Peak Performance: Elevate Your Game, Avoid Burnout, and Thrive with the New Science of Success

by Brad Stulberg

While Ericsson’s work focused predominantly on creatives (e.g., artists) and competitors (e.g., chess players and athletes), new research shows his conclusions also hold true in the workplace. Recently, an international social networking company called the Draugiem Group wanted to uncover what habits set apart their most successful workers. To do so, they partnered with the makers of DeskTime, a time-tracking app sophisticated enough to distinguish between when employees are working and when they are not. The Draugiem Group found that their all-star workers adhered to a particular routine: They spent 52 minutes engrossed in their work before taking a 17-minute break. Similar to the Draugiem Group, other companies have manipulated and analyzed their employees’ work. Without fail, regardless of industry or job description, chunks of hard work followed by short breaks yielded the best performance. The most productive workers in a meat processing plant worked in hourly cycles of 51 minutes on and 9 minutes off. Agricultural workers performed best when they worked in 90-minute cycles of 75 minutes on and 15 minutes off. Other studies examining the habits of workers performing highly demanding cognitive work found cycling between 50 minutes of work and 7 minutes of recovery generated the best output. While the exact work-to-rest ratio depends on the demands of the job and individual preferences, the overall theme is clear: alternating between blocks of 50 to 90 minutes of intens...