"What is the difference between working hard...and working SMART in SFI? How do I make sure I'm in the second group?"
Working long hours has been shown to make you no more productive than working 8-hour per day in the long-term. So how do you become more productive when working longer hours won’t do the trick? By working smarter, not harder. Do this by stepping back from your work, spending more time on planning (not just executing), scheduling less time for things, guarding and nurturing your energy levels at all times, being more honest with yourself, and by reminding yourself of what’s most important.
On the surface, it would appear that there are two answers to this problem:
1. Continue working 8 hours a day, and fall behind.
2. Work more than 8 hours every day, and try to catch up to become more productive.
But in practice, the choice isn’t this simple. Even though working longer hours would appear on the surface to make you more productive, I think it is the exact wrong approach to take–not because you’ll have less time to relax and recharge, even though you will–but because this approach has been proven time and time again to make you much less productive in the long-run.
I consider myself a productive person, but aside from being a total slob for a day, I don’t recall being as unproductive as when I worked 16-hour a day for the entire week.
1.] Working longer hours will make you more productive, but only in the short-run:
There are huge productivity benefits to be gained by investing more time into your work, but only in the short-run.
In the long-run, working long hours pushes you to procrastinate more, work less efficiently, and causes you to get less done, usually without you realizing it. In fact, after 8 hours, research has shown that your marginal productivity begins to drop, until “at approximately eight 12-hour days, the total work done is the same as what would have been done in eight 8-hour days”. And with 15 and 16-hour days, you reach the break-even point in just three days.
When I was working 16-hour per days, I got a lot done, but only during the first few days of the week; after that I didn’t have the time or mental space to recharge, so my productivity practically fell off a cliff.
It’s easy to fool yourself into thinking working longer hours will make you more productive; after all, for a while it does. But I personally believe, very strongly, that there are fundamental limits to how much work you can get done, and that past a certain point most of your productivity gains come from working smarter–not harder.
Most studies seem to conclude that the magical amount of hours you should work a week is around 8 hours per day. I would tend to agree.
2.] Just because you’re busy, doesn’t mean you’re productive:
There is a big difference between being busy and being productive, though sometimes it’s difficult to distinguish between the two.
In my view, productivity has absolutely nothing to do with how much you do; it has everything to do with how much you accomplish. After all, you can do a lot over the course of a day without actually accomplishing anything. For example, if you work 12-hour per day, but you mindlessly chat with SFI affiliates, check your SFI emails and messages all day long, and work on low-leverage tasks most of the day, you’re going to be a lot less productive than someone who works half that time, even though you do more actual work than they do.
Productivity isn’t about how much you get done over a day–it’s about how much you accomplish.
One of my favorite ways to stay focused over the course of a day is to define the three outcomes I want to get out of the day each morning. These three outcomes are what I channel my time and energy into over the day.
3.] Just because you feel productive, doesn’t mean you’re productive:
Just because you feel productive, doesn’t mean you’re actually productive. In fact, I can think of several where the opposite is the case:
? When you multitask, you feel more productive than when you unitask, even though studies have shown time and time again that you’re not.
? When you drink caffeine, you feel more productive because your mind is more stimulated, but your body adapts to how much caffeine you consume, and caffeine can make you less productive with creative tasks.
? You feel more productive when you check your SFI emails and messages 10 times an hour instead of writing a report, because you receive more feedback from what you’re working on. But you’re probably not paid commission to check your SFI emails and SFI messages; you’re paid commission to produce and achieve specific outcomes for SFI and Tripleclicks.
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The same is true for when you consistently work long hours. I think working longer hours makes you feel more productive, and a lot less guilty about the mountain of work you have to accomplish.
But working extra hours may only feel that way, especially when you’re not investing your time and energy into the smartest, highest-leverage tasks.
4.] Schedule time where you completely separate from your work:
I think scheduling time where you completely disconnect from your work allows you the time and space to question the value of what you’re working on, so you can work smarter, and not just harder.
As a simplified example, if you work as an accountant, you could be busy sharpening pencils all day (or checking your email–a close digital equivalent), or you could decide to work smarter by stepping back from your work, reflecting on what the highest-leverage activities in your work are, and then working on those instead.
Completely separating from your work makes you more creative, focused, and energized, because it allows you to see your work from an elevated, 10,000 foot perspective. That lets you see what you should be doing differently, and get more done in less time, because you’ll be working smarter, not just harder. You may feel less productive doing so, but like with unitasking and not doing busy work, you’ll get a lot more accomplished.
When I forced myself to work 16-hour per day, I constantly found myself working on low-leverage, nonsense activities that didn’t lead to meaningful results at the end of the day–something I only discovered when I stepped back from my work the week after.
A challenge for you: Open up your calendar right now and schedule two one-hour breaks tomorrow where you’ll complexly separate from your work. You’ll thank yourself later on.
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