WEEK 1

Productive vs. Unproductive Work

Have you ever had a day when you were absolutely busy, busy, busy from the minute you
woke up until the minute you dropped into bed and fell asleep? At the end of this super busy
day, do you remember what you did? Or was it one of those days where you know you worked
hard all day, you know you're tired, but you're not exactly sure where the time went? Well, if
you worked all day long, and you're not 100% certain where your time went, you might have
been engaged in unproductive work.

How can there even be such a thing as unproductive work? Isn't all work good? Another
phrase or term for unproductive work could be busy work. You were doing something—you
weren't lounging around—but you weren't completing work that was really going to further
your goals. You weren't engaged in work that really needed to be completed right at that
moment. Sometimes, this means you were distracted by something that was work-related
but not related to the task at hand. Maybe you started looking for some information that you
didn’t need until later.

Consider the following scenario. It's noon on a Friday and Sam plans to leave the office at 5
p.m. Before Sam leaves he needs to complete a research report for his boss. The research
report, which is due at 3 p.m., will take two hours to complete. He also needs to write a status
report, which is due at 5 p.m. and will take 30 minutes to complete. Sam also wants to go
through several emails he has been saving to make sure he has addressed them
appropriately. He's not sure how long that is going to take. So Sam goes to lunch and returns
at 1 p.m.

Back at his desk, he begins to go through his emails and sees one from a coworker asking him
to research some sales numbers. The email says, “Sam, when you have time, would you look
at these numbers for me? They don't balance, and I need to discuss them with our vice
president next Thursday.” Sam begins to look at the sales numbers. The numbers don't make
sense, and he doesn't know where they came from. So he begins to look through sales
reports from the past six months hoping to decipher how the numbers were created. He
works very diligently tracing the figures from one month to the next looking for errors or
miscalculations.

The phone rings and Sam picks it up noticing that it's already 4 p.m. His boss is on the phone
asking about the research report that was due at 3 p.m. Sam had become so engrossed in
researching the sales numbers that he had not even started preparing the research report nor
had he started working on his status report. Oops. Sam had engaged in unproductive work.
He didn't need to look up the numbers yet; that was work he could do the following week.
Remember, the email said “next Thursday.” Sam had become distracted and didn't work on
his two top priorities for the day.

Now Sam is probably working late. How would you have prioritized his Friday afternoon?

Perhaps Sam could have arranged his Friday afternoon like this:

1. Create the research report for his boss.

2. Create the status report for his boss.
3. Go through emails and either respond or prioritize actions from those emails.
If Sam had created a plan to get through his Friday afternoon and if he had stuck to his plan,
he probably wouldn't be working overtime on a Friday evening.

Let's think of some ways that a plan would have been helpful for Sam. First of all, the plan
would have shown him what to do and in which order to do it. It would also have shown him
when tasks were due and would have helped him assess new requests as they came in. Finally
(and this part may sound odd), the plan would help Sam change his plans! How is it that a
plan can help you change your plans!? Change happens unexpectedly—and when it does, it's
good to be able to look at your original plan so you can see how the change will affect the rest
of the work you have to accomplish.

Let's go back to Sam and take a look at how making a plan might work for him. Sam's plan for
Friday afternoon:

 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. — complete the research report

 3:15 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. — finish the status report
 4:00 PM. to 4:45 p.m. — go through emails and respond or prioritize actions from those
emails.
With this plan, Sam would have completed his tasks in the right order and at the right times.
He would have handed things in on time and would be able to go home on time . When he
encountered the request from his coworker about the sales reports, Sam would already have
taken care of his most important work for the afternoon. At that point he could have decided
whether he wanted to start researching those sales numbers or finish going through his
emails leaving the sales report research for Monday.

Let's say that Sam's boss calls him at 1:30 p.m. on Friday and says, “Sam, I need your status
report early. I need to give the status to our vice president at 3:30.” Now what should Sam do?
Because he has a plan, Sam knows (a) that it will take him an hour and a half to finish the
research report and (b) that it's due at 3:00 p.m. If he begins working on the status report
immediately after finishing the research report (with no break), he knows he can give it to his
boss at exactly 3:30 p.m.

What do you think he should do?

