In Australia we work 3.2 billion hours a year in unpaid overtime, we have 134 million days of accrued annual leave, and 3.8 million of us don't take lunch breaks. And 7.4 million Australians don't get enough sleep.
We seem to have become ‘rest resistant'. We are addicted to being busy and it's preventing us from getting the rest we need to perform at our best.
Wellbeing and productivity adviser Thea O'Connor reminds us, ‘The simple fact is, if you don't give your brain a break you'll start to work more slowly and you'll make more errors.'
One of the things I learned in 2020 was that I didn't have to be ‘on' all the time. I could actually organise my life so I started my first meeting at a time that suited me and I delivered sessions and workshops at a time that suited me.
I'm not sure why it took a pandemic for me to make that connection, but here I am. I spent a year protecting approximately 15 per cent of every day for time to think. I took time to reflect on what my customers needed rather than on what I was currently selling them. I spent time reading lots of articles online about what others were saying, and I began to craft my own story about what I had to offer. It led me to initiatives I had never thought of before. An Instagram account called ‘Daily dose of Donna' provided simple tips and pick‐me‐ups for people in lockdown. I gained a heap of followers very quickly, and from those tips I began to develop programs that led me to a dozen new clients.
I believe that's why my practice was able not just to survive when others were folding or struggling, but to grow in a number of different directions. The investment of time saved gave me the ability to take advantage of opportunities.
For Kim and her son, that means never going back to the way things were before the pandemic. She considers the time she spends with him on the walk to the day‐care centre sacrosanct and immovable.
That's my wish for everyone reading this book. I hope that by the time you've finished reading it you'll have implemented some simple strategies that will give you both the capacity and the space to think, breathe, work and enjoy your life even more.
Are you ready to see how?
How to use this book
This book mirrors the way I run my webinars, workshops, corporate programs and hands‐on sessions. It is practical and easy to read and navigate, so you can quickly implement real yet simple changes in the way you work.
It isn't a hefty tome that you'll have trouble carrying around, or that you'll leave on your bedside table to gather coffee‐cup stains. Rather, it offers quick tips, real‐life stories, lots of no‐nonsense advice, questions to encourage you to reflect on how you're working now and how you could improve, and exercises to help you implement the changes you want to make.
My suggestion for working through this book is to keep it simple and achievable. Start small and work your way up to the bigger concepts. Read the book and choose one or two things that resonate strongly with you, and start to action those immediately. (You will thank me for this when you see how simple it really is.)
Part I is all about why we need to take back time and how we collect our 1‐Day Refund on the week. We will learn why 85 per cent is the limit we should be working towards (not 100 per cent or, dare I say, 120 per cent). We should all have a 15 per cent buffer in our lives for capacity and space.
Part II introduces strategies to help you spend your time saved wisely and to award yourself a daily refund. This will give you the capacity and space required to take advantage of opportunities to think and make great decisions, and to respond positively and proactively to changing conditions.
As you read, you will find I can be a little irreverent at times — because life and work are way too important to be taken too seriously. And reading a book should be a pleasure, not a pain!
So please read, implement, experiment and have fun being more productive!
PART I WHY WE NEED TO TAKE BACK TIME
Resources and energy are needed for growth; this applies to pretty much any area of our world where we want to grow or get better. It is true for communities, for individuals and for the natural environment.
And I'm not just referring to physical growth. I'm also talking about emotional and intellectual growth.
In science, this is referred to as a finite-time singularity. In a nutshell, unbounded growth demands either infinite resources and energy or a major paradigm shift. Without either, collapse is inevitable.
So tell me, how much longer can you go on before you exhaust your resources and energy, or you undertake a paradigm shift?
I'm not even asking for a major shift. Simply think about where you can refund yourself only 15 per cent of your time and resources across a range of aspects of your life to create some space that will allow you to be the truly adaptive organism you have evolved to be. Following a few simple principles will gain you one full extra day in your week.
But you don't have to believe me! There are a number of real-world examples where a 15 per cent buffer or margin is considered optimal operating capacity.
Capacity utilisation (mostly used in manufacturing) measures the difference between production and production capability. Accounting for the fact that it is unlikely that an economy or company will function at 100 per cent capacity, 85 per cent is considered optimal. This provides a 15 per cent buffer against setbacks like equipment malfunction or resource shortages.
Olympians and professional sportspeople, too, know they will perform better at 85 per cent because they are more relaxed and can optimise muscle strength.
Hugh Jackman, in his preparation for and performance in the role of Wolverine, aimed to expend no more than 85 per cent of his energy, in the knowledge this would enable him to function optimally over extended production periods.
If we are to keep our own performance levels high and to optimise our resources and systems, we should be aiming for a maximum energy expenditure of 85 per cent.
This 15 per cent margin might seem arbitrary, or too little, and in many ways it's more about what happens in our heads than about watching the clock. Strive to feel as though you are performing at a steady pace, always with this tiny bit of room to breathe, not as though you are constantly catching up or struggling. You will feel in control instead of overwhelmed and exhausted from pushing yourself (or those around you) too far.
Of course, there will always be things outside your control: traffic jams, flight delays and other unexpected obstacles. Building in a 15 per cent buffer means you'll have greater capacity to manage disruptions.
This is how I arrived at the 1-Day Refund: 15 per cent of 7 is … 1! By applying some simple techniques and looking to shave 15 per cent off where you can, every week you can take back a whole day in your life!
Let's now explore this in more detail.
CHAPTER 1 We're busy addicts
We are all living in an epidemic of urgency and busyness. Unless we are flat out, working ridiculous hours, we are judged, and we often judge ourselves, as lazy or unproductive.
My friend Sharon is a senior manager in a large professional services organisation. She is also studying part time and has a seven‐year‐old daughter. She arrives for work most days around 8.15 am after the school drop‐off and leaves around 5.30 pm most afternoons to get back to afterschool care by the 6.30 pm deadline. Some days are pretty tight!
Despite this, she is productive and effective, but not always super social at work. Her boss, having noticed her arrival and departure