Laura Stack - The Productivity Pro, Time Management, Getting Things Done, How to Be More Productive

Believe you're among the top performers in your office?

An article in last week's BusinessWeek magazine made me laugh out loud.  In an online study conducted from June 28 to July 5, 2007, BusinessWeek asked 2,000 Americans in middle management and above, 25 years and older, "Are you one of the Top 10% of performers in your company?  The amazing result?  A whopping 90 percent of managers think they are in the top 10 percent of performers at their workplace.  97% of executives, 91% of males, and 89% of females said yes.  Hello?  Can you say "denial"?

Obviously these ostriches have their heads in the sand.  While I laud confidence and a positive attitude, most of these people are statistically wrong.  So how would you KNOW if you were one of the top 10 percent of performers in your company?  What is the value of your contribution?  Leaders---you can't manage what you can't measure.  What are the critical success factors in your organization for each position and for the company as a whole?  What methods are in place to measure your peers on those factors across the company?  A little competition in the workplace between managers, salespeople, etc., can be healthy and will really show who's producing in key areas (not just occupying space and staying "busy").  What are you really contributing to your company?

Workers' Average Commute Round-Trip Is 46 Minutes in a Typical Day

The results from the Gallup Organization's annual Work and Education survey show the average American averages 46 minutes commuting to and from work in a typical day.  If you take out those who work at home, the average increases to 48.1 minutes per day.  However, if you have above-average income and work more than 40 hours a week, your commute is greater than the average, and so is your stress level.  Since the advice "move, earn less, and work fewer hours" doesn't work, let me instead give you some ideas to make your commute more productive, efficient, and stress-free:

Use the phone. Now I’m one of those people who get aggravated while people are chatting away on their cell phones while driving…generally because they’re not, well, driving. Many people have no idea how slowly they’re going while they’re on the phone. Plus talking on the phone has proven to be unsafe, and many states have passed ordinances against it. Often, you’ll see someone pulled over to the side of the road to make a call.

That being said, you can get a hands-free phone installed, which uses a mounted phone and speakers. Many phones, like the Treo 650, use Bluetooth technology, which allows you to wear a wireless earpiece and talk hands-free. By using these safe options, you can still use your phone to call clients or catch up with friends and family while still keeping your hands on the wheel and eyes on the road.

Clear your brain. Basically, use your morning commute as a warm up to your day. On the way to work, do whatever helps you focus and arrive at your desk raring to go. For mass transit travelers, that may mean reading the daily paper with a cup of coffee. Drivers may like to listen to news radio for their daily summary.

Bond with your family. While driving together to “away” games or a relative’s house, you can sing songs, quiz your child on his spelling words, play “I spy” or another travel game, or listen to stories. When your eyes are on the road, your child may feel more comfortable than usual bringing up a touchy subject, so be available to just listen as well.

Shift your schedule. If you frequently get stuck in traffic, consider changing your schedule slightly to hit the road slightly before or after the rush, and use the time on either side to organize your day.

Use a voice recorder. I knew a professional speaker who wrote an entire book by talking while driving. She clipped a microphone on to her shirt and talked into a recording device (there are many available). Then she simply had those tapes transcribed, hired an editor to clean it up, and printed it at www.instantpublisher.com. She has published a book at the rate of about one a year using this method. Other people get voice recorders (Radio Shack sells a good one) with several minutes of tape and dictate their letters while on the go. If you’re blessed enough to have an assistant, he or she can type your letters from the recording. Some cell phones also have recorders built into them, so you can make your to-do list or remind yourself of things as you think of them. Do NOT, under any circumstances, attempt to write while driving unless you’re completely stopped.

Listen to books on tape. My favorite place to eat breakfast is a restaurant called Cracker Barrel…hash brown casserole, grits, and honey ham, baked apples…oh, sorry! The closest one to me is an hour’s drive away, so I don’t get to frequent it often enough because of traffic. But if you’re lucky enough to have one in your hometown or pass a sign for one along the road, STOP. You’ll notice that Cracker Barrel restaurants are always built right off an interstate exit. One of the founders’ core strategies was to make them easy on, easy off from the interstate. You could get to the next one on a tank of gas, refuel, grab a bite, buy what you need (and what you don’t need) in their little store, and get back on the road. Cracker Barrel has also came up with a clever book-on-tape program for frequent travelers. The next time you visit this restaurant, look for the spinning rack of tapes. You can purchase one audio book and, for a nominal fee, trade it in for another, anytime, at any other Cracker Barrel. Or you can get tapes and CDs from your local library before you go on a trip. You’ll notice that your perception of drive time is greatly reduced when you’re listening to an audio book. Your brain gets engaged in the story and time flies by. I have a friend who was planning an international trip, so she listened to French language tapes while in the car. Within three months, she learned enough French to get around nicely while there.

