How to raise your Focus Score
Updated
The Focus Score follows what you do, so the way to raise it is to change its inputs. Four changes cover all four parts of the score.
1. Mark the goals that come first
Give your one or two most important goals Priority 1 and Priority 2. A task you close on a Priority 1 goal counts in full for Priority alignment, a Priority 2 task at 60 percent, and a task on any other goal at 15 percent.
If you are unsure which goals deserve that, the Eisenhower matrix is one way to sort them.
2. Plan today’s tasks for today, with durations
Plan execution compares what you scheduled for today with what you closed. Schedule the day’s tasks for today, and use Add duration on the larger ones. Then a two-hour task does not weigh the same as a five-minute one; a task without a duration counts as 30 minutes.
How to set dates and durations is in Set a deadline, start time and duration.
3. Protect one long block
Deep work counts minutes on the Timer or the Stopwatch. Your total against 90 minutes is 60 percent of the part, and your longest unbroken block against 45 minutes is the other 40. So one 45-minute block scores higher than the same minutes in pieces.
Start a session from the Focus sessions card on Home. Time blocking helps you find the slot.
4. Answer Today’s Read each morning
Mental clarity is your answer to the clarity question in Today’s Read. Without a read it is left out, and the other parts carry the score. Answering it each morning makes the score describe your whole day. See What is Today’s Read?
What does not move it
- Closing work that was not scheduled for today does not raise Plan execution, though it still counts for Priority alignment.
- Focus sessions under 5 minutes, and the Counter and Audio tools, do not count for Deep work.
- A day you skip is a gap, not a zero.
If the number still looks wrong, see Why does my Focus Score look wrong?
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