Narayana Murthy, founder, Infosys (and UK Prime Minister's father-in-law) wants you to work 70 hours a week. He was quoted in the media as saying:
India's work productivity is one of the lowest in the world. So my request is that our youngsters must say "This is my country. I want to work 70 hours a week. So that India too becomes a number one or number two nation in terms of its GDP."
While GDP can be one of the metrics to evaluate a nation's growth, it can't be the only one. Robert Kennedy said:
The gross national product [now, gross national income or GNI] measures everything in short, except that what makes life worthwhile.
Working 70 hours a week is a surefire way to burnout. Despite what these founders might (have you) believe, it is NOT in their interest (much less your own) to have an unsustainable workforce. If anything, we should be working less, not more, so we can sustain ourselves.
Philosopher Bertrand Russell reminds us in In Praise of Idleness (1932):
I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached.
We know from studies that any work we do beyond 40 hours a week typically results in a diminishing return (in terms of output/performance), our dissatisfaction notwithstanding. But, we don't need studies to tell us this. Some of us may know this already from our own experience.
At the end of the day, it's not just about What (or how much) we get done at work, but more importantly, how we do that work. Any "success/growth" that comes at a price (such as spending longer hours at work, for instance) isn't true success, because how we do anything matters more than what (or why) we do.
Your "success" at work cannot come at the cost of your self and your relationships. That's not the kind of success you want anyway. 🙂
We can all work less, but better.
Best,
Rishabh
The Less But Better Guy
We can all be (and do) less, but better. 🌎
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