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Exclusive

Interview

Sponsored by

#9 (June, July, August 2011)www.ProductiveMagazine.com

L aura

Stack

More articles on:

4Starting your day productively

4Making meetings really work

4Living more while needing less

On beng Supe Cmpeen

an Fnng Tme

• Laura Stack • Al Pittampali • Chris Edgar • Graham Allcott • Francis Wade • Art Carden • Leo Babauta • Mike Vardy • Michael Sliwinski •

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Promises unbroken

From the Editor

By Mchael Slwnsk, Editor

It’s the end o August and we’re de-livering (as promised) the issue #9 o

your avorite productivity magazine.

We’re slowly making sure the magazine

is getting more regular and hopeully #10

will appear on your iPad (or computer)

right in time or October. Unsurprisingly

this issue is about accountability and

keeping promises. Let’s keep ours.

Meet Laura StackLaura, the Productivity Pro®, is the rst

woman to be eatured on the cover o

our magazine, and she’s a antastic per-

son. She’s a regular contributor and has

been active in the “productivity indus-

try” or almost two decades. That’s a lot

or a person who’s barely in her orties.

us to be accountable to ourselves by

digging out our inner productivity, and

Mike Vardy, as always, nishes up with

a humorist approach to productivity, ex-

plaining his conversion to Eventualism.

Promise me to sharethis magazine :–)No, you don’t have to do that. Howev-

er I’d appreciate it very much i you sent

this magazine to your riends and ami-

ly and recommend our iPad app to your

ellow iPad–owning–colleagues.

Yours productively,

Michael Sliwinski

Editor in Chie

Productive! Magazine

! Links: MichaelonTwitter|MichaelSliwinski’sBlog

Productive!Magazinewebsite|Nozbe–SimplyGetThingsDone!

We had a great chat, and I learned

a lot rom her. We obviously share the

same passion or productivity and the

great Zig Ziglar has been an inspiration

or both o us, too. We’ll also dive intothe principles behind Laura’s latest book,

“SuperCompetent” as she explains how

everyone can get a grade A on the com-

petence and productivity real–lie test.

One o the keys to this is... you guessed

it: Accountability.

The main theme o the magazine is re-

inorced with other articles rom our great

contributors: Art Carden reviews his new

avorite book “The Promise Doctrine”

Francis Wade explains how we should

move to Time Management 2.0, Graham

Allcott and yours truly give you two di-

erent (yet somehow similar) ways to ap-

proach your morning, Leo Babauta ex-

plains his minimalist mindset (a recent

inspiration o mine), Chris Edgar wants

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Productive!Magazine

www.ProductiveMagazine.com

Sponsor:

www.Nozbe.com

Your Online tool or Getting Things Done

– available in your computer browser,

mobile phone and on your iPhone.

Chie Editor:

Michael Sliwinski

Technical Editor:

Piotr Wozniak

Technical Advisor:

Maciej Budzich

Editorial Team:

Lori Anderson

Delfna Gerbert

James Tonn

Tribute:

Marc Orchant (1957–2007)

The Productive!Magazine

is dedicated to the memory

o a productivity guru, great

blogger and a very close riend,

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 registeredtrademarks o the David Allen Company.

04 MichaelSliwinski

On Being Super Competent: Making Time

Interview with Laura Stack

10 AlPittampali

Why you need to kill your weekly staf meetings

12 ChrisEdgar3 Keys To Developing Inner Productivity

14 GrahamAllcott

Morning Pages: A simple technique

to turbo–charge your creativity

16FrancisWade

Time Management Training in the World 2.0

18MichaelSliwinski

Prepare your next day in the evening

19 ArtCarden

Review o The Promise Doctrine

21LeoBabauta

Live more, need less

22MichaelSliwinski

Productive! Show Videos

23MikeVardy

How I Became Eventually Productive

Table

of contents

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On BeingSuper Competent:Making Time

Meet the Productivity Pro®

who’s been studying,researching and speakingon personal productivityexclusively since 1992.It’s her business, lie, passionand what she’s all about.

Interview with Laura Stack, the Productivity Pro®

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and that’s pretty much it. So, i I’m not

talking to clients, i I’m not researching,

i I’m not writing, i I’m not standing on

a platorm then I’m not doing my job.

MS: In my case it was really hard, I start-

ed Nozbe – as a one–man–shop. It’s a prob-

lem because you are used to doing every-

thing. And then at some point you have

to just gure it out, you’re not really good

at all this and you need help.

LS: Yes. And transitioning rom actually

doing a lot o the work yoursel to lead-

ing your company and managing other

people is a huge shit or many entre-

preneurs, and its a shit that indeed manypeople don’t make. And they still, years

later, are spending midnights assembling

marketing materials, doing $10–20 an

hour work instead o doing the $250 an

hour work and really moving their com-

panies orward.

MS: And as or your career, how do you switch

between client work and speaking?

LS: I’m mostly a proessional speaker.

That’s my passion, that’s my love, I like

to get on the platorm. About hal o my

speaking is at conerences doing key-

notes and break out sessions, the oth-

er hal is more in the trenches training in

corporations doing hal day and ull day

workshops and seminars.

The book writing, all o the work with

newsletters, and all my social media is

ultimately moving me towards speaking,

training, and consulting engagements,

because that’s what I love the most and

that’s where the majority o our revenues

as a company come rom.

Michael Sliwinski: You say productivity

is your passion. Why productivity?

Laura Stack: Well, I admittedly have al-

ways been ascinated by human peror-

mance, potentials, and time manage-ment. I saw Zig Ziglar when I was 14 and

I knew back then that I wanted to be

a speaker. I was in one o the strange

amilies, where my mother would actu-

ally send me to motivation conerences.

