Information, entertainment, and messages reach us through different channels and make us lose focus. When we lose it, it takes us too long to recover “the thread. Dr. Sahar Yousef and Dr. Michael Gervais address the 5 fundamental skills of highly productive people who can block out distractions. In today’s article we address these 5 characteristics of the productive elite.
Dr.
Sahar Yousef
Dr. Michael Gervais, cognitive neuroscientist and professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley, and Dr.
Michael Gervais
, a high performance psychologist whose clients include Olympic record holders, internationally acclaimed musicians, and Fortune 50 CEOs, in an interview for the Asana Blog, addressed the 5 fundamental skills for highly productive people. By becoming aware of these you can become part of the
production elite
.
According to the study
Anatomy of Work, 2021
, workers “jump” on average between 10 applications, 25 times a day, damaging attention and productivity! What’s more, when a worker is distracted takes an
average of 25 minutes
to refocus.
Besides being alarming, this data imposes added challenges to both the organizations, namely to their management outside, and to the employees who will end up feeling lost and overwhelmed. After all, with so many applications, channels, and information, how is it that some manage to stay focused and accomplish goals and others get lost along the way?
5 Capabilities of the Productive Elite
A resiliency – the main rational capacity of productivity, which is present in the individuals who are part of the productive elite. These people have learned tools that allow them to motivate themselves, generating a driving force that helps them deal with difficulties.
A agility – adapting to the unforeseen, especially in high stress environments, is another productivity skill common to those who achieve and exceed goals.
A disciplined – commitment and compromise are fundamental in productive people.
A imagination – Looking ahead has a fundamental power for controlling the mind and increasing productivity. If before executing the action we first think about it and how we are going to execute it, we save time and resources, making us more productive.
“High performing people can imagine what their future will look like.” – Dr. Michael Gervais
The Focus – Our brain has a high capacity to focus, but not to multitask, as Dr. Dr. Kellogg explains. Sahar Youseff: “When I say that multitasking is a myth, I am referring to the fact that the human brain is, in fact, a focusing machine. We have a certain cognitive capacity and a certain amount of attention. It’s a precious resource, because it’s finite.”
Adopt Productive Capabilities
If you haven’t noticed, there is a common denominator to all these 5 characteristics – resilience, agility, discipline, imagination and focus – which is that they are not innate, but rather unlearned and trained. If up to now you have used the excuse that you are not productive because you were not born that way, well, nobody is born that way, so you will have to come up with another excuse!
The big secret to increasing productivity is to be able to reorganize our capacity for awarenessthat is, to become aware:
- from where you are;
- of what surrounds him;
- where you want to go;
- how you will do it.
So, increasing the state of awareness of where you are and where you are going is central, and this can be trained! Start by organizing your outer world so that you can be in the present moment more often and experience the potential you are missing…
We are suspects, but
Asana
is one of the main tools that allows you this organization.
Talk to us!