How To Define Your Productivity Style [Full Guide]
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Have you ever found yourself in a situation when nothing seems to go as planned – your project’s deadline is following you on every step but you just can’t get through your tasks? Don’t worry, you are not at fault! The fault is in the way you’re trying to get your work done.
You see, what works for your to-do list-loving colleague Nancy might not necessarily work for you. And it’s not because you’re not as organized or accurate – your productivity style is just different. Therefore, you have different strengths and weaknesses and should apply different styles of working in your day-to-day life.
In this blog article, we’ll take a look at four different productivity styles and ways you can find out which one you belong to, allowing you to work smarter, not harder.
What is a productivity style?
By its definition, a productivity style is the way your mind processes different kinds of information, solves problems, and accomplishes tasks. So it’s only logical that there is no one-size-fits-all way of completing tasks when it comes to productivity.
Instead, we have to personalize our approaches. That means that we need to adapt work strategies that go hand-in-hand with our own cognitive styles. The productivity styles we’re looking at in this article are the Prioritizer, the Planner, the Arranger, and the Visualizer.
1. The Prioritizer
The Prioritizer is a person that is very organized and has an amazing ability to use logical, analytical, critical, and fact-based thinking. They can easily keep their focus on the work, separating the primary and most important task from the rest.
Their main focus is on the execution, not spending too much time thinking and worrying about how the task is being completed. Prioritizers can sometimes be controlling and competitive, and they hate chatting around. Also, they have a tendency to respond to colleague messages as short as possible – sometimes even with a single word. Time is very important to them, so they won’t spend it on unnecessary things – rather they’ll be spending it all on completing the task (what a champ!).
Strengths:
- Ability to prioritize tasks;
- Strong analytical skills;
- Ability to laser-focus on work;
- Great decision-making skills.
Weaknesses:
- Lack of communication with teammates;
- Seeing everything as a competition;
- Focus is mainly on quantity, not quality;
- Desire to control everything;
- Being so strict about their timetable, they lose flexibility.
2. The Planner
At first, the Planner might get confused with the Prioritizer, but they’re not the same! The Planner is a person that loves to organize every task in a logical sequence, planning everything to the smallest detail.
While Prioritizers put their focus mainly on the details that can help them accomplish the task quicker, Planners, on the other hand, focus on every single detail of the task. They LOVE calendars and, you guessed it, planners – without them, they feel lost and incomplete.
As the name itself suggests, the Planner is not the most spontaneous person in the team. It’s even the other way round – they often miss out on many great opportunities, resisting to step away from the plan.
You know the amazing feeling when you can cross something off your to-do list and become more motivated for the next task? The Planner is the type of person that will often write down an already-completed task just to cross it off. Oh, and don’t invite the Planner to a meeting without an agenda – they probably won’t attend if they don’t have a straight plan in front of them!
Remember, how the Prioritizer responds to co-workers’ messages with one of a few words? Well, the Planner does the complete opposite – they will give you a detailed response, giving a step-by-step action plan with bullet points.
Strengths:
- Ability to organize everything;
- Making plans detailed;
- Amazing management skills;
- Can predict potential issues (like a wizard!).
Weaknesses:
- Can’t step away from the original plan;
- Hates to break the rules;
- Not being spontaneous;
- Focuses on the process, rather than the result.
Source: Pexels
3. The Arranger
The Arranger is the type of person that works with emotions – they are very expressive, yet super supportive. Unlike the Prioritizer and the Planner, the Arranger is a team player, getting through the project by working together. They are skilled at communication, so they just don’t understand those colleagues that work on their own, distancing themselves from others.
They are always up for chit-chat and working in teams in person. Also, Arrangers always care for other teammates, giving a helping hand when needed. BUT sometimes you have to limit the Arranger – they might get caught up in conversations, having less time left for the actual project (Oops!). In other words, Arrangers are the souls of the party (or a project), so if you ever need a source of positivity or support, you can always go to them!
Strengths:
- Amazing communication skills;
- Awesome teammates for collaboration;
- Great teachers;
- Very empathic and supportive.
Weaknesses:
- Bad at planning things;
- Way too talkative;
- Puts a bit too much emotion into work;
- Unaware of how their outgoing personality affects others.
4. The Visualizer
Visualizers are amazing at using intuitive and holistic thinking. They are the type of people who can’t do easy, small, repetitive tasks – they are always up for a challenge, and most of the time you’ll find them working on multiple projects at once.
Visualizers tend to focus on the bigger picture – and that’s why more often than not they overlook details. Unlike Planners, Visualizers are very spontaneous, sometimes even impulsive, and that can lead them to either amazing ideas, that Planners wouldn’t have thought of, or derailing of the original plan or project.
When you pass the Visualizer’s desk, you might think to yourself: “Oh my god, what a mess!”, and that’s because when something is out of their sight, it’s out of their mind. Also, you might receive veeeery long messages from the Visualizer, full of many different ideas and concept outlines.
Strengths:
- Open-mindedness and creativity;
- Lots of innovative ideas;
- Great problem-solving skills.
Weakness:
- Overlooking details;
- Lots of impulsiveness and spontaneity (sometimes even too much);
- Lack of ability to stick to the plan.
Source: Pexels
How to define your productivity style?
Now that we’ve taken a look at all four productivity styles, what are their characteristics, strengths, and weaknesses, let’s look at some tips on how you can find out which one of these styles you belong to!
Examine your personality
Your productivity style is heavily related to your personality traits, so stop for a moment and think about yourself. Are you more introverted or extraverted? Are you being bossy? Or maybe you like to talk to your colleagues and help them?
Think about these questions and look again at the description of each productivity style. If that doesn’t help, you can always try some personality tests, but keep in mind that they are not always completely right! You have to follow your gut – if you look at the test results and feel like that doesn’t sound like you, you might be true. No one knows you better than yourself!
Your preferences – what are they?
Sure, personality is a huge part of your productivity style, but not the only one. You can also try to identify your preferences when it comes to work, for example:
- Do you prefer to work in a team or do your tasks alone?
- Are you good at managing your time and planning your tasks or do you just go with the flow?
- Do you feel comfortable working in a quiet room or a room full of people and motion?
- Are you usually more tired or a ball of energy?
Just by honestly answering these questions you can define your personal preferences, and then you can more easily find your productivity style.
What are your strengths and weaknesses?
It is super important to be aware of your strengths and weaknesses, not only for finding your productivity style. If you struggle to objectively weigh out the things you’re great in and those who you find troubling, you can take this 84-question test that will help you with that!
Once you find out your superpowers, you can start to work on improving them even more, while getting over your weak points at the same time, that way boosting your productivity as well.
Final Thoughts
As you can see, there’s nothing wrong with you – you just haven’t found your productivity style and therefore you’ve worked your bottoms off, using the wrong techniques and not getting anywhere.
Now that you’ve learned about four productivity styles, try to define which one’s yours and work your magic!
LUXAFOR HELPS PEOPLE TO ACHIEVE THEIR GREATEST PRODUCTIVITY LEVELS WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF OFFICE PRODUCTS. LET’S BE PRODUCTIVE TOGETHER!
Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!
Do you want to build and maintain new habits? Get your free PDF version of the Don't Break The Chain calendar and start today!
Author's Bio
Jessica Chapman is a writing editor from Chicago who enjoys traveling. She works with Australian Writings, and if you need programming assignment help, she is the best person you can ask. She is also into politics and sports.
