Episoder
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AIR stands for
Act Inform RestoreRemember? Restore is what you do to get your head back in the game and we all need it. There's no point in slogging on for hour after hour, day after day, week after week, 'cos your productivity just falls right off and you'll make yourself sick.
So breaks and holidays are the way to go, right?
Well yes, obviously.
But how long should your break be? Is it worth not taking a break?
I do a very quick, first-glance look at the ideas of "hassle-to-benefit ratios for breaks.
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Batching is the way to go, right? It's more efficient to do things together in one go. It makes sense - we get our stuff set up... our computers turned on... our head in the game... and off we go.
But what if it's not?
What if there are a few reasons for not doing that way?
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Manglende episoder?
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In this short solo episode I explore a couple of changes to the podcast but more importantly I look at some ideas to make your New Year Resolutions more likely to be successful. There's no certainty of course, but there's quite a lot of science behind what makes things more likely!
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Natalie is a life coach - not just any old life coach... a life coach who's lived what she's teaching. We dig straight in to the useful stuff here but Natalie's personal story involves big business, finance and significant health challenges. Right now she's helping women get to where she is!
And because she's self employed, her time is her own, great! But it's also in demand and precious. She uses masterminding in a different way to the sessions we've look at before to keep her productivity and sanity sorted out - having taken the step of joining a paid group.
So I poke... about whether the group is not only worth her time of up to four meetings a week, but also the money!
You can find Natalie at https://natalieshaul.com/ You can find the guy we talk about, Lewis Raymond Taylor's Hunger Start Accelerator at https://hungerstartaccelerator.com/ -
After introducing the idea of MasterMinding last week, this week I chat to Ady Henderson, an uber-productive small business owner about how she uses masterminding as a productivity - tool. Even dedicating a full half day per week, still means she gets more done than she loses in time at the meetings!
We chat about the nature of her mastermind and the structure of the sessions they run; where they run; how often they run and for how long.
All in all, it's a fascinating conversation about using MasterMinds as a way to move things forwards!
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It's not rocket science! You can't solve your own problems. If you could, you'd do so, and there wouldn't be a problem any more. So rather than sit banging your head on the computer desk, take a moment to see if solving other people's problems... and then asking them to solve yours... would be a faster way forward.
It's called MasterMinding and it's such a blindingly simple productivity tool it's a bit embarrassing!
In this episode we don't talk the how-to of MasterMinding, and barely touch on the mechanics of it at all... just the why of it - as a productivity tool for figuring out what to do next.
In future episodes I'll talk to expert MasterMinders about the approaches that they use in detail!
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You know the evil big bad productivity-killer-monster called procrastination? Here's a procrastination killer...
Well, okay, not a killer, but a damned handy productivity idea that gets us past our procrastination problems pretty easily.
It's so simple I wish I'd thought of it - but I didn't. It comes from the genius of Prof Albert Ellis.
And while I've got you... There's a big announcement at the end of the podcast for anyone wanting (or needing!) to make better presentations.
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The AIRcast is back! What? You didn't know we'd been away? Shame on you!
The quick and helpful productivity podcast is back and it went away for a number of reasons, some of which were my fault. I had a family bereavement a few months ago and things kept going on auto-pilot for a while but ultimately I didn't have the mental energy to grieve, do the stuff I needed to do to sort out funerals and so on, and to record a podcast.
But that's in the past.
In this short and sweet productivity episode I talk about using twitter-style thinking to be more productive. I don't go into the details because once you've got the idea you can figure out a zillion ways to make it work for yourselves. (Yes, you're smart!)
The book I mention is called "Barking up the Wrong Tree" and it's by Eric Marker. My kindle version has more notes taken than most!
I'm back in the saddle and this short episode is just to get me doing something, to be honest, so it's shorter than most!
Enjoy!
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In this short (seven minutes) solo episode, I talk through a really (and I do mean really!) simple technique for when you're faced with overwhelm... how to deal with Learned Helplessness.
What's Learned Helplessness? It's the belief that you can't do anything, so you don't try. You can't meet a deadline so you don't even do the work properly... you know the kind of thing.
Yes, it's simple. No, it's not easy, because remember to do it in the heat of your overload is tricky! ;)
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Chris is the chilled out podcast man! Starting a young family and running four companies should drive him round the bend. Instead he's cool, calm and cucumber-like! So what is it that allows him to be so chilled and yet so fantastically productive at the same time?
In this episode, Chris and I chat about not-being so structured and disciplined... the ultimate antidote to my last episode :)
We talk about diary white-space, we talk about walking away no about not working. We talk apps too, of course, but for Chris it's all a philosophy of getting things done, staying sane, and educating his clients!
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Scott Beebe is head of MyBusinessOnPurpose.com and an absolutely awesome productivity-ist (Is that a real word?)