One approach would be for Sam to put the research report on hold and transition to his
status report. He could complete the status report by approximately 2 p.m. (maybe 2:15 p.m.
just to be safe) and then could resume working on the research report. If he does this, it
would not be unreasonable for him to ask his manager if the 3 p.m. research report could be
turned in at, say, 3:45 p.m. or 4:00 p.m. Sam can make reasonable suggestions, because he
has a plan.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize!

Sam became distracted because he did not have a clear plan and he did not prioritize his
work. This led to time being lost performing unproductive work.

Each day, it is important to know what you need to accomplish and what you want to
accomplish. What you need to accomplish is the priority. What you want to accomplish can be
additional work you perform after your priorities are met. For Sam, completing the two
reports for his boss was what he needed to accomplish—the reports were his priority. After
that came the emails and finally, with whatever time he had remaining, perhaps researching
the sales numbers. Why “perhaps?” The sales numbers were not due until the following
Thursday and it is very likely that Sam had other deadlines before Thursday.

In short, it’s crucial to make sure you know what you're supposed to be doing. While this
sounds obvious and easy, it can also be challenging in some situations. For instance, if you’re
new to your job, you may not yet have a good feel for your responsibilities.

Know what you want to accomplish and what you need to accomplish and when. Use this
information to create your plan.
Plan Your Time
A plan is only as good as what goes into it. In many ways, your plan is your task list. Rather
than just write down things to do, you want to organize your tasks. Organize them by:

 Priority
 Due date
 Steps that need to be taken
 Start date
 Who it is for
 How long it will take
 What you need to complete the work
This is what will help you to stay on track. Consider creating your own template and testing it.
See what best supports your needs and helps you meet your goals.

If you have not done a certain task or type of work before, you might not know how long it will
take. That's completely normal. The best way to find out is to ask! Review your job
responsibilities and ask someone who is in the same role or who has previously done that job.
Keep good notes and keep track of how long something takes you so that you have a solid
estimate that you can use in the future.

It also helps to take big tasks and break them into smaller steps. Remember that research
Sam was starting for the sales reports? He might begin by dividing the work into a series of
steps. This would allow him to keep track of each step and he would then know what is
involved in doing that work.

How do you know what your priorities are? Depending on the type of work you do, your
priorities come to you from your leadership or perhaps from a customer you are supporting.
It's important to really understand the priorities you are expected to meet.

What if your boss cannot or will not tell you? Sometimes the person you work for wants to see
you figure it out. Sometimes the person you work for doesn't really know what the true
priorities are. If this is true, you will have to figure it out for yourself. Pay attention to the
topics that are discussed most often in meetings and appear most frequently in
announcements and other communications. Pay attention to where your successful
colleagues are spending their time. There are clues around you.
Learning Activity
Create your own work plan using one of the following:

 Our Sample Work Plan

 Your own work plan

 An app, if you have decided to test one

Create a work plan for the next five business days. Keep it updated, keep notes on how it works for
you, and make adjustments as necessary. The goal is for you to have an approach that helps you
understand your work priorities.

Feel free to share your results with the community below.

Participation is optional

Find a System that Works for You

There are all kinds of time management systems, but the purpose of this course is not to sell
you a particular time management system. Sometimes your employer will provide a time
management system or send you to time management training. If they do, go, pay attention,
and consider what is presented to you. It's possible that your employer has a preference for a
specific system, and when this is true, it's really in your best interest to try to learn their
system of choice. Otherwise, don't feel compelled to use a system just because everyone says
it's the best system. The best system is the one that helps you to be productive and effective.
That's really the bottom line.

Resources
The following is a list of optional resources that you may find useful to enhance your
understanding of the topics in this module.

 Obstander, J. (n.d.). Why Use Productivity Tracker Apps? 11 Ways They Can Change
Your Life.
 Kanada, P. (2019). How Can A Productivity App Help You Be Organized?
 Vanderkam, L. (2014). Why You Should Ignore Time-Saving Tips.
Week 1 Quiz Score
WEEK 2
Work/Life Balance is a Myth
“We often, maybe even mostly, let our schedule schedule itself, ignoring the fact that time,
not money, is our only true leadership asset. “ - Tom Peters.

So, who's Tom Peters? Tom Peters is a leadership guru who's known for the books In Search
Of Excellence and Brand You. Years ago, he hit upon the idea that we are each our own
individual brand that defines us as we move forward with our careers. He continues to write
and he continues to blog on leadership.

