Are you one of those who stays late at the office to say that you are very productive? Well you’re wrong, because this quality does not focus on the number of hours worked but on the short and long term results.
Working eight hours, a schedule that was instituted in 1800, does not work with efficient work; It is better to work less hours and more intelligently, otherwise we will be tired, stressed and we will be the opposite of a prominent employee.
The reality is that we must work when we are more productive, although in spite of the moment that is, we must follow a rule: have breaks during the day for our brain to recover and process the information.
These are the arguments why working eight hours does not make any sense
- The custom of working eight hours a day came with the industrial revolution since to maximize production, factories needed to set schedules for their workers.
- Who proposed this rule, Robert Owen, proposed to divide the day into three parts: eight hours to work, eight to recreate and eight to rest. If your schedule is from 8 am to 4 pm, it may sound good, but if you work from 9 to 5 it is not so; even less if you have an intermediate schedule, like 11 to 7. Your eight hours of recreation would end at 3 in the morning. That’s fine?
- Finally, Henry Ford implemented eight hours of work in 1926. But why should we change that scheme?
Simply because of the eight hours a day of work no longer fit with our lifestyle and our current work practices. Businesses confuse productivity and associate it with quantity and not quality.
- Working long hours causes fatigue, stress and frustration, low productivity (just what your bosses do not want) and less commitment to your work.
- Timothy Ferriss, author of the book The 4-Hour Work Week, says that the best way to work is to do it only when you feel more efficient, clear and rested because life is more productive and you enjoy it more.
- So the idea is that to maximize your productivity you find a lifestyle pattern that allows you to plan your most demanding tasks, during your most productive hours, and focus on just one thing at a time to avoid falling into multitasking.
- According to various studies the brain can focus from 90 to 120 minutes. Then he needs a rest. Therefore, there are some alternatives to cope with eight hours of work and be productive without falling into stress and frustration: one is to plan two moments a day of 15 minutes of rest; one mid-morning and one mid-afternoon.
- Another solution is to apply the Pomodoro technique and work in 25 minute periods with 5 minute breaks. Another is to divide your day into 90 minutes and assign each block to task; already concluded each one to rest 20 minutes.
