A slacker's guide to productivity

One study, on construction projects, found that "where a work schedule of 60 or more hours per week is continued longer than about two months, the cumulative effect of decreased productivity will cause a delay in the completion date beyond that which could have been realized with the same crew size on a 40-hour week." [Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much]

On the uncreative tasks, people were 6 percent to 10 percent less productive outside the lab… On the creative tasks, by contrast, people were 11 percent to 20 percent more productive outside the lab.

Napping is common in talent hotbeds, and features both anecdotal and scientific justification.

The anecdotal: Albert Einstein was good at physics, and he was really good at his daily post-lunch twenty-minute snooze. Other famous nappers include Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon Bonaparte, Winston Churchill, Thomas Edison, Ronald Reagan, John F. Kennedy, and John D. Rockefeller. Spend time with any professional athletic team, and you'll find that they're also professional nappers.

The science: Napping is good for the learning brain, because it helps strengthen the connections formed during practice and prepare the brain for the next session. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, found that napping for ninety minutes improved memory scores by 10 percent, while skipping a nap made them decline by 10 percent. "You need sleep before learning, to prepare your brain, like a dry sponge, to absorb new information," said the study's lead investigator, Dr. Matthew Walker. [The Little Book of Talent: 52 Tips for Improving Your Skills]

The key to productivity, he argues in The Art of Procrastination, is to make more commitments — but to be methodical about it.

At the top of your to-do list, put a couple of daunting, if not impossible, tasks that are vaguely important-sounding (but really aren't) and seem to have deadlines (but really don't). Then, farther down the list, include some doable tasks that really matter.

"Doing these tasks becomes a way of not doing the things higher up on the list," Dr. Perry writes.

One hundred and thirty-one teachers completed questionnaires one time before and three times after vacationing. Results indicated that teachers' work engagement significantly increased and teachers' burnout significantly decreased after vacation. However, these beneficial effects faded out within one month.

Just having friends nearby can push you toward productivity. "There's a concept in ADHD treatment called the 'body double,' " says David Nowell, Ph.D., a clinical neuropsychologist from Worcester, Massachusetts. "Distractable people get more done when there is someone else there, even if he isn't coaching or assisting them." If you're facing a task that is dull or difficult, such as cleaning out your closets or pulling together your receipts for tax time, get a friend to be your body double. [Friendfluence: The Surprising Ways Friends Make Us Who We Are]