How to Get More Things Done in Less Time?

You've probably asked yourself this question dozens of times. Maybe it was after yet another week where you worked long hours but felt like you accomplished nothing meaningful. Or when you looked at your task list and wondered why everything takes twice as long as it should.

The productivity industry has sold us a lie: that doing more things faster is the secret to getting more done. So we adopt elaborate task management systems, time blocking calendars, and aggressive scheduling techniques. We add more hours to our days, cut out breaks, and push through fatigue.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: the problem isn't that you're working too slowly. It's that you're optimizing for the wrong thing.

The Hidden Cost of "Doing More"

When most people think about productivity, they think about velocity—how many tasks can I complete in a day? How can I speed up my work? How can I fit more into my schedule?

This mindset leads to three critical mistakes:

1. Task fragmentation kills deep work

Research from Carnegie Mellon shows it takes an average of 23 minutes to fully refocus after an interruption. For complex cognitive work like programming or analysis, that number jumps to over 30 minutes. When you're constantly switching between tasks to "get more done," you never reach the deep focus state where your best work happens. You end up spending most of your day in a mentally exhausted state of partial attention—what Cal Newport calls "attention residue." Each task switch leaves part of your brain still thinking about the previous task, fragmenting your cognitive resources.

2. Speed optimization creates quality debt

Moving faster through tasks doesn't mean you're actually getting more done. It often means you're accumulating quality debt—work that's "done" but will need to be revisited, debugged, or completely redone later. That bug you didn't catch because you rushed the code review. The client requirement you misunderstood because you skimmed the brief. The strategic decision you made based on incomplete analysis because you didn't have time to think it through. These aren't productivity wins. They're productivity loans with compound interest.

3. More tasks doesn't equal more outcomes

Here's a critical distinction most productivity advice misses: tasks completed ≠ outcomes achieved. You can complete 20 small tasks and make zero progress on what actually matters. You can check off your entire to-do list and still have a completely unproductive day. The makers who consistently deliver exceptional outcomes don't optimize for task velocity. They optimize for focused execution on high-impact work.

The Science of Getting More Done: Focus Depth × Time

If task velocity isn't the answer, what is?

Neuroscience research points to a different formula: Meaningful output = Focus depth × Time invested

Your brain has natural cycles of focus and recovery called ultradian rhythms—roughly 90-minute windows where you can sustain deep, focused work. During these windows, your prefrontal cortex can maintain the complex mental models needed for creative problem-solving, strategic thinking, and deep analysis. But here's the key: these focus windows are finite and fragile.

The first 15-20 minutes are context loading—your brain is pulling in all the information, constraints, and mental models needed for the work. You're not productive yet; you're ramping up. Minutes 20-65 are peak focus—this is where the magic happens. Your working memory is fully loaded, your attention is stable, and you're making real progress. This is the state where one hour of work can produce what might take five hours in fragmented attention. Minutes 65-90 are decline—your focus naturally begins to waver as neurotransmitters deplete. You're still functional, but the quality of work starts dropping. After 90 minutes, you need a real break to reset your neurochemical baseline. Trying to push through leads to diminishing returns and eventual burnout.

Understanding this rhythm changes everything about productivity. Instead of asking "how many tasks can I complete today," you start asking "how many high-quality focus windows can I create?"

The Session-Based Approach: Work With Your Brain, Not Against It

This is where the session-based methodology comes in—and it's fundamentally different from traditional time management.

Instead of fragmenting your day across dozens of tasks, you structure work around 60-90 minute focus sessions, each dedicated to a single high-priority outcome.

Here's why this works:

1. One task per session = zero context switching

When you commit to working on just one thing for the entire session, you eliminate the cognitive overhead of task switching. No attention residue. No mental fragmentation. Your entire working memory is dedicated to solving one problem. This isn't laziness or lack of ambition. It's how your brain is designed to do complex cognitive work.

2. Strategic breaks restore focus capacity

Between sessions, you take real breaks—not "check email while eating lunch" pseudo-breaks, but actual recovery windows that allow dopamine and other neurotransmitters to replenish. Andrew Huberman's research on ultradian rhythms shows that these recovery periods aren't wasted time—they're what allow you to maintain high-quality focus across multiple sessions throughout the day.

3. Session goals create focus accountability

Instead of vague daily to-do lists, you set specific session goals: "Debug the authentication flow and implement the fix" or "Draft the complete proposal structure with key arguments." This specificity creates clarity. You know exactly what success looks like for the next 60-90 minutes. No ambiguity, no task hopping, no "I'll just quickly check this other thing."

How Locu Makes Session-Based Work Effortless

The problem with traditional time trackers is they weren't built for focus optimization. They were built for surveillance—corporate tools designed to monitor employees, not empower individual makers.

Locu flips this model entirely. It's designed around the session-based methodology, with three core pillars:

🧠 Session-Based Focus

Start a scientifically-optimized 60-90 minute focus session instead of arbitrary 25-minute Pomodoro cycles that interrupt your flow just as you hit peak focus. Locu respects your brain's natural rhythms and helps you work when your cognitive capacity is highest.

🎯 Task Context

Select a priority task for each session and keep your notes, steps, and context right there—no app switching, no mental overhead. Integration with Linear, Jira, and other dev tools means your task context lives alongside your focus sessions. This eliminates the "what was I working on again?" tax that fragments so many work sessions.

📈 Daily Consistency

Track your progress through completed high-quality sessions rather than hours worked or tasks checked off. This creates sustainable work patterns—you can see exactly how much focused effort you've invested and maintain consistency without burning out.

The Compound Effect: More Outcomes With Less Burnout

Here's what happens when you shift from task velocity to session-based focus:

Week 1: You complete fewer tasks on your to-do list, but the work quality is noticeably higher. You catch issues earlier, make better decisions, and finish your sessions with energy instead of exhaustion.

Month 1: You start recognizing patterns. You realize that three focused sessions (4-5 hours of deep work) produce more real progress than 8-10 hours of fragmented work. You stop feeling guilty about "unproductive" time and start protecting your focus sessions.

Quarter 1: Your output quality compounds. Projects that used to require multiple revision cycles get done right the first time. Client feedback shifts from "can you fix this" to "this is exactly what we needed." Your reputation for delivering exceptional work grows.

Year 1: You've fundamentally changed how you work. You're delivering more high-impact outcomes in less time while maintaining sustainable energy levels. No more weekend work to fix rushed weekday mistakes. No more burnout cycles. Just consistent, high-quality execution.

This is the real answer to "how do I get more done in less time?" You don't. You get better things done in focused time.

Start With One Session Today

You don't need to overhaul your entire workflow. Start simple:

1. Pick one high-priority task that requires deep thinking—not email, not admin work, but something that moves the needle.
2. Block 60-90 minutes where you won't be interrupted. Turn off notifications, close unnecessary tabs, commit to single-task focus.
3. Work on that one task until the session ends or the task is complete. Notice how different focused execution feels.
4. Take a real break afterwards. Step away from your screen, move your body, reset your mind.
5. Track your sessions to build consistency. Use a tool that respects your brain's rhythms and helps you maintain daily consistency.

The productivity revolution isn't about doing more things faster. It's about doing the right things with full focus—and building sustainable systems that let you maintain that focus day after day.

On day one, you'll notice fewer tasks checked off but higher quality work. By week two, you'll stop feeling guilty about "unproductive" time and start protecting your focus sessions. By month three, you'll wonder how you ever accepted fragmented attention as normal.

That's how you get more done in less time. Not by working faster, but by working deeper.