It is believed that working hard is good in itself. People brag about how hard they work their way through the days, even though they know they look very tired. It seems that working hard is really good, it leads us to results. But the laws of productivity say otherwise. What matters is not how much we work, but how and why we do it.
Working a lot is not enough
Any worthwhile goal, of course, requires diligence. Something can take days, weeks or even years. The book Outliers suggests that to become an expert, you need to spend approximately 10,000 hours doing something. That's about three hours a day, for ten years straight.
You may feel that the harder you work, the more you will achieve. This is, of course, logical, but it is not true.
You can work a lot: answer all the emails and calls, complete all the tasks on your list, and even help your colleagues in the process. But by working this way, you will never take on, say, a new project. And, of course, you will not be able to develop new skills or make new personal achievements. And if so, then you will not see any advancement, except for an imaginary advancement in your career.
If you are a student, you may spend all night reading books and still not understand anything. If you're starting a business, you can spend hours customizing the look of your website and still not attract a single customer.
Do you see? It's not how hard or how long you work that matters. What matters is what you work on.
Working a lot is a bad habit
Working too much is really dangerous to your health. Firstly, you get daily stress, secondly, heart problems and finally, increased sensitivity to infections, as well as chronic fatigue.
We live in a world where we are constantly reminded that we can do more. To feel successful, we strive for career advancement and a big salary. This is, of course, normal. But will we reap the fruits of our work if it spoils our health?
Working a lot and for a long time is not always good. It's really time for you to quit if:
Constant delays at work create problems in the family
You are quick-tempered and argue with colleagues
You make mistakes because you're too tired
You lose perspective, work replaces your personal life
Live for today
You may love your job, but work is not your whole life. You need to discover the values of the world around you. And don't forget about rest and relaxation.
If you work your ass off now in order to live well in the future, this is, excuse me, stupid. If you are working to get something, try to understand how much you really need it. If you work because you are tormented by a sense of duty, then remember that this is your life and you decide how to live it.
One way or another, the advice is simple: live now, for today. Understand what you are working on, how and why you are doing it. This is much better than working hard and wearing yourself out in vain.
What do you think about this?
If in your work you have to do many things at the same time, keep everything under control and constantly be in touch, then no one but you understands how important it is to remain in excellent psychological and physical shape amid this chaos. After all, you can't afford it! Sometimes the need for a break is obvious, but most of the time we realize it too late.
When you work more hours than expected, as well as on legal days off, the feeling of being overworked becomes the norm. But eventually you run out of steam. When this happens, it can take days or even weeks to regain your previous enthusiasm for work, as well as the return of lost creativity and motivation.
Just as athletes use certain techniques to identify the need for rest to improve their performance, you can determine when you need to recharge your batteries.
Professional athletes take care not to overexert themselves during training. Too much load leads to disastrous results: endurance, power and speed decrease. Sometimes the more an athlete works, the less results he gets.
The same thing happens when we work too much. We try to work through it, but in the end we get less done. So, how can you distinguish between the states when you simply work a lot and when you really exhaust yourself with work?
In order to withstand the pressure of a large work flow and not become exhausted, we recommend that you evaluate the 4 techniques presented below. They will allow you to always stay in great professional shape!
Check your resting heart rate (HR)
Every day, before getting out of bed, measure your pulse (heart rate). Fortunately, in our incredibly technological age, this can be done using various applications, both for and for. Most of them are paid, but there are also free and even Russified ones. Most of the time, the heart rate remains the same, give or take a few beats per minute. But when you're overworked and stressed, your body sends signals to your brain that it needs more oxygen. As a result, the heart rate increases.
If your heart rate is elevated in the morning, then you simply need additional rest and, at a minimum, good sleep. Don't put them off (especially sleep) until tomorrow or the weekend! Don't fool yourself.
Control your emotions
Not a very good day? Are you irritable and hot-tempered? If you cannot accurately name the reason for this behavior, then, most likely, this is how your body reacts to stress and fatigue. In such a situation, the brain produces more cortisol (takes part in the development of stress reactions) and less dopamine (“encourages” the brain, causes a feeling of pleasure, affects the processes of motivation and learning).
Self-encouragement to try to improve your mood cannot cope with the influence of . Therefore, in a neglected state, the best and only sure cure is a break.
Watch your weight
If you lose or gain more than one percent of your body weight from one day to the next, something is wrong. Perhaps yesterday was an incredibly busy day, and you didn’t even notice that you forgot to have lunch or a cup of tea. Or maybe you didn't even notice how much you actually knew.
If you monitor each of the 4 parameters listed above for certain periods of time, you will soon discover which parameters are normal for you. Particular attention should be paid to weekends and vacation days: if you notice serious changes, especially positive ones, this is a sure sign that you urgently need to change the order of your work.
“And don’t say that you don’t have enough time for a short break or to sleep more. You have to promise yourself and your company to find a way to do this!”
