Free to Focus: A Total Productivity System to Achieve More by Doing Less

Before I was exposed to Free to Focus, I was a hot mess. My family and I just moved to a new city and state, I had just started a new business, and the tasks on my to-do list were reaching the 20s and 30s almost every day. To say I was overwhelmed, overworked, and frustrated on a daily basis is an understatement. I had reached the place I said I’d never go again: burnout. I felt like crap physically, mentally, and emotionally. All I wanted was to spend more quality time with my family, while building a successful business. And, yes, I wanted to feel great, too. It all seemed like a pipe dream...that it would take some kind of miracle to change my situation (like winning the lottery...LOL). Time was against me - I never seemed to have enough of it. I felt like I was on my own island...no help in my business (it was just me), meanwhile, I had four other people staring me in my eyes every day, counting on me to be a husband, father, and person who put food on the table. I was scared to death. Every day, MULTIPLE times a day, I would ask myself, “How am I going to pull this off?” “I’m destined to screw this up if I keep going like this.” I knew deep down inside I had no control of my life and schedule...everything and everyone around me controlled it. Until one day, I had reached my breaking point. I had THREE major things I had to get done. But I remember sitting at my desk at 5PM and NONE (yes, NONE) of those three things were done. The sad reality is I needed those three tasks done to be able to collect a check and cover business and personal bills in two weeks. What the heck just happened? I started my workday at 8AM. What did I do for 9 hours? I’ll tell you what I did. Answered texts. Responded to emails. Picked up the phone when anyone would call. Stopped and did laundry (ugh!). I could keep going, but, bottom line, I was doing everything BUT what I needed to do. Something needed to change, AND FAST. Too much was at stake - my business, my marriage, my LIVELIHOOD. A few days after my breakdown, I was scrolling through Facebook and noticed a post about Michael Hyatt’s “Free to Focus” productivity system. At first, I snickered because I was like, “I need productivity surgery, not a new system.” I was that cynical. But, then I remembered taking Michael’s Best Year Ever course - and how he had a way of making the goal-setting process simple for me. And how after applying those principles, I had one of the most successful years of my life. So, naturally, I wondered if Free to Focus could do the same thing. I said, what the heck. I have nothing to lose. Buy Free to Focus, go all in and see if this works just as well as Best Year Ever. I was beyond desperate. NOTHING was working for me. My plan was to do what I do with most books - read the whole thing, then go back through and implement things I liked. Well, one chapter into Free to Focus I realized my plan wasn’t going to work. This book is written in a way that each chapter builds off one another. The thing Michael Hyatt does masterfully in this book is that he breaks you in with baby steps, many of which have to do with your mindset towards productivity and success. That’s why I continue to consume, read, and apply Hyatt’s works...he knows his audience and how to get us results. He knows we’re busy, overwhelmed, and desperately need help. So, the way he breaks things down and then gives us bite-sized chunks of how to apply them speaks directly to us and prevents the overwhelm. The best part about this book and system - you can implement at your own pace. That’s what carried me to the finish line...I realized I MUST apply these strategies and use the resources if I wanted to see change in my life and business, and the fact that Michael empowered me to do it at my own pace was exactly what I needed in this season of my life. I already had too much on my plate (and the thought of change sucks!). Fast forward three months after applying every resource found in Free to Focus. I found myself less-rushed throughout the day. I actually felt proud of myself that I had control of my own calendar. I’ll be honest, it was tough saying “no” to a lot of things in order to truly apply the Free to Focus resources, but the short-term pain has led to my long-term gain - in EVERY area of my life. I’m sleeping better...I’m more focused during my workday...I’m less irritable (because, again, I feel as though I have more control of my calendar AND emotions), the quality of my work has gone through the roof, AND (and this is my BIGGEST “and”) my time with my family is now QUALITY time. Although I still have bad days, they’re less frequent - I’m more intentional and present during my time with my family, and not thinking about work and other things that would pull my attention away from them. As a result, my marriage has deepened and my relationship with my kids has seen a significant uptick. I’m also now able to coach my kids' sports teams, and volunteer in the community when I want. Little did I know that a “productivity” book would transform my life and the way I do business. The biggest shift that happened to me after applying Free to Focus in my life was this - I realized I COULD have success WHILE being the person I wanted to be...the person I MUST be for my family and clients - the people counting on me. Bottom line, if you’re reading this and sound like me, my encouragement to you is this: just open this book with an open mind and commitment to at least try out its tools. If you do, your life and business will change. The simplicity and practicality of this book was a breath of fresh air. And, BTW, everyone that I’ve shared these strategies with has seen results...some as quickly as 24 hours. If you’re ready to get out of the rat race and ditch overwhelm and distraction for good, then read the book, do EVERYTHING Michael encourages you to do, and then sit back and watch the results. It’s amazing what happens!

