ProdPod, a Productivity Podcast

Latest Episodes:

ProdPod: Episode 118 — Pondering Minimalism vis-à-vis Personal Productivity Aug 07, 2018

How does minimalism affect your personal productivity? And, is there such a thing as a minimalist approach to productivity? I believe ardently that our physical and digital worlds are a manifestation of our mental-emotional world, so I sought out some answers about these thorny questions. After about 30 hours of research and uncounted hours of pondering, here are my thoughts on these two questions. Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 117 — Getting More Resilient (Resilience and Productivity) Mar 06, 2018

In the last episode, I defined resilience, or emotional elasticity, as I like to call it. Here, I’d like to detail tactics for bending back into shape faster for more productive output. Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 116 — Resilience and Productivity Jul 11, 2017

A few episodes ago I covered several challenges that people face in their productive lives, including overcoming overwhelm, distractions, indecision, procrastination, and burnout. And, in this episode, I am detailing an important emotional skill that one hears in many contexts but is one consistent source of productive strength for those willing to build it: resilience.

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Quick announcement: I have launched my new podcast, ProductivityCast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity. It’s a longer podcast show format. If you have productivity questions, please head over to the podcast website and ask it; maybe we’ll answer your question on the show! Check it out in your favorite podcast directory, or by visiting productivitycast.net. Thanks for listening, and I hope you enjoy it!

ProdPod: Episode 115 -- Thinking INSIDE the Box! (Part 2) Mar 03, 2017

In the last episode we learned that the scientific research that told everyone to think outside the box to overcome challenges and to be creative in life and work, was summarily misguided. We can be primed that a box exists, and we’ll still see a box as a limitation, unless we are guided to work within it.

ProdPod: Episode 114 -- Thinking INSIDE the Box! (Part 1) Mar 02, 2017

So often I hear the cliché that you need to be an “out of the box” thinker. Creativity and problem-solving (which I feel frequently are synonymous in many circumstances) are, after all, great tools in any productive person’s toolbelt. But, is thinking outside the box really possible? (Hint: no.) And, if not, how can we effectively use thinking inside the box?

ProdPod: Episode 113 -- Limiting Resources for Greater Productivity Mar 01, 2017

Intuitively, we know that focus is a fundamental of greater productivity. Broadly and less instinctively, focus manifests heightened productivity by training and straining any resource, including but not limited to attention, time, money, and other resources. In Episode 98, I spoke about using time-based challenges for sprinting toward such productivity. Now, I’d like to discuss some ideas about limiting one resource--the stuff we own--as a means to greater productivity.

ProdPod: Episode 112 -- Overcoming Burnout: Rest and Rejuvenation for Sustainable Productivity Feb 28, 2017

Burnout is a systemic problem not a situational/circumstantial challenge. And, so overcoming burnout is more about how to build systematic “down time” and renewal into your life and work for sustainable productivity. Here are some suggestions for both rest and rejuvenation.

ProdPod: Episode 111 -- Overcoming Procrastination Feb 27, 2017

In Episode 22, I defined procrastination and even gave a few pointers about Procrasti-Doing in Episode 82. In this episode, I’d like to continue the dialog with some tips on overcoming procrastination.

ProdPod: Episode 110 -- Overcoming Indecision Feb 25, 2017

Do you have a good idea of how well you manage uncertainty and make decisions? For most people, there is no well-defined strategy for overcoming indecision in their productivity systems. I think everyone should think about how to reduce distress and increase action through some basic components of good decision-making.

ProdPod: Episode 109 -- Overcoming Distractions Feb 24, 2017

Without focus, almost nothing can get done. Yet distractions abound in our everyday work and personal lives. Here are some suggestions on overcoming distractions of each kind.

ProdPod: Episode 108 -- Overcoming Overwhelm Feb 23, 2017

Overwhelm is a pernicious productivity detractor that affects us all in varying degrees. In my definition, overwhelm is a buildup of stimuli that creates anxiety which, in turn, blocks action or clear decision-making. Learn more here.

ProdPod: Episode 107 -- Managing People for Productivity Feb 22, 2017

In all my years of management, I’ve learned a few things which have proved consistent, that I have wrapped into a developing, high-level leadership framework for organizations, so I thought I’d share it with you.

ProdPod: Episode 106 -- End of Workday Routine Feb 21, 2017

In the last episode I spoke about routines that were primarily designed to facilitate personal and work life improvements. However, those are not my only routines and I wanted to explain another of my most helpful daily routines--my end of workday routine. Listen/read more.

ProdPod: Episode 105 -- The Power of Daily Routines: Morning, Midday and Evening Productivity Routines Feb 20, 2017

For years I’ve spoken about the power of habits, and tangentially, I’ve spoken about many routines that I have--from meditation (Episode 32), to my Day Reset strategy (Episode 69), and more. I use a variety of routines to minimize distractions and maximize my productivity. None more than any others, I have three routines I use every day: my morning, midday, and evening productivity routines. Learn more.

ProdPod: Episode 104 -- The Myth of the Left and Right Brain Feb 19, 2017

Let’s discuss how the incorrect left and right brain paradigm impacts your productivity, and how, by thinking about it slightly differently and correctly, you can improve your productivity. Read/listen to the full article/episode.

ProdPod: Episode 103 -- Managing Up for a More Productive Organizational Culture, Part 2 Feb 18, 2017

In episode 102, I introduce the idea of managing up and discussed one leg of it--managing expectations and delegation. Here in this episode, we’ll cover the next two legs of managing up--managing collaborative time wisely and managing your manager. Read/listen more.

ProdPod: Episode 102 -- Managing Up for a More Productive Organizational Culture, Part 1 Feb 17, 2017

I’ve read extensively and have been honing my management skills over the past two decades, and something I’ve found to be universal is this: unless you’re at the top of the organizational chart, everyone must manage up in order to be most productive. Here’s what I mean by everyone manages up.

ProdPod: Episode 101 -- Software Review: Mind42 - Free Web-Based Mind Map Productivity Software Feb 16, 2017

In the last episode, I spoke about using mind maps as a productivity tool. And, one of my favorite mind mapping tools is the free, Web-based software, Mind42. (Note: it is free and ad-supported.) Mind42 is a comprehensive mind mapping tool that allows you to create as many private and public mind maps as you’d like. Read on.

ProdPod: Episode 100 -- Mapping Your Productivity Using Mind Maps Feb 15, 2017

Mind maps are a method of capturing thoughts and ideas, dating back as early as the 3rd century BCE in Ancient Rome. The mind map is simply a diagram where you have a single, central thought in the center with branches off it in a freeform fashion. You can draw thoughts, use different colors, use symbols, and more, to be as creative with your mind map. This creates a highly visual and flexible tool for productivity. Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 99 -- Be the Superhero of Your Own Life Feb 14, 2017

In comics, television, film, and now Netflix, there are superheroes who come to save the day when villains attack or bad circumstances befall the vulnerable, the voiceless, and the innocent. Superheroes give us hope, and they empower us with moral fortitude to do the right thing even when the going gets tough. Over the years, I have noticed a trend among some highly productive people that has me understanding a bit more about why they get things done, even in the face of great adversity. And, it all has to do with a bit of surreality and a smidgen of gamification (even if they can’t explain it in such terms). Basically, these highly productive people, when they need to, become the superheroes of their own lives. Here’s how you can too. Read on.

ProdPod: Episode 98 -- The Power of Short-Term Challenges Feb 13, 2017

Have you ever entered a competition, or a race, of some kind? Whether it’s a science fair, marathon, triathlon, March Madness, or almost any kind of contest, you know the feeling of competing. You have a period of time that focuses a large portion of your time, attention, and resources in achieving something. These short-term challenges have a way of motivating you to action thanks to your competitive nature, accountability to others, and the potential rewards (including gratification in pushing your own personal boundaries). Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 97–Time Thieves, Time Thugs, and Time Terrorists - How to Combat Them So You Can Get Back to Being Productive Apr 05, 2016

In the last episode we covered the descriptions of time thieves, thugs and terrorists. Now, I’d like to detail how to counteract these time wasting personas so you can get back to your productive life. Read on.

ProdPod: Episode 96–Time Thieves, Thugs and Terrorists - Who They Are So You Can Identify Them Efficiently Mar 31, 2016

Using your time productively means not only managing your time but also protecting it from others who may not have your most productive interests in mind. You may know who I mean generally, when I speak of categories of people I call time thieves, thugs, and terrorists. They’re not the only ones, but they are the majority categories I see in work and personal interactions. Let me explain to you the specific differences between the three so you can identify them in a moment’s notice. Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 95–Effective Meeting Series: More Productivity Meetings With Robert's Rules, Part II Mar 01, 2016

While Robert’s Rules of Order may seem outdated, outmoded, prescriptive, and even restrictive, you’d be surprised what a little bit of parliamentary procedure can do to make meetings much more highly productive. In this episode, I continue my discussion on Robert’s Rules of Order and how this can be incorporated into your meetings.

In the last episode I gave some productivity principles for effective meetings. Continuing on the Robert’s Rules of Order theme, I want to cover some steps you can take to run more effective meetings in the modern era. Here they are.

ProdPod: Episode 94–Effective Meeting Series: More Productivity Meetings With Robert's Rules, Part I Feb 25, 2016

While Robert’s Rules of Order may seem outdated, outmoded, prescriptive, and even restrictive, you’d be surprised what a little bit of parliamentary procedure can do to make meetings much more highly productive. The episode is the first part, giving some context with important productivity principles for using parliamentary procedure in meetings.

When Brig. Gen. Henry Martyn Robert proposed the use of parliamentary procedure for common meetings back in 1876, he likely didn’t foresee the future of meetings as they happen today. However, while seemingly an anachronism or overly formal to some of you listening/reading (unless you yourself are a parliamentarian), Robert’s parliamentary law was as needed back in the 19th century as it is relevant today for the future of work to be done in more transparent, collaborative, and productive ways. Here’s why and how.

ProdPod: Episode 93–Gamification and Your Productivity Feb 16, 2016

A gamified life. For the productivity and technology geek that I am, it sounds like a pretty cool existence. I’d get to live the superhero lifestyle (minus the superpower-enabling lab experiment gone wrong) I should’ve been living all along. But can I live a truly gamified life? Over the past several years, that is something I have sought to find out, and here’s what I’ve learned.

ProdPod: Episode 92--Rewarding Yourself for Productive Habit Development and Reaching Goals Nov 03, 2015

One of the most unproductive outcomes of the last century’s shift from the Industrial Age to knowledge work in the Digital Age has been the loss of seeing the fruits of our labor firsthand. In the Industrial Age, Americans made things and saw them come to life. There’s an inherent satisfaction in creating products that come off an assembly line. Contrast that to our daily lives in the Knowledge Worker Age, and you may start to notice this missing element in your life. And, I think an example of a cultural response to this lack of tangible outcomes is the Maker Movement. People need extrinsic as well as intrinsic motivations. And, while not a perfect solution, I have found that establishing a tiered reward system for completing mundane tasks, habit development and reaching big goals in a Digital Age society increases productive output by pairing difficult-to-achieve outcomes with physical rewards. Read the full blog and listen to the podcast here.

ProdPod: Episode 91 -- What Do You Own? Aug 06, 2015

Have you ever been in a situation where you lost all your worldly possessions in one day? I have. It’s a life-changing event, even for someone not too attached to material things, to find out it’s all been burned away, water-damaged or otherwise destroyed in a catastrophic event. Other than the insurance covering my personal property providing little emotional relief for lost baby pictures and irreplaceable artwork, I had one piece of solace--my home inventory. Before or if calamity strikes, you too should have a home inventory. Read full post and listen.

ProdPod: Episode 90 -- Biology, Self-Actualization and Your Productivity Mar 31, 2015

When the idea of self-actualization developed in the mid-20th century, far before the field of positive psychology was fostered by Dr. Martin Seligman, there was a desire to study and cure illness, mental and physical. Dr. Abraham Maslow tried something different; he studied the role model, the talented and the ingenious. By doing so, he hoped to unlock how we all could do more, better. He developed the hierarchy of needs (which most know by the pyramid with our biological needs at its base and self-actualization at its zenith), and expounded the theory of motivation starting in 1938 and in his 1954 publishing of Motivation and Personality. I’ve always found criticism of Maslow’s pyramid’s order as constructively lacking, but I thought it would be good in this episode I’d like to discuss my thoughts on how you might look at the pyramid through a different lens for greater productivity. Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 89 -- Multi-Sensory Productivity Mar 24, 2015

Humans have five common senses. (We actually have several more senses not commonly discussed.) Your sense of touch is mostly dedicated to your largest organ, your skin, comprising 22 square feet (or, 2 square meters), which holds millions of touch receptors of various sensitivity to map your physical surroundings. Your five fingers on each hand alone contain 3,000 touch receptors of the highest sensitivity on each finger tip. Then, there’s your sense of sight, which is the reigning champion of information collection for the brain, provided for by your eyes’s millions of light-sensitive cells. Next up, we have our hearing from our ears and second-most valuable information-gatherer. Finally we have smell and sound caught by our noses’ six million receptors and our tongues’ 10,000 taste buds. Altogether we have a sensory experience unrivaled by any other animal on the planet because of our remarkably curious neurocognitive abilities. Thanks to this, I think we should pay more attention to how we can be more productive in multisensory ways. I’d like to provide the benefits and some examples in this episode. Read more.

ProdPod: Episode 88 -- Defining Happiness Jan 08, 2015

As I’ve written about before, “happiness” is a terrible word to me. It’s my version of a four-letter word in regard to positive psychology and personal productivity. And yet, we continue to keep using it; I’m guilty of it as well from time to time. While it seems like a universal term, it’s actually a rather confusing word. If the purpose of communication is to convey information clearly to another, why circumvent the process with vagaries? Dr. Daniel Kahneman, who I’ve written about before, agrees with me in his famous TED talk, “Riddle of Remembering and Experiencing Self.” What does it mean when you say you’re happy? And, to what degree? Difficult to interpret, right?
Read full post here.

ProdPod: Episode 87 -- Two-Minute Book Summary: The First 20 Hours Oct 26, 2014

Learning, in the way that humans can, is one of the fundamental ways that set us apart from all other species on Earth. Skills acquisition is one of those kinds of learning that we do really well, and many of us want to do more of, better and faster. I’m one of those people, and when I picked up The First 20 Hours: How to Learn Anything...Fast by Josh Kaufman, I was skeptical. However, he outlines successfully a 10-step process for rapid skill acquisition and I think he’s onto something potent. Here are the principles of the book.

ProdPod: Episode 83 -- 31 Folders Instead of the GTD 43 Folders May 01, 2014

If you are familiar with Getting Things Done by David Allen, or the GTD methodology, you probably know about the 43 folders concept. If you don’t, basically, it’s a tickler file-like tool where physical, time-based items can be managed. There are, you guessed it, 43 folders, constituting 12 file folders for the 12 months in the year and 31 folders representing the maximum number of days in any given month. In this episode I’d like to detail how I simplified this powerful paper organization tool, and hope it’s useful to those out there that still have much paper-based organizing in their worlds like I do.
Read the full post here: http://prodpod.net?p=444

ProdPod: Episode 82 -- Procrasti-Doing Apr 25, 2014

There’s a common misconception about procrastination that it only means you’re not doing something you planned to do. Many times we are unaware that procrastination is usually coupled with doing something, if not the thing we planned. This is what I call “procrasti-doing.” And there are some practical measures you can take to procrasti-doing when you want, and when you don’t, so I thought I’d explain them here in this episode.
One of the frequent stories I hear is something like this: “I was supposed to be working on my project, but instead I found myself rearranging the pens and pencils in my drawer.” This is the first classic case of procrasti-doing. One tactic for overcoming this is to think about whether or not your pens and pencils really do need organizing. If that is the case, then perhaps putting that on a project or task list for you to handle later would help you free up the mental bandwidth to get back on task. That goes for any other tasks or projects that might be floating around in your head as you set yourself up to handle any project. This minimizes procrasti-doing and maximizes your brain’s energy to focus.
The other case where procrasti-doing takes hold of us often is when you start doing the tasks in a project out of order or unimportant tasks associated with a project that really won’t move the project toward completion. This might include re-labeling all the project support folders for a major project. Or, one might take to Social Media to engage there about the project instead of actually working on the tasks toward the project’s completion. In this situation, the best approach is two-pronged: first, allow yourself a set amount of time to close out the current activity when you find yourself doing the unproductive procrasti-doing, then re-focus back on starting the next task toward project completion. Remember, it’s about (as Dr. Neil Fiore says in “The Now Habit”) persistent starting.
One final thought I have about procrasti-doing: many times your unconscious mind needs time to problem-solve the project or task you are currently trying to work on. In these cases, it might make perfect, productive sense for you to let your mind wander to other activities while your unconscious does the heavy lifting necessary to help you craft an effective solution. Organizing pens and pencils never sounded so productive.

