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The Importance of Structure Part 2

Lesson 2 from: Time Management 101

Mike Vardy

The Importance of Structure Part 2

Lesson 2 from: Time Management 101

Mike Vardy

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Lesson Info

2. The Importance of Structure Part 2

Next Lesson: Focusing on Task

Lesson Info

The Importance of Structure Part 2

So stop doing productive and start being productive so when I'm when I'm saying by that is what I mean by that is that what we often do is we get a whole bunch of things on our list and we're just going and going and going with no end in sight our list just keeps getting longer and longer how many of you guys get through your to do list every every day you get through every single thing on your to do list every day yeah, because I plan what is a junior I'm doing that you're doing okay? I'm just doing something so it's really like relevant because I didn't think up a pushing urgent true, but I'm actually and I really doing some way okay, so I'm trying to see how else I can expand and I have to mark this date on my counter that somebody actually does that because that's that's a rarity halloween twenty thirteen no, seriously a lot of people they just they don't get through it it's like they're email inboxes exactly what am radio get to tomorrow I'll get to tomorrow it becomes the tomorro...

w list instead of the to do list, right? So sorry you're going to say something, but if you can do the urgent first like you know you plenty in the you know because jenny's quantitative like you say quality it if it's more on the important important looks like you had a dream that way then you have more time to tweak around things you didn't say you can actually like say okay this is sergeant there's no way you can tweak around you just have to do be done with the thing that we're clear a little space that you see absolutely and in some cases the important stuff was important but then it became important an urgent because you let it because you put on the tomorrow list for like twenty thirty days in a row you like ah would be like me you know this was important doing this was important to me but if I kept putting it to the next day it's like, oh, I need to get this done like tomorrow that's not good that's not good it's going to be you know I'm not going to be putting my best foot forward yeah the restricting yourself to that you know that time absolutely you're crunching and again putting my best foot forward mean literally doing this little incremental steps if I try to just lunge myself for especially something like this forget it, you know? So the doing productive stuff is what a lot of us end up doing because we're focusing on the two duis not just the little tasks, not big projects not big goals were just focused on the task at hand being productive though being productive that's where we want that's where it's like this is more personal it resonates a bit more you know it's like I would become a better speaker okay that then what do you going to do to do that? Oh I'm going to these things where you see your informing yourself yes what's the difference between pushing through like urgent tasks and doing productive to me it sounds like pushing through the urgent tasks is the same thing is trying to do the productive thing pushing through well, not all but the thing is is that not all tasks they're going to be urgent right? So I mean if you've got your to do list you're gonna have some stuff on there that's not urgent but what people will do is they'll start they'll do productive because if they've got more things crossed off their list then they've been productive right it's like I did fifty things today what were they? I checked fifty emails okay, great, I was productive maybe maybe you don't write um things like and I mean, I know a lot of people when they're starting out and this is a great way to actually start out if you're starting to like just get familiar with capturing things like like the small things like mullan or I mean that's that's maybe a bit more glib but things like cheese yeah, laundry I mean I mean, there are some value to adding stuff like that but things like, uh phone mom like even though you don't necessarily have to write that down it's just something that is a neat that you probably will d'oh writing that stuff down if you cross that off your look what I did today I phone mom yeah, but you know, what is that really you know what I mean? So a lot of people will put a lot of things on their list to create the illusion being great time managers were being productive I don't know either of you guys ever done that like I just put anything on a little field productive nto it feels so good to see a bunch of crossed out things that um yeah, so I mean that that to me is what the doing productive is is like just basically creating a a sense of productivity when there really isn't you know, you're not being at being productive, you're just doing things for the sake of doing them. Does that mean, does that make sense a bit more sense now? Ok, I just had a shower so all right and again when it comes now when you're looking at this list right it's about not just picking stuff off the list but picking the right stuff, so this is goingto speak later too, when I talk about curating your things, you're capturing, so when you're looking at your to do list to your task manager, you're going to say, okay, here's all the stuff that I have to do, but when you have, when you've created that awareness, when you set up that tent, when you've got that structure, you're going to be able to look not just at this stuff but the right stuff. So what is the right stuff for this project for this day? For this time period? For whatever instead of just going okay, here's, some stuff I have to dio because when you're just doing stuff, the term stuff is what you're doing like you're not there's no rial meaning behind it, it's just I'm just doing so it's kind of the same thing a little bit closer to the last tenant, but a bit more, you know, like okay, you being productive is part of it, but picking the right stuff is gonna allow you to be productive. This is a big one way talked about setting limits, right set limits, they are your guardian against overwhelm. This is a tough one, because people either don't like to say no because they don't want to disappoint people or they're afraid what is going to happen if they say no you know they lose that contract