How the Human Brain Works

The human brain is not wired to focus on one thing for hours on end. We’re more creative, innovative, and productive when we work in spurts.

For this reason, the concept of the 8-hour workday seems to be a bad one, but most of us have adjusted by breaking up our day into chunks: a meeting here, a brainstorm there, a furtive social media rabbit hole in the mix.

As many of those who’ve adapted to remote work have discovered, working from home grants the ability to work in the ways that work best for you — Zoom calls interspersed with walking the dog, for example.

But remote work doesn’t work for every company or role. For a lot of the clients I work with, in-person work and a “normal” work schedule are table stakes.

Regardless of whether you work at home, in a coffee shop, on an airplane, or in an office, finding ways to break up the day into chunks of activities is the key to productivity.