Many professionals believe working longer hours is the key to getting ahead. But a former Amazon employee says one teammate proved that working smarter can be far more effective than staying online all day.
In a post on X, Muskan Agarwal recalled a former Amazon teammate whose disciplined work routine stood out from everyone else’s. Despite rarely working after office hours, he was among the happiest and most productive members of the team.
The power of focused work
Sharing her experience, Agarwal wrote, “While I was working at Amazon, I observed one thing about a teammate. He was an SDE 3 who came to the office at exactly 8 am and left at 3 pm. I never saw him online on Slack after working hours, and he seemed to be the happiest and most productive person on the team.”
She added that he would only attend extremely important meetings or urgent tasks after office hours and never complained about work.
Curious about his routine, she asked how he managed to complete everything without feeling burnt out while still having time for himself and his family.
“By focused working hours,” he replied.
According to Agarwal, he explained that arriving early gave him two uninterrupted hours before most colleagues reached the office around 10 or 11 am. During that quiet time, he completed his highest priority tasks with complete focus.
“By the time everyone comes in, my priority work is already done. While working, I do not wander around or split my attention between work and distractions,” he told her.
He also reflected on his early days at Amazon, saying, “When I joined Amazon as an intern, I worked the entire day but still felt like I hadn’t completed my tasks. It was because I wasn’t actually working 100 per cent of the time. I was living under the illusion of working.”
Agarwal concluded that the experience made her realise how much more could be achieved through focused work instead of spending long hours working without concentration.
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Internet agrees
Many people related to the story and shared their own experiences.
One user wrote, “Along with focused work, I think we also need to ensure that meetings during work hours are purposeful and productive. Right now, a significant part of the workday is consumed by meetings that run over schedule and leave too little time for actual work.”
Another commented, “Deep work beats long work almost every time.”
A third shared, “After my maternity break, I started reaching the office at 8 am too. Those quiet early hours, before everyone else arrived, helped me finish my priority work before the office got busy.”
Another user wrote, “This is such an underrated lesson. Many people confuse time spent working with actual productive work. Focus often beats longer hours.”
