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

“The business of the United States is business.” — Calvin Coolidge and several other American presidents

“Last year continued to show the effects of the weak economy. The amount of time spent watching T.V. and other nonproductive activities remains extraordinarily high.” — Alan Krueger, American economist, in response to the 2010 American Time Use Study.

“On an average day, 20 percent of men did housework — such as cleaning or doing laundry — compared with 49 percent of women.” — Citation from the 2010 American Time Use Study.

On June 22, 2011, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released the results of its annual American Time Use Survey (ATUS) for 2010. A yearly tradition since 2003, ATUS offers a fascinating glimpse into the ways that Americans spend an average day. This time around, the results derived from interviews with 13,200 individuals, representing a cross-section of the American public. Among other things, the data provide an interesting perspective on workplace productivity, so let’s take a quick look.

The most interesting statistic (from a productivity perspective, at least) is the average amount of time Americans spent at work: three hours and 58 minutes per workday, down six minutes from 2009 and 30 minutes from 2007. The press has seized upon this figure, with some observers charging that we’ve become a nation of slackers. However, these commentators have misinterpreted the data, confusing an average across the board for the average for the employed.

The raw figures actually reflect the fact that ATUS covers a representative sample of all types of individuals from age 15 and up, not just employed adults. Many of the people surveyed were unemployed or employed part-time, so of course they would drag the average number of work-hours down. The decrease in the average time worked appears to represent not increased laziness but increased unemployment, which suggests that the recession worsened during 2010—no matter what any other metrics may have suggested.

A closer look at the statistical breakdown shows that employed individuals actually spent an average of 7 hours, 50 minutes working on weekdays, with work-related activities bringing that up to a solid 8.23 hours. Add to that an average of 5.45 hours per weekend day (5.64 with work-related activities) and it’s clear that working Americans aren’t the slackers we’re sometimes made out to be. About 82 percent of the employed worked on an average weekday, with 35 percent working weekends. This reflects how individual workweeks are structured, and hasn’t really changed in the past year.

Employed men worked an average of 8.2 hours on weekdays, with women averaging 7.8 hours. Overall, women tended to work 41 fewer minutes per workday than men. This is apparently due to the fact that women are more likely to work part-time, since they continue to be the primary familial caregivers and housekeepers. Only 20% of the men surveyed reported doing housework on the average day, for example, while 49% of women did. Similarly, women were half again more likely to take care of another household member on any given day than men were (30% vs. 20%).

So: where’s the lost work-time going? That’s difficult to say, though some observers are quick to assign it to the sleep and leisure categories. However, while both are currently higher than pre-recession numbers, there’s virtually no difference between the 2009 and 2010 averages for sleep-time, and Americans actually spent less time on leisure in 2010 than they did in 2009. In fact, the only basic survey category to increase significantly from 2009 was the catch-all “Other activities, not elsewhere classified”, which rose about seven minutes from .24 to .35 hours.

The average time spent sleeping remains steady at 8 hours, 40 minutes per day (8.67 hours), with women spending slightly longer asleep (8 hours, 46 minutes) than men (8 hours, 34 minutes). The sleep average for weekdays is 8.38 hours, about 90 seconds longer than 2009; for weekends, it’s 9.34 hours.

Average time devoted to leisure activities has dropped from 5.25 to 5.18 hours per day, with men again leading the pack (5.57 hours vs. 4.82 hours for women). Watching TV took up the lion’s share of this category, at 2.73 hours (2 hours, 43 minutes). People were more likely to watch TV on the weekends than on weekdays, but they still racked up 2 hours, 31 minutes daily during the workweek. While that’s an increase of 5.4 minutes over 2007 levels, it’s a decrease of 5.6 minutes since 2009.

What all these rather dry statistics boil down to is this: Americans are slightly less productive as a whole than we were last year, continuing a trend observable since 2007. It’s clear that the decline is due to increased unemployment rather than slacking, since the average numbers do include both the employed and unemployed. A closer examination of the data shows that the average employed American is as productive as ever.

And despite the assertion by some that we’re using our lost work-time to sleep and play rather than better ourselves (which would be an understandable reaction to the pressures of the recession, if true), we’re actually sleeping about as long as we did last year, and playing a bit less. The actual fate of that lost six minutes per day remains unclear.

Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro(R), talks about saying “no” so that you have more time. (C) 2011 Laura Stack. All Rights Reserved. http://www.TheProductivityPro.com

Is giving presentations a part of your job?

One of the biggest constraints you face when making any presentation is a limited amount of time to get your point across. This is true whether you’re the keynote speaker for a convention and have a solid hour to speak, or you’re pitching your proposed budget to the Board of Directors and are lucky to get ten minutes.

Get tips from my latest “SuperCompetent Speaking” article at Training Magazine online: How to Cram Lots of Information into Limited Time.

Join us on Monday, July 25 at 11:00 AM Mountain for the next webinar in our Microsoft Outlook 2010 series!

Outlook 2010: Time Savers and Efficiency Boosters

Automatic Email Notification, Creating Rules, Rules Wizard, New Item Shortcut, Send/Receive Times, Create Templates for Common Responses, Outlook Template for Letters, AutoSearches, Quickly Jump Around within Outlook, Keyboard Shortcuts, Take a Poll and Tally Results, Specify Which Address Book Opens First, Find Messages with Lightning Speed, Add Groups and Shortcuts in the Folder List, Create a New Toolbar with Favorite Buttons, Add Your Own Menu with Your Favorite Commands.

Join us for this one-hour module for $39, or purchase the entire 12-part series for only $349.

Learn more and place your order today at:
http://www.theproductivitypro.com/s_outlook-virtual-training_1210.html

Had to share these great photos a client sent after our training session. They purchased the Productivity Pro(R) Planner from Day-Timer, got rid of the sticky notes and now have organized to-do lists!

Before using the Productivity Pro(R) Planner

and now:

No more sticky notes!

We would love to see your before/after photos or pictures of your newly organized planners and spaces. What changes have made you more productive? Send your stories to editor@TheProductivityPro.com!

Join us on Monday, July 25 at 1:00 PM Mountain for the latest in our webinar series:

How Leaders Can Get More Done Through Others: How Micromanagement Can Kill Productivity and Creativity
If you want to destroy worker initiative, blast a hole in productivity, and scribble the bottom line with red ink, there’s no better way to do it than by micromanaging your employees. Not only does it waste your time, keeping your employees on a tight leash and constantly interrupting them ruins their ability to find thoughtful, profitable ways to do their jobs. If you’re so distrustful of your employees that feel you have to keep an eye on them at all times, why did you hire them in the first place? The true leader quickly learns that the only way to get things done right is not to try to do everything yourself: true organization-wide productivity requires an engaged, informed workforce willing and eager to work toward the organization’s mission and vision. In this webinar, I’ll advise you on why and how you need to:

•Settle back and trust your employees to do their jobs, while you do yours.

•Delegate when and as necessary.

•Take care of the big-picture items, while letting others handle the details.

•Encourage employee engagement at all levels.

•Provide the training necessary for your employees to do the best job possible.

If you are unable to join us at the scheduled time, don’t worry! You will be able to view the webinar recording online at your convenience.

Only $29. Order online:
http://theproductivitypro.com/webinar_series.htm#7._July_25,_2011.

Just ten more days to take advantage of special early-bird pricing! Sign up by July 15 for $100 discount.

Mark your calendars and to attend THE PRODUCTIVITY ACADEMY!

You asked for it! TWO FULL days with Laura Stack, The Productivity Pro®, LIVE! Limited to 100 people, so act quickly, as this event will sell out.

When: Saturday, October 22, and Sunday, October 23, 2011

Time: 8:30 to 5:30 both days (meals on your own—within walking distance)

Where: The Marriott Denver South at Park Meadows in Lone Tree, Colorado (35 minutes from the Denver International Airport). The hotel has a workout room, full-service restaurant, great bar, concierge room with breakfast for Gold/Platinum level members, and a Starbucks! I was able to secure an amazing $84 room rate!

Who should attend?
The Productivity Pro Boot Camp is for professionals who want to achieve exceptional performance and productivity in all areas of their personal lives. It’s applicable to any level of employee in any kind of company or organization, including:

•Staff and middle management level “office” and “staff” positions such as marketing, admins, IT, HR, PR, operations, purchasing, etc.

•Leaders and managers in small or large corporations, including team leaders, first level supervisors, mid-level managers, and key executives, who want to provide coaching to their employees.

•Entrepreneurs and business owners who need to spend a majority of their time on revenue-producing activities and reduce the administrative burden.

•Salespeople, such as financial services, professional services, insurance, real estate, pharmaceutical, business owners.

•Human Resource executives, who need assistance in the performance review process creating development plans for employees with low personal productivity and performance.

Learn more here and sign up today!

“Social media isn’t the end-all-be-all, but it offers marketers unparalleled opportunity to participate in relevant ways. It also provides a launch-pad for other marketing tactics. Social media is not an island. It’s a high-power engine on the larger marketing ship.” — Matt Dickman, American marketer and blogger.

“Networking is not about hunting. It is about farming. It’s about cultivating relationships.” — Dr. Ivan Misner, American author.

“The most successful marketer becomes part of the lives of their followers. They follow back. They wish happy birthday. They handle problems their customers have with products or service. They grow their businesses and brands by involving themselves in their own communities.” — Marsha Collier, American speaker and business author.

Networking—the development and maintenance of beneficial relationships between likeminded individuals—is an important means of maximizing success and productivity at all professional levels. Among other things, it can:

• Help businesses find, make, and close deals.
• Provide a resource for companies to locate talent.
• Make it easier for individuals to find jobs.
• Connect collaborators and joint venture partners.
• Boost marketing efforts in a way that’s both easy and cost-effective.

Networking is a basic human habit that’s been with us since prehistory, but the evolution of the World Wide Web has transformed it into something uniquely widespread, if not unprecedented. Facebook, the premier online social network, claims over 300 million members these days—not much less than the population of the United States. It’s an order of magnitude easier than it’s ever been to stay in contact with people, even if you never see them face-to-face or ever speak to them directly.

It’s no wonder that the business world has latched onto the potential offered by the online social networking sphere, advancing corporate agendas not just on generalized communities like Facebook and Twitter, but on specialized business communities like LinkedIn and VisiblePath as well.

From a business perspective, I believe that participation in social networks can be well worth the time required to cultivate the relationships it offers, especially if you’re an independent entrepreneur. The operative word here is “can.” First of all, you have to choose your venues wisely, and do your best to separate your business efforts from personal interactions. They can intersect to some extent, but don’t ever let the purely social overwhelm the professional. Otherwise, you may end up wasting your time on efforts that do nothing to help you professionally. This can absolutely kill your productivity.

I’m not saying that you should completely avoid non-professional networking sites; in fact, I find Twitter especially useful for keeping in touch with my network and for sharing information. Furthermore, depending on your business plan, Facebook et al. are excellent venues for marketing directly to specific consumer groups. However, LinkedIn and similar business-oriented communities are your best bets for profitable, productive social networking if you’re looking to accomplish most of the goals I outlined at the beginning of this blog entry. After all, that’s what they were designed for.

And don’t forget, with this type of business network, you’ve got a knowledge base composed of literally millions of professionals of all kinds. One thing I’ve recently taken advantage of on LinkedIn is their poll feature; in fact, last time I blogged about the results of my recent poll, “During which period of the day do you feel most productive?”

Which brings up another point: blogging. It’s not networking as such (at least not in the sense of Facebook or LinkedIn), but blogging is a valid and valuable form of social media. Maintaining a regular blog is a great way to attract attention, get your ideas out there, and, ultimately, develop long-term business relationships that profit all parties involved. People are hungry for information in their fields of interest, and more and more, they’re looking for it online because of its ease of availability. What a great way to connect with others, if you’re serious and willing to put a little effort into it!

I’ve already mentioned that you must choose your networking venues wisely, so that they’ll profit rather than distract you, but let me list a few other caveats. Most importantly, I think, you have to be willing to invest the time necessary to make it all work. For example, on your own pages you need to:

• Regularly create and upload content.
• Respond to posts quickly and constructively.
• Congratulate your contacts on birthdays, anniversaries, promotions, and the like.
• Post polls and surveys and take the responses seriously.

In addition, frequent other people’s pages so you can bring yourself to their attention:

• Ask questions—and provide answers.
• Share your experience.
• Post your opinions.
• Respond to their surveys and polls.
• Invite them to visit your pages.
• Leave your own links behind.

All this will take a minimum of 3-4 hours a week to do properly, depending on the number of social networks you work with. If you can’t handle it yourself, delegate it.

