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OK Productive

OK Productive

Author: Leo Dion and Erik Gillespie, productivity and kid wranglers

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a podcast of banter and being productive enough
36 Episodes
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036. When to Quit

036. When to Quit

2019-12-2233:37

We're going to step away from the podcast, but the episodes, website, and social media accounts will remain.Reach out if you have questions or want to say hi, and thanks for listening!What led us to this decision...Well first, why did we start?We wanted to talk about things we're interested inWe wanted practical tips, not the productivity trapWe were feeling the courage to experimentWhat decisions made us want to stop?Growth was plateauingWe did the exercises in Traction by Gabriel WinebergLearned that growth would require more time and moneyWe were already constrained by bothWe both want to focus on fewer initiatives in 2020What we learned from the showStruggles that we learned fromFully understanding marketingProductivity is a diluted and saturated topicImportance of organizationBalancing guests and topicsThe happy, fun, growing, learning sideOver 5,000 downloadsDocumenting processes, scheduling, and contentLeo’s growthInterview skillsOrganizationRecruitmentSelf-reflectionErik’s growthLearning from guests and each otherImproved image design that continues to be used in other projectsChanneling nervous energy into talkative yip-yapRelated episodes001. A Sleepy Episode009. Working On Your Own Episode012. Saying No Episode025. Productive Podcasting031. Clear your Calendar! with Justin JacksonBig thanks to our listeners and these amazing contributors:❤️ Leah Fitch❤️ Jonathan Baillie Strong❤️ Will Gant❤️ Christian Genco❤️ Peta Sena❤️ Jessica D'Amico❤️ Tim Mitra❤️ Justin Jackson❤️ Allison Spooner❤️ Sophia Dagnon❤️ Laura Lopuch❤️ Julien Borrelli ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Differences between 2018 and 2019Erik fully embraced Notion for planningLeo switched from Todoist to a spreadsheetMastermind meetings for group accountabilityLeo's Year in ReviewImprovements to healthSuccessful speaking engagementsA consistent schedule with podcastsSuccessful at writing outputAudience improvements:+156.32% at Learning Swift+12.85% at BrightDigit+726.15% at LeoGDionFuture Improvements include email, more video, and audience researchErik's Year in ReviewCame up with whole-year goals and broke down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly listsAlso made weekly and monthly habits checklistsAbout 20-30% of the anticipated objectives and habits changed over the yearThe habits that stuck were those that Erik had the most direct control, like stretching and dietThe items that changed or were not met the most typically involved other people or deep researchErik's biggest regret: not enough "for-fun, but also is work" tasksErik's biggest desire to change: more regular date nightsLeo referred Erik to Derek Sivers' article: Stay in touch with hundreds of peopleWhat's being cut in 2020Leo's stepping away from organizing meetups and local networkingErik is getting away from nonprofit administration, business social media management, and the status quo of local tech eventsWe're stepping away from the podcast, too. More on that in the next episode! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionLaura's first email tip: write so the recipient will imagine how their life could beHow to discover a love of email as a paralegalRealizing skills, eight years laterThe benefits of setting weekly email goalsTreat email correspondence as a journeyWait 2 to 3 business days before the first followupTwo types of cold email: making a pitch and making a connectionAnatomy of a Cold EmailWhere are people with your problem going to talk about their problem?  Explain why you chose the recipient over everyone elseStart a close relationship with your contact and compliment themProve a hypothesis, they should agree with each statement you makeAll of those small yesses lead toward a yes on the big askAvoid exit languageAvoid asking for more than one thingToolsStreak, CRM for GmailBoomerangCrystal KnowsLaura Lopuch online@waitingtoberead on Twitterlauralopuch.comHow to double your conversion rate on cold outreach, a recap of Laura's talk at MicroconfHow to Optimize for Replies on Your Cold Emails on Laura’s blogI used cold emails to 14x my freelance copywriting business. Here’s how. on Copy Hackers ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Getting your foot in the doorSophia's specialty and how she got there from archaeologyHow UpWork led to better pay in writingDealing with the lack of comfortAn approach to desiring income without being sleazyMaking transactions mutually beneficialPeople don’t buy stuff, they buy solutions to problemsHow does your customer think about the solutions to their problems?How to ask the right questions to better understand your customerImproving pitches by trying different thingsHow to reach your customersThe platforms with the lowest barriers or are easiest to self-promoteCopy Hackers (Joanna Web sp.?)Researching, writing a lot, and sharing content where it will be readUnderstanding your reader’s familiarity and how informed they areKnowing what it will take for a reader to take action (lots of specific tips here!)Focus on and measure one action that you want your readers to takeTips for getting startedLow-risk and simple ways a person can practice self-promotionReframe risk as an opportunity or something good for youWays to manage the ever-present emotions that come when taking chancesAre there books or other sources where people can learn more on the topicFollow Copy HackersRead Drive by Daniel PinkRead Influence by Robert CialdiniRead Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene SchwartzWhere to find Sophia Dagnon@SophiaDagnon on Twittersophiadagnon.comSophia Dagnon on LinkedIn ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionsNaNoWriMo and flash fictionAllison Spooner is the author of Flash in the Dark and The Problem with HumansFind Allison online at spoonfulstyle.com or @allyspoonOutsource your writing parametersAccountability through writing groups, events, and contestsBenefits of deadlines, prompts, settings, and other writing constraintsOutlining and other ways to complete a novel in small piecesWriting exercises and parameters that help you get better with practiceTelling a story with Joseph Campbell's Hero's JourneyTips for writing when you need some structureMethods for practicing writingLook for random writing prompts online or in your physical environmentStart small, like 500 wordsGo to writing events near youTry writing at different times and with different techniques to find what works best for youDonald Miller's 5 Writing TipsMake your customer the hero of your business' storiesWrite for fun, define writing success for you, and a little progress is still progressScale up to make a novelOne flash fiction story per day will help you reach your NaNoWriMo goalCome up with writing prompts for the whole month in advance ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
