I tried only working 4 hours a day. *SHOCKING*

I picked the worst week to attempt this challenge, making it far more stressful than I had anticipated. Initially, I thought time would be my biggest constraint, but it turns out the main issue is me—my mindset and how I work. Imagine logging off work at 1 p.m. every day. It seems that many highly productive people can work just four hours a day and still maintain successful careers. While the saying “less is more” often applies to various situations, does it work when it comes to the workday? Through my research, I found that several countries have experimented with shorter workdays. For example, Sweden tried a six-hour workday, resulting in happier, healthier, more productive employees with higher job satisfaction. Similarly, New Zealand tested a four-day workweek and saw a 20% increase in productivity. It makes me wonder why our traditional workdays are structured in eight-hour blocks when studies show that employees are only productive for about two hours and fifty minutes each day.

So, here’s my plan: this week, I’m aiming to work just four hours a day from Monday to Friday. I’m also incorporating Tim Ferriss’s “DEAL” framework from his book The 4-Hour Workweek. “DEAL” stands for Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation. I need to define everything I want to achieve this week, which ties into elimination—the 80/20 rule, where 20% of your work delivers 80% of the results. Automation involves using tools or delegating tasks to make processes more efficient, while Liberation is about breaking free from traditional work environments and, for me, the 40-hour workweek mindset.

My week started with a bit of chaos. As soon as I turned on the camera, someone decided to mow their lawn. But the show had to go on. I reviewed my tasks using Notion and ACU flow to account for everything I need to wrap up before heading to Europe for almost a month. This means I have several projects to finish in just one week. I need to script and film five videos, a task that’s already raising my stress levels since I usually only do one or two a week. Additionally, I need to edit a podcast, work on freelance tasks for a client, and prepare a newsletter. Honestly, it feels like I picked the worst week to take on this challenge.

To start, I tackled the giveaway video due tomorrow, estimating it would take about 20 minutes. By the end of the day, I realized I needed a better plan to make this experiment successful. This challenge made me rethink how I structure my organization and productivity systems, especially when focusing on the 20% of tasks that yield 80% of results. I’ve always emphasized the importance of having a solid system, and now I’m reassessing whether mine holds up under a four-hour workday. If this experiment works, maybe I’ll try incorporating it into my life more permanently.

While reflecting on my productivity system, I turned to experts like Alia, who created a free guide with HubSpot on productivity, task management, and organization. The guide, filled with goal-setting advice, app recommendations, and templates, arrived just in time to help me optimize my workflow for the challenge. As someone who has collaborated with HubSpot for years, I truly appreciate their free resources, especially now. Apps like Notion, SparkMail, and ClickUp will be instrumental in structuring my work for the four-hour-per-day experiment.

On the second day, I felt more prepared but still stressed. The pressure of my upcoming trip to Europe means every task carries extra weight. While I’ve made progress—filming B-roll and shots for a video—the biggest challenge remains editing, which is incredibly time-consuming. However, realizing I don’t need to finish all edits this week has taken some of the pressure off. Instead, I’ll prioritize filming and save some editing for my trip.

The shortened time frame has given me a sense of urgency. I no longer waste time, unlike in my usual 12- to 16-hour days when I tend to shift from task to task. This challenge has already revealed how often I spend time on less important tasks rather than focusing on the core 20% that drives results. Going forward, I’ll structure my work by grouping similar tasks together, such as dedicating one day to scripting and another to filming. This approach should help reduce mental strain and improve efficiency.

At the end of this challenge, I realized that my mindset and work habits were the real barriers, not time. If I focus on deep work—allocating four hours daily to mission-critical tasks—I can still achieve a lot. Although I can’t fully implement a four-hour workday due to the nature of my freelancing and content creation business, I can aim for four hours of deep, focused work each day. This experiment has pushed me to rethink my productivity and organization systems, and while it’s been stressful, I’ve learned valuable lessons about how I work best.

Whether or not the four-hour workday is feasible for everyone, it’s crucial to prioritize the most important tasks and maintain focus. What do you think? Could you work just four hours a day and still get everything done? Let me know your thoughts in the comments. If you feel like your productivity system isn’t working for you, I highly recommend checking out the guide I mentioned—it’s been a game-changer for me.

