Everyone has a natural level of productivity. It will vary from person to person, but everyone has a limited amount of physical, mental, and creative energy. Every hour of work costs energy. – Extreme Programming

I have a coaching client that just took his first weekend off in, he couldn’t remember how long. He’s been stressed about money and kids and life. He keeps feeling like the only way to make progress is to work all the hours. I mean some movement is good…right?

No, it’s not. Every hour worked costs something.

On weekends it costs you time with your family. That mythical day in the future where you will have time to hang out with family again may never come if you don’t make it.

That weekend work costs you energy on Monday. Case in point, that coaching client says he got almost as much work done on Monday as he would normally do on two weekend days.

His stress level went down.

One of the key practices of extreme programming is that you need to work at a sustainable pace. You only have so much effort to give. Give that effort, then take a break.

If your business doesn’t allow that, then your business sucks. Stop running a sucky business. It’s your fault it sucks, you’re the boss. You built it like this.

What are you going to do today to make sure that you’re only doing the amount of work that is sustainable?

What changes are you going to make this month to make sure that your business supports that sustainable amount of work?

Is it time to raise your rates?

Is it time to say no to that terrible client that eats 50% extra time for tasks?

Is it time to say no to all but 1 project at a time so you can focus?

I think it’s time to do all of those things. It’s time to claim your day back. It’s time to hang out with the kids after school.

It’s time to go for a midday bike ride or run or walk, just because the sun is out.

It’s time to stop that sucky business, and start running the business you want to work for.

Have an awesome day.

Curtis

PS: If you need help building that business, check out BootCamp. It will help you get back on track.

PPS: If you’re interested in Extreme Programming, I did a review of it here. It’s also in my podcast Should I Read it, which you can subscribe to here.

Photo by: clement127