An Ops Perspective on Focus & Productivity
Insights from Operators Who Are Obsessed With Protecting Their Time
Operators have a particular relationship with time. We look at a calendar and immediately see both the opportunity and the risk. We know how fragile focus is. We know how fast a week can slip into reactive chaos. And we know that the difference between a productive operator and a burnt-out one often comes down to a handful of disciplined rituals that protect our best hours.
So earlier this month, I asked my network a simple question:
“What are your #1 focus and productivity hacks as an operator?”
The responses were sharp, honest, and very aligned.
Below is the collective wisdom.
(This analysis is based on the anonymized responses submitted to the Ops Productivity Survey. Thank you to everyone who contributed.)
How Operators Describe Focus
Operators talk about focus the same way athletes talk about training time. It’s sacred. It’s finite. And everyone else in the company seems unintentionally dedicated to interrupting it.
Across the dozens of responses, a few themes appeared again and again:
- Focus is something you have to protect, not something you find.
- Meetings, escalations, and Slack pings are the enemy of deep work.
- Productivity is less about doing more and more about doing what matters.
- Your calendar tells the truth about your priorities.
- Without boundaries, your week becomes a reaction machine.
One operator summed it up perfectly:
“Intentionality is the only productivity hack that actually works.”
The Top Productivity Habits for Operators
Instead of apps or “morning routines,” operators gravitated toward structural habits — creating systems that allow focus to survive inside fast-moving companies.
Here are the patterns that emerged:
1. P Before E
Planning must happen before execution. It pays dividends, always.
High performance leaders don’t start their day by reacting. They start by stepping back.
Many described a daily or end-of-day ritual where they deliberately reset context before execution:
- Planning the next day before shutting down
- Revisiting the “big picture” daily or weekly
- Deciding in advance what will not get done
One operator put it plainly:
“If it doesn’t align with the strategic priority, I don’t do it.”
This guarantees directional clarity so the day doesn’t default to chaos.
(Source themes: daily planning, big-picture review, “be a ruthless planner,” end-of-day reset)
2. Meetings Must Earn Their Right to Exist
Operators are unapologetic about meetings.
Across responses, a consistent filter emerged:
- Every meeting must inform, discuss, or decide
- If it does none of those, it gets canceled
- If it stops doing those, it ends early
Several operators explicitly said they ruthlessly question whether a meeting is necessary at all.
The subtext is clear:
Meetings are a cost center unless proven otherwise.
(Source themes: question every meeting, inform/discuss/decide, cancel or cut short)
3. Stop The Sprawl
Operators don’t rely on willpower to stay focused. They use guardrails.
Examples that came up repeatedly:
- ELMO (“Enough, Let’s Move On”) to stop scope creep in meetings
- Time boxing and Pomodoro to prevent tasks from expanding infinitely
- Finishing one task before starting the next
Drift gets you nowhere.
The hard-won lesson: Work expands unless you deliberately contain it.
(Source themes: ELMO, Pomodoro, time boxing, “don’t move on until done”)
4. Control your Calendar
Accomplished CXOs treat their calendar as an operating system.
Common behaviors:
Regular calendar reviews to spot drift
- Clustering meetings to protect focus windows
- Blocking mornings for deep work and pushing meetings later
- Treating “free time” as protected, not available
Key quote: "If your calendar isn’t intentional, your week won’t be either.”
This is where many operators start using tools or AI Calendar Audits to maintain a 20/20 vision and their unique bridge between strategy and execution.
5. Harmony between Work & Energy
All hours are not equal.
Accomplished COOs explicitly:
- Bucket tasks by focus intensity (high / medium / low)
- Schedule deep work during peak energy windows
- Push admin and coordination to low-energy times
- Avoid back-to-back meetings that destroy cognitive stamina
Cross-functional leaders (or Generalists) have mastered the art of placing work where it has the highest chance of success.
In a twist of “work smarter, not harder” you turn self-awareness and data into finding flow.
(Source themes: circadian rhythm, morning person, high/medium/low focus buckets)
6. Fewer Deeper
This may be the strongest pattern of all.
Operators consistently described:
- Limiting themselves to 1–2 meaningful outcomes per day
- Sizing requests before committing
- Prioritizing tasks instead of juggling them
- Purposefully neglect lower-priority work
One response captured it perfectly:
“My productivity unlocked when I stopped trying to do everything.”
(Source themes: do fewer things, rank requests, small/large scoring, “don’t move on”)
My Own Productivity System as an Operator
I spent the better half of the last decade honing time management and driving organizational effectiveness. Here are the easiest tweaks anyone can make today:
1. End every day by writing down how the next day should start.
The smallest habit that packs a punch. Not losing the most productive part of my next day has set direction and starting the day ahead vs behind.
Bonus: Add weekly calendar reflection points.
Look at last week and ask:
- Did my time match my priorities?
- Where did interruptions come from?
- What did I let slip that I shouldn’t have?
- What patterns need tightening?
This is why we built calendar audits into Kairos. Your rearview mirror is functioning as a continuous calibration towards results.
2. Prioritize numerically.
One of the questions I’m most known for is “What will we stop doing to make space for this new [shiny object initiative]?”
And the answers are hard.
Instead, the easiest way to find what falls below the line is to list everything you need to do in numeric order. Start with #1 and work your way down until the time’s up. Natural selection – may the strongest priorities survive ( = be completed).
💡 Managing Up Tip: Share this numeric order with your boss. Giving you both clarity and alignment on what matters and what will get done in which order.
3. Let it go.
Time is treacherous; be intentional and move on. Don’t ruminate on what didn’t happen (in time). You're wasting time and energy right there.
Why This Matters for Operators
Most productivity advice breaks down in high-velocity environments because it assumes your schedule is yours. It isn’t.
Your schedule belongs to:
- the escalations
- the decisions
- the fires
- the CEO
- the team
- the next unexpected problem
Sometimes it gets unintentionally sacrificed. Did you know most meeting organizers over-invite for the wrong reasons of “inclusivity”? They may very well invite you without intentionally considering what value you add and if your participation is required.
Productivity for operators is not about doing more.
It’s about creating enough protected space to think clearly.
When you put the right systems in place, your capacity expands.
Your stress drops.
Your work gets sharper.
Your team gets clearer direction.
Your decisions get better.
This is also why Kairos exists: to help operators protect the time they need, not the time their calendar accidentally gives them.
Try one of these habits this week
Pick one.
Not all of them.
- Block your best hours
- Limit meeting windows
- Define your weekly objectives
- Control Slack instead of letting it control you
- Remove one commitment that shouldn’t exist
- Audit your calendar and fix what you find
Small operational shifts compound quickly.
And if you want to contribute to Kairos Network (incl. opportunities for guest blogs), reply or reach out. Operators build the best systems when they build them together.
