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Course Recap & Q&A

Lesson 24 from: Time Management 101

Mike Vardy

Course Recap & Q&A

Lesson 24 from: Time Management 101

Mike Vardy

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Lesson Info

24. Course Recap & Q&A

Next Lesson: Contexts

Lesson Info

Course Recap & Q&A

How do you stop time? Does it's not a question? It's a statement so for those who have been here for the three days but in the studio and was also maybe watching home we've had clocks here like the whole time first day they were down here that that big giant whiteboard but clocks what's the one thes air here but what's just want to find out if you guys noticed anything about these clocks during the entire three days they're not moving the easter egg there you go there not they haven't moved a because they would have driven us all nuts thie ticking of the clock which actually happens a lot when you're sitting at home right here that clock ticking like a time is passing by but that was the idea behind this was I want to show that you know you can stop time um and the way you can stop time is is by thinking task base instead of thinking time based that's one re away because when you're focusing on the what then the win is not as important it doesn't have is it clearly is part of the equat...

ion but it's not the entire answer uh if you guys ever been to a casino before you all been to a casino ok, so when youre in a casino there's a whole bunch of noise lights all that stuff's going on what's one of the big things you never find in the casino right now why is that? Why do you think that is? You don't want to know they don't want you to know how much time you're spending in there, right? So what do they what they're thinking task based the task at hand is gambling or maybe losing money is the task maybe winning money but have you ever noticed we're winning a lot? They come up and they try to check out and see how you know in the movies like, oh this guy's doing too well there watching you and all that stuff but seriously there's no clocks the clock said you've gotta watch on maybe that's your time, but if you're in the zone, you're gambling and you're doing that comes that you're focused on the task at hand and that's what they want you to be focused on that task at hand so they kind of got that right you know, that's how they made their prospering that way if they had clocks everywhere or they had a countdown timer on your own era on the v l, t or the the dealer says okay, you got five minutes to play something since you're gone I don't really want five minutes like the shows that are in vegas right only got five minutes to go to the show I've seen so many people that are like interested in going to shows and just don't go because they're focused on the task and because they don't want to be interrupted by that time that constraint right? So clocks they've got I mean there's no clocks and they're prospering because that's that's that's what they're doing right? So one of the exercises in the workbook is I actually challenged you to remove the timepiece you I only see one person with a timepiece here fashion is more of a fashion it's not really didn't work you should make sure it doesn't warrant run like the rest of these but, you know, get rid of the clocks you know, uh even on your even on your mac there's ah, I've used tto app called fuzzy clock on the mac dashboard yet another app uh, and what it does is it says court gives you a roundabout time, so it turns that clock in the top menu bar to like it about, you know, twenty twenty past four and it might be and then changes everyone's one coast called fuzzy clock um it may not work with the new os, but I'm pretty sure it well, it's, a fairly simple, simple app um there's watches have seen frank gehry designed this great watch for guests and it was like basically a number and a number and it said five past three like so anything you can do to break that pattern if you like the fashion element of a watch sure that's great just don't buy that death ticker with the ticker watch whatever sorry people who made it but I don't want to know I don't want to focus on the time right? I wanna focus on tess because you can't control time, right? You can't control time it moves right? It keeps going can't stop it when a second goes that you're not getting it back right how many of you guys have a tivo on home or ptr know like what's a teat you don't know what evos wow even in canada we know what you think this is so chris you're live stage shows now so person but you you say you have a tebow, right? Yes well, clearly are pdr personal is personal video recorder I guess so. Why? Why do you have you have that? Because I don't like being forced to be home at a certain time just to see programming that I like, so I enjoy the fact that I can come home whenever I have time off and see my favorite show right now did you have and I know this did you have a vcr? You know these hero back on these back when they were did you program them so that way you could make sure or did you get kind of go man that's not that was not easy right so technology has changed to allow us to manage time better to say hey you know what I want to watch arrow when I want to watch it and I say arrow because I'm a big fan of comics clearly and I like green arrow and I mean our tree and all that stuff so I've set that up I've done that front end work to tell my port personal video recorder record arrow every week at this time make sure it's only first run like you get really granular if you want I only don't want reruns I wanted in hd all that stuff I could get really really granular or I could just say hey record arrow and then I can watch it when I want because whether I'm home or not there was going to be on you know something's gonna happen things are gonna go that's why people have these devices that's why we have these devices now you said that we can say hey I won't have a choice I want to know that I can do this when I want so but want right like that's what you want to watch your show when you want to watch it when you have to you could have more wants than halves that's great but you can't so you can control tasks I've said too that personal video recorder hey record arrow this week at this time because I can't control time so I don't ever say hey, I don't have time to watch arrow because a rose on it this time and I don't have time to watch it instead I say hey it's going to sit on the pvr toe lifetime to watch it until I decide that I want to watch it got me there ok so we looked at the clock none of them have moved there all stationary why? Because