ProdPod: Episode 81 -- Productivity and Your Two Minds Jan 10, 2014

Thanks to the Nobel Prize-winning psychologist and father of behavioral economics, Daniel Kahneman, the scientific community has a deeper understanding of well-being. To wit, Kahneman revealed that humans live with two minds--our experiencing and remembering selves. In this episode I'd like to discuss these two selves and how it relates to your personal productivity.
EXPERIENCING SELF The experiencing self is that which answers the question, "How do I feel right now?"…what you sense is most important to your experiencing self. Sensory-specific, the experiencing self is mostly focused on the present view of sights, sounds, smells, physical sensations, and tastes.
REMEMBERING SELF The remembering self, on the other hand, is a past-focused mind and makes decisions intuitively based on what our brain memorializes of our experiences. It answers the question, "What happened?"...what you perceive happened becomes the story you remember and reenforces it as reality.
One way of looking at it is that the experiencing self renders facts now while the remembering self tells stories about what happened.
YOUR PRODUCTIVE SELF Do you remember the last time you worked on a really difficult project or task? Well, it turns out that Kahneman's research explains why we dread, procrastinate and even remember projects or tasks as difficult. You see, Kahneman writes about moment-utility (which I've provided a link to his paper explaining it below); the idea is to capture much more in-the-moment data as you experience a situation, such as working on a really difficult project or task. It turns out that when your experiencing self does the tracking and analysis, you have a better assessment of your experiences and you also have a better feeling about positive outcomes. Using Kahneman's findings, I recommend that when you're dealing with a difficult project or task to answer these three series of questions:
1. "How do I physically feel right now?" (The likelihood is that physically you're fine.)
2. "What does success, accomplishment or complete look like for me in the next five to 15 minutes?" (This gives you a more realistic view of the project or task.)
3. At the point of ending a project, task or a period of finishing some part of either, ask yourself (and even better, write it down somewhere), "how good/accomplished do I feel? What have I learned that I can use in the future?" (Ending on a positive message will give your remembering self something to look back on to equate your productivity with a positive affect.) You see, ending on a high note, or on a less negative tone, than the initial upstart difficulty will inevitably teach your remembering self that difficult projects or tasks usually only start off that way. And, even if there are challenges along the way, it's usually only difficult in peak periods. This rewriting of your brain patterns will make you leap at new challenges instead of sulking when you look at your project or task list and see something that might be tough...and this will make you sincerely more productive.
See also: Dr. Kahneman's research paper on moment-utility: https://www.evernote.com/shard/s11/sh/8a5a784a-c945-4259-91e0-f76186e7073e/4e927594f4170378dd60ab03217d3617

ProdPod: Episode 80 -- Setting Up Your Workspace for Success Dec 24, 2013

Having just finished the ProdPod series on Hoarding, I've got workspaces on the mind. And, when it comes to personal productivity, there's nothing like showing up to your home or work office workspace and seeing it set up just for you. So, in this episode, I'm going to discuss a method for making your workspace work for you every day.
Assess Your Workspace Organization doesn't naturally happen. So, the first step is to assess your situation. Do you feel like the way things are set up in your workspace flowing well? Or, do you find there is friction when you try to access your files, when you see clutter or piles of things in particular places in your workspace, or do you trip over a coat hanger when you enter the office every day? These are the things to note that need to change to make your workspace more productive.
Brainstorm and Design Your Ideal Workspace Now that you know what needs to change, create a new project in your productivity system. Rome nor your workspace was built in a day, so you can't fix all these minor nuisances or hiccups in your productive flow in a day. Now, what do you physically need to do with each problem you noted? Do you need to call an electrician to move a light switch? Do you need to call a carpenter to put a bookshelf in just the right place for your reference books? Write down or input those actions on your written list or in your task management software or app.
Create Your Workspace RitualsFinally, one of the most productive moments of your day is setting yourself up for success tomorrow. At the end of every day, I have created a checklist of the things I need to physically do so that I leave my workspace (desk and office) in exactly the way I need it so that I start tomorrow productively. I put away anything I'm not working on or with tomorrow. I clear my computer of any software apps that are running that don't need to be. And, I make sure to put out the very first thing that I need to work on in the morning (or the next time I'll be in the office). You can revisit episode 30 where I discussed the End-of-Day Ritual by Peter Bregman.
In addition, I have created Morning and Midday Rituals that help me break my day into productive chunks and makes sure that I'm tidying my workspace, filtering through my RSS feed reader and then purging that inbox at least daily midday, and creating time to process my email inboxes as well as making outbound phone calls to clients, vendors, staff, colleagues and my family.
Once your physical workspace is in order, and you have the morning, midday and end-of-day rituals designed to keep your workspace in tip-top shape, you'll quickly start to reap the productive rewards of flowing effortlessly through your days. Let me know your successes and challenges by email or in the comments!

ProdPod: Episode 79 - Hoarding, Part III - How is hoarding treated and managed? with Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt Dec 17, 2013

Ray: In this final episode of this ProdPod series on hoarding, I asked Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt to detail how hoarding is treated and managed. Sally, take it away.
Sally: The treatment and management of severe hoarding is very complex and needs to be addressed by a comprehensive team that can include mental health professionals, professional organizers, as well as junk removal and environmental clean-up companies. From a mental health aspect, traditional talk therapy has not been found to be helpful. Dr. David Tolin [ http://www.drtolin.com ], a psychologist who has worked extensively with hoarders, uses a cognitive behavioral approach that is active and solution focused. The hoarders he works with learn to sort and let go of their possessions in conjunction with thinking through their urges to constantly acquire. Hoarders are also taken on non-acquiring trips where they learn to see and touch items without keeping them. Using these methods, the majority of Dr. Tolin’s patients show significant improvement in their levels of clutter and their feelings around the clutter. That being said, a low number of patients are considered cured. Most patients will still have more clutter than the average person and will need ongoing support to prevent backsliding.
Ray: If you're interested in Dr. Tolin's work and how it may help you, check out his fantastic book, Buried in Treasures: Help for Compulsive Acquiring, Saving, and Hoarding [ http://amzn.to/18FCpdx ]. Also, Dr. Tolin is the founder of the Institute of Living [ http://goo.gl/5sRsgK ] in Hartford, CT, so you may want to seek them out if you happen to be the greater New York metropolitan area.
Ray: Well, thanks so much for joining me on ProdPod for this series about Hoarding, Sally. If you want to learn more about Sally Reinholdt and her professional organizing services head over to her website, COSOLVA.COM [ http://www.cosolva.com ].

ProdPod: Episode 78 - Hoarding, Part II - How is compulsive hoarding defined and classified? with Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt Dec 10, 2013

Ray: We're discussing hoarding in the ProdPod series…and I have Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt here to define hoarding and how it's classified.
Sally: Hoarding is considered compulsive if it meets three criteria. First there is accumulation accompanied by great difficulty in discarding items that most people would consider useless or of limited value. The second criteria is that the clutter is to the point that the intended use of living spaces is severely limited or not possible. The third and last criteria is that the cluttering in combination with the acquiring and difficulty discarding causes significant impairment and distress.
Sally: The Institute for Challenging Disorganization classifies hoarding with a clutter measurement tool called the Clutter-Hoarding Scale. Homes are classified from Level I through Level V. A standard household is considered to be a Level I. Level II homes can have some narrowing of household pathways and inadequate housekeeping. Level III to Level V homes present increasingly serious situations. Clutter can be present outside as well as inside the home, there can be insect and rodent infestation and generally unsanitary conditions. Individuals working with hoarders in these types of situations need to have backgrounds ranging from but not limited to mental health and financial counseling to professional organizing, pest control and project management.
Ray: If you believe you might have hoarding issues, click on the link in the show notes here on ProdPod.net to download the Clutter-Hoarding Scale [ http://goo.gl/dy9xWf ] tool to see where you fall in the scale.
In the next episode we'll cover how hoarding is treated and managed.

ProdPod: Episode 77 -- Hoarding, Part I: Who Hoards? with Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt Dec 03, 2013

These next three episodes will be on hoarding and I have with me to help explain hoarding, Sally Reinholdt, owner of Commonwealth Organizing Solutions [ http://cosolva.com ]. Sally is a Registered Nurse and professional organizer who uses many of the skills she learned as a nurse to help her clients become more organized and productive.
Sally: The short answer is that it can be anyone. Hoarding doesn’t discriminate. In some cases it appears to have a genetic component as hoarding can run in families. It can be the result of a traumatic experience but sometimes there is no clear trigger. Sadly, hoarders are many times very creative people who see all sorts of potential in the things they collect. Unfortunately their potential for using that creative energy is stymied by their need to constantly accumulate. There are also high levels of anxiety, depression and perfectionism associated with hoarding.
Sally: The number of hoarders in the United States is very difficult to calculate because in so many cases hoarders are able to hide their situations from family and friends until some sort of event or crisis brings the hoarding to light. Depending on the literature estimates for the number of hoarders in the United States ranges from 1.2 million to as many as 6 million people.
Sally: May, 2013, was the first time hoarding was included in the DSM-V with its own discrete clinical definition. It was previously categorized as symptom of obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Ray: Not that sweeping all your stuff under the carpet is the solution, but putting your clutter out of sight is a productivity hack in which you can reap immediate benefits. Princeton University Neuroscience Institute found that when you clear physical clutter in sight, you are less likely to be distracted and are more productive. If you're feeling distressed from physical clutter, take as much as you can and put it away so you see less of it…the more clear surfaces in sight the better. Try it. [ PUNI article, "Top-down and bottom-up mechanisms in biasing competition in the human brain": http://www.princeton.edu/~napl/pdf/BeckKastner2008.pdf ]
In Part II in this series on Hoarding, Sally and I will discuss how compulsive hoarding is defined and classified.

ProdPod: Episode 76 -- Be Thankful, and Be Productive Nov 27, 2013

“When you are grateful, fear disappears and abundance appears.” ~Anthony Robbins
Tony Robbins should know a thing about being thankful. When he speaks to audiences, he tells frequently of his humble beginnings, the gratitude he had in those who helped him survive then thrive, and the self-beneficial results of his giving back to his community and others. During this Thanksgiving holiday week, now's the time to think about how your productivity is enhanced by being grateful.
Don't believe me? Dr. Robert Emmons, psychology researcher, at UC Davis, has studied gratitude and well-being, and it shows that productivity toward goals increases with exhibiting more gratitude in your life. As the studies summary of findings states on the research department's website [ http://psychology.ucdavis.edu/Labs/emmons/PWT/index.cfm?Section=4 ], those "who kept gratitude lists were more likely to have made progress toward important personal goals." And, "daily gratitude intervention (self-guided exercises) ... resulted in higher reported levels of the positive states of alertness, enthusiasm, determination, attentiveness and energy."
So, how might you use gratitude practically in your own productive life?
Lisa Peake on her blog at PeakeProductivity.com offers a great suggestion: "write down a few things you are grateful for each evening. Start with this evening and see where it goes from there. You may be surprised at how much you have to be thankful for."
Jason Womack, author of Your Best Just Got Better [ http://amzn.to/1crZDmn ], has a practice of mailing a daily thank-you card…this brings tangible rewards in responses of offers to collaborate, keeping you top of the mind with your audience, and the brain's release of dopamine (those are the good brain chemicals that make you feel great) that you get from making someone's day brighter. While I opt to sending out thank-you emails more often than printed cards to mail, the technique is still quite powerful for me.
And, with all this talk of gratitude let me take this time to say, thank you for listening to ProdPod! I am grateful everyday for the thousands of listeners a month who encourage me with compliments and stories of how ProdPod's advice has helped them, recommend new topics, and suggest improvements to the podcast. You all help me make this possible.
I hope you've enjoyed this ProdPod episode, Happy Thanksgiving and here's to your productivity success…in two minutes or less!

ProdPod: Episode 75 — How to Run your Personal Advisory Board, Part Two Nov 19, 2013

Steps for Setting Up Your Personal Advisory Board:1. Perform a strategic analysis of your situation, including a business and personal
SWOT Analysis.
2. Set clear, written goals and objectives for your PAB: Vision and 6-month mission
statements.
3. Make a list of potential board advisers. Be broad in your list; think of all your
relationship categories (academic, personal, professional, extracurricular and more)
and make note of individuals you believe have skills that complete weaknesses or
provide connections to opportunities from your SWOT analyses. This is an ongoing list
and should be continually updated and reviewed for potential board advisers at least
semi-annually.
4. From your list of potential board advisers, select six individuals. You should decide
on the group that (a) best fits your needs for the coming six months that you've
planned through your mission statement, (b) has the best chance of collaborating
well, and (c) have no apparent reasons for not being able to serve on the board for
the next set of terms.
5. Create a list of possible substitutes (usually up to three), in case some of your
potential board advisers are unable or unwilling to be a part of your PAB. Be
gracious, positive and compassionate with anyone who does not or cannot be on your
PAB. Be sure to ask them if they'd like to be considered for future PABs; that way, if
they say “no,” you can remove them completely from your list of potential board
advisers so you don't bother them again in the future.
6. Reach out to each potential board adviser, introduce them to the concept of the PAB
and yours and their responsibilities (see the outline below), and ask them if they'd be
interested in joining the PAB.
7. Once you have six yeses, you are ready to schedule your first PAB meeting.

ProdPod: Episode 74 -- How to Run your Personal Advisory Board, Part One Nov 12, 2013

Decide on a communication platform with which everyone can be comfortable and explain how you will communicate to them en masse (via email, text, Google Drive sharing, or otherwise). Try to keep your communications effective by being consistently substantive, positive and as few as needed (but no fewer).
Try to schedule the meetings and circulate the agenda with any preparatory materials to be reviewed as soon as practicable to your TAs. Remember, they have personal and professional lives in addition to your PAB, so make it as easy for them as possible to help you. You can try a tool like Doodle.com to schedule your meetings.
It's important for everyone to be empowering you, not just pointing out your faults. If anyone has something negative to say, ask them to re-cast the statement in the form of a question. If it does have to be stated, guide board advisers to use constructive criticism only (that is, no complaining or whining; have a solution ready to propose to the problem they are observing). If a board adviser has a problem with another and would like to address it but is not sure how, please encourage them to bring it to your attention confidentially so that it can be determined the best way toward a productive outcome. Public, positive discussions and praise are wholeheartedly welcomed and encouraged. Praise publicly, and often!

ProdPod: Episode 73 -- Advantages of and Member Criteria for a Personal Advisory Board Nov 05, 2013

A Personal Advisory Board is a group of persons who know you, your personality, your strengths and weaknesses, and who you feel comfortable sharing your goals and unique vision, and individuals who are committed to your success.
There are several advantages that people (as well as companies) with advisory boards have over their
colleagues. A PAB offers you:
• An unbiased outside perspective.
• Increased accountability and discipline.
• Enhanced self-management effectiveness.
• Help in avoiding costly mistakes.
• Rounding out skills and expertise lacking in your skill-set and experience.
• A sounding board for evaluating new professional and business ideas and opportunities.
• Enhanced community and public relations.
• Strategic planning assistance and input.
• Brings together centers of influence for networking introductions.
The best way I can describe who should be on your Professional Advisory Board is stating who shouldn't be on your board. No current professional vendor, employer, client, potential client, competitor, direct supervisor/manager, staff/employee, romantic partner/spouse, or other relationships with whom there could be a conflict-of-interest should be allowed to sit on your PAB. Likewise, term limits are also a good way to not only keep everyone's commitment well-defined but also a way to rotate people out so that fresh ideas and personalities can intermingle.
Although the reason for these individuals to sit on your PAB should be charitable by design, you might want to think about how you are going to thank board advisers at the end of their terms, or if/when they need to leave the PAB prior to their term's end. A small sign of appreciation for their dedication to your success will reap compounded benefits for you in the future.
These are a few guidelines for making this a successful network of personal and professional contacts that are assisting you to move forward in your life and work. Please feel free to add to these guidelines for yourself and selectively publish appropriate guidelines to your board advisers.
In the next two episodes, we'll discuss some guidelines for running an effective Personal Advisory Board.

ProdPod: Episode 72 -- Establishing a Personal Advisory Board Oct 29, 2013

The late Dr. Stephen R. Covey wrote in his 1989 best-selling book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People[ http://amzn.to/15mtOXK ],

Independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality. Independent people who do not have the maturity to think and act interdependently may be good individual producers, but they won't be good leaders or team players. They're not coming from the paradigm of interdependence necessary to succeed in marriage, family, or organizational reality.

One of the great insights of the past twenty years is our appreciation of interdependence, the support network required of every knowledge worker to survive and thrive. As a term I first heard while reading works of Mahatma Gandhi and then Dr. Covey, it has developed into my deep understanding that the compound, mutual benefit of giving to, getting from and connecting others is a maturity we all must embrace in order to succeed. You need to be able to leverage this wisdom of the crowd in your social network. A Professional Board of Advisers (or, as I commonly will refer to it, Personal Advisory Board), is similar to that of a corporation's board of directors, in that it is a small team that you assemble of your personal and professional contacts with expertise in areas that you need assistance. Corporations and large organizations all have boards, most of them are not surprisingly required to by law, but some also have advisory boards used to help CEOs and other executives make good and better decisions. You might actually sit on one such board yourself. The reasoning behind having an advisory board is pretty simple yet brilliant. Companies are made of people and people need support and accountability. I approach this same concept when managing my personal and professional life; my interdependent world is the sum total of the people I've included in my life. In many ways, everyone has used at least a partial Personal Advisory Board in the past, when they have held family meetings, asked friends for relationship advice, sought out a mentor relationship, or gathered anyone together to help with a specific situation. My thought is to have a Personal Advisory Board that gives you the ability to reach your potential through a consistent framework. In the next few episodes we'll discuss what comprises your Personal Advisory Board, and how to run an effective Personal Advisory Board.

ProdPod: Episode 71--Two-Minute Book Summary: Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength Aug 29, 2013

Veteran social psychology researcher and professor at Florida State University, Roy F. Baumeister, with journalist John Tierney, joined forces to write Willpower: Rediscovering the Greatest Human Strength [ http://amzn.to/1eTrs7h ]. This is supposed to be a definitive guide on self-control, which many consider the heart of personal productivity. If you can control your self, then performance improvement potential is a sky's the limit proposition, right? Well, here are the most salient points that I lifted from Dr. Baumeister and Mr. Tierney's book, so you can make your own decision on the matter.
Willpower (or, self-control) undergoes something Professor Baumeister calls ego depletion, or the loss of self-control. Willpower is divided into four broad categories: control of thoughts, control of emotions, impulse control, and performance control. All willpower depletes from one reservoir for all tasks and is a finite source. And don't be overly confident in your willpower, as studies show it actually contributes to ego depletion. Front-load tasks that require high amounts of willpower. Things that replete and conserve willpower: sleep, foods with low glycemic indices, and making realistic goals.
What matters with self-control is the exertion, not the outcome. If you struggle with temptation and then give in, you’re still depleted because you struggled. Also note that giving in does not replenish the willpower you have already expended. The key is to concentrate on changing a habitual behavior. Building self-control in one area seemed to improve all areas of life.
Successful people use their willpower as a first line of defense to better arrange (that is, plan for) life's challenging situations so they default into predetermined paths toward success.
Correction: In the episode, I mention incorrectly the subtitle as "Unlocking the Greatest Human Strength." It's on my Someday/Maybe list to go back and correct this episode!

ProdPod: Episode 70--When Is Too Little Stress Bad and More Stress Good for Your Productivity Aug 22, 2013

Over the past decade I have heard people talk about their rising stress levels. More information, more responsibility and the same 24 hours a day to get it all in and done, respectively. What I don't see many people doing is distinguishing the unhealthy stress from the healthy stress. Much of what positively motivates us is stress not its absence. As Barry Lenson writes in his book, Good Stress, Bad Stress [ http://goo.gl/3zDTK0 ], there are two types of psychological stressors. He characterizes them as positive or negative using some practical criteria so I thought I'd share them.
Bad Stress, as Lenson calls it, can be identified by the following traits:

It stifles your creativity
It distances you from dealing with conflict in a healthy manner
It closes doors, metaphorically
It saps you of emotional energy
It makes sleeping feel less restful

On the other side is what Lenson calls Good Stress, and can be seen as:

Opening communication lines and deepening relationships
Increasing your capacity for compassion
Converting conflicts to solutions
Motivating you to action
Refueling your mental, emotional energy stores

Think about the positive, productive sources of good stress in your life. How do you gravitate good (and bad) stress toward you in your work and life? How can you work to bring more good stress into your productivity at the most opportune times? How can you repel more bad stress?
Remember, too much of any good thing is not likely. Too much any kind of stress can be limiting so don't bite off more than you can chew.
In future episodes I look forward to covering how to further engage good stress in your productivity.

