How To Get More Done In Less Time
Summary
TLDRThe video script by Marine DARS, CEO of flow research Collective, challenges the notion that longer work hours equate to higher productivity. It introduces the concept of 'work compression,' where limiting work hours can unlock greater efficiency and creativity. The speaker shares a personal story of a friend's struggle with Lyme disease, which forced a reduction in work hours but paradoxically led to increased productivity. The script explains how perceived importance, challenge-skills balance, and recovery phases enhance the flow state, ultimately advocating for a reevaluation of work habits to achieve superior outcomes in less time.
Takeaways
- 🧠 Overworking can actually decrease productivity; science suggests that working fewer hours can unlock 'productivity superpowers'.
- 🌊 The concept of 'work compression' is introduced, which involves limiting work hours to force increased productivity within a set time frame.
- 🤔 Linearity bias leads us to believe that more hours equate to more productivity, but research shows that this is not the case.
- 🔑 Successful individuals like Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk are not necessarily working more hours than others; they have mastered the art of productivity within a reasonable time frame.
- 📉 Parkinson's Law is cited, which states that work expands to fill the time available, but the inverse can be true for productivity when time is limited.
- 💡 The speaker's friend, due to Lyme disease, was forced to work fewer hours and discovered increased productivity through prioritization and elimination of less important tasks.
- 🎯 Perceived importance increases when work hours are limited, allowing for better prioritization and access to a state of 'flow'.
- 🏋️♂️ A challenge-skills balance is crucial for entering a flow state; too much or too little challenge can lead to anxiety or apathy.
- 💆♀️ Recovery is an essential part of the work cycle, and work compression helps to ensure proper recovery by eliminating the guilt of overworking.
- 📈 Consistency in productivity is more effective than intensity; working out the right balance of hours can lead to long-term success.
- 🔒 Locking work hours in a 'box' and sticking to them can help to increase productivity by forcing the development of skills that amplify output without extending hours.
Q & A
What does the transcript suggest about the relationship between working hours and productivity?
-The transcript suggests that working more hours does not necessarily lead to increased productivity. In fact, it implies that there is an inverse relationship, where working fewer hours can lead to greater productivity due to better focus and prioritization.
Who is the speaker in the transcript and what is their role?
-The speaker is Marine DARS, co-founder and CEO of Flow Research Collective. They help professionals achieve higher productivity by utilizing the concept of Flow State.
What is the 'Flow State' and how does it relate to productivity?
-Flow State is a psychological state where one is completely immersed in a task, leading to increased productivity. It is related to productivity because it boosts productivity by 400-500%, allowing individuals to accomplish more in less time.
What is the concept of 'work compression' as mentioned in the transcript?
-Work compression is the practice of limiting the number of hours one works to force increased productivity. It involves committing to a specific, reduced number of work hours and not exceeding that limit, which compels individuals to prioritize and focus more effectively.
What is the role of 'perceived importance' in the context of the transcript?
-Perceived importance is the degree to which one can discern what is truly important versus what is not. It allows for better prioritization and focus, which in turn heightens access to the Flow State and increases productivity.
What is the 'challenge-skills balance' and why is it significant for productivity?
-The challenge-skills balance refers to the equilibrium between the perceived challenge of a task and one's skills to meet that challenge. It is significant for productivity because it helps to find the sweet spot between boredom and anxiety, which is conducive to achieving Flow State.
How does the concept of 'recovery' relate to work compression and productivity?
-Recovery is an essential part of the work cycle, allowing for rest and replenishment of resources. Work compression enforces recovery by limiting work hours, which helps to reduce stress and increase the depth and consistency of Flow State experiences, ultimately enhancing productivity.
What is the 'inverse version of Parkinson's law' mentioned in the transcript?
-The inverse version of Parkinson's law suggests that when the time available for work is limited, the work done becomes more focused and efficient. This is in contrast to the original Parkinson's law, which states that work expands to fill the time available.
What is the impact of 'linearity bias' on our perception of productivity?
-Linearity bias leads people to believe that there is a linear relationship between the amount of time worked and the output produced. This bias can be counterproductive because it overlooks the fact that additional hours often result in decreased productivity.
How can one implement 'work compression' in their daily routine?
-One can implement work compression by setting a fixed number of hours to work each day, which is less than the current workload, and strictly adhering to this limit. This involves blocking out specific work hours in a calendar, using focus modes on devices to avoid distractions, and learning to stop working once the allotted time is up.
