How Working More Made Me Less Productive
The Starting Trouble:
I started writing this on the 22nd of September. This sentence is being typed on the 8th of October. And only God knows when the next paragraph will be written, but that’s exactly what the entire world had to go through the past one and a half years: Procrastinating on the things that they care about because of being overworked.
In the past two weeks, I’ve written so many tests, lab exams, series exams, MCQs and attended three webinars and am rushing to finish a Coursera course.
But really, my life? I haven’t even noticed a single day pass by. It’s all been the same, with an impending sense of doom that the exams are closing in on me.
It’s October 11th, and wow, life has only gotten busier.
And this is exactly why a work-life balance is so important.
The Actual Starting:
The physical and psychological problems of people dealing with burnout cost 125 billion dollars in total for US-based companies according to research by Harvard.
Wow, that’s expensive and weird.
So companies actually make profit, when their employees work less?
Yes, because productivity shoots through the roof and you get a happier man/woman.
Too much time at the workplace leads to burnout and chronic unproductivity wrapped in gold that makes it seem like it’s hugely worthwhile.
But, a balanced routine leads to more productivity and hence more profit.
And let’s not forget the effect that a little bit of me-time has on your mental health and stability as well.
Chronic stress is also something that a proper work-life balance helps to avoid. If you want to keep away from mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, and insomnia, as well as physical health issues including chronic aches and pains, heart troubles, and hypertension just make sure that you keep away from overworking yourself. It’s that simple.
This is actually something quite interesting. The great study expert Cal Newport, someone who has done his PhD from MIT used to finish off all his daily tasks by 5 PM. And after that, he used to spend time on his hobbies and leisurely.
Like, wow. That’s amazing when you think about it. People slog 16 hours every day trying to study, and here comes a revolutionary who finished everything by 5 PM.
The passive and the active:
The thing here is, Newport classifies our working brain into two states: the passive and the active. It is when we are in the active mode that we try to make connections between the neurons in our brain “actively”. Us studying, doing homework etc can all be classified under it.
However, it is when we are in the passive state of things that we go “aha!” while working on seemingly unrelated tasks. I’ll give you an example: I regularly get ideas on what to write when studying or when in lectures (The time when my writing brain is resting). And I struggle to come up with ideas when I’m actively in search of it.
A mind alternating between the passive and the active modes always has a greater tendency to go into the “flow” state. And this flow state quadruples our productivity and ensures that the work we are doing is first-rate.
In his book, Deep Work, Newport repeatedly states that 4 deep hours of focused work is all it takes to have a fulfilling professional life- as long as it is void of all sorts of distraction and we are completely focused on just the tasks in front of us.
Diluting our attention span means that, we will have to spend greater time working, reduce our resting time and most importantly: slog great hours to produce mediocre work.
So alternating between the passive and active, while focused on whatever is happening right now is the perfect way to ensure that you have a proper work-life balance. As Eckhart Tolle said, “The Power of Now can never be underestimated.”
Conclusion:
And all these add up to a single thing: don’t overwork yourself. Keep calm, make sure you alternate between different activities and try to spread all the positivity in your life. Believe me, the rush of dopamine to your brain when you do something you love, is quite really something else.
And it is only because of this productivity that I can keep my head down and grind at other things I wouldn’t care about otherwise.
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