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Originally Posted by Giantone
I know Mrs. Joe Cibbs would argue with you ,some other who have been accused of the 18 hr day ....Belicheck,Parcells
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It's just not physiologically possible. Sure maybe you could pull it off for a day or two but to actually work for 18 hours over a significant period of time your mind would go insane if for nothing more then due to the fact that you're really getting 5.5 hours of sleep a night. The side effects of sleep deprivation are not unlike that of being drunk.
I had friends in the military that were trained in field exercises to deal with sleep deprivation during battle and a lot of them got to the point where they were hallucinating (one story involved a solider talking to a tree). Of course they were getting 1 hour of sleep a day but the point remains the same.
The body can not function properly without a reasonable amount of sleep. So to suggest that a human being could pull off 18 hour day after 18 hour day after 18 hour day of straight work,
meaning little if any sitting around and day dreaming, isn't possible. It's like suggesting you could sprint a marathon.
I got to tour my Uncles office who was a partner at one of the Big 4 accounting firms when I was in college. You know what I saw? A lot of people staring aimlessly at computer screens with ESPN on screen, stretching, pacing, socializing, everything but actually working. I'm not saying these people don't work hard, God knows they do, or that their job is easy but when you break down the actual amount of time spent working you end up with a lot less then the inflated hours that really amount to time spent at the office.
Productivity studies back me up on this.
The longer you work, the more productive you are? Not so, say experts | pennyhaw
Productivity and the Workweek - shorter hours
Effects of Scheduled Overtime on Labor Productivity
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With respect to the loss of efficiency as a function of the number of hours per day and the number of days per week, the literature provides strange and largely unbelievable results. The results from the southeastern Michigan NECA study (Overtime 1969) and as reported in Qualified Contractor (Howerton 1969) both show losses of efficiency as the length of the workday increases and as more days per week are worked. These data suggest that the six-day week is about 7% (absolute) more efficient than the seven-day week. The 10 hr workday compared to a 9 hr workday results in a loss of efficiency of about 4% (absolute). The 12 hr day results in a loss of efficiency of another 7-8% (absolute).
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Anyway theres no doubt that guys like Shanahan put in more work then the average American. However that 18 hour day is probably more likely a 10 to 12 hour day of actual work which is still higher then your average grunt working an 8 hour day and putting in 5 to 6 hours of work.
Time spent waiting for elevators? 16 years for NYC office workers