My ather was an instructor at the Air

Force Academy. He had a Ph.D in phi-

losophy and my mother had a degree in

psychology. I’ve skipped several years

o school, I did my undergraduate in col-

lege in 2.5 years and I had my MBAwhen I was 21. I had the record, at that

time, at the University o Colorado or

the youngest MBA.

I’ve always been driven this way and it

was a very natural progression or me to

get involved in the personal productivity

industry. I worked as a trainer in a cor-

porate setting or a ew years and I de-

cided I needed to open my own com-

pany so I opened my doors in 1992.

I’ve been speaking proessionally now

or 19 years.

MS: Your newest book, which I highly rec-

ommend is: “SuperCompetent”.

LS: Thanks, this is my 4th book. My rst,

“Leave the Oce Earlier” came out in

2004 and then “Find More Time: How to

Get Things Done at Home” was done in

2006. Then I wrote “The Exhaustion

Cure” in 2008 because the readers were

saying, “how do I get the energy to be

productive”? And then “SuperCompe-

tent” came out in August 2010. My next,

“What to Do When There’s Too Much to

Do” will hit stores in May 2012.

MS: So, in “SuperCompetent” you are talk-

ing o six keys that help you be competent,

to achieve your goals: Activity, Availabil-

ity, Attention, Accessibility, Accountabil-

ity and Attitude.

LS: So, SuperCompetent is kind o

a summary o the work I’ve been doing

or the past 19 years and I have ound

six basic things to be true o people who

perorm at their productive best.It all starts with activity. Basically,

knowing what you should be working

on. And this seems kind o like common

sense, but I think it is true or so many

o us that have a hundred and seven-

teen things to do everyday and we o-

ten pick incorrectly what it is that we

should be doing.

So, that’s the rst key. What are the

activities that need to ll your day?

MS: It’s like with this ladder that you climb

up the wrong wall. You climb very nicely,

but that’s not the wall you should be climb-

ing, right?

LS: Sure. We get so occupied by other

things that we irst have to get back

down to the core o what am I supposed

to be doing? Why am I here? What is

the ultimate responsibility that I have?

In my company or example, as the

president o The Productivity Pro, I’m re-

sponsible or building my brand, and or

speaking and bringing in the business,

I saw Zig Ziglar when I was 14

and I knew back then that I wanted to be a speaker.

I’m mostly a proessional speaker.That’s my passion, that’s my love,

I like to get on the platorm.

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I’m now also the president 2011–2012

or the National Speakers Association.

My business all rotates around proes-

sional speaking.

MS: So being a Zig Ziglar with very nice

hair and make–up?

LS: Oh, thank you, that’s sweet. You

know Zig Ziglar is a personal hero o

mine. I’m 42 and though I’ve been in

this business or many years, I eel like

I’ve just started. I have so much excite-

ment and enthusiasm still about pro-

ductivity and it’s such an exciting top-

ic and luckily one that is still very much

in demand.

MS: Oh, increasingly so, because o the pace

that everyone is running at right now.

LS: You know, that’s abulous and that’s

where a lot o people get their motiva-

tion. Fundamentally, the principles, the

oundations o productivity have never

changed. In “SuperCompetent” I’ve re-

ally tried to reinorce evergreen truths.

Facebook is thenew water–cooler.

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You have to know what it is you have to

work on. You have to make time or it.

You have to ocus on it. You have to be

organized around it, and always be ac-

countable or your results, trying to im-prove and never giving up. That’s it.

MS: From one o our previous interviewees

– Michael Hyatt, I learned a lot about ac-

countability and responsiveness. He said,

always, that his key to success was that he

was always quick to respond to people.

LS: It’s hard to do... I know what you are

saying. Accountability to me, I dene

a bit dierently, in terms o teams, keep-

ing your commitments, in doing what

you said you would do, meeting your

deadlines, and always looking or more

ecient ways to do things. It’s kind o

a state o mind.

MS: Yes, and the other thing is Attention –

people lose it on Facebook or example.

LS: Oh, Facebook is the new water–cool-

er. Oh, we can talk about how we make

connections, I mean you can spend

whole day updating your proles and

you know everything about the web...

but how is that really contributing to your

revenue? Entrepreneurs need to put the

Facebook in a box and recognize that it

is just one more distraction i you are not

careul. It’s sel control and sel disci-

pline. So, while I would say it is impor-

tant to be responsive I really think we

have to control our obsessive compul-

sive email disorder :–)

possible to compartmentalize while the

kids are home, because I see a lot o

parents sort o hal way paying attention

to their children, still really working, or

they slip back into the oce a little bit.So again, these are personal boundar-

ies that we have to decide what they are

or ourselves and then choose not to

break them. And that comes down to

discipline.

MS: This problem is especially difcult or

us, because we love our work so much,

that we have to really set up our bound-

aries or ourselves.

LS: My husband and I, or example, havea date night. We try to go out every Sat-

urday night, and grandma comes over

or my daughter, who is 16, can babysit,

but it is on the schedule. See, i your

workout time isn’t on the schedule, your

date time isn’t on the schedule, your

Sunday with the amily isn’t on the

schedule, you allow your lie to evolve

kind o willy–nilly and you don’t get all

those elements in. It took me 255 pag-

es in the book “SuperCompetent” to ex-

plain these very easy 6 things, but that’s

undamentally what we have to do.

I fy over 100,000 miles a year. It’s a job

hazard o a proessional speaker: I do

travel. I try to be careul about being

home at night. You know, fy out, spend

a night, wake up, give a presentation in

the morning, and fy home.

MS: Tell me, how is your work–lie bal-

ance? I mean, you have t hree kids and

a husband, how did you manage to run

a successul company or so many years

and then have it work with you and theamily?

