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Activity vs. Productivity

Written by: Jim Stovall

Article Overview: Most of us work very hard. We get up each day and spend eight hours or more doing something we call work. If you talk to the most successful and the least successful persons you can find, they will probably both tell you they are working extremely hard. If this is true, why are so few people actually getting the results they want from their hard work?

Activity vs. Productivity

Most of us work very hard. We get up each day and spend eight hours or more doing something
we call work. If you talk to the most successful and the least successful persons you can find,
they will probably both tell you they are working extremely hard. If this is true, why are so few
people actually getting the results they want from their hard work?

Quite simply, they confuse activity with productivity. Just because you’re doing something
doesn’t mean you’re really getting anywhere. We have all seen hamsters running around on the
little wheel in their cage. They create a tremendous amount of activity, and no productivity.

Recently, I did some consulting for a sales organization. These sales people work on straight
commission, so the only productive thing they really do is talk to new people about their products
and services. Before our training session, the average sales person told me they were working
very hard for eight to ten hours every day. Once they learned that their only productive task was
talking to new people about their products or services, we conducted a simple experiment. Each
sales person was given a stop watch and instructed to keep it in their pocket and click it on only
when they were talking to a new prospect, either on the telephone or in person. We discovered
that the very top wage earners were actually productive only three hours per day. The average
and below average producers were far less productive.

If you want to be more successful, earn more, or reach your goals faster, simply separate activity
from productivity and commit at least half of your work day solely to productivity. The
difference will amaze you. Your destiny awaits.

Today is the day!

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Article Tags: jim stovall, productivity, sales training



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