Successful People Leave Work On Time!

Say yes if this is what you believe: The more hours you put in and the later you stay at work, the more successful you’ll be. The “logic” seems relevant: When you stay longer at work, you’re working more. And when you work more, you’ll be successful as management will notice your hard work and dedication.

We can’t even begin to tell you how wrong this is! In fact, if you ask a lot of people who excel at work, many will tell you that they get all they need done within their 9-to-5 (except for when they are working on something super crucial). The thing to remember is that when it comes to your time spent in the office, quality is more important than quantity.

Even science backs this up! According to this study, the key to great success is working harder in short bursts of time, then giving yourself a break before getting back to you. So if you find yourself just working through the hours and still not being able to complete your to-do list, then you’ll need to rethink this. The trick is to stay focused on the task – which is a trait many successful people share. For example, you won’t see athletes practising the entire day. Instead, they spend a few hours in the morning really drilling it in and then leaving the rest of the day to rest and recover. Same goes for authors. We often read interviews with bestsellers who say they tend to write for only a few hours in the morning, leaving the rest of the day to do other things.

This makes sense – can you imagine having to write the entire day? Your brain goes on overload mode! And guess what that does to your productivity? Yups – working overtime ruins your productivity. Put yourself in these two scenarios: When you tell yourself you have the entire day to complete something, you’re bound to be distracted and take longer than expected to complete it. But if you tell yourself you have only a limited time to do Task A, we’re willing to bet you will give 101% to that task in that time frame.

Similarly goes for your work hours! If you feel like you can do it later after lunch, you give yourself the illusion of having a lot more time than you have. When you do this, you deprive yourself of the pressure that comes with knowing you have to get something done within a stipulated time frame. So you take your own sweet time and before you know it, you’re crunching everything in at the last minute possible, working after hours.

Also, making a habit out of leaving on time means getting your most important work done during work hours. This requires a lot of discipline where you are not distracted by office chit chat, going on social media for a while, focusing on basic admin work, doing unnecessary errands. This discipline will have a positive effect on your ability to get the most important done with minimal distraction, putting in all your focus and effort to complete the task.

Did you also know that overworking can ruin your health, thus affecting your work? Pushing yourself to work after office hours can make you exhausted and unable to concentrate. And if you didn’t get enough rest the day before, the effect spills over to the next day, and the following day, and on and on. As time goes by with you constantly keeping up with longer-than-necessary work hours, your sleep suffers and your anxiety as well as stress build. Also, if you overwork, it means you’re eating dinner late. You’re probably too tired to want to sit down and eat a proper meal so you end up eating fast food and greasy takeaways. Imagine doing this for the rest of your career life? It’s not sustainable!

So do yourself and your career a favour: Log on when it’s time to call it day. Remember, you’re not a machine (even machines break down when they are being worked too hard and long hours!). Your brain – and body – needs the rest to recharge and be more alert, focused, and productive. Try it – leave on time for a week. You’ll see what a big difference it will do for you and your quality of work. Not to mention, you have more time to spend with friends and family, achieving that work-life balance you’ve always wanted.

Photo by Mitchell Hollander on Unsplash.