Your personal productivity cannot be measured simply by what you are doing. If what you're doing is not getting you where you want to go, your time is not being spent productively. Rather, personal productivity is measured by what is produced from that performance, the product of your performance.

For example, I work with a laptop. I write articles, develop spreadsheets, and update my database about as fast and efficiently as anyone I know. During the first six months I owned the laptop, I loaded it with an incredible amount of data, pounding away at the keyboard like it was a fine piano. On a scale of one to ten, I would initially rate my personal productivity with respect to this task, as a nine, or a ten. I was a super achiever.

Well, except for one small detail. I did not back up my work. I don't know why I neglected this task because I have always backed up my work. The hard drive crashed, burned and died and I lost everything I had put into it for six months.

Now, what was my productivity on a scale of one to ten? Zero. Nothing. My performance was a nine or a ten but neglecting to do a key step, backing up the work, resulted in the product of my performance being a zero, as if I had done no work at all.

If you are working at a job that is not fulfilling for you, you are doing it because of the paycheck only, you are not operating at a high level of personal productivity. Eighty percent of those who go to work on Monday morning would rather be somewhere else. You are a cog that makes money. You may be able do that dreaded job quicker, faster and better than anyone else, but if it's a job that doesn't excite and fulfill you, you're not at a high level of personal productivity.

If your marriage is on the path to divorce, you may have to give up a significant percentage of everything you have ever worked for. Making all that money over the years, only to give much of it away to a person you have learned to hate, is not an example of high personal productivity. The performance was making all that money in the first place. But the product of this performance is a property settlement fund in your divorce.

Examine everything you are doing. Is it getting you to where you want to go in your life? Is your performance creating the product you want to achieve? If not, fix it. Change your performance to deliver the right product, and you will begin to truly operate at a high productivity level. You can easily get more of the important things done, in less time, with less stress.

Published: March 29, 2005

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Dr. Donald E. Wetmore has been a full-time Professional Speaker for the last 20 years having made over 2,000 presentations to audiences from around the Globe. He is available to conduct his dynamic Time Management Seminars at your location helping your people get more done in less time, with less stress. Don's programs are entertaining, fast paced, and filed with practical, common sense ideas. His seminars are typically rated as "the best I have ever attended." For more information, contact Don via e-mail at or call him at (203) 386-8062 and (800) 969-3773.