If you want to feel more organized at work, you must learn how to use your mornings to get fired up. You want to be aimed - like a human cannonball - at your goals! If you don't have a regimented morning plan, you will go haphazardly into your day pell mell. You must view your morning as your "Decision Center" for how to focus your day - and the earlier in the morning, the better. Why?

1. First thing in the morning, you still haven't been beaten down yet, so you can still believe: "BRAND-NEW FRESH DAY=BRAND-NEW FRESH START TO IMPROVE MY LIFE!"

2. Your day hasn't yet started to SWERVE OUT OF CONTROL, forcing you into what's called "reactive state," reacting to life's demands as they bombard you. And reactivity is what messes up people's lives, leading people askew to get caught up with things that seem urgently important, but are NOT LONG-TERM LIFE IMPORTANT.

3. In the first hours of the morning, your head is still very clear, and your spirit very cocky. You are in what's called "pro-active state," where you can most proactively and wisely assign yourself THE MOST IMPORTANT CAREER ACTIVITIES. Use your A.M. to AIM you... and there will be no stopping you!

—Karen Salmansohn, 1-Minute Career Therapist