Response Magic 
11 Things Ultra-Productive
People Do Differently
By: Travis Bradberry
When it comes to
productivity, we all face the same challenge—there are only 24 hours in a day.
Yet some people seem to
have twice the time; they have an uncanny ability to get things done.
Even when juggling
multiple projects, they reach their goals without fail.
Time is
really the only capital that any human being has, and the only thing he can’t
afford to lose. —Thomas Edison
It feels incredible when
you leave the office after an ultra-productive day.
With the right approach,
you can make this happen every day.
You don’t need to work
longer or even do more—you just need to work smarter.
Try these 11 productivity hacks that
ultra-productive people rely on:
1. They Never Touch Things Twice
Productive people never
put anything in a holding pattern, because touching things twice is a huge
time-waster.
Don’t save an email or a
phone call to deal with later.
As soon as something gets
your attention you should act on it, delegate it or delete it.
2. They Get Ready for Tomorrow Before They Leave the Office
Productive people end each
day by preparing for the next.
This practice accomplishes
two things: it helps you solidify what you’ve accomplished today, and it
ensures you’ll have a productive tomorrow.
It only takes a few
minutes and it’s a great way to end your workday.
3. They Eat Frogs
“Eating a frog” is the
best antidote for procrastination, and ultra-productive people start each
morning with this tasty treat.
In other words, they do
the least appetizing, most dreaded item on their to-do list before they do
anything else.
After that, they’re freed
up to tackle the stuff that excites and inspires them.
4. They Fight The Tyranny Of The Urgent
The tyranny of the urgent refers to the
tendency of little things that have to be done right now to get in the way of
what really matters.
This creates a huge
problem as urgent actions often have little impact.
If you succumb to the
tyranny of the urgent, you can find yourself going days, or even weeks, without
touching the important stuff.
Productive people are good
at spotting when putting out fires is getting in the way of their performance,
and they’re willing to ignore or delegate the things that get in the way of
real forward momentum.
5. They Stick to the Schedule During Meetings
Meetings are the biggest
time waster there is.
Ultra-productive people
know that a meeting will drag on forever if they let it, so they inform
everyone at the onset that they’ll stick to the intended schedule.
This sets a limit that
motivates everyone to be more focused and efficient.
6. They Say No
No is a powerful word that ultra-productive people are
not afraid to wield.
When it’s time to say no,
they avoid phrases such as I don’t think I can or I’m not certain.
Saying no to a new
commitment honors your existing commitments and gives you the opportunity to
successfully fulfill them.
Research conducted at the
University of California in San Francisco shows that the more difficulty that
you have saying no, the more likely you are to experience stress, burnout, and
even depression.
Learn to use no, and it
will lift your mood, as well as your productivity.
7. They Only Check E-mail At Designated Times
Ultra-productive people
don’t allow e-mail to be a constant interruption.
In addition to checking
e-mail on a schedule, they take advantage of features that prioritize messages
by sender.
They set alerts for their
most important vendors and their best customers, and they save the rest until
they reach a stopping point.
Some people even set up an
autoresponder that lets senders know when they’ll be checking their e-mail
again.
8. They Don’t Multitask
Ultra-productive
people know that multitasking is a real productivity killer.
Research
conducted at Stanford
University confirms
that multitasking is less productive than doing a single thing at a time.
The
researchers found that people who are regularly bombarded with several streams
of electronic information cannot pay attention, recall information or switch
from one job to another as well as those who complete one task at a time.
But what
if some people have a special gift for multitasking?
The
Stanford researchers compared groups of people based on their tendency to
multitask and their belief that it helps their performance.
They
found that heavy multitaskers—those who multitask a lot and feel that it boosts
their performance—were actually worse at multitasking than those who like to do a single thing at a
time.
The
frequent multitaskers performed worse because they had more trouble organizing
their thoughts and filtering out irrelevant information, and they were slower at switching from one task to another. Ouch
Multitasking reduces your efficiency
and performance because your brain can only focus on one thing at a time.
When you try to do two
things at once, your brain lacks the capacity to perform both tasks
successfully.
9. They Go off The Grid
Don’t be afraid to go off
grid when you need to.
Give one trusted person a
number to call in case of emergency, and let that person be your filter.
Everything has to go
through them, and anything they don’t clear has to wait.
This strategy is a
bulletproof way to complete high-priority projects.
10. They Delegate
Ultra-productive people
accept the fact that they’re not the only smart, talented person in their
organization.
They trust people to do
their jobs so that they can focus on their own.
11. They Put Technology to Work for Them
Technology catches a lot
of flak for being a distraction, but it can also help you focus.
Ultra-productive people
put technology to work for them.
Beyond setting up filters
in their email accounts so that messages are sorted and prioritized as they
come in, they use apps like IFTTT, which sets up contingencies
on your smart phone and alerts you when something important happens.
This way, when your stock
hits a certain price or you have an email from your best customer, you’ll know
it.
There’s no need to be
constantly checking your phone for status updates.
Bringing It All Together
We’re all searching for
ways to be more efficient and productive.
I hope these strategies
help you to find that extra edge.
What productivity hacks do
you rely on?
Please share your thoughts in the comments section below as I
learn just as much from you as you do from me.
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