LS: Again it comes down to really un-

derstanding what am I trying to create

in whole context o where I spend my

time. The biggest thing in my lie to me

is to be a mother and a wie and i I ail

there I ail everywhere. My kids are 10,

11, and 16, and I’m just like everyone

else, trying to run a house and I’m mar-

ried and I’m in business. For example at

the beginning o each year I block out 4weeks o vacation on the calendar and

it’s non–negotiable. It’s hard i you don’t

create the boundaries or yoursel rst.

You know, people just say “I just don’t

have time”, well nobody really has time.

You have to make time. Fortunately, we

also work rom home, and my husband

works or the company as well, so he’s

here when I’m on the road.

MS: You’ve been in business or so many

years and still 24 hours is 24 hours. I mean

there is no way to bend it.

LS: It doesn’t change and or me pro-

ductivity is all about love. It’s guring out

how to love your work, your amily, and

to get it all done. And I think you can

have it all, just not all at the same time.

I really try to orce mysel as much as

You know, people just say “I just don’t have

time”, well nobody really has time. Youhave to make time.

...transitioning rom actually doing

a lot o the work yoursel to leading your company (...) is a huge shit or many entrepreneurs, and its a shit that indeed many people don’t make...

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LauraStackisaper-

sonalproductivityex-

pert,author,andpro-

essionalspeaker

(nowpresidentothe

NationalSpeakers

Association).She’sthepresidentoThePro-

ductivityPro®,Inc.

Laura Stack!

MS: So you frst saw Zig Ziglar when you were

14, and when did you rst talk to him?

LS: When I joined the National Speak-

ers Association. Zig Ziglar is a member,

so I was so thrilled o course to meethim and explain how important he was

in the role o getting me into this crazy

business o speaking and so I have had

the honor and the opportunity o seeing

him on many occasions now.

MS: Your uture right now is the presi-

dency o the National Speakers Associ-

ation, more speaking engagements...

and a new book?

LS: Sure. I write a book every two years.So I have a new one that I’m working

on. I’m always writing. I give about 80

speaking engagements a year, so I learn

a lot in the trenches, on the road, talk-

ing to people, learning and hearing

what’s on their minds. I’m always trying

to be resh and relevant. So, yes, you

will see a new one rom me in 2012 and

I will continue my message o produc-

tivity. I can’t imagine anything that would

pull me away rom that right now. At

least in the very near uture, I imagine

I will be doing exactly the same thing

I’m doing now. a

! Links: LauraonTwitter|LauraonFacebook |Laura’sWebSite:TheProductivityPro

Laura’sNewsletter |NationalSpeakersAssociation

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Nozbe web app syncs with native iPad and iPhone apps... and Evernote!

...just like your avoriteProductivity Application

Productive! Magazine – like Wired Magazinenow also available as a native iPad app!

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Why you need to kill your

weekly sta meetings

Whether you’re a huge corporation, small business,or an entrepreneur – killing old processes, traditions,and rituals that have outlived their useulness is a mark o a leaderand a pragmatist, someone who is concerned with

increasing productivity and eliminating waste.

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is like washing your dishes with Evian

water, it’ll work but it’s really expensive,

and somewhat absurd. Think about it:

20 people at $100/hr, comes out to

$2000 in a conservative estimate. With

so many other communication options

available, people abhor the idea o be-

ing herded into a room just to be orceed inormation they could have gotten

through less intrusive means.

3 To socialize and network with

our colleagues. Let’s ace it,

we’re social creatures, we love

to nd any excuse we can to connect

with others and meetings are one o

them. Unortunately, you may want to

slow down and chat, but that doesn’t

mean everyone else does. It’s not air

to hold others who have more pressing

things to do hostage, just because you

want to socialize.

So how do we kill the weeklymeeting and not only survive,but thrive? Here are 3 thingsyou can do.

1 Force individuals to make deci-

sions, not meetings. One indi-

vidual should take responsibili-

ty or a decision. Sure, she can consult

with people individually i she needs in-

put, but she ultimately needs to make

the decision hersel. Now, i a meeting

is necessary to get buy–in rom the

group, alter a decision, or coordinate

the resulting action plan, go ahead and

call one.

By Al Pampal

When Jack Welch stepped into

his role as CEO o GeneralElectric, he noticed a oot high

stack o papers on his desk upon arriv-

al every morning. It was an overnight

worldwide sales and inventory report that

was assembled daily by a small team.

It showed how much (down to the unit)

was in each one o his warehouses all

over the world.

One day he asked his sta, “Why am

I getting this report”? “I’m not sure, that’s

just the way we do things around here”they replied. So Jack killed the report.

There is no process that needs to be

considered or the chopping block more

than regularly scheduled sta meetings.

Just do a twitter search or #meetings

and you’ll see the tweets o some pret-

ty miserable people stuck inside meet-

ings, searching or the answer to an ob-

vious question: “Why am I here? What’s

the point”?

Why do we have sta meetings? Let’s

explore the 3 most common purposes

o regularly scheduled sta meetings,

and why they may have outlived their

useulness.

1 To make decisions and resolve is-

sues. I you’re trying to make

a decision inside o a meeting,

good luck. Large groups are great at dis-

agreeing, but horrible at agreeing. Dem-

ocratic decision making with a large

group o people is almost always a rec-

ipe or disaster, and can cause stress

and anguish or all. And even i there

aren’t any issues to discuss, having

a regularly scheduled meeting guaran-

tees you’ll invent some.

2 To get critical ino to your staf.

Using a meeting to communicate

inormation and announcements

AlPittampalliisameet-

ingculturewarrior.He’s

onamissiontochange

thewayorganizations

holdmeetings,make

decisions,andcoordi-

nateaction.Hisbook/maniesto:“TheModern

MeetingsStandard”waspublishedonAugust

2ndthroughSethGodin’s“DominoProject”.

Al Pittampalli!