we've set up a foundation that allows us to let those clocks stand still they don't matter as much they're they're they're identifiers when you look at a clock you go time instantly think time and then you think what do I have to do right like there is a trigger there that's a trigger right? I've got you know six seventy triggers up here they're all in one spot so hopefully they're only identifying is one but put up your tent day when I talked about that tent analogy right? The tent is the place you go it's your anchor, your area of focus, it allows you to say, hey, I've built this structure this is the beginning of my achievement structure this is where I go if I forget what I have to do or if I looked at the clock and the clock says oh it's two twenty eight and I have to what am I spoke back to my tent you know now we all have talked about camping on day one how many of you actually like to put up a tent you really enjoy putting up tents really? He looks to me like yeah you're you're you're way had a thing on the other day we have one yeah I loved doing them like wow you're a rare breed not many people like they want to get to the good stuff they want to get to the campaign to you know, to maybe having a beer to the camp fire to all that stuff which I'm sure you want to get to but you know right that if you don't set up that tent and guess what I won't get there you won't will you might get there but you might have had too many beers to set up the tent properly later right or early too dark or you know that moose that I drew on day one will come and get you or the bear that we turned about the chat room but no one likes to set up their tent almost no one likes to set up their tent but they know they have to go so that's the half to build that structure bit put up your tent when you've got that there then that's gonna help you figure out what needs to be done what you want to dio what you have to dio and it's gonna bring you back when you say I don't know what to do next or I have I have some free time what can I do that's going to really mean something to me that's going to fulfill me that's going to make the best use of my time right? So the to do list is dead really is long live the task manager I mean two d'oh is very vague when think about like I have this too do you mean so you said you're married, right? You have a honey do list, right? You have a honey do list like what is that? What is that, honey? Do this, honey, you just forget all that that right there is some meaning behind that list though, right? The meaning is that hey, honey, can you do this right that get that some context to it that add some value to it the to do list though uh this is this needs to be done that's what that isthe you know to do when you start adding like the y to do list to it which I talked about in the manifesto why why is this something I need to do do I need to do this? Can I delegate this to an assistant can I have an app do this for me do I need to grab my testimonials off twitter or canon ap do it do I need to you know email that person back or can I text them instead because that's the mod right the wise come into question right the task manager gives you that task manager there's a management component because this is ultimately life is on both sides of the equation work and just the home stuff it can get complex it can get overwhelming you want to manage that you don't want to do it because when you hear that were due it's like we get it done out of the way you do all right I got to do that you could manage it yeah it sounds maybe sounds a bit clinical but more mechanical but those contacts those values that kind of thing allows you add that it means more you had more value calendars mean more when you think big and not small this relates back to the counter management stuff calendars when you started looking just a day that's where the task manager comes into play right the counter is going to inform you of what tasks you can do and I know we talked about this earlier and he said you know like how do we know what to do when I have things that well the calendar's gonna inform you right? The counter is going to say, hey, you have this appointment to this is an agreement you made with somebody else on this day okay, I have to do that that's something that I've agreed to dio so now what do I do around that, dewey, do anything around that you know it gives you that choice it informs you that calendars mean more when you think big and not small because if you're working on a project and you go hey, I'm going to use the I'm going to theme this month for build my portfolio month then you can say this informs my entire task manager for that month yes there's gonna be other tasks in there there's going to be other projects that I'm going to be working on, but the overriding theme of the month is build my portfolio so it's going in for mu what he adding what's, what is the theme of the months due and yesterday was quite interesting when I when I had people saying context tags, folders, notebooks, I'm having whenyou theme a month, you're adding context to that month, right? That's what you're doing, you're making it mean more anything that you and dao with some kind of theme or some kind of, you know um aps acts of the same write if you when you use that now analogy that I talked about your giving it meaning that's what this is right and meaning is revolving around quality more than quantity right when you're great when you're when you're taking a math test in school because we all did you can't go two plus two equals seven well no it doesn't equals four yeah but you know what if I feel or there's that old saying a one plus one equals window right one plus one equals window like that old visual thing I don't have you ever heard of that before? But it depends on how you draw it on the sheet of paper I don't have anything to illustrate but one plus one equals window like that's wrong well is it depends on the view it right in math it's wrong one plus one is two but in english right? Another subjective areas like one plus one equals eleven right you so when you start to think about in terms of quality versus quantity those kind of things could change the meaning. So for somebody who says you know, email is a context that adds meaning to that versus high energy versus whatever when you've seen your calendars and you seem your months and then when you take months off right when you say hey, I'm not going to theme this month this month is like the month where I'm going to focus on just you know maybe getting maybe adopting a new app right or adding my work for tweaking my work flow then maybe you're not going to