015 Creating Your Ideal Workspace – ProductivityCast

Where do you work best? And for what type of work (focused thinking work, diffuse thinking work, mundane/ministerial tasks, big projects that require multiple modalities, or specialized handcrafting) do you do best in what environment? Creating your ideal workspace is important to being able to be and stay productive. In this cast, the ProductivityCast team discusses the factors and tools to get and sustain productivity in your workspace. 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 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. The Zeigarnik Effect Digital Bankruptcy Inbox Zero Unclutterer 80/20 Pareto Principle 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). 0:00:00.030,0:00:04.110 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 0:00:07.109,0:00:12.360 welcome to productivity cast the weekly 0:00:09.809,0:00:14.820 show about all things productivity here 0:00:12.360,0:00:18.029 are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and 0:00:14.820,0:00:20.939 Augusto Pinaud good morning everybody and 0:00:18.029,0:00:24.180 welcome to productivity cast the weekly 0:00:20.939,0:00:28.410 show about all things productivity today 0:00:24.180,0:00:31.890 we have Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks 0:00:28.410,0:00:33.930 with us and with me Augusto Pinaud 0:00:31.890,0:00:36.540 and Ray is somewhere in the world 0:00:33.930,0:00:39.149 missing hopefully having fun or sleeping 0:00:36.540,0:00:41.390 according to the recording time we have 0:00:39.149,0:00:45.719 today we are going to be talking about 0:00:41.390,0:00:48.899 creating your ideal workspace it is 0:00:45.719,0:00:51.059 important to understand what are the 0:00:48.899,0:00:53.730 needs of your work-place mostly or the 0:00:51.059,0:00:57.149 workspace mostly because you know will 0:00:53.730,0:01:00.600 allows you to establish higher levels of 0:00:57.149,0:01:02.430 productivity in that space or if you are 0:01:00.600,0:01:05.729 the lucky kind who can have it anywhere 0:01:02.430,0:01:08.400 anywhere so today we would like to split 0:01:05.729,0:01:11.909 the show in three parts the first part 0:01:08.400,0:01:14.070 will be where do we work best the second 0:01:11.909,0:01:17.330 part were the factors for that 0:01:14.070,0:01:20.580 and finally the effects on having that 0:01:17.330,0:01:23.759 ideal workspace and what you should if 0:01:20.580,0:01:25.560 you should have ownership on it or not 0:01:23.759,0:01:29.400 so how are you guys this morning 0:01:25.560,0:01:32.189 I'm fine a bang I'm doing well it's a 0:01:29.400,0:01:34.380 kind of drizzly day here right now but 0:01:32.189,0:01:36.900 you know mountain about mmm working 0:01:34.380,0:01:38.939 weird work needs to be done so I'm doing 0:01:36.900,0:01:41.220 well how about you been pretty good 0:01:38.939,0:01:44.130 doing pretty good and joined a really 0:01:41.220,0:01:46.649 nice day out of the window so I'm 0:01:44.130,0:01:48.659 working on the home office today and 0:01:46.649,0:01:52.380 record in actually from the home office 0:01:48.659,0:01:55.710 let's start this conversation where did 0:01:52.380,0:01:59.780 you work best my first thought was that 0:01:55.710,0:02:04.530 it worked best in my my office and 0:01:59.780,0:02:08.280 ideally my office is a quiet spot quiet 0:02:04.530,0:02:12.690 place no interruptions there's no phones 0:02:08.280,0:02:14.920 and pings and knocks and 0:02:12.690,0:02:17.980 no interruptions from the outside 0:02:14.920,0:02:21.430 environment but as I started to think 0:02:17.980,0:02:24.910 about it some more it's it's not for the 0:02:21.430,0:02:27.580 work that requires the quiet that I need 0:02:24.910,0:02:29.620 to get it done then my office is the 0:02:27.580,0:02:31.120 best place but what about when I'm 0:02:29.620,0:02:33.790 giving a speech I can't say that's the 0:02:31.120,0:02:36.040 best place to give a speech is in my 0:02:33.790,0:02:38.440 office you know be kind of crazy to say 0:02:36.040,0:02:40.810 that so it it's a tricky question 0:02:38.440,0:02:43.120 because I started to think that maybe 0:02:40.810,0:02:45.130 it's not as simple as it seems that 0:02:43.120,0:02:47.200 there is in order for me to give my best 0:02:45.130,0:02:48.880 speech for example it's not the case 0:02:47.200,0:02:50.530 that I have to be in my office it's the 0:02:48.880,0:02:53.260 case that I have to be in uninterrupted 0:02:50.530,0:02:56.110 and and I can have an environment in 0:02:53.260,0:02:58.480 which I can be focused so I then pivot 