We are talking about the practice of fallowing a field, i.e leaving it uncultivated for a season or 2, so the soil can regenerate.

It has been practised in Israel for millennia. To start with, it was only associated with the Jewish religion but was borrowed by people of many creeds and cultures because it made so much sense.

The idea is that if you keep cultivating the ground, you end up depleting it from its nutrients. Leaving it to rest for a while allows it to recover.

The same principle is true with us.

We need to follow the same work/rest pattern. When we start sacrificing our rest in order to work longer, we end up depleting ourselves and producing less than we set out to.

It’s counter intuitive but research has now shown that the most productive people work in small intense sessions followed by resting periods. The best ratio is 52 minutes of work and 17 minutes of rest.

So it pays to take more breaks!

But we are still hanging on to the 9-5 model with a lunch in the middle.

Research has also shown that we seem to be at our optimum cognitive ability when we work 25 hours a week. Past that threshold, our cognitive functions decrease. Once we hit 60 hours a week, we are less able to make smart decisions than someone who does not work at all!

So working part time is the way forward!

But we are still equating long hours to better productivity.

Isn’t it time we worked smarter?

Reflect, Redefine, Rise!

R