Productivity Lessons from Jeff Bezos That Will Change the Way You Work

 Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is not shy about sharing productivity lessons that have helped him with his successes. How many times have you looked back on the day and wonder what you could have done to achieve more of your goals or maximize your time? It’s scary to hear Time Magazine report that the average CEO works 58 hours a week. How does one stay sane working that many hours!?

If you’re looking to be more productive during the week, take these productivity lessons from Bezos. It will surprise you at how the world’s richest man stays on top of things over at Amazon.

Have a Morning Routine

Bezos’s morning routine is the opposite of what you might think. One productivity lesson from Bezos everyone should follow is taking their morning slow and enjoying the start to the day. So many times do employees and CEOs alike rush to hit the road to get to the office and pick up where they left off. After getting a full eight hour nights sleep, Bezos enjoys breakfast with his family and doesn’t get fully up to speed until about 10 a.m. Bezos never schedules a meeting before then. A designed morning ritual gets your head in the game and ready for what is to come your way.

Have “High IQ” Meetings Before Lunch

Having a cutoff of when to make the most critical business decisions is one productivity lesson from Bezos that he is strict about himself. Part of this mentality has to do with when the most optimal time of the day is to make decisions, for Bezos, that is anytime between 10 a.m. and noon. He says, “By 5 p.m., I’m like, ‘I can’t think about that today. Let’s try this again tomorrow at 10 a.m.’ ” Think about it in terms of your own business. After a long days work, do you really want to approve a budget you haven’t had a chance to review in depth? Most likely you’ll be able to work through that proposal better the next day.

Implement the “Two-Pizza” Rule

Far too often do companies waste an entire day because of meetings. Especially when only a few people needed to attend said meeting. Or there are too many people at the meeting where it isn’t as successful as it could be with fewer individuals there. That’s why at Amazon there is the “two-pizza” rule, meaning that there should only be enough people at the meeting to share two pizzas. This way, the team can come up with the best ideas or solutions quickly.

Make Three Good High-Quality Decisions a Day

CEOs aren’t the only ones in a company that has to make all the decisions themselves. That’s why you have employees, to trust in them to make the smaller decisions that keep the company running smoothly. “As a senior executive, you get paid to make a small number of high-quality decisions,” Bezos says. “Your job is not to make thousands of decisions every day. Is that really worth it if the quality of those decisions might be lower because you’re tired or grouchy?” If there is one thing Bezos cannot stress enough in business, it is quality over quantity.

When thinking about how to utilize your time the best, take these productivity lessons from Bezos. It could be the difference between a standard 40-hour week versus a 58-hour one.