The Mental Model That Changed How I Work: Hours × Productivity × Reward
Why doing hard things isn’t always smart, and how shifting focus to reward helped me reclaim my time, energy, and ambition.
At some point, every ambitious person hits a wall: you realise you just can’t do it all.
It happened to me recently.
I’ve always had more ideas than time, more projects than hours in a day. For a while, I believed I could push through. Wake up earlier, work harder, optimise routines, read all the productivity hacks.
But eventually, the math stopped working.
I realised that no matter how disciplined or efficient I became, time wasn’t going to magically appear. And I certainly wasn’t going to become 10x more productive overnight.
That’s when this mental model hit me:
Hours Worked × Productivity × Reward
This simple formula became my north star. Let me break it down.
1. Hours Worked (Limited)
There are only so many hours in a day. We can try to stretch them, but realistically, this component is capped.
I’ve pushed this lever as far as it could go. Long days, nights, weekends. But all it gave me was burnout and the illusion of progress.
2. Productivity (Improve with Limits)
The second component is productivity—how much you can create or deliver in each hour. This is improvable with focus, better tools, and experience.
I’ve made big gains here: I’ve learned to build faster, design smarter, and solve problems more efficiently. But again, there’s a ceiling. No matter how optimised I become, I’m still one person, solving one problem at a time.
3. Reward (Where the Leverage Lives)
This is the component that can scale. The one with exponential potential. A reward is what you get in exchange for your time and skill.
It’s shaped by:
- who you work with,
- what kind of work you do,
- how you price it, and
- how it’s perceived.
And here’s where I had my breakthrough.
My Mistake: Doing Hard Work for Low Reward
For the longest time, I took pride in doing things the hard way. I’d build headless Shopify storefronts from scratch instead of using a theme, then charge the same €1000 someone else would charge for a theme-based site.
Why? Because I believed there was something noble in the struggle. I believed that by doing hard things others wouldn’t, I was secretly building up some kind of invisible reward that would eventually pay off.
But here’s the truth:
Just because something is hard doesn’t mean it’s valuable.
The world doesn’t reward effort.
It rewards outcomes.
Learning the Hard Way
I learned by undercharging, overdelivering, and working with the wrong clients. I said yes too quickly, gave ridiculous discounts, and treated every opportunity like it was the last one I’d ever get.
And for a while, I told myself it was fine. I was learning.
But eventually, I had to ask myself: Learning for what?
If all I was doing was getting better at undervaluing myself, I wasn’t moving forward.
Shifting the Focus to Reward
Now, I’m focused on optimising the third part of the equation: reward.
Not by being greedy, but by being intentional. I’m choosing better clients. I’m saying no. I’m packaging my skills in ways that are more valuable. And I’m realising that saying “no” is a sign of growth, not arrogance.
Yesterday, I had a client reach out. A few months ago, I would’ve been excited. I would’ve jumped on a call, offered a deal, maybe even compromised on scope.
But this time? I told them I couldn’t accommodate them. Too much demand. Limited time. And honestly, they weren’t the right fit anymore.
It felt strange. But it also felt right.
What I’ve Learned
This model — Hours × Productivity × Reward — has helped me reframe everything:
- Hours are finite.
- Productivity can be improved, but only so much.
- Reward is where the leverage is.
I used to chase harder problems. Now I chase smarter systems.
I used to optimise for effort. Now I optimise for outcome.
I used to sell to anyone. Now I aim to work only with the right ones.
If you’re in the same phase I was, doing good work but not getting paid what you’re worth. Maybe it’s time to shift your focus, too.
There’s nothing wrong with the grind. But eventually, you have to build something that makes the grind worth it.
Thanks for reading.
If this resonates, feel free to share or connect. I write about work, leverage, and building things the hard (and hopefully smart) way.
Matija