see in that month, right? Right. And I think that you may some of this stuff so now this is good. Could you get this stuff right now? It's like feverishly writing things down then he's going to strike through it as he you fall down though you will I hate to say it I fall down a lot but you won't follows far when you have a foundation in place, right? You know, I mean even the best hire wire uh, performers fall but if they got a safety net set up they're not gonna get nearly badly has hurt or worse, right? So all these things are basically your structure, your safety and we have that there when you fall down you go ok? Let's just get back up let's, go back to my tent, get settled, maybe sleep. Get up the next morning. Move forward right when you trust your workflow when you trust your workflow when you build that work for you spend the time with working on it figuring out what's gonna work for you your work will be trustworthy not just not just for for you, but for people you send it out to for the people you work with, right because you know there's a quality behind you like hey, I've built this this's a structure that's going to support all my work as I go therefore when I pass it on to someone when I showed them the results they're going to go wow I know I can rely on jennifer to get this done before we take it to the chapel because I want to get some thoughts from there I want to find out how many of you have gotten in trouble for handing in things three days early I love the quizzical looks never have about a week early coming a day early how many have you got in trouble for handing in three days late uh now you know so he never got never get in trouble for hitting things in early, right? No you don't no one's ever good come down and you and say hey uh hey f sal you I was not expecting this for another week. What are you doing? Take this back and bring it back to me in a week. By the way, it looks great right now but just take it back anyway and bring it back to me in a week no one's gonna do that every more like, okay, great now you couldn't do this other thing now, right, right so again that that that's it it's an interesting point because yeah, you're right you won't get in trouble for but you're again raising expectations to a point but if you've got limits you've set boundaries right? You've got that workflow which and those boundaries of part of that right then you're gonna be able to say okay, I know that my boss if I handed in a week early will give me something that will be expect me to deliver right away we're really soon and that awareness because you've got that workflow because you've got that foundation there, that structure you've got that awareness, okay, I'm not going to give that to him early, then I've got a dime I'm going to do it, but the handing in of its going to be done a little bit later but there's this other client, this one I'm really trying to impress that I'm gonna hand that in three days early, right? So those kind of things that this structure this work flow when you start to trust it when you start to build it when you start to have that achieve instructor you khun do things that maybe you didn't think you could do before in a lot of cases you can and then you won't get in trouble because you won't be missing things you'll be focusing on the task over time, so we'll be working towards the due date everyday will be a do it you're working for or every week or every other day, but you'll know you'll know that because you're going to be trusting it and you're not going to feel rushed and you're not going to feel like you have to quickly get it out there. So your work be trustworthy. We have anything in the chatter, any questions or any and he just kind of feedback or yeah, I have a question here a little bit off topic, but this is someone who just joining was curious if you had any recommendations for ways to read faster, they found a program called really easy reader was wondering if you know of any a way to save time through reading more efficiently. No, you know, I was funny while we were sitting in the hotel room earlier this week, we were watching that show criminal criminal minds, is it? And that there's that guy who reads like a super speed reader guy really great actor too I'm like, I want to do that, I want to be able to do that and I don't know of any that can really help but what I can say when it comes to that element of speed reading or speeding, those kind of things up like anything you're writing down or anything like that, those context, those visual touchstones like they're way unable to speed read my review and stuff like that is to be more consistent with my journaling to use contacts as I'm capturing things on paper so I can speed up that process so I'm good it's feeding of processes and those little tricks will help with that same with the little additions of of you know basic sub sub perhaps to help with my work flow things like things like you know if this then that dot com or you know things like think of another text expander or hazel or what have you like those little ones speed things up in that so then I have time to read like an entire book and not go you know I better I'm going to rush through this so you know jennifer you're saying I've got a lot of reading to do well these little processes and you won't think of this right away right you think well wait a minute how is this related to reading how can I get more reading done wait a minute I've made email faster I've got these snippets done I'm not spending an hour and a half and email now I'm only spending thirty minutes what can I do with that our back to my tent oh educate my that's what I want to do right now oh there's a book I want to read ever since I started doing this kind of system I used to borrow books from the library a lot I don't anymore I want to build a library like ryan holiday has no he's been I want to do that I want to have. Of course, I've marked that as like a re, which I mean mark that post is a read later post find kind of ironic, but but I wanted to. But when I when I started using the system, borrowing books from the library because I had that work alone place, I never I never had the library book longer than I needed to. I just it was just the way it was part of my work. For now, I didn't build the workflow to make that happen. It just so happened to feed that as well, and you'll find when you gotta work, flow that's trustworthy and that you trust it's gonna pay off in dividends that you didn't really anticipate. What do you mean, you know, I finished email away. Now I can read this book. Oh, my god, look, you know, those kind of things can happen.

