What I do is work less than 3 hours per day. If on a job, the rest of the time I just act as if I’m working.

You should see a dietitian, perhaps you’re not eating well enough.

Doing anything physical ( a walk, exercise, bike ride, whatever) while doing nothing mental (as in, no chores like cleaning, something physical and mostly mindless) usually helps me.

That’s the most normal thing in the world.

We aren’t machines - most people can only focus deeply for at most a couple of hours at a time, and it takes a lot of energy to focuslike that. Just like you can’t run a whole marathon at sprinting-after-the-bus speeds, you won’t be able to work a whole day at the level of your peak performing hour. Best thing to do is plan your work accordingly.

The number one thing for me is taking breaks BEFORE I think I need it. Way more frequent breaks than you think.

Short breaks so you don’t lose your flow, but still take time to get some blood flow through your body up to your brain: Set an alarm every half hour or so for a mini break 30-60 sec (closing your eyes, stretching, breathing, standing and staring out a window). Every hour move away from the desk 2-5 min (refill your water and grab a fruit, or empty the dishwasher or quick walk up and down the stairs or around the building for some fresh air). Halfway between morning and lunch, and halfway between lunch and night take a longer break 15 or so minutes (with a cup of tea or coffee and reading or chatting with colleagues or a friend).

Absolutely no (constructive) work talk during breaks with colleagues. Better to sit in silence than ruin your break time.

Brisk walk (get the heart rate up) or quick nap during lunch.

Save some menial tasks for when you run out of steam, usually after lunch and often towards end of day. Replying to a few emails or checking off some small tasks - something simple just to get the ball rolling after lunch or to wind down the work day.

Make sure you eat and drink properly.

Avoid negative self-talk, because you’re doing really well with your human brain and biological need for rest and recuperating.

And ask for help even when you don’t need it, because sometimes just explaining your work means you find a solution that would have taken a lot longer to find in silence, and sometimes it just makes someone else feel good to be of assistance.

I’m gonna give you the answer no motivated person wants to hear. You should listen to your body and take a rest. You’ll be able to get more done with time, but exhausting yourself to get there won’t help in the long run (ask me how I know 🫠)

Prolonged mental exhaustion causes a buildup of glutamate in areas like the lateral prefrontal cortex. Sustained overstimulation can lead to excitotoxicity, where excess glutamate damages neurons.

Escape the hell that is forcing you to labor.

Take a walk. Even if it’s just on a treadmill. Even if it’s just up and down the stairs a few times. There are empirical studies on this; the physical act of walking energizes your brain. Doesn’t have to be outside, doesn’t have to be going anywhere. Just walk. Five to ten minutes, put a podcast on or something. Do that every hour or two.

Are you in the same physical position when you’re doing deep mental work? Do you keep this position when doing other things?

I’m honestly only good for a few hours a day. I do my thinking, usually come up with something good, then basically fuck off because unless I’m feeling very inspired that’s as much as I’m going to produce.

Now when I’m inspired by something I’ll go like 18 hours straight, but it’s been a long long time since work inspired me like that.

So in that down time I walk to the coffee shop, take a nap, browse the internet, whatever.

Like, yesterday morning I made some code that needs to run daily 150,000x cheaper. Literally saved us a few grand a month. I expected like a 10x improvement. But I could only do that after not thinking about it for the weekend.

Im like this. Getting worse as I get older. I used to do a shitton and it was more like 5 or 6 hours but that has come down. No advice except to feel miserable.

Don’t work three hours straight.

Try doing two hours and then give yourself a break.

It’s much easier to carry five 20 pound loads than to try and carry one 100 pound load.

Did you get enough sleep the nights before? Have you eaten well and had enough to drink? Do you do modest exercise?

Don’t think anyone can do a full 8 hour workday of only deep mental work, about 4 hours is more reasonable. Fill the day with some less challenging work.

Bro I have to record 9 hours of work a day and its fucking hard. Worst part of my job.

But I wfh and the job is easy so I don’t complain but man I hate recording my time. Always I have a stopwatch running all day every day.

I could be in the mines, so I don’t complain.

stop trying to do everything at once.

spread shit out more.

if you run a marathon you’re not doing anything strenuous for like a week… you are demanding way too much of yourself too fast and too frequently. Stop it.