Mike Vardy's Blog, page 68

The Productivityist Podcast: The Making of The Productivityist Playbook

Note: This episode was recorded before the problems I had with the soft launch of The Productivityist Playbook. I’ll be writing a newsletter about what didn’t go as planned (and blog about it at some point as well). Want to get The Productivityist Weekly newsletter in your inbox? Sign up here.

In this episode of the podcast I talk about the making of The Productivityist Playbook, diving into the creative and tactical processes I used – as well as mistakes made – during the creation of this product.

I dive into the nuts and bolts of my schedule during the creation of The Productivityist Playbook, what mistakes I made along the way, and what you can do to avoid some of those mistakes I made.

Relevant Links

The Productivityist Playbook
The Productivityist Podcast | Patreon
The Productivityist Workbook by Mike Vardy | Amazon
The NOW Year™ Method Pioneer Page | Productivityist
Why You Need To Take Personal Productivity Personally | Productivityist
Meeting Makeover: Make Better Meetings Today | Productivityist
Keep Moving: And Other Tips and Truths About Living Well Longer by Dick Van Dyke | Amazon
Duolingo
Get The Productivityist Playbook now!

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: The Making of The Productivityist Playbook appeared first on Productivityist.

How To Tackle Your To Do List When You’re Tired

This piece originally appeared in The Productivityist Weekly newsletter. If you’d like to receive first-run and exclusive content delivered to your email inbox every week (and receive additional bonus offers and a free copy of my manifesto The Way of The Productivityist), sign up here.

The start to my year (which begins for me in September) has been hectic to say the least. Between travel and working on projects, I’ve barely had a chance to collect my thoughts – let alone relax. I’ve not been as productive as I’d like, but I’m still making progress on all of the things I need and want to do.

There are three simple ways to tackle your to do list when you’re tired and still want to get the right things done. It takes some initial setup, but once you use these techniques you’ll be able to be productive regardless of energy and time available.

1. Working By Energy

The first way I’ve been able to tackle my to do list – even when I’m zonked – is by tagging my tasks with energy levels in as many instances as possible. Whether I use “Deep Work” to represent high energy or “Shallow Work” to represent low energy, these energy-based modes can help me quickly determine whether I can do a task at a particular moment or not. Most of the tasks I need to do when I travel are low energy, so I’m still able to accomplish them and by labelling them in Todoist (personal tasks) and Asana (team tasks). This allows me to sort tasks quickly and get them done as well.

It’s also possible to analyze at your high energy tasks and determine whether or not they can be broken down into smaller tasks that will take up less energy.

Keep in mind that tasks that are new to you (such as something you’re learning) will likely take more energy to do at the beginning. But over time, the energy required will be lower. That’s why it is important to regularly review tasks that have energy-based modes assigned to them so that they are representing what it takes now to work on them instead of what it took beforehand.

2. Working By Time

Time is also measurable, just like energy. But it’s far easier to manage in that you can watch the minutes tick by far more than you can feel the energy well run dry. I’m not an advocate for using time-based modes as a driving force for your task management, but there are moments when assigning modes like “5 minute” or “30 minute” can make a whole lot of sense. If you know you only have 15 minutes between one meeting and another, having tasks with a time-based mode attached can help you quickly decide what to work on during that brief period of time. When you’re tired, knowing how much time you’ve have is one thing, but knowing what you can do within that timeframe can be a big boon for your productivity.

3. Working By Energy and Time

Now imagine partnering up these types of modes per task. Wouldn’t that be phenomenally effective? I mean, if you’ve got tasks that have both low energy and 5 minute modes attached to them, then you not only know you can do them within the time period, and they won’t be too taxing on you either. Even high energy tasks that you see can be done in 10 minutes is powerful. Whenever possible, adding both a time-based and energy-based mode to a task gives me two ways to tackle a task when I’m tired. And that, quite frankly, can be more than just valuable to know – it can be rejuvenating and propel you to accomplish more than you thought possible.

