Are you looking for an unbiased focus & action review?
Or, you are unsure whether this productivity program is worth your time and money?
If Yes, then you are on the right page!
Ever since Shane Melaugh introduced this training, it has been gaining lots of love and attention. While this looks like a good reason to join the program, it may also be because the tutor of the course is an entrepreneur that knows how to sell his products.
So in this focus & action review, I will give you more insight into the course, including the course content, pricing, delivery pattern, etc.
Let’s dive in!
What is the Focus & Action Program?
Focus & Action is an online program created by Shane Melaugh that teaches the most effective productivity system to get work done faster and better.
The course contains 63 exercises delivered in video content, challenges, tasks, and a community forum. You will also be introduced to several productivity tools along the way.
Focus & Action Review: What Does this Course Entail?
Here is the detailed breakdown of everything you can learn from the focus & action productivity training.
Module 1: The Focus & Action Difference
This is broken down into 3 parts:
- Start here: how to get the most out of this class
- The mindset shift
- 90 heroic minutes
Start Here: How to get the most out of this class
The first thing you will see in module 1 is a short video giving you an overview of the course, including what you should expect every week.
There is usually a theme for every week which is breakdown into:
- New lessons & tasks published in the course area.
- Live calls on Thursdays.
- Accountability calls in smaller groups (starting in week 2)
- The community area is where the tutor posts challenges, updates, and answers questions.
The course uses the drip content pattern. Meaning you can only access the content bit by bit, you can’t get everything at once. This is to make sure you don’t get overwhelmed by the information and end up not taking action.
In the second section of this module, you will be introduced to the team and you will need to fill the kick-off survey to set the ball rolling. The form will enable the team to know the best times you can join group calls and live classes.
After that, you will be asked to join the community forum using the same login details of your course. Inside the community, there is a “focus & action” segment you can access as a course member.
The community forum is useful for many things. For example, the course tutors can assign you specific tasks from the forum, like asking you to give a report on a challenge assigned to you.
You can also use it to find help and feedback from the course tutor and the team members.
Finally, for the last section of module 1, you will be assigned your first task (called creating the “before” video). This task is meant to help you identify the obstacles that could make you fail or abandon the goals you set for yourself.
The challenge will help you eliminate these obstacles even before they crop up. The task is a ritual for “crossing the threshold” and achieving the goals you set for yourself without any stopper.
1.2 The Mindset Shift
This exercise will give you another angle to productivity different from what you already have in mind. The lessons in it will lay the groundwork for what is to come in the Focus & Action program.
You will learn the ultimate system for becoming a relentless implementer, developing deep focus, and achieving your goal.
In the next lesson of this section, the tutor will bust the biggest myth about productivity and success. If you have ever imagined how successful people stay productive or you believe in some productivity myth, this lesson will come in handy.
In the final lesson of this section, you will learn the one mistake that stops people from succeeding even after taking a productivity course like Focus & Action.
The lesson dived into the principle of “tame” and “wicked” problems to enlighten you on why taking action is the fastest way to success.
1.3 – 90 Heroic Minutes
The 90 heroic minutes is a powerful technique for doing focused and highly productive work. It’s a proven technique backed by piles of research and years of experience combined into a simple set of instructions.
You will also be assigned a challenge at the end of this lesson.
It’s now time for the 9-week class to begin.
Week 1: Goal setting Done Right
In the first lesson of this section, you will be granted access to a new tool and assigned a challenge to help you significantly improve your focus skill. The challenge might look hard at the start, but it gets easier along the way line.
The tool helps you to effortlessly stay on track. Combining the challenge and tool means you can stay hyper-focus and make the best use of your time.
In the next few lessons, you will be introduced to the most powerful personal transformation tactic, plus some tools you will need to be more effective with it.
Another tool you will learn about is Notion. It’s a writing and task management tool you can leverage to boost your productivity.
The next lesson in week 1 is called Push & Pull goals (and the Pitfalls of goal setting). The lesson will enlighten you on what works and doesn’t work when it comes to goal setting. Plus access to the “push, pull, process” framework used in the Focus & Action course.
One of the key points in this lesson is learning the problems with positive thinking and visualization. I promise that this will change the way you think about your goals. Finally, you will be asked to participate in a short survey to help you uncover your strengths and values.
In the next exercise, you will learn a powerful technique for clarifying your big-picture goals. This will help you to have a better understanding of what your top priorities are and how your daily activities connect with your goals and values.
The next lesson is The Project Declutter Exercise. This is where you will learn the simple, yet the powerful secret of how to set clear priorities and avoid getting overwhelmed by projects.
