Helpful productivity tool - FocusMate \ stacker news ~alter

I don't know if you guys have problems with getting and staying productive. Sometimes I find it easy to get in the zone, most of the time I emphatically don't.

I just started using a tool called Focus Mate. Basically, you schedule some chunks of time on the calendar. You login at that time, and sign into an online meeting. You're assigned an "accountability partner". You and your partner state what you're going to work on, then spend about 50 minutes working on it. Then at the end of the session, you both state what you got done. The video stays on the whole time (you can turn it off, but it looks like nobody does that). Audio off, except at beginning and end. If your partner doesn't show up, you are assigned an alternative partner.

Previously, I used a tool called Flow Club. Which was WAY more expensive, 40 USD a month (FocusMate is $9/month). I thought it was mostly worth it, but then ended up not using it all that much after a while, so I cancelled.

Anyway, the main difference with Flow Club was - you were in a group of anywhere from 4 to 12 people. It wasn't a problem at all if you missed your scheduled session, nobody would notice. It wasn't a problem if you ducked out of the session early, nobody would notice. Also, there was one person who was the group lead, who would ask everyone what you were going to work on at the beginning, and how you did at the end. So, you might take a solid 5 minutes going through everyone at the beginning, and then at the end again.

I'm astounded by how much more useful FocusMate is for me. The accountability of having ONE person to show up for, and being EXACTLY on time (if you don't show, they cancel all your future sessions, and send you an email, "Are you okay? We're worried about you!"). Also having just the one person to check in with, as opposed to a bunch of people.

We'll see how this lasts for me. Right now I'm really psyched for it, and it's helped me to get some things started that I've been procrastinating on. It's especially helpful for me to get started in the morning, and start doing useful things as opposed to "checking" a lot of sites online...

Any of you folks tried this? Any other helpful productivity tips?

34 sats \ 2 replies \ @south_korea_ln 1 Dec

Using it nearly daily. For work. Works great. I have a few thousand sessions in.

Got reported once for having a reference to Bitcoin in my profile~~

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @j7hB75 1 Dec

Why would you get reported for that?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln 1 Dec

People get triggered for different reasons...

34 sats \ 1 reply \ @DesertDave 1 Dec

Sounds like a great tool. I do struggle at times to stay productive. I spent so many years being a slave to a clock and over productive that now I feel a resistance to anything telling me when and what to do. I want to be more self motivated though. I am looking for the balance now.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Signal312 OP 1 Dec

It's surprising how many people who use these types of tools, are using them for stuff like personal maintenance - making themselves a cup of coffee, doing a meditation session, things like that.

I also think there's a fair number of people living alone who might be doing this just to get some (very little) "personal" contact at the start of their day.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 1 Dec

My life is already so structured that I would feel tied down if I were to try this out haha

I find that writing a to-do list works best for me. If I bother to write something down, my personality is such that I will get it crossed out, sooner or later