The Habits and Productivity Tips of Successful N.B. Business People
In the business and startup world, there’s a lot of interest in how super-successful people live their lives.
Thanks to guys like Tim Ferris, there’s interest in what they do in the morning, the tools they use, the time they go to bed at night. It seems kind of nosey, but sometimes you can learn a thing or two on how you can improve your own productivity by learning how others get shit done.
So we decided to ask some of New Brunswick’s successful entrepreneurs about how they get the most out of their day:
Erin Flood, founder of the Go.Do Project, former HotSpot COO:
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? Drink a big glass of cold water. Check the daily quartz on my phone (daily snippets of global news) along with Seth Godin’s daily blog. Let my dog out & coffee (always, always, coffee).
What’s your favourite productivity tool? At the risk of sounding corny… nature. Some of my most productive meetings/ conversations have been outside and I think this is largely due to the fact that it’s tech-free, and we’re forced to think through the problem/idea at hand without having almighty Google to instantly gratify our curiosities. Other than that, Slack messenger (modern-day MSN).
What’s your most productive place to get work done? My family farm, both in the garden and on the laptop.
What time do you get up and what time do you go to bed? Not early enough, on both accounts. I’m working on this, and will report back.
Yves Boudreau, CEO of Alongside:
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? I wake up then jump in the shower where I tend to envision and plan what I want to accomplish during the day. I actually bought shower markers and sometimes use the walls as a whiteboard to map out concepts or ideas that are mulling in my head (TMI?). Some of my best ideas have come from those instances, including a major product addition that we’re rolling out next year.
My wife Lisa is responsible for the healthiest part of my morning “routine” which are the green smoothies that I have to start my day on a regular basis.
What’s your favourite productivity tool? Asana, and at one point, Wunderlist (before it was acquired). I also do a decent job with my calendar management using the Calendly add-on to reduce back and forth on scheduling meetings. Another tool that I’ve been using increasingly is Zoom.ai, which is an AI assistant that creates a lot of efficiencies in my day-to-day and integrates with a lot of other tools I work with.
What’s your most productive place to get work done? I don’t have an actual desk at the office. I tend to move around and work in different parts of the office. Usually, I rotate between an available desk, couches, the kitchen table, the counter, call rooms, etc. I find working in different parts of the office keeps my energy levels up and is more conducive to the variety of tasks on my plate on any given day.
What time do you get up and what time do you go to bed? I go to bed between 1 and 2 am and get up at 7:30 am. I’ve never had normal sleep cycles for as long as I can remember and it’s something that I hope to improve in the future. The problem is my brain never shuts down, and I tend to get a second wind and a lot of my best ideas in the evening, which I think stems from my creative past as a UI/UX designer. Sundays are even worse as I tend to plan out my week which stimulates the brain even more.
Monica Adair, Partner, Acre Architects:
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? I’m definitely not a creature of habit, and especially not in the morning. My future self runs twice a week in the mornings because she can’t find time otherwise.
What’s your favourite productivity tool? I recently bought an Apple Watch to help with meeting reminders and scheduling, however, it’s been most helpful in cutting down my screen time.
What’s your most productive place to get work done? Driving in the truck in the passenger seat while Stephen (Kopp) drives. I love the clarity of the open road. It’s time when we both get to talk about work, life, family, design and big ideas. Otherwise, any clean horizontal surface surrounded by windows and sunlight with great music.
What time do you get up and what time do you go to bed? I tend to go to bed between 11 and midnight, and I get up as late as I can get away with and still get the kids to school.
Stephen Kopp, Acre Architects:
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? Get up, make a pot of espresso and start making the kids breakfast.
What’s your favourite productivity tool? My moleskin day planner where I write my top 5 daily tasks. It’s my own modification of “the Rockerfellar habits” that Verne Harnish wrote about. I’ve been doing this for five years, almost every day.
What’s your most productive place to get work done? Outside of the 9 to 5 where I have more uninterrupted time.
What time do you get up and what time do you go to bed? I get up at 6:52 (that’s a 6:45 + 1 snooze) and I go to bed around midnight.
David Alston, former Radian6 executive, New Brunswick’s entrepreneur-in-residence:
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? Well, let me first say that I think all of my so-called “habits” probably actually make me somewhat less productive based on what most would consider the standard definition of “productive” to be. While experts would recommend not immediately reaching for my phone once I wake up (to check emails, read the news and check social feeds) but that’s exactly what I do. Including reading my Huddle.Today daily email at 7 a.m. of course!
What’s your favourite productivity tool? I don’t use apps or lists to keep track of my to-do’s like more productive types would. I probably should be regularly taking notes and religiously organizing them. However, instead, I use Gmail with its label functionality as well as Google Calendar to store everything. I use them to store stuff about my day, capture information I learn, and enter things I don’t want to forget etc. Google is a messy extension of my mind but is generally a great way for me to retrieve data when I need it. Now if I could only remember the right keywords to use to find that data!
What’s your most productive place to get work done? Productivity gurus would no doubt recommend that I set up an office with everything laid out in a highly efficient manner to maximize a daily routine and general maximum output. Once again, I completely buck this advice, generally aiming to work in different settings and locations every day. And most of my communication happens via my iPhone or sometimes whatever device is handy. My insistence on constantly changing environments and meeting with new people provides me with a steady stream of new ideas, approaches, and best practices. It also consistently makes me question all the connections between various existing solutions, as well as the ‘legacy’ solutions themselves. My definition of productivity improvement is closer to the definition of re-engineering than organizing.
What time do you get up and what time do you go to bed? I don’t have a habit of regular exercise or a habit of going to bed and getting up at the same time. And yes, that probably is a reason I end up waking up before the birds each morning and often don’t get more than 6 or 6.5 hours of sleep at night (also see answer to #1). I also don’t have the habit of regular meditation, mindfulness exercise or time set aside for relaxation. I probably should. Oddly, I guess, my “productivity” comes from avoiding the use of traditional habits and staying in a mode of constant flux. If I do have “habits” they are probably considered bad ones and perhaps better classified as my guilty pleasures.
Dan Martell, entrepreneur and founder of Dan Martell – JFDI
What’s the first thing you do in the morning? Drink 1/2 L of water and meditate using the Headspace App
What’s your favourite productivity tool? Zoom w/ Airplay sharing of my iPad Pro using Paper53 for sharing my notes/doodles, etc.
What’s your most productive place to get work done? Planes
What time do you get up and what time do you go to bed? 5 a.m. and 10 p.m.