their boss will be mad at them, their wife will be mad at them they're they're husband one of their partner it doesn't you know the kids set limits you need to say here's what I'm willing to do so things like email and I'm going to talk again more but that date day to uh email when when you going to respond to it are you going to be one of those people that responds to things instantly? If so, have fun spending a lot of time in your email inbox have fun have fun spending time on email because that's what you're doing right uh I'm gonna take on twelve ive on ly have seven clients like the six clients that I talked about with neil design I'm gonna take on thirty well all right that's your limit but can you handle that many yeah I'm gonna do five speaking gigs in a month good luck with that, right? I mean you may be able to great, you know your limits better than anybody else I want to, you know spend out spend one night a week out with friends that's what I know I can handle great that's your you're saying I'm not going to overwhelm and when I say they're your guard against overwhelm it connects all this stuff remember this isn't just work stuff this is life stuff as a stay at home dad who happens to be an author and notice I said it that way, not an author who happens to be a stay at home dad because my priorities air in check. Um, that to me is critical. You need when you set limits, you're goingto create that sense of lack of, well, mom in all aspects of your life, but no one limb because there's so much opportunity and basically technology has allowed us to be limitless, and those aspects we feel we should take advantage that we don't want it's that fear of missing out thing, that everyone talked foam. Oh, is that what they say? Faux mo foam? Oh, see any pity fear of missing out? I didn't think the oh counted propositions I didn't think count in acronyms, but apparently because mo doesn't sound good. Um, but that's, what you have to do is you have to and that's what time does come and pay play a factor here because you're gonna be relating the time back to the tasks in the projects and ideas you're working on. So I want to get some thoughts from you guys in the chat room on this. Particular component because I know that a lot of people have issues with setting limits but have you have you ok, go ahead I was going to say jennifer yeah have you have you said, hey, I am not I'm willing to only do this much or I'm not willing to do this off you say are you good at this and I'm not no okay, so you're just going to give an example sure go ahead well, for example, there was a works there there have been times in a previous job where, you know, I have all these emails coming in and it was working remotely so I have my own projects but I also have the only people way people can get in touch with may they can't just walk up to me, they have to go through skype, you have to call me, they send me emails or pings and for me it was really challenging to be able to focus on what I needed to get done. And then I also had clients that were given to me by like a director, you know who expected like instant replies to emails and so it was like it got to this point where is like to keep my job? I have to do these things like refined everything instantly, but I'm not doing a good job so in that situation I don't know what would be the best way to what would be the best thing to do to say like up but no I can't do this and I'm gonna walk away or I'll give you an example from from from my past life past life uh the company I work for was costco I love costco by the way um I do actually do have a lot of friends at work they're great company to work for but we had the warehouse I worked at in victoria which is where I'm from he gets me to costco so you know there's that limit where if you're a business member you could get in it earlier than if you're just a gold star member right like there's there's that rule where ten a m and you can get in or eleven a m and most of the warehouses I worked at to that point ignore that rule they just said okay, if they come whatever so gold star members would come up and show their card and go all right, I know in you know and they would let them but this warehouse when I won I the last one I worked at when I opened the warehouse manager said no, we're going to train the members who have been to like hundreds of or maybe maybe not hundreds but other costco's before there were others on in our area said we're going to train them that that doesn't work here that's our limit, so we had a lot of people that were ticked off, like, what do you mean? I can go toe this other warehouse and get in a tenant not here, not here and when you have that, that that helped us do our job better because we had somebody in a higher position say, no, we're not going to do that. So it's not a direct answer to the whole, like my boss expects into instant replies to email, but there are ways that you can train your boss to deal with communication tools in a bit of a different manner and that's good it's not an easy road by any stretch of the imagination. A lot of people say, you know, we only do email, we do the back and forth female dance, but there are other tools that you can use teo to generate not just a response on your side, but also ah, better communication flow between you and your team members, and I'm going, I'm going to definitely get to those but that's something that that is it's not an easy thing to train, but if you're willing to take that time and kind of build other areas your life out while you work when training them in that room, you're going to probably have that less overwhelmed happening and so there's going to be some tools were gonna bring that maybe help you with the other stuff so that you can say ok, I have this email issue with my boss over here so I'm going to devote some time to it just so I could make my life easier over here is well and that's that's gonna be a personal thing you're gonna have to do do we have a lot three eighteen media says he has trouble um especially with clients having other people respect his own limits he told us the story in the chat room about a client that emailed him fifteen times over at one hour lunch break and it wasn't an emergency it was just a fifteen e mails so you know, I could imagine that problem many people that there's a lot of tools out here that are being introduced now that allow you to kind of mitigate that a bit I'm definitely gonna talk about him because I had that