In this episodeWhat does a "cleared" calendar look like?How can clearing the calendar improve one's productivity?Why you shouldn't fill up your calendar with work if you are self-employedA clear calendar is open to interruptions and stimulates creativityHow to stay focused and avoid getting lost in free timeHow to be healthy active on social mediaAn experiment that you can try at home or at the officeHow clearing the calendar can be used by employees at traditional or regimented officesHow to observe the benefits of unstructured or free timeOther ways to experiment with your calendar and free timeRelated linksJustin’s talk on YouTubeJustin is the co-founder of Transistor.fmLearn more about Justin at JustinJackson.caFollow @mijustin on TwitterJustin (megajustin) livestreams on TwitchBooks by BasecampShape Up by Ryan Singer11 Reasons Why You Should Schedule Free Time For Yourself by Glenn SantosRelated Episodes003. Goals and Actions Episode006. Top Disciplines Episode009. Working On Your Own Episode019. The Optimization Trap020. Multitasking021. Staying Organized with Idea Management023. 3 Hat Productivity with Christian Genco027. Productive Creativity with Pete Sena ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Where to find Tim Mitra online@TimMitra on TwitterHost of the More Than Just Code Podcast and SpockcastCohost of RoundaboutFMit-guy.comAuthor of How to Keep Learning After 50Tim's SwiftTO talk about NeuroplasticityNeuroplasticityWhy should we keep learning?Neuroplasticity in simple termsThe advantage of learning in 45-minute spurtsCompound learning:Short-term memoriesLong-term memories through repetitionMicro-skill development (building functions in the brain)Breaks help move memories from one level to the nextUse communication to reinforce learningExplain and seek confirmationThe rubber ducking techniqueUsing emoji to punctuate words with emotionWhat the ~ at the end of a Tweet or text meansApplying learning concepts to unlearningThe amygdala typically makes statementsThe neocortex typically asks questionsSelf-monitor and ask yourself questions to consciously replace habitsRelated linksBrainjo's Breakthrough Banjo CourseDr. Lara Boyd's TEDx Talk about NeuroplasticityBecause Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCullochRelated episodesMultitasking ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
029. Public Speaking

029. Public Speaking

2019-09-1543:58

In this episodeThe value in public speaking for you and your audienceHow to understand your audience by researching the conferenceDifferent ways to organize a talk: story-telling, LEGO instructions, fireside chat, speed dating, and moreHow to handle interruptions and questionsFollowing up with your audience after your talkTips for promoting yourself and your work without giving a sales pitchPractice: it smooths out the wrinkles and lets your confidence shineDifferent ways to practice your talk before the big eventUse simple slides, don't switch apps, use a clicker, more words, fewer pictures, use notesObserve your body language, tone, pace, and filler wordsHow to turn your nervousness into confidence and excitementGet extra practice at Toastmasters, meetups, and lunch-and-learns, but remember to get feedbackFigure out what to speak about by considering past conference topics, your own expertise, whatever excites you, and where you want to growHow to find speaking gigs and tips for getting accepted to speakSpecial thanks toJustin JacksonKristen BelcherMohammad FaaniOlivia LiddellPatrick MasiRelated episodesEvent Planning with Jessica D'Amico ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Where we plan eventsErik: Lansing CodesLeo: Lansing Marketing HackersJess: Peers ConferenceAs self-employed folks, events are a great way to get feedback from others and learn new things. Part of productivity isn’t just about doing it all yourself, but also about reaching out to others and educating yourself.Getting started with event planningOrganizing an event as a way to connect people that can help each other outEvents have many benefits including establishing oneself in a community, educating others, reinforcing skills, developing new skills, and opportunities to travelFind speakers by paying attention to who's talking online and offer a way to accept proposalsFind sponsors and volunteers by picking ambassadors who know an area well and are eager to ask others for helpFor a first event, start small, set reasonable goals, and keep logistics such as room size in mindAs an event grows, try different things to keep things fresh and understand what the audience wantsSome ways to get participants contributing:Ask "what are you working on?"Ask an audience about the challenges they faceHost speed-dating style eventsThink about formats you've never used beforeConsider the power dynamics at your eventPick a venue that is physically accessible and easy to get toReach a wider audience by repeating your message a lot, talk about what you're doing, help people be seen, offer discounts and free tickets to underrepresented peopleTwitter is a great place to practice talking to and helping othersThere will be challengesStart locally and keep it simple to avoid unnecessary challengesMake sure to cover the basic necessities like water and bathroomsHelp everyone feel welcomeDon't make the event a sales pitchPay attention to the things that feel rightPaying a venue to manage logistics can reduce the stress and planning you need to do, but can cost more and seem less authenticHave a few backup speakers or audience members who can wing a conversationLayout a logistics plan down to the minuteAudiences are often sympathetic when challenges ariseWrite