It is so easy to feel the need of putting in a couple of extra minutes here and there, and it is so easy to justify doing it. A lot of us feel pride in being able to put in a couple of extra hours per week in our work, and we feel pride in being the last one to leave the office. We feel pride in being “hard working”.
I’m not against working long hours really. But I’m against working long hours when you could perform the same result working shorter hours. Which most often is possible, at least when you look at it from a long term perspective.
Many times, working shorter hours will force you to come up with better and more effective solutions, which probably is even better in the long term. Not only that, but it will also allow you to live a healthier life which probably will make your work better long term than if you had been sitting at the office 12-16hrs a day.
So tomorrow, when your schedule says “Time to go home”, take pride in following the schedule and actually going home.