Everything from books to podcasts and blogs to YouTube videos will tell you about all the “hacks” for squeezing more into your day. In our modern culture we are busier than ever before with days jam-packed with work from the time we wake to the time our head hits the pillow. We schedule everything from meetings and appointments to exercise and meal planning. We have been told that to be more productive you have to work more, but what if I told you that the secret to getting more done might actually be to do less?
Slowing down and filling my days with less has been my greatest productivity hack yet. I get it. This is a hard concept to first understand and even harder to put into practice The idea that more work is always better is so deeply ingrained in our culture that we glorify it with a sense of pride.
We brag about how many hours we worked this week or how little sleep we got. If you actually stop to think about it, is this really something to be proud of? When we think of an ideal life, do we really want it to be filled with soul-crushing amounts of work? I believe most people would actually prefer a balance of leisure, rest, and time spent with people they love. If so, doesn’t it seem backwards to glorify working all the time? Shouldn’t we be striving after and celebrating working less?
More Work ≠ More Productivity
Ever find yourself sitting down to do a task and feeling a terrible since of dread and a desire to procrastinate on it? This feeling was something I experienced for the majority of my academic career. I had been told that in order to get good grades that would get me into a “good” college and ultimately a “good” career, I had to work really hard. I embraced this ideology since it was the only one I was being told. While there is some truth in this, working hard doesn’t have to mean working more.
In fact, when we feel or tell ourselves that we have to be working all the time, our brains and bodies are getting a signal that it has to continually be in a state of hypervigilancy. Continuous energy output works well for machines but not so well for humans. Humans need and actually thrive on alternating periods of rest and work. We need to stop treating ourselves like machines and start leaning into what our human body and mind are telling us.
A quick look around you will confirm that we are more tired, overworked, stressed out, and chronically sick than ever before. Our bodies are often times literally screaming at us to slow down, and yet we keep pushing on. At the same time, we spend less time on rest and leisure than ever before. Correlation is not causation, but I believe if you were to ask people, most would say they wish they had more time to relax.
The counter-argument to this theory is to list all the tasks that you can get done by working more hours. My question to that would be: are all those tasks truly beneficial and productive in moving your forward toward your ultimate goal or are they just filling the time? This is especially true if you are in knowledge work rather than a physical laborer which a growing amount of people in developed nations are.
For example, you can send 10 emails back and forth with someone about project. Let’s say each of those emails took you 3-5 minutes to write. That’s 30-50 minutes spent emailing. In many cases, this same conversation could have been had in half the time or less with quick phone call or by stopping by someone’s office.
I know the email lovers out there will argue that email is quicker and more efficient and allows you to respond according to your schedule but this simply isn’t true most of the time. When we can’t hear the subtle cues produced by the tone of people’s voices, we often misinterpret what they are trying to say which leads to more time and more emails to clarify.
Benefits of Unhurried Productivity
Slowing down in order to increase productivity sounds backwards, but I myself have experienced so many benefits since implementing strategies to work less but better.
- Work Less But Better: I used to give myself several hours to write a blog post. Let’s say I allotted 4 hours to writing. Often times it would take me that long if not longer because I would get distracted by another tab that was open or a text that came through that led me to a rabbit hole on my phone. However, once I started allotting smaller amounts of time to work each day, I found I can write a whole post in 1-2 hours. By shutting out all distractions, I am write more efficiently and effectively because my brain isn’t constantly jumping from one thing to the next.
- Focus On What’s Most Important: By giving myself time for breaks, rest, and leisure; my brain is no longer in a constant state of work which allows me some margin consider what strategies are working well and which ones are not leading me towards my goal. I have found that I’m able to let go of doing a lot of tasks that simply are not necessary or beneficial for continued progress on a project.
- Energized Work: Working less means I am able to have more time to do things I enjoy. After a period of rest or leisure, I feel ready and (gasp) even excited about returning to work. Slowing down creates a pleasant cycle of work and rest.
- Healthier and More Balanced Life: Slowing down my work has improved my stress level as I no longer feel in a constant state of fight or flight about work. I know there is a portion of my day dedicated to it and then I get to move on to other responsibilities and hobbies. I also have more time to prepare and enjoy healthy meals and exercise.
- Increased Enjoyment of Work: Best of all, I have found that I enjoy my work more. It no longer feels like a drain but instead something that is life-giving.
If you’re looking for more strategies for working less but better as well as success stories, I highly recommend checking out two books by Cal Newport: Deep Work and Slow Productivity.
How To Take A Break
It seems ridiculous to suggest to people how to relax, but I believe in the smartphone era that we have forgotten how to do it. Cell phones have been engineered to be addictive and they are succeeding. I’m not saying they don’t have benefits, but in terms of achieving true rest, they perform poorly.
The addictive nature of the cell phone keeps our brains engaged, preventing them actually resting when we believe we are “taking a break”. Instead, we are merely just shifting our attention from one thing to another.
What needs to be done is to free the brain of stimuli. In other words, let your thoughts wander. Go for a quick walk around the building and don’t take you phone. Eat lunch without working on a task or staring at your phone. If you’re able to leave the building for lunch, even better.
By stepping away from the constant stimuli, you will have time to reflect on the events of the day. It will give you the freedom to process what went well or what could be improved. If you’re always charging ahead to the next task, you have missed out on the opportunity set yourself up to work more effectively in the future.
Rest vs Leisure
For the most part, I have used the terms “rest” and “leisure” interchangeably up to this point. However, I think some distinction between the two can be helpful since both can help facilitate a slower pace of work.
“Rest” is the breaks we take between work activities. This could include a mid-morning break to take a walk or a lunch break. These are important because they allow us to reflect on what we have been doing or prepare for what we might do next. They are a bit of a mini-reset to recharge and refocus our attentions.
“Leisure”, on the other hand, is time where no work occurs. This looks like coming home from work and refraining from checking email or work text messages. It also occurs during weekends and vacations. Leisure is vitally important for bringing the life back to your work. Unfortunately, we often answer emails on evenings, weekend, and vacations because we feel the need to respond quickly. However, if you start respecting your time; often times others will do the same. If you say you’re not available during certain times but work well and effectively when you are working, you will still be a good employee. Perhaps even a better one.
Where To Start?
There is no one “right” way to incorporate a slower working pace into you life. A schedule that works well for one person during one season of life will likely be all wrong for someone else. The best way to get started is to begin to create some margin in your days such as a daily walk or eating lunch in silence to allow yourself to begin to consider where you might be able to introduce a slower pace into your life. It has been transformative in the way I approach my days. I am certain it will bring forth fruit in your life as well.
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