down the things you want to pay attention to and keep it in mind when reading tweets, considering proposals, etc.Make sure your profiles on social media direct people where you want them to get involvedHave a Code of Conduct and be clear about itTrain on important issues like how to remove a disruptor and what to do in a medical emergencyYou can’t have a plan for everything, but planning helps prepare for the unexpected things tooBe selective about where you’re spending your timeEmulate people you think are doing it wellUseful toolsGoogle Sheets for budget trackingTypeForm for forms and surveysZapier for scheduling and automating communicationTrello for task managementTwitter Lists for reaching and connecting peopleTweetBot to more effectively navigate TwitterBuffer for scheduling social mediaSlack for coordinating with your teamWhere to find JessTwitter: @justjessdcPeers ConferenceDC Women Who Code ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionPete Sena (@petesena) is the founder, CEO, and CCO of Digital Surgeons, a design, branding, and digital marketing consultancyPete explains his responsibilities as Chief Creative OfficerThe intersection of creativity and productivityCreate / Produce vs. Creativity / ProductivityThe seesaw of effectiveness and efficiencyCreativity is born from curiosityProductivity is how people are a pro at their craftCritical thinking is important for becoming great creativesBeing "Creatively productive""Creativity is just connecting things." -Steve Jobs"My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success." -Isaac NewtonUnderstanding shortcutsRepetitive vs. UniqueManaging creative duties and other responsibilitiesHow productivity differs in a CEO and a CCO role“Labels are important but be careful how they define and limit you”Set a visionRemove obstaclesMethods for giving all roles the attention they needMitigating affronts to productivity in different rolesTips for managing creative peopleStop managing creative people!Understand their motivations and enable themServant leadershipDaniel Pink’s Drive: three intrinsic motivatorsProblems that are unique to creative teams and their workPete's advice for a new manager of a creative teamDividing work up in a creative teamFind out why work is important to the team and clientTranslating the needs and wants of the clientLook at team members, project requirements, brands, rules, etc.Logistical planning meetings for dividing tasks and ensuring consistent messagingCreate concepts to reviewFind opportunities for people to collaborateCultivating a creative skillCritical thinking is clearly listening to the intention of the person who is saying or writing somethingDesign thinking exercisesCombine uncommon things (three columns exercise)Idea discussion > brainstormingKeep using it. If you’re not, then the skill will diminish.Outside of work: make a vision board, mash sources from media (e.g. magazines)Improving a creative skill over lunch breaksWhy do you want to start that creative thing? (5 why’s)If there are multiple answers, split them up and explore themElon Musk's first-principles thinkingUse existing tools, read, and watch othersMicro progress and the power of getting started, a James Clear interviewMake a game out of itOther ways someone can grow a creative skillThe importance of motivation, inspiration, technique, gumption, and experienceKnowing where to focus your energy when developing a skillRelated linksDigital SurgeonsWarren Berger’s Three-Part Method for More Creativity on Farnam StreetPete Sena blogs about productivity on MediumBird by Bird by Anne Lamott for better writingWrite Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less by James DowdRelated episodes017. Atomic Habits by James Clear - Part 1018. Atomic Habits by James Clear - Part 2 ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
How to build momentum in your dayFirst, have a good night of sleep (see episode 1)Erik drinks a high-calorie, low-sugar coffee shake (thanks, gallbladder) before doing anything else in the morning.Energy (calories) and caffeine work well to kickstart the day so long as they're not overdoneWhat part of your day has the most momentum? (morning, afternoon, night)It may depend on what you'll be doing (see "Have a plan to follow" below).Identify which tasks you have planned and how they will affect your energy.If you have something planned that requires lots of prolonged focus, engage "no distractions" mode.If you have something planned that you have to split up (because of meetings or other interruptions) or it's something you don't have sustained energy for (making lots of phone calls), consider spreading the tasks out with pomodoros or other tasks.Avoid distractions when getting in the "flow"Use Do-Not-Disturb when you can. Otherwise, consider turning off notifications for non-critical functions like Slack, email, etc. so you can still receive phone calls. This is especially useful for parents!Even easier parenting trick: set your phone across the room so you can still take calls, but you won't see all the other distracting notificationsDon’t check email — there are apps and extensions to help with this!Work on a task for 10-20 minutes to build some momentumIf you need to focus, avoid working at places with lots of distractions or use other environment-design techniques to lower the impact of those distractionsChanging your phone screen to greyscale doesn't work as well as one might thinkScreen Time on iOS is a great tool and if you have an iPhone you should try it!Is flow endurance a thing? Erik can code for longer periods of time than he can do correspondence, social media, graphics, etc. on most days. Is this due to building endurance for programming or is it more nuanced?Have a plan to followThe biggest challenge is not knowing what to do…Use your calendar for yourself to plan activitiesErik’s weekly checklist marks the day of the week that certain tasks are due so he doesn't have to look at his calendar (which is yet another distraction!)Managing interruptionsManaging unplanned timeExercise!Morning vs AfternoonExercise and play spread throughout the day can help with creative tasks and learning. If you take breaks, get up and move around, play, walk, exercise, please!Seriously, there's science behind this: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnhum.2013.00824/fullRelated episodesSleepy EpisodeDistractions EpisodeChristian Genco Episode ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionLeo recently presented and wrote about getting started with podcastingLeo's motivation for taking a holistic look at what it takes to create, publish, and promote a podcastThe overall processOur overall publishing process, from brainstorming to recording, to promotingIf you're considering starting a podcast, we recommend that you have two of audience, motivation, and purpose before moving forwardSchedule and formatWhat our recording schedule looks like and how regularly we recordHow we get ready to talk about something in the days before we recordWe get very specific about our formatHere are the "before" notes for this episodeResearch what your audience wants to know, not just what you want to shareIdeas for podcast structure:Answer the 5 WsShare a chronological storyPresent a "thesis"Hardware, software, and doing things the hard wayWe use Skype to record onlineErik uses Audacity and a gaming headset to record his audioLeo uses Garage Band and ATR-2100 (with this combo)What Leo learned by editing episodes himself prepared us for asking Julien Borrelli to edit for usJust Fucking Ship by Amy Hoy is a great book to help decide what's worth making yourself and what's worth asking someone else to prepareFor album art, Erik takes pics with his iPhone 6s Plus, arranges in Canva, and merges into video clips with FFmpegHere's an example of how we use FFmpeg to make video clips from an MP3 and photo:ffmpeg -r 1 -loop 1 -i 023.okproductive/images/instagram.png -i okproductive-23-quote1.mp3 -acodec copy -r 1 -shortest -vf scale=720:720 023.okproductive/clips/1-instagram.mp4Publishing and promotingWhen everything’s edited and ready to go, here's what we do:Upload MP3 to transistorFill in title, description, and clean up notesUse Buffer to queue up social media, one week at a time, saving all text in a Google SheetWrite down new or changed schedule and processes in a Google DocWhat we do to announce a new episode, drum up interest, and share what we’re creatingLet's do this againWhat Leo has learned by considering how we've changed since starting the podcastIn another year, we'd expect to have better equipment and perhaps start putting more money into social mediaWe'll definitely revisit our process in another year or two to see what's changed! ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionAny active desktop issues with Endgame?The unexpected is so memorable, even for simple things like going to the moviesSleep, habits, and appsHow we've been sleepingWhat we've tried from Atomic HabitsWhat we're using besides Google InboxNew parenting tipsErik’s year (so far)Health is going the best of all categories, it's where he has the most controlHow do you give your kid challenges without breaking down their self-esteem?Staying in touch with friends that live far awayHow to stay in touch with hundreds of people, according to Derek SiversLeo's year (so far)Failed at Main Goal but very successful in othersTrying to learn to delegate moreSaying no to a lot, but saying yes when he canStruggling with the organization of tasks and delegationIdeas for future topicsWhat are some topics we could dig a little deeper on or new topics we haven’t covered yet?Book reviewsSmall experiments (trying apps, habits, etc.)Small, actionable tips (2-minute episodes between the longer episodes)Managing emotionsProductive advocacyProductive learningSend us ideas or ask for more at:hello@okproductive.comTwitterFacebookInstagram ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionA little about Christian and how he first met LeoMister Money Mustache, spending lessPatrick McKenzie, inventor of Bingo Card CreatorA day in the life of Christian GencoPrepopulate your task list, start with your most important task and include lots of easy winsPut healthy snacks, hard tasks, and what to do if tired or feeling overwhelmed in your task listPlan for spending time in the sun, meditating, journaling, and cookingWhy 3 hats?Challenges that Christian faced in order to balance all of his responsibilities:Putting off difficult workLots of distractions from new or exciting opportunitiesThe constant questioning of priorities"You can take it seriously, give it the time, money and attention it deserves and build it into something real. But what you’re doing is not working, so either shut it down or double down." — Hiten Shah to Nathan Berry about ConvertKitWhat didn't work to solve these problems:External accountability didn't align with his personalityHomegrown todo lists simply added more distractionsPomodoros didn't help understand why work was important or handle administrative tasks wellNo framework for breaking down tasks3 Hat Productivity explainedSeparate work into 3 modes:CEO - picks the directionManager - makes a list of tasksWorker - completes the tasksUse Things app to communicate between the three rolesBefore developing the 3 Hat system, Christian was mostly in Worker mode. Clear tasks get higher priority than undefined tasksDo not change direction until the most important task is done or a 4-hour daily limit is encounteredDealing with distractionsDon’t try to prevent distractions from happening — that would take an extraordinary amount of willpowerAcknowledge distractions and use Things to send them away so you can intentionally revisit them laterReview your list of distractions:CEO triages the listReview it every three daysGroup related tasksRemove the tasks that aren’t relevant anymoreKeeping something in the list means you’re ruling every other possibility out, so don't hold back when trimming the list!The analogy of a donkey trapped between water and hayTo keep the list from growing over time, separate the times when you have the idea, prioritize it, and do itBatching administrative tasksAdmin tasks are anything that isn't part of your most important taskGroup tasks based on the nature of the work being doneBuying thingsTracking financesContacting peopleCompiling statistics and metricsResearchReading long-form articles in digestsDo all admin tasks on SaturdayBonus tipsIf you find Things to be expensive, try FantasticalAvoid introducing tools and tech into your process at first, they'll be distractingAnd a few more things for listeners to try 😉Where to find ChristianChristian Genco's personal websiteFileinbox, Christian Genco's businessTwitter: @cgencoRelated links and appsTask Batching by Christian Genco3 Hat Productivity blog ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionWill Gant is a co-host of the Complete Developer PodcastHow Will and Leo met Will's lightning talk at MicroConfWhat's in Will's journalWill's familial history of journalingUnknown stresses as the impetus to start journalingWill's original journal was a spreadsheet that covered anything happening during the day that bugged him, taking roughly 20 minutes per day to writeSwitching to monthly journaling helped Will focus on opportunities instead of the bad stuff and takes about 10 minutes to writeOther ways Will's approach to journaling has changed over the yearsJournaling well after something happens helps separate the act from the emotional stateJournaling is also a great way to track things that are tough to rememberWill's is an advocate and regular user of float/sensory-deprivation tanks for meditationBonus lifehack: Rethink your internal calendar to start each year on April 1st, after winter and taxesKeeping life organized with journalingHow Will uses journaling and KanbanFlow to keep track of upcoming tasksJournaling can take many forms: a food diary, a workout journal, daily insights, monthly reflections, etc.Tips to start journalingPick a time period (daily, weekly, etc.)Write only what you rememberMake a note of the emotions that you remember as wellKeep it simple and easy: use paper or a plain text fileAfter writing a new entry, revisit a few past entriesKeep each entry shortDon't out-write your previous entryWrite only for yourself, be bluntEffecting change with journalingWriting actions and (separately) your emotions is great for personal growth, especially for kidsA food diary is an easy way to observe and adjust what's going in your bodyWrite down repeating chores so you remember to do them and how to do themKeeping track of multi-step tasks is tough in simple journaling and to-do systemsNothing beats a text document when recording lots of detailsRecipes are some of the oldest types of journal entriesWill Gant on the interwebsComplete Developer PodcastTwitter: @gantsoftsysRelated links and appsGetting Started Journaling from the Complete Developer Podcast9 Career Benefits of Journaling from the Complete Developer PodcastThe 200th Episode of the Complete Developer PodcastNozbe, an all-in-one to-do, project, and time management appKanbanFlow is a web-based lean project management toolProductivity in Tech blog by Jay Miller ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
IntroductionA little about Jonathan Baillie Strong and how he met LeoJonathan's best practices for attending a conferenceJonathan's daily workInbox managementHow Jonathan got interested in inbox managementHis general system for inbox management and how it relates to GTDHow often Jonathan grooms his inboxThe most obvious benefits to his inbox management approachWhere does Jonathan put his ideasHis system for keeping them organizedHow often you should revisit ideas and explore them more deeplyHow to consider which ideas are worth pursuing further, which should get tossed, and which need to sit for a while longerThe One-Touch approachBasic concepts:Touch each email only onceWhen you touch an email, do one of the following:Send it to your calendarCreate a to-do taskMake a note of the ideaPut it in a Read It Later appKeeping email in your inbox is like looking at mail and putting it back in your mailboxHow to decide where to send an ideaIdeas to keep evolving your own idea management systemJonathan's app recommendationsThings is a highly-streamlined, highly-recommended task managerGestimer for daily remindersNumi is a beautiful calculator appExtensity is a Chrome extension for managing Chrome extensionsCisco Spark meeting notes, sadly discontinued on May 31, 2019 😭Video speed controller is a Chrome extension for playing videos faster or slowerAutohotkey is a great hotkey automation tool for WindowsKeyboard Maestro is a hotkey automation tool for MacsFocusmate helps you focus by pairing you with virtual coworking partnersFIP Radio for listening to chill French music onlineSnagit for better screenshots (bonus trivia: it's made in OK Productive's neighborhood!)Listennotes.com for finding podcastsCastbox.fm is a great, free podcast appMore apps and related linksTropical MBA Podcast and in particular, this post about Standard Operating ProceduresWork the System (Book)Process Street is great for managing workflows on a teamProcessKit has tons of business automation tools and makes it easy to create your ownUnroll.me for mass-unsubscribing from email listsIFTTT to make apps talk to each other automatically and speed up mundane tasksZapier to make apps talk to each other automatically and speed up mundane tasksInstapaper to save anything so you can read it offlineHow to Be More Productive with a Daily System for High Output by Nat EliasonThe PARA Method: A Universal System for Organizing Digital Information by Tiago ForteOne-Touch to Inbox Zero by Tiago ForteWhere to find Jonathan Baillie StrongOn Twitter: @jonbstrongAt ComDev Media ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
020. Multitasking

020. Multitasking

2019-05-1238:41

First, some revelations:Apparently, Leo doesn't like cupcakes 🧁12 habits that destroy your focus and productivity, by Jari RoomerMultitasking, definedMultitasking is trying to accomplish two or more tasks by quickly switching back and forth between themMultitasking is like juggling: you keep lots of things in motion for as long as possible, it looks like lots of work, but you’re not actually accomplishing anything except moving things around. You can get better at juggling, but you’re still just getting better at moving things around.Another analogy: texting while driving. This is the bad form of multitasking where you shift your attention rapidly between two tasks, each distracting from the other with potentially bad consequences. The good form of multitasking when driving: listening to an audiobook or music.We often conflate getting a lot done and doing lots of things at once.Queueing one background task while doing another is GOOD.Being distracted is BAD.Context switching, definedContext switching is the time, effort, process, etc. required to switch from one task to another.For people, this typically involves finding an acceptable stopping point for the current task, performing some steps to actually switch to the next task, and reframing one’s mind to think about the new task.It’s a computing term that