“The answer to this question may lie in DeskTime, a software application that meticulously tracks employees’ time use throughout the day. When the makers of this software looked at the most productive 10 per cent of their 36,000-employee user base, they made some surprising discoveries. What the most productive people have in common is an ability to take effective breaks. These elite 10 per-cent work for 52 minutes at a time, then take a 17-minute break before diving back into their work.
According to Julia Gifford, who works with DeskTime and wrote the report, the reason this pattern helps productivity is that the top 10 percent treat the periods of working time like a sprint. ‘They make the most of those 52 minutes by working with intense purpose, but then rest up to be ready for the next burst,’ Gifford wrote. She also noted that during the 17 minutes of break, the group was more likely to go for a walk or tune out rather than checking email or Facebook.”
—Tom Rath from Are You Fully Charged?
More and more of us now work at our desks, with the world becoming digitised and at our fingertips. Even some meetings can now be had on Skype, etc., directly from our desks. However, sometimes working at the same desk can become monotonous and we begin to drift away or lose attention and productivity. I was impressed with the research quoted above. I find this is rather true. If big projects or a huge day of work is broken down to short sprints, interspersed with short power breaks (as I like to call them), the overall productivity of the day can be improved and you end up achieving a lot more. I think it is important that more and more people delve into the way they do things. It is only when we change and learn and try out new things that development and growth occurs and that is key to achieving in life.
Talking about achievements, it is indeed one that the Black Caps have never lost a T20 to India and India always loses to the Black Caps. Kicking off the T20s in style, the Black Caps are poised to take on the tournament. Needless to say, we cheer for both teams and it becomes rather difficult to take sides.
The new Indian High Commissioner His Excellency Mr Sanjiv Kohli is now well and truly in office. On behalf of the IWK family, I would like to extend a warm welcome to him and hope he has a very successful innings at the helm in Wellington. We caught up with him in a candid personal interview and bring you details of that, so you may know him a bit better.
We are now proud to announce that the nominations for the Kiwi Indian Young Achiever and the Kiwi Indian Unsung Hero are open along with the nominations for the Kiwi Indian Hall of Fame. We would like to encourage everyone to participate in this nomination process actively and make sure that the people you want to be recognised, get their recognition.
Hope you enjoy this issue. Until next time.
