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The Podcast of Personal Productivity Lessons in Two Minutes or Less
Episodes
Tuesday Jan 15, 2013
Tuesday Jan 15, 2013
In this episode I discuss the Pareto Principle of Productivity, so 20% of the next two minutes contains 80% of its productive value! ;-) Enjoy!
At a very young age, we understand that some things are more important than others. As soon as we're born, we learn that the scent of our mothers is important for our survival as the source of our nutrition. As we get a bit older, we realized quickly that mom and dad are more important than the strangers on the street. And as the comparison between objects and concepts get stronger and more complex, we learn to differentiate.
Did you ever hear that 80% of your success comes from 20% of your effort? Inversely, you commit 80% of your effort on outcomes that provide you only 20% of your success.
Have you heard of the 80/20 rule, or better known as the Pareto Principle? This notion comes from economics..to be precise, from an Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto at the turn of the 20th century. He observed that 80% of land (ergo, 80% of its wealth) was owned by 20% of the people, therefore 80% of the wealth was owned by the 20% that were wealthy, and not just in Italy but in many other countries as Pareto did more statistical analysis. This Pareto Principle has been applied in business, health care, mathematics and many other fields, and now it's made its way into personal productivity. I'll take the latitude of stating generally the Pareto Principle for productivity as 80% of your success comes from 20% of your effort. The standard advice therefore is to focus on that 20% then eliminate the rest. And, I mostly reject this notion for anyone who is already working efficiently and effectively. You see, if you've learned a productivity methodology (like GTD) or have your own productivity system designed, especially how to actively process your inputs into actions, delete, delegate, defer, and archive your inputs, you probably won't find much value in the stated corollary to the Pareto Principle. My take on the 80/20 rule has more to do with the over-arching strategy behind your productivity system and making it work better for your already productive life. While most productivity experts speak of efficient, effective effort (the 20%), So, at the project and system level, use 20% of your time to plan AND review to yield the best 80% of your productive DOING time. For example, you make a list, do what's on that list then afterward review what you did. I recommend that 80% of your time should have been spent doing what was on the list, 10% planning, and 10% reviewing. Although 80% is a rough estimate (and you should find out how much planning and review is really good for you), the 80/20 rule gives you a good standard set to know when you're planning and reviewing too little or too much.From Wikipedia: The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. The Pareto principle was a prominent part of the 2007 bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek by Tim Ferriss. Ferriss recommended focusing one's attention on those 20% that contribute to 80% of the income. More notably, he also recommends 'firing' – refusing to do business with – those 20% of customers who take up the majority of one's time and cause the most trouble.
Thursday Jan 10, 2013
Thursday Jan 10, 2013
I had the pleasure of interviewing the author of 25 Tips for Productivity Success (bit.ly/25t4p), Augusto Pinaud (augustopinaud.com), before #Prodchat on January 9th (See transcript: sfy.co/fDDm ). He highlights two of his book's tips for us. Enjoy!
Tuesday Dec 18, 2012
Tuesday Dec 18, 2012
Negative self-speak eats away at productivity and no one is immune from it at high stress times in our lives. And, while you may have positive self-esteem, you may still have negative self-speak creeping into your daily life. In this episode, I give you a three-pronged approach to eliminating self-speak from your productive life.
Daily affirmations:
1. First, you need to identify what you think are your strengths and weaknesses. You can probably name quickly off the top of your head how you're a best asset to your family, your friend network and at the office in your job duties or beyond. Now, where do you feel like you could improve? Write down a list of "I" statements of your strengths. Then, do the same with your weaknesses but write them down in the inverse. For example, if I felt my weakness was in follow-through with my coworkers' requests, I would write something like, "My coworkers can depend on me to follow-through with their requests in a timely manner." Now, merge the two lists and read them aloud to yourself (perhaps in a mirror if that helps) every morning. This will build the brain pathways to unlocking new strengths and solutions.
2. Next, write down every negative word you say in the course of a week as you recognize them and pay attention to change the language whenever you hear yourself saying something negative about yourself.
Negative Self-Speak Lexicon:
3. Finally, enlist your friends, family and coworkers with scripts encouragingly worded to alert you of negative self-speak when you don't notice it. With each alert, remember to restate your self-speak positively. This may even help your friends, family and coworkers resolves some of their own negative self-speak!
With daily affirmations, knowing your negative self-speak lexicon and the help of your friends, family and coworkers, you'll be on your way to conquering your negative self-speak for good!