To minimize of your SM time expenditure:

• Focus tightly on what you want to accomplish with your SM, and put strategies in place to achieve those goals.
• Schedule a regular time to work on SM, and stick to it. Stop when it’s time to stop.
• Turn off your email alerts and similar distractions.
• Use other technology to make life easier; for example, you can monitor SM sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn with a simple program like Tweetdeck.
• Use automatic scheduling features to post content, as I’ve done on Twitter with my productivity tips.

One more thing: beware of Obsessive-Compulsive Social Media Disorder, which I’ve blogged about before. It’s easy to fall into the habit of compulsively checking SM pages and obsessively posting when you should be doing something else. Fight this tendency. There are very few things on any social networking site that require your immediate attention.

To answer the question headlining this blog: Yes, I think you do have time for social networking, and in fact you should make time for it—but only if you’re determined to use it correctly. Remember: social networking is a tool, just like your Blackberry or iPad, so use it as such. Don’t forget that it can take over your life and damage your productivity if you let it. But make it work for you, as I have, and the sky’s the limit!

“Loyalty, hard work and diligence are all great assets, but leadership today wants to know what your personal contribution is to cost reduction, increase in sales…what’s the return for your hours put in, and your salary and benefits that they pay you for that work?” — Terry Humphrey, American business coach.

“It’s really up to each of us to make certain that our personal and professional value is realized by those around us… Never assume that people know that kind of information.” — Sheryl Sookman, Principal, The MeetingConnection

“You possess personal capital. It is comprised of your time, effort, knowledge and skills. Investing that capital wisely yields a return on your investment. The higher your return on investment (your ROI), the more profit you earn.” — Nan Russell, American business writer and performance coach.

The concept of personal return on investment (ROI) is one that’s been steadily gaining currency in the business world over the past few years. While the term can be defined in several ways, in common usage it’s just what it sounds like: the investment potential that you, as an employee, offer to your company. Now, I realize that it may seem somewhat degrading to be treated (and especially to treat yourself) as a mere investment…but to some extent, that’s precisely what you are.

And like any other resource, you’re only as good as your ROI. The harsh realities of survival in the Great Recession have hammered this point home to employers and employees alike. As a modern worker, you’ve got to be hardnosed about your ultimate value to your employer. You ignore this at your peril.

Elsewhere in the business world, ROI is defined as the profit realized from a resource minus the original and ongoing investment. It’s no different with personal ROI. In addition to your pay, the company is probably providing you with various benefits, as well as regular training and/or education, experience in your field, and personal stability. What are you providing in return? The company is pumping resources and cash into you, so how are repaying them?

You’d better be returning a substantial multiple of your investment on a consistent basis—and more importantly, you have to be able to prove that you are. Before you can do that effectively, you’ll need to sit down and determine what you bring to the table. Perform a tough, even brutal self-assessment of your value, focusing on these factors:

• What are you really good at?
• What makes you special?
• What distinguishes you from your peers?
• How do you personally help the company achieve its corporate goals?

As a business resource, your value is dollar-driven. A good rule of thumb is that you should be able to prove that you’ve earned or saved the company at least three times your base salary every single year.

In some jobs, proving your ROI is easy. If you’re a salesman who’s just landed a $5,000,000 account, it’s easy to point to that accomplishment. But not every job directly results in corporate income. For example, what if you work in Human Resources or Customer Service? Well, you’ll need to dig deeper for your provable ROI, by showing how deft you are at hiring profitable, productive workers, or maintaining intra-departmental harmony, or soothing the feathers of irate customers—whatever the case may be for your particular position.

If you ever find yourself coming up short, you must be willing to invest your personal capital, especially your time and energy, in order to increase your personal ROI and thereby make yourself more attractive. In addition to working hard, fast, and smart, don’t hesitate to further your education, get more training, or institute new systems to maximize efficiency and performance in your job or organization.

I recommend a recalculation of your ROI every six months or so. Be reasonably creative about what you’ve accomplished, and don’t leave out anything that might be relevant. Do you have a tendency to finish projects early and under budget? Include that in your assessment, because you’ve saved the company money. Are you good with clients, able to develop a positive relationship that lasts for years? Then you’ve earned the company money, because that’s where profits come from: multiple sales to repeat customers (at a good margin, of course).

You may not be able to provide a specific dollar amount or percentage for your personal ROI, but you should be able to demonstrate the fact that, without you, the company would be worse off.