ProdPod: Episode 69--Day Reset Aug 15, 2013

Most days I awake feeling gratitude for having another day to be alive and that alone is motivating to get my day going energetically! However, there are days when things just don't go well. You've probably had those days, and will in the future. The opera of family, professional and personal life mess with our productive and contented mindsets. Well, in this episode, I'd like to offer three steps to restarting your productivity day when things aren't going your way.
The most valuable aspect of resetting your day is to know when to do it. What is the criterion or the aspects of your current day that warrant your decision to hit the Day Reset button? If you know when the day needs to re-begin, whether that's because of distraction, procrastination or some other specific situation, it helps you put that list of conditions together so you know when to take action before the rest of your day is lost to inaction, worry or other unproductive, unhealthy paths.
So, how will you restart your day? You must have an action plan template. For me, as an example, I have a checklist dedicated to my Day Reset and when I realize that I am going to restart my day, I access the checklist, copy it to my Tasks list, and start doing the tasks. I start with a specific music playlist, read some of my favorite pieces of poetry and literature excerpts for about 5-15 minutes, and then do a mini-review of my new day. I move what isn't going to happen today forward to other days, and I alert interested parties of the change. Then, I figure out what is going to happen today and make sure that it makes sense. This gets me going on a well-worn path to success in any day, but especially on days like this.
At the end of your new day within a day, this is an important time to recognize the gratitude for your awareness to trigger your Day Reset, and to write down what caused you to initiate the Day Reset. With this information in hand, you can hopefully know what the standard operating procedure is for your life when this happens again. And, it will help you possibly know when to restart your day earlier or faster by knowing the telltale signs.

ProdPod: Episode 68--Digital Clutter: Out of Sight Is Not Out of Mind Aug 08, 2013

In this episode, I propose a three-phase approach to assessing our digital clutter…an initial step to understanding that just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there and isn't affecting our personal productivity.
===
In Episode 43, I talked about digital clutter, and the reality that we are compounding digital information about ourselves on our computers, laptops, mobile devices and the Web each and every day. So, what should we do about this digital clutter (some of which we don't even have control)? In this episode, I propose a three-phase approach to assessing our digital clutter…an initial step to understanding that just because we don't see it, doesn't mean it isn't there and isn't affecting our productivity.
I. Assess where you currently have data. (storage and likely majority of it is reference)
First, you have digital information hanging out on several devices if you start to think about it For example, whatever device you're listening to this podcast, which may be your computer, laptop, mobile tablet, or smartphone, you have stored information about yourself. This includes passwords, profiles or personal metadata and files. Think about where you interact daily, weekly, monthly and yearly. Visit your most often browsed websites, smartphone apps and electronics. Write them all down (or the ones with the most important information about you). You may want to write down next to them what information is stored and available to you.
II. Assess where you currently create data. (working memory type items)
Next, we need to assess where you currently create data. This may have begun in the first step as you realized that the places where you access information about you. However, you may have different applications at work and home that you regularly create data (think text documents, photos, video, and audio/music files). Don't stop there, though. If you volunteer, have a hobby, or work with analog data (vinyl records, microfiche, photo negatives and more), you may want to consider this part of your digital information. Also, don't leave out places that are temporary holding places for information, perhaps your desktop or in work-in-progress folders that may not be on backup drives or cloud storage accounts.
II. Assess where others are currently creating data for you. (inboxes)
Finally, applications, websites, financial institutions and more are collecting or collaterally making more and more information about you every day. This isn't to frighten you over privacy issues, but empower you to take control of that data, know where it is, and use it to your advantage should you desire. Review all the digital tools in your life and see whether or not they are creating information about you. If they are, take note of them and note if you can easily export or back up the data.
With your new current digital inventory, you will now have the knowledge to start purging, organizing and harnessing the power of your digital data.
In future episodes, I will talk about some strategies to reduce digital clutter.

ProdPod: Episode 67 -- Diamond Rule - Do Unto Others as They Would Like Done Unto Themselves May 24, 2013

You know the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would like have done unto you. Well, I think it needs an update for a modern era. Enter the Diamond Rule: do unto others as they would like done unto themselves.
===
I frequently throughout my youth heard about the Golden Rule. This universal dictum that said to do unto others as you would have done unto you. Of course, this adage, also known as the "ethic of reciprocity" dates back to the Ancient Babylonians and likely even before that. Over the years, I've found the Golden Rule (and it's sister, the Silver Rule) to be missing an element, perhaps lacking empathy. So, I've come up with what I've coined the Diamond Rule: do unto others as they would like done unto themselves.
You see, in this day and age, it doesn't make sense to try and be so "me me me" about how to treat others. We can learn so much about others so quickly today. There's Google, Facebook, LinkedIn and, *gasp* asking the person how they'd like to actually be treated.
One example of how I apply the Diamond Rule is by tracking how people with whom I interact actually want to be communicated. Want to know how I know? I ask them!
It turns out that people appreciate not only being asked how best it is to communicate with them, but additionally when and how to best communicate certain types of information. For example, while I tend to write long email correspondence, I know that I best receive email messages in single-topic, bite-sized ones. If more people wanted to get responses from me, they would email me one email per topic. They'd make it easy for me to give a decision back to them with their question right at the beginning of the email. This way, I can be pondering what they want from me as I read through the supporting points in the email.
How do you best like to be communicated, and when, and in what format? How can you be a better communicator by making it a practice to ask others? Where else can you apply the Diamond Rule?

ProdPod: Episode 66 -- "Pull Method" to More Productive Relationships, Analyzing and Synthesizing Relationship Data May 21, 2013

In Episodes 53 and 54, I gave a brief overview of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationships. And, in the last episode I discussed Collecting Data for More Productive Relationships. So, in this episode, I am covering some thoughts and questions on analysis and synthesis of productive relationship data.
Full Transcript===>
In Episodes 53 and 54, I gave a brief overview of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationships. And, in the last episode I discussed Collecting Data for More Productive Relationships. So, in this episode, I am covering some thoughts and questions on analysis and synthesis of productive relationship data.
As part of a regular review, perhaps monthly, you should review your major relationship events I discussed in Episode 65 and review the emotions triggered by them. I recommend that you not have more than three emotions for each positive and negative event. I have seen a steep rate of diminishing return by the third emotion for any particular event.
Next, some questions...
Are you seeing any patterns you should address with a specific person? Are you seeing a pattern across all your major relationships? Perhaps something is occurring in your life which is causing these positive or negative patterns. What can you do to increase the opportunities of more positive events, and what can you do to mitigate the unhealthy patterns?
A few questions to also ponder from Episode 54: what is the ratio of must-have relationships to those positive relationship events you're experiencing? Are there more not-good than feel-good contacts in your dossier system? Does the happiness of the people you listed correlate to your relative happiness in life?
I'll close with this...
Have perspective that your data collection and analysis is very subjective; so, where I would normally tell you that data doesn't lie, in this case, it can be very misleading if you collect solely with your emotional mind and analyze and synthesize exclusively with your logical mind. Consistent tracking and balanced perspectives will not lead you in a wrong direction.
A fun project is to take the ten closest friends in your life, add up their annual salaries and take the modal average. Does it look familiar?

ProdPod: Episode 65 -- "Pull Method" to More Productive Relationships, Collecting Data May 16, 2013

In Episodes 53 and 54, I gave a brief overview of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationships, so in this episode I am going to outline how I collect and analyze data to make sure I know how the people around me affect me. In this episode I'm going to discuss Collection. And, in the next episode, I'll cover Analysis.
Full Transcript==>
Did your parents ever tell you that you were hanging out with the wrong crowd? As youth, we don't realize sometimes how the people around us affect our development and our long-term life choices. It turns out, as several studies have reported, how happy the people are around you dictate quite a bit of your own happiness.
In Episodes 53 and 54, I gave a brief overview of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationships, so in this episode I am going to outline how I collect and analyze data to make sure I know how the people around me affect me. In this episode I'm going to discuss Collection. And, in the next episode, I'll cover Analysis.
Collection
For many years now, I have kept what is called a dossier. For me, that's a digital repository of all the information I have about the most important people in my life, both personal and professional. You can simply store that information in the Notes field of your contact manager, while others may have a separate notebook (as I do in Evernote) dedicated to my personal contacts and Trello board dedicated to the people in my professional world (specifically for its Google Drive and Dropbox integration to attach files). Now, I have a base of information at my fingertips wherever I am when I need to address issues. For those GTDers out there, this isn't an @Agendas context. It's purely a reference file of information I find to be pertinent to that person, especially for major emotional events with that person. Did I just have an amazing meeting with that business contact and want to relate the experience? It goes in my dossier for them. Did I just have a fantastic dinner at my favorite restaurant with a good friend? Yup, into my dossier for that good friend it goes. The same goes for negative experiences. In Evernote and Trello, I select for each experience the "event" and one of a series of emotions tags that I've created for both positive and negative events. If you're using a manual system, just noting these emotions at the top of each event entry will work as well.

ProdPod: Episode 64 -- Plant-Based Productivity May 14, 2013

In this episode, I give you some food for thought on how plants' productivity is relative to your own and can help us be more productive. Enjoy!
Extended transcript==>
If you'd like to be more productivity, it behooves you to eat well, of course, to nourish your body's energy stores. But, as I recently realized, if you pay attention to plants not just as food or landscape design elements, as living creatures plants are amazingly productive. Here are nine plant-based productivity paradigms to ponder.

Plants don't have "bad" days.
Whether vegetable, flower or fruit-bearing bush, plants need balance. Imbalance in the amount of light, food, fertilizer, water and other conditions and plants' flowering or growth will be severely hindered...and it may kill the plant.
Seasons clearly affect a plants' life, but it is taken as a natural response to the ebb and flow of Nature's resources as the planet rotates around the sun.
Plants are a diverse kingdom. For example, the arctic poppy can withstand immensely cold weather and blossom. They understand that not every kind of plant is suited for every environment, and they specialize to suit their environment.
Plants land in a location and make the best of their time given the resources they've been handed.
It turns out that plants are stimulated by the human voice and the sound will induce growth without the plant every responding to you. It turns out that listening is one of the plant's greatest sensory skills to adapt to its environment.
For most plants, staying hydrated is one of it's three most vital needs.
Plants take a lot of deep breaths throughout its existence to intake nourishments and exhales deeply to get rid of what it doesn't need.
Plants tend toward striking a balance between function and aesthetics through a constant testing process. It doesn't experience its current form as an end, but just another point in its continual journey.
Plants' temporal existence is easily overshadowed by its legacy of being an integral part of human's primary support network.

In 2007, a research study found that indoor plants contributed to reducing perceived stress, mitigating illness and increasing personal productivity! So, while you emulate and relate to the characteristics of productive plants, perhaps you should go buy a few indoor plants for your home office or work cubicle!

ProdPod: Episode 63 -- Life-Work Balance Apr 25, 2013

In this episode, I explain my "calculation" of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live) and therefore life proceeds work, but perhaps not in the way you think. Note: I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffin (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation.

I hear people tell me often that I "work too much." While this may seem like the case, I can assure you that's not the case. I have a different paradigm about the definition of "work" and how it fits into my life. Life is dynamic and long-term process. Instead of worrying about if you're working too much (and definitely worrying about whether someone else is working too much), I suggest that you determine how satisfied you are with how you spend your time. And, you know what I'm going to say...there's only one way to know that...track your time! In this episode, I'd like to explain my calculation of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live, not vice versa) and therefore "life" should proceed "work," but perhaps not in the way you think.

Typically, it shouldn't take you more than a week or two of tracking your time on, say, an hourly basis. There are myriad applications that you can use, as well as a good old-fashioned printed spreadsheet with date, description of the task, and length of time spent on that task. At the end of this period of tracking, you'll have a pretty good sampling of your activities across work and life. Now, categorize them into your life categories. You can use a series of colored highlighters or just noting the category next to each task for which you tracked time. Are you starting to see any patterns?

Now, think about your life and life categories. In an ideal world,

Think of your life-work balance as a pie chart. All that matters is that the pie is whole and that you have a healthy perspective about its slices. That's balance...not a 50-50 balancing scale between all that is life and all that is work. Will your pie always be full? No. Will your pie sometimes burn? Yes. That's life and nothing a little elbow grease can't fix. But you know what your life-work balance pie should look like, and that'll help create better focus for you on how your pie should look, smell and taste.

I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffith (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation. Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!

Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!

ProdPod: Episode 62 -- Best-Practices for Blog Reading Apr 23, 2013

The blogosphere is not a new invention, although it was only recently embraced by media and the general consumer public in the late 90s. What does this mean for you and me? Well, it is likely a cornucopia of potentially amazing (and maybe not-so-amazing) content for us. So that reading all this great blog content doesn't become unwieldy, overflowing and overwhelming in our lives, I've put together a series of best-practices (pardon the corporate-speak) to keep Blog Reading a practice of compound benefits to your productivity.

1. Let's start with what you should and shouldn't follow in terms of blogs and bloggers. Less than three major media outlets...the sometimes pump out hundreds of articles per day and it can quickly overwhelm; if they have best-of feeds that limit to just the most important. Monthly purge of articles from blogs which you haven't read *any* posts...this keeps your list manageable. You can only read so much, and you owe it to yourself to find the material that best suits your personal tastes and professional needs.

2. Use an RSS feed reader, like Feedly, to combine all your blog reading into one centralized repository. I have keep two different accounts: one for personal and one for professional reading. You likely don't need that separation, but I need to so I don't get enticed into reading about cognitive neuroscience, personal productivity and electronics gadgets at the office when I should really be reading professional industry blogs!

3. Process this RSS feed reader inbox into Pocket, Instapaper, Readability or another reader app for offline reading if you can't read all the articles in your RSS feed reader in one sitting and you know you'll have time away from your computer or laptop, where you can bang through those articles that same day.
3. Once you set up your RSS feed reader, make the determination whether you will have a master feed from which to process incoming posts, or whether you'll use folders to segment groups of blog feeds together based on category or context. I have days when one or the other method is best suited for me, and I like being able to use different folders for context (@airport, @subway, @brain-dead, etc.) while at times just looking at All Items view and just processing from the master spigot of articles. You decide which best works for you.
4. Every morning, midday or evening before whenever you look at your RSS feed reader again, make sure to clear out your items in your reader app. This way, you don't start to compound reading material that you just aren't going to get to. One trick is to make sure to categorize by tagging every item you receive in your RSS feed reader (either automatically if it's available in your application, or manually as you select the important articles you want to read or reference later, as opposed to something you'd *like* to read for fun but isn't important enough to tag or track), as well as those you add to your reader app. That way, if you just swiftly archive everything you haven't read any given morning you can always retrieve the important reference materials from the category tags in the future quickly and easily. Don't depend on the built-in search functionality of your RSS feed reader or reader app to do the job only your brain can do of cataloging items you believe are important.

So there you have it, a set of techniques for making blog reading a well-greased productivity engine!

ProdPod: Episode 61 — Personal Life Action Negotiation (PLAN), Part Two Mar 28, 2013

In episode 60, I presented an introduction to a personal development plan, but for your personal life, called the Personal Life Action Negotiation (with the acronym, PLAN). In this episode, I'll cover three guidelines for an effective PLAN. Show notes: SWOT Analysis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swot_analysis MindTools provides a "Personal SWOT Analysis explanation and worksheet": http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newTMC_05_1.htm Self-Development Plan: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self_development_plan Personal Development: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_development Personal Development Planning: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal_development_planning Michael Hyatt's Personal Life Plan: http://michaelhyatt.com/life-plan

ProdPod: Episode 60 -- Personal Life Action Negotiation (PLAN), Part One Mar 27, 2013

I'm developing a personal life planning tool called the Personal Life Action Negotiation (with the appropriate acronym, PLAN). In this episode, I explain the reasoning and overview. In episode 61, I give the general guidelines for creating a PLAN that works for you. Enjoy!

ProdPod: Episode 59 -- Habit Mar 19, 2013

I came across this poem (who's author is unknown to me) several years ago and I think it's definitely worth sharing. If you haven't yet listened to Episodes 12 to 15 on habit development, go check those out after listening to this episode. Enjoy!

Habit
I will push you onward or drag you down to
failure.
I am completely at your command.
over to me and I will do them - quickly and
correctly.
Show me exactly how you want something done
and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.
and alas, of all failures as well.
Those who are great, I have made great.
Those who are failures, I have made failures.
I work with the precision of a machine
plus the intelligence of a person.
it makes no difference to me.
I will place the world at your feet.

I am your constant companion.

I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.

Half of the things you do you might as well turn

I am easily managed - you must be firm with me.

I am the servant of great people,

I am not a machine though

You may run me for profit or run me for ruin -

Take me, train me, be firm with me, and

Be easy with me and I will destroy you.

Who am I? I am Habit.

ProdPod: Episode 58 -- Paperless 2013 Mar 14, 2013

Google and several other companies have recently convened the Paperless Coalition [http://paperless2013.org] to help you "take the paper out of 'paperwork!'" In this episode, learn about the Paperless 2013 and go paperless in 2013!

According to their website:
Why should you go paperless?
If you do the quick math, that's conservatively two billion sheets of paper used every year just in the United States! We know better and we can do better...and the benefits are great for us...greater efficiency and higher productivity at work and at work.
It just takes small decisions and workflow changes. Using tools like Google Drive, HelloSign, and Nitro (which is a PDF creation tool) changes the print and paper chase of working to seamlessly collaborating and sharing documents and file without a single fiber of tree having to be used.
On the flip side, the companies like Lemon Digital Wallet, ShoeBoxed.com and Fujitsu's ScanSnap help you turn paper into digital files so that you can defeat the paper monster once and for all. The efficiences that can be found by having all your documents in one central, digital repository (even if you do keep the physical paper around for tax, legal, financial or other logical safekeeping).
While not a Paperless Coalition member, I am a big fan of Evernote and use that to capture my paper notebook pages after I go to a meeting so that even though I like the kinesthetic benefits of handwriting notes, I can still go paperless quickly and easily. With the Google Drive smartphone application, you can snap a photo and upload it directly to a Notebook folder as well.
You can find them at paperless2013.org where you can sign up for their monthly e-newsletter with tips and tools. I hope this sparks your interest in going paperless and gets you started toward a Paperless 2013.

According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average US office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. In 2010, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 334 pounds for each person living in the US, according to the American Forest & Paper Association.

ProdPod: Episode 57 -- Banish New Year's Resolutions! Mar 12, 2013

This is about the time of year (end of February, beginning of March) when you realize that your New Year's resolution/s aren't going to happen, or you've forgotten that you've actually made them. So, in this episode, I offer a solution: banish making New Year's resolutions! Here's how....

Every time you don't make a NYR happen, you feel like a failure or worse, you don't remember you made the NYR. Why is this bad, you say? Either way--whether you feel negative emotions or you're numb to your own planning--your brain remembers it all. These brain pathways (that is, physical brain matter) mitigate future growth by stopping you from planning in the first place. It equates planning with pain and your brain's flight-or-fight response thinks it knows better so it helps you avoid activities that promote pain...even if "no pain, no gain" sometimes unlocks great potential. Or, your brain says, heck, you don't do the stuff you plan to do so why waste energy on these brain functions! At the end of the day, you get the short end of your own gray matter.
So, what should you do instead of NYRs? Here's what I've done for the past decade and while I haven't achieved a single NYR (because I haven't made one), I have achieved every goal I've set out to accomplish.
First, I chose a non-calendar end of my year. I chose my year-end to be October 31 and my "planning year" to start on November 1. November happens to be a significant time of year for me, my birth month, while it's also an arbitrary time of year for most people. I like November because it's before the major holidays (Thanksgiving and the winter holidays season) and yet it still gives me time to end the calendar year strong. So, during the month of October, I choose a number of goals for my upcoming year, by my life planning categories and by month. I try to focus on one life category per month through my year, then breaking down each goal into monthly activities and weekly activities and then daily activities. Monthly and weekly activities are usually planning and reviewing activities, while daily activities are usually the small, habitual tasks toward achieving that specific goal.
In all, make goals year-round and add activities toward those goals into your daily life.

