We have all fell victim to the "post-lunch slump", or "a case of the Mondays", or some other justification we use for poor concentration. As such, we'd all love to know the ‘secret formula’ for remaining focused and getting the most done throughout the day, right? Well there are tons of theories and ‘productivity hacks’ out there with varying amounts of support so we figured we’d put together some theories we found and let you be the judge!
Harvard’s Circadian Rhythm Schedule
As discussed in Harvard Business Review’s findings, this work schedule is based primarily off the circadian rhythm, or the 24 hour biological clock we develop as humans that basically dictates our alertness throughout the day. In a nutshell, the study finds that due to our hardwired 24-hour internal clock, we typically see a peak in performance at around noon, see a dip at 3:00PM, then pick up again at around 6:00PM. As a result, this study encourages workers to plan their meetings and deadlines accordingly, and even goes so far to suggest naps at around 3:00PM can assist with overall performance.
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a widely revered time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It is sometimes referred to as the “Kitchen Timer technique” because it stresses the importance of focused, uninterrupted periods of work followed by short, uninterrupted breaks. For example, a common approach in this technique is to set a 25 minute timer and focus on working completely until the timer goes on, where you reward yourself with a 5 minute break. As soon as the five minutes is up, however, you get right back into another 25 minute work cycle. I must admit that the idea of periodic, scheduled breaks makes it easier to focus during the 25 minutes of undistracted work. As mentioned before, it’s a very popular technique and a lot of people swear by it so if you’re struggling to stay motivated you should give it a shot! There are even a variety of apps and websites out there, such as http://www.marinaratimer.com/, that serve as useful productivity timers if you don’t have a kitchen timer (or cell phone, for some reason) handy.
DeskTime’s study results
Speaking of online productivity timers, DeskTIme is a time-tracking application for businesses and a few years ago they shared a study in their blog, “The secret of the 10% most productive people”. To summarize, they used their huge collection of 5.5 million recorded logs per day (at the time) to determine who the top ten most productive users were. Upon investigating these top ten percent of productive employees, they determined that “the most productive people work for 52 minutes, then break for 17 minutes.” This study appears to reiterate the Pomodoro’s emphasis on focused work followed by focused breaks, but the time breakdown between the two is slightly altered.
Well there you have it! We’re all aware that our attention drifts and peaks throughout the day but hopefully utilizing one of the aforementioned techniques can help you stay on top of your To-Do lists and crank out productive work like never before!
Harvard’s Circadian Rhythm Schedule
As discussed in Harvard Business Review’s findings, this work schedule is based primarily off the circadian rhythm, or the 24 hour biological clock we develop as humans that basically dictates our alertness throughout the day. In a nutshell, the study finds that due to our hardwired 24-hour internal clock, we typically see a peak in performance at around noon, see a dip at 3:00PM, then pick up again at around 6:00PM. As a result, this study encourages workers to plan their meetings and deadlines accordingly, and even goes so far to suggest naps at around 3:00PM can assist with overall performance.
The Pomodoro Technique
The Pomodoro Technique is a widely revered time management method developed by Francesco Cirillo in the late 1980s. It is sometimes referred to as the “Kitchen Timer technique” because it stresses the importance of focused, uninterrupted periods of work followed by short, uninterrupted breaks. For example, a common approach in this technique is to set a 25 minute timer and focus on working completely until the timer goes on, where you reward yourself with a 5 minute break. As soon as the five minutes is up, however, you get right back into another 25 minute work cycle. I must admit that the idea of periodic, scheduled breaks makes it easier to focus during the 25 minutes of undistracted work. As mentioned before, it’s a very popular technique and a lot of people swear by it so if you’re struggling to stay motivated you should give it a shot! There are even a variety of apps and websites out there, such as http://www.marinaratimer.com/, that serve as useful productivity timers if you don’t have a kitchen timer (or cell phone, for some reason) handy.
DeskTime’s study results
Speaking of online productivity timers, DeskTIme is a time-tracking application for businesses and a few years ago they shared a study in their blog, “The secret of the 10% most productive people”. To summarize, they used their huge collection of 5.5 million recorded logs per day (at the time) to determine who the top ten most productive users were. Upon investigating these top ten percent of productive employees, they determined that “the most productive people work for 52 minutes, then break for 17 minutes.” This study appears to reiterate the Pomodoro’s emphasis on focused work followed by focused breaks, but the time breakdown between the two is slightly altered.
Well there you have it! We’re all aware that our attention drifts and peaks throughout the day but hopefully utilizing one of the aforementioned techniques can help you stay on top of your To-Do lists and crank out productive work like never before!
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