{"id":6528,"date":"2025-07-08T21:45:06","date_gmt":"2025-07-08T21:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/aomtodayprod.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=6528"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:35:40","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T15:35:40","slug":"pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Pay Attention to How High Performers Start the Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Paul Friedman<\/a><\/p>\n

The emotions that workers bring to the job and experience in the workplace have a lot to do with their performance, and especially in these uncertain times, managers need to be tuned in and attentive to employees\u2019 well-being.\u00a0In addition, workers should consider emulating high performers\u2019 morning mindset and routines to try to start off the day on the right foot.<\/p>\n

According to Academy of Management Scholar Nancy Rothbard <\/a> of the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Wharton School, which side of the bed workers wake up on impacts how well they do their work.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe emotion that you bring to work at the start of the day\u2014whether you\u2019re more negative or more positive than your baseline\u2014really affects your ability to actually focus on your work and to do your work,\u201d Rothbard said. \u201cWhen you come in more negative, then you end up being less productive,\u00a0so in these negative times, I would expect that if you\u2019re coming in to work and you\u2019re upset or worried about stuff, that\u2019s going to make you more distracted.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to make you less able to focus on the work that you have to do,\u201d she said. \u201cYou\u2019re not going to get as much done, and you\u2019re not going to be performing at top quality levels.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so it\u2019s something that managers really need to pay attention to, so that they can try to reset people as much as they are able.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rothbard said managers have to be careful about not making the problem worse.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody comes in to work and they look like they\u2019re not really at the top of their game, jumping all over them at the beginning of the workday is not going to help things,\u201d she said. \u201cOn the contrary, it\u2019s going to make them spiral even more.\u201d<\/p>\n

According to Rothbard, often it\u2019s the simplest things that can turn workers\u2019 emotions from negative to more positive and thus make them more productive, which is good for the business.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not rocket science, but we forget to do these things, such as having a group huddle at the beginning of the day where you share positive news and show that you are appreciative of people,\u201d Rothbard said. \u201cSmile at them; show that you are listening to them if they tell you what they\u2019re worried about.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven if you can\u2019t help them with something, you can listen and show that you care,\u201d she said. \u201cThose are the kinds of things that can make a huge difference.<\/p>\n

\u201cAgain, that isn\u2019t incredibly costly; it\u2019s amazing how few people do it, though.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Paul Friedman The emotions that workers bring to the job and experience in the workplace have a lot to do with their performance, and especially in these uncertain times, managers need to be tuned in and attentive to employees\u2019 well-being.\u00a0In addition, workers should consider emulating high performers\u2019 morning mindset and routines to try to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":6529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29,44,76,46],"tags":[],"sp_smart_badges":[],"ppma_author":[70],"class_list":["post-6528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emotions","category-motivation","category-performance","category-well-being"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPay Attention to How High Performers Start the Day - Academy of Management Today<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aom.org\/today\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Daniel Butcher\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Daniel Butcher\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/d1297a59039d9ca7bac9d9f0952e508c\"},\"headline\":\"Pay Attention to How High Performers Start the Day\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-07-08T21:45:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-07-09T15:35:40+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":457,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2025\\\/06\\\/excited-women-at-laptop.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"EMOTIONS\",\"MOTIVATION\",\"PERFORMANCE\",\"WELL-BEING\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.aom.org\\\/today\\\/pay-attention-to-how-high-performers-start-the-day\\\/\",\"name\":\"Pay Attention to How High Performers Start the Day - 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