When's the last time you've taken a vacation? Commercial appraisers often say, "I'm too busy getting reports out the door to take time off." Our perception is that we Americans work the most of anyone on the planet. It's true, the Europeans make fun of our work obsession saying "they work to live and we live to work." FDR created a five day, 40 hour work week in 1937. Most of us currently exceed this 77-year old recommendation. We do work hard, but do we work effectively?

 

As appraisers, we love data especially if presented in pretty charts. The one below dispels the myth that Americans are the workhorses of the planet. Matter of fact, Germany and France worked more hours than we did prior to the early 1980s, then they jumped on the holiday bandwagon and now work less than the US. However, Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore's lines are well above the US; maybe it's the combination of their cultural work ethic and a large number of people per square mile. You have to wonder if these countries worry about Karōshi, translated as "death from overwork" in Japanese, typically due to heart attack and stroke due to stress. 

Source: Federal Reserve Economic Data

Mis en place is French for "putting in place," referring to culinary organization of ingredients and kitchen systems. It's also the name of a long-running, very popular, high-end restaurant in Tampa owned by a friend of mine. The word means that organization is key to taming the chaos associated with large successful commercial kitchens. Everybody works off lists which is practiced over and over to OCD levels. It helps everyone be in the zone with their super preparation, organizational skills and the ability to work seamlessly together focusing on, "only do what is necessary." The key is not so much the list, but a mindset.

  

Some chefs say that mise en place is really just military discipline, recognizing that time is precious and to use it wisely. If we became a little bit more organized and understood what we really need to do (and more importantly stop doing the things that we don't), we might have more time. Not necessarily more time to produce yet another appraisal, but to time spend "simple" time with people that you love and activities that ignite your passion.

  

Tim Ferris wrote a very popular book known as The 4-Hour Workweek. He suggests taking mini retirements of six months at a time, not just a long weekend or one week holiday. Many of his views are extreme, but his disruptive writing style does get you to pause to determine if you're working smart. He outsources his entire life, including having his assistant in India compose and send a breakup email to his girlfriend. Callous I know, but Mr. Ferris has some salient points in delegation and controlling your calendar as opposed to just reacting to tasks as they are thrown at us.

Working more hours is typically just catching up for the less productive hours you "worked." I haven't worked a weekend in years.  It's not that I'm all that smart, but I'm laser focused in what needs to be done. Break things down to tiny increments and make them better. For example, I was so tired of checking adjustments grids for the text (similar, superior or inferior) to match the quantitative adjustments, so I spent some time writing a simple Excel formula to auto insert the text in the Excel grid and Word doc based on my numerical adjustments. Tiny refinement, but if you take the attitude of small incremental improvement throughout your everyday appraisal work, over time you will accumulate substantive productivity.