There is also scientific evidence to support the benefits of doing less unnecessary mental labor. Ultimately, Gilbreth was able to reduce the number of motions associated with laying a single brick from 18 movements to 4.5 movements-which tripled productivity, reduced worker fatigue, and improved workers’ long-term health. His solution was to develop an adjustable scaffold that would keep the bricks at a more advantageous height. He identified that the most labor-intensive aspect of bricklaying came when the bricklayers had to bend over to pick up their bricks and mortar. By filming his fellow bricklayers, which you can watch on YouTube, he was able to analyze the motions they took while working in order to determine the most effective technique. Industrial engineer Frank Bunker Gilbreth, one of the pioneers of scientific management in the United States, got his start working as a bricklayer. LAZINESS CAN HELP US FIND THE MOST EFFICIENT PATH FORWARDĭoing more work isn’t always a good thing, especially if you can accomplish the same task faster or with less effort by using an alternate approach. Everybody needs time to mentally rest and recover. You can’t fix the problem of being overworked by working more, when what you actually need is to set boundaries and take the time to rest. To make matters even worse, stress literally kills: chronic stress is a major contributing factor to the top six leading causes of death in the United States, including coronary heart disease and suicide, and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that stress-related ailments account for about 75% of all doctors’ visits. When you’re overworked, you’re less effective, focused, and productive. But rather than viewing these feelings as a reflection of something negative about your character, they should really be viewed as your body’s early warning system. You’ve probably been trained to think that feeling unmotivated or directionless means that there’s something wrong with you, and that if you just try harder, you’ll be able to push through. FEELINGS OF LAZINESS ARE USUALLY THERE FOR A GOOD REASON Every time your smartphone buzzes with a notification, it can trigger a cascading series of decisions: Do I check my phone now? Do I respond to this email now? If not now, when should I respond to this email? All these little decisions add up over time. While most of us aren’t chess grandmasters, we’re still constantly making decisions in response to the incessant distractions and stimuli associated with our busy lifestyles. Chess is typically thought of as a mental game rather than a physical game, but chess grandmasters often burn up to 6,000 calories per day when participating in high-level tournaments due to the intense stress of the strategic decisions they’re making. Scientists have observed that your brain adjusts its metabolic output when making decisions in response to the exertion of mental energy. YOU’RE DOING MORE WORK THAN YOU MIGHT THINKĮven if it’s largely invisible from the outside, all mental activity has an associated physical cost. But in reality, you’re probably doing the best you can, which is perfectly okay. The end result of all of these factors is that you can feel like you’re never doing enough, or that you’re falling behind. Social media also means that we are constantly comparing ourselves to the best-curated versions of other people which makes us feel like everyone else is more productive than we are. Since 1979, American workers’ net productivity grew by 72.2%, even though hourly pay only increased by 17.2%-meaning that although productivity has increased, workers aren’t taking home the benefits of that increased productivity.Īdvances in communication technologies have also come with significant psychological downsides: The proliferation of proliferation of smartphones and the associated expectation that we’ll always be online has increased burnout, as the boundaries between work and home become increasingly blurry. The workforce is working harder and for longer hours than the decades before. One unlikely culprit to burnout? Your lack of lazinessĪre you tired of being tired? If this question resonates with you, it’s not your imagination. Read the full story on Fast Company Premium. Fast Company Premium: Music influencers take over Ī new generation of tastemakers and curators-call them Spotify influencers-who are emerging on the streaming service have the potential to change the way people discover music: Using their sizable social media followings to funnel followers to their Spotify accounts, they offer highly curated playlists as an alternative to the streamer’s own recommendations.
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