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).
What I found was that even though Americans work far longer hours than those in most other countries (like 400 hours more per year) the economic impact they have is far less than our European counterparts.
What does this mean?
It means that more hours does not necessarily translate into more money or more production. If you have the right tools and mindset, you can produce much more in less time – which leaves more time for FUN!
Sources:
Countries of the World http://www.photius.com/rankings/economy/gdp_per_capita_2014_0.html
The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?DataSetCode%3DANHRS