How I Made a 26-Hour Day

Linkbait headline.<p>tldr; I realized I am more productive when not interrupted during tasks that require thinking (specifically, ignoring phone calls and emails while working).<p>I thought this was going to be about an <i>actual</i> 26 hour day, which is entirely possible (and a very interesting subject).. but don't even think about maintaining a 26 hour schedule in 24 hours of time.

&#62; it can take up to 23 minutes and 15 seconds to get back on task after an interruption.<p>At first I thought that that is a ridiculously precise time, but it turns out to be a mis-quote. The source [1] claims that that is the <i>average</i> time to get back on task.<p>[1] <a href="http://www.fastcompany.com/944128/worker-interrupted-cost-task-switching" rel="nofollow">http://www.fastcompany.com/944128/worker-interrupted-cost-ta...</a>

As a new dad, I can attest that you can survive (and be productive) on a lot less sleep then you think. The trick is that you have to be a lot more active in the day, so you are actually tired at night and can fall asleep fast. And, you have to avoid stuff like alcohol as it really messes up your sleep cycle.

if you're going to work out, I would really suggest going first thing in the morning. It has such a dramatically different effect on your day versus working out at night. I'm not a morning person either but I'll never work out at night again.

Note that the post says "context switching is the issue". That's probably true.<p>I and probably many others too, developed some natural defense against it. I just keep thinking about my task while half-listening to whatever comes up and unless its really that important, just keep it in a corner of my head (or if its a phone conversation, just give basic preplanned replies which take no thinking and make the opposite party happy. I just can't help it, it's automatic).<p>That's probably because i'm passionate about my tasks and rather introverted, tho. But I though it's interesting to think about it that way too.

A few things are important in my opinion regarding productivity:<p>1) Minimal lying in bed. If you're in your bed, you should be sleeping. If you can't fall asleep find out why and fix it.<p>2) Don't get distracted. Of course, easier said than done but you can definitely minimize any possibilites.<p>3) Experimentation with sleep. Try sleeping a little bit less and less until you find the minimal amount required for you to be refreshed.<p>4) Continuously reflect and ask yourself if there's a better or more efficient way of doing something.

As others have pointed out, this post is not about a 26 hour day, but rather a more efficient 24 hour day. A find that I get productivity boost by actually leaving the 24 hour day, and sleeping when I get tired (which works out to be about 25.5 hour days). This does lead to jet-lag like effects when I need to work around schedules, but avoids alot of time idling awake in bed.

The wild misuse of "26-Hour Day" here would make me question doing business with this person. So many startup folk who have made a good first impression on me have blogs full of clangers like this, which should have been a clue as to problems of comprehension and honesty I would experience with them down the line.

Damn... I was expecting something along the lines of timecube2013 or something revolutionary. Something that most scientists wouldn't understand. Something only Andrew Dumont would understand. :/

Not always an option but many employers support them.. If you can get a high quality 20 minute nap in the middle of the day, you could cut some time from your overnight sleep.

How about 28 hour day?<p><a href="http://www.limedaring.com/hacking-your-week-the-28-hour-day/" rel="nofollow">http://www.limedaring.com/hacking-your-week-the-28-hour-day/</a>

&#62; 8:30 - HOLY HELL, FREE BLOCK<p>He has only 1 hour a day of "free time"? Surely that can't be in anyway normal.

Don't you eat anything before going to the gym?

doing exercise on 5:15am does harm to health, doesn't it?

I've hacked this productivity schedule bit quite a lot, for me the biggest time sink has always been commute time. While I'm working from home, that is when I'm most productive.<p>Needless to say the author's advice is correct. Waking up early helps. And sometimes helps a lot. If you absolutely want to work like a machine. Then there is a schedule that has worked for me.<p><pre><code> 3 AM - Wake up, tend to hygiene. Excercise etc 4 AM - Start Work. 9 AM - Break fast/Newspaper/News 10 AM - Continue Work. 2 PM - Lunch 3 PM - Continue Work. 8 PM - Dinner. 8:45 PM - Review current days work, plan for tomorrow. 9 PM - Sleep. </code></pre> Note: This schedule works because there is no time spent traveling, I'm not married and I don't have other errands to run during the day.<p>If you notice an another thing there is no such a term like meetings in the whole schedule.<p>Some more tweaks/extensions to this exercise. Every Saturday I sit down to review how the past week went. I also put down clearly defined measurable goals which I want to achieve by next Saturday. These tasks are generally aligned to help me achieve monthly and yearly goals.<p>The 5 years goals, and decade goals are something of a different thing. Generally mine are financial goals. And are easy to keep a track of.<p>Now given I absolutely must have to travel many times in the week to office. And inevitable meetings creep in, this schedule doable only once or twice a week.

Or you could wake up at the same time and not answer emails in the morning to achieve the same effect (since it's context switching that you're trying to avoid).<p>Also, I fail to see how this makes it a 26-Hour Day.