017 Overcoming Your Own Productivity System – ProductivityCast

Ray starts out most productivity seminars with a fundamental definition of a productivity system: a dynamic set of skills, strategies and tools, that you adapt as your life circumstances change. And, as you'll hear from Francis in this episode, you have the system that usually developed organically, not out of planning necessarily. So, in many ways, you need to overcome your own productivity system that developed to a productivity system that you have built to match your needs and wants today. 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. Evernote OmniFocus 2 3 Superpowers you need to survive improvement fatigue by Francis Wade The Fifth Discipline: The Art & Practice of The Learning Organization, Revised & Updated Edition by Peter Senge 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). 0:00:00.000,0:00:03.870 are you ready to manage your work and 0:00:02.159,0:00:06.120 personal world better to live a 0:00:03.870,0:00:07.350 fulfilling productive life then you've 0:00:06.120,0:00:09.809 come to the right place 0:00:07.350,0:00:12.059 productivity cast the weekly show about 0:00:09.809,0:00:14.480 all things productivity here are your 0:00:12.059,0:00:17.880 hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto 0:00:14.480,0:00:19.560 Pinaud, Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks welcome 0:00:17.880,0:00:21.630 back to another episode of productivity 0:00:19.560,0:00:23.970 cast the weekly show about all things 0:00:21.630,0:00:25.800 personal productivity I'm Ray Sidney-Smith 0:00:23.970,0:00:28.590 and I am joined here today by 0:00:25.800,0:00:33.270 Augusto Pinaud and Francis Wade how's it 0:00:28.590,0:00:35.219 going guys great wonderful wonderful 0:00:33.270,0:00:38.579 today we are going to be talking about 0:00:35.219,0:00:40.350 overcoming your own productivity system 0:00:38.579,0:00:43.500 and while that might sound a little 0:00:40.350,0:00:46.170 vague we will explain to you what we are 0:00:43.500,0:00:47.430 talking about very shortly and to do 0:00:46.170,0:00:50.640 that what I'm going to do is I'm gonna 0:00:47.430,0:00:53.160 pass the baton the microphone virtually 0:00:50.640,0:00:54.809 to Francis Francis if you want to 0:00:53.160,0:00:56.699 explain to us a little bit about what it 0:00:54.809,0:00:58.890 means to overcome your own productivity 0:00:56.699,0:01:00.930 system in the context of what you have 0:00:58.890,0:01:03.030 written about in the past which is this 0:01:00.930,0:01:04.619 idea that you have the system you 0:01:03.030,0:01:07.100 deserve could you explain that a little 0:01:04.619,0:01:09.689 bit to folks so that they can understand 0:01:07.100,0:01:10.920 what that really means in terms of 0:01:09.689,0:01:20.369 having the system 0:01:10.920,0:01:22.200 you deserve it sounds terrible there 0:01:20.369,0:01:26.580 might be there's a responsibility issue 0:01:22.200,0:01:27.780 it's not blame its responsibility okay 0:01:26.580,0:01:30.509 that's much better thank you for 0:01:27.780,0:01:32.189 cleaning that up but you know before the 0:01:30.509,0:01:35.460 call Augusto said it well that everyone 0:01:32.189,0:01:37.439 has a system and that system was was it 0:01:35.460,0:01:38.640 didn't just were born with it obviously 0:01:37.439,0:01:41.610 it's something that we developed in 0:01:38.640,0:01:44.899 somewhere in our adolescent or teens so 0:01:41.610,0:01:47.280 we we have a way of managing tasks 0:01:44.899,0:01:49.979 managing our time working with our 0:01:47.280,0:01:51.869 calendar if we have one each person has 0:01:49.979,0:01:55.320 their own sort of idiosyncratic home 0:01:51.869,0:01:58.740 brew of techniques and tools and apps 0:01:55.320,0:02:01.409 and devices and and whatnot and it was 0:01:58.740,0:02:03.420 not developed in a vacuum it was 0:02:01.409,0:02:05.100 specifically put together to solve re 0:02:03.420,0:02:08.819 solve a problem that we had at some 0:02:05.100,0:02:10.770 point and what happens over time I think 0:02:08.819,0:02:14.370 is that 0:02:10.770,0:02:16.350 I've changes on us and you know we we 0:02:14.370,0:02:18.780 grow up we get married we have kids we 0:02:16.350,0:02:22.320 get a job we got a bigger job we get 0:02:18.780,0:02:24.840 projects we pick up pastimes we get 0:02:22.320,0:02:26.280 involved in our communities we become a 0:02:24.840,0:02:29.190 deacon at church you know all these 0:02:26.280,0:02:31.020 things happen and we're using the system 0:02:29.190,0:02:33.630 that the same system the same put 0:02:31.020,0:02:35.130 together homebrew of all the things I 