Overwork—working excessively to the point that it takes a toll on your physical or mental health—is a big concern. We’ve been programmed to believe that the grind makes us more successful, more valuable, more worthy.
That’s crap.
Overwork isn’t just bad for you; it’s bad for business. Seriously, you’re not helping anyone.
What is Overwork?
Let’s get specific. How much work counts as overwork? The average employee works about 4 hours of unpaid overtime a week and thinks about work for another 4 hours, for a total of 48 hours per week.… that’s probably not in the danger zone. The average employee is not overworking.
Stanford research shows that productivity declines after about 50 hours of work. You’re still getting more done than if you worked less, but not as much as you think. Get above 55 hours, and you’re starting to waste your time. Surprisingly, the output of someone working 70 hours per week is about the same as someone working 55. You’re working 15 extra hours and getting nothing for it.
To be fair, you’re not getting nothing for it; according to research published in the Lancet, you’re getting a 35% increase in the risk of stroke and a 17% higher risk of heart disease. Ah, what a lovely reward!
Overwork first affects you; then, it affects your organization. When you work that many hours, it’s harder to relax and more difficult to get enough quality sleep. That means more errors (and more hours of work to fix them). It also translates into riskier behavior and poor decision-making. Once you’ve been awake for 17 hours, you start to mimic symptoms of being intoxicated. Go home, you’re drunk (or as good as drunk).
What should you do if you’re overworked?
1. Change Your Mindset
You’re not doing your organization or your career any favors if you’re working to the point of exhaustion. Recognize that delivering more might mean working less.
2. Set Boundaries
Decide when you’ll work and when you won’t. What time will you start in the morning, where will you slot in breaks, and when will you shut off the computer for the evening?
If it helps, give yourself one exemption card a week that you can use in an urgent situation, but if you’ve used it already, stop when you planned to.
3. Stop Being Busy; Start Being Effective
So much of what takes your time probably leads to little value. Do the stuff that matters most and it will be easier to leave a few trivial things incomplete.
4. Focus on Efficiency
Work in focused spurts with five or ten-minute breaks and then a longer break every 3-4 hours. You’ll be amazed how much you can get done when you’re only doing one thing at a time.
5. Share the Load
If you’re an overworker, you probably aren’t a great team player. You try to do everything yourself, maybe because you want control or maybe because you believe no one can do it as well as you can. Try letting others pitch in.
6. Take Recovery Seriously
Finally, try being equally serious about your recovery as you are about your work. If you were a high-performance athlete, you’d be prioritizing rest and recovery to allow you to accomplish more. Put some of your ambition and smarts into hacking good rest.
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Overwork is terrible for your health and harmful to your work. Enough with the hustle porn, let’s get back to doing meaningful work in a way that won’t kill us.