Such Thing as "Productivity Plateau?"

[Jes]

WARNING! The following may be a topic only Steve and the ultra-productive can address:

Assuming you take care of your body (daily sufficient nutrition, sleep, exercise, etc.), is it possible to spend all of your time on work?

For example, let's say John's body needs 8 hrs. of sleep every 24 hrs. He also needs 2 hrs. each day to eat, exercise, shower, and take care of all other necessary tasks related to physical survival. Is it possible for John's body/mind/etc. to spend ALL of his remaining 14 hrs. a day on mostly mental (but sometimes physical) work?

Or, on average, how many hours of daily, consistent work can humans endure without endangering their overall health?

[WanderingOak]

It might be possible for short periods of a week or so, sort of like a 'heroic effort' to get the job done. However, as the saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull, dull boy". Even in Boot Camp, the Navy gave me four hours off on Sunday to relax, go to services, etc. Eventually, most people will need to take a break. How long and often the break(s) should be will depend on the individuals psychological makeup. It is usually not the body that burns out through the stress of constant work, but rather the psyche. I know I'm not a machine and don't care to be worked like one. Nobody likes being 'ridden hard and put away wet'. Needing a break every now and then is not a sign of weakness, but rather just a part of being human.

[Brutha]

You mistake productivity for spending time at work.
Their are people in third world country who work 14 hours a day at a factory doing a mindless task, but they still produce only a few dollars worth of stuff a day.

[Jes]

Originally Posted by WanderingOak

It might be possible for short periods of a week or so, sort of like a 'heroic effort' to get the job done. However, as the saying goes, "All work and no play makes Jack a dull, dull boy". Even in Boot Camp, the Navy gave me four hours off on Sunday to relax, go to services, etc. Eventually, most people will need to take a break. How long and often the break(s) should be will depend on the individuals psychological makeup. It is usually not the body that burns out through the stress of constant work, but rather the psyche. I know I'm not a machine and don't care to be worked like one. Nobody likes being 'ridden hard and put away wet'. Needing a break every now and then is not a sign of weakness, but rather just a part of being human.

Good answer. I couldn't agree more. What would you say is a comfortable number of daily work hours for you, then? <--- EVERYONE ELSE, FEEL FREE TO ANSWER THAT ONE, TOO!

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Jes

Or, on average, how many hours of daily, consistent work can humans endure without endangering their overall health?

I honestly don't think that you can find a satisfactory answer to that question because each individual is different and not subject to the same rules...

However, this I can tell you without the shadow of a doubt... if you can turn your "work" into "play" and do it with a passion... you'll be able to do a hell of a lot more... be more productive and achieve more...

Donal Trump has not taken more than a three days vacation in the past twenty or so years and he "plays" really hard for very long hours without being affected or torn down... It's all on how you view what you do...

.

[Jes]

Originally Posted by Brutha

You mistake productivity for spending time at work.
Their are people in third world country who work 14 hours a day at a factory doing a mindless task, but they still produce only a few dollars worth of stuff a day.

Well, I didn't really mean it like that. I mean productive work. Not necessarily hard work, but work that moves you toward your goals.

[Jes]

Originally Posted by Shamou

I honestly don't think that you can find a satisfactory answer to that question because each individual is different and not subject to the same rules...
.

Darnit! I'm always asking the unanswerable questions here! Haha.

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Jes

Darnit! I'm always asking the unanswerable questions here! Haha.

Still... by asking you get closer to the truth...

.

[WanderingOak]

Originally Posted by Jes

Good answer. I couldn't agree more. What would you say is a comfortable number of daily work hours for you, then?

Right now, if you count my 'day job', I am putting in close to 12 hours a day including my commute. Personally, I think that is too much. My morning/evening routines usually involve some form of relaxation, even if it is non-productive fiddling about on the computer (like right now). If I were working at something I enjoyed, 12 hours might not be overmuch, it all depends on what I would be doing. Lately, my weekends/holidays have been 'working parties' where I put in 8 hours/day working on my house, before I need to stop/eat/etc. Once I stop, it's hard for me to get going again, so I usually just sit back and relax afterwards. Then again, this is after my workaday routine. When I was in the Military, the general theme was 'move like you have a purpose', and I was expected to be 'on duty' 24 hours a day. I don't do that anymore...

[Jes]

Well, the main reason I'm asking this is I feel like I'm not spending enough time working. Some days will be really productive for me, and I'll try to push myself, but I can't really get all that far before I just crash. I'm trying to build my self-discipline by following Steve's series, but part of me is starting to think that either I'm just not physically/mentally/whatever capable of working long hours, or that maybe I have a physical problem or disorder, or that maybe I've kind of lost my self-discipline altogether since I left the 9-5 world. I mean, showing up to the office every day and being there 'til closing isn't hard for me. At my old job, I would regularly log 60 hours a week. But I wasn't doing work every one of those hours. Now when I work, I WORK. And so I'm trying to find a way to figure out how much daily, consistent work I can handle. I want to kind of get a routine going, and it's hard to do when I just don't know what I can handle, or how to measure what I can handle. Ugh.

[Max Power]

Originally Posted by Jes

Or, on average, how many hours of daily, consistent work can humans endure without endangering their overall health?

For me I find more than 4 hours per day of solid work is too draining. My partner works 8 hours a day and loves it, but I can see the physical drain.

Marcus from plenyoffish.com makes $5M a year and claims to work 2 days week. Of course it's differernt for everyone, when I was younger I could work 12 hour days no problem, now it's 4 tops.

Whatever is your limit, is your limit.