0:02:33.630,0:02:39.120 mentioned that we had when we were 18 0:02:35.130,0:02:40.590 and then we have a problem so we we put 0:02:39.120,0:02:42.270 together this nice solution and we 0:02:40.590,0:02:45.180 deserved it and it worked for us and we 0:02:42.270,0:02:48.870 were really happy and then life changed 0:02:45.180,0:02:51.900 and no we're experiencing all of these 0:02:48.870,0:02:54.500 weird symptoms because there's no longer 0:02:51.900,0:02:57.660 a fit is that making sense absolutely 0:02:54.500,0:03:00.960 absolutely and and so I wanted to I 0:02:57.660,0:03:05.430 wanted to very just briefly explain to 0:03:00.960,0:03:08.460 listeners how I define a system a 0:03:05.430,0:03:09.900 productivity system specifically and and 0:03:08.460,0:03:12.030 I think it's important for us all to 0:03:09.900,0:03:15.240 sort of have at least a working 0:03:12.030,0:03:18.270 definition of what system means to one's 0:03:15.240,0:03:20.070 self and so everyone might find this to 0:03:18.270,0:03:23.250 be a little bit different and that's 0:03:20.070,0:03:26.910 okay you know I see systems as being the 0:03:23.250,0:03:30.360 skills strategies and tools that you use 0:03:26.910,0:03:32.820 and that change over time to match the 0:03:30.360,0:03:36.510 needs of your of your productive life 0:03:32.820,0:03:37.950 and that is I think that goes to the 0:03:36.510,0:03:42.840 heart of what Francis is talking about 0:03:37.950,0:03:46.620 here when it comes to being overcome by 0:03:42.840,0:03:50.070 your own productivity system because it 0:03:46.620,0:03:51.570 hasn't been looked at in terms of the 0:03:50.070,0:03:54.540 issues that our faith that you're facing 0:03:51.570,0:03:56.340 in life today as opposed to the issues 0:03:54.540,0:03:58.490 that you faced as you developed those 0:03:56.340,0:04:00.930 skills you know it's funny in the in 0:03:58.490,0:04:03.510 business you know I'm as a management 0:04:00.930,0:04:05.520 consultant I typically see people coming 0:04:03.510,0:04:09.600 into the world saying well I want to 0:04:05.520,0:04:11.760 develop our business and you know this 0:04:09.600,0:04:14.010 is the way I want to shape our brand our 0:04:11.760,0:04:16.080 business is brand and frequently you 0:04:14.010,0:04:17.910 know as I deal with primarily small 0:04:16.080,0:04:19.799 business owners you know I have to 0:04:17.910,0:04:20.940 explain to them you know if you have you 0:04:19.799,0:04:22.979 if you've come to me and you've been 0:04:20.940,0:04:24.389 running the business first for a while 0:04:22.979,0:04:26.849 you already have a brand 0:04:24.389,0:04:28.770 you know the brand has been developed 0:04:26.849,0:04:31.620 for you and now it's a matter of 0:04:28.770,0:04:34.050 attempting to steer that that ship in a 0:04:31.620,0:04:36.990 new direction but you know as anybody 0:04:34.050,0:04:39.270 knows steering a ship is not a let's 0:04:36.990,0:04:41.189 turn right let's turn left it's an 0:04:39.270,0:04:43.080 incremental approach and so I think 0:04:41.189,0:04:46.439 especially when it will only start 0:04:43.080,0:04:49.590 talking about systems and and changing 0:04:46.439,0:04:52.740 systems know that this is not a change 0:04:49.590,0:04:54.930 overnight kind of thing so so you have 0:04:52.740,0:04:57.120 to really steer that ship in in small 0:04:54.930,0:04:59.039 increments back toward the direction 0:04:57.120,0:05:01.139 that you want it to go in 0:04:59.039,0:05:03.810 augusto I wanted I want to hear a little 0:05:01.139,0:05:06.990 bit of from you about this concept and 0:05:03.810,0:05:08.940 your thoughts in terms of you have the 0:05:06.990,0:05:13.110 system you deserve do you do agree 0:05:08.940,0:05:16.879 disagree I said on the pre-show that I'm 0:05:13.110,0:05:16.879 going to be offended by that comment so 0:05:17.629,0:05:23.580 but in a more serious note you know as 0:05:20.969,0:05:25.529 much as it sounds when when you listen 0:05:23.580,0:05:29.099 it that way it sounds like hey that's 0:05:25.529,0:05:32.400 kind of rude you know in a way it's also 0:05:29.099,0:05:34.199 true because there is a couple of things 0:05:32.400,0:05:36.800 that happen you know as Francis 0:05:34.199,0:05:39.750 described you tend to look for a system 0:05:36.800,0:05:42.060 for a specific reason you got a 0:05:39.750,0:05:44.460 promotion you got a job you want to grow 0:05:42.060,0:05:46.889 in your job you're simply overwhelming 0:05:44.460,0:05:49.979 the current conditions so you find a 0:05:46.889,0:05:53.250 system that start solving then may your 0:05:49.979,0:05:55.740 point or the major pain points until you 0:05:53.250,...