014 Productivity and the Need for Speed – ProductivityCast

Is doing more faster really better? When is slow good for productivity? That’s what the ProductivityCast team seeks to find out in this cast on productivity and the need for speed! 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 Art Gelwicks Show Notes Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context. Weekly Review (GTD) 4AM - Augusto Pinaud “Effective Utilization” (primarily in consulting) Ray’s Unschedule video tutorial (based on The Now Habit by Dr. Neil Fiore) PROCRASTINATION, DEADLINES, AND PERFORMANCE: Self-Control by Precommitment by Dan Ariely and Klaus Wertenbroch Francis’s paper, Reducing the Risk of Un-Productive Team Members Mindset by Carol Dweck, PhD The pace of life in 31 countries Reducing the Risk of Un-Productive Team Members The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, PhD I’m So Busy I Must Be Important Raw Text Transcript 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 h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio). 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.110 are you ready to manage your work and 0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000 personal world better to live a more 0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109 fulfilling productive life then you've 0:00:06.000,0:00:09.809 come to the right place 0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540 welcome to productivity cast the weekly 0:00:09.809,0:00:15.000 show about all things productivity here 0:00:12.540,0:00:16.940 are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and 0:00:15.000,0:00:19.920 Augusto Pinaud 0:00:16.940,0:00:21.570 welcome everybody to productivity cast 0:00:19.920,0:00:23.880 the weekly show about all things 0:00:21.570,0:00:25.980 personal productivity we are back with 0:00:23.880,0:00:28.710 another action-packed episode of 0:00:25.980,0:00:29.279 productivity cast I have with me on the 0:00:28.710,0:00:31.800 show today 0:00:29.279,0:00:34.610 Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade and 0:00:31.800,0:00:37.890 Art Gelwicks we're going to be talking about 0:00:34.610,0:00:40.200 productivity and the need for speed you 0:00:37.890,0:00:43.200 know I'm a New Yorker as some people 0:00:40.200,0:00:46.410 know and as a New Yorker I'm frequently 0:00:43.200,0:00:48.420 told that I speak really fast and I tell 0:00:46.410,0:00:52.710 them that I just am more efficient with 0:00:48.420,0:00:54.449 communicating but but you know what's 0:00:52.710,0:00:55.890 really interesting about this is that I 0:00:54.449,0:00:58.739 think that I think that there are 0:00:55.890,0:01:01.739 different ways in which at least in 0:00:58.739,0:01:03.930 English people tend to see language 0:01:01.739,0:01:06.689 being communicated faster or slower for 0:01:03.930,0:01:08.430 example the British speak faster than 0:01:06.689,0:01:11.600 Americans they tend to think Americans 0:01:08.430,0:01:14.070 speak very very slowly with a drawl and 0:01:11.600,0:01:17.670 and I'm I've always been curious about 0:01:14.070,0:01:20.970 the the sort of linguistic cultures that 0:01:17.670,0:01:23.159 have developed because of that and but 0:01:20.970,0:01:26.820 today but I really want to focus on for 0:01:23.159,0:01:30.060 us all is really the importance of speed 0:01:26.820,0:01:32.520 in a productivity system that one is 0:01:30.060,0:01:34.710 developing what are the issues that we 0:01:32.520,0:01:37.259 tend to encounter when we when we do go 0:01:34.710,0:01:39.030 for speed over say any number of other 0:01:37.259,0:01:41.490 things that could be quality it could be 0:01:39.030,0:01:44.369 aesthetics it could be functionality and 0:01:41.490,0:01:46.409 and then finally first all to talk a 0:01:44.369,0:01:49.799 little bit about our own techniques for 0:01:46.409,0:01:52.290 getting more done and less time using 0:01:49.799,0:01:54.000 speed techniques in our own productivity 0:01:52.290,0:01:56.460 systems and where we might have some 0:01:54.000,0:01:59.850 positive consequences and maybe some 0:01:56.460,0:02:00.930 negative ones as well along the way good 0:01:59.850,0:02:04.350 morning everybody 0:02:00.930,0:02:06.630 this is a good tip nuts and I want to 0:02:04.350,0:02:08.190 mention a couple of things one regarding 0:02:06.630,0:02:12.000 the language of what answered your 0:02:08.190,0:02:13.800 question I am born and raised in 0:02:12.000,0:02:17.370 Venezuela 0:02:13.800,0:02:21.930 we Venezuelans tend to speak really 0:02:17.370,0:02:25.920 really tough years ago I married a lady 0:02:21.930,0:02:29.580 from Mexico and in Mexico of people 0:02:25.920,0:02:32.100 being Spanish was much much slower to 0:02:29.580,0:02:35.010 