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The Focus Course

Welcome!

Hi, !

Welcome to The Focus Course. My name is Shawn Blanc, and I am honored to be your host.

You’ve purchased a group, and you can administer it from your Dashboard. Inside your group administration page you will find your group access code as well as reports on your group members.

Now, let me give you a quick overview of what all is here on the site

  1. The Dashboard: This is your main hub where you can find everything you need on the Focus Course website. When you’re logged in, it’s what you’ll see as the home page. You can get to it at any time from the link in the sidebar or the footer.

  2. The Course: It’s 5 Modules and 40 days worth of guided reading and assignments. I’ll tell you more below, but you have the option to take the course here on the website, or download a PDF workbook and take it on your computer. Each Module has an accompanying video.

  3. Additional articles and video Q&A section: This section of the site has some additional content in both written and video format. Here I dive deeper into some of the topics discussed in the focus course, as well as answering some specific common questions regarding focus, work/life balance, and doing our best creative work. You can visit this section at any time, before, during, or after you take the Course.

  4. The community forums: There is a members-only forum where you can ask questions and share any feedback, ideas, breakthroughs, stories, etc. If you ever need to log in to the forum, it’s the same email and password for the focus course main website. AT the bottom of each daily lesson is a link to discuss that lesson in the forums. If you find a topic that fits, feel free to jump in and reply — if, however, you want to start a new topic feel free! The community forums are for you.

I’m here, now what?

Okay, do this:

  1. Read the FAQ (right below).

  2. Come over and introduce yourself on the Community Forum

  3. If you’re ready to start the Course right away, begin by either downloading the PDF workbook or going to the Course Table of Contents page and beginning with Day 0 Introduction — there is an assignment already for you, and then tomorrow you can begin Day 1 of the Course.

  4. If you’re not ready to start right away, no problem! Peruse the Dashboard to get an idea of what all is on the site, feel free to hop into the forum to say hello, and when you are ready to begin head over to the Dashboard.

FAQ

Do I have to do the course in 40 consecutive days?

Nope. You may take as long as you like to complete the course. And you’ll have access to the course forever, so there’s absolutely no rush or pressure whatsoever.

At the bottom of each lesson is a button you can click to signify you’ve completed that lesson, And then on the course table of contents page you’ll see a record of all the days you have done so far. Making it easy to keep track of your progress in case you have to take time off from the course.

So technically, you could plow through it in a weekend (not recommended) or you could take 80 or 90 days to do it if you want. However, I would highly recommend trying to do it in 50 days or so (that allows time for a day or two off between each module). Since each day of the course is designed to build on the previous, if you do it with minimal gaps in between then the topics and principles will stay top of mind.

How much time should I plan on devoting each day?

About 15-30 minutes for most days.

Is this best done in the morning, or evening. Will it help me during the day?

It’s best done any time that works for you. The website is fully responsive, so you can do the course on your phone if you want.

I highly recommend you choose a time and place you will do the course, and keep that consistency for the duration. Having that scheduled time each day will help guarantee you actually do the course and see it through to the end.

Should I do this with a ready notebook and a cup of coffee?

Some days, yes!

Especially for Modules Two and Three (Honesty and Clarity) — throughout these modules there will be questionnaires for you to fill out. You can either download and print the Module Two and Three workbook, or you can write the questions into a journal of your choice and answer them there.

For journals, I recommend one of the following:

  1. Baron Fig (physical notebook): These guys make fantastic notebooks.

  2. Day One App (digital journal): Day One is by far and away the best journaling app for iOS and Mac. If you use Day One to answer the questions in Modules Two and Three, you can easily tag those entries with #focuscourse to make them all grouped together and easy to come back to in the future.

  3. Evernote (digital notes app for all platforms): If you need a notebook app for Android, Windows, Mac and/or iOS then Evernote is probably your best bet.

What happens if I link to The Focus Course website from my Facebook or Twitter, etc?

If you are encouraging someone else to sign up for the Focus Course, feel free to link to the main home page: thefocuscourse.com — for those who are not logged in, they will see the website’s landing page. For you, this page serves as your Dashboard.

If you ever link to any other page within the site, no problem. The site is completely password protected, and only those who are signed in can view the content. If anyone comes to a page within the site but is not logged in, they will see a message inviting them to sign up. (Or, if you land on a page that you had bookmarked but realize you need to log in, you can do so right from there.)

Ready to Start the Course?

The Course is available in two different formats depending on your preference: the website or a PDF workbook.

  1. Take it online: Go to the Course contents page, and start with Day 0 Introduction. Mark your progress on the site as you go, and use a physical or digital journal to write down answers on days that have a question or journaling assignment.

  2. Download the PDF: There is a 273-page PDF workbook version of the Focus Course. You may download it to your computer or iPad, print it out, or take it to an office supply store to have it printed and bound. From the downloads page you can also get a ZIP file with all the videos that accompany each Module.