Kilian spends most of
his life in the mountains. He will run up and down Everest next year. He has
already run up and down Kilimanjaro, Aconcagua, Montblanc and Cervino (setting
the record for the fastest ascent on each). He says that he knows his
destination, but is often doubtful about the exact path – he is very aware of
surroundings, of changes in the weather, of loose rocks. He is constantly
adjusting his path.
He told me that a few
times a year he arrives into the city of Barcelona in his campervan. He parks.
He gets out. He sees people walking confidently up and down the street.
Everyone is walking with such confidence. They look so sure in their intention.
They are sure of their steps… but they have no idea where they are going.
This is one of the
differences between busy people and productive people. Read on to find out what
this difference is and to get to know 10 more differences.
1.
Busy people want to look like they have a mission. Productive people have a
mission for their lives.
Busy people hide their
doubt about the destination of their lives by acting confident in their little
steps.
Productive people allow
others to see the doubt in their little steps because they are clear on the
destination.
2.
Busy people have many priorities. Productive people have few priorities
Nobody is ever too
busy, if they care they will make time. Life is a question of priorities. If
you have 3 priorities, you have priorities. If you have 25 priorities, you have
a mess.
The pareto priniciple
is that 80% of your desired results come from 20% of your activity. Henry Ford
built a fortune not by building better cars, but by building a better system
for making cars. Busy people try to make better cars, productive people develop
better systems for making cars.
3.
Busy people say yes quickly. Productive people say yes slowly
Warren Buffet’s definition of integrity is: “You say no to most things”.
If you don’t say “no”
to most things, you are diving your life up into millions of little pieces
spread out amongst other people’s priorities. Integrity is that your values are
clear and that your time is going to serve those values.
4.
Busy people focus on action. Productive people focus on clarity before action
To focus on the top 20%
of activities, you must gain clarity about what those activities are for
yourself. The greatest resource you will ever have to guide you to live a good
life is your own personal experience – if well documented. Sadly, most people
only document their life in facebook status updates. Keep a diary and take 5
minutes every day to reflect on the past day, on what worked, on what didn’t
work; and some time on what inspires you.
5.
Busy people keep all doors open. Productive people close doors
As a young person it is
good to open options. It is good to want to travel, to learn languages, to
climb mountains, to go to university, to work in tech, to live in another
country. However, there comes a point in life where one must let go of most
options and focus. If my goal this year is to learn spanish – I will speak
spanish at the end of the year. If my goal this year is to speak spanish, earn
30% more, travel to 10 countries, get fit, find a girlfriend, go to all the
concerts… I will not speak spanish at the end of this year.
6.
Busy people talk about how busy they are. Productive people let their results
do the talking
Stephen King says: “A writer is a producer of words. Produce words: you are a writer.
Don’t produce words: you are not a writer”.
It is a clear binary
thing. Talking about writing is not writing. Published authors don’t talk about
their next book – they are focussed on producing it. I have grown to have less
and less interest in what people tell me that they are going to do – I ask them
what they have already done. Past performance is the only good indicator of
future performance.
Feeling productive is
not the same as being productive. This is important. I can feel productive
while I’m playing minecraft. I can feel unproductive while I’m producing an
excellent blog post that will help others take better actions.
7.
Busy people talk about how little time they have. Productive people make time
for what is important
Any time we spend on
excuses is time not spent on creation. If you allow yourself to practice
excuses, you will get better and better at excuses. Productive people don’t use
time as an excuse. An action either supports their highest values and mission,
or it does not. If it does not, they don’t do it – even if they have a whole
day off.
There is an Irish
saying: “It is better to do something
than nothing”.
This is a lie! It is
better to do nothing than to do an action that doesn’t connect with your highest
values. Sit still.
8.
Busy people multitask. Productive people focus
Productive
people know about focus.
Do you know about the
Pomodoro technique? It is brutal, but it is effective. Identify a task to be
done (for instance, write this blog post). Set a timer to 20 minutes. Work on
the task until the time sounds. Any distraction (I must check email, I must get
some water, I must go to the bathroom) and you reset the timer to 20. How many pomodoros can you complete in
a day?
9.
Busy people respond quickly to emails. Productive people take their time
Email is a handy list
of priorities. The problem: they are other people’s priorities, not yours. If
you respond to every email, you are dividing up your life into a thousand tiny
bits that serve other people’s priorities.
There are 3 choices
when you first review your email inbox: Delete, Do, Defer. This is not a post
on email management, here are a few on managing email overload from Gigaom,
Harvard Business Review, Entrepreneur.
10.
Busy people want other people to be busy. Productive people want others to be
effective
Busy managers measure
hours of activity, productive managers measure output. Busy managers are
frustrated by others looking relaxed, looking like they have time, looking like
they are enjoying their work. Productive managers love seeing others enjoy
their work, love creating an environment in which others can excel.
Busy people are
frustrated. They want to be valued for their effort, not for their results.
There is a Hindu saying: “We
have a right to our labour, not to the fruits of our labour”.
We have a right to
enjoy being excellent at our work, not a right to enjoy the car, the house, the
money that comes from doing good work. Productivity is about valuing the
journey towards excellence, not any moment of activity.
11.
Busy people talk about how they will change. Productive people are making those
changes.
Kilian Jornet doesn’t
spend much time talking about what he will do. He talks about what he has done,
what he has learnt, what inspires him.
Spend less time talking
about what you will do and dedicate that time to creating the first step. What
can you do now that requires the approval of nobody else? What can you do with
the resources, knowledge and support that you have now? Do that. It is amazing
how the universe rewards the person who stops talking and begins.
We are born with
incredible potential. At the age of 20, the best compliment that can be paid is
that you have a lot of potential. At the age of 30, it is still ok. At 40, you
have a lot of potential is becoming an insult. At 60, telling someone that they
have a lot of potential is probably the cruelest insult that can be made about
their life.
Don’t let your
potential go to waste. Create something amazing. This is its own reward.
No comments:
Post a Comment