I used to evaluate myself continuously for behaviors that appeared like the other of productiveness.
Staring out the window throughout work hours? Spending twenty minutes on a single paragraph? Getting misplaced in tangents as a substitute of staying centered?
I believed these had been indicators I wasn’t minimize out for the work I used to be doing.
Then I interviewed a organizational psychologist for a office tradition piece, and she or he mentioned one thing that caught with me: “The behaviors we label as unproductive are sometimes those producing essentially the most invaluable considering.”
That dialog modified how I noticed my very own work habits fully.
What if the issues we beat ourselves up for are literally markers of deeper cognitive processing?
In the present day, I wish to problem the standard knowledge about productiveness and discover 9 behaviors that appear like time-wasting however would possibly really sign excessive intelligence.
1) Taking ceaselessly to make easy choices
that one who takes fifteen minutes to order lunch? The one who researches a $20 buy like they’re shopping for a home?
That may be you. And earlier than you apologize for it once more, contemplate this: that deliberation isn’t indecisiveness, it’s thorough processing.
Very smart folks usually take longer with choices as a result of they’re contemplating extra variables than the typical particular person even realizes exist.
They’re operating psychological simulations, weighing second-order penalties, and considering by means of eventualities most individuals by no means entertain.
I realized this the onerous means at my first job at a struggling native newspaper. My editor would make snap calls about story angles whereas I used to be nonetheless mapping out all of the doable approaches. I believed I used to be simply gradual.
Years later, I spotted I used to be contemplating points he hadn’t even thought of, like how totally different demographics would possibly interpret the identical headline or what follow-up tales the piece would possibly generate.
The one that takes ages to resolve isn’t essentially overthinking.
They could simply be considering extra comprehensively than everybody else within the room.
2) Getting distracted simply
Distraction will get a foul fame in our productivity-obsessed tradition. We’re informed to get rid of it, block it out, keep laser centered.
However what if distractibility is definitely a function, not a bug?
Clever minds usually wrestle with sustained give attention to single duties as a result of they’re making connections continuously.
That “distraction” may be your mind recognizing a sample, drawing a parallel, or fixing an issue within the background whilst you’re supposedly engaged on one thing else.
I maintain a notes app filled with observations from espresso retailers, random ideas throughout walks, connections between articles I’ve learn.
These “distractions” have grow to be a few of my finest materials. The piece that helped me land my present function began as a random thought throughout a totally unrelated activity.
When your thoughts wanders, it’s not essentially avoiding work. It may be doing the sort of associative considering that results in breakthrough insights.
3) Asking means too many questions
Egyptian author Naguib Mahfouz as soon as mentioned, “You possibly can inform whether or not a person is intelligent by his solutions. You possibly can inform whether or not a person is smart by his questions.”
The one that asks countless questions in conferences isn’t essentially being troublesome.
They may be the one one really considering critically about what’s being offered.
I’ve interviewed over 200 folks for articles, and the neatest ones are nearly all the time those who flip my questions again on me, who wish to perceive my angle earlier than they reply, who problem my assumptions embedded in how I’ve framed one thing.
Asking questions is how clever folks stress-test concepts, uncover hidden assumptions, and dig previous surface-level explanations.
Should you’re the one that can’t simply settle for issues at face worth, who wants to know the why behind the what, that’s not a flaw in your processing. That’s rigorous considering.
The subsequent time somebody appears impatient along with your questions, keep in mind that accepting data with out examination isn’t effectivity. It’s mental laziness.
4) Working in bursts as a substitute of regular flows
The normal work mannequin assumes productiveness occurs in constant, predictable increments. Present up, work steadily for eight hours, repeat.
However very smart folks usually work in a totally totally different rhythm.
They could have intense intervals of centered output adopted by what appears to be like like downtime.
They’re not being inconsistent or unreliable. They’re working with their pure cognitive patterns slightly than in opposition to them.
I write finest within the morning earlier than I’ve talked to anybody or checked e mail. By early afternoon, I’m ineffective for something requiring authentic considering.
For years, I attempted to power constant output all day and simply felt pissed off. As soon as I accepted my pure rhythm and guarded these morning hours, all the things modified.
A Stanford examine discovered that after 55 hours per week, productiveness takes a nosedive. Should you’re clocking in 70+ hours, you may be shocked to study you’re in all probability not carrying out any greater than these sticking to 55 hours.
Generally what appears to be like like inconsistency is definitely working smarter, not tougher.