ProdPod: Episode 56 -- Software Overview: Remember The Milk Feb 22, 2013

Here's a quick overview of the amazing capabilities of my personal productivity software, Remember The Milk. What's your favorite personal productivity software? Let me know in the comments, contact form or via email!

One of the most important principles of any productivity system to which you will be externalizing your memory is your ability to rely on the tool/s you select. I hear most often from productivity experts the term " trust" when it comes to your system and their supporting tools. And, I think that's a great way to describe it. Over the past decade I've had to test and manage hundreds of technologies from staplers to mobile devices to biometric door knobs in my professional world. While most of those technologies were fascinating none has endured in my productivity system than RememberTheMilk (or RTM as its known by its users). On the surface RTM is simply a task management application, but that in and of itself is its genius! Definitely built with the Getting Things Done meeting in mind, RememberTheMilk has all the functionality needed to manage next-actions and projects on your Runway and 10,000 foot Horizons of Focus. And it stops there, not trying to do more or less. It allows you to email or text message one or multiple tasks or projects into the tool. And you can use what are called Smart Add tags to complete fields such add as list, due date, repetition, context tags and more. Smart Add is also available in the Web interface to add tasks anywhere you'd like from the Smart Add field to anywhere else in RTM. While there are so many other features, the ability to add virtual lists (called Smart Lists) that are defined by anything in the system you can search for. Every list has a print button, share capabilities and feed so you can subscribe to the tasks for view outside the app. The program is completely free to use on the Web and on most mobile devices, and it has a mobile Web version that slims down the feature set to make for quick capture of information on the go. The pro user account costs a mere 25$ [Update: as of 2016, now 40 USD] per year and The main benefit is that gives you unlimited synchronization across your devices and once you start heavily using the software you'll easily want this feature. If you are struggling managing your daily, weekly or other tasks and projects, RTM is an amazing tool worth checking out!

ProdPod: Episode 55 -- The Purpose of Your Productivity System Feb 20, 2013

In this episode, I define "personal productivity system." How do you define your personal productivity system? I'd love to hear from you in the comments or via email.

There was a time when I started first studying psychology and its relationship to my personal productivity when I thought my "productivity system" meant automation. Boy, was I sadly mistaken! It took me a long time (18 months to be exact) to figure out that my productivity system wasn't all about automating my life. It turns out that DOING was a huge part of my productivity system, and *I* had to do the DOING. What a shock to my system this was when I spent all that time setting up this amazing system and planning all day! Nothing got done! So, what is the purpose of your productivity system? I've come to define the purpose of a personal productivity system as a way to facilitate you DOING more consistently and better and KNOWING what you're not able to DO at any given time so you can relax and focus on what it is you can do.
Let me dive into this a little further so I explain this correctly.
The first part of that definition is that your personal productivity system is about doing more and better when you're able to. Doing more means, that by planning out the most efficient ways to get from A to B for any given task or project, you're able to get more done in a focused period of time. This isn't something you can do consistently without a system; believe me, for years, I tried! Next up is the adjective "better." What I mean is, that your productivity system should have a way for you to track what you've done and review what has been done to create as accurate a historical record as possible. Therefore you can match or increase your output sustainably from there. Again, no system equates to not only allowing in subjectivity about "better" but also about using potentially your fuzzy memory to recollect what you accomplished, or didn't. What does better look like for you?
Finally, one of the great, rarely spoken truths about personal productivity is the fact that you can't do more of anything without doing less of something right now. Your productivity system needs to be able to help you track when you can do things and when you cannot. Do you know what you can't do right now so you can start doing the one thing now that you can? If so, you likely have a system. If you don't, now you know why you need a system, and what a system really is.
How do you define "personal productivity system?" I'd love to hear from you in the comments or via email.

ProdPod: Episode 54 -- "Pull Method" for More Productive Relationships, Part Two Feb 14, 2013

In the last episode, I discuss why I developed a "pull method" for more productive relationships along with the first phase. In this episode, I'll cover the next two phases.

2. Now that you have your relationships list, go down the list and mark each person with symbols representing whether you feel good or not when they come into mind. I use + or - signs, or :-) :-| or :-( , for my symbols. Not good includes however you define it but typically encompasses for me annoyance, frustration, indifference and dislike. Follow that exercise with placing an asterisk next to contacts with whom you must have a relationship. Perhaps I'll explain my thoughts on how I perform this data collection and analyze this data on a more granular level in a future episode. Some thoughts to ponder: what is the ratio of must relationships to positive symbol ones? Are there more not-good than feel-good contacts on your list? Does the happiness of the people you listed correlate to your relative happiness in life?
3. Moving onto the final phase of the pull method, take your list and filter to two new lists: one for your feel-good's and one for your not-good but must-have relationships. Now, for your feel-good's, plan ways in which you can see those people more (yes, in real life), deepen your relationships and generally show your appreciation for having them in your life...ergo, pull them closer to you! For the must-have's, put together a plan to increase positive interactions and carefully but steadily address the aspects of these relationships that make it not-good. Remember, some of these things that you don't like in your must-have relationships are likely present in your feel-good relationships as well; I'd start with confronting the issues in the not-good must-have relationships before backtracking to those of the feel-good's.
There you have it! The pull method for more productive relationships.

ProdPod: Episode 53 - "Pull Method" for More Productive Relationships, Part One Feb 12, 2013

In this episode, I introduce you to my relationships management technique I call the "pull method" and explain the first of three phases. In episode 54, I continue with phases two and three of the pull method. Enjoy!

The human mind can keep approximately 150 social connections in their conscious mind at any given time. This median average comes from Dunbar's number named after the British anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, who theorized the oft-cited social metric. I have thousands of people that think they "know" me because they've connected with me in some light touchpoint manner at countless business and social events, hundreds of seminars and presentations I've spoken at, email messages and via Social Media. I'm truly blessed to be able to communicate with some really great people in my professional and personal lives all over the world, and I honor and appreciate every communication I have in my life. However, these online platforms create sometimes a false perception of relationship and genuine community and I want to make sure I'm fostering healthy, productive relationships with the people I truly care about and want to get to know better. So for several years, I've developed a technique to keep myself from being overwhelmed by the overconnectedness of social networking services like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.
I call this technique, the "Pull Method." Here are the basics:
1. First, make an accounting of the people you care about. On a piece of paper with pen (that is, without any address books or electronic aids), wrote down everyone important in your life today; broadly, the categories are family, social and professional connections. Number them. If there are more than 200 contacts, you should likely review the list to *really * consider whether you care about these people or that you just remembered them. Note, this isn't a memory challenge but a practice in determining about whom you really care. Once you've done that, you can move on to the next two phases.
In the next episode, I'll cover phases two and three of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationship. Stay tuned!

ProdPod: Episode 52 -- Overflowing Inbox: Try Some Email Overload Relief Feb 07, 2013

An overflowing inbox is something that we have all probably experienced at some point in our personal and professional lives. Unexpected life circumstances happen and as well we sometimes get lax in our discipline to manage our email traffic on a regular basis. In this episode I give a simple strategy for managing this email overload and some email services that are handy to help manage your email from getting to that point in the first place.

Services mentioned in this episode:

Unroll.me
Sanebox (I get a free 5$ account credit for each person that signs up using this link.)
Boomerang Gmail (I get some kind of credit for you signing up using this link, but I can't figure out what that is!) :-P
Gmail Valet

The first step is to shut off the email spigot. Create a strategy for sustainably processing your inbox from today forward. Then look at your backlog and attempt to establish a breadcrumb method for dealing with the back email messages. For example, a friend and colleague of mine takes the oldest days worth of email and the last two days' email to process. Doing this every workday along with keeping up with the inbound email today is manageable and in just a few days or weeks's time, you're back to Inbox Zero.
To help with shutting off the email spigot, there's an email service called Unroll.me. It helps you unsubscribe from all those email newsletters you think you should be receiving but they're really just distractions.
Another service is called Sanebox. It automatically filters messages that you don't need to deal with right now so that you can bring those into view when you actually want to address them. I really enjoy being able to train Sanebox and seeing the statistics of how many hours it saves of my time.
Also a favorite service of mine is Boomerang Gmail. It enables you to send email out of view then come back to you at a predetermined date and time. Also Boomerang Gmail is able to schedule an outbound email and has several other really great features so check this one out, for sure.
And finally there's a new service called Gmail Valet. What I understand about the service is that there are real humans who have access to your inbox. And, as new email arrives they review your email to see whether or not it's actionable. If it is, they add it to a task list for you and otherwise move nonactionable items according to your specifications. It's currently free to use in beta!
So there you have it, a strategy for dealing with email overload and some services that can possibly help you from it getting overwhelming in the first place.

ProdPod: Episode 51 -- Two-Minute Book Summary: The Four-Hour Workweek by Timothy Ferriss Feb 05, 2013

The Four-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss mentions the Pareto Principle (which I explained in Episode 49), so I figured I would highlight the book's key points in this episode.

At its core, the Four-Hour Workweek is about creating a lifestyle that works for you, not vice versa. If you haven't listened to Episode 49, it defines the Pareto Principle (aka the 80/20 rule) as Ferriss implemented in his own professional world.

The author uses a strategy composed of Definition, Elimination, Automation and then Liberation (the acronym, DEAL) to effectuate his "lifestyle design" concept.
First, Definition boils down to planning. What are your goals, needs and wants?
Next, Elimination is the where he discusses effectiveness over efficiency. And, while I disagree with his bases for the discussion, he effectively discusses using the 80/20 rule here to learn to focus, say "no," and eliminate distractions (for example, the idea of going on an "information diet").
Then, the section on Automation is about tactics to create passive revenue streams; basically, businesses that can run themselves. While this idea is appealing, I say stick to doing what you're passionate about and avoid this get-rich-quick scheme-y thought stream. Either way, I think he adds some great thoughts on hiring a virtual assistant (see ProdPod Episodes 38 through 41 on outsourcing parts of your life for greater productivity)!
Finally, Liberation covers the concept of making your life mobile, if possible.
In a practical sense, I think you'd apply his methodology as Definition, Elimination, Liberation and then Automation, if you're already working full-time for an employer; but that's up to practicalities of finance and time/energy resources available to you.
One key concept that I really enjoyed about the book was his idea of mini-retirements so that you can enjoy the fruits of your labor before you're too old and gray to really enjoy life.
Altogether, the Four-Hour Workweek provides you a framework to understand that your time and life are valuable beyond the 9-5 humdrum. And for that, we can all appreciate ourselves a little more.

ProdPod: Episode 50 -- Productivity Tips for Fitness with Noelle McKenzie of Fitness a Way of Life Jan 24, 2013

For ProdPod's 50th episode, I had the pleasure of interviewing fitness/nutrition expert, Noelle McKenzie (CEO of Fitness a Way of Life - fitnessawayoflife.com), about some productivity tips for getting your workout / exercise optimized in under 10 minutes! Enjoy!

ProdPod: Episode 49 -- Pareto Principle of Productivity Jan 15, 2013

In this episode I discuss the Pareto Principle of Productivity, so 20% of the next two minutes contains 80% of its productive value! ;-) Enjoy!

At a very young age, we understand that some things are more important than others. As soon as we're born, we learn that the scent of our mothers is important for our survival as the source of our nutrition. As we get a bit older, we realized quickly that mom and dad are more important than the strangers on the street. And as the comparison between objects and concepts get stronger and more complex, we learn to differentiate.

Did you ever hear that 80% of your success comes from 20% of your effort? Inversely, you commit 80% of your effort on outcomes that provide you only 20% of your success.

Have you heard of the 80/20 rule, or better known as the Pareto Principle? This notion comes from economics..to be precise, from an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto at the turn of the 20th century. He observed that 80% of land (ergo, 80% of its wealth) was owned by 20% of the people, therefore 80% of the wealth was owned by the 20% that were wealthy, and not just in Italy but in many other countries as Pareto did more statistical analysis. This Pareto Principle has been applied in business, health care, mathematics and many other fields, and now it's made its way into personal productivity. I'll take the latitude of stating generally the Pareto Principle for productivity as 80% of your success comes from 20% of your effort. The standard advice therefore is to focus on that 20% then eliminate the rest. And, I mostly reject this notion for anyone who is already working efficiently and effectively. You see, if you've learned a productivity methodology (like GTD) or have your own productivity system designed, especially how to actively process your inputs into actions, delete, delegate, defer, and archive your inputs, you probably won't find much value in the stated corollary to the Pareto Principle. My take on the 80/20 rule has more to do with the over-arching strategy behind your productivity system and making it work better for your already productive life. While most productivity experts speak of efficient, effective effort (the 20%), So, at the project and system level, use 20% of your time to plan AND review to yield the best 80% of your productive DOING time. For example, you make a list, do what's on that list then afterward review what you did. I recommend that 80% of your time should have been spent doing what was on the list, 10% planning, and 10% reviewing. Although 80% is a rough estimate (and you should find out how much planning and review is really good for you), the 80/20 rule gives you a good standard set to know when you're planning and reviewing too little or too much.
From Wikipedia: The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The Pareto principle was a prominent part of the 2007 bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Ferriss recommended focusing one's attention on those 20% that contribute to 80% of the income. More notably, he also recommends 'firing' – refusing to do business with – those 20% of customers who take up the majority of one's time and cause the most trouble.

ProdPod: Episode 48 -- Author Interview: 25 Tips for Productivity with Augusto Pinaud Jan 10, 2013

I had the pleasure of interviewing the author of 25 Tips for Productivity Success (bit.ly/25t4p), Augusto Pinaud (augustopinaud.com), before #Prodchat on January 9th (See transcript: sfy.co/fDDm ). He highlights two of his book's tips for us. Enjoy!

ProdPod: Episode 47 -- Conquering Negative Self-Speak for Greater Productivity Dec 18, 2012

Negative self-speak eats away at productivity and no one is immune from it at high stress times in our lives. And, while you may have positive self-esteem, you may still have negative self-speak creeping into your daily life. In this episode, I give you a three-pronged approach to eliminating self-speak from your productive life.

Daily affirmations:

1. First, you need to identify what you think are your strengths and weaknesses. You can probably name quickly off the top of your head how you're a best asset to your family, your friend network and at the office in your job duties or beyond. Now, where do you feel like you could improve? Write down a list of "I" statements of your strengths. Then, do the same with your weaknesses but write them down in the inverse. For example, if I felt my weakness was in follow-through with my coworkers' requests, I would write something like, "My coworkers can depend on me to follow-through with their requests in a timely manner." Now, merge the two lists and read them aloud to yourself (perhaps in a mirror if that helps) every morning. This will build the brain pathways to unlocking new strengths and solutions.
2. Next, write down every negative word you say in the course of a week as you recognize them and pay attention to change the language whenever you hear yourself saying something negative about yourself.

Negative Self-Speak Lexicon:

3. Finally, enlist your friends, family and coworkers with scripts encouragingly worded to alert you of negative self-speak when you don't notice it. With each alert, remember to restate your self-speak positively. This may even help your friends, family and coworkers resolves some of their own negative self-speak!

With daily affirmations, knowing your negative self-speak lexicon and the help of your friends, family and coworkers, you'll be on your way to conquering your negative self-speak for good!

ProdPod: Episode 46 -- Talking Yourself Into Better Productivity Dec 11, 2012

Most people associate the idea of talking to one's self as a problem. However, the kind of talking to yourself I discuss in this episode I think makes you more productive thereby increasing your sanity!

We all have an inner voice; it is a collection of our approximately seventy thousand thoughts per day converted to words as we consciously think them. Let's enlist for our purposes of this discussion Dr. Stephen Covey's Seven Habits definition of control, which is the space between stimulus and response. If that's the case, then when we verbalize our thoughts aloud, we vet our thoughts more thoroughly commanding only the best quality of decisions to act upon. Think about it, if you say what all your decisions are going to be out loud (even privately in your own office/home), aren't you going to be more mindful?
I tend to think of this technique in the face of high distraction or procrastination, so I'll give a real life productivity scenario of my own to demonstrate. My ideal morning routine is to check my inboxes, processing and responding to my morning messages before I start the rest of my workday. I'm a FIFO kinda guy (that is, first in, first out -- meaning, I scroll to the bottom of my inbox and read the chronologically first message in, process and/or respond, and move on to the next message). If I'm having a particularly difficult time keeping focused on my inbox or starting at all, I'll literally say out loud to myself, "Ray, you're focusing on the first message to read & respond." I'll repeat myself ad nauseum until I re-focus and continue on my decision to process my inbox.
So, go forth and take control of your work and life by talking yourself into greater productivity!
// Let's take this idea of talking to yourself into a real life productivity scenario. I come into the office in the morning after a long and trafficked commute. I open up my computer and prepare myself for the day, but still feeling a tinge frustrated by the tribulations of my morning so far. Up pops my email and I scroll down to the bottom to find the first email in from last evening (as I'm a last in, first out email kinda guy). The message is from a client barking orders about this or that and I lose my temper at this client's clear lack of regard for my time and how much work I've put into the process. Pause. Let's take my inner voice and make it my outer voice now. "I'm frustrated by this morning's commute. And, this client wrote me at six o'clock last evening. So, they clearly didn't intend for me to read this message in this negative mindset.

ProdPod: Episode 45 -- Productivity and Whole-Being Fitness Dec 07, 2012

I believe most people think of "fitness" and think about living a healthy lifestyle, however, I have long thought of it under a much broader context I call "Whole-Being Fitness." In this episode I explain my concept of Whole-Being Fitness and why it's so important to your productive life.

Let's take the example of how Whole-Being Fitness works in real life. that I've decided to run a marathon in a few months. So, to prepare for the mental image of a successful marathon photograph of me crossing the finish line I need to think first about my physical fitness...cross-training along with my core endurance training, then working up to personal training milestones (which for me are 18 and 24 miles). Further, let's look at the additional areas of Whole-Being Fitness as ways of making sure that I don't put the cart before the horse. Mental Fitness clues me into how I intend to run this marathon. There're several methods for running marathons, including the increasingly popular Galloway method. As well, what's my mindset for finishing this marathon? Just finish, or am I trying to set a personal time record? Broadly, emotional and social intelligence fitness guides me in getting all of my running friends together so that I have support during training and potentially someone to run the marathon with me. They may also be folks to support me along the way so I can shed gear and get a snack as I make my way along the marathon course on race day. To be Nutrition fit I have to make sure I'm taking in enough calories and the right balance of macronutrients to fuel and replenish what my body is going to burn during cross-training and long runs. My Rejuvenating Fitness teaches me that I need self-care to motivate myself through short, medium and long-term rewards for getting across the finish lines of every training run. And the all important Sleep Fitness gives my body the needed rest for my body to recuperate from the punishment it's going to take. Literally, if I don't sleep properly three or four nights straight before my long runs, my running speed will suffer. Finally, Do you see how interwoven each area of Whole-Being Fitness is to your overall success? I cannot emphasize enough that I cannot work harder at only one of these Whole-Being Fitness areas to compensate the fitness lacking in another. I do so at my own detriment.
Although I used an endurance athletic event as an example, Whole-Being Fitness matters in every aspect of your productive life. The more fit you are in each area, the better your productivity.
// If you look at every aspect of your work and life productivity--every major work project, job role or personal goal--these seven fitness areas touch on your ability to perform in them interdependently and better. So, whether it's learning to play an instrument better...to writing that next sales proposal...or passing that upcoming exam, you need to contemplate how Whole-Being Fitness can make achieving your goals and overcoming your challenges easier and more sustainable.

