There are people so productive that when they talk to you about everything they are capable of doing in a single day, you do not get the bills, so there are only three options left: either they have the gift of ubiquity, or their days have more hours than yours or are a bit ghosts.
In fact, some have a capacity to manage their time outside of the ordinary that allows them to cover more activities than the rest of the mortals. The writer and collaborator of Forbes US Kevin Kruse has interviewed more than 200 ultra-productive people (including seven billionaires, thirteen Olympic athletes, twenty students with an average of 10 and hundreds of successful entrepreneurs) to ask them a single and simple question: Is the number one secret of your productivity? After analyzing all the answers, Kruse has condensed them into 15 ideas.
Secret number 1: think in minutes, not in hours
Most people section our schedule in hours and half hours. The truly productive know that every day has 1440 minutes and that each and every one of them counts. As they say, imagine that every day they give you 1440 euros to spend on whatever you want; Yes, those that do not spend will disappear at the end of the day. Well, the same thing happens with the minutes: money recovers, time does not.
Secret number 2: focus on just one thing
Hyper-productive people know how to recognize their "Most Important Task" and work on it one or two hours each morning, without interruptions. You have to invest the first part of the day working on our number one priority.
Secret number 3: do not use a list of things to do
Trash your list of things to do and buy yourself an agenda or a calendar. According to studies, 41% of the things that we include in this type of list never came to be done, and all those unfulfilled tasks only generate stress and insomnia. It is best to use a calendar in which to structure your day in blocks of 15 minutes.
Secret number 4: fight against postponement traveling in time
You can not trust your future "I", so it's better not to deceive yourself: if you buy that expensive elliptical for your house, probably in six months you have not touched it more than a couple of times; If you fill the vegetable fridge to eat healthy all week, probably on Sunday you will be throwing away a large part because it is already gone. Productive people know how to anticipate their future self-sabotages with realism, and try to find solutions.
Secret number 5: they are always at home for dinner
There is always something else to do, something else that should be done, something else that could have been done. But productive people know that not everything in life is work, that's why they distribute their 1440 minutes in each of the important areas: work, but also family, exercise and hobbies.
Secret number 6: use a notebook
Billionaire Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, has said on more than one occasion that he could not have built his empire without a simple notebook that he carries with him wherever he goes. According to him "this is a lesson that is worth a million dollars and that they do not teach in business schools. Write it all down. "
Secret number 7: check your inbox a few times a day
Really productive people are not constantly refreshing their email, nor answering every vibration or sound that their mobile phone emits. Instead, they schedule certain times to check your inbox quickly.
Secret number 8: avoid meetings by all means
Meetings are usually true murderers of time: they start late, they gather the wrong people, they wander without reaching the central issue and they prolong hours and hours. Productive people avoid having meetings every day and, without being essential, they ensure that they do not go beyond what is strictly necessary.
Secret number 9: they say "no" to almost everything
Warren Buffett once said: "The difference between successful people and very successful people is that the latter say no to almost everything." If something is not a resounding and uppercase YES, then it must be a no. Remember: you only have 1440 minutes. Do not waste them unnecessarily.
Secret number 10: follow the formula 80/20
Known as the Pareto Principle, in most cases 80% of the results come from only 20% of the activities. Productive people know what activities lead to the best results, and they focus on them ignoring the rest.
Secret number 11: they delegate practically everything
Productive people do not ask "how can I do this task?" But "in what way can this task be done?" To dispense with the "I" as much as possible is what productive people do, since it is impossible to be everywhere doing everything at the same time.
Secret number 12: create "theme days"
For example, Monday is the day of the meetings and on Friday the day of administrative matters to take stock and prepare the following week. Group your work to maximize your efficiency and effectiveness. Secret number 13: touch things once. How many times have you started to write an email, then save it in the drafts folder and continue later? Productive people follow the rule of touching things only once. If it is something that will occupy five or ten minutes, they leave it done at that moment, without postponing it for later. This reduces stress because they can eliminate it from your mind, and is more effective from the point of view of time because you will not have to waste minutes to reread and evaluate it again. Secret number 14: are constant in your morning routine One of the things What most caught Kruse's attention while doing these interviews was how many of the 200 people wanted to share with him their morning routine as something really important: a good breakfast, stretching, some exercise, reading the newspaper ... Secret number 15: the Energy is everything It is impossible for the day to have more than 1440 minutes, but you can increase your energy, which will increase your attention, your ability to make decisions and, above all, your productivity. Highly productive people do not skip meals, sleep hours or breaks to get more, more and more. Instead, they see food as gasoline, sleep as recovery and breaks as necessary for the sprints of work.