What are some of the potential challenges one might face when first implementing work compression?
-Potential challenges include missing deadlines, facing issues with supervisors due to reduced working hours, and experiencing a temporary drop in productivity as one adjusts to the new system. However, these are seen as part of the process and are expected to resolve as one adapts to the new approach.
Outlines
📈 Unlocking Productivity Through Work Compression
The first paragraph introduces the concept of work compression, which is the idea that limiting work hours can actually increase productivity. The speaker, Marine DARS, CEO of Flow Research Collective, shares a personal story of a friend who, due to Lyme disease, had to reduce his work hours significantly but found that this change led to greater clarity and efficiency in his work. The concept of Parkinson's Law is mentioned, which states that work expands to fill the time available. However, the inverse is suggested here, where reducing work hours can lead to more focused and effective work. The speaker also introduces the idea that highly successful individuals are not necessarily working more hours than others but are leveraging other skills to be more productive.
🔍 Enhancing Productivity with Perceived Importance and Challenge-Skill Balance
The second paragraph delves deeper into the benefits of work compression, highlighting three key reasons why it works. First, it increases perceived importance, which helps individuals prioritize tasks more effectively and access a state of flow more readily. Research from Johannes Keller is cited, showing that heightened perceived importance can lead to deeper and longer periods of flow, significantly boosting productivity. Second, work compression helps in tuning the challenge-skill balance, which is essential for entering a flow state. The speaker suggests that a slight increase in challenge beyond one's current skill level can force skill improvement. Lastly, the paragraph discusses the importance of recovery in the work cycle, emphasizing that true recovery can only occur when the obligation to work is removed, which is facilitated by work compression.
⏱ Embracing Work Compression for Consistent Productivity
The third paragraph provides practical advice on how to implement work compression voluntarily. The speaker shares personal experiences of struggling with the constraints of fixed work hours but ultimately realizing significant productivity gains. The mantra 'subtract hours, multiply output' is introduced as a guiding principle for increasing productivity under time constraints. The speaker encourages embracing the initial discomfort and potential setbacks as part of the process, which will lead to discovering more efficient ways of working. The advice concludes with a call to action to commit to a fixed work schedule, stick to it, and observe the benefits of heightened perceived importance, a well-tuned challenge-skill balance, and the relief from the obligation to work outside the committed hours.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Productivity
💡Flow State
💡Inverse Parkinson's Law
💡Linearity Bias
💡Work Compression
💡Perceived Importance
💡Challenge-Skills Balance
💡Recovery
💡Cortisol and Norepinephrine
💡Consistency vs. Intensity
Highlights
Science suggests that working more hours can actually decrease productivity.
Flow State can turn long, unproductive days into ultra-productive short ones.
Parkinson's Law and its inverse can impact productivity differently.
Successful people are not necessarily working more hours than others.
Linearity bias can lead to the misconception that more work hours lead to better outcomes.
Working more can lead to stress and decreased performance.
Fewer work hours combined with skills like elimination and prioritization can increase productivity.
Work compression is a technique to limit work hours and enhance productivity.
Perceived importance increases with work compression, leading to better prioritization.
Research shows perceived importance heightens access to Flow State.
Tuning the challenge-skills balance can lead to a better flow experience.
Work compression aids in recovery, which is essential for entering Flow State.
Consistency in work and flow is more effective than intensity.
Recovery is a crucial part of work, allowing for strategic resource replenishment.
To harness the benefits of work compression, lock your work hours and stick to them.
When productivity needs to increase, the equation is to subtract hours and multiply output.
Adapting to work compression may be challenging initially but leads to increased productivity.
