Many of us, entrepreneur and hired hand alike, add up the excessive hours we work and display them as a quasi-badge of honor. True, employers often demand more than the eight hour day from their employees. Moreover, if you own your own business, you know that there is always something more you can do, more time you can spend.

Yet, do hours worked equate to accomplishment?

I dug a little bit into recent statistics on productivity, both in the United States, and in various European countries. I found the numbers thought-provoking (okay, I am a bit of a geek). Various tables tell us the number of hours worked by the average worker, and the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, a commonly used productivity metric. When combining these statistics, a fascinating tale is told. [Read more…]