Many people live under the impression that punching in as many hours per day as possible is the proof that they are being very productive. Simple mathematical calculus can be used to prove that long hours have nothing to do with that,, on the contrary, a busy schedule can hold you back from giving the best you can, because it stresses you, keeps you tired constantly and will lead you to burnout sooner than you can reach your goals.
At first you should make sure that the space you work in is the best environment for being as efficient as you can. Specialists in interior design together with psychologists mention a few factors that need to be taken into account in order to make sure their employees work in great conditions. For example, you need natural light flooding the room as much as possible throughout the day, you need to build up a system where flexible hours can be implemented because not everyone can work well under the same conditions, you need the right temperature, adequate colors, irregular breaks, which means every employee can decide for himself when he needs one or not, minimum level of noise and good, healthy snacks and aromatherapy.
Once you have all these then you should take a look and observe if your working rhythm is the one that suits you best. Different personalities and behaviors require different approaches, that is why all the pieces of advice you will find online or in books regarding success recipes are probably not the ones good for you. If you applied more than one of these recipes and noticed they don’t work, instead they add more stress, you should quit them and study your own life pace and decide for yourself how you should work.
Try not to work in too long sprints even if you have very important deadlines. Build an hierarchy and organize deadlines because sprints aren’t a solution on the long term for anyone, and a too long sprint, while it solves your current issue, will affect all the future deadlines you have because you will be completely worn out.
Once you have figured out your best rhythm to boost productivity, make sure you actually measure it for one or two months to see if this is really the right choice. Check results, check the number of hours invested, check your earnings and see if this is really the correct way and if you found your personal model of productivity.
