The 7 Essential Elements of Productivity
Element #6: Wisdom

This is the second article in the series: The 7 Essential Elements of Productivity. Read the other articles here.

Owls are famously known for being wise. They have a fierce facial expression, eyes that look deep into your soul, and a keen ability to hunt at night. These stunning creatures have an incredible amount of maturity, focus, and wisdom.

Photo Credit: perensovichk

Wisdom is crucial for being more productive, whether you a nocturnal hunting machine or an ambitious early-riser. Knowing what to do, when to do it, and why you’re doing it at all is foundational for making the most productive decisions when they matter most.

Learning From Past Mistakes

I first decided to be more intentional about my own productivity systems in college. I was in my infancy of creating effective workflows and I was making an enormous number of mistakes.

I bought my first computer when I entered college and I dove into the world of digital calendars. I filled iCal on my PowerMac G5 with every single task and event in my life.

Then (and this is the kicker), at the end of each day I would go back through my calendar and record everything I did, past tense. My calendar became a running record of every activity in my life — every class I took, every homework assignment I worked on, and even every party I went to.

Though in some sense this might sound like a great system, it was an absolute waste of my time. I was spending upwards of one to two hours a day filling out my calendar.

What?!

Yes, some days I would spend hours just filling out what already happened.

Why? Did I need this data for a class? No. For a project? No. For any tangible reason? No.

I created a system, got hooked on it, and then forgot to look up and realize that I created my own productivity prison.

Wisdom tells me now that I was borderline obsessive with my calendar and it backfired in the form of wasted hours, nonsensical recording of data, and a loss of overall productivity.

Learning From Past Successes

After college I fell head first into the world of personal development thanks to a great first boss and a horrible first job.

What I discovered was a world of books, life lessons, and models of success. Essentially, reading personal development books was my form of an apprenticeship.

I was eagerly learning from every successful person I could. I was reading their books, listening to their podcasts, and studying their biographies.

I was learning that they had made different (and better) decisions in their early twenties than I had.

Take Darren Hardy for instance. He is now a multi-millionaire and publisher of SUCCESS Magazine. However, he began his career as a clueless 18-year old in the world of real estate.

What I learned from Darren Hardy was hustle. Not just work-hard-for-something kind of hustle, but focused, strategic, and wickedly productive hustle.

Darren was earning over $100,000 a year by age 19 and over $1 million a year by age 27. He created systems, hired the best people, and cut everything out of his life that wasn’t directly related to his BIG and specific goal of dominating the real estate market.

Learning from past successes doesn’t always have to be your own life story. I obsessively learn from the best people because I know they have stories to tell, lessons to share, and success systems to copy.

This is the pinnacle of elite productivity — adopting the absolute best strategies for yourself from the world’s most impressive people.

Removing the Guesswork From Getting More Done

At its core, making wise decisions is all about knowing which fork in the road to take before you even arrive at the fork.

Wisdom is more than knowledge, it the act of making the best decision because you have the experience and sound judgement to know better. You actively engage your mind, overcoming your weaknesses and tendencies as you lean towards disciplined action and mature choices.

Productivity is just as much an art as a science. You can have the best systems in the world, but knowing how and when to use them is just as important.

It is a dance. Every day you are challenged with what to do next, always asking yourself, “What’s important now?“

Unfortunately, no one else can answer that question for you. However, isn’t it amazing that you have the power at every instant to change the trajectory of your life?

You can set up the systems that remove the guesswork from daily productivity. You can form healthy habits, learn from the experts, and apply new strategies every day.

Knowledge is power and wisdom is the epitome of the best knowledge in action.

If you want to be more productive, tap into your own wisdom and the wisdom of others as often as possible. All the answers you need are out there. All you have to do it find them, use them, and enjoy their results.

Next Week

Next week on the blog I will be sharing the 5th essential element of productivity. Get email updates for the rest of the series.