Having close access to ultra-successful people can yield some pretty incredible information about who they really are, what makes them tick, and, most importantly, what makes them so successful and productive.
“Whenever you see a successful person, you only see the public glories, never the private sacrifices to reach them.” –Vaibhav Shah
Kevin Kruse is one such person. He recently interviewed over 200 ultra-successful people, including 7 billionaires, 13 Olympians, and a host of accomplished entrepreneurs. One of his most revealing sources of information came from their answers to a simple open-ended question:
“What is your number one secret to productivity?”
In analyzing their responses, Kruse coded the answers to yield some fascinating suggestions. What follows are some of my favorites from Kevin’s findings.
Real short-term focus
Most people default to hour and half-hour blocks on their calendar; highly successful people know that there are 1,440 minutes in every day and that there is nothing more valuable than time. Money can be lost and made again, but time spent can never be reclaimed. As legendary Olympic gymnast Shannon Miller told Kevin, “To this day, I keep a schedule that is almost minute by minute.” You must master your minutes to master your life.
Singular focus
Ultra-productive people know what their “Most Important Task” is and work on it for one to two hours each morning, without interruptions. What task will have the biggest impact on reaching your goals? What accomplishment will get you promoted at work? That’s what you should dedicate your mornings to every day.
No action to-do lists
Throw away your to-do list; instead, schedule everything on your calendar. It turns out that only 41 percent of items on to-do lists ever get done. All those undone items lead to stress and insomnia because of the Zeigarnik effect, which, in essence, means that uncompleted tasks will stay on your mind until you finish them. Highly productive people put everything on their calendars and then work and live by that calendar.
Think time travel to overcome procrastination
Your future self can’t be trusted. That’s because we are time inconsistent. We buy veggies today because we think we’ll eat healthy salads all week; then we throw out green rotting mush in the future. Successful people figure out what they can do now to make certain their future selves will do the right thing. Anticipate how you will self-sabotage in the future, and come up with a solution today to defeat your future self.
Home for dinner
Kevin first learned this one from Intel’s Andy Grove, who said, “There is always more to be done, more that should be done, always more than can be done.” Highly successful people know what they value in life. Yes, work, but also what else they value. There is no right answer, but for many, these other values include family time, exercise, and giving back.
They consciously allocate their 1,440 minutes a day to each area they value (i.e., they put them on their calendar), and then they stick to that schedule.
Always use notebook
Richard Branson has said on more than one occasion that he wouldn’t have been able to build Virgin without a simple notebook, which he takes with him wherever he goes. In one interview, Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis said, “Always carry a notebook.
Write everything down… That is a million-dollar lesson they don’t teach you in business school!” Ultra-productive people free their minds by writing everything down as the thoughts come to them.
Read e-mails a few times/perday
Ultra-productive people don’t “check” their e-mail throughout the day. They don’t respond to each vibration or ding to see who has intruded into their inbox. Instead, like everything else, they schedule a time to process their e-mails quickly and efficiently.
For some, that’s only once a day; for others, it’s morning, noon, and night.
Avoid meetings at all costs
When Kevin asked Mark Cuban to give his best productivity advice, he quickly responded, “Never take meetings unless someone is writing a check.” Meetings are notorious time killers. They start late, have the wrong people in them, meander around their topics, and run long.
You should get out of meetings whenever you can and hold fewer of them yourself. If you do run a meeting, keep it short and to the point.
Frequently say “no”
Billionaire Warren Buffet once said, “The difference between successful people and very successful people is that very successful people say ‘no’ to almost everything.” And James Altucher colorfully gave Kevin this tip: “If something is not a ‘Hell Yeah!’ then it’s a no.”
Remember, you only have 1,440 minutes in a day. Don’t give them away easily.
Follow the 80/20 rule
Known as the Pareto Principle, in most cases, 80 percent of results come from only 20 percent of activities. Ultra-productive people know which activities drive the greatest results. Focus on those and ignore the rest.
Delegate almost everything
Ultra-productive people don’t ask, “How can I do this task?” Instead, they ask, “How can this task get done?” They take the I out of it as much as possible. Ultra-productive people don’t have control issues, and they are not micro-managers. In many cases, good enough is, well, good enough.
Action items only once
How many times have you opened a piece of regular mail — a bill perhaps — and then put it down, only to deal with it again later? How often do you read an e-mail and then close it and leave it in your inbox to deal with later? Highly successful people try to “touch it once.”
If it takes less than five or ten minutes — whatever it is — they deal with it right then and there. It reduces stress since it won’t be in the back of their minds, and it is more efficient since they won’t have to re-read or re-evaluate the item again in the future.
