Most of us don’t design our mornings, we inherit them, says productivity expert Donna McGeorge
By the time most leaders sit down at their desks, they’ve already spent a chunk of their best energy. They’ve triaged emails, squeezed in early meetings, and handled “just one quick thing” that ballooned into an hour. It’s barely 10 a.m. and their attention is already diluted, their decision-making fatigued.
In my work as an executive leadership coach, I see every day the what the studies have been showing us for years.
- Our brain’s capacity to make good decisions depletes as the day progresses
- The sheer volume of decisions each day is leaving us diminished
- Our days get hijacked by email – almost a full day’s worth every week
The compounding effect of this is that leaders are less sharp, more reactive and prone to default decisions rather than breakthroughs.
What if, instead of reacting, we reserved that early window for something more valuable?
The first two hours of your workday aren’t just another block on the calendar. They’re your cognitive prime. The time when your brain is sharpest and your energy most aligned with creative, focused work. It’s also the time most leaders give away too easily. Reclaiming it is about making a deliberate leadership move that pays off in clarity, influence, and impact.
The cost of default mornings
Most of us don’t design our mornings, we inherit them. Calendars fill with recurring meetings, habitual inbox checks, and requests from others. We hit the ground running, but often in the wrong direction.
This default mode comes at a price. Research shows we have peak cognitive capacity in the morning, yet that prime time is too often squandered on low-impact tasks. It’s like hiring a Michelin-star chef to butter toast.
In the end, leaders end up firefighting all day, making decisions from a place of fatigue, and pushing their most strategic thinking to a time when their brain is already checked out.
The first two hours as a leadership lever
Reclaiming your first two hours isn’t about working harder or even smarter, it’s about working sharper.
Working smarter is about efficiency. It’s finding faster ways to do familiar things, streamlining systems, and ticking more off your list in less time. That’s helpful, but it still treats all hours of the day as equal.
Working sharper is different. It respects the natural rhythm of your body and brain. It’s not just about what you’re doing, but when you’re doing it.
Your cognitive capacity peaks in the first few hours after waking. This is when your brain is most alert, creative, and capable of solving complex problems. Sharper work means aligning your most important thinking with your highest mental performance.
Leaders who intentionally front-load their day with deep, high-impact work don’t just get more done, they make better decisions, model smarter working habits, and lead with more clarity. They create time to think, not just to respond and that’s the game changer.
When your first hours are spent solving complex problems, crafting strategy, or preparing for high-stakes conversations, you’re not just ticking off tasks, you’re setting the tone for how your team operates and how your business grows.
Small changes, outsized impact
When leaders begin to guard their early hours, the ripple effect is striking. Teams notice, the culture shifts and people get braver about protecting their own energy.
I’ve worked with senior leaders who transformed their team’s operating rhythm just by removing early meetings and declaring the first two hours as thinking time. It signalled a new standard: that considered work matters more than constant busyness. That energy is a finite resource worth protecting.
And yes, it requires a shift. You may need to renegotiate habits with your team, push back on automatic scheduling tools, or educate others about your new working rhythm. But leadership is, in part, about setting boundaries that enable your best work and empower others to do the same.
Rethinking what belongs in the morning
To make the most of your best energy, you need to protect it. Here’s how:
- Block, don’t hope. Set a recurring two-hour block in the morning for proactive work. Don’t leave it to chance
- Start with friction. Tackle the task you’re most likely to procrastinate, your brain is most equipped to handle it now
- Email can wait. Unless you’re in customer service, few emails need a response at 8am. Turn off notifications and don’t open your inbox until after your deep work is done
- Delay the meetings. Push back recurring stand-ups or updates to later in the day where possible. Mornings should be reserved for creation, not coordination
Even reclaiming just one morning a week can create meaningful shifts in how you lead and perform.
What your calendar says about your leadership
There’s a simple way to tell what you value most as a leader. Look at your calendar.
If the first two hours of each day are filled with admin and reactivity, it’s worth asking: what are you giving away? And what would change if you claimed that space instead?
Reclaiming this time is move toward leading with more foresight and less fatigue. It’s a signal to your team that thoughtfulness trumps frenzy.
And it starts tomorrow morning. Just two hours for, your clearest thinking, and the work that truly matters.
Donna McGeorge is a productivity expert and best-selling author of The First 2 Hours and Red Brick Thinking. She helps leaders and teams make work work through practical strategies that reclaim time and sharpen impact.
