The Importance of Productivity, Focus, and Measurement
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When I was in school, I would study at least a couple of hours each day in the library. While there, I noticed that the best students were always very focused. They were not distracted like poorer students were. A poor student looks around and looks up frequently. The poor students try to start conversations, make jokes, and laugh at things going on in the library.
When I was studying with the best students, I could feel their energy and focus. They blocked out external stimuli and their study time was extremely productive. In fact, just about every good student had the ability to focus extremely well. I noticed this same thing when I was a law professor. You could spot the best students, because they were always the most focused.
The best students made sure their study time was productive and focused. They were able to exclude other things, and to get a lot done with their time. This is something not limited to studying; it is part of every profession. The people who do the best in every profession have the aptitude to focus and use their time productively. Your ability to focus and be productive with your time–right now–is something that will have a major impact on your long-term success or failure. You need to be as productive and focused as possible in every move you make when it is related to your job.
A good portion of my workday involves supervising others who are at work. I know who is being productive and who is not being productive. Every decent manager out there has a good understanding of the people who are most and least productive. In most companies there are statistics used to measure productivity. Sales people have quotas. Attorneys bill for their work by the hour. The boss watches who leaves early and who stays late. Many people are required to clock in. There are tallies in various organizations to see who has done more of this or more of that.
Employees everywhere try to avoid measuring of their productivity. I have seen this most of my career. In fact, the entire work world involves a struggle between employers trying to get as much productivity out of workers as they possibly can. There are always a few employees who resist this accountability. For example, one of the most contentious issues in recent years has been merit-based pay for teachers, which is measured by the test scores of students. Many teachers have long resisted this, preferring to simply get paid for showing up for work. Teachers unions all over the United States threaten to strike over any plans to institute merit pay.
The best thing you can do though, is to work in a job where your productivity is measured. Personally, I have always loved working in places where productivity has been measured. An employer who measures your productivity is giving you the tools to easily win and also to keep your job. I remember one of my first jobs when I was around 15 years old – I was signing people up for credit cards over the phone. I would report to work each night around 5:30, and work until 9:30 p.m. calling people. Most of the other kids I worked with would sign 2 or 3 people up for credit cards per night. I generally would sign up well over 50. I got so good at this that the company relocated me to a private (read: my own) office in a call center of 100+ employees because they did not want anything to disturb me. I loved being measured. When I practiced law, everything was about billing as many hours as possible. I knew if I billed a lot of hours, I had employment security. I loved this as well.
You want to work for employers who measure your productivity. If the employer does not measure your productivity, this is dangerous because the company is likely not going to be productive itself and will have problems. Any decent company needs a way to measure the differences between the people working there because without these measurements, nobody would know what is happening, and who is productive and who is not. Finally, if you are not being measured, you can potentially lose your job in an arbitrary way. Your job security could be related more to who you are friends with at work, or who likes you more, than your actual productivity.
Nevertheless, in most instances, if you think your boss does not know when you are and are not being productive, you are wrong. Almost every boss knows who is being productive and who is not being productive. Regardless of whether your job is to sweep floors, or managing the finances of a giant corporation, the boss knows who is being productive, or not. (Additionally, your boss’s boss knows whether any of you are being productive.)
People at the very highest levels of most professions are paid for their ability to focus and be productive with their time.
- A highly skilled surgeon typically earns much more money than a regular doctor, simply because the duties of his or her profession require more focus.
- A patent attorney typically earns more money than a litigation attorney because his job often requires more focus than the other.
When you are more focused, you are more productive with your time. Society and the work world values people who are able to bring a high degree of focus to any situation at hand in the workplace.
There is nothing more important in any job than your productivity. You will lose direction in your career and even in your life if you are not being productive. You will also lose direction if you are not measuring your productivity.
Over the years, I have spoken to hundreds of people who are looking for jobs. I have found that a large percentage of people dream of a job and of a life without a lot of pressure. Ideally, many people look forward to retirement or not having to work at all because of wise money management or luck. But the less focus and productivity you give to society, the less you are rewarded in terms of money, prestige, and more.
