I think we are all guilty, at some point, of thinking that if we work for just a little while longer, or take on just another job, or set one more strategic goal, we’ll finally be on top of everything and succeed. When you look at it like I’ve just set down, it’s probably clear that doing any of that isn’t a recipe for success.

It’s a zero-sum game. A few extra hours into the evening can make you more tired the next morning, generally pulling down productivity to a level more or less near where it would have been if you hadn’t. An extra job takes away attention from others, again pulling down overall productiveness.

But, all too often, we’re desperate for success. At the time, it makes sense to work later, or to take on the additional responsibility, assuming you have that level of control. The QS Insights Magazine team is just as susceptible to this thinking as anyone else. The team and I can tell you that the nights before a release, we are usually up way past our bedtimes finalising every little detail.

So, if overwork isn’t the solution to conquering the increasingly busy world, what is? Maybe the opposite: doing what you would have normally done in the first place.

In this edition of QS Insights Magazine, our cover stories, "The overwork myth" and "Fail fast and home grow your talent" explores the myth of overwork in the area of academic research. We look at the so called “Nobel Prize Factory” to find out how it has achieved success and why it hates being referred to as a factory. We also look at what universities can implement in their own institutions to increase their rate of success.