What is the one resource you can never have more of? Time! We cannot create time—there
are only 24 hours in a day, seven days in a week, and 365 days in a year. So, it's important that
you spend your time in the most beneficial way possible. And by beneficial, I really mean
beneficial to you. Spend your time in the way that will bring you what you want from your life.

It is time to talk about work-life balance. In fact, if you're ready, I will share with you the
secret formula to work-life balance. Read this carefully. The formula is:

Work-life Balance = What YOU Make It!

I cannot tell you exactly how many hours to work and how many hours to play or spend with
your family. These are personal decisions. Your choices depend on your values, and they can
change.

When I was brand new in the workforce, I was eager to work and to learn. To get ahead, I
worked many hours—my coworkers were my friends, after all. We were all there together,
fresh out of college. When we weren't working, we went out after hours, so I was at work
24/7.

Although I enjoyed my work, there have been times in my life where it was more important for
me to spend time with my family and friends, away from the office. And there have been
times where I was perfectly happy working 70-hour weeks. And there have been times when I
worked 40-hour weeks and was completely happy doing that.

The key was that my work life fit my definition of work-life balance. It's up to you to decide
what your definition of a work-life balance is, and then to manage your work and your life in a
way that allows you to achieve your desired work-life balance. It will change, and that is okay.
You have more control over this than you think.

Remember in our previous module when we talked about Sam? He wound up staying late on
a Friday evening because he didn't pay attention to completing his work tasks at the right
time and in the right order. He didn't have a plan. So if working late on a Friday evening goes
against his idea of work-life balance, then he was probably not very happy. But he did have a
bit of control over his situation.

I'm not promising you that you will never be asked to work more hours than you want. And
I'm not promising you that you will never have to work late or have to work a weekend. But if
you don’t think about what you want, you won’t know how to put yourself in the right
situations.

It’s important to remember that you teach people how to treat you. A client of mine was
unhappy because her boss would text her 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and she felt that
he was being way too demanding. She was tired and stressed. If she heard a text come in at 2
a.m., she would wake up and reply to it. I asked her about her job description and about the
expectations that had been set when she started. “Does everyone in your office answer your
boss 24/7?”, I asked. She said that she had always done this from the very first day because
she wanted to make a good impression on him. She was the one setting the example by being
available 24/7, and then she became afraid to change the nature of her communications
relationship with her manager. She taught him that she would be on call 24/7. You teach
people how to treat you and unless otherwise specified in your job description, it's okay to set
some boundaries.
Where Does YOUR Time Go?
Do you remember that super-busy day we discussed in the previous module—the day where
you jumped out of bed, worked really hard all day long, and came home exhausted but
weren’t really sure what you did?

The best way to find out where your time goes is to keep track of it. You can do this at work—
in fact you might already be required to do so—and you can do this at home. Time tracking is
not just for beginners or people who are new to the workforce. I once worked with a group of
senior managers who agreed to do a time tracking exercise—and they were surprised by the
results. I remember one man in particular who was just shocked at the amount of time he
spent everyday driving to and from meetings at various locations. He realized that there was
no way that he could do that much driving and still finish other work. Another manager was
shocked at how much time he spent with “drop bys,” people who drop by one’s office or
cubicle to “touch base” or simply chat.

If you really want to know how you spend your time, you need to have some kind of time-
tracking method. You don't have to get fancy software or download an app (although you
can). You can do it using a simple table.

Break down your time to intervals of at least 30 minutes. (If you want to learn even more,
consider tracking yourself in 15-minute intervals.) In your table, list categories of tasks you
normally do, such as:

 Commuting
 Telephone calls
 Drop-in visitors
 Meetings
 Paperwork
 Reading
 Spending time with the boss
 Assisting team members
 Traveling
 Planning
 Delegating
 Relaxation
 Computer work
 Planning and organizing
 Chatting,
 Personal business
These are suggested categories. If they don’t work for you, select categories that make sense
to you, but don’t stop if you can’t think of any categories right away. Simply start keeping
track of whatever you’re doing and then identify the categories later as you see how you’re
spending your time. One week is not enough but a full month of time tracking can provide
some valuable insights.

Honesty and discipline are the keys to learning from your time tracking. Remember, you're
doing this for yourself, so don’t lie! If you find yourself spending 30 minutes a day surfing the
internet looking at cat videos, write it down. Then you can decide if watching cat videos is the
best use of your time, given your goals in life.