Otherwise, your mind will become exhausted, your body will become exhausted, and your body will fail. So why not take care of yourself and improve your productivity on your own terms?
It will help you spend energy economically, save it throughout the day and not lose the desire to create and enjoy life, regardless of the day of the week.
Rule #1: Wake up smiling.
Photo: pixabay.com
Create a pleasant 10-15 minute morning ritual for yourself. This could be a delicious breakfast, a walk, an invigorating shower, reading, etc.
Waking up in joyful anticipation of the upcoming, albeit small, pleasure improves your mood and inspires optimism.
Also plan your actual wake-up time 20 minutes after your alarm goes off. Use this time for meditation, trances, and gradual recovery from sleep. This approach to the morning will keep you healthy and help you painlessly switch to the coming day.
Rule No. 2: solve the most difficult issues in the first hour of work.
Photo: pixabay.com
What you don't do right away will most likely be put off again indefinitely. As a rule, inconvenient points associated with difficult negotiations that require significant energy and mental expenditures end up on the back burner.
However, just because you put them aside, they will not disappear, but will continue (on a subconscious level) to drain your strength.
Therefore, first of all, while you are still full of strength and energy, make the necessary calls, storm elusive heights.
Knowing that you have taken another step towards your big goal will motivate you, lift your spirits and give you strength for the rest of the day.
Rule #3: Take breaks.
Photo: pixabay.com
Pay attention to how often you feel sleepy, lethargic and want to “sit just like that.”
Approximately every 1-2 hours our brain needs rest. Neglecting his needs promises rapid exhaustion. You will make mistakes, become distracted and forgetful, have headaches and many other psychosomatic symptoms.
So create a reminder for yourself. Turn on a timer or alarm that will remind you every 1-2 hours to take a 10-15 minute rest break. After 4-5 hours, take a long break.
Rule #4: Rest while switching.
Photo: pixabay.com
There are three main areas:
- emotional (feelings, experiences, communication with loved ones);
- intellectual (information, training);
- physical (bodily exercises, effects on the body).
Thus, if you worked physically, then for proper rest you will need to switch to the intellectual or emotional sphere. If your activity is related to science, then you need to be distracted by physical exercise or get an emotional charge.
When you shift your attention to an area that was not involved, you allow the brain to recover and equalize balance in all directions.
Rule No. 5: unsubscribe from unnecessary mailings.
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All kinds of advertising, promotions and super-offers find their customers, abundantly settling among important letters and long-awaited messages. If control over them is lost, then when working with mail, you begin to experience no less fatigue than after weeding weeds in the garden.
To save energy and avoid wasting energy, review your mailing list. Most of them have long lost their relevance, but continue to take up time and effort. After clearing the space, you will be less tired and feel much more energetic.
Rule #6: Be careful with your time.
Photo: pixabay.com
Surely you are familiar with the feeling of fatigue after standing in a queue or traffic jam for a long time. Despite external inaction, you spend a huge amount of energy on an internal struggle with your irritation, anxiety, frustration, etc.
To maintain efficiency and a good mood during forced downtime, keep yourself busy reading, listening to useful information, or solving issues that do not require your direct presence. This will relieve stress and help you move in the intended directions.
Rule #7: Give yourself a full weekend.
Photo: pixabay.com
Before the weekend, plan to attend interesting events. It is advisable that they be completely new to you and give fresh impressions and emotions.
Allow yourself to completely escape from the hustle and bustle, get up without an alarm clock, turn off your phone, organize yourself a “day of wish fulfillment.”
This will allow you to feel the multifaceted nature of the world, protect you from internal stagnation, charge you with new energy, and in a couple of days you will return to your duties completely renewed and fresh.
So, just a few, a properly organized day and the ability to hear yourself will help you maintain high productivity, an enthusiastic attitude towards life and excitement. Don’t forget to relax, pamper yourself, dream, and you will succeed!
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3. Pocket expenses
Market relations assume that work is where you make money, not where you spend it. If at work you constantly have to make, albeit small, expenses for the needs of the company that are not reimbursed by management, then this is bad work.
- Whether it’s the necessary stationery or printer paper, business coach and career consultant Rachel Ritlop advises not to tolerate such situations with out-of-pocket expenses for company needs and refuse such jobs.
4. Guilty without guilt
You come to work in the morning, open your mail and see an angry letter saying that on Friday it was necessary to calculate the cost, relatively speaking, of a Mars rover. But the task for the rover itself did not take place either on Friday or at all. Such situations already give reason to think about the adequacy of leadership.
- If your boss begins to blame you for not completing a task that you have not yet been assigned, or even gives you strange and incomprehensible tasks, then it’s time to have a serious conversation with management.
5. Dealing with ghosts
Ghosting is a relatively new term that is usually used to refer to a partner's silent withdrawal from a relationship. The psychological harm of this phenomenon in relationships has already been studied, but at work, a colleague or boss with similar behavior of a ghost person causes considerable damage.
- If your requests are constantly ignored, and direct questions are not answered, you should call management for a serious conversation.
