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How To Be More Productive by Working Less
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How To Be More Productive by Working Less

Mark Manson
Mark Manson, 2017
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Editorial Rating

8

Qualities

  • Controversial
  • Applicable
  • Inspiring

Recommendation

The conventional picture of productivity hasn’t changed in hundreds of years: nose to the grindstone; early to bed, early to rise; work more, produce more. But what if this way of thinking doesn’t help you produce more, or even worse, is counterproductive? Internet entrepreneur and blogger Mark Manson questioned the gospel of productivity and discovered that most of the time – thanks to the law of diminishing returns – less is more. His conclusions could revolutionize your day planner. But readers beware: Manson’s profane style of writing would make the most hardened of truck drivers blush. Nonetheless, getAbstract recommends this article to anyone who’s ever wondered if work has to be so difficult.

Take-Aways

  • Different kinds of work have different productivity curves – the returns they yield relative to the investment of time.
  • Most creative or intellectual work produces diminishing or even negative returns after a few hours of effort.
  • When you work past the point of diminishing returns, you reduce your productivity and can even create more work for yourself.

About the Author

Mark Manson a blogger and Internet entrepreneur. He is the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck.

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    M. S. 7 years ago
    I like Manson so I read the original article. While there is no evidence whatsoever that his opinion is correct - I agree. Working long hours isn't working for him and neither for me. I can achieve amazing things in a time period of 3 hours where I achieve 80% of my results. In the past, I tried to work additional 9 hours just to work 12 hours (because that's the way to achieve the most right?) but as Manson described I didn't see more results than after the first 3-5 hours.

    I think we urgently need to abandon the 40h work week thinking. The information age has different requirements.

    I regularly write blogs about these topics, check out mariusschober.com