{"id":1092,"date":"2011-03-08T09:23:24","date_gmt":"2011-03-08T16:23:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2012-06-01T14:54:03","modified_gmt":"2012-06-01T21:54:03","slug":"how-often-are-you-actually-productive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/dierschow.com\/wordpress\/career\/how-often-are-you-actually-productive","title":{"rendered":"How often are you actually productive?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n\n\n
\nHere’s a secret that many don’t want to admit:\u00a0 At work, most of the time is spent not being productive.\u00a0 In the worst case, there are many activities which are actually counter-productive – they’re taking you further away from the goal.<\/p>\n

When so many people are worried about losing their jobs, they’re scared to raise attention to this not-so-useful work.\u00a0 After all, maybe if you look busy, they’re going to assume that you must be necessary.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, this destroys your heart and soul.\u00a0 But what do you do?<\/p>\n

First, it’s important to expand your view to the larger context.\u00a0 Your boss requires you to fill out those annoying forms which seem to have no value.\u00a0 But why?\u00a0 Are they for compliance with government regulations?\u00a0 Do they help make the manager’s job more efficient?<\/p>\n

Second, look for ways to make the busy-work more efficient.\u00a0 Perhaps you don’t need to attend every meeting, unless that helps to make others<\/em> more efficient.\u00a0 Maybe those reports can be made more automatic.<\/p>\n

Third, enlist the help of your boss.\u00a0 Presumably she would appreciate you having more time to work on the important stuff, so maybe there are ways to adjust the requirements.<\/p>\n

But don’t let the unimportant trivia keep you from doing important work.\u00a0 That’s a horrible way to sacrifice your career.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

\n

An important resource<\/h2>\n

Have you looked at your local colleges lately?\u00a0 If you’ve been out of school for a number of years, you might not realize that there’s been a lot of creativity in recent years.\u00a0 Many workers are in career transition, and this is an increasingly important market for funding-strapped schools.\u00a0 They’ve adjusted to people who are learning in addition to full-time jobs, offered teleclasses, and on-demand learning.<\/p>\n

You don’t necessarily have to make the choice to leave your job to “go back to school.”\u00a0 There’s lots of neat alternative learning models.<\/p>\n

 <\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Carl Dierschow is a Certified Small Fish Business Coach<\/a> and author of the career management guide, Mondays Stink! 23 Secrets to Rediscover Delight and Fulfillment in Your Work<\/em>. He is a career coach for those going through interesting transitions, and works with small business owners who need to create breakthroughs in achieving their business goals. Find out more at www.Dierschow.com<\/a> and www.SmallFish.us<\/a>.If you are interested in individual career coaching, group coaching, or other resources which might help you with difficult choices, please contact Carl at carl@dierschow.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Connect with Carl on Facebook<\/a>, Twitter<\/a> and LinkedIn<\/a> to get timely updates and connections to a broader range of professionals.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

To subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, send an e-mail to newsletter@Dierschow.com<\/a>\u00a9 2011 Possibilities Partnership LLC<\/td>\n\"\"<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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