopholes and managed to find a system that works largely due to the brilliance of my iPhone.

    1. Literally the first thing I do when I wake up is check twitter and facebook via the Tweetdeck and Facebooks apps on my iPhone to see what was brewing over night. Also read any e-mails sent to my personal account.

    2. I get to work and check work e-mail and respond to pretty much all of them. Low volume.

    3. Head to my netvibes.com account to check RSS Feeds for the blogs I follow. I have also found that I can read and write to Twitter from Netvibes even at work where it is blocked. Check thru our day.

    4. Later in the day I hit google reader, flickr, and youtube. I also go back to any new blog entries that I haven't had a chance to read yet.

    5. Keep up to date on everything else via iPhone apps.

  • http://makingmoneywithgoogle.net/ Greg

    This routine sounds pretty familiar. With a few tweaks here and there it's pretty much what i do. Not sure how i would handle 490 emails a day though. LOL

  • http://99designs.com jaiken

    Thanks Chris…my routine is fairly similar.

    Cheers,
    Jason Aiken
    99designs.com

  • http://twitter.com/AmyShropshire Amy Shropshire

    Mine are pretty similar. I like having a system! I don't keep the tabs open though. I try to finish one, move on, and then I'll come back to it once I've finished something else. My routine is 1-Email, 2-Google Reader/Calendar, 3-Facebook, 4-Twitter, 5-LinkedIn, 6-Ning. Rinse and repeat as needed =)

  • http://twitter.com/TheBaumGroup TheBaumGroup

    Our typical morning begins with…
    1. sharing the day's StressTip on Twitter and FB with a link to the Weekly StressTip.
    2. reading and sharing on Twitter Seth Godin's blog of the day; MarketingProfs' Getting to the Point;
    3. RTing various members of our tribe (people we follow and follow us)
    4. answering eMail
    5. commenting on blogs – thank you Chris for this opportunity

  • http://www.slice-works.com/ Kathi Rabil

    Wondering how much time all this takes? As a member of the “over 50″ set, I'm a bit slow on the uptake. I am working on consistency, so this list is helpful–even though I'm not familiar with all you are talking about!

  • http://www.slice-works.com/ Kathi Rabil

    One bit of feedback–It took more time trying to find out how I could comment on your post as well as waiting for my post to upload, than write my comment. That's a bit frustrating!!!!

  • http://ourdoings.com/ brlewis

    Chris, if you like dipping into FriendFeed, why not drop in on our FriendFeed meetup 5-6:45pm today at the Cambridgeside Galleria before webinno? Jesse Stay of SocialToo is visiting from out of town. http://friendfeed.com/massachusetts/b50998cf/bo…

  • @Mauraaaaaa

    I like this post :) and your personality in writing. You see, I'm 3 hours behind the East coast, so I feel I have to work faster in the mornings to catch up to the world — contacts not in yet, java in hand.

    After I hit snooze, I grab my iPhone and open a twitter app (one of the 3), then check out my facebook app to see what my friends back east are up to. After compulsively making the bed I:
    - Brew Coffee (8 seconds with my Keurig!)
    - Open NetNewsWire (all 12 subscriptions… including yours!)
    - Tweet 'n stuff
    If I have time before I realize I've gotten sidetracked and have to rush around before work, I'll brainstorm and draft ideas for my blog. Oh, and all the while I am spending far too much money on iTunes.

  • http://staynalive.com jessestay

    Yes Chris – I'd love to see you while I'm up here some time!

  • http://www.SocialMediaCommando.com JoeMescher

    Chris, you're as good as your word. How someone with over 80,000 followers on Twitter and a cult like blog following manages to make time to share links and thoughtful comments with a “plain 'ol reader” like me is inspiring.

    Just wanted to say thanks.

  • davidsandusky

    Sounds familiar and it is fun to learn how people spend time. My forums add to my routine in a major way. I moderate and read what I can every morning before and after workout and in the evening. I learn so much from the posts and my feeds (how I read Brogan). I tend to post on the original blog (Like now) rather in the thread on my site to support that orignial community. I am actually looking to pick up my blog commenting again. I love twitter, but I think blog owners really feel good when someone comments on their community over retweeting — not that RT is not a great thing :)

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  • http://Under30CEO.com Jared O'Toole

    My tasks shift around a little bit. But I do have a steady doss of google reader – leave some comments see the news. Do emails. Respond to twitter stuff. Then start on the blog posts and articles for the day.

  • http://squidoo.com/trafficpython nthomas00

    I only have 3 of the same routine task and applications I use on a daily basis twitter, facebook, and my e-mail.

    -Nikki-

    1 dollar ebooks
    selling photography 101

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=790612401 facebook-790612401

    Great post, I love your “personal” ones! Thanks for sharing your ideas, insight, ways you do things…it's helpful, and fun to compare and learn from! Sharing really is the new GIVING. ciao

  • http://twitter.com/nigelwalsh nigelwalsh

    a great post – I have similar apps, fire up all machines… and get the news going on one whilst the other….

    1. Outlook for work email
    2. GMail personal mail
    3. Firefox with : BBC News / LinkedIN / Facebook / salesforce.com / RSS feeds
    4. Seesmic / Tweetdeck
    5. Links from articles/respond to posts/comments

    but like everyone else – coffee & breakfast first to walk me through this…

    Its interesting to see everyone here so social and interacting so much – the other thing for me is how long this takes. I used to spend 30 mins in my 'pre work' routine, now this takes at least an hour, so Ive set my alarm to get up earlier! how do you bake this into your day?

  • http://aarontempler.com/ Aaron Templer

    I worked for a business school for many years, and have the fancy-pants MBA. So I understand the importance of routines. I admire you for it.

