Did you know that your productivity declines sharply when you work more than 50 hours a week? Even worse, your productivity drops so severely when you exceed 55 hours per week that there’s no point in working anymore?
If that’s not enough to make you take stock, people who work more than 70 hours a week or more are actually getting the same amount of work done as those pulling 55 hours a week.
How to unplug
- Check your email on Friday night and then don’t touch it until Monday morning. If that’s not an option, schedule short blocks of time on Saturday or Sunday to catch up and gear up.
- Train people when to contact you. If you send an email at 11pm on a Saturday night expecting a reply, you’re saying to people it’s okay to do the same to you.
- Set an auto-response to let people know you’re unavailable over the weekend. The world will keep turning if a mail or call goes unanswered.
- Plan properly. You’re not going to be able to unplug mentally and physically over the weekend if there are unfinished tasks weighing on you. Get things done by planning your week properly rather than winging it.