5) Needing to know issues deeply earlier than shifting ahead
In a tradition that values velocity, the one that wants to completely perceive one thing earlier than continuing can appear to be they’re holding everybody again.
However surface-level understanding results in surface-level work.
Clever folks usually resist shifting ahead till they’ve grasped not simply what they’re doing, however why it really works, what assumptions it rests on, and what implications it might need.
This appears to be like like slowness within the second however prevents pricey errors down the highway.
I realized this masking tech firms. The founders who rushed to scale with out deeply understanding their market or enterprise mannequin had been those whose firms imploded.
Those who appeared gradual and methodical early on constructed one thing sustainable.
Should you’re the one that wants to know the inspiration earlier than constructing on it, you’re not being troublesome. You’re being thorough.
6) Procrastinating on duties that appear easy
You’d suppose clever folks would breeze by means of easy duties and solely wrestle with advanced ones.
However the reverse is commonly true. Simple duties can really feel nearly painful for minds wired for complexity.
This isn’t laziness. It’s cognitive understimulation.
When a activity doesn’t interact your full psychological capability, it’s genuinely tougher to maintain consideration on it than on one thing extra intellectually demanding.
I can spend hours deep in analysis for a sophisticated evaluation piece, fully absorbed. However writing a easy e mail? That may take me three makes an attempt and inexplicable avoidance.
My mind isn’t engaged sufficient to take care of focus, so it retains searching for one thing extra attention-grabbing to consider.
Should you procrastinate on “simple” duties whereas diving eagerly into difficult ones, that’s not a self-discipline downside.
That’s your intelligence searching for enough stimulation.
7) Getting misplaced in tangents and rabbit holes
Staying on subject is taken into account an expert advantage. However a number of the finest considering occurs within the tangents, the digressions, the surprising connections between seemingly unrelated concepts.
Very smart folks usually wrestle to remain on a linear path as a result of their minds are constructing networks of affiliation.
They’re not dropping focus; they’re making connections {that a} extra inflexible thinker would miss solely.
I take notes on viewers reactions at conferences as a lot because the precise content material being offered.
That “tangent” has knowledgeable how I take into consideration what makes enterprise evaluation resonate with readers.
These rabbit holes include insights the principle path would by no means reveal.
The subsequent time somebody tells you to remain on observe, contemplate whether or not the tangent would possibly really be the place the actual discovery occurs.
8) Needing time alone to course of
Open collaboration is handled because the gold normal in most workplaces.
However very smart folks usually want substantial time alone to suppose deeply with out interruption.
This isn’t delinquent habits. Advanced considering requires cognitive area that fixed interplay merely doesn’t enable.
The one that appears to vanish for hours after which returns with a breakthrough wasn’t avoiding work. They had been doing the sort of deep processing that collaboration can really stop.
I do business from home most days in a nook of my condominium I’ve tried to make really feel like an precise workplace.
Not as a result of I dislike folks, however as a result of my finest analytical work occurs after I’m not managing social interplay concurrently.
A landmark collection of experiments at Stanford College discovered that contributors produced 60 p.c extra artistic concepts whereas strolling than whereas sitting, whether or not they had been on a treadmill indoors or strolling outdoors.
Generally the most efficient factor you are able to do is take away your self from productiveness theater and really suppose.
9) Altering your thoughts regularly
Consistency is overrated.
The one that adjustments their thoughts when offered with new data isn’t wishy-washy. They’re intellectually sincere.
Very smart folks maintain their opinions extra loosely than common as a result of they perceive how a lot they don’t know.
They’re continuously updating their fashions based mostly on new knowledge, which suggests their positions evolve slightly than calcify.
Early in my profession, I believed altering my evaluation based mostly on new data made me look unreliable.
Then an editor I revered informed me that the willingness to replace my considering was precisely what made my work reliable. Rigidity is lack of ability to study.
Should you’re somebody who regularly revises your considering, that’s not a weak point.
That’s mental flexibility, and it’s one of many clearest markers of real intelligence.
Ultimate ideas
The behaviors we’ve been taught to see as unproductive usually sign precisely the other.
Deep processing takes time. Advanced considering doesn’t observe linear paths.
Intelligence regularly appears to be like like inefficiency to folks measuring the flawed issues.
Perhaps it’s time to cease apologizing for a way your thoughts works and begin recognizing these patterns for what they really are: indicators of cognitive depth working in a world that usually errors velocity for substance.
The query isn’t whether or not these behaviors are productive.
The query is whether or not we’re measuring productiveness in ways in which really matter.
