The Highly Productive People I Know Avoid These 7 Habits Like the Plague

Don’t misunderstand the goal and miscalculate the fuel you need to reach your goal.

Does this scenario sound familiar?

You start your day with a coffee, promising to complete three big tasks by the afternoon. As you scroll past your first Instagram reel with a half-eaten bread slice hanging from your mouth, you fail to realize when minutes take up to an hour. Now it’s an afternoon, with the guilt of no work done and sadness.

No, there’s nothing wrong with you.

Social media is the enemy (a slap in the back).

You need to understand that social media is here to live forever. We must prepare ourselves for deep and productive work even if social media persuades us to do otherwise. Every hour wasted is an hour you’ll never retrieve back.

Hence, avoid evil, productive habits that may cause or distract you from your goals. Everyone ultimately reaches their goal, but if your goal is to reach quickly, below are seven habits that productive people I know avoid like the plague.

1. Beginning with no end in mind

Stephen Covey’s book “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” suggests that we must clearly understand the goal before starting.

People in a hurry often misunderstand the goal and miscalculate the fuel they need to complete the work. You waste resources, time, and activities you thought would take you to your end goal.

This is also known as “beginning with no end in mind.” Highly productive people hate this habit and instead focus on finding a powerful reason to begin a project or a task. For them, there’s no wasting time. Highly productive people plan out the manageable steps needed to reach the final destination.

In other words, productive people have all the ingredients to make a cake. Now they only have to put it in the oven and watch it bake.

You must have long-term planning, resources, and strategies to get where you want. Otherwise, distractions and short-term priorities will trouble you.

2. Put first things last

Every one of us has to do these things in life:

• Buy your own property
• Buy a car
• Starting a family

However, we also have to go on vacation, party with friends, and spend time with family. Highly productive people realize that not everything can be done at once.

Everything takes time and age. Right now, focus on things you can control.

Focus on controlling what is within your power instead of fixating on what cannot be changed. There’s a reason you’re 20 — it’s not a shame. Your energy in your twenties can pave the way for success in your sixties. Create a plan and a strategy.

Plan out what things to do first. You can never publish an article without writing it — can you?

Everything takes time. Focus on the first things first principle, not the first things last.

3. Maximize distractions

I studied Media and communications.

Boy, oh boy! It’s a challenging field. You can end up as a journalist, writer, graphic designer, copywriter, animator, reporter, videographer, photographer, and so much more.

Oh yes, also a digital marketing specialist. You can do so many things. But at some point, you have to analyze which path you’re going to choose.

Similarly, in life, you have to decide what to do.

This means finding the “one” in your career, relationships, and dreams. Have a clear goal in mind, and stop getting distracted.

To avoid getting distracted, highly productive people do these kinds of things:

• Journaling: write to get a clear idea
• Posting on Reddit: ask for life advice on Reddit
• Buy time management tools: tools such as Selenium and Postman
• Coffee chat or talk to people: hear others' opinion

You’ll never see a productive person ever distracted — above is why!

4. Take long breaks

A break is a break.

The school would give you a 15-minute break, and you would be happy. Work would give you half an hour’s break, and you were happy.

• What makes you think you can give yourself days and days of break?

The Pomodoro Technique believes a 5–10 minute break is enough to drink water and go to the loo. You can start doing work in the next minute. Highly productive people know that wasting time is not the right thing to do.

Don’t take breaks in the name of exhaustion.

Nobody needs a whole day of a break with 1 hour of work done. You’re better than that. Get up and start doing your work because it’s the only thing you’ll ever do for yourself. Successful people have more income streams and spend their weekends grinding.

They use the following strategy to take short breaks:

• Do the important task in the morning
• Automate repetitive tasks
• Schedule emails

5. Learn to say “yes” every time

Have you ever been in a tough situation where your friend pressures you to attend a party?

Like I always believe:

• A “yes” is a yes
• A “no” is a no
• A “maybe” is a no
• A “I’ll think about it” is a no

If you don’t like something, learn to decline. It’s better to decline than to go to your friend’s party with a low-hanging spirit.

This way, you’ll lose both.

Don’t go against your grain. Learn declining offers because your time is valuable. You don’t want to waste your hours doing something you hate.

For that reason, find good excuses to decline. You don’t want to justify everyone but the closest people around you. I know you can make good excuses — if it’s hard to say, send a text message.

6. Seeing the small picture

My mama said: “Think big. But the only big thing I ever saw was the CN tower.”

Sometimes we don’t know what’s big. Is it 910 meters or 1202 meters? Our knowledge is so low that we don’t know what’s too high to aim for.

Remember, those who truly understand your vision will never mock you. Only people who don’t see the spark in you would laugh at you.

Don’t settle for less.

Think big. Aim for big. Apply the same to your career, education, and yourself. If you think some work or something needs to be corrected, revise it. Revise it a thousand times until the work looks like a diamond, pure with no errors.

I do the same thing with my article.

Meaning if I am giving 1 hour of my time to write an article, I might as well give 20 minutes to re-read it again and again to find mistakes. Polish up! See the big picture!

7. Think win-lose

Stop thinking negatively!

Pilots have a different mindset. According to Simon Sinek, they concentrate on adopting the pilot mentality. Rather than saying, “Don’t hit the obstacles,” pilots are trained to prioritize smooth takeoffs. It’s the same as:

• Don’t make a mistake vs. do it with your heart
• Don’t make a mess vs. keep the table clean

There’s always a positive version of the negative.

Pilots don’t focus on the negative but positive. They want to divert the mind away from obstacles to smooth. Your words can change the definition of your concept.

So, start thinking good, thinking positively.

Don’t go into the negative, as it’s a swamp ready to eat you whole. Think- win-win — think about things you and everyone else could benefit from.

Final thoughts:

Once you know what’s throwing you off the game, it’s very easy to adjust.

The question is: when?

Now you know the problems. Things that productive people do, but you know what?

Stand up and change your lifestyle.

If you’re at a young age, you have hope. People on their deathbeds have hope. You don’t want to die regretting.

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