It’s the day we've all been waiting for!

Genny lec 2024 is finally here and coming to a polling station near you.  

For my non-UK friends, it's General Election Day here in the UK today.  

The frenzy has reached fever pitch and shots are being fired from all sides.

Two days ago, soon-to-be ex-Prime Minister Rishi Sunak came out swinging.

During an interview with Virgin Radio, Prime Minister-in-waiting Keir Starmer talked about his commitment to spending time with his children once the clock hit 6pm on a Friday.

Cue a comment from dishy Rishi that “I haven’t ever finished at 6pm” and Tory accusations that Sir Keir would be a “part-time prime minister”.

Now, I’m not going to get into the politics of all this (even though I do enjoy an old fashioned political ding dong).

But I do want to ask the question:

Is there a link between the hours someone works and how effective they are at their job?

A few months ago I sent out an email called “separating the raisins from the rice pudding”.  In the email, I talked about how easy it can be to conflate two unrelated ideas.

I gave some examples.  Examples like not worrying doesn’t mean you don’t care.  Prioritising yourself doesn’t mean you’re selfish.  And something being broken doesn’t mean you need to fix it.

Well, this is another example.  

It's easy to think that working longer hours means someone will be “better” or more effective in their job.

But this simply isn't true.

In fact, it often means they perform worse.

There’s an old parable about two axemen who spend a day chopping trees in a forest.

Axeman 1 works non-stop whereas Axeman 2 takes regular breaks.

By the end of the day, Axeman 2 has felled more trees than Axeman 1.

Axeman 1 can’t believe his eyes.  And when he asks Axeman 2 how this could be possible, Axeman 2 replies:

“I used my breaks to sharpen my axe”.

This is the point. 

Resting, spending time with your family or simply enjoying your life are all ways to sharpen your axe and be MORE effective when you work, not less.

Perhaps this isn't a widely held view.

Which is why I think we’ll see the world increasingly split in two.

On the one hand you’ll have those who believe that the key to a successful career is working long hours, pushing a bit harder, then a bit harder still and using whatever means possible to keep their foot on the gas.

This was me for 10+ years.

On the other hand you’ll have those who see the opposite is true and even though there might be times we need to burn the midnight oil, working longer hours is not a necessary strategy to thrive at work and quite often is just a recipe for stress, strain & not reaching our potential.

This is me now.  

And it's why I can’t wait to tell you more about my new group coaching programme.  

It brings all this to life.

The programme is for anyone who’d love to find more fun, freedom, flow, ease, happiness, success or productivity at work without working longer hours or doing something drastic like changing career or quitting their job.

I’ve been busy behind the scenes getting everything sorted (not too busy mind you - practising what I preach) and I’m almost ready to share the details.

So keep your eyes peeled for an email from me sometime next week.

That’s all for today.

 - Tom