! Links: AlonTwitter| Al’sBlog|Al’sBook:“ModernMeetingManiesto”

Democratic decision making with a large group o people is almost always a recipe or disaster, and can cause stress and anguish or all.

2 Use email, audio, or even video

to communicate ino. Let people

consume this ino on their own

time. They’ll thank you. Here’s the deal

though, we have to create a sacred pact,

you’ll agree to cancel the weekly meet-

ings, but all must read the memo.

3 Schedule a dedicated social event

instead. Camaraderie, network-

ing, and team bonding are criti-

cally important. But doing it under the

guise o a meeting is silly, misleading,

and ineective. Not only is it a bad way

to get things done, but it’s a bad way to

socialize. I you want to have a social

gathering, do it. Just make it short, make

it voluntary and make it un.

So, here’s my challenge to you: kill

your regularly scheduled meeting tradi-

tion or a month. I you miss it, you can

blame me. But once you realize you

don’t miss it, let it die... orever. a

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3 Keys To Developing

Inner Productivity Why are people still hungry or productivity advice,even with so many ideas and techniques out there?I suspect one reason is that most approachesdon’t address one o the biggest obstacles to workingeciently – our own minds.

By Chs Ega

As I’ll bet you know rsthand, it’s

hard to get much done when our

minds keep driting o into the

past or the possible uture – replaying

arguments with loved ones, worrying

about the size o the bonus we’ll receive

this year, and so on. The usual “tips and

tricks” – ecient ways to organize email,

make to–do lists, hold shorter meetings,

and so on – can be useul, but they won’t

do much to help us get more done i we

can’t ocus our attention.

The good news is that what I call “in-

ner productivity” – the mental and emo-

tional state we need to work at peak e-

ciency – can be cultivated.

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As you practice this exercise over time,

you may ind that, when distracting

thoughts arise in your work, you begin

naturally, unconsciously bringing your

attention back into your body and thus

into the present.

2. Intention Another common reason we nd our at-

tention foating away rom our tasks is

that we aren’t working with a clear, com-

pelling goal in mind. Perhaps there’s no

grand vision behind what we’re doing –

we’re only working to pay the bills, or

we just eel like “we’ve got to do some-

thing”. Or, although we have a denite

goal – maybe, or instance, buying a big-ger house – that goal comes rom a de-

sire to meet others’expectations, and

doesn’t deeply move us.

In these situations, I’ve ound, it’s help-

ul to connect with our desire to contrib-

ute to and serve others. A yoga tech-

nique oten called “breathing into your

heart” is a wonderul way to do this. Ac-

cording to yoga, there’s an energetic

center in the heart area called the “heart

chakra”. When we “open” the heart

chakra by breathing into it, we eel our

sense o compassion or others, and our

desire to give to the world.

To breathe into your heart, clasp your

hands behind your back at the level o

your heart, and stretch out your arms.

Then, breathe deeply so your upper

chest rises and alls with the breath.

(You may even be able to do this without

getting out o your chair.) Feel the warmth

and openness in your heart area, and no-

tice any tension melting away.

Many methods or doing this have been

around in the East or thousands o years,

but are just beginning to enter the “main-

stream” in the West. I’ll describe what I see

as the three basic elements o inner pro-

ductivity – Attention, Intention, and Foun-dation – and some exercises or devel-

oping them within ourselves.

1. AttentionWe’re most ecient, and produce our

best work, when our task has our ull at-

tention. Oten, our awareness is only

partly ocused on our project, and the

rest o it is lost in memories and possi-

ble utures.

How can we build our capacity to hold

our attention on our work? One helpul

technique, which comes rom medita-

tion practice, is to notice the sensations

you’re eeling in your body – whether

it’s a warmth, tingling, tension, or some-

thing else.

A great way to start doing this is to

train your awareness on part o your

body that’s in contact with an object,

such as your eet on the foor or your

back against your chair. Focus your at-

tention on the pressure o the object

against you.

Although our thoughts are oten lost

in the past or uture, the sensations in

our bodies are always happening right

now, and thus ocusing on them helps

to bring our attention back into the pres-

ent and onto the task in ront o us.

3. Foundation An important, but oten overlooked, ac-

tor in our productivity is how comort-

able we eel with ourselves. I we’re con-

stantly araid o making a mistake in our

work, as i a setback could destroy us,we’ll over–think and second–guess ev-

erything we do, and we won’t make the

kind o progress we want.

According to yoga, there’s another en-

ergetic center at the base o the spine

called the “root chakra”. Breathing into

the root chakra gives us a sense o

grounded–ness and stability. Doing this

can be very useul when you’re eeling

anxious at work.

To breathe into the root chakra, putyour attention on the base o your spine,

where the spine meets the pelvis. I o-

cusing on that area is dicult, place your

hand on your lower back, and concen-

trate on the sensation o pressure there.

With your attention on the base o your

spine, take a ew deep breaths. When

you do this, you’ll likely eel a deep–seat-

ed sense o solidity, and that paralyzing

worry will start to ade. a

We’re most ecient,and produce our best work, when

our task has our ull attention.

An important, but oten overlooked,

actor in our productivity is how comortablewe eel with ourselves.

ChrisEdgarhelpspeo-

plendocus,motiva-

tionandpeaceintheir

workthroughhiswrit-

ing,speaking,and

workshops.Heisthe

authoro“InnerProductivity:AMindulPathto

EfciencyandEnjoymentinYourWork”

Christopher Edgar !

! Links: ChristopheronTwitter|Christopher’sWebSite

InnerProductivity:AMindulPathtoEfciencyandEnjoymentinYourWork

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Morning Pages:A simple technique to turbo–chargeyour creativity and get your day o to the best possible start

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A ew years ago I had the pleasure o beinggiven a copy o Julia Cameron’s book,“The Artist’s Way”. It had a transormative

eect on me, and removed my long–standingsongwriters’ block. One o the tools in the book,the Morning Pages, is something I still useoccasionally today (although I do wish I wasmore disciplined with it and used it everyday as Julia prescribes).

