Yesterday was an intense day at work. I started at 9 and had to finish a slide deck draft by 1:30 PM. But from 11 to 1, I was in meetings. So I caught up on email, worked on the deck, went to the calls, then back to the deck, and by the time I first thought about food for the day, it was 2:15 PM.
Pheeeeeew. That’s the sound I made in my head. Perhaps also literally. It was time to inhale. I sat down, ate some bread, and watched Digimon for a good bit. It got me thinking: The longer a consuming stretch of effort, the longer you’ll need to unwind. That feels like common sense.
I’m not sure the standard, eight-hour-workday has enough room for this decompression. Hardly anyone ever actually works eight hours in one focused stretch, and perhaps this is part of the reason: If you did so for a few days, your head might explode. So besides the obvious lunch break, we add and then fill various gaps, sometimes consciously but often without realizing, with distractions of all kinds: jumping on notifications, gladly indulging in interruptions, or getting pulled into the infinite content utopia waiting behind any screen.
I don’t know what the golden ratio would be. Chances are, it’d vary from person to person and day to day. Do two hours of focused work balance with one hour of relaxing? 30 minutes? Is it 4:1, 3:1, or even 50:50?
When I was self-employed, I didn’t worry about this ratio as much. When I needed more rest, I rested more. And when I felt inspired, I kept working. I’m slowly bringing some of that attitude to my full-time job, and I’m pretty sure it’s making me more productive, not less. But when your contract says “eight hours,” that weighs on you. At least it does on me. I don’t want to fail my obligations to my employer. At the same time, for all the numerical clarity, it feels like no one knows what exactly those eight hours are supposed to look like. So I’m doing my best and hoping for the same.
Take your work seriously, but please do the same with your health—mental or physical. Humans in pressure cookers don’t make for faster soup. They’ll just get boiled.
