creative maverick

I want to work a 4 hour day as I wrote in the previous post. There’s a snag here. I am currently doing even more than a standard 8 hour working day - sometimes only switching off my computer late at night.

If I want a different result, I will need to change what I’m doing. The first step is to ask what I am doing that gets in the way of my working a shorter day. So I wrote a list. It contains the habits that are elongating my work day and the possible reasons behind them. I’m working on the assumption that each habit is driven by a need to be fulfilled and therefore has some kind of positive motivation underneath.

How many of these are familiar to you?

Ways I reduce my productivity:

1. Not doing the thing I said I would and doing a different task instead. This is often because I feel resistance to doing what I should. A common trigger is feeling overwhelmed by the task because it’s too big or it’s difficult to break down into small chunks. The task I do instead is either easier to tackle (eg doing email) or more fun (eg playing around with some new web technology).
2. Escapism like surfing the web. Often because I didn’t stop when I felt I wanted to, I have used up my convergent thinking capacity, and I am therefore stealing the down-time my brain wants by doing low intensity tasks. I would clearly be better off taking a break.
3. Splitting my attention (eg checking email). Sometimes this is because I should stop work, sometimes it’s a need for contact when working alone, sometimes just a symptom of an over-adrenalised state i.e. I’m used to being interrupted so can’t settle down to being focussed.
4. Spending too long on one task due to perfectionism. An example being the time I spent fiddling with the design of this blog. This time might be better labeled as a fun task and done outside of work hours. Or it may indicate I need to be willing to work more with other people - in this case a designer.
5. Doing too many projects - so all projects proceed slowly and some may lose momentum. Cause: I don’t think about how little time I have spare when I consider starting a new project. I also have a love of new ideas and so enjoy starting new projects. Instead, I need to choose fewer projects but focus on ones which centre on the generation and expression of new ideas (such as writing this blog).
6. Not being there at all! Scheduling other things within the work day like meetings in Central London I have to travel to - massively reducing the working day so there is only space for maintenance tasks (like doing email) left. Caused by need for contact, lack of scheduling forethought (eg several appointments in one week), and desire for time off being out & about in London.

How do you waste your time? Grab a piece of paper and write own your list. No recriminations here. Imagine you are a scientist observing an ant at work and just write down the behaviours as you see them.

Let me know what you find out - is your list similar to mine? What’s the most significant behaviour on your list? What’s the need behind it that isn’t being satisfied? Is there a better way to satisfy it? Leave a comment.

I’ve already realised from writing my list here that there are some important themes for me to address - getting plenty of contact with other people in my working day, continually reorienting my work around the stuff that is most fun for me, and taking more breaks so I can maintain my focus when I am working.

I believe that my new experiment in working a 4 hour work day should address all of the behaviours in my list. Read on to find out how.