Focus Blocks Review 2024: Best Flow State Tool?

Tony Robbins has famously said, “Where focus goes, energy flows.”

And if you’re like me, you are always looking for ways to get more focused, eliminate all these distractions, and be more productive. Thus, I’m always trying new methods and tools to see if they can help me get more done in less time.

This past year, I came across Focus Blocks, a tool created my friend, Mani Vaya, the founder of 2000 Books. And after using it for the past year, it is definitely one of the best productivity tools I’ve ever used!

In this review, we will discuss what Focus Blocks is, how it works, and why it can help you be more productive, maybe even 10X your productivity.

What are Focus Blocks?

Focus Blocks are live, silent group sessions on Zoom that serve as virtual coworking spaces to help you create focus and accomplish more work in half the time. With Focus Blocks, you won’t need willpower or self-discipline to stay focused on your work.

Pros

• Helps you focus and be productive
• Eliminates distractions
• Leverages the power of community
• You don’t need willpower or self-discipline to stay focused

Cons

• Requires a recent computer that can run Zoom while working
• Requires an internet connection to log onto the Zoom calls
• May not be suitable for everyone (e.g. if you work better with noise)

How Do Focus Blocks Work?

Simply, focus Blocks work by getting you into the flow state.

In the book, Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi discusses his investigations of “optimal experience” which have revealed what gets us into flow or causes an experience to be genuinely enjoyable. When in flow, people typically experience deep satisfaction, creativity, and total immersion in the task at hand. Further, we can control flow to get into flow states.

The flow state is a mental state in which you are completely focused and immersed in a specific task. When you are in the flow state, you are able to work at your highest level of productivity. Therefore, to get into the flow state, you need to show up to Focus Blocks with a task in mind that you want to accomplish.

When you finish, you can repeat it by starting another Focus Block or going on with your life. You should push through as many Focus Block hours on a daily basis to accomplish more quality work. When you complete your most important tasks for the day, it will be worth it!

As a result, Focus Blocks keep you constantly focused on your most important activities, which will cause you to track and achieve your goals faster in your business or everyday life.

Focus Blocks Features

In this section, we will review the important features of Focus Blocks, so you can get into a focus state to crush the work for your life or business.

Before the Focus Block Session

First, you choose the 1-hour, live Focus Blocks for when you want to accomplish your most important work during the day. You can schedule the date and time within the 2000 Book’s Member’s Area. If you need help getting organized at work, check out this blog post.

Next, during your scheduled work hours and preferably in a non-distracting location, you join your live Focus Block on the Zoom video platform. You simply have to show up, but if you are late you won’t be let in! You will be joining other ambitious individuals in the community to co-work together and get things done.

Focus Block Session

All Focus Blocks are an hour long and consist of three phases:

• 5-minute Focus Ritual, which is led by the Focus Guide to help you make commitments and kickstart the Focus Block 
• 50-minutes of Deep Work or uninterrupted focus time where you get to do your most important work while your Focus Guide tracks time
• 5-minute Recharge Ritual, which is led by the Focus Guide to review your progress and complete the hour

5-Minute Focus Ritual

There is a Trained Focus Guide that will begin each session with a simple routine to center your attention, help you feel energized, and get you into the flow state to be most productive. The guide starts the call by greeting everyone and discussing the idea behind Focus Blocks.

Then, the Focus Guide will ask you to commit to the work you intend to complete during the hour. Further, you can share it with the rest of the co-workers in the chat or by unmuting temporarily. The guide spends the rest of the time conducting breathing exercises to relax everyone.

To best use the time, you should be in a quiet location, eliminate distractions, put your cell phone away, and turn off computer notifications. It is recommended that you choose your most important, but not urgent, work.

50-minutes of Deep Work

At about five minutes past the hour, the Focus Guide will officially start the session and track the time. This signals to you to minimize your Zoom window and begin to work on your one single commitment for the hour. Allow yourself to get lost in the block and get into the flow state.

Based on the book, Cal Newport, the Focus Block is a time period of Deep Work (book summary). The 50-minute period is enough time to work intensely and get a decent amount of stuff done without burning you out.

