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To Get More Done, Work Less
The counterintuitive magic of putting time limits on your tasks
For most of my working life, I lived by the principle I’d absorbed as a child, one I heard often both at home and at school: If you want to succeed, then put in more time. Long after my co-workers had gone home, I’d still be toiling away at my desk, convinced I was proving my value.
But when I eventually became a psychologist and started looking into the work habits of hundreds of entrepreneurs, I noticed something strange: The most successful people seemed to spend the fewest hours working. They’d spend a lot of time thinking about business strategies, sure, but they didn’t seem to value the 12-hour workdays or seven-day workweeks that hustle culture has long glorified. Instead, they’d use their extra time to pursue hobbies, spend time with their families, or simply let their minds wander. They were able to decouple time from results.
You may have heard of Parkinson’s law: “Work expands to fill the time available for its completion.” But is it true in practice? Can people actually get everything done when they have less time to do it?
All evidence points to yes. In 2019, Microsoft put the idea to the test with one of its subsidiaries in Japan: All employees took every Friday off, working only four days per week…