In Free To Focus, Michael Hyatt bridges from goal setting, the subject of Your Best Year Ever (Hyatt, 2018), to goal achievement by helping one focus on what is important, avoid what is not, and truly be productive. He addresses head-on the increasingly difficult problem of staying on task, caused by what he and others call the Distraction Economy. I only have to look at myself and our teenagers using social media and news sites to observe attention deficits strongly in action. (For a comprehensive discussion and solution that focuses primarily on this specific problem, see Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport, 2019). In this well-rounded work, Michael Hyatt addresses not only distraction but also task reduction, prioritization strategies, and practical methods that can be put into use immediately. He has honed these ideas using practical experience and feedback gathered from his online course, Free to Focus, to help a person retain focus and be more effective on working on what is truly important. The book surprisingly starts by having the reader stop everything, re-evaluate their skills and tasks, and then cut out all the things that are consuming time that should be better used elsewhere. This is much easier said than done, so Michael Hyatt lays out a methodical approach on how to achieve this. One of Michael’s greatest skills is taking good research and distilling it into step by step practices and methods, providing enough information for a person to apply it to their own situations. One must not simply read what Michael has written, as an armchair philosopher might do. The benefits of this book are realized by doing the work of the exercises and filling out the worksheets which he provides on the book’s website. Some of this self-evaluation work is not easy, in that it requires hard decisions and honest evaluation of one’s true strengths, distractions, and tasks a person may feel forced to do. This is where creativity and judgment are required to realize benefit. Thankfully the book gives examples and anecdotes of situations most people will relate to, which helps the readers to do this foundational work. Michael’s “Freedom Compass” approach is an excellent method to define what to focus on and what to eliminate or delegate. After completing that matrix, I have a personal description of what I most value and am good at, along with lists what I should not be doing. And I also appreciate the inclusion of a development zone that helps one document areas for personal improvement. I have seen much more comprehensive lists of candidate activities for delegation, but this book provides a good start for one to develop their own list. I recently had a request from someone to help them do a task that would take most of a morning, right when I am typically most productive. I have a hard time saying no, as many others also do, so I turned to the book for guidance. Michael recommends becoming skilled at saying no in a way that affirms the worth of the other person. Using the method in the book, I evaluated the request in terms of my “Freedom Compass” desire zone, and then I responded that I appreciated that they came to me with the request, said that I couldn’t do it because I would have to give up something quite important (related to primary income), but then I offered suggestions for how they might proceed. This is a perfect example of how Michael distilled content from William Ury’s book, The Power of a Positive No, into a form that could be quickly adapted to address a particular situation. The requestor subsequently had a good dialogue with me after my response, which served to strengthen our relationship because we better understood the other’s needs. Afterwards I felt like I exercised an important muscle to safeguard my time, energy, and values. I look forward to continuing to develop and refine the skill of tactfully saying no. Another related forward thinking practice is how to develop a template email response to quickly respond to similar situations, which will save time in the future. Michael gives personal examples and specific implementations he uses for this type of automation, all of which are relevant to common situations encountered by many people. I have been using Michael Hyatt’s Full Focus Planner for about a year now, and find that the Free To Focus book and the planner dovetail quite nicely. The planner contains valuable forms and is periodically improved with feedback from users. How this has helped me is that in the book Michael recommends four habitual practices that he calls daily rituals be defined and performed. This is quite useful, as it has caused me to carefully develop morning and evening habits to reliably take care of the basics needed for my household and personal welfare, and that frees me to reserve activities requiring my sharpest brainpower and energies for creative tasks during the day. This is a very practical approach to allocate and preserve time and energy for the most important activities scheduled during the week, and then to actually be sharply focused on accomplishing those activities when the time comes to do so. I am very appreciative of the templates provided on the book’s website, which are substantially the same as contained in his course. But I have two criticisms of the supplemental materials. The first is that they are in pdf format, which is difficult to work with for capturing one’s ideas in digital form. Second, there are distracting trademark symbols on various phrases in the templates, which thankfully through good editing do not appear in the book. For example, a “not-to-do list” has been described in literature and articles by others for years, so I cannot fathom it being a trademark as it is presented in the form. But these are minor criticisms that can easily be overcome through copy and paste from the pdf forms into an editor to adapt the forms for one’s own use as editable documents. I hope in the future that improved resources are made available, but that should not stop anyone from applying the book now and using what is available on the website. This is a book that was refined via feedback and experience of many of Michael’s students of his course, so it has been in development for some time, and the ideas presented have now been tested, are current, mature, and proven to work. It is also much less expensive than the course was, so the book makes available valuable and practical content to everyone. I appreciate that the book provides useful references as end notes and also an excellent index for quick reference on my phone and computers as a Kindle book. The practical ideas within Free To Focus continue to help me to improve my career path, spend guilt-free time with my family, and help me have the freedom to focus on what is truly important. For that, I am grateful and highly recommend the book.