Also, everyone else will be on mute so you will not be distracted by. the other co-workers. Further, you should keep your camera on, because it helps you stay accountable, complete your best quality work, and add to the community.

5-minute Recharge Ritual

Eventually, the 50-minutes of deep work ends and the Focus Guide will produce soothing sounds to notify everyone that the focusing time period is over.

You should determine if you finished what you set out to do and what you would do to change or improve. Accordingly, the guide invites everyone to share their progress on their commitments in the Zoom chat or by temporarily unmuting.

The Focus Guide concludes the session with relaxation exercises such as meditation, breathing, and stretching. The goal is to relax and recharge before continuing on to the next Focus Block or the rest of your day.

Focus Blocks Member’s Area

When you join Focus Blocks, you get access to the Member’s Area in Teachable, an online course hosting platform.

Scheduling Focus Blocks

The first section is titled, “Welcome – Schedule your Focus Blocks RIGHT NOW!” You can schedule Focus Blocks using the following methods:

• FB Zoom Link of the Month: This option gives you the monthly Zoom link to make your own events on your calendar.
• FB Scheduler: This option allows you to use a scheduling assistant for a given time and date on your calendar.
• Book Recurring Focus Blocks: This option allows you to book a recurring time for a given time and day of the week.

From Monday through Friday in any time zone, Focus Blocks is offered for the entire 24 hours. When using the scheduler, you first choose a time and date on the calendar and then get the following fields:

• Email: This field is for you to get email reminders and, if possible, have Focus Block sync with your email calendar, so you show up.
• Do you understand that you will not be let into the Focus Block if you are late by over 1 minute?: This question is to acknowledge that if don’t come on time, you will be left out of the block.
• What 1 important thing will you work on during this focus block?: This question encourages you to pick a single important task to work on during the time period.
• Phone Number: This field is for you to get text reminders, so don’t miss the block.

Guide to Getting the Most Out of Focus Blocks

Next, the Member’s Area has a section called, “How to get the MOST out of Focus Blocks.” It details the FOCUS acronym for the 5 Pillars:

• First Things First: In Eat That Frog (book summary), Brian Tracy says to do your most important, not urgent task first. This action will give you a massive sense of accomplishment.
• Outcome-Based Thinking: Next, you should get radical clarity on your long-term vision as well as the outcomes for each Focus Block. This outcome can be written in the form of SMART Goals: specific, meaningful, actionable, relevant, and trackable.
• Community: Showing up every day will help you leverage the power of community as you can feel and use the energy of others to stay accountable and take action on your most important tasks.
• Uninterrupted Time: You should remove all distractions and manage the expectations of people in your world, so you can do your best work. This includes putting your smartphone and watch away, turning off device notifications, and closing all irrelevant windows.
• Single Tasking: Work on only one task per hour, as multitasking has been shown to decrease productivity by as much as 40%. I suggest having a notebook next to you to write down ideas, thoughts, or feelings that pop into your head during the Focus Block.

In the next video, “How to use Focus Blocks to achieve your Big Goals,” Mani Vaya provides five specific pieces of advice:

1. Create a recurring schedule and calendar appointment and stick to it.
2. Stack together multiple (3+) Focus Blocks to build attention momentum to increase your output.
3. The more Focus Blocks your do per work day, the more you will achieve in life.
4. Do your Focus Blocks early in your day as you can, as the later, you wait, the harder it becomes to focus.
5. Enjoy your life by doing things that matter after the Focus Blocks are done. The boundaries between work and play is critical.

Trained Focus Guide

Every single period has a Focus Guide that has been trained by 2000 Books. They facilitate the work block, keep the schedule, and help you stick to your commitment. However, guides only interact with everyone during the start and the end of the deep work time, so there are no distractions.

Also, the Focus Guide keeps track of attendance data for the leaderboard to further motivate everyone to stick to the blocks every single day!

High Performance Accelerator Coaching Call

In addition to the weekly group call, you also get a weekly 1-hour long coaching call with the founder of Focus Blocks and 2000 Books, Mani Vaya. He is there as a resource to answer any questions you have regarding focus, productivity, and time management. The coaching call is an opportunity for you to share your focus challenges and receive actionable solutions.

