5 ms·

The ability to work uninterrupted is a privilege. First time sink is family, spouses, partners, kids, friends and social obligations. Take 2 hours minimum. Org

by throw2016 9y ago

The ability to work uninterrupted is a privilege. First time sink is family, spouses, partners, kids, friends and social obligations. Take 2 hours minimum. Organizing food and eating - another 2 hours. If cooking add an hour to that so 3 hours for food. For cleaning and basic home maintenance - minimum 1 hour. Personal hygiene - add an hour so total 2 hours. Commuting if necessary - 1 hour minimum. Add 8 hours or let's be harder and take 6 hours for sleep. That's a total of 14 hours that can't be negotiated leaving you with 10 hours for work. Given the brain will not operate at that stretch you need distraction, so web, tv, books, games, movies - another 2-3 hours. So 7-8 hours seems to the the maximum any human being can work. If you don't have family and friends and someone takes care of food and maintenance you can get an additional 4 hours. So anything beyond 10-12 hours seems physically impossible, and this is with 6 hours sleep, no family and all responsibilities taken care of.

jsjohnst 9y ago
The vast majority of what you mention is wrong for me, and I'm not remotely of the paygrade of someone like Elon Musk. If you think Elon Musk spends 2-3 hours per day on eating, then I'm not sure what I can say further.
- throw2016 9y ago
  I doubt food magically appears on your plate? You seem to have left out the 'Organizing food' part of the eating entry above which includes the time required to get the food. You either have to source food from markets and cook it, have it cooked, eat at a restaurant or order out, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All this takes time as does time to actually eat the food. If you have a family multiply the time required. If you can do all the above in less than 3 hours it's worth sharing.
  - DanBC 9y ago
    Very rich people don't need to do any of that. They hire kitchen staff who'll do everything but eat the food.
    - throw2016 9y ago
      The original comment is about privilege and the average person. It explicitly states if you have people taking care of things for you, you get more time. That's why working interrupted is a privilege, as other people take care of necessities for you. Elon musk working 14 hours is not anything special if he has people doing things for him, the average person does not have this privilege and anyone with similar privilege can do the same thing.
  - kbutler 9y ago
    Hire a cook. Trivial if you consider your time to be worth > $1,000 / hour.
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    You don't think someone with the net worth of Elon Musk and his focus on productivity doesn't have assistants for that? Really!? Even still, I source my own food, cook it, and eat it three times a day and don't spend 3hrs/day every day doing so (and those who know me know I cook pretty fancy meals).
    - throw2016 9y ago
      Did you read the original comment? It rather explicitly states if you have people taking care of things you get more time. I really don't see the point of your continuous misrepresentation. The point was about privilege and the average person. Obviously you will have more time if you have people taking care of things for you or are Usain Bolt with food like yourself, but this does not apply to the average person. If they had the same privilege as Musk they too can work 14 hours a day so it's not noteworthy in any particular way.
      - jsjohnst 9y ago
        Yes, I did read the original comment. 95% of the comment was made up numbers with one sentence thrown in for good measure: > The ability to work uninterrupted is a privilege. Yes, it is a privilege, but that doesn't negate that the rest of the post is completely false conjecture by one person. > That's a total of 14 hours that can't be negotiated If it can't be negotiated, then why do many people do it, especially ones who are more well off financially? > 10 hours for work. Given the brain will not operate at that stretch you need distraction, so web, tv, books, games, movies - another 2-3 hours. So 7-8 hours seems to the the maximum any human being can work. I'm not sure why I am even bothering to reply to that, but if you think that's true then honestly we aren't having an intelligent debate and so my time is being wasted. > So anything beyond 10-12 hours [working] seems physically impossible Same as above.
  - vidarh 9y ago
    In the past I've seen articles claiming Musk works while spending time with his kids, while they are attended by nannies. I doubt he sources his own food. I still question those numbers, and even more so whether or not he can work effectively for that amount of time, though.
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      > I still question those numbers, and even more so whether or not he can work effectively for that amount of time, though. I agree completely with you here, the numbers are obviously padded vs what many normally think is "work". But the reality is that many actually work far more hours per day than they realize if the use a similar definition of "work" as what's used for Musk's number here. How many of us lay in bed thinking about a tough work problem? While quickly snarfing down food sitting at your desk, are you not reading emails or similar? Do you go to networking events and talk business? That's all "work" technically if you're being liberal with the definition (and honestly, it's not unreasonable to call that "work").
  - dkersten 9y ago
    Or, you know, eat things that are quick to prepare. If I am at home[1] spend about 40 minutes per week on food shopping and can prepare a simple (perhaps boring) meal in 5 minutes and eat it in 10 or multitask while eating. [1] When not at home, eg in the office, then I spend a lot more time getting/eating lunch, but its generally to get away from work so I would spend the time away from work anyway.

