FXP @ Tazz One

Economic turmoil, fear of losing employment, putting in the extra hours everyday to ensure that you are successful may be doing you more harm than good.

May be? It most definitely is!

Most companies and the people involved have fallen into the trap of believing that more time spent on business means getting more done with better results and quicker.

I am going to bust this bubble for you.

Over the course of the last century, there has been numerous studies done on the productiveness of people to try to ascertain how people perform best and when they are at their most productive.

Would it astonish anyone to know that most, if not all of these studies concluded pretty much the same thing?

Human beings ability to be productive and at their best starts to deteriorate quickly after between 30 and 40 hours of work a week!

Think you are being double as productive by working 60 or 80 hours a week? Think again.

What you will most likely be doing is creating issues that will need to be addressed further on down the track, making you work longer hours. It is a never ending cycle.

The human brain as well as the body, needs some down time so that it can recover. Most of the solutions to problems, be they work or life ones, will need time for the brain to be able to analyze the issue and then come up with an appropriate solution.

This should be nothing new to anyone out there. How many times in your life have you forgotten something, a name, a place etc, only to have the answer come to you much later on when you were no longer thinking about it? It has happened to me millions of times.

Just because the problem is no longer foremost in your mind does not mean that your brain will stop trying to find the answer or solution. The subconscious will continue to nibble away at the issue until it has a solution!

So knowing what we know about how our brains work the following can be clearly stated:

• Working longer hours makes us less productive
• Taking time out will actually help us in finding solutions
• Working longer hours will eventually burn people out and make them ill (or dead!)

Taking all the above evidence into consideration would then logically, at least in my mind mean that we need to implement and modify our behaviors to maximise our potential.

We all should be:

• Prioritising
• Plan out how best to use those productive times
• Ensure you take time out to rejuvenate both your brain and body
• Put the extra time to good use by reading books or doing some other type of hobby

Take this advice or leave it. It is not intended to be cast in stone but rather something that I myself learned the hard way.

Working harder and longer did not make me more productive or help me achieve those goals that were constantly eluding me.

It wasn't until I began to work smarter that I realised those goals.

At the end of the day, it's all about quality of life.
Make sure yours is exactly what you want!