The Four Types of Productive People
Visualizer, Arranger, Planner or Prioritizer? Find out which one is yours.
Some people adapt very easily to certain productivity techniques but simply suck at others.
For example, you might not do well with to-do lists but manage your inbox very well.
Or maybe you can’t do a Pomodoro cycle without losing focus, but that doesn’t stop you from making good deliveries quickly.
It’s not about being right or wrong, but about the style of getting things done.
In literature — and on the internet — there is a tendency among coaches, guides, and writers to think that there is an equal formula for any case.
This is not true. Or so Carson Tate says in herbook Work Simply.
According to her, there are four styles of productive people, each with its idiosyncrasies. Find out now which one is yours.
The Visualizer
The Visualizer is so named because it is always watching the horizon. Or, in more practical terms, the long term.
It is difficult to know how a strategy or a business objective will succeed in the distant future. Often, a strategy requires the execution of different (apparently) disparate tasks that will connect at some point, forming something solid.
However, it is difficult to know when and when this will happen. The Visualizer is the kind of person with this imaginative ability.
Therefore, this type of productive person is very rooted in creativity. They are people motivated by innovation, risk and integration.
Often, sensory experiences such as maps, illustrations, prototypes and videos hold the most attention of Visualizers.
On the other hand, they tend to focus on the present, especially on immediate and minor obstacles that can distract from the big picture. It’s often the details that win the game, and often Visualizers forget about them.
The Arranger
This is the teamwork-oriented type of person. Arrangers never make decisions without consulting a myriad of stakeholders.
The word that defines this style is collaboration. Therefore, knowing different opinions, understanding the impact of your actions on other people is very important.
In addition, the Arranger likes to gain time and reduce errors as he talks to more and more people.
The Arranger uses your presence to persuade, using your tone of voice and your body language to achieve your goals.
However, over-involvement with others can generate expectations that are not always met. In addition, he ends up drawing a lot of attention to his work, taking away some of his privacy.
This bias of serving multiple people can end up taking the focus off the main objective, which requires constant reflection on how things are going.
The Prioritizer
This type of productive person is closely related to analytical and rational personalities. He has a keen sense of what needs to be done now. Your motivators are completion of work and deadlines.
Therefore, whatever a Prioritizer can do to automate and delegate, especially decision making, it will do.
Databases, spreadsheets, analytics and similar features are part of your daily life.
However, with so much information and so much happening simultaneously, this type of person rarely manages to stick to the details. For him, the technique is above art. The deal is to get things done.
Eventually, the lack of contemplation and concern for fulfillment can be detrimental. Often the Prioritizer needs to remember the importance of the outcome, not just the output.
The Planner
This, yes, is the king of the to-do lists. The Planner is always focused on a precise roadmap, paying attention to the steps necessary to reach a certain objective.
This requires a balance between short-term and long-term deliverables. Therefore, being a Planner is to have a distributed vision, without a predominant bias.
Along with this, there is the concern with protocols, rules and standards, anything that can be a blocker in the development of your tasks.
Timelines, action plans and proofs of concept are sure to help you take control of your routine. However, this can cause shortsightedness regarding immediate opportunities and contingencies.
After all, this type of productive person is always process-focused. Sticking to what worked in the past can lead to a certain aversion to risk and, as we know, the risk is part of success.
How to Find Your Productivity Style
There is no mystery here. You’ve identified yourself with one of the styles listed here. However, it is worth remembering that this is empirical and symbolic analysis.
It is not a closed format, in which a person is productive only for those reasons. Nor should you change your thinking to fit any of these models.
Their value lies precisely in delimiting, identifying the predominant traits of one of them in you. There will be an overlap of a certain style towards you, but there will also be less dominant similarities with others.
Which one did you identify with the most? Leave it here in the comments!