As you keep track, pay attention to anything that could be news to you regarding how much
time you spend doing something, like the man who was surprised how much time he spent
driving to different locations. This is definitely a situation where knowledge is power. Once
you understand where your time goes, you can begin to determine where you can fine-tune
your schedule and your approach to work.

If you really like cat videos, maybe you can give yourself a 15-minute break every four hours
to watch some. Set a timer for 15 minutes and when the timer goes off, so do the cat videos. It
is critical that you combine your definition of work-life balance with the knowledge of how
you spend your time. You have only 24 hours in a day—make sure you use them well.

Let’s turn to a concept called Strategic Reserve Time, which is discussed in a book called The
Juggler's Guide to Managing Multiple Projects by Michael S. Dobson.

First, you need to determine the number of hours you have available for work and then
identify how much time it takes to perform your basic job functions. The difference between
these two figures is time you can devote to special work, such as projects. This is your
strategic reserve time.
The Time/Money Tradeoff
Most of us have times when we look at what we want to accomplish and then look at the
number of hours available in a day (allowing time for sleeping, bathing, and eating)—and
then finally realize that something has got to give. When this happens, it is a good idea to
seek help. At work, you might delegate some of your tasks or split up a large task and share it
with others. At home, you may be able to offload some of your tasks to other family members.
But what if you live on your own? Or what if the rest of your family is similarly overbooked?
Consider ways that you can make your life easier.

For example, can you order your groceries and other essential items online and have them
delivered? Can you hire a young neighbor to mow your lawn? Think about what you can
remove from your to-do list, and what it is worth to you. If you order the right amount of
groceries or essentials, the delivery might be free. A neighborhood teen who is starting a
gardening business or a car washing business can save you time for a reasonable amount of
money. Of course, you don’t want to put yourself in debt and you probably don’t need a full
support staff, but you might benefit from occasional assistance. Be sure to read the item that
is included with this week’s readings on personal outsourcing. It will help you decide if/when
you should spend some money to save yourself some time.

Taking Things Off Your To-Do List

If you could take one or two tasks off of your to-do list and hand them to someone else, what tasks
would you delegate or outsource and why? How would your energy and productivity be impacted by
this change?

Now, consider how you can take one or both of these tasks off your to-do list? Can you create an
actionable plan to do so? Share it here.
It’s Still About Priorities
Now that you understand your definition of work/life balance, are paying attention to how
you really are spending your time, and are considering whether or not you will spend some
money in order to save yourself some time, you need to plan how you’ll spend that time. Last
week you created a five-day work plan. Take a look at it. How did it actually play out? You
would be wise to consider continuing your use of your work plan and NOW make sure you
include what you learned about your strategic reserve time. Integrating what you know about
what is expected of you with the amount of time that is actually available to complete your
work gives you an important advantage. You don’t have all the time in the world! You don’t
even have all of the time in the day. Fit your work into your available time in order of priority.
(There is that comment about prioritization again!) If you want to meet your work goals and
have a life, you need to prioritize.

A tool to consider using is the Eisenhower Matrix. You may have heard of this as the Urgent-
Important matrix. The idea is that your work can be categorized as:

1. Urgent and Important

2. Not Urgent and Important
3. Urgent and Not Important
4. Not Urgent and Not Important
It is the Urgent and Important items that should receive your attention first! Check out this
week’s resources for a reading on the Eisenhower Matrix. It will help you become clear about
your priorities.

Resources
The following is a list of optional readings that you may find useful to enhance your
understanding of the topics in this module.

 Daily Time Log

 Strategic Reserve Time Templates
 Baer, D. (2013). The Art of Doing Everything.
Learning Activity
Complete the Work Life Balance Toolkit. Feel free to share your results with the community below.

Week 2 Quiz Score

WEEK 3
How Long Will This Take?
Let’s take a look at a few things that can make a big impact on your ability to manage your
time and your productivity. Here are a few examples:

 Correctly estimating how long it will take for you to complete your work
 Managing communications more effectively
 Appreciating the value of organization
 Understanding your most and least productive times of the day
Let’s start with estimating. We have already covered the importance of having your own plan,
having clear priorities, and having a realistic understanding of how you really spend your
time. Central to all of this is the ability to make good estimates.

