Month: December 2020

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A Year in Review & Preview for Personal Productivity

What a year 2020 has been! This week, the ProductivityCast team reminisces on four of our eight favorite episode topics this year (and all eight are embedded below for your listening pleasure), then we discuss thoughts on interests for next year. Happy, Productive New Year! (If you’re reading this in a podcast directory/app, please visit https://productivitycast.net/105 for clickable links and the full show notes and transcript of this cast.) Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to continue discussing the year in review, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Art Gelwicks Francis Wade Show Notes | A Year in Review & Preview Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Top 3 listened-to episodes of the year Episode 094 - How Mind Mapping Fits Your Productivity SystemEpisode 070 - On Getting Things Done with David AllenEpisode 066 - Working from Home in the Age of COVID-19 Art's Top 2 Episode 063 - Email (23:38 - 24:32)Episode 089 - Amateur vs Pro (14:09 - 15:12) Augusto's Top 2 Episode 066 - Working from Home (47:16 - 47:49)Episode 070 - On GTD with David Allen (16:55 - 17:57) Francis's Top 2 Episode 091 - Do what you love as a career (23:01 - 25:05)Episode 079 - Detecting and managing burnout (self-awareness that pre-empts burnout) (30:09 - 31:20) Ray's Top 2 Episode 071 - Personal Outsourcing (12:13 - 13:35)Episode 087 - Automating Your Office (7:50 - 8:47) Raw Text Transcript | A Year in Review & Preview Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio). Read More Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17 Welcome back, everybody to ProductivityCast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith. Augusto Pinaud 0:22 I am Augusto Pinaud. Francis Wade 0:23I'm Francis Wade. Art Gelwicks 0:25 And I'm Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:26Welcome, gentlemen. And welcome to our listeners to this final episode of 2020 for ProductivityCast. I can't believe it, but we have reached the end of 2020. Quite honestly, I think a lot of us are relieved that 2020 is over and looking forward to at least a better back three quarters of 2021 once we have a set of vaccines in order, and folks are starting to get back to a bit of normal life. And so with that, what I wanted to do today was for us to go through and talk about our most listened to episodes of the year, and then get into our favorite episodes of the year. Each of us has selected two episodes, we'll play the snippet, and then have a little discussion around why we chose it, whether it still stands, and then go round robin, for our picks. So let's let's discuss our top three listen to episodes of the year. And so if you are brand, new to ProductivityCast, this will be really good place to start in terms of listening to some episodes that have been most listened to in the year. And those end up being Episode 66 that is working from home in the age of COVID-19. Episode 70, we did an interview with David Allen, the progenitor of getting things done so on getting things done with David Allen, Episode 70. Then our number one, our top episode of of 2020 drumroll is Episode 94. How mind mapping fits your productivity system...
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Signs of an Unhealthy Probation

Years ago, I mistakenly worked for someone I shouldn’t have. Since then, I have wondered: could I have foreseen what transpired? Were there early warning signs I overlooked?

Abundant research shows that employees don’t leave companies; they leave bad managers. We need look no further than the outgoing White House, with its record high turnover, to find an outstanding example. Many high-profile staffers depart (and have left) amidst a storm of tweeted insults.

I had a manager who did the same: publicly bad-mouthing me to others long after we had parted ways. Since then, I have scoured my memory to determine what the predictors of an unhealthy relationship with a boss might be. After all, if I could see them happening in real-time, I could confront them, knowing that they never go away by themselves.

Anyone who is considering a new position can do the same. For most jobs, companies offer a probationary period to test an employee’s suitability. In their eagerness to please, few new hires consciously realize it’s also a unique opportunity to ask: “Are there early warning signs of an incompetent manager who will eventually make my life miserable?” While these aren’t easy to pick up, here are three red flags you should look out for on your next assignment.

1. Being Liked

Arguably, it’s a natural desire to want to be liked, but becoming a competent manager involves outgrowing this everyday tendency. Over time, good managers learn to place the welfare of others and the mission of the company above their own need to be accepted.

In this context, a probationary period is a chance to see what your manager does under stressful situations. Will they stick to principles, or give in to the weakness to say and do things which are popular, or avoid getting themselves into trouble…all in order to be liked?

