ProdPod, a Productivity Podcast

In this episode, I explain my "calculation" of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live) and therefore life proceeds work, but perhaps not in the way you think. Note: I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffin (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation.I hear people tell me often that I "work too much." While this may seem like the case, I can assure you that's not the case. I have a different paradigm about the definition of "work" and how it fits into my life. Life is dynamic and long-term process. Instead of worrying about if you're working too much (and definitely worrying about whether someone else is working too much), I suggest that you determine how satisfied you are with how you spend your time. And, you know what I'm going to say...there's only one way to know that...track your time! In this episode, I'd like to explain my calculation of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live, not vice versa) and therefore "life" should proceed "work," but perhaps not in the way you think.Typically, it shouldn't take you more than a week or two of tracking your time on, say, an hourly basis. There are myriad applications that you can use, as well as a good old-fashioned printed spreadsheet with date, description of the task, and length of time spent on that task. At the end of this period of tracking, you'll have a pretty good sampling of your activities across work and life. Now, categorize them into your life categories. You can use a series of colored highlighters or just noting the category next to each task for which you tracked time. Are you starting to see any patterns?Now, think about your life and life categories. In an ideal world, Think of your life-work balance as a pie chart. All that matters is that the pie is whole and that you have a healthy perspective about its slices. That's balance...not a 50-50 balancing scale between all that is life and all that is work. Will your pie always be full? No. Will your pie sometimes burn? Yes. That's life and nothing a little elbow grease can't fix. But you know what your life-work balance pie should look like, and that'll help create better focus for you on how your pie should look, smell and taste.I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffith (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation. Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!  Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!

In this episode, I explain my "calculation" of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live) and therefore life proceeds work, but perhaps not in the way you think. Note:I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffin (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation.I hear people tell me often that I "work too much." While this may seem like the case, I can assure you that's not the case. I have a different paradigm about the definition of "work" and how it fits into my life. Life is dynamic and long-term process. Instead of worrying about if you're working too much (and definitely worrying about whether someone else is working too much), I suggest that you determine how satisfied you are with how you spend your time. And, you know what I'm going to say...there's only one way to know that...track your time! In this episode, I'd like to explain my calculation of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live, not vice versa) and therefore "life" should proceed "work," but perhaps not in the way you think.Typically, it shouldn't take you more than a week or two of tracking your time on, say, an hourly basis. There are myriad applications that you can use, as well as a good old-fashioned printed spreadsheet with date, description of the task, and length of time spent on that task. At the end of this period of tracking, you'll have a pretty good sampling of your activities across work and life. Now, categorize them into your life categories. You can use a series of colored highlighters or just noting the category next to each task for which you tracked time. Are you starting to see any patterns?Now, think about your life and life categories. In an ideal world,Think of your life-work balance as a pie chart. All that matters is that the pie is whole and that you have a healthy perspective about its slices. That's balance...not a 50-50 balancing scale between all that is life and all that is work. Will your pie always be full? No. Will your pie sometimes burn? Yes. That's life and nothing a little elbow grease can't fix. But you know what your life-work balance pie should look like, and that'll help create better focus for you on how your pie should look, smell and taste.I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffith (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation. Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!

