We all know some of those ultra-productive people who get a huge number of things done every day. They make life look easy, as if their days had more hours than everyone else’s. Yet we all have the same number of hours in a day.
As Thomas Edison is said to have put it, time is really the only capital any human being has, and the one thing they can’t afford to lose. Money, health… can come and go, but time, once it’s gone, is gone forever.
To become more productive, look at the habits of those ultra-productive people and make an effort to bring some of their wisdom into your everyday life. Every minute saved adds quality to your wellbeing. These are some of the things highly productive people do differently.
(See: 25 habits of successful people)
1. They know how to say no
They say no, and they mean it. Productive people are very selective about what they commit to and who they commit to.
Once they’ve committed to something or someone, they always follow through. And when they say no, they stick to it to the end, and nothing and no one can change their mind.
For them, no means no: no discussion, no uncertainty. They understand the value of time. Productive people know it’s impossible to accept every request. After all, they’re human too.
2. They don’t buy into multitasking
One image that comes to mind when we think of productive people is someone doing four things at once: on the phone, answering emails, typing up reports and planning a birthday party, all at the same time. That isn’t really a productive person.
Our brains aren’t designed to perform many different cognitive tasks at the same time. If you try to do two things that require concentration and attention at once, neither of them gets done properly or gets the attention it deserves.
This often means you have to go back and redo something because you weren’t giving it your full attention. Multitasking has been shown to reduce efficiency. It’s better to commit to one task, see it through to the end and then start another.
Doing two things at once is like chasing two rabbits: in the end, both of them get away.
3. They prioritise what they consider most important
They don’t have an endless list of emails and phone calls to return. As soon as they receive a message, one of three things happens. It may be important enough to deal with right there and then.
It may be important, but not enough to need their personal attention, so the task can be delegated to someone else. Or the matter isn’t important and can be deleted promptly. Productive people spend part of their time drawing up an action plan.
4. They know how to delegate
We can’t do it all. And even if you can, you shouldn’t if you want to be productive. We often spend the most time on the most trivial things. Many of the things that take up most of our time are precisely the kind of things even a monkey could do.
Highly productive people focus most of their time on what really matters, and look for ways to delegate the rest. Imagine you’re an entrepreneur who has just started out and needs to get out there and find customers. If you spend a couple of hours making spreadsheets or greeting cards for your customers, you’re taking time away from the most productive part of the business: winning customers.
Further reading
Featured image: Peter O'Connor aka anemoneprojectors, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
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