Statistics about productivity dominate articles about international competitiveness with the productivity of American workers compared to workers across the globe.  Businesses everywhere would love to get their hands on the magical solution to keeping workers productive, focused and dedicated to their work.

The reality is that numerous factors contribute to decreased productivity in the office.  Here at OPTED Magazine we’ve mentioned previous studies on why the boss may be to blame and also made suggestions for increasing productivity in situations like these, or these.

Just this week, several articles were published about the impact that Facebook, Twitter and other social networking platforms are having on productivity in the workplace.   These platforms are being blamed for $2.25 billion in losses from the decreased productivity, and companies everywhere are participating in surveys on social networking in the office and considering company policies to restrict use.

What do you think?

Should companies pass policies to restrict use of things like Twitter and Facebook in the office, or is it unenforceable with access to smartphones that can run apps to skirt the rules?  Is the problem any worse than a smoker taking frequent breaks, or the chatty receptionist that wastes time socializing in person?

Let’s hear about it in the comments section below!

Time to make meetings more productive with a great tip: conduct your meetings standing up.

This is one of many great tips from Gina Trapani, and her article points out that meeting length will be cut dramatically as no one enjoy standing for long periods of time.  Participants will be motivated to be succinct and productive with their discussions, eliminating any unnecessary or off-topic conversation.

What are some other ways that you keep people on track during meetings?  Do you have any other good tips on how to make meetings more productive?

Needless to say, on my “off” weekend, with no agenda and no constraints, I did a lot of thinking about what is the perfect balance of relaxation and productivity on a weekend.

I woke up on Saturday morning determined to find a happy medium between feeling useful around the house and enjoying much needed free time.  I made a decision that Sunday would be a day of rest and Saturday I would split my time between “productive” tasks and fun time.  It’s simple mind trickery that works every time — if my brain knows that for 48 hours I have one entire day to do whatever I want, the house chores don’t seem as bad when I get them out of the way at the front end of the weekend!

I also elected to complete 4 tasks, while not big by any stretch of the imagination, still had a big impact on my psyche and will certainly keep me in a good frame of mind in the week ahead:

1. Cleaning out the fridge — it’s a great feeling to see exactly what is fresh and consumable and to know that the bad stuff has been removed on time for trash day.  And as an added bonus it helps for constructing a weekly meal plan.
2. Clearing off my desk — there’s nothing like a gleaming, clear desk to start out the week.  I try to do this on Friday afternoons before the weekend as well.  A cluttered space truly is a cluttered mind.
3. Catching up on laundry — knowing that all my clothing is clean helps me stay on top of my schedule for the week.  No more scrambling for a matching outfit now that everything is clean and put away!  It’s also the perfect task that can fit in between other chores while the washer and dryer are each in different stages.
4. One decluttering project — any time I have a free window of time I pick a decluttering project to tackle.  I didn’t count my desk for this exercise (that would be cheating!) and instead chose to clear out my coupons.  With such a hectic few weeks, the stack of coupons waiting to be filed vastly exceeded those in my mini accordion and many coupons had already expired.  And wasted money does no good for my mood!

There was still some cleaning and tidying here and there, but for the most part I silenced the perfectionist in my head, if only for one weekend, to enjoy quality time at home.  There was much good football to be watched!

After this weekend I came to an important conclusion: I take life a little too seriously and productivity practiced 24/7 is not good for the soul.  I really challenged myself to change my habits, even if I consider those habits to be beneficial most of the time.

For anyone reading this that is seeking a more productive and organized life, my one piece of advice is to hold onto at least 3% of your unplanned, unstructured self (and ideally more!)  Give yourself time to unwind and enjoy simple pleasures and it will reinvigorate you for the work week ahead.

In a fit of frustration I’m calling on you for help!  My business has a habit of scheduling conference calls for everything!  Sometimes we have calls to plan future calls!  Sometimes I have a big role in the call, sometimes not, but every time they occur my productivity plunges.  Is there anything I can do to stay productive?  Do you have any words of wisdom?

Ashley, here is my advice.  The first thing you must determine is what your role is during the conference call?  Are you on call for facilitating the discussion or taking notes for the call?  Do you have parts of the agenda where you are expected to provide the lions share of the background or answer an extensive list of questions?  If you have a small role in the call, perhaps only listening in or have a small level of participation, then the only barrier to sustaining productivity is neglecting to plan ahead.