If you’re having difficulty tackling your to do list when you’re tired, try using energy and time-based modes. Whether you thrive in the mornings or just need something to get you moving in the morning (because you’re just not as “awake” as you need to be), these modes can really help you take your task and time management to a whole new level.

The post How To Tackle Your To Do List When You’re Tired appeared first on Productivityist.

The Productivityist Podcast: Erik Fisher Returns!

On this episode of The Productivityist Podcast, I speak with my good friend Erik Fisher in the second part of a cross-podcast conversation started on his podcast Beyond the To-Do List. We talk about overwhelm, prioritization, what productivity (and other related terms) means to us, and much more.

(Note: The mention of talking to “nobody last week” during the introduction is misplaced as this episode was scheduled to be published after next week’s episode – an episode that has no guest. Last week’s episode featured Marina Darlow and you can listen to it here.)

This episode is – at its core – all about process, so sit back and enjoy!

Relevant Links

Progress: Mike Vardy on Competition, Overwhelm and Priorities | BTTDL153 – Beyond the To Do List
Beyond Productivity with Erik Fisher | The Productivityist Podcast
Priorities with Erik Fisher and Steve Dotto | The Productivityist Podcast
Seasons: Jeff Sieh on Seasons, Rhythms and Change | BTTDL152 – Beyond the To Do List
Social Media Success Summit 2016: Largest Online Event
The Sleep Doctor | Michael J. Breus, PhD
Erik Fisher (@ErikJFisher) | Twitter

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: Erik Fisher Returns! appeared first on Productivityist.

Becoming The Productive College Student

Today’s guest post is by the awesome Ryan McRae. Ryan is the founder of The ADHD Nerd, a blog dedicated to helping people with ADHD be more productive, focused and happy. He has spoken all over the world, including Afghanistan. He is an Apple fanatic, voracious reader and lover of things pumpkin flavored. He can be reached at theadhdnerd@gmail.com.

When you enter college, you’ll notice one major thing is missing from your life.

The school bell is gone. It doesn’t ring. It doesn’t tell you to go to your next class or when the day is over.

That’s a great blessing—the silence of freedom from a Pavlovian shackle.

When in school, you depend on that bell to tell you when to do things, and you need the teacher to remind you when assignments are going to be due. But once the bell is gone and the teacher is gone—you find yourself in a world that is unstructured.

It becomes really easy to get lost.

So how do you build a productive college life so you not just survive, but you thrive there?

Master your Calendar First

Take every syllabus you’ve been given and write down every due date that’s there. Every. Single. One. There’s no worse feeling than walking into your class, seeing “pencils ready” and you realize you didn’t know there was a test. Get it all down in one location.

Next look at your assignments and if they are a minor (a quiz, a 1-3 page paper, etc.) then you set a reminder 3 days, 5 days and a week before it’s due.

If it is a major assignment (term paper, major test), you need to remind yourself, to work on it every week for four weeks before it is due.

You need to write these reminders in your calendar. If your major paper is due on April 1st, and you don’t see that until you turn the page on your calendar, well, gulp, it’s too late. Who is the fool now?

If you need to make it electronic, that’s fine. Need it on paper? Fine. Need it on your wall? Great. Whatever it takes. Get it on there. And obey that calendar.

[And since you made it this far, I’m giving you my $10 book for free, Conquering the Calendar and Getting More Done.]

Location, Location, Location

As a Resident Director and instructor at a college for ten years, I saw a ton of very intelligent, well-meaning college students make some rookie mistakes. Students would choose to study in the worst places. They found if they studied in their kitchen, they spent their time eating. If they studied on their bed, they fell asleep. If they studied in their living room, they wound up watching TV.

I told my students time and time again, just like grandpa on the porch—do not study where you live.

You have to study in a place where your brain goes, “THIS IS WHERE THE STUDYING HAPPENS.”

Go To the Library

Yep, the scary place with books. That’s how you get your studying done. Find one table. One chair. A nice view of the campus would be a bonus. Make sure there is a place to plug in your computer.

Pronounce that this will be the place you visit every day for the next four years. Have a couple of hours between classes? Head there and rewrite your notes or start that term paper. Make this your sacred location to study and your brain will go into study mode immediately after it recognizes it.

