Follow Ilitch’s Law to Be More Productive by Taking More Breaks
How you manage and use your time each day is just as important to productivity as the work you actually do. You have to be smart and strategic about when you work, what you work on, and how long you work on it, otherwise some of your time may be wasted. Ilitch’s Law, or the Law of Diminishing Returns, states that after working for a while, your productivity decreases and then becomes negative .
What does Ilyich’s law mean?
We often think of productivity as getting a lot done, but productivity can—and should—also focus on the quality of that work. Good work is in most cases better than a lot of bad work.
Ilyich’s Law, conceptualized by philosopher and social critic Ivan Ilyich, suggests that your productivity not only decreases after you’ve spent too much time on something, but it also becomes counterproductive. The work you produce after you’ve been doing it for too long may actually be downright bad—you shouldn’t have done it in the first place.
How to defeat Ilyich’s law
To prevent a decline in your work, you need a strategy. First, use time tracking software or a simple spreadsheet for a week or two to figure out how much time you spend on your typical tasks. Be sure to write down when you feel tired, bored, or less productive. As always, use time frames to structure your calendar, giving each task its own entry and defining time frames throughout the day.
Once you’ve collected some data, evaluate the time you give yourself to get things done. Try reducing the amount of time you spend on each task so you can stop before you feel bored or unproductive. Don’t be afraid that you’re giving yourself “too little” time: The Yerkes-Dodson Law states that your peak productivity comes when you’re under enough stress. Spending less time on something will make you more productive not only according to Ilitch’s Law, but also according to Yerkes-Dodson and Parkinson’s Laws, which state that you will make a job too difficult if you spend too much time on it. In fact, a group of major theorists, for various reasons, agree on one thing: working too long on something is not true.
Once you’ve reduced the amount of time you give yourself to get things done, go back to your calendar, which has your time frames on it. Change the timing settings for each entry to your new allocations. This will allow you to see small breaks in the calendar throughout the day. The break schedule is there. The second thing Illich’s Law emphasizes is that people need breaks in addition to cutting back on specific tasks. Don’t just give yourself less time on each task and move from one to the next faster; take breaks between them.
In general, your productivity requires more breaks , so even giving yourself a scheduled time to drink coffee, scroll through social media, or make a personal call will help break Ilitch’s Law.