The best part is that you will learn it in a practical way. You will be given your own project declutter board, which you can replicate with any project management tool.
At the end of that exercise, you will start planning and completing your major projects for the next 12 months.
In the next lesson, you will learn how to be more focused by picking one priority. This means you need to choose a task you value the most among all other tasks. You will also learn a few potent tricks to set your priorities right even if you have too many things going on.
And finally, there is the last lesson of week 1 titled “Clarity Drives Action: How to Break Down Your Goals”. It will teach you how to break down your big goals into smaller tasks and create clarity about your next steps.
This will energize you to take action rather than procrastinate. The lesson torches the nitty-gritty of creating high-level clarity for your priorities.
Week 2: Design Your Environment
This week is broken into 3 parts with each containing several lessons. They are:
- Part 1: Your digital workspace
- Part 2: digital environment
- Part 3: physical environment
The environment you stay in has a great influence on your habits and behaviors. So if you can focus on rebuilding your environment, you can be more productive. This is exactly what you will learn in week two’s lessons.
The first lesson in part 1 is about leveraging a powerful app to practicalize all the goal setting and prioritization you’ve done in the previous lessons. You will learn the ins and outs of this tool, including having access to a crash course to teach you how to use the tool better.
The next lesson will teach you how to apply the same logic and workflow from the previous lessons to your team. You will see how to tweak and add to the workflow to make it fit for a teamwork setup.
For the last lesson in part 1, you will see how the tutor of this class uses the all-in-one productivity app mentioned earlier for his personal and work projects. This will help you get more familiar with the app.
For the second part of this week’s lesson, you will learn how to build an optimized digital environment, including:
- Why environment optimization is a core element of focus & action.
- How to live the notification free live
- Why asynchronous messaging makes for strong solo and teamwork.
- Tips to use communication batching.
You will also be given tons of powerful resources to further expand your knowledge in those areas. Finally, you will be assigned a challenge to help you practicalize what you’ve learned in this lesson.
In the next two lessons, you learn why app blocking can be the game-changer that skyrockets your productivity and the best app blocking tool to use, plus how not to overdo it. You will be required to set it up immediately.
The first lesson in part 3 will teach why your physical environment is crucial to stay productive and how to set up a motivating physical environment using 3 rules. You will be taught a potent technique to make what you want easier to achieve and what you hate harder to do.
You will also be given tons of actionable steps to implement immediately.
In the final lesson of part 3, you will be enlightened on how using multiple devices could help you stay focused and productive rather than being the source of distractions. You will also learn the 4 powerful tips for optimizing the use of multiple devices.
Week 3: Freedom Time
There are 3 lessons you will go through in the 3rd week.
The first lesson will walk you through the process of “time blocking”, including using it to implement a principle called “The Fortress & The Prison”. The cool part is you can use any calendar app to achieve it.
Overall, the lesson will introduce you to time blocking, how to plan and optimize your schedule, and the role your personality plays in the process. You will also learn about “The Four Tendencies” and how to make the calendar your ally.
In the second lesson, you will learn how to tackle one of the biggest obstacles; choosing between ongoing work vs finite projects. This might look like you get it, but the principles you will learn in this lesson are the game-changers that will set you up for more progress and allow you to reach your goals quicker.
In the final lesson of week 3, you will learn how to do more on the time-blocking app and calendar to create a distraction-free environment for yourself. You will also be provided with some action steps you can implement immediately.
Week 4: Bulletproof Habits
For the first lesson in week 4, you will be introduced to a new concept called “Monday Reset”. This will enable you to reset your focus back onto your work every week.
In the second lesson, you will learn why habits are crucial and how they influence your behavior, including the science of building good habits.
In the third lesson, you will see how to use the habit-building technique you learn in the previous lesson to create “good morning” habits for yourself. You will also be introduced to a habit tracking tool that will become helpful along the way, including some action steps to implement immediately.
In lesson four, you will be taught the 5 rules of better morning rituals to help you optimize your morning routine and start it great. The one I love the most among the rules is “never hit snooze”. All the rules are really helpful.
In the fifth exercise, the teacher of this course, Shane Melaugh, will show you his morning routine, plus why he does those habits. He will also allow you to recreate those habits if you wish.
In lesson six, you will learn why habit failsafe is a little better than doing nothing. And for the final lesson in week 4, you will learn about lead indicators, lag indicators, and personal KPI, plus how to leverage them to build sticky habits and stay motivated.
Week 5: Efficiency
There are six exercises in week 5.
