(for non-geeks, the "!=" symbol is code meaning "is not equal to")
I spent many years in my career focusing on the wrong thing. I have always considered myself to be a driven person, and as such I felt the need to do something with every minute at work. My background in consulting and also defense largely caused this behavior, since people in these fields are paid hourly (or even in 15 minute increments) and must track where every bit of time goes. When I left these fields, this time tracking characteristic stayed. If I ever had free time at a job, I found myself hungering for any little task to work on where I could make someone happy and keep busy in the process. I never stopped to question if the true outcome of any given task was all that meaningful; I never asked if there was something more impactful I could be doing with my time. All that mattered was I was keeping busy and that at least one person valued the work I was doing. I always figured if a company was paying for my time that it was my responsibility to find ways to contribute with every moment.
Well, the longer I've been in the workforce the more I'm changing my attitude on this topic. I've encountered individuals who were so successful in just a few hours each day or each week that slacking off the rest of the time was okay. It's really a quality vs. quantity thing. In the world of sales, if you are able to drive a ton of revenue in a short period of time, the company is very pleased; exactly how many hours or minutes it took to accomplish that is irrelevant. It's the results that matter, not the number of hours or the sense of keeping busy. One of the most successful sales people I've met didn't work a traditional 40 hours per week and on plenty of occasions just stayed home on normal work days if there weren't significant tasks to work on. And guess what? Nobody cared, not even her manager. The results of her work were so strong that where every minute was spent didn't matter. What made her so effective was that she did the opposite of what I was doing; she tossed aside all the insignificant work and instead only spent time on tasks that largely impacted her goals. She probably worked 25-30 hour weeks and yet was producing far superior results to most peers. While she didn't put in a full 40 hours of work, she was intensely productive in those hours she did put in. Moral of the story: it's not keeping busy that's important; it's the end impact you make that matters.
I've found taking a step back and really evaluating everything you can work on is absolutely essential. Toss out the little stuff - it just doesn't make that much impact or truly matter. Focus on the big issues and make a noticeable impact for the company. I ask myself - in a few years, what will I and teammates recall about my contributions? What will make my resume shine the most? Chances are, the little tasks will be long forgotten and it's those fewer big things that will be remembered and actually matter. Not to mention it's those bigger tasks that will drive the business forward in measurable ways. Sure, this is common sense. But I do believe it takes a very talented person to be able to identify the unimportant time sucks, toss them aside, and be able to focus on the things that really matter.
On the topic of time management, Getting Things Done is a very popular book around my workplace. This book has a lot of great tips on how to get the most out of your limited time and how to maximize your productivity & impact on the business. If you're interested in becoming a more effective worker, I highly recommend giving this book a read.
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