The 40 hour work week.
Ten things to do on weekends to make your Monday more productive
https://qz.com/work/1474417/how-smart-people-work-less-and-get-way-more-done/
I had a classic 12 hour or more per day, 7 day per week job. Being Chief Engineer on large ships sometimes works that way. But does it have to?
One of the management people from headquarters came out to Asia to visit us and wanted to see my work hours (well, actually my overtime hours that they had to pay for!). I told him I was not putting in for over time (even though I was working more than 8 hours per day). Instead, that I took time off when the vessel was in port. An interesting discussion ensued in which he revealed that even though it was easier to come into work at 6am and leave at 6pm due to traffic. He only worked 8 to 5 Monday through Friday. By working from 6-6 he was really taking 11 hours to do 8 hours worth of work. Under his new regime if his in-box was not empty by 5 pm on Friday, he would have to come in on Saturday while his family would go to the weekend house without him (obviously, this guy made more than I did!). I was skeptical and asked him "How often does this happen?" "Once!"
Using his method I found that by simply organizing my activities and working more efficiently I could easily do my job in 40 hours per week. That would still include the night-time operations such as bringing the ship into and out of port and the all-night fueling and maintenance operations.
C. Northcote Parkinson was right. "Work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion".
