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Third issue of the Productive Magazine, featuring interview with Michael Bungay Stanier where we talk about finding our great work. Also great articles by leading productivity bloggers and some GTD (Getting Things Done) related humor.
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4 Review of Making It All Work
4 How to increase productivity
4 Productive! Show and... Humor
• Michael Bungay Stanier • Alex Fayle • Laura Stack • James Mallinson •• Thomas Groehl • Art Carden • Alex Shalman • Mike Vardy • Michael Sliwinski •
magazine
Bungay Stanier
Exclusive Interview
S p o n s o r e d b y
#3 (August 2009)www.ProductiveMagazine.com
Michaelon Finding Your GREAT Work
Summer, Twitter... and Great Work
Although it’s summertime in the
Northern hemisphere and most
of the busy professionals are
out enjoying their vacation,
we’ve decided to prepare a summer
issue of the Productive Magazine – feel
free to print it out and take it with you
and hopefully you’ll have a great read
when lying on the beach and sipping
a piña colada.
After two very successful issues of the
magazine we’re working on setting new
standards for your favorite productivity
read. We’ve got a great team of editors
with Lori Anderson, Delfina Gerbert and
Dustin Wax who are actively helping me
out with the magazine and I wouldn’t have
finished it without them.
We are on our way to make it a bi-
monthly magazine this year – with next
issues to be published in October and
December... and in the next year? We’ll
see:-) Monthly anyone?
We’ve noticed many of you still like the
printed version and for that, switching from
Lulu to Magcloud was a good decision. Just
for the record – we are offering the printed
edition of the magazine only for your
convenience – the PDF version will always
be free and you can also print it yourself.
On the personal note, I started Twittering
a lot more since the last issue of the
magazine, you can follow me @MichaelNozbe
to see what recently has grabbed my attention
and how my projects are developing.
From the Editor
By Michael Sliwinski, Editor
As I’ve received great feedback on
my 2-minute productivity show from
the magazine readers, I’ve decided
to compile the videos to a sister site called
„Productive! Show” – now we have two
sites with the new „Productive!” brand.
The video shows are now being published
every week for you to enjoy. Make sure
to subscribe to them.
In this issue of the magazine I’m happy
to introduce you to Michael Bungay
Stanier – Canada’s coach of the year
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2006, a person who might not be very
well known in the social media but who’s
one of the most respected coaches on
personal productivity and life planning.
His new book „Find your Great Work” is
a great read and has helped me define
my own personal „Great Work”. I was
eager to do the interview with Michael
after I listened to a series of „Creative
Questioning” podcasts published by David
Allen on his web site.
Apart from the interview we’ve got
great articles for you to enjoy and as it’s
summer, we’ve got plenty of humor for you
as well. From „The 30 Types of Vacations”
by Mike Vardy to a very funny cartoon
about falling into the GTD trap by Whakate
– be sure to check it out – we’ll try to have
a Productive! Humor section at the end of
each magazine. Productivity should also
be fun!
On the last note (but a very important
one for me) – our magazine sponsor –
�
Nozbe.com – online time and project
manager developed by yours truly will
be launched in just a few days (August
11th) with a completely new graphics
design, full code rewrite for maximum
speed and power, new features for project
collaboration and more. And Nozbe has
a new logo! You can follow the Nozbe 2.0
development on the Nozbe blog and make
sure to be there on August 11th to see the
brand new standard of the productivity
application.
As always, if you liked the magazine,
make sure to forward it via Email to your
friends, Tweet about it on Twitter and help
us bring great productivity tips and tricks
to everyone you know. Thanks again for
your support!
Michael Sliwinski (@MichaelNozbe)
Founder, Nozbe – Simply Get It Done!
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05 Michael Sliwinski„Great Work”Interview with Michael Bungay Stanier
08Art CardenProductive! Review:Making it All Work10
Alex FayleThe number one spotis for losers
12 Laura StackI spend waaaaaaytoo much time on...
14 James MallinsonThe 5 Big Reasons Why You Fall Off The Productivity Wagon
16 Alex Shalman11 Practical Ways To Jump Out Of A Lazy Rut 19 WHAKATE
10 Signs you are in the GTD® Trap
Table of contents
18 Mike VardyThe Vacationary
Productive!Magazinewww.ProductiveMagazine.com
Sponsor:www.Nozbe.com
Your Online tool for Getting Things Done – available in your computer browser, mobile phone and on your iPhone.
Chief Editor:Michael [email protected]
Technical Editor:Maciej [email protected]
Editorial Team:Lori Anderson
Delfina Gerbert
Dustin Wax
Tribute:Marc Orchant (1957-2007)The Productive!Magazine is dedicated to the memory of a productivity guru, great blogger and a very close friend, Marc Orchant who passed away on 9th December 2007.
All articles are copyright © by their respective authors. Productive!Magazine is copyright © by Michael Sliwinski. Getting Things Done® and GTD® are the registered trademarks of the David Allen Company.
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Michael Sliwinski: You’re saying that all
the work we do can be divided into three
categories: bad work, good work and
great work?
Michael Bungay Stanier: Correct. Here’s
a snap-shot definition of each type of
work:
Bad Work – A waste of time, energy, and
life. Doing it once is one time too many.
