ProdPod, a Productivity Podcast

Latest Episodes:

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

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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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

Show notes

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

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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

Show notes

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.

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