ProdPod, a Productivity Podcast

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.

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.Read more.

Welcome to Episode 86 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. I’m Ray Sidney-Smith and I have Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt here for Part 2 of our discussion of One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by psychologist [ http://amzn.to/1lKpijP ], by Dr. Robert Maurer. We’ll be covering the elements of Kaizen. Sally, take it away. Read full transcript.

Welcome to Episode 85 of ProdPod, the podcast of productivity lessons in two minutes or less. I’m Ray Sidney-Smith and I have Professional Organizer Sally Reinholdt back on ProdPod to tell us about One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way by psychologist [ http://amzn.to/1lKpijP ], by Dr. Robert Maurer. So, Sally, what is The Kaizen Way? Read full transcript.

I first became aware of Shawn Achor as the funny, charismatic presenter of the popular TEDxBloomington Talk, "The Happiness Advantage: Linking Positive Brains to Performance.” And, subsequently, I came to know his eponymous book, The Happiness Advantage: The Seven Principles of Positive Psychology That Fuel Success and Performance at Work. His book’s premise is, I quote,Conventional wisdom holds that if we work hard we will be more successful, and if we are more successful, then we’ll be happy. If we can just find that great job, win that next promotion, lose those five pounds, happiness will follow. But recent discoveries in the field of positive psychology have shown that this formula is actually backward: Happiness fuels success, not the other way around. When we are positive, our brains become more engaged, creative, motivated, energetic, resilient, and productive at work. This isn’t just an empty mantra. Read more...

Productivity Lessons in Two Minutes or Less

Personal Productivity Lessons in Two Minutes or Less

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.

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.

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 l

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

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 Rituals Finally, 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!

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!

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 ].

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 ].