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Key Takeaways ‘Shark Tank’ star Kevin O’Leary learned an important lesson from Apple co-founder Steve Jobs.
Jobs taught him to concentrate on the immediate, high-impact work at hand (the “signal”) rather than reacting to every incoming demand (the “noise”).
O’Leary said each day should begin with the “signal,” or the three most important tasks that must get done that day.
Between nonstop email chains and back-to-back meetings, it’s easy for professionals to be busy for days without making real progress. Shark Tank star Kevin O’Leary 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.
“During the day, you only need to get three things done,” O’Leary said on the Build or Break podcast with Kind Snacks founder Daniel Lubetzky. “They’re important each day — not the big vision. Just three things done. You have to do those first.”
According to O’Leary, 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 “noise” of their personal lives and focus on the “signal” of what they need to do immediately at work.
“Anything that stops you from getting the three things done is noise,” O’Leary said.
Jobs spent 80% of his time on “signal”
O’Leary 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. “Because he was 80%, he was extremely difficult to work with,” O’Leary said. “He was tough, and he was brutal, and he was not a nice guy.”
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