Robert Pozen proves Extreme Productivity with his own compelling reality: he simultaneously managed roles as chairman of MFS Investment Management and professor at Harvard Business School, while serving on multiple boards, writing books, and maintaining strong family relationships. But instead of presenting this as a superhuman feat, he breaks it down into learnable strategies that any professional can adapt.

The book emerged from a simple question that kept following Pozen around - how does he get so much done? When his Harvard Business Review article on productivity garnered unexpected attention, with strangers stopping him at airports and professors thanking him for improving their habits, he realized professionals were hungry for practical productivity guidance.

Pozen's approach is refreshingly different from typical productivity advice. He doesn't prescribe rigid systems or promise miraculous transformations. Instead, he emphasizes a fundamental mindset shift: focus on results, not hours worked. The book is structured to help readers at every stage of their career. Starting professionals will find guidance on career planning and business writing. Middle managers can learn about managing relationships up and down the organizational ladder. Senior executives get specific advice on efficient travel and public speaking.

Pozen's own story adds depth to his teachings. From working multiple jobs in high school to teaching himself in an academically underwhelming environment, he developed the very skills he now teaches. His experience at Harvard, coming from a modest background, taught him to maximize limited time while working through college. These experiences shaped his productivity techniques, proving they work in real-world situations with real constraints. And he acknowledges that while his examples come from the business world, the principles apply equally in non-profit organizations, academia, and government. After all, the challenges of time management, meeting efficiency, and organizational complexity exist everywhere.

Level up begins now!

Most professionals rush through their days without thinking about why they're doing what they're doing. Robert Pozen explains a better way - organizing our work around clear priorities, and his approach shows us exactly how to do this effectively.

Let's start with how to set these priorities properly. Pozen suggests writing down everything we need or want to do professionally - and he means everything. This includes both the tasks we're assigned and our personal career goals. The key is to be thorough and honest with ourselves about what we're actually trying to achieve. These goals then get sorted into three clear categories based on time frames: Career Aims that look more than 5 years ahead, Objectives for the next 3-24 months, and weekly Targets. This organization helps us see the connection between our daily work and our long-term aspirations.

Pozen introduces us to Joshua, a retail store manager, to show how this works in real life. Joshua's career aim was becoming a top executive. His medium-term objectives included increasing store profits by 15 percent and creating better customer experiences. His weekly targets were more specific - writing sales reports, meeting with other managers, and developing local marketing strategies. By organizing his goals this way, Joshua could clearly see how his daily work connected to his bigger ambitions.

But just listing goals isn't enough - we need to rank them based on importance. Consider three key factors: what we genuinely want to do, what we're actually good at (our "comparative advantage"), and what our organization needs from us. Using Joshua's case again, while he had a task to get fancier offices (his boss's request), this ranked low because it didn't meaningfully contribute to the store's main goal of increasing profits.

As for our daily tasks, Pozen explains, they fall into two distinct groups: Enabling Targets that directly help achieve our main objectives, and Assigned Targets - the routine tasks we must complete. For Cynthia, a hospital finance employee, her Enabling Targets were: understanding how the healthcare industry works. Her Assigned Targets included answering calls from insurance companies. Cynthia's problem was that she spent all her time on these Assigned Targets, leaving no time for Enabling Targets. But with strategic time investment, she could have handled her routine tasks more efficiently.

The biggest obstacle to this strategy is procrastination. More on it next.

People often joke about procrastination, but its impact on work quality and personal life is no laughing matter. As Robert Pozen points out, nearly 15% of adults are chronic procrastinators, and they pay a heavy personal price for this habit. The cycle is painfully familiar. During the early days of a project, anxiety builds as the work remains untouched. Then comes the inevitable panic mode - working through nights, canceling social plans, and rushing to meet deadlines. This creates not just mediocre work but also strains relationships with friends and family who grow tired of this recurring pattern.

Take the case of a young professional who admitted, "I wish I could get motivated and do a little advance planning. But I just can't get going until the due date is really close." This honest admission reflects a common struggle, but there are practical solutions.

Breaking down large projects into smaller, manageable pieces is a proven first step. When an MIT professor studied student behavior, he discovered that self-imposed deadlines significantly improved productivity. However, the key was spacing these deadlines evenly throughout the project timeline, rather than clustering them near the end. Let's say you have a large report due in 30 days. Instead of having just one deadline at the end, you'd break it down like this:

Day 7: Complete initial research

Day 14: Draft first section

Day 21: Draft second section

Day 28: Complete final section

Day 29: Review and edit

Day 30: Submit final report

The solution goes beyond just creating deadlines - it requires a reward system. Pozen suggests tying each mini-deadline to a personal reward, like enjoying an ice cream sundae or watching a favorite TV show.

For those dealing with severe procrastination, stronger measures may be necessary. Make yourself accountable to your boss by sharing your mini-deadlines in writing. This might feel embarrassing, but most bosses are already aware of procrastination habits and appreciate when you tackle your shortcomings head-on.

Creating the right environment is equally crucial. This means being ruthless about eliminating distractions - blocking social media sites, clearing your schedule for focused work time, and maintaining a clean workspace. These aren't just feel-good suggestions; they're essential tools for breaking the procrastination cycle.

By implementing these strategies, professionals can shift from a last-minute rush to a productive approach. The goal isn't just better work quality - it's about reclaiming control over your time.

But the thing is, our workplace habits enable procrastination and inefficiency. Let’s see how.

We've all been there: drowning in a sea of emails, reports, and mundane tasks that you think will take a second, but which eat up all your time somehow. What's the mystery there?