problem to have people like you you know, the e mails you get like thanks for that or don't forget this or you like uh the thread right? You're everything's lost in the thread and where is the attachment and it's just not effective, right? And again it steals your focus if you're working on something else major you know and all of a sudden this other thing comes in this look I think that's you know, violating your limits all of a sudden it takes you away from the thing you're focusing on which means again quantity over quality right like fifteen emails that's a pretty big quantity in an hour wow that's crazy let's have it is their speed dial for email is that how it works? Is there anything else at all? Yeah there's a quote here from caitlin o'hara says I think the biggest problem is over committing and trying to please everyone that puts you in that spot of being overwhelmed and not knowing where to draw the line and say no yes absolutely and as I was saying what what patrick groans quote earlier saying no is saying yes to other things you need teo say what am I willing to do what are my limits and then yeah you have to respect them and your goodness have some stuff that comes up and you're gonna have to say no to it and you may want to say yes but you have but when you start to build the structure this foundation you're going team or informed right friend of mine brett kelly uh he uses this quot goes you've got you've got to protect your future dumb you and it's true because right now we're a lots were were more informed than the person that's coming down the pipe later so when you make a commitment you decide to do something tomorrow's you next week's u next month's you going may not have that information right atop of mind that's what this does you no like did I bring my did I bring my, uh my extra sleeping bag? I don't know let me go check my tent right did do I have an appointment book that day? Oh, I don't know let me check my do have this task ready to have this project I'm working on what? My okay no, you know what? I can't do this or you know what? Yes I can because I've freed up I've got some space here to create I've got the space and the time to create some great stuff so that that's that's what you want to keep in mind and I mean there's gonna be a lot I'm going to have some tools that are going to show you how to maybe help you set limits because as much as it's human decision there's going to be some ways you can automate it so that people can see that you're being responsible and accountable off the same time because what happens when you don't set limits is the next thing that happens is accountability start just slip because you just can't you're trying to balance which is to me work like balance is a term that I hate using I know there's other people that work like blend I you shift because you have to be in a different mindset for each of these things and balance thing always sent like I'm not very I'm not very athletic now so if I'm trying to balance good luck like I can't I can't do that but shifting it's like a I'm solidly in this place I'm solidly in this place I'm going to talk about how you could do that more effectively than try and just you know balance this stuff out all right take the time to create space for yourself okay and you'll create the space to make time for yourself so this lets go back to this one real quick so this is about setting up your tent setting up your system all these to do list tools that you have all these aps all the paper tools that we're using they're great for the immediate stuff they're great for the capture their great gateways I call pay paper and these other app some of those are great gateways um but when you take the time to set up the right structure so omni focus you mentioned initially right or and there's other tools like a sauna flow I'm goingto evernote there's a bunch of them when you take the time to make this space like to create time for yourself you're going you're going to create the space to make time for yourself so when you have that space and only focus is a great example my space, we're gonna create a space, you're going to create the space look like so a place where you can go like this space so that you can make time for yourself. So space it's this it's more this it's, more mental it's, more mindset or expand with right it's more like, okay, I've got my stuff in omni focus or asano are ever notre do it dot ay amor or the I think there's a last count. I mean, I know there's one hundred one hundred thousand aps out there. And unfortunately for windows users out there, there's not as many, but for mac users and for android and stuff. There's a lot out there. So when you have, when you do that front end work, when you, when you basically, when you take the time, create a space for yourself. And when I say that that means setting things up. That means going into into a task means going okay, what are my projects? Let's put those in there? What am I? What are my work spaces? You know? So if you're using, uh, and again, these could be very subjective, a project could be something like, uh, talk you're going to give that could be a project, right? Or a client that you have a client could be a project. It's whatever meat gives you that meaning. And we're gonna talk a bit about that later as well. But when you create that space that's for yourself, right? Not for anybody else right for yourself. Even if you work with a team, you do have that space for yourself because everyone works a little bit differently. Then you'll create the space to make time for yourself. Up here, you're gonna know where is it? You're not gonna go where's that thing. Where is that thing? Where do I have you're gonna go? Oh, it's in it's in my space that's where I've got it it's in my it's in my structure so my tent do we have anything we do? Yes, and interesting conversation came up in the chat rooms and it was basically about people requesting small things that are hard to say no to you. But all those small things kind of add up. So how do you it's it's? Kind of within the setting limits that we were just touching on, but it kind of feeds into all of these. Yeah, it's when it comes to the small things again, it's going to be subjective because small things like, for example, design work for me I know a lot of people have no problem with design work I'm a terrible designer so that that could be a small thing for one person but another but little little small things when you have this this