By Gaham Allc

It’s a great technique, not just or

artists, but really or anyone who

needs to create value out o inor-

mation, be creative, avoid procrastina-

tion, or just work out what the hell is

bugging you at the back o your

psyche.

It works like this: take 3 pages o A4

paper and a pen. Note: the techies and

iPhone app reaks amongst you will try

to nd a more elegant solution. Don’t.

The primitive nature o the tools are part

o why this works!

to the page. Getting started. This acts

as a ritual to show you that you have the

motivation to start.

Secondly, it allows your mind the time

to blurt out all the gunk and release it –

all the worries or anger, ideas or excite-ment that might otherwise preoccupy

you all day are gone, and you eel much

more ocused.

Thirdly, you’d be amazed what you

nd going on in there when you really

listen to the voice inside your mind. You’ll

nd amazing creative ideas you never

knew you had in you and you’ll ind

things you might have been stressed

about that you can easily address.

In the inormation–overload culture welive in, we so rarely spend time listening

to ourselves, and valuing our own

thoughts and instincts. The Morning

Pages is a really simple tool to help us

do just that. a

OK, it’s early in the

morning. You’ve poured your coee. Sit down with the pen and paper and write.

Any artist will tell you the hardest

part o creativity is showing up tothe page.

Grahamspecializesin

personalorganization-

alsystems,strategies

todealwiththeinor-

mationoverloadand

‘actionmanagement’.

Anaturally‘toostrategictobeorganized’person

whohastrainedhimseltobeproductivethrough-

outthedevelopmentopersonalwork-fowsys-

temsanddevelopingthepowerogoodhabits.

Graham Allcott !

! Links: GrahamonTwitter|Graham’sThinkProductive!

OK, it’s early in the morning. You’ve

poured your coee. Sit down with the pen

and paper and write. Write whatever

comes to mind. Don’t stop writing until

you have lled 3 sides o A4. That’s it.

This is an exercise on listening to your

mind. Some may nd this is a gentle orm

o meditation and since I’m no expert on

that, I’ll just say that it’s probably true.

I you can’t think o what to write, you

must continue the rhythm o the writing

anyway. Just write “I can’t think o any-

thing to write” over and over again until

something else arrives in your mind.

Once your 3 pages o A4 paper are

done (which in my experience usually

takes about 20 minutes), you put them

somewhere no–one else will read them.

I personally also developed a little add–

on task to this: My mind oten blurts out

new ideas or actions that are not in my

system so I use it as a place to capture

and collect these, marking them with

a star, and then at the end o my 3 pag-

es I just run through and transer any

starred items into my GTD system.

This sounds so simple,so why is it so powerul?Well, rst o all, any artist will tell you the

hardest part o creativity is showing up

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Time Management

Training in the

World 2.0Back in the mid 1990’s, beore the frst PDA was introduced,proessionals used multi–tabbed organizers like DayTimers.

They showed the world that their owners were serious about

productivity. Today, there’s hardly a paper diary to be seen,

and instead we have smartphones. Unortunately 62% o

their owners admit to using them to play games: the most

popular category o applications. Furthermore, in the same

study, productivity was cited as only the 10th most popularuse, at a mere 22% o users.

ject wrote books and taught seminars that

gave precise practices to ollow, and new

jargon to use. The sometimes unspoken

but clear message was “ollow my rules,

or else you will ail”. Some o these reci-pes were quite good, and “Getting Things

Done” by David Allen, is one o the very

best cookbooks in the bunch.

In our brave new world, new technol-

ogy is driving new habits. The tail is now

rmly wagging the dog.

Your ather’s time management sys-

tem may have only been about his hab-

its and practices, but in today’s world

your system is likely to also be about:

!your choice o gadget (smartphone,cellphone or none at all)

! the sotware you use to manage your

email (Gmail, Microsot Outlook, Lotus

Notes, Yahoo Mail, etc.)

! the web services you employ (Nozbe,

Remember the Milk, OmniFocus, etc.)

! the capture sotware you preer (Ever-

note, OneNote, etc.)

! the number o channels through which

you receive messages (email, Twitter,

Facebook, LinkedIn, Instant Message,

phone, etc.) – the sheer volume o mes-

sages you receive daily that place a de-

mand on your time

For many o us in corporations, our

choices tend to be driven by some guy

or gal in IT who sets sotware policies

and limits individual choices. Changing

companies can be cause or a complete

change in individual systems, and some-

times not or the better. Just ask Apple

users who join companies where the iMac

is “not supported” and thereore orbid-

den. Obviously, the old approach o giv-

ing out strict instructions and detailed rec-

ipes is coming to an end.

Introducing Time Management 2.0I Time Management 1.0 was all about

ollowing other people’s recipes, and

those recipes have stopped working, then

By Fancs Wae

Nowadays, when we claim to be

more productive, we indicate our

ability to tweet rom trains, read

email on beaches and sur the internet

while lying in bed. The most productive

person has the most extreme stories.

Many can’t complete a meeting or con-

versation without giving in to the “Black-

berry Itch:” the thought that something

better is happening in cyberspace that is

more interesting, and we might be miss-

ing it, so let’s check.

How did this happen? When did great-

er convenience become equated with

“enhanced productivity”? Where did

these new habits come rom? Should

smartphones be taken away? Is it too

late to save companies rom widespread

attempts to save time that only make

things worse?

Getting Let BehindThe good old days were much simpler.

Back then, we were encouraged to think

about time management and personal pro-

ductivity in terms o habits and practices,

without bringing in technology at all. Those

who knew a thing or two about the sub-

magazine




you and I must nd a way to take care o

ourselves. We must own and take charge

o our own time management systems in

a way that is new.