Play Hard. Work Hard. It can never be both.

This is my lament when it comes to college students who fail. They chose to play and work at same time. They watch a rerun of House while studying for their bio test. They consistently check Facebook while they are writing their English paper that’s due in an hour.

If you want to have much more free time, simply work the entire time. Instead of a paper taking four hours to write because a Gilmore Girls marathon was playing, get it done in the library and you finished it in an hour. Congrats—you got three hours back.

Yes, keeping your focus can be difficult and it takes discipline, but trust me when I say that Gilmore Girls will always be around.

When you can get your work done and not have the due date looming, you will enjoy college much more, have time to have more fun and make friends for a lifetime.

The post Becoming The Productive College Student appeared first on Productivityist.

The Productivityist Podcast: Marina Darlow

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Marina Darlow. Marina is a systems’ expert, and a productivity geek. She sees her job as helping impact-driven entrepreneurs get 10–20 more productive hours a week, stop leaking money, and prevent stress-fuel breakdowns.



We talk about her view and definition of a “system”, effective ways you can master your to do list, how to get out of a creative rut, and much more. (And as a Patreon supporter you’re getting even more content!)

Relevant Links

Vision Framework
About | Vision Framework
Goals vs. Systems | Scott Adams’ Blog
An excruciating day, or How to wrench yourself out of a Creative Pit of Despair | Vision Framework
Four effective ways to master to-do lists and what to do if you don’t like any of them | Vision Framework
Marina’s App Guide
Marina Darlow (@VisionFramework) | Twitter

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: Marina Darlow appeared first on Productivityist.

A Step-By-Step Guide To Getting Rid Of Procrastination

Today’s guest post is from Jamie Robinson. Jamie runs SelfThrive.com, a site that focuses on personal development through motivation, positivity, health and productivity. Jamie is passionate about supporting individuals’ self-development goals and encouraging improved productivity.

Procrastination eats away at your momentum and is what keeps you from making real progress. It may not be a problem for you right now, but be sure it will pop up one day when you least expect it.

Use this list to tackle your procrastination head-on today. Imagine how much better you’ll feel when you can do more with the time you have. After all, we all have the same amount of hours in the day.

1. Create a To-Do List with Specific Deadlines

Making a to-do list is simple. You organize everything you need to do in the immediate future in an order that makes sense to you. This will make your workload seem much more manageable. Instead of a dark forest of trouble, you’ve now have a guide to help you get through the work, pointing toward the light at the end of the tunnel.

But a to-do list filled with tasks is not enough. It’s important to add specific deadlines to your tasks. This will help you build a sense of momentum. When you know that step one needs to be finished by noon, this sense of urgency will help propel you forward. You’ll finish one task after another and learn how you work best.

2. Break Bigger Projects into Manageable Chunks

Breaking down tough jobs into easy pieces is the quickest way to make sure that they actually get done. When you’re looking at a massive project, it’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer size and feel defeated before you even begin.

But when you take that project and split it into small, easily accomplished steps, you’ll be able to see the pieces falling into place as you go along. You’ll feel a sense of progress while still working, and you’ll be able to gauge your productivity on the way.

If you’re still procrastinating, break some of the steps down into even smaller pieces. Before long, you’ll have the tough work completed and you’ll be able to look back at a long, filled out checklist marking our progress.

3. Set Aside Time and Space for Work

This step is all about allowing yourself to truly focus without distraction. It’s important to choose a part of your day to hunker down and truly get to work. Maybe you work best in the mornings. Maybe the afternoon is when you feel most productive. The point is to hone in on that time and to block it out. Keep it as a work-only time.

Next, carve out a little space to do purely work-related tasks. If you work in an office, your desk should suffice as long as you remove distractions. If you work from home, choose an area to reserve solely for work.

Whether it’s a specific room or just a specific desk or table, there’s a big psychological boost that comes with having a space made just for getting your work done.