is commonly applied to people trying to actively change from doing one thing to doing another.Also called “shifting gears.”It may seem like you're saving time, but you’re not. Those context switches aren’t accomplishing tasks, they’re taking up little bits (hopefully) of time that add up over the hours you work on two or more things.Multitasking and context switching train yourself to be busy. “Oh, let me just do this one quick thing” over and over again encourages taking on more work and doing things in an order that probably doesn’t match your priorities.Common triggers of multitaskingLots of open tabs encourage you to click links, read, or look for deprioritized workLeaving your email or calendar open are easy ways to distract oneselfNotifications on your desktop or phone are just an older form of click baitNatural pauses or "downtime" create opportunities to switch to something elseAny small distraction. Even a conversation nearby can completely pull your attention away from your workStaying focused is hard and takes practice, especially in this day and age of constant information overdose.Know your trigger and declare an alternative responseWrite down your triggers when they happenWrite down what you want to do instead of multitaskingPin them to your work area to make them visibleSome positive alternatives to multitasking:Take a drink of waterDo some in-place stretchesLook up from the computer and focus on something far awayTake some slow, deep breathsPut on headphonesAvoid these at all cost!DO NOT switch to another program or tabDO NOT pick up your phone or another deviceDO NOT talk to other people around you while you're focused on workDO NOT eavesdrop on other convos ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
One way to be ok at productivity is to avoid the premature optimization trap.Premature optimization is when you try to improve a process before knowing how to measure the results of the change.An idea to improve your productivity can sound really appealing and make you want to do it right away, but without knowing how effective the change will be, the impact could be minuscule and use up more (decision-making) effort than is worthwhile.Making lots of small or arbitrary, immeasurable changes to your productivity is not the same as making a few changes that have a big, measurable impact.How does one avoid the optimization trap?Recommendation #1: simplify! Reduce the number of changes you are actively trying to make. You probably have some semblance of a routine. Pick one thing to change and try it for a few weeks before assessing how well it worked.Recommendation #2: be scientific — in the simplest way possible!The scientific method is one of Erik's favorite systems humans have devised.Here's our simplified scientific method:collect dataanalyze itmake a predictiontest itrepeatWe reordered the steps to prioritize measuring results. Presented this way, the scientific method can be seen in lots of other processes, like in agile software development, experience design, and other human-centered, creative processes.This order also allows you to practically know when scientific optimization is worth pursuing:Measure first to see how much room there is for improvement before you try something!Example: Alarmy. The app first asks simple questions to identify an effective way to wake you up. By collecting this data first, the app can either turn on extra features or suggest that you don't need the app and are perhaps fixing the wrong problem.Example: Screen Time. This Apple app gathers social media and other app usages for a week and then provides a report of its analysis. The results are a quick and easy way to determine if you should avoid your phone and which apps consume most of your phone time.Recommendation #3: Take breaks. Resting and recharging are not wasted time! They help power you up to take on your next task with maximum effort and energy.Here are some simple ways to practice recharging:Take the scenic route home.Go for a short walk.Close your eyes and breathe (seriously, try this when stretching or exercising — be safe about it). Call it meditation if that helps you feel better about it.Our bodies need to recharge and they can’t do that if we treat downtime as lost productivity.Warning signs that you may have fallen in the optimization trapBeware of anything that saves you time so that you can work moreMeal prep. services, delivered groceries, home cleaning or yard services, etc.If you use these services because you’re not hitting your work goals each day then you’re optimizing the wrong thingImproving productivity means producing more in less time, not producing more with more timeMake sure the “optimization” you choose directly corresponds to producing more in less timeErik's example: uninstalling Facebook and using Buffer/News Feed Eradicator directly affected his productivity because he was getting sucked into reading his timeline at times when he was supposed to be producing social copy for workStart being sensitive to how you divide your attention while you’re workingAvoid or schedule time-wasters at work (reading social media, commuting, texting/chatting, etc.)Focus on one thing at a time so you can also focus on being most productive at one thing at a timePractice making decisions quickly. Idling and deciding is also not the same as recharging.Some closing thoughtsWhen it comes to productivity, avoid premature optimization. Know the potential impact of a change will be significant before you try it.Measure your productivity before you make changes to it. Otherwise, how do you know the change was even an improvement?Take Breaks. Your brain is a muscle and needs rest in order to grow.Optimize the systems you’re using to produce, not other parts of your life that will give you more time to produce.Mentioned in this episodeMicroConf - a big conference for small, self-funded software companiesPeers Conference - a conference where creative and technical professionals can share their experiencesWe’re Optimizing Ourselves to Death by Zander NethercuttA Twitter thread where Christopher Hawkins offers ways Emma Wedekind might combat feeling like she has to always be "on"The Secret to Having Enough Time by Megan HolsteinRelated episodesEpisode 10 - Dealing with Time WastersEpisode 5 - Making Quick Decisions ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★