structure because the task manager that's what it does it says here's what you have on your list right now and then here's what you have in your list later and here's what you have in this context or in this project or what have you you're gonna be able to take a look at that and go you know I have room for these three small things that need to be done fairly soon or if you won't be able to look at the larger scope of things and we talk about calendar management you're going to be able to see that too especially when you analog calendar stuff is I actually could take a look at it and go I have a small thing here are three small things shuriken do that um I had ah quick example um did somebody e mailed me saying, hey, can you do an interview and because I've set myself up with certain things that I know will work for an interview like different different tactics, different strategies that I talk about that something I can say yes to a lot more frequently because I've got a structure I've got a template there right so if you're taking on a project, for example, and it's something that simple that you know, that you could do fairly quickly, there are ways to make a recurring template, so you could say, ok, you know what? I'm gonna I could do that because the ground work's already laid, right? So it does depend on what those small things are, but overall, when you're looking at this stuff it's, it's, the awareness that you're creating that allows you to make more informed decisions, no matter whether they're big or small, and yes, the small things can add up. So when you're seeing you're looking your task manager, you're looking at your at your looking, whatever you're using, you can say, oh, you know, I do not have the I can't do this, I don't have the energy or at worst, I don't have time. Anything else over there are some people who just sharing personal stories, a lot of people talking about clients they've had who haven't respected their boundaries, so people just sharing some experiences in here. And you know what here's the thing is again, the reason that mule design, from what I remember from the story that they're able to stick with six clients, is because they do really great work for six clients. And when you do really great work for people you can charge more for those for those because the reputation starts to proceed you right you're like you know okay I can do this right you know I mean I think that that's something that you can't discount you know less is more in a lot of cases right and and the the idea of doing productive the idea of having as many clients as possible of being busy is something that we all strive for but if you ever if anyone ever says to me I'm sorry I'm too busy like you were all busy we're all busy like what degree of busy do you want it you want to see how busy I am like I mean it fifteen e mails in an hour I'm that kind of busy right like so so I mean you can't it's all gonna be subjective but the thing is is that when you're starting out especially for like entrepreneurs and I know when I first started writing uh blogged posting stuff I started to push outpost like every day and then I suffered because I couldn't do it anymore and when I when I couldn't do it every day and people expected that everyday guess what happened readership dropped because people like off he's not he's he did it every day and he stopped and he's like a productivity guys so what gives right then I built a back up and then in order to keep it back up this time, I had to come up with a strategy that would allow me to keep it up without burning myself out in the process. So what did I do? I started accepting guests post, but on my terms so I started to solicit rather than put, hey, who wants to write for me? You know, so there's certain things that you can do tow create that that element of hey, I want to make sure I'm making the biggest impact I can without necessarily compromising the quality of what you're doing in the process. Um uh, paper. Ha ha. Sometimes paper is the best form of technology there is. So you guys have those note put books there, and I've got my notes here. Like I mean, I'm referring to them every once in a while. The thing about paper is that especially if somebody's new to this is that it's easy for them to wrap their head around. They can look at a piece of paper and go ah, you know what? I know what this is. This's paper and this writing. I mean, some people may not be able to read their writing. And that maybe we'll do a penmanship class at some point I don't know but but you can look at it and go all right, you know what this is this this I could deal with paper is great in that there's a few reasons why I like it and the reason that I think it's one of the best forms of technology number one is that it gives you a gateway to capture things quickly and there's something sticky and kinesthetic but writing it down did you guys find that when you write stuff down it's like, oh, you retain it a little bit better, right? I mean, no one here is has an ipad out or a tablet out that he's there physically writing things down, which is great, I mean there's nothing wrong with using a tablet as well or or even a device, but I could tell you one instance, where I prefer paper when I'm capturing things over over phone and that's when I'm talking to someone, so if I walk up to walk up to you and say you do tell me something that's really important and I pull out my phone yeah, then I start oh yeah really awesome do you think I just captured what you said? Maybe right? Maybe or maybe I tweeted right someone's telling me something they think is important between oh facebook ah this guy sent me a fifteen female like you know what I mean you don't know but I've got a pen and paper and you're saying something to me you know I'm capturing it where you have a better sense that I am if you really capturing a grocery list while you're talking something like that's that's something else entirely but you know what I mean and then what that says to you as the person sending me that information is wow mike really values what I'm saying right now he's paying attention right and that to me is really important and there's a connection that happens there right it's an unspoken one in a lot of cases but it's a connection and it connects you not just better to the task but the person behind the task or behind the idea right and that's and that that makes it yeah more personal right even in a professional setting it makes it more