Have a consistent morning routine
Kevin’s single greatest surprise while interviewing over 200 highly successful people was how many of them wanted to share their morning ritual with him.
While he heard about a wide variety of habits, most nurtured their bodies in the morning with water, a healthy breakfast, and light exercise, and they nurtured their minds with meditation or prayer, inspirational reading, or journaling.
Energy is all there is
You can’t make more minutes in the day, but you can increase your energy to increase your attention, focus, and productivity. Highly successful people don’t skip meals, sleep, or breaks in the pursuit of more, more, more. Instead, they view food as fuel, sleep as recovery, and breaks as opportunities to recharge in order to get even more done.
The bottom line
You might not be an entrepreneur, an Olympian, or a billionaire (or even want to be), but their secrets just might help you to get more done in less time and assist you to stop feeling so overworked and overwhelmed.
I like to study very successful people to learn from them. One thing I look for is how they add simplicity to their lives. One person I have studied is Albert Einstein. Here is what he taught me about a simple life:
When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.
Einstein had a very good way to make people laugh. To him, it was a serious business, indeed. He made people think while making them smile with almost all of his work.
My lesson learned is to not take myself so seriously. And laugh often.
Keep pushing
You have to learn the rules of the game. And then you have to play better than anyone else.
Keep pushing
Einstein was often frustrated with the state of his times and felt that the world would require a substantially new manner of thinking to survive. But that did not mean he was without hope. He knew the rules of the game as much as the next guy and an important rule was always to keep pushing.
My lesson learned is to keep going despite indifference, and even when I feel discouraged with my work.
A simple life
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
A focus on simplicity was one of Einstein’s main tenets and though his skill in physics was renowned, he believed everything that can be counted did not necessarily count and that everything that counts cannot necessarily be counted.
My lesson learned is to always think and live as simply as possible with a balance in life.
Stand up for your beliefs
The world is a dangerous place to live; not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.
Albert felt that the world was dangerous not because of evil people but because of people who recognize the evil, yet do nothing about it. His characterization of the age was that world leaders had developed perfection of means yet had a significant confusion of ends.
My lesson learned is to be passionate about helping others and sharing the light.
Never quit
Try not to become a man of success, but rather try to become a man of value.
Einstein believed in being a giver, as he felt only a life lived for others was a life worthwhile. His characterization of the age was that world leaders had developed perfection of means yet had a significant confusion of ends. He felt that you never failed if you never quit.
My lesson learned is to always share more than you receive and never give up.
Tell your story
I must be willing to give up what I am in order to become what I will be.
Einstein’s view of a person’s life was that the true sign of intelligence was not knowledge but imagination and he believed that the only source of knowledge was experienced. He loved telling stories to influence.
My lesson learned is to practice curiosity and imagination as often as possible and learn continuously.
I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious.
While having a strong will, Einstein was very humble and attributed his talent to his passionate curiosity and imagination. He felt both were more important than knowledge.
My lesson learned is to always tamp down on my ego and be as humble as possible.
Sense of humor
We all know that light travels faster than sound. That’s why certain people appear bright until you hear them speak.
Einstein often stated that his secret to creativity was knowing how to hide his sources. He felt that the difference between stupidity and genius was that genius had its limits. Einstein liked to say that only 2 things were infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and he wasn’t sure about the former.
Live your passion
Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.
Einstein was a very observant person and noted that as he got more and more famous, the more and more stupid he also became. That, he said, was a very common phenomenon. But he loved to share his passions.
My lesson learned is to wear your enthusiasm and passion everywhere.
There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.
Einstein didn’t think he was that smart, it’s just that he had the skill of persistence to stay with problems longer. He always went all-in on everything he did.
He maintained a strong belief in the necessity of eliminating biases to be able to look for what is and not for what they should be. Always stated that problems required a new level of consciousness beyond the one that created the problem … he was a big proponent of change.
My lesson learned is to constantly look for ways to adapt to the changes going on and always go all in without fear of failure.
Never stop questioning
The important thing is not to stop questioning. Curiosity has its own reason for existing.
His thought was felt that imagination was more valuable than logic, logic could get you from A to B, but imagination could take you everywhere. He was an early believer in trying many new things and not fearing mistakes and felt that someone who never made a mistake never tried new things. His view was any intelligent fool could make things bigger and more complex, but the genius and courage were in heading in the opposite direction.
My lesson learned is to try as many new things as possible in all facets of life.
Keen problem-solving skills
A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.
Einstein believed that if he was given 20 hours to solve a problem, he would spend 18 hours on understanding the problem and 2 hours on the solution.
My lesson learned is to focus on problem understanding well before trying to solve it. That is one of my favorite lessons from this thinker.