In the first lesson, you will learn why efficiency is crucial, including how you can become 4X productive by focusing on efficiency. You will also be taught a powerful technique to start with, and you will be required to complete a challenge.
The second lesson is an extension of the previous. It expands on the efficiency method you learn in lesson 1. While lesson 3 will introduce you to some powerful tools and resources to help you become more efficient.
Just like the previous lesson, in exercise 4, you will be shown 6 universal efficiency tools, and you will also see how the course creator uses them to 10X increase the productivity of his video editing team.
In the final lesson of week 5, you will see why efficiency can also be dangerous if not done carefully. Another key point you will learn is using the “forward momentum” principle to avoid the efficiency trap.
Week 6: Do What You’re Afraid Of
In the first 2 exercises, you will learn whether fear is your biggest enemy making you procrastinate and other destructive habits its cause. The second lesson is where you learn the methods and techniques to gradually overcome fear, plus a simple challenge to keep your feet at the door.
In lesson 3, you will be taught the negative impact of moving bit by bit and how to make it work. There is also a simple task you need to take at the end to help set your focus right.
Lesson 4 is where you will learn how to leverage a commitment tool to get locked into a plan of action and to do productive work you will rather ignore. You will be taught the ins and outs of the commitment device based on the research and experience of the course tutor.
In the last lesson of week 6, you will learn about the principle of “forward momentum”, plus a simple task to help you get familiar with it.
Week 7: Build A Strong Foundation
The first lesson of week 7 will teach you how to build a strong foundation and how it connects with the concept of “athletic productivity”. You will learn to leverage the power of sleep, exercise, nutrition, and social connection to be more productive.
For the remaining lessons of this week, you will see how to use the 4 solid pillars mentioned in the previous lesson to build a strong foundation for yourself and to get more done in a short time. You will also be assigned some tasks and challenges in between.
Week 8: The Mantra Document
There are 5 lessons in week 8.
In the first one, you will be introduced to a new concept called the mantra document, including how to leverage it to boost your productivity and live a better life. The tutor will also show you how to effortlessly build the first version of your mantra document.
In the second lesson, the course teacher will show you his current mantra document and what inspired everything he included in it. While in the third lesson, you will learn how to develop and update your mantra because it’s a living document.
The last two lessons are bonuses laying more emphasis on the examples of the tutor’s mantra document evolution and how to create the perfect mantra document, and it happens via a live call and the community.
Week 9: Leverage, Hyperproductivity & Recovery
The first video in week 9 will give you an overview of everything to come in the week. You will also be asked to participate in a self-directed challenge that will help improve your focus and productivity.
In the next two lessons, you will be introduced to a new concept called hyperproductive sprints. You will see a case study of how the course teacher leverages this technique to create two comprehensive online courses within a few months.
The tutor will also reveal the principles and strategies that make the hyperproductive sprints technique effective.
In the next two exercises, you will learn the reason why you suffer to become hyped and energetic to work after taking a long break from work. Plus methods to implement 3 levels of recovery in your life even when you are down (my most preferred one is the sabbatical recovery).
In the next lesson, you will discover 3 amazing ways in which you can apply leverage to all aspects of your work. You will also see how you can focus on outsourcing to get work done quicker and better.
The next exercise is where you will learn how to use this course (focus & action) to get yourself back on track whenever you feel off. Everything inside the course was tied together in this lesson and used to create a mind map you can always refer to when you feel lost.
There are also tons of free resources to help you get better at particular areas of productivity.
In the final lesson of this module, you will be asked to create your “after” video just like you created your “before” video at the beginning of the course. This is meant to give you clearer insights into what you’ve achieved during the time you took the course. You will be given instructions on how to create the video.
Bonus Module
The course already ended in week 9, but here are additional lessons and resources provided by the course tutor to help you enhance what you have learned so far. Here is the breakdown:
- You are not a robot
- How to deal with perfectionism
- Change the loop you are stuck in
- Achieve more by doing less
- The focus & action system failsafe
- Fear setting by Tim Ferriss
- The single-tasking trap
- Visualization vs Mental rehearsal
Conclusion on Focus & Action Review
Productivity is a hot topic in general. Everybody wants to get more work done in a short span without experiencing any obstacles.
But the truth is: it’s not always easy.
If you have been battling with being productive, the Focus & Action course is an ideal program to sign up for. You will learn proven tricks and methods to up your productivity game and start achieving your goals.
The course is backed by piles of research and years of experience so are guaranteed to get the best value for your money.
And that’s it. Are you ready to start this program after reading this Focus & Action review? Or, is there anything missing in this review? tell me your experience about it in the comment section below.
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