Why That 12-Hour Working Day Doesn’t Make You A Hero, It Makes You Look Stupid
I need to get something off my chest!
Something that really annoys me!
It’s when people measure success using the wrong metrics. And the one that really gets my goat is that tendency to congratulate and be in awe of the person who regularly clocks up 12-hour days.
I’ve been there and in hindsight consistently working such obscene hours isn’t smart. It’s stupid. And here are five reasons why:
1. Work-life balance
If you’re consistently working 12-hour days in your business you’re going to really struggle to find that work-life balance. OK work-life balance might seem a little distant when your run your own micro business but business is just a game, life isn’t. It’s no good being successful and sick, even worse dead.
Business can always wait, it really isn’t that important.
And if you put work first, whilst you won’t feel it straightaway, those regrets and niggles will happen when you look around and find that little baby you were doing it all for is all grown up and no longer knows you.
Invest in your home and personal life and you’ll always find the energy and inspiration for your business.
2. Productivity NOT busyness
I’ve noticed a lot of people who work “stupid” hours are not very productive. Yes they’ve clocked up a lot of hours, but if you were to get them to write down what they’ve actually achieved in that day, it’s likely to be very little that actually moves them towards their business goal.
Work on increasing your productivity, not number of hours worked. Implement the type of daily disciplines that I talk about on this blog and get the work done. Please stop kidding yourself that staying busy is good for business.
Remember 90 minutes of laser focused work towards your goal is better than 12 hours fluffing about feeling good because you’ve done 72 hours this week and yet still are no closer to your dreams.
3. Boredom
Your business may be your passion.
It may be the place where you express yourself, learn and grow. And as such it can be very tempting to spend every spare minute in it.
However you need to stretch your identity. Yes you might be a business owner but you need to be so much more than that. Find and nurture your identity outside of your business because if you’re in it too much, there will come a time where you will get fed up. And that’s dangerous.
Worse still you won’t get outside inspiration on how to improve move your business forward. You need time just by yourself where you can remove your business from you brain and let the ideas come to solve those tough issues that arise when you grow.
This is the reason why you get your best ideas when you are in the shower or sat on the loo.
4. Burnout
Consistently working 12-hour days is not sustainable.
In fact it’s a surefire route to fatigue and burnout.
And in this state you’ll find your business will really suffer. You’ll be too tired to think of new ideas. You’ll become more likely to make mistakes. Hey even your moods will be affected and you could find yourself becoming an emotional wreck!
Burnout is no good for your business. Burnout is no good for you.
Don’t let it happen to you. Take breaks during the day, change the scenery and get out of your work environment, finish your work for the day then close you laptop and have some ‘me’ time.
Personally there is nothing better than a bit of rubbish TV to help calm the brain at the end of the day.
5. It’s not necessary
This may be controversial but if you need to work 12 hours each day to run your business, you need to take a long hard look at what you’re doing. If you need to work that hard to make your business work, then your business isn’t working!
Don’t make excuses. If you seriously think you need to keep up those stupid hours, it’s time you looked again at how your business operates to identify what you need to do differently to create a working day that’s sustainable, productive and enjoyable.
There are lots of things you can do (and that I have done) to manage your business in less time. You could:
- Monitor your time to see where it is actually spent.
- Be ruthless and highlight only what you CAN do in your business
- Outsource your bookkeeping, admin, telephone answering, cleaning, ironing, etc
- Spend the remaining time doing only what you CAN do in your business – AND MARKETING
You will be amazed how much time you create when you do the work ONLY YOU can do in your business. Then with the massive increase in profit that comes from focussing on marketing and growing your business the pressure to work 12-hours days again will become a distant memory.
Banish this crazy working habit… FOREVER!
What is the craziest work day you have ever had? How did you ensure you didn’t have to do it again?
Please tell me in the comments below.
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Hi, I'm Paul.
Husband of Michele, daddy to Isabella and Jemima, owner of over excitable dog Ben.
I developed SpinLessPlates to be the easiest to use, most time saving B2B micro business management software in the world.
If you'd like to save tonnes of time managing your B2B business, simply click here to find out more.
