Productivity tip: 14 Reasons Why People Cannot or Will Not Delegate Responsibilities

One of the secrets to my productivity success is delegation. I am a delegation junkie. Whenever possible, I assign tasks and responsibilities originally assigned to me onto others.

In no place does this happen more than the classroom. 

If you ask my former students, they will tell you that as a teacher, my goal is to do nothing. I dream of the day when I can sit at my desk, feet propped up, reading a book, while the classroom bursts with activity and learning around me.    

In the classroom, I delegate responsibilities to my students at a rate that astounds people. There is almost nothing that I will not allow my students to do, including teaching my lessons whenever possible. My students take full and complete ownership of the classroom, whether they like it or not, and as a result, they possess great ownership of their learning. 

I also know many people who cannot or will not delegate responsibilities onto others. They are either ineffective or unwilling to delegate work. The reasons that people cannot or will not delegate are varied, but I believe that they come down to these 14 reasons:

1. They possess an unwavering belief in "one right way."
2. They cannot accept any less than 100% of their expectations being met. 
3. They lack faith in the capacity of others. 
4. They fail to understand the importance of autonomy when delegating responsibilities. 
5. They fail to recognize the value of an initial investment of time in future productivity. 
6. They do not plan ahead.
7. They do not maintain a to-do list (mentally or physically). 
8. They cannot think open-endedly. 
9. They are ineffective teachers. 
10. They value work over results. 
11. They view a reduction in their work load as a threat to their ego or self worth. 
12. They fear failure.
13. They are overly attached to habit or routine. 
14. They do not follow up on the delegated in productive and inspiring ways.

5 Quick Productivity Tips

One of the questions that I am asked most often relates to how I manage to be so productive. I have many, many answers (if you click on the productivity category on this blog, you will find many, many answers), but when I only have a moment and a person really wants an answer, here are the five suggestions that I make:

1. Watch less television. The average American watches more than five hours of television per day. I watch less than one. Also, never watch live television. Turn every hour-long show into a 45 minute program and recapture the 15 minutes of commercials through the magic of fast forwarding.    
2. Do not remain in bed after you are awake. Recapture those sleepless minutes spent lounging in your bed. They serve no useful purpose and will ultimately decrease your chances of falling asleep quickly. . 
3. Spend less time eating. If you're not enjoying a meal with friends and family, eat meals that are quick to prepare and consume.  
4. Exercise. Regular exercise will increase your energy levels and make you more productive during the day.  
5. Sleep one hour less or, if that's not possible, go to bed and wake up one hour early. Time spent at the end of the day is often spent in front of the television. You are likely to be tired at the end of the day, and as a result, you are less productive. Shift that hour to the morning, when you are likely to be more productive.

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Nine rules for making you more efficient with email and less of a jerk face

1. Email is often a means of informal communication. As such, you can dramatically decrease the amount of time spent with email with short, efficient replies like, ‘Thanks” and “Understood” and “Agreed.” Dispense with formalities whenever possible and increase efficiency.

2. Blind Carbon Copy (BCC) is often the tool of the passive aggressive coward. Before including an email address in this field, always ask yourself why you are using it. If you’re trying to hurt or embarrass someone or conceal something, knock it off, jerk face.

3. Never send an email written to express your anger or disappointment with someone. Those emotions are better conveyed over the phone or in person, where unnecessary aggression and excessive vitriol cannot be shielded by the passive aggressive nature of email. In other words, don’t be a coward. If you’re upset, pick up the phone.

4. “I sent that angry email because I express myself better in the written form and was too anger to speak” is never an excuse for violating rule #3.

5. If you receive an angry email, pick up the phone and respond immediately. The faster, the better. The best way to handle a passive-aggressive person is in an aggressively direct manner. Angry email senders tend to be people who do not handle conflict well and therefore hide behind technology. Pulling back the technological curtain will be uncomfortable for them and will often knock them off their position.

6. Inbox zero should be your goal, if only for productivity and efficiency purposes. Leaving email in your inbox forces you to look at that email every time you access your mail application, which takes time and energy. It’s akin to sifting through the same growing pile of mail every day to find a specific letter or bill. Inbox zero will eliminate the time required to take action on incoming emails by not adding them to an already enormous pile.

7. Use a mail application that allows you to schedule a time when you want an email to hit your inbox. Turn email into something that you receive when you want to receive it. For me, this is Mailbox, though many other applications offer similar functionality. I often reschedule incoming email for a designated time during the day when I plan to read and respond, thereby keeping my inbox empty and enjoying the benefits of rule #6.

If I receive an email pertaining to taxes, I reschedule it to hit my inbox on April 1.

If my team receives an email requesting action on our part, I reschedule it to hit my inbox in 24 hours in the hopes that one of my colleagues will handle the request before I need to.

