Yeah I've done similar through the past, using blocks of time from 15 to 30 mins.march83 wrote:I've recently discovered the pomodoro technique. I allocate 20 minute blocks of work, followed by a rest period. Since taking it up, I get through surprisingly few 20 minute blocks of work each day, but my productivity is up. I've always known that inefficiencies were pretty high in my type of office work, but I'd never bothered to quantify it. Now I have, I'm amazed by how distracted I get.
Anyway, by putting a number on what is an acceptable level of productivity it's much easier to get to the end of the day and go home happy that I did enough, what I could, etc. Makes it easier to leave the work at the door when I leave. Then there's the additional skills to focus and ignore distraction.
With the advent of computers for monitoring human productivity, there has been a drive to get more blood out of the stone of office and manual workers. I've seen mining companies and hospitals mess with 12 hour shifts.
I've heard that some administrative sectors have time productivity levels as low as 40%.
And when you see half a dozen guys standing around holes on the side of the road, you wonder whether 40% is generous.
In my work if I don't have a person in front of me, there's no income!
And small to medium retail is interesting in that 20-40% of annual revenue occurs in 17% of the year (november/december).
I think there's a statistical average output for sub categories of work and IQ. Trying to elevate average outputs beyond these results in longer term compromises generally invisible to low EQ bean counters and hypomanic profit-centric managers and business owners.
In addition, over the last 50 years there's been a significant erosion of healthy lifestyle choices, and all things that stem from those - intellectual and physical stamina, concentration span, self restraint, etc. Add to that diversity of culture, ethics, values, and economic and financial insecurities....and chronic stress takes a courageous and insightful mindset to evade!