Habits Distinguishing Highly Productive Individuals
Productivity Strategies of High-Achievers: Insights from a Podcast Interview Series
Inspired by the viral "You have the same number of hours in the day as Beyoncé" meme, Amantha Imber, the host of the podcast "How I Work," delved into the work habits of high-achieving individuals. The podcast features interviews with successful authors, musicians, entertainers, entrepreneurs, and business leaders to understand their routines, rituals, and productivity hacks that set them apart, even during difficult periods like the pandemic.
Meeting Efficiency: Batching
According to Wharton Professor Adam Grant, one of the reasons meetings reduce productivity is due to the mental preparation required beforehand. Scheduling meetings throughout the day can disrupt focus, making one less productive. To mitigate this issue, Grant recommends bunching meetings together, known as "batching." This strategy concentrates the disruption, allowing for longer uninterrupted work sessions on other days.
Identifying peak productivity times, often in the morning, and scheduling the most demanding tasks and meetings during those periods helps optimize the work schedule. This approach leaves other periods free for focused, undisturbed work, thereby maximizing overall productivity.
Keyboard Shortcuts: Minimizing Mouse Usage
A Brainscape study revealed that excessive mouse usage costs the average person two seconds per minute, translating to eight days wasted annually. Mastering keyboard shortcuts is a powerful way to reclaim that lost time and boost productivity. By prioritizing keyboard shortcuts in system navigation, users can significantly speed up their workflow.
Environmental Manipulation: Encouraging Desired Habits
To improve work habits, Matt Mullenweg, co-founder of WordPress, suggests small environmental tweaks. For example, if a Kindle is closer to one's bed, they are more likely to read; if the phone is closer, they are more likely to check it. These tweaks help manipulate the surroundings to encourage desired behaviors and discourage unwanted ones, such as putting one's phone on airplane mode to focus on work.
These strategies can help individuals become more productive by gaining more time for their priorities and using that time more effectively.
Embracing 'time management' techniques like batching meetings and minimizing mouse usage can aid in 'productivity' gains by reducing disruptions and streamlining workflow. 'Environmental manipulation', such as placing a Kindle near the bed to encourage reading, is a tactic for 'education-and-self-development' and 'personal-growth', contributing to overall productivity and 'career-development'.
