Theres a common misconception that everything in life comes down to time.
Every day I find myself slipping into these same statements:If only I had more time.
I just need a few extra minutes.
A couple hours of work.Yet it feels like were all working longer hours without getting more done.
This post originally appeared on theCrew blog.
We believe that everything we want can be achieved if only we hadmore time.
We mistakenly believe that our issues are ones of quantity.
Yet Americans alreadywork some of the longest hours in the Western World.
So is more time really the answer?
Were taught that what matters is putting in the time, not necessarily finishing the work.
Yet more and more, were moving away from this standard practice.
The 8-hour day has been edged out.
But is this really the release from structure that we hoped it would be?
Yet, research shows thatthose with the freedom to work less, end up working significantly more.
Thats 17 extra working hours a week, just from the freedom to choose your own hours.
Even worse, those extra hours dont lead to quality, productive work.
Not only that, but the returns diminish more rapidly for longer working times.
Which means more hours spent working the next day to catch up and fix the mistakes weve made.
Which means more hours worked in total.
Which means even lower productivity.
And on and on and on.
So why do we do it?
Or a sense of responsibility.
This law was coined by Cyril Northcote Parkinson as part of a humorous essay inThe Economist.
The more time we give a task, the more time we spend on it.
And, the more time we spend on a task, the worse of a job we do.
Spendingmoretime only kills motivation and weakens the work were doing.
So if we work less, well be happier and more productive?
I just didnt have enough time to make it all work.
Working less opens up more time for socializing are doing things that help with our personal well-being.
Sounds perfect, doesnt it?
Spend less time working and have more time for leisure and visiting with the ones we love.
Yet it doesnt quite work that way.
Were happiest on the weekends, and are the least happy on MondayThursday.
What was surprising was that the study also found this same pattern in unemployed people.
Even those without the requirement to be somewhere during the week were less happy during the work week.
You simply cant get more weekend just by taking an extra day off yourself.
So what choice do we have?
The goal is to focus on efficiency, rather than output.
I deserve it to be a success.
The modern workplace adage is that its not about the hours, its about the work.
Yet for many remote workers or those working non-standard hours, this means completion no matter the cost.
But to celebrate spending X amount of hours on a task vs. 10X that time is ridiculous.
Productivity isnt just about what you get done.
Its how efficient you are at getting those tasks completed.
Instinctively, we cling to tasks that keep us busy (and thus, important).
We feel good with a full schedule and a get-out-of-jail-free card for all of our lives responsibilities.
So vanity, again, is a reason we lose productivity.
The need to appear busy and important.
Yet working towards becoming more efficient is something that is incredibly hard to track.
Not the busy tasks.
Time spent working isa vanity metric.
And time to ourselves without connecting to friends and family is almost meaningless.
The problem of quantity is one we cant change.
There just is no way to get more time in your day.
So its a matter of quality.
Choosing how much time to spend working and deciding whats the best way to spend that time.
When we choose, we stop thinking of time as the only measurement to our day.
Each one can be used as filter to decide whether youre working efficiently or not.
When the work were doing has value to us, were more motivated to continue working.
Meetings can be pushed, flow cant be easily replicated.
So are the ants.
The question is: What are we busy about?
Dont sit at your desk just to be there and pat yourself on the back.
Focus on completing your days work and feeling good about it.
The only way we can change how we work is by changing our mindset abouthowwe work.
Butthat quick question or short conversation could be the difference between spending an hour or 5 minuteson a task.
Use the knowledge of the people around you so when you do work, you work efficiently.
You dont need more time.
You need better time.
AsSeth Godinso aptly puts it: You dont need more time… you just need to decide.
Time is almost always an issue of quality, not quantity.
So decide on what matters, and then get it done.