Carpool with your spouse. If you work roughly in the same area, hitch a ride with your sweetie! You can use the extra time each day to talk. While one person drives, the other can take care of miscellaneous family business on the phone. By the time you reach your door, the calls will be done and you can enjoy more quality time together at home.

Take the train instead. If you’re lucky enough to have a great public transportation system, use it! Of course, many professionals are forced into taking commuter trains because of traffic or distance or speed. But many people have told me they live for their train time because they can complete light paperwork, catch up on reading, pay bills, or just nap. By the time they arrive home, they feel rested and can settle into the second shift.

What are some other ways you take advantage of your commute time?

Teleworkers happier than office dwellers, study finds

A new study of 10,000 workers by Kenexa Corporation found that employees who telework from home at least on occasion were happy than those who had to put in "face time" every day at the office.  I hope managers who still insist on measuring employees by the hours in the office vs. results are reading this.  Just because they are in the office doesn't mean they are producing anything of value.  You can have one employee work an eight-hour day and another work a twelve-hour day, and the eight-hour worker can be FAR more productive than the twelve-hour worker.  It doesn't matter how long you're there; it only matters what value you created in that time.  If one "loyal" worker toiled the office all day for 12 hours but played solitaire, bought plane tickets for a vacation, checked their fantasy football scores, and made personal phone calls all day, who cares that they were in the office!  I'd much rather let someone work from home occasionally and build loyalty and increase retention and measure that person based on what they produced.  Organizations that allow occasional telework allows them to recruit the very best talent.  In turn, employees give their best every day and are less likely to search elsewhere where this oppotunity isn't provided.  With the tightening labor market, it's imperative that leaders reassess their positions around working from home if they want to attract and keep the best workers.

As Mark Sanborn, bestselling author of The Fred Factor, wrote in the Foreword of my book Leave the Office Earlier:

“Too often leaders focus on input rather than output. There are times when arriving early and staying late are necessary, but the real test of an employee’s abilities and commitment is accomplishment. The proof is in the results, not the recorded hours.  Today, good employees refuse to sacrifice their family and personal lives on the altar of antiquated employer expectations. If you are a leader, face the facts: you are renting talent, not buying the hearts and souls of workers. You will either focus more on results and contribution and less on desk time or end up with a team of posers. If you are a valued employee, find somewhere to work where your contributions are recognized.”

 

Management of Mobile Workers

According to Interactive Data Corporation (IDC), mobile workers will account for one quarter of the world’s working population by 2009.  As a manager and/or as a organization, you must be able to hire the right people for this type of position, as not every person is suited.  Back in 2004, I identified the personality traits required people who successfully telecommute:

1.      Self-Motivated—Do you tend to get things going on your own, or do you prefer to be directed by others?  Are you the type that when someone says, “Here’s this project, go figure out how to do it, the deadline’s this,” you get it done.

2.      Disciplined—Do you have to push yourself to work your hours?  Do you procrastinate?  Do you stay strapped to your seat long enough to get your work done?  Can you stay focused despite distractions?  When you start a task, do you see it through to completion?

3.      Okay Working Alone—Do you require social contact to be happy?  Do you like your private time and space?  Do you feel comfortable working alone, or do you thrive on having frequent contact with others?  If you can’t be alone, you may have excessive telephone talking or run menial errands just to get out of the house.

4.      A Good Time Manager—Do you handle interruptions, visitors, phone calls, and email well?  Can you schedule realistically, prioritize correctly, and delegate appropriately?

5.      Likes to Control Own Schedule—Do you resent micromanagement?  Do you like having the flexibility to set your own hours?  Can you make quick decisions under pressure without consulting others?  You’ll be good at telecommuting if you can roll with the punches confidently.

6.      Organized—Do you like to start your workday with a clean, organized desk?  Being organized isn’t everything, but it’s very important when you work at home.  Unless you have an overabundance of space, having a place for everything will go a long way toward helping you maintain sanity in your work and personal lives.  Efficiency and organization will allow you to be more productive.