I also use the “Someday” time frame in Mailbox to randomly reschedule emails that make me smile or feel good about myself, allowing me to experience the joy of receiving that email all over again.

8. Respond to emails that require action as quickly as possible, and always within 24 hours. Failing to respond to an email – even if your response is “I’ll get back to you tomorrow” – projects the image of a person who is overwhelmed, disorganized, and inefficient.

9. Choose subjects for your emails that will allow your readers to identify the general purpose of the email without actually opening it and help you search for that email in the future.

Productivity tip #14: Start your day ahead of everyone else.

It’s fairly simple. If it takes me less time than you to shower, dress, and otherwise prepare for the day, I will have more free time than you. With that free time, I will have the opportunity to accomplish more, and over the long term, if this disparity persists, I will probably crush you.

It’s that simple. The more minutes you have available in the day, the more productive you will be. And I guarantee that it takes me less time to shower, dress, and otherwise prepare for the day than you.

Some statistics:

• The majority of Americans (56%) take between 20 and 30 minutes getting ready.
• Only 2% take less than 5 minutes and 9% spend over an hour
• More women than men take longer to get ready, with 21% men taking over 30 minutes and 48% women doing the same.

These statistics do not include the time it takes a person to shower or bathe.

I am in the 2% of people who take less than 5 minutes to get ready, and this often includes my shower. This is the result of a few things:

1. A regimented, streamlined routine that I adhere to daily without exception. A decade working for McDonald’s taught me the value of establishing efficient routines and sticking to them.
2. The recognition that on my death bed, I won’t be wishing that that I had spent time in the shower, debating pants and shirt combinations, or luxuriating in front of a mirror. I won’t bemoan the time that could’ve been spent combing my hair or applying moisturizer. The 99 year-old version of me wants me to spend less time in the bathroom, and so that is what I do.
3. An understanding that no one pays as much attention to physical appearance as we all think.
4. The belief that the gains made by spending more time getting ready in the morning are incremental at best.

When I make this argument to people looking to improve their productivity and get more done, I’ve been told by some that the 30 or 60 minutes spent getting ready in the mornings are a welcomed respite from the rigors of the day. A time to relax.

“A time for myself".”

I would suggest that there are much better ways to relax. More productive, meaningful, and healthy ways to find respite. Activities that actually fit the definition of relaxation and respite and will ultimately prove much more beneficial to you.

If you want to relax or have time for yourself, spend the time exercising. Meditating. Reading. Walking. Petting a dog. Knitting. Spending time in nature. Listening to music. Writing. Having sex. Dancing. Drawing. Talking to loved ones.

All of these activities can provide enormous health benefits to a person, much more so than the application of makeup, the coordinating of outfits, or the fussing with hair.

I promise that if you spend ten fewer minutes on your hair every morning, the only person who will notice it is you. Streamline your routine. Eliminate wasted steps and needless products. Strive to be the person in your circle of friends and colleagues who wears the least makeup, the smallest amount of hair product, and the least cologne or perfume.

Actually, eliminate these latter items entirely. You don’t need them. Ever.

Secretly, I love the fact that so many Americans spend so much time getting ready every day. It allows me to start the daily race ahead of so many people. Most people, in fact. While they are showering and primping and blow drying, I am already moving. Doing. Making.

And I don’t waste a moment of this advantage. I’m not watching television or scrolling through Facebook.

I’m doing stuff.

You could be, too. I guarantee that it what the 99 year-old version of yourself wishes you were doing.

Productivity tip #13: Own one belt.

A 99 year-old great grandfather offers 25 pieces of advice. My favorite is this one:

Everyone has too many clothes. Wear what you have and quit buying more.

I know many people who, if given the chance, would spend every weekend buying clothing. Many people.

I also know too many people who actually spend every weekend buying clothing.

A friend once told me that she couldn’t ever spend a day in New York City with me because if she was ever in possession of that much time away from her children, she would want to spend it at the outlets.

I thought she was kidding. She wasn’t.

While speaking in Chicago recently, I was asked for some tips on productivity from an audience member. My response:

“Try owning one belt.”

I explained that when I opened up my suitcase in my hotel room, I thought that I’d forgotten to pack my belt, which would’ve forced me to purchase a new belt and thus doubling my current supply of belts.

I own one belt, I explained. It’s black on one side and brown on the other. It’s all that I have ever needed.

I know a person who owns 14 belts. I know another who owns 11. According to at least one fashion industry poll, the average American owns “more than five” belts.

Knowing nothing except the number of belts that a person owns, who would you expect to have more time in the day to be productive? The person owns one belt or the person who owns double digit belts?

Want a tip for productivity?

