For many, productivity is a synonym of work productivity. This year’s pandemic had many reassessed this very narrow definition. In fact, at this year major meeting in my field (www.aapm.org), the issues related to coping, adapting, productivity and so on associated with the COVID situation has been at the forefront of the meeting.
Continue readingThe cemeteries are filled with people who thought the world couldn’t get along without them
— Multiple sources, original author unclear
As you start the new year, please take a moment to remind yourself that whatever you do and how good you are at it, your employer (and society as a whole) will continue to function with or without you. This means that you should never be ashamed or feel anxious about taking “off” time, and by that I mean all of the time allowed by your employer every year. Not only will you get more productive overall, your friends and family will thank you for it. I certainly expect all of my students and postdocs to take time off.
It is now well established that multitasking is impacting productivity significantly. If you do a quick Google search with the terms “multitasking and productivity”, you will get over 1.4 million hits but the first few are quite interesting. The average reduction in productivity due to multitasking is estimated to be about 40%. Another interesting study related to impact on organization, across 45 different organizations, determined that the impact of reducing multitasking ranges from 13% to 150% increase in productivity.
In fact, what ever you do, including simple daily life tasks, multitasking simply means that each things you are doing simultaneously is done at less than full capacity, full attention.
n.
1. The quality of being productive.2. Economics The rate at which goods or services are produced especially output per unit of labor.3. Ecology The rate at which radiant energy is used by producers to form organic substances as food for consumers.
Why not give yourself or a love one access to well design software? With the new years usually comes the time to take resolution(s). And like most they are forgotten a few weeks later. This is because, we human being, get our attention so easily put elsewhere, diverted by what surround us, in particular the consumption media. So, we tend to get into an unproductive state by putting off what must or should be done. Simply stated procrastinating.
pro·cras·ti·nate (pr-krst-nt, pr-)
v. pro·cras·ti·nat·ed, pro·cras·ti·nat·ing, pro·cras·ti·natesv.intr.To put off doing something, especially out of habitual carelessness or laziness.
v.tr.
To postpone or delay needlessly.
Some software should also allow you to get stuff done so you do not have to. In that category, I could not live in the digital world without:
Lindsey Lawrence over at Daily Infographic has generated a very nice infographic about 29 things you can do in order to stay creative. I agree with most of the items, and while creativity is not related directly to productivity, some of these items work for both 😉
It is not enough to be busy… The question is: what are we busy about?
― Henry David Thoreau
Productivity is not the same creativity, though being creative will get you lots of things to do for which you will need to be productive to get them done. In short, you need both 😉
I have known individuals who define their work productivity by being present at work 7 days a week, non-stop for 12 hours per day. I must say these encounters were mainly while working as a postdoctoral fellow in the USA. While it might appears more acute in that country, it is encountered in others as well.
Ruminating... 