How to Focus Better & Finally Get Tasks Done: A Conversation about Procrastination, Productivity, and Entrepreneurship with FocusMate CEO Taylor Jacobson

182: Ever check your to-do list and see small tasks like “send email”, “send gift”, and “pay online bill”, and get EXTREMELY overwhelmed? “How can it be THIS hard?!” you think. Sending an email takes 5 mins! You can send an e-gift! And the online bill is just entering your credit card info. But somehow, you wait until the last minute, when the pressure is on, the timer is counting down, and the credit card company sends a “late payment” notice.

You may be someone who needs accountability to get tasks done. Or a body double. This means you need someone in front of you or next to you to create some natural pressure to complete a task. This is especially helpful if you have ADHD or are neurodivergent. But how do you just find a person to work with you on a Tuesday at 2:30 in the afternoon?

Enter: FocusMate.

On this week’s episode, Chelsea sits down with Taylor, the CEO and Founder of FocusMate, to discuss:

Where did the idea of FocusMate come from?

Getting stuck and how to get yourself unstuck with tangible steps

The importance of having company, even without communication (aka accountability partner)

The pros and cons of working with a buddy while getting your own business done and why is it important to set up structure

The behavioral science and studies around accountability 

Starting from the ground up and building the muscles of what you want to do without an expert background

Advice to listeners - "Learning is the most important thing. Do whatever you need to do to know better."

“...I don't know if there's anything as powerful as that to help the nervous system to tell the body really that it is safe. And so, when you get on a Focusmate session, really the first thing that happens is somebody smiling at you and greeting you. And there's just such a war

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