0:02:56.110,0:03:01.540 away from it having anything to do with 0:02:58.480,0:03:03.520 geography and that then I started to 0:03:01.540,0:03:06.070 think okay it has something to do with 0:03:03.520,0:03:08.920 being able to focus for a particular 0:03:06.070,0:03:11.380 level of intensity for as long as it 0:03:08.920,0:03:14.890 takes and that didn't seem to be boned 0:03:11.380,0:03:18.430 by geography it's it's more a function 0:03:14.890,0:03:21.070 of the environment as I'm able to create 0:03:18.430,0:03:23.530 it I think that that it's not really jog 0:03:21.070,0:03:25.930 rafi for me it's the environment as I 0:03:23.530,0:03:29.080 can create it yeah I gotta agree with 0:03:25.930,0:03:31.180 you on that one Francis for me a lot of 0:03:29.080,0:03:34.330 my work takes me to client locations or 0:03:31.180,0:03:38.560 various places and being able to create 0:03:34.330,0:03:40.840 a work space wherever I am is critical 0:03:38.560,0:03:42.370 for me to be able to be productive so 0:03:40.840,0:03:44.980 when I look at things such as you know 0:03:42.370,0:03:46.959 how am I going to work best my 0:03:44.980,0:03:48.700 headphones are probably one of the 0:03:46.959,0:03:51.880 biggest contributors to that to be able 0:03:48.700,0:03:54.100 to plug in to a sound source put in my 0:03:51.880,0:03:56.440 headphones block out the outside sound 0:03:54.100,0:03:58.390 and drop into a flow state to be able to 0:03:56.440,0:04:01.360 get work done that's what makes or 0:03:58.390,0:04:03.430 breaks it for me now saying that I did 0:04:01.360,0:04:05.620 spend four years working directly from a 0:04:03.430,0:04:08.170 home office and that was it was very 0:04:05.620,0:04:10.480 nice to have that isolated environment 0:04:08.170,0:04:12.310 you knew you had dedicated focus for 0:04:10.480,0:04:16.600 extended periods of time but I don't 0:04:12.310,0:04:19.510 think that that decrese how productive 0:04:16.600,0:04:22.900 someone will be you really have to find 0:04:19.510,0:04:26.139 a way that you can put your mind in the 0:04:22.900,0:04:27.939 right operating state regardless of the 0:04:26.139,0:04:30.909 because if the environment is what's 0:04:27.939,0:04:32.680 preventing you from being productive you 0:04:30.909,0:04:34.509 can either change the environment which 0:04:32.680,0:04:37.330 unfortunately is not an option for many 0:04:34.509,0:04:39.639 people or you can go through and you can 0:04:37.330,0:04:41.979 just find a way to create your own 0:04:39.639,0:04:44.319 little bubble so that's what I do I 0:04:41.979,0:04:46.389 carried the gear that I need in my bag 0:04:44.319,0:04:48.699 and I can sit down and create a bubble 0:04:46.389,0:04:51.789 somewhere and get work done you know it 0:04:48.699,0:04:55.449 is interesting you put it that way I if 0:04:51.789,0:04:58.300 I look back to my work experienced there 0:04:55.449,0:05:02.110 has been trickier up to this point at 0:04:58.300,0:05:04.479 least three really clear work styles you 0:05:02.110,0:05:08.529 know when I start that it was really 0:05:04.479,0:05:13.270 office bound and it was trying to make 0:05:08.529,0:05:16.509 that space productive and been able to 0:05:13.270,0:05:20.560 get in the zone between you know that 0:05:16.509,0:05:23.529 particular space there is a second stage 0:05:20.560,0:05:27.669 where I was what we will call a road 0:05:23.529,0:05:30.909 warrior and I was traveling 250,000 0:05:27.669,0:05:33.279 miles per year where I was pretty much 0:05:30.909,0:05:35.580 in that situation you are describing you 0:05:33.279,0:05:38.680 know where I needed to be productive 0:05:35.580,0:05:40.900 anywhere didn't matter it was an 0:05:38.680,0:05:44.650 airplane you know or a cramped airplane 0:05:40.900,0:05:48.129 or a hotel room or looking at the ocean 0:05:44.650,0:05:50.469 close to a client side and then it it's 0:05:48.129,0:05:53.289 we can talk about that the more recent 0:05:50.469,0:05:57.939 stage and where I am where I have now 0:05:53.289,0:06:00.159 the flexibility to work anywhere I can 0:05:57.939,0:06:02.589 be here my home office I can actually be 0:06:00.159,0:06:06.610 in the office or I can be on a client 0:06:02.589,0:06:10.860 side and the problem is still the same 0:06:06.610,0:06:13.509 you still need to find a way to identify 0:06:10.860,0:06:17.259 what kind of work you are going to do 0:06:13.509,0:06:20.830 and how to get in the zone for that kind 0:06:17.259,0:06:22.990 of work in my particular case it depends 0:06:20.830,0:06:25.389 what I'm trying to accomplish and what 0:06:22.990,0:06:29....