Inside: 10 Significant Things Productive People Absolutely Never Do.

Have you ever worked with someone so productive you marvel at how they can get everything done in a day with such precision while you feel like a scattered mess? I like to think I’m a fairly organized individual yet I still find things slipping through the cracks at times. Highly productive people like Elon Musk fascinate me. As if creating a rechargeable electric car (TESLA) wasn’t enough Elon thought it would be cool to put people in space again and one-day open space travel up to common people.

Musk created Space X and with the help of the US government and NASA recently launched two astronauts successfully into space to the International Space Station. If space travel were to be more affordable one day, instead of wasting a booster rocket each time there was a launch, Space X needed to create a booster rocket that was reusable and landed again after take off.

Losing a booster rocket each time was the equivalent of flying from New York to California and throwing the plane away afterward. A huge waste of money.  Space X did just that and now their booster rockets land on a designated platform in the ocean or on land where they can be easily retrieved and reused. See for yourself

Highly productive people like Elon Musk know how to get things done. Productivity is a skill that’s developed and honed over time like a shiny diamond. The best way I know to improve productivity is to first identify the habits that are interfering with your productivity and then get rid of them!

Here are 10 Significant Things Productive People Absolutely Never Do

Complain

I’d be lying if I didn’t say that complaining once in a while feels good, almost as if you’re relieving some stress. Complaining however is just a temporary fix and doesn’t accomplish anything at all. Instead of complaining highly productive people focus on the problem and solutions.

If you’ve ever seen the movie Apollo 13 you know it’s based on events of this lunar mission and how they overcame an oxygen tank explosion and improvised “on the fly” a way for the crew to safely return to Earth. I’m sure the crew in space and on the ground would have loved to complain but instead, they put their heads together and came up with a solution.

The next time you’re in a situation and see yourself about to complain take time to think about the problem instead and identify the solution.

READ 10 Ways to Complain Less (and Be Happier)

Waste time on social media

Highly productive people don’t waste time on social media. They limit their time spent on social media and some don’t even bother to have an account.

Unless social media is tied into your business and you use it to advertise or communicate with customers, there is no reason you need to be checking it every 15-30 minutes. Once a day should enough to keep up with your friends and family. Do you care that Bob just had the best hamburger of his life?

Use your time more constructively.

Procrastinate

Do you ever procrastinate? Highly productive people never wait until the last minute to get things done. Instead, they plan their day, identify potential problem areas, and begin to accomplish their daily goals immediately. Productive people tackle what they feel are the harder tasks of the day early when they have the most energy to get things done.

Procrastination only leads to stress as you push off deadlines. This leads to disruptions not only for the current day but days to come.

Try to do everything themselves

You can’t do it all! Highly productive people know that they can’t get everything done by themselves, so they surround themselves with good people. Productive people know how to use the talent around them to the best of their abilities and where they are strongest to help accomplish their goals or the team’s goals.

Don’t try to do it all yourself because you can’t!

Work without resting

Everyone needs to rest and recover. Productive people know when to stop and rest. If they don’t they will suffer burnout. That’s not to say that highly productive people don’t fo full throttle all day long but they know when to turn off for the night.

Pace yourself throughout the day and take mini breaks to stay fresh.  In one company I worked for everyone would take 5 minutes now and then to walk outside and take a lap around the building to clear their head. It helped to get some fresh air and allowed you to stretch your legs a bit.

Always say yes

Learn how to say no when it doesn’t fit your objectives. Productive people know when to push back and say no especially when they don’t think they can meet the timeline.  As discussed above they also know when to reach out for support and ask for help.

Strive to be a perfectionist

No one is perfect and nothing you create will ever be perfect. At work sometimes we will pass a document around to have a few people look at it and each time someone will have a change they’d like to make or word that will make a paragraph sound better.

At some point, you have to just say enough is enough and sign off. We can always do better if we want to take even more time but often the time spent isn’t worth the one or two minor tweaks.

Fail to be accountable

Productive people know what the deadline is and know what needs to be done.  They take responsibility for success and they take responsibility for failure. Never overpromise, instead over-deliver.  Always be accountable for what you set out to do.

Rely on their memory

The older you get the harder it is to remember everything. I see my memory having to work harder being in my 50s.  Don’t rely on your brain and memory, instead write things down. Make a to-do list every morning of what you need to accomplish and check things off as you go.

I guarantee if you rely just on your memory something will slip through the cracks as your day begins to get busy.

Wing it

Productive people never wing it, they always have a plan. I work on my plan for the next day before I leave my office at night so I know when I sit down in the morning I can hit the ground running.  Without a plan of action for the day, you will waste precious time and not be as productive as you should be. I promise if you take time to plan your day you will be more productive and may even have time left over at the end of the day to jump ahead to tomorrow or relax a bit.

One of the best things you can do to be a more productive person is to work smarter and not necessarily harder. The most productive people don’t necessarily work longer hours they just use their time more wisely and get more done in shorter periods of time.

These 10 tips to be a more productive person should at least give you a starting point. Don’t try to implement all of these tips at once but instead focus on one or two a week until you feel comfortable and then implement others. What do you do to feel more productive? Comment below.