When we discussed Sam and the work he needed to complete that Friday afternoon, we
noticed that he had estimates for how long each item was going to take him. How did he
know? Remember, the best estimates come from experience. Sam created a status report
every week and it usually took him 30 minutes. The special report that he was creating for his
manager was similar to another report that he had created previously and he knew how long
it would take. You can see that it really pays to keep a log of the work you do and how long it
takes to do it. The next time you have to do something similar, you won’t have to guess how
long it will take.

You might create a log or a table and keep track of the following information:

 The name of the task

 A description of the work it requires
 Your initial time estimate
 The actual time to complete it
 The variance or difference between the estimated and the actual time
 Notes/comments capturing reasons for the variance
If you do not have an initial estimate, ask a subject matter expert. If you are the subject
matter expert, conduct some research. Look up the task online or see if there are any records
that exist from the last time someone else in your role performed it. For specialized work, you
might be able to find data or compare it to work that is similar in nature and then update your
estimate based on the differences.

This approach is called analogous estimating. For example, suppose that you routinely create
a quarterly customer analysis report. Now you’re asked to create a similar report that covers
only a month’s worth of data rather than three months’ worth. The monthly version requires
the same number of steps as the quarterly version, so your time estimate for the monthly
report assumes that you’ll follow the same steps but include only a month’s worth of data.
How would you estimate a task that is somewhat repetitive, such as validating data? Assume
that you know it takes about 15 minutes to validate one month of data, so to estimate the
time needed to validate three months of data, you would multiply 15 minutes by three, for a
total of 45 minutes. Specifically,

Data Validation Time = (15 minutes) x (number of months of data being validated)

= 15 minutes x 3

= 45 minutes

This process is called parametric estimating. Be sure to write this formula down in your
estimating table so you can refer back to it.

When you improve your estimating, you will improve your productivity. With good estimating,
you know how much you can accomplish within a specific day. Now, take this information
and integrate it with your knowledge of how you spend your time and how much strategic
reserve time you have, and you will know what you can accomplish as well as when.

Communications: When to Answer, When to

Wait
There is no doubt about it, communication takes time—but it's time well spent. It also could
be an area where you can improve your effectiveness and productivity. Maybe you’ve had
days where you felt like all you did was answer texts, messages, emails, and even voicemails.
To be productive, however, it pays to have an approach for handling your communications.

Most of us want to read every text message or email as soon as it arrives. We hear that beep or
buzz and we just have to know what it says. But do you really have to know? While there are
times when you are on call for a specific project or issue, or as a parent you want to stay in
touch with your children, aside from a few high-priority situations and individuals, some
things can and should wait. For instance, you can easily lose an hour or more texting your
friends about weekend plans, but those texts can wait until after the workday (and also after
dinner with your family).

If you can, try not to look at your messages every time a new one arrives. Try to set up a
specific time—or times—during your workday to handle these communications. And if your
work environment doesn't allow you to do this, at least try to avoid looking up every time a
new message arrives. Wait until you have several of them stacked up, review them, and then
go back to your work. David Allen, the productivity guru and author of Getting Things Done,
recommends these criteria for determining what to do:
 1. If the message you receive is informational and you think you should keep it, then e-
file it. If the message you receive does not require any actions from you and you do not
need to take any action, delete it.
2. If the message you receive does require action on your part and you can take care of it
in less than two minutes, do it.
3. If the message does require you to take action and that action will take more than two
minutes, flag it for action or place it in a “take action” e-folder. Make sure that you
place this item on your task list and if it has a due date, consider placing it on your
calendar too.
4. Have a flag or e-folder for items where you are waiting for someone else to respond to
you.
5. Have clearly marked folders or use a color-coding system that makes sense for you.
For example, I have red flags for required follow-up, green flags for client
communications that I am saving, and orange flags for student communications that I
am saving. I set aside time in my work schedule to handle red-flag items so I don’t
overlook them.
Let’s take a look at a few examples to see how this might work.

You’re working on your computer and suddenly a message arrives—it's a request for a specific
document. You have a copy of that document on your computer and know exactly where it is
stored. What do you do? Since you can fulfill this request in two minutes or less, simply do it!

Not long afterward, an announcement about a new payroll policy pops up in your email. You
don't need to do anything about it because the announcement is purely informational. In this
situation, you should file the message in case you want to refer to it later.

