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Nonsense
side-tracks
you from your work,
tricks you into wrong decisions and trips you short of your goals.

Nonsense
stops you from

being successful.
 

December 2007

The Shrinking Self-Confidence Syndrome

Are you a smart worker, confident enough to take time off this holiday season? Or are you a hard worker, unwilling to unwind? Let’s find out.

We all know that Americans are very hard workers, but are they smart workers? Apparently not, because they don’t deliver as much as they could if they mellowed a little. And by mellowing I mean taking more time off, as the Europeans do.

Let me explain. According to the figures of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average American worker produced $90,000 of output in 2006. Only Norwegians did better, boosted by their oil-rig workers.

But what if we look at output per hour? Americans produced at the rate of $50 per hour. Not bad, except that employees in Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands and France all produced more per hour.

There you have it - shorter hours and more holidays can boost your output per hour.

Now tell me, what are your vacation plans this holiday season? What! Only taking a couple of days off? Surely not. You know that it takes at least three days just to begin to unwind.

Never mind, you’re not alone. Not only do American work very hard, they also take fewer vacations than people in nearly every industrial nation. And it appears (according to surveys) that Americans are reducing their leisure days even more.

Like all odd behaviors, this one has a name. It’s called ‘shrinking-vacation syndrome’.

If you ask me, it’s the shrinking self-confidence syndrome. Do you really think your job will disappear if you disappear for two weeks?

It’s nonsense that you can’t leave your job for a well deserved rest. And it’s plain stupid not to recognize the need to recharge your batteries. Even your laptop knows that!

So, what are you? Smart or hard?

Until next month, switch off, shut down and recharge. (Please note: this last line does not apply to my European readers.)
 

Welcome to our side of the nonsense divide.