Stop Working 40 Hours a Week*

The following article is from Inc.com, and is a great illustration for discussions on overworking, or making work, success, etc. your idol.

There's been a flurry of recent coverage praising Sheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer of Facebook, for leaving the office every day at 5:30 p.m. to be with her kids. Apparently she's been doing this for years, but only recently "came out of the closet," as it were. What's insane is that Sandberg felt the need to hide the fact, since there's a century of research establishing the undeniable fact that working more than 40 hours per week actually decreases productivity.

In the early 1900s, Ford Motor ran dozens of tests to discover the optimum work hours for worker productivity. They discovered that the "sweet spot" is 40 hours a week–and that, while adding another 20 hours provides a minor increase in productivity, that increase only lasts for three to four weeks, and then turns negative.

Anyone who's spent time in a corporate environment knows that what was true of factory workers a hundred years ago is true of office workers today. People who put in a solid 40 hours a week get more done than those who regularly work 60 or more hours. The workaholics (and their profoundly misguided management) may think they're accomplishing more than the less fanatical worker, but in every case that I've personally observed, the long hours result in work that must be scrapped or redone.

Accounting for Burnout 

What's more, people who consistently work long work weeks get burned out and inevitably start having personal problems that get in the way of getting things done. I remember a guy in one company I worked for who used the number of divorces in his group as a measure of its productivity. Believe it or not, his top management reportedly considered this a valid metric. What's ironic (but not surprising) is that the group itself accomplished next to nothing.

In fact, now that I think about it, that's probably why he had to trot out such an absurd (and, let's face it, evil) metric. Proponents of long work weeks often point to the even longer average work weeks in countries like Thailand, Korea, and Pakistan–with the implication that the longer work weeks are creating a competitive advantage.

Europe's Ban on 50-Hour Weeks 

However, the facts don't bear this out. In six of the top 10 most competitive countries in the world (Sweden, Finland, Germany, Netherlands, Denmark, and the United Kingdom), it's illegal to demand more than a 48-hour work week. You simply don't see the 50-, 60-, and 70-hour work weeks that have become de rigeur in some parts of the U.S. business world.

If U.S. managers were smart, they'd end this "if you don't come in on Saturday, don't bother coming to work on Sunday" idiocy. If you want employees (salaried or hourly) to get the most done–in the shortest amount of time and on a consistent basis–40 hours a week is just about right. In other words, nobody should be apologizing for leaving at work at a reasonable hour like 5:30 p.m. In fact, people should be apologizing if they're working too long each week–because it's probably making the team less effective overall.

*From Inc.com

Blaming Bach

For people blaming Christians' failures for their disbelief:

My failure doesn't mean there is anything wrong with Christianity, but that there is something wrong with me. You don't blame Bach for someone playing Bach poorly.

Samson Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=_wxy-SMSqPM

Shouting fire in a crowded theater

Freedom can be abused. It can go too far. In Schenck v. USA, Charles Schenck was being tried for printing and distributing materials against the American military Draft in World War I. In the decision, Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes famously wrote, "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic. [...] The question in every case is whether the words used are used in such circumstances and are of such a nature as to create a clear and present danger that they will bring about the substantive evils that Congress has a right to prevent."


This decision was based on the idea that freedom can only go so far before it becomes dangerous to others and, eventually, abuse.

Men are simple, women complex

This image demonstrates how different men and women are.

Einstein - Everyone is a genius

"Everyone is a genius. But if you judge a fish on its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing it is stupid." -A. Einstein.

This is a great illustration of the value of every person, and would be well-used in any sermon about spiritual gifts or Christ being one body composed of many parts.

"Snorkeling or Scuba diving?"

This question was posed by Calvin Miller after he and his family visited Australia and the great barrier reef. Most of the family could only snorkel from the surface. But when they came across a sunken shipwreck, they could only look from afar, but their son, certified in SCUBA, could go down, explore, look around and get a much better understanding for the wreckage.