In an 8 hour workday, that comes out to about 37 minutes (slightly more than the standard two 15 minute breaks). I would guess that 40-60% of the time that I’m stuck on something difficult, one of these breaks gives me the perspective to resolve it with sudden clarity. Assuming that happens on average once every other day, and saves me 2 hours of fumbling, that means that I’m getting 120 minutes of savings for every 74 minutes of break. A net gain of 46 minutes, or 23 per day. Assuming 30 minutes of non-working break per day is appropriate, that means that this gain of 120 minutes costs only 14 minutes of extra break. An 8.5 to 1 payoff. Is that going overboard?

But I probably waste as much time on the internet as I would doing all of the above. Did I get new email? New comments? New blogs in my reader? It’s a bit sad, really.