Next, you receive a request for a special report that's due in one week and you estimate that it
will take about 30 minutes to complete it. Since this task is actionable but can’t be completed
in less than two minutes, you place the request in a special “action” folder and then add it to
both your work plan and your calendar so you don’t forget it.

Finally, you open a message from a coworker regarding some information you requested. She
says that she will respond to you by Friday. You place the message in your “pending” or
“follow-up” folder, and add a note to your calendar for Friday to remind you to look for the
information at that time.

When you organize communications as they come to you, you take control of your time and
your effectiveness. For more, be sure to read the item this week on how effective internal
communication can boost employee productivity.
Keeping it All Together
If you type, “How much time do workers waste looking for things?” into your favorite search
engine, you will probably be surprised by the results. You will find studies reporting that
people spend anywhere from nine to twenty-one percent of their time looking for lost
information. That is a lot of time—time that you can put toward being productive so you can
achieve your work/life balance goals.

How can you be more efficient when looking for information and physical objects? Start by
keeping similar kinds of items together. For instance, keep all your contact information in one
easily searchable and accessible location. Also, put your glasses or sunglasses, keys, purse,
wallet, etc. in one place as well. Why should you spend your precious time and energy looking
for the same things over and over again when they could always be in the same corner of your
desk? Similarly, whenever possible plan your work so that you perform similar tasks
together.

At a minimum, set yourself up this way:

 Keep your desk free of clutter. Recycle or shred unneeded documents.

 Organize files on your computer in a way that makes it easy for you to find things. Use
obvious and intuitive naming conventions.
 Keep your calendar current and accessible from multiple devices to avoid double-
booking yourself and missing deadlines.
 Make sure that your cell phone and your tablet sync with your work computer.
 Consider placing documents you need regularly on the cloud. Of course, follow your
corporate security requirements.
 If you use your vehicle or a company vehicle for work, keep it clean and organized—
just like your desk.
When you are organized and have it “all together,” you are adding four to eight hours back to
your week, just like that!
It’s All About the Timing
A colleague of mine once worked at an Internet startup. Most of the team came to work at one
or two in the afternoon and worked until 10 or 11 at night. After that, they probably went out
together and then started the same cycle over again the next day. That was perfect for them—
but my colleague hated it.

He wasn't really a morning person but he was used to a more traditional corporate schedule
with some flex time in it. It drove him nuts when his co-workers would call him at 10 o'clock at
night with a question—and he drove them nuts when he would call them at 10 AM and wake
them up with a question.

Whether you’re a morning person, a night owl, or somewhere in between, it’s good to know
the time of day when you’re the most productive. Of course, you can’t really refuse to work
during your least productive time of day, but you can try to arrange your schedule so that you
perform your simpler, routine tasks during this time. Perhaps you can take advantage of flex
time, if your company offers it. Whenever possible, try to schedule your most challenging
tasks for the time of day when you are at your best. If this isn’t always possible, at least try to
minimize distractions, work at a slower pace, and be sure to check and recheck your work
during your least productive times.

If you are not sure when you’re the most productive, you’ll definitely want to check out the
resource included this week that teaches you three steps for determining your most
productive time of day.

You might also consider this video, The Secret of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink. If podcasts are
more your thing, then check out The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing with Daniel Pink.

So, often our productivity is not about how much we work, but when we work.

Resources
The following is a list of optional readings that you may find useful to enhance your
understanding of the topics in this module.

 MacKay, J. (2019). How to find your most productive time each day.
 Smarp. (2019). 5 Ways Effective Internal Communication Can Boost Employee
Productivity.
 Estimating Table Template
Activity
Journal or otherwise keep track of your energy levels during your workday. Note when you are at
your most alert and when you have difficulties performing certain types of tasks. Do this for at least
three workdays.

Use this information to create a “time of day” plan. Your “time of day” plan will help you allocate your
work throughout the day. For example, if you are better at responding to communications in the late
afternoon, then seek to set aside time for that. If you are better at complicated work first thing in the
morning, then try to set that time aside for complicated tasks.

Participation is optional

Week 3 Quiz Score

WEEK 4
Focus is a Competitive Advantage
The ability to focus without distraction is becoming increasingly rare, yet the ability to focus
is what will move you toward career success. Three out of four employees cannot act as high-
performers because they are dragged down by distractions. This means that they cannot
complete their work on time and/or their work is full of errors. Instead of being able to move
on, they spend time making corrections.

