Why is a six-hour workday from noon to evening the best option for creative professionals?

In Japan, working hours are generally defined by the Labor Standards Law as eight hours.

However, some companies do not comply with the law, and there is even the term “service overtime.

Hello, this is Santoshi.

The current social climate in which it is not uncommon for people to work 8 hours or more concerns me as to which hours are important for humans to perform their important work.

It turns out that designers, artists, and others who are engaged in work that requires innovative ideas and thinking “are more productive when they work six hours from noon to dusk rather than eight hours from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.,” according to the study.

The Atlantic discloses the reasons why.

Why the 9-to-5 Day Is So Tough on Creative Workers – Lauren Davidson – The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2013/12/why-the-9-to-5-day-is-so-tough-on-creative-workers/282331/

Neuroscientist Kenneth Wright, for example, says, “Human cognition is most effective during the hours five to six hours before bedtime. It is largely ineffective during the first few hours after waking. This means that the time of day when workers, especially those engaged in mind-intensive work, perform best is in the evening, not in the morning,” he noted.

A Harvard Medical School study found that the abilities related to human consciousness, such as attention and cognition, begin to work most efficiently four hours after waking hours.

It also found that we are less capable of making decisions during the morning hours.

There are many other studies that show that creative workers, who need to think out of the box and come up with ideas, are more productive when they work at night rather than in the morning.

Steve Kay, a professor in the Department of Molecular and Computational Biology at the University of Southern California, said that creative workers begin to concentrate best in the late morning hours.

Another study found that “creative workers are less productive when they work more than six hours.

It has been noted that an eight-hour workday from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. is not suitable.

Although it seems impossible today, there are companies that have actually introduced the six-hour workday.

The Kellogg Company of the United States, famous for its corn flakes, reduced its eight-hour workday to six hours in 1930.

Kellogg’s management believed that by giving employees more free time to spend with their families, they could provide more jobs locally.

Kellogg’s system of working hours was well received. However, employees demanded more pay than shorter working hours, and the system was discontinued in 1985.

This system disappeared in 1985.

Conclusion

To maximize efficiency and productivity for creative workers, do not work immediately upon waking.

Start working around noon, a few hours after waking up.

Then, finish work around 6:00 p.m., which is when you are most productive.

Satoshi

Hello, I’m Satoshi. I’ve been working as a staff member for an organization for over a decade. During that time, I’ve had various experiences, from launching new businesses to streamlining operations using information I’ve gathered from the internet and my own experiences. Of course, I’ve been successful with the help of colleagues and superiors, and I’m grateful to them. Nowadays, I find myself in a position where people from various backgrounds ask me for advice and share their knowledge. However, being constantly approached has made me realize that I need to protect my own time. So, I’ve decided to start a blog called ‘Satoshi Lab’ to share knowledge. I hope that by writing about my thoughts and experiences, people will enjoy reading and find it helpful in their own journeys.