Transcripts
science says that the more you work the
less productive you are not only that
but by forcing yourself to work last
hours you can unlock a whole new set of
productivity superpowers science shows
that the thing suppressing your
productivity is actually the number of
hours per week that you're trying to be
productive I'm Marine DARS co-founder
and CEO flow research Collective for we
help thousands of professionals use Flow
State to turn 16 hour grindy days into
Ultra productive three to six hour days
and I'm going to show you how to do the
same in the next few minutes
a few years back a friend of mine tried
building a startup he tapped his entire
network raising money from someone's
closest friends and family members and
he secured 10 million in funding then
one day he woke up and he couldn't get
out of bed it was Lyme disease and from
there on it was fever chills fatigue
nausea his body ached all over his brain
and cognitive function broke down
entirely imagine strapping into a roller
coaster full of thrill and anticipation
only to jerk to a halt Midway up the
first climb all of a sudden he was on
the hook to get a return for all of the
most important people in his life but
could barely get himself out of bed he
was used to working 12 plus hour days
but now he could barely manage three
hours per day that's all that his lime
ridden body and brain could tolerate but
something crazy started to happen he
noticed that as he was doing these
three-hour days he started seeing more
clearly things that previously seemed
important became unimportant things he
thought only he could do he now realized
he could pass off to others he got more
done than when he was putting in 12 hour
days fueled by caffeine and burning the
candle at both ends what had happened
here according to the research is the
inverse version of Parkinson's law
Parkinson's law states that work expands
to fill the space available for it now
due to the Lyme disease my friends were
contracted to fill the small allotment
of space available for him and he ended
up proving something that's critical to
understand for flow and accessing Flow
State more consistently hours don't
equal outcomes the wildly successful
people among us whether it's Oprah
Winfrey Elon Musk these folks are a
testament to this they are thousands of
times more productive than peers or
competitors but they don't work a
thousand times more they couldn't that's
literally impossible you violate physics
they can only work double at most maybe
100 hour weeks now you may think it
boils down to other things like Leverage
Capital labor code or media as some
folks talk about but that external
Leverage is a byproduct of something
else something deeper there are other
skills required skills that my friend
was forced to tap into the drive and the
success of his company and paradoxically
the biggest Blocker of productivity is
thinking that time is the main thing
that drives your productivity now our
minds find this stupefyingly
counter-intuitive because of something
called linearity bias linearity bias
results in our brains believing that
cause and effect relationships are
linear that one in equals one atom a
research shows that the opposite is the
case additional hours often lead to
decreased total output in other words
the more you work the worse you work
stress sets in and you perform worse and
worse on increasingly pointless tasks
exhaustion comes next and you poor
decisions and mistakes that have to be
cleaned up later it's kind of like over
watering a plant you think you're
helping it by watering it all the time
but you're actually drowning it too much
water or work is counterproductive and
as my friend discovered fewer hours plus
skills like elimination and
prioritization equal more productivity
now what's even more counter-intuitive
is that the only way you can tap into
these skills that are going to drive
your productivity to its maximum
threshold is by putting in place a
forcing function on your hours by
limiting them down and forcing the hours
you're working down into a compressed
box we call this work compression
[Music]
more compression is reducing the number
of hours you work and what that means is
picking a specific number of hours that
is much less than you currently work and
then committing to never ever no matter
what working over that amount out of
necessity you're forced to unlock the
skills you need to amplify productivity
exponentially instead of linearly
now there are three surprising reasons
why this works the first reason is
something called perceived importance
increases think of perceived importance
as the degree to which you can clearly
see what is actually important versus
what is not important perceived
importance allows you to prioritize
dramatically better such that you can
sequence things in order of importance
eliminate things that are not going to
produce results at all and then better
determine how to do the things that you
have now better determined are most
important now it's even cooler about
perceived importance is that research
from Johannes Keller from Alm University
have found that perceived importance
heightens access to Flow State that's
because in part when the subjective
assessment of a tasks significance or
value is high you end up feeling more
motivated to pay attention to it to
invest effort into it and to sustain
your focus which all end up driving you
into flow more deeply and for longer and
we know the flow that state of being
immersed in the task deep in the zone
own boosts productivity between four and
five hundred percent but here's the
thing you can only tap into a 10 out of
10 level of perceived importance by
forcing your hours down and voluntarily
doing what my friend with the Lyme
disease was forced into doing now the
second thing that happened to my friend
which will happen to you as you compress
your hours is that you will end up
tuning what is called a challenge skills
balance you must perceive that your
skills are sufficient to meet the
perceived challenge too much challenge
leads to overwhelming anxiety while too
little challenge leads to apathy to
boredom the best way to tune this
balance is to exceed what you're
normally capable of about four percent
you want the challenge level of what
you're doing to just slightly outstrip
your current skill level increase
challenge demands increase skills