Simplicity. A reduction in unimportant decision making. A belief that everyone has too many clothes and everyone spends far too much time shopping for them. A conviction that clothing does not make the man. A realization that no one spends as much time looking at you as you think. A stand against the idea that shopping is a productive or relaxing or even a legitimate hobby. An understanding that our death beds, no of us will ever wish that we had more cashmere in our closets or spent more time at the  outlets.

I watch people spend hours every week on their physical appearance but never exercise even once. Clothing and makeup and hair and nails and jewelry but never an elevated heart rate. This is insane.

Another example:

I essentially own two pairs of shoes: A pair of black cross training sneakers that I wear almost every day and a pair of black shoes that I wear on more formal occasions and when I am on stage.

In truth, I also own a pair of basketball sneakers for when I am on the court, two pairs of outdoor boots for hiking and cold weather, a fair of flip-flops for the summer, a pair of tuxedo shoes for when I’m working as a DJ, and an old pair of sneakers for mowing the lawn. I also still own the shoes that I wore on my wedding day, which I haven’t worn since, and the shoes that I was originally going to wear on my wedding day, which I have never worn.

But on 29 out of 30 days at least, I am wearing either my black sneakers or my black shoes.

And you know what? No one cares. People care about what I say and do. They care about what I write. They care about how I treat them and others. But no one cares about the shoes on my feet.

Simplicity. That is one of the ways that I get things done. I try like hell to remember what is important and live my life the way the 99 year-old version of myself would want me to live.

That future self will not lament my lack of variety in belts and shoes. He will not wish that I had spent more time shopping for clothing.

Instead, he will lament wasting time on things that didn’t matter. Not filling my life with family and friends and meaningful, memorable experiences that do not include retail or discount shopping.

I keep that 99 year-old version of my at the forefront of my mind at all times. He guides my life. Helps me maintain the big picture. Reminds me about what is really important. How best to spend my time.

He tells me that one belt is enough.

Productivity tip #12: Embrace the imperfect.

Start something new. Forget about the perfect launch or the right equipment or the ideal partner.

Just start.

If you find yourself a slave to perfection, remember these three things:

1. It’s more than likely that your need or perfection is simply a symptom of your fear of failure or your tendency to procrastinate.
2. Almost no one is doing anything perfect. Join the crowd.
3. Most important: Just starting something, as imperfect as it may be, already makes you better than the vast majority of people who never start anything.

Be better than everyone else. Start something terribly imperfect today. Or be like everyone else and go nowhere.

Harsh, I know. But it’s what I say to myself almost everyday, and it works.

My previous productivity tips can be found here.

Productivity tip #11: What "I didn't have enough time" really means.

Remember: When you say you didn’t have enough time, you are actually saying that there are other things more important to you. On your list of priorities, other things were higher on the list than the thing you didn’t have time to complete.

“I didn’t have enough time” actually means it wasn't important enough to you.

“I didn’t have enough time” means it wasn't fun, distracting, profitable, or urgent enough to place it at the top of you to-do list.

My friend, Bill, recently quoted something that I apparently say often enough to be quoted:

“You can sleep seven hours a night and not write a book, or you can sleep six hours a night and become an author.”

I like this one better. It’s one of my favorites:

But it’s true. If you wake up one hour earlier than you currently do and spend that time writing, you’ll have yourself a book in a year or two. But if you are looking for more time to accomplish your goals, there are things in your life that you can probably eliminate before sleep.

The average American watches five hours of television a day. So much of this is spent watching shows and (even worse) the reruns of shows that will be entirely forgotten six months later.

The average American spends three hours per day on social media. Where did that time come from? What did we do before social media was born? Weren't we just as busy ten years ago when Facebook and Twitter and Instagram didn’t exist for most of us?

It’s perfectly acceptable to say that you didn’t have enough time to do something, but remember that time is (for most of us) simply a matter of choice and allocation. Most of us are blessed with a certain amount of free time each day. This time should be viewed as the most precious commodity we possess. More important than the money in our bank accounts or the things we own.

Choose how you spend that leisure time for carefully than anything else in your life. It is the most important choice that you make every day. Don’t allow things like television and social media mindlessly fill the time for you as it does for so many.

“I didn’t have enough time” often means that you didn’t make thoughtful choices about how to spend your time and allowed your non-decisions to determine the course of your life.

Purposeful procrastination: Are slightly lower grades really all that bad?

A new study suggests that students who turn in homework at the last minute get worse grades.

Of the 777 students involved, 86.1 percent waited until the last 24 hours to turn in work, earning an average score of 64.04, compared to early submitters’ average of 64.32 — roughly equivalent to a ‘B’ grade.

But the average score for the most part continued to drop by the hour, and those who turned in the assignment at the last minute had the lowest average grade of around 59, or around a C+.

