How many hours a day do you work?
I haven’t had a full time job in 2 years and I still find it hard to figure out how much to work each day.
When I see others who are prolific online (Twitter, IH, etc) I get it in my head that they must be working way more than me, that they’re basically working all day and not taking any breaks.
How many hours do you work per day (if it varies what’s the average)? How do you justify not working when you don’t work?
Because I am about to complete my post-graduation, I believe I have fewer responsibilities as a student and thus, I dedicate a big chunk of time depending upon projects at hand.
If I get 3-4 hours of solid focus in a day, I call that a successful day. But in general I find it really hard to equate work hours with producing good work.
Sometimes I'll "waste" most of the week, and then create something I'm really proud of in just a few hours. Other weeks I'll work diligently all week and not have a lot to show for it (eg, doing a big refactoring).
Sometimes when I'm stuck on a problem, going for a hike for an hour or two is more productive than sitting at my desk forcing myself to work for the rest of the day.
I think it's far better to aim to complete a certain amount of work each day than a specific number of hours. Stephen King for example sets a target of writing just six pages a day. Roald Dahl worked only 4 hours per day, forced himself to stop after that and was very prolific.
The clock time is really a bit of an outdated relic from the industrial age and I don't think it applies much to knowledge work. I think it's far more important to get a balanced day - booking in enough time to rest the mind is far more important for productivity for me than working all day on the wrong thing. When my mind is rested I get far more interesting (and often more efficient) ideas, while when I'm overworking myself I can't see more than a few feet ahead of me.
(Though this is all a little ironic as I'm currently working on a tool for indies to track working hours...)