The blogosphere is not a new invention, although it was only recently embraced by media and the general consumer public in the late 90s. What does this mean for you and me? Well, it is likely a cornucopia of potentially amazing (and maybe not-so-amazing) content for us. So that reading all this great blog content doesn't become unwieldy, overflowing and overwhelming in our lives, I've put together a series of best-practices (pardon the corporate-speak) to keep Blog Reading a practice of compound benefits to your productivity. 1. Let's start with what you should and shouldn't follow in terms of blogs and bloggers. Less than three major media outlets...the sometimes pump out hundreds of articles per day and it can quickly overwhelm; if they have best-of feeds that limit to just the most important. Monthly purge of articles from blogs which you haven't read *any* posts...this keeps your list manageable. You can only read so much, and you owe it to yourself to find the material that best suits your personal tastes and professional needs. 2. Use an RSS feed reader, like Feedly, to combine all your blog reading into one centralized repository. I have keep two different accounts: one for personal and one for professional reading. You likely don't need that separation, but I need to so I don't get enticed into reading about cognitive neuroscience, personal productivity and electronics gadgets at the office when I should really be reading professional industry blogs!  3. Process this RSS feed reader inbox into Pocket, Instapaper, Readability or another reader app for offline reading if you can't read all the articles in your RSS feed reader in one sitting and you know you'll have time away from your computer or laptop, where you can bang through those articles that same day. 3. Once you set up your RSS feed reader, make the determination whether you will have a master feed from which to process incoming posts, or whether you'll use folders to segment groups of blog feeds together based on category or context. I have days when one or the other method is best suited for me, and I like being able to use different folders for context (@airport, @subway, @brain-dead, etc.) while at times just looking at All Items view and just processing from the master spigot of articles. You decide which best works for you. 4. Every morning, midday or evening before whenever you look at your RSS feed reader again, make sure to clear out your items in your reader app. This way, you don't start to compound reading material that you just aren't going to get to. One trick is to make sure to categorize by tagging every item you receive in your RSS feed reader (either automatically if it's available in your application, or manually as you select the important articles you want to read or reference later, as opposed to something you'd *like* to read for fun but isn't important enough to tag or track), as well as those you add to your reader app. That way, if you just swiftly archive everything you haven't read any given morning you can always retrieve the important reference materials from the category tags in the future quickly and easily. Don't depend on the built-in search functionality of your RSS feed reader or reader app to do the job only your brain can do of cataloging items you believe are important.   So there you have it, a set of techniques for making blog reading a well-greased productivity engine!

The blogosphere is not a new invention, although it was only recently embraced by media and the general consumer public in the late 90s. What does this mean for you and me? Well, it is likely a cornucopia of potentially amazing (and maybe not-so-amazing) content for us. So that reading all this great blog content doesn't become unwieldy, overflowing and overwhelming in our lives, I've put together a series of best-practices (pardon the corporate-speak) to keep Blog Reading a practice of compound benefits to your productivity.1. Let's start with what you should and shouldn't follow in terms of blogs and bloggers. Less than three major media outlets...the sometimes pump out hundreds of articles per day and it can quickly overwhelm; if they have best-of feeds that limit to just the most important. Monthly purge of articles from blogs which you haven't read *any* posts...this keeps your list manageable. You can only read so much, and you owe it to yourself to find the material that best suits your personal tastes and professional needs.2. Use an RSS feed reader, like Feedly, to combine all your blog reading into one centralized repository. I have keep two different accounts: one for personal and one for professional reading. You likely don't need that separation, but I need to so I don't get enticed into reading about cognitive neuroscience, personal productivity and electronics gadgets at the office when I should really be reading professional industry blogs! 3. Process this RSS feed reader inbox into Pocket, Instapaper, Readability or another reader app for offline reading if you can't read all the articles in your RSS feed reader in one sitting and you know you'll have time away from your computer or laptop, where you can bang through those articles that same day.3. Once you set up your RSS feed reader, make the determination whether you will have a master feed from which to process incoming posts, or whether you'll use folders to segment groups of blog feeds together based on category or context. I have days when one or the other method is best suited for me, and I like being able to use different folders for context (@airport, @subway, @brain-dead, etc.) while at times just looking at All Items view and just processing from the master spigot of articles. You decide which best works for you.4. Every morning, midday or evening before whenever you look at your RSS feed reader again, make sure to clear out your items in your reader app. This way, you don't start to compound reading material that you just aren't going to get to. One trick is to make sure to categorize by tagging every item you receive in your RSS feed reader (either automatically if it's available in your application, or manually as you select the important articles you want to read or reference later, as opposed to something you'd *like* to read for fun but isn't important enough to tag or track), as well as those you add to your reader app. That way, if you just swiftly archive everything you haven't read any given morning you can always retrieve the important reference materials from the category tags in the future quickly and easily. Don't depend on the built-in search functionality of your RSS feed reader or reader app to do the job only your brain can do of cataloging items you believe are important.  So there you have it, a set of techniques for making blog reading a well-greased productivity engine!

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

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

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

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

I came across this poem (who's author is unknown to me) several years ago and I think it's definitely worth sharing. If you haven't yet listened to Episodes 12 to 15 on habit development, go check those out after listening to this episode. Enjoy! HabitI will push you onward or drag you down to failure. I am completely at your command. over to me and I will do them - quickly and correctly. Show me exactly how you want something done and after a few lessons, I will do it automatically. and alas, of all failures as well. Those who are great, I have made great. Those who are failures, I have made failures. I work with the precision of a machine plus the intelligence of a person. it makes no difference to me. I will place the world at your feet. I am your constant companion. I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden. Half of the things you do you might as well turn I am easily managed - you must be firm with me. I am the servant of great people, I am not a machine though You may run me for profit or run me for ruin - Take me, train me, be firm with me, and Be easy with me and I will destroy you. Who am I? I am Habit.

