Why working harder is not productive
Do you ever have a day when you tell yourself, “just keep going, I'm almost done”?
Or how about, you aren’t having a motivational day but feel you need to push through to tick things off your to-do list?
Now let me ask you, how much longer do tasks on those days take you in comparison to the days where you are in your zone of genius and ploughing through your to-do’s?
Please stop doing this!
You think you are being productive because you are getting it done but more often than not you are actually being counterproductive.
Here at TVA PTBO inc. we call these brain days.
We will message each other on our group chat giving the team a heads up “I’m having a brain day” or “my brain isn’t braining today”. As a group we know that that person is stepping away for a few hours or will be out the rest of the day. And we encourage it.
In this blog, I am going to explain why you need to stop pushing through these days, why they are hurting your productivity and what you should do instead.
You are having brain day
We have all been there.
Unfocused
Tired
Restless
Unmotivated
Distracted
You just don’t feel like doing it.
First of all, stop beating yourself up over it. It is totally normal.
It would be abnormal if you didn’t have these days.
They definitely aren’t the best days and they are SUPER frustrating because who’s got time for their brain to go on vacation whenever it feels like it? You and your brain are a team, how dare it shut down when you need it the most?
Well, your brain and body are trying to tell you something and the best thing you can do is give in. Pushing through these days is useless. Your brain is not functioning at its best, your attention is everywhere but where it needs to be, and you are just dragging your feet to get the smallest thing completed.
You are probably thinking, “Yeah, easier said than done, I run my own business, and clients are depending on me to give them results.”
You are right. They are. But what you’re not realizing is that pushing through these days will affect your “results” and the quality of your work.
When you take the time to reset, you come back with a fresh perspective and more motivation to tackle your to-do’s with your game face on and your quality improves.
How does it impact your productivity?
Here are 4 ways it impacts your productivity:
Things take longer to complete
When you push through these days how much longer does it take? I bet a whole lot longer than you anticipated. If it takes you a whole lot longer, then how many projects were pushed back because that one took you longer? How many more will be pushed back because you are starting another one? Not forcing yourself to push through will save you time in the long run.
2. The quality of your work is compromised
Can you honestly say that by the time you are finished what you are working on, you are feeling motivated and proud of your results or relieved you can tick it off your list?
Your clients are looking for the top performance and quality you promised. Not a checked to-do list. When your mind is not in the game, you are distracted and less motivated. The quality of your work will be lacking which may result in returning to it on a later date to “fix things” anyways.
3. Mistakes happen
When you are not focused, more errors tend to occur. This isn’t to say that you will never make mistakes. We are human and mistakes happen. But pushing yourself through a day or task when you mind just isn’t there happens to affect your performance, and things tend to fall through the cracks.
4. You’re goin to burnout
This has to be the most important of them all. It’s understandable to feel like there are not enough hours in a day. Things need to get done. Deadlines need to be met. All these things need YOU to happen. BUT if you don’t take the breaks or rest you need, you won’t be experiencing a one off day but multiple days of the same feeling and you have now put yourself in a season of burn out. Your family, your business and your clients need you. If you get to the point of burn out you will be of no use to anyone.
What should you do on the days your brain isn’t “braining”?
Identify at what capacity your brain is functioning
You should identify what part of your workload is not feasible today. Are you not feeling motivated for that 1 particular task, is it the type of work, or is it all of it? Make sure you know what is or isn’t capable that day.
Pick another task to work on
Some things take more brain capacity than others. For example, I need my brain to flow with me to write this blog but if I am not feeling motivated it can be really difficult to get words on paper with writer's block. I still want to work. I am just not feeling creative to write. BUT my mind is still functional enough to get the data entry or video editing that is on my list of to-do’s.
If I am not feeling focused for a certain task I will review my to-do’s and see if there is something else I can work on for the time being.
Walk away
If you have been working on something for an extended period of time and you either just can’t figure it out or things are not coming together, you need to walk away. Take a micro break, move on to something else or just finish your day and come back to it tomorrow.
I was working on a task that needed the measurements adjusted on the doc so when the client brought them to get printed, they would fit without cut offs and all the elements were distributed evenly. I tried adding shapes, pulled out guides, I even used my finger to count every notch on my screen because my eyes were crossing! I must have test printed 40 pages. I couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t working.
I had to leave to pick up my son at school. I left it and was beyond frustrated. As I was driving, guess what happened? It clicked what I was doing wrong and I knew exactly what I had to do.
Once I got home, I fixed it and I was done.
Because I forced my way through this, I wasted over 4 hours on something that should have taken an hour.
Taking a break or walking away lets you clear your mind and see things from a different perspective.
Just don’t
If you are having a day of “I don’t want to” then don’t.
Sometimes you need to take more than just a micro break and that is totally fine. Being counterproductive in a day because you are forcing it will waste time and resources. Instead, you can just take the time you need so when you come back you are ready to go full steam ahead.
Take the day for yourself. Do something else or nothing at all.
Take a day to do what you WANT to do and not what you HAVE to do. Go for a walk, read a book, Netflix and chill, or go bowling. Whatever you want to do. The work will be there when you get back, but when you get back you will be way more productive!
So, what should you do on the days your brain isn’t “braining”?
Listen to it!