This is not something to be polite about.
It’s not something to be resigned to. This
is the work that is pointless.
Sadly, organizations have a gift at
continuing to generate Bad Work. It
shows up as bureaucracy, interminable
meetings, outdated processes that waste
everyone’s time, and other ways of doing
things that squelch you rather than help
you grow.
Good Work – The familiar, useful,
productive work you do and do well. Good
Work is how you spend most of your
time, and there’s nothing wrong with it.
This work blossoms from your training,
your education, the path you’ve travelled
so far – all in all, it’s a source of comfort,
nourishment and success.
You always need Good Work in your life.
At an organizational level, Good Work is
Productive! Magazine interview with Michael Bungay Stanier
by Michael Sliwinski
Great Work
“This is what we want more of.
This is the work that is meaningful
to you, that has an impact and
makes a difference. It inspires,
stretches, and provokes. Great
Work is the work that matters.”
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vital. It is a company’s bread and butter,
the efficient, focused, profitable work that
delivers next quarter’s returns.
Great Work – This is what we want more
of. This is the work that is meaningful
to you, that has an impact and makes
a difference. It inspires, stretches, and
provokes. Great Work is the work that
matters.
It is a source of both deep comfort and
engagement, the “flow zone” where time
stands still and you feel you’re working
at your best and effortlessly. The comfort
comes from its connection – its “sight line”
– to what is most meaningful to you, your
values, beliefs, and aspirations.
But Great Work is also a place
of uncertainty and discomfort. The
discomfort arises because the work is
new and challenging and as a result,
there’s an element of risk and possible
failure. Because this is work that matters,
work that you care about, you don’t
want it to fail. And because it’s new and
challenging, there’s a chance that it might.
For organizations, Great Work drives
strategic difference, innovation, and
longevity. Often it’s the kind of innovative
work that pushes business forward – that
leads to new products, more efficient
systems, and increased profits.
What’s Great Work for me? It’s been
interesting to see how that’s evolved
over time. For instance, when I started
being a full time coach about a decade
ago, that was my Great Work. I’d wait by
the phone with sweaty hands and a fast-
beating heart, waiting for the client
to call. Now, I’d consider that Good Work
– still love doing it, but it’s no longer
an edge for me. My Great Work now is
focused on writing my next book – based
around my short movie, The Eight
Irresistible Principles of Fun and also
supporting my leaders for our Coaching
for Great Work program. There are 16
based around the world, so building
a community within this group is exciting
and definitely Great Work.
MS: In your book you’re saying that
to do great work, we should decline
good work. How to do that? How should
I make myself ditch good work and start
great work? Can you give examples from
your life how you’ve declined good work
to do great work?
MBS: It’s one of the deep truths
about doing more Great Work. You need
to decide on what to say Yes to... and what
to say No to. There are two challenges with
that – saying No to yourself and saying No
to others.
Saying No to yourself is difficult
because Good Work is a comfortable
place to hang out and be. Even though
Great Work is where the more meaningful,
more engaging work lives – we’re
constantly pulled back to the familiarity
and certainty of doing Good Work. It is an
act of courage to decide what Good Work
you want to say No to, so you can free up
more time, space and energy to do Great
Work.
It is also difficult to say No to most
people, especially colleagues in the work
place. Here’s my best tip for this. Think
of your goal not as saying No – but as
„saying Yes more slowly.” Part of what trips
us up is how our default is set to saying
Yes and saying Yes quickly. If you can just
slow things down a little – and the best
way to do this is to get curious and ask
questions about what’s being asked of
you – then you’ll end up not committing
yourself to so much.
MS: I really liked your creative question
“is this true?”. Every now and then I get
feedback on my Nozbe.com application
from a user who says – “your app doesn’t
have X and Y feature, nobody would ever
use this without it.” And I know I have tens
of thousands of users who are happily using
my app! Same applies to this magazine.
I really need to ask myself this powerful
question quite often. And in your life? When
recently you did have to ask yourself this
question, what have you learned from that?
For companies Great Work drives strategic difference, innovation and longevity.
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MBS: Part of the secret to doing more
Great Work is to get more mindful about
what work you’re doing, clearer about
the “why”. Quite often – just like in your
example – we get thrown into a situation
where others and ourself starting making
judgments about what’s going on that
spark us into action. Slowing it down by
asking “is that true?” helps you stop and
make the best possible choice on where
you spend your time.
I use this question a lot to manage
myself from overreacting to feedback
I get. For instance, today I just received
a collation of feedback from a keynote
I gave at a conference. It was mostly
very positive, and it also had some less
than positive comments – not terrible
just not “two thumbs up” – which got
me going down the path of “I wasn’t
very good, I’m never any good at this,
I should just stop speaking, etc.” By
pulling back and asking myself “are their
comments true, is my inner dialogue
true?” I can calm myself down and
collect myself.
MS: When I started my Nozbe app,
I was a one-man shop. Now I have
a team to support me with my business.
I started the Productive Magazine with
a friend who actually designed the
magazine into what it is today. Now
I have a team of editors (Lori, Dustin)
who help me out. Tell me Michael, what
support do you have and what support
do you need?
MBS: I truly believe that you can’t
do Great Work by yourself. If you’re
smart, you build up a team – people who
can provide technical, intellectual and
emotional support.
