In my experience this is what happens with programmers in corporate environments and produces excessive hours - 2 hours concentrating in the morning, 2 hours concentrating in the evening, and 8 hours of bullshit in between.
Four Hours of Concentration
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Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#12By and large I agree with this, but I think there is another element to consider, which is your overall energy levels. If you exercise, eat right, laugh, spend time with family and friends, then you're more likely to be able to consistently put in this kind of effort. I don't think you can or should aim to do much more than 4, but I think a very large proportion of the world isn't capable of even coming close to 4, b…
I've read a couple of Tony Schwartz's books which go into this topic more and helped me to rethink my working habits.
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#13I have been freelancing for most of my time as a developer, and I have worked remotely for all of it.
The one actual job I had as a web developer set the work week as 40 hours a week (8 hours a day.) This left me wondering if any developers actually work this long of a day and how they could possibly do it.
When I'm doing client work, I'm ON, all the circuit boards are lit up. I can't keep this going for more than 4 - 6 hours per day. If I work a long day, then the next day I'm drained and I have to pay off that debt.
It actually took me years to really figure this out after a life of being trained to the 40 hour work week (parents, my early work life.) The 40 hour model for work is broken.
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#14Back in the old days when I was in school, I didn't do well with more than 3 classes in a row in college. Not just me though, nearly everyone started with 2 Tu-Th 1.5 hr classes and 2 M-W-F 1 hr classes. That was a full time 12 unit load, but I always took at least 16 units, and sometimes as many as 24, which was up to 3 more classes a week. 16 units was a full time job, the semesters I took 20 and 24 were very speci…
Most of that work isn't that cognitively demanding though. If you're reading research papers or textbooks most of the time the really hard parts have been done for you. You just need to follow along.
Also, with most work there's lots of things that need to do that require relatively little concentration once you've made the cognitive shift.
I think the four hour limit applies to design/creative work or work that requires immense attention to detail.
I'd say most people have little in a day that actively drains this reserve in more than a trickle.
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#15If you practice something 4 hours per day, 365 days per year, you'll hit the legendary 10,000 hour mark in about 6 years and 10 months. --- Does this mean that each of us has a reservoir of about 4 hours of intense concentration per day? When we perform a less-intense task, like driving or facebooking, are we using those 4 hours at a reduced rate? This sounds like it could feed into another idea - that each human has…
Sounds quite similar to the concept of ego depletion : http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ego_depletion
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#16I'm a proponent of this theory, and it worked for me in Law School. I would only study for two two hour sessions each day, after which I was free to do whatever I wanted. This worked quite well for me, and I always felt fresh and sharp, especially when finals came around. I also did the same study plan for the bar exam and feel like it worked well there too, i.e. passed it on the first try with a minimum of drama, th…
I tend to agree, although I think you can concentrate longer for short, unsustainable durations. My standard schedule in law school was a few hours during the semester, then a few weeks of 8-10 hour days around finals.
My take away from the experience was that 8 hours of real work is really a lot of work. And distractions are absolute poison: internet, cell phone, etc. Nothing quite like locking yourself in a room with just a book and highlighter--no computer, no cell phone, no people. You add those things to the mix and it can easily take a 16 hour day to get 8 hours of real work done.
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#17This is reassuring for me. On a normal day, I only really do so much actual coding and intense thinking, and I usually wrongfully compare it to the crazy energy drink fueled all-nighters (which makes me feel like I'm not getting enough done).
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#18Are there any peer-reviewed studies on this? This looks like purely anecdotal evidence. It makes sense on the surface, but I don't think I can trust that four hours of intense concentration per day is some sort of "cognitive limit" without an actual scientific study.
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#19If you practice something 4 hours per day, 365 days per year, you'll hit the legendary 10,000 hour mark in about 6 years and 10 months. --- Does this mean that each of us has a reservoir of about 4 hours of intense concentration per day? When we perform a less-intense task, like driving or facebooking, are we using those 4 hours at a reduced rate? This sounds like it could feed into another idea - that each human has…
I think theoretically less-intense tasks use up your concentration more quickly if you do it intermittently with an intense task. Which I think makes the usual "work 30 minutes, Facebook 5 minutes, repeat" cycle quite devastating to productivity.
I think we overestimate how quickly we can really context switch. It's interesting to look at how people respond to stimulants. People take adderall to "help them focus" but what it really does is magnify what I think is a latent resistance to context switching.
Re: Four Hours of Concentration
#20I believe that the 37signals guys have a very similar opinion.