Productivity Hack: Focus Fridays for the Win!
At Blue Fox, we believe time is one of our most valuable assets—and when protected, it can be a powerful driver of innovation, clarity, and meaningful progress.
That’s why we created Focus Fridays: a dedicated space on our weekly calendar to unplug from distractions and plug into deep, purposeful work. We rolled it out in 2021 and it's been a gamechanger for us!
💡 What Are Focus Fridays?
Focus Fridays are designed to help our team lean into what matters most. Every Friday, we set aside intentional time to concentrate on complex, high-impact tasks—without interruptions, back-to-back meetings, or the usual digital noise.
This time is meant to:
🔹 Support deep work and creative flow
🔹 Boost productivity with fewer distractions
🔹 Encourage ownership and momentum on key initiatives
🛠️ How It Works
To make Focus Fridays a success, we follow a few simple guidelines:
📣 Share Your Focus Intention: Each team member communicates their Focus Friday goals so colleagues know when they're heads-down. If collaboration is needed on a project, team members get ahead by making sure their colleague(s) are available during Focus Friday.
🚫 No Emails, Calls, or Meetings: This time is sacred for solo work and big thinking. If internal collaboration is required, we keep the meeting time to a minimum. External meetings (with clients) are off-limits during designated focus hours. Clients know that we are working but will not respond until Monday unless requests are urgent. Urgent requests are relayed by text message, and our team rotates responsibility for monitoring the office line.
💬 No Instant Messaging: One of the biggest distractions in the modern workplace is the constant "ding" of instant messages. On Focus Fridays, we silence all notifications so that we're not pulled out of deep work mode. This alone does wonders for mental health and productivity!
🎯 Why It Matters
Since we've been doing this for 4 years now, we can testify that Focus Fridays really do work! Here are some tangible wins across Blue Fox:
Higher Output, Higher Quality - With space to concentrate, we’re getting more done—and doing it faster and better.
Happier Teams - The ability to truly focus boosts morale and reduces the team stress of always being “on.” We honor and support each other's focus time on Fridays so that everyone can reap the benefits.
Better Team Flow - When we respect focus time, our collaboration outside those hours becomes sharper and more effective.
🔁 Making Focus Fridays Work for You
We've had clients and colleagues adopt their own version of Focus Friday with great results. (Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery they say!) If you choose to try a version out a version of this for yourself/your team, go for it! Remember: time is a person's most precious resource. You can't get it back once it's gone. So use it wisely.
Whether you’re mapping out a new strategy, diving into research, or finally tackling that big idea, Focus Fridays can help you make real progress.
