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Why Hard Work Doesn’t Necessarily Pay Off
You are facing a major deadline. The best way to perform at your best is to:
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Buckle down and focus on the job until it’s done.
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Make sure you keep up with the social chats around the water cooler.
Studies have shown that by far, the best alternative is…the second one. Surprised? Most people are. But it makes sense, when you look at how our bodies and brains are designed.
We work best when we alternate between periods of activity and periods of rest. Athletes know this. They know that training non stop will backfire on their performance. Yet somehow, we think that we are built differently for our “thinking” activities than our physical ones.
One of the studies’ findings was that we cause more mistakes and wasted time by working for long and continuous time periods. When we work for longer than 30 minutes on a task, it takes us 5 times longer to solve the problem.
So by taking well-timed breaks, we not only improve the quality of our work, we end up saving time and feeling less frenzied. What do we mean by well-timed? If possible, a 10 minute walkabout every 90 minutes or so, and a minute pause for every 30 minutes of concentrated work.
I’m not suggesting promoting employees who goof around. What I am saying is that what contributes to productivity isn’t the time spent on work, but the energy invested it in. And human beings have more and better quality energy when they take the right kinds of breaks.
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