Focus: Formula for fast work ​

The optimal working mode requires at least one slot for deep focused work for 1.5 - 2.5 hours during the day. During this slot, it is recommended to engage in work planning and/or tackling the most complex tasks. But what is the best time to schedule this slot? To answer this question, you should look at the dynamics of work performance throughout the day.

Work performance throughout the day is not uniform^[1]. Typically, it increases in the morning, from 7-9 am, declines around lunchtime (12-1 pm), and another peak is observed closer to the evening (around 4-5 pm), after which the body gradually prepares for sleep (starting from 10 pm). The morning peak of work performance is usually the highest of the day, with the evening peak being slightly lower - but the reverse can also be true. How can you understand when your peak work performance occurs? Look at what time you regularly start and successfully finish the most challenging tasks and learning. It is crucial to note the time you begin the most challenging task, not just the time you wake up. Most likely, you will discover that you start tackling difficult tasks at around the same time - that is your peak work performance.

During the peak period, aim to schedule the most challenging work that requires the most resources and carry it out with deep focus, avoiding distractions. For the semi-peak period, focus on slightly lighter focused work. During the period of reduced work performance between the peak and semi-peak, it is best to allocate the most routine activities, as well as any meetings for which you have made preliminary preparations in advance.

You can plan your daily schedule in this way using a calendar: allocate slots for the activities you need to pursue. But what about the work within these slots? You can plan it using the formula "one task -- one work product -- in one sitting."

Each task is performed not merely as a task but to obtain some result that you can use yourself or transmit to other agents. This result will be considered your work product for the task. For instance, the result of the task "write a post about my qualifications in a collected manner" will be a published post on the HSE blog, the result of a chef's work will be a prepared lunch on the table, and the result of a developer's work will be a piece of code executing as planned^[2]. For each task, you can describe the result that needs to be achieved, the location where the work product will be stored, and optionally its version (e.g., rental agreement version dated 01.06.23).

We attempt to formulate the task and work product in a way that allows for completion in one sitting. One sitting is a comfortable time for you of continuous focus on creating the work product without distractions. For some, this might be one standard "pomodoro" (25 minutes), for others 20 minutes, and for some, 1.5 hours. The size of the time slot for focus is not as crucial as the continuity of focus. Define what constitutes your "one sitting" and break down tasks so that you can achieve a finished work product during that time. The essential thing is for the work product to be completed without switching tasks: task-switching during task completion implies "losses."

Therefore, the calendar will help distribute attention to the necessary roles and projects overall, considering your work performance, while planning within slots following the formula "one task -- one work product -- in one sitting" will enable you to achieve results more efficiently.

If you believe that following the formula and completing tasks sequentially takes too long, and it is better to constantly switch between different tasks, remember how you learned in school or university. Imagine if the teacher burst into the classroom, started a math lesson, switched to physics after 15 minutes, and then with a shout of "I forgot!" rushed to teach astronomy to another class in 10 minutes. Do you think students would learn much in such a school? In schools, lessons are conducted following the principle of sequentially finishing each lesson, as this allows the students' wet neural network to train. Do you really believe that in situations unrelated to learning at school, the brain works based on some fundamentally different algorithm?