4. Remove Distractions

Removing all distractions seems easy at first, but it takes some real consideration to strip out all the little ways in that make it easier for you to procrastinate.

Take note of the ways your attention wanders. Maybe you’re drawn to Facebook or Twitter. Maybe you’re prone to talking with coworkers. If you work at home, maybe there are too many tempting games, books, or even pets around you.

Single out these distractions and eliminate them from your workspace. On your computer, make sure to never open a browser with social media pages. At home, stay inside your work zone. Use headphones and soothing music to stay isolated from the world.

Whatever works best for you, keep at it.

5. Tackle the Hard Stuff First

A lot of very smart people think that you’re most productive first thing in the morning, so you’ll want to get started on your toughest project first.

Why? When you complete the biggest part of your workday first, this will give you a serious confidence boost. You’ll feel incredibly productive having the hardest job finished, and the rest of your work will feel easy in comparison.

6. Do One Thing At a Time

The cold truth is that multitasking is a myth. We humans can only truly devote our minds to one task at time. Take advantage of this limitation by sticking to a single job until it’s done, then moving on.

Every time you decide to focus on a single task and work on it until completion, you’re building up your resistance to procrastination. Because the brain is a muscle, consistent workouts will make it better at accomplishing things.

7. Reward Yourself with Breaks

On a long enough timeline, focus will be impossible to maintain. You can’t single-mindedly chip away at a project all day with the same energy and attention that you began with. Eventually, you’ll find yourself seeking distraction.

This is where breaks come in. Strategic breaks will help refresh your mind and quench that desire for distraction, allowing you to resume total focus once you return to work.

8. Try the 2 Minute Rule

Sometimes you’re faced with a task that you just really don’t want to do. But once you’ve broken it into smaller chunks, consider whether you can get the first piece done in two minutes or less.

This is a great psychological trick. No matter how tough work might be, the idea of facing it head on for only two minutes can relieve a ton of pressure.

When you think about doing this dreaded task for only 120 seconds, it doesn’t seem so bad. Grit your teeth and push through! You’ll be surprised how relieved you feel after this tiny little slice of time.

9. Let Go of Perfectionism

Perfectionism is what keeps us from moving forward with work and life in general. We have a hard time letting things go when they aren’t exactly as we pictured them.

It’s important to be detail-minded sometimes, but unless your current workload demands absolute perfection, letting yourself focus and then quickly move on can work wonders.

Keeping momentum is more important when it comes to getting everything on your list done, so finish individual tasks, tick off those boxes, and keep going. At the end of the day, you can always go back and check out the details to see if anything was missed.

10. Make Yourself Accountable

We tend to feel more motivated when we’re held accountable to something outside ourselves, so take advantage of it. Maybe you’ve got a work friend you can regularly check in with. In this case, try to set up a system where you see how far along each other are. You can get high fives for progress or chastise each other for slacking off. The pressure to achieve will feel instantly palpable!

Following these steps will get you off and running so you can leave procrastination in the dust. All it takes is the desire to do better in your work, and the intentionality to improve your life. The results will come as you continue to move forward.

Do you have any other steps that you take to avoid procrastination? Please share them in the comments.

The post A Step-By-Step Guide To Getting Rid Of Procrastination appeared first on Productivityist.

The Productivityist Podcast: Michael Bungay Stanier

On this episode of The Productivityist Podcast I speak with the author of The Coaching Habit, Michael Bungay Stanier. We talk about deep work, simplicity, elegance, the questions you can ask to help you get more out coaching, and much more.

Relevant Links

The World Domination Summit Experience | Productivityist
Box of Crayons
Box of Crayons Blog | Inspiration for Teams, Leaders and Organizations
Michael Bungay Stanier | Box of Crayons
Interview with Matt May, In Pursuit of Elegance | Box of Crayons
9 ways to “Do More Great Work” With Michael Bungay Stanier
Do More Great Work: Stop the Busywork. Start the Work That Matters by Michael Bungay Stanier | Amazon
Seven questions to condition your inner coach | The Globe and Mail
The Coaching Habit: Say Less, Ask More & Change the Way You Lead Forever by Michael Bungay Stanier | Amazon
Get Unstuck & Get Going…on the stuff that matters by Michael Bungay Stanie | Amazon
The Creative Process: Michael Bungay Stanier
End Malaria by Michael Bungay Stanier | Amazon
The Coaching Habit Book

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: Michael Bungay Stanier appeared first on Productivityist.

