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A guide to calm productivity so you can handle the flood of stuff you deal with every day.
⭐️ Join over 6,000 students ⭐️
Business Owners:
⭐️ Join over 6,000 students ⭐️
Teams we have worked with and publications we've been featured in.
This is my simple system to eliminate busywork and do more of what matters.
"I can’t recommend Shawn enough. He has proven strategies that give clear direction and actually work."
Amy Sullivan
Designer
"Shawn’s writing on focus is well thought through
and well crafted."
Cal Newport
Author of Deep Work
Not only do you need to focus on the important things, you also can’t lose track of the little stuff which still needs to get done.
Which of these sounds less frightening?
Setting up a system that balances your list of all the open things to do so you can know which ones are most important, which ones are the right ones to do next, and which ones are even worthwhile in the first place.
Swimming the English Channel blindfolded. While being chased by sharks. Sharks with lasers.
Don't tell me. The second one, right?
Some folks think they have a better chance racing against laser sharks than they do of setting up a good productivity system. Clearly, as tasks build up, it can be a bit overwhelming.
Good news is that you’re not alone. It seems just about everyone is drowning in tasks (no pun intended). Did you know...
Yep. We asked more than 2,000 people if their day is spent mostly on busywork or important work. And guess what? The majority of people said busywork.
Which means two things:
People everywhere feel overwhelmed with all the things they have to do
Those people spend most of their day unable to get to the important work.
And frankly, that sucks. It means you're swimming against the tide, not making any progress at all.
Your Focus Guide
👋 Hello. My name is Shawn and I am the founder of the Focus Course and the creator of All The Things.
I’m a writer, small-business owner, productivity coach, and creative entrepreneur living in Kansas City with my wife and our three boys.
For the past 20 years, I have been learning and teaching about creativity, diligence, and focus. I’ve spoken about these topics at conferences and workshops; I've taught them to private groups and one-on-one clients; and my online courses have helped tens of thousands of people.
♥️ Married for 20 years, and we have 3 boys. Send pizza! 🍕
I used to work 80 hours per week. And even then, with all those hours, I still felt behind with my never-ending issues at work! I kept thinking I would eventually get ahead of the craziness and start making progress on meaningful work.
Eventually I quit that job to begin working for myself. But even then, I still found that I was always chasing my to-do list. I never felt satisfied at the end of my work day; there was always more to be done. Work was always on my mind.
When my first son was born, I realized that I needed do to better. I didn’t want my work life to dominate my time and energy. But, at the same time, I still had a strong desire to do meaningful work.
These seemingly-opposing forces shouldn’t have to fight one another. I knew it was okay to have a thriving work life while also having an awesome personal life.
I have spent years figuring out solutions related to focus.
We live in an age where the Internet lives in our pocket, and it seems like everyone everywhere is both distracted and in a hurry.
I’ve examined my own habits, studied many other solutions, and rigorously tested different approaches over and over again. And I have worked hard to create a lifestyle that is conducive to doing my best creative work without sacrificing my personal and family life.
What you will learn from All The Things are the same methods, ideas, and frameworks that have allowed me to grow a thriving business, do meaningful work that I’m proud of, and give time to myself and my family.
These are time-tested, proven ideas I use to keep all the areas of my life in harmony and thriving, despite the craziness that is naturally found in day-to-day life.
The material in this course have changed my life. It has changed the lives of so many others who have gone through it. And it can change your life, too.
Jocelyn K. Glei
Author and Podcaster
Here's a video taken from the course where I show the most common failures (and solutions) to a productivity flywheel.
P.S. In All the Things, there are 8 training videos and over two hours of video content that goes into significantly more detail explaining exactly how to manage your task list, as well as the templates I use for my daily and weekly planning and reviewing, and more.
"I can’t recommend Shawn enough. He has proven strategies that give clear direction and actually work."
Amy Sullivan
Designer
"Shawn’s writing on focus is well thought through
and well crafted."
Cal Newport
Author of Deep Work
Tools and apps are only half the equation. The heartbeat of this course is the series of videos on goal setting, productivity systems, and more.
This is where the real magic happens...
You will discover our best practices, templates, personal systems, and more for managing your tasks and being productive.
What you will discover in this course are ideas and workflows that you can use no matter which app you use (from Things, to OmniFocus, Todoist, or even a physical journal).
As part of All the Things, there are 6 interviews with busy folks like you and me — writers, managers, entrepreneurs, creatives, moms & dads — who have an ability to stay focused and productive. We discuss topics and examples related to managing tasks, staying focused, keeping work and life in
balance, and more.
How to work free from distractions
with Jocelyn K. Glei
The most common productivity pitfalls
with Erik Fisher
Managing your tasks and your time
with Mike Vardy
How to balance work and life
with Havilah Cunnington
How to stay organized
with Ben Brooks
How to stay focused
with Anthony Ongaro
Ryan Holiday
Best-Selling Author
Limited-Time Sale (Save 60%)
Self-paced
$23.90 $79
✓ Lifetime access
✓ Productivity lessons
✓ Productivity Templates
✓ Expert Interviews
"Shawn gets it. And best of all ... he can help you get it, too. I found this course to be affirming and helpful."
David Sparks
Business Attorney, podcaster, blogger, and author
"I simply can't believe the amount of value and content in this course. It was so good I binged it like Netflix!"
Matthew Candler
Author
Regularly $79
Discover a new, liberating mindset toward productivity that allows you to focus on giving your time to the things that are most important.
Discover how to combine digital and analog tools to stay focused day to day and keep from being overwhelmed by an overflowing inbox.
There is a simple approach for ensuring you spend your time each day doing the single, most-important things.
Using a journal to track your regular progress can have a huge impact in building momentum and focus.
Discover a simple way to schedule your daily tasks in order to maintain focus and breathing room in your day.
A simple and regular review session will help you stay focused and accomplish your goals.
The symptoms (and solutions) to a broken productivity system.
A detailed walk through of how Shawn sets up his weekly and daily schedule in his notebook.
PDF files for my custom Monthly Habit Tracker with Daily Journal, Monthly Planner, Weekly Planner, Daily Planner, and Weekly Review.
Greg McKeown
Best-Selling Author of Essentialism
You’ve read a productivity / GTD book or two and had trouble applying the rigid methodology to your day-to-day life.
You’re not an organized person, but would like to have a few tricks up your sleeve to help you stay on top of your to-do list (at work and/or at home).
Your to-do list overfloweth. You’ve got too much to do, not enough time to do it, and a general feeling of overwhelm when you look at your list of things to do.
You have multiple areas of life to manage (work, home, personal side projects, etc.) and you’re not sure how to organize them.
You find systems to be annoying, but know that you need a better way to stay on top of your tasks.
You want to ensure the important things you need to do are not falling through the cracks.
Most of your day is filled with busywork rather than meaningful work.
You struggle to manage all the incoming tasks that come your way.
Yes! You get 30 days to check out the class, which is more than enough time to go through all the material. If, for any reason, you’re not completely satisfied just let us know and we’ll be glad to give you a full refund.
You will get immediate access to all the content as soon as you sign up. Our course platform is easy to use and navigate, and works great on desktop, iPad, and iPhone. You also will be able to download all the videos in HD format for offline viewing.
All of us here at The Sweet Setup. Our goal is to help you make the most of your time and attention. We do this by researching the very best apps for your Mac, iPad, and iPhone. But we also know a LOT about workflows, staying focused, and best practices. That’s why we’re visited by 200,000 readers every month.
