A second is the smallest unit that a standard clock allows us to see.

But we don’t think in terms of seconds in our day to day life.

We think in terms of minutes and hours.

For example, I use Toggl for tracking how I spend my time. And though it tells how many minutes and seconds I spend on a particular task, I never look at how many seconds. 

So minutes and hours are reliable for tracking progress or measuring any time-based goals we set for ourselves.

With the system I am sharing, we use 20-30 minutes as one focus unit. And, we build our workdays around these units.

We are not allowed to talk, check emails, check social media, go on Netflix or play video games, or do anything else for entertainment. We just sit or stand in one place and work on one focus area per focus unit.

In a day you aim to do 8-10 units.

That is equivalent to 3 – 3.5 hours of focused creative work in a day. You could do more but with this system, you get a lot done in less because you are moving back and forth between tasks.

If you are an entrepreneur, your day with this system will look like:

• 2-3 Units: Startup Growth
• 2 Units: Learning
• 2-3 Units: Work with or train team
• 1-2 Units: Communication
• 1 Unit: Planning the next day

You can use a similar unit-based system to plan your day. Of course, tweak it based on what you do.

For example, if you work in a job, and have a side hustle then you’ll have at least 5 focus units related to what you do at work, and most of the other units around learning and growing your side hustle.

A student will have more units for learning and practice.

So, tweak based on your goals and let your priorities guide your action.

And, remember – the idea here is not to work less but to get more out of time when you work.