How many people ACTUALLY work 9 to 5?
And when I say work, I mean:
1. Working on something you deliberately prioritised (not playing email ping-pong).
2. While working, staying reasonably focused — not stealing a glance at email, Slack, or WhatsApp every few minutes.
3. Working without getting interrupted too often.
4. While working, the mind is somewhat absorbed in the task (mind wandering is relatively limited).
Note: Meetings/calls count as work only when your presence adds value AND the meeting leads to some outcome/decision.
If you are working like this from 9 to 5, even 60-70% of the time, then you are a real ‘9 to 5’ worker — and you are probably already in the top 5%, in creating value.
Just to be clear, I am not saying that we should all work 9 to 5. Nor am I judging it as good or bad.
All I am saying is that 8 hours of focused, thoughtful work, on one’s real priorities, is extremely underrated and exceptionally rare.
Before you count the hours, make the hours count.
– Rajan