• “I work 50 hours a week!” 
• “Really?  I work 60 hours a week!” 
• “Aw, that’s nothing!  I do 80 hours a week at least!”

How many hours we’re all working has become a strange badge of honor among entrepreneurs (and even mompreneurs), hasn’t it?  We ooh and ahh over the gals and guys who are in their offices until midnight, only to return at five in the morning to seal a deal with a Singapore company.  We feel envious… and perhaps even a bit humbled or embarrassed.

I’m here to tell you that you needn’t feel weird about working fewer than 50, 45 or even 40 hours a week.  It’s like you’ve always known — quality trumps quantity.  And if you can get everything on your plate accomplished in an efficient 35 hours a week, good for you.  In fact, your 35 hours, managed properly, could produce better results than a similar person who is working twice as long!

It’s all about the law of diminishing returns.  We’re humans and at a certain point, we simply cannot continue to work at our best.  We begin to make errors — they start small but snowball in a big hurry.  Think of a bell curve — after you hit the highest place, there’s nowhere to go but down.

Of course, this puts the onus on you to start working smarter, not longer.  And if you haven’t ever put together a schedule or working plan for how you’ll accomplish your business tasks, it’s going to take some time for you to change how you operate.  However, it’ll be worth it!  Think of what you could do with an extra 5, 10 or even 20 hours a week!  Now that’s what having a balanced life is all about!

• Visit JADCC and find out how a business coach can help you work smarter!
• Please let me know you’ve visited here!  Leave a comment or DM JADCC on Twitter!

 

Image Source:  http://www.mayang.com

Tags: balanced life, bell curve, business tasks, entrepreneurs, how many hours to work in a week, in the office until midnight, law of diminishing returns, managing your time properly, mompreneurs, schedule, working plan, working smarter

This entry was posted on Saturday, June 6th, 2009 at 9:54 am and is filed under Entrepreneur, Management. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.