In the world o video gaming, the most

exciting new games, like Little Big Plan-

et, actually teach users how to create

their own characters, contests, worlds,

weapons, skills and more. Sotware com-

panies like Media Molecule have ound

innovative ways to teach their users howto pull o these tricks, and have been

surprised by some who have gone ur-

ther than they ever anticipated. In a note-

worthy example, one gamer created a vir-

tual, working computer within a game.

In Time Management 2.0, I’m among

a handul o writers who are trying to

make the same thing happen. How can

you and I, as users, learn how to crat our

very own time management systems that

are custom built or our lives, as i we

were learning to develop our own per-

sonal recipes or our avorite dishes?

Fortunately, (and maybe surprisingly,)

there are a LOT o people who are com-

ing up with their own systems, even i they

don’t ever name them. I you are reading

this edition o Productive! Magazine and

were able to set the time aside to get to

this point, then I imagine that you are us-

ing a time management system that works

pretty well in some ways!

I also imagine that your system is

unique, idiosyncratic and “all yours”. You

put it together over several years, pulling

together a mix o habits, gadgets, sot-

ware and other components, using a pro-

cess o trial and error. Perhaps you used

hints rom a variety o sources to arrive

at something that works or you.

I I were to give you a book, or put you

in a time management class it’s likely that

you would do the same. Take bits and

pieces, and use them to modiy your sys-

tem. You are VERY unlikely to drop your

current system all at once, and pick up

a new one ater just a ew hours. As you

might expect, the research that’s been

done points to this phenomena in all ar-

eas o adult learning the involve behav-

ior changes.

While some eel guilty at this act and

blame themselves or being bad students,the next best step is not to try harder to

drop our current system. It’s better to ac-

cept our genius or adaptation, and to

work with it, not against it. While some

would interpret the lack o uniorm be-

havior as a ailure o the instructor and

his/her method, I think it’s a valuable clue.

It tells us how to help people develop

their own systems by giving them some

“sel–programming skills”. This clue, and

others like it, is the starting point or the

process used in Time Management 2.0:

1. Each o us has a unique system, and

i you want to improve it, start by un-

derstanding how it works, or doesn’t

work.

2. Use this understanding to paint a pic-

ture o the desired end–result using

sound design principles.

3. List the habits, practices, gadgets, sot-

ware, etc. that need to change to ll

the gap.

4. Use a calendar to spread the changes

you want to make over time.

5. Focus on no more than one or two

changes at a time, and once the de-

sired level o mastery is accomplished,

move on to another.

These 5 steps can be undertaken by

any proessional at any level o time man-

agement skill, and the process can be

repeated whenever an upgrade is desired,

or being contemplated.

When I upgraded my system rom one

that’s PDA–based to one that’s based on

a smartphone, I was able to use this pro-

cess to make some critical choices be-

ore making the purchase. These steps

also explain why traditional Time Man-

agement books and training have not

been successul with more people. They

assume time management training to bea one–time event or a particular kind o

person, in a particular kind o lie situa-

tion that never changes.

I anything, the recession has taught

us that those who stay stuck are doomed.

Being fexible is the key to survival and

success, and the rate at which lie is

changing is orcing us to adapt new prac-

tices at a aster rate than ever beore.

Anyone who isn’t continuously upgrad-

ing their skills in this area is likely to be

let behind, and the new training must

equip us with what we really want to

learn: how to help ourselves. a

In our brave new world, new technology is driving new habits.The tail is now frmly wagging the dog.

FrancisWaderesides

in theCar ibbean,

whereinspiredbydi-

erenceshe’sdiscov-

eredbetweentime

managementinJa-

maicaandNorthAmerica,he’sbeenabletosit

backandrefectonwhatittakesorproes-

sionalstobeproductiveanywhereintheworld,

regardlessotheircultureandbackground.

Whennotworking,Francisisanenthusiastic

triathlete.

Francis Wade!

! Links: FrancisonTwitter|FrancisTimeManagement2.0blog

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Prepare your next

day in the eveningThere are just a ew productivity tips that always work. I you ollow them, improvement is guaranteed. It always astounds me whenI test these out and see immediate results.One o these tips is to prepare your next dayin the evening beore going to sleep. Soundseasy and trivial. But it’s really powerul.

By Mchael Slwnsk

It takes only 5 minutes to createa to–do list or tomorrowThat’s it. Just in the evening review your

day, decide what’s REALLY important

that needs to be done tomorrow and

write these tasks down on a piece o pa-

per. Limit yoursel to 3–4 tasks that need

to be completed as soon as possible.

Don’t open your Nozbe or other task

manager – put these 3–4 tasks on piece

o paper next to your computer.

Close your email programs and other

apps, including most (i not all) o your

browser windows. The next day when

you walk to your computer you’ll have

the task list next to it. You’ll open your MichaelSliwinskiis

yourchieeditorothe

Productive!Magazine

andahostothenew

Productive!Show.

Everydayhe’strying

tohelppeoplegetmoredonewithhiswebap-

plicationNozbe–nowalsoavailableasana-

tiveiPhoneoriPadapp.

Michael Sliwinski!

! Links: MichaelonTwitter|Productive!Magazine|Productive!Show

Nozbe–SimplyGetItDone! |MichaelSliwinski’sBlog

My last 2 weeks have beenuber–productiveThat’s right. For the last two weeks I’ve

been religiously, every day, compiling my

lists o tasks “or tomorrow” and each

day was just perect. I eel I’ve done somuch! The thing is – we’re just humans

and we tend to be side–tracked by oth-

er people, projects, and events. Howev-

er, with the golden list “or tomorrow” I’m

guaranteed I’m going to get the big things

done beore I enter the reaction mode o

email, social networks, and responding

to the other olks rom my company.

