Have you ever wondered if working eight hours a day is really right for you? With the new professions and lifestyles that have emerged since the popularization of the internet and the advancement of technology, many professionals have chosen new ways to divide their time for productivity, rest and leisure.
To better understand why it's common to work eight hours a day, let's go back a little and find out how this came about.
It all started at the end of the 18th century, when the Industrial Revolution took place and factories operated 24/7. As production did not stop, employees had a daily workday that varied from 10 to 16 hours. Until Robert Owen, a social reformer, fought for workers' rights and then came the eight-hour day. As workers were less tired, factory owners noticed that productivity increased and so began to adopt the new standard.
And here we are! Even more than two centuries later, we still have the same journey.
However, we already have scholars on productivity who defend other ways of managing our routines. Writer Tony Schwartz claims that we have four different types of energies to tap into during the day:
Physical energy - How healthy are you?
Emotional energy – How are your emotions.
Mind energy – Focus, concentration and cognitive abilities.
Spiritual energy - Purpose of working and meaning of things.
According to this theory, it's no use just having eight hours of physical health if we're not happy or with good concentration. And if we don't have a higher purpose to work with, we won't be motivated during those hours either. In this way, it matters less the number of hours and more the amount of these four energies to have a productive day of work.
Another division of work that many people are adopting is, instead of working eight hours straight, opting for 1h30 cycles. Every 1h30 of work, the person takes 20 or 30 minutes of rest to recover energy and then goes back to work 1h30 with high productivity again. It's an experiment worth trying.
After analyzing these new ideas that are emerging in relation to work, how about you start observing your routine to find out which moments of the day you can produce more and in how much time? Even if the company you work for is not yet one of those that are open to new working hours, little by little you can start experimenting with different routines that do not affect the eight hours within the company. And who knows, in a while, companies here in España will also start to shift their focus to productivity instead of working hours? Let's hope that happens. Good work and good productivity out there!
- Written by Ricardo Sturk from Team Eu Sem Fronteiras.
