Stop Hustling!

The “hustle” mentality is a joke.

And so is the “I’ll sleep when I’m dead” way of life.

I know that from a distance I may seem like a bit of a workaholic, but I put in fewer work hours in a calendar month than the average full-time employee does.

But it wasn’t always like that. In fact, this is quite a recent development. A few months ago I implemented a new work schedule and although I work less, I actually get more done.

Here’s why.

Firstly, when you limit your work-time, you force yourself to focus on the important things. There’s no time to check your email every 10 minutes.

Limiting your work-time also forces you to think up ways to do things more effectively and to create the ‘minimal viable result’. There’s no time for perfection. Good enough is good enough.

This falls under Parkinson's Law, which states that work expands to fill the time available for its completion.

When you only have an hour to do something you would normally take a day to complete you can come up with some pretty good ways to speed up the process. Using A.I., freelancers, and automation tools are my initial go-tos.

Completely disregarding tasks is another thing I find myself doing more and more. When it comes to the crunch, many things are just busy-work, which can be completely ignored without consequence.

Planning is also important. A lot of people think they don’t have time to plan things, but as many planners know, you don’t have time not to plan.

Planning allows you to think through the most efficient and effective ways to do things. It also prevents mistakes which saves time in the long run. Another advantage of planning is that it prevents overwhelm. Breaking down big tasks into many smaller ones makes it easier to take action.

It’s important to ‘turn-off’ at the end of a day, especially when you control your own work hours. As is taking regular breaks. Often, while taking a break, I will think of more effective ways to do things.

How often you take breaks depends on you. I know that my brain fatigues after about 40 minutes of deep work, so I generally take a break every hour. For you, it may be anywhere from 20 minutes to 90 minutes.

Previously, I would work 6 days a week from morning until dinner, and then an hour or so after.

With my new timetable, I aim to get all my priority tasks done before noon, take a long lunch with a nap, and if I feel like it, work a couple more hours in the afternoon until 4pm. 4pm is my ‘turn-off’ time. 5pm at the latest.

Many people will take the ‘productivity hacks’ and extend the work time. I prefer to use the extra time for leisure activities.

Of course, I am content with mediocrity. Overachievers may want to take a different approach to time management.

Oh, and one more thing that is very important for productivity. Take care of yourself. Eat well, exercise daily, and get enough sleep.