Productivity and mental endurance

[clazzimoo]

I just read one of Steve's old blogs "Triple Your Personal Productivity" and in it he calculated his personal efficiency ratio, which is calculated like this:
Efficiency Ratio = (Time Doing "Real Work") / (Time Spent "At Work")
I wonder how he did that?

My ratio of 8 hours that I spent in the workplace goes like this:
1 - 1.5 hours on checking emails and surfing
1.25 hours on lunch
the rest is spent on work that is usually not very focused.

When Steve mention "focused work" , I refer to the kind of mental state when you are so focused that your mind is only filled with work and nothing else. At the same time you are relaxed and usually lose sense of time. I hardly have this kind of mental state at work.

Is this normal or is it possible to have this kind of mental state daily and to maintain it for a certain number of hours? or maybe you have better/other definition of focused work?

I thought I should try to teach my mind to focus but I don't know where to start.

Also, whenever I am in this mental state already, somehow after a certain period of time, my mind tells my brain to stop. I don't know why but I just realised that it happened when I do my daily treadmill run too. I am now running 2.5 miles in about 26 minutes (I used to run it in 28 minutes). I do interval runs so I would run 5.5 mph for about .5 mi then 6.0 mph for another .5 miles and so on until I hit 7mph, rest for a while and start the cycle again.

I dont increase the speed for every .5 miles. I would run shorter distance when I'm running at 6.5 mph and 7mph. I used to be able to run 7mph for only 30 seconds in the past. But I always increase the time I run at 7mph slightly everytime I hit the gym. Now I am able to run at 7mph for about 1.5 minutes.

I realised that when I do this everytime, I am changing my mindset about how long I can endure running at 7mph. Today I ran it for about 1.5 minutes. Actually I felt I could still go on bit somehow my mind tells me stop because I was also worried that I would overtrain.

I realised this kind of pattern is similar to my studying habit. I used to stay in the mental state of focus for maybe only for 2 hours before my brain tells me to somehow stop. Then I would take maybe a 15 minutes break and come back but it's now harder to go back to that kind of mental state anymore. Is this normal?

I think my mental endurance is very low. I want to eventually increase it to maybe 4/5 hours. Is this possible?

When I take a break, I usually have a hard time entering that kind of mental mode. And usually I can only have my focused work ""session" once a day.

Is one "session" of long, focused work better or are multiple "sessions" more efficient?

[Kaspian]

I prefer shorter sessions and taking breaks. Generally, I'll stand up and walk around fairly regularly, probably every 30-40 minutes, though I don't keep track. If I'm really engaged in what I'm doing, I'll go longer. For some things, the best creative ideas, realizations, and "ah ha" moments come when I do something else for a bit.

If I remember correctly, the "how to study" guides in college suggested taking breaks or switching subjects/tasks every 20-60 minutes, since you remember best what you read (or worked on) first and last. Breaks don't have to be long, either. If you take them often, even walking to another room for a drink of water can be enough. In my experience, it's things like phone calls and email that interrupt the flow state, not getting up and walking around.

Sitting at a computer for 4-5 hours straight is bad for you.

[Ilya]

Hi, clazzimoo!

The state that makes sense to talk about here is the one you describe - the flow state.
As any gamer knows it is possible to maintain the flow state for hours. It may not be healthy because of low movement and such, but it's possible.
And I wish my work was always in the flow state.
But maintaining flow is a delicate act.
First of all you need to remove all distractions - e-mail notifications, phone calls,
loud sounds. Then the work has to fall down into the perfect range of not too hard and not too easy. If it doesn't, this will be the primary reason why flow disappears. Note that for untrained person it takes about 15 minutes of working in ideal environment to get to the state. Any distraction resets this timer.

Having said that, don't be harsh with yourself if you are not in the flow most of the time at work. You may not be working at the top efficiency, but doing work while not in flow, still counts as time doing "real work" in Steve's formula.

From what I've seen, 50% Efficiency ratio is a very good ratio in an office environment.

[John Hill]

We each make a subconscious conviction to stay focused and efficient. Some people go to work each day and tune out the distractions that are always going to be there and get a lot of work done and these people make a success of there lives by not wasting valuable time. Others give in to the same distractions and do not move ahead with their lives as rapidly or perhaps not at all.

Once you understand how to use your mind for success you will move ahead being more focused and this leads to greater efficiency.

John

[tylerlloyd]

I think whether the long stretch or the multiple bursts is more efficient is up to you - as long as you do either consistently you're bound to see some positive results.

As far as running goes, I know from my own experience that intervals are very good for fat reduction but not as good for producing long term endurance - you wouldn't get into marathon condition running intervals (but that doesn't mean marathon runners don't also do interval training ).

As you do one or the other, you'll most likely get used to that mode and get better at using it. I personally do really well with long stretches with long breaks in-between. That is, just work at something for about 5 or 6 hours, then just hit the gym, read a book, meet some friends. When I work I work when I don't I don't. Getting into your mode for a given activity and staying in it.

There's a book called "Flow" by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi - look it up on Amazon - it's a psychological analysis of the feeling of getting into the zone. Might be an interesting read.