the point that if I talk to my parents 0:02:32.100,0:02:38.490 and I get home and I speak with my wife 0:02:35.010,0:02:41.160 she can know when I had I had speak with 0:02:38.490,0:02:45.780 my brothers or my parents because she 0:02:41.160,0:02:48.690 said that my speed increased tenfold so 0:02:45.780,0:02:50.790 I still thinks a matter of Christians if 0:02:48.690,0:02:52.950 you don't understand me faster you just 0:02:50.790,0:02:55.910 need to pay more attention but I made 0:02:52.950,0:02:59.790 mean agreement with the new yorker here 0:02:55.910,0:03:04.140 I did study Spanish underneath the 0:02:59.790,0:03:06.210 Colombian woman so so I must I must fall 0:03:04.140,0:03:12.480 into that category of very very slow 0:03:06.210,0:03:15.270 Spanish Spanish it's funny because I go 0:03:12.480,0:03:17.550 to the other extreme I may live and have 0:03:15.270,0:03:20.420 grown up outside of Philadelphia but my 0:03:17.550,0:03:22.440 family is all from the south so 0:03:20.420,0:03:24.900 conversations with my family when you 0:03:22.440,0:03:27.959 get going they can take a half hour just 0:03:24.900,0:03:30.090 to get one thing across but because once 0:03:27.959,0:03:33.330 you add that drawl in and you start to 0:03:30.090,0:03:36.330 wonder why those northerners are fast 0:03:33.330,0:03:41.030 and why are you talking so fast and just 0:03:36.330,0:03:41.030 relax then things just take forever but 0:03:42.170,0:03:53.850 but that said I sadly in productivity we 0:03:48.540,0:03:56.790 tend to try to apply the speed at the 0:03:53.850,0:04:00.420 wrong time and and what I'm saying what 0:03:56.790,0:04:02.610 I'm trying to say with bad is people 0:04:00.420,0:04:06.209 don't think about a speed up their 0:04:02.610,0:04:09.030 productivity only they only think about 0:04:06.209,0:04:11.880 speed up their productivity when they 0:04:09.030,0:04:13.950 feel overwhelmed or very feel their list 0:04:11.880,0:04:21.600 has grown up or they feel that the 0:04:13.950,0:04:24.000 manifestation Amin where people start 0:04:21.600,0:04:27.530 considering speed up their productivity 0:04:24.000,0:04:29.930 and in my experience 0:04:27.530,0:04:32.900 and what I have been able to coach and 0:04:29.930,0:04:35.570 teach people that is exactly the moment 0:04:32.900,0:04:38.630 to do the opposite to do the most 0:04:35.570,0:04:42.520 counterintuitive thing you can do that 0:04:38.630,0:04:46.490 is slow down and the reason is simple do 0:04:42.520,0:04:50.890 you still have the same amount of 24 0:04:46.490,0:04:54.440 hours but we know 24 is more like 16 and 0:04:50.890,0:04:58.010 when you try to speed up what happened 0:04:54.440,0:05:00.590 is unconsciously you tend to grab the 0:04:58.010,0:05:03.970 long hanging fruit so you feel that 0:05:00.590,0:05:07.100 you're crossing out of your list more 0:05:03.970,0:05:09.320 piping's the speed is not about what you 0:05:07.100,0:05:11.780 are crossing but how many of them are 0:05:09.320,0:05:16.510 you crossing how fast are you trying to 0:05:11.780,0:05:19.460 get to clean to have a clean slate and 0:05:16.510,0:05:21.500 when you reach those points when you're 0:05:19.460,0:05:25.850 overwhelmed when your system has too 0:05:21.500,0:05:28.940 many when did you feel you are in a 0:05:25.850,0:05:31.820 negative spot that is exactly the moment 0:05:28.940,0:05:34.990 to do the counterintuitive that is slow 0:05:31.820,0:05:38.720 down because basically now every 0:05:34.990,0:05:41.960 movement or every task that you peak has 0:05:38.720,0:05:45.890 a much bigger impact than when you have 0:05:41.960,0:05:48.229 time when you are not feeling not having 0:05:45.890,0:05:51.169 any of those feelings that is the moment 0:05:48.229,0:05:54.500 where you know in GTD terms you may need 0:05:51.169,0:05:56.330 to do a weekly review every day you may 0:05:54.500,0:05:58.550 need to look at your list you know two 0:05:56.330,0:06:01.070 at the time and pick two things and then 0:05:58.550,0:06:05.510 real valid after those two things are 0:06:01.070,0:06:08.540 done and if I believe your system need 0:06:05.510,0:06:12.229 to be able to allows you to speed up I 0:06:08.540,0:06:14.590 also think people tend to speed up at 0:06:12.229,0:06:17.180 the right at the wrong moment 0:06:14.590,0:06:19.850 I'd agree and and I think I think that 0:06:17.180,0:06:22.910 you know in order to get to a point of 0:06:19.850,0:06:24.500 you know use the running analogy you 0:06:22.910,0:06:27.020 know you sort of you need to accelerate 0:06:24.500,0:06:29.150 to a point of speed which means you need 0:06:27.020,0:06:31.820 to go slower before you get faster right 0:06:29.150,0:06:34.760 you just do don't go 0 to 60 or in human 0:06:31.820,0:06:38.150 ...