"The only way to discover the limits of the possible is to go beyond them into the impossible."—Sir Arthur C. Clarke, British science fiction writer and inventor of the geosynchronous satellite Once upon a time (and it's been a while now), some people thought the world would bring about a future so advanced that we humans would have very little left to do —something like George Jetson's grueling four-hour workday, where his worse problems were his overbearing boss and the aching index finger from pressing buttons all day. Well, at least The Jetsons accurately predicted RMIs. If anything, work has gotten tougher for the majority of white-collar workers since the 1960s, even as we adopted technology intended to make it easier. That we haven't enjoyed quite the surge of productivity … [Read more...]

"Culture is perishing in overproduction, in an avalanche of words, in the madness of quantity."—Milan-Kundera, Czechoslovakian-French author Allow me to introduce you to a term you may never have considered before in reference to your job: "overproductivity." It's not a common word. But common or not, it's real, and it may affect you if you're not careful. Overproduction is one of the seven deadly sins of lean manufacturing, as it's considered more wasteful than "Just In Time" or JIT production. As a white-collar worker, you may not consider yourself constrained by the tenets of lean manufacturing, but "lean" as a philosophy has long since entered the office-work canon. You can in fact be guilty of overproduction in an office, though it manifests differently in the white-collar … [Read more...]

"It's not the load that breaks you down, it's the way you carry it.” —Lou Holtz, American football player, coach, and analyst. Most of us are well aware of the statistics for workplace engagement. For at least a decade, most surveyed workers have reported they're just moderately engaged or completely disengaged rather than fully engaged with their work, at a rate of about 3:1. It's changed very little from year to year. Either upper management doesn't care, or the things they've tried so far haven't worked. I suspect it's the latter more than the former. Despite the rhetoric of productivity, and our focus on boosting performance, most of us care more about paying for the mortgage and childcare than we do about maximizing our organization's bottom line. We don't live to work, but vice … [Read more...]

“…But the reward for lots of work seemed to be lots more. If you dug the biggest hole, they just gave you a bigger shovel.'” – Sir Terry Pratchett, British fantasist. There's an old saying that goes, "No good deed ever goes unpunished." Sadly, that's often true in business, especially in terms of personal productivity. Like so many other things, high productivity can backfire in surprising ways. I have a colleague who came roaring into a new job, working 60 hour weeks for the first six months, doing his best to impress his superiors. It worked too well. He was their golden boy while overclocking it; but once he'd settled into his job, he cut back to 45-50 hours weekly. Afterward, they treated him like he was slacking, despite consistently exceeding the number of hours his colleagues spent … [Read more...]

“When an actor comes to me and wants to discuss his character, I say, 'It's in the script.' If he says, 'But what's my motivation?, ' I say, 'Your salary.'” – Alfred Hitchcock, British film director. If you're a white-collar professional, you're more likely to receive a salary rather than hourly pay. Salary is de rigueur for upper management, of course, but for some professionals, that's not always the case. Coders, illustrators, writers, and others sometimes receive hourly pay rather than salaries, especially in volatile job markets. And while salaries have remained the professional norm for the past century, there's no guarantee this will always remain true, especially as we continue to move toward more virtual work environments. So there may come a time when you face the option of … [Read more...]

“Work, work, work, day after day/Fifty-hour week, forty-hour pay./No time to get over all this overtime./ Yeah, I'm always runnin', and always runnin' behind.” – Tracy Lawrence, American singer. You've probably faced it after a vacation, a business trip, or sick leave: that pile of work sitting in your inboxes, waiting for your return. Ideally, your team should have taken care of it, but there's always something waiting, even if it's "just" a barrage of distracting questions. While you're always likely to face some turmoil after a work absence, there are ways to temper the inevitable game of catch-up. You may have tried some of these in the past, but probably not all of them; and if you're new enough not to never have experienced a game of "catch-up", do yourself a favor and try some … [Read more...]

“No one is more cherished in this world than someone who lightens the burden of another.” – Joseph Addison, 18th century British author and politician. If you've reached a high level in a corporation or own your business, then you may already have a personal assistant, and know what a relief they can be. If you haven't reached that point, you may think you're doomed to sharing an executive assistant with the whole department, or more likely, just doing without. That's not necessarily true, so don't despair. Whether you're overwhelmed or just need a little help balancing some aspects of your job or work/life balance, and for some reason can't delegate within the organization, you may still be able to acquire a personal assistant (PA). Whether it's official or not may depend on your … [Read more...]

“There should be sympathy cards for having to go back to work after vacation.” – Anonymous. Let's face it: a vacation where you spend any time at all working is not a vacation. And yet, working vacations have become a fixture of our workaholic society. We're already hobbled by the lowest average number of vacation days of any major industrial nation, so you'd think Americans would avoid work like the plague while on vacation — but we don't. Most of us feel obliged to at least check in occasionally… even though, according to one recent survey, 47% of workers don't even use all their annual vacation time. Sadly, many of us are "encouraged" or outright told to keep in touch during vacation. Others feel an unstated pressure to do so, while some don't want to seem like slackers, don't want … [Read more...]

“Almost everything will work again if you unplug it for a few minutes — including you.” – Anne Lamott, American writer. We all know we need breaks occasionally to refresh ourselves at work. And sure, most of us will fight for our annual vacations; we'll also steal away on mini-vacations on a long weekend. While we're nowhere as enlightened as Europeans in this regard, we know the value of a few days or weeks off in terms of recharging our batteries. But not everyone takes short work breaks as seriously. If you want to do your best work, you should take short breaks throughout the day, even for five minutes. Here’s why: They let your mind disengage its focus. Sometimes you need to think about something else for a while. Focusing too long and hard on a problem can lead not only … [Read more...]

“Work smarter, not harder.” – Allen F. Morgenstern, American Industrial engineer and work simplification program developer If there's one business aphorism I guarantee every single one of you has heard and/or read, probably too many times, it's "Work smarter, not harder." It's the kind of advice Dilbert's Pointy-Haired Boss loves to give, because it sounds good, and he doesn't have to know what it means. When Allen Morgenstern first formulated the idea in the 1930s, it was useful and valuable, especially in his field of industrial engineering. Manufacturing was in its heyday; Morgenstern and other efficiency experts were hard at work transforming the mess and horror of the Industrial Revolution, per Sinclair's The Jungle, into a workable system that maintained productivity while … [Read more...]