This approach works for Cesar Kuriyama, an app developer who joined Caveday when it launched at a co-working space in New York in November 2016. “At Caveday, I enter into a flow that I usually only experience accidentally. Usually if I get stuck on something I’m working on, I’ll use it as an excuse to check social media or scroll through my lunch options, but at Caveday I only have one focus, so I push on.”

Some participants say they get so deep into the flow state that they’ll keep working past the timed sprints. Dr Ros Barber, author and senior lecturer at Goldsmiths, University of London, who became a member of Ultraworking in April 2019, says she will “abandon work cycles at some point if I’m doing academic research or writing because I get hyperfocused. I don’t want to stop – and indeed, don’t stop. I just quit the session.”

First-hand experience

When I joined that Monday morning Ultraworking session, I was intrigued to see how it would affect my focus. I joined several 30-minute work cycles, my fellow participants working on podcasts, PhD dissertation chapters, blogs or even filing taxes. Each session was led by a different moderator but they ran them in the same way.

Each work cycle would begin with the battle cry ‘Cycle on!’ Participants would work on their chosen projects, then were given a two-minute warning before the 30 minutes ended. In between cycles, the moderator would give a talk peppered with tips for enhancing motivation or productivity – such as finding projects you could complete in the half-hour sprint, or knowing that each small step took you closer to your goal. In the chat box, members were asked to share any productivity or idea-generating issues they were having so the moderator could try and help. Every other cycle the moderator would encourage a member to share what they were working on and how it was going.

What surprised me was how quickly I was able to focus. By concentrating on one task, I was able to dive deeper into the research for an interview I was going to do later that week. When moderators announced the end of each 30-minute session, I was amazed how quickly time had passed. While working on my own project, when I read the motivational messages in the chat box at the end of each work cycle, it felt as if I was part of a community all pulling in the same direction.