Here are some steps you can take to aid productivity during your conference calls:

1. Assess your role and plan for it — if you have a role to play in the conference call beyond just listening in, plan ahead for your participation.  If you can assess the agenda ahead of time and determine that you’re off the hook for 3 of the 5 items to be discussed, you can plan accordingly for the call and make sure you have other things to do to fill that slow time.
2. Define your “multi-task items” — what do I mean by this?  It doesn’t matter what your career or business is, there are always tasks that are suitable for multitasking.  For instance, you can’t make other phone calls and process voicemail when you’re on a conference call, but you can catch up on filing, triaging email or work on a to-do list.  Many of your standard, recurring tasks will be perfect for multi-tasking during a conference call.
3. Save appropriate tasks in advance — say you know in advance you have a conference call scheduled for later in the day.  Save all the “multi-task” items for during that time and spend your day before and after the call completing as many tasks as you can that would not be possible during the phone call.  It’s time management at its best.
4. Demand an agenda, time limit and facilitator — regardless of your level of participation in the conference call, always insist that your calls meet three criteria: have an agenda, a pre-determined time limit and someone to facilitate.  There is nothing worse than an open ended discussion with no direction or parameters.  No meeting should be without these criteria and conference calls are no exception.  Demanding these three conditions will substantially increase the productivity and decrease the time of the call.

Sometimes the conditions under which you take the call change everything!  It’s one thing to take the call in your office where you can mute yourself and listen on speaker phone.  It’s quite another to be sitting with your coworkers in a conference room collectively participating in a call.  But even in those circumstances a pen and paper would be normal and accepted, which means list making and a paper brainstorm would be a perfect multi-task solution.  Or try to print out one long email or document and read it over discreetly as the call takes place.

How do you stay productive during conference calls?  Any other strategies I missed?

1. Portable reading – whether you are traveling by car, train, or plane, having portable reading material is essential.  While I don’t recommend reading while driving, if you’re a passenger, it’s a good option.  If you have a thirst for knowledge, a backlog of books or magazines, or even a lengthy report waiting for your eyes to review, means a prime opportunity to digest the material as you make your way to your destination.  And depending on the nature of your trip, the reading material may be perfect for a cab ride, an afternoon at the pool, or pre-bedtime routine.
2. Unexpected exercise – don’t let your trip disrupt your fitness routine.  Walk instead of cab, take stairs instead of escalators or elevators, and carry or roll luggage instead of purchasing a cart.  It all adds up.  It make take more time and seem like negative productivity, but building in some calorie burning during routine parts of travel can eliminate guilt or the need to schedule a run during your trip.
3. Research amenities – hotels and airlines each have different amenities that can aid your productivity.  When you’re planning your trip, weigh the advantages and disadvantages of opting for different companies.  For instance, select an airline with internet access so you can stay plugged in, or choose a hotel with a business center that includes printing capabilities.
4. Offline email – imagine if you could respond to 50 emails during a flight or train ride so that when internet access resumes your email is ready to go and send out in bulk.  When you resume internet access your email is all dealt with and you’ll have a built in block of time before responses come in where you can shift your time to other tasks.  If you’re a Gmail user, this feature is already available and a killer tool to take advantage of.
5. Batch phone calls for key times – I’ve written about the concept of batching tasks before, and phone calls are an important one when traveling.  You can’t make calls on planes and don’t be “that guy” spending an entire train ride gabbing on the phone.  Force yourself to plan times for phone calls.  If you’re on a family vacation, wake up half an hour early and sit in the lobby and make calls.  If you’re on a business trip, take a walk around the terminal or use time in the cab to the airport to zip through returning calls from your voicemail.
6. Strategic meals – business trips can make meal time a hassle.  Trying to squeeze in lunch or dinner in the middle of a hectic day can be an ordeal and a time waster.  If your hotel has a fridge and microwave in the room, a trip to the grocery store on a multi-day trip can be a productive use of your time.  Purchase snacks or small meals that you can consume in a hotel room and take advantage of free food at your place of lodging.
7. Ignore everything you just read – imagine a three hour plane flight where you’re legitimately and excusably cut off from the rest of the world (minus your fellow travelers).  It’s YOUR time: time for listening to your favorite music, catching up on sleep or a great book, or planning ahead to have podcasts or DVD’s to enjoy.  Relish in the ability to be unplugged and have no alternative but to spend time disconnected from incoming communications.  Being productive is more than just completing mandatory tasks.  It’s also about being productive with your time to participate in things that you enjoy.

Travel comes in all shapes and sizes: short, medium and long trips.  Travel can be personal or business, and you may be alone or with family or work colleagues.  Either way, you have opportunities to transform your travel experience as productive time away from home.