Added bonus – your mind

is working when you sleepThat’s another thing – some tasks I set

out to do the next day were quite com-

plicated, but since I had dened them

in the evening, my mind was working on

them while I was sleeping... and when

I woke up I suddenly had most the an-

swers and never elt “stuck”. I don’t have

any scientic evidence or that but only

a gut eeling that’s how it works. My last

two weeks proved me right. Trust me.

Don’t go to sleep withouta plan or tomorrowThat’s the key to my everyday produc-

tivity. A small trick that gets a job

done. a

computer and you’ll know exactly what

to do. It’s that easy.

I know it’s still hard to withstand all

the temptations to check email, Face-

book, Twitter... but don’t go that way...

just proceed to complete the tasks

you’ve set out to do.

Ater that you’ll have a really good dayOnce these tasks are done, you can pro-

ceed to email and other activities. You

can open your task manager to check

other tasks and manage your projects.

You can quickly check o the things

you’ve done in the morning with a eel-

ing o satisaction and accomplishment.

Now the day starts and you have a head–

start on completing the most important

actions or today.

The next day when you walk to your computer you’ll have the task list next to it. You’ll open your computer and you’ll know exactly what to do. It’s that easy.

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Review o thePromise Doctrine:

I frst heard Jason Womack ona “Productivity Show” pod-cast in 2006, when he was stillwith the David Allen Company.Jason is one o my avorite

thinkers on productivity, and“The Promise Doctrine”, whichis co–authored with his ather,is his long–awaited (by me,anyway) book on productivity.

It brings a lot to the table andwill make a fne complement to the productivity bookshel o people who are already a-miliar with other productivity

thinkers like David Allen (Get-ting Things Done), Tim Ferriss(The Four–Hour Workweek), andSteven Covey (The Seven Habitso Highly Successul People).

A guidebook and system

or consistently deliveringon your promises!– by Craig P. and Jason W. Womack.

magazine



Elements o the Promise Doctrine”

(promise, perorm, hurdles, renegotiate,

trust, celebrate) and then old–out pag-

es discussing each o these elements.

The old–out pages are especially in-

teresting in terms o book ormatting,

but they capture the essentials o what

they are trying to communicate about

each element in single (large) pages. De-sign–wise, I ound these a little dicult

to handle (the sti oldouts in the latter

part o the book make it dicult to thumb

through rom ront to back).

Refect or a moment on how much

more productive you and the organiza-

tions with which you interact could be i

there were a near–certain expectation

that what people (including you) prom-

ised would be delivered on time, every

time. I’m sure you would be much more

productive and likely much happier. You

wouldn’t bind yoursel up in unproduc-

tive commitments and relationship–dam-

aging, or trust–eroding strings o broken

promises. Craig and Jason Womack o-

er a simple handbook that can help you

avoid this through well–managed com-

mitments. a

By A Caen

Beore I dive into the book itsel,

a brie digression is in order. Oneo the most important principles

in economics is that trade creates wealth.

It allows us to specialize and to use our

time and energy in ways that are more

productive–i.e., that allow us to achieve

more o our goals. The publication inor-

mation is telling about the myth that trad-

ing with poorer people around the world

will bankrupt Americans: “Conceived,

written and designed in the United States

o America. Printed in China”. Interna-tional trade allows Americans to special-

ize in advanced thinking on personal pro-

ductivity, and we’re all richer or it.

The short lesson in economics aside,

the book’s central theme (unsurprising-

ly) deals with making good on your prom-

ises. Indeed, I was surprised (and hum-

bled) to nd mysel quoted in the preace

regarding the ideal or promise–making

and promise–keeping: deliver more than

what is asked or beore the deadline.

As devotees o organizational systems

know, we have more options and op-

portunities today than anyone who has

ever come beore us. It’s a dizzying and

wonderul time to be alive. Nonetheless,

we have to constantly adapt our orga-

nizational systems to these changing

possibilities and opportunities.

The book begins with a Foreword by

author Marshall Goldsmith, who points

out that good promise–making and prom-

ise–keeping is an important part o good

business ethics. The ability to make wise

promises like this is a skill that can be

learned rom practice, repetition, ailure,

and reassessment. Is it easy to say “yes”

to every request? It is. But it isn’t wise.

The Promise Doctrine is a quick read

that isn’t designed to be read, ingested,and discarded. It’s essentially a work-

book. There are regular exercises and

assessments throughout, and it coach-

es the reader through various steps

along the way with lots o white space,

bold headings, and oset questions and

statements that make it easy to skim.

Their “one central principle” is simple

to remember but deceptively dicult to

practice: “Do what you’re going to do,

when you say you’re going to do it” (p.

11). They express this in a specic prac-

tice on page 13: “Make important prom-

ises, and keep them”. Once again, it’s

easy to say and very hard to do. Oten,

we get ourselves in trouble when we

make short–run concessions with long–

run consequences we don’t ully appre-

ciate. I, or one, do this ar too oten, and

I would suspect that i you’re reading

this you do the same.

Exercises and implementation begin

in earnest in chapter 3 and an instruc-

tion on p. 17 to “carry this book with you

or at least the next 14 days” because

“every page o ‘The Promise Doctrine’

provides tools, prompts, and guides that

clear the path or promise making and

promise keeping”. They make good on

the promise, as the rest o the book con-

sists mostly o exercises and “The Six

ArtCardenisAssistant

ProessoroEconom-

icsandBusinessat

RhodesCollegein

Memphis,TNandan

AdjunctFellowwith

theOakland,CAbasedIndependentInstitute.

Art Carden!

! Links: ArtonTwitter| ArtCarden’spage

“Do what you’re going to do,when you say you’re

going to do it”

“The Six Elements o the Promise Doctrine” (promise, perorm, hurdles, renegotiate,

trust and celebrate)

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By Le Babaua

What does it mean to ocus on

living? It’s a shit rom caring

about possessions and status

and goals and beautiul things… to car-

ing about actual lie. Lie includes: taking

long walks, creating things, having con-

versations with riends, snuggling with mywie, playing with my kids, eating simple

ood, going outside, and getting active.

