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Professionals Prepared to Give Up Leisure Time and Social Activities to Increase Workplace Productivity

(ARA) – As businesspeople head back to work this fall, many will sacrifice leisure time and social activities to increase their productivity at the office, according to a TNS NFO study conducted for Office Depot. While more than half of respondents think they are already productive, a full 48 percent will attempt to further increase their efficiency this fall to deliver year-end business results — and one in three will give up personal interests to do so.  

The trend towards longer hours and diminished personal time is not new, but reinforces the need for professionals to be mindful of tools and techniques that can enable them to be effective at work and still enjoy balance. “My number one recommendation is to become better organized — it will save time and energy so you can focus on what is really important,” says Stephanie Winston, author of five books on organization and time management including The New York Times best-seller, “Getting Organized.”  

For Winston, this starts with setting big picture objectives, delegating tasks and managing time.  Here are her three overarching suggestions:

* Realize that no one has “unlimited” time. Good organization is a series of choices. It is the ability to differentiate what you need to do from what you might like to do.

Use your downtime wisely. A significant portion of our lives is spent waiting. There is time before business appointments, at doctors’ offices, in bank lines and elsewhere. Identify things you can do in five or 10 minutes and dig in — whether that means making an appointment, reading an important article, or writing a short note or e-mail to a team member or client.

Spend money on people and products that save you time. Just as specialists can generally do their jobs more efficiently, the right products can help you remain productive to meet deadlines and complete tasks. Use them — they are worth it.

Winston is a fan of the following multi-purpose products to stay connected on-the-road and increase productivity in the office. All are available at Office Depot.

* Ativa Flash Drives: Carry more documents with you and protect them at all times using portable flash drives. They are compatible with Windows XP or 2000 and most feature virus protection. The 8GB version has an extra large capacity, allowing professionals to store the equivalent of 320,000 pages of text.

* Sony VAIO Notebook Computer: Both mobile and stylish, the colorful Sony VAIO CR Series of notebooks weigh in at just 5.5 pounds, yet offer desktop-like performance, multimedia features and advanced wireless capabilities. Available in a variety of eye-catching colors, the notebook has the Intel Core 2 Duo processor, wireless capability and a large 160GB hard drive for storage of documents, music, photos and more!

* Office Depot Lap Desk: This comfortable lap desk lets you transform any chair into an expansive workspace and provides a spacious work area with its broad writing surface and padded wrist rest.

* Ativa Memory Card USB Drive: Save time, and untangle your life, with the Ativa Memory Card USB Drive. This unique device lets you turn unused memory cards into USB drives and quickly transfer data, photos or other files between computers.

* Becker Traffic Assist Highspeed: Road warriors will find their way to meetings on time and without the stress of getting lost using this state-of-the art navigational device. The anti-reflective touch screen display is divided into four zones for navigation, settings, images and music.

“The trick to improved productivity is to find simple and creative ways to achieve what you need to do,” concludes Winston.

For more information, log onto www.officedepot.com.

Courtesy of ARAcontent