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The Magic Behind focused space

Aug 25, 2024

Ever wondered why we have a tomato in our app? Or why our Community Sessions are structured the way that they are?

Wonder no more! This week we’ll be diving into the magic behind focused space, and explaining the why behind what we do here.

Topics include: the psychology behind body doubling, how neuroscience research supports everything we do, and why we suggest only 1-3 goals per day… and no, it’s not to torture you! 😜

A Culture of Compassion

First, we’ll start with what makes focused space different from other productivity companies — and that’s our compassionate approach.

Research has shown the benefits of self-compassion many times over, but even with this knowledge, it can still be tempting to think we are failures every time we stumble. That’s why we’ve put so much intention into creating a culture of self-compassion within our own team, and also within the broader community.

According to Kristin Neff, a self-compassion researcher, the three ingredients of self-compassion are:

Being kind to ourselves
Remembering that we are not alone — everyone suffers
And lastly, mindfulness!

If you’ve been a part of the focused community for a while now, you may have received a check-in email from a host asking what you plan to do to take care of yourself today? Or maybe you have witnessed the feeling of shared humanity that spills into the chat when someone in a Community Session shares they are struggling, and others chime in with similar sentiments.

Not to toot our own horns, but we are a pretty special place on the internet — and that’s in large part thanks to you! If you don’t believe me, check out our community forum space 😎

The "3-Goal" Rule

Ah, the age-old question: “Why do we encourage only 1-3 goals each day?”

The reason is… when we strive to complete our long to-do list instead of focusing on just our top 3 goals — it’s kind of like trying to run a race where you keep adjusting the finish line throughout the day as more things come. It’s very frustrating, overwhelming, and discouraging.

Here are 3 reasons why we limit to 3 goals:

#1: Get in the habit of prioritizing.

We all have our never-ending to-do lists that keep getting piled onto as each day passes. Instead of just chipping away at it without any rhyme or reason, we encourage you to take a look at that list each day and move things to the top depending on their urgency or importance.

#2: Get realistic with ourselves.

Did you know humans have a universal cognitive quirk of underestimating how long things will take? It’s true! Researchers have deemed it the “planning fallacy.” With this in mind, try to aim for no more than 3 goals, and remember — you can always add more throughout the day if you find that you’re finishing things quicker than expected!

#3: Prevent burnout.

Have you ever had one of those days where you were SUPER productive and just got 10 things done on your to-do list, but ended the day feeling a bit dazed and confused? Sometimes, that’s just the way it is, but in order to end most days feeling calm and ready to transition to our evening time, we need to be thoughtful about our energy output.

🍅 Tomato Time

Ever wondered what those little tomatoes in the "Zoom-in" section of the app are for?

Well, they are used to symbolize the use of a time management concept called The Pomodoro® Technique. It was developed in the late 1980s by Francesco Cirillo, a university student who was trying to get more studying done in less time.

Francesco would use a tomato-shaped timer to break his work into 25-minute chunks and then take a 5-min break between them.

The idea behind segmenting your time like this is to move through a larger project in more bite-sized time chunks, stave off mental fatigue with built-in breaks, and limit distractions like your phone with shorter periods of focused time.

He called it the pomodoro technique because pomodoro means “tomato” in Italian. We use it at focused space in our Community Sessions — and you can use it in the app to estimate time, too.

💥 Pop quiz for current members: have you figured out how to “squash” tomatoes in the app yet?

Body Doubling

If you’ve never heard of Body Doubling, it simply refers to doing a task with another person present, who is also doing their own thing.

You can ask a friend to be your body double and simply share space with you while you complete a task, or you can go somewhere where you know others will be present — like a coffee shop or library.

The other person doesn’t need to be doing the same task, or anything productive at all; it’s simply their presence that is said to increase motivation and follow-through on the part of the person benefitting.

Fun fact: Body Doubling also works virtually, and that’s exactly what’s happening in a Community Session!

Although the research on Body Doubling efficacy is still in its infancy, there is much anecdotal evidence among ADHD support groups that suggests how helpful it can be.

Body Doubling can not only help those who are trying to focus stay on task, but they also serve as a reminder to take breaks during periods of hyperfocus.

Even if you don’t identify with the ADHD label, Body Doubling can have major benefits to motivation and task initiation for everyone.

P.S. If you identify as an introvert, you might enjoy this article we wrote about Body Doubling for Introverts!

Ultradian Rhythms

We’re wrapping up this week's theme by discussing why we tend to co-work for 90 minutes during our Community Sessions.

You may be thinking we just chose some arbitrary length of time, but in actuality we referenced the research on our body’s natural rhythms of rest and activity to determine the most ideal duration!

It turns out, there is an ideal duration of rest and activity that our bodies naturally fall into, and that is 90-minutes in length. Sleep researcher Nathaniel Kleitman actually realized this while studying sleep!

He learned that humans undulate through 5 stages of sleep over the course of 90 minutes — meaning, we don’t stay at one stage of mental alertness throughout our whole night of sleep. Instead, we start awake, then drop deeper and deeper into sleep before climbing back up to almost awake over the course of 90-minutes.

And this 90-minute rhythm continues into the day. When we’re awake, we move from higher to lower alertness every 90 minutes, which he deemed an “ultradian rhythm.”