It’s a bit of a no brainer and something that a reasonable person might have accurately assumed absent this research, but I think a more important question remains unanswered:

Are the procrastinators learning less?

I am a strong advocate of purposeful procrastination in all non-critical tasks. If I report is due to my boss on Friday, I will wait until the last possible moment to begin working on it, filling my time in between with more meaningful and enjoyable tasks. Being constantly concerned with the prospect of death, the last thing I want to do is spend my final day on Earth completing something mundane or ultimately unnecessary that I could’ve been done three days later.

Many think that factoring in the possibility of death into my to-do list is fairly insane, but those critics will die someday, and it will probably be on a crisp, September day spent sorting receipts for next year’s taxes.

As a purposeful procrastinator, I’m left wondering if the procrastinators in this study who are turning in work at the last moment and achieving slightly lower grades are actually learning less, or are their grades merely a reflection of a rushed effort that contains all of the learning required but with less polish?

And if so, do these lower grades actually matter? If the procrastinators and the non-procrastinators are equal in their learning, do the slightly higher grades of the non-procrastinators yield a greater number of job offers? Higher starting salaries? More rapid advancement?

In most cases, I don’t think so.

I’d also love to see the differences in happiness between procrastinators and non-procrastinators. In my admittedly biased and anecdotal experience, the procrastinators of the world seem to be a more relaxed and less anxious group of people. They seem to handle stress and uncertainty better. They appear to be less concerned with the opinions of others. They are not the ardent people-pleasers that aggressive completionists tend to be.

Don’t get me wrong. All procrastination is not good. Allowing your laundry to reach the point that you must devote an entire day to it is not a good idea. Waiting until the last minute to write your novel will probably result in a poor effort. Forgoing your oil change for another 5,000 miles is not a wise decision.

But a fairly innocuous college assignment?

Maybe the slightly lower grade isn’t such a bad thing if you fill the time that you spend procrastinating with something that is meaningful or joyful or more valuable.

And perhaps the process of completing the assignment at the last minute has its benefits as well. By purposefully procrastinating, maybe a person learns to manage stress better. Focus more effectively. Handle uncertainty with greater deftness.

This is the kind of research that I would like to see.

Productivity tip #10: Get out of bed.

I’m not saying to sleep less, though I think that a lot of people could stand to get out of bed a little earlier.

No, this is much simpler.

Once you are awake, get out of bed.

My alarm goes off, and within seconds, I am out of my bed and starting my day.

Would I prefer to remain in the confines of my soft, warm cocoon? Of course. But the purpose of my bed is to sleep, and when the sleeping is done, it’s time to move on.

Immediately.

Not only does remaining in bed hurt your ability to fall asleep quickly in the future, but the amount of time that people waste lying in bed after they have awoken is staggering.

GET OUT OF BED.

If you want to stay in bed longer, set your alarm for a later time. Actually spend that time sleeping.

If you’re too tired to get up, sleep more.

Otherwise move. Now. 

Productivity tip #9: If your friends think your boyfriend is a jerk, he’s a jerk.

I know this isn’t the most traditional of productivity tips, but if this applies to you, the following advice may save you more time than any other productivity tip I could ever offer.

If you are dating someone who the great majority of your friends does not like, stop dating this person immediately.

In the history of human civilization, there has never been a boyfriend or girlfriend who someone’s closest friends hated or did not trust who they eventually came to love.

When it comes to romantic relationships, group consensus is always correct.

Productivity tip #8: A succinct and accurate description of my work flow

In the past month, three people have asked me to describe my work flow.

I wasn’t sure what to say at first (because I honestly still don’t understand the question), but I’ve settled on an answer:

My work flow? I’m busy getting things done while others are pondering their work flow.

Nothing is ever as complicated as people make out to be.

Productivity tip #7: Push your lawnmower.

Just like the people who take the stairs rather than the elevator in order to get a little exercise, mow your lawn with a lawnmower that lacks self-propulsion.

If you’re going to spend an hour or two walking in monotonous, geometric patterns on your lawn, you might as well be getting some exercise in the process.

Pushing a 100 pound lawnmower (the average weight of a push mower) is a great way to do it.

I spend the 60-90 minutes that it takes to mow my lawn listening to books and podcasts, rehearsing stories for the stage, and pushing like hell.

I hate doing it, but it’s an exceptionally productive way to spend an hour.  

Our tiny barrier to productivity

My wife sent me a text explaining that she didn’t get as much done as she had hope, and included this photo as a means of explanation. I’ve been posting productivity tips (which have been surprisingly popular), but to suggest that not having children will make you more productive seems too obvious to mention.

Productivity tip #6: Calculate the cost of your meeting and act accordingly

Planning a meeting?