Motivation, Motion, and ActionBe specific about your habits!From the book:People who make a specific plan for when and where they will perform a new habit are more likely to follow through. Too many people try to change their habits without these basic details. Don't be a busy-body. Make sure your habits are moving you toward that ideal vision of yourself and your goals.Motivation and EnvironmentIn practice, being aware of your motivation at the times you need it is hard to do. It makes a lot more sense to identify your motivation and build a system around it so that you don’t have to remind yourself of your motivation. This is especially true when you are attempting to transform your identity to build better habits.We're fangs of the inversion of the steps to form a habit as ways to kick out bad habits. For example, the opposite of make it obvious is make it invisible.It’s worth using this approach to the extreme to break your worst habits: uninstall social media apps, hide the remote, throw away the sugary processed foods, and so on.Find, Fix, and Track HabitsYes, yes, yes: find alternative ways to reduce stress as opposed to trying to remove the stress. Align your approach with who you want to be to amplify the results of your habits.Remember that each step is small and leads to incremental change but over time they really add up.Erik really wants to go through the exercise of listing his habits and marking them bad, good, or neutral. It was hard not to do it while reading this book. Who’s with him?The Power of Sticking to a HabitWhen you are trying to form a habit, focus on making the habit easy to repeat instead of trying to be perfect at doing it.Repetition is more important than getting it right the first time. Preparation rarely reduces failureThis reminds us of the melting ice example. You have to know that adding heat will eventually cause the ice to melt. You have to pick habits that eventually lead to results.Law of Least EffortLeo actually practices this example from the book:You are more likely to go to the gym if it is on your way to work because stopping doesn’t add much friction to your lifestyle. By comparison, if the gym is off the path of your normal commute—even by just a few blocks—now you’re going “out of your way” to get there.This works well for Erik in a lot of situations. The first that comes to mind is taking care of his body: home gym, body weight exercises, and stretching have been a lot easier to stick with than going to a gym or yoga studio.There are examples that don't fit the Law of Least Effort very well, like studying. Free time can be severely limited during the day and the times where studying may require the least effort may not be the best time to learn or dedicate time to the habit of studying.Sometimes if something is important, it’s worth extra effort. Not to mention that the effort can be reduced and simplified with environment design. In other words, this "Law" is not a hard and fast rule and the book does offer strategies for approaching exceptional situations.Using Extrinsic MotivationHint: make the good stuff feel great right away and make the bad stuff feel bad.Linking extrinsic motivation (immediate reward) of a habit to the intrinsic motivation (your goal) makes a lot of sense!Love this quote from the book:It’s possible to train yourself to delay gratification but you have to work with the grain of human nature, not against it.Erik connects with identity-based habits so much in this book. He loves the idea of making avoidance habits visible and looking holistically at your identity to find the right ways to immediately reward yourself so that they don’t conflict with your other habits (e.g. choosing a massage instead of a big bowl of ice cream to align with your healthy lifestyle).An important lesson from this portion of the book: tracking habits is good, but it’s important to measure the right thing and apply all of the habit rules to measuring (make it obvious, easy, etc). Beware of vanity metrics and if a measure plateaus, pick a different one to keep you from stalling out on your habit.Drawbacks of Good HabitsThis part of the book is very humbling!Developing good habits won’t get you to mastery of a skill, it will only get you good enough (OK Productive approves this message). To keep getting better and to reach mastery you need dedicated practice and regular revising of your habits.Reflection and review make sure your habits continue to help you grow.Don’t cling to your identity and reframe your identity in ways that can be changed, because it can and will.Closing ThoughtsAlways be working at your habits!Track your habits over multiple time ranges. Track the day-to-day, aggregate and average them over time, too.We want all “self help” books to be like Atomic Habits: short, well-organized, easy to summarize, with cheat sheets, templates, and lots of actionable information, and loads of supplemental material that continues to release after your purchase and is given in formats that will always be yours.Erik reserves 5/5-star ratings for books with lasting sticking power. It's only a little while after reading, but Atomic Habits is one of those books that will be coming up time and time again in the future.Let's start using the concepts in the book and run some experiments in habit making and breaking!Related Episodes001 - A Sleepy Episode: Erik’s approach to getting a good night’s rest and a great start to the day is a good example of habit stacking003 - Goals and Actions: One point we make is to pursue goals in small, actionable ways004 - Power of Habit Review: We read and review The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg005 - Making Quick Decisions: The 5-Second Rule is strikingly similar to the 2-Minute Rule outlined in Atomic Habits009 - Working On Your Own: Environment design is very important to getting the most out of your work day when you’re a freelancer/solopreneur010 - Time Wasters: Another exercise in environment design focused on removing bad habits that waste your time011 - Year in Review: Habits aren’t enough, you also have to stop occasionally and consciously look at and re-evaluate what you’re doing014 - Project Breakdown: Our process of breaking a big project down into actionable and measurable pieces is really similar to breaking a big goal or identity shift into atomic habits015 - The One Big Thing: Leo and Erik both use habit tracking, writing things down, and environment design as the biggest boosts to their productivity...
