| Here are three words that probably come to | | | | So if you don't work all your overtime at work |
| your mind when you think of the term Overtime: | | | | and you don't work hours and hours of overtime, |
| | | | how do you make your overtime productive? |
| 1. Stress | | | | This is where that second, seemingly strange list |
| 2. Caffeine | | | | of terms above comes into play. I find that a lot |
| 3. Deadline | | | | of my ideas and new takes on problems occur |
| However, I'm going to propose three more that | | | | when I'm relaxing, maybe even sleeping or |
| work just as well: | | | | watching television. It's exactly when I take a |
| | | | break from work that these kinds of things come |
| 1. Sleep | | | | unbidden into my mind. While I may not be |
| 2. Relaxing | | | | working overtime in the formal sense, as long as I |
| 3. Television | | | | write these ideas down and act on them I've |
| While the second list seems extremely out of | | | | benefited the project that I'm working on. These |
| place, it is just as relevant to working overtime | | | | ideas could have been the product of many more |
| as the first list. The reason for this lies at the feet | | | | caffeine induced, chained to the cubicle hours, but |
| of two of the biggest misconceptions people have | | | | because I took a break and let myself off the |
| about overtime: | | | | hook for a bit they came to me regardless and |
| | | | I'm refreshed. A fresher, more mentally alert |
| 1. The more overtime you work the more you | | | | worker is always preferable to a bleary eyed |
| get done - Just because you're working a ton of | | | | zombie. |
| hours doesn't mean they are all productive hours. | | | | Don't get me wrong, there are times when you |
| Work is like a bell curve: Once you reach that | | | | need to put the long hours in at work. You |
| optimum point your productivity will decline. | | | | definitely won't always be able to just "come up |
| 2. You get more done if you work overtime at | | | | with" ideas without putting serious thought into it. |
| work - How long can you spend in the same | | | | However, when you do get these kinds of ideas |
| room working focusing on the same thing and still | | | | unexpectedly, you need to act on them. Write |
| operating at 100%? I would guess it wouldn't be | | | | them down in detail and use them. You will be |
| tremendously long. A change in scenery can mean | | | | surprised how valuable non-traditional overtime |
| all the difference sometimes. | | | | work can be. |