So I have a coach who I use as
a sounding board and strategic thinker
and who I’ve worked with for three years.
I have a „brain trust”, a mastermind
group where I can show up and be
confused and despairing and also people
who know my blind spots and kick me
in the back when required. I have a full
time office manager, and two or three
fantastic operations people who help
manage the various systems that make
the business run. We’ve got some great
technical experts – a designer, a web
person, a flash movie maker. And I’m just
creating another team to lead a project
that will culminate in January. Bottom
line: I have a ton of support, and I’m
deeply grateful for it.
MS: We very often we tend to think about
an idea and just go into action, but you’re
asking this question: “what is possible?”
to make us think of coming up with
different possibilities before we go into
action...
MBS: Let me suggest my five favorite
questions for generating possibilities.
The first is to ask, after you’ve defined
your challenge and the ideas you already
have, „and what else?” until you run out of
ideas. That’s always a good start and you
have more ideas than you thought.
Then ask these three questions:
– What’s the easiest thing to do?
– What could I do that would have the
most impact?
– What do I want to do?
Those three questions will help generate
an interesting range of possibilities. And
then you just need to ask yourself: What
WILL you do?
MS: I really liked your question about
building stories. So what’s your story?
How did you create a scenario planning
for your book?
MBS: You’re referring to one of the
“maps” from the book, where you imagine
different stories for whatever your Great
Work project might be. It’s a great exercise
for bringing to life your ambition and
to test the extent of your risk. I use two
questions as part of this process:
– What would extraordinary look like?
This starts stretching what’s possible
and allows me to imagine brave thoughts
– working on the principle that “once
a mind has been stretched, it can never
shrink back to its original size.”
– What wouldn’t I do to make this
a success?
This is powerful because once you’ve
clarified what you wouldn’t do – you have
a lot of stuff left over that you WOULD do.
This opens up possibilities.
And then, you have a choice. Having
imagined what’s possible, what do you
want to strive for? How much courage
do you have? How much risk are you
willing to take?
One of my stories is about Find Your
Great Work becoming a mainstream
success – and that narrative is still
unfolding.
I truly believe that you can’t do Great Work by yourself. If you’re smart, you build up a team.
Michael Bungay
Stanier, born
in Australia,
lives in Canada
where he’s been
awarded “Coach
of the Year 2006”.
To find out more about his book, visit
the Find Your Great Work web site:
www.FindYourGreatWork.com
Learn Michael’s practical “next day
usable” coaching skills:
www.CoachingForGreatWork.com
Michael on Twitter: @boxofcrayons
Michael Bungay Stanier
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The number ONE spot is for losersStop trying to be number one. Relax and enjoy being simply great.
Alex Fayle
– “I’m the best.”
– “Be the best in your niche.”
– “Your goal should be to reach number
one.”
Blah blah blah...
Know what? I don’t care about being the
best. I’m quite happy being great. There’s
so much more company when you’re great.
The best is a lonely place, always looking
over your shoulder to make sure that no
one’s coming up from behind ready to take
the number one spot away from you.
There’s so much pressure on being
NUMBER ONE. Think of the Olympics,
a perfect example of this. While thousands
train for an event, dozens will make it
to the final moment and only one person
will be the best. You watch the news and
the way they handle everyone else, asking
second and third place athletes how it feels
to lose the top spot. How totally icky.
I’ve learned since moving to Spain that
most Spaniards don’t care about being the
best. They find constant competition and
work-work-work very English. Whenever
I start getting all “gotta be the best, gotta
be the best” Raul asks me why. And I say
“because...” and stop. I don’t know why
actually. Peer pressure perhaps?
I can understand why I’d want
to be great. After all who’d want to listen
to someone who isn’t striving to be great?
But the best? Nope, can’t think of a single
good reason.
There’s only one type of best that
I care about and that’s doing my best. I’m
not a slacker. I give whatever I’m doing
my best, but that’s an internal thing. It’s
competing with myself and going one step
farther than I thought possible. But being
the best? That’s completely external and
I’ve had enough trouble in my life learning
not to care what others think. Why should
I allow others to measure my success
against my competitors?
No thanks, I’ll stick with being simply
great and share the winner’s circle with all
the other great people in my field.
Alex Fayle, Master
of Information
Studies from
the University of
Toronto who now
lives in northern
Spain where he found his soul. He’s
back out on the Someday Sea to help
others cross it. Find out more about
Alex on his blog:
SomedaySyndrome.com
Alex on Twitter: @alexfayle
Alex Fayle
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The number ONE spot is for losers
Next Tuesday,
August 11, 2009a new Era of Productivity Applications
will start with the launch of New Nozbe 2.0
featuring
Use Coupon code
PRODUCTIVE
to save 10%
and start getting things done with
www.Nozbe.com
Productive! ReviewMaking It All Workby David AllenDavid Allen’s Making it All Work, the highly-anticipated follow-up to his blockbuster Getting Things Done, offers a practical and philosophical approach to the problem of defining and processing our stuff.
Art Carden
He defines „stuff ” expansively
– it’s basically anything
intruding on your cognitive
architecture that isn’t properly
defined.
