Genuine question: game is cool but how do you do it?

This is not a rant or a negative comment about the game but I’m genuinely curious about time management. On each release I hope in once and try stuff then go out. Yesterday I tried 4.10 which is nice and stable all good. I tried to do one mission and flying out landing and getting one of the cargos consumed 1h and 15 min. While going to collect the second one I realized I was hitting 1.5h. I pressed escape -> exit to desktop and passed the rest of evening with my gf. How do you guys manage your time? Am I the one doing it wrong or it seems you have to dedicate minimum 3 hours for a meaningful loop?