Alex Pang of Stanford University uses decades of science to assert that the optimal hours to be devoted to working by people who are knowledge workers is 4. Yes that is the claim 4 hours.
Science seems to back him up. He points to a collection of authors and scientists including Darwin, and John Le Carre who devote 4 hours of their days to their craft. Anthropologists have also claimed that hunter gathers worked for 3 – 5 hours a day to keep everyone fed.
Optimal brain time is 2-3 hours in the morning, with the remaining hour early in the evening. The question arising is what to do with the other 4 hours? The answer is mindless administrative work, or spending time learning something new.
For my part the idea of being productive for 4 hours a day and then spending another 4 hours a day acquiring knowledge and cleaning up administrative trivia sound appealing. What does working in this fashion suggest to you?
Need greater clarity – contact me to discuss.
Business Change Agent, Marie-Helene Sakowski at info@effectiveplacement.com.
