A Harvard study recently came out, saying that regular, predictable time off increases productivity. Sue Shellenbarger of the Wall Street Journal writes:
“It was 4 p.m. on a recent Friday—a time of the week when I usually relax and leave the rest of my to-do list to finish over the weekend. But as this recent weekend approached, I kept pushing myself, heart pumping, to get to the bottom of my list of planned tasks for the week.
After years of working on and off throughout most weekends, I was trying a new approach by taking off at least one entire day every weekend this month, away from reporting, writing and all other work. Early on, I hated it. As simple as it seemed, sticking to a time-off plan stressed me out at first. What I didn’t see right away was that my little test was forcing me to improve the way I work.
Amid layoffs and burgeoning workloads, it seems, working any time, all the time, has become a habit. A survey of 605 U.S. workers last spring by the Society for Human Resource Management found that 70% of employees work beyond scheduled time and on weekends; more than half blame ’self-imposed pressure.’ Now, new research suggests some have reached the point where a paradoxical truth applies: To get more done, we need to stop working so much.“
From the WSJ, via Lifehacker.
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The Buzz...
September 26, 2009 at 11:32 am
Did Harvard accidentally validate a statement in God’s Word?
Wow…I’ll be they are shocked!
September 28, 2009 at 5:27 pm
It’s good to remember…looking forward to Friday already!