If you’ve ever wondered what are some habits of productive people, this article is for you.
Many people neglect working on all aspects of their productivity toolset, as a result, they don’t utilize their skills and strengths. They succumb to weaknesses and bad habits. Consequently, they are much less productive than they would like to be. Here are ways to change that.
What Are Some Habits Of Productive People
1. Determine What Needs to Be Done
In our very uncertain world, simply recognizing and writing down what needs to be done can be comforting and soothing. Such a list is not just a “reminder” of pending tasks, it is also a real aid in improving efficiency because it clears our minds. This conclusion was drawn by researchers at Florida State University in 2011, who discovered that writing down tasks to be completed significantly reduces the mental distraction associated with having unfinished business, while also providing the freedom to complete them effectively.
Considering these advantages, having a to-do list, even if written on a napkin, is definitely better than not having one. Productive people, however, take the art of creating such lists to the next level. They know that only continuous creation and updating of an organized list can ensure the optimization of their productivity. This is supported by a study conducted in 2016 by Shamarukh Chowdhury from Canada’s Carleton University. She asked 300 students how they create and manage their to-do lists and how their choices impact productivity and the effectiveness of timely task completion. The conclusions were as follows:
- Those who developed more formalized lists showed a lower tendency to procrastinate compared to those whose to-do lists were more or less random. Those who regularly used their lists and kept them updated were more conscientious than the other students.
It’s high time for you to become experts in creating your to-do lists!
2. Say “No”
You don’t always have to be nice. You might think you’re achieving super productivity by agreeing to additional requests—it causes fewer conflicts than saying no. And it might even make you more popular. However, there is nothing impressive about your to-do list growing rapidly because you can’t say “no.” At some point, you either won’t be able to keep your promises or you may experience burnout. Think carefully before you:
- Agree to finish a report by next Thursday, even though you know the only free time you have is next week.
- Volunteer to lead a project during a meeting, knowing it will be a huge burden for you and your work schedule.
- Agree to work over the weekend to complete budget calculations, even though you have already planned family commitments.
It is much better to do a few things properly than to struggle with stress and fatigue with a long list of tasks. Productive people know this. They have mastered the art of setting boundaries and saying no when circumstances require it.
3. Know When to “Switch Off”
Not stepping out of work mode can have unpleasant consequences for your productivity and quality of life. If you spend every moment thinking about work, making phone calls, responding to emails and messages, it will eventually take a toll on your health.
In 2019, Myers-Briggs conducted a survey of over a thousand participants. It turned out that people who have difficulty forgetting about work struggle with higher levels of job stress, a lack of balance between work and personal life, and an inability to focus on one thing at a time. Among all respondents who admitted they can’t stop working:
- 28 percent declared they can’t mentally switch off.
- 26 percent confirmed that work interferes with their family and personal life.
- 20 percent reported mental exhaustion.
Switching off means letting go and regaining a sense of peace and balance. It allows you to focus on something other than work, shake off professional pressure, and get a good night’s sleep to wake up in the morning with new energy, feeling refreshed and ready to face the next day. The alternative is the slow but inevitable depletion of energy, motivation, positive attitude, and productivity, ultimately leading to burnout.
4. Check if You’re a Lark or an Owl
You can blame your ancestors for whether you’re a lark or an owl. Authors of a study published in 2019 in the journal “Nature Communications” concluded that predispositions related to the circadian rhythm, the natural sleep-wake cycle, and thus the ability to work efficiently at certain times of the day, are hidden in our DNA.
Therefore, each of us has a different energy distribution. Early birds are most productive before lunch when their minds are clearest. Night owls need time to get going. If you feel your peak form in the evening, you are most likely an owl.
Knowing when you feel the greatest surge of activity, energy, and productivity is crucial as it indicates the best time for you to complete most of your work. This is especially true for tasks that require the highest alertness. Unfortunately, many people have to work at hours that don’t allow them to fully spread their wings, such as in different time zones, on night shifts, or according to a flexible schedule.
Forcing your body to be active at times inconsistent with its circadian rhythm can negatively impact productivity and health. A study published in the “Journal of the US National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism” found that disrupting the natural sleep-wake pattern can lead to depression, alcoholism, and mental health problems.
Not everyone is fortunate enough to have a choice in this matter, but the most productive people strive to adhere to their natural circadian rhythm. And if circumstances force them to break it, they make sure to get enough sleep and rest.
5. Accept Your Imperfection
Good news for perfectionists. You have the greatest chances of achieving high productivity, outshining your colleagues, and exceeding client expectations. A comprehensive review of 95 scientific studies conducted in 2018, published in the “Journal of Applied Psychology,” found that perfectionists are generally more engaged, motivated, and willing to work longer than their coworkers.
Since perfectionism is so great, why the belief that you don’t need to be perfect? There are three reasons:
- Perfectionists pay an excessively high price. The authors of the aforementioned study found a strong correlation between perfectionism and higher levels of depression, stress, burnout, anxiety, and tendencies towards workaholism.
- The extra time perfectionists spend on work often has little impact on its quality. They set the bar excessively high, which neither their superiors nor clients expect or appreciate.
- Overall efficiency decreases—as perfectionists spend more time on each task, they often miss deadlines and fail to keep up with other responsibilities on their list.
Researchers argue that if you want to be a perfectionist, be one who strives for excellence rather than one who stays late out of fear of failure. Results from studies on both types of perfectionism, published in the journal “Personality and Individual Differences,” showed that those who work out of fear of failure more frequently experience a drop in productivity and eventually burnout.