Georgina El Morshdy
Twitter: GemWriting
Hi Paul, this is a great post. I’ve been guilty of congratulating myself on clocking up stupid hours but you’re so right, there’s more to life than just work. Smart working is much more effective than excessive working and I’m now firmly in your camp. After all, without the support of your family at home, just who is it all for?
Georgina El Morshdy recently posted..7 Content Marketing Tips For Coaches And Alternative Health Practitioners
Paul
Absolutely spot on Georgina.
No point working all day and forgetting why you started up in the first place.
You’ll be amazed how little work you are needed if you are ruthless enough.
I went from 12 hour days to 2x 45 minute sessions a day to run one of my businesses once I removed the need to do it all myself.
Jamie Dickinson
Twitter: Money_Angels
I really can’t stand those kind of people who put such things up on Facebook. Too much of anything is bad and you’ll end up hating your job/business.
Plus you make the great point that it’s all about productivity and getting things done. I often get struck by inspiration when I’m out of the office. Mix it up a bit.
Jamie Dickinson recently posted..12 Super Awkward Money Moments
Paul
Thanks very much for the comment Jamie.
Focusing on tasks that move you closer to your business goal rather than just being busy busy means you reach your targets faster
Valentine Belonwu
Twitter: BusinessGross
Well written and I agree with you. Working overtime doesn’t increase your output. It makes you look stupid.
Thanks for sharing
Paul
My pleasure.
Thanks for reading and for your comment
Have a brilliant Wednesday.
Sian Phillips
Twitter: _Sians
Great post Paul, and hands up that I’m often one of those doing 12 hours days. Although I know it’s not good I do have reasons for it. I have several clients and in different countries so sometimes I have to fit in with them. I am happy at home working but if I have plans to go out then I do. I am taking your point 5 on board for 2013 and going to see what I can change as I know it isn’t the best. Thanks for sharing on Bizsugar.com
Sian Phillips recently posted..5 Ways To Banish The Fear Of Public Speaking
Paul
Thanks for the comment Sian.
Now that wasn’t an excuse you gave me in there is it
I know that occasionally you have to work the hours although not everyday.
Similar to you I have users of the software in different countries so have to keep in touch when they need me.
I schedule an email check twice a day for one business and three times a day for the other.
Ensures I get back to any email or phone call within a working day.
Heather Stone
Hi Paul,
Yea, I’d much rather brag about efficiency, about how quickly I was able to get things done, not how long it took. The idea is to work smarter not harder. Great post and as always thanks for sharing it with the BizSugar community!
Heather Stone recently posted..Microsoft Excel: Don’t Underestimate Spreadsheets
Paul
Thanks Heather.
Mairéad
Twitter: Cute_Honey_
Great post Paul. While I work odd hours I certainly don’t work 12 hour days, at least not in my business. I would certainly rack up 16 hour days however a good chunk of that is spent with my daughter and doing other things and I believe most Mumpreneurs who work from home would be the same.
I think the mistake they make is not seperating the time spent working on their business from the time spent with their families or running the home since quite a lot of them consider that “work” too.
Paul
Thanks Mairead.
You are absolutely right.
The need to separate family time from work time is essential for all home based businesses.
Being a dad I also have to balance out time to spend with my little girls and time to spend at work.
Greg Standen
Twitter: HassleFree1
While I agree and understand with the principle that you simply can not be all things to all men, especially in a start up, finance to outsource is scares if not non existent.
Paul
Thanks so much for reading and commenting Gregg
Letting go of anything seems alien to any business owner but to truly grow you have to be able to focus on the marketing and not the doing.
Although small steps to free time and test the benefit is always a good start.
Personally I started to outsource research, then database updating and call answering.
Apart from my end of year audited accounts my finances I streamlined using technology.
SpinLessPlates started as internal software for my promotional gift business to streamline my production processes. This allowed me to convert quotes to sales then to invoices and purchase orders with just one click of a button.
Once I had this sorted I then integrated the software with Xero so that I could post the invoices I created or received to my accounting package with the press of a button and hence with no duplication. This the ability to electronically import my statements and being able to quickly match bank records to payment records saved me 7 hours a month at least and this year £350 on my accountants bill.
Streamlining your business processes through outsourcing and technology can massively increase your productivity and free up hours to allow you focus on growing your business.