Multiply the number of minutes you plan on speaking by the number of people attending the meeting and ask yourself:

Is the information that I am presenting worthy of the amount of salary and lost productivity that your meeting will cost?

For example, if you are conducting a meeting with 20 people that will last 90 minutes, you just cost the organization 30 hours of labor.

There are times when this is a wise investment.

There are many, many times when it is not.

Before calling a meeting, ask yourself the following questions:

1. How many hours of labor will this cost my organization?
2. How much is one hour of labor worth to my organization, both in monetary terms as well as lost opportunity costs.
3. Is the goal of the meeting worth the investment?
4. Are these hours and dollars better served in some other way?
5. Could the information being conveyed in this meeting be disseminated in a more efficient way?

If the numbers and the rationale equate, conduct your meeting.

If they don’t, cancel your meeting immediately for the sake of productivity.

Productivity tip #5: Fewer shoes

Limiting choices and increasing the speed at which you make those choices will increase your productivity.

I essentially have two choices when it comes to footwear:

A pair of black sneakers and a pair of black shoes.

When I’m deciding what to wear in the morning, my choice is simple. Unless I’m taking the stage or doing something slightly more formal, it’s almost always the sneakers.

Every three or four months, I replace those sneakers with an identical pair.  

In reality, I own more than two pairs of shoes. I also have a pair of golfing shoes and a pair of basketball sneakers, which are kept in my car and only worn for those sports.

I rotate my most recently replaced sneakers into the garage for when I need to mow the lawn or rake leaves.

I have a pair of boots for hiking and a pair of boots for playing in the snow.

I have a pair of tuxedo shoes for times when I am wearing a tuxedo.

But when it comes to everyday footwear, I have two options, and the lack of  options saves me time.

I know that most people will discount this minimalist approach to footwear as a marginal time saver at best (because it’s hard to see how seconds a day can add up if you’re not using the recovered time effectively), and many will think that having only two choices of everyday footwear is ridiculous. But before you call me a quack, consider this:

Einstein bought several of the same gray suit and wore one everyday of his life in order to eliminate clothing decisions from his life and free up his mind for more important thinking.

Steve Jobs had more than one hundred back turtlenecks made for him and wore them everyday of his life, for convenience, efficiency, and personal branding.

Barack Obama has only gray and blue suits for similar reasons:

“You need to remove from your life the day-to-day problems that absorb most people for meaningful parts of their day. You’ll see I wear only gray or blue suits. I’m trying to pare down decisions. I don’t want to make decisions about what I’m eating or wearing. Because I have too many other decisions to make.”

Obama also mentioned research that shows the simple act of making decisions degrades one’s ability to make further decisions.

Facebook CEO Marc Zuckerberg recently said that he owns “maybe about 20″ identical grey T-shirts. “I mean, I wear the same thing every day, right? I mean, it’s literally, if you could see my closet at home. It’s just easier that way.”

There are more examples. Many, many more.

I may be a quack, but I’m in damn good company. Productive company, too.

Maybe eliminating shoes is impossible for you. Perhaps the color palette of your feet is too important to abandon this daily decision. But are there other decisions that you could eliminate from your life instead?

I don’t carry an umbrella, wear sunglasses, a watch or jewelry of any kind for similar reasons. I opt for an uncomplicated, streamlined existence. I believe that eliminating these items from my life saves me time and frees my mind.  

I own two baseball hats: Patriots and Yankees. I would own just the Yankees cap if I didn’t attend Patriots games so often and perform on stage in Boston on occasion.

Except for days when I was going to spend hours outdoors in the frigid weather, I wear the same coat. hat and gloves. The coat is admittedly only a sweatshirt, but it’s thick and warm, and I tend to be a person who doesn’t get cold easily. My students claim that they have never seen me wear a coat, but that’s because they don’t recognize the warmth of a well made sweatshirt.   

Besides, I try to dress for where I am going to be and not the 1-3 minutes that I will spend between my car and that space.

If not the shoes, perhaps you could eliminate some of these choices and layers of accoutrement from your life instead.

When it comes to productivity, less is more. The fewer decisions that you have to make and the fewer items that you need to constantly inventory, the more time you will have and better decisions you will make.

Productivity tip #4: Walk fast.

I know it sounds simple and stupid, but if you want to be more productive, walk fast.

I am often teased by colleagues because I walk down the halls at breakneck speeds. It’s assumed by many that I am incredibly busy, and while this may be true, my decision to walk fast is a conscious one that I make in order to recapture time.

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I walk fast whenever possible. Parking lots, grocery stores, sidewalks, and malls are great places to walk fast and recapture time, but there are many, many more.

If you see me in any of these places and many more, you will probably see me moving faster than the people around me.