If you witness your manager “throwing people under the bus” i.e. blaming others in order to be liked or accepted, watch out. It’s safe to assume that the worst treatment meted out to others will one day be directed at you.

But this doesn’t mean that your manager is a “bad” person. They may be very well-intentioned…and completely clueless. Your task in this phase is to uncover the raw truth about their competence and act accordingly, setting aside any wishful thinking so you can take decisive action.

2. Looking Good

Another faulty behaviour to watch out for are those intended to make a manager look good…at all costs. There are many variants of the theme: some focus on physical objects such as their clothing, cars and houses. Others try to show off using their kids or spouse. A few lord their intellectual or artistic achievements.

It all amounts to a relentless campaign to compete with, defeat, and dominate those around them. As a new employee, if your manager uses you as a tool to further his/her ego-based objective, it’s corrosive.

Why? The moment will eventually come when you make a mistake. If your manager’s reaction under pressure seems bombastic (i.e. out of proportion), he/she may be putting the welfare of others in the back seat. Instead, their efforts to avoid looking bad include a tendency to become abusive.

3. Not Stepping Up as the Owner

As a new employee, perhaps the most difficult (but important) trait to detect in your manager surrounds taking responsibility. It’s a skill many managers struggle with, finding it to be unnatural. After all, it flies in the face of self-protective human behaviour which is so essential to our basic survival.

In fact, holding oneself publicly accountable equates to putting oneself in harm’s way…at risk. The act of doing so on a continuous basis is the very definition of a capable manager.

Yet, it remains a tricky behavior for employees to flag, especially early in their careers. Here’s a useful shortcut: observe if your manager apologizes sufficiently when he/she makes a mistake. You’ll be able to know by measuring the degree to which the apology restores the trust and goodwill that existed before the error was made.

In fact, if you work for a manager who publicly apologizes for a mistake you (not him/her) made, pay attention. Their resistance to the temptation to hang you out to dry, may indicate that you have a true winner.

This positive “warning” sign may mean that you shouldn’t leave. However, if all you can sense are the other incompetencies listed above, consider your probation a success: you have detected a manager you should probably quit.

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The Pomodoro Technique

The Pomodoro Technique This week on ProductivityCast, we discuss the ever-popular personal productivity technique called the Pomodoro Technique, a time management process developed by Francesco Cirillo. We did a little deeper at the Pomodoro Technique and how it might help you (and even your remote schooling kids!) be more productive. (If you’re reading this in a podcast directory/app, please visit https://productivitycast.net/104 for clickable links and the full show notes and transcript of this cast.) Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to continue discussing The Pomodoro Technique from this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Art Gelwicks Francis Wade Show Notes | The Pomodoro Technique Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Pomodoro Technique A Formula for Perfect Productivity: Work for 52 Minutes, Break for 17 - The Atlantic The 60-30-10 rule of time management Deep Work: The Complete Guide (Including a Step-by-Step Checklist) Ten Minute Rule for Increased Productivity - The Muse Unschedule - Anti-Procrastination Productivity System from Neil Fiore - The Now Habit The 10 Best Pomodoro Timer Apps in 2018 Use PomoDone with Todoist – Todoist Help FocusBooster Pomodoro timer for your productivity tool: Trello, Asana, Todoist, Evernote - PomoDoneApp Esington Glass Luxafor Timer (you can customize your work-break durations) Cuckoo (team timer) Raw Text Transcript | The Pomodoro Technique Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio). Read More Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17 And Welcome back, everybody to productivity cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith. Augusto Pinaud 0:22I'm Augusto Pinaud. Francis Wade 0:23I'm Francis Wade. Art Gelwicks 0:24And I'm Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:25Welcome, gentlemen, and welcome to our listeners to this episode. Today, we are going to be talking about a tried and true productivity methodology known as the Pomodoro Technique. It was, let's say invented, developed by Francisco cirio, an Italian student at the time, and he wanted a way to be able to conquer procrastination. And so he developed this concept of the Pomodoro Technique. Today, what we're going to do is we're going to talk about what the Pomodoro Technique is, if you have never experienced it, before come across it, we're going to then talk about our own experiences with regard to how we use it or don't use it in our systems, and why and even those of us who may be trying it out soon. And then we're going to close out with ways in which you can modify the Pomodoro Technique, because there are ways in which you can adjust and shift it in in different ways. And maybe some tools that are available to all of us for being able to do that. Let's talk first about what the Pomodoro Technique is, who wants to explain the Pomodoro technique for listeners. Augusto Pinaud 1:23So the Pomodoro Technique, the pommard, let's begin by the word pomodoro. And the Pomodoro comes with the pomodori. That is tomato in in Italian and what the story said, I don't know if that is accurate or not.
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Using Your Task Management Profile to Focus Changes

