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James Bond author Ian Fleming wrote bestsellers working only four hours per day. His routine illustrates that intense, efficient work is enabled by ample leisure and rest. The time spent swimming, napping, and reflecting was not a distraction from work but a crucial component of his high productivity.
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Linear's culture discourages overwork, believing creative tasks like design and engineering can't be brute-forced. Karri Saarinen finds that stepping away from a hard problem to reflect, rather than grinding, reveals the root cause of the difficulty and leads to better, simpler solutions and higher quality output.
