My mind gets a little fuzzy when I concentrate for too long. So, to protect my focused time, I rearranged my life, trading a steady salary as a multimedia journalist covering the tech world for flexibility as a freelance writer focusing on health and wellness. Working less, not more, holds the key to my productivity.
I do the bulk of my work in four or five 55-minute chunks throughout the day, taking half-hour breaks when my mind starts to wander. This schedule puts me in good company. Although there’s not much hard science behind it, a lot of productivity gurus push the idea that we get our best work done with about four or five hours of focus a day.
They came up with this range partly because of a well-known study of music training, led by psychologist K. Anders Ericsson, that inspired the “10,000-hour rule.” (The concept, popularized by writer Malcolm Gladwell, is that it takes at least 10,000 hours of deliberate practice to become an expert at something, although Ericsson has said this is an oversimplification.) What’s the connection to four or five hours of focus? That’s how long the “best” students in Ericsson’s research tended to practice.
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