distractedly focused

It's 4:30, and I'm at the point in my day where I would have already been listening to my mp3 player for an hour, and I've still got another hour until quitting time. Unfortunately for me it died at 4:45 yesterday and I neglected to charge it last night. And also unfortunately for my diet I'm devouring a bag of gummy worms as a result of not having my music. I don't know what it is, but I kind of feel like I need that extra something else going on to motivate the last couple hours of work. Logically it would seem like silent focus would do the trick, but it doesn't. I'm not the only one around here who deliberately places distractions in their day I've noticed. Oftentimes I see some of the processors with headphones in or snacking on something. Of course there's the periodical water/coffee/tea breaks. And then there are designated smoke breaks for some. Maxim is the type of place where I feel like on our busy days, everyone could stay at their desks all day long working and still have work to do when 5:30 rolls around. But it's a very difficult thing to hold total focus for that long. I don't know if it's something that has developed over the past centuries or is inherently human to only be able to stay fully concentrated for so long. For me, I was thinking back to the fact that for the past 8 years at least I've never had to sit in a classroom for more than an hour and a half at a time. My brain got used to those short time periods I would actually have to pay attention. So having to sit here all morning and then all afternoon was a little tougher to get used to, but I'm adapting. As it seems, though, sometimes to do our best work, we need that distraction. By the end of the day, I need my music.