Using Your Task Management Profile to Focus Changes Everyone is walking around with self-taught skills in task management. As such, skill levels vary greatly but everyone would like to know where their areas of weakness might lie. In this episode the ProductivityCast team looks at the ways to build a task management profile and how one might interpret a self-assessment. (If you’re reading this in a podcast directory/app, please visit https://productivitycast.net/103 for clickable links and the full show notes and transcript of this cast.) Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to continue discussing using your task management profile to focus changes from this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Art Gelwicks Francis Wade Show Notes | Using Your Task Management Profile to Focus Changes Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. MyTimeDesign ProfileHow Next-Action Thinking Changes Over Time (Episode 025) - ProductivityCastHolmes-Rahe Stress InventoryLife Events Inventory Raw Text Transcript | Using Your Task Management Profile to Focus Changes Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio). Read More Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17 And Welcome back, everybody to productivity cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith. Augusto Pinaud 0:20I am Augusto Pinaud. Francis Wade 0:21I'm Francis Wade. Art Gelwicks 0:23 And I'm Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:24And I'm marquel. wicks. Welcome, gentlemen. And welcome to everyone listening here to productivity cast. Today, we are going to be talking about something that's a little bit unique, something that's interesting that I think you'll all find fascinating, which is a task management profile that Francis has put together. And to kind of explain a little bit about what we're going to talk about today. Francis, can you give us a little bit of background in terms of what you've devised. Francis Wade 0:49I used to be a triathlete. And people who are brand new to triathlon think that trap on is a matter of being a good swimmer, being a good runner and being a good cyclist. And as you progress in the sport, you realize there's a few other dimensions that you also need to be good at, such as lifting weights, nutrition, and rest. So there's at least six disciplines that you need to be really, really good at to be decent triathlete that somebody who doesn't get injured and is able to complete races and starts to be competitive at a particular level. And most of triathlon training is based on individual sports and triathletes Think of how good am I at a given sport? And how can I get better at nice my weakest sport, and I don't need to focus so much on my strongest sport. So they tend to think in terms of separate disciplines? Well, I took the idea, the basic idea of becoming better at a discipline, the idea of breaking down one event into disciplines and took it over into task management, and said, okay, task management is also based on disciplines. And within each discipline, there are particular best practices. And within each best practice, there are levels of accomplishment ranging from people who do things u...
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Are you falling behind on LinkedIn?

To many, LinkedIn is just another social network like Facebook and Twitter, with a bit more business emphasis. This view understates its importance. COVID-19 has helped make the very opposite true today: as a professional you cannot afford to either be outdated on, or missing from, the platform.

To whit: around this time last year, I viewed LinkedIn as an annoying requirement of modern professional life. I didn’t like using it, but reasoned that I needed to do so in order to keep up. Now, by contrast, I engage in regular weekly practices I simply couldn’t imagine doing a few months ago.

But these aren’t routine tasks I could do elsewhere. In fact, they can only be done on LinkedIn at scale…nowhere else. This exclusivity means that you must consider the app to be part of your professional arsenal. Here are a few examples why.

1. Online Advertising as a Novice

In 2020, I discovered that, contrary to my US experience, advertising to Caribbean audiences on LinkedIn was quite inexpensive and effective. For example, if you want a way to promote your services to “female technology VP’s in St Kitts”, paid outreach on LinkedIn is by far the best way to reach this narrow segment.

