Top performers don’t just work harder—they work smarter. By Getting Things Done ®
Top performers
don’t just work harder—they
work smarter.By
Getting Things Done®
Career: Independent Insurance Agent
Family: Married. 3 children ages 7, 9, and 12
Concerns: • Delivering impeccable customer service
while running a small business• Catching up on college education funds• Paying off mortgage and car loans while
saving for retirement• Cleaning out the garage• Scheduling and paying for the next family
vacation• Coaching son’s soccer team
Symptoms:• Can’t concentrate• Checked out at home• Unable to recall important commitments• Dropping the ball with clients (and family)• Anxiety, stress, mental and physical
exhaustion
Diagnosis: There’s just not enough time in the day. Is sleep really necessary?
Meet Richard
Career: Just started her first job out of college as a Digital Marketing Specialist
Family: Single, hoping to date
Concerns: • Volunteering for unfamiliar and more
advanced projects in order to qualify for an upcoming promotion
• Run a 10K• Find a serious relationship• Looming student loans• Making rent• Covering repairs on the same car she’s
driven since high school while saving up a down payment for a more reliable vehicle
Symptoms:• Lays awake at night worried she hasn’t
done enough to reach her goals• Second-guessing her actions• Endlessly making to do lists • Anxiety, stress, insomnia, and little energy
left for a social life
Diagnosis: Always busy but rarely productive.
Meet Lindsey
THE PRODUCTIVITY PLAGUERichard and Lindsey are at very different stages of life with very different demands and concerns, and yet, their problem is the same. Both are victims of their failing productivity systems.
If they could master a better productivity system would their lives change? Would their stress decrease? Would they be happier? Would they be more successful?
We wanted to find out.
“The most telling symptoms of the need for a better personal productivity system are not age, organizational status, or income. The most salient sign your system is not serving you is the quality of your life. If stress and distraction are frequent companions, the problem is that your productivity habits have not kept pace with your life’s complexity.” DAVID MAXFIELD
The Value of Top PerformersWe asked 1,594 managers and peers about employees they rate as “tens on a ten-point performance scale.”
We assumed employees rated a ten would be more valuable than average performers but we wanted to measure just how much more valuable they are and what they do that makes them so valuable.
What we discovered is that top performers aren’t just a little bit more valuable. Both managers and peers say that tens are two to three times more valuable than an average employee.
• Leaders estimated that top performers do 61% of total work done in their departments.
• Peers estimated that top performers do 57% of total work.
VALU
E
AVERAGE EMPLOYEE
TOP PERMORMERS
But how do they get it done and at what cost?
So what’s the secret to high productivity
and low stress?
Do tens work harder or smarter than their low-performing peers? About half of managers and peers said they do both.
Tens work harder and smarter.
Do top performers’ work habits add to their stress, or reduce it? 83% of leaders and 77% of peers say that a ten’s work
habits reduce his/her stress.
2. PRODUCTIVITY PRACTICES
1.
COMMUNICATION PRACTICES
EXPERIMENT #1We analyzed 1,300+ comments from managers and peers that described the positive work habits demonstrated by a ten. We analyzed and categorized word phrases and found that work habits fall into two categories:
Top Performers
Ask for help
Not afraid to ask questions
Know who to go to
Know when to ask
Average Performers
Not enough timeLack of attention
No follow through
Lack of focusToo busy
Not organized
They are late
Don’t meet deadlines
Top Performers
Are organized
Good time managementAttention to detailTo do lists
Keep track ofThey block off time on their calendar
Stay focused on
Know how to prioritize
Average Performers
Lack of communication
Slow to respond
I don’t hear
They don’t listen
They complain about
EXPERIMENT #2To learn more about the productivity practices demonstrated by top performers, we tested the methodology from the book, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen. We created scales to measure the five personal productivity practices outlined in the GTD® system to give an overall GTD score. Practices:
Capture—Collect everything that owns a piece of you.
Clarify—Decide what your stuff means to you.
Organize—Park your stuff to make doing easier.
Reflect & Engage—Pause to reflect before you engage.
Renew through Review—Review weekly to get perspective.
EXPERIMENT #2 CONTINUEDMore than 2,000 people took the GTD® Assessment.
437 people had high GTD scores (scores in the top quartile).
471 had low GTD scores (scores in the bottom quartile).
We found:
• Performance Level: Those with high GTD scores had performance levels 68% higher than those with low GTD scores. (p <.001).
• Stress Level: Those with high GTD scores had stress levels 213% lower than those with low GTD scores. (p <.001).
RESULTS: A very small number of personal productivity practices literally change a person’s life.
(Keep reading for even more proof)
GTD® Stress and Productivity Indicators People with HIGH GTD scores are:“I live in a mess—cluttered office, buried desk, disorganized home.” 10 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I chronically reschedule appointments—from work meetings to doctors’ visits.” 10 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I miss deadlines, assignments, taxes, phone bills, etc.” Those with High GTD scores never agree to this
“I have an inbox with too many unread emails.” 17 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I start projects that never get finished, even when others are relying on me.” 55 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I underestimate my current workload, leading me to agree to do more than I can handle.”
8 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I experience things falling through the cracks and I blame my memory.” 21 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I’m not truly present at home, because I think about work and wonder if there are other things I should be worrying about.”
13 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I’m a habitual multi-tasker, constantly hopping from task to task, without reaching closure.”
14 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I often feel anxious. I’m never sure that I haven’t forgotten something.” 21 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I often feel overwhelmed. I start to think of tasks looming over me and that are about to crash.”
18 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
“I often feel inadequate. I disappoint myself and others because I lose track of important commitments.”
88 times less likely to agree than those with low GTD scores
Can we all be tens?Those who identify with Richard and Lindsey can change their life and reduce their stress by improving their communication and practicing a few simple productivity skills:
Capture—Collect everything that owns a piece of you using just a few, easy-to-use capture tools.
Clarify—Decide what your stuff means to you. Clarify the very next action to take, who should take it, and when it needs to be done.
Organize—Only use calendars for time-specific and day-specific actions and information; group tasks by context; and keep an active list of project outcomes and associated actions.
Reflect & Engage—Pause to reflect before you engage. Check your calendar first then next actions lists and then choose your next action based on your context (location and resources), time available, energy available, and priority.
Renew through Review—Review weekly and get perspective. Keep a sacred, non-negotiable meeting with yourself every week to catch up, get current, and align with your priorities.
SUMMARY
Top performers are more valuable than we generally realize. Their managers and peers rate them at two to three times more valuable than average employees and say they account for well over half the work done by their teams. These top performers share two sets of best practices: Communication and Task Behaviors. The five task behaviors that make the most impact include Capturing, Clarifying, Organizing, Reflecting & Engaging, and Renewing through Review.
“If you don’t pay appropriate attention to what has your attention, it
will take more of your attention than it deserves.”
About Getting Things Done® Training. VitalSmarts’ Getting Things Done® Training is evolved from the original work of David Allen. Combining decades of David’s research with VitalSmarts’ powerful and proven instructional design, Getting Things Done® Training brings practical productivity skills to life for the modern learner—yielding improved individual effectiveness, project efficiency, meaningful productivity, team innovation, and relationships.
To learn more about bringing GTD® to your organization visit vitalsmarts.com/gtdtraining or call us at 1-800-449-5989.
David Allen, Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity