Three Solid Hours

Updated: May 28, 2025 Reading Time: 1 minutes stage: complete

Instead of counting completed tasks, sent emails and answered messages, the key to productivity is simple: 3 hours of focused work per day.

There are thousands of examples.

Three solid hours

From Pat Walls, an indie hacker building a content empire called “Starter Story” sharing entrepreneurs’ stories, to prolific writers like Ryan Holiday, the recipe for moving the needle in your business, work, or hobby is simple: two to three hours of concentrated and uninterrupted work per day.

Instead of wasting time reading self-help books, copying productivity systems, filling your calendar with tasks, what you need to do is:

  • block 2 to 3 hours in your calendar every day, preferably starting the day
  • ask yourself each morning: “How can I use these 90-120 minutes to move towards my goals?”

I speak from experience. Weeks with a calendar exploding with calls. Endless tasks. Days begging for more hours or a clone. Zero real progress. The solution? Always the same: Say NO. Shield your calendar. And tackle only 1 or 2 priorities that really move the needle in your projects. Everything else is noise. Try it.