6. Start with the Hardest Task
Every morning, when you start working, you choose whether to tackle the easiest tasks and quickly claim success or to begin with the hardest or most important task. Most people, tempted by the good feeling that comes from swiftly completing duties, choose the easiest tasks from their list.
The habit of doing easier tasks first is known as the “completion preference” and isn’t necessarily harmful, but it is often not the most productive choice. A 2019 study by Harvard Business School found that busy doctors in emergency rooms focus first on tasks that can be dealt with quickly, which means patients in the lightest condition. As a result, more seriously ill patients, who require more medical knowledge and time, have to wait longer. The doctors who attend to them are often already tired and not functioning at their best.
The most productive people start each day with the most important and hardest tasks awaiting them. No matter how demanding, tedious, or difficult the task is, they tackle it first. Being fully aware of how they should start each workday also helps them avoid procrastination.
7. Ensure Meeting Efficiency
Most people, when asked about work meetings, would say they are too long, boring, poorly organized, or inefficiently conducted. Studies confirm that many meetings are a waste of time.
- 67% of participants in a survey conducted by the American headhunting firm Korn Ferry in 2019 stated that both direct and virtual meetings take up so much time that they practically prevent them from doing their jobs properly.
- Authors of a study commissioned by the consulting firm Bain & Co. in 2014 and published in the “Harvard Business Review” found that senior managers spend two full working days a week in meetings; moreover, this disruptive, unnecessary habit is becoming more common.
- Professor Steven Rogelberg from the University of North Carolina, who studied meeting effectiveness, stated in the “MIT Sloan Management Review” that only about 50% of all meetings can be considered effective and engaging.
The growing popularity of remote work and virtual meetings brings additional challenges related to low-quality internet connections, which negatively impact the quality of meetings, as well as the habit of participants frequently turning off their cameras, making it harder to establish contact and build rapport.
8. Utilize Your Strengths
Truly productive people work in fields where they can use their strengths instead of forcing themselves to rely on less developed skills. Given a choice, we all prefer to engage in something we are good at and that allows us to draw on our abilities. Who would want to strain to do work where their talents are useless? Extensive research by the American Gallup Institute has shown that this approach helps people achieve better results, is less stressful, and is more engaging and motivating.
Unfortunately, many of us never consider what we are really good at and never find a job where we can benefit from our innate and acquired abilities. On the contrary, we spend years working in professions that require us to develop and use skills that we may not naturally possess.
Here’s an example. I once knew an accountant who constantly made calculation errors. It was only a few years later that she admitted she never felt cut out for finance and accounting, and her true talents lay in other areas, such as interacting with people. She moved to another position in her company and began to achieve great success in customer service, eventually becoming the manager of the entire team. Training new employees, she shares her experiences and encourages younger colleagues to always strive to work in roles that match their strengths and talents.
9. The Power of Repetition and Rituals
We are all shaped by our habits. We feel best in familiar and stable environments, and each of us has our rituals, such as watching the same TV shows, taking coffee breaks together, eating certain meals on specific days of the week, or going for regular weekend walks. Repetition soothes our nerves and helps us feel grounded, giving us a sense of control in an ever-changing world.
You will achieve greater success if you focus on repeating helpful and productive activities, habits, and actions while avoiding those with the opposite effect. A productive person might regularly:
- Get up early in the morning to meditate
- Start each day with physical activity
- Dedicate time each day to “me time” to recharge
- Spend a few minutes reading a book every day
- Take a weekend detox from email and technology
- Say something nice to coworkers every day
- Carefully prepare for each meeting
- Eat healthily every day
Repeating habits that are not particularly challenging and that make you feel good is not a significant challenge, such as starting each day with a glass of healthy juice, avoiding your inbox on weekends, or reading self-help books in the evening. The real challenges begin when it involves activities that require effort, are tedious, and boring. You may have difficulty finding enough discipline and commitment to, for example:
- Take notes after every meeting
- Keep your emails and documents organized
- Update your to-do list every afternoon
Productive people understand that we become what we do. They strive to find the motivation to repeat the right habits and actions, even if it seems time-consuming and uninteresting.
10. Multitasking – Yes or No?
Multitasking can make you feel like you are productive because you think you are efficiently handling multiple tasks simultaneously. In reality, it’s the opposite. Detailed studies have shown that this approach turns out to be extremely unproductive compared to completing tasks one by one. This is because switching between tasks leads to inefficiency, especially when the tasks are complex and varied.
The most famous study on this topic was published in the “Journal of Experimental Psychology.” Its three authors concluded that multitasking can reduce productivity by up to 40%. Their research showed that when switching between unrelated tasks, we first have to “turn off” and then “turn on” different sets of cognitive rules related to how the tasks are completed; such changes are inefficient and time-consuming. Similar conclusions were also reached by other researchers.
- A 2009 study at Stanford University proved that multitaskers become more distracted and find it increasingly difficult to switch between tasks.
- In 2014, researchers at the University of Sussex found that multitasking on multiple devices can even be harmful to brain health and functioning.
However, it’s hard to avoid multitasking even when aware of its inefficiency. In recent years, due to “downsizing” and cost-cutting, we all have more on our plates, and we are expected to achieve better results with fewer resources. This trend has not spared productive people, but although the temptation to multitask is entirely natural, the most successful people are those who can still focus on one task at a time.
I want to thank you for taking the time to read my article about what are some habits of productive people. I sincerely hope its contents have been a good help to you