Allen’s 2002 book Getting Things Done
created an entire subculture and a set of
organizing principles that have encouraged
some off-the-wall innovations (Merlin
Mann’s Hipster PDA, for example). Making
It All Work is a complement to, rather than
a substitute for, GTD, and it incorporates
the insights Allen has picked up from years
of coaching executives and other groups in
his methods.
Allen states this explicitly on page 5:
„While Getting Things Done offered
a primer and a simple manual, Making
It All Work is intended to provide you
with a road map – one that will enhance
your abilities to process life and work in
tandem.”
Allen encourages his readers
to be as outcome-focused as possible and
to develop hard-edged systems whereby
they are able to understand exactly what
it is that they are doing, what it is that
is required, and what the next action
necessarily has to be. This is explicit on
page 17: „Because what I teach is actually
not a system but a systematic approach, it
can be adapted to take advantage of many
of the features of software applications
that have seldom been used before.”
As an economist I was especially
impressed with the way he led off the first
chapter with a quote from Thomas Sowell,
who, albeit in a different context, points out
that „much of what sophisticates loftily to as
the ‘complexity’ of the real world is in fact
the inconsistency in their own minds” (p. 1).
Allen is fond of referring to „the
business of life” and „the game of work,”
and this makes its first appearance on
page 2 when he points out that a well-
defined productivity system means that
„work takes on a lighter quality, and life
itself becomes a successful enterprise” and
further down the page when he writes that
the game of work and the business of life
are really the same thing, when it comes
down to the principles and behaviors and
techniques that eliminate distractions and
foster beneficial focus.”
Allen’s goal is clarified on page 57: „the
challenge that we are dealing with in all
this is getting to the state in which we can
trust that what we’re doing at any point in
time is what we think we should be doing.”
Of particular interest is his treatment
of the false distinction between work and
life. Following his earlier work, Allen offers
the broadest possible definition of „work”
as „anything you want to get done that’s
not done yet” (p. 56) and refers to the
Allen says: „what I teach is actually not a system but a systematic approach”
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Art Carden
is Assistant
Professor of
Economics and
Business at
Rhodes College
in Memphis,
TN and an Adjunct Fellow with the
Oakland, CAbased Independent
Institute. He is a regular contributor to
Lifehack.org and Division of Labour.
Art’s SSRN Author Page
Art Carden
Allen points out that „when you’re in
this mode you can read a single issue of
a magazine and generate at least a dozen
things to do – restaurants to try out, cool
new travel accessories to buy, six ideas
that might improve the next staff meeting”
(p. 108).
I’m glancing around my workspace right
now and seeing magazines, journals, and
books I’m avoiding right now because
I’m not really clear on what I’ll do with
the information once I collect it. Re-
arranging the piles might create short-term
satisfaction, but it won’t produce long-run
results (p. 111).
I would summarize Allen’s key
point as follows: dross creates drag. In
economics, we talk about opportunity
cost. Opportunity cost is whatever we
give up in order to do something, and the
opportunity cost of holding onto a pile of
commitments in your mind is the ideas you
could be having and implementing. As he
has said in various places, „your mind is
for having ideas, not holding them.” Trying
to use the mind to hold ideas rather than
to have them reduces clarity and increases
resistance.
For leaders, clarifying tasks and
parameters is of paramount importance.
Making It All Work provides a philosophy
and a toolkit that helps us figure this out.
concept of work/life balance as a „hoax”
(p. 58). This flies in the face of how a lot of
people think. Many organizational thinkers
and leaders see „work” as „what is done in
exchange for money at a place of business”
while anything else is „life.” As Allen argues,
this is a false distinction. In our super-
productive world, a lot of us have the
opportunity to find fulfillment through our
work, which is an opportunity that many of
our ancestors never had. Thus, Allen’s very
broad definition is appropriate.
Allen introduces some new terminology
– „control” and „perspective” – to describe
some of his new thinking on Getting Things
Done, and these are the focal points of the
new book. The core of his new contribution
really begins in earnest at the start of
chapter 4, when he argues that „control”
and „perspective” are „the two key
ingredients for making it all work” (p. 60).
Much like in his earlier book, Allen
relies on a number of heuristic hooks, like
„the matrix of self-management,” which
define different levels of perspective
and control. There is the „Captain and
Commander” quadrant of high perspective
and high control, the „Micromanager/
Implementer” quadrant of high control and
low perspective, the „Crazy Maker/Visionary”
quadrant of high perspective and little
control, and finally the „Victim/Responder”
quadrant of low perspective and low control.
Obviously, the „victim/responder”
quadrant is the worst place to be – it is
perpetually „operating in a crisis mode”
(p. 62). Micromanagement is a type of
bureaucratic management where „form...
will overtake function” (p. 65); This is
a fundamentally bureaucratic style that
emphasizes filling out the right forms at
the expense of actually creating value.
In yet another quadrant is the Crazy
Maker/Visionary, who „take(s) on too
many commitments vis-a-vis available
resources” (p. 67). It is a quadrant
with which most academics can likely
sympathize.
The ideal in his system is the Captain
and Commander. This is the person
who is in his or her zone; it is someone
who has „learned to walk the thin line
between function and form, vision and
implementation, stretch and structure”
(p. 69). The key to being a „captain and
commander” is to implement processes
that allow you to successfully deal with
what is coming at you. In other words,
it is to pay attention to what has our
attention (pp. 72-73).
