I love what Stephen King says on this topic: "I try to get six pages a day." [1] He works 3 to 4 hours per day, every day. He most likely works the same time b

I love what Stephen King says on this topic: "I try to get six pages a day." [1] He works 3 to 4 hours per day, every day. He most likely works the same time block every day. As he says in the video, life happens. Don't stress life happening. Attend to things that come up and return to your "six pages a day". The number of pages isn't important. King even qualifies his answer by saying, "...if things go well." The key component here is: - every day; - preferably same time block each day; - concentrated effort; - attainable goal with a bit of a stretch each day. I adopted this model several years ago and my productivity went through the roof. (From my own perspective, measuring against myself; not others.) I can say I'm overjoyed at how much work I can get done using this approach. Five hours each day, starting at 4am, is the sweet spot for me. Note, though, that I wake up at 2am to be ready by 4am and I go to bed, uh, about now. Here's the rub: it will always appear that you can do more. However, as others have said here, it's an illusion. Finally, I would make the following observation: if one feels secure and has a stable environment, productivity and motivation don't seem to be elusive. If you're chasing after dollars and you're about to go bust if-it-doesn't-get-done-by-this-Friday, you've already lost. It's been my experience that you cannot start from a foundation of anxiety. It can't be "I have to do this or I'm screwed". I realize this creates a paradox for many folks. My solution was just to accept a much lower standard of living to reduce that meat-computer thread constantly running in my brain saying, "...but where the MONEY going to come from!?" The thread still runs occasionally and I just kill it. [1] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7XMkjDGw0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xR7XMkjDGw0 EDITED: formatting