personal it has meaning so even even the context even the addition of of adding that element to it of using paper in that sense alone as a gateway to the larger task management system that you're employing that to me is is huge so yes sometimes paper is that and I mean I'd like to hear in a little bit from the chat like are there a lot of what we ask paper love paper so there's a lot of paper fans out there and the great thing about go ahead, just getting back to the paper, you know, as much as I love my every note, but I got a one on one meetings. I still carry a note pad and a pen because it can give people the sense of importance that you're really listening to them, as opposed to you could be doing a million things in your computer run a blood postal on a second, I know you're right, absolutely and there's some great electronic tools out there for meetings and stuff like that, but you're right a lot of cases, and we never know it's got those evident mole skins, the smart, no books to write. So if you have one of those and you love ever know, boom, write it down in that moleskin. If your handwriting is ledge a ble enough, take a picture of it with your phone boom and shows up and ever no killing two birds with one stone, you get to use every note in an analog form that's fantastic, but I mean, the thing about paper to is that you could see here, and I'm going to talk a bit more about the state, but I got a a fancy pilot, toledo multi pen, I've got field notes, no books, and I'm a big big bit of a beer snob so I've got the field notes beer subscription notebook so I've got the logger ones I've got some mall skins, I have nice notebooks, I have nice pens because I like using them and it makes me want to use them more there's, nothing worse. I mean, if you guys have devices and you don't use them, you fancy devices, you're gonna want to use him the pen, pen and paper exactly the same. So the to do list is done the y to do list now that's a list worth doing that's the list that you really want to focus on. You want to add that? Why the why? To your to do list everything you write, everything you capture captured all we'll talk about that in the next session. Um, but you want to inform yourself again that future dumb you, why why is this on my list? Why do I want to do this? To be more productive in the long term again, you need to spend time setting things up in the short term, so that doesn't matter whether you and that's that's on all fronts digital email which again, big thing limits big thing you're foundation, your structure, all that stuff, and a lot of these things are kind of like just the driving home points but some of the some of the other tenants don't stick with people is that some people go oh, I don't remember the space and time thing that mike talked about but okay, I need to spend time setting things up in the short term so so that I could do that um being selfish with your time can make you can actually make you more selfless overtime anything that's on your list he's both selfish and selfless to a point right even if you're like you know what you're dealing with a client, right? I mean the reason you're putting it down there is because you want to make sure that you're delivering the goods for them but also you wantto you want to make money, you want to do what you need to dio so it's a healthy combination right? So that kind of thing is is critical is to be selfish with your time being selfish with your time can make you more selfless overtime do we have any any stuff in the chapter before that he was an interesting comment from a few people are people are in favor of pen and pencil or paper, but few people are saying they type faster than they can write so they do like to have access to the keyboard I guess any tips for people maybe if they can be faster with the pen and paper actually there's a um short hands really key when it comes to this kind of stuff I use a lot of shorthand I'm going to talk about I've got a system that I use called to strike through system, which I'm going to go into more detail with when I'm talking about the power of paper and a three but I mean, I've just got a simple system that allows me to capture quickly again I use it as that gateway right my computer make no mistake if I'm at my mac or at or knowing my tablet or if I'm on my phone if it's the tool that's in front of me mainly my mac, I will enter directly into the place it needs to go and on my, um my, uh my iphone, I'm going to talk about this next values, drafts or so like that, but with paper, the reason that I use that in terms of you as a gateway is because I can get things down quickly in shorthand and a lot of people were like, oh, I have to write this big, huge thing no just triggers its although triggers right? Like these slides triggers, everything is vote triggers in terms of action, execution ideation, all that stuff when you have a trigger, that means something to you, you could expand upon it I mean, we've got, you know, thirty odd slides here and I've been able to expand on each and every one of them right? Because they're just little short bullets and that's how you do it don't like give you a trick give yourself a trigger on paper so that when you put it into digital and you're transferring, you go oh right blawg post about capturing okay and then expand upon it when you move it to the computer so that way you're not focusing on the speed of typing in a lot of cases a lot of people and I'm not saying this is the case in this instance, but a lot of people like to do that because like all well know, I've got this device, I'm a faster type or I just don't want to have the pendant paper it becomes like a bit of a resistance building thing in this case you mean really there's something about retaining it that just the writing down process I connect better to it and what'll do actually the next morning before I go to bed is all that she take a sheet of paper like this and write down the three big things I want to do that the three big rocks leo, nobody talks about this a lot of people dio the three big rocks for the next day and then what I'll do is when I know that that's set I'll flip the sheet over so that I don't change it that's what my brain is saying that's what's important don't try to change your mind close that loop open loops like david allen talks meant hgtv and step away right but that stuff came from my system that stuff came from the digital round in a lot of cases we have an interesting comment from