
The 4 Hour Workday - zacharypinter
http://thinksimplenow.com/productivity/the-4-hour-workday/
======
jquery
Let me summarize: "I usually slack off half the day. I realized I could move
all my slacking to the second half of the day, and viola, 4 hour workday! I'm
genius!"

I don't know about most people, but I get twice as much done in an 8 hour
workday as I do in a 4 hour workday. It may even be more, because 8 hours
gives me a greater proportion of time "in the zone."

~~~
hvs
Exactly. I freely admit that I don't work every minute of every day, but
that's because you need to take breaks in order to refocus and mull over what
you are working on. You can't cut the time you work in half (which for me
often includes evenings and weekends) and expect to get the same amount done.
The "extra" work that you add is often work that was unforseen when you
started but became necessary as you understood the problem better.

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patio11
This feels particular topical to me this week. We just had a 5 day weekend in
Japan and I spent most of it programming. It was easily my most productive
"workweek" ever, and I probably wasted _half_ of it.

Yesterday was pretty representative: started working at 10:00, madly hacking
away at client/server integration. Worked four solid hours and finally broke
for lunch at 2:00, figuring that I would just tweak the integration when I got
back and then start working on the web side. Tweaking the integration required
installing Delayed::Job, which required learning how to use Git. Several hours
later I was knee deep in Linux permissions errors and cursing loudly -- the
wheels were spinning but no progress was being made, and I hadn't even coded
the first screen for the web. I ended up doing at 7:30 what I should have done
at 2:00 -- called it a good day's work.

(Sidenote: version 3.0, coming to a blog near you soon enough.)

~~~
mcav
> _Several hours later I was knee deep in Linux permissions errors and cursing
> loudly_

On the other hand, these diversions have taught me a lot of assorted technical
knowledge that I wouldn't have picked up otherwise.

~~~
sp332
Not to mention improving my vocabulary - mostly of swear words.

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tlrobinson
"How to complete a full workday by noon?"

Hmm. That would require going to sleep before 5am and waking up before noon.

~~~
andreyf
This might be stupid, but I'm not seeing the joke (if it is a joke). What do
you mean, going to sleep before 5am and waking up before noon?

~~~
throw_away
many of us stay up until 5am and then don't wake up until noon, making it
mathematically impossible to complete a full workday before noon.

I wonder if Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome
(<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_syndrome>) is more
prevalent among hacker-types than the general population.

~~~
andreyf
That makes a lot of sense, thanks :-P

 _I wonder if Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome is more prevalent among hacker-
types than the general population._

Given the sample size of "me", absolutely.

~~~
iamcalledrob
Make that a rate of 100% with a sample size of 2...

~~~
danbmil99
200%?

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dryicerx
Same idea in a different light:

 _"It's not how many hours you work, but how much work per hour you get done"_

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bemmu
This might come off as a bit sad, but save moving to a warm country, I
wouldn't know how to spend my time if I really did follow this and end at
noon.

~~~
omarchowdhury
Watch LOST.

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juliend2
I recognize myself into this article. I always add more work to my day when my
daily list is done.

~~~
atas
Me too. A more balanced approach would be to have "minimum" and "maximum"
hours. Say that you would work at least until 13.00 and at most until 19.00.
Finishing in this time frame you will call it a day, but you add more work
before 13.00 and just stop after 19.00.

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plaes
So, looking at the definition of noon it says it's twelve o'clock...

Now lets do the math - starting from 9 and working until 12 is 12-9=3 hours.

Well, maybe I got something wrong:

    
    
      9 -> 10 = 0 + 1 = 1 hour
      10-> 11 = 1 + 2 = 2 hours
      11-> 12 = 2 + 1 = 3 hours
    

hmm...

How on earth can I trust someone writing this kind of lengthy blog post if he
cannot even get the simple math right. I wouldn't complain if it was a bit
smaller issue - but the whole article is talking about 4-hour workday that
starts from 9 and ends at noon :)

~~~
mariorz
I didn't read anything saying his day started at 9. how on earth can i trust
someone writing such a lengthy complaint when he can't even get the simple
facts right :)

~~~
jlefo7p6
"If you view work as something that starts at 9 and ends at 5, you won’t be
able to finish everything by noon."

"If You Work at Home, Never Work 9-5"

But it's only a fencepost error.