I also learned that the platform’s ads do more than “sell” – they build relationships, an all-important ingredient in the

Caribbean. In other words, these promotions allow you to create bridges to people who don’t know you personally, and construct the “weak ties” research shows are critical in business.

During COVID-19, this method has become a requirement.

However, there’s catch. Online advertising on social networks is no easy task. While I had done some testing in the past, this year I finally invested the time needed to move beyond the novice stage.

I experienced a painful learning curve. For example, I had to figure out how to focus on the handful of features which are required vs. those which are nice to have. This is a big challenge given the barrage of options you face as a beginner.

2. Events and the Changing Limits

In 2019, I couldn’t say if LinkedIn offered event management. Fast forward…and by the new year, I will have sent 10,000+ individual invitations to webinars and conferences.

What happened?

By a stroke of luck, I stumbled across the platform’s revamped event feature, which at one point allowed me to invite as many connections as I wanted. Now, the company has caught on and imposed a limit of 1,000 people per occasion. While this has cost me dearly, they have added a new element – bulk invitations – which makes the task easier.

This free function is perfect for these pandemic times in which all of us need to up-level our skills, via online methods of learning. Today, we just don’t have a choice if we hope to remain relevant.

As such, through its events feature, LinkedIn offers a unique, scalable business service.

3. Networking

Old-style networking involved meeting people in person and handing out business cards in the hope of being remembered. COVID-19 halted this approach.

Today, there’s no easier way than LinkedIn to build a trusted network. Furthermore, exchanging useful information for mutual benefit becomes a fruitful game to be played over decades, leveraging the platform’s ability to create relationships at scale.

Unfortunately, if your account is out of date or you don’t even have one, you risk sending a silent message: “I don’t care about building relationships.”

While you may think that the way you use LinkedIn is a matter of style, the effect of your actions has now moved out of your hands. Whereas a preference not to employ that platform could have been a personal quirk a few years ago, today it’s fast becoming the digital equivalent of “never carrying my business cards” or “not believing in resumes.”

In other words, it’s weird.

The fact is, all the practices I have mentioned above are new norms over which you have little influence. Everything you do online (or fail to do) sends a message. Consequently, I have personally declined to refer colleagues for opportunities with serious people due to a missing or mismanaged profile. I just pick someone else and keep moving.

My fear is that if you have decided LinkedIn isn’t important, you may not be paying attention to the latest developments. If so, stop falling behind and get into the game, setting aside any tired pre-conceptions. Instead, adapt to an emerging reality you can’t afford to ignore and take the necessary actions to bring yourself up to date.

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Productivity App-apalooza! #3

This week, we bring you our third Productivity App-apalooza! We’ll review three apps each that we know and use, and think you might find value in knowing about and using too! We’ll go in three rounds of the ProductivityCast team. (If you’re reading this in a podcast directory/app, please visit https://productivitycast.net/102 for clickable links and the full show notes and transcript of this cast.) Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to continue discussing this Productivity App-apalooza #3 from this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast | Productivity App-apalooza! #3 Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Art Gelwicks Francis Wade Show Notes | Productivity App-apalooza! #3 Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Round 1 Art - Do it now: RPG to do listAugusto - AnchorFrancis - Files to SD Card (Android)Files (Google) (Android)Ray - Mind42 (Web only) + FreeMind (Win/macOS/Linux) Round 2 Art - Habitica: Gamify your tasksRay runs the GTD Party on HabiticaAugusto - Infuse 6Plex / SyncLounge for PlexFrancis - MailTrack (Google Chrome extension)Ray - SendRecurring.com Round 3 Art - Epic To Do ListSuperBetter (book/iOS/Android) by Jane McGonagal PhDAugusto - FE File ExplorerFrancis - Remo.coZoom / SococoRay - File Juggler (Windows) / Hazel (macOS) Raw Text Transcript | Productivity App-apalooza! #3 Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio). Read More Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17 And Welcome back, everybody to productivity cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith. Augusto Pinaud 0:22 I am Augusto Pinaud. Francis Wade 0:23I'm Francis Wade. Art Gelwicks 0:24 And I'm Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:25Welcome, gentlemen. And welcome to our listeners to this episode, and we are going to do another exciting episode, we have come to coin as appa Palooza, so this is our third time, where we're going to be doing four rounds, and discussing apps that we use in our everyday productivity systems and enjoy using and we we recommend them to others, and so why not share them with you. So as I said, we're going to go in three rounds, we'll have three rounds. And each of us will give our tool and kind of give you a little bit of explanation behind what it is and why we use it. So let's kick it off. Let's let's get started with this party and go with you art art I have you at first, what is your first app? Art Gelwicks 1:13Well, I've got a bit of a theme to this app a Palooza since we're in a situation where people are trying to kind of deal with the mental aspects of having a lot of stuff to do, and unfortunately having time to do that. So the theme on mine are gamification, tat or the gamification of tasks. So the first one that I'm talking about is an app called do it now. Now, these are all on Google Play. These are all on Android, I'm sure you can find equivalent ones on iOS, but do it now is an old school style role playing game, but it's done with your task. So if you think about it, from the perspective of something like a Dungeons and Dragons, or that type of a game, what you're doing is you're creating a character into it now of yourself your own stats, the challenges,
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Holiday Gift Guide 2020