Not only does the increased speed provide me with an elevated heart rate and a tiny bit of exercise, but I simply get places sooner than everyone else. Almost every day, I park my car and walk past people who are sauntering through the parking lot as if it were adorned with fine art. As if it were a place they wanted to be.

Do I save much time in the process?

Over the course of a day, a week, a month or a lifetime, the answer is yes. Absolutely. The amount of time I save in each parking lot, hallway, and grocery store is minimal, but it adds up quickly. 

Walking fast is not something that comes natural to me. I must constantly remind myself to walk faster. It’s easy to stroll. It’s normal to adopt the speed of those around you. It’s even a little awkward to be passing people as if we are on a race track.

But it saves me time.

It gets me back to the places where I want to be.

It gets me back to the people who I want to be with.

Five or ten extra minutes with my children are a gift. Don’t discount these precious few minutes for the sake of conformity or ease.

Productivity tip #3: No one cares (or even notices) what you look like.

I ran into a friend at the grocery store on Saturday morning. After exchanging pleasantries, he said, “I admire you. I could never leave the house like that.” “Like that” consisted of a sweat pants, an old tee shirt and a baseball cap. I had just come from the gym, though I could’ve been just as easily dressed this way regardless of my previous destination.

“I look that bad?” I asked.

“No,” he said, immediately backtracking.  “I’m just saying…  I need to make myself look more presentable before I leave the house. You know?”

I do. I also know that he is not alone in his need to make himself presentable before leaving the house.

This need to look presentable in most, if not all, public circumstance, is highly unproductive. While I’m not saying that you need to look like a slob in order to be productive, I also don’t think that you should be too worried about your appearance if you’re destination is a grocery store, a retail outlet or a similar location, especially if it will delay your trip.

The store where I was shopping opens at 9:00 AM. I like to be there when the doors open because the checkout lines can become unreasonably long on a weekend. I also wanted to stop at the gym on the way.

I explained this to my friend, and he said that he just couldn’t do that. “It might save time, but I just couldn’t go shopping looking like that. I would need to work out at the gym, go home, take a shower, get dressed and then go out shopping.”

This poor guy actually thinks that people care what he looks like while shopping in a big box retailer on a Saturday morning. He thinks they will remember what he looked like a day later.

He’s not alone, of course.

I’m convinced that the less you care about your physical appearance, the more productive you can be. And caring less is a good idea in many, many cases. Perhaps not when you are meeting with a client or making a presentation or attending your cousin’s wedding, but in your day-to-day existence, caring less is good because no one ever cares as much as you think.

Here’s my hypothesis:

90% of all “good hair days” are only noticed by the person who owns the hair. I understand that a good hair day can make a person feel great, but those feelings are based upon the presumption that people will notice the hair.

They don’t.

The difference between a goof hair day and a bad hair day is only distinguishable by someone who has spent their life looking at the hair in close detail. You may think your hair looks terrible, but no one else does.

I attended a wedding last year. I no longer wear ties, and a friend pointed out to me that I was the only man at the entire wedding not wearing a tie. “Doesn’t that make you uncomfortable?” she asked.

It didn’t. That wedding was a year ago. How many of the guests at that wedding still remember that I was not wearing a tie? How many even noticed the absence of a tie that evening? How many noticed and thought poorly of me?

The answers to all these questions are none or almost none.

No one cares what you look like.

The misconception that people are paying greater attention to you than they really are is known as The Spotlight Effect, and it has been demonstrated many, many times by social psychologists.

In one test, students were asked to wear bright yellow, oversized Barry Manilow t-shirts to a large introductory to psychology class. Researchers then had them estimate how many people in the class had noticed their shirt.

Students estimated that 50% of their classmates noticed their shirt. In reality almost no one did.

Not only do people not care what you look like, but they are rarely paying attention.

When you can embrace this belief, you will be more productive. You’ll spend less time getting ready to go out. You’ll be more willing to jump in the car in pajama pants and a tee shirt to run an errand. You’ll be more likely to dress sensibly rather than stylishly.

Just imagine how much time you could recapture if you spend less time in front of a mirror every day. Or less time choosing an outfit. Or less time worrying about how you look.

If you spend 45 minutes getting showered and dressed every morning, but your competitor spends 15 minutes accomplishing the same task, the amount of time that your competitor gains on you is astounding.

More than 3 hours in a week. More than 14 hours in a month. More than 168 hours in a year.

Think about that:

Your competitor gains four 40-hour  work weeks worth of time on you every year because of the time you spend in front of the mirror. If he is using that time wisely, it will be extremely hard to ever get ahead of him.

Imagine what you could do with four extra work weeks every year.

All that for something that no one cares about and few people are even noticing.

Think back on how my friend would’ve handled his morning differently than me. He would’ve gone to the gym, returned home, showered and dressed, and then left the house again for the store.

