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Productivity is the key to greater earning power. But how does one increase one's productivity? Luckily, there are three simple steps you can take to significantly increase your productivity. These steps are captured by the acronym O.W.E., which stands for Outcome, Work and Evaluation.

1. Outcome orientation

The first thing to realize is that no matter what job you have, you are paid to produce a specific outcome. No one is paid for "hours spent at the office." In fact, in today's extremely competitive economy, workers will increasingly be paid not to show up, but to show results. Indeed, more and more companies allow employees to work from home, on the condition that they produce the results agreed upon.

The key, therefore, is to clearly define what is this outcome that you are responsible for producing. If you're a sales person, the answer is easy: sales! There are many metrics for measuring a salesperson's performance, such as number of contracts signed, number of new customers, number of repeat customers, number of units sold, etc.

If you're a graphic designer, the outcome can also be defined easily. It can be the number of marketing material produced, such as the number of brochures or business cards created per month or per week.

2. Work vs non-work activities

The second thing to realize is that there are only 8 working hours in a day, so you have to measure the actual amount of time that you spend on producing that outcome. A salesperson, for instance, might spend 30% of his time doing administrative work, 30% preparing for sales presentations, and 40% facing prospects in order to sell whatever it is he's selling. This would be a work/non-work ratio of 40%.

The trick is to increase this work/non-work ratio, because only then can the salesperson increase his productivity.

3. Evaluation of personal productivity

Last but not least, one has to carefully and regularly evaluate one's productivity. This should be done on a weekly basis, whether or not your boss requires you to do it. It's a personal initiative that will increase your capacity to produce more and, therefore, your bargaining power in future negotiations with the employer about compensation, working conditions or resources made available to you.

This can be done by simply comparing your current productivity with last week's productivity. Productivity is simply defined as the number of work outcomes per hour or per week.

The O.W.E. framework is useful for those who want to proactively take charge of their career by focusing, with laser precision, on their personal productivity. Not only will such a focus increase one's professional equity and market value, it will also make every working day more fun since one's mental faculties and resources can be engaged to continually increase the relevant productivity indicators.