How to create 100 hours of focus time

Start doing more with less.

This week, I had that conversation again: "It’s hectic, but next week should be quieter."

Two years into Cleo and that week has never arrived.

Part of it is the people we’ve hired, part of it is the pace of the company (more on that here 🚀). I’ve accepted the truth: the slow week isn’t coming.

What you can do is make the days you do have more productive.

Over the past 10 years, I’ve tried every tip under the sun (remember when everyone swore by bullet journals?). Most weren’t worth it. But a few stuck—and actually work.

Here are the ones I recommend:

1. Use Arc instead of Chrome, Safari etc.

No, they’re not paying me. Yes, it’s that good.

Arc removes the dopamine triggers most browsers (and productivity-killing tabs) are built to amplify. Once you’re used to it, it’s a dramatically calmer, more focused experience.

I won’t blab on about all the other great features, but if you’re still using Chrome or Safari, stop, download Arc, increase your productivity by the end of the week.

2. Kill unnecessary 1-1’s

Meeting creep is real. One day you look up and half your calendar is catch-ups that serve little purpose.

A good rule: if you regularly leave a 1-1 with nothing to do, it’s probably not needed. Kill it, or move it to monthly. Here’s how many hours you save per 1-1 axed annually:

Want to axe them but not seem rude? Try this:

"It’s so busy right now that I’m experimenting with removing non-report 1-1s. I’d love to try removing ours for now and make them ad hoc. If that doesn’t work, happy to revisit."

Bonus: For everyone outside my direct reports, I’m currently trialling Friday afternoon office hours—open slots where people can book in if they have something to discuss opposed to 1-1’s. Still testing, but showing promise.

3. To-do list in the calendar

It’s obvious. But it works. Put time in your calendar for your real priorities and suddenly they start getting done. People are weirdly respectful of blocked time that has specific purpose, much more so than just labelling it ‘deep work’. Treat it like a meeting with yourself 🤝

4. Cut recurring meetings with no agenda or pre-read

If a meeting doesn’t have a pre-read or agenda, decline it. No one does good thinking on the fly in a Zoom room with 10 people and no plan.

Cut four of these 30-min meetings a week and you get back 100+ hours a year. Combine that with your 1-1 purge and you’ve created over a month of deep focus time - imagine what you could do with an additional month per year of focus time.

5. Use AI (disclaimer - Chat GPT wrote this tip)

If you’re not actively finding ways to automate tasks with AI, you’re already behind.

Some things I’m using ChatGPT for:

• Drafting first versions of docs

• Rewriting boring internal updates to make them more concise

• Deep research into industry and competitors

• Creating funny pictures of colleagues

This is just the start. AI will be the biggest productivity unlock of the next decade. Start now.

6. Protect focus time like your job depends on it

Because it kind of does.

The single most important skill in a high-output role? Getting time to actually do the work. But no one else is going to block that time for you—you have to do it yourself.

One block of focus time won’t change much. Protecting it every week? That compounds. That’s where the real output lives.

7. Don’t use desktop apps for Slack, Gmail, Outlook, etc.

I have a love/hate relationship with Slack. Yes, it’s much better than email, yes the gifs are funny but there is a growth team at Slack who are optimising towards engagement and time using the app.

They know red dots distract people from their focus time and emoji reactions give people a dopamine rush that keep them coming back opposed to doing meaningful work.

Delete the apps. Run them in browser. That extra friction is a good thing. Even my settings app is betraying my focus time 😭 must be time to end this article and update my OS..