Why work for 8 hours does not make sense and how to organize your day

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Dr. Travis Bradbury, author of the bestseller "Emotional Intelligence" considersThat familiar to us the eight-hour working day - this is a long outdated approach to work. If you want to be productive, it is time to abandon the vestiges of the past and find a new way to plan their time.

Why eight-hour working day is not effective

Such rationing graphics appear during the industrial revolution, and its aim was to reduce the amount of time workers spend on factories exhausting manual labor. This two hundred year-old reform, and a regime we have today is not well suited.

It is believed that we have to work like our parents, long eight hours a day with a couple of breaks, or even without them. And most people are working even in your lunch hour.

This outdated approach does not help, but rather hinders our productivity.

In a recent studyThe Rule of 52 and 17: It's Random, But it Ups Your Productivity Draugiem Group tracked the working habits of their employees using the application. Researchers have seen how much time people spent on different tasks, and compared these values ​​with their productivity performance.

In the process of measuring company's discovered that: the working hours had not really matter - it was important to how people structure their day. In particular, employees who do not indulge in a short break, were much more productive than those who never left the tasks for several hours.

The ideal ratio amounted to 52 minutes of work and 17 minutes of rest.

People who adhere to this schedule can fully concentrate on their work. For almost a full hour they are 100% dedicated to the task facing them. They did not open the social network even "just check" and not be distracted by emails.

feeling fatigue (Just about an hour), they take short breaks during which completely disconnect from work. This helped them to clear his head and get away, then to spend one more productive per hour.

How to work

People who use performance ratio 52/17, adjusted to the natural features of cord: it is based on the alternation of high-energy bursts (approximately an hour) and its reduction (15-20 minutes).

However, in everyday life, we often ignore the habit these natural ebb and flow of energy, while continuing to work, even when already tired and can not concentrate.

The best way to get rid of the constant fatigue and frequent distractions from work - plan your day in advance. Do not try to sit on the task for hours, and then to ignore the loss of attention and exhaustion. A state where your performance is only beginning to fall, is seen as a sign - it's time for a break.

Force yourself to pause and rest easier if you know exactly what it will make your day more productive. After the rest, which we usually do, far from this: checking email and watching YouTube do not charge us with energy. In contrast to the usual walk.

How to plan your day

Work standard eight o'clock it is possible, if we break this time into segments - sprints. Once you adjust your activity under the natural energy surges, things will go much better. Here are four tips to help you get into the perfect rhythm.

Break up the day at hourly intervals

Usually, we are planning that need to be completed by the end of the day, week or month. But you can become many times more effective if in each moment to concentrate only on what we can achieve now.

So plan a day shorter length of time duration per hour. This will allow to ask the right rhythm of your activity. Plus so you simplify complex tasks by breaking them into smaller pieces. If you want to stick with the most accurate formula, you can use intervals of 52 minutes, but an hour better than nothing.

During working hours - work

sprints system effectiveness because during this period the peak energy used correctly. So it is possible to achieve a maximum concentration in a relatively short time and quickly deal with the tasks. But if you're irresponsible attitude to the allotted time to work - shlote SMS-messages, check your email or social networks - the whole system collapses.

Relax really

In Draugiem Group we found: the staff, who made the break even more frequently than every hour, proved more productive than those who never broke away from work. In addition, those who consciously relaxed, feel better than those who at the time of "rest" could not disconnect from left tasks.

Distracted from your computer, phone, and to-do list you need to stay productive.

The most effective recharge walking, reading and simple communication. They are able to actually distract us from work. In a particularly stressful days it seems that checking emails or phone calls may well go for a break. But it is not, therefore, avoid this holiday.

Do not wait until the body will force you to take a break

Just work until you get tired of so much that you want to rest, - a bad idea. It is useless: you still have missed the window of peak performance.

Stick to pre-scheduling: its observance ensures that you work in a state of maximum productivityAnd relax while the least. Remember that it is much more effective to arrange a short break and recover, than to try to continue to work when you are tired and can not concentrate.