In chapters five and beyond Allen
reorients GTD along the control/perspective
axes and considers the following tasks:
capturing, clarifying, organizing, reflecting,
(for control) and projects, areas of focus,
goals, vision, and purpose/principles (for
perspective). “Engaging/Actions” intersects
both categories.
One of the keys that permeates
Allen’s work is to define „stuff ” so that
it can be dealt with. It’s important for
the visionary part of your mind to be
disciplined to define what you want to do.
In a passage that has hit close to home,
Allen offers the broadest possible definition of „work” as „anything you want to get done that’s not done yet”
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I spend waaaaaay too much time on...I recently asked my readers to fill in the blank to „I spend waaaaaay too much time on...” There were tons of interesting answers, but it didn’t take long to start seeing some patterns. Here are seven most common responses (and what you can do about them)
Laura Stack
1. E-mail.Let’s face it. E-mail can be a phenomenal
productivity tool, but it will eat your day
alive if you let it. Lots of people complain
that their overflowing inbox is beyond
their control, but here are three steps you
CAN take to start getting a handle on it
right away:
Do you keep one eye on your inbox
all day long? What does that do to your
productivity? If you drop everything and
attend to every e-mail that comes in
throughout the day, you are derailing your
productivity, over and over again. Not
only do you waste whatever time it takes
for you to read, ignore, or act on a given
e-mail message, but it also takes time
to refocus your attention on whatever you
were doing prior to the interruption.
Try to close Outlook completely while
you work on other tasks, if you simply
can’t resist looking. Also turn off your
alerts, so the envelope in the system tray
doesn’t constantly remind you there’s
email waiting.
2. Watching television.Why is it that we can spend all day
scrounging for extra minutes and then
head home only to flush countless hours
down the drain watching television?
Television (even bad television) can be
extremely habit forming and one show can
very easily lead to another, turning your
half-hour escape into an entire evening
wasted.
Take a quick inventory of the last few
TV shows you watched. Think about how
many you thought about in advance and
then sat down to enjoy. Now think about
how many you ended up watching just
because they were on. Pick a few shows
that you really enjoy and watch them each
week.
If you have TiVo or a DVR, that’s even
better. Watch on your own time and skip
the commercials. Then shut the TV off and
go about your business!
3. Searching the Internet.The Internet is a bottomless pit of
information... some useful and some not-
so-useful. It’s much too easy to sit down
to do one thing (pay a bill, look up an
address) and end up wasting time on
something else entirely (reading news stories,
checking your social networking profiles).
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By choosing a single designee from each
work area, you can make sure everyone is
represented without having everyone in
the room.
Do we need to meet at all?
Any meeting that doesn’t have a clear
objective (if not a formal agenda) should be
on the chopping block.
7. Working on fun things instead of boring tasks.I love that this one made the list because
it shows how honest my readers are! The
best thing you can do is realize that you’ll
focus much better on the work that is
important to you if you don’t have a bunch
of small, less interesting tasks hanging
over your head. One thing to keep in
mind? About 99 percent of the time, those
nit-picky tasks are DRAMATICALLY easier
and less painful than you think they’re
going to be.
Getting started is the hardest part. If
you’re really having trouble, schedule
a five-minute appointment with yourself
to begin the chore. When the designated
time arrives, start working on the task. If
you feel like stopping at the end of five
minutes, you can stop. The only rule is you
must schedule an additional five minutes
for tomorrow. When you begin to see
some progress, five minutes soon becomes
10, 15, 20...
If meandering around the web is
relaxing for you – that’s fine – just make
sure you do it at an appropriate time and
place that doesn’t interfere with work or
family time.
Otherwise, treat the Internet like any
other tool: use it when you need it and put
it away when you’re done. Once you’ve got
what you came for, close the window and
move on.
4. Procrastinating on starting a difficult task or project.Occasionally, things don’t get done
because we just can’t seem to get
the ball rolling. Sometimes the task
or project giving us a hard time is
completely within our control, but we
just don’t make it happen. Whether the
task is intimidating, time-consuming, or
simply unpleasant, the solution is often
the same: break it down into manageable
chunks.
Forget waiting for a “block of time.”
That no longer exists. Instead of viewing
the task as one huge project, break it down
into manageable chunks you can schedule
over a period of a week or two. A twenty-
hour project can be seen as ten two-hour
tasks. Getting it down on paper can help
you see how to best approach the project.
The key is to do something to move
toward completion. If you need to focus
without interruption, it’s best to not work
in your office.
If you can take one large task and
break it into many smaller ones, it’ll be
much easier to get things going. Rather
than feeling like you have to tackle some
monumental project all at once, you can
just look at your bite-sized first step and
get started right away.
5. Handling family concerns during my work day.
Life happens. And it isn’t always
convenient. Some things can only be
arranged during the week from 9:00
to 5:00. Fortunately, companies are
starting to realize that it’s in their best
interest to assist employees attempting
to manage their lives during the day
rather than standing in the way. That can
mean anything from allowing workers
to access the Internet for incidental
personal use to offering flexible
schedules to accommodate personal
appointments.
