Productivity Habits: Examining Ourselves and Taking Steps Toward Better Effectiveness with Author & Consultant Ben Elijah – The Busy Creator Podcast 66

Ben Elijah (@inkandben) is a consultant in the productivity sector and author of the book The Productivity Habits. In this conversation, we dig into the productivity sector as a whole, and discuss his origins as an author and as a not-very-productive person.

The Productivity Habits, by Ben Elijah

This episode is oddly self-referential, as we, two productivity nerds, talk about how bad we are with our own habits, and about how we continually struggle to stay productive — at least in our own eyes. Ben writes and speaks about the topic, which is an ongoing struggle for all of us. You’ll learn some of Ben’s tested habits and techniques you can use to get started down the road toward better effectiveness.

Catch up with Ben via his site, InkAndBen.com

Show Notes & Links

In case you’ve forgotten, The Busy Creator discusses Tools, Techniques, and Habits

Ben admits that he came to focus on productivity because he’s “very bad at it”

Getting Things Done by David Allen On Amazon and On Audible

The Productivity Habits by Ben Elijah On Amazon

Ben observes some of the same routines everyday in creative pros

Ben and Prescott are prone to “depressive cycles of thought”

“Really creative people care about things … but do they deploy passion the right way?”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

Is your pensivity turned up to 11?

A problem that affects [young] people is their inability to plan

“Education is serial; in work, things come in parallel”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

“Who am I going to disappoint today?”

—Merlin Mann

 Tweet This

Merlin Mann, productivity writer

According to Ben, there are no “high habits” to which we should all aspire to

“There isn’t anybody talking about this that isn’t also a student”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

Kaizen, the Japanese philosophy of continuous small improvements

“It takes a certain amount of self-awareness just to begin”

—Prescott Perez-Fox

 Tweet This

“The world that the human brain has created is very ill-suited to the human brain.”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

“Your brain is for having ideas, not for holding them”

—David Allen

 Tweet This

The Ether

Make sure you’re doing productivity, not “pornography”

Memento

The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg On Amazon and On Audible

Reddit, a classic time-waster

The Cult of the Morning Routine, see also: The Busy Creator Podcast ep 65 w/Cathryn Lavery

Ben hates the word “productivity” because it encourages the “easy-answer people” 

Prescott hates the word “branding”

“For me to become even moderatel effective has taken nearly 10 years of blood, sweat, tears, and constant failure.”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

[n] ways to [verb][problem] — solves the wrong problem

Clickbait

Context, in the David Allen sense, is something that constrains us

“A context is a function of space, time, and thought.”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

“Switching between tasks has overhead”

—Ben Elijah

 Tweet This

Ben prefers a state of flow over rapid-switching

You can’t go “from zero to Ninja”

Sixth Form

Makes Its Own Gravy

Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule by Paul Graham

 Ben Elijah on Twitter

Tools

AquaNotes, a waterproof notepad for your shower

In-baskets, for a paper-full office

OmniFocus

Squarespace

Techniques

Experiment with a “system” for recording ideas, thoughts

Build a habit by using the Trigger/Reward/Routine approach

Observe your situation — mood, energy, time, equipment

Work out of order, depending on what’s appropriate to the situation

Create tasks that are “granular”, and cannot be broken down further

Habits

Carry a notebook and record ideas

Build the routine of reviewing your notes

Wake up at 5:30 to write, prepare, workout

Eat a high protein breakfast

Try Audible.com Free for 30-Days

Visit BusyCreatorBook.com for your free trial

Get The Power of Habit by Charles Duhigg as a free audiobook

Get The Episode

Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 66 (MP3, 50:55, 24.5 MB)

Download The Busy Creator Podcast, episode 66 (OGG, 50:55, 21.5 MB)

Subscribe to Get New Episodes

Subscribe to The Busy Creator Podcast on iTunes or on Android