It is common to hear people use food supplements or energy drinks to stay active during the day. Coffee is one of the most common examples, in fact there are people who claim they can’t wake up if they don’t drink coffee in the morning. Do you think these are the habits to stay incredibly productive?
Is it really necessary to depend on something specific in order to be productive? Other examples go much further, such as the use of cocaine or LSD, in high-stress environments such as Wall Street and Silicon Valley.
However, the world’s largest entrepreneurs have much simpler and smarter ways to save energy and time for maximum productivity.
Also read: How many hours do I need to sleep to function at 100%.
For this reason, the editorial assistant for the Inc.com portal, Guadalupe González, shares four productivity habits that have helped Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates and Elon Musk to become some of the richest and most influential men in the world.
The good thing is that all these tricks are so simple that anyone can put them into practice. Find them below:
Habits to keep you incredibly productive.
1. They never hold meaningless meetings.
In his 1999 book Business @ the Speed of Thought, Bill Gates writes, “Good meetings are the result of good preparation.” He says documents and other data related to the meeting should be emailed so that participants can discuss the information before the meeting. That way, time will be spent discussing the topic, not presenting it.
Also read: How to lead meetings to make better use of time.
Jeff Bezos uses the “two pizza rule” to run effective meetings. He claims that he never hosts a gathering where two pizzas aren’t enough to feed the entire room. He only does them with the necessary people.
As for Elon Musk, a former employee revealed on Quora that Musk “attacks” people who do not participate in meetings, asking them why they attended if they were not going to contribute anything.
The reason is that meetings are more productive when attendees are limited to those who have a purpose for the meeting, either by providing information or implementing a solution.
2. They sleep the hours they need.
The United States loses up to $411 billion in GDP per year due to lack of sleep, according to a 2016 study by the Rand Corporation. Lack of sleep affects your brain’s ability to process information and, in turn, affects your productivity.
Seven to nine hours of sleep a day is recommended for rest, but some sleep specialists, like Dr. Michael Breus, say everyone’s needs are a little different.
Also read: How to get up early if I love to sleep late.
For example, Bill Gates says he needs seven hours, Jeff Bezos sleeps eight, and Elon Musk gets six and a half. Everyone agrees that they need to get enough sleep to be efficient during the work day.
Calculate how many hours of rest your body needs and make sure you stick to them.
3. They exercise.
Exercise offers a productivity boost among many other benefits. Studies have found that aerobic exercise, specifically, helps improve memory and learning skills.
The three businessmen, Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Bill Gates, incorporate exercise into their routines. Bezos and Musk opt for weight lifting and cardio, and Gates spends time on the treadmill, sometimes watching some form of educational content.
Also read: 4 healthy habits to have more productive mornings.
4. They prioritize email.
Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX and Tesla, prides himself on his deft use of email to get things done. “Whenever possible, I try to communicate asynchronously,” he said in an on-screen interview with Mashable. “I’m very good at using email.”
Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos is famous for sending single-question emails to his team, mostly about user complaints received on his public account, [email protected] This practice allows the CEO of Amazon to delegate problems to the appropriate person without having to spend too much time on them.
Bill Gates used three monitors to keep track of his inbox during his days at Microsoft. One screen to display his incoming email, another for the specific email he was reading, and a third in case he needed to view another file.
And remember that if you are really interested in creating your own business, you can purchase our book “How to create a company while working: Discover how to manage your time, manage your money and motivate yourself while creating a company and working for another” , where you will find all the information you need to found your own company, without having to leave your job.
