The ‘better’ you seek actually changes with your ability to be happy, not with how much you work.
When you are truly happy, you won’t care a damn thing about how much you work. This doesn’t mean you will work yourself to death and this doesn’t mean you will be a lazy jelly.
The only reason you try to come up with the best work plan is that now your mind is dictating how and when you can be happy and you are trying to find the best form of thinking so that you can apply it and finally be happy.
There is no best form of thinking though that will give you happiness. You are searching for the source of happiness within your thinking mind and in your search you are trying to organize it. You are contemplating how you can organize your mind so that you can be happy.
Understand what you are truly trying to create here: Happiness.
Yes, you are trying to experience happiness. You may say that you are trying to become more productive. But ask yourself: Why am I trying to become more productive? Will producing a thousand ‘items’ give you greater happiness than producing a hundred ‘items’? How about a million ‘items’ then? A billion? What about the happiness of a child who plays in a garbage dump?
4×10 = 40. 5×8 = 40. See.. no matter how you organize it, it is the same. The answer to happiness is not in organizing your mind. It is in surrendering the idea that the answer is in the mind. It is in seeing life as it is, with full presence, in this very moment. With full attention. Because you are not fully present here, you are missing life. And your mind is seeking everywhere what you are missing here. You are missing this moment because you are day dreaming somewhere else, in your mind.
To resolve your questions, contemplate on why you are asking them. Really focus on the core reason of why you are asking them. You will find out you are seeking some experience that you are missing. You are searching for your super happiness, you are searching for the experience of your true self.
I could create a whole theory of work duration/productivity for you and it wouldn’t satisfy your mind because you used the word ‘better’. Better means, you are trying to feel good about your work, your life, so your mind will only be satisfied when you learn how to experience happiness, how to experience existence as it is. Surrender in this moment and experience this. Don’t think about it. Really surrender. No, don’t escape. Stay here and now. Don’t let go of yourself like a sack of potatoes, either. Surrender isn’t that. Be alert, fully alert, in this moment. Keep this up. This is a door that is always open.
Do you have a taste of it now? This is a door that is always open.
This answer was intended to give you an insight. Your life is your creation.