Productivity is rewarded by society. There is generally no free ride available. We must always be productive in one form or another. We must be able to produce. You must produce in every job you have. What you produce must have a much greater value than what you take. You must consciously (in every job you have, or any job you are seeking) create tremendous value. You must develop personal statistics and goals that showcase your value, even if none are provided to you by your employer. If your employer is not measuring your productivity, it is often a smart thing for you to measure your own productivity. When you show your employer what you have achieved throughout the week, as the end of the week draws near, it will be clear to the employer who is doing what, and which employees stand out as more valuable.
Several years ago, I hired a very talented attorney to work for me on a contract basis. This was when our company was much younger, but growing. The attorney was in his late 40s at the time, and he was pretty seasoned when I hired him. Something about him stands out in my mind; something he did really impressed me. He would send a detailed report to me each week about what he had accomplished in his job. This report went over everything he had done in considerable detail, and was always very well written. While he eventually left to start his own law practice, he was somebody I really valued. I can say with absolute certainty that he’d never have lost his job if he had stayed on with the company. He was productive with his time, and he showed me on a weekly basis. I appreciated that, because at the time I had no methods for measuring the productivity of the people working for me.
When I hired his replacement, I requested a weekly report, but the replacement resisted. The replacement was someone who did not use their time wisely, wandering around a good part of the day gossiping and so forth. This is not productive behavior. Over the course of the past several years of hiring people, the best employees continue to be the ones who document what they do every single week. My best employees do this, and no one has ever lost their job when they document their work to me every week. I highly recommend doing this. Your superiors want to see productivity, and if you document what you are doing, it shows them exactly how you are spending company time. And if you do solid work, this can become a tool for making yourself virtually indispensable. It may result in more raises, better job security, and frequent promotions. Employers respect those who document their work.
About six years ago or so, an employee of mine was in my office, telling me about how someone they knew had just gotten a large inheritance. “He’ll never have to work again,” my employee observed. I thought about this and realized the person I was speaking to was also interested in “never working again,” and that their entire goal in life was seemingly to find a situation that would allow them to get rich, and never have to return to a job.
This is not something I have ever been at all interested in. The idea of not having to work simply does not appeal to me. To work is to contribute to society and provide value. To work is also to be engaged and to have a purpose in your life each day. There is nothing more important than working and making sure you are doing the job you are best at, contributing every single day.
I have been reading many recent articles about people who have been laid off. Certain people are having a difficult time finding jobs. But I have witnessed this for many years. In the legal profession, for example, people traditionally have a difficult time finding a new job after getting laid off. Many law firms with openings demand that recruiters only submit people who have not been laid off. There is a strong interest in the legal profession and other professions in avoiding people who have been laid off. One article I read recently titled Only the Employed Need Apply in the Wall Street Journal discusses the fact that many employers avoid the unemployed when hiring:
With unemployment at 9.4% and rising, it’s a buyer’s market for employers that are hiring. But many employers are bypassing the jobless to target those still working, reasoning that these survivors are the top performers.
“If they’re employed in today’s economy, they have to be first string,” says Ryan Ross, a partner with Kaye/Bassman International Corp., an executive recruiting firm in Dallas. Mr. Ross says more clients recently have indicated that they would prefer to fill positions with “passive candidates” who are working elsewhere and not actively seeking a job.
The reason the unemployed are avoided is because there is the presumption that they are not as productive as the people at their firms who were not let go. The idea is that companies and firms keep their most productive people, and this has been understood in hiring circles for as long as I can remember. If you are productive and do really good work, in most cases employers will do what they can to hold on to you because you provide more value than you take. If you are not productive, and you are seen as more of a taker than a producer, your job will always be in jeopardy. This is a horrible position to be in; ideally you should never have to worry about keeping your job. You need to be productive and focused, and you must constantly prove your value to your employer. Even if your employer is not measuring.
