Only 4 Hours of Creative Power

Practice too little, and you never become world-class. Practice too much, and you increase the odds of being struck down by injury, draining yourself mentally, or burning out.

Some of the most prolific figures in literature, math, and science spent only four-to-five ours doing their most creative and profound work. The rest of the time, they focused their attention on spending time with family and friends and taking advantage of rest as much as possible. In short, creative productivity is not based on the number of hours... See more

More hours of work don’t mean an increase in productivity — quite the opposite, actually.

If you were to study some of the most admired creative thinkers, writers, and artists to have ever lived, you would find that all shared a passion for their work, an intense desire to succeed, and an almost superhuman capacity to focus. Yet, when you look closely at their daily lives, they only spent a few hours a day doing what we would recognize ... See more