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Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

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Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#21

Historically, working 24 hours a day (I include sleep because after a certain number of hours you even dream of code or your business) for 1 year typically accomplishes more than working 3 hours per day for 8 years. Or 1.5 hours per day for 16 years. There is just some kind of economy of scale. --------- EDIT: I got downvoted. Come up with whatever standard of productivity you want (ANY standard that you want) and ad…

Says who? I've not found this to be historically so at all in my own perception. Feel free to share some data.

I mean historically as in, in the annals of history. I've now updated my comment with two examples.

Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#23
post #16

I agree with the author with some exceptions: when you are working as a contractor or freelancer for someone else's project maybe 3h/day is not acceptable. When you've got externally imposed deadlines 3h/day may not be sufficient. But i agree that working less than 8h/day could be really more productive. I also liked the "less stuck for coding" topic as "...it is sometimes hard to go bed without solving some unknown…

> When you've got externally imposed deadlines 3h/day may not be sufficient. Lots of deadlines companies and thus their employees face are externally imposed (often from their customer(s)).

they are also often bullshit deadlines that users dont care about but gets a few brownie points for management.

Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On the topic of work environment: in one job I worked at, we had the Internet machines completely separated from the work machines. If you needed to check something you had to physically walk over to the Internet desk. Great for focussing on the task at hand without distraction, and considering carefully what information you need.

But then how do you copy and paste from Stack Overflow?

You can download the information to use locally, it's only about 35Gb last time I checked

Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#27
As a freelancer, I understand where some of the comments "As a freelancer this won't work" are coming from. However, the last year I've flipped my freelancing model where I offer a more productized service with a clearly defined scope and set price. Instead of doing design work for $XXX/h, I'll deliver A,B,C within Timeframe Y, for Price $XXXX. With clearly defined services, I've actually been working for the last 12 months using a similar model, usually constraining myself to 4h/day with weekends off. My productivity + revenue have increased dramatically. Productizing your service makes it easier to market and generate leads, while it gives you the flexibility to work the way you want and actually free up time. Awesome post OP!

Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#28

Historically, working 24 hours a day (I include sleep because after a certain number of hours you even dream of code or your business) for 1 year typically accomplishes more than working 3 hours per day for 8 years. Or 1.5 hours per day for 16 years. There is just some kind of economy of scale. --------- EDIT: I got downvoted. Come up with whatever standard of productivity you want (ANY standard that you want) and ad…

Regarding your edit - no one is downvoting you because they believe they can do more in 90 minutes than 24 hours. You're being downvoted because you're saying that productivity is infinitely scalable - I believe that's wrong. Over a certain amount of work productivity drops to the point where it creates a negative impact on your effectiveness.

If you find that you're effective for every hour you work regardless how long you work for then you're very fortunate and exceptionally unusual.

Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#29

If I told you that every car needed 8 gallons of gas to drive 100 miles, you'd point out I was wrong - so many different makes and models, not to mention variables from tire pressure to driving style. Yet for the potentially even more complex range that is different people, it amazes me that so much of the advice is didactic - we all need 8 hours sleep, 8 glasses of water, and 8 hours of work with breaks is optimal.…

I agree with your point, one size certainly doesn't fit all. However, people should also be aware that they are not special snowflakes and there large groups of people who have the same tendencies and benefit from the same advice.

Therefore, even though I appreciate that this isn't a solution for everyone, I don't think it's fair to say that this boils down to just a personal experience with no external value.

Re: Work for only 3 hours a day, but everyday

#30
post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> When you've got externally imposed deadlines 3h/day may not be sufficient. Lots of deadlines companies and thus their employees face are externally imposed (often from their customer(s)).

they are also often bullshit deadlines that users dont care about but gets a few brownie points for management.

No true Scotsman fallacy: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman
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