Talk to your boss, your peers, and
your staff about finding opportunities
for flexibility within the workday. If
employees don’t feel like they have
to accomplish a million things during
five lunch hours a week, they’ll be more
productive during the rest of the day.
Do whatever you can to promote a strong,
reasonable work-life balance at your
organization.
6. Scheduling meetings.Do you find that it’s close to impossible
to get five or more attendees that are
available at the same time and the same
date? When key players are overbooked,
it can take hours just to schedule a single
a meeting. Here are three questions you
should ask yourself whenever you schedule
a meeting:
Do we really need all these people?
Make sure you aren’t inviting anyone
that doesn’t need to have a seat at the
table.
Can we keep people in the loop without
inviting them to every meeting?
Some meetings are full of wallflowers
that need to know what’s going on but
don’t necessarily need to contribute.
Publishing meeting minutes or distributing
essential information electronically can
save time and shorten the attendee list.
If I can complete the action in less than two minutes, I just go ahead and do it. Why wait?
Laura Stack
is a personal
productivity
expert, author,
and professional
speaker who
helps busy workers Leave the Office
Earlier® with Maximum Results in
Minimum Time™. She’s the president
of The Productivity Pro®, Inc.
Laura’s Firm: ProductivityPro.com
Laura on Twitter: @laurastack
Laura Stack
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So what does this mean? If you don’t
want to fall off the wagon so often, find
a system that works for you, make sure
you get plenty of rest and stay energized,
giving yourself a break when things
aren’t going so smoothly and make sure
you have a clear picture of what you’re
actually doing on a very regular basis.
Doesn’t sound too hard...
James Mallinson
The 5 Big Reasons Why You Fall Off The Productivity Wagon
Lack of energyIf you have no energy, it’s hard to find
the motivation to do a weekly review,
to organize your projects, to actually do
anything in general. And all it takes is a
late evening sucking up to the boss, a bad
night’s sleep, skipping breakfast or having
a very hectic day running around like a
headless chicken. In that groggy mood it’s
all to easy to fall off the wagon.
Lack of clarityThis is probably the most common
reason why people fall off the
productivity wagon. You skip a weekly
review or two, you forget to define
your next actions, you let thoughts and
ideas build up in your head... before you
know it, you get hit by the fuzzy-head
syndrome. And in your unclear state, you
hit a bump in the road and go flying off
the wagon again.
You’re doing too muchHalf the reason people obsess over
getting productive is because they have
so much to do, they need to gain some
control to stand any chance of doing it
all. But that’s like walking a tightrope.
When your entire day is about getting as
much done as possible, all it takes is one
delayed meeting or one task that’s a little
more complicated than you imagined, and
you’ll take a a head-cracking fall off that
wagon.
Your system doesn’t workYes, yes. It’s about what you do (or don’t
do), not about what you use, but you do
need to get organized and get a plan, and
you can’t do that in your head, you need
a system that works for you. The problem
comes when you obsess over the latest
app or tool rather than actually putting it
to good use. That isn’t going to help you
get productive, and if it doesn’t suit your
needs, it will let you down at some point,
predictably shoving you off the wagon
onto the dirt below.
You’re trying to function at 100%You are not a robot, you are not a machine
(unless you’re some secret Government AI
project that’s reading this, in which case
I apologize) so don’t try and function at
100% all the time. You’re just asking for
a fall. Just remember, every up has it’s
down... a down that will invariably leave
you a mangled mess under the wheels of
the productivity wagon.
Although a lot of my readers argue that falling off the productivity wagon is a positive thing, I would also argue that there is a lot to be learned from evaluating how to not fall off so often. Thus I’ve identified the 5 big reasons why people actually do fall off the wagon.
James Mallinson
comes from the
UK and is an
aspiring author.
He started
Organize IT
nearly two years ago after he
began dabbling in productivity,
and wanted to share his tips and
experience.
Visit Organize IT: Organize-it.co.uk
James on Twitter: @jmallinson
James Mallinson
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Michael Sliwinski
Productive! Show launchesOur Productive! Family is growing with the launch of Productive! Show - www.ProductiveShow.com - where yours truly is posting weekly shows with productivity tips and tricks.
Hope you’ll enjoy the new sister site and
subscribe to it – I’ll try to keep my weekly
posting consistent and I’m counting on you
sharing your tips and tricks with me in the
comments below the videos.
Every once in a while I’ve been
posting a 2-minute video show
for my Nozbe users to share my
tips and tricks that help me be
more productive.
Recently I decided to gather these
videos together and launch them under
our „Productive!” brand... and most of
all, post more often – now regularly on
a weekly basis.
I’ll be posting about my personal tips
and tricks, but mostly from a perspective
of a small startup owner – how to set up
and run a „productive” startup.
Here are some recent videos I’ve posted:
Capture tools help get stuff done
Where I’m talking about my favorite
capture tools – David Allen’s notetaker
wallet and the iPhone with Nozbe and
Evernote on it.
Inboxes for different purposes
Where I’m talking about setting up
a special inbox before a trip – I’ve used this
trick on my way to the GTD Summit in San
Francisco.
Passion – the ultimate productivity driver
Where I’m sharing my ultimate
productivity driver – this one thing that
keeps me going and reminds me what’s
important and why I’m doing what I’m
doing.
