Tag: “Habits”

If you are interested in being more productive and you feel it is too hard for you, you want to know the psychological mechanisms by which habits are governed, since your personal productivity depends on them.

We live in a society that rewards speed, even if it means doing things wrong or not enjoying doing them. Let me tell you that speed is very overrated.

I always thought that personal productivity is primarily a matter of habits, and that (lack of) habits are the main reason why most people cannot maintain an acceptable level of personal organization.

You have probably heard of the famous experiment that was conducted a few decades ago in a laboratory at Stanford University: a few children were left alone in a room and were told that they could have a candy at that time or wait until the experimenter came back, in which case they could have two candies. The experiment did not end there, since the social and cognitive skills of these children were tested some years later. The result was that, at least academically, the ones who had delayed instant gratification obtained better scores and were more popular than those who had not.

Dwight D. Eisenhower, thirty-fourth president of the U.S., thought that we should devote attention and time to our activities in accordance with their importance and urgency. He said, rightly, that we are too inclined to focus on the things that are both important and urgent, generating a reactive behavior based on what has to be done right now, instead of focusing on the things that are important and not urgent, which would be the basis of a more strategic behavior based on long-term goals.