Consider the accountant Pozen mentions - a professional who spent an entire week perfecting quarterly sales reports when his executives only needed rough estimates. This obsessive attention to detail might seem virtuous, but it's actually a productivity killer. By spending almost a week on low-priority tasks, his boss became reluctant to give him new major projects. Disaster!

The way out is something Pozen calls the OHIO principle - Only Handle It Once. Think of it as a ruthless efficiency strategy. When a request or task comes your way, make an immediate decision: respond now, delegate, or ignore. Most professionals waste countless hours revisiting emails, searching for lost documents, or overthinking simple requests. The magic happens when you train yourself to act decisively.

Take email management, for instance. About 80% of your inbox is essentially noise. By applying OHIO, you are free to focus on the critical 20% that actually drive your work forward. How? If an email requires a quick response and can be addressed in under two minutes, handle it instantly. Reply, archive, or resolve the matter completely. For emails needing consideration, schedule a specific time to respond comprehensively. Don't let these linger indefinitely. Put a calendar reminder to ensure follow-through. Then we have the Irrelevant or Low-Priority Emails. Most emails fall here. Pozen's guidance is clear: delete, unsubscribe, or create filters. Don't waste mental energy on these.

Know what else wastes mental energy? Multitasking. See, your brain isn't actually multitasking - it's rapidly switching between tasks, which burns mental energy. Not asking you to ditch multitasking altogether, though. You just gotta figure out when to do it. Multitasking works brilliantly for low-stakes activities. Listening to a routine conference call while skimming a report? Perfect. Trying to draft a complex strategy while attending a critical meeting? Recipe for disaster.

Apply OHIO to perfectionism, and you'll realize that sometimes it's better to accept "good enough" for routine tasks. The real skill is knowing when to dive deep and when to skim. Not every task deserves your A-game. Sometimes, a solid B+ is exactly what the situation requires.

Our next stop in building your extreme productivity is at Developing Personal Skills!

There are three personal skills you'll need to develop to become a truly productive professional. Reading, writing, and speaking. Let's focus on writing, cause that's where most of us stumble.

Writing isn't just about putting words on a page. It demands strategy, focus, and intentional thinking. Most professionals struggle not because they lack ideas, but because they haven't developed a systematic approach to transforming those ideas into compelling communication.

For writing effectively, we need to understand how our brains process information. Our brains have limited mental space when writing. So, if you plan and write at the same time, you're juggling too many balls and you'll inevitably drop one. This is where a systematic approach becomes your secret weapon. Break your writing down into three straightforward steps.

First, brainstorming is your brain's free play. Grab a piece of paper and dump every single idea that crosses your mind. Don't judge or filter. Just write. If you're planning a business proposal about becoming more environmentally friendly, write down everything from "energy costs" to "company image" without worrying about how they connect.

Next comes categorization. Look at those scattered ideas and start grouping them. Some thoughts will naturally cluster together. Others won't fit and can be discarded. For our environmental proposal, you might create categories like "Energy Savings", "Cost Reduction", and "Company Reputation". This step transforms random thoughts into organized concepts.

The final step is creating an outline. Arrange your categories in a logical sequence that tells a compelling story. Think like your audience here. In a business proposal, executives care most about financial impact, so put money-related categories first.

Good writing needs structure. Each paragraph should have a clear main point. Your first sentence should tell readers exactly what that paragraph is about. This helps people understand quickly, even if they're just skimming. And the sentences matter a lot, as well. Short sentences in active voice are easier to read. For example, "Sally provided the money" is clearer than "Subsequent to a comprehensive financial review and subsequent deliberation among the executive committee, funds bla bla bla."

And again, don't aim for perfection in your first draft. Write quickly, then come back later to clean things up.

So, stay organized, and watch your communication transform.

For the very last lesson, let’s understand what is quite possibly your biggest helper in reaching extreme productivity - balanced personal life.

As we draw the curtains on our exploration of productivity, let's confront a crucial truth: productivity isn't just about cramming more work into our days. It's about creating a meaningful life that balances professional achievements with connection, and personal fulfillment.

Our work world has changed dramatically. Remember how our parents' generation handled things? Men worked, women managed households. Today, everything looks different. We're navigating a complex landscape where technology connects us constantly, blurring lines between office and home. A single email can interrupt family dinner, and flexible work arrangements can help parents care for a sick child.

When Pozen's children were young, he made a commitment to be home for dinner at 7 pm every night. It wasn't always easy. Some colleagues would raise their eyebrows when he'd leave early, but he understood something important: no work emergency is so critical that it should consistently steal time from your family.

Here's a practical insight that might surprise you: most professionals – even those without children – would choose more personal time over extra work hours. It's not about being selfish. It's about understanding what truly matters.

Now, creating this balance requires some strategic thinking. This might mean negotiating flexible work arrangements, establishing clear boundaries, or finding creative solutions for family care. These practical tips can make a huge difference. Build support networks at work and in your community. Set up carpool arrangements. Consider hiring occasional help for household chores. The goal isn't perfection – it's creating systems that support your family's needs without adding unnecessary stress.

Again, technology is a double-edged sword. Cell phones and emails can interrupt personal time, but they can also provide flexibility. The trick is setting clear boundaries. Many professionals choose to ignore work calls during family time, using strategies like specific ringtones to filter important communications. Remember, work interruptions aren't as urgent as they seem. Most problems can wait until morning. Learning to distinguish between truly critical issues and those that can be addressed later is a game-changer for maintaining work-life balance.

The bottom line is simple but powerful: productivity isn't about working more hours. It's about working more effectively and creating a life where professional success supports – not undermines – your personal fulfillment.

As we wrap up this conversation, remember something important: your most valuable resource isn't your work output. It's the quality of your life experiences. And that's something worth investing in, day after day.