7.      Comfortable with job requirements—Do you know how to do your work?  Are you off the learning curve?  Can you handle your tasks without a lot of direction?  Are you committed?  Do you thrive on a sense of accomplishment from having done a good job?

8.      Can balance work with rest of life—Do you have workaholic tendencies?  You must be able to know when to close the office door and when to get down to business.  Can you draw good boundaries with family and friends but resist the urge to wander into your office every evening until 10:00 p.m., ignoring your kids and family?

9.      Self-confident—Do you feel you could do anything you set your mind to?  Do you believe in your abilities to make things happen?  Since your coworkers and manager won’t be there to praise you, can you be your own best cheerleader and support yourself?  Are you generally an optimist?  Can you laugh at stressful situations to cope, or do you typically give up?

10.  Thrives on risk and uncertainty—Do you feel okay about stepping out of your comfort zone to take risks?  Are you a go-getter?  An adventurer?  Willing to put your all into your passion?  Working at home involves risk with relationships…can family members respect your efforts to work at home?  Will there be turf wars?  Will your image suffer at work?  Will you be looked upon as a slacker?  These are all big question marks when first starting out.

11.  Seeks support and advice from others—Do you know when to ask for help or support?  Are you a perfectionist and try to do everything yourself?  Successful telecommuters know their limits, and they know when to ask for help.  Being at home can wear you down.  It’s easy to take on too much if you’re not careful.  It’s tempting to work 12 hour days because you’re getting so much done.

12.  Good communicator—Telecommuters need to develop good working relationships with a variety of people: their customers, co-workers, boss, and family members.  To make this arrangement work, you’ve got to keep everyone in the loop and constantly informed.

Now a new study by Cisco identifies the psychological profile and communications resources required for successful mobile workers. Guess what?  They cite the same factors: extroverted, resilient, creative, independent, and disciplined.  A successful manager of mobile workers needs to trust their folks and enable them to manage their own workload, emphasizing results and deliverables rather than hours and “butts in seats.”  Managers can’t treat mobile workers the same way they treat fixed-desk, office-based workers.  If management doesn’t understand how to handle their folks or recruits inappropriate personalities, the business will potentially miss out on the benefits offered by mobile workers.  The right amount of communication—not too little and not too much—will avoid feelings of isolation or micromanagement.  Make sure these people have a high level of connectivity and can be productive wherever they are---taxi, home, plane, hotel, or airport gate.

Addicted to Email

I have a friend who jokes there are always three people in her bed: herself, her husband, and her Blackberry.  I was in California last week on vacation with my family and witnessed people typing away on their Blackberries while at Disneyland, with their children tugging at their pants legs, asking to go see Cinderella.  I was presenting a seminar yesterday, and one participant kept looking up to say, "Would you repeat that"? not because I wasn't clear, but because she wasn't paying attention to me---you got it---checking her email during class.  Examples abound but the bottom line is Americans are addicted to email.  Slaves to the Send/Receive button, countless workers sit at their desks, waiting for the next Desktop Alert, beep, cursor change, envelope in the system tray, whatever trigger prompts their Pavlovian response to interrupt whatever they are doing and check it.  And unopened email!  A present---for me!  Someone loves me.  Many workers allow themselves to get sucked in the email vortex for an entire day and not actually complete any work.  And then we blame the sheer mass for sucking all of our time, rather than acknowledging the reality: you are controlled by your email. 

A new study released July 26 by AOL in partnership with Opinion Research Corporation reveals that more Americans are using portable devices to email around the clock from virtually anywhere---even in the bathroom and at church.  Even more dangerously, 53% of respondents admit to tapping away *while driving.*  Some other interesting statistics:

* 83% of email users are checking while on vacation;

* 59% of those with portable devices are using them to check email every time a new message arrives.

* 43% of users keep the device nearby when they are sleeping to listen for incoming email.

*  15% describe themselves as "addicted to email" (really? only 15%?)

These statistics are just sad.  AOL was extolling this like a virtue, of course, that you can stay connected anywhere, anytime.  I think it's a dangerous message.  We're teaching people that in order to be productive and be a valuable worker, you have to be "always on," give up your private time, and check email at all hours of the night.  Portable devices are very convenient when you're traveling for business, sitting on an airplane, in a taxi, driving as a passenger in a car with nothing better to do, at a business conference to stay in touch with the office, waiting to pick you kid up from soccer, etc.  There are certainly and definitely valuable uses for handhelds and they can be quite handy.  But be very careful about throwing yourself upon the altar of email addiction and sacrificing the quality of your life balance and time with your loved ones. 