    Here's my challenge: I find routines sap my creative energy. I feel trapped in routines. Keeping life surprising me seems to keep me thinking differently. Which I value. My hope is that, like exercising regimes that preach keeping muscles surprised, I'll keep that edge.

    But this approach obviously does not bode well for regular social/new media participation. Do you mix routine with with non-routine stuff?

  • avrota

    Mine are:

    1.) Blackberry first thing to check if there are any messages.
    2.) Get kid ready for pre-school.
    3.) http://parentella.com
    site (check is something major occurred), errors, feedback, tickets to see progress.
    4.) Breakfast and tea.
    5.) Tasks for the day, week, more reading blogs, news, email etc. This continues throughout the day.

  • http://www.thewaythatyouwander.com/ Nate

    It's nice to know that our routines are so similar. Mainly because you are really successful at this social media stuff, and I would like to be the same sometime in the future (hopefully near future!).

    Great idea for a post.

  • justinnielsen

    Ricardo just sharred you with me yesterday. THANK YOU!!! Your posts are full of great advice and ideas for us newbees. My tabs are Facebook, ahh, email, phone, skim 1000+ google reader, twitter followed by a meltdown and return to Facebook!

  • thursdayb

    One of my big problems in getting started in the morning is that if I focus on answering emails or similar tasks, I don't really want to move on to the writing projects that are usually my first big item on my task list.

    In order to keep my email and RSS feeds under control, though, I feel it's necessary to check them out each morning. I've compromised by going through what I consider important (1. Email, 2. RSS feeds, 3. Twitter, 4. A brain teaser) before I have breakfast. That time away from the computer lets me refocus and switch gears between email and other work. It also gives me an opportunity to decide if I need to change up my priorities for the day.

  • jimbrochowski

    I'm working on a post like this right now. Well similar in that I'm trying to re-create my morning list as mine has gotten a little unwieldy. I'm curious.

    How long does your morning list typically take?

    Thanks!

  • http://www.wrightplacetv.com/ Dr Wright

    I have a similar list, I am also not great at facebook, I also post responses on at least 5 blogs. I use alltop to read my favorites!

    Dr Wright
    http://www,wrightplacetv.com

  • http://www.pimpyourmarketing.com ChrisDonaldson

    Wow – great discipline. Usually I show up at work at 8:00 after dealing with kids, check my email, then find myself caught up in the undertow of whatever needs to be done next. I get to Twitter fairly early in the day, make it over to Facebook at least once, and do a blog fave flyby (of which this is always on the list). But maybe if I added more structure as you prescribe…. hmmmm…. maybe this whole social media and connecting thing will catch on.

  • http://chrisbrogan.com Chris Brogan

    A couple hours, all-in. Some days, I might go down a rathole, but I try hard. Two hours.

  • JamieLee

    In my perfect world, I'd develop a customized-for-me routine that is similiar to how you start your day … I'm working on it.

    Love having this insight into the tools and routines that work for you. I think so many of us have a similiar passion about making connections but don't have the ability to develop processes that allow us to seamlessly work the necessary tasks into our day.

    Though I haven't proven it yet, I'd guess that consistency is a BIG part of success in this arena – in terms of both how you're perceived and also in terms of just making it happen at all.

    Been teetering back and forth between Tweetdeck and Seesmic. The fact that you use Seesmic may have just tipped the scales in that direction. I'll have to go check out the latest update release. Oh, and I'll also have to go check back into Google Calendar. Been toying with the idea of scheduling blocks of work time (with specific, assigned tasks) in addition to meetings … should be an interesting experiment.
    :)

  • joec0914

    Chris,
    Ever tried PeopleBrowsr for reading Twitter and other sites?
    JoeC
    ps. Loved the Maine camp vacation pics. :)

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  • q2results

    : ) This is the problem with successful people. Many of them tell us what they do and, often, how we should do it, without realizing that most of us are not nearly as talented! : )

    #1. I scan my blackberry for Seth and Chris's blog emails but that's plenty to get me “thinking”.

    #2. I avoid my Twitter and Facebook account like the plague lest they suck me in hours of chit-chat (the equivalent of hanging out at the water-cooler).

    #3. I check email, try to ignore most of it, and start “supervising” oDesk contractors and trying to get some writing, client calls, and wordpress MU systems and plugins set-up. (I need to get to my PPC and SEO stuff but usually can't.) NO WAY I could respond to 100 emails intelligently much less 400 and I'm very fast and not as dumb as I look.

    *I work from about 9 – 2:30 and then on and off again from 2:30 – 9 pm, and then from 9 to midnight.

    #4. Now, I suppose if I had a very coordinated system using Freshbooks, Batchblue, Mail Chimp, FormSpring, and Wrike – I could have more time for social networking, reading, etc…but hell, setting these up alone would take at least a day per application to really get it…

    Imagine the difficulty most non-tech-savvy people would have with these apps.

    Sigh….My advice is that until you have the Systems set up to capitalize on all the contacts you are making through networking (or if “sales” is your only job”)….networking in person or online can be a big waste of time.

    Anyway, back to focusing on systems I go.

    P.S. I try to apply Steven Covey's Quadrant Principles i.e. staying in q2 land i.e. tasks that are important but not urgent (like systems), as opposed to doing urgent but not-important (q3) and not-urgent/not-important (q4) tasks (like many emails and commenting on facebook posts of old classmates.)

  • http://www.dougmcisaac.com dougmcisaac

    Chris,
    I liked seeing your routine, I have a similar one, but not quite as many emails to ansewr in the morning.

    Your quote:
    “Because participation is part of the currency. If I’m not in the game, I can’t play. “

    Spells out what most of the “old school” marketers do not understand about social media marketing. They are used to being able to take and take without giving back and still don't understand the new paradigm and how much you can be rewarded by simply understanding and adopting to the new rules.

    Doug

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