Max

[WanderingOak]

You might want to take a 'Tai-Chi (or Yoga, Qi Gong, etc) break' in the middle of the day or something like that. That may allow you to relax and 'recharge your batteries', so you can get on with the rest of your day. Ofttimes, just sitting down for a cup of tea, or even taking a brisk fifteen minute walk helps keep me going. When I was in the Navy, I would often step outside and watch the waves go by the ship for a few minutes, then get up and go back to work. My Chief saw that as a sign of weakness, and actually tried to ban me from taking any breaks at all. Did I mention that I was glad to be a Civilian now?

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Jes

so I'm trying to find a way to figure out how much daily, consistent work I can handle. I want to kind of get a routine going, and it's hard to do when I just don't know what I can handle, or how to measure what I can handle. Ugh.

I think that WanderingOak offers an excellent suggestion... you work until you start to feel tired... then take a break and do something else... preferable some physical activity such as walking for fifteen to twenty minutes... then you can get back to work feeling refreshed and like new...

You must also watch you nutrition... you know that 35% of the glucose (fuel for the muscles) is utilized by the brain during intense mental activities... and, on that subject... white sugar is your worst enemy... it will give you a short boost... but will sap your energy very quickly...

And above all... make your work fun... it has to be fun... it has to be fun... are you reading me... it has to be fun.... you never get tired when it fun...I could watch pretty girls for hours and never get tired...

.

[Jes]

Originally Posted by Shamou

And above all... make your work fun... it has to be fun... it has to be fun... are you reading me... it has to be fun.... you never get tired when it fun...I could watch pretty girls for hours and never get tired... .

Shamou, are you implying you work in the porn industry?

[Shamou]

Originally Posted by Jes

Shamou, are you implying you work in the porn industry?

No... I only wish I was...

However, I do have a pretty good imagination... and I can picture myself anywhere I want to be...

.

[justfiverules]

Learn to love the plateau...peace of mind is worth working for!

George Leonard's short book "Mastery", published in 1991, says it so well.

Amazon.com: Mastery: The Keys to Success and Long-Term Fulfillment: Books: George Leonard

[silicon toad2000]

I don't believe there is a productivity plateau. One of the principles of lean is kaizen, continuous improvement.
Steve has a lot of articles on productivity and his article on how to go from a 4 to a 10 (i think) was great.
as you improve your productivity and remove waste from your day, other wastes and productivity improvements become apparent.
Using new technology and implementing a myriad of small changes to cut waste here and there will continue to improve productivity and reveal new time saving or waste cutting steps.

[Brutha]

Maybe you should delegate more tasks do give you your more time to work on the important stuff?

[Jes]

Originally Posted by Brutha

Maybe you should delegate more tasks do give you your more time to work on the important stuff?

Well, the thing is, it's not really a problem. I mean, I can finish all the work I NEED to get done daily. But I sort of wish I was capable of doing more. I just feel limited by my body's ability to endure.

I have been really into the idea of balance lately, though. So if I can only physically work for X amount of hours a day, I guess I'll work to improve it as I can, but if I can't, I'm sure I'll find satisfaction in the balance between work and enjoyment. But I DO enjoy my work, so I guess it sort of feels like I'm just playing all day. Hmm.

[Iff]

It is possible to spend all your waking moments on work. If you define work correctly, that is. As mentioned earlier, countless hours spent on mindless tasks lead to burning out rather quickly. However, if work means working towards your goals and being productive, then it all boils down to assessing the productivity factor in the things you do. That is, if you can see, how every little thing you do during your day gets you closer to your goals, and throw out the things that don't, it is entirely possible. And that doesn't mean you have to sit behind your computer all day creating websites, reports or whatever your profession might be. For example, going out for party can be reconnecting / maintaining your social network, reloading yourself to have more energy for tackling oncoming tasks, rewarding yourself to build motivation for ongoing productivity, upgrading your communication skills, learning to dance, or tied to any other goal you might think of.

One other thing to keep in mind - you must have variety. You said "mostly mental, sometimes physical work". Just make sure you do not forget the physical part. One hour in the gym in the morning is definitely not enough an excuse to spend the rest of the hours sitting next to a computer, the activities have to vary throughout the day. Just get up and run up and down the stairs.
However, dividing it to mental / physical work might not be enough. I am going to give you a link to a blog article, that many of you might have already read: Seven Ways to Live a More Balanced Life by Scott H Young. This article describes the different "muscles", so to speak, that you are using in different areas of your life. You just have to make sure that you use as many of them on a regular basis as possible and not burn out any single one of them.

[Ilya]

My opinion is that you can work all waking hours, but the activities should vary.
Doing just mental activities for 14 hours will get you tired and less productive soon. If you are interested in what you are doing, then you won't be burned out, but your productivity will suffer anyways.

The reason for that is the fact that any processes in our body need chemical reactions to get going. Both mental and physical activities deplete the body resources and lead to loss of productivity. Fortunately, or better to say naturally, mental activities and physical activities deplete the different an limited sets or chemicals and at the same time allow the others to restore. So doing physical work allows to restore the resources needed for mental work and vice versa.

I knew of this effect during my first PD seminars, when I noticed that I was much more productive throughout the day than during my usual work. I questioned the coaches and they told me that training activities were scheduled in a certain order that allowed this effect. Since then I use it for my daily work with great success.

This goes against the PD motto - "everything is possible" in a sense that it should be possible to pull out months of 14 hour workdays. But I think that that any such attempt, although good for character-building will be a waste of time from productivity point of view.

[Steve Pavlina]

If you focus on the time management part of productivity, you'll always run into the hard limit of having 24 hours a day max. And the harder you push, the faster you'll burn out.

If, however, you focus on the value side, you're unlikely to plateau. Make the time you do spend working more and more effective.

Do you think you could write a more successful fiction series than J. K. Rowling even if you could work 24 hours a day non-stop?