Your goal is to be that fourth employee—the one who is focused, works on the correct
priorities, completes their work on time (or early), and has virtually no errors.

If you go to your favorite search engine and ask about the habits of highly successful people,
you will read about individuals who come across as superhuman. They are able to accomplish
more in a single day than some of us do in an entire week. Why? Because they avoid
distractions and they focus on what is most important to their mission.

For instance, an article from Inc. magazine includes the following key characteristics of highly
successful people:

1. They use structured to-do lists

2. They eliminate distractions and stay focused
3. They focus on being productive rather than on simply being busy (Daskal, 2017)
These are just three of the 12 ways presented in the article that allow successful people to
accomplish more than the rest of us.

Similarly, an article in Fast Company magazine introduces nine habits that can help lengthen
one’s attention span (Tigar, 2018). These include,

1. Creating and sticking to a strategic schedule

2. Hiding your phone
3. Using productivity apps on your smartphone
4. Determining your most productive time of the day
Do these tips sound familiar? They should! In this course, you have been considering each of
these tips and finding ways to make them part of your regular work life. If you truly want to be
more productive and you really want to work smarter, then you need to learn how to focus.
This is a learnable skill that can be improved with repeated practice.

Be sure to complete the readings this week and learn how a diverse set of successful people
consistently maintain their focus.
Multitasking is Madness
“To do two things at once though, is to do neither.” - Publilius Syrus

Are you a good multitasker? Probably not—just try the multitasking exercise that is included
with our course materials this week. You really need to see for yourself what happens when
you skip around from task to task.

Suppose you are in your office working on a project and your manager suddenly comes in and
asks you to work on a different task. You might respond by saying, “No, I need to finish this
first. You’re causing me to be inefficient!” But in reality, this may not be such a good idea!
Instead, you need to prepare for the new task by making an effective transition. Write down
some notes about where you’re leaving off on the current task and how to pick it back up
later. For example, if you’re in the middle of writing something, leave a note at the top of the
document or on your desk to help you remember where you left off and to provide some
instructions for getting started again. Needless to say, switching from one task to another
takes time as you have to remember the last thing you did and then refocus your thinking on
what you need to do next. This lost time is called a switching cost. The more times you start
and stop, and then restart a task, the more time you lose.

Task switching introduces another problem: attention residue. You may think your attention
is fluid, easily flowing from one task to the next. But Sophie Leroy, a business professor and
researcher at the University of Minnesota, would argue otherwise. And she has the evidence
to back it up. In a set of studies conducted in 2009, Leroy discovered that your attention acts
more like molasses than like water (Leroy, 2009). Although you can redirect it, a sticky
“attention residue” stays behind, fixed to the last task you were working on. In other words,
even though you’ve switched to working on a new task, you still have the previous task in
mind. This residue is particularly thick when you don’t complete the previous task before
moving on to the next one. However, even when you do manage to finish the first task, your
attention continues to stay fractured.

Leroy found that the effects of attention residue on participants’ productivity were
unambiguously negative:

“People experiencing attention residue after switching tasks are likely to demonstrate poor
performance on that next task. The thicker the residue, the worse the performance” (Leroy,
2009).

When you have a choice, make an effort to work on one thing at a time. When you are writing,
just write. When you're talking on the phone, turn your back to your computer and just talk.
The end result is that you will be more productive and feel less fragmented, and you will
make fewer mistakes.

Overcoming Common Distractions

It’s not just interruptions and multitasking that derail our productivity, it’s also the
distractions that we have surrounded ourselves with. In fact, a 2018 study conducted by
Udemy found that 69% of employees felt distracted at work (Udemy, 2018).

What causes this distraction?

 Talkative coworkers - 80%

 Office noise - 70%
 Meetings - 60%
 Social media - 56%
Most of the survey participants said that while they didn’t need social media to do their jobs,
they felt they couldn’t get through the day without it. Facebook was the biggest distraction.

It is likely that you are facing distractions, too.

Nir Eyal, author of Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, reminds
us that distractions start in our own minds. He tried tricks such as using a flip phone that had
no apps and using a word processor without an internet connection, but found that he was
still distracted, though in a different manner.