Class Materials

bonus material with purchase

Productivityist Progress Planner.pdf
Productivityist Workbook Printable Exercises.pdf
Productivityist Workbook v1.2.pdf
The Productivityist Workbook v1.2 - Mike Vardy.epub
The Productivityist Workbook v1.2 - Mike Vardy.mobi
The Way of The Productivityist Manifesto Poster - 16x20.jpg
The Way of The Productivityist Manifesto Poster - 8x11.jpg

bonus material with enrollment

Paperless Organization Guide.pdf
The Way Of The Productivityist - A Manifesto.pdf

Ratings and Reviews

Eve
 

Mike's class was chock full of useful information on streamlining a to do list, digitally and by hand. His process seems pretty robust, and extremely well thought out, to provide maximum efficiency and success with the least amount of effort. Granted there is a learning curve, and one must practice to become proficient and use it effectively, but if you are willing to put in the effort there is a major positive impact on productivity. He goes through his favorite apps (he apparently consults with app developers) and why, which was exactly what I needed at the time. Some of his 2nd choice apps may now surpass the others, but he explains clears how to pick the best app for you. I'm a small business owner and I found the class to be quite helpful. Thanks Mike.

Pavel Voronenko
 

Very interesting class! I would recommend recording it as it based on apps' solutions and since 2013/2014 there are a lot of changes. Al least maybe some wrap-up session. Well done, Mike Vardy and Creative Live team! Jan. 04, 2021

Cathy
 

Really loved this class. Real life examples from the audience made it easy to understand and see how the advice can apply to my way of managing tasks. I have now a clear view of the system I'm going to implement (I already started) and that I can trust. Thanks a lot Mike!

Student Work

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