By going from the gym to the store and then home, I saved a needless trip. My route guaranteed that I would be at the store when it opened, allowing me to avoid the checkout lines. My way was much faster and therefore more productive, and I promise you, I used the time gained wisely.

I am not saying to look like a slob. I am not saying that you should ignore your physical appearance entirely. I’m suggesting that you probably spend too much time worrying about your appearance, and as a result, too much time making yourself presentable.

I’m suggesting that you could probably shave precious minutes off your morning routine while not changing anyone’s opinion of you or your appearance whatsoever.

Try it for a week. Keep track of the time that you recapture, and use it wisely. Spend it with your children. Go to work early and accomplish a goal that has been sitting on the backburner. Make yourself a healthier breakfast. Read 10 pages in that book that has been sitting on the nightstand forever. Send an email to an old friend. Meditate.

15 minutes is a long time. You can do so many things in 15 minutes.

Embrace the idea that you can look just as good as you do in half the time, and then begin living that belief.

Productivity tip #2: Listen to the 120 year-old version of yourself and stop playing stupid games on your phone.

The creator of Flappy Bird (which I have been told has taken the place of Angry Birds in terms of popularity) has removed the popular game from iOS and Android app stores.

The game no longer appears in searches on both Google Play and Apple's App Store. When viewing the Top Charts from an iPhone, Flappy Bird is absent from the Free Games chart it had topped for the past week. Also, if you view the developer page for Dong Nguyen within iTunes, Flappy Bird is no longer featured.

Creator Dong Nguyen tweeted the news about Flappy Bird two days ago, claiming that despite the $50,000 that he is earning daily from the game, it is “ruining his life.”

I cheered the end of Flappy Bird.

I’ve never played the game. I’ve never even seen the game played. But what I have seen is the shockingly addictive power of these games and the vast amounts of time that are wasted by the people who are playing them.

Flappy Bird may have been ruining Dong Nguyen’s life, but it’s ruining the lives of the people who stare at their phones every day and play the game, too.

Candy Crush is the game that I see played most often in my circles. I see this game played a lot. Every time I see it played, I can’t help but think about the time being wasted and lost. Time that can never be recovered.

Don’t get me wrong: I love video games. I spent untold numbers of hours playing video games, both at home and in arcades, as a child. Even as an adult, I have spent entire weekends playing video games with friends.

But the difference between the video games that I have played and games like Candy Crush and Flappy Birds is that when I play video games, they are played socially. My friends and I bring our laptops together or gather around my friend’s Wii, and we spend a weekend attempting to conquer a game or each other.

When I am playing video games, I am spending time with friends. I am talking, taunting, scheming, laughing, reminiscing, fighting, competing and cajoling.

The people who I watch play games like Candy Crush (and presumably Flappy Bird) are lost in their cell phone screens, present in body but absent from the world and the people around them, accomplishing little more than momentary, mind-numbing, purposeless pleasure.

This is not to say you will never see me with my head buried in my phone. You will.

Too often, in fact.

But when I am staring at a screen, I like to think that I am at least being productive. Most likely, I am reading. I am either scrolling through my carefully-curated Twitter stream for news, reading a webpage, PDF or book, or working on a project in Evernote. I am either gathering information, reading for pleasure or moving something forward.

This may cause me to sound like a productivity lunatic. I probably sound as fun as a dish towel. I may appear like someone who doesn’t know how to turn off and relax.

All of these things may be true, but here is what will not happen to me:

I will not be lying on my death bed someday, hating myself for the precious hours spent playing Candy Crush.

When I am an old man, I will not be hating the younger version of myself for  all the time I spent playing Flappy Bird.

It may sound insane to live your life through the eyes of your dying self, but this is what I do. I think about what the 120 year-old version of me would want from the 40 year-old version of me, and that is what I try to do, because I know that the 120 year-old version of me will be much wiser than the current me, and he is going to be outraged if I wasted my precious time with nonsense.

This is not to say that I would not love to play a game like Candy Crush or Flappy Bird. Knowing my addictive, obsessive personality and my natural inclination toward video games,I think I would crush Candy Crush. I would flap the hell out of Flappy Bird.

This is why I never download any games onto my phone.

I do not allow myself to begin playing these games to do so would surely lead down the Candy Crush path to certain doom.

My advice: Remove all the games from your phone immediately and find a more productive use of the time you will spend with you face in your phone.

My suggestions: Load a book onto your phone. Find news sources that appeal to you. Use the time spent on your phone to make a grocery list, respond to an email, review your bank statement or answer a question that you have always wondered.

I am currently reading about the Teapot Dome scandal via the Wikipedia app on my phone. It’s something that I’ve always been vaguely aware of but never really understood. By the end of today or tomorrow, I will.