Live more, need lessThe more I ocus on living, the less it seems I need.

Why do I need to shop when I already have everything I need – I can spend timewith someone or create, and I need very

little to do that.

That’s living... not shopping, or watch-

ing TV, or eating loads o greasy and sweet

ood not or sustenance but pleasure, or

being on the Internet, or ordering things

online, or trying to get popular. Those

things aren’t living – they’re consumerist

pastimes that tend to get us caught up in

over–consumption and mindlessness.

When I ocus on living, all those other

ake needs become less important. Whydo I need television when I can go outside

and explore, or get active, or take a walk

LeoBabautalivesin

SanFranciscoandis

marriedwithsixkids.

He’sawr i ter and

arunnerandavege-

tarianandheloves

writingblogs:“ZenHabits”and“Minimalism”.

He’sapublishedauthoroabestsellingbook

“PoweroLess”.

Leo Babauta!

! Links: LeoonTwitter|Leo’sBlog:ZenHabits|Leo’sBlog:Minimalist

with a riend? Why do I need to shop when

I already have everything I need – I can

spend time with someone or create, and

I need very little to do that.

These things I do now – they require al-

most nothing. I can live, and need little. And needing little but getting lots o

satisaction… that’s immensely reward-

ing. It’s an economy o resources that

I’ve never experienced beore.

These days, I need nothing but my

loved ones, a text editor, a way to post

what I create, a good book, simple plant–

based ood, a ew clothes or warmth,

and the outdoors. a

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David Allen, ConstantImprovement and Cool Ofces

David Allen on GettingThings Done ad 2011(Episode #34)WejustcelebratedportingProduc-

tive!Magazineissue#1totheiPadandorthatIinterviewedDavidAl-

lenoGTD(GettingThingsDone)

ame.HadablastlearningromDa-

vidwhathe’suptothisyearand

howweseesproductivity.

Productive Oice– rootops o Warsaw(Episode #15)Iworkromhome.Yetveryoten

Ilovetochangemyworkenviron-

mentandsometimesIcrashmy

riend’socesorchoosereallycool

caeteriastoworkrom.It’salways

unto“stirthecup”alittleand

changetheplaceyouwork.

By Mchael Slwnsk

Areas o ConstantImprovement

(Episode #16)ListeningtoTonyRobbinsIrealized

thatasmallchangeinourmindset

canhaveahugeimpactontheway

weseeanddothings.Likechang-

ingourrolerom“Father”to“Su-

per–dad”canempowerustobe

abetterparent.Andtherearemore

trickslikethis.

As always,here are thethree new(and very short)

Productive! Showvideos to help,inspire, andmotivate youto get evenmore done.

Productive! Show Videos

! Links: Hopeyouenjoyedtheseshortproductivityvideos.Clickheretobrowseallepisodearchive.

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You see, I was so

obsessed with productivity that I was watchingtelevision while

showering.

How I Became

Eventually ProductiveI’ve never had the opportunity to tell the story

o how I eventually became an Eventualist beore,but when Shenee Howard asked me to tell a storyor her “EightThirtyFive Initiative” I only hesitatedbecause the word “initiative” was mentioned.I eventually got past that, and decided to oer upmy origin story... an origin story that is rivalledonly by the story o the word origin itsel.

By Mke Vay

Back in 2007, I was addictedto productivity pornIt sounds ar less sinister than it is, main-

ly because I wasn’t addicted to actual

porn. But let me assure you, productiv-

ity porn is a problem that is sweeping

the globe, and I had allen victim to it.

I was all about getting more productive

with my work. I was trying every system

out there, rom good old–ashioned pa-

per and pen to the most complex produc-

tivity sotware. I was getting really good

at learning about how to be more produc-

tive, but was making little progress on ac-

tually becoming more productive.

Eventuallysel–pro-

essedproductivityex-

pert,ounderothe

newproductivityide-

ology:Eventualism.

Eventuallylaunched

anewpodcast“ProductiVardy”.Authorosev-

eraleBooksonproductivityand...eventualism.

Mike Vardy!

It was during an episode o The Col-

bert Report that I had an epiphany. I re-

alized that my bio on my Eventualism

blog says that I had the epiphany while

I was showering. This is also true. You

see, I was so obsessed with productiv-

ity that I was watching television while

showering. I was living on the edge, both

in terms o handling my time and han-

dling my electronics.

What Stephen was sayingresonated with meMuch like he had been persecuted by

what was being done by “the let” I was

being persecuted by what I had “let” to

be done. My mind was blown – as I’m

sure that last sentence blew yours.

I came to the realization that, much like

government, things could be done in

such a slow and eventual manner that

it would barely be noticed at all. Espe-

cially i one was able to spin it in the right

(or “let” way. Not only was I clean in

body thanks to my shower, but I wasclean in mind thanks to that golden mo-

ment that Colbert had bestowed upon

me. I was no longer ignorant. I call that

shower my “golden shower”.

Without diving into the depths o hard-

core productivity I would never have been

able to develop the methodology, ideol-

ogy, and philosophy known as Eventual-

ism – not even eventually. I strongly be-

lieve that you have to know your enemy

so expertly in order to ght back againstit. The power that comes rom knowing

the opposite o what you’re saying is the

rst step toward believing in the oppo-

site o what you’re saying.

That’s my story, and I’m sticking

to it… eventually. a

! Links: MikeonTwitter|Mike’sBlog:Eventualism|Mike’sPodcast:ProductiVardy

magazine

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Get the newest book

by Laura Stack

magazine

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productive magazine 09

Documents