Work Less and Achieve More

It’s been a nice busy week with preparation for an international trip this coming week to deliver my Mental Resilience Masterclass. I was privileged to present to the staff of Rolls Royce in Derby on Tuesday. I also had two coaching sessions with two great clients.

April is a busy month and I really enjoy being busy and multitasking across many areas. I believe that keeping busy is a great way for the mind to stay healthy. I do of course have down time and fit this into my daily routine.

Work hard at the right time

I have been reading a book recently which describes in great detail how we are most productive from early morning to around 1-2 in the afternoon. Our energy levels then start to reduce, and we feel drowsy and less energetic in the afternoon.

This is something I have been experimenting with and it seems to be working very well. I make it a rule to tackle all the important and challenging tasks in the morning and early afternoon and then work on easier things later in the afternoon.

Amazing examples of working shorter hours

The authors claim that you can reduce your working hours to 4-5 hours and be more productive than if you work 8 hours in the usual way. They cite examples of authors who have written 30+ books and scientists who have written hundreds of papers who would work around 4-5 hours a day.

They talk about working in one-hour to 90-minute slots of highly focussed attention. Not allowing any distractions and being in the ‘zone’ as I call it. Then a mini break of 5 minutes then another one-hour to 90-minute slot.

Breaks are important

Then they talk about going for a long walk or going to the gym or some other mind relaxing activity. Then late afternoon back to work on light admin activities. I have tried this, and it works. I find that I get so much more done when I am fresh and full of energy in the morning.

They say that this works whether you are a morning or an evening person. It doesn’t matter which you are – the best times for working are early morning to early afternoon. Feel free to respond to this blog if you want me to give you details about this book.

I came across this story recently which I found very amusing:

One night four college kids stayed out late, partying and having a good time. They paid no mind to the test they had scheduled for the next day and didn’t study. In the morning, they hatched a plan to get out of taking their test.

They covered themselves with grease and dirt and went to the Dean’s office. Once there, they said they had been to a wedding the previous night and on the way back they got a flat tire and had to push the car back to campus.

Their lies caught them out

The Dean listened to their tale of woe and offered them a retest three days later. They thanked him and accepted his offer.

When the test day arrived, they went to the Dean. The Dean put them all in separate rooms for the test. They were fine with this since they had all studied hard. Then they saw the test. It had 2 questions.

1) Your Name __________ (1 Points)
2) Which tire burst? __________ (99 Points)

Options – (a) Front Left (b) Front Right (c) Back Left (d) Back Right

The lesson: always be responsible, make wise decisions and don’t lie.

This made me smile because what you give out you get back. Do the right things in life and you will see things working out for you. Do the wrong things and life will start to fall apart.

Thoughts for the week:

1. What does your work day look like?
2. Do you have a structure to it or do you just work all day long?
3. Try starting early in the morning and work on the important things?
4. Be really focussed for 60 – 90 minutes at a time.
5. Have mini breaks between and then tackle the easier things in the afternoon.

Well that’s it for this week have a wonderful weekend and stay positive.

Warm regards

John

Off the Wall – How to Develop World Class Mental Resilience available here
http://www.jdmindcoach.co.uk/product/off-the-wall-how-to-develop-world-class-mental-resilience/ (Special offer. Put in code 10POUND when prompted to receive a signed copy for £10 including postage and packing – UK only)