a j says paper and pen is to writing what using a knife instead of a remote drone but used to kill someone to keep you involved in the process I think is what it means you know like like your inhibitions prevent you from doing certain things it doesn't happen with pen and paper right yeah I mean I think once you find a use for it like that's that's a big thing is a lot of people who were like well how do I how do I incorporate paper into it and the funny and here's the thing is that a lot of people on brooks is definitely really to this you can't escape paper even if you I mean there's so much digital stuff out there but paper is still very prevalent and we don't I don't think we want to escape paper there's a permanence there right I mean visual clutter he's very visible elektronik letter isn't about you could probably find a piece of paper on your desk fast when you can find some files on your computer right? I mean, a lot of people are not organized in their computers so I think yeah there's there's something to be said about that that that permanence and that that ability to say and I threw it by the way I threw out my notes when I'm done with them unless they're like a super awesome notebook when I'm done with that field notes notebook it's gone either things have been transferred uh dealt with or deleted like it's gone like I don't keep it because I don't need teo it's where it needs to be it's in my as david allen has said before my trusted system so yes, you know, the paper and pending I felt that it's like a conviction and you're trying to do something you put it down you really mean what you say you can not be right to it yeah, it doesn't disappear on you especially like okay, I'm going to do this it's actually, you know, you know where you are psychologically telling yourself you have everything and it's got to be that so when you've done it, you rip it and this is complete, you don't have to have anything talks about it absolutely and that's and for me like that whole instance of having that written and I'll take stuff that I don't even intend on dude like if it's in mice digital system and I'm kind of stuck like yeah I have my my I'm in my tent I know what's going on but if I'm stuck like you know I just need to write three things down right now I need to get it on paper so that I know like look there's eight things that I know I want to do today but I need I could flag the task sure but to write it down like you're right I'm in a meeting teo I'm going to do this right because then I can cross it off it's done yeah then when you go to bed that night right it's already then you don't have to think about it it's already off your mind then your money so oh I can't rest now you know the end of it you'd be like getting up and say oh, you wish you got to done it and you know it's hard especially for people who create like it's really hard to put that pad down or put that close that apathy end of the night because ideas start like there's a there's a point where ideas like that there's as a writer especially holy smokes I'll be like in bed and I'm like discredit you for block post okay should I write it down? I have a pad next to me in bed should write down yeah and I've got the point now where I'm able to curate kind of in my head a bit now, you know, I could do a real quick assessment, but a lot of cases I'll just grab a pen, write it down, get it out of my head because then I can rest easy, but there are other things I do before I go to bed that kind of like that brain dump the david allen talks about, so that way I can go to bed and go, all right, you know, I'm done. I'm good to go, so anything else way have something here from a lia williams says I love felt tip pens I get sick of ball points, not working a decent pen is key, so I think people in the chat room, they have their favorite products in incheon, the mole skin, the evernote notebook, I think that's important for people if you are going to use pen and paper, use the wright pen and paper that you're comfortable with. Absolutely there was also more enthusiasm. Um, in regards teo, the paper being right there and you can't make it out of sight, out of mind kind of thing like you can close your laptop in it, you know nowhere to be found, but that paper stays on top of your desk there looking at you, and I mean the the idea of an inbox when you're using a task manager that's digital that probably focus great example like it's just you could have three hundred things in there you wouldn't see him but if you have like an inbox on your desk and have three hundred sheets of paper on it and you're in an office environment what's in this don't worry I know what I've got all this covered they're going are you really sure? Because there's like a big pile of paper there? Oh yeah these are three hundred different tasks I know what they all are all right and then walk back there I don't know if jennifer is gonna be able to get all that city how organized is she or how organized is you know, I mean that so there's a false sense when you have it in a digital realm for a lot of people that it's taken care of right? It doesn't I've processed it there's there's other elements to that which we'll get to you later but paper you're right like if it's right smack dab in front of you, you're not going to be ableto to avoid it. I mean you can but that's not gonna help you with this stuff we're talking about terrific well, we've had a lot of activity in the chat rooms and we just wanted to share some of the comments that are coming in brooks dunkin says come for the time management tips stay for the parenting tip. That one hundred percent focus for five minutes. Thing is, killer thought that was pretty funny. And dom l says I went from a travel sales job of four hundred and fifty clients all over vancouver island, and was on call seven days a week. In five years, I burn out, and now I'm resettling my life to deal with things in a new way. Mike has some amazing insights, so everybody out there is definitely very, uh, has a lot of gratitude towards what you're sharing with us. Thank you. Awesome, awesome.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Productivityist Progress Planner.pdf
Productivityist Workbook Printable Exercises.pdf
Productivityist Workbook v1.2.pdf
The Productivityist Workbook v1.2 - Mike Vardy.epub
The Productivityist Workbook v1.2 - Mike Vardy.mobi
The Way of The Productivityist Manifesto Poster - 16x20.jpg
The Way of The Productivityist Manifesto Poster - 8x11.jpg

