Working Up

by Dwayne Phillips

You can work productively all day given a few restarts or what we used to call “breaks.”

Working long hours for many days in a row isn’t a good idea. Fatigue wins—every time.

There are, however, ways to beat fatigue. We used to call these breaks, but I am sure someone has a far better noun these days.

Back during the prior millennium, I had a few technical books to read, study, and note. I had a simple formula for concentrating all day (sometimes 12, sometimes 14 hours).

At the top of the hour, I sat with the book, a pencil, and notepad at a table. I read with great concentration and took notes on every page. I did so for 50 minutes. At that moment I moved from the table to a Lazy-Boy recliner. I closed my eyes and, in a few moments, fell asleep. At the top of the hour, the clock on the wall next to me chimed. The chimes woke me. Return to the start of this paragraph and repeat.

I read with great concentration all day.

Today, some of my colleagues tell me how they worked from home as programmers. They would concentrate on programming from 7 to 9 AM. For the next hour, they did chores around the house. 10 AM to noon was concentrated programing. Noon to 2 PM was lunch and nap. 2 to 4 PM was concentrated work time. The next three hours was take a walk, prepare and eat dinner, and read a little. 7 to 9 PM was concentrated work.

They worked eight hours with high concentration. They did much of what they wanted the remainder of the day including exercise, eating, and resting. They couldn’t do that when they were in the office from 9 to 5. “Goofing off” is not permitted in the office. Taking “breaks” (those that last an hour or more) is not permitted in the office.

I guess eight hours of high-concentration work is not permitted in the office. Oh well.

Breaks and restarts allow us, even us old folks, to work productively all day. No breaks, no restarts, no productivity—only the illusion of work and all that.

You choose: illusion or reality.