Sometimes I have days where I'm killing it in the gym or on the track.
Sometimes I have days where I just want to work on my garden, or sit and read, or spend 4 hours on an awesome dinner.
I assume most people have rhythms or cycles like this.
Thankfully I have a job that doesn't measure daily output, but instead looks at productivity over a longer period of time, so I can work towards a life where I'm always doing the thing I'm best at, at that moment.
A day where the work I've been doing just comes together like magic isn't transferable to a personal project.
A nice paycheck at the end of the month?
Working hard is not the same thing as working long hours or giving extra of myself. Working hard simply means working intelligently, thoughtfully, and to the best of my abilities.
No, I do exactly the opposite. I work longer when I'm super productive, and I cut out early when I'm not having a good day. It seems obvious that you'd try to optimize for working the hours when you are most effective.
> And how do you know if you were actually very productive one day and not that the task was overestimated and actually very easy?
I think that comes with experience - sometimes you just know when the ideas are flowing and the code seems to write itself, and then other times you recognize that you've spent hours banging your head against something only to realise you overlooked something trivial.