006 Getting Control of your Hardware, Part 1 – ProductivityCast

On this cast, we are excited to introduce a new member of the ProductivityCast team, Francis Wade of 2TimeLabs. Francis joins us on this conversation about getting control of your hardware. We begin with this episode on our hardware setup at the moment and why we have chosen the hardware we have. In the next episode, we dive into the practical components of choosing good hardware for your productivity system. Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening! If you'd like to discuss 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 Francis Wade Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Android OS Lenovo HP Apple iPad Google Chrome Remote Desktop Apple iPhone Mere Presence of a Cell Phone Distracting Says USM Professor The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey, PhD Getting Things Done by David Allen PushBullet Mac OS X Toshiba Linux Mint Evernote KVM switch 20-20-20 Rule for Vision Raw Text Transcript 0:00:00.030,0:00:04.080 are you ready to manage your work and 0:00:02.129,0:00:05.940 personal world better to live a more 0:00:04.080,0:00:07.049 fulfilling productive life then you've 0:00:05.940,0:00:09.750 come to the right place 0:00:07.049,0:00:12.420 welcome to productivity cast the weekly 0:00:09.750,0:00:14.880 show about all things productivity here 0:00:12.420,0:00:18.240 are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and 0:00:14.880,0:00:20.880 Augusto Pinaud welcome back everybody to 0:00:18.240,0:00:22.859 another episode of productivitycast I'm 0:00:20.880,0:00:25.439 Ray Sidney-Smith and I am joined with 0:00:22.859,0:00:27.420 Augusto Pinaud today we actually have the 0:00:25.439,0:00:29.490 pleasure of introducing a new 0:00:27.420,0:00:31.769 contributor to the podcast he'll be a 0:00:29.490,0:00:33.719 regular presence here on the show and 0:00:31.769,0:00:36.360 it's Francis Wade the founder of 0:00:33.719,0:00:38.190 2Time Labs and ScheduleU in his 0:00:36.360,0:00:41.370 work as an author consultant and trainer 0:00:38.190,0:00:43.590 Francis actively explores the boundaries 0:00:41.370,0:00:46.350 of time-based productivity you can find 0:00:43.590,0:00:49.050 him tweeting @2timelabs 0:00:46.350,0:00:51.719 and so welcome to the show Francis 0:00:49.050,0:00:55.620 and welcome to our listeners morning 0:00:51.719,0:00:57.960 guys the mahira on a non holiday I know 0:00:55.620,0:01:00.690 you guys are having a great Memorial Day 0:00:57.960,0:01:04.290 but I'm in the middle or just about to 0:01:00.690,0:01:09.900 start a working day so I'm I'm not 0:01:04.290,0:01:11.970 relaxed you guys alright relax it's a 0:01:09.900,0:01:15.630 good way to it's a good way to call this 0:01:11.970,0:01:17.729 Monday yes I am I am actually going to 0:01:15.630,0:01:20.430 have a regular full workday so so for 0:01:17.729,0:01:23.700 those who are listening this is we're 0:01:20.430,0:01:26.509 recording on Memorial Day and so this is 0:01:23.700,0:01:29.460 Monday of the Memorial Day 2017 and so 0:01:26.509,0:01:31.170 you know we are we are here recording 0:01:29.460,0:01:33.659 and I'm gonna be working a full day 0:01:31.170,0:01:37.740 normal day it'll be quiet cuz nobody 0:01:33.659,0:01:40.079 else will be bothering me but we 0:01:37.740,0:01:44.189 recommend to our listeners no not 0:01:40.079,0:01:47.430 particularly actually I think I'm really 0:01:44.189,0:01:50.220 Pro people taking time off and enjoying 0:01:47.430,0:01:51.780 time with their family so do not do as 0:01:50.220,0:01:55.200 do as I say not as I do 0:01:51.780,0:01:57.659 so tonight we're talking about how we we 0:01:55.200,0:01:59.670 productivity advise those give people 0:01:57.659,0:02:01.710 this advice that we don't follow we're 0:01:59.670,0:02:02.930 just talking about that work a lot so 0:02:01.710,0:02:10.319 this is a great example 0:02:02.930,0:02:13.380 absolutely absolutely geez so today we 0:02:10.319,0:02:16.770 are going to be talking about hardware 0:02:13.380,0:02:19.860 I think a lot of us uh in in our sort of 0:02:16.770,0:02:21.270 preparation up to this topic I gusto had 0:02:19.860,0:02:23.400 been talking about this idea that people 0:02:21.270,0:02:27.080 sometimes sort of fall into the hardware 0:02:23.400,0:02:29.340 that they are using to be productive and 0:02:27.080,0:02:31.980 just sort of you know and I think it's 0:02:29.340,0:02:34.170 true we all kind of come to this place 0:02:31.980,0:02:36.000 where we have the phone we have we have 0:02:34.170,0:02:39.540 the computer we have we have the tablet 0:02:36.000,0:02:41.880 maybe that we are using and we really 0:02:39.540,0:02:43.800 don't know why or how it's sort of like 0:02:41.880,0:02:45.810 you know it's sort of like pens of 0:02:43.800,0:02:47.190 yesteryear you know I used to pick up 0:02:45.810,0:02:48.750 