Hours

As mentioned in Working hard, success, I have continued my goals of working above 2800 focused hours a year. These hours are timed in 15-minute increments, and only count for focused work. The timer is stopped if the primary goal of what I’m doing at that moment isn’t a business growth outcome.

Read that post for my thoughts on the superlinear impact of working the additional marginal hour.

In 2023, I worked 3,260.68 hours:

Final hour count for 2023

In 2024, I worked 3,386.16 hours:

Final hour count for 2024

I’m proud of hitting these hours while still maintaining my health and my love, personal, and work relationships. I believe that my hours worked isn’t just 69.3% higher than the national average, because I believe that what I count as hours are much more focused than the typical bar.

Of course, I recognize that I am biased to think that. We almost all think that about ourselves.

This year I am starting to see some of the benefits of this focus. My business is growing consistently to the point that I’m finally earning more than I would have at Facebook, which I left 3 years ago.

However, I have to admit that I’m a bit disappointed I only beat last year by 3.85%. That is not what I expected.

I’m not sure why that is. I will say that my current pace feels more sustainable than it did last year. That means I probably have more room to increase the weight.

There were four significant business and personal outcomes from this focus:

Business

  1. I sold my first business, which was cofounded with a long-time friend and partner. It was a nominal outcome, but positive.
  2. This is the first time I am living solely off of my own business that can be fully productized. Previous businesses were either contracting (my time for money) or service-heavy.

In addition, I have hit two milestones that are an integral part of a person’s journey for fulfillment. This blog is focused on work, but these are important.

Personal

  1. I have purchased my first home. Getting the 30 year mortgage took seven months. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.
  2. On a trip to Italy, I got engaged, to be married in 2025.

Personal and work accomplishments and intertwined. Fulfillment from achieving excellence in your field builds confidence, which builds relationships, which refills you to further achieve your goals.

They build on each other. Both in a natural sense (accomplishments in your field generally make you a more appealing mate) and in a more ethereal sense (gratification from relationships inspires you to accomplish more).

A utopia implies no struggle, which is a life devoid of meaning. It is not possible, and even if it was, humans would not want it. The pain of personal and work accomplishment is what makes happiness sweet.

Ultimately, our purpose on this Earth is to be happy. The only constant in this world is that human nature does not change. And for all of time, through all civilizations, the most important item on that list is #4.