I tracked every focus session for 3 months. The data surprised me — especially about music.
A few months ago I set a personal rule: every time I sat down to do deep work, I logged it. Duration, what I was working on, my energy level, and what I was listening to.
After 90+ sessions, the pattern was clear — and it wasn't what I expected.
What the data showed:
My longest unbroken sessions (60+ min) almost always happened with the same 2-3 audio tracks on loop, not variety
Sessions where I picked "whatever felt good" mood-wise averaged ~20 min shorter than sessions where I followed a pre-set sequence
High-energy music (anything with lyrics or strong beat) correlated with shorter sessions when I was doing reading or writing, but helped when I was doing admin tasks
The takeaway: your best focus state is reproducible — but you have to track it to find the formula.
Because I couldn't find an app that connected the audio to the session data, I built MFocust. It has a built-in timer, curated audio sequences, and an analytics screen that links your session performance to what you were listening to.
Still early and rough around the edges, but it's out on iOS now if you want to experiment:
More importantly — has anyone else done rigorous tracking of their focus sessions? Would love to compare notes. What's the most useful thing you've measured?
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