Focus on This

You’re invested in achieving your goals. But recently, the joy has gone out of the journey. You’re quick to notice where you’re falling short. Every time you hit a major milestone, your eyes are already on the next obstacle. You find yourself frustrated and tired. The solution isn’t to push through. It’s to pause and celebrate. In this episode, Courtney and Blake talk candidly about what makes cel...

It’s Sunday, and you realize the weekend is over and the week is about to come at you full force. You’re anticipating all the things waiting for you on Monday morning. You’re stressing about what needs to be accomplished. You’re anxious about what you might have forgotten. Is there a way for the start of the week to feel less like a potential house of horrors?  In this episode, Blake and Courtney...

Have you ever found yourself in the “messy middle” of a goal? You’ve come too far to turn back, but the finish line still feels far away. Do you let the goal slide and give up? Do you grit your teeth and just push through, even if you’re running on empty? How do you get through this part of the journey?  In this episode, Blake and Verbs talk with Marissa Hyatt, director of marketing, about one of...

Do you feel like you don’t have space to breathe during the fourth quarter? Work has picked up. Meetings seem to be multiplying. Family demands are increasing. Your calendar is packed, and you’re jumping from one thing to the next. How can you keep yourself from feeling spread thin, burnt out, and unable to actually enjoy the “fun things” you’ve said yes to?  In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and...

You get to the end of the day, only to realize it wasn’t nearly as productive as you wanted it to be. You got caught responding to urgent requests from others. You spent too long responding to emails. You jumped from task to task as each one entered your mind. How do you defeat these daily interruptions and distractions? What can you do to get on track for a productive last quarter? In this episod...

You’re coming to the end of the year, and you’re tired. Momentum has slowed, and you’ve fallen behind on your goals. You know the holidays are coming, which will take huge chunks of the time you have left. You feel behind before you even start the fourth quarter. Should you just write it off and start thinking about next year? Or is there a way to actually make gains in these last few months?  In...

A new quarter has begun, with all of its new deadlines and tasks, and you’re still furiously trying to tie up the last quarter. All of a sudden, you’re in “reaction mode.” You’re struggling to think strategically. How can you set yourself up for a win instead of drowning in busyness? In this episode, Courtney and Blake discuss four tips for conducting a successful Quarterly Preview. They talk abou...

You get to the end of the week and feel like it was a fail. You were busy the whole time but didn’t actually get to the things you wanted to do. You’re feeling behind and off course from your goals. You wish you could have a redo. Is there a way to clear the deck and start over?  In this episode, Blake and Courtney walk you through four steps to leverage the psychological reset button of the Weekl...

Some days you just aren’t on your toes. You didn’t sleep well the night before. Or you fought with someone you care about. Or you’ve received some bad news. It’s hard to show up and get stuff done. But your work doesn’t just disappear because you’re having an off day. What do you do when you feel off kilter? In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake walk through four tips for balancing productiv...

You’re in a funk where you find yourself consistently missing your Daily Big 3. You’re getting pulled off-track by other people’s priorities, feeling bogged down by too many meetings, and losing sight of what your Daily Big 3 should be. It’s like you’re on a treadmill—always moving but not getting anywhere. How can you break out of this trap? In this episode, Courtney, Blake, and Verbs offer up 4...

You have a lot going on in your life right now. You’ve been doing what you can to work on your productivity, but there’s still too much to do. No matter what you try, you just can’t seem to break through the obstacles. What next? How do you get unstuck? In this episode, Blake, Courtney, and Verbs answer the SOS of planner user Mariana and help her tackle her cycle of overwhelm. They discuss the in...

You’ve set good intentions for what you want to achieve this year, but then life happened. You’ve fallen completely behind and are beating yourself up about it. Can you recover when you’re so far off track? What can you do now, so you still end your year feeling confident about what you’ve achieved?  In this episode, Courtney and Blake talk with Deidra Romero, Client Success Specialist, about how...

