I’ve found that I can work until 2pm or I can work until 8pm;
but at the end of the day there will always be more to do.
Just now I end every day feeling like I’ve achieved only a fraction of what I wanted.
Jan – Mar is always my busiest time of year.
My inbox is overflowing.
Client requests are piling up.
And yet, I’m forcing myself to work just four hours a day.
Why?
Because I just had a baby.
And if life has taught me anything, it’s that the most important moments don’t wait for the perfect conditions.
I could grind through it. Hustle harder. Keep stacking wins.
But at what cost?
No-one is forcing me to work. I have to work to eat,
But every hour I choose to work is an hour I choose not to spend with Fin.
I try to remember that during these first few months with him that I will never get back…
And I think most people are in this trap.
We work 9-5 hours even when it doesn’t make sense.
Let’s be honest:
By 2pm most solopreneurs have already mentally checked out,
But old work habits keep our arseholes glued to our seats till 5pm.
We’re ticking boxes, answering emails and killing time until we allow ourselves to leave without guilt.
That is your best time of your life that you are frittering away,
Just to satisfy common cultures idea of “productive”
Screw that:
Get in, do the work, get out when it’s done.
Work will always be there.
My child’s first months won’t.
And I’ll end every day feeling like I didn’t get enough done regardless.
So may as well feel stressed but have more time with Fin.
It’s not the I don’t feel stressed or that I get everything done.
In fact I end each day feeling overwhelmed.
There’s always so much more todo,
And some days I leave work with more emails than when I started.
A lot of days I don’t feel motivated to start at all.
So I guess I might as well feel stressed and overwhelmed,
but knock off early to have more time with Fin. 😅
So I’m pushing my limits to see how much impact I can create in just four hours per day.
Here’s x4 lifestyle design experiments I’m running right now to see how much impact I can create in just four hours per day
1. Shifting “Seasons”
Productivity hacks won’t matter unless I rewire how I think.
Sahil Bloom’s five types of wealth hit me like a wake-up call.
You don’t have to do it all at once;
it’s ok to let some things slide.
Life happens in seasons.
🔹 There’s a season for ambition
🔹 There’s a season for wellbeing.
🔹 There’s a season for rest.
This season? It belongs to family.
This mindset shift is freeing. It allows me to dial back the intensity without guilt, knowing that ambition isn’t a switch—it’s a dimmer. I can turn it back up when the time is right.
That doesn’t mean I’m abandoning my ambitions.
It means I’m giving myself permission to let my business cruise at 80% instead of 110%.
There will be another season for the grind.
2. The Hard Stop Rule
Four hours. That’s all I get.
I start a timer when I sit down.
When it hits four hours, I shut the laptop.
🔹 Work crisis? It waits.
🔹 Unfinished tasks? That’s life.
🔹 One more email? Not happening.
This forces ruthless prioritization. Every minute counts. If I waste time, I lose it. Period.
Time pressure is the ultimate productivity hack.
3. Themed Work Blocks
Not all hours are created equal.
This system keeps my best energy where it matters most.
So I structure my work like this:
🔹 1 Hour: Creation → Big-impact work first.
🔹 1 Hour: Inspiration → Reading. Learning. Recharging the brain.
🔹 1 Hour: Planning → Thinking long-term. Reflecting, Setting direction.
🔹 1 Hour: Admin → Emails, meetings, necessary chaos. I do this last when my energy is gone.
4. The Shutdown Ritual
Work doesn’t just stop when you close your laptop. It lingers.
Unfinished tasks create a mental drag and stress festers.
To break the loop, I built a ritual:
🔹 Step away.
🔹 Sit in my beanbag for five minutes.
🔹 Ring the chimes outside my office.
🔹 Walk inside through the garden – slow, deliberate, present.
That’s the signal. Work is done. The rest of the day belongs to my family.
Does the 4 hour workday actually work?
Is it working?
sort of:
My old schedule:
8am wake up
8:15am workout
8:30am coffee breakfast
8:45am chores
9am walk dog / think and plan
9:30am focus work – writing, system building, lead gen, high level fulfilment.
11am coffee break
12pm shallow work – emails, comms
1pm lunch
2pm catch up with team on clickup
3pm leisure / distraction
3.30pm calls
4.00pm tidy up, admin
4.30pm housework
6pm dinner
7pm audiobook / read / tv
9pm bed
♻️
My new schedule:
4am – 10am Taking Care of Baby
10am – 12pm deep work
12pm – 2pm TCOB
2pm – 4pm shallow work
4pm – 9:55pm TCOB
9:55pm-10pm Shower, poo, have breakfast, washing, housework, watch Netflix, exercise, ponder life, walk dog, sort the tax return, brush teeth, say hi to wife.
10pm – 4am sleep
♻️
Expecting perfection or any form of routine with a baby is unrealistic.
What gets measured gets managed
So I’m tracking closely how much I work every day.
I was really worried about how I would balance being a business owner and a father
I had a few wobbles, firefighting emergencies from hospital in the first week.
But the month I was off for paternity leave was my top earning month, EVER.
I think this was more a lagging effect from training the team I’ve been doing in the months running up to the birth to systemize the business, but still, go figure!
I feel just as stressed,
there’s a lot of small things that slip the net.
But honestly I think the major important stuff still gets done.
So Instead of working hours a day on fake work
I work shorter bursts on the stuff that actually matters.
So I’m now working less hours than I ever have,
yet somehow I’m also getting the same stuff done.
And I think I’ve figured out how….
It’s not the volume of stuff I’m getting done, it’s the nature.
It’s stuff that’s been lingering on my todo list for years,
That I KNOW I should do but somehow could never work up the motivation to start.
I expected being a dad would turn me into a brain-dead zombie.
Instead it’s turned me into a brain-dead zombie AND hyper charged my focus.
I used to think I was pretty focussed with my time.
Now I see how much I procrastinate
I didn’t know it,
But I was suffering from an abundance of time.
I had so much time to work that I wasted it on stuff that didn’t need done.
Sure, some things slide,
Some things get missed.
But hopefully only the superficial stuff.
I don’t know if this system will last forever.
But I do know this: If I can build something meaningful in four hours a day, I’ll never go back.
Because time isn’t just about productivity. It’s about who you give it to.
And right now, I’m choosing to give mine to what matters most.