Michael Sliwinski
is your chief editor
of the Productive!
Magazine and
now a host of the
new Productive!
Show site. Every day he’s trying to help
people get more done with his web (and
iPhone) application Nozbe.com.
Michael on Twitter: @MichaelNozbe
Michael Sliwinski
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heart pumping, and my body rejuvenated
by the time the one hour is up. At an hour
per day it more than fulfills my weekly
walking requirement as well as enhances
my personal growth.
4. Engage In House Cleaning. We all get to the point where we let our
house go a bit past – okay, way past –
the point of being perfectly clean. This
makes me feel a bit guilty because I know
that one of the keys to a clear mind is
a clean home and workplace. It gets
to the point where the cleaning job will
either demand a lot of time, or force you
to move out.
If you’ve slipped in the clean-as-you
go process, you can use the 15 minute
Alex Shalman
I have no quick fix – I’m not THAT
good – so you’ll have to settle for
some practical techniques to dig
yourself out of your own lazy ruts. It
will take some work on your part, but I’m
sure that whatever works for me can work
for you too.
1. Start Somewhere, Anywhere. We can think of the discipline muscle as
a strong pillar. Metaphorically speaking, if
this muscle is big and tall it will serve as
a Pantheon of productivity. Pick any one of
the ideas below, or any one of your own
ideas, and get started!
If you follow the action consistently for
30 days, you will build a habit. Once you’re
in the “habit of making habits” you’ll be
able to build new ones. Maintaining takes
much less energy than starting, so you
can keep on adding on new habits to your
“habit-happy” life.
2. Self-actualize, Be Conscious. This happens to be the most important
point in the article. Think. By questioning
your source, reasons, and intentions, you
are able to transcend whatever obstacle
you find in your way.
3. Improve Exercise Antics. Sometimes I find myself laying in bed, just
listening to audio books on my iPhone.
Big mistake. The simple hack is to take
that one hour, go outside with my iPhone
and just walk around the neighborhood.
A brisk walk will get my blood flowing,
For one reason or another, we’ve all been stuck in a lazy rut. Fromproductivity guru to Average Joe, we’ve all faced our share of down time.
11 Practical Ways To JumpOut Of A Lazy Rut
© Spauln - Fotolia.com
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Alex Shalman
is a 24 year old
Jewish student,
son, boyfriend,
classmate, writer
and friend that
lives in New Jersey, USA. His interests
include personal development, fitness,
nutrition, productivity, psychology and
relationships.
His blog: AlexShalman.com
Alex on Twitter: @alexshalman
Alex Shalman
rule to get out of your rut. Pick a room,
and designate just 15 minutes to clean
something up (i.e. just the desk, just
the closet, just the floors). Use up all
15 minutes and continue the next day.
In the mean time, clean as you go and
you’ll find a clean room within about
a week.
5. Cultivate Reading Habits. It’s a sad fact that most Americans don’t
read. One of the reasons I started my site
was to cater to such people. My sentiments
were that reading a full book, and
compressing the gems into a 10 minute
read, can be convenient for even the most
modest of readers. Incidentally, after
running my site for this long, I’ve come
to realize that you guys are in the upper
echelons of intelligence and do spend
a nice chunk of time reading. I feel like you
can relate when I say that falling off the
reading wagon is a commonly occurring
disaster.
The best thing to do with a dropped
habit is to get back into it slowly. All you
need is to dedicate 15 minutes, as soon
as you wake up, each and every morning.
This is when you’ll be most alert to read,
which you can do by waking up 15 minutes
early. Commit to just 30 days of 15 minute
mornings, and eventually expand the hours
if you like the new habit.
6. Get Back On Track With Writing. In the creation of my site I have made
a 180 turn in my thoughts about writing.
It used to be a painful chore, but that was
before I realized that I’m passionate about
writing. Now I love writing for my site,
and the other sites where I freelance. After
all, I only delivered 1 article last week,
and it wasn’t due to lack of time or lack of
material.
The technique that works best for me is
scheduling a writing time the night before.
When I set aside 2 hours in a day, I’m able
to write anywhere between 1-4 articles. If
it’s more than 1, I can give it away, or set it
for a future date. However, I need to make
sure I’m in the habit of getting back the
next day to do some more writing, or else
the lazy bug will slip up on me.
7. Hydrate For Productivity. One of the things that I’ve found to be
continuously daunting is the reappearance
of dehydration. Drinking 2 liters of
water a day gets every atom of my body
resonating and jumping with energy.
8. End Over-Sleeping. The more you sleep, the lazier you are.
The lazier you are, the more you sleep. By
applying a couple of standardized rules in
the form of habits we’re able to break out
of this sloth-like cycle.
First, when you hear the morning alarm,
and before you lay there and question
yourself, jump right out of bed! Walk over
to the sink, wash your face with cold water
and immediately bring yourself to your
schedule or to-do list. Need an afternoon
nap? Set your alarm for 20 minutes and
do not allow yourself to sleep more than
this optimal time under any circumstances.
9. Don’t Eat Lazy Food. Have you noticed that with laziness comes
bad food choices that are high in fats,
sugars, and processed carbs? No? Is it just
me? Maybe with bad food choices comes
laziness, which is also very feasible.
