Are you ready for something a little counterintuitive? The most productive people in the world often work dramatically fewer hours than an average people. That's right, they will work for fewer hours. Now this is not an academically based course where everything is footnoted, and I want you to go look at the footnotes and read 29 scholarly reports I am synthesizing for you. What I've gathered from reading a tremendous number of books on this subject and researching it and practicing it as well over the years but there's growing consensus that, for most people in most fields, working shorter hours, creates more productivity. Famously, Henry Ford did research on this on his own plants and found that he could get more cars made when he reduced the number of days.

His workers showed up in the plant and reduce their hours. So instead of working six days a week, 12 hour shifts, reducing it to five days a week, eight hour shifts, the 40 Hour Workweek dramatically increased productivity for Henry Ford. And it revolutionized the industrial era. Your field could be similar, although you could shrink it even more. There are many experts who now believe that for people doing intensely creative work, work where they really have to think and they're not just clocking in and billing by the hour, that six hours, sometimes even four hours, but six hours is more of the optimum length of time for working rather than eight hours. Because after a while, the brain shuts down and you will convince yourself that you just need those Get email for a while and Facebook and social media and the research is pretty solid on that there is a maximum amount of highly productive time you're going to get out of a brain for most people in most days.

Again, there are exceptions in different industries, there some industries, and it's all done by billable hours of legal industry, some cases, the PR industry, and then you can simply build more hours and get the client to pay for it. You're more productive, in the sense of making more money for your firm. So this doesn't apply to everyone. But in many, many industries, it's not about just punching a clock. It's about what did you actually produce of value that other people like, admire and respect. So I'd ask you to experiment those of you who have control over your work day.

If you have control over your work schedule. Think about experimenting, shortening your day, I've done this. And I have found some very good results. If you simply tell yourself, your workday is going to end at three, rather than five, for example, you will be more productive, you will get more done. You'll also have a better attitude because you realize you've got a lot more time for fun relaxation, going to dinner with family, friends, playing with the kids and other people in your family and neighborhood. You will have more joy in your life, which in turn can motivate you to be even more productive.

So I'm not going to lie to you and say wow, I never worked more than 20 hours a week and I am the most efficient personal world. I'm not there yet. But I do find that simply working more hours doesn't help. It is about working smarter. Part of being smarter is giving yourself strict deadlines. If you decide you're going to work, for example, from nine to three, you will accomplish a tremendous amount, especially if you're doing anything that involves creativity, you're likely to get a lot more done than if you just say, Well, I'm here as long as it takes, and I don't have any appointments tonight.

So I'll just work till 10 o'clock tonight. I will tell you the least productive office I've ever worked in since more than a quarter of a century ago, it was working for a member of Congress. And in this particular office, it was seven days a week and everyone worked from 9am till 11pm. And it took three days to write a simple form letter to a constituent because it was rewritten 29 times because we had time to rewrite it 29 times because everyone was there till midnight. So more Time generally does not make people more productive. I'd like you to experiment with working fewer hours and then using that other time, read relaxation, study contemplation, other things that will sharpen your brain make you more interesting if you have more fun in life.

But it doesn't happen by itself. You may face opposition. Certainly if you have a boss is used to being there, eight and a half, nine hours a day, it may around suspicions but if you can work from home, or you have your own business, I would urge you to experiment with doing a whole week, shorten hours with a very firm quitting time, and see what happens to your productivity. If you try that. Please leave your thoughts, your results here, the q&a section I'd like to know how it's working for you.