Monday, February 11, 2013

Relax to Work



 

In this article, the author reveals the best way for getting more done: to stop working. Loaded with rhetorical questions, the author lures in an audience. If just one of the questions applies to the audience, the reader is meant to continue on to find a resolution to their hectic lives. Although the heavy pathos introduction seems to lack actual substance, the author infuses logos to logically explain why rest can benefit our work. He even ties in some physics to reestablish the very core of his logic. Using some astounding statistics, he claims that over $63 billion goes to waste due to a lack of productivity cause by sleep deprivation. The article goes on with facts on the dramatic effects of substantial sleep and rest has on one's productivity, performance, and even memory. Why then do we continue to push harder when we feel pressure than take a break? The author establishes pathos in that he knows exactly what questions would follow each new explanation on rest, while always adding logos to keep his answers legitimate. To demonstrate our mind set of constant work, he writes "Our bodies regularly tell us to take a break, but we often override these signals and instead stroke ourselves up with caffeine, sugar, and our own energy reserves—the stress hormone adrenaline, nonadrenaline, and cortisol". Just like our minds, the sentence should take a break after the first independent clause. However, to rhetorically demonstrate our restlessness, the sentence continues using lists, a hyphen, and a couple of conjunctions to push the author's thought to an unnecessary extent just like we do with our work. The author wraps up the article by adding anecdotes of his experiences with a shorter schedule and more rest. This ethos approach verifies the rest of his argument by proving that his method works and that anyone else can achieve better productivity. 

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