Use this 90-min rule to be more productive

Hey,

Today I want to speak about something really important.

You can work for 8 hours.

Answer dozens of emails.

Sit through back-to-back meetings.

And still feel like you got nothing important done.

I’ve had plenty of days like this.

Busy all day.

But the tasks that actually move things forward?

Still sitting on my list at 7 pm.

So I’ve been trying something different.

I protect time for my most important work before everything else.

The idea comes from a book I recently uncovered called Ultraproductive written by my friends Eric Partaker and Dr. Christian Poensgen.

One of the principles is simple:

Spend 90 minutes every day on your most important work.

They call it the “Rule of 90.”

The reason is simple:

Your focus naturally rises and falls throughout the day.

So expecting yourself to do deep work for 8 hours straight isn’t realistic.

Instead, identify what matters most.

Then protect at least 90 minutes to work on it.

Here’s how I’ve been using it:

1. Decide the night before.

Before finishing work, I write down 1-3 things I want to accomplish during my 90 minutes the next morning.

2. Remove distractions.

Phone in the drawer. Inbox closed. One tab open. No distractions.

3. Put it on the calendar.

I don’t leave the 90 minutes to chance.

If my first call is at 10 am, I protect 8:30-10 am.

Otherwise, “I’ll do it this afternoon” quickly becomes “I’ll do it tomorrow.”

And that’s the part I’ve found most useful.

I’ve stopped measuring productivity by how many small tasks I completed.

Instead, I ask:

Did I make meaningful progress on something that actually matters?

If yes, it was a productive day.

The Rule of 90 is only one part of Ultraproductive.

Eric and Christian use the 90-minute framework across focus, performance and recovery.

Here’s a useful overview that covers all these areas:

I’ve found the framework surprisingly simple.

But that’s exactly why it works.

You don’t need another complicated productivity system.

You need to protect time for the work that actually matters.

Hope the Rule of 90 helps you so you can achieve your professional and personal goals.

See you soon,

Igor

P.S. Eric and Christian are giving the first 10,000 people who order the book access to their 5-week Ultraproductive Accelerator, plus this cheat sheet and eight others from the book. You can get the details here.