I've noticed recently my productivity scores have dipped over sustained number of snapshots. So it got me thinking, am I forcing focus in the wrong way? And also a very tenuous link towards severance, the TV show and how there's actually some interesting correlations around productivity, focus, time and gamification. Let's get into the ninth petals weekly. So before we get into all the the details, let's do those old scores that we like to bring up. Productivity is 4 steady and a slight increase on last time. Enjoyment is 4 as well. Staying engaged. Teamwork is 2, which is taking a bit of a hit again with lack of availability from the team. Learning is a nice four with all that research I've been doing recently and serenity is three midway but you know, it's creeping around brings out an average of 3.4. Let me talk into some of the details. Why? As I say, teamwork's been taking a hit over the last few weeks, so I've been trying to work out how to get more productivity out of myself with limited knowledge and skills. So I took the initiative and had another look at the design framework that we're looking at introducing now. I didn't realize how closely coupled ShadCN was with react components. I should have read the detail, I'm not going to lie. However, we're not building a React app. It's very much a static Django app. So what I looked at instead of was some alternatives to just like a visual design library that we can inherit and use. There's loads out there, Bootstrap and Tailwind to name a few. But I did return to one that I've looked at before called UIKit. Now this is not the one that you Normally see in iOS apps, but actually another framework for web apps, and it looked quite straightforward to introduce. It does rely on jQuery for some points, which is contentious, but at least I know it. So I had a look into this over the weekend, got it working and started applying some styles to our web app. And it's actually already pulled together some nice frameworks to play with and it's given me some joy in the work that I've been doing as well. I felt really satisfied about the fact that I've got something to show now. I won't show on the YouTube channel yet because it is very early days, but at least I'm making good steps in that direction and I'll hopefully have something to demonstrate next time. I think my serenity has actually increased a little bit because I've managed to find some Zen in the way that I work, even despite having very little teamwork around at the moment. And I've also learned quite a lot, especially with all the research I've been doing around productivity and synchronicity and all that good stuff. So let's go into that a little bit more. I'm going to do a lot more talking about learning this week. I've read a few books this week or listened to some blinks about books at least, and done some extra research. One is Living in Flow by Sky Nelson Isaacs and the other is Attention Lifespan by Gloria Mark. Now these two books talk a lot about how we can find our optimized productivity, how we can reduce all those distractions that we have either in the workplace or at home, but also how we find that natural rhythm in our own sort of lifestyles. Everyone's got their own personalities and requirements and personal distractions or demands. So trying to find your personal synchronicity in the life of getting things done, it's quite an interesting concept to go down. So Living in Flow is quite a good book about listening to your body, listen to all the signs around you and what they call synchronicity. And this allows us to trust our brains and flow a little naturally, a little bit more organically, and hopefully you tap into those right opportunities. Sounds familiar, right? And then in Attention Span with Gloria Mark, she suggests we're not actually that productive when we are in focus mode and we need to play into our natural rhythms and bursts of productivity. Let's observe one of the industry trends that apparently were most effective around the 11am and 3pm marks in a typical office working environment. But these are averages. These don't take into effect like neurodiversity or personal demands, and especially since we started working from home more. You know, we know that our typical 9 to 5 might have those peaks around 11 and 3. But are you listening to your body as to when you are most productive or should you be observing your trends over time to understand when is the right time to do some deep work and thinking, when's the best time to do some of the simpler jobs and when to take those breaks to make sure you're balancing it out better? How does all this fit into petals and what I've been doing? So for me my optimal learning time is actually when I'm away from a screen. I find it really soothing and actually quite enjoyable to learn. Whilst I might turn about without a screen, typically I'll plug my AirPods in, go for a little walk with the dog around the canals and out in the field listening to some audiobooks or podcasts, and that's when I really learn the best. I also find when I've got some music on, like some typical I like listening to house music and dance music. These songs are typically like five to eight minutes long, but because it's quite repetitive, it's got a nice natural rhythm but no real vocals half the time it doesn't distract me from what I'm trying to do, it's just a nice background white noise for me. And I find myself getting into the zone quite well for a good hour when I've got like an hour long mix playing in the background. So what I've been trying to do is play some of that music while I want to get some focus time, plug in and just get on with the work. And it works really well for me. Everyone's got their own way though some people find it really difficult. There's even some science to suggest that 3% of people can actually multitask. And apparently the science suggests it's normally a female trait too. I know that I'm definitely not a multitasker, I am not very good at it at all, and I find it difficult to even work with the TV on. But my wife on the other hand, she's quite happily doing some work on a mobile phone while watching something on tv. And again, that plays into that stereotype. But we all are different people. So I find if I turn the TV off I can sit down with my laptop and actually get some work done or go to the office and get a focus time away from the door. So what's this got to do with severance? Let me explain. I've got into a bit of a habit now of tracking all my metrics and this could be around productivity, like getting numbers out of Ticktick, which I use for task management or Trello or whichever app you use, I use that quite regularly to reflect on how much I get done. I also track all my life habits as well. I've got into a bit of a habit now, pun intended, to measure my screen time on my mobile phone. I don't yet, but I'm considering using rescue time to measure how I spend my time on a laptop, a laptop or a computer. And I'm also tracking stuff like, you know, health and lessons and music and all the other stuff that I tend to do. But I might get distracted by all the data and not necessarily understanding why I'm doing it. If you watch Severance TV show hugely popular and I know I'm tapping into it, but I was thinking about this the other day. They are constantly hyper focused in the zone. Crunching numbers gamified it to an extent, but they don't even know why and no one knows why. This is the beauty of the TV show. We don't really know what they're actually delivering towards, but by tapping into those talents and giving the teams the metrics to justify that they're doing well again. You're giving the people the kudos they deserve for doing good stuff, but they're not telling them exactly why. So I'm just trying to work out why am I doing all this stuff, where am I focusing my energy and am I spending my energy on the right things and it's something that I have to constantly check on myself on my OKR plan on a page, what I've talked about previously, I have to reassess and go should I be doing this thing today or should should it wait till the next quarter when I'm shifting my focus? I was talking about doing a marketing plan last week for the Petals website, but I'm trying to launch an app this quarter. I need to push that away and reassess how I can be more productive and more focused on getting the app live with the limit limited resources I have available. I'm working independently at the moment and eventually the team will be able to support me, but until then I'm going to do what I can and then eventually they'll be able to join me and finish it off together. The point we're getting across here is we need to really tap into what we are stronger, understand our habits and our capacity. Play into it, but actually take stock and think about why am I doing this and how can I get the best value out of my time. So my few tips for you, my little hacks for getting the best out of your time. Find your own rhythm. Ignore those industry standards. Ignore all the data. Just find your natural rhythm. Use those metrics wisely. They're there to help you and guide you. You don't be a slave to the numbers and find your background noise that works to complement your working time, your focus time. I love house music and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea, but think about where you are most comfortable and where you're most focused without all the distractions. Reach out. Let me know where your Zen is, where your happy place is and where you can be most productive. Put your comments in the below or on the apps and let me know on the email as well site Petals Team. And with that, I'm going to wrap it up for this week and I'll be back next week for the 10th petals weekly. Take care of yourselves and look after those teams.