There's a seemingly overwhelming line of thinking in our culture that to get more done, you need to work more.
There's the thought that the only way to be more productive is to put in more hours, that the best employee is the one who arrives the earliest and leaves the latest.
As productivity guru Tim Ferriss says in his book The Four Hour Work Week "...
our culture tends to reward personal sacrifice instead of personal productivity.
Few people choose to (or are able to) measure the results of their actions and thus measure their contribution in time.
" While we tend to valorize the employee who sacrifices their personal life and even their happiness for their company, the fact is that its actually easier to be more productive by doing less, by slowing down, and by working fewer hours.
Now, the idea of an employee who comes in early and leaves late isn't entirely inaccurate.
After all, getting into work early can be a good idea.
The earlier in the day you begin your work, the fewer distractions you'll face and the easier time you'll have focusing on the work that matters.
The problem of distractions is eliminated in two ways.
On the one hand, there will be fewer people around and fewer things going on around you, making it easier to focus on the work directly in front of you.
Similarly, you're less likely to be inundated with mini-crises and little fires that demand to be put out first thing in the morning.
There's really no better time to get important, long term work out of the way than first thing in the morning.
Of course, just because you arrive early doesn't mean you need to stay late.
Arriving early, and then leaving early, is actually a really good strategy.
After all, you'll be ultra productive during the time you are there, and you will duck out before the deluge of pointless and ineffectual busy work adds up and drains you of your energy and motivation.
Think about it, after you get the truly important work for the day done, the rest of the time you're going to be at work will probably be spent grinding away at work whose importance disappears as soon as the work is complete.
While important, long range work is enervating and makes you excited to get up in the morning, busy work just drains your time, your energy and your spirit.
Leave after the important work is complete, and don't let the unimportant tasks steal your desire to wake up early the next day.