For the longest time productivity has been directly associated with the time you spend working on the project. The more you work, the more productive you are. But this myth has lately been busted, especially in the age of the internet and AI.

Narayan Murthy is the founder of one of the top IT companies in India and is known for his efforts in the late 80s — 90s in India in creating Infosys Technologies by sheer hard work and perseverance. In an interview last year with ex-CFO of Infosys, Mohandas Pai, he commented how Indian youngsters must work 70 hours a week.

I strongly believe this belief of equating hours to productivity is what the biggest problem is, 70 hours of working does not mean 70 hours worth of productivity.

Let’s think objectively about a 70-hour work week, it means working 14 hours a day. This essentially means the expectation is to work almost 90% of one’s awake time working. Imagine the associated burnout.

Can a burned-out person be as productive as someone who knows when to stop, and relax?

8 Hours Work Day

During the Industrial Revolution when the world was reeling under economic scarcity, factories wanted their workers to work up to 16 hours a day.

This was thought to be essential to have high productivity because back then more hands-on machines automatically translated to higher productivity. The 8-hour work week was an idea brought forward by Robert Owen, with the slogan 8-hours work, 8-hours recreation, 8-hours rest.

This was adopted by Henry Ford and later other companies.

8-hours work, 8-hours recreation, 8-hours rest

This same policy was later adopted by other companies and witnessed no loss of productivity.

The fact is more hands on deck longer does not mean high productivity, but means high burnout. The ‘Salary Man’ of Japan is a well-known example of what burnout can lead to. In Japan 1 in 5 are at risk of death from overwork, as almost a quarter of workers log more than 80 hours of overtime.

How Many Hours Are Enough

It is impossible to determine this number because people, circumstances, and the task at hand vary.

Burnout is a real thing but the rate of burnout would largely depend on who is working and what they are working on.

For example, a passionate writer may write for hours and not feel burned out, but at the same time, one who is not passionate about writing may burn out within the hour. Long work

hours in the absence of renewal, can lead to very high stress and physical, as well as psychological issues.

Energy Vs Time

Tony Schwartz the real author of the book ‘The Art of The Deal’ speaks of 4 types of human energy, Physical(Quantity), Emotional(Quality), Mental(Focus), and Human Spirit(Purpose).

The reserve of these energies defines productivity, not just time spent on a task.

Optimizing Energy Usage To Be Productive

The most essential part of being productive is regularly spending and renewing these 4 forms of energy.

Physical Energy

For Physical there should be a proportionate period of rest to the amount of energy you exert spending your energy focused on physical tasks. This is the most obvious one since the body tells you when you have drained all your energy, and your body needs rest.

Emotional Energy

For Emotional energy, the extremes are confidence and humility. When we are confident about what we think and do, we do the task with more vigour and focus, but overconfidence leads to arrogance and blinds us from our weaknesses. Not acknowledging this weakness is a sure-shot way to failure. Acknowledging this weakness with humility gives us an opportunity allows us to learn and improve, and humility is never intimidating, rather it helps us to build more human connections.

Mental Energy

From a Mental aspect, the extremes are analytical and creative brain. For years people have concentrated on developing the left hemisphere, the analytical and derivative half of the brain which learns from what is visible and learns skills that help in using what is available.

We often neglect the right hemisphere, the creative brain, one of the innovators, ones who don’t just use the analytical brain to use what is available but also use the right brain to create something new. So both sides are to be respected for wholesome growth.

Spiritual Energy

Spiritual energy is derived from the sense of service to others, but here again, we neglect the opposite, service to self.

The fact is you cannot help others unless you help yourself. The sense of service to others is an amazing virtue, but if you keep on giving without caring for yourself, you will not have anything left to give. This balance between self-care and service is essential to keep on going.

Conclusion

The takeaway from this is, that it is not the hours we put into the task at hand that matters, but how we balance the energies essential for productivity.

We need to oscillate between the extremes to revive each form of energy so that we stay motivated & consistent with the task at hand.

Rest is essential to increase productivity. This is being witnessed in Europe where there is no loss of productivity even on coming down to 4 day work week, of 5 hour work day. Utilizing AI to continue working for us while we rest is a good middle ground to get the best of both worlds.

We are far from being a machine, and even the machines need to be refuelled, maintained, and repaired regularly.

So the solution to the productivity problem is not just managing time, but managing the energy.

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