Outdated eight-hour day not in tune with your brain

© Andrey Zyk – 123RF.com

Linda Trim, director at Giant Leap, says, “We are still expected to put in eight-hour days, working in long, continuous blocks of time, with few or no breaks. Most people even work through their lunch hour. However, if we want to be as productive as possible, it is time for a change of thinking.”

Structure your day

A study recently conducted by the Draugiem Group, a social networking website, tracked employees’ work habits by measuring how much time people spent on various tasks and compared this to their productivity levels.

“They stumbled upon a fascinating finding: the length of the workday did not matter much. What mattered was how people structured their day. In particular, people who were strict about taking short breaks were far more productive than those who worked longer hours.”

The ideal work-to-break ratio was 52 minutes of work, followed by 17 minutes of rest. They didn’t check Facebook or get distracted by e-mails. When they felt fatigue after about an hour, they took short breaks, during which they completely separated themselves from their work.

Brain wants an hour on, 15 minutes off

People who have discovered this ‘magic’ productivity ratio tapped into a fundamental need of the human mind: the brain naturally functions in spurts of high energy (roughly an hour) followed by spurts of low energy (15–20 minutes).

“For most of us, this natural ebb and flow of energy leaves us wavering between focused periods of high energy followed by far less productive periods, when we tire and succumb to distractions.

“Instead of working for an hour or more and then trying to battle through distractions and fatigue, when your productivity begins to dip, take this as a sign that it is time for a break.”

Boss your workday

The 8-hour workday can only work well for you if you break your time into strategic intervals that aligns with your natural energy. Here are the best ways to do it.

• Break your day into hourly intervals - we naturally plan what we need to accomplish by the end of the day, the week, or the month, but we are far more effective when we focus on what we can accomplish right now. “Planning your day around hour-long intervals simplifies daunting tasks by breaking them into manageable chunks.”

• Respect your hour - the interval strategy only works because we use our peak energy levels to reach an extremely high level of focus for a relatively short amount of time. When you disrespect your hour by texting or checking e-mails, you defeat the entire purpose of the approach.

• Take real rest - getting away from your computer, your phone, and your to-do list is essential to boosting your productivity. Breaks such as walking, reading, and chatting are the most effective forms of recharging because they take you away from your work. On a busy day, it might be tempting to think of dealing with e-mails or making phone calls as breaks, but they are not, so do not give in to this line of thought.

“Breaking your day down into chunks of work and rest that match your natural energy levels feels good, makes your workday go faster and boosts your productivity,” concludes Trim.