Learn the Productivity Style for Your Personality

Ever feel like your to-do list is constantly spinning round and round without anything really getting checked off?

You strive to be productive but feel defeated by an overflowing calendar. Even though you set aside dedicated time each day to work efficiently, productivity eludes you. 

The problem isn’t lack of effort – it’s that you may be using strategies that don’t align with your natural strengths and tendencies. While planners and schedules work well for some, others thrive in a more fluid, flexible environment. 

What if we could leverage our strengths to be more productive? The key is understanding your personality and adapting your work style accordingly.

In this post, I’ll discuss the four main productivity personality types and how to customize your approach to maximize your output.

What is a Productivity Style?

Your productivity style is the unique approach you take to getting things done efficiently and effectively. In fact, Devin Ambron has researched and determined that people generally fall into four productivity styles or Productivity Types.

Whether you’re a planner who likes to lay out a schedule for the day ahead or a spontaneous worker who likes to tackle tasks on a whim, your productivity style can significantly impact your success at the workplace.

Understanding your productivity style can help you optimize your workflow and achieve your daily goals more easily. So, what’s your productivity style?

What Are The Four Different Productivity Styles?

There are four different Productivity Types: Planners, Strategists, Connectors, and Performers.

Most productivity advice is written for the Planner, which is naturally the most productive type. There is more information for each Productivity Type later in the post.

Strategist

Strategists enjoy solving complex problems within the systems that make up the world. Whatever system currently excites them, they will investigate it further to understand its inner workings and improve the system.

Strategists are visionary leaders with a long-term and big-picture perspective. They have a particular way of how they want to execute their vision, including conducting research, gathering specific knowledge, and mastering the details.

Characteristics

• Focus: Problem Solving
• Intelligence: Strategy
• Traits: Resourcefulness, independence, and strong-willed
• Strength: Excellent communicators who quickly learn about more topics.
• Hacks: Consistently be open to finding the next mentally stimulating project to grow.
• Ideal Schedule: Schedule regular review sessions with a friend, coach, or mentor for accountability and access to your goals.

Planner

Planners are excellent at management and work to keep everything operating smoothly in their work, businesses, relationships, and communities. They take satisfaction in being reliable, helpful, and hard-working.

Planners believe in following the rules, valuing the organizational process, and cooperating with others. They keep all their notes organized, which aids in completing tasks efficiently and enhances their time management skills. However, their deep commitment can sometimes lead to excessive involvement in projects, as they are detail-oriented and constantly seek to implement innovative ideas.

Characteristics

• Focus: Deadlines
• Intelligence: Logistics
• Traits: Reliability, service, and respectability
• Strength: Excellent project managers who work according to schedule.
• Hacks: Schedule planning periods to batch similar tasks and work to execute on during later time blocks.
• Ideal Schedule: Schedule meetings and time blocks on the calendar and strictly follow the calendar.

Connector

Connectors are passionate individuals who thrive on creating growth and meaning in their work while also aiding others in achieving their own success. Their natural inclination to work with people shines in roles that involve educating or counseling.

Connectors excel at devising creative solutions and are known for their ability to effectively use visual aids in teaching or counseling methods. Through their dynamic leadership and innovative approach, Connectors inspire others to expand their potential and achieve personal growth.

Characteristics

• Focus: People
• Intelligence: Diplomacy
• Traits: Empathy, kindness, and authenticity
• Strength: Always focused on personal journeys and human potential with every task.
• Hacks: Ask to collaborate with others as much as possible and take leadership roles to guide others with meaning and growth.
• Ideal Schedule: Plan to work one-on-one with team members to counsel and dive into problems.

Performer

Performers will take bold, skillful action in ways that others may consider daunting and risky to accomplish their goals. They are willing to do whatever it takes, not regarding rules, to get things done.

Performers are easily adaptable to changing conditions and excel at working under unknown circumstances. They thrive in environments where they can showcase their creativity and ingenuity.

If you identify as a Performer

Characteristics

• Focus: Action
• Intelligence: Tactics
• Traits: Skillful action, audacity, and adaptability
• Strength: Creating spontaneous solutions and relationships under challenging circumstances.
• Hacks: Establish periodic check-ins to ensure that current work aligns with the most critical priorities.
• Ideal Schedule: Set up timed reminders to complete tasks instead of queuing tasks onto a list.

What is your Productivity Style?

Let’s explore the different productivity styles and find out which one best fits you.

1) Take the Productivity Type Quiz

The Productivity Type website has a short quiz to answer personality questions to determine our specific type. You can take the quiz here.

2) Receive Your Results from the Quiz

After finishing, you will get the results of the Productivity Type Quiz. The results list the Productivity Types, with a corresponding percentage, in order of your most dominant type to least dominant type.

Here is an example of the results from my Productivity Type Profile:

3) Determining Your Productivity Type

As the results show, we all have some characteristics from each personality type. However, the top two Productivity Types drive most of our productivity habits and interactions with people.

My top two are Performer (47%) and Strategist (35%). The highest percentage indicates your Primary Productivity Type, which for me is Performer.

The following highest percentage indicates your Secondary Productivity Type, which for me is the Strategist. Note that one can have ties between several of them.

4) Download the Cheat Sheet

After completing the quiz, the website provides more information for each productivity type, including strengths, hacks, and ideal schedules.

The Productivity Types Cheat Sheet is available here.

How Do You Understand Your Productivity Style

Now that you have determined your productivity type, we can use it to help you be more productive. Again, the top two will drive most of our behavior and interactions with people.

My top two Productivity Types are Performer (47%) and Strategist (35%), so I could be considered a “Strategic Performer.” Thus, some of my strengths include solving complex problems with spontaneous solutions, thinking at a big-picture level, and working under challenging circumstances. Let’s dive into some of my hacks and ideal schedules. 

Case Study: What Where the Recommendations Based on My Productivity Type

I’ve always been drawn to different productivity strategies, diving deep into mentally stimulating projects like improv comedy, earning a Master’s degree, or understanding e-commerce operations. I engage with these projects intensively—whether for days or years—until I’ve either completed them or achieved personal satisfaction. This approach has allowed me to continually develop as a human being continually, embracing the workplace productivity big picture thinking necessary for diverse experiences.

To enhance focus and goal alignment, I’ve adopted periodic review sessions. With a project manager mindset, I leverage collaborative team calendars and involve key individuals—my business coach, personal trainer, and close friends—who provide support and accountability. This network ensures I don’t shoulder too much responsibility alone and helps me prioritize effectively according to my productivity styles depending on current needs.

Recently, I’ve considered integrating timed reminders into my routine, a shift from merely listing tasks. This method seems promising for enhancing efficiency complementing the use of the Things app, which has served me well. This strategy aligns with only a few sentences of advice but could significantly streamline how I manage daily tasks and long-term projects.

Final Thoughts on the Four Productivity Styles

In conclusion, finding your productivity style is crucial to achieving success and reaching your goals. By understanding your personality and how you work best, you can maximize your time and effort to be more productive.

Whether you are a planner who loves to-do lists or a spontaneous individual who thrives under pressure, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to productivity. Embrace your unique style and use it to your advantage.

Feel free to try new methods and techniques that align with your personality. Remember, Rome wasn’t built in a day, so don’t beat yourself up if you have an unproductive day.

Instead, reflect on what worked for you and make adjustments as needed. Being self-aware of your strengths and weaknesses is vital to finding the productivity style that works for you.

So, go forth and show the world what you’re capable of!