Why Wasting Time is More Productive Than You Think
While browsing Google Reader’s “Popular” feed, I stumbled upon a post titled “Hardly Working: A Look Into Laziness in the Workplace.”
According to this rather pessimistic collection of cartoons, the average worker admits to frittering away 3 hours per 8 hour workday. This costs employers an estimated $759 billion each year.
To me, this says more about America’s obsession with productivity than laziness in the workplace.
My Struggle With Productivity
I became a freelancer partly so I could set my own schedule. But every book and blog I read admonished that to be successful, you had to be driven. Determined. You had to work evenings and weekends and holidays.
In an effort to become more productive, I started tracking my hours. Even on a good writing day, I was only logging three or four hours of writing a day. With an hour of administrative work on top of that, I still only qualified as “part-time.”
My clients complimented me on how fast I turned projects around. My colleagues looked at my blog and email newsletter and speaking gigs and wondered how I got it all done.
I, meanwhile, looked at my self-imposed time sheet, and thought – “Could I BE any lazier?”
The Problem With Productivity
It took me four years of verbal self-abuse and pushing myself into a lifestyle I didn’t want to discover that my culture’s obsession with productivity didn’t work for me.
Why? Several reasons.
1. Different work requires different intensities. I could spend an entire day organizing my file cabinet. But when it comes to writing, I burn out after two or three hours. Even with frequent breaks, I can’t write more than four or five hours a day. I don’t know a single writer who can. It’s just not an activity that can be sustained over long periods of time.
2. Some people are more efficient than others. I can do in four hours what takes some people a day. But I need another four hours to recover. Does that make me less productive than the person who works slower but needs no downtime? According to the results, it doesn’t. But according to the time sheet, it does. Which is more important?
3. Being well-rounded takes time, dammit. Your familiarity with a viral YouTube video may help you win a new client. Your weekend TV marathon may inspire your next brilliant marketing campaign. One of the biggest signs of intelligence is the ability to connect two unlike ideas. But you won’t have any unlike ideas if you don’t escape from work once in awhile to purse other things.
According to an article by Jonah Lehrer in the Wall Street Journal, “Studies have found that employees are more productive when they’re allowed to engage in ‘Internet leisure browsing,’ and that people unable to concentrate due to severe brain damage actually score above average on various problem-solving tasks.”
That’s why wasting time is more productive than you think … and infographics like this one should be taken with a grain of salt.
6 Responses to Why Wasting Time is More Productive Than You Think
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The statistic in regards to online shopping and youtube are kind of comical. Many companies will fire you if they catch you stealing stuff out of the office but stealing time…no problems. Last week a study was released showing that the average British male spends 11 years of his life watching TV. I wonder when the first study will come out showing how many hours are spent in front of the computer.
Scott recently posted…Keys to Leasing a Honda or Any Vehicle
Hi,
The most productive time of my life was at university as I studied for my master’s degree. I worked ten hours a day with perhaps a 30 minute break for 12 months. Since entering the office, standards seem much lower. That’s sort of refreshing because life is more leisurely – but I sort of miss the feeling of accomplishment too.
Thanks!
Pete
I’m not sure I agree with you about the “stealing” part. If you were using company time to earn a profit, it would be one thing. But most employees spend a good amount of time that, while not billable, ultimately contributes to the good of the business they work for. Chatting with coworkers and looking to industry blogs for inspiration are two activities that come to mind.
Wow, Pete — I admire your focus!
Hi Kelly,
I’m definitely a fan of taking breaks about every 3 or 4 hours when it comes to working online, building websites or “mini-sites” and then SEO. I’ve tried the whole work 12 hours a day with nothing but bathroom breaks and food breaks and those usually came out to be my most least productive days in the long run because I would have the spend the next couple of days recovering from brain freeze and an extremely bad headache (can you get a hangover from too much working online). I find I’m the most productive with my work when I work a few hours and then I stop and play with my cat or chat with my wife or even watch something on TV. Doing these things even boosts my creativity. I think the majority of people are like this.
Ken recently posted…Final Fantasy 14 Guide- Updated
Well, let’s admit it it’s a FACT!!!
But for me it depends on the employer that they had, practically to other, they thinking that using the net were a privilege that has to be use. It’s their part of relaxing after a hard work.