A little known truth about productivity

Some truths in life are strangely counter-intuitive. You know, when doing the opposite of what is ‘conventionally’ accepted actually gets you the result you’re looking for.

There’s this thing about productivity. Now of course if you work hard, you’ll get lots done. But there comes a point of diminishing returns – which simply means, at a certain point, each additional hour of work you put in, gets you less and less results than the hours you put in earlier.

Do you really want to waste valuable hours, working when you’re not being very effective?

This principle kicks in at about 40 to 50 hours of work a week – but I’m guessing it differs somewhat for each individual. And it’s also dependent on what that person does in the non-working hours of their life – and what they’re thinking about during those non-working hours.

We were not built to work non-stop every waking hour that we have available to us. Our bodies (and minds) are not equipped to handle this well. Done for short seasons is okay, but over a sustained period of time, our bodies and minds will start to say, ‘Enough! I need time out!’. And we actually become very ineffective during those hours we’re working beyond when we should be.

Do you want to feel creative again? Excited again? It may just be that all you need is a day to yourself, doing things you love to do. If you’re finding you’re stale, lacking original ideas and lacking motivation, you possibly need some good old ‘R&R’! Get some rest, go have some fun!

And when you come back to your work, find out your optimal ‘working hours’ and stick to them.

Notice when you start losing concentration, becoming slower and just going through the motions – and take regular breaks instead of working when you’re not achieving much, given the hours you’re putting in.

I give you permission today – go play! 🙂