ProdPod: Episode 44 -- Human Potential Movement's Mark on Your Personal Productivity Oct 23, 2012

Back in the 1960's, there was a movement that developed, founded on the core concept that we could help people become happier, more fulfilled and more creative. It was called the Human Potential Movement. Further, we know so much about personal productivity today because of the Human Potential Movement and yet so few people actually know its history and how you can use this core concept to enhance your productive life. To learn more about its history, visit the Wikipedia entry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_potential_movement). But, to unlock HPM's potential though, listen on.

The late Dr. Stephen Covey, of which many of you know I'm an ardent fan of his works, took the humanistic psychology principles of HPM and turned them into a book, The 8th Habit, which was a culminating work from his most well-known book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. You can find several PDF summaries of The 8th Habit via a Google Search. From Aldous Huxley to Anthony Robbins and Abraham Maslow to George Leonard, Dr. Covey wraps the principles of these proponents into a simple and effective action plan based on the premise that your life (and society at large) will get exponentially better when people find their own passion, mission, vision, life purpose, professional goal or what have you (and he calls this "finding your voice"), then help others find their voice.

This bears repeating: find your voice. Then, help others find theirs. If you want to dive deeper into this concept, review the PDF summaries or buy the book.

By the way, this is not a supplanting of the seven habits outlined in Covey's acclaimed The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, and it is I believe a supplement to productivity systems that promulgate time management (Forrester, Morgenstern and those folks) as well as action management (for those of the Getting Things Done or GTD, methodologies). The Human Potential Movement has come a long way and we have much to thank for it, so don't let it lie their in vain. Head out and find your mission and vision (which you can do by yourself or using a tool like the Mission Statement Builder at franklincovey.com/msb) and make it a productive life!

ProdPod: Episode 43 -- How to Kick-Start Hardcore Decluttering: Psychic Clutter and Digital Clutter Sep 20, 2012

In our last episode, we discussed the first part of Hardcore Decluttering, recognizing physical clutter and determine its cost to you financially and emotionally. In this episode, we'll turn to two additional kinds of clutter for you to recognize and tackle.

That second type of clutter is that which resides in your mind. Start a bucket list in a single, good-old-fashioned paper notebook. This isn't a task or project list. It's a list of all your emotional memories as they come to mind, your current emotional state, anxieties as you feel them, and worries about the future. Ruminating is a clear symptom that you're in need of psychic decluttering. Writing it down with pen and paper (in my experience and observations of others) is the best way to counteract these unhealthy stores of emotional baggage.

Finally, there's no doubt that as our lives become ever more digital, there's bound to be more data on our computers, our mobile devices and the Web about us that we have to manage. I remember when everything I owned in digital data could be held on a single "Microfloppy"...which, for you Millenials and younger, those were 3.5" floppy diskettes that held a whopping 1.44MB! Those were the days. I'd carry that "Microfloppy" with me everywhere and I felt like I held my entire world in my pocket. Well, today, I carry a smartphone that holds literally 22,755.5 Microfloppies worth of data and there's countless more data on the Web about me.

That doesn't mean you can't find ways to get rid of massive amounts of dead-weight data and organize it so that it's no longer clutter, but meaningful data that you can protect and use effectively. The first step is admitting to yourself you have digital clutter!

I know this is just a primer on how to start hardcore decluttering but my hope is that it sparks action and you can come up with new, innovative ideas about how you're banishing clutter. I'll be covering clutter type specifically--physical, psychic and digital--in future episodes so stay tuned!

ProdPod: Episode 42 -- How to Kick-Start Hardcore Decluttering: Knowing Where Your Clutter Is Sep 11, 2012

We all know that clutter is a part of life for many of us. Further, some clutter is natural and manageable. But, at some point the clutter is apparent and stymies your productivity. So, let's kick-start your decluttering process with learning where clutter lives and a few tips on your way to what I'm calling, Hardcore Decluttering, a regular series of podcasts here on ProdPod. The idea is to take two minutes to reduce your clutter for dramatically beneficial outcomes!

[image: Venn diagram of physical/psychic/digital-->center area: Hardcore Decluttering]

PHYSICAL
Let's start with the easiest clutter to identify, the physical stuff hanging around your home, office, carrying bags (such as a briefcases, shoulder bags or purses), and the car. One way to help you make headway on physical clutter is by calculating its worth (or, rather, its cost to your bank account annually). So, what's the monetary value of your stuff? Create a spreadsheet or just make a paper list and start tabulating the cost of storing it in your home, storage or elsewhere? Every cubic square foot has a cost per year that's being eaten up by clutter; measure it and add the space to your spreadsheet. Next, how much did you pay for all that stuff? What's its market value today? Find those out and add them to your data. Add this information to the reality that this clutter is depleting your emotional reservoir of good feelings. Ready to start selling and donating and trashing that stuff now? Great! So, head to Craigslist.org for your nearest locality, sign up to give stuff away on Freecycle.org and Google your nearest Salvation Army or Goodwill store to see what you have that they might be accepting.

That's only one of three clutter-prone areas of your productive life. We'll continue in the next episode with covering psychic and digital clutter, so stay tuned! I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod, I'm Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening. Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less!

ProdPod: Episode 41 -- Outsourcing Tasks for Greater Productivity...For Free, Part II Jul 17, 2012

This is the final episode in our four-part ProdPod series on outsourcing your personal tasks in life...this episode is on getting started with bartering your personal tasks.

To get started...
Grab a paper ledger journal from the local office supply store (or if you're tech savvy, create an Excel or Google Spreadsheet workbook). Each sheet is dedicated to one person. Discuss with your barter buddy (or buddies) the terms of your arrangement. Each task is worth one credit and you should both track the credits of yourself and the other, so you can make sure that you're responsibly handling any conflicts that may arise. Determine how the credits can be used and make note of them in your journal or spreadsheets. Some credits will have expiration dates, some bartering relationships will reset every month, quarter or year. And, in the initial phase, I'd make sure to start with a test period where you can renegotiate the bartering relationship with your barter buddy after the first few times for any reason if the arrangement is just not working for either of you, without hard feelings or false assumptions. Relationships are far more important than a few poorly-laundered t-shirts!
The best items to barter are routine items that each party does on a weekly or monthly basis so there's less management involved. But, I've found that with co-workers you can get around many management problems and organizational productivity shortcomings by creating a bartering market. There's no doubt this requires much more planning but it can pay off if executed properly and managed responsibly. I believe that bartering tasks and projects for greater productivity is an untapped resource we all have access to in our ever-increasingly hectic lives, and all you need to do is ask the people you know.

ProdPod: Episode 40 -- Outsourcing Tasks for Greater Productivity...For Free, Part I Jul 10, 2012

We discussed in the last episode about the idea of using virtual assistants, personal concierges and daily money managers to help get more done in life without you doing all of it. In this episode in our four-part ProdPod series on personal outsourcing, I will be explaining for you how to use an age-old concept of outsourcing tasks for greater productivity...for free, bartering.

You know what bartering [http://www.gettingmoneywise.com/2011/12/swap-share-and-land-bartering.html?m=1] is. You have an apple and I want to buy an apple. And, I have an orange and you want an orange. But, neither of us has any currency. So, we decide that instead of buying the fruits from each other or from a market, we'll just exchange your apple for my orange. It turns out that we can translate bartering vis-a-vis your productivity.

Think about everyone in your life: co-workers, spouses, children, other family members, friends, acquaintances, and more. Did you ever find that you like to do certain things in life and others in your life enjoy doing the things you find difficult, boring and time-consuming? Why not swap tasks for greater efficiencies? For example, do you hate grocery shopping but love doing laundry? Ask your friend who lives nearby if s/he would be willing to swap duties. Or, perhaps you have to send out holiday cards every year and you always struggle to get them out on time, and your mother is great at the task but needs some help every year wrapping all the grandchildren's presents and that happens to be something you enjoy doing. Why not barter the card-writing for the gift-wrapping? I'm giving very simple examples, but get creative. You'd be surprised what your support network doesn't want to do and would be willing to do for you not to have to do their own stuff. You will find the efficiencies remarkable when you realize how little work it is to do a bit extra work doing what you enjoy and not do the things you really don't want to or never get around to doing.

In the final episode in this series, I'll give you a quick-start guide on how to begin personal tasks bartering.

ProdPod: Episode 39 -- Outsource Your Personal Tasks, Part II Jul 03, 2012

In this second episode of a four-part ProdPod series on outsourcing personal tasks, I introduced the idea of hiring a virtual assistant, personal concierge and daily money manager. In this episode, I'll explain what each is and why you would need one.

In the last episode, I introduced the idea of hiring a virtual assistant, personal concierge and daily money manager. In this episode, I'll explain what each is and why you need one.
Virtual assistants are never physically present and the equivalent to having an executive assistant. Many small business owners use them for varying levels of administrative, marketing and management duties. While they are utilized by businesses and executives most often, there's no reason why you can't hire them to do the same tasks that you would otherwise need to do yourself when you have better things to do with your time. Do you need research done for a report you need to write? Have your virtual assistant research and organize it for you. Do you need to organize your music library on your computer at home? Use a secure service such as LogMeIn Free and have him/her log in to your computer to do it for you. In the Internet Age, there's very little that cannot be done with merely a cellphone, email and a Web browser.
On the other hand, personal concierges are usually hyper-local services and are good for checking in the on the fish while you're away on vacation, waiting for the cable guy to supervise the installation of your new service and equipment, or picking up the dry cleaning or groceries. For those of us with long work hours and without spouses (or both spouses work full-time), these routine errands can really be a bear and a personal concierge service can be mighty beneficial.
Do you find it tough to find the time to pay your bills regularly or have the discipline to save? Does your mother or father's aging limit their ability to do their financial management as well as they used to? Or, are they forgetting to pay utilities? Well, you may not need a financial planner or accountant for these simple, personal bookkeeping duties. This is where a daily money manager might just be what you need.
The opportunities abound when it comes to outsourcing in your personal life, and I know that not everyone has the money to pay for a virtual assistant in their life. So, in episode 40, I'll be talking about a different way to outsource your personal tasks that doesn't require hiring anyone. Stay tuned.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening. Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less!

ProdPod: Episode 38 -- Outsource Your Personal Tasks, Part I Jun 26, 2012

Welcome to Episode 38 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. This is the first episode in a four-part ProdPod series on outsourcing your personal tasks in life. Enjoy!

For many of us, we feel overwhelmed not by the many things we are doing on a daily basis but by the many things we want to be doing additionally or instead of what we're already doing everyday. Furthermore, we find ourselves responding more often to communication than actively doing what we've planned. Think of Dr. Stephen Covey's thoughts on doing more "important, not urgent" activities than the other three quadrants of "not important, not urgent," "not important, urgent," and "important, urgent" distractions. If you don't know what the Merill/Covey Matrix looks like, head over to Google Images or Wikipedia and search for it to see how this long-term goals planning tool works.
Well, if you are struggling with these distractions (which many times still need to be managed or handled in some way, shape or form) I think there's an answer for you. There's a burgeoning industry in the area of personal outsourcing; the IT sector has seen the greatest growth and media exposure in outsourcing generally but this is even more defined. Administrative, professional and executive secretaries, assistants and concierges (some with very specialized skills) are jumping on the entrepreneurial bandwagon and are helping everyday people at reasonable prices to get the laborious, time-consuming and mundane tasks of life done.
Now, while there's plenty of discussion about virtual assistants on the Web today, the fact is that you probably need a variety of people to do more specialized outsourcing in your personal life. That is, everyone who can afford it should hire at least a virtual assistant, then possibly a personal concierge and a daily money manager for more specialty tasks. In the next episode I'll explain what each of those roles are and how you can utilize them.

ProdPod: Episode 37 -- Controlling Email: Create a Culture of Communication Protocol Jun 12, 2012

Email is one of the most powerful and pervasive communication tools in our day-to-day lives, especially at work. Email is also one of the most persistent and systemic interruptions when you get too many messages, or consistently receive messages that were unsolicited, ill-written and/ or misdirected. In this episode, I'd like to look at building a culture on solid email communication grounds, using the office as a typical example; although, this can be applied to any personal, professional, family or group dynamic.

At the office, you have a policy for just about everything. So, why not have a policy that actually helps your email and other communications to facilitate uninterrupted, productive time for you and your coworkers to get things done.
Find a way to escalate important-urgent messages. Talk with your coworkers about how to call attention to matters that need an immediate response. In other words, answer this question: "When someone needs something 'right away,' how do we ask for them to help us?"
For example, you might decide that if something can wait for hours or even a day or two, to send your message by email. If something needs a faster response, consider using the phone, text, instant message or a "tap on the shoulder." Then, of course, if you need a digital paper trail, send an email.
Try a five-day experiment with just one or two people on your team, people you work with well. You're likely to find that the more you practice these techniques, the more efficient and productive you'll become...and the rest of your organization.

ProdPod: Episode 36: Writing Productivity Quick Tip with Paula Whitacre - Full Circle Communications May 01, 2012

I had the pleasure of interviewing Paula Whitacre, principal, Full Circle Communications, which provides writing and editing services to help organizations reach wider audiences. She provided a great quick tip on writing productivity. Enjoy! Oh, and if you get a chance, please subscribe to Paula's e-newsletter, Ease in Writing. (I think that link will work; if it doesn't, visit her website and subscribe from the email field on the main page of the site.) Ease in Writing is clear, succinct and always helpful.

ProdPod: Episode 35 -- Emotional Intelligence and a Productive Life Apr 24, 2012

Welcome to Episode 35 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith, your productivity guide.

In 1996, Daniel Goleman wrote his hit book, Emotional Intelligence: Why It Can Matter More Than IQ. Mr. Goleman is a journalist, and not a scientist, but nevertheless he made a break-through in the way in which humans understand ourselves by giving context to the new ways scientists were learning about our psychology. Here's the book in a nutshell and how it relates to productivity. The premise of the book is quite simple: raw intelligence (IQ) tests score a human metric that doesn't correspond directly with success in life, and that emotional intelligence (or, EQ) is a psychosocial skill that should be taught so that humans are more productive members of society. Goleman heavily relies on studies to support his theory, and I think he does so quite successfully. The study that stood out for me the most when I read it fifteen years ago now, was a study that appears deep in the book in Part III, Chapter 10, "Managing with Heart." In this chapter, the author describes how researchers basically test high IQ people using emotional intelligence tests. They found that the high IQ individuals that were mostly average and below average on the EQ tests were also those that started many projects or tasks at a time and didn't complete them. Those that shined on the EQ tests were the ones that took pride in completing their projects or tasks. We know anecdotally that successful people in life are usually those that get things done not just get things going. I think this makes a real statement for all of us living in the Digital Age. Focus on finishing what you set out to accomplish and don't get distracted and fragmented in your goals. You'll not only have greater emotional intelligence but you'll also see more success in your productive life.

ProdPod: Episode 34 -- FastCustomer, a Productivity Tool for Making Customer Service Better Apr 17, 2012

Welcome to Episode 34 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith, your productivity guide.

Partly because I'm a tech geek and partly because of my professional responsibilities, I get to see a dizzying array of new technologies every day. And, I try to keep most of them swimming around in my head to differentiate the potential winners and likely losers in the market. FastCustomer is a productivity tool that I believe is one of those potential winners. According to its website, it is trying to "make customer service better for both companies and consumers." I think the concept (as I'll explain momentarily) is amazing and I hope it continues to be adopted by the broader consumer market and corporate customer service departments. Here's the problem it solves, how it works and what it means for your personal productivity. As you know, trying to get customer service on the line can sometimes be a major headache. FastCustomer steps in as a free Web, mobile SMS and smartphone app technology that waits for you, then connects you to customer service so you don't have any wait time. You can access the service via FastCustomer.com, install their Firefox or Chrome Web browser extensions, text 936-CALL-PLS, or use their Apple iOS or Android-based smartphone applications. You let them know what company you need a customer service call from and they do the rest for you. Once a representative is brought on the line, FastCustomer calls you and puts the representative on the phone. Poof! Think of the hours you'll save waiting from on hold! A few important details:

the service is available in the United States and Canada presently and not all businesses' phone systems support FastCustomer;

there's a human element to FastCustomer, meaning that the customer service rep needs to listen to FastCustomer's directions when they get on the line so that they don't disconnect your call before you pick up the line; and,

if a company is not listed, you can request them to get listed but that doesn't mean they have to listen.

So, don't wait on hold ever again! Use FastCustomer, tell everyone you know about the service, make sure your company or organization is listed and spread the customer service love.

ProdPod: Episode 33 - Turn Conflict Into Winning Together For Increased Productivity Apr 10, 2012

Welcome to Episode 33 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith, your productivity guide.

I'm rather comfortable with conflict resolution, but I see an abundance of poor conflict handling in the media today (especially coming from our politicians), I thought it might help to give an explanation of two foundational principles, Think Win-Win and Principled Negotiation, that have served me well in my business and personal life. If you've ever read Stephen Covey's The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, you probably remember Habit #4, Think Win-Win. If you're not familiar, Dr. Covey basically espouses that you should strive for three win's in any long-term solution or agreement: mine, yours and ours. Therefore, if any of those three parties should lose, it's "no deal." The reasoning is that it's a loss for everyone in an interdependent group when one person loses. It was several years later while studying Conflict Resolution and Mediation that I learned about the book, Getting to Yes: Negotiating Agreement Without Giving In, [great summary here] by Fisher, Ury and Patton (a book that was born out of the Harvard Negotiation Project). This seminal work primarily focuses on teaching us Principled Negotiation, which is to:

"separate people from the problems" (so that you can be compassionate with people, remove ego from the scenario as best as you can, and clearly see your other party's perspective);

"focus on interests, not positions" (which brings the parties to discussing what they want and not their superficial stance when conflict arises);

"mutual gains" (as the source of Covey's Habit #4 encouraging brainstorming and viewing the issues broadly); and

"insist on using objective criteria" (by using fair standards decided upon upfront).

The genuine success in Covey's Think Win-Win and Getting to Yes' Principled Negotiation is that you educate your other party about the concepts so that you're working toward the same interdependent reality. The more we work on mutual gains negotiation the more we can work through conflict to truly get positive things done.

ProdPod: Episode 32 -- Meditation's Power on Productivity Apr 04, 2012

Welcome to Episode 32 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith, your productivity guide.