The Productivityist Podcast: Craig Ballantyne

This episode I’m joined by Craig Ballantyne of Early to Rise. Craig is the creator of The Perfect Day Formula and during our discussion we chat about his thoughts on Stoicism, how the mind is the real gateway (or barrier) to establishing better days, how he handles email, and the rule he crafted that has gotten shared all over the web (and received its share of praise and criticism in the process).

I had an absolute blast chatting with Craig on this episode as we dive deep into our thoughts on being an early riser vs. being a night owl.

Relevant Links

Early to Rise – Health, Wealth, and a Life Well Lived
BrettTerpstra.com
The Obstacle Is the Way: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph by Ryan Holiday | Amazon
The 3 C’s of the Perfect Day | Early To Rise
Art of Living: The Classical Manual on Virtue, Happiness, and Effectiveness by Sharon Lebell | Amazon
Is the 10–3–2–1–0 method REALLY the secret to a good night’s sleep? | Daily Mail Online
Craig Ballantyne’s Morning Routine | My Morning Routine
The Productivityist Podcast: The One Year No Beer Challenge
The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM) by Hal Elrod | Amazon
Ralph E. Wolf and Sam Sheepdog – A Sheep In The Deep | YouTube
Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey | Amazon
Your NOT to do List | Early To Rise
10 big ideas | Early To Rise
The Perfect Day Formula
Early to Rise (@EarlytoRiseHQ) | Twitter
craigballantyne (@craigballantyne) | Twitter

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: Craig Ballantyne appeared first on Productivityist.

The Productivityist Podcast: Dai Manuel

On this episode of The Productivityist Podcast I speak with Dai Manuel. Dai is the author of The Whole Life Fitness Manifesto and during this episode we talk about the relationship between health, wellness, and productivity and what his book and work does to promote making the most of this relationship.

Relevant Links

Going One Year No Beer with Andy Ramage and Ruari Fairbairns | The Productivityist Podcast
The Whole Life Fitness Manifesto
10% Happier by Dan Harris | Amazon
How to Use The Tough Mudder Pledge to Succeed in Everyday Life | Productivityist
Dai Manuel’s Blog about How to Live a Functionally Fit Life
The Moose is Loose Weekly Digest | Dai Manuel
Dai Manuel (@daimanuel) | Twitter

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: Dai Manuel appeared first on Productivityist.

The Productivityist Podcast: Kim Ades

On this episode of the podcast, I speak with Kim Ades.

Kim is the founder of Frame of Mind Coaching and we spend time talking about coaching – her philosophy behind the practice, what she focuses on with her clients, and more. We also dive into mindfulness and focus along the way, as those are aspects of her work that I spends time on in my own work.

(Kim is also from Toronto – and it’s always a treat for me to chat with a fellow Canadian!)

There are plenty of takeaways in this episode so sit back, capture notes along the way, and enjoy!

Relevant Links

Frame of Mind
Kim’s Frame of Mind
JournalEngine
Kim Ades, M.B.A. « Frame of Mind
Kim Ades – Part 1 – PEP 181 | Performance Enhancing Podcast
Kim Ades – Part 2 – PEP 182 | Performance Enhancing Podcast
Kim Ades (@kimades) | Twitter

If you enjoy The Productivityist Podcast I’d appreciate a rating and review in iTunes or your podcasting platform of choice. It helps people find the show easier and will help me make improvements on the show by seeing what you have to say.

Want to help the show even more? Then become a patron The Productivityist Podcast through our Patreon campaign! Check out The Productivityist Podcast’s Patreon page and take a look at all of the perks – available only to Patreon supporters!

The post The Productivityist Podcast: Kim Ades appeared first on Productivityist.