Power Up Your Focus with a FOCI AI Wearable that Gives Biofeedback #REVIEW #MBPHGG21

The FOCI AI is a wearable device that, along with a downloadable app, alerts you when your focus on a task is waning and provides assistance to get you back “on track.”

What an exciting delivery of a product! In our house, focus is an issue for more than half of us, so deciding who gets to use the FOCI AI was tough. We finally decided my husband would give it a go. We all looked forward to hearing his thoughts on FOCI (pronounced "fo-key"), as I am sure you are too.

What you get in the box

The Skill of Deep Focus manual
Wearable belt
FOCI device and charger
Quick start guide booklet

The Skill of Deep Focus Manual

The Skill of Deep Focus manual is a 100-page booklet but, given that this is a product dedicated to building focus, is written in an easy-to-read, “chunk” style that is quickly digested. Along with directions for use of the FOCI device, the booklet cites research from Cambridge University that lack of focus is caused by five “vicious” loops, Frustrative, Distractibility, Burnout, Anxiety, and Procrastinative, one leading into another.

Device, App. and Wearable Belt

The FOCI device is worn around the stomach area with either a convenient clip or the Velcro belt and should only be worn when you want to focus on a task. The app, when downloaded on your smartphone, pairs wirelessly with your FOCI device. The app then takes time to learn your daily breathing and focus patterns using “machine learning.”

Once it completes the “machine learning” of your patterns, the app continuously monitors your breathing patterns while you are working, displays distractibility over time, and indicates how much of it was spent in a tense, relaxed, or “focused” state, which is a perfect median between the two. The device can also be set to vibrate when you slip into one of the vicious loops and registers on the app which one you have entered.

If a wearer enters one of the loops or is simply wavering into a relaxed or tense pattern, the app and wearable device team up to provide “biofeedback” in the form of measured breathing, relaxation, and self-determination exercises. Unlike traditional meditation, the wearer can visually follow progress on the app with color-changing blobs or fillable bulbs that indicate the level of focus achieved. Sound (best used with headphones) may be added with drops of rain that subside as the wearer becomes more focused and are replaced by the gentle chirping of birds. So, not only does the FOCI device alert you when you become distracted, it actively helps you return to a state of focus. One area of the app is a breathing metronome which guides you to a breathing pattern closer to your natural focus state. The booklet contains “self-talks” which you repeat to remind yourself why a particular task is important and how it fits into larger life goals.

My Husband's Overall Impression of FOCI AI

Lack of focus and the inability to complete tasks, the booklet explains, prompt us to develop overall frustration with our lives, leading us to depression and resignation. The given example is a student who mindlessly scrolls through entertainment stimuli on her phone while she is supposed to be studying. This is precisely what FOCI is designed to prevent. Don’t be fooled by the simple appearance of the device alone. The FOCI “learned” me and then nudged me to focus on work or study tasks more consistently than I could ever monitor myself. But, going a step further, the system taught me how to get my attention back to the things I must accomplish.

The FOCI wearable, app, and booklet worked together to severely reduce my frustration with myself and with the demands a busy world inflicts upon me. It is worth taking a “focused” look!

Here is a look at how it works: