15 Surprising Things Productive People Do Differently

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It is interesting in spite of all the clicks. Speaking as an INTJ, I concur with most of this and do it. I do check email more than a few times a day though - and I live by to do lists, which I complete. I am just smart enough to never make a to do list I won’t do. So I am careful about what I put on them. I even make squares I X out when I am done. Keep it simple. I just love a completed list. I agree that efficiency and/or success is not about pouring time and sweat into things. Use your brain, control your time. Sleep. Focus.
 
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A lot of these are only possible for people in certain roles.

For example, I have to check my email at least every 15min at work. If I don’t respond to an email within about 30min I could lose my job. “Being home for dinner” and the like is also a privilege of people who get to set their own work schedule.
 
DarkLight said:
A lot of these are only possible for people in certain roles.

For example, I have to check my email at least every 15min at work. If I don’t respond to an email within about 30min I could lose my job. “Being home for dinner” and the like is also a privilege of people who get to set their own work schedule.
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You made me very interested, so I clicked through.

I agree that many of these are out of touch. I have done managment, I have worked in a client-facing industry and I’m a Freelance/WFHM.
  1. This seems like a bid for overscheduling…which is so counter productive…
  2. No duh. Do one thing at a time.
  3. Agree with FC. Calendar lists are just lists.
  4. This comment is just wierd. Why not say “they don’t waste money”
  5. Home for dinner? Well I am home and without me there isn’t a dinner anyway…but like you said HUGE privilege. I was very productive at my managment job, but some days are just 8 to 8. No matter how productive you are.
  6. Keep a notebook-no brainer
  7. Managment job- email checking was infrequent. Client job? You are SO right. Answer immediately, even if just with an ETA of when a full reply would come? Currently? I check every couple hours when no on for “freelance time” so I know if any urgent work comes in. Sometimes it means arranging the day so I can get paid.
  8. Managment job-we needed more meetings. No one ever wanted to meet which lead to painfully long phone and email tag that could have been solved by putting 4 people in the room together. Client job? We had REALLY good meetings. I rarely avoided them because the company did it well. Current job? We have meetings. Like when it’s nap time and I encourage child to meet bed to meet blanket. VERY productive.
  9. I do say “no” a lot in my current role. Because I have a toddler. No is sometimes all I say. In the “real world”…you don’t say no because clients do not like to hear no.
  10. 80/20–no argument
  11. Delegate? HAHAHAHA. As a manager where my job was delegation, I delegated. In my other job, my responsibilities were mine alone. In my current position, I can’t delegate. The dog can’t fold laundry and the toddler cries when I vacuum.
  12. “theme days?” LOLS!!! In the real world, my “theme” was do what I was asked, and do the tasks that need to be done. My current theme is the same every day— “try to keep child alive”, that said we do try to go to the Library once a week.
  13. “Touch things once”–a privileged idea…that means you are able to contact/pay/do whatever it is that needs to be done in the moment. I can’t dispute a bill for a company that I can’t call when I get home late at night.
 
I would, I suppose, be considered “client-facing.” A lot of my job is all about catching things quickly and responding quickly. I answer the phone and emails and react to reports I pull about every 15min.

(15) Sure, but this seems to be just basic health.

(14) Yeah ok, again this is just basic health.

(13) Lots of things have to be sent for followup, or get more information

(12) This assumes that you have that kind of independent control over your schedule.

(11) To who? I have coworkers and I can ask them to do something (and frequently do), but I don’t have reports.

(10) Not really applicable to what I do - the important thing is to get a large number of small tasks done quickly and accurately. I don’t have a choice on what I work on.

(9) I don’t have the authority to do this in most cases. I can only say no if it’s against policy or actually impossible.

(8) See previous - I’m not the scheduler, I show up to meetings when I’m told.

(7) My job depends on fast response time, not checking email ASAP is a big deal. All half-dozen or so boxes.

(6) Well, I use my phone, but meh.

(5) I have an actual shift. I show up for my shift, I go home when I’m not on shift.

(4) Yeah ok, but kind of vague.

(3) Having to drop my plans at work to do something that has to be done right now is common. Scheduled blocks of time wouldn’t work at all.

(2) Again, I have to be aware of everything at once that could potentially be an urgent issue.

(1) And again, this assumes you can plan those minutes and not routinely be reacting.

Honestly, the big thing is this assumes you are in a job where you get to set your own schedule and largely expect to follow your own schedule. Which is not true for a lot of jobs! (And there are advantages too - I have a bunch of stuff that needs to be reacted to right away when it happens, but relatively little long-term stuff, so if nothing’s coming in I’m generally free to amuse myself however, including use of work computers.)
 
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