Infographic: Early-morning productivity drains to avoid

How you spend the first 10 minutes in the office can mean the difference between an efficient or deficient workday. Don’t let YouTube, a comfy chair or email derail your schedule.

What’s your first move to start each workday?

Most of us, I suspect, pour coffee, plop down in a creaky swivel chair, check email and sift through social media. There might be a doughnut involved or a quick peek at the news. Sound about right?

Unfortunately, we’re all doing it wrong. Resume.io has an infographic that presents nine productivity mistakes to avoid in the first 10 minutes of your workday. (Let’s just say up front that you’re not going to like some of these.)

Hold off on the coffee. Don’t shoot the messenger, pal. Direct all caffeine complaints toward researchers from Dartmouth, who found that “drinking a coffee to kickstart your day is a bad idea because it interferes with the time when the stress hormone, cortisol, is peaking in your body, which raises your stress levels.” The infographic recommends drinking coffee between 10 a.m. and noon, or between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m., when “cortisol levels are lowest.”

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