I truly feel like I picked the worst possible week to take on this challenge. In hindsight, attempting this experiment at another time might have felt a lot less stressful, with lower stakes to worry about. Initially, I believed that time would be my biggest constraint, but I soon realized that the true obstacle wasn’t time, but rather my mindset and approach to work. Think about it: imagine logging off work at 1:00 p.m. every day. Some of the most productive people manage to do exactly that, working only four hours a day while still maintaining successful careers or thriving as entrepreneurs. We’ve all heard the phrase “less is more,” but does that truly apply to your workday?

Through my research, I discovered that entire countries have experimented with shortened workweeks. In Sweden, for example, they implemented a six-hour workday and found that employees were happier, healthier, more productive, and experienced greater job satisfaction. New Zealand tried a four-day workweek and saw a 20% increase in productivity. It made me wonder why school and workdays are structured around the traditional eight-hour format when studies show that employees are only productive for about two hours and fifty minutes each day.

So, here’s my plan: this week, I’m aiming to work only four hours a day, Monday through Friday. I’m also adopting the DEAL framework from Tim Ferris’s book, The 4-Hour Work Week. DEAL stands for Definition, Elimination, Automation, and Liberation. First, I need to define everything I want to accomplish this week. This ties perfectly into the second step: elimination, which follows the 80/20 principle (where 20% of your efforts produce 80% of the results). Then comes automation—finding ways to streamline or delegate tasks. Lastly, liberation involves breaking free from traditional work constraints, both physically and mentally.

As I began my week, it was already off to a rough start. Annoyingly, someone started mowing their lawn just as I turned on my camera. But despite the distractions, I pressed on. I spent my morning combing through my Notion and ACU flow to account for everything I needed to complete this week. Regrettably, this really wasn’t the best time to undertake this challenge—I’m heading to Europe next week for nearly a month, which means I have a ton of projects to wrap up before I leave.

To give you an idea of what I’m facing, I have five videos to script and film. Normally, I do just one or two videos a week, so the prospect of doing five has definitely spiked my stress levels. On top of that, I need to finish editing a podcast, which isn’t too concerning since I like to stay ahead of schedule on that front. And as a freelancer, I also have client work to manage, such as reading and synthesizing various documents for a software project and preparing our web developer for a new website. I also need to write a newsletter this week. Honestly, this is shaping up to be one of the most stressful weeks, and the timing couldn’t be worse.

I decided to tackle the giveaway video first, as it was due the next day. I estimated it would take about 20 minutes to film. After getting through the day, I felt pretty productive. But it became apparent that if I wanted to make this challenge work, I needed a more structured plan. The experiment made me rethink how my organizational system was set up and whether it was still effective, particularly when focusing on the 20% of work that yields the most results. I’ve always believed in having a solid productivity system in place, but this challenge has led me to reassess and shift my mindset.

I recently created a video on my organizational system and why it works, but for this new schedule, I looked to others I admire, like Ali Abdaal, who has an excellent system. Ali even collaborated with HubSpot to create a free guide on productivity and time management. The guide covers goal setting, task management, file management, and app recommendations, complete with templates to help craft a system that works. Some of the apps recommended, such as Notion, Sparkmail, and ClickUp, are already part of my workflow, and I’m excited to try incorporating more of these tools as I optimize my system for the upcoming four-hour workdays.

By the second day, I had completed filming for a video and moved on to editing. I realized that while filming takes about an hour per video and scripting takes another hour, it’s the editing process that eats up the most time. Fortunately, I don’t need to finish editing everything this week, just the filming. I can work on editing while I’m on my trip, which eases some of the pressure. Surprisingly, I’ve been able to accomplish more than I expected within my four-hour workdays. The limited time forces me to focus, eliminating distractions that would otherwise slow me down.

I’ve also started to understand why this shortened workday works for so many people. The time pressure creates just enough urgency to push me to get things done without unnecessary delays. Usually, my workday involves intermittent breaks—like journaling or researching between tasks—but now, I’m locking in and focusing on what truly matters. I’m shifting from spending time on the 80% that produces only 20% of the results to focusing on the reverse.

