How much deep work do you get done on the average work day? And I mean DEEP work - completely focused, distraction-free work… An hour? Two?

Author Eric Barker does five. Yep, five - every single day. But how does he know for sure? Eric uses a simple countdown timer every day to track his most important work: the kind of work that doesn’t allow for a quick email check or a scroll through Instagram.

When he gets up to go to the bathroom, he pauses the timer. When he needs to check email, he pauses the timer. And when he just needs a break, he pauses the timer.

It might sound a bit pedantic at first, but Eric knows all too well just how easily we can trick ourselves out of hard work, and he doesn’t want to take any chances. And while it might sound intense, it’s not just a productivity tip: it’s also a means of preventing burnout. When the timer hits zero, Eric knows he’s done five good hours of focused work, and knows it’s time to relax and unwind.

Connect with Eric on Twitter or LinkedIn

You can find the full interview here: Eric Barker on his Five-Hour Rule and deliberate work-life imbalance

***

My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.

Connect with me on the socials:

Linkedin

Twitter

Instagram 

If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co

Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.