Overall Review Leo's take:I have read many self-help books. I have never found a book so condensed with information. This is a book I found with many takeaways and lessons. I can tell this is a book James had been working on as a series of blog posts, but had successfully made those blog posts into an actual book which each piece connected much better than the other.I compare this to Derek Sivers book on which felt much more disconnected. (It had great elements but there was as much cohesion as this book). This book is filled with so many lessons - many I practice without thinking (and I have talked about on the podcast) but this book explains them so clearly.Erik's take:This book is phenomenal and I agree with Leo: it’s very nutrient dense. The information is organized in a hierarchical way that makes the high-level process easy to remember and serve as reminders for all of the little details as well. I also greatly appreciate the vast amount of short, practical analogies and examples. The examples weren’t all relatable, but they were short enough that I didn’t feel alienated by them.The supplemental material offered with the book purchase is great, too. Cheat sheets, templates, Q&A, bonus chapters... I’ve never read a nonfiction book that got me so geeked to apply the lessons and use the extra tools. And while some of the concepts from the book tend to come more easily to me than what I see of some of my peers, I’m still eager to try the approach to both break a habit and adopt a new (good) one.Introduction Content warning: the introduction starts with a graphic description of bodily harm. If you may find this unsettling, skip the intro. It merely serves as a source of credibility and using the lessons described in the other chapters to overcome adversity.James captures you right off the bat (no pun intended) with a great anecdote about a serious injury and how he slowly recovered from it through habits.The Analogy of the Ice Cube The overall thesis of the book is that small changes can compound themselves and how with time those small changes can lead to big outcomes.This idea is best illustrated through the financial concept of compound interest.The book also compares persistent atomic habits to melting ice:A one-degree shift, seemingly no different from the temperature increases before it, has unlocked a huge change.Complaining about not achieving success despite working hard is like complaining about an ice cube not melting when you heated it from twenty-five to thirty-one degrees.We like the analogy of melting ice. Sometimes change takes a long time. Sometimes change requires persistent effort. In both cases you either must trust that results will start to happen (i.e. don’t arbitrarily give up) or know at what point the scales will tip in your favor.Reshaping Your Identity This chapter is where the book really hooked Erik. He looooooves the notion of Identity-based Habits, which is the idea of using your identity or reframing your identity to acquire better habits. For example, think “I am vegetarian” instead of “I want to eat less meat” to lock those habits in your mindset and transition to the person you really want to be.Something we wish was covered a bit more is that other people project their images of our identity onto us (a.k.a. peer pressure). It can be difficult to reframe something such as “I am a confident person” after years of nourishing an identity that we are anxious, shakeable, and easily give into peer pressure (as an example).The overall point here is to communicate to yourself and others that you are changing. Declare who you are and let the people who care about you know it too so they can better support your new habits.The Habit Loop The stages of a habit, from the book:cue,craving, response,rewardThe steps to develop a good habit, from the book: make it obvious, make it attractive, make it easy, make it satisfyingSimple does not mean easy, and that’s where the book's templates, strategies, and examples become really useful.We like the big-picture thinking here: use habits to make your behavior automatic so you get lots of small rewards to keep you going and then you get the big, long-term intrinsically motivated pay-offs as well.Are Habits Boring? Habits do not make life dull. They eliminate (or at least diminish) the arduous process of doing things we don't want to do. They also free our minds from thinking about things we don't want to do.In the long term, we learn to enjoy those things when they become automatic and we continue to reap the benefits of the habits.Comparing to Power of HabitAtomic Habits contains many personal short examples, analogies, and stories whereas The Power of Habit contains longer stories about newsworthy examples of habits at scale. We found Atomic Habits' stories much more relatable and reproducible.The stages of a habit in Atomic Habits involves four steps: cue, craving, response, reward. This is a longer list than the habit loop from The Power of Habit (cue, routine, reward), but we find Atomic Habits' list easier to remember, perhaps because of the double alliteration and parallels it draws with both making new habits and breaking bad habits.The Atomic Habits process of making new habits and breaking new habits seems much more concrete to us than those from The Power of Habit. The steps to form a good habit and the inversion of that same process to break a bad habit also seems much more simple!Related Episodes001 - A Sleepy Episode: Erik’s approach to getting a good night’s rest and a great start to the day is a good example of habit stacking003 - Goals and Actions: One point we make is to pursue goals in small, actionable ways004 - Power of Habit Review: We read and review The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg005 - Making Quick Decisions: The 5-Second Rule is strikingly similar to the 2-Minute Rule outlined in Atomic Habits009 - Working On Your Own: Environment design is very important to getting the most out of your work day when you’re a freelancer/solopreneur010 - Time Wasters: Another exercise in environment design focused on removing bad habits that waste your time011 - Year in Review: Habits aren’t enough, you also have to stop occasionally and consciously look at and re-evaluate what you’re doing014 - Project Breakdown: Our process of breaking a big project down into actionable and measurable pieces is ...
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