What do MRIs, Buddhist monks and meditation have to do with each other? It turns out, your productivity. There are many studies past and ongoing [here's a recent article of one such study] that reveal that meditation has innumerable benefits for helping the mind focus, which is one of the key ways in which we can take advantage of our productive hours of the day. However you express yourself secularly or spiritually, calling it meditation, prayer, quiet time, introspection or otherwise, as long as you focus your attention calmly and steadily, you can gain the mental benefits. By the act of teaching your brain to focus, the rest of the collateral benefits in your productive life follow naturally. I've meditated for many years and here's a quick exercise that I still practice to this day when I find it difficult to let go of my day ahead, or the day's events. With eyes closed, sit in a relaxed, quiet space. You may need ear plugs. And, you should turn your electronic devices off and put them somewhere outside of the room. Start at a small number, say, 20. Breathe deeply through your nose into your stomach (otherwise known as "diaphragmatic breathing" or "yogic breathing"), hold for a moment, and then slowly exhale to the count of three. As you do this, keep your hands rested supine on your legs to combat restlessness and raise your chest slightly as you inhale on occasion to fix your posture. Count silently, "Twenty." Take another deep breath into your diaphragm and repeat as you count down to one. Increase the number of your breaths as you find more time to meditate or reduce the number and tuck several sessions throughout the day. There are many meditative practices, so while this exercise may not fit you forever, use it while you find one that does. Your productivity will be glad you did.

ProdPod: Episode 31 -- Your Digital Productivity System Needs a Paper-Based Redundancy Mar 27, 2012

Have you ever been at the bank and the power goes out? They can't do anything! It's quite frustrating and you basically need to step out of line and come back later. Period. Now, let's jump over to your personal productivity system. You've set up the perfect system using your desktop or Web-based tools. You're on top of the world. And, then, the power goes out, or you're on the road and your smartphone runs out of battery life. What now?

Of course, the power going out isn't the only frustration with digital productivity systems. If you have to work somewhere (like a satellite office location or a client's office) that lacks Internet access to outsiders, proper cellular signal or (as in the US Department of Defense) permission to bring in electronic devices, how will you manage? What happens when you fall off the wagon? Projects and tasks pile up or stagnate on your digital lists, right? Are you going to trust your inboxes and lists to manage yourself at that point? Probably not. These are just a few reasons I advocate that everyone who spends the effort developing a robust digital productivity system do themselves the favor of establishing a redundant framework in good old-fashioned paper. Some basic questions to ask yourself about a paper-based redundancy:

Where will I put tasks and projects on paper should my computer or smartphone not be available?

Can my digital system print to a paper list format? I happen to think this is a critical determinant for deciding to use any desktop or Web-based tool.

How often will you test your paper system? Once a year, once a quarter or more often?

I think that how often you test is a result of this next question: what aspects of my system do I need if my paper system needs to be around (a) just for today, (b) for the next week or next few weeks, or (c) for the near long-term?

And, finally, how can I reduce transition cost (time, energy and other resources) between digital and paper?

ProdPod: Episode 30 -- Two-Minute Book Summary: 18 Minutes by Peter Bregman Jan 10, 2012

One of my favorite productivity reads of 2011 was 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done by Peter Bregman. Mr. Bregman assembled his book from his highly popular Harvard Business Review blog, and he endeavors to give insights and highly practical tips for just what the title states...and he delivers. In this episode, a summary of his concept of the 18-minute day, a powerful concept anyone can use for a more highly-productive and fulfilled life.

Five minutes at the beginning and ending of the day, plus one minute of every 8-hour workday equates to his 18 Minute Ritual.

1) At the beginning of the day, decide what you'll do today and calendar it.

2) Check in every hour with yourself. As Peter notes, "manage your day hour by hour. Don't let the hours manage you."

3) The end of day ritual.

1. How did the day go? What success did I experience? What challenges did I endure?

2. What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do differently or the same tomorrow?

3. Whom did I interact with? (Actions: And I need to update? Or thank? Or ask a question? Or share feedback?)

(Bregman gives this "end of day" ritual 5 minutes but it always takes me more time than that. Notwithstanding, there's his 18 minutes.)

Paraphrasing the author about this "end of day" ritual, "These minutes" of reflection and quick actions "are the way to making tomorrow even better than today."

I'll leave you with my favorite quotation in the book from Peter Bregman.

"The world doesn't reward perfection/ It rewards productivity."

ProdPod: Episode 29 -- Personal Stress Audit Dec 27, 2011

I recently re-read a book I picked up a few years ago by Clare Harris called Conquer Stress, Achieve Success, and it describes something I advocate highly: doing a personal stress audit.

Here's Clare's process:

First: Find a quiet space where you're comfortable and won't be disturbed. You may even want to do a relaxation technique or meditate for a few minutes to release any tensions from the outside world at that moment. Then, with pen and a notepad, make a list of all the most important events that occurred in the last two years.

Next: Create a list or pie chart of the different areas of your life. In GTD, we call these Areas of Focus and Areas of Responsibility combined.

Now, you can go category by category and write down anything that makes you feel stressed, tense or anxious, sad, angry, limited or judged. The author notes you should make sure not to self-judge or self-censor while doing this part of the exercise. Continue writing down items with their categories until you've exhausted ideas.

Then, lay out the categorized lists, mindmaps or however you created them, and look for commonalities, patterns and relationships among the categories' items. From here you should be able to do two things: 1) note which items need change, and 2) asterisk which items need change as soon as possible!

Finally, the part most people leave out when doing any kind of assessment: create a strategy for change! Using SMART goals (see episode 19), create steps for achieving a lower-stress lifestyle. Make sure to include key players in your life: your boss, your spouse, family, friends, coworkers and children.

You know you've reached a point of success when you can start checking off items from your SMART goals list for reducing stress.

ProdPod: Episode 28 -- Creating Flow: Learning to Fully Use Our Current Productivity Tools Dec 20, 2011

Getting to know yourself, your current productivity tools and how to use them correctly is a definitive step in creating flow in your productive life.

Bernard M. Baruch once said, "Only as you do know yourself can your brain serve you as a sharp and efficient tool. Know your own failings, passions, and prejudices so you can separate them from what you see."

Many times people ask me for the latest tool, hack or tip that will get them an edge on their life and work productivity. While I don't mind giving that advice, so often I'm baffled that more people don't look at the tools we already have available to us.
Have you ever noticed that of the many tools available to us, there is usually one right tool for the job? You know you shouldn't hammer a screw into the wall or call your father with your washing machine. One of the most prevalent productivity crimes I see is using your calendar as a task or projects list. What tool may you be misusing when it comes to your own productivity system?
Finally, learn how to the use the tools you have fully and correctly. Nine times out of 10 you don't need the newest features on a tech gadget that's just been released; honestly, you've lived for how many years without it and you've done pretty well, right? Your current tools probably have features and functions that you've yet to explore completely. Learn them well and you'll trust your system more than ever.
Getting to know yourself, your current productivity tools and how to use them correctly is a definitive step in creating flow in your productive life. In the words of the photographer, Ken Rockwell, "Maybe because it's entirely an artist's eye, patience and skill that makes an image and not his tools."
I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. This is Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening! Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less.
Have you ever noticed that of the many tools available to us, there is usually one right tool for the job? You know you shouldn't hammer a screw into the wall or call your father with your washing machine. One of the most prevalent productivity crimes I see is using your calendar as a task or projects list. What tool may you be misusing when it comes to your own productivity system?
Finally, learn how to the use the tools you have fully and correctly. Nine times out of 10 you don't need the newest features on a tech gadget that's just been released; honestly, you've lived for how many years without it and you've done pretty well, right? Your current tools probably have features and functions that you've yet to explore completely. Learn them well and you'll trust your system more than ever.
Getting to know yourself, your current productivity tools and how to use them correctly is a definitive step in creating flow in your productive life. In the words of the photographer, Ken Rockwell, "Maybe because it's entirely an artist's eye, patience and skill that makes an image and not his tools."
I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. This is Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening! Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less.
Finally, learn how to the use the tools you have fully and correctly. Nine times out of 10 you don't need the newest features on a tech gadget that's just been released; honestly, you've lived for how many years without it and you've done pretty well, right? Your current tools probably have features and functions that you've yet to explore completely. Learn them well and you'll trust your system more than ever.
Getting to know yourself, your current productivity tools and how to use them correctly is a definitive step in creating flow in your productive life. In the words of the photographer, Ken Rockwell, "Maybe because it's entirely an artist's eye, patience and skill that makes an image and not his tools."
I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. This is Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening! Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less.
Getting to know yourself, your current productivity tools and how to use them correctly is a definitive step in creating flow in your productive life. In the words of the photographer, Ken Rockwell, "Maybe because it's entirely an artist's eye, patience and skill that makes an image and not his tools."
I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. This is Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening! Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less.
I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. This is Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening! Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less.

We have one of the greatest miracles in the universe, our bodies and specifically as Mr. Baruch mentioned, our minds. There's a world of knowledge at our fingertips about the way we work if we're willing to pay attention.

ProdPod: Episode 27 -- Parkinson's Law Dec 13, 2011

In 1955, a British naval historian and prolific author, Cyril Northcote Parkinson, wrote an essay for The Economist, in which he wrote what now has become the renowned Parkinson's Law, that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion."

Unfortunately for Mr. Parkinson, the meaning of the phrase he named "Parkinson's Law" has birthed several corollaries, many of which have computer-related meanings, and his meaning has all but bit the dust.

Now we have several versions such as...

Data expands to fill the space available for storage.

Storage requirements will increase to meet storage capacity.

and...my favorite...

Nature abhors a vacuum.

However, it's the Parkinson's Law corrollary in regard to time management that I think will pique your interest:

It states...the amount of time which one has to perform a task is the amount of time it will take to complete the task.

I recently read about a study in which several groups of undergraduate students were allowed to choose their own course deadlines in varying degrees, some were allowed no deadline, that is, to have everything submitted before the end of the course, some got to choose their deadlines during the semester but once chosen they were fixed dates, and then there was a control group with the professor's normal deadlines. Surprisingly, the ones with the professor's deadlines, scored the best. The second best were the ones with the self-prescribed, staggered deadlines throughout the semester. This provides at least some statistical evidence that humans are naturally bound to healthy pressure when it comes to the productive use of our time, and once again gives us heed to listen to Parkinson's Law when deciding how much time to dedicate to a particular task or project.

I hope you enjoyed this episode of ProdPod. I'm Ray Sidney-Smith and thanks for listening. Here's to your productivity success...in two minutes or less.

ProdPod: Episode 26 -- Technology and Simplicity Dec 06, 2011

For those of you who suffer from carrying too much with you on a regular basis, or feeling the clutter of technology accumulate on your desk or around the house over time, think about these three questions to see if you can simplify your technology infrastructure.

1- How often do you use each of the devices you own? Like with your wardrobe, if you haven't worn it this year, it's likely you won't use it next year.

2- Can you consolidate functionality? If you've had a printer, scanner and fax machine sitting around your office or home office for several years, now might be the time to think about consolidating to a wireless, network multi-function printer/scanner/copier and getting a service such as MyFax or eFax that allows you to send/receive faxes by email. This will reduce the devices, clutter and gives you more telecommunications options.

3- Are there new Cloud-based technologies that help you become more device-independent? For example, if you carry a smartphone and an MP3 player, you may want to try out Google Music (the new Web-based music player hosts up to 20,000 of your songs for free so you can access them anywhere) by going to music.google.com and phasing out the extra device.

The beauty of living in an age of advanced technology is that you can also streamline, so why not take advantage!

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode 25 -- Is your system too complex? Nov 29, 2011

Is your system too complex? Well, it is if you spend more time managing your system than your system helps you manage getting things done.

We all have an idea that benefits should be greater than the costs, whether they're tangible or intangible. And, this naturally implies that your developing, implementing and evaluating a productivity system should be outweighed by the amount of time spent actually getting things done.

Said another way, your productivity system should be divided into three areas (as we discussed in episodes 3 and 4 regarding the special theory of productivity): plan, implement and evaluate. For those prone to plan too much or procastinate, planning and evaluating should be contained to about 20% of your time and energy, while implementing (what we call "Doing" in GTD lingo) should be about 80% of your productive time and energy.

This may seem simple, but for many people who are highly interested in productivity, we spend an inexplicable amount of time on lifehack.org, gtdtimes, 43folders and zenhabits, learning about new and innovative topics about productivity and organization, We are actually going beyond the 20% of our time devoted to planning and evaluating instead of the activities that are on our lists. Think about this reality the next time you set aside your focus on getting things done and open up a site that distracts you from being productive. Once you start to be mindful and return to your to-do list, I have no doubt you'll be satisfied that you did!

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode 24 -- Thanksgiving and Interdependence Nov 24, 2011

Every Thanksgiving, I'm reminded about all the wonderful people in my life as my greatest blessing. In our modern, global society, though, it's easy to take many of these important people for granted the rest of the year.

Every Thanksgiving, I'm reminded about all the wonderful people in my life as my greatest blessing. In our modern, global society, though, it's easy to take many things for granted the rest of the year. As way of example, when's the last time you've harvested your own fresh produce or livestock for your family? Even with our deeply interdependent lives, we aren't given many opportunities to highlight the unsung heroes and unseen everyday people who work behind the scenes to make sure our lives are productive.

Interdependence will forever remind me of the words of Dr. Stephen Covey from his 1989 book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People.
Independent thinking alone is not suited to interdependent reality. Independent people who do not have the maturity to think and act interdependently may be good individual producers, but they won't be good leaders or team players. They're not coming from the paradigm of interdependence necessary to succeed in marriage, family, or organizational reality.
I bid you to be thankful for the great blessing of a productive, interdependent life during this and every Thanksgiving!

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode 23 -- Nov 01, 2011

Perseverance is a definite key to success. And, there are opportunities to persevere in everyday life. "Become a 'possibilitarian.' No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities-- Always see them, for they are always there." ~Norman Vincent Peale I'd like to invite everyone listening to the podcast to my new live, monthly Twitter conversation, Productivity Chat or prodchat. Please visit productivity.podbean.com to learn more, and see how easy it is to join the conversation!

Perseverance is not the prettiest word. It sounds harsh and dark and sharp. It turns out, though, that to persevere is the one characteristic unique among all successful people. Whether it's in love, a kid's soccer game or corporate America, the fact that you didn't give up is the key for moving beyond the short-term wins and losses and onto the greater goal. I started to think about my own life and how I could think about perseverance vis-a-vis my productivity. I persevere when I don't feel like working anymore for the day and I do that *one more item* on my Next Actions list that doesn't take much energy. I persevere when I decide to dive into a large project by doing just the next thing (e.g., that first phone call, email or the first sentence of a vision/mission statement) and then decide to continue on with the next action on that project. In what ways do you persevere every day?

I encourage you to think about these possibilities to persevere whenever you can, every day. There are opportunities to overcome challenges, competing priorities, and take advantage of openings in your schedule throughout the day to greater productivity.
"Become a 'possibilitarian.' No matter how dark things seem to be or actually are, raise your sights and see the possibilities-- Always see them, for they are always there." ~Norman Vincent Peale
I'd like to invite everyone listening to the podcast to my new live, monthly Twitter conversation, Productivity Chat or prodchat. Please visit productivity.podbean.com to learn more, and see how easy it is to join the conversation!
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode 22 -- Defining procrastination Oct 25, 2011

Sometimes, it's all in how you define an unproductive behavior that starts to build new, productive behaviors. I'd like to invite everyone listening to the podcast to my new live, monthly Twitter conversation, Productivity Chat or prodchat. Please visit productivity.podbean.com to learn more, and see how easy it is to join the conversation!

The first accepted definition is procrastination being a lack of motivation leading to non-action. The second common definition of procrastination is the putting off till tomorrow what you can do today. The third, lesser known and my personally-accepted definition, is the doing of lesser-priority activities instead of doing higher-priority activities. Therefore, procrastination is a supplanting of activities, delaying activities of higher importance as a by-product; not laziness, not lack of motivation, and not lacking in self-efficacy.

Normally I would say that asking yourself why you're thinking a particular way would be the first step to conquering any unproductive behavior; however, this is an exception to that as I think you shouldn't think one more minute about why you procrastinate and stop defining procrastination as a character trait. Banish the term "procrastinator" and the statement "I'm a procrastinator" from your vernacular. It's a behavior and behaviors can change by building new, productive behaviors.
Heck, procrastination can be positive; for example, doing a high priority activity when the right energy, emotion or competence is not available can be detrimental. Doing the lower-priority activities during those times can be the best use of your time.
I'll have many more episodes on conquering and finding balance with procrastination, and I wanted to set a good definition in place for the context of managing procrastination and, ultimately, your productivity.

ProdPod: Episode 21 -- How to Worry Less Oct 18, 2011

Worry isn't and wasn't always unproductive; it started as a means of human survival. If there wasn't worrying, our ancestors wouldn't have eaten, foraged for food or fled when hungry predators appeared! Today, though, worry is much less needed in our day-to-day lives but it still persists as a chronic, systemic problem for many trying to have a fulfilled, productive life. In this episode, and having been a worrywart myself, I'm going to give you a formula that has worked for me to worry less. I'd like to invite everyone listening to the podcast to my new live, monthly Twitter conversation, Productivity Chat or prodchat. Please visitproductivity.podbean.com to learn more, and see how easy it is to join the conversation!

First: If you do worry a lot, there is probably a good reason why you began worrying often between adolescence and young adulthood. I'm not going to be able to help you much in that regard, but to say that some introspection is in order. If you find the source of your worry, you can address it and let it go.

Second: Emotions are easily swappable. So, with worry, all you need to do is use that energy to think about the problem not just about worrying. Specifically, I want you to think about what the worst thing is that could happen for whatever is the focus of your worry. Take yourself to that place momentarily and determine whether it's that big of a deal or not. Once you've gotten yourself adjusted to whether triage is needed or planning; that is, it is a big deal and you need to go into immediate action to stop damage to life and limb, or, it's possible to plan and act to reduce possible issues.

Third: If you've decided you can limit the catastrophe you're worrying about, go ahead and start doing the things that you can to make the outcome better for you. I'm not trying to say that everything is always going to turn out perfectly if you actively mitigate potential problems, but why sit around and worry knowing you could have done *something* to stave or halt problems from occurring? The very act of doing instead of ruminating limits your mind's ability to actually worry.

ProdPod: Episode 20 -- Self-control & Savings: Productivity for the Long Haul Oct 11, 2011

In this episode, I describe my unfortunate relationship with the definition of the word "savings" for many years and what it taught me about productivity.

When I was in my late teens and was into reading books on financial literacy, I learned along the way a peculiar definition of "savings." Savings, according to this definition, is the deprivation of something now for later benefit. I struggled for many years of swallowing the idea of depriving myself, since savings was a positive tactic in financial strategy books I read. Savings was supposed to help you feel safe and pacify you about the uncertainty of life, not something that was scary and made you think of scarcity in your everyday life. I learned many years later that the true lesson of my unfortunate relationship with the definition of savings was that self-control, discipline and habits are inherently positive and deprivation was not the right choice of words. It wasn't until I read Steven Covey's 8th Habit when he discussed the concept of discipline as freedom, that I broke this negative association with the word savings. What those financial strategy books were trying to explain but never quite expressed was that a productive life means having the self-control to determine your own path--past, present and future. I mean that by understanding and guiding one's experiencing self and remembering self, you build a skill to build a life of fulfillment. It wasn't about a mass of money I'd put out of reach so that I'd miss rich life experiences only to be able to afford to keep up with the cost of living when I'm old and fully gray. It was even more than the adage "a penny saved is a penny earned"...it was that small habits of planned giving and taking make huge positive impacts long-term. This lesson has always been intensely motivating and I use it regularly to remind me that it's not about doing more with less, but doing more begets more and doing less begets less and both are useful tools.

