Using time more effectively - Advice from Dickens and Darwin!
Well, I think we can all agree that April zoomed by! Make that the year so far maybe?
Lately I've been thinking that I don't feel like I achieve a great deal, despite putting in the time. I know I am being a little hard on myself but this is something I really want to address this year, yep good old time keeping! Or more accurately using time wisely and more intuitively.
"If some of history’s greatest figures didn’t put in immensely long hours, maybe the key to unlocking the secret of their creativity lies in understanding not just how they laboured but how they rested, and how the two relate."
It goes on to say that the scientist that put in long hours did not see the benefit in doing so, in fact "Scientists working 35 hours a week were half as productive as their 20-hours-a-week colleagues."
Mind blown? Yep me too. It's a really fascinating article and well worth a read, find the full article here.
In conclusion I am vowing to myself to use my time more intelligently. Listen to my body when it says it needs a break and not sit at desk for hours on end, putting in the hours but achieving very little. I want to include the important time for thinking, walking and reflecting. And instead of thinking it is hindering, realising that it is in fact helping.
Excerpted from REST: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. Copyright © 2016. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLS, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Bell Jar Illustration by me, prints available upon request.
Lately I've been thinking that I don't feel like I achieve a great deal, despite putting in the time. I know I am being a little hard on myself but this is something I really want to address this year, yep good old time keeping! Or more accurately using time wisely and more intuitively.
I came across an article about how well known public figures, mostly Scientists use there time and you might have thought that their success was the result of sitting at their desks morning 'til night, toiling over their work and leaving little time for anything else. However this is incorrect. It's come to light that the most successful allowed time for walks, naps, long lunches, visiting friends and in between they gave their work the time it deserved. Quality not quantity.
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"If some of history’s greatest figures didn’t put in immensely long hours, maybe the key to unlocking the secret of their creativity lies in understanding not just how they laboured but how they rested, and how the two relate."
It goes on to say that the scientist that put in long hours did not see the benefit in doing so, in fact "Scientists working 35 hours a week were half as productive as their 20-hours-a-week colleagues."
Mind blown? Yep me too. It's a really fascinating article and well worth a read, find the full article here.
In conclusion I am vowing to myself to use my time more intelligently. Listen to my body when it says it needs a break and not sit at desk for hours on end, putting in the hours but achieving very little. I want to include the important time for thinking, walking and reflecting. And instead of thinking it is hindering, realising that it is in fact helping.
Excerpted from REST: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less by Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. Copyright © 2016. Available from Basic Books, an imprint of Perseus Books, LLS, a subsidiary of Hachette Book Group, Inc.
Bell Jar Illustration by me, prints available upon request.