decreased hours increase the challenge
and in turn force you to increase your
skill level and tune the challenge skill
balance putting you in that sweet spot
between boredom and anxiety which is
where flow is found this combination of
perceived importance in a well-regulated
challenge skills balance doesn't just
drive you into flow it also intensifies
the flow you experience but as you do
this don't push too far as my partner
and flow research Collective Stephen
collar says you want to stretch but not
snap to not snap you have to stop that
is you have to stop working which leads
us to the third benefit of work
compression which is recovery
we know that flow States happen as one
stage in a four-stage cycle and the flow
cycle starts with struggle then we have
the release phase then we have the Flow
State itself and then at the back end we
have the recovery phase the thing is
most people can't get into flow because
they can't recover properly and you
probably resonate with this it's likely
fairly rare that you don't feel some
level of overhanging productivity guilt
this sense of an obligation to produce
that you should be doing more and being
more but here's the thing in the brain
it results in a constant drip of
cortisol and norepinephrine which puts
our nervous system in a permanent
low-grade state of fight or flight and
sympathetic arousal true time off only
occurs when the constant knowing
obligation to work is put fully on pause
work compression you ban yourself from
working regardless of what pops up
during those off hours you're off the
clock and thus you finally remove
the obligation to work to make progress
and you escape productivity guilt which
accelerates and deepens the recovery
that you're able to engage with we know
from the psychological literature that
when it comes to producing results over
the Long Haul in any Endeavor
consistency beats intensity for example
the person who works out two days a week
every single week for a whole year is
going to be dramatically further ahead
than the person who works out
ferociously every day for a month and
then not for the rest of the year so
consistency beats intensity and this
also applies to flow you get into flow
more if you don't overdo the intensity
underdo your time and flow slightly and
you'll get more flow more consistently
so remember recovery is part of the work
it is a surrendering to fatigue it's
strategic resource replenishment so how
do we actually do all this my friend was
forced to do it because of the Lyme
disease but how do you do it voluntarily
so you can harness these benefits
to unlock 5x productivity lock your work
hours in a box and don't break the Box
think of it kind of like playing Tetris
the job is to achieve what you want
within the fixed time allotment not to
Simply spill over outside of that time a
lot and make sure the amount of hours
you choose to work are less than the
amount of hours that you're working
right now and then block your calendar
during those hours Mark those times as
unavailable as truly and fully off maybe
8 am until 2 p.m maybe it's 6 a.m until
11 A.M you take the rest of the day off
whatever it is you want to compress down
the amount of hours you're allowing
yourself to work shove it down into one
box that's about half of the amount of
hours you're currently doing and of
course handle the basic digital hygiene
to support you use Focus mode on your
phone and turn off all notifications and
then once you've done that again stick
to these compressed hours no matter what
never allowing yourself to work past
them once you can no longer resort to
working more hours a whole new mindset
and Paradigm starts to open up and it
opens through pain but I'll give you an
example of this when I was scaling my
first business the amount of work that I
had to do was just extreme everything
from marketing product sales operations
customer service everything but I had
seen firsthand my friends productivity
exponentially increased because of the
constraints of his Lyme disease and he
had told me how much of a game changer
it had been so I was determined to stick
to a fixed allotment of hours
voluntarily taking on what he had taken
on involuntarily and I remember one day
about two days into this I had a
customer service email that I was
halfway through writing as my alarm rang
at 4 pm which was my cut off I felt
insane not finishing that email and
taking an extra 10 minutes to finish
writing it and hit send but I said to
myself look I'm running this experiment
I'm gonna do it close the laptop halfway
through writing the email and headed
home for the day in pain assuming that
that customer was going to want to
refund in the end I realized just 24
hours later that there's a dramatically
better way to start structuring customer
service emails and I only had that
Insight because of the pain that I was
put in by constraining the hours and not
allowing myself to send the email it
forced my brain to problem solve to see
more clearly and I had countless little
pains and adjustments like this occur
such that by the time I was just two
weeks in I had tripled my output while
working half the number of hours now
whenever I'm under stress I need to
increase my productivity the equation
that I use is subtract hours multiply
output I'll say it again because this is
the Mantra when you want to multiply
output subtract hours and you'll
leverage up the other resources that you
have that exist in here that allow you
to amplify what you're able to
accomplish outside of just dumping more
hours into your week so don't be alarmed
if everything goes sideways the first
week to a month that you do this you'll
Miss deadlines you might Gaff in a
little bit of trouble with your boss you
might not get as much work done your
results might even suffer but that's
okay that's okay that's a sign that
you're sticking with the process which
is what is going to make it work so take
the leap of faith compress the hours
down to a fixed allotment map out what
that allotment is in your calendar and
stick to it by hell or high water and
watch as perceived importance heightens
for you as the challenge skills balance
gets Tighter and as you feel this relief
from not having the obligation to
produce outside the hours that you've
committed to working now if you like
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