According to Robert Half International, the average employee works at about 50 percent of their capacity. They say people spend 37 percent of their time in idle chit-chat with coworkers. They waste another 13 percent of their time coming in late, leaving a few minutes early, taking extended lunch breaks, reading the newspaper, drinking coffee, and of course, surfing the Internet.
During the 50 percent of time actually dedicated to real work, they tend to get distracted toward low-priority tasks that they often fail to complete. They procrastinate, delay, find excuses to wander and then complain about being overworked.
Years ago, when we decided to home-school our children, we quickly discovered that if we spent 2 hours in focused instruction time daily, we would be well ahead of what could be expected in a traditional 8-hour-a-day school setting. I suspect the same is true of work situations. I am constantly amazed when I spend time in corporate settings – the inefficiency of organizing, setting up meetings, dealing with distractions, etc. that do appear to easily eat up 50 percent of the time.
If you tracked one week of your time, what percentage would be classified as Productive, Planning, Organizing, Distractions and Wasted Time?
Okay, a lot of people ask me about my level of productivity. How do I write, coach and communicate at the pace I expect of myself – and still have time to have a complete life. Here’s my plan:
Dan’s Time Allotment — There is a Time for…………..
(Based on 50 hour week)
CREATING 50% — Research and Writing (25 hrs)
Guest Articles, magazines, websites, books, ebooks, manifestos
New products, promotions, attending seminars and workshops
SHARING 20% — Speaking, Teaching & Coaching (10 hrs)
Live Events, Paid speaking engagements, Civic presentations
Lunch apts, Interviews – Radio, TV
COMMUNICATING 15% — Email responses (7.5 hrs)
48Days.net comments and notes
PLANNING 15% — Business Meetings (7.5 hrs)
Bill Paying, Strategy, Making it Work
That allotment of time allows me to keep on track with my major projects without going into a cave. And no, I’m not attempting to get down to a 4-hour work week. I’m doing work I love.