In this digital age of speed, technology offers challenges as well as benefits. While we scramble to get things done among interruptions, distractions and incessant communications, our working day expands while our personal productivity shrinks. We need new strategies to remain effective in this digital age of speed.
Efficiency is doing things right. Effectiveness is doing the right things. Excellence is doing the right things right. All three are threatened by this digital age of speed where the emphasis seems to be placed on doing things faster rather than on the significance of the things we do.
In Time to be productive, Harold Taylor identifies the strategies that are losing their impact, those that should be emphasized even more, and newer strategies based on the belief that the battle for personal productivity is shifting from the office to our minds.
By taking control of technology, managing email, reserving time for helicopter planning, scheduling “work breaks,” applying the sigmoid curve and the 90-minute rule, and following your body clock, you will be able to build a consistent habit of working productively each day.