What I witnessed!
What exactly are the work habits of efficient people? Before getting into that, let me first share what I once witnessed.
For my first cram school year, I had an extremely brilliant classmate, named Victor. He was a straight A student, and everyone wanted to study with him.
On the other hand, I was the discreet and shy student, with poor grades – despite the huge amount of time I was dedicating to study. And as everyone else, I envied Victor’s effortless results.
Those who have experienced cram schools have a pretty good idea of the pressure felt. My pressure was doubled because my cram school was an elitist one – difficult to be admitted, very competitive, and failure isn’t an option over there.
Too shy to ask for Victor’s help, I decided to observe him. And what I noticed blew me away. Victor was:
Victor was procrastinating. He was not stimulated by the pressure and the workload of the cram school. He dedicated very much of his time practicing sports. His handwriting and dress code were very sloppy. Victor slept 9 hours a night (when we were having 5 hours sleep in average).
Basically, he seemed to be doing the exact opposite of what a rational person in a cram school would do. And he had excellent results. Though I was uncomfortable with my observations, his grades kept me observing him.
And here is what I realized:
Regarding the procrastination…
Some people (including me) have much better results when working under pressure. Parkinson’s Law states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.
In order words: if someone has a significant amount of time to complete a task, they will tend to consume the entire time available. It is important to estimate the amount of time needed to fulfil a task. No more, no less.
Indeed, it is the quality of your work that will be assessed, not the quantity. Victor had understood that.
As for the workload and the pressure of the cram school
My reaction to pressure was not the same as Victor’s. Does that mean he didn’t feel the pressure? Absolutely not. In fact, I am sure he felt the pressure of the elitist school we were. The only difference is that his reaction was different than that of the rest of the class.
Every person reacts differently to pressure. From my observation and my experience, the best reaction is to keep calm. Being calm doesn’t mean you are not pressured. It means you decide to think rationally despite the pressure.
This trait of Victor, I challenged myself to keep quiet and to focus despite the pressure. And it pays off. Today, I work much better under pressure than I used to.
Victor’s sloppy style
In the elite cram school we attended, we were trained to be the best of the best of the society – actuaries, state of the art engineers, professors for the elite students, etc. In these sectors, the bare minimum is to dress chic! Hence the shock about Victor’s style.
However, there was a time Victor was teased about his looks. The response he provided really amazed me. He said, “if I am good at my job, why would people focus on my dress code?! I want to be remembered for my skills and results, not my looks” He made a point!
The same thinking goes in business. Not everything is to be perfect. Exit the perfectionism. If you satisfy your customer, your style and imperfections wouldn’t be noticed. Focus on your customer. Don’t wait for everything to be perfect before starting your business.
His relaxing time
As I mentioned earlier: Victor spent a lot of time practising sports and wouldn’t let anything mess with his 9 hours sleeping time at night. For two full years in cram school, here was our weekly schedules:
Monday to Friday:
- Each day: 10 hours of intensive courses, one hour break
- 2 oral exams of 1 hour (each) on any subject
- Tons of homework
Saturdays:
- Exam: 4 hours (nonstop) exam subject
Considering this schedule, I would be wonder when he’d find the time to practise sport and sleep that much – we barely had time for ourselves and would focus on studying …
Then it struck me: Victor’s sports and sleep time were his “down” time. He would focus on nothing else but himself. He was resting his body and relaxing his mind.
Operating habits
The brain and the body are like machines. As machines need preventive maintenance to operate properly, the same goes for you. There is a time for everything. A time to rest, and a time to work. If you do not take the necessary time to rest and relax, your results will be affected, as well as your (physical and mental) health.
Though Victor’s operating habits were contrary to what the system expected from him, he had the best results. In fact, all of us dreamt of having his results. Those results were generated not only by his intelligence, but by his habits as well.
A system is efficient when it uses the smallest amount of input to produce the highest amount of output. By doing as less as possible to have the best results, Victor had an efficient system!
How about you? How efficient are your work habits? Do you know any other work habits of efficient people? I’d love to read your feedback in the comment section.
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