If you really want to be productive (instead of just read about it and talk about it), you’ll need to change. By thinking differently. By doing things differently. And by changing your life in subtle but powerful ways, like these 10 things productive people do differently.
5 Habits of Productive People
They quit caring about what other people think of their decisions and actions.
- Productive people are the ones doing, changing, moving, and shaking the world in ways that will change the definition of cool, so let go of your concern for the opinion of your group, your peers, your buddies, your trendsetters.
They see work differently than you do
Productive people understand that work – whatever it is, whatever it looks like – is a privilege. It’s your right.
- Your ability to work is your ability to be something, do something, and change your life the way you want.
They spend less time planning than you think
Productive people know that a plan is a starting point.
- A good plan is more like a compass than a roadmap. It’s helpful but it’s not a guide. Life changes along the way. A plan is just enough time to put together a decent plan and give a direction for the goal.
Risk is inevitable
Be proactive and choose the risks you’re willing to take
- If you are alive, you’re going to be taking risks – you might as well be the one who decides what they are
- Nothing you do can ever take the risk out of life.
Choose to do less but do what matters
Productivity is about saying no to the endless list of things that could be done.
- Tackling a few things, the things that are high priorities, and focus their time and energy on getting that stuff done.
Productive people don’t try to make everyone happy
They quit trying to make everybody happy and instead let their friends and family make their own happiness while they do what they need to do
- This allows them to spend time together without any weird, codependent factors messing things up
Productive people don’t try to cheat or skip work
They simply do the work.
- Systems, organization, workspace and workflow, help, and overall simplification don’t replace the part of life where you simply buckle down and do the hard work.
Spend time learning before you start doing
Productive people know that knowledge is power
Choose and commit to a few things at a time
If your powers are divided between many things, you will not be able to accomplish much of anything
- Choose a few areas in your life that matter the most to you, commit to doing your best at those even if that means letting go of other things
Prioritization
Commit to a few well-defined priorities
- Let those areas define your priorities, and let the rest of life go to the non-priority side
- High priorities always win when there’s a choice to make: choose between something that is high priority and something that isn’t