Day three was stressful, but I managed to finish one video and make progress on my marketing tasks. Despite the pressure, I could see how valuable this experiment was, even though I had unintentionally made it harder by choosing a week with a looming deadline. The fact that I was getting through my to-do list with just four hours a day was mind-blowing. It made me question how I usually structure my time and made me rethink the mental strain that comes with constantly shifting between different types of tasks.

By day four, the mental clarity and productivity boost I was experiencing started to take full effect. I felt more in control of my schedule, despite the mounting tasks. My approach to work had changed I was no longer procrastinating or getting lost in the details that usually eat up hours of my day. Instead, I found myself zeroing in on the essential parts of each task. I realized that cutting down on work hours forced me to be more intentional about where I spent my time. With limited hours, there’s no room for perfectionism or overthinking. You do the job, and you move on.

On this day, I knocked out two major scripts and prepped for filming the following morning. I also made significant progress on the newsletter I had been dreading all week. It was one of those tasks that I normally put off because it feels overwhelming, but when I focused on just getting it done, it took less time than I anticipated.

Another thing I noticed by this point in the week is how working fewer hours doesn’t just help you be more productive—it helps you feel more energized. Without the looming prospect of an eight-hour workday hanging over my head, I felt lighter and more creative. Instead of burning out by mid-afternoon, I had energy left for my evening. In fact, I even managed to squeeze in a workout after work, which is something I usually struggle to do when my day runs long. This experiment was teaching me that the quality of my work hours mattered far more than the quantity.

Day five arrived, and I felt like I was finally hitting my stride. It was my final day of the experiment, and I’d planned it well—I only had two more videos to film and a few smaller tasks left. Reflecting on the week, I saw how much I had gotten done, even though I had dreaded it at the start. The videos, scripts, client work, and newsletter were all either finished or nearing completion. What once felt like a mountain of tasks now seemed manageable, simply because I had shifted my mindset and focus.

To be honest, I didn’t stick strictly to the four-hour workday on every single day. There were a couple of instances where I pushed into the fifth hour, but that was mostly due to meetings or brief interruptions. Even so, this experiment proved that working fewer hours doesn’t mean you accomplish less. If anything, it reinforced the idea that concentrated effort is far more powerful than drawn-out, distracted work.

As I wrapped up the week, I reflected on the DEAL framework from Tim Ferriss. Definition was essential for knowing what I wanted to accomplish this week. Elimination—cutting out the nonessential tasks and distractions—was perhaps the most impactful part of the process. Automation and delegation were areas I didn’t get to explore much this week, but I saw their potential, especially with tools like Notion helping streamline my workflow. Liberation, for me, wasn’t just about freeing up my time—it was about freeing up my mindset. I started thinking differently about productivity and my approach to work.

Here’s what I learned from this challenge:

1. Time Pressure is a Game-Changer: Limiting your work hours forces you to focus and prioritize. I found myself procrastinating less and doing more because I knew I didn’t have all day to work.

2. The 80/20 Rule Works: Identifying the tasks that yield the most results is crucial. Instead of spreading myself thin across endless to-do lists, I focused on the most impactful tasks, and it made all the difference.

3. Energy Management is Key: By working shorter hours, I conserved my energy. Instead of hitting that afternoon slump, I ended each workday feeling more energized and less mentally drained. This balance even helped me show up more fully for my personal life.

4. Systems Matter: Having an organized workflow is essential when you’re working on a compressed schedule. The more streamlined your processes, the easier it is to get things done efficiently. Notion, in particular, played a huge role in keeping me organized and on track.

5. Mindset Shift: Perhaps the most valuable takeaway was how this experiment changed my mindset. I went from feeling overwhelmed and stressed to feeling empowered and capable. I stopped viewing my work as something that required long hours, and instead, focused on the value of those hours.

In conclusion, this challenge wasn’t easy, especially with the packed week I had. But it taught me that working fewer hours doesn’t mean sacrificing productivity. In fact, the opposite is true. By creating boundaries, eliminating distractions, and focusing on the most important tasks, I accomplished more in 20 hours than I usually would in 40. This experiment has changed how I plan to approach my work moving forward, and I’m excited to continue refining my workflow, potentially embracing a more permanent version of this four-hour workday model. If you’ve ever thought about trying something similar, I highly recommend it. You might be surprised by how much you can accomplish when you give yourself less time to work.