I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode 19 -- SMART Goals for Project Planning Oct 04, 2011

One of my favorite finds when it comes to project planning was the acronym SMART. It stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-sensitive. Recently I've learned of additions to the acronym to make it SMARTER, to include evaluate and reassess to the SMART goal planning process.

I use the SMART criteria specifically during my planning phase of any project, for writing out my project descriptions thoroughly. For example, before I used SMART criteria for my goals, I would write a goal as: Increase company's third quarter revenue. Now, using the SMART goal format, the revised goal is written as: Empower sales managers to implement our sales/marketing plan to increase company's third quarter revenue by 15% in the southeast region to determine annual bonuses, by dedicating one day of every week to the team.
By its face, it's certainly much longer than the original, but more importantly, the detail with which the goal is defined, it allows me to view my Projects list with no question about the mission, vision and general action plan for how I'm going to complete this project. It answers the questions of why, what and how, so you can get to work, motivated and ready for action. I hope writing SMART goals becomes a useful tool (and regular productive habit) for you in getting more of your important, not-urgent projects accomplished.

ProdPod: Episode 18 -- Someday or Maybe? Sep 29, 2011

A "Someday/Maybe" list, according to David Allen's Getting Things Done (or GTD) methodology is for any goal, project or next action that you are not committed to achieving or doing right now. Many people have struggled to separate what goes on their Someday/Maybe lists from their Actions and Projects lists, so I thought in this episode I'd describe Someday/Maybe's in my productivity system in hopes that it helps others.

I distinguish between someday's and maybe's. Someday's I *will* do. Maybe's maybe not. For someday's I always put parenthetically after the description "Resources Needed/Wanted:" which asks the question: what would I need or want to happen that would trigger me to do this someday item right now? For me, this makes someday's realistic and available for when that "missing link" becomes available, whether that's time, money, emotional energy to invest, credentials, a new delegatee, a call from my mother, or so on.
So, in practical terms, I use two context lists to manage the various someday/maybe's in my life and work. This puts an intrinsic greater importance on somday's than on maybe's, so I typically review someday's every week during my Weekly Review. Whereas, my maybe's are items that I plan to review at least quarterly, but most of the time I come across the list monthly when I find the mental-emotional energy and time to think about my maybe's list. By its nature, they end up being somewhat of a wishlist of things I'd like to accomplish but haven't yet figured out how to accomplish, but with a little creativity I can make them a someday or perhaps even an actual project or next-action.
This is just one modification of many to GTD that I've implemented in my own personal productivity system, and it benefits me by allowing me to move stuff to definable goals without cluttering my active projects or next-actions lists with yet-to-be-productive items.

ProdPod: Episode 17 -- Two-Minute Book Summary: Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson Sep 06, 2011

Two-Minute Book Summary: Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life Dr. Spencer Johnson

Dr. Spencer Johnson wrote and published his NY-Times-5-years-running bestselling book, Who Moved My Cheese? An Amazing Way to Deal With Change in Your Work and in Your Life, in 1998. I read this oft-cited business fable back in 1999 or 2000 for the first time, and it represented a major change in my thinking about my life, and specifically my productivity. Dr. Johnson uses "cheese" to represent happiness and success, whereas I substituted his definition for my highly productive state called sometimes "flow."

The gem of the book arrives near the end of the book when one of the four characters, after facing the root of change avoidance: fear. He writes on a wall these words of wisdom...

Change Happens

They Keep Moving The Cheese

Anticipate Change

Get Ready For The Cheese To Move

Monitor Change

Smell The Cheese Often So You Know When It Is Getting Old

Adapt To Change Quickly

The Quicker You Let Go Of Old Cheese, The Sooner You Can Enjoy New Cheese

Change

Move With The Cheese

Enjoy Change!

Savor The Adventure And Enjoy The Taste Of New Cheese!

Be Ready To Change Quickly And Enjoy It Again

They Keep Moving The Cheese.

Final thoughts: Who Moved My Cheese is a great book and worth the read.

ProdPod: Episode 16 -- To Change Productivity Systems, or Not? Aug 30, 2011

In this episode's lesson, I explain why changing your entire productivity system can be truly counterproductive and to think twice.

I'm the first person to extol the virtues of change. I've actually got an episode upcoming about just how to handle change. But, when it comes to changing to an entirely new productivity system, in this episode's lesson, I explain why change on that macro level can be truly counterproductive and to think twice.

First, every productivity system is founded on habits and productive habits take time to develop. As I discussed in episodes 12 through 15, we have reason to believe habits take much more time to become evergreen than we've long-theorized. Take it consideration the time and effort to learn new productive habits in the context of a whole new productivity system.

Next, change is incremental and is based on what you already know. Your system may look completely different from five or more years ago, but it has your unique fingerprints all over it. No matter what system you adopt, it comes with the history of your past system and lessons learned from it. Analogously, Bruce Lee's martial arts methodology and life philosophy, Jeet Kune Do, took the best aspects of then-known martial arts systems and blended them, not to create a new system but to highlight the virtues of these established systems. His students were encouraged not to replace their systems, but to continuously learn lifelong about new styles. The same goes for you to continuously learn and grow from understanding your productivity methodology and values as well as unproductive obstacles, such as procrastination, evaluation deficits, and even avoiding true progress by adopting new systems.

Finally, too much change too quickly will present a level of chaos that's unproductive not only in the short-term but it trains you to become used to long-term disorder. Also, it's not sustainable to throw away any system completely as dramatic changes in critical habits usually lead to a dramatic return to the most unproductive habits in lieu of said change. Productivity overhauls have a ripple effect in an interconnected society, so expect that chaos to affect others in your work and personal life.

ProdPod: Episode 15 -- How to Form a Productive Habit, Part 4 Aug 25, 2011

Learning a Productive Habit This is the fourth and final episode in How to Form a Productive Habit. In episode 14, we discussed theory and now we'll be discussing a practical strategy and tactics for coming out victorious in your endeavor to form a productive habit.
This is the fourth and final episode in How to Form a Productive Habit--Learning a Productive Habit. In episode 14, we discussed theory and now we'll be discussing a practical strategy and tactics for coming out victorious in your endeavor to form a productive habit.

First and foremost, always beta-test your new productive habit with a balanced perspective (not a critical one)...if you think of this as trial-and-error you'll be motivated longer to build the productive habit.

Second, Do more of the activities that develop the productive habit while conditioning yourself at the very end of habit development, so that when you feel ready to move to your normal habit schedule you're actually just slowing down not having to ramp up.

Small, phases/milestones with no real end goal...definitive goals are a habit killer; adjust for habituation; and, reward good habits (extrinsic motivation helps). Visualize yourself doing the new habit, but also think about the emotional fulfillment you'll feel when you practice the new habit.

ProdPod: Episode 14 -- How to Form a Productive Habit, Part 3 Aug 23, 2011

Realities of Forming Habits: New Scientific Data This is part three of our 4-part podcast on How to Form a Productive Habit. In this episode, we'll be discussing the realities of forming habits using the most current scientific data on automaticity.

This is part three of our 4-part podcast on How to Form a Productive Habit. In this episode, we'll be discussing the realities of forming habits using the most current scientific data on automaticity.
About a year ago, the research associate in Health Psychology, Dr. Phillippa Lally, at University College London DEPARTMENT OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND PUBLIC HEALTH in the
HEALTH BEHAVIOUR RESEARCH CENTRE performed a study on habit formation systematically as they reach automaticity.
The findings are quite interesting, albeit there are some constructive criticisms of the work. Here are the four main outcomes of the study and how it may help us with forming productive habits.
1. Automaticity took on average 66 days to be reached. Yes, 66 days. Banish the old concept of doing something repetitively for 21-30 days as once was thought.
2. Each person varies for similar habits. In the study, we found that the times ranged from 18 to 254 days to reach maximum automaticity. There are many variables why this may be the case: trying to learn too many new habits at once, not enough focus, time and/or attention, or other not-so-easily distinguishable idiosyncrasies. Ergo, don't think about reaching automaticity so much as the work of forming the habit. It'll reduce burnout.
3. Complex behaviors take more time. This may seem obvious but our previous understanding contradicts this. Don't beat yourself up so much about not building a productive habit of exercising regularly; it turns out that it may take significantly longer to reach that automatic state.
4. Counter to the great psychologist William James's theory, you can actually omit a behavior (say, miss a day at the gym) and it will have negligible effect on automaticity and long-term impact. However, there was some evidence that the effects of omitting the behavior was cumulative and so it's not a ticket to slack off, otherwise you won't be able to build that productive habit.
So, there you go. The real deal, theoretically, about forming habits from the latest in psychological understanding. Please join us for episode 15, our final part of How to Form a Productive Habit, where I'll be covering practical aspects of learning productive habits.

ProdPod: Episode 13 -- How to Form a Productive Habit, Part 2 Aug 18, 2011

Stop Digging: Unproductive Habits This is part two of our 4-part podcast on How to Form a Productive Habit. In this episode, we'll be discussing Unproductive Habits.

This is part two of our 4-part podcast on How to Form a Productive Habit. In this episode, we'll be discussing Unproductive Habits.

Most productive habits start by the realization of an unproductive one. So, my first piece of advice is to stop digging as best you can. If your clothing caught on fire, you shouldn't run as the fire will spread. The best thing to do is to stop, drop and roll, to cut off the oxygen vital to the fire. Much of your behaviors that built your unproductive habits were noticeable when you first formed them. Combat the unproductive habit by taking the time to reflect on it before replacing the unproductive habit with your newly-formed productive habit.

Next, ask yourself: What was the original purpose or reason for the development of this unproductive habit? What need/want did it fulfill? And what is the new necessity or desire you want to achieve? Write this down. Put it in a drawer and come back to it as often as necessary.

Negate as much negative self-speak and internal dialog. I also suggest not talking about habits as "good" or "bad" as it connotes judgment more than if something is quantitatively or qualitatively productive or not. And one final guideline: Avoid using the present or past tense of the modal auxiliary verbs: will, should, would, could, can, must, ought to, had better, dare and need. I find that people who keep their self-speak in the present indicative mood (I am a productive person. INSTEAD OF I will be a productive person.) tend to shed bad habits faster and long-term.

ProdPod: Episode 12 -- How to Form a Productive Habit, Part 1 Aug 16, 2011

Distinguishing Between Habits and Other Forms of Non-Associative Learning In this 4-part podcast, I'll be discussing How to Form a Productive Habit. In this first episode, I'll explain the groundwork for determining how you'll tackle the formation of a new habit.

In this 4-part podcast, I'll be discussing how to Form a Productive Habit. In this first episode, I'll explain the groundwork for determining how you'll tackle the formation of a new habit. So, let's get right to it.
To make sure we're all speaking using the same understanding of terms, I'm going to define a few key items: habit, automaticity, habituation and sensitization. Then, I'll explain their relationship to forming productive habits.

A habit is an automatic response pattern developed by repeating a behavior until it becomes almost or completely unconscious.

Automaticity in psychological terms has been described as "unconscious competence" or the ability to do things without occupying the mind with the low-level details required, allowing them to become a habit. Some examples include driving a car, riding a bicycle, music sight-reading while playing the piano, and even speaking.

Habituation is the non-associative learning, psychological process, where a person decreases response to a stimulus after repeated exposure. A good example is your clothing. Once dressed, you feel your clothes on your skin but within minutes you no longer actually sense the clothing as your mind attends to more important stimuli.

Sensitization is another form of non-associative learning where a person responds because of a progressively increasing level of stimulus. Try rubbing your arm progressively faster until it burns; your response is to pull away because your brain initiates a pain response.

It's best to determine when you are forming a habit, whether you need to concern yourself with habituation or sensitization. For example, forming the productive habit of washing the dishes daily may be one part forming the habit and the other part realizing that something in your youth triggered a fear of dishwashing liquid. You'll need to habituate to the dishwashing liquid touching you before you'll ever be able to form the productive habit. And, you may even have a spouse or roommate remind you (with your permission) to perform the habit-in-process until you do it, so that with each reminder, your brain eventually initiates a crescendo-like response to your own commitment to wash the dishes.

ProdPod: Episode 11 -- Power Productivity Through Active Listening Aug 11, 2011

This episode is a series of quick tips I've gathered over time for power productivity through active listening.

We have so many forms of communication available to us today. Technology keeps improving and with a globally-connected, 24/7 society, you could easily have engaging conversations 'round the clock. With all this capacity and experience with digital communication technologies, it makes sense that some of our interpersonal skills will change or need refreshing, like active listening. This episode is a series of quick tips I've gathered over time for power productivity through active listening.

1. Ask more questions than giving declarative statements, then stop talking and listen to the answers being given. You'll be surprised how much you can accomplish when you let others do and say more.
3. Ask clarifying questions to let your speaker know you're listening and engaged.
4. When possible, make eye contact and pay attention to body language.
5. Repeat back what is said in your own words, so the speaker knows you listened and understood what was said. This is also an opportunity for her to clarify in case you haven't.
6. Once you have mastered the art of active listening. Teach it to others. Pay it forward. As the old adage goes, if you teach something you learn it twice, plus it will save you time and hassle in the future.

2. Hearing is a sense. Listening is an active process. Develop your skills for listening not just hearing.

ProdPod: Episode Ten -- Meta-Tasking Aug 09, 2011

In the last episode, I explained the benefits of single-tasking, or completing one task at a time, over multi-tasking. Well, in this episode's tip: I'd like to introduce a new kind of productivity technique I've coined "meta-tasking."
In the last episode, I explained the benefits of single-tasking, or completing one task at a time, over multi-tasking. Well, in this episode's tip: I'd like to introduce a new kind of productivity technique I've coined "meta-tasking."

What if we can take the benefits of single-tasking--focus, greater creativity, more time to relax and less stress, and faster completion of tasks, and add the mythical promise of getting more done by multi-tasking?
First, break your day into locations and activities. For example, Home, Commute, Office, Gym, Commute, Home, and Bed are my basic times within which I control my work. Next, ask yourself what tasks daily, weekly, monthly, or any other repeating schedule, do I have to do things like meal preparation, laundry, cleaning, calling customer service or tech support with extended wait times, grocery shopping, etc. For each repeating errand, I can calculate conservatively from experience how much time they take. Finally, I look at my next-actions or projects list and find items that can be grouped together and done during these times when much of my activity requires waiting, for example, while the laundry and dryer are going, I can accomplish two to four 15-minute tasks.
When I'm planning my week ahead, I just review my calendar for these repeating errands and I can quickly and easily fill that time in with more productive tasks.
Remember, in order for meta-tasking to truly be beneficial is to prioritize tasks where shifting focus is minimal and gives you ample time to finish. Set yourself up for success by having small tasks grouped together. Satisfaction is the goal here, not just efficiency.

ProdPod: Episode Nine -- Single-Tasking Aug 04, 2011

This episode's tip: Single-tasking is the way to achieve more with greater focus and less stress, not multi-tasking.
For as long as I can remember, productivity experts have lauded the virtues of multi-tasking, or doing more than one thing at the same time for efficiency's sake. However, what scientific studies have taught us in recent years is that focus on a single task at a time actually accomplishes more than multi-tasking. Think of it this way, your brain cannot consciously have two thoughts at the same time. For example, try to think about what the number one and the letter A represents to you simultaneously. Impossible, no? You must think about one conceptually then the other.

So, what are you doing when you're multi-tasking? You're actually quickly changing focus back and forth between each task. And just like a car, you cannot turn the vehicle in two directions concurrently. And every time you turn the vehicle, you must slow down, recalibrate the car's direction then return acceleration to your original cruising speed. This takes careful focus and time not only with a car but with a change in each task.
In essence "single-tasking" to complete a task fully as the only item you're focusing and/or working on is more efficient than the notion of multi-tasking. The ancillary benefits are focus, less stress and faster project completion. This all equates to more time to relax or accomplish more goals that are fulfilling to your productive life.

ProdPod: Episode Eight -- Leaving Presentations Ready for Action Aug 02, 2011

This episode's tip: How to leave a presentation ready for action with handouts.

Productivity and presentations can almost be considered antonyms to the common seminar or workshop attendee. Everyone's time is limited and they usually don't take the information gained into action. I've heard statistics that over two-thirds of individuals use *none* of the actionable information from professional conferences. One of the main reasons, I believe, most people accomplish so little when they leave educational events is that they do not design their experience for the outcome that's most advantageous to them. This episode's tip: How to leave a presentation ready for action with handouts.
Initially, I assess the information and giveaways I receive from tradeshow exhibitors or sponsors. Are really worth keeping? They become distractions once you're seated if you don't properly commit to putting them out of sight once the speaker begins. While I'm at it, I usually try to get a seat early on to make sure I have a clear view of the presenter, I am within audible range in case the speaker doesn't have suitable amplification, and I confirm any visual aids I've identified are in sight.
So, with no external distractions that are within my control, I pull out the materials and give it a general context and content overview. I quickly underline or star the margins in areas where I'll want to make sure I pay special attention. On a separate sheet of notepaper, I use my flavor of Note-Taking explained in Episode Seven. As soon as the presentation is over, I make sure to follow GTD practice to process what I captured and then organize it into its proper list/tool (calendar, reference file, project, next-action, someday-maybe and so forth). Because I managed the information well both before and during, I can now engage in networking and getting refreshments with ease of mind. When I get back to my office, I'm very likely to take my hard work to the next level and it's all ready for me...ready for action.

