Hours

As mentioned in Working hard. ⏱, since 2021 I’ve had a goal of completing 2,800 hours of focused work in a year.

In 2021, I worked 2,644.91 hours:

Final hour count for 2021

In 2022, 2,673.71 hours:

Final hour count for 2022

This year, I completed 3,260.68 hours:

Final hour count for 2023

I’m really proud of this. It had a measurable impact on my business success.

Impact

3,260.68 is only 21.9% more than 2,673.71. But the additional output is more than that.

In an 8 hour workday, some amount of your work hours are reactive, or essentially maintaining your current position or status. It varies by profession and by day, but for example, it could be 3 of the 8 hours. The remaining 5 hours are what push you or your product forward.

If you extend your workday from 8 to 13 hours, that’s a 62.5% increase. But your reactive hours are the same. The hours of work that truly push your station forward increased from 5 hours to 10.

By working 62.5% more hours, you have doubled your true working time. Not all hours are equal.