Passionate about what he does (getting business owners out from the chaos of working in their business to being able to work on it) but as you'll see in this interview, also massively passionate about his family life and staying sane as he gets things done.
We talk about Scott's way of using some of the business coaching tools he's developed with his family to be in the zone and stay sane; we cover bits and bobs about the tools he uses to do it; and we have a long chat about the things he does (and doesn't do!) and the questions he asks himself... so that he can get more done.
An absolutely fascinating episode - and if I'm honest, slightly intimidating ;)
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A short, solo episode where I share the thee Ts that make it more likely you'll hit your big, strategic ideas.
Strategy and Big Ideas are great. If you get them wrong nothing else matters, but all to often the Big Idea is there - but the execution isn't. Things go wrong at the level below 'strategic'.
By thinking about the three Ts here, you're much more likely to hit those Big Ideas. Nothing's ever sure, but some things are surer than others :)
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Dan Moyles is a busy, busy man. He's the marketing manager for a fast-growing (and impressive) business in the states and yet he still has time to ride his motorbike for fun, be with his family and take an hour a day for just getting ready, praying and meditating.
How does he manage that? Well part of it of course is that by taking an hour a day for himself he gets so much more done... productivity works the other way around to how many of us pretend.
But there's so much more to Dan's approach - we chat for nearly half and hour and explore a lot, leading to his three pillar approach:
mindset tools self-support.It's a fun interview with so much to pick up in terms of productivity!
Oh, and in the interview Dan makes a fabby offer: check it out at https://interviewvalet.com/aircast/ Trust me, you should download the guide for video marketing... it's a very short read so well worth your time!
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A short, solo episode... looking at the trade off between planning a long time in advance and doing things at the last minute. Both have advantages and both have disadvantages...
...so is there a secret trick that balances the two? Yes - sort of.
It's about planning the process, not the product, and this episode is an example of how to use that. The whole episode, which runs for just over six minutes was prepared in just over ten!
I'm not pretending it's the best episode of a podcast you'll ever here, 'cos there are some points in what I say that I'd re-do in an ideal world, but it makes its own point rather nicely when I say it took almost more time to upload than to record*...
... because of the trick I talk about here!
* That's not literally true and would have been even less true if my Virgin upload speeds weren't, errmmmm.... slowwwwww..... ;)
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We all want to be better next time. The key to doing that is looking at what we've done so far. It doesn't take a genius to work that out, right?
Reflective Practice is the formal name for thinking about how to make it better next time - and that might include 'faster next time'. But if we're not careful, reflective practice doesn't increase productivity - it just wastes time by become self-indulgent gazing at your own glory... or worse, an exercise in making excuses for yourself.
On the other hand, Reflective Practice shouldn't take too long, otherwise the hassle-to-benefit ratio isn't worth it.
So in this ultra short (four minute) episode, I skim over the system we use here to make sure our training courses and my presentations are better next time...
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Jon Norton is an accountant. Don't switch off! He's an interesting accountant - honestly! As you might expect from an accountant everything in Jon's world is about proof and making sure it works. And by "everything" we include his personal productivity.
We talk about his experimental approach - where you can't lose! (And we mention Thomas Eddison in passing who said "I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work".)
His approach runs from how long he works for and where he works - and even how he converted his garage into an office...
... but stay tuned to find out why Jon (and I) live in fear of the delivery man ;)
.... oh, and the blog post we refer to reviewing Google Keep is this one: http://airbook.life/google-keep-productivity-friend-foe/
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Clare's productivity is amazing. She's a mum. She does other stuff. She works two days a week. She's running her own business.
Oh, and she's a blast!
What's not to love with a combination like that?
Clare and I chat about what she does to be so productive -hint, it's a little bit about the tools but it's a lot about headstate - and it's and utterly honest conversation where we joke over the mistakes we've made but at least we admit we've made them! ;)
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In this down-the-wire-via-Skype interview, I chat with Cathy Wassell. She's a mum of two small kids, who runs her own small business, managing the social media for other small businesses. It's quite the balancing act, because you can't always control either children or social media!
We chat about how she manages, what Apps she uses - and why she doesn't... and we touch on a whole range of other (usually related but not always topics, such as whisky cheesecake! :) )
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This is a solo episode, so brace yourself as I pretend to know what I'm talking about. I apply Occum's Razor to making decisions and come to the conclusion that one way to improve our productivity is not to worry about what the decisions are that we make, so much as whether we make them or not!
Short, sharp and semi-personal... because this is a weakness of mine! :)
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Chatting to Sarah Tomlinson about how she runs her web design business on only a few hours a day is inspiring. (On a bad day it's intimidating!)
With a seven month old and another baby on the way, Sarah's learned how to be more efficient than most people. It's just they way it has to be for her! I chat to her about how she does it, and pick up some awesome tips along the way for
getting stuff done staying sane getting clear on what's important.This is productivity on overdrive, but without sacrificing what's important or forgetting what we're productive for.
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