I’ll save you some scrolling- the app is called Sukha (soo-ka) and it’s an online co-working platform and so much more.

If you’ve struggled with focus, productivity, distractions, motivation, I urge you to try out the free trial of Sukha. If you want to read why I think that, read on!

I am not being paid to write this post, but I am an affiliate so will earn if you sign up to the Pro version with my discount code for 20% off (PKMBETH), but use the free trial first!

I’ve struggled to find my way in the world of productivity. I thought forcing myself to sit down for long work blocks was the only way, and that my inability to stick to work in these sessions was a problem with my lack of discipline, rather than with my understanding of productivity. My brain feels too fast and loud for the seemingly sill, quiet life of monk-mode and 5am deep work blocks that I see all over my Twitter feed.

To give a touch more context to this post, I paste one of my most popular paragraphs from a previous post:

I am chaotic. I’ve got lots going on all the time as I’m the type of person to have 15 projects all about 75% done. I have lots of ideas and I like to write everything down, yet don’t action everything, and I need information in front of me in order to remember a) it exists and b) to action it. I cannot enforce structure on myself or plan my weeks hour by hour as I never stick to it, so I avoid spending time doing it. But I am a functioning adult in society, I need to have an idea of what I need to do and when in order to meet my obligations and remember to meet my goals…

I hoped one day this would just go away and I’d be that person doing 4 hour deep work blocks, but that hasn’t materialised. It got me down for a while, but after feeling those feelings, I decided November was the time to re-address this mindset to find healthy, sustainable work habits that made me feel more positive about the work I actually love to do.

I designed my Notion home-page to help, and then I got an incredibly well-timed email from Steven, the co-founder of Sukha, telling me about his app, and within 25 minutes of trying it, I realised my view of productivity and my actual productivity have forever positively changed.

What is Sukha?

Sukha calls itself the online co-working space. It’s a community of people who are all trying to get their work done. It comes with some extra features to help you do this:

• pomodoro timer

• AI coaches

• focus prompts

• Spotify integration

• focus music

• task integration

• calendar integration

• leaderboards

• distraction tracker

• productivity resources

Together, these features help you get things done, and the community keeps you encouraged along the way. It’s such a lovely, positive place to be but one that is genuinely helping me too.

Now none of this drew me in the first time I looked at the landing page, because I didn’t think I needed any of this.

I was wrong.

Let’s look into how these features work together in practice, and why it’s working for me.

How it works

1. Join a group (community is key!)

2. Pick one task to work on and write it in the “this session” focus box

3. Press Play

(3.5 Choose Music if you’d like- I write in silence but listen to Spotify the rest of the time)

4. Work

5. Review your stats

6. Feel good

7. Repeat.

Most of the screen is taken up with a reminder of the one task I’ve set out to do, and the left side bar shows me there are 297 other people online doing the same thing. This makes me feel encouraged and that I’m not alone. If 297 people are working, so can I. If I forget what I’m doing, the task is in the middle of the page and I’m encouraged to get back to work.

AI Coach

But it’s not being in the app that makes the magic happen, remember we’re trying to do work here! It’s what it’s doing in the background.

Once you pick your focus, you start the timer and start working. The AI coach will send you encouragement along the way:

Tracey, the coach for the Sukha Tribe, pops up in the corner of my screen whilst I’m working with a tiny banner saying fun things like “keep it up!”, “stay in flow!”, “your break is coming up!”, “I’m so proud of you!” and surprisingly, I find this incredibly useful.

I didn’t think I needed this, but my brain loves to wander, and it turns out the AI coaches’ semi-regular but discreet pop ups have fixed this. They don’t interrupt the flow at all, they bring my wandering brain back, and make me conscious and present and I feel a lot better as a result.

I’m realising a good, productive session isn’t all or nothing. It’s not all distractions or no distractions. It’s feeling guided and supported, and having that gentle voice to bring you back to task.

This feels like a really healthy approach to productivity for me, which is something I’ve previously struggled to find. This app isn’t going to reward you for 8 hour work days with no breaks, it encourages you to live a healthy work life, to stay focused when it’s time to and to equally take breaks when it’s time to.

You can choose your coach too (so you can pick who’s encouraging you) by joining their groups (have you spotted August Bradley in there?!)

Leaderboard, stats

When I finish the session I’m using to keep me focused on writing, I’ll get a productivity score and I’ll see where I’m at on the leaderboard. I didn’t think gamifying things would help me much but I have been proven wrong! I want to move up the leaderboard!

All-in-one solution to my productivity woes

I am not the sort of person that looks for an all-in-one solution, which is a very well trodden view point in my articles, but having actionable productivity help all-in-one is perfect.

I often feel like I’m spinning around manically and I just need someone/something to grab me by the shoulders and point me in the direction of one task so I can do it, then I can come back to the middle and spin again, and then move onto the next task.

I’ve got a couple of ways to deal with this but I’ve found writing my one focus task into the same app where I press play to start my session, where I control Spotify and where I get nice encouragement is really good. There’s less friction to starting what I’m doing and fewer windows to switch between and throw distractions at me as I get into work.

Why it’s been a game-changer

It’s because I’m finally getting things done and feeling good in the process.It’s helped me reconcile what I know I want to do, and actually doing it. I used to think that knowing what I wanted to do was enough, but it wasn’t. Sukha literally makes me want to do better and it’s calming my annoyingly strong will. I much prefer the more balanced approach I’ve had recently.

In fact, my morning Sukha session has been the highlight of my day for the last week at least, and I know that will continue. I know it will continue because it makes me happy; it’s got good vibes! I feel much happier “at work” now, more empowered and like I can do hard or scary things, which basically all of running a business is as someone with no experience. And if you need some encouragement, you literally have hundreds of people online with you to chat to.

This positive change is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced and it is changing my whole view of productivity, work, and my understanding of myself.

Summary

If you relate to any of the sentiments or examples in this post, I urge you to sign up to the free trial. It’s a generous 14 days but I don’t think it’ll take long to work out if it works for you or not.

If you do decide you like it, firstly come say hi in the Sukha Tribe which is where you’ll find me, and secondly you’re welcome to use the discount code PKMBETH for 20% off Pro plans at the end of your trial.

Who knows… maybe one day we could get our own PKM group and work together 👀

See you in the Sukha Tribe!

This is not a sponsored post, none of my upcoming content about Sukha will be either. My affiliate code will reward me financially if it is used.