Dear Friends and Family,
I never understood how productive an office environment is compared to a non-office environment until now. In my former life, I could have 8 one hour meetings, 4 thirty minute meetings, 4 hallway conversations, and maybe a few good email threads worked into the mix. That means, in any given day, I got about 20 things done. Now, on a good day, I get three to five things ticked off my list.
What happened? Well, a lot of things happened. First, my day shrunk. My effective day starts at 9 am and ends at 2 pm because outside of that I am spending time with P. While I like spending time with P, it's not realistic to think I will be productive in working through other tasks when I'm with her. Otherwise, I'm not really spending time with her. I'd be doing my thing and she'd be watching me do my thing.
So, five hours instead of ten. That alone will take twenty items down to ten.
On top of that, there's the travel element. I know it takes two minutes to walk to a particular conference room. I don't leave until two minutes before the meeting, I walk, I show up right on time, zero wasted time. Now, I might be headed to a place 20-30 minutes from where I am. Since I'm not sure of the time, a 30 minute trip can take mean leaving 35-40 minutes before hand. Add one or two travel times into the mix and my effective day goes from five hours down to four hours, or eight tasks.
Then, add in dead time because I'm no longer sure of how long each task will take. An oil change can take 30 minutes or it can take an hour like it did last time. A doctor's appointment can take 30 minutes or it can take two hours like it did last time. Dead time is a productive black hole. Add in 30 minutes of dead time per trip and four hours is down to 2.5 hours easy. Now, it's easy to see how I get three to five things done a day instead of 20. Welcome to my new level of productivity.
My three tasks for today? Get mail. Pick up party supplies. Wrap presents. I had to wait until now, 10:30, to get mail, to avoid traffic. I'll get the mail by 11:30, party supplies by 12. I'll be home by 1, wrap presents by 1:30, and then I'm off get P by 2. See, three tasks. I'll squeeze in gas to get it up to 4.
Cheers!
mouse
I never understood how productive an office environment is compared to a non-office environment until now. In my former life, I could have 8 one hour meetings, 4 thirty minute meetings, 4 hallway conversations, and maybe a few good email threads worked into the mix. That means, in any given day, I got about 20 things done. Now, on a good day, I get three to five things ticked off my list.
What happened? Well, a lot of things happened. First, my day shrunk. My effective day starts at 9 am and ends at 2 pm because outside of that I am spending time with P. While I like spending time with P, it's not realistic to think I will be productive in working through other tasks when I'm with her. Otherwise, I'm not really spending time with her. I'd be doing my thing and she'd be watching me do my thing.
So, five hours instead of ten. That alone will take twenty items down to ten.
On top of that, there's the travel element. I know it takes two minutes to walk to a particular conference room. I don't leave until two minutes before the meeting, I walk, I show up right on time, zero wasted time. Now, I might be headed to a place 20-30 minutes from where I am. Since I'm not sure of the time, a 30 minute trip can take mean leaving 35-40 minutes before hand. Add one or two travel times into the mix and my effective day goes from five hours down to four hours, or eight tasks.
Then, add in dead time because I'm no longer sure of how long each task will take. An oil change can take 30 minutes or it can take an hour like it did last time. A doctor's appointment can take 30 minutes or it can take two hours like it did last time. Dead time is a productive black hole. Add in 30 minutes of dead time per trip and four hours is down to 2.5 hours easy. Now, it's easy to see how I get three to five things done a day instead of 20. Welcome to my new level of productivity.
My three tasks for today? Get mail. Pick up party supplies. Wrap presents. I had to wait until now, 10:30, to get mail, to avoid traffic. I'll get the mail by 11:30, party supplies by 12. I'll be home by 1, wrap presents by 1:30, and then I'm off get P by 2. See, three tasks. I'll squeeze in gas to get it up to 4.
Cheers!
mouse
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