When Are You Most Productive?

I was meeting with a colleague, and somehow we started discussing our most productive days of the week. I knew some study had been done on this topic, so I looked to my trusty friend Google, who somehow knows everything. And I wasn’t let down this time.

Accountemps developed a survey, which was carried out by an independent research firm in 2002, asking 150 of the top execs when their employees were most productive. Here’s how they answered, from most productive to least productive:

• Tuesday
• Monday
• Wednesday
• Thursday
• Friday

Tuesdays and Wednesdays are probably my most productive days. I think part of it has to do with when I have meetings. For example, I have a standing three-hour meeting on Mondays. We definitely get things accomplished, but it’s not as productive for me as if I were at my desk during that time doing my own work.

The people at Accountemps are so productive, they’ve done two additional surveys on the subject: one about the most productive time of day to be interviewed (9 a.m. to 11 a.m. is the clear winner) and another about how productivity falls during the holidays (not a huge shocker).

Microsoft Office conducted an online survey on worker productivity. Among the key findings:

• Those US workers who responded spend 5.5 hours in meetings per week (I have 10.5 hours of meetings this week).
• US workers say they receive an average of 56 emails per day (I received more than 15 work emails before 9:40 a.m. today).
• “The most common productivity pitfalls are unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings -- chosen by 32 percent of respondents overall -- followed by unclear priorities at 31 percent and procrastination at 29 percent (U.S.: procrastination, 42 percent; lack of team communication, 39 percent; ineffective meetings, 34 percent).”

When are you most productive?

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