Why The 8 Hour Workday Doesn’t Work

Sometimes I feel like I’m experiencing information overload. Do you ever feel like that? I get a bazillion blog updates with great articles and download offers and before I know it, I’m swimming in advice and recommendations as I make my way through everyone else’s sales funnels instead of concentration on my own. It’s enough to make me hang up my holster and become a hermit…away from all the updates, comments and social distractions.

Recently I have been investing some time into Todd Herman’s video series regarding his 90 Day Year program. He talks about goals and visions, and some of the distractions that can make our days unfruitful and extremely frustrating.

Then I read an article in Forbes about how The 8-Hour Workday Doesn’t Work and a blog post began formulating in my head. Of course, writing a blog post is totally not what I should be doing right now. (This is a prime example of how I got distracted and something sparked my interest and off I go on another tangent.)

But the thing that was interesting in this article was the mention of the fact that the 8-hour workday is “outdated and ineffective approach to work.” So I decided to keep reading…….

“The eight-hour workday was created during the industrial revolution as an effort to cut down on the number of hours of manual labor that workers were forced to endure on the factory floor. This breakthrough was a more humane approach to work 200 years ago, yet it possesses little relevance for us today.”

Evidently, this antiquated approach to working is doing more harm than good in today’s fast paced, on demand, and virtually realistic world and studies show that it’s no longer about how many hours you work but what you do with your hours that really matters.

The human brain concurs. By being intentional in our work for about an hour and then taking at least a 15 minute break, our brain is able to function at it’s best: spurts of high energy followed by spurts of low energy. Sounds wonderful but the key word here is “intentional”. Which brings up my problem of shiny object syndrome. I get distracted by text messages, kids, dogs, dishes, Facebook, emails, and the list is endless. I need a new approach.

Here are three things that we can all do, including myself, to overcome the distractions that make our days ineffective:

1. Work in 1 hour intervals and respect that hour - plan what you’re going to do in that hour and do it!
2. Take real rest - walking, having lunch away from technology or work. If you wait until your body or mind feels tired then you’ve missed the window of peak productivity.
3. Keep to the schedule - it may seem like answering a few emails during lunch will help you get ahead but the reality is you will miss your opportunity to re-charge and you’ll be more tired as the day progresses.

So now it’s time for me to take a 15 minute break, away from my phone and laptop. I’m going to go eat my breakfast and then come back to the next thing on my agenda. Do you take breaks throughout your day? A break that actually gives your body and mind a chance to reboot? Leave a comment letting me know how you handle daily distractions.