Smart Lemming Diary: The Real Reasons You’re Working So Hard Part 2
September 28, 2005
What Do I Do?: Where Does the Time Go?
I was thinking about the reason I work so hard in practical terms. What do I do all day long? As a knowledge worker, I know I think for a living. Thinking takes time, but then other things pop up and before I know it, the day is gone. So I decided to keep track of my schedule after posting “The Real Reasons You’re Working So Hard…” If your day is anything like mine, I bet it looked like this:
5:30 to 5:45 am |Wake up!: Alarm goes off. I snooze for 15 minutes. Half asleep, I get out of bed, making my way from the third floor to the kitchen on the second floor. I step over Angel the dog that’s on her perch at the top of the stairs. Not easy when you’re sleepy. She doesn’t bother to get up as I make my way to the kitchen.
6:00 to 7:30 am| Coffee, coffee, coffee and surfing: After I add two sugar cubes and half- &-half to my Peet’s Columbian coffee, I savor it at my desk in my home office on the first floor. I check my work email and personal email. I scan the daily news in Google. I also check MyYahoo! For new blog entries from my favorite RSS feeds like 800-CEO-READ, Management Craft, Working Smart, Business Week blogs, Business2 blog, and Seth’s blog. I also check Technorati for the latest blog entries for news, books, and Top 100. I check my friend’s personal blogs, hoping they’ve posted something new. I scan our Web sites to see what I can see. If I’m into a new subject area, then I’ll research it during this time.
7:30 to 8:15 am | Work Phone Call: I’m still in my home office. I was about ready to take a shower and get ready for work when Amanda from work calls, asking me if I’ve read Tom’s email. I have, but it was unclear what the action item was since he sent it to me and his wife. Who’s supposed to do what? After discussing it with Amanda, I realize that I have to quickly analyze our client’s data from our product, see if they’ve made progress in their return on investment. I run our ROI calculator to come up with some benchmarks, and then I review the ROI Financial Dashboard. I determine they have already achieved 45% of their anticipated revenue increase only 4 months into year 1 and have a 17% higher average in a key metric than expected. I update the collateral Tom wants updated with this client testimonial data.
8:15 to 9:00 am | Get Ready for Work: Shower, shampoo, and shine.
9:00 to 9:15 am | Breakfast: Well, I don’t really eat breakfast. I drink an Adkins shake, taking all my vitamins and supplements. I check to make sure I’m not taking my green tea extract too soon after drinking my coffee or else I’ll have taken too much caffeine…it’s not pretty.
9:15 to 10:15 am | Commute: I’m running 15 minutes late since I had to run the ROI on our client’s data. I listen to The Machine Crusade audio book. I’m horrified to discover that the book had two-disc number 15 and not a disc 16. Now I have wait and read those chapters from my book that evening.
10:15 to 10:25 am | Get into My Office: I fire up my laptop, say hello to Jonathan who’s working in the office for two days this week. I check voicemail and email. Tom’s partner has left a VM for me and two emails. I pick them up. Her first email says:
I left you a voicemail earlier about the client. We need to move quickly to get a one-page product overview to the client. They want all the info in the data sheet you sent me PLUS the information in the attached document. Would it be possible for you to add this information, PDF it again and get it to Tom ASAP.
I’ve asked our COO to contact client to get statistics on their first month with our product – which we heard was very strong. This is especially important because client and prospect are both key partner clients. I’ll send that as soon as I hear from COO.
Then I open up her second email:
Holy Speed-writer Batman!
As always, you are one step ahead! Nicely done. I just sent you an email with my thoughts on how to incorporate this info and, only then, began reading my email and found this one from you. Why don’t you combine what we’ve both done in a way that makes the most sense to you and we’ll call it complete. I have correct client names and the blurb on our VAR partner and other partner in mine. Between the two, I think we’re finished.
Thanks Lori!
10: 25 to 11:24 am | Amanda & Tom: Both stop by to check on the document. I make the changes, format the document, then turn it into a PDF file and send to Tom as he trolling around the hall waiting for it.
11:24 to 11:35 am | Controller Needs My Help: Controller’s working on the same request from Tom but on different documents. Stan calls me into his office asking if I can help him combine our subscription agreement in Word with our pricing information in Excel.
11:35 to 11:45 am | Working on Controller’s Documents: There are merged cells in the Excel spreadsheet, so I have to make the large table an image and copy it into the subscriber agreement. Tom’s trolling again, pacing as he waits for the document. I email and he’s “feeling lucky” with the prospect. They have unspent budget and would like to buy our product by September 30. Tom sends documents.
11:50 am to 12:30 pm | Lunch & Prep for my Next Meeting: I go the café in our business complex. I go back to my office, eat my lunch at my desk as I prepare for my next meeting with Amanda on ROI for her opportunity.