bonus material with enrollment

Paperless Organization Guide.pdf
The Way Of The Productivityist - A Manifesto.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Eve
 

Mike's class was chock full of useful information on streamlining a to do list, digitally and by hand. His process seems pretty robust, and extremely well thought out, to provide maximum efficiency and success with the least amount of effort. Granted there is a learning curve, and one must practice to become proficient and use it effectively, but if you are willing to put in the effort there is a major positive impact on productivity. He goes through his favorite apps (he apparently consults with app developers) and why, which was exactly what I needed at the time. Some of his 2nd choice apps may now surpass the others, but he explains clears how to pick the best app for you. I'm a small business owner and I found the class to be quite helpful. Thanks Mike.

Pavel Voronenko
 

Very interesting class! I would recommend recording it as it based on apps' solutions and since 2013/2014 there are a lot of changes. Al least maybe some wrap-up session. Well done, Mike Vardy and Creative Live team! Jan. 04, 2021

kathy
 

Just finished Mike's course and it was exactly what I wanted and hoped it would be. Nuts and bolts, real life ideas and hands on ways to implement what he shared. If I dedicated the time spent on researching an organizational system on just USING the system, I would be a shining beacon of efficiency. Mike's class and materials helped me let go of the need aka obsession with looking for the Holy Grail of systems and just pick a combo and do it. Thanks, Mike, I'll let you know when I AM that shining beacon of effortless organization...or at least when I quit writing notes on my hand! Great course!

Student Work

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