This was a strange year, but that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy a bit of cheer...and by cheer, we mean holiday presents! So, we’re starting a tradition here on ProductivityCast--a holiday gift guide show each year, discussing the gifts we think the productivity enthusiast in your life will enjoy (and perhaps that’s you!). Enjoy our Holiday Gift Guide 2020! (If you’re reading this in a podcast directory/app, please visit https://productivitycast.net/101 for clickable links and the full show notes and transcript of this cast.) Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to continue discussing our holiday gift guide 2020 selections from this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post). In this Cast Ray Sidney-Smith Augusto Pinaud Art Gelwicks Francis Wade Show Notes | Holiday Gift Guide 2020 Resources we mention, including links to them, will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Round One AG: Four Port USB KVM Switch- NotionAP: Side Phone MountFW: Broward Library OverdriveRS: Google Nest Home Hub Max  Round Two AG: Sling Shoulder BackpackAP: Zugu Case for Apple Pencil - Ringke Pen SleeveFW: Heart rate monitorRS: Down Dog - Great Yoga Anywhere (and there is a suite of apps that include yoga (with yoga nidra for sleep), HIIT, barre, 7 minute yoga, and prenatal yoga) + Calm Bonus Gifts AG: Leather Work ApronAP: Apple AirPodsFW: Blood pressure monitorRS: The Home Edit Life: The No-Guilt Guide to Owning What You Want and Organizing Everything by Clea Shearer and Joanna Teplin Raw Text Transcript | Holiday Gift Guide 2020 Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is mm:ss (e.g., 0:04 starts at 4 seconds into the cast’s audio). Read More Voiceover Artist 0:00 Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling productive life, then you've come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things productivity. Here, your host Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:17 And Welcome back, everybody to productivity cast, the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I'm Ray Sidney Smith. Augusto Pinaud 0:23 I am Augusto Pinaud. Francis Wade 0:24I'm Francis Wade. Art Gelwicks 0:25 And I'm Art Gelwicks. Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:26Welcome, gentlemen, and welcome to our listeners to this episode, I'm really excited because we are coming near the end of the year. And that means holiday gifts, we get a chance to talk to you about really holiday gifts that you might want to ask your loved ones, your caring individuals in your home to purchase for you. Or these might be gifts that might be useful to another personal productivity enthusiast in your life. And so what we're going to do today is we're going to cover some gifts that we think particularly enthusiasts would enjoy knowing about and receiving as a gift. And so with that, let's do a round robin episode, where each of us talks about one gift at a time. And some of us probably know about the gifts, some of us probably have questions about the gifts you chose. And and we'll just kind of go from there. So with that, art, I'm going to pick on you first, what is your first holiday gift choice? Well, Art Gelwicks 1:27my first one is, it's kind of mundane, but it's really useful if you're in an environment where you're working with multiple computers. And those of us we're working from home now often find ourselves in that case, I personally have multiple devices that I need to interact with. So what I'm highlighting is what's called a four port, USB KVM, which is keyboard video mouse switch.