The problem with overworking

The vicious cycle of overworking

Overworking is often a self-imposed tendency that forms part of a vicious cycle. See figure below.

The Vicious Cycle of Overworking
Copyright: The Adventure of Success

Being unfocused while working

To unpick the vicious cycle of overworking, we could start with any of its components. For convenience, let’s start with not being fully focused while working (A). The most common causes are distractions and interruptions.

Distractions are any pieces of information that are not relevant to our current task/s. Generally, we tend to try ignoring distractions. If you work in a shared space (e.g. a coworking space) a frequent source of distraction is what other people are doing (e.g. talking), which makes it more difficult for you to concentrate on your own work. Other sources of distraction come from technology in the form of notifications from social media and email. Distractions can also come from your own mind. If you just broke up with your partner, it’s likely that thoughts about your ex may pop into your head while doing other tasks.

Interruptions refer to our attempts at multitasking, that is, doing two or more activities at the same time. Examples of interruptions are watching television, listening to music, and following a conversation while working. The most frequent interruption for self-directed professionals is probably responding to emails while carrying out our main activity: writing, composing a song, analysing data, creating a product, etc.  Twitter, Facebook, and other social media platforms are other important sources of interruption today.

Email is one of the main sources of distractions and interruptions for self-directed professionals.
Copyright: aniwhite from 123rf.com

Low productivity

The obvious consequence of being less focused at work (A) is being less productive (B), that is, getting less of the important work done per hour of work (or completing it to a lower standard). By ‘important work’ I specifically refer to the part of your work that is the main focus of your profession. The main focus of being an author is writing books. The main focus of being a composer is to compose songs. The main focus of being a scientist is to conduct scientific studies. Replying to some emails and engaging with Twitter might be some of the activities you do for your work. There might be valid reasons to do so, such as advertising your projects or getting contracts. However, replying to emails or engaging with Twitter is not the main focus of self-directed professions.

Urge to overwork

The consequence of being less productive (B) is the urge to overwork (C).  You have an important deadline coming soon, so you decide to work at the weekend. You feel your boss is going to be angry because you haven’t finished the report you started last week. So you stay longer at the office. Etc. Etc. [Note: the urge to overwork can also come from being overly ambitious as well as low productivity].

Less time to do relaxing and enjoyable activities

The consequence of overworking is that you dedicate less time to relaxing and enjoyable activities (D) such as going for a walk or socializing with your friends. Missing these kinds of activities reduces your quality of life. It also makes it more likely that you’re less focused at work (A) because you are more tired and more stressed. This, in turn, fuels the vicious cycle of overworking.

As you now know, being less focused at work (A) leads to being less productive (B). Getting less of the important work done leads to an urge to overwork (C). Overworking leads to dedicating less time to relaxing and enjoyable activities (D). This leads to being less focused (A) and being less productive (B). The cycle repeats again and again. You are miserable. You hate your job. You hardly move. You get fat. Your health deteriorates. You have become a desk potato.

Overworking desk potato
Copyright: The Adventure of Success.

But things don’t have to be this way.

The virtuous cycle of focused work

Fortunately, the cycle of self-directed work can have a very different dynamic. It can be a virtuous cycle. See figure below. 

The Virtuous Cycle of Focused Work
Copyright: The Adventure of Success.

At this point, you might be eager to know how you could ensure that your work dynamics resemble the virtuous cycle instead of the vicious cycle… That’s the topic of the following section!

The solution to overworking

There are four strategies that can help you make your self-directed work cycle a virtuous one.

Eliminate distractions and interruptions

This strategy directly tackles the lack of focus during work. Because distractions and interruptions are the key cause of your lack of focus, the solution is very easy: eliminate the sources of distractions and interruptions as much as possible during the time you are working on the main focus of your job (e.g. your book, your painting, your product).

How to eliminate distractions at work

To do this, you need to work in a quiet space, which means no noise, no music, and no people talking around you. It’s fundamental to put your phone away (e.g. in a drawer, in a locker, or another room) and put it in silence mode. If you use a computer for your work, it is essential to remove everything there that might damage your focus.

If you can avoid the internet altogether while working on the point of your job, go for it. This is what I did in the final four months of my Ph.D. If you need access to certain websites to do your job, you can use Freedom or another website-blocking software to block the sites that distract and interrupt you the most (or only allow access to the sites you really need). If you are struggling with internet distraction, I’ve written a complete guide about how to overcome it.

Separating your time for focused work and your time for exchanging ideas

You might be thinking “that is very good but I need to talk to my colleagues to get information and exchange ideas”. That’s right. However, you will attain better results by separating the time you are totally focused on the point of your job from the time you use for exchanging information with others. When you are working on the point of your job, you are working on the point of your job. Period. When you are talking to your colleagues, you are talking to your colleagues. If you do this, you would become more productive and move towards the virtuous cycle of focused work.

Be selective with the tasks you engage in

Now you are more focused while working and being more productive. This is great. However, if you want to avoid the vicious cycle of overworking, you not only need to be more productive but also more selective in the tasks you engage in. If not, you aren’t going to get the results you are after (e.g. a better job, a better contribution to society, more money, more value for your customers). Consequently, you might still end up having the urge to overwork. The solution is to be selective in the tasks you engage in. This means you have to eliminate, reduce, or delegate some of your tasks.

