Q&A of the Day – What’s the most productive day of the day year?
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Today’s entry: Something crossed my mind while thinking about the time change this weekend. In theory Sunday or probably Monday, should be least productive day of the year because of people losing an hour this weekend. Using that logic, the Monday following the time change in the fall should be the most productive. Is that the case?
Bottom Line: No, it’s not. Your thought process is logical but it’s appropriate that anything as illogical a time change doesn’t produce a logical result. The most productive day of the year does take place in fall though – so there’s something to the season which adds to productivity. Not only do we know what the most productive day of the year is, we know the most productive hour on the most productive day of the year.
The most comprehensive study ever conducted on this topic took place a few years ago by the economic analytics company Priceonomics. They studied 1.8 million projects and 28 million tasks conducted by employees nationwide and found... The most productive day of the year is the first Monday in October. And the single most productive hour of the year is the 11am hour on the first Monday in October. So, if a time change adding an hour to a day in the fall doesn’t produce the most productivity, what does? The association of the fall season.
According to the study, fall is the most productive season of the year as we accomplish 27.3% of what we produce during the year during that three-month window. That’s followed by winter, which is the least productive season in which we average accomplishing only 22.8% of what we produce during that season. That seasonal comparison is a hint about why the first Monday in October is the most productive. While Autumn technically starts in September, most of us associate October with the start of the fall season. Because of the holiday season, many people increase their productivity early in the fall based on the need to accomplish additional work in advance of taking time off during the holidays. While that makes sense, it’s instructive that the most productive day specifically is a bit of a cultural phenomenon rather than there being a physical catalyst, a la a time change. The more you know...
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