Tuesday Dec 11, 2012
Tuesday Dec 11, 2012
Most people associate the idea of talking to one's self as a problem. However, the kind of talking to yourself I discuss in this episode I think makes you more productive thereby increasing your sanity!
We all have an inner voice; it is a collection of our approximately seventy thousand thoughts per day converted to words as we consciously think them. Let's enlist for our purposes of this discussion Dr. Stephen Covey's Seven Habits definition of control, which is the space between stimulus and response. If that's the case, then when we verbalize our thoughts aloud, we vet our thoughts more thoroughly commanding only the best quality of decisions to act upon. Think about it, if you say what all your decisions are going to be out loud (even privately in your own office/home), aren't you going to be more mindful?
I tend to think of this technique in the face of high distraction or procrastination, so I'll give a real life productivity scenario of my own to demonstrate. My ideal morning routine is to check my inboxes, processing and responding to my morning messages before I start the rest of my workday. I'm a FIFO kinda guy (that is, first in, first out -- meaning, I scroll to the bottom of my inbox and read the chronologically first message in, process and/or respond, and move on to the next message). If I'm having a particularly difficult time keeping focused on my inbox or starting at all, I'll literally say out loud to myself, "Ray, you're focusing on the first message to read & respond." I'll repeat myself ad nauseum until I re-focus and continue on my decision to process my inbox.
So, go forth and take control of your work and life by talking yourself into greater productivity!
// Let's take this idea of talking to yourself into a real life productivity scenario. I come into the office in the morning after a long and trafficked commute. I open up my computer and prepare myself for the day, but still feeling a tinge frustrated by the tribulations of my morning so far. Up pops my email and I scroll down to the bottom to find the first email in from last evening (as I'm a last in, first out email kinda guy). The message is from a client barking orders about this or that and I lose my temper at this client's clear lack of regard for my time and how much work I've put into the process. Pause. Let's take my inner voice and make it my outer voice now. "I'm frustrated by this morning's commute. And, this client wrote me at six o'clock last evening. So, they clearly didn't intend for me to read this message in this negative mindset.
Friday Dec 07, 2012
Friday Dec 07, 2012
I believe most people think of "fitness" and think about living a healthy lifestyle, however, I have long thought of it under a much broader context I call "Whole-Being Fitness." In this episode I explain my concept of Whole-Being Fitness and why it's so important to your productive life.
Let's take the example of how Whole-Being Fitness works in real life. that I've decided to run a marathon in a few months. So, to prepare for the mental image of a successful marathon photograph of me crossing the finish line I need to think first about my physical fitness...cross-training along with my core endurance training, then working up to personal training milestones (which for me are 18 and 24 miles). Further, let's look at the additional areas of Whole-Being Fitness as ways of making sure that I don't put the cart before the horse. Mental Fitness clues me into how I intend to run this marathon. There're several methods for running marathons, including the increasingly popular Galloway method. As well, what's my mindset for finishing this marathon? Just finish, or am I trying to set a personal time record? Broadly, emotional and social intelligence fitness guides me in getting all of my running friends together so that I have support during training and potentially someone to run the marathon with me. They may also be folks to support me along the way so I can shed gear and get a snack as I make my way along the marathon course on race day. To be Nutrition fit I have to make sure I'm taking in enough calories and the right balance of macronutrients to fuel and replenish what my body is going to burn during cross-training and long runs. My Rejuvenating Fitness teaches me that I need self-care to motivate myself through short, medium and long-term rewards for getting across the finish lines of every training run. And the all important Sleep Fitness gives my body the needed rest for my body to recuperate from the punishment it's going to take. Literally, if I don't sleep properly three or four nights straight before my long runs, my running speed will suffer. Finally, Do you see how interwoven each area of Whole-Being Fitness is to your overall success? I cannot emphasize enough that I cannot work harder at only one of these Whole-Being Fitness areas to compensate the fitness lacking in another. I do so at my own detriment.
Although I used an endurance athletic event as an example, Whole-Being Fitness matters in every aspect of your productive life. The more fit you are in each area, the better your productivity.
// If you look at every aspect of your work and life productivity--every major work project, job role or personal goal--these seven fitness areas touch on your ability to perform in them interdependently and better. So, whether it's learning to play an instrument better...to writing that next sales proposal...or passing that upcoming exam, you need to contemplate how Whole-Being Fitness can make achieving your goals and overcoming your challenges easier and more sustainable.