Have you ever fallen off the Full Focus Planner wagon? Maybe you’ve taken some time off and are struggling to get on your feet again. Or your kids are heading back to school, but you’ve grown lax and are not prepared for the shift in seasons. You haven’t used your planner in a week, and jumping back in feels overwhelming. What do you do to get back on track? In this episode, Courtney and Blake tal...

You’re using the Full Focus Planner and listening to the podcast. You’ve made strides in your own productivity and want to share the excitement and hear how the community has been learning and growing and winning as well! This week, Courtney, Blake, and Verbs celebrate the 100th episode of Focus on This and discuss the biggest lessons they’ve learned along the way. They listen to wins listeners ha...

You’re getting into the rhythm of using the Full Focus Planner, but you wonder if there are more strategies or ways to use it that would take you even further. What great ideas are out there that you haven’t thought of yet? How do people from various backgrounds and in different stages of life use the planner? In this episode, we listen to 12 planner hacks from you , the Full Focus Planner communi...

You’ve found a transformational tool in the Full Focus Planner, but you’re confused why stakeholders in your life don’t share your enthusiasm. You want to be able to pursue goals together, improve your teamwork, and get on the same page. But how do you persuade them to give it a try? In this episode, Courtney and Blake answer the often-asked listener question about how to get your people on board...

You’re looking forward to getting some rest and rejuvenation over the weekend, but it goes by in a flurry with this event and that errand and those late-night hours binge-watching the latest show. Before you know it, it’s Monday again, and you don’t feel rested at all, much less ready to face the week. Is there a better way to do weekends? In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake discuss why wh...

Ever wondered how the Full Focus Planner came to be? Every spec, from type of binding to paper quality to the cloth wrapped around the covers, has been specially selected to enhance the end user experience. How does that all happen? In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, and Blake talk with Adam Hill, director of product development and design, about the nuts and bolts behind the Full Focus Planner. Th...

As a parent with kids at home, you feel on demand 24/7. You’re tired and overwhelmed, but your roles and responsibilities never stop. It’s affecting both your parenting and your work. You know rest is important, but how do you even begin to get the rest you need? In this episode, Blake interviews Courtney and her husband, Chase, and Verbs and his wife, Verna, as they share the strategies they’ve d...

Your life looks good on the outside, but you wake up every day tired and overwhelmed. You know it’s an issue, but you don’t know what to do about it. Is there more you can do, beyond just getting more sleep? How do you find a deeper sense of restoration, so you don’t walk around every day in functional burnout? This episode welcomes Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith, a board-certified internal medicine phy...

You feel tired all the time and are not even sure when it started. You try to go on vacation once a year, but it doesn’t feel like enough. You’re concerned that this exhaustion is affecting your performance, both at work and at home. What can you do on a regular basis to stay energized throughout the week? In this episode, Courtney, Blake, and Verbs brainstorm ideas for the 5 categories of self-ca...

We're excited to share this excerpt of our Guided Weekly Preview with you. Hosted by Blake Stratton, this audio is designed to be played while you're filling out your weekly preview. Blake shares best practices, definitions, helpful tips, and personal stories to help you make the most out of this crucial Full Focus Planner tool. If you like what you hear and want to get the whole 22-minute guided...

Have you ever returned to work after some time off and felt like you needed a vacation from your vacation? Maybe you were checking your phone and emails so often that you brought the office with you. Or you spent too much time doing and not enough time resting. Is there a way to go on vacation and return rejuvenated rather than just as tired as when you started? In this episode, Courtney, Verbs, a...

You set yourself up with all the latest productivity tools to get ahead of your busy days. But now you find yourself monitoring too many systems and never knowing where you put that one piece of information. You feel frustrated—and maybe even a little guilty—that you’re not using your planner the right way. You need a system that keeps you focused and tracks all the complicated, changing informati...

Week after week, you find yourself working on projects you dread. You don’t understand why they’re important. You’re not good at them. But if your boss is dictating your to-do list, it’s not as if you have a choice, right? You have more agency than you think. In this episode, we’ll dive into four strategies you can practice to start doing more work you enjoy and less work you dread. When you do, y...