The big differentiating factor is control.  If you shut your Outlook down completely for an hour, would you be able to resist checking?  Can you turn off your device for two hours while having a nice dinner with a spouse without thinking about it constantly?  Would you get hives if your Blackberry wasn't charged?  Do you feel like the world is going to end?  I'm not here to judge you and neither should anyone else---only you know---intuitively---whether you have a problem.  Time to control yourself rather than letting technology control you.  If you think it's bad now, just wait to see what happens in a couple years.

   

2007 Wasting Time Survey from Salary.com

The 3rd annual Salary.com "Wasting Time Survey" for 2007 reports that the average employee wastes 1.7 hours of a typical 8.5 hour work day.  Salary.com reports that figure is down from the 2.09 hours wasted per day in 2005.  The #1 culprit of wasted time?  Internet use at 34.7%.  Followed by socializing with co-workers (20.3%) and conducting personal business (17.0%).  Over 63 percent of respondents admitted to wasting time at work.  The 20-29 year olds waste almost twice as much time (2.1 hours) compared to 40-49 year olds (1.4 hours).  Keep in mind this does not take into account how much work people are doing at home and on weekends, however.  What, do you think people aren't conducting business while at home?  Of course they are!  In my opinion, they might be asking the wrong questions.

It's interesting that wasted time has declined 19 percent since the first survey in 2005.  Yes, you can point to a growing economy and increases in productivity.  But is it possible that people are wasting less time because they want to get things done more quickly and get the heck out of dodge?  Are they deciding they are going to control their technology better, rather than letting it control them?  I believe it's the beginning of a backlast against the corporation that is happy to work people to death.  Workers have had it with the years of their personal lives suffering, and a rebellion is building.  As I forewarned years ago, the pendulum is swinging the other way.  With a tightening labor market, skilled workers will be at a premium and will start to call the shots on when, where, and how much they will work.  By reducing wasted time at the office, they can get the results they need, do it in less time, and get home to their lives.  A win/win for employer and employee. 

What will the results show in 2008?  How low can we go?  Well, we can't eliminate all "wasted" time.  People aren't robots.  All socializing isn't bad.  Some is necessary for relationship building and stronger teams.  Let them get on the Internet and buy a birthday gift for a spouse.  Who cares.  They go back home and log back in and continue working anyway.  Employers will have to get hip pretty quickly with the way people are working if they want to keep the best and the brightest.  Maybe they are wasting time because they are underpaid or there are system problems or computer issues or politics or horrible meetings or a lack of challenging work.  I wonder what the results would be if we turned the tables and surveyed the management on what they do to slow down their employees and cause them to waste time?  You think?

American Time Use Survey 2006: no wonder women are so tired!

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of its annual American Time Use Survey for 2006 on June 28, 2007, which is actually conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau.  You can sift through all the data files and accompanying documentation, but let me save you some time and summarize some interesting results.

Of full-time workers, men work 8.4 hours a day on average, while women work 7.7.  But 52 percent of women cleaned each day, while only 20 percent of men clean each day.  65 percent of women cook each day and only 37 percent of men.  Men average 5.7 hours of leisure a day, and women average 4.9 hours.  Women spend 1.2 hours a day caring for children, while men spend .4 hours.  Men spent more time watching television and participating in recreation. 

Lastly, women slept slightly more: 8.69 hours a day vs. men at 8.56...not a wonder...they are tired from all the extra work!

Gartner: The 40-Hour Workweek Era Is Ending

Here we go again: another report showing us how much technology is going to save us time and reduce the American workweek.  Didn't we hear this 20 years ago?  How we would all have so much extra time on our hands due to technological improvements?  That's just like the "paperless office," which of course is a joke, since we generate much more paper now than before the advent of the computer. 

A Gartner research report released on May 30 says that by 2015, workers will be working 20 hours instead of 40.  It argues that workers are seeking a more fulfilling life balance and employers better catch on if they want to retain good employees.  They sort of forget to consider that many people consider working an ecomomic reality and can't afford to drop down to a 20-hour week.  The report encourages employers to create job descriptions for 20-hour positions.  Ugh....don't we just call this part time?

