Five Essential Habits of Highly Productive People

There are twenty-four (24) hours in one day, equating to 1,440 minutes or 86,400 seconds. In theory, it sounds like an ample amount of time to be productive. However, as most business professionals know, time goes go by in the blink of an eye. With a limited amount of hours in each day, how can you ensure you are set up for success and utilizing your time in the most efficient manner? Below are five (5) essential habits of highly productive people. 

Throw Away Your To-Do List. Highly productive people don’t keep a continuously growing “to-do” list. Instead, they schedule everything on their calendar. Studies show that items on a to-do list often aren’t completed. For most of you, this means that these incomplete items will continuously stay on your mind, resulting in additional stress and anxiety. Productive people track everything through their calendar by blocking off chunks of time to complete each task. They utilize their calendar to ensure they remain efficient with their time.

Belief in a Work/Life Balance. Highly productive people understand that the work will always be there and there will always be more work to be done. Highly productive people value a work/life balance. At the end of the day these individuals value family time, exercise and giving back. They incorporate these critical breaks into their daily calendar to ensure they stick to their schedule.

Processing Emails. Highly productive people only process emails a few times a day. They schedule time to process their emails all at once instead of checking every incoming email the minute it hits their inbox. This allows for more productivity throughout the day and, in addition, allows the individual to process their emails quickly and efficiently during their allotted time.

Following the 80/20 Rule. Highly productive people understand that eighty percent (80%) of results come from twenty percent (20%) of activities. These individuals understand which activities drive results, and have learned to focus their time on those specific activities.

Touching Things Only Once. Highly productive people learn to touch assignments, documents, and activities only once. For example, how many of you have opened a bill, set the bill down, only to pick it up to deal with the bill at a later time? Highly successful people have learned to touch tasks, such as this, only once. They look at the bill, take care of payment and then file the paperwork, dealing with it right then and there. This reduces stress and saves time by eliminating the need to re-read or re-evaluate the item again in the future.

For more tips on how to ensure your time is used in the most productive manner, please reference the articles below or call CBS at 785-233-7860. We would be pleased to assist you with your time utilization or with any other HR issues your business or organization may be experiencing.

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/275718

http://www.inc.com/quora/11-smart-habits-of-incredibly-successful-people.html