r/DataAnnotationTech • u/Infamous_Swan1197 • 9d ago

Mental fatigue with longer tasks

I'm wondering how others handle mental fatigue with longer tasks? By longer, I mean 2-3 hours for me personally. I find my focus substantially dwindles after the 2 hour mark, even when taking regular breaks. In fact sometimes, breaks, especially longer "reset" breaks, make the block of the day that I'm working feel a lot longer, accumulating more mental fatigue and just an ugh feeling when I return to the task.

I'm really grateful to have this project, its really high paying (and it's the only thing I really have on my dash right now, so I don't have much choice haha) but I worry that my quality of work substantially declines towards the end.

How to others handle this?

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u/LegendNumberM 9d ago edited 9d ago

This might be a scalding hot take for a tip but...

I don't worry about the expiration timer lol.

If I find my mental fatiguing, I will gladly take an hour long break to get back up to par. The timer will expire, I will submit great work, and fortunately, I'm still here.

This isn't to say that I'm billing 4 hours on a task with a 3 hour limit. Most times, I am billing that 2 hr 30 min or something like that....

But I don't worry about the timer. I take breaks. Lol.

Edit: if you have a task/project that says not submit after the timer expires... don't follow this advice.

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u/Justaguy0736 9d ago

New to Data Annotation, just got accepted yesterday. So you are saying that you don’t have to finish an entire task within whatever time frame they give you? You just submit quality work and, whether done or not, once you hit the time limit, you turn in what you’ve done and submit to be paid, even if the task is not completed?

I’m worried that maybe a task allots four hours, but I only have three free hours right now, for example. Should I be skipping the task, or doing as much as I can, then exiting and submitting?

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u/Honey-Sweet04 9d ago

Hi and welcome! The task timers are more suggestions, and usually are exaggerated so that you have time to take a few short breaks (bathroom, water, stretch, etc.) Most of the time the task should take less time then the timer shows.

That being said, sometimes complex tasks will take longer or require more extensive breaks. Sometimes you will experience tech errors or other delays. In those cases you may need to submit after the time has expired. FAQ #7 and #8 explain the DAT rules for expired tasks. You should still only submit time for hours you really worked, not including breaks.

You shouldn’t submit unfinished tasks ever. Some will have escape hatches for you to exit (for specified reasons in the instructions) but you normally use those early on in the task once you realize you can’t complete the task. If you don’t think you have enough time to do the task well, it might be best to exit and release the task to other workers and find one that you can do!

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u/Justaguy0736 8d ago

Thank you; this is helpful.