Growth

Why It’s Important to Form Productivity Habits That Work For You

Compound time is a core concept behind successful business people, and this productivity course can help you make the most of yours.

It can be tremendously healthy to look at the habits of the most successful people in the world when it comes down to modeling our own daily habits. A through-line starts to emerge: What are some of the commonalities that top-performers all share? In what tangible ways can those traits apply to how we live?

The answer might surprise you: invest in yourself by building intellectual capital. How? Simplicity and mindfulness seem to be a common thread, where some of the busiest, wealthiest people in the world take the time to press pause on urgent matters and invest in activities that have a long-term (rather than immediate) payoff. The notion is called compound time: These small, daily investments to grow oneself and encourage a healthy mental state over an extended period ends up yielding a greater return than focusing on completing a seemingly important business matter at the moment.

Here's a famous example of compound time: Warren Buffet, an iconic entrepreneur, has (according to his own estimate) spent 80% of his time just reading and thinking. Despite manning the operations of companies with hundreds of thousands of employees, he's a huge proponent of the ability to think critically — especially in a continually evolving, mostly digital economy. Another example is Jeff Weiner, CEO of LinkedIn, who schedules two hours of uninterrupted thinking every day. Bill Gates famously takes a full week off, twice a year, to reflect deeply without interruption.

The big takeaway: if you're overwhelmed with managing your immediate work deadlines, interpersonal relationships, meetings, and just mundane stuff, the key is to carve out time to build your intellectual capital with a few activities to increase your compound time.

Pick up more life hacks like this with the Ultimate Productivity Bundle for only $19, which includes eight different courses covering everything from communicating with people and learning to speed read, to tips on better managing your time. You'll get a collection of strategies and tools to be more successful, in a sustainable way.

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