Three habits for success

Three habits — or abilities — I wish I was taught in school.

The first one is about the importance of focus for productivity. I just stumbled upon the excellent book Deep Work by Cal Newport. In the description of the book, Deep Work is described as follows:

Deep work is the ability to focus without distraction on a cognitively demanding task. It’s a skill that allows you to quickly master complicated information and produce better results in less time. Deep work will make you better at what you do and provide the sense of true fulfillment that comes from craftsmanship.

Deep work is rewarding. I often quote Jane MacGonical who in a TED-talk said

“we are optimized as human beings, to do hard and meaningful work”.

As we shape our company the question of how can we design the optimal work place is a recurring one. We’re not there yet but I think that book gives some good clues on how to get there.

Deep work is necessary. Especially when you’re an entrepreneur. The lure of new opportunities and distractions are always near, ready to steal your attention. But meaningful progress requires deep work.

That brings us to the second habit, which is related to the first one. It’s about setting meaningful goals. Deep work can be satisfying but unless it moves you closer to a meaningful goal, it’s more of a pastime for the mind than something that brings true value. The recent book Measure what Matters by John Doerr is about the Objectives & Key Results (OKRs) method used by Intel, Google, Facebook and many others to align and focus the organization.

This habit is especially dear to me since it’s what my company is doing: helping teams and organizations set ambitious goals and reach them.

The third habit about the ability to communicate a clear message. Another recent discovery was the book Get to the Point by Joel Schwartzberg. In a podcast interview on The Innovation Show the author gives some examples of how not to do when holding a presentation and I have to admit I cringed a bit when hearing it because I recognized myself in what he described.

To sum it up, the three habits are:

If you master those three, you can accomplish anything.

So why aren’t we taught them in school?