ProdPod: Episode Seven - Effective Meetings Series: Note-taking for Post-Meeting Bliss Jul 21, 2011

THIS EPISODE'S TIP IN OUR SERIES ON EFFECTIVE MEETINGS: CORNELL NOTE-TAKING METHOD FOR MEETINGS. CREATED BY WALTER PAUK, EMERITUS, AT CORNELL UNIVERSITY THIS METHODOLOGY WAS CREATED TO HELP STUDENTS TAKE NOTES AND LEARN FROM THEM THROUGHOUT A COLLEGE COURSE. I'VE MODIFIED THE CONCEPTS SLIGHTLY TO SUIT MY PROFESSIONAL NEEDS. IF YOU GOOGLE "CORNELL NOTE TAKING TEMPLATE" YOU'LL FIND A VISUAL AS I DESCRIBE THE LAYOUT.
IN SHORT, YOU HAVE THREE AREAS DESIGNATED ON A SHEET OF NOTEPAD PAPER WHICH ALONG THE LEFT-HAND SIDE COLUMN IS THE CUE C-U-E COLUMN, TO THE RIGHT OF THAT IS THE NOTE-TAKING AREA AND THE BOTTOM TWO INCHES ARE DEDICATED AS A SUMMARY AREA. I PUT THE MEETING AGENDA NEXT TO MY NOTEPAD SO I CAN FOLLOW ALONG WHILE I TAKE NOTES.
AS YOU ATTEND THE MEETING, TAKE SUBSTANTIVE NOTES IN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER AS THEY ARE DISCUSSED IN THE MEETING AGENDA IN THE NOTE-TAKING AREA. AS THE MEETING ADJOURNS, THIS IS YOUR TIME TO REFLECT ON THE MEETING BY REVIEWING YOUR NOTES AND USE THE CUE COLUMN, AKA RECALL COLUMN, TO CREATE TWO TO FOUR WORD QUESTIONS (FOR EXAMPLE, HOW TO DESIGN BROCHURE?) AS A REFERENCE REMINDER FOR THE CONTEXT OF EACH OF THE NOTES IN THE NOTE-TAKING AREA. RIGHT AFTER YOU'VE CUED YOUR NOTES, IN THE SUMMARY AREA, SUMMARIZE THE OUTCOME OF THE MEETING IN TWO TO THREE SUCCINCT SENTENCES AS WELL AS NEXT-ACTIONS. COME YOUR GTD WEEKLY REVIEW, OR WHENEVER YOU REVIEW YOUR WEEK PAST AND WEEK AHEAD, YOU HAVE YOUR NOTES IN A FORMAT THAT WILL HELP YOU QUESTION AND ANSWER YOUR WAY THROUGH THE MEETING FOR OPTIMUM RECALL AND RETENTION.
FOLLOWING CORNELL NOTE-TAKING METHODOLOGY FOR MEETINGS AS I'VE DESCRIBED, YOU'LL KNOW THE PURPOSE OF EVERY MEETING, WHAT WAS HANDLED IN THEM AND WHAT THE OUTCOMES WERE AT A GLANCE WHENEVER YOU NEED TO REFER BACK TO IT.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode Six - Effective Meeting Series: How to Keep a Meeting on Time Jul 19, 2011

THIS EPISODE'S TIP IN OUR SERIES ON EFFECTIVE MEETINGS: STARTING AND ENDING YOUR MEETINGS ON TIME BUILDS A CULTURE OF TRUST. WHETHER IT'S A FAMILY COUNCIL ON FINANCES OR A CORPORATE BRAINSTORMING MEETING ON NEXT YEAR'S MARKETING PLAN, KEEPING MEETINGS ACCORDING TO SCHEDULE IS A PRIME MEANS TO GETTING PEOPLE TO ATTEND AND KEEPING THEM ENGAGED.
HERE ARE A FEW TACTICS I SUGGEST YOU TRY FOR YOUR NEXT MEETING: ONE. REVIEW THE MATERIALS TO BE COVERED IN THE AGENDA. DOES THE TIME ALLOTTED ALLOW FOR A FULL DISCUSSION OF TOPICS? CAN THE TIME BE SHORTENED OR DOES IT NEED TO BE LENGTHENED TO BE REALISTIC? TWO. COMMUNICATE THE START AND END TIME EXACTLY TO YOUR ATTENDEES. IF THE MEETING IS VIRTUAL (USING TELEPHONE OR VIDEO CONFERENCING TOOLS) MAKE SURE TO INDICATE THE TIME ZONE FOR THE TIME YOU INDICATED. THREE. BEFORE THE AGENDA IS PASSED OUT, LET EVERYONE ATTENDING KNOW THAT THEY SHOULD KEEP TO THE AGENDA AND ANY NEW ITEMS CAN BE TABLED FOR A LATER MEETING UNLESS ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. FOCUS IS KEY. AND A BONUS TACTIC: BRING AN EGG TIMER OR SOME OTHER ALARM. I USE THE TIMER ON MY IPHONE THAT GIVES A PLEASANT BELL TOWER GONG MELODY WHEN WE'RE FIVE MINUTES BEFORE THE MEETING IS ENDING, SO WE CAN WRAP UP DISCUSSION AND DEFINE NEXT ACTIONS AND WHO THE RESPONSIBLE PARTIES ARE.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode Five - Effective Meeting Series (begins): Meetings, Meetings, Meetings Jul 12, 2011

So much is talked about anecdotally of the inefficiency and ineffectiveness of meetings in the knowledge worker age. In this episode, we'll be kicking off a series to clear up some misnomers and begin to lay down some strong foundations for effective meetings, whether at home, at work, or in community group environments.

WELCOME TO OUR FIFTH EPISODE OF PRODPOD, THE PODCAST OF PRODUCTIVITY TIPS IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS. I'M RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND I'M YOUR PRODUCTIVITY GUIDE, THE CURRENT ORGANIZER OF GETTING THINGS DONE DC MEETUP & THE FOUNDING ORGANIZER OF GETTING THINGS DONE NYC MEETUP. YOU CAN FIND ME TWEETING ON TWITTER AT G T D D C AND AT G T D N Y C USING THE HASHTAG PRODPOD.
THIS EPISODE'S TIP IN OUR SERIES ON EFFECTIVE MEETINGS: MEETINGS DON'T HAVE TO BE. IT SOUNDS TRITE BUT MANY PEOPLE TODAY AVOID MEETINGS BECAUSE THEY DON'T TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THEM. THEY AREN'T ATTENDING AND PARTICIPATING IN THE MEETINGS FOR THEM TO BE EFFICIENT AND EFFECTIVE, BUT BECAUSE THEY ARE OBLIGATED AND DON'T UNDERSTAND THEIR VALUE IN BEING PRESENT.
STEP ONE OF AN EFFECTIVE MEETING BEGINS BEFORE A MEETING IS BORN: ASK THE QUESTION "WHY?" OFTEN. WHY ARE YOU BEING ASKED TO ATTEND THE MEETING? CAN YOU SAY NO TO ATTENDING AND JUST RECEIVE THE MINUTES/NOTES OF THE MEETING FOR NEXT ACTIONS OR INFORMATION THAT IS REFERENCE? STEP TWO IS TO MAKE SURE THE CRITICAL PARTIES ACTUALLY ATTEND THE MEETING BEFORE IT'S SCHEDULED. MAKE SURE THEY (AND YOU) KNOW WHAT THE MEETING IS ABOUT, THAT YOU HAVE BUY-IN TO THE MEETING OBJECTIVES BEFORE EVEN CALLING A MEETING.
KNOW AND COMMUNICATE WHY YOU'RE MEETING AND WHO'S NEEDED IN THE MEETING, AND YOUR MEETINGS WILL EXPONENTIALLY INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY. THERE'S MORE TO COME IN OUR EFFECTIVE MEETING SERIES.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode Four - Charlie Gilkey's Special Theory of Productivity, Part Two Jul 05, 2011

In our fourth episode, Ray gives us an overview of Charlie Gilkey's second part of the Special Theory of Productivity--the Principles.

WELCOME TO OUR FOURTH EPISODE OF PRODPOD, THE PODCAST OF PRODUCTIVITY TIPS IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS. I'M RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND I'M YOUR PRODUCTIVITY GUIDE, THE CURRENT ORGANIZER OF GETTING THINGS DONE DC MEETUP & THE FOUNDING ORGANIZER OF THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED GETTING THINGS DONE NYC MEETUP. YOU CAN FIND ME TWEETING ON TWITTER AT G T D D C AND AT G T D N Y C USING THE HASHTAG PRODPOD.
THIS EPISODE'S TIP: THE SPECIAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY, PART TWO. IN THE LAST EPISODE, I PRESENTED THE PRINCIPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, WHICH ARE GAUGES TO RANK INDEPENDENTLY EACH OF THE THREE FUNCTIONS (PLANNING, EXECUTION AND EVALUATION). THE PRINCIPLES ARE SIMPLICITY, USEFULNESS, AESTHETICALLY-PLEASING, CONNECTEDNESS AND COHESIVENESS. SIMPLICITY REFERS TO ITS INTUITIVENESS WHEN USING YOUR SYSTEM. USEFULNESS, CHARLIE GILKEY MAINTAINS, SHOULD MAKE SURE INFORMATION IS BOTH ACTIONABLE AND USABLE; NO REASON TO GET INFORMATION YOU WON'T EVER USE OR CARE ABOUT, RIGHT? AESTHETICALLY-PLEASING IS THE PRINCIPLE OF THE OBVIOUS, SINCE PEOPLE LIKE TO USE THINGS THAT THEY'RE ATTRACTED TO NOT TURNED OFF BY. CONNECTEDNESS, I BELIEVE, IS GILKEY'S PITHY WAY OF SAYING THAT HE WANTS A PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEM TO BE A RELATIONAL DATABASE (IN TECH TERMS). IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT A RELATIONAL DATABASE IS, IT'S WORTH CHECKING IT OUT ON WIKIPEDIA. THE FINAL PRINCIPLE OF COHESIVENESS IS REALLY JUST AN ABILITY OF ANY GOOD RELATIONAL DATABASE, AND CHARLIE GIVES THE EXAMPLE OF MARKING A NEXT-ACTION COMPLETED AND IT UPDATES THROUGHOUT YOUR SYSTEM.
WHILE DAVID ALLEN'S GTD ENLIGHTENS US TO THE SIMPLE YET EFFECTIVE QUESTIONS ON THE RUNWAY OF LIFE: "WHAT IS IT? AND, IS IT ACTIONABLE?," THE HIGHER-LEVEL NUGGET THAT COMES OUT OF THE SPECIAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY IS THE GENIUS IN ITS SIMPLICITY QUESTION: DOES YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEM ENABLE YOU TO PLAN, EXECUTE AND EVALUATE?
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode Three - Charlie Gilkey's Special Theory of Productivity, Part One Jul 05, 2011

In our third episode, Ray gives us a brief introduction to the first part to (ProductiveFlourishing.com blogger-entrepreneur) Charlie Gilkey's other and highly practical Special Theory of Productivity.

WELCOME TO OUR THIRD EPISODE OF PRODPOD, THE PODCAST OF PRODUCTIVITY TIPS IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS. I'M RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND I'M YOUR PRODUCTIVITY GUIDE, THE CURRENT ORGANIZER OF GETTING THINGS DONE DC MEETUP & THE FOUNDING ORGANIZER OF THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED GETTING THINGS DONE NYC MEETUP. YOU CAN FIND ME TWEETING ON TWITTER AT G T D D C AND AT G T D N Y C USING THE HASHTAG PRODPOD.
THIS EPISODE'S TIP: THE SPECIAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY, PART ONE. CHARLIE GILKEY IS THE BLOGGER-ENTREPRENEUR BEHIND PRODUCTIVE FLOURISHING DOT COM I MENTIONED IN THE LAST EPISODE AND HE HAS DEVELOPED TWO PRODUCTIVITY THEORIES AND I'M GOING TO COVER THE SECOND THEORY NOW WITHIN THE CONTEXT OF TIME AND TASK MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS AS A WHOLE.
THE SPECIAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY ACCORDING TO GILKEY IS THAT PRODUCTIVITY SYSTEMS MANIFEST A LOOP OF THREE DISTINCT AND INTERCONNECTED ACTIVITIES: PLANNING, EXECUTION AND EVALUATION. HIS PREMISE IS THAT THESE ARE SIMPLE FUNCTIONS YET MANY ARE MISSING AT LEAST ONE OF THEM; THE TAKEAWAY HERE IS TO MAKE SURE YOUR SYSTEMS HAS THEM AND IF THEY DON'T, NO NEED TO THROW THE BABY OUT WITH THE BATHWATER BUT MAKE SURE THAT YOU MAKE THE MISSING ACTIVITY (USUALLY EVALUATION) A PRIORITY EQUAL TO THE OTHERS.
GILKEY ALSO MAKES REFERENCES TO PRINCIPLES OF TIME MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS, WHICH BASICALLY ARE CROSS-SECTIONS THAT YOU CAN RANK OF EACH OF THE THREE FUNCTIONS (PLANNING, EXECUTION AND EVALUATION). THE PRINCIPLES ARE SIMPLICITY, USEFULNESS, AESTHETICALLY-PLEASING, CONNECTEDNESS AND COHESIVENESS. I'LL SUMMARIZE THOSE IN THE NEXT EPISODE.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode Two -- General Theory of Productivity by Charlie Gilkey Jun 24, 2011

In our second episode, Ray gives us a brief introduction, with a list of resources posted below for further reference, to ProductiveFlourishing.com blogger-entrepreneur Charlie Gilkey's Theory of Productivity. You can find his original post discussing the General Theory of Productivity at Productive Flourishing.

WELCOME TO OUR SECOND EPISODE OF PRODPOD, THE PODCAST OF PRODUCTIVITY TIPS IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS. I'M RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND I'M YOUR PRODUCTIVITY GUIDE, THE CURRENT ORGANIZER OF GETTING THINGS DONE DC MEETUP & THE FOUNDING ORGANIZER OF THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED GETTING THINGS DONE NYC MEETUP, YOU CAN FIND ME TWEETING ON TWITTER AT G T D D C AND AT G T D N Y C USING THE HASHTAG PRODPOD.
THIS EPISODE'S TIP: CHARLIE GILKEY'S GENERAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY. CHARLIE GILKEY IS THE BLOGGER-ENTREPRENEUR BEHIND PRODUCTIVE FLOURISHING DOT COM. I RECOMMEND PERUSING HIS BLOG FOR THE MOST POPULAR POSTS AND READING THEM THROUGH...GOOD STUFF. HE HAS DEVELOPED TWO THEORIES AND I'M GOING TO COVER THE FIRST ONE HERE AND THE NEXT ONE IN THE NEXT EPISODE. THE GENERAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY ACCORDING TO GILKEY IS THAT PRODUCTIVITY EQUALS CREATIVE ENERGY PLUS FOCUS PLUS MOTIVATION PLUS APTITUDE PLUS IDEAL TIME *OVER* DIFFICULTY AND DISTRACTIONS.
HE DEFINES PRODUCTIVITY AS EFFECTIVENESS OF REACHING MEANINGFUL GOALS, NOT MERELY TIME-BASED EFFICIENCY. HE GOES OVER IN DETAIL HIS DESCRIPTIONS OF EACH OF THE NUMERATORS (CREATIVE ENERGY, FOCUS, MOTIVATION, APTITUDE, AND IDEAL TIME, WHICH ARE WHAT HE CALLS PRODUCTIVITY ENABLERS AND MAKES COMMENTARY THAT THESE ARE ALL SELF-IDENTIFIED AND SELF-INFLUENCING FACTORS OF BEING PRODUCTIVE). PRODUCTIVITY ENABLERS ALSO INCREASE OR DECREASE IN AMOUNTS BASED ON AN INTERDEPENDENT SYSTEM.
WHILE THE DENOMINATORS (DIFFICULTY AND DISTRACTIONS) REDUCE PRODUCTIVITY, ARE USUALLY EXTERNAL FORCES AND ARE ALSO INTERCONNECTED. EVEN THOUGH PERSONALLY I SOMEWHAT DISAGREE WITH HIS ASSERTIONS, THE GENERAL THEORY OF PRODUCTIVITY MOVES ONE AWAY FROM A MICROSCOPIC VIEW OF PRODUCTIVITY ("HACKS" AS HE CALLS THEM) TO A GREATER PERSPECTIVE AND CONTEXT. BY PAYING ATTENTION TO THESE COMPONENTS THAT CHARLIE GILKEY PROVIDES, WE ARE ABLE TO IDENTIFY TRENDS OF POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE HABITS AND MAKE CORRECTIONS TO THESE HABITS TO ACHIEVE MORE OF OUR MEANINGFUL LIFE GOALS.
I HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS EPISODE OF PRODPOD. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND THANKS FOR LISTENING! HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS.

ProdPod: Episode One -- Priorities Jun 23, 2011

Introducing ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less! For an example of the referenced graph, see: http://goo.gl/niUIs

I'M RAY SIDNEY-SMITH AND I'LL BE YOUR PRODUCTIVITY GUIDE. A LITTLE BIT ABOUT MYSELF. I AM CURRENTLY THE ORGANIZER OF GETTING THINGS DONE DC MEETUP & THE FOUNDING ORGANIZER OF THE NEWLY ESTABLISHED GETTING THINGS DONE NYC MEETUP. YOU CAN FIND ME TWEETING ON TWITTER AT G T D D C AND AT G T D N Y C. ANYTHING PERTAINING TO PRODPOD WILL BE HASHTAGGED AS PRODPOD.

AND, SO, ON TO THE MISSION OF PRODPOD, THE PODCAST OF PRODUCTIVITY TIPS IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS. PRODPOD WAS INSPIRED BY TWO EMAIL NEWSLETTERS BOTH OF WHICH OFFERED TIDBITS OF INFORMATION ON MAKING EFFICIENT, EFFECTIVE DECISIONS IN YOUR PERSONAL AND PROFESSIONAL LIVES. I THOUGHT, WHY ISN'T THERE ALREADY A PODCAST LIKE THIS? SINCE I'M A GETTING THINGS DONE (A/K/A GTD) ENTHUSIAST, I THOUGHT...WHY NOT USE THE TWO-MINUTE RULE TO GIVE QUICK AND SUBSTANTIVE IDEAS AND INFORMATION THAT YOU CAN EFFICIENTLY, EFFECTIVELY USE TO BUILD A MORE FULFILLED AND ENRICHED LIFE. AND, SO...PRODPOD WAS BORN.
THIS EPISODE'S TIP: TIME IS FINITE. NOTWITHSTANDING PHYSICISTS' ARGUMENTS OVER THE VERACITY OF THE SPACE TIME CONTINUUM AND THE ABILITY TO TRAVEL THROUGH TIME. AS OF THIS RECORDING, YOU CANNOT MAKE MORE TIME. THE ONLY TOOLS YOU HAVE FOR MANAGING YOUR TIME ARE PRIORITIZING, PLANNING AHEAD AND STRIVING FOR BEING MORE PROACTIVE AND ACTIVE RATHER THAN REACTIVE AND INACTIVE. I LIKE TO ACTUALLY DRAW ON MY NOTEPAD OR CALENDAR WHEN PLANNING MY WEEK AN X-Y AXIS. THE X AXIS RUNNING FROM PROACTIVE TO REACTIVE AND THE Y AXIS AS ACTIVE TO INACTIVE; THEN PLACING EACH MAJOR PROJECT ON THE GRAPH (REPRESENTED BY ROMAN NUMERALS, NUMBERS OR LETTERS) TO DECIDE ON WHAT ARE MY TRUE PRIORITIES. TAKE TODAY AND THINK ABOUT ONE THING YOU CAN DO AT THE PRESENT MOMENT THAT WILL PREEMPT MORE WORK ON YOURS OR SOMEONE ELSE'S PART IN THE NEAR AND LONG TERM FUTURE.
I HOPE YOU ENJOY PRODPOD AND I WELCOME THOUGHTS AND FEEDBACK AND SUGGESTIONS FOR FUTURE PRODPODS VIA EMAIL AT RAY AT G T D USERS DOT O R G OR VIA TWITTER WITH THE HASHTAG PRODPOD. HERE'S TO YOUR PRODUCTIVITY SUCCESS...IN TWO MINUTES OR LESS. THIS IS RAY SIDNEY-SMITH FOR PRODPOD. THANKS FOR LISTENING!

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