Productivity Means Working Smarter, Not Longer

by Steven Robbins

Forget multitasking and long hours. Steven Robbins says the best way to increase personal productivity is to work faster, look for parallel opportunities, and focus on the big wins.

Workers in the United States put in more hours at work and take fewer vacation days than those in most industrialized countries. But the U.S isn't the most productive country in the world. When it comes to full productivity, according to an article in The Economist, France wins, working only forty hours a week with lots of vacation. Conversations with clients and friends suggest we're working hard, but, well, stupidly. We're busy, but our important priorities are falling by the wayside as we work hard when we should be working smart.

Working smart means getting the same results in less time. To do that, you must change how you work. You'll get the most by changing your speed, increasing focus, and organizing to do things in parallel.

Start with your eyes open
Before you read on, I must warn you: Working smart is risky. If you work smart, you'll have more free time. That means more leisure, shorter work hours, or . . . more work. If you use the free time to take on more commitments, you're just as busy as before, but now you are so tightly scheduled that a slip in one project can cascade to many more projects. Happiness happens when productivity enables a higher-quality life, not frantic overachievement.

Right now, we get more productive by working longer. But how about working faster? To work faster, you'll have to get into the zone. In the zone, you're running a marathon. You bring your full focus to one task and build momentum until you're producing results like nobody's business.

Key to entering the zone is eliminating distraction. Your major distractions—let me guess—are e-mail, telephone, visitors, and yourself. One of my clients, a high-tech CEO, blocks out four hours each day for focus time. He closes his door, forwards the phone to voice-mail, and starts working to build up his rhythm. He rarely works the entire four hours, but by having the time blocked out, he's sure to get a couple of hours of solid work under his belt. And without distractions, he can spend time doing big-picture thinking, instead of being pulled into details. After five years, he considers this one of the best habits he's ever developed.

Happiness happens when productivity enables a higher-quality life, not frantic overachievement.

Your biggest distractions will come from you, though. You'll multitask. And sadly, you'll believe you're getting more done as you do. Face reality: People are less productive when multitasking, and that's been shown in many studies over the last few years—check out "Juggling Too Many Tasks Could Make You Stupid" by Sue Shellenbarger in the Wall Street Journal, March 1, 2003. We feel busy, but most of that busy-ness is spent switching from task to task, not making forward progress on any one task.

Just One… Increase Your Focus !!! Work in parallel, but don't multitask.