Logging on to LinkedIn these days, I have to remind myself that it is in fact LI and not Facebook. The feeds look the same.

I know we have blurred the lines between work and life, but come on. I often wonder if that isn't a symptom of why we are so unproductive. We are always connected, constant thoughts of work results in no rest, no real down time and for a few burn out. For most, periods of unproductivity.

When you have a structured work day of 8 hours, does it make work easier to accomplish? Knowing you have to get stuff done in allotted time? Yet when you factor in the doing more with less and more and more to do (especially for sales and marketing people), that is stress that adds to unproductive.

I look at LinkedIN and wonder if people have forgotten what work is. Correlate that to sales, especially relationship building types of sales, and we wonder why sales are off. We wonder why it is hard to hit sales numbers. No one knows when to work -- or what work looks like - or what business relationships look like.

According to a survey by Microsoft, 46 percent of workers say their productivity has improved thanks to social media and social media tools.

"Research from the University of California, Irvine, shows productivity rises in the late morning around 11 a.m. and peaks between 2 and 3 p.m." [fortune]

A study by Cornerstone found that work overload was cited as a factor that decreased productivity by 68 percent of employees surveyed, who felt that the hours required to complete their work on a daily basis outnumbered the hours in their workday. [source]

A study by Cornerstone OnDemand found that 43 percent of employees surveyed feel that unscheduled interruptions by coworkers are the biggest obstacle when it comes to productivity.

Research conducted by Stanford University cites that multitasking may ultimately be decreasing our general intelligence. Multitasking gives the illusion of higher productivity, but it is hard to cut down 6 trees by swinging the axe at each only once per hour.

"A survey from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics found that most Americans actually work normal hours and get regular sleep, despite their reputation for being overtired and overworked. [QZ]

So we want to look busy and be busy, complain about being busy, but we aren't actually productive. Some of it is distractions. Some of it is Fear.

"A study lead by the University of California, Irvine, and presented at the South by Southwest panel on workplace distraction, found employees were actually happiest when performing these rote tasks. Why is busywork secretly so enjoyable? It's because completing busywork gives you a feeling of accomplishment without the corresponding stress which comes along with more challenging tasks." [fortune]

We admire busy because we confuse it with being accomplished. We don't grasp the difference between Urgent and Important.

Covey Quadrant

In some cases, we know what we have to, what we should do, but we don't do it. We don't want to work that hard for success. We don't want to break our comfort zone. We don't want to risk it.

These are just observations, but I think we confuse being happy with a social media infused FOMO view of success. We dream about being a multi-millionaire - through lottery or a unicorn start-up idea - with all the toys and imagine there is no down-side and that with money all our problems go away and we are magically happy. (Does Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton look happy?) That is a dream, but that isn't our goal, which is closer to paying the bills, going on vacation, spending time with family & friends, enjoying the journey of life. That is the opposite of the millionaire dream life. Happy requires purpose and meaningful work. The problem there is meaningfulwork, Creative work, takes up time, effort and risk. OOPS!

Hugh writes, "The thing that turns a job into passion, that turns work into play, is a sense of mission."

It's like the current push to be an entrepreneur. It is everywhere, but most people do not have the skills or drive to do it. Startups fail for a variety of reasons. We have glamorized the failures - Pets.com, Friendster, Boo.com, Webvan and more. But all anyone talks about is raising money, not building a viable business - or building a company to last.

We have forgotten to focus on the goals. And to enjoy the journey as well.

Managing more sales is part time management and part reflection.