Who care's how many crummy breakfast sandwiches you can produce per minute?

Written by Le-roy Staines, Founder of TimeDock on 26th September 2019

6 Simple reasons why improving your productivity, is worth your time!

A one Brian S. on Facebook asked me this very question, Who care's how many crummy breakfast sandwhiches you can produce per minute?, in response to a comment I made on one of those #FastestWorker videos.

My comment was that There is ALWAYS a way to improve productivity.

Brian's response, But why? How many crummy sandwiches do you need to produce per minute? baffled me. I couldn't be sure if his apparent rhetoric meant to convey genuine uncertainty or deliberate ignorance (or for the benefit of the doubt, somewhere in-between).

I've always prided myself on working hard and exceeding my personal bests. So, naturally, I responded with my top reasons why productivity in even highly routined workplaces can mean the difference between minimum-wage and long term success.

Here are my top 6 reasons why you should develop a habit of striving for exceptional productivity:

1. It's fun to improve productivity

Turning productivity into a score to beat can be a great way to pass the time. The more you're doing, the less time you'll have to notice how slowly the clock is ticking.

2. Attract the attention of your superiors

The best way to get the attention of your boss, manager, supervisor or other superior, is to either perform very poorly or perform exceptionally. Which one do you think is more likely to unlock other opportunities?

3. Viral marketing on Social Media

If you can do something so exceptionally fast (or productive), then why not leverage that for marketing yourself, your business, or the company you're working for? If you're in something retail or customer service, people might be so impressed that they want to post videos of you on their feeds to impress others. If your task is specialised, people might find it interesting to watch an expert do something they've never really seen before.

4. Serve more customers or increase throughput

If your input is more productive, so is your output. You can translate that productivity gain into increased sales and profits relatively easy. If you're a business owner or self-employed, that's more money in your pocket. If you're an employee, you're demonstrating your value and ultimately increasing it. Even if all that means is that you're less dispensible to the business than you were before.

5. Lead and inspire by improving your productivity and capability.

If you consistently demonstrate an exceptional capacity to improve productivity and performance, others around you will start to notice and aspire to be like you. Not only will your increased productivity have a tangible impact on what you're achieving, but it'll also elevate the achievement of many others around you by inspiring them to exceed themselves too.

6. How you do anything is how you do everything.

Or as Will Durant, American writer, historian, and philosopher, so elegantly summed up a collection of thoughts on morality by Aristotle: "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit".

For business owners...

Transforming your employees into high-performing and productive business associates is just as important to them, as it is to you. By fostering a strong leadership tier and a strong work ethic within your organisation, the conditions will ripen for the manifestation of improved productivity and performance.

This article was written by Le-roy Staines, CEO of TimeDock - web-based time and attendance platform