12:30 to 1:00 pm | Review ROI Results: Amanda has asked me to run the ROI for a big opportunity. The selling investment covers three years in our product. The prospect is projected to have a 20% ROI percentage, two-month payback period, with a 90-day startup factor, and $200k in monthly cost to wait in using our product after payback period. They should have an estimated savings of $2.8 million from:
- Cost reduction in FTEs by $134k
- Cash flow improvements of $521k
- Savings from other reductions $363k
- Increased revenue of $1.8 million
Amanda and I review these results, I show her my slides for the prospect presentation. She wants us to schedule a dry run so we can practice presenting the ROI with Tom and Jamie. After their feedback, then she’ll schedule the prospect meeting.
1:00 to 1:30 pm | Break: I have 30 minutes to figure out what my To Do List was supposed to be for the day and adjust accordingly.
1:30 to 3:00 pm | Sales & Marketing Team Meeting: Jonathan and I have a meeting with the Sales team (Amanda, Jamie, and Tom). We go over Jonathan’s clean-up work in Saleforce.com and identify other process steps and reports that will be needed. Tom’s eyes start to glaze over as we get into details that he really shouldn’t be dealing with but has to since he’s acting VP of Sales.
3:00 to 3:30 pm | Meeting with Jonathan: I meet with Jonathan to make sure he has all the action items from the meeting, offering advice on his next steps.
3:34 pm | Tom’s Partner Emails: “With 36 minutes to spare. You continue to impress me. Thanks so much.” A nice note regarding this morning’s urgent request from her husband.
3:45 to 4:45 pm | Jamie Calls: She’s going on the road with Tom for the next four days. She requests packets of marketing collateral so I print and assemble 20 packets, give to Tom who’s not that excited to take them on the flight with him.
4:45 to 5:00 pm | Tom Says Goodbye: After all that work on the marketing materials, he’s convinced Jamie they only need the brochure. He apologizes for wasting my time. Tells me he promised Jana that he’d be home early so he leaves. Tom’s now on the road the rest of the week and won’t be back in the office until Monday.
5:00 to 6:00 pm | Check my To Do List: No progress. My items are still sitting on my To Do List so I give up for the day and just check emails so I can prepare for the next day.
6:00 to 7:00 pm | Jonathan Meeting: Jonathan had a mini-meltdown in the morning so I carve out time to meet with him to discuss his issues. He’s worried that he’s in over his head and needs to talk through it. I break it down for him by telling him that he’s going through some major changes that are considered life stressors: changing jobs, family changes, and new work identity. All of a sudden, Jonathan’s a knowledge worker. I give him the KW 101 quick lesson, explaining that he now “thinks for a living” so the nature of the job is much different. I remind him of his core competencies and that I have all the confidence in the world that he can do this if he uses and repurposes the tools in his own toolkit. He lights up, realizing that everything’s okay. “I promise you that our coaching and mentoring will remain confidential so Tom and Amanda won’t know anything. It’s my job that they continue to have confidence in you and that you’re successful and happy with your job. I will teach you everything that you are willing to learn about being a knowledge worker if you’d like.” In a sigh of relief he says, “Oh my God, thank you so much. I respect you so much that I feel like I have shot at getting your Good Housekeeping seal of approval!”
7:00 to 8:00 pm | Commute Home: Finally, I drive home listening to INXS. My favorite songs are “Don’t Change” and “The One Thing” on the INXS CD.
8:00 to 9:00 pm | Best Buy & Borders: I decide to leave the dog home. I hit Best Buy and then Borders. I buys $350 worth of Photoshop books while all I pickup books on PR, productivity, and Brand Hijack.
9:00 to 10:45 pm | TIVO Time: I first watch Surface on NBC. I like it, but it’s kinda creepy and scary. I’m not sure how I feel about it. Then I watch Grey’s Anatomy on ABC. I like Dr. McDreamy’s wife, Addison Shepherd played by Kate Walsh and of course Dr. Cristina Yang played by Sandra Oh. I especially enjoy how the friendship is evolving between Christina and Dr. Meredith Grey since Christina resists becoming friends with her competitors. But by the end of the episode, Meredith becomes “her person.”
10:45 pm to 12: 45 am | Surfing Time: I catch up on reading.
12:45 to 1:00 am | Bed Time: Get ready for bed by making sure the coffee maker is ready to go.
1:00 to 5:45 am | Sleep: Sleep, wake up and start all over again.
All in the day in the life. Except yesterday didn’t include any tasks or interruptions regarding my startup. But that’s another day.
The Smart Lemming Diary is a series that chronicles a journey of laid-off worker, who becomes a Vice President of Sales Operations & Marketing for a small entrepreneurial healthcare technology company. For previous entries in this series, click here.
