Holes In Thoughts: How to Work

Thursday, March 06, 2008

How to Work

It took me 27 years to figure out a work regimen that actually keeps me coherent for an eight-hour stretch. Of course, until this year, I didn't have a full-time desk job, so I didn't really need it, but I struggled with focusing for more than 3 or 4 hours before this. I really wish I had actually spent some time with this as far back as high school, but I never quite did bad enough for myself to force the issue. It's something I think should be taught in grade schools: how your own rhythms work.

I am one of the types that benefits from taking frequent, short breaks, because the longer I focus on a problem, the more tunnel vision I get. Every time you make a change in web design, you are probably effecting other changes, and if you don't zoom out a little to realize what those other things are, you can do a lot of damage.

The extra bonus of this is that, by taking those short breaks, I can shake out my hands and focus my eyes on a distant object to rest them, so I reduce the strain on them as well.

My current work regimen goes like this:

Work for 3 minutes, then a 30-second break (which can be skipped if I really need to finish something). Every hour, take a 10-minute break. I use this to do dishes, run the laundry, and if those are done, play basketball (practicing free-throws, jump shots, around-the-world, 3's, or dribbling). That gets my blood flowing again, and surprisingly, I come back to the desk a lot more awake and focused. I'm aided in this by Workrave, which actually locks my computer at breaks.

The temptation to slack by checking blogs, comics and so on is especially keen when you spend your whole work day online. Bookmarks are especially easy to click on. Probably the biggest gain in my productivity besides the 10-minute breaks has come from using two Firefox profiles. Firefox profiles allow you to have a completely different set of bookmarks and plug-ins from your current profile. I have two Firefox profiles: work and play. Play has all my webcomics, blogs, and a lot of cool little plug-ins. Work has far fewer plugins (all web design related), and zero bookmarks. Just not having the toys staring me in the face helps immensely.

The only thing I haven't really been able to do is find a way to offset the after-lunch malaise without a load of caffeine. I have started making smaller sandwiches, and that helps, but I am absolutely sure that the U.S. would be a happier place if we went with the Spanish workday, with a siesta. Also, the jury is still out about whether or not 20-50 minutes of light basketball is going to be enough of the health and weight effects of having a full-time desk job.

Labels: basketball, design, exercise, slacking, webcomics, work

posted by Steve @ 12:22 PM

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