18 Habits of Highly Productive People

So, if you know me in any capacity, you most likely see me as that person who is always getting things done. I am the person whose work is often completed early and the one who somehow manages to finish hour-long tasks in 20 minutes. You may see me as a robot or machine because surely no human being could ever work as quickly as I do. Yet, I exist, cranking away at maximum efficiency. How do I do it? I always incorporate these 18 habits in each of my days to increase my productivity in order to become highly efficient:

1/Focus on the most important tasks (MITs) first. Create your to-do list based on the MITs living at the top and focus on them, no matter what.

2/Schedule deep work. Know what you need to devote serious time and mental effort to and block your calendar accordingly.

3/Keep a distraction list to stay focused. Whenever a distracting thought pops up, write it down on the list and get back to work.

4/Use the Eisenhower Matrix to identify long-term priorities. Make a 2X2 square with axes; on one axis, write “Important” and “Not Important;” and on the other, “Urgent” and “Not Urgent.” Organizing your to-do list based on each task's importance and urgency can help you identify time sinks that are not worth it.

5/Use the 80/20 rule. Also called the Pareto Principle, in any pursuit, know that 80% of the results will come from 20% of the efforts.

6/Break tasks into smaller pieces. By breaking large to-dos into smaller to-dos, you are able to set small goals for each task.

7/Take regular breaks. Ideally, you work intensely for a specific amount of time, followed by intentionally not working for a shorter amount of time.

8/Make fewer decisions. Remember…some decisions are important, but most are not.

9/Eliminate inefficient communication. Spend less time on back-and-forth emails by putting more information in your initial and following emails.

10/Find repeatable shortcuts, then look for ways to do those things faster.

11/Learn from successes as well as mistakes. Make efficient processes more efficient.

12/Plan for when things go wrong. Everyone underestimates how long it will take to finish tasks.

13/Work before you get motivated or inspired. Motivation comes AFTER productivity!

14/Do not multitask. People are inherently bad at it…period!

15/Fill the tank. Your energy is as important as your time for productivity.

16/Sharpen the axe. Time spent getting better at tasks saves time on those tasks in the future.

17/Manage your energy (not just time). Ensure that you tackle the most intense tasks while you have the energy to handle them.

18/Get better at saying "NO" because it is a complete sentence. If the ask does not yield a positive ROI for you (i.e. revenue, happiness, peace, etc.), then don't do it.

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