The other night at work, I saw we had a new magazine out with our magazines.
I’m not humongously into reading articles about the most productive people, ’cause I’m like “eh, a lot of them are similar and I’ll figure it out.”
Actually, what am I talking about? That’s not true. I live for these business kinds of magazines, and I read them all the time – especially if I’m in a magazine heavy place such as an airport.
I was totally drawn to this magazine. I had no choice but to pick it up.
So, I read it. And here were some of the through lines that I took away/found interesting:
Many people talked about limiting unimportant decisions. They had other people decide where to eat. They had very few outfits.
You only have so much brain power, and decision fatigue will eventually set in. So they don’t waste any of their brain or decision making ability on that kind of stuff. And I think that’s great. I actually do feel a little more free and less bogged down when I just know, “this is what I’m eating. This is what I’ll be running today, etc.” So I need to get cooler about pre-making decisions, I think…
Another thing a lot of people said was that they didn’t subscribe to how long things “should” take. A lot of meetings are blocked off for an hour, but they felt they could get everything that meeting needed to be accomplished within 15 minutes. So, they were all about using the time that was actually necessary to complete something instead of just the blocked off time.
I don’t do a lot of meetings, of course. But I still thought it was interesting that multiple people had that to say and I’m sure it could be applicable to many things.
Finally, one thing that basically everybody said was that they all made time to work out. I don’t doubt that for a second. Even the busiest of the busy people need to work out. It helps your blood flow. It helps your brain. I know it helps me immensely to be happier and more focused. And I’m sure it helps most people. You know… science and all that jazz.
One person even said that she tried to have meetings as workouts – she’d go cycling with people or whatever workout the people wanted to do, and could do while holding conversation.
Now, there you go. That’s a way to maximize some time!
One thing that I found interesting about the article was not only the common threads between people – but the differences. The magazine tried to show off that some people rise at 5:30am. Some go to bed then. Everyone can be productive if they just find their thing that works for them.
(Of course, we already knew this, didn’t we? I’m a total believer in the night owl, even though so many other places say you need to get up early. Suck it other magazines! This magazine said I could do whatever I wanted… And obviously, since this is the one I agree with, this is the one which must be right.)