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Step away from the computer. Now. You are not working.

I stumbled across an article in Forbes via GeekPress today called "Eight Ways Goofing Off Can Make You More Productive".

Now this sounds like the kinda management theory I could buy into. The author, Susan Adams, refers to James A. Levine of the Mayo Clinic saying:

'... you work in concentrated 15-minute periods, divided up by breaks. “The thought process is not designed to be continuous,” he tells the Times. He points out that efficient, productive work is much more valuable than long hours of wasted or partially productive time. ..'
That is pretty much my take on my own productivity during a work day, with the exception of those rare longer periods of white hot intensity, when you are "in the zone" working on a creation that is attempting to pull together diverse threads of thought and that can't be let go off lest the whole thing collapses losing shape and coherence.

Read
the whole thing. It's not long. And there are only 8 items in the list of Forbes approved goof offs. Dare I suggest a 9th one: writing a blog post. Now I must away, I have an important lunch to go to.

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