Do you ever wonder how some business leaders are so productive? They are incredibly busy yet accomplish what they want in less time than many others. As a Professional Organizer, I’m lucky to meet many inspiring individuals who fall into this illustrious category. In this Productivity Pointers from Productive People segment, I am pleased to interview Josh Loewen, co-founder of The Status Bureau, to learn what makes him organized and successful.

What are the biggest time wasters in your life? What do you do to manage them?

Social media. I get on there for work and don’t leave! To get out of the social media rabbit hole, I literally turn my phone off and place it somewhere in the office with a bit of distance between us two. I turn off all alerts for desktop social and convince myself that half work is never productive work. A lot of time is wasted on social media just browsing under the guise of constructive research, but it’s absolutely not!

Tell us about your everyday “essentials” for business (e.g. smartphone, apps, virtual assistant? etc.).

The tools I use to research and manage search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns are huge for me. Ahrefs and SEMRush are two tools I use most often.

How do you manage and organize yourself electronically (online, smartphone, computer)?

My calendar does all my organizing for me. I throw everything crucial in there to ensure my days and weeks are planned, and the correct tasks will get prioritized and not forgotten.

How do you organize and file your paper information?

There’s very little printing or physical documentation in my business.

What is your top tip for staying organized & productive?

Don’t wait to write down everything you hear. Pause a conversation if you have to and ensure everything is in one system, however ugly it is. Don’t worry that it’s not the most advanced system ever; just get everything you need to do in one spot.

What do you do to achieve work-life balance?

Running really helps. Once I go for a run, things get clearer, and I’m able to forget about work until it’s the normal time to return to it.

Please feel free to share any other information about yourself or your productivity skills with Out of Chaos readers.

Stress seems to disorganize things. Exercise to keep a clear head seems to be the best way for me to stay productive.

Learn more about Josh Loewen. Read more productivity pointers from productive people.