In 5 Ways to Distraction-Proof Your Mind, he writes about how to make your mind distraction
proof.

I recommend a combination of making both your mind and your workplace as distraction-
proof as possible. Plan your time with the knowledge that you will end up talking to
coworkers and attending meetings. While you can probably eliminate some of these
interactions, you don’t want to eliminate all of them—after all, you do need to build
relationships with your colleagues. Perhaps you can create some sort of “do not disturb” sign
or notification to use when you’re not available for casual visits.

Is your office noisy? Consider using noise-canceling headphones or engaging in tasks

requiring more concentration when the office is quieter. By paying attention to the rhythm
and flow of your office work area, you’ll be able to identify the times of day that are usually
the quietest.

Regarding social media, accept the fact that you will use it. However, set aside specific times
of day to do so.
Your computer is itself a source of distraction. Make sure your desktop is uncluttered and that
social media apps are hidden. (You definitely don’t want social media to be just “one click
away.”) In addition, avoid keeping multiple files and apps open. Finish something and then
close it right away. Some people even consider making their screen saver as bland as
possible.

Another source of distraction includes notifications. Turn off as many as possible—do you
really need to know every time a message arrives? You definitely don’t want to check each
new message as soon as it arrives, which means you don’t need to have notifications on.

Now consider your web browser. How many tabs do you have open simultaneously? If there is
something you want to get back to later, cut and paste the URL and place it in a document or
on a notes page for reference.

And don’t forget that there are apps that block other apps or that remind you when it’s time
to transition to another activity. Most of all, never forget that you have more power over
distractions—and your reaction to those distractions—than you think.

It’s All Up to You

We have discussed estimating, keeping similar data together, and performing similar tasks at
the same time. We have even considered the impact the time of day can make on your
productivity. Together, we have covered a lot of ground and looked at several factors that
impact your productivity. Now all that remains is for you to bring the information together
and leverage it in your everyday life.

You can start by creating a plan that supports you and your goals, and helps you use your
time in the best way possible. That is what this course has been all about. Naturally, putting
into practice what you’ve been learning requires you to make personal changes. Change is
hard, but a plan can help you succeed. Set some clear priorities and then select one to three
changes that you think will be the most helpful. Don’t try to tackle more than three changes—
it’s too much and not very fair to you.

Let’s see how this might work by looking at a case study.

There was once a business executive who was always late for meetings. She felt self-
conscious about this but was especially embarrassed when she overheard a colleague
commenting that other than her proclivity for tardiness, she seemed like a true professional.
This comment hit hard and the executive decided to take action.
So here's what she did. First, she set the measurable goal of being on time for 95 percent of
her meetings. She always carried around a work plan and calendar, so if she was on time, she
placed a star in her calendar next to the meeting, and if she was late, she gave herself a
checkmark. She had to hold herself accountable to accurately keep track.

At the end of each week, she counted the number of meetings she attended along with the
number of stars she had awarded herself. If meetings with stars comprised 95 percent (or
higher) of all her meetings, she allowed herself to sleep in an extra 30 minutes on Saturday
morning. Otherwise, she didn’t give herself extra sleep time.

You can do something like this too. Set a goal, make sure it's measurable, and give yourself
support. To get to her meetings on time, the business executive had an alarm set with buzzers
going off to ensure she had plenty of time to arrive early. Keep track of your progress and give
yourself a reward when you meet your goal. However, it’s important to avoid beating yourself
up if you don't. Just look at your results to see if there's something you can do differently. And
then try again.

References
Daskal, L. (2017). Twelve Ways Successful People Get More Done Than the Rest of Us.

Leroy, S. (2009). Why is it so hard to do my work? The challenge of attention residue when
switching between work tasks.

Tigar, L. (2018). Nine Focus-forming Habits to Lengthen Your Attention Span.

Udemy (2018). Majority of U.S. Workers Feel Distracted at Work, Blame Technology and Lack
of Training for Lower Morale and Productivity, Udemy Report Finds.

Resources
The following is a list of optional readings that you may find useful to enhance your
understanding of the topics in this module.

 Bernstein, J. (2019). 11 ways to be more productive, according to Chance the Rapper,

Jane Goodall, and more.
  Multitasking Exercise

Week 4 Quiz Score

Overall Grade – Quiz Score