I almost put this book down because the first 100 pages had nothing new or original in it. Glad I didn’t. The nuggets are after that. I’ll recommend this book to people.

I thought I was done with productivity books. However, I am a fan of Michael Hyatt so I decided to purchase his latest book, Free to Focus. The book lives up to its subtitle: A total productivity system to achieve more by doing less. Free to Focus, if you read it and take time to complete all of the activities, is truly transformational. The book starts by identifying the problem: we live a distracted life. We are bombarded by information, so nothing gets our full attention. A quote from Oliver Burkeman sets the tone for the book: “What will your life be, in the end, but the sum total of everything you spent it focusing on?” Hyatt breaks the book and productivity system into three steps, each with three sub-parts. Step one- Stop. In this case, stop does not refer to dropping an activity (that comes later), but rather to taking a pause to reflect. Hyatt takes you through exercises that allow you to decide what you want out of life (formulate), determine what activities you should focus on (evaluate), and use rest to help you improve results (rejuvenate). The exercise associated with “evaluate” force you identify areas of work that you need to eliminate because you are not the best person to do them. I loved the “rejuvenate” information because it emphasizes the importance of caring for ourselves physically, mentally, and relationally. Step two- Cut. Yes, this is where you go through the process of activity-decluttering. The “eliminate” exercises emphasize the importance of getting rid of activities that eat up time and energy. Time is finite! The “eliminate” information includes strategies for saying no to new requests and for dealing with unwanted existing commitments. I like the fact that Hyatt emphasizes the importance of personal responsibility and honoring commitments. If you said “yes,” you can’t dump and run. The “automate” activities are fantastic! Hyatt includes examples of how to use routines, templates, and automation to make your life more efficient. And the last part of step two is….delegate. We know we should delegate, but “it takes too much time to explain, so I will do it myself.” There are other excuses. The delegation information is this book is the best I have seen. It clearly explains the rationale, provides a clear process, and describes five levels of delegation based on the experience of the other person and the stakes of the task. Step three- Act. It’s time to put it to work and get the important things done! The first exercise is to “consolidate” by planning your ideal week. Hyatt emphasizes the impossibility of multitasking. It is inefficient and does not work. The ideal week exercise involves batching activities, to the extent possible, to avoid toggling and wasting energy. This is a difficult exercise, but it does not have to be perfect the first time. I am looking forward to drafting and revising my ideal week. The second exercise involves prioritizing tasks on a weekly and daily basis. It is easy to write a to-do list and go through the day completing whatever tasks seem most attractive. However, that practice often leads to end of the day regret- “I was busy all day, but did not touch my most important work.” It may sound daunting to take time to reflect each day, but the focus and clarity are worth the effort. The last exercise is “activate,” which involves eliminating distractions so you can focus on the priorities identified in the earlier steps. The book comes with resources to use throughout the steps and exercises. I suggest you read through the entire book so you understand the process and then go back through a second time and complete the exercises. Some of the exercises will become daily or weekly practices. This book can help anyone focus on priorities and be more productive- teachers, community volunteers, parents who home school, executives, business owners, students, etc.

The newest offering from productivity guru Michael Hyatt is Free to Focus: A total productivity system to achieve more by doing less. Based on his popular (costly) “Free to Focus” course, this book distills 30+ years of experience and experimentation into a practical self-management intervention. Yes, it is a multi-component behavioral intervention, not merely a book. The components include the book, the links to worksheets (with examples), and the suggestion to acquire accessories such as a physical planner. It is very organized and logical, actionable, and practical. The book ads context to the principles designed into the Full Focus Planner (also by Michael Hyatt), yet remains agnostic with respect to what planner you use. In fact, it is a book-length explanation and guide to how using a physical planner can be incorporated into a personal productivity system. Instead of summarizing the book (there will be hundreds of reviews because Michael Hyatt is a marketing guru in addition to his productivity expertise), I will provide some comments based on my experience with the Full Focus Planner and background as a research psychologist. Many psychological principles are embedded in the book, such as the importance of articulating a clear purpose for improving self-control and self-discipline (which is rooted in value choices that come from purpose). Michael also seems to understand that self-discipline is mediated through habits and not willpower. The book articulates some aspects of ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy) such as making a commitment to a productivity vision rooted in personal values and accepting your personal situation for what it is. It includes “envisioning a better future” which has been effective in self-management interventions. The actionable, practical nature of the system promotes a problem-solving focus, which characterizes effective behavioral interventions. There is an extended discussion of limiting beliefs and liberating truths, which is a key feature of cognitive behavioral therapy. The concept of implementation intentions is introduced, which boils down to pre-deciding an “if-then” strategy for handling distractions (e.g., requests to engage in fake work). The advice to eliminate, automate, and delegate is consistent with contemporary systems thinking for productivity. It also has some “paradoxical interventions” (aka reverse-psychology) baked-in, such as the suggestion to limit yourself to only three big tasks per day. In general, the book is fairly anchored in contemporary science and doesn’t have the “made up” feel of some alleged self-help books. True, there will never be a randomized clinical trial of Free to Focus, but so what. When a multi-component intervention is derived from research and experience, and when nothing appears to contradict science, it is far more likely to work than an approach which seems unaware of the literature on productivity and basic psychological principles. I’m not saying Michael knew he incorporated all these principles, although he does cite research when applicable. Rather, pushing the book through my “psychologist” grid detected a long list of valid behavioral principles that lend credibility to the system Michael designed and described. For criticisms, some readers will find the book very aspirational with respect to how much freedom they can attain given their life and work circumstances. Still, it’s pretty realistic and emphasizes accepting limitations instead of ignoring or denying them. Also, the self-assessments (e.g., the rejuvenation self-assessment) have probably not been evaluated for reliability or validity, so the psychometric properties are not known. Maybe they are good assessments, but maybe not. They should be considered “for educational purposes” and not intended to accurately measure anything. We would all do well to engage in “meta-cognition” from time to time, which means thinking about why we do what we do and how it all works (i.e., thinking about thinking). We are very poor at knowing how much we know, perceiving the passage of time or how long things will take, deciding what to do, avoiding entangling distractions, and so on. Free to Focus is a multi-component behavioral self-management intervention that uses meta-cognition to allow more accurate reflection on how we work and live, with the goal and tools to modify our priorities, schedules, and habits so that we become more productive at our top priorities.