Eliminate tasks that lead to poor results

The 80/20 principle is a useful tool to decide which activities to eliminate. It states that roughly 80% of the results you get come from 20% of your actions. For instance, many businesses gain most of their profit from a small portion of their customers. A good economic strategy for these businesses, therefore, would be to focus their resources on the minority of profitable customers.

Recommended book: The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch.

Reduce activities that you cannot eliminate

Some activities give you little results but it is not possible to eliminate them completely. For many people, one of these activities is replying to emails. However, it is completely possible to reduce the time you spend on these activities. With email, you can decide not to reply to those that are not a good fit for your interests. You could also set up a system that automatically filters your emails when they arrive so you don’t even have to decide whether to read/reply to each one.

Delegate activities that others can do

Other activities give you good results but they are not the main focus of your job. Other people can often do these activities if they are trained to do so. These are the activities that, if you have the resources, you should delegate. For example, if you are an author, advertising your book will give you more readers. However, this can be done by others. In this way, you can concentrate on the main focus of your activity, writing books.

Consider your time off work sacred

Man leaving the office early to go to his yoga class
Copyright: Elnur Amikishiyev from 123rf.com

Now you are deeply focused while working and you select carefully the activities you engage in. Although these are great steps for moving towards the virtuous cycle, your work system is still not perfect. For example, you sometimes think that you are going to be able to do an important task within a week. However, you find some technical problem that slows the process. In addition, there is a strict deadline approaching. How are you going to handle this situation? Are you going to work more hours to complete the task on time? Is there a better way to handle it?

If you are like me, you are going to struggle with this. Yes, you don’t want to overwork but you also want to get the work done on time! It is very likely you are going to end up working in the evenings and weekends. However, If you want to be highly successful within your profession (and also have a fantastic life outside work!), however, this would be an enormous mistake in the long run.

Getting the wrong message through overworking

Am I suggesting that you should not deliver the job on time, stop working, and do something else instead? Yes, that’s exactly what I’m proposing!!

You might be thinking: “this guy is crazy, I cannot do that, I’m a responsible self-directed worker”.

I would have said exactly the same thing a few months ago. But let me explain.

What is the message that your unconscious mind is receiving when you finish a job on time by overworking? It’s this: “my system works”. What is the message that your unconscious mind is receiving when you get some rewards (e.g. funding for your research, a good grade in an exam, a payment from a customer) due to overworking? It’s this: “well done”.

These messages are very dangerous because it is easy to get trapped in the vicious cycle of overworking when you get positive feedback. Furthermore, these messages are misinformation. You are not doing well and your system doesn’t work if, for example, you have to work until 2 am to finish a task before a deadline.

Getting the right message

The antidote for not falling prey to this is to consider your time off work as sacred, as time in which you don’t work no matter what. This is not going to be easy. It is going to lead you to some professional failures (e.g. not delivering a job on time). However, what is the message that your unconscious mind receives with this kind of failure? It’s this: “my system has problems”, which is the truth.

This message is motivating you to fix the problems in your system and to find better ways to get your work done on time. Because your time off work is sacred, you are going to have to find a way to fix the problems in your system within your predefined hours for work. This is going to create the opportunity for you to become great at what you do by forcing you to become more productive and selective in the tasks you engage in, instead of a sad workaholic.

Deeply focused man skyrocketing his productivity with laptop.
Copyright: alphaspirit from 123rf.com

Choose wisely what you do outside your working hours

This is great. Now, you are focused at work, you are very selective with the tasks you engage in and you treat your time off work as sacred. But what are you going to do with your time outside work?

Having some time each day in which you aren’t working is fundamental to replenish your energy and concentration and, consequently, to have the capacity to be focused and avoid the temptation of interruptions.

Hobbies that damage your focus

Unfortunately, many of the frequent activities that people do during their time off work negatively influence their capacity to concentrate and be productive at work. For example, passively watching television or browsing social media are often considered relaxing activities. However, these activities put more information into your brain, increasing your cognitive demand beyond your hours at work. Furthermore, if each time you are a little bored, you give a quick glance at your phone, you are going to crave it when you are trying to focus. Similarly, drinking large amounts of alcohol and sleeping badly are also going to damage your focus the next day.

Hobbies that help you to focus at work

Woman walking away alone on a forest path
Copyright: joseelias from 123rf.com

In contrast, activities such as running, weightlifting, walking, dancing, surfing, yoga, meditation, chatting face-to-face (or on the phone or through Skype) with your friends/partner/family put your mind at peace, improve your mood, increase your levels of energy and replenish your levels of attention and concentration, which is fundamental for working deeply and being more productive long-term.

My advice? Don’t just treat your time off work as sacred time, fill this sacred time with sacred activities. That is relaxing and enjoyable activities that improve your life and focus, instead of with time-wasters, and activities that damage your focus.

Work-Life Balance

In this article, I mainly focus on the benefits of the virtuous cycle of focused work for your productivity and professional goals. It’s obvious that the benefits of the virtuous cycle go beyond your professional life. By being more focused at work, being selective in the tasks you engage in, treating your time off work as sacred, and filling this time with relaxing activities that improve your focus, you are achieving the so-often invoked work-life balance. But more important than that, you are going to become a fantastically productive professional, who also has a fantastic life outside work.

I hope I have convinced you of the need to embrace the virtuous cycle of focused work.

See you outside the office.

Ángel V. Jiménez