I came across this poem (who's author is unknown to me) several years ago and I think it's definitely worth sharing. If you haven't yet listened to Episodes 12 to 15 on habit development, go check those out after listening to this episode. Enjoy!HabitI will push you onward or drag you down tofailure.I am completely at your command.over to me and I will do them - quickly andcorrectly.Show me exactly how you want something doneand after a few lessons, I will do it automatically.and alas, of all failures as well.Those who are great, I have made great.Those who are failures, I have made failures.I work with the precision of a machineplus the intelligence of a person.it makes no difference to me.I will place the world at your feet.I am your constant companion.I am your greatest helper or heaviest burden.Half of the things you do you might as well turnI am easily managed - you must be firm with me.I am the servant of great people,I am not a machine thoughYou may run me for profit or run me for ruin -Take me, train me, be firm with me, andBe easy with me and I will destroy you.Who am I? I am Habit.

Google and several other companies have recently convened the Paperless Coalition [http://paperless2013.org] to help you "take the paper out of 'paperwork!'" In this episode, learn about the Paperless 2013 and go paperless in 2013! According to their website:Why should you go paperless? If you do the quick math, that's conservatively two billion sheets of paper used every year just in the United States! We know better and we can do better...and the benefits are great for us...greater efficiency and higher productivity at work and at work.It just takes small decisions and workflow changes. Using tools like Google Drive, HelloSign, and Nitro (which is a PDF creation tool) changes the print and paper chase of working to seamlessly collaborating and sharing documents and file without a single fiber of tree having to be used. On the flip side, the companies like Lemon Digital Wallet, ShoeBoxed.com and Fujitsu's ScanSnap help you turn paper into digital files so that you can defeat the paper monster once and for all. The efficiences that can be found by having all your documents in one central, digital repository (even if you do keep the physical paper around for tax, legal, financial or other logical safekeeping).While not a Paperless Coalition member, I am a big fan of Evernote and use that to capture my paper notebook pages after I go to a meeting so that even though I like the kinesthetic benefits of handwriting notes, I can still go paperless quickly and easily. With the Google Drive smartphone application, you can snap a photo and upload it directly to a Notebook folder as well.You can find them at paperless2013.org where you can sign up for their monthly e-newsletter with tips and tools. I hope this sparks your interest in going paperless and gets you started toward a Paperless 2013. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average US office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. In 2010, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 334 pounds for each person living in the US, according to the American Forest & Paper Association.

Google and several other companies have recently convened the Paperless Coalition [http://paperless2013.org] to help you "take the paper out of 'paperwork!'" In this episode, learn about the Paperless 2013 and go paperless in 2013!According to their website:Why should you go paperless?If you do the quick math, that's conservatively two billion sheets of paper used every year just in the United States! We know better and we can do better...and the benefits are great for us...greater efficiency and higher productivity at work and at work.It just takes small decisions and workflow changes. Using tools like Google Drive, HelloSign, and Nitro (which is a PDF creation tool) changes the print and paper chase of working to seamlessly collaborating and sharing documents and file without a single fiber of tree having to be used. On the flip side, the companies like Lemon Digital Wallet, ShoeBoxed.com and Fujitsu's ScanSnap help you turn paper into digital files so that you can defeat the paper monster once and for all. The efficiences that can be found by having all your documents in one central, digital repository (even if you do keep the physical paper around for tax, legal, financial or other logical safekeeping).While not a Paperless Coalition member, I am a big fan of Evernote and use that to capture my paper notebook pages after I go to a meeting so that even though I like the kinesthetic benefits of handwriting notes, I can still go paperless quickly and easily. With the Google Drive smartphone application, you can snap a photo and upload it directly to a Notebook folder as well.You can find them at paperless2013.org where you can sign up for their monthly e-newsletter with tips and tools. I hope this sparks your interest in going paperless and gets you started toward a Paperless 2013.According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, the average US office worker uses 10,000 sheets of copy paper each year. In 2010, the amount of paper recovered for recycling averaged 334 pounds for each person living in the US, according to the American Forest & Paper Association.

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

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

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