The Dose-Response Theory
Hard work is necessary in order to be productive, but there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.
At some point, you start to be negatively productive.
MORE IDEAS FROM THE ARTICLE
We do it because it's the most visible form of productivity.
It is a way to prove to others that you are doing stuff and checking things off the list.
It means scheduling your time according to your natural rhythms:
- Do your most important work at the beginning of the day if you are a morning person.
- Don't feel bad about sleeping in because you stayed up late at night to work if you are a night owl.
Acquire new skills that will help you get more things done in less time.
- Consume information and learn about other people from your field, about their mistakes and methods.
- Apply what you learn.
- Find an Accountability Buddy
- Create a morning ritual for the first hour of your morning
- Use the Pomodoro Technique to break your work into chunks
- Make a “Not-To-Do List” with the things that waste your time
- Use freelancing platform to outsource tasks
- Batching similar tasks into one chunk.
- Practice systems like David Allen’s Getting Things Done for task management.
One reason we work too hard is that we are using that hard work to make up for a lack of courage.
Example: Instead of firing the team member who is dragging down the project, we work harder to make up for them. Firing them takes courage.
- Courage is in choosing to work less because we are confident in our own productivity time, even if that means having a 5-hour workday.
- It is having a difficult conversation with someone at work.
RELATED IDEAS
Systems are the best way to progress since they reward effort and we control all the variables. However, we need to have a sense of direction in those efforts, to know what we are trying to accomplish.
Writing daily with no objective is just practice. If you want to achieve something, you need to commit to a certain output, like publishing a post on your blog weekly. At the end of the day, a system is a way to control how to achieve an output.
You have over-committed and have no time left. Even if you have time, you sometimes don't see the point in spending time on those tasks.
Typical behaviours:
- You're multitasking.
- You get about 70% done off your endless to-do list, but don't see results.
- You want to spend time will all your favourite projects.
Solution: If a task is irrelevant, stop the task. Use only the best-performing ways to achieve your objectives. Prioritize your goals and work on one at a time. Also, know that you can make progress at a slower pace.
The best work happens in short intensive deep work spurts (1–3 hours, no distractions).
Your best thinking will actually happen while you’re away from your work, “recovering.” By taking your mind off work and actually recovering, you’ll get creative breakthroughs related to your work.