The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Things Done

Chapter 1

Impediments to Getting Things Done at Work

In This Chapter

• Work distractions in all directions

• Information and communication overload

• More choices, more confusion

• Interruptions and productivity

 

Following World War II, and at least through the 1970s, it was widely held by time management specialists that the typical office worker earned a full day’s pay for a 60 percent effort. In other words, over the course of an eight-hour workday, the typical worker actually performed job-related work for 60 percent of the time, or 4.8 hours.

The rest of the time, totaling 40 percent of the day, was frittered away on daydreams (most often thinking about sex), personal phone calls, coffee breaks, bathroom breaks, extraneous reading (not necessarily ...