How many of you believe putting long working hours at a stretch in your everyday job will increase productivity? Do you want to keep pushing yourself to your limits and expect to produce at a sustainable high level of excellence?
According to Tony Shwartz, the author of the best seller Be Excellent at Anything, there is a basic misunderstanding how human beings operate at their best. In an interview with the Harvard Business Review May 2011 issue, he says “most of us mistakenly assume we’re meant to run like computers- at high speeds, continuously, for long periods of time, running multiple programs simultaneously. This is not true. We are designed to be rhythmic. The heart pulses; muscles contract and relax. We are at our best when we’re moving rhythmically between spending energy and renewing it.”
Schwartz focuses on high performance sustainability by managing people’s energy in these four primary dimensions:
1. He encourages people to work intensely for 90 minutes and then take a break to refuel. He recommends eating often, “small energy-rich meals every few hours” rather than eating three heavy meals. Napping during the day drives productivity.
2. The emotional level, cultivating positive emotions.
3. The mental level - working at getting more control of your attention – “both by increasing the ability to focus on one thing at a time and by learning to shift into the right hemisphere to do more creative work.”
4. Spiritual level - is very important to define your purpose, once defined you bring far more energy to it.
Shwartz believes in order for you and for your organization to thrive for a sustained period of time, you need to have full tanks of energy. Impetus for change comes from within. Therefore, it is vital to understand and act upon Schwarz four primary dimensions to increase your energy level thus productivity for sustainability.
By: Randa Mufarrij
