To be more productive at work, less is more

Hongkongers are depressed and stressed, with financial woes and career anxiety high on the agenda. And, if some recent reports are to believed, they are also less productive than other workers in the region.

In a 2011 Gallup poll, Hong Kong workers were found to have a low level of "career well-being" - a worker's view of their own job situation. The negative outlook reflected low levels of productivity, with only 45 per cent of those interviewed considering themselves as "extremely productive" in their jobs. Hong Kong ranked at the bottom of all 22 Asian economies surveyed.

Working more doesn't help. More than 10-hour working days are common in the city, and 35 per cent of those who work more than 50 hours in a week show symptoms of depression, according to a 2012 survey commissioned by the Baptist Oi Kwan Social Service.

So, how do we end the destructive cycle?

Being "productive" doesn't mean squeezing more into your day; in fact, the way to get more done is to work smart. This is the message from Tony Schwartz, chief executive of the Energy Project that advises multinational corporations on how to engage and produce productive employees.

"A new and growing body of multidisciplinary research shows that strategic renewal - including daytime workouts, short afternoon naps, longer sleep hours, more time away from the office and longer, more frequent holidays - boosts productivity," he said in a published report last year.

Research in the field of productivity shows that, although we can't make more time, we can measurably increase our energy. Ninety minutes of deliberate, productive work blocks is the golden rule, following a 1993 study of elite performers by Professor Anders Ericsson and his colleagues at Florida State University, published in Psychological Review.