Themed Blocks

Mike Vardy’s method of time theming or managing time using themes to help add some structure to our work. The program has several themed hours during the week to work on the following:

• Money Block: This block is a reminder to examine your finances including bookkeeping, budgeting, expenses, and income for either your life or business
• To-Do List Block: This block is for those administrative tasks, including checking email, emptying spam, exporting data, or managing life.
• Strategic Communications Block: This block is puch one to communicate to grown one’s business or network, including making phone calls, setting appointments, and sending follow-up emails.
• Happy Hour: This block is for fun and focus-free time to celebrate the week’s accomplishments with fellow members of the community.

Review and Planning Sessions

The Focus Blocks program also comes with several review and planning bonus calls for every week, month, and quarter:

• Weekly Review and Planning: This twice-per-week session is for you to create weekly goals, review your progress, and plan your actions for the coming week.
• Monthly Review and Planning: This 2-Hour Call is for you to plan on your monthly priorities, review your progress, and plan your actions for the coming month.
• Quarterly Review and Planning: This 2-Hour Session is for you to determine your quarterly big rocks, review your progress, and plan your actions for the coming quarter.

How Much Do Focus Blocks Cost?

The pricing for Focus Blocks is not featured on the sales page, however, you can try Focus Blocks for 7 days here.

Focus Blocks FAQS

With everything that Focus Blocks offers, there are some common questions that arise. Here are the answers to some of those frequently asked questions:

What kind of work do I do in Focus Blocks?

The focus of Focus Blocks is to help you eliminate distractions, lock in laser focus, and supercharge your productivity. However, you can do any type of work that you need to do during the focus blocks, depending on your priorities, including:

1. Your most important tasks
2. Tasks that you have procrastinated on but require your attention 
3. Your highest leverage tasks, which when done, will free up time

How many Focus Blocks can I attend on any given day?

It is unlimited as there is no limit to the number of Focus Blocks you can attend in a day. You can also choose to focus on one task for the entire day or switch tasks every hour.

If I am a procrastinator, will Focus Blocks help?

Certainly! It’s intended for people who frequently postpone. Focus Blocks make it necessary for you to complete your most crucial work. You are forced to show up and work once you have committed to for a particular Focus Block. Additionally, the presence of others will encourage and empower you to get down to business on whatever it is you’ve been putting off.

Why should I co-work with strangers?

It’s simple. When you work with strangers, you have the opportunity to be the best version of yourself. There’s no baggage from your past, and there is no judgment or feelings.

Everyone has a single mission, which is to get their most important stuff done! With surrounded by strangers, there is greater seriousness and more professionalism, and an increased level of professionalism is required.

Who are Focus Blocks for?

Focus Blocks is for business owners, creatives, software developers, freelancers, executives, high performers, and knowledge workers of all backgrounds who use their intellect to create value in this world.

Who is Focus Blocks NOT for?

Focus Blocks is not for people who work outside the typical office environment, including factory workers, farmers, manual laborers, or hands-on employees. It’s also not for those who demand less and want to accomplish the absolute minimum in their professions.

Focus Blocks Alternatives

There are no similar alternatives to Focus Blocks. A similar productivity technique is the Pomodoro Technique, which is a time management strategy for breaking down work into 25-minute intervals. However, this does not provide the same level of accountability, focus, or productivity as Focus Blocks.

The bottom line is that Focus Blocks work, and they are the best productivity tool available. If you want to supercharge your productivity, then you could check out productivity quotes, but you need to try Focus Blocks. There is no better way to get things done.

Final Thoughts on Focus Blocks

I hope this review has helped you understand what Focus Blocks are and how they can help you be more productive. If you have any questions, please leave a comment below, and I will be happy to answer them.

Don’t go it alone anymore. Use Focus Blocks to get real-time human accountability and consistently turn your goals and dreams into concrete accomplishments you are proud of. Sign up for a 7-day free trial of Focus Blocks today.