We all have different ways of releasing tension and relaxing while we work. A person cannot work 60 hours a week and stay healthy for long unless they take special care. Those who are successful and work long hours take a break from usual ways of thinking and open our minds to new ideas and experiences.
Like many other people I know, you probably work upward of 60 hours a week. I had a long chat with people well known as entrepreneurs or successful professionals about their work habits and found they worked an average of 60 to more than 100 hours per week. So how do these people manage to work such hours and still be productive?
Most of them said that they truly love what they do and are passionate about their employment. I believe part of the answer is that they do so many different things. They never get stuck doing the same kind of work for too long.
Here are some of the things that work for them and most probably work for you:
• Comfortable work environment, the right tools and furniture helps them remain attentive.
• Limit multi-tasking because what it does do is switch back and forth between tasks very quickly and you commit more errors according to a study in The New England Journal of Medicine
• Use all your senses when you work because it entertains your brain and keeps you more alert. I use background music.
• Take a quick break regularly, like every half hour or so because studies show that cannot maintain your focus or "vigilance" much longer. If you keep at it longer you become less efficient. Your brain just needs to focus on something else for a while to re-energize
• Are you a person who likes to work early in morning or do you like to burn the midnight oil? I fade every afternoon, so I go home and have a short nap before getting back to work, so I don’t schedule an important meeting at a time when I will be operating on one cylinder.
• Relax and take a very short break every hour or so. Otherwise you become less able to focus, or see the big picture. You know the signals: You feel restless, hungry, and sleepy, and reach for a coffee. So stop and relax, pet your dog or cat, take a hot shower or if at a computer play Spider Solitaire. Let yourself go, relax, daydream of next golf game or holiday, and next thing you know you are ready to focus again.
• My trick is power naps. Researchers have found the human ability to learn declines as the day wears on. But an afternoon power nap increases scores on memory tests by 20%.
• One thing that you need to do every day is exercize for at least a half hour. I have a Nordic track set up in front of TV and I also play Texas Hold’em at same time so that I don’t get bored. It’s either that or walk the dog and she loves that. Be good to yourself.
