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Between nonstop email chains and back-to-back meetings, it\u2019s easy for professionals to be busy for days without making real progress. Shark Tank<\/em> star Kevin O\u2019Leary says the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once gave him a simple productivity lesson: Tune out the distractions, and zero in on the work that truly matters. Everything else can wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the day, you only need to get three things done,\u201d O\u2019Leary said on the Build or Break<\/em><\/a> podcast with Kind Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky. \u201cThey\u2019re important each day \u2014 not the big vision. Just three things done. You have to do those first.\u201d<\/p>\n According to O\u2019Leary, elite business leaders tend to share a sharp ability to separate what matters from what does not. He says that the people who consistently achieve results do not allow everyday interruptions, from workplace chatter to family phone calls, to dictate their schedules. Instead, they tune out the \u201cnoise\u201d of their personal lives and focus on the \u201csignal\u201d of what they need to do immediately at work.<\/p>\n \u201cAnything that stops you from getting the three things done is noise,\u201d O\u2019Leary said.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary said that Jobs embodied that philosophy. From his perspective, Jobs believed that a productive person spends 80% of their time focused on the signal and just 20% dealing with distractions. \u201cBecause he was 80%, he was extremely difficult to work with,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cHe was tough, and he was brutal, and he was not a nice guy.\u201d<\/p>\n Still, O\u2019Leary pointed to Apple\u2019s success as evidence of how powerful Jobs\u2019 strategy could be. The tactic requires entrepreneurs to decide which conversations and meetings deserve attention and which can wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary said he has observed an even more intense version of that approach in Elon Musk. O\u2019Leary recalled Shark Tank<\/em> holiday gatherings hosted by producer Mark Burnett that Musk attended.<\/p>\n \u201cThe minute he thinks he\u2019s in a conversation with three people, four people, that he\u2019s getting no value out of it, he just walks away,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cHe just doesn\u2019t want to waste his time, and look at what he\u2019s achieved.\u201d<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary\u2019s ability to block out distractions may have helped fuel a career spanning more than four decades. He launched SoftKey Software Products from his Toronto basement in 1983 and sold the company to Mattel for $3.7 billion in 1999. Since then, he has invested in dozens of companies, including Groovebook, Blueland and Basepaws, while becoming widely known as Shark Tank<\/em>\u2019s blunt \u201cMr. Wonderful\u201d over 17 seasons.<\/p>\n O\u2019Leary said that the idea of signal-to-noise \u201cis going to make you a difficult person\u201d and acknowledged that it has contributed to his reputation as someone hard to work with. \u201cThat\u2019s why I have so many critics,\u201d O\u2019Leary said. \u201cI don\u2019t care, because it\u2019s noise. It just doesn\u2019t matter to me. And so if it doesn\u2019t matter to me, why should I put any energy into it at all?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n Between nonstop email chains and back-to-back meetings, it\u2019s easy for professionals to be busy for days without making real progress. Shark Tank<\/em> star Kevin O\u2019Leary says the late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs once gave him a simple productivity lesson: Tune out the distractions, and zero in on the work that truly matters. Everything else can wait.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cDuring the day, you only need to get three things done,\u201d O\u2019Leary said on the Build or Break<\/em><\/a> podcast with Kind Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky. \u201cThey\u2019re important each day \u2014 not the big vision. Just three things done. You have to do those first.\u201d<\/p>\n According to O\u2019Leary, elite business leaders tend to share a sharp ability to separate what matters from what does not. He says that the people who consistently achieve results do not allow everyday interruptions, from workplace chatter to family phone calls, to dictate their schedules. Instead, they tune out the \u201cnoise\u201d of their personal lives and focus on the \u201csignal\u201d of what they need to do immediately at work.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\nJobs spent 80% of his time on \u201csignal\u201d<\/h2>\n
The strategy\u2019s effects<\/h2>\n
Key Takeaways<\/h2>\n
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