54. Work Less and Enjoy It More

Once I decided to simplify my life, one of the first things I did in terms of my business life was to cut back on my workday by 10 percent. I simply scheduled my day to end an hour earlier. I was surprised at how easy it was, and how little difference one hour less made in terms of my productivity. In fact, if anything, my productivity increased. Gradually, I cut back another hour or so, with little loss in production and a great increase in satisfaction. As I began to look at why this was so, I found that I had fallen into the trap of believing that I had to do everything today, or at the very latest, by tomorrow, so I was constantly working under unnecessary pressure, which is no fun.

Bit by bit, I learned to prioritize phone calls. Not every call had to be returned immediately. Some could wait a day or two; some could wait a week even. I found, to my delight, some never had to be returned at all.

In terms of projects, I learned to set up more realistic time-frames in which they could be completed, and began to realize, as with the phone calls, not everything had to be done today. I started doubling the time I estimated a particular project would take for completion. Not only was it easier to finish things on time, but there was less stress involved because I wasn’t struggling to meet an impossible deadline.

I decided to build time into my schedule—at least an hour each day—for interruptions such as phone calls, unplanned meetings, searching for misplaced papers, and other time-robbers that are unavoidable in today’s business world, but that we seldom account for. This meant even another hour of “unproductive” time, but these interruptions had always been there. Scheduling them simply forced me to admit they existed, and reduced the consequent anxiety about them.

Admittedly, because I was working for myself, I didn’t have a boss breathing down my neck. But at the same time, anyone who has done it knows that we often create much more unrealistic schedules for ourselves than any boss ever would.

Whether you’ve been working ten- and twelve-hour days for yourself or for someone else, working less—even if you start by cutting back an hour or two only one or two days a week—is a realistic and effective way to get more out of your workday.