A Productive Conversation

I've always wanted to interview a football player for the podcast.

Thanks to Adrienne Smith, I got my chance.

As an athlete, Adrienne has won two gold medals and four national championships in the sport of women’s tackle football. Adrienne has also represented the U.S. in the sport of flag football, having won three silver medals in international competition. Whether on the field or off, Adrienne’s personal mission is to “empire” (empower+inspire) others – a concept she strives to incorporate into all of her endeavors.

As an entrepreneur, Adrienne, an MBA graduate of Columbia Business School, is the co-founder of Harlem Hip-Hop Tours (a company dedicated to edutainment field trips for schools and youth groups), the founder of Gridiron Queendom (an enterprise dedicated to women and girls around the world who play or are fans of American football), and the creator of Blitz Champz (a super fun, football card game that reinforces math skills for children in grades 3-8).

When it comes to media, Adrienne is a multi-hyphenate (writer, actress, and producer) with experience that runs the gamut from producing and hosting a television show in Japan to developing film and television properties for the U.S. market.

During our conversation, Adrienne talks about how she fell in love with football, what a typical day for the very productive Adrienne Smith looks like, how precise she gets with allocating time for her tasks and projects, and how Adrienne keeps her intentions illuminated – including inventing a game that helped her give back to the game of football, Blitz Champz.

There are some great takeaways from our conversation. I hope you enjoy it.

Links Worth Exploring

Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page.

Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Click on any of the links below to make that happen.

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Joshua Becker isn't just one of my favourite people to have a conversation with, he's one of my favourite writers. And his book, Things That Matter: Overcoming Distraction to Pursue a More Meaningful Life, is a book that I needed to read.

I believe it's a book that you need to read as well.

Joshua is The Wall Street Journal best-selling author of The More of Less and The Minimalist Home. He's also behind the site Becoming Minimalist and, as mentioned, is one of my favourite people to hang out with.

We talked about why writing this book was a big deal for Joshua, falling into the trap of chasing the wrong things, and – wait for it – atychiphobia.

Whenever I speak with Joshua, ideas really come to front of mind. You'll hear this coming from me throughout this conversation. Maybe it's that those things matter to me... or maybe I'm auditioning them for that role. Either way, I'm happy that we had a chance to make this conversation happen because it mattered a lot to me to make it happen.

I trust after listening to this episode that you'll understand why.

Show Notes

Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page.

Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Click on any of the links below to make that happen.

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher

You can also click on this link to paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice.

Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Meetings suck, don't they?

Fellow Canadian Cameron Herold wrote a book with that title. But he knows that they don't have to suck.

During our discussion, Cameron shares with me why meetings don't have to suck and how to keep them becoming something that sucks. We also talked about a variety of other things during our conversation because Cameron has covered a lot through his body of work.

He is the Founder of COO Alliance, a Coach to CEOs and COOs, Keynote Speaker, and author of 5 books. He has coached hundreds of companies in 28 countries, built two 100MM companies, and his Vivid Vision tool is being used globally by thousands of companies.

There's a lot to unpack from our conversation – including the concepts of priority management and situational leadership. I trust you'll enjoy this episode and learn a lot from Cameron. I know I did.

Show Notes

Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page.

Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Click on any of the links below to make that happen.

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher

You can also click on this link to paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice.

Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The way the world works has been changed forever over the past few years. There's no going back to the way things were. It's all about adapting to the evolved world of work – one that involves remote work no matter which way you slice it.

That's why I'm glad to finally have Liam Martin join me on the podcast.

Liam is an avid proponent of remote work and has been published in Forbes, Inc, Mashable, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Wired, and The Wall Street Journal (among many other publications) specifically targeting the expansion of remote work. Liam's products and services are defined by the concept of giving workers the flexibility to work wherever they want, whenever they want.

That's why I believe he's one of the best people in the world to talk about the future of work and the role remote work will play in it.

We talk about many facets of remote work throughout our conversation, including his book on remote work. This is a conversation that is definitely another productive one. I hope you learn a lot from what we discuss... and I hope you're able to join me and Liam at Running Remote (either in person or remotely) in May 2022!

Show Notes

Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page.

Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Click on any of the links below to make that happen.

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher

You can also click on this link to paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice.

Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I've been friends with Chris Bailey for years, dating back to our lunch at a diner in Ottawa when I was in his neck of the woods for a speaking engagement. We've had plenty of chats over the years and they've only become more frequent as the years have progressed. (After all, there aren't many Canadians who have dedicated their life's work to the realm of productivity and time management.)

Chris is the international bestselling author of The Productivity Project and Hyperfocus: How to Be More Productive in a World of Distraction. Chris writes about productivity at alifeofproductivity.com, and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they can become more productive without hating the process.

During this conversation we talk about focus and its effects on productivity, the different types of focus that he has written about, how to get around distraction, and much more.

Over time, our stance on productivity and time management has evolved as well. And while I look forward to having Chris on the podcast again to discuss that in greater detail, this episode offers you a look back into the past to see what we were both thinking about back in August 2019.

Links Worth Exploring

Thanks to all of the sponsors of this episode. You can find all of the sponsors you heard me mention on this episode on our Podcast Sponsors page.

Want to support the podcast? Beyond checking out our sponsors, you can subscribe to the show wherever you listen to podcasts. Click on any of the links below to make that happen.

Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Stitcher

You can also click on this link to paste the podcast feed into your podcast app of choice.

Thanks again for listening to A Productive Conversation. See you later.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices