At yesterday’s Workplace Trends conference,
NicolaMillard reminded us that the brain can only cope with four hours of intense
work each day – see Pang for more details. It reminded me of Tony Schwartz’s Energy Project, which proposes we can work intensely for 90-minute periods,
so long as we take a proper 20-minute break between them, and three such
periods of intense work per day is more than most will achieve. Also, let’s not
forget the Display Screen Equipment Regulations which recommends a 10-minute break every hour or so.
Counterintuitively, it seems the key to productivity is to take regular breaks.