Michael Hyatt is a leadership thought leader who understands not only what leaders are struggling with, but has captured a timely and well researched system for each of us to follow in Free to Focus. The author clearly recognizes that information is not enough in today’s world; so he provides actionable strategies with templates, and packages all of that in a well-organized system. This book challenged my beliefs about productivity in a way that completely shifted my thinking forever. I wish I had read this book and could have implemented these strategies 20 years ago! In chapter one, Michael effectively challenges a couple of my status quo beliefs about the true purpose and meaning of productivity. I don’t want to spoil what Michael Hyatt reveals as the true objective for the purpose of productivity, but I found it resonates deeply with me, and it changed my perspective. If that wasn’t enough, he includes a self-assessment tool at the end of the chapter that helped me personally go deeper and to better define my “productivity vision” and distill it down to three key words- very powerful! Chapter one focuses on helping the reader more clearly define his or her vision, and chapter two builds on that in several ways, including a walk through the seven most limiting beliefs that many of us may not realize are holding us back, and juxtaposes liberating beliefs that can get us the breakthrough we’ve prayed for. This chapter also closes with two additional exercises to help the reader apply the material to to his or her circumstances. While I can’t say these tools revealed anything new for me, this book makes it abundantly clear that I can make key changes by taking responsibility and thoughtful action. Michael’s thinking around managing time versus managing energy alone (chapter 3), made me realize how wrong I have been in my own thinking around productivity, and is worth more than the price of the book for me, and there are several other concepts that I found just as intriguing. In fact, I have changed my thoughts and actions in fundamental areas of my daily practice as a result of chapter 3. My favorite quote comes from chapter 3: “Remember, time is not a renewable resource. It is fixed” You can’t do anything to add a single second to the day. However, energy is renewable.” My approach to sleep and exercise and making time for recreation has been all wrong- prioritizing these areas of our daily lives (and others areas also) can give us more energy to be productive with! Chapter 4 is a must read for those of us who are running on the hamster wheel to nowhere. These exercises will really empower you and improve your perspective! Chapter 5 provides tools to proactively analyze and remake our daily tasks list. I love this tool and the perspective that using it provides! Chapters 6 through 9 build on what is possible with the tools introduced in chapter 5 and 6, and presents additional tools to start tying it all together. I have fully embraced the Free To Focus message and approach; it’s just what I needed. I have changed a lot of my long-held beliefs about getting more done, and I look forward to mastering these principles. I would encourage anyone who is serious about making the most of his or her time on earth, to get #freetofocusbook authored by @michaelhyatt, you won’t regret it!

Free to Focus book by Michael Hyatt is a complete productivity game changer. Michael Hyatt’s Free to Focus Productivity system is one of the most complete and doable systems I have come across. Everyone gets 168 hours a week and yet for some, it never feels like enough. Work tends to take up the largest share of that time. Most people think productivity is about finding or saving time so that you can cram more into that time. But it’s not! It’s about making our time work for us so that we can free up some time and do what we want to do. In Michael’s book Free to Focus he reveals to readers nine proven ways to win at work. We are finally free to succeed in the rest of life —our health, relationships, hobbies, and more. He helps readers redefine for themselves their: Goals Evaluate what’s working Cut out the non-essential Focus on the most important tasks Manage time and energy And build momentum for a lifetime of success. The Free to Focus system is based on 3 basic steps (stop, cut, act), each step, then, consists of 3 mutually supportive actions Stop = formulate, evaluate, rejuvenate = 7 productive life-sustaining practices, Cut = calendar (triage), automate, delegate, Act = consolidates, designate, activate. When adopting these strategies a self-perpetuating system emerges that, even under unfavorable circumstances (passing through different stages of life, etc.), helps you to fulfill your life mission. While the process Michael gives for Free to Focus Productivity, is outstanding, he does not just stop there. He also gives us resources in the book, as well as on his website, that will walk you through how to accomplish each one of these steps. If you are looking to take control of your life and improve your productivity, I highly recommend this book to you. The dollar value of lost productivity does matter, but it’s not what really hurts. The true cost comes from all the dreams left unexplored, the talents left untried, the goals left not pursued. Michael spends some time-sharing another tool to help us figure where each task that we do will fall in our energy areas of like to dislike and draining. The more we stay in our high energy and like area the more productivity we will get to experience. More of our personal dreams being accomplished will be the true result. Now make one of your best choices today and go get the book, Free to Focus. **I was fortunate to have a preview copy and this book is going to be one that I read, again and again, to glean every ounce of insight into making my life more productive and enjoyable. **

