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There’s an interesting assumption many people make about productivity. It’s the idea that busy equals productive and really busy equals really productive. But, perhaps counterintuitively, that’s not always the case. And it’s a lesson that even the uber-successful and wealthy Bill Gates learned late in life.
In a Bloomberg interview, Gates recalled a day when Buffet showed him his calendar. Gates was shocked at how empty it was, with some days having nothing scheduled at all. It showed Gates that “business isn’t a proxy for seriousness.”
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“I can buy anything I want, basically, but I can’t buy time,” Buffett added.
The lesson? A stacked calendar doesn’t necessarily mean increased productivity. It’s a lesson Gates — not exactly a slouch when it comes to accomplishments — took to heart and as recently as last year wrote in a Threads post. Below is a look at Buffett’s simple, yet effective approach.
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Buckets
You, like most people, have probably experienced a day in which you were crazy busy every second of it, missing lunch, running from meeting to meeting, task to task, only to get to the end of the day feeling like you got nothing accomplished. Or at least nothing important. Your calendar was packed, you checked everything off, you made every meeting — but now you feel like you better get up early tomorrow to get the real work done.
To avoid that issue, Gates eventually adopted a system in which he divided his working hours into four buckets, each bucket representing a different focus of his business, according to Inc.com. Each area represented approximately 25% of his time, so if one bucket got too full, he could immediately see it in his calendar and adjust.
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This is a way to fight off what New York Times best seller and self-discipline strategist Rory Vaden has labeled priority dilution in one of his podcast episodes. This phenomenon is a form of procrastination — a well-disguised one. It takes the form of being constantly distracted by less important, but potentially more urgent, tasks and therefore never getting to the productive stuff that leads to success.
So, essentially, you’re busy, busy, busy all day long putting out fires and chasing a full calendar, but with no clear, goal-focused plan. It’s a terrible plan for success, but a great way to burn out.
Colors
If buckets aren’t your thing, another effective way to avoid priority dilution and ensure your work day is balanced is color coding your calendar. According to Clockwise, when it comes to color psychology, colors are highly effective at conveying information and influencing moods and behaviors.
Moods and behavioral influences aside, a color-coded calendar does have one huge benefit: you can immediately see if your day or week is out of balance. That red bleeding all over the week? Might mean that green tasks are being neglected.
You can also choose colors that convey added meaning for certain parts of your day or work. According to Dan Silvestre, who is a productivity coach, red commands attention, so you might use this color to label tasks or meetings of the highest urgency or importance. Or those that relate to the most important goals of your business; the ones that must get done.
Blue, on the other hand, conveys calm, so you could use it to balance out those high-adrenaline red tasks. One strategy might be to make blue a color for personal time or enjoyable light tasks. Then make sure there are adequate blue slots between the reds.
Of course, whether you choose buckets, colors or devise your own system, it’s hard not to listen when two of the most successful men in business speak. So it might be time to get out your calendar and schedule some time to free up more time.
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Bill Gates Shared a Lesson From Warren Buffett He Wished He’d Learned Sooner
