One of the most valuable raw material of personal performance and productivity is contained in our mental energy. The mind is one of the biggest contributors to energy levels. The benefits of having high levels of mental energy include happiness, confidence, focus, and increased willpower, motivation, and productivity.
Overworking can mean underproducing
The fact is that your productivity begins to decline after eight or nine hours of work. The more tired you become, the worse the quality of work will be and the more mistakes you will make.
Work at your pace
There are specific times during the day when you are at your best. You need to identify these times and discipline yourself to use them on your most important and challenging tasks.
Whenever your feel overtired and overwhelmed with too much to do and too little time, stop yourself and just say, "All I can do is all I can do".
I used to stay up nights to finish the load of work awaiting me. I used to work all week, even on weekends. But there is something that I noticed about this: the more time I dedicate to working, the more and more time I need to work! It is kind of a vicious cycle. As I was mentally overtired, most of the time I spent working did not help me complete much since I was in low levels of energy. Thus I needed to burn the midnight oil and work all day long to achieve my work.
"A change is as good as a rest !"
Here's a rule for you that abolutely changed my productivity over the course of the past couple of months: Take one full day off every week. During this day, either Saturday or Sunday, absolutely refuse to read, clear correspondence, catch up on things from the office, or do anything else that taxes your brain. Instead go to a movie, exercise, spend time with your family or friends, go for a walk, or participate in an activity that allows your brain to completely recharge itself.
You are always the most productive after a resful weekend or a vacation. Notice it is not surprisingly that is always the case after good summer holdiays!
This article is inspired from the book 'Eat That Frog', by Brian Tracy
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