We've reached the halfway point of 2023, or as we like to say in the corporate world, we've concluded H1. Let's take a moment to celebrate the impressive numbers we achieved in June.

Our community accomplished a remarkable 1876 hours of deep work and an even more impressive 2386 sessions last month. These numbers truly surprised me, so I gathered some data from Google Analytics, and I stumbled on an interesting detail.

If you haven't started using Beeminder yet, it's worth noting that users who utilize Beeminder are approximately three times as productive as those who don't. In other words, non-Beeminder users are losing out on a lot of productivity!

If you're serious about maximizing your Deep Work efforts, signing up for Beeminder is almost a no-brainer. You can find more information about the integration:

How to do something you should, you can, but you don't?

During the month of June, I dedicated most of my time to refining and polishing the existing features of the website.

For those who haven't had the chance to visit the site recently, here are some of the improvements.

Accidental Closures

Imagine you're in the midst of a deep work session, completely immersed and focused. Suddenly, in the midst of your work, you unintentionally close the tab, causing you to lose all the progress you've made.

This experience can be incredibly frustrating. That's why you now have an alert system to safeguard against accidental closures.

Music Improvement

I am also excited to bring a new music option called "synth" for those seeking a more dynamic and energetic session. As a matter of fact, this post is being written with the captivating "synth" music playing in the background.

Power Goals Polish

Although there is still ample room for enhancements, I have taken few steps in the right direction.

One improvement is the addition of a concise summary for Power Goals, providing information on the time invested and the estimated duration for each goal. Ideally this tool should help you avoid burn out and improve planning by estimating your tasks well. We’ll get there.

You can also delete the tasks in your power goals if they are no longer relevant. It should have been part of the first release.

Completed tasks are hidden by default. If necessary, you can expand them using this adorable, compact switch.

Analytics Polish

On the Analytics page for each month, you now have the ability to view your top tasks. Additionally, I have given the user interface a fresh update for a more visually appealing experience.

Probably Invisible Changes

The music has transitioned from being hosted on YouTube to being self-hosted. This change brings about a cleaner listening experience for you, particularly on mobile devices. However, it does come at a slightly increased hosting cost for me.

The website has undergone a transition from Next.js 12 to 13.4 app directory. While this migration did lead to a significant decrease in my productivity during the development process, it should result in a smoother and more streamlined navigation experience for you.

What’s next?

I have something exciting in progress that I believe will enhance the consistency of completing deep work sessions. Stay tuned, as I will be sharing more details about it in a few weeks' time.

Also, I will be writing more often on substack. While I have previously shared the tools I've developed, I have yet to delve into the reasons behind building them. I strongly believe that understanding the purpose and intention behind a tool is just as important as its practical utility. So, I look forward to exploring and elaborating on the motivations behind my work in the upcoming Substack posts.