Ryan Vaughn explains the 3.3 rule: work in focused three-hour blocks, then take a 30% recovery period. He shows how to apply it to housework, yard work, finances, and vacation, matching your break type to whether you did physical or mental work.
Can the 3.3 rule be applied to personal responsibilities like doing housework or managing finances or surviving the holidays? Um, yes, absolutely. The concept applies to anything that requires focus time. So if I'm focused on housework, Then for sure, I wanna work up to 3 hours or do housework up to 3 hours followed by a 30% recovery period. If I'm managing my finances, I definitely don't want to do that for more than 3 hours. So however long I do take, I'm gonna take a 30% recovery period. Think of it as kind of a reward. Um, If I did something like maybe yard work or housework and I need to take a break, the difference would be if I did physical labor that physically required physical actions— trying to see how many times I can say physical— when I take a break, I should be breaking from the physical focus as well. Therefore, I'm probably going to do something that is a little bit more leisure that allows me to sit and relax. See, that's a little bit of a difference from when I'm working. Doing something physical during my break time, my recovery period after working for 3 hours, is actually encouraged. Like, walking is a great idea for my work break time. But again, if I'm physically doing something— housework, yard work— and I'm going to now use a break period, let's go ahead and relax a little bit. Are there situations where this doesn't work? Not really. I mean, use it as a set of guidelines. What works for you? And, you know, there's certain leisurely things that we can do, like being on vacation. Just be on vacation. You're not actually focused— like, I wouldn't say I'm focused on being on vacation. I took 3 hours of vacation time. I need a break from that, and I need to work. No, when you're on vacation, be on vacation. Remember, the goal is to find ways to build in intentional breaks, not to find ways to add in more work. So there's not really situations where this doesn't apply. Sometimes it's just the application of it is overly simple or just logical that we are in a break period or doing something that's so leisurely and pleasurable that it's not considered work, and it's okay if I'm inefficient at it. Like sitting down and watching TV and vegging out on the couch or watching sports. Um, right, doesn't work there. So anyways, there you have it. Download our 3.3 rule defined guide in— it's linked in the description. I think this rule is really important. Obviously I designed it and came up with it to make our workdays more effective so that the hours we work are more impactful, giving us More time, giving us the ability to actually accomplish work-life harmony. But certainly if there's things that you have to do at home that aren't really enjoyable, I would totally apply the 3.3 rule to those. If you found value from this, please remember to like, subscribe, comment, share with everyone— friends, family, people you don't like. We want everyone to know about the 3.3 rule. And again, thanks, thanks for listening.
