You make me think about time management in Japan.

Here at work there is really no value to working ahead as it doesn't influence one's bonus nor help in lessoning future work. If you finish your work early, you are expected to either help other people do their job or do some other task that helps the company, like take out the trash or clean. I remember one company I worked at would send employees out to do landscaping work if we had nothing to do. As a result, a lot of people will just find "busy work" like rearranging columns in a spreadsheet or other wasteful activities, just so they can avoid being given more work.

Now if we work for ourselves, like I do now, well, time is money. Seems like I am always trying to work ahead on various things in any gaps that show up in my day.