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I always assume these things involve picking a peak period, rounding up, rolling in surrounding time (train commute while going through emails, reviewing report

by prawn 4y ago

I always assume these things involve picking a peak period, rounding up, rolling in surrounding time (train commute while going through emails, reviewing reports on the couch, etc) and then allowing people to think that was a consistent average. e.g., it was more like 124 hours one week and the rest was 80-100ish. A workload stat doesn't survive in an article unless it's outrageously high or four-hour-work-week low, and even the latter is a redefinition and fabrication too. I can get by on 5 hours/night sleep and have passages in any given year spending the bulk of a day at the computer, eating at the desk, etc. I enjoy the occasional all-nighter and find them memorable. So I think 18 hours/day of some sort of work isn't difficult for someone if they cope with less than average sleep, treat work as a hobby, have financial incentives or deadlines, etc. For months on end and always at peak productivity, probably not.

kirse 4y ago
Agree, I would love to shadow someone who claims they regularly (and productively) work 90-100+ hr weeks of focused, mentally-taxing labor aka System 2 thinking. Otherwise all of us easily "work" 100-112/wk if we simply limit our downtime and count any sort of order/structure-producing tasks as work. Finance bros like to whine about their hours but I struggle with the notion that updating an Excel model and/or plowing through market research is mentally taxing beyond the volume of reps. The best tales I've really heard of sustained & taxing performance comes from the the SOF branches of the military, medicine, or game development. I've only ever met one genuine short sleeper so far who thrived on 3-4/night and was not a caffeine-riddled jack-in-the-box - he had superior physical performance as a gym trainer and there was plenty of evidence he worked the long hours, but his job was not as mentally demanding.

by prawn 4y ago

kirse 4y ago

Agree, I would love to shadow someone who claims they regularly (and productively) work 90-100+ hr weeks of focused, mentally-taxing labor aka System 2 thinking. Otherwise all of us easily "work" 100-112/wk if we simply limit our downtime and count any sort of order/structure-producing tasks as work. Finance bros like to whine about their hours but I struggle with the notion that updating an Excel model and/or plowing through market research is mentally taxing beyond the volume of reps. The best tales I've really heard of sustained & taxing performance comes from the the SOF branches of the military, medicine, or game development. I've only ever met one genuine short sleeper so far who thrived on 3-4/night and was not a caffeine-riddled jack-in-the-box - he had superior physical performance as a gym trainer and there was plenty of evidence he worked the long hours, but his job was not as mentally demanding.