THE LESSON
You must hone your ability to block out external stimuli and focus solely on the work you provide for your employer, not what you can take from the company. High focus leads to high productivity, which in turn leads to high value. Attaining such a high degree of focus will make you much in demand in the business world and in society at large. Productivity should be measured either by you, or by your employer, and the most successful companies are usually those who prioritize keeping track of their employees’ productivity.
Read More About You Should Put Away Your Cell Phone in the Office:
- Why Aren’t There More American Day Laborers, Doctors, Engineers and Textile Workers
- Add Value at Every Turn
- Parking Benefits and Falling in Love with Your Job
- Play Each Day Like it is Your Most Important
About Harrison Barnes
Harrison Barnes is the Founder of BCG Attorney Search and a successful legal recruiter himself. Harrison is extremely committed to and passionate about the profession of legal placement. His firm BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys. BCG Attorney Search works with attorneys to dramatically improve their careers by leaving no stone unturned in a search and bringing out the very best in them. Harrison has placed the leaders of the nation’s top law firms, and countless associates who have gone on to lead the nation’s top law firms. There are very few firms Harrison has not made placements with. Harrison’s writings about attorney careers and placements attract millions of reads each year. He coaches and consults with law firms about how to dramatically improve their recruiting and retention efforts. His company LawCrossing has been ranked on the Inc. 500 twice. For more information, please visit Harrison Barnes’ bio.
About BCG Attorney Search
BCG Attorney Search matches attorneys and law firms with unparalleled expertise and drive that gets results. Known globally for its success in locating and placing attorneys in law firms of all sizes, BCG Attorney Search has placed thousands of attorneys in law firms in thousands of different law firms around the country. Unlike other legal placement firms, BCG Attorney Search brings massive resources of over 150 employees to its placement efforts locating positions and opportunities that its competitors simply cannot. Every legal recruiter at BCG Attorney Search is a former successful attorney who attended a top law school, worked in top law firms and brought massive drive and commitment to their work. BCG Attorney Search legal recruiters take your legal career seriously and understand attorneys. For more information, please visit www.BCGSearch.com.
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Tagged: apply for a job, attorney search, career advice, job blog | a harrison barnes, job search, job search industry, legal career, legal jobs, legal profession, new job, productive presumption, productivity importance, productivity measurement
Great article! As a producer of a student TV show, I feel that I need to find volunteers who like their work, hence will be more productive. Which is why my show is regularly regarded as the best at our TV station! More people need to know that productivity = success!
excellent, wish i read it way back….anyways its an inspirational article, going to share with all my friends
this really is agreat article
it shows what really happens in real life
Hola! I’ve been reading your web site for a long time now and finally got the bravery to go ahead and give you a shout out from Lubbock Tx! Just wanted to tell you keep up the great job!
One more thing I would like to talk about is that as an alternative to trying to match all your online degree classes on times that you end work (since the majority of people are fatigued when they get back), try to get most of your classes on the week-ends and only a couple of courses on weekdays, even if it means a little time off your end of the week. This is fantastic because on the week-ends, you will be more rested along with concentrated upon school work. Many thanks for the different ideas I have mastered from your blog.
Thanks for spending time on the computer (writing) so others don’t have to.
So spot on! I would also share a comment I heard: “Measure everything and you can do anything.” It is so true and has always been a part of my efforts.
However I will submit a small rebuttal to the issue of merit pay for teachers. My wife teaches 4th grade in an underprivileged neighborhood. In addition to being at the school from 7:30-4:30 with very little prep time and no private time to eat lunch (they eat with the students), she works an additional 10+ hours at home. Her school did not make AYP. Teaching these children is a real challenge that takes all of her enthusiasm to get through.
So while I do agree that there should be a merit oriented approach to weed out teachers who just show up for a paycheck, a blanket merit approach that is strictly correlated with gross child achievement will fail miserably. Because at the end of the day, the reality is that many students are just not capable in spite of a teacher’s best efforts.