6. They wait three years for the promised one.
Eternal promises “just about” to be promoted, raise salaries, improve the workplace, send you for training or any other “breakfasts”, the fulfillment of which is constantly postponed... All these promises do not create good conditions for successful work. Career coach Roy Cohen says these types of leaders never follow through on their commitments, which means you won't see the rewards you deserve.
- Additional efforts can and should be made if the boss’s promise is specific and tied to an exact date. For example, a salary increase if the plan is fulfilled by 110% or a bonus for an additional project on the 31st.
7. Not for service, but for friendship
Sometimes, under the guise of friendly relations at work, free exploitation of labor flourishes. When your boss is practically your best friend or girlfriend and just a wonderful person, it’s difficult to refuse a small request: finish a task, stay late for an hour, etc. Gradually everything becomes part of the system - and now you’re working overtime for free.
- Friendships at work are great, but if they change the way you work, you might want to consider whether they are friendships.
8. We don’t do that
Just saying this phrase makes you wary. It is rare that it is not customary to work overtime or come to work early. Usually, this formulation hides the unspoken rules of the company: do not argue with the boss, do not have your own opinion, do not take vacation or sick leave for more than a certain number of days in a row.
- If a team has a set of unspoken laws that contradict the Labor Code or common sense, then you should seriously think about whether you need such a team.
9. Emotional blackmail
Too friendly relations with a manager or colleagues can lead to the appearance of phrases like “You are leaving us”, “This is a knife in the back”, “How can you.” Such methods of emotional pressure force us to abandon our plans, goals or even principles. They appear just when you defend your opinion or decision.
- Forbes experts say that employees who are willing to compromise their values are less successful than those who can be called integrity. Therefore, remaining in an environment where you cannot be yourself is not good for you personally and for your career.
- Do not forget that the employee has legal rights and their implementation is the norm, and not the good will of the authorities.
12. Constantly changing priorities
Urgent tasks instantly become non-urgent, the work day has no plan, every hour management tells you to drop everything and do something else - does this sound familiar? If you are required to do one thing right now, and 5 minutes later something else, and the result of the work should be “yesterday”, you won’t be able to do normal work in this place, only eternal stress.
- A competent manager always has a work plan for an employee, and changing priorities, especially urgent ones, is the exception, not the rule. If your boss is constantly changing priorities, then you should talk to him.
13. Sexism
Sexism in all its forms. This could range from sexual harassment at work, to vulgar jokes, hints at the intellectual inadequacy of women, or even lower salaries relative to male colleagues.
- Any manifestation of gender discrimination causes a stressful environment in the team and has a detrimental effect on women’s self-esteem. It is worth protecting yourself from such attacks with both verbal warnings and appeals to the appropriate authorities.
Work is an important part of our life, and it’s good if it brings only pleasure. Unfortunately, this is not always the case. What situations at work irritate you?
Many cultures have this belief that working hard is a good thing in itself. People brag about how hard they work, even though they know they look very tired. It seems that working hard is really good, it leads us to results. But the laws of productivity say otherwise. What matters is not how much we work, but how and why we do it.
Working hard is not enough
Any goal worth pursuing, of course, requires work. Something can take days, weeks or even years. The book Outliers suggests that to become an expert, you need to spend approximately 10,000 hours doing something. That's about three hours a day, for ten years straight.
You may feel that the harder you work, the more you will achieve. This is, of course, logical, but it is not true.
You can work a lot: answer all the emails and calls, complete all the tasks on your list, and even help your colleagues in the process. But by working this way, you will never take on, say, a new project. And, of course, you will not be able to develop new skills or make new personal achievements. And if so, then you will not see any advancement, except for an imaginary advancement in your career.
If you are a student, you may spend all night reading books and still not understand anything. If you're starting a business, you can spend hours customizing the look of your website and still not attract a single customer.
Do you see? It's not how hard or how long you work that matters. What matters is what you work on.
Working hard is a bad habit
Working too much is really dangerous to your health. Firstly, you get daily stress, secondly, heart problems and finally, increased sensitivity to infections, as well as chronic fatigue.
We live in a world where we are constantly reminded that we can do more. To feel successful, we strive for career advancement and a big salary. This is, of course, normal. But will we reap the fruits of our work if it spoils our health?
Working a lot and for a long time is not always good. It's really time for you to quit if:
Constant delays at work create problems in the family
You are quick-tempered and argue with colleagues
You make mistakes because you're too tired
You lose perspective, work replaces your personal life
Live for today
You may love your job, but work is not your whole life. You need to discover the values of the world around you. And don't forget about rest and relaxation.
If you work your ass off now in order to live well in the future, this is, excuse me, stupid. If you are working to get something, try to understand how much you really need it. If you work because you are tormented by a sense of duty, then remember that this is your life and you decide how to live it.
One way or another, the advice is simple: live now, for today. Understand what you are working on, how and why you are doing it. This is much more effective than working a lot, wearing yourself out in vain.