Work Less. Do More.

What if we worked less in the work place? Let me ask a different question: what if we quit pretending to work as much as we do and actually acted like we work as much as we really do? 82% of you know what I am talking about, 19% of you are lying about it, and 21% of the people who read this will realize that math did not add up.

I am a big fan of the hit sitcom The Office. I always found it interesting that a branch who had as much fun as Dunder Mifflin, Scranton branch always had the top sales of any branch under the Dunder Mifflin name. It is possible that the thing that drove the sales could be the very thing lacking in 87% of businesses today (of course that stat was made up, so stop thinking of where I came up with it). The people who work for this branch are always having fun with one another, but that fun drives an atmosphere of family within the work place to where the employees actually have something to look forward to when they come in to work.

Episodes often begin with something interesting happening around the office. One time there is a push-up contest and anyone who does more push-ups than Michael Scott was able to go home early, and everyone cheered on Stanley, a vastly overweight man, as he struggled through his 10 push-ups in order to go home. Another time the whole office teams up to trick their boss into thinking it is later than it really is when he fell asleep in his office after lunch.

Everyone in the office bickers and fights with one another, but whenever a single character is missing the whole dynamic is off; everyone adds their own flavor. You sort of get the feeling after a while that it would be a work environment that you would want to go into, that would be easy to wake up in the morning and roll out of bed for. You never know what is going to happen, but you know whatever happens will be fun.

What if the Office was on to something? What if there should be a level of fun and an on-going joke around the work place? What if there should be friendly competitions happening throughout the week that may or may not have something to do with the work you are to be doing? The thing is, most people won’t try it because it will seem unproductive, but the next time you are walking down the hall and you see someone wasting time in any way, just think about this and give yourself a little laugh. For those who do try it, I think you will find that instead of wasting time individually, wasting time together is much more productive! Some of the best ideas could be born out of wasting time with someone else instead of by yourself.