How to Act Productive Tip #1 - Walk Fast

Photo by: Hamed Saber

Here at Grad Hacker, we feel that simply being productive is not enough. What good is your inner, clandestine productivity, if your bosses, colleagues, and you yourself don't really know the extent of just how unbelievably productive, busy, stressed, in a rush, and important you really are? For these, reasons, each weekend we will provide you with a tip on how to act productive.

Walking fast is slowly becoming a lost art form (except maybe in certain parts of New England). As our level of affluence grows to a point where we can spend time at work reading about how to work more efficiently on the internet from other people that are writing about it instead of actually working, we find that simple things like walking from point A to point B have really lost their sense of urgency. Today you observe people leisurely taking strolls at work instead of really going somewhere with a sense of purpose. Document printed? Okay, I'll stroll over to the printer, maybe grab some coffee on the way, chat with Jon about the game, take a nap, who knows. So with their hands in their pockets thumbing through loose change, their heads down watching their feet drag, and a soft tune whistling from their lips, they walk around, listlessly, from printer to coffee machine, from Jon to Jan, from unproductive to really unproductive.

This is most people, but not all people. In every organization you have a few, the really productive ones, that walk fast. These people are getting things done. Period. How could they not be? Look at how fast they're walking. These people are at the printer before the document has finished printing. They're heads are up. They're going somewhere. Often a slight frown or scowl is on their face as they walk that reminds everyone they're in deep thought, troubled by the enormous quantity of problems they solve every day.

They have no patience for waiting. If the microwave is full at noon, they can often be seen looking around to see what slow feet-dragger is using it and intends on wasting their time by showing up a minute after their food is done. Often they will return at 12:30 when the lunch crowd has subsided. Or, if they are really hungry, or more likely have a meeting in 10 minutes, they will keep their hand on the door-open button for the last 3 to 5 seconds and immediately open the door, take out slow-person food, and start heating theirs.

God forbid there be slow-walkers in front of them when they're in a tight hallway or corridor. Fast-walkers don't have time for "excuse me". Maybe, just maybe, they have time for a grunt, heavy breath, or other humanly sound that let's the other people know there is a fast walker around...but not for long. Before the feet-draggers know what happened, they are gone. That is fast-walking. That is productivity.

So this coming week, try to keep your head up, put a slight scowl on your face, and walk fast. Don't hide your inner productivity. Display it. Your boss will love you for it.