Focused — All-in-one productivity system to achieve your life's goals.

@luca3927 Dope idea. I currently have two jobs, a relationship, dog, and we want to have a kid sometime soon. I was just feeling unproductive and my therapist recommended I do less context switching. How did you learn about the methods you put into Focused?

@shashank_sanjay Congrats on the baby, I hope it all goes smooth. Being a dad is awesome, my daughter is almost 3 and I love it! I am sure you will too. To answer your question, I have been obsessed with productivity and organization for many years, since I my early 20s. Mainly due to necessity as I first was doing a dual degree while working in IT full-time, then I moved to working full-time and running my own side business with my wife + a fairly successful blog; and now full-time work and Focused + the side business. So out of that, I have spent many many hours reading books, learning different techniques and implementing them in my life to see how they work. I also got onboard with Notion very early on (moved from Evernote), so I built many of the very early iterations of Focused for myself before I even thought I could create something for others. I think that is why I feel Focused is different from other productivity apps and even Notion templates (although I don't consider myself as a template at all, more of a productivity system). The value I add is the experience and the trials and tribulations of learning, implementing and using all of these different systems. So I know the pitfalls, I know what works and what doesn't. So Focused is not just a tool, it also has all of the documentation and life coaching to go along with it. Tips, tricks, ideas to help people overcome the pitfalls I did. The biggest one which is common for the majority of people and which is a common thread throughout my documentation is that of overcoming guilt about not doing enough, because although that can be a short-term productivity booster it certainly isn't a long-term one. It is actually a productivity killer. Which why a lot of people start with a productivity tool or framework and get a short-term boost in productivity but ultimately don't keep it going so they never actually achieve what they are trying to achieve. This is the main reason I built Focused - for those people. The other reason is because due to my 9-5 and the stress at work, especially during COVID, I ended up with a breakdown and burnout. I had to take time of work and the effects of that stress and burnout still haunt me today at times. It has been a massive journey of learning that productivity isn't just about doing more, it is about consistency. It is about processing emotions, having a healthy lifestyle and about learning when to work and when to rest. Just do do do isn't the answer. As a result of this, I major heavily on this in Focused, because the biggest killer of productivity is stress, anxiety and burnout. All things that can be avoided if the right tools and techniques are in place. I wouldn't want anyone to go through what I did, and so that is the other major reason why I built Focused. Sorry about the long answer, but I hope that explains a bit about the level of detail and quality that goes into Focused and how I learnt about all of the methods I have included in it. Thanks for the comment and support, it is very much appreciated! Good luck with your launch too.

@zulkarnaim thanks Zulkar!

@ezshine thank you very much, I really do hope to help people achieve so awesome stuff in their life. The biggest kick and motivator for me is helping people so I really hope Focused can do that.

@star_boat Thanks for the great questions. Emotional well-being is critical to being productive long-term. It is what the majority of all other productivity apps don't major on, or there are specific apps just for that and you have to combine it with the rest of your workflow. The cool thing about Focused is it is all built in. Focused is built around emotional management, from the feature sets through to the documentation and the life coaching. Why? Because at our core we are all emotional beings. And understanding how people work, feel, think and addressing those emotions (both positive and negative) is the way to help people become productive to the point where they will get through the challenging times to actually achieve their goals. However, to answer your question on some of the specific things around emotional well-being, I will list a few of the key ones here and their benefits 1. Journalling - Process emotions, remove subjectivity and focus on your positives through gratitude. 2. Habits - Helps people lead a healthy and balanced lifestyle required to achieve long-term success. 3. Rewards - Ultra-motivation through gamifying your life – clear objectives, trackable progress & rewards. 4. Reviews - Refreshed inspiration, stronger motivation and the ability to reflect on progress & course correct if required. I think the other massive benefit is the documentation which is filled with life coaching, tips, tricks and how to avoid common pitfalls. The strength of Focused is that is built using experience in actually using these frameworks and being on a productivity journey for the last 20+ years. I have seen the positives and negatives of productivity, I've experienced stress, anxiety and had a burnout. So I know what it actually takes to be productive to achieve your goals. It isn't about "being more productive" - what is the point of that? It is about being productive TO ACHIEVE YOUR GOALS. That is a whole new way of looking at the problem, because if you have a goal - it always takes time, effort, consistency and dedication. A note-taking app or a task management app won't give you that. But an entire productivity system built around the concept of helping you, motivating you, encouraging you and getting you to overcome the challenges which we all face when doing something big.... that will actually get you success. So to lead into the second part of your question, what myself and the people in the private beta have experienced is the ability to have Focused build a sustainable productive routine in their life. They haven't just seen their productivity improve, but their lifestyle improve through a better understanding and awareness of themselves and what it takes to be productive. I think the biggest misconception is productivity is "work harder". In some very basic instance yes that is part of it, but if you want to actually achieve something it isn't. That is what my users have experienced, understanding that my sleep patterns or my exercise patterns or my emotional health is actually tied to my productivity. A lot of comments I received as part of the beta was, "I can't believe how important rest is in productivity". It's the same concept as an athlete - pro athletes have their whole life dialled in - sleep, rest, food. Otherwise they won't be at peak performance. Majority of athletes rest more than they exercise. But when they exercise and when they rest they are purposeful. At its core, Focused does this for everyday people wanting to achieve their goals. Hope that explains some of the inner workings of Focused and why its a productivity system to actually help people achieve their goals, not just a short-term boost in productivity with no real results. Thanks for the support and questions!

@zeusinsights Thanks Thomas!

@arlinda_eastwood thanks very much, I hope to help many people.