[arcaster]

IMO, any response to this question is tightly associated with specific contexts of your current workspace and only gets more complicated when considering what kind of company you work at / where your current goals for the next 2-5 years stand.

You want to maintain progress and improve your output, but not at the cost of compensation or burnout. This is very hard to answer without those contexts.

From your post I think you're going about this the wrong way. External acts like meditating or "optimizing time" are easy ways to burn yourself out doing stupid things and end up flat out not enjoying your life. I tried this during a gap year I took to work at a startup in college while I was considering dropping out and one other time after I'd graduated.

Genuinely wasn't worth it.

My best simple advice is to just focus on work while you're at work or set 4hrs aside each day to really focus. Otherwise, live your life. In time if you follow these simple rules I think you'll find surprising gains.