| No matter how many hours you work, it's the | | | | Here are some specifics. |
| productive ones that matter. In addition to the | | | | - Privatize your office. Close your door and put |
| attendant financial rewards, more production | | | | your phone on "Do Not Disturb." If people continue |
| generally means better performance for the | | | | to interrupt you, put a DND sign on your door. |
| individual. The goal, then, is to get more done. | | | | You can make it light-"Great Mind at Work, Please |
| There are three ways to increase the | | | | Don't Knock" or "Out to Work, Back at X:XX |
| productivity: (1) improved skills, (2) increased | | | | O'Clock" -but make it clear. |
| leverage of others, and (3) better use of the | | | | - Establish a secondary workplace. If your firm |
| hours you're working. The first and second come | | | | has a library, go there. If the firm or office building |
| with experience. The third will immediately | | | | has a small conference or caucus room, go there. |
| produce results in hours gained. Since this is the | | | | Even an empty office will do. Take only the things |
| legal industry, let's look at this in tenths: | | | | you're going to work on, and sit down and do |
| 0.1 (hours) x 5 (days/week) x 45 (workweeks | | | | them. |
| year) = 24 extra productive hours | | | | - Try some one-hour telecommuting. Consider |
| In other words, if you can improve your | | | | coming in late or going home early to gain quiet |
| productivity by six minutes per day, you will do | | | | work time one day a week. But remember, if |
| 24 more hours of work per year. That's three full | | | | you're going to do this, you must genuinely |
| days! | | | | commit to getting the work done. Any temptation |
| Here are ways to gain more productive hours in | | | | to dally will undermine your objective of increasing |
| the day, six minutes at a time. | | | | performance, so be very careful. |
| Managing E-mail | | | | - Learn how to say, "No." Inevitably, you will still |
| The killer application that ushered in the Internet | | | | be hunted down or interrupted on many |
| era can be a huge time sink. To gain valuable | | | | occasions. This is when it is imperative that you |
| minutes throughout the day, fine-tune your use of | | | | politely but unmistakably explain that you're not |
| e-mail by taking the following steps. | | | | currently available and you'll get back to the |
| - Turn off new message notifications. These | | | | person posthaste when you are. It's an |
| notifications are a huge distraction because they | | | | opportunity to retrain those you work with-you |
| create internal noise: "What am I missing?" or "Oh, | | | | are enlisting their help to increase your |
| not another thing to do!" Or worse, you instantly | | | | productivity. |
| stop to look at the new message and lose focus | | | | Upgrade Your Work Space |
| on whatever else you're doing. E-mail is an | | | | There are a number of things you can do to |
| asynchronous communication tool. You do not | | | | improve the productivity of your physical work |
| need to know every time a message hits your | | | | space. Most are very simple to implement, but |
| inbox. It isn't going anywhere! Simply triage your | | | | each will pay a large productivity dividend. |
| e-mail regularly (twice an hour or so) to stay | | | | - Do not face the door. Reposition your desk so |
| abreast of what's happening. | | | | you are not facing the open door. The problem |
| - Remove your work address from personal lists. | | | | with facing the door is that you tend to look up |
| Keep your inbox tidy and uncluttered to reduce | | | | whenever someone passes by. That's a |
| the time wasted culling through it. Get rid of | | | | mini-interruption and it's completely unnecessary. |
| automatic feeds about the local weather report, | | | | Worse, the person walking by may catch you |
| the special of the day at your favorite online | | | | eye and stop to chat! |
| retailer, and the scores in the day's sports events. | | | | - Identify a designated work area. Pick one area - |
| - Get off unnecessary professional and interoffice | | | | your desktop, your computer table, the desk |
| lists. These also represent a distraction from your | | | | return - as your designated work area. This area |
| work. Draft a polite, professional e-mail to the list | | | | should be devoid of ALL other working materials. |
| manager asking to be removed if it's not | | | | Each file and pile in the vicinity of your designated |
| imperative that you receive certain e-mails. | | | | work area is another distraction - "Oh, I've got to |
| Likewise, unsubscribe from e-publications you don't | | | | do that." and "Oh, I've got to do that too!" Keep |
| read. Most professional purveyors provide a | | | | the designated work area free of those |
| simple Unsubscribe mechanism for this. Take | | | | self-inflicted distractions. |
| advantage of it. You can always re-subscribe. | | | | - Create a filing system for open projects. Most |
| - Spot review your inbox from home. Yes, you're | | | | people use the stacks and piles model for keeping |
| working away from the office after hours, but | | | | track of what needs to be done. These seemingly |
| this is the new professional landscape. If you can | | | | innocuous papers are either neatly or |
| quickly reply to simple requests and handle just a | | | | not-so-neatly scattered about the office. A well |
| few small items in the evening, they'll be on | | | | organized filing system is easy to maintain and a |
| someone else's desk-and not yours-in the morning. | | | | much more efficient workflow method. Every |
| Sequestering | | | | minute spent digging around in the piles is a lost |
| It's not just for juries, you know. The idea is to | | | | minute of productivity. |
| find a place or process that provides you with | | | | Implementing some or all of these suggestions will |
| uninterrupted time to get top-priority work done. | | | | definitely increase your productivity. Better |
| This doesn't mean holing up all day, or leaving the | | | | productivity will improve your effectiveness and |
| country. You're looking for a defined period each | | | | sense of accomplishment. In turn, your increased |
| day or week-say one to two hours-when you are | | | | accomplishment will produce greater career |
| able to focus on the tasks of highest concern. | | | | satisfaction. |