by Alexandra Günther

Faster, higher, further, better - good is never good enough. Whether it's about appearance, leisure time, nutrition or the job, the keyword "self-optimisation" describes the attitude to life of an entire generation. And it has also redefined our work.

Every day we read new lists of the "tools" that the "top performers" supposedly use to go jogging at 4:30 in the morning and get their first to-dos done before we even open our eyes. We took a look at the science to find out which tools really make for a more productive - and relaxed - working day. Without having to get up at sunrise or stay in the office until midnight. Because sometimes this old wisdom still applies: "Less is more".

Productivity killer stress - and what helps against it

In the pursuit of higher productivity, we put ourselves under more and more pressure. And those who are stressed can actually increase their performance for a short time. The physical alertness that stress triggers originally served as a life-saving "fight or flight" reaction in threatening situations. In the medium and long term, however, stress has exactly the opposite effect: those who are constantly under stress become less efficient, because those who are frequently ill, overtired or unfocused cannot possibly perform well in the long term. In other words, under constant stress, in order to achieve the same results, we have to stay at our desks even longer.

The most recent stress report by the Federal Institute for Occupational Safety and Health also shows how widespread constant overwork is: in the survey of 18,000 workers, almost sixty percent said they had to look after different tasks at the same time. Almost one in two (44 %) are interrupted at work by disturbances such as telephone calls or e-mails. Because rest breaks do not fit into the work routine for 47 percent of employees or because they say they have too much work (38 %), one in four (26 %) skip their break.

Especially the widespread "multitasking" and the renunciation of breaks significantly reduce performance in the long run. Several tasks at once consume an extremely large amount of resources - such as working memory and concentration. And in order to recover from this, sufficient rest periods are needed.

Mindfulness training - i.e. concentration exercises like meditation - can help. Firstly, they train the ability to concentrate fully on the current task, and secondly, they create times when the brain can "shut down" in order to be able to perform at its best again. In everyday life, a possible measure is to pay attention to regular breaks, because they do not lower performance - they can increase it!

Regular 5-minute breaks are more relaxing than a long lunch break.

Breaks have an often underestimated effect on productivity. Yet a study shows that regular short breaks are best - that is, five minutes per hour - every hour. Add to that at least a half-hour break at lunchtime. That way, productivity remains the same throughout the day. If, on the other hand, you take the classic long lunch break without short breaks in between, productivity resembles a rollercoaster ride: constant ups and downs - with a huge low around the sixth working hour.

By the way, breaks in nature are particularly relaxing. Even looking at pictures of nature can have a significant relaxing effect, according to another study. Another effective relaxation method is a short meditation that clears the mind and brings the stress level down.

With the tomato to productivity: the Pomodoro technique

Another way to establish regular short breaks and to "monotask" in a concentrated way in between is the Pomodoro technique. This method owes its name to the classic kitchen alarm clock in the shape of a tomato, which the inventor of the technique, Francesco Cirillo, first used in the 1980s. Today, of course, you can also use a timer on your mobile phone or computer.

The work is concentrated for 25 minutes at a time (= one pomodoro), followed by a five-minute break. Every four pomodori there is a longer break of ten to twenty minutes. The aim is to reduce interruptions in work - both internal interruptions such as digression and distraction, and external ones such as telephone and emails. Managing large tasks is also made easier by dividing them into small packages. This is because it avoids the so-called anxiety block, the state in which you see such a big mountain of tasks in front of you that you don't even know where to start, block instead - and do nothing at all.

So that you don't have to deal with constantly setting the timer, there are numerous websites and apps that take the burden of structuring off your shoulders, for example: https://www.tomatoid.com/pomodoro.

Prioritise properly instead of making everything perfect

The Pomodoro principle of small work packages can also be illustrated as a "salami technique". You wouldn't try to eat a whole salami at once, but break it up into small pieces. Similarly, one should also break down large, confusing tasks into small, manageable parts and work through them step by step.

There is also a herb against superfluous perfectionism : the Pareto principle, better known today as the 80/20 rule. The guiding principle of the Italian economist and sociologist Vilfredo Pareto says that you do about eighty percent of the work in twenty percent of the time. A good approach to avoid excessive perfectionism and to prioritise instead of trying to do everything at once.

To prioritise, it helps to distinguish between important and urgent tasks, for example with the Eisenhower matrix, named after the former US president who developed it. In this matrix, tasks are ordered by importance and urgency. The important and urgent ones are to be done immediately, important and non-urgent ones are scheduled and done later themselves, non-important but urgent ones are delegated or done after the more important ones. Unimportant and non-urgent tasks can be left for the time being.

Early lark or owl of the night: listen to your inner clock

As the nine-to-five job is increasingly being replaced by flexible working hours, it is also worth taking a look at your own chronotype: That is, what makes my inner clock tick? Whether you automatically go to sleep and get up early or late is partly genetically determined. And the productivity and low phases of the day also vary accordingly from person to person.

Learning to pay attention to your own inner clock can help you structure your day better. If you know at which times of the day a lack of concentration threatens, you can use these phases for breaks. In phases of inspiration, concentration and creativity , you can place work that requires these skills. For a first rough assessment, this classification into two chronotypes can help:

In the meantime, the distinction between early and late risers ("larks and owls") has been further differentiated and divided into up to six types. If this rough orientation is not enough for you, you can have an individual evaluation from the Leibniz Institute for Labour Research at the Technical University of Dortmund sent to you by e-mail. All you have to do is answer a few questions about your own daily rhythm at: http://www.ifado.de/fragebogen-zum-chronotyp-d-meq/.

Whatever strategies you choose: Listen to yourself and your needs. Because to noticeably improve the way you work, it's enough to choose one or two techniques and use them mindfully. And most of the time, you know best what you need.