And never forget this: you can’t assume that anyone will automatically realize your worth. So in addition to being able to prove your ROI when called upon, you need to be proactive about stepping forward and demonstrating that hiring you was a positive investment decision. This is especially true if you feel you’re undervalued. As the saying goes, the squeaky wheel gets the grease; but be careful here, because obnoxious squeakiness can get you the boot instead.

Demonstrate by your actions and initiative that you’re worthy. Then, be politely assertive, though not aggressive, in pointing out your personal ROI to those who matter in your organization—so that you can maximize your value both to the company and to yourself.

“I frequently find it odd that so many people need to squeeze their working hours into a narrow timeframe, and I hope that modern jobs will start to change this.” — Alexander Swallow, poll respondent, U.K .

“Early morning—there are few others around, the phone doesn’t ring, there’s little clutter in the working memory, and the imagination works better. Psychologically, there’s more enthusiasm at the beginning of the day.” — Alan S. Hill, poll respondent, Australia

“It always varies for me, but when I DO feel productive, no matter what time of the day it is, I will capitalize on that by 1) Making sure I’m having fun, which will 2) Lower my stress level and 3) Make me feel more hopeful and creative and productive. ” — Dr. Trina Hess, poll respondent, U.S.A.

Back in mid-May 2011, I posted a simple poll on my Linked In page, asking, “During which period of the day do you feel most productive?” By the time the poll closed on May 31, it had garnered a total of 148 votes, with 18 comments clarifying the positions of those respondents. You can see some of the comments in the quotes section above, and the rest by checking the poll results here.

I have to say, I found the results to be rather intriguing! First of all, I was interested to see that 44 of the individuals who voted (about 30%) did not include their gender in their profiles. It’s hard to say what that signifies, precisely, but I like to think of it as a positive indication that gender matters less now that it ever has in the business world. Otherwise, the results are split fairly evenly between men and women, at a ratio of 56 to 46 (55% vs. 45%). About half of the respondents are managers, business owners, and C-level executives. Age-wise, 34 respondents are in the 18-29 range, 17 are aged 30-36, 15 are aged 37-44, and 20 people are 45+. The rest (N = 62) did not share their ages.

While the results of the main question are all over the board, the respondents overwhelmingly selected morning as their most productive time of day. In fact, each of the two morning categories individually received more votes than the rest of the day combined. Early Morning got 68 votes, 48% of the total, while Mid-Morning received 44 votes (30%). The remaining tallies were Mid-Day, 11 (7%); Afternoon, 9 (6%); and Evening 16 (11%). Just after lunch is apparently the least productive period for my respondents, as just about any office worker could tell you! However, productivity seems to get its second wind by the time evening rolls around.

In terms of gender, the demographics are fairly consistent for all five categories. Men slightly outnumber women in all timeframes except Mid-Morning, when the ladies have a slight edge. Seniority breakdown in the morning categories is very similar, though there’s some variation within the other categories. It’s worth noting that every owner and C-Suite exec who responded chose morning as their most productive period, as did the majority of managers.

The information provided by the 18 commenters is especially revealing. Most chose Early Morning or Mid-Morning in the poll, though three did not vote at all. Perhaps this was because the poll allowed only one answer; repeatedly, commenters pointed out that they have more than one productive period during the day. Most reported an early-morning productivity spurt, when they’re most enthusiastic, followed by another burst later in the day. Their initial productivity phase is when they do their most challenging work; other times during the day are saves for things like meetings, taking care of rote tasks, and researching.

Several respondents emphasized the value of getting plenty of sleep, though some clearly don’t follow standard sleep patterns. A number of the Early Morning commenters admitted that they’re most productive very early in the morning indeed; some start as early as 1 AM! This makes sense, since it’s a great way to knock things off your to-do list before the rest of the world wakes up and complicates your life.

The locations of the 18 commenters also drove home to me just how global the Internet really is. Eight of the commenters are from the U.S.; three each are from Australia and India; two are from the U.K.; one is from Russia; and one is from Canada. I find this a revealing sample of Linked In professionals, at least those willing to comment on this particular poll.

I’m gratified and fascinated by the results of my poll, and I’d like to thank you if you were one of the respondents. If you weren’t, I’ll love to hear your answer to my poll question: During which period of the day do you feel most productive? Drop me a line and let me know!