Do It Today: Overcome Procrastination, Improve Productivity, and Achieve More Meaningful Things

Leave The Office On Time and
Don’t Take Your Work Home
These two lessons are true for every person who wants a
long, happy, and satisfying career. But it’s very hard to put
that advice into practice. It took me the first six years of my
career to figure that out. And I still have to remind myself
that life is bigger than work.
Almost everywhere that I’ve worked in the past, there was
a 
“perception is reality”
culture. That means looks are more
important than reality. In other words: The person who’s in
the office the longest appears to be the hardest worker.
Now, that may be true.
But that’s not what matters. We all know that the only thing
that counts is results. However, we collectively insist on
looking at vanity factors like participation in meetings, hours
spent at the office, and how fast people respond to emails.
It’s pathetic. At our family business, we encourage everyone
to leave when they are done for the day. We’ve learned that
focusing on priorities is a much better metric than only
looking at the hours someone works.
And still, people find it uncomfortable to say, “I’ve finished
my top priorities, I’m going home.” I get it. When you work
in a group, you don’t want to make others feel bad or that
things are unfair. But think about why you’re working in the
first place. You’re there to contribute. To your own company,
or the company you work for.
Working Too Long Is Unproductive
Now, I’m sure people love to be in your presence for 10
hours a day, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick around

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so long that you become unproductive. Because that’s one
of the main reasons we’ve stopped working standard 9 or 10
hour days. It’s useless.
There’s a large body of research that proves working long
hours is counterproductive. Working too much and the
stress that goes along with it can lead to depression, sleep
problems, impaired memory, and even heart disease. You
get the idea. That’s why my first rule of work is this:
Leave On Time
The other day I was talking to my mentor about how great it
is to love your job. He said: “I’ve never had a job in my life
that I didn’t love. It’s one of the most gratifying things in
life.”
But like my mother always says, “too much of a 
good
thing
becomes 
bad
.” I believe that’s the same with work. Now, I’m
not talking about intensity.
Don’t get me wrong; I work my ass off. Always have done.
But just don’t go on for too long. The art of working hard is
knowing when to quit. But like my mentor told me, that’s
very hard: “My biggest problem was that I worked too much.
I left the house at 7 AM and came back at 11 PM. That’s too
much.”
You must protect yourself against too much work. And it’s
straightforward. Just leave the office on time. Whether you
love your job or not — it doesn’t matter. When it’s time to
go home, GO!
No one needs you to be at the office 24/7. Only your ego
does. Honestly, the office will be here tomorrow. Your co-
workers will still be alive. Your company will not go bust.
Work is about achieving results. If you can’t do that in 6–8
hours a day, you’re not effective. So instead of working

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overtime, read a book on personal effectiveness or get
productivity training.