One of the things that helps me break
the cycle is placing some rules on the
table. No eating 4 hours before bed,
unless it’s a piece of fruit. Using fruits and
vegetables as the only snacks between
meals. Having vegetables be the entree
of my meals, not the side dish. Eating 5-6
smaller meals throughout the day to avoid
lethargy. Healthy food gives you more
energy, which is one sure-fire way to get
out of the lazy hole.
10. Simplify Your Life. Think about it, extensive filing systems
like GTD require months to learn, just so
you can figure out what to do today. Your
mission – simplify. When you take away as
many unnecessary layers and distractions,
your mind will be clutter free and excited
at the opportunity to tackle what’s
important.
11. Embrace Your Laziness. Consider for a moment that you’re run-
down. Physically, emotionally, or spiritually
you’re experiencing a leak in your battery
that’s leaving you sluggish throughout
the day. That’s both understandable and
reasonable.
Put up the white flag, go to sleep, get
hydrated, eat some healthy food, go for
a sweaty run and refer to number 2 –
think. Perhaps you know what the problem
is, but something tells me that if you stand
in front of the mirror and look yourself in
the eyes for 10 minutes, a little voice will
come out and tell you exactly what’s wrong
– fix it.
If you follow the action consistently for 30 days, you will build a habit. Once you’re in the “habit of making habits” you’ll be able to build new ones.
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Eventually
self-professed
productivity
expert, founder
of the new
productivity
ideology:
Eventualism. His blog... eventually:
EffingTheDog.com
Mike on Twitter: @mikevardy
Mike Vardy
25. Filetcation – A fishing excursion.
26. Oy-Vaycation – A Jewish vacation.
27. Raycation – A great trip where you
have no idea where you’re going (after Ray
Charles).
28. Fay Wraycation – A trip with
a primate. (Used in a sentence: Clint
Eastwood went on a Fay Wraycation in Any
Which Way But Loose.)
29. Neighcation – A trip to your
neighbor’s.
30. Bidetcation – A trip to the bathroom.
Mike Vardy
The Vacationary
What follows are 30 of the
more popular types of
vacations one can take.
1. Baycation – 1. A holiday comprising
of watching the films of acclaimed director
Michael Bay. 2. A trip to San Francisco.
2. Claycation – A tennis holiday.
3. Fraycation – A vacation that involves
fighting of some sort (watch people fight?).
4. Gaycation – 1. A really dumb holiday. 2.
A really joyous one. 3. A trip to San Francisco.
5. Haycation – A trip to a farm.
6. Weighcation – A trip to the fat farm.
7. Laycation – A trip to one of those
Hedonism places.
8. Maycation – A trip that could happen.
9. Paycation – A business trip.
10. Playcation – A trip to an amusement park.
11. Praycation – Any sort of religious trip.
12. Sheacation – A trip to New York
to watch their other baseball team.
13. Slaycation – A hunting trip.
14. Sleighcation – 1. A trip to the North
Pole. 2. A trip to the mall so your kids can
have their picture taken with Santa Claus.
15. Straycation – A vacation where
things don’t go exactly as planned.
16. Yaycation – A really fun trip.
17. Treycation – A trip to basketball
camp.
18. Drécation – A trip involving a rap
concert.
19. Vraication – A Franch-themed
vacation taken to search for the truth.
20. Olécation – A trip to Mexico.
21. Chécation – A trip to Cuba.
22. Okaytion – A trip that was just
average.
23. Placation – A trip one takes just
to appease another. (Used in a sentence:
I just returned from a placation with my
wife.)
24. Fakation – A trip you told people you
took, but never actually did.
I feel that is my duty as your Eventual Productivity Expert to get you “in the know” when it comes to terms that describe that all-important thing you need to take at least twelve times per year: the vacation.
© Dmitry Ersler - Fotolia.com
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10 Signs you are in the GTD® Trap
WHAKATE
Sign 1. You keep your underwear in 43 folders.
Sign 2. You go to bed and think: “What’s the next action?”
Sign 3. You participate in a blog discussion on whether it is more efficient to be effective or more effective to be efficient.
Sign 4. You karate-chop your friend because he questioned Getting Things Done (GTD®)
Sign 5. You remove your spam blocker because your e-mail inbox is empty.
Sign 6. You keep a time log when playing with your child.
Sign 7. You switch your task management application on a weekly basis.
Sign 8. You always drink your beer in two minutes.
Sign 9. You maintain a list of your lists.
Sign 10. You contact Apple for a do-it-yourself iPhone kit.
Learn more about the Whakate Way and get the Introspection Workbook to get out of the GTD Trap.
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„If I had to pick a person to have dinner with, when I need to be prodded and challenged and inspired
to think about the things I really am committed to think about for myself and what I’m doing, I’d
pick Michael Bungay Stanier. He has an ability to shake our tree and make us more conscious and
responsible about what we know but aren’t willing to admit we know yet. And the best part – he makes
it easy and fun. Great work, Michael!”
David Allen, author of Getting Things Done
Find Your Great WorkNapkin-size solutions to stop the busy work and start the work that matters
Newest Book by Michael Bungay Stanier
www.FindYourGreatWork.com
Buy the Book Now