pens at conferences 0:02:47.190,0:02:50.340 so whatever pen I picked up at a 0:02:48.750,0:02:52.590 conference was the pen that I was using 0:02:50.340,0:02:55.920 until it ran out and then I would pick 0:02:52.590,0:02:58.020 up the next pen and and then I fell in 0:02:55.920,0:03:00.360 love with pens and so I was like oh my 0:02:58.020,0:03:02.010 gosh I have to go by you know really 0:03:00.360,0:03:04.890 nice pen and so I started looking for 0:03:02.010,0:03:06.360 the pen that I really wanted I think 0:03:04.890,0:03:08.580 that's sort of the case with regard to 0:03:06.360,0:03:10.320 productivity enthusiasts I think over 0:03:08.580,0:03:12.360 time we start to pay very close 0:03:10.320,0:03:14.370 attention to the details of all the 0:03:12.360,0:03:15.810 tools that we use and so I thought it 0:03:14.370,0:03:18.180 would be really great for us all to have 0:03:15.810,0:03:21.960 that discussion I had a nice thought of 0:03:18.180,0:03:25.230 brick because I when I moved to Jamaica 0:03:21.960,0:03:29.430 from living in Florida and I no longer 0:03:25.230,0:03:30.870 had CompUSA and BestBuy and I didn't 0:03:29.430,0:03:34.140 have these electronic stores I didn't 0:03:30.870,0:03:36.480 have overnight Amazon or 100 our Amazon 0:03:34.140,0:03:38.600 delivery anymore so I had to be very 0:03:36.480,0:03:40.920 careful about my technology choices I 0:03:38.600,0:03:43.709 also didn't have access to tech support 0:03:40.920,0:03:46.050 that we added in the States so I became 0:03:43.709,0:03:49.709 a bit of an ascetic you know like a monk 0:03:46.050,0:03:52.200 I became very very stingy because when 0:03:49.709,0:03:55.709 you don't have immediate access to toys 0:03:52.200,0:03:58.230 and gadgets and devices you tend to 0:03:55.709,0:04:01.140 think about it long and hard before you 0:03:58.230,0:04:03.570 actually adopt anything new so today I 0:04:01.140,0:04:07.050 have what I call a I guess a minimalist 0:04:03.570,0:04:11.370 set up so I have an Android Android 0:04:07.050,0:04:13.410 phone it's it's because I work out a lot 0:04:11.370,0:04:17.250 I do a lot of exercise my phones get wet 0:04:13.410,0:04:19.920 so and as a result they fail so I've 0:04:17.250,0:04:22.710 been through a and maybe four or five in 0:04:19.920,0:04:25.200 the last couple years and I decided no 0:04:22.710,0:04:26.670 more big expenditure so I have a minimal 0:04:25.200,0:04:29.130 an Android 0:04:26.670,0:04:32.940 devices just fast enough just has it off 0:04:29.130,0:04:35.130 memory keeps number of apps tones those 0:04:32.940,0:04:36.240 it does what it needs to do but it does 0:04:35.130,0:04:38.610 it quickly cuz it happens to have a 0:04:36.240,0:04:40.620 pretty quick chip tilt into it but not a 0:04:38.610,0:04:42.630 lot of space and then I have that link 0:04:40.620,0:04:44.850 to a Lenovo laptop 0:04:42.630,0:04:47.100 I used to use Toshiba but then I 0:04:44.850,0:04:49.380 switched over turn over because of the 0:04:47.100,0:04:51.660 reliability factor had a same problem 0:04:49.380,0:04:54.419 when my computer dies in Jamaica it 0:04:51.660,0:04:56.220 takes a few weeks to replace it if I'm 0:04:54.419,0:04:58.650 getting it from the states so I went 0:04:56.220,0:05:01.169 through Dell went through Sasebo and I 0:04:58.650,0:05:06.120 know with Lenovo and haven't had one die 0:05:01.169,0:05:09.120 on me yet knock on wood and I use a an 0:05:06.120,0:05:11.880 Amazon fire tablet again pure minimalist 0:05:09.120,0:05:12.960 what do I when I got it I really didn't 0:05:11.880,0:05:15.840 know what I was going to use it for 0:05:12.960,0:05:17.700 because it's a couple years ago I saw 0:05:15.840,0:05:20.190 everyone using their as a nest egg but I 0:05:17.700,0:05:21.810 really want another gadget I thought 0:05:20.190,0:05:24.180 about it long and hard I said well at 0:05:21.810,0:05:27.270 least need to be in the world of tablets 0:05:24.180,0:05:29.010 I know that I have a tablet and I have 0:05:27.270,0:05:32.760 the three devices the three screens that 0:05:29.010,0:05:35.700 I work with I see that I use them 0:05:32.760,0:05:37.710 differently and I'm trying to sort of 0:05:35.700,0:05:40.760 segment the way in which I use each 0:05:37.710,0:05:42.000 device so I use my tablet for 0:05:40.760,0:05:45.990 consumption 0:05:42.000,0:05:49.050 mostly it's my it's what I call my I'm 0:05:45.990,0:05:51.360 lazy boy device you can have all those 0:05:49.050,0:05:53.820 chairs that sort of leans back kicks up 0:05:51.360,0:05:58.560 a footrest and I can lean back and 0:05:53.820,0:06:00.780 consume or read or listen or watch or so 0:05:58.560,0:06:01.350 it's it's it's where I am passive does 0:06:00.780,0:06:04.050 that make sense 0:06:01.350,0:06:06.510 oh yeah absolutely right I'm not 0:06:04.050,0:06:09.240 creating anything when I'm using my 0:06:06.510,0:06:14.220 ...