How do You Start Your Day? What do You Look at First on Your Computer?

The New York Times had an interesting article yesterday, Coffee Can Wait. Day’s First Stop Is Online. It starts with the description of a family where the husband wakes at around 6 a.m. to check his work e-mail and his Facebook and Twitter accounts. The two boys start each morning with text messages, video games and Facebook. The wife has even agreed to the four family members starting the day on four computers in four separate rooms.

Now for me it is: Online Can Wait. Day’s First Stop Is Coffee. I even set up the coffee pot the night before so all I have to do is push a button. I will also have breakfast with my wife before she goes to her office. Then I take my second cup of coffee to my computer as I work at home. I guess I am “so last century” according to the Times.

Then the question is what do you do when you get to your computer? I wonder if it varies for people who hit the computer before coffee and those who are more “traditional.” I used to look at my email first. Then I would check to see if my pre-scheduled daily blog post went up, as I sometimes would put in the wrong information and have to fix it. Now I tend to start Safari (to get at the blog), email, and Tweetdeck at the same time. Then I look at whatever loads the fastest but eventually get to all three.

The Times article said that, “Akamai, which helps sites like Facebook and Amazon keep up with visitor demand, says traffic takes off …at around 6 a.m. on the East Coast.” I do not start quite that early but usually get to my computer between 7:30 and 8:30. On Tweetdeck I notice that the Europeans are already tweeting of course, but most North Americans tend to start after 9 AM. So I try to do this also so someone will be around to read my tweets.

So how do you start your day? What do you do first when you get to your computer?

Comments

[Gavin Heaton]

I have started using Feedly as a feed aggregator. It provides a really nice way to manage the context between blogs. Oh, and I need coffee too.

[bill Ives]

Gavin

Thanks I will check it out. I need some aggregator of blog comments as I am getting comments on this blog and the Facebook replay and several other syndication sites. Bill

[Rip]

as a 30 year old software developer, I still don't touch a computer until I have my cup of coffee and breakfast. I work on a computer 8+ hours a day...no need to rush.

[Arik]

I start my day at the bathroom with my iPhone checking emails - to verify that my applications haven't died during the night (have logs sent to my email and other notifications). After that I take out my dog and only then I make coffee and take it to the computer (I also work mostly from home). On the computer I follow up on important emails and check Twitter first.

I sometimes eat breakfast and drink coffee at the mornings with my spouse but usually she makes coffee and takes it on the go.

I guess that our morning schedule is quite similar.

[netmarket]

I start my day at the bathroom with my iPhone checking emails - to verify that my applications haven't died during the night (have logs sent to my email and other notifications). After that I take out my dog and only then I make coffee and take it to the computer (I also work mostly from home). On the computer I follow up on important emails and check Twitter first.

http://www.methoo.com

[bill Ives]

netmarket and Arik - thanks - you are more disciplined than me - I have to have coffee first like rtp. Bill