At work for all the demands and pressures, at least there’s some semblance of order. You report to someone, others report to you. There are meetings, agendas, goals and objectives. You’re assigned specific responsibilities. You are expected to meet those responsibilities within a given time frame. Your compensation and indeed employment depend upon your ability to deliver on a regular basis.

This regimentation, though challenging, also offers a fair degree of comfort. Given that you’re working with fair and rational people — and that’s a huge assumption these days — you can reasonably predict what responses you’ll receive for your performance and behavior.Is any of the above true at home? Home environments tend to have much less structure. Whether you’re part of a family, live with a significant other, or live alone, your home environment may contribute to your sense of fatigue, indirection, and low energy at work.

Too much clutter, distractions, responsibilities, and things competing for your time and attention and too little order applied to addressing such issues could well result in a tired, discombobulated, unfocused you.

Take control of your home environment recognizing that your ability to get things done at work is partially dependent upon it. It all starts with how you get out of the house each morning.

Leave in the Morning with Grace and Ease

If getting out of the house for you each morning represents a time-pressured, hectic routine, then it’s more difficult to turn things around when you step into the office. If you’ve left yourself too little time; haven’t put important items that need to go with you by the door the night before; gulp down highly sugared, caffeinated, or fat-laden food products; and then fight your way through the masses to arrive at your place of work; be prepared for what might turn into at least a 30 or 60 minute time frame before you finally “calm down” and can begin to focus on accomplishing worthwhile tasks.

If you live in a major metropolitan area and you’re a good distance from your workplace, you may be battling the crowds every morning. Or your morning commute may otherwise be out of your control. Certainly, you can attempt to get up before the masses, or after them. You may not have leeway as to when you must arrive at work. Hence, make your journey as pleasant as possible. If you drive, then make sure that you have the music or programs that soothe and inspire you.

Take Steps the Night Before

How you depart your home in the morning is entirely up to you. If you awake by alarm clock, then, by definition, you didn’t get enough sleep. Find that hour at which you can retire and easily wake up on your own the next morning without the aid of an alarm. If you need eight hours, then obviously to get up at 6 you’ll have to retire by 10.

If you’re going to bed at 11, 11:30 and still getting up by alarm, thinking you can slug through the day, you’re right, you can in the short term. In the long term, it all catches up to you.

If it helps, lay out your clothes for yourself the night before, like your mother did for you when you were young. Have nutritious food ready. You know too well that eating junk at home or eating anything on the run is not going to give you the fuel you need to accomplish one thing after another at work. You’ll run out of gas too soon and then look for quick and easy stimulants — did someone say caffeine? — to keep you going. This is no way to work, no way to treat your body, and no way to pass through your life’s journey.

Arrive Ready, Progress Steady

When you arrive in the morning, particularly if you’re there before the rest of the staff, you have the best opportunity for structuring your day. Envision how you would like your day to go. Review your appointment calendar and plot out the few critical elements that will make your day a success. Keep flat surfaces clear to the degree that you can.

If you don’t work outside of the home, when everyone else has departed, give yourself a few minutes to undertake the same type of contemplation. If you stay home with children or other household occupants, carving out a few minutes for yourself during the early morning is even more crucial. How would you like your day to be? What are the critical elements or critical tasks you wish to complete?

At an outside job, at home, and everywhere in between, take a few minutes for yourself before lunch. While seated, relax, take some deep breaths, acknowledge yourself for what you’ve accomplished during morning, and contemplate how good it will be to eat your lunch.