I'm not generally a book review kind of person but after reading the latest from Michael Hyatt, I felt that I wanted to add my voice to the mix. To set the background, I have been a fan of Michael Hyatt's books and systems for awhile. I'm a life planner and productivity fanatic, so BEST YEAR EVER and LIVING FORWARD really resonated well with me. When I learned about the new book, I wondered how it could possibly build on all the good stuff that had already been published. My answer came as I read and outlined the material in Michael's latest book. Here are some main takeaways. THE SCOPE: One of the first things I realized is that this book is coming from a different level of planning than the previous two mentioned. While LIVING FORWARD mainly focuses on life planning in the bigger picture, BEST YEAR EVER then brings that down to planning out a single year (with goals, etc.) FREE TO FOCUS continues down to the next level to allow you to ask yourself, "How will my life plan and annual goals affect what I am going to do this quarter, this week, today or even in the next couple hours?" This is really where the rubber meets the road to put actual practices into place to bring the plan and the goals into actions. It also gives you the tools to do that with both efficiency and effectiveness. UPDATES AND ADDITIONS: While some of the concepts were introduced in his previous books, Michael not only reviewed and organized them better in this update, he added several details that filled in the gaps. As an example, one chapter digs deeply into delegation (not only what to delegate but different levels of delegation and the best way to delegate things to other people.) Even as a huge fan and adopter of the previous books, I found lots of new material to add to my productivity toolkit. A COMBINED SYSTEM FOR SUCCESS: I'm very wired for process and systems. I can be so scatter-brained sometimes thinking of all the things that need to be done but if you can show me a proven, detailed, step-by-step system, I can follow it pretty easily -- assuming it is a system that I trust. Michael has done a great job taking all of these concepts and ideas and organizing them into three steps with three sub-steps listed with each one. The three main steps are to STOP, CUT and ACT. Not only are the 9 substeps spelled out in detail but the book includes exercises for you to accomplish each step of the way with worksheets available through online resources to assist you. In other words, rather than simply sharing information for you to digest and attempt to act on it provides the process for you to start making those changes and improvements from the very first chapter all the way through the book. I've now been all the way through the book and am starting to implement more and more of the concepts into my personal life. Already I'm seeing several improvements, from improved sleep to more intentional time with my family on the weekends. This points me to the purpose of the book, at least as I'm understanding it. The goal of productivity is to have more freedom in your life, whether freeing you up with more time in your evenings and weekends or freeing you up to spend more time doing the things that you love. By getting rid of the "attention-clutter" in my life, I can truly be "free to focus" on those things in life that bring me the most joy and happiness. Who doesn't need more joy and happiness in their lives? I believe that FREE TO FOCUS has the ability to help anyone get there.

I like Michael Hyatt, and this is his best work to date. Practical and different enough from other books in this category to make it worthwhile. Everyone is bound to find something that really helps.

I keep coming back to this when I lose my way down the rabbit hole of today thank you Michael

A highly practical book. I was able to reduce the work to 2 hrs which actually took me 7 days to complete. Such transformation and time saving! Truly, I'm free to focus now. Thank you for making this book available to us at such reasonable prices. Very good binding and good paper quality also, thus i gave 5*.

Já conhecia alguma obras do autor, mas esse livro superou as minhas melhores expectativas, pela facilidade e fluidez do texto, e depois de ter lido outras obras do género, o considero o melhor livro de produtividade que já li.

Great book, easy to read and great tips