Work for life, don't live for work

During the industrial revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, educator and philosopher Robert Owen developed the principle that taking care of wage workers is beneficial to the employer. Before that, adults and children worked the same way in production, 14-16 hours a day. Starting with the restriction of child labor, Owen gradually began to promote the idea of the 8-hour workday, which at that time was not very widespread, although his experiments certainly proved the advantages of his ideas.

His famous slogan was:

Eight hours is labor. Eight hours rest. Eight hours is a dream.

The 8/8/8 rule became the standard when Henry Ford introduced the eight-hour day in Ford Motors factories in 1914. Despite the fact that even at that time it was a very bold and risky step, the results were impressive. By reducing the number of working hours and doubling the wages, Ford managed to double its profits. This became a model for other companies, which soon also introduced the 8-hour workday as a standard.

There is no scientific explanation for why we work 8 hours a day. It is simply a standard that was adopted a century ago to improve the efficiency of industrial production.

Work smarter, not longer

Time has become a unit of measure for labor productivity because it is an easy-to-measure metric. We constantly try to work as many hours as possible every day, because at the end of the day it makes us feel like we have accomplished something important. But time is a meaningless metric for measuring productivity.

In today's increasingly creative economy, it doesn't matter how many hours we work every day. Only what we have achieved during this time matters.

A variety of studies from companies, universities, and industry associations suggest this: On average, you don't produce more in a 10-hour workday than in an 8-hour day.

Do less, achieve more

The author of the article has experimented a lot with various ways to increase daily productivity. He ended up with the following list of tips and tricks:

Write down the three most important tasks. Before leaving the office, make a list of the three tasks for tomorrow that will have the greatest impact on what you are working on. If you already have such a list, select the tasks that have been delayed the longest. And place them at the very top.
Work in 90 minute intervals, then take a break. Instead of thinking of your work day as a continuous chunk of time, break it down into 4-5 intervals (one task on your to-do list every 90 minutes). During breaks, do a warm-up, run, or chat with colleagues - anything that can shut your brain off for a while.
Give yourself less time. Remember Parkinson's Law, which works for everything you do: "Work fills the time allotted for it."
Dock similar tasks. Answering your mail? Call by phone? Posting tweets? Do similar activities together, consistently. Multitasking is the devil that makes your brain go back and forth, from one task to the next.
Ask for help. Use your strengths, but don't try to overcome all your weaknesses. If you get stuck in something, take 5 seconds to ask a colleague, neighbor, or friend who might know the answer. At the same time, you will pump up your networking skills, which can save you from stress and save time.

Try these methods and, most likely, in the end you will feel like a much more productive and happy office samurai.