For the past few days, I have been both preparing for, and taking, a four day trip that required 26 hours of driving and three very long work days over the weekend.  Without a minute to spare, posting fresh content was not possible.

Ironically, my ability to plan ahead and my typical productivity measures failed me during this particular travel excursion.  While I had access to the tools to be productive, I didn’t have a plan in place to make it happen!

With that said, it’s generated an idea for a new post for tomorrow about strategies for productivity during travel.  I hope after my experience generated these ideas they will be helpful to you (and for me) for future travel.

Thanks for understanding.

For this reason: always have a system for portable “read and review” material that is readily available to help you maximize your time.

Read and review is a concept that comes from David Allen’s book about getting things done and he talks about the importance of categorizing inputs in your life into read and review material.  These materials can range from magazines and books, to emails and catalogs.  Basically, it’s anything that requires you to read and digest material that may or may not have information you will need to act on later.

Here are some strategies to make sure that you make the most of your dead time by keeping read and review material available:

• Always carry a book or magazine with you – keep one in your car, your bag or purse.  You never know when you’re faced with a block of time where you can substitute reading and getting through your paperwork for staring into space
• Create a folder in your email box for “read and review” – many meetings and conference calls that professionals are required to sit through have numerous opportunities for multi-tasking.  Having readily available email organized in its own space that you’ve determined is for reading and absorbing information  makes it simple to hit print before you begin your meeting.

This strategy is one that I have already integrated into my life and it doing wonders for eliminating wasted time and helping me get through the large volume of reading required for my everyday life.  I highly recommend it!

Let Me Google That For You (LMGTFY) is a web based application that allows you to type in their question to a Google search box, LMGTFY generates the potential answers to their question using Google’s search engine, and you can reply with the URL of the results — helping them answer the question and making your point that they could have answered this themselves as the same time.  Genius.

Here is some insight and information about iPhone apps for moving and relocation:

• Moving List (New Gravity Ventures – $2.99) — this app provides a number of features including timelines for your move and prepopulated checklists for things to consider for your task list.  The items can be deleted and your own tasks can be added.  The category lists are helpful and the app sorts tasks by how many days or weeks ahead that they need to be completed.
• Boxie (Trimeego – $1.99) — from previous advice about how to have an organized move, an important suggestion was to take photographic evidence of the items you are moving both to document their condition and to have proof of how they were packaged.  This app allows you to take photos of items in particular boxes and the app sorts them by box so you can complete your move and know exactly which box your items are in!  This concept could also be useful for any storage system you implement, such as holiday items boxed in the attic, or boxes you may have in offsite storage.  However, there appears to be a bug in the program with the way keywords are used for search purposes in the app.  I tested this as well and problems remain, despite a few reviews by others and ample time for the developers to respond.
• Moving (PTAJ Marketing Inc. – $2.99) — this iPhone app is not what I expected.  Rather than a productivity or organization tool to store information and organize your move, this app is nothing more than a series of short articles about moving.  I can do that on the internet, no need to spend $2.99 on an app!  There’s also a peculiar inclusion of a chapter at the end called “Is God Real” with scripture and contact information for making a religious commitment, which is completely out of place with the concept for the app.  I do not recommend this app, for both the cost and the lack of value it would bring to helping you move.

Curiously, there are very few iPhone apps out there geared towards moving and relocation, and I can’t say I’m satisfied or wowed by any of the ones that I’ve seen.  There’s potential for a developer to create a robust app that could bring real value to iPhone users planning a move in the future.  While standard task management apps and software would perform many of the functions needed to organize a move, sometimes a fun app for a less frequent project like moving is useful to separate your tasks from one another.

Have an iPhone app you’d like us to test and review?  Contact us and we’ll add it to the queue!

This week is “moving week” on OPTED Magazine and this post is part of a 5 article series.  Check out the previous post on how to have an organized move and check out the next post in the series.

Also, this post is part of OPTED Magazine’s regular “iPhone Tuesdays” series, where we’ll feature a new iPhone app that helps with productivity, tasking, goal setting, or organization.  These posts will include a review and all the information based on a personal test and evaluation.  Watch for the series again next Tuesday!

Next week’s review will be based on reader’s choice.  Browse the apps in the productivity section of the Apple app store and submit an app you would like OPTED Magazine to review next week.  Tell us which app you’d like to be reviewed, and why, and your selection may be reviewed on the site next week or in the weeks to come!  The app with the most votes will be reviewed next week.

You can submit your suggestion using our contact form.  Keep the suggestions coming!