It does cite the need for increased flexibility for workers, which I agree with, but usually that's the ability to be able to work some hours from home.  It also states that it will be very difficult to draw a distinction between the personal and work computing environment.  Many employers have already figured this out and provide access to the corporate workstation from home.  Others use Blackberries or laptops as a desktop with a docking station, so the work environment is portable.  This is already being done, of course, so I fail to see what is to unique or novel in this report.  Increased flexibility and combined computing does not equate to a 20-hour week.  In my work teaching corporate seminars and speaking at conferences, I'm finding the work week continues to *climb* for the average worker.  As people have more flexibility and can work from home, they tend to just add more to their plates.  They leave work, go home, plug in, and keep working!

What's your experience?

Save hours of time every day: Stop watching so much television!

One primary television-watching energy drain is late night shows.  Given our hectic schedules with running in the door to make dinner, running out the door to take the kids to soccer practice, and then running home to finally get the kids in bed, we literally have no time left for ourselves.  We quite reasonably crave a little relaxation time, but all we have the energy to do is plop on the couch and turn on the tube.  We tell ourselves, “I’ll only watch for 15 minutes, then go to bed.”  But those alpha waves start humming, and Letterman is downright hilarious, and before you know it, 15 minutes have turned into two hours.  So you get to bed by 12:30 a.m., and you have to wake up at 6 a.m.  This pattern serves you a triple wallop.

First, you’re going to sleep after midnight.  The earlier you go to bed, the more supercharged your adrenal glands will be.  Your adrenal glands sit atop your kidneys, and they play a huge role in your energy level.  The adrenal glands manufacture adrenaline, cortisol, and DHEA.  Cortisol is helpful, but too much is stressful.  Cortisol stimulates the liver to convert amino acids to glucose and mobilizes fatty acids in the blood, both of which provide us with energy.  Too much cortisol—caused by sleep deprivation—increases blood sugar and the risk for hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart disease.  Getting plenty of sleep, however, increases DHEA production, which keeps cortisol levels in check.  DHEA also lowers LDL, or bad, cholesterol; increases muscle mass; lowers percentage of body fat; and improves energy, sleep, and mental clarity.  Even sleeping in the next morning doesn’t restore your adrenals as going to bed well before midnight does.[i] 

Second, you’ve deprived yourself of hours of sleep!  And sleep deprivation doubles your risk for obesity.  Professor Francesco Cappuccio at the University of Warwick Medical School studied data regarding 28,000 children and 15,000 adults.  He found that sleep deprivation increases appetite through hormonal changes; lack of sleep increases production of ghrelin, an appetite stimulant, and reduces production of leptin, an appetite suppressant.[ii]  Bottom line: not getting enough sleep can actually make you fat! 

Third, the human sleep cycle runs in increments of 90 minutes.  If you only get 5 ½ hours of sleep, you’ve lopped off your sleep cycle right in the middle, which is why you feel lethargic.  In other words, sleep cycles are usually complete at 1½ hours, 3 hours, 4½ hours, 6 hours, and 7½ hours.  The extra one-half hour to reach eight hours is to allow for falling asleep.  That’s why sometimes you feel refreshed if you awaken before your alarm goes off; but if you fall back asleep, you may feel super groggy when the alarm finally does go off. 

Sleep is when your brain and muscles restore themselves.  It is as necessary as eating, exercising, and going to the bathroom.  Yet so many Americans deprive themselves of this basic need by watching too much TV.  Would you want someone to take away your plate before you’re finished eating?  People who are tired can’t effectively deal with life’s little everyday stressors, and stress can cause insomnia, creating a vicious cycle of low energy. 

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[i] Northrup, Christiane (1994). Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom.

New York

,

NY,

Bantam Books.

[ii] Cappuccio, Francesco (2006, July 12). Sleep deprivation doubles risks of obesity in both children and adults . Retrieved February 5, 2007, from The Unversity of Warwick Web site: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/newsandevents/pressreleases/NE100000021440/

What color scheme is best for personal productivity: decorating your office for productivity

Investigate the link between color and worker productivity, and you'll keep coming across the name of Dr. Nancy Kwallek, Director of the Interior Design program at the University of Texas at Austin's School of Architecture. In a recent study, she had workers do mundane clerical tasks in offices with several different color schemes and discovered that white is absolutely the worst color for productivity—at first. After being exposed to an all-white environment for a while, most workers adjusted just fine. For those who could screen out their environment from the beginning, however, bright colors were more effective, since they seem to stimulate people in general. Those more easily distracted by the environment did better in rooms painted a cooler color, like blue-green. Ultimately, however, the most effective color scheme was a mix of the two: blue-green over soft red, separated by wood paneling (wainscoting).