May I ask you a question? “Just What Do You Do All Day?”

If you chose the easy answer, “I work.”, sorry, I won’t let you off the witness stand that easily. You see, you are in court today, under oath, and I’m cross-examining you for the truth about what you do all day in your workplace. Be a sport and play along with my questions:

1. Do you spend time doing only the things you are comfortable doing?
2. Do you avoid making decisions until pushed by another person or a time deadline?
3. Do you spend just as much time talking with others about the game last night or plans for Saturday night as you do talking to customers about business?
4. Do you avoid having discussions about business conflicts that need to be solved?
5. Do you allow a constant stream of telephone and personal interruptions to keep you out of focus?

Chances are good, if you are human, that you answered yes to one of my questions above. Since there is no judge or jury present and I’m skilled at keeping secrets, no one else knows your answers from the witness stand other than you.

The purpose of the interrogation is to encourage you to be able to answer the question, “What do you do all day?” with confidence and pride.

How do you really know what you do all day? Keep a time log. Yes, I know, it sounds corny. I agree too, it takes time to track your day in writing. But, please, do it anyway.

When you track your activitities minute to minute, you will have the evidence I want you to have to help you understand why you don’t get more done each day.

You are going to find more characters and activities in your business day that slow down your daily productivity than you ever dreamed. But it won’t happen until you record it on paper, minute to minute.

The characters that may show up: your spouse, your children, your friends, and your coworkers. They all appear during your day as potential time bandits.

The activities that may show up are: getting coffee, sifting through mail, piling and unpiling papers and folders, checking the weather, e-mail, voice mail, organizing meetings and attending meetings.

What does a time log look like? As simple as a sheet of lined paper with your work hours on it in the left margin. You fill in the blanks.

Keep a time log for a few days and you’ll see just what you do all day.

Lack of a three-year vision causes many people to lack focus and under perform. If your business needs to clarify its goals, give me a call.

Building a compelling three year vision is one of my 8 simple strategies for success. Want to learn more? click here

"The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man." -- Geroge Bernard Shaw

"Hell, there are no rules here - we're trying to accomplish something." -- Thomas Edison

"The simple act of paying positive attention to people has a great deal to do with productivity." -- Tom Peters

I had a job for many years where I worked for five different entities under common ownership. Each business entity paid its fair share for my time. I had to keep track of my time each day on a time sheet. The exercise of tracking was painful, but it kept me conscious of what I was doing for each company and whether it was time well spent. I even kept track of the time it took to track the time. It was a little under fifteen minutes a day.

Being “on the clock” is hard work but helps keep you focused and productive.

I’ve been timing you as you read this newsletter; you spent about two minutes reading it. Now think some more about the time log and get on to the next item!

Doug

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