Why You Should Add Reading to Your Morning Marketing Routine

How do you start your morning at work? Is it essential to get that first injection of caffeine before anything else can get done? Or do you dive into the emails right away and never look up until lunchtime? If either of those routines - or any others that involve rushing at the next pressing matter - sound familiar, you might want to consider some radical advice: start your day with some reading. Okay, it's not that radical, but you'll be surprised how it can change your outlook for the day!

The Routine of Reading Around Marketing

Although it might not feel like the most productive way to start your day, the benefits of adding reading to your early morning routine are many. Firstly, you can think of the activity as priming the pump of your mind for the day ahead. Diving straight into the fray of emails or telephone calls makes for a reactive mindset. Although that can be useful for certain tasks, it's rarely the most efficient way to plan out your crucial tasks for the day. Setting even 15 minutes aside to read a deep article on a subject that fires your mind is a much better way to gear your brain up for what's to come. Those deep reads are also great for developing lateral thinking; examining the underlying concepts and working out your own opinion on the topic being covered. As you begin to get used to that requirement every morning, you'll start to apply the same wider review and analysis skills to the biggest challenges in your day. Sometimes all it takes to crack whatever is stumping you is a change of perspective. Diverse reading can supply that change, as well as the knowledge that comes with consuming content beyond your immediate interests. Beyond that, reading as a routine gives you control over the start of your day. When you decide what will receive your attention, even for only the first few moments of your working day, it starts you off on the right foot. Opening up to emails or taking a meeting too early on gives others the opportunity to change your plans right away. You might be able to wrestle control back after addressing whatever issues others raise to you, but you're likely to be on the back foot for much of the day as you do so. So, what should you read? It should obviously revolve around professional business content, but try not to limit your topics to only those that relate to your industry. Opening up to a wide range of sources and subjects gives a wider perspective, preventing insular thinking. Though it's important to keep up with the latest trends in your business and what the competition is doing, broad-based reading materials will expand your general knowledge and force you to think outside of your comfort zone. Try starting with recommendations from friends and colleagues, whether it's periodicals, news sites, or bloggers they respect. Ask for deep reading resources and writers who make them think, then bookmark those that work for you. Another option is to subscribe to updates from the best sites, so that they deliver food for thought into your inbox every morning, or once a week if you want to sign up for a variety of resources. Newsletters like Media Redefined bring a number of interesting reads into one email, while others, like Brain Pickings for example, are individually curated to serve up the best articles that align with their mission. Whatever you choose, make sure some of it extends outside of your industry and that you filter out any you try that don't compel you to read every morning. Once you zero in on a set of sources that you enjoy and can commit to on a daily basis, you will quickly see the value of adding reading to your morning routine.