jsjohnst 9y ago

The vast majority of what you mention is wrong for me, and I'm not remotely of the paygrade of someone like Elon Musk. If you think Elon Musk spends 2-3 hours per day on eating, then I'm not sure what I can say further.

throw2016 9y ago
I doubt food magically appears on your plate? You seem to have left out the 'Organizing food' part of the eating entry above which includes the time required to get the food. You either have to source food from markets and cook it, have it cooked, eat at a restaurant or order out, for breakfast, lunch and dinner. All this takes time as does time to actually eat the food. If you have a family multiply the time required. If you can do all the above in less than 3 hours it's worth sharing.
- DanBC 9y ago
  Very rich people don't need to do any of that. They hire kitchen staff who'll do everything but eat the food.
  - throw2016 9y ago
    The original comment is about privilege and the average person. It explicitly states if you have people taking care of things for you, you get more time. That's why working interrupted is a privilege, as other people take care of necessities for you. Elon musk working 14 hours is not anything special if he has people doing things for him, the average person does not have this privilege and anyone with similar privilege can do the same thing.
- kbutler 9y ago
  Hire a cook. Trivial if you consider your time to be worth > $1,000 / hour.
- jsjohnst 9y ago
  You don't think someone with the net worth of Elon Musk and his focus on productivity doesn't have assistants for that? Really!? Even still, I source my own food, cook it, and eat it three times a day and don't spend 3hrs/day every day doing so (and those who know me know I cook pretty fancy meals).
  - throw2016 9y ago
    Did you read the original comment? It rather explicitly states if you have people taking care of things you get more time. I really don't see the point of your continuous misrepresentation. The point was about privilege and the average person. Obviously you will have more time if you have people taking care of things for you or are Usain Bolt with food like yourself, but this does not apply to the average person. If they had the same privilege as Musk they too can work 14 hours a day so it's not noteworthy in any particular way.
    - jsjohnst 9y ago
      Yes, I did read the original comment. 95% of the comment was made up numbers with one sentence thrown in for good measure: > The ability to work uninterrupted is a privilege. Yes, it is a privilege, but that doesn't negate that the rest of the post is completely false conjecture by one person. > That's a total of 14 hours that can't be negotiated If it can't be negotiated, then why do many people do it, especially ones who are more well off financially? > 10 hours for work. Given the brain will not operate at that stretch you need distraction, so web, tv, books, games, movies - another 2-3 hours. So 7-8 hours seems to the the maximum any human being can work. I'm not sure why I am even bothering to reply to that, but if you think that's true then honestly we aren't having an intelligent debate and so my time is being wasted. > So anything beyond 10-12 hours [working] seems physically impossible Same as above.
- vidarh 9y ago
  In the past I've seen articles claiming Musk works while spending time with his kids, while they are attended by nannies. I doubt he sources his own food. I still question those numbers, and even more so whether or not he can work effectively for that amount of time, though.
  - jsjohnst 9y ago
    > I still question those numbers, and even more so whether or not he can work effectively for that amount of time, though. I agree completely with you here, the numbers are obviously padded vs what many normally think is "work". But the reality is that many actually work far more hours per day than they realize if the use a similar definition of "work" as what's used for Musk's number here. How many of us lay in bed thinking about a tough work problem? While quickly snarfing down food sitting at your desk, are you not reading emails or similar? Do you go to networking events and talk business? That's all "work" technically if you're being liberal with the definition (and honestly, it's not unreasonable to call that "work").
- dkersten 9y ago
  Or, you know, eat things that are quick to prepare. If I am at home[1] spend about 40 minutes per week on food shopping and can prepare a simple (perhaps boring) meal in 5 minutes and eat it in 10 or multitask while eating. [1] When not at home, eg in the office, then I spend a lot more time getting/eating lunch, but its generally to get away from work so I would spend the time away from work anyway.