Next I plan on reading about Elvis Presley. I’ve been listening to the song Suspicious Minds and it’s got me thinking about him a lot. I don’t know much about his life, but by the end of the week, I will.

There is a new, free app called Duolingo, which will teach you a foreign language and is designed to be played like a game. It’s fantastic. It’s competitive, challenging and full of the levels, rewards and markers that make games like Candy Crush so additive.

I’m not ready to shift the reading that I do on my phone over to a game like this, but there may come a time when I do. But if you’re sitting in a meeting or a waiting room playing Candy Crush or it, why not play a game that will result in the ability to speak Spanish or French or German instead?

There are millions of uses of your cell phone. New apps are being developed and added to the app stores. For the sake of your aged, infirmed, future self, make the time spent with your head in your phone more useful and productive.

Productivity tip #1: Don’t fall behind.

I receive many requests asking me how I seem to accomplish so much in such a short period of time. People who know me well would be more than willing to inform these knowledge seekers know that I am far less impressive than I seem. My flaws are numerous and my failings are considerable. 

However, if there is an area in which I seem to have some skill, it is in the area of productivity.

I do manage to get a lot done.

In response to these requests, I’ve decided to post productivity tips on my blog. The purpose is to be helpful to readers who are searching for ways to get more done, but the real purpose is to assemble enough of these posts to construct the skeleton of a future book.

See that? My first tip.

I’m attempting to be productive by writing about productivity in small bursts with the hope that these small burst will someday result in a book. 

The old “two birds with one stone” trick.

But the real productivity tip that I wanted to offer today is this:

Don’t fall behind.

It seems exceptionally obvious, but this is extremely important and often overlooked.

Always overlooked. 

Correcting papers is a good example of this that I see a lot. If a teacher allows herself to fall behind on a week or two of correcting, the mountain of uncorrected papers transforms (in many people’s minds) into a long term project that will require a specifically assigned period of time to complete.

As a result, if that same teacher finds herself with 10 free minutes in her day (which happens a lot), it is far less likely that she will attempt to use those 10 minutes productivity in order to make a tiny dent in the enormous pile, since the progress made will feel meaningless.

Rather than working for 10 minutes, that time will likely be wasted, and those small slivers of time add up quickly. 

I used to work with a teacher who had to take a sick day before writing her report cards because the mountain of grading that she had required a full day of work.

But if you don’t fall behind with your correcting and the pile of ungraded  papers remains manageable, then the few extra minutes found during the day can truly be productive, and it’s far more likely that you will use these few extra minutes for productive purposes.

The same can be said about so many tasks.

Laundry is another good example. If you don’t allow dirty clothing to collect in enormous piles, and if you don’t allow folded clothing to fill numerous laundry baskets, then you will be in a better position to tackle a small load or put your clothes away when you find yourself with a few minutes to kill.

I put most of my folded clothing away while brushing my teeth or waiting for my wife to get ready for bed. This would otherwise be unproductive time, but because the amount of my clothing in the laundry basket is never overwhelming, I can complete enough of the job to make the time feel well spent.

This also applies to tasks like cleaning the garage, cleaning a closet, cleaning out your car or organizing a pantry. If you never allow any of these areas to go to hell, then you can use a few minutes here and a few minutes there to tidy a corner and make marginal progress but still feel like you’ve made a difference.

When you feel like you are able to make a difference, you are more likely to use that time productively. 

But once your garage or basement or closet or car reaches the point that it will require hours to clean, you are far less likely to utilize the slivers of time between life to make progress.

This is not to say that you can’t or won’t. Writing a novel is an enormous, unwieldy, yearlong process (or longer), but if I find myself with 10 free minutes, I will sit down and attempt to write four good sentences.

But this type of productive vigilance is difficult achieve.

It probably requires a obsessive-compulsive personality combined with an abusively persistent existential crisis and an ongoing, incessant childhood desire to prove my worth to inattentive parents who are dead or have forgotten about me long ago.

Wow. I never thought of it like that before. 

Most normal people would not approach the writing of a novel (or any enormous task) this way.

But everyone’s day is filled with slivers of time that are often wasted because the jobs that need to get done have become too large to make the use of that time seem meaningful.

It’s in these slivers of time that I get a lot done.

It’s where I get ahead.

It’s where I gain ground.

I take advantage of the 10 minutes here and 15 minutes there, and at the end of the day, these bits of time add up.

Part of my ability to use this time effectively is my unwillingness to allow any task to become too overwhelming. 

It’s a mental game that requires constant vigilance. It requires an awareness of how you perceive progress and what holds you back from being productive.

If you keep the job small and manageable, you are far more likely to use the slivers of free time throughout your day more productively, and these few moments will add up quickly.