Why I Only Do 3 Things Per Day | Elon Musk

This speech reveals Elon Musk's counterintuitive productivity system that helped him run multiple companies successfully by doing less, not more. The Crisis Moment: During Tesla's 2018 "production hell," Musk was working 120-hour weeks, sleeping on factory floors, handling 30+ meetings daily - but making zero real progress. He realized he was drowning in noise while neglecting what actually mattered. The Solution: The Three Things System Core Question: "What are the three things that, if completed today, would make the biggest difference toward my most important goal?" The Three Levels Framework: Level 1 (Maintenance): Keeping lights on - emails, meetings, reports (5% of time) Level 2 (Optimization): Improving existing systems (15% of time) Level 3 (Transformation): Game-changing innovations (80% of time) Most people spend 80% on Level 1. Musk flips this ratio. Real Examples: His 3 things might be: Review Starship heat shield design (Mars mission critical) Decide Tesla Gigafactory location (decade-long impact) Test Full Self-Driving beta personally NOT on his list: Review sales reports (delegated) Approve marketing budgets (trusted to CMO) Attend prep meetings (reads summaries) The Protection Protocol: Time blocking - dedicated, uninterrupted focus periods Communication boundaries - unavailable during focus time Energy management - do important work during peak hours Ruthless saying no to everything else Key Insights: Multitasking is harmful - takes 23 minutes to refocus after interruption Value comes from focus, not quantity - 3 things at 100% beats 20 things at 50% Most "urgent" things aren't important - and important things rarely feel urgent Time is scarce - you have maybe 2-3 hours daily for meaningful work Bottom Line: The system isn't about being lazy - it's about being legendary. Choose progress over activity, impact over effort, results over busyness. Focus on what creates disproportionate value and ruthlessly eliminate everything else. The ultimate question: If you could only work 3 hours per day, what would you work on? That's what deserves your focus now. The composition Almost in F - Tranquillity (performed by Kevin MacLeod) is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100394 Artist: http://incompetech.com/