Can I Do Deep Work for More than 4 Hours per Day?

00:00:05.000 | Walter asks, do you think it's possible to push past the four hour a day limit for deep work?

00:00:12.000 | Yeah, Walter, it's possible.

00:00:15.000 | The four hour limit comes from research of professional musicians.

00:00:20.000 | Four hours is roughly probably a cap on really intense deep work,

00:00:26.000 | but most knowledge workers don't get anywhere near that level of intensity.

00:00:31.000 | So that number came from the study of I think it was professional violin players.

00:00:34.000 | You see similar numbers for professional chess players as well.

00:00:39.000 | They do very intense training where they're trying to solve puzzles.

00:00:42.000 | Here's a position puzzle, and it takes really intense concentration.

00:00:45.000 | There's only so much of that you can do, maybe around four hours.

00:00:49.000 | Most people doing knowledge work are not anywhere at that level of intensity.

00:00:53.000 | What's actually happening in their brains, they're going up and down, focusing really hard,

00:00:56.000 | then relieving that pressure for a while, then focusing really hard.

00:00:59.000 | So yes, you could spend, and people do spend more than four hours working on things deep.

00:01:04.000 | The only addendum I would add is why?

00:01:08.000 | I mean, if you're spending more than four hours locked in on one thing,

00:01:12.000 | really trying to push yourself past where you're getting good returns,

00:01:16.000 | the question is maybe you should just slow it down.

00:01:19.000 | Good work day after day after day, let that break up.

00:01:22.000 | So yeah, you can do it, but I wouldn't build a professional strategy around,

00:01:26.000 | let me spend 10 hours a day working on one thing.

00:01:29.000 | I don't think you're going to end up in a much better place than spending three hours a day,

00:01:32.000 | but working on it day after day after day, that's probably going to get you to some better work.

00:01:36.000 | And I don't know that you're going to save time heroically trying to fill your day anyways

00:01:40.000 | because that brain is going to tire out.