481.3K
Downloads
122
Episodes
The Podcast of Personal Productivity Lessons in Two Minutes or Less
Episodes
Friday May 24, 2013
Friday May 24, 2013
You know the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would like have done unto you. Well, I think it needs an update for a modern era. Enter the Diamond Rule: do unto others as they would like done unto themselves.
Tuesday May 21, 2013
Tuesday May 21, 2013
In Episodes 53 and 54, I gave a brief overview of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationships. And, in the last episode I discussed Collecting Data for More Productive Relationships. So, in this episode, I am covering some thoughts and questions on analysis and synthesis of productive relationship data.
A fun project is to take the ten closest friends in your life, add up their annual salaries and take the modal average. Does it look familiar?
Thursday May 16, 2013
Thursday May 16, 2013
In Episodes 53 and 54, I gave a brief overview of my "Pull Method" for more productive relationships, so in this episode I am going to outline how I collect and analyze data to make sure I know how the people around me affect me. In this episode I'm going to discuss Collection. And, in the next episode, I'll cover Analysis.
Tuesday May 14, 2013
Tuesday May 14, 2013
In this episode, I give you some food for thought on how plants' productivity is relative to your own and can help us be more productive. Enjoy!
- Plants don't have "bad" days.
- Whether vegetable, flower or fruit-bearing bush, plants need balance. Imbalance in the amount of light, food, fertilizer, water and other conditions and plants' flowering or growth will be severely hindered...and it may kill the plant.
- Seasons clearly affect a plants' life, but it is taken as a natural response to the ebb and flow of Nature's resources as the planet rotates around the sun.
- Plants are a diverse kingdom. For example, the arctic poppy can withstand immensely cold weather and blossom. They understand that not every kind of plant is suited for every environment, and they specialize to suit their environment.
- Plants land in a location and make the best of their time given the resources they've been handed.
- It turns out that plants are stimulated by the human voice and the sound will induce growth without the plant every responding to you. It turns out that listening is one of the plant's greatest sensory skills to adapt to its environment.
- For most plants, staying hydrated is one of it's three most vital needs.
- Plants take a lot of deep breaths throughout its existence to intake nourishments and exhales deeply to get rid of what it doesn't need.
- Plants tend toward striking a balance between function and aesthetics through a constant testing process. It doesn't experience its current form as an end, but just another point in its continual journey.
- Plants' temporal existence is easily overshadowed by its legacy of being an integral part of human's primary support network.
Thursday Apr 25, 2013
Thursday Apr 25, 2013
In this episode, I explain my "calculation" of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live) and therefore life proceeds work, but perhaps not in the way you think. Note: I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffin (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation.
I hear people tell me often that I "work too much." While this may seem like the case, I can assure you that's not the case. I have a different paradigm about the definition of "work" and how it fits into my life. Life is dynamic and long-term process. Instead of worrying about if you're working too much (and definitely worrying about whether someone else is working too much), I suggest that you determine how satisfied you are with how you spend your time. And, you know what I'm going to say...there's only one way to know that...track your time! In this episode, I'd like to explain my calculation of what I call life-work balance (because I work to live, not vice versa) and therefore "life" should proceed "work," but perhaps not in the way you think.
Typically, it shouldn't take you more than a week or two of tracking your time on, say, an hourly basis. There are myriad applications that you can use, as well as a good old-fashioned printed spreadsheet with date, description of the task, and length of time spent on that task. At the end of this period of tracking, you'll have a pretty good sampling of your activities across work and life. Now, categorize them into your life categories. You can use a series of colored highlighters or just noting the category next to each task for which you tracked time. Are you starting to see any patterns?
Now, think about your life and life categories. In an ideal world,
Think of your life-work balance as a pie chart. All that matters is that the pie is whole and that you have a healthy perspective about its slices. That's balance...not a 50-50 balancing scale between all that is life and all that is work. Will your pie always be full? No. Will your pie sometimes burn? Yes. That's life and nothing a little elbow grease can't fix. But you know what your life-work balance pie should look like, and that'll help create better focus for you on how your pie should look, smell and taste.
I'll add this one final thought credited to my fellow productivity enthusiast and journalism professor Kenna Griffith (who you can find blogging at profkrg.com) who coined life-work balance instead as "Work-Life Negotiation" since all of life is a negotiation. Semantics makes a difference, so give that some thought. Thanks, Kenna!