Hi, this is Tommy. Today is my first post and some of you may or may not know, but yesterday was “recess at work day.” Seriously, in all of my years in business, I never knew the day existed. Maybe it is because my superiors do not want me to know about it. There is even a facebook page for this day. I never understood how hourly employees were “due” a break twice a day, but those of us who were salary, (basically minimum wage when you add up the hours worked), are not entitled to leave our office, except for lunch.
Maybe I should just tell my superiors that I am going to take a temporary cessation of the customary activity of the engagement. Look it up! That is the definition of “recess.”
Senator Robert Byrd might have summed it up best when he said, “Is it any wonder why the approval ratings of the Congress go up every time we go into recess?” There is no doubt that taking a break from something allows your mind to free itself from the numbing repetition of the same thing over and over again.
This ties in with the topic for June, Productivity. I think the two main issues with productivity are Impact and Value. First, to what extent is the value provided, and second, who receives the value: is it you, your boss, co-workers, friends, family, customers? What degree of value is ultimately received by each person or group? Every individual, whether he is an employee, businessman, or a professional, needs to take a break at some point for survival and growth. Productivity is the result of the effort. The contribution to the bottom line is the value of the productivity. A person contributes to the bottom line directly if he owns the business, or indirectly if he is working for an employer.
Value of productivity applies to everyone, whether a plant worker, office employee, marketing executive, or any worker in any other discipline. The concept of being productive is meaningless without a good understanding of your values, or what is important to you personally. Being productive isn’t just a matter of being busy or doing a lot of tasks at one time; productivity is accomplishing the tasks. Being productive doesn’t always mean doing more. In fact, sometimes it can mean accomplishing fewer tasks. When these tasks are carefully chosen to align with your values, they can have a much bigger impact on your overall accomplishments. The point is to choose the best option that maximizes your time and investment, and do the task to the best of your ability.
By focusing, you will have more time to spend on the other areas of your life. Carefully deciding what to do can mean doing less in the short term, but accomplishing more in the long term. This is only possible if you first decide what is really important to you and the situation at hand. So think about the following: How do you look at productivity? How much do you feel the value you provide projects outward, beyond those you provide it to directly? What is your sense of the level of impact of your value – is it limited or expansive? What can I do to maximize my productivity?
