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The Tim Ferriss Show
#399: Adam Grant — The Man Who Does Everything
Dec 5, 2019
02:03:50
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Quick takeaways
- Focus on projects that are intrinsically motivating and meaningful to maximize productivity.
- Cultivate a challenge network to embrace criticism and continuously improve.
- Prioritize attention management over strict time management for increased productivity and focus.
- Saying no with authenticity and aligning commitments with personal values and capacity is crucial for success.
Deep dives
The Importance of Accountability in Teaching
Early in his teaching career, the speaker received feedback that he was nervous and had room for improvement. Instead of giving up, he focused on his passion for sharing ideas and being helpful to the students. He developed a challenge network, a group of individuals who provide unvarnished feedback, to help him improve in his teaching. He also recognized the value of time and attention management. By dedicating specific days to teaching and others to creative work, he maximized his productivity. When conflicts arise between commitments, he proactively communicates with others, finding replacements or alternative solutions to ensure the best outcome for all parties involved.
Creating a Challenge Network
The speaker cultivated a challenge network of individuals who provide critical feedback and push him to continuously improve. For important projects or creative work, he enlists a group of students who help him refine his ideas and identify areas for improvement. He also seeks out honest feedback from his friends and colleagues to challenge himself. By proactively engaging with this network, the speaker embraces criticism and uses it as an opportunity to grow and excel in his work.
Adopting Effective Time Management Strategies
The speaker emphasizes the importance of attention management rather than strict time management. He dedicates specific days to focused work and avoids multitasking, allowing him to be more productive and focused on individual tasks. By structuring his schedule this way, he maximizes flow and productivity. When conflicts arise or commitments need to be re-evaluated, the speaker communicates honestly and finds ways to deliver results while minimizing disruptions.
The Power of Saying No and Honesty in Commitments
The speaker highlights the significance of saying no when commitments become unmanageable. By being honest and forthright about limitations, he ensures the best outcome for both himself and others involved. He emphasizes the value of integrity and not just practicing what one preaches, but preaching only what one practices. The speaker's approach to saying no focuses on authenticity and aligning commitments with personal values and capacity.
The Importance of Productivity and Helping Others Succeed
Productivity shouldn't be the ultimate goal; helping others succeed should be. By focusing on meaningful projects and finding ways to support others, productivity becomes a means to an end. Being more productive doesn't necessarily equate to being more successful if the projects worked on lack meaning or intrinsic motivation. Instead of focusing on the wrong goals, it's important to find projects that are personally fulfilling and align with one's values.
Identifying Strengths and Blind Spots with Self-Awareness
Developing self-awareness is crucial in understanding one's strengths and blind spots. Seeking feedback from others can provide valuable insights into one's behavior and how it impacts those around them. Understanding one's strengths helps to leverage them effectively while also being aware of overusing them. Allowing others to contribute their strengths complements individual strengths and fosters collaboration and success.
Reevaluating Productivity and Finding Intrinsic Motivation
Being more productive isn't always about better habits or efficiency; it can also involve working on projects that excite and motivate. Focusing solely on productivity can lead to missed opportunities and dissatisfaction. Instead, finding projects that are personally meaningful and align with one's passions and interests often leads to a more fulfilling and productive life.
Embracing Change and Adapting Routines for Productivity
Routines can be beneficial for productivity, but it's important to be adaptable and open to change. Being too rigid in routines can limit creativity and hinder progress. By being open to shifting routines and embracing new ways of doing things, individuals can discover what truly works for them and increase productivity in meaningful ways.
Adam Grant — The Man Who Does Everything | Brought to you by Zapier and Peloton.
"When you feel like you're not productive, it's not necessarily because you're lazy or because you have bad habits, it's because you're not working on the right projects and you haven't found the ones that are intrinsically motivating and meaningful to you." — Adam Grant
Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) is an organizational psychologist at Wharton, where he has been the top-rated professor for seven straight years. He is an expert in how we can find motivation and meaning, and lead more generous and creative lives. He is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of four books that have sold over two million copies and been translated into 35 languages: Give and Take, Originals, Option B, and Power Moves. His books have been recognized as among the year's best by Amazon, The Financial Times, Harvard Business Review, and The Wall Street Journal and been praised by J.J. Abrams, Richard Branson, Bill and Melinda Gates, Malcolm Gladwell, and Malala Yousafzai.
Adam hosts the TED podcast WorkLife, and his TED talks have been viewed more than 20 million times. His speaking and consulting clients include Google, the NBA, and The Gates Foundation. He has been recognized as one of the world's 10 most influential management thinkers, Fortune's 40 under 40, and a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, and received distinguished scientific achievement awards from the American Psychological Association and the National Science Foundation. Adam writes for The New York Times on work and psychology and serves on The Department of Defense Innovation Board.
He received his B.A. from Harvard and his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and he is a former magician and junior Olympic springboard diver.
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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, and many more.
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