OK Productive

We're going to step away from the podcast, but the episodes, website, and social media accounts will remain.

Reach out if you have questions or want to say hi, and thanks for listening!

What led us to this decision...

• Well first, why did we start?
  • We wanted to talk about things we're interested in
  • We wanted practical tips, not the productivity trap
  • We were feeling the courage to experiment
• What decisions made us want to stop?
  • Growth was plateauing
  • We did the exercises in Traction by Gabriel Wineberg
  • Learned that growth would require more time and money
  • We were already constrained by both
  • We both want to focus on fewer initiatives in 2020

What we learned from the show

• Struggles that we learned from
  • Fully understanding marketing
  • Productivity is a diluted and saturated topic
  • Importance of organization
  • Balancing guests and topics
• The happy, fun, growing, learning side
  • Over 5,000 downloads
  • Documenting processes, scheduling, and content
• Leo’s growth
  • Interview skills
  • Organization
  • Recruitment
  • Self-reflection
• Erik’s growth
  • Learning from guests and each other
  • Improved image design that continues to be used in other projects
  • Channeling nervous energy into talkative yip-yap

Related episodes

• 001. A Sleepy Episode
• 009. Working On Your Own Episode
• 012. Saying No Episode
• 025. Productive Podcasting
• 031. Clear your Calendar! with Justin Jackson

Big thanks to our listeners and these amazing contributors:

❤️ Leah Fitch

❤️ Jonathan Baillie Strong

❤️ Will Gant

❤️ Christian Genco

❤️ Peta Sena

❤️ Jessica D'Amico

❤️ Tim Mitra

❤️ Justin Jackson

❤️ Allison Spooner

❤️ Sophia Dagnon

❤️ Laura Lopuch

❤️ Julien Borrelli

Differences between 2018 and 2019

• Erik fully embraced Notion for planning
• Leo switched from Todoist to a spreadsheet
• Mastermind meetings for group accountability

Leo's Year in Review

• Improvements to health
• Successful speaking engagements
• A consistent schedule with podcasts
• Successful at writing output
• Audience improvements:
  • +156.32% at Learning Swift
  • +12.85% at BrightDigit
  • +726.15% at LeoGDion
• Future Improvements include email, more video, and audience research

Erik's Year in Review

• Came up with whole-year goals and broke down into quarterly, monthly, and weekly lists
• Also made weekly and monthly habits checklists
• About 20-30% of the anticipated objectives and habits changed over the year
• The habits that stuck were those that Erik had the most direct control, like stretching and diet
• The items that changed or were not met the most typically involved other people or deep research
• Erik's biggest regret: not enough "for-fun, but also is work" tasks
• Erik's biggest desire to change: more regular date nights
• Leo referred Erik to Derek Sivers' article: Stay in touch with hundreds of people

What's being cut in 2020

• Leo's stepping away from organizing meetups and local networking
• Erik is getting away from nonprofit administration, business social media management, and the status quo of local tech events
• We're stepping away from the podcast, too. More on that in the next episode!

Introduction

• Laura's first email tip: write so the recipient will imagine how their life could be
• How to discover a love of email as a paralegal
• Realizing skills, eight years later
• The benefits of setting weekly email goals
• Treat email correspondence as a journey
• Wait 2 to 3 business days before the first followup
• Two types of cold email: making a pitch and making a connection

Anatomy of a Cold Email

• Where are people with your problem going to talk about their problem?  
• Explain why you chose the recipient over everyone else
• Start a close relationship with your contact and compliment them
• Prove a hypothesis, they should agree with each statement you make
• All of those small yesses lead toward a yes on the big ask
• Avoid exit language
• Avoid asking for more than one thing

Tools

• Streak, CRM for Gmail
• Boomerang
• Crystal Knows

Laura Lopuch online

• @waitingtoberead on Twitter
• lauralopuch.com
• How to double your conversion rate on cold outreach, a recap of Laura's talk at Microconf
• How to Optimize for Replies on Your Cold Emails on Laura’s blog
• I used cold emails to 14x my freelance copywriting business. Here’s how. on Copy Hackers

Getting your foot in the door

• Sophia's specialty and how she got there from archaeology
• How UpWork led to better pay in writing
• Dealing with the lack of comfort
• An approach to desiring income without being sleazy
• Making transactions mutually beneficial
• People don’t buy stuff, they buy solutions to problems
• How does your customer think about the solutions to their problems?
• How to ask the right questions to better understand your customer
• Improving pitches by trying different things

How to reach your customers

• The platforms with the lowest barriers or are easiest to self-promote
• Copy Hackers (Joanna Web sp.?)
• Researching, writing a lot, and sharing content where it will be read
• Understanding your reader’s familiarity and how informed they are
• Knowing what it will take for a reader to take action (lots of specific tips here!)
• Focus on and measure one action that you want your readers to take

Tips for getting started

• Low-risk and simple ways a person can practice self-promotion
• Reframe risk as an opportunity or something good for you
• Ways to manage the ever-present emotions that come when taking chances
• Are there books or other sources where people can learn more on the topic
• Follow Copy Hackers
• Read Drive by Daniel Pink
• Read Influence by Robert Cialdini
• Read Breakthrough Advertising by Eugene Schwartz

Where to find Sophia Dagnon

• @SophiaDagnon on Twitter
• sophiadagnon.com
• Sophia Dagnon on LinkedIn

Introductions

• NaNoWriMo and flash fiction
• Allison Spooner is the author of Flash in the Dark and The Problem with Humans
• Find Allison online at spoonfulstyle.com or @allyspoon

Outsource your writing parameters

• Accountability through writing groups, events, and contests
• Benefits of deadlines, prompts, settings, and other writing constraints
• Outlining and other ways to complete a novel in small pieces
• Writing exercises and parameters that help you get better with practice
• Telling a story with Joseph Campbell's Hero's Journey
• Tips for writing when you need some structure

Methods for practicing writing

• Look for random writing prompts online or in your physical environment
• Start small, like 500 words
• Go to writing events near you
• Try writing at different times and with different techniques to find what works best for you
• Donald Miller's 5 Writing Tips
• Make your customer the hero of your business' stories
• Write for fun, define writing success for you, and a little progress is still progress
• Scale up to make a novel
• One flash fiction story per day will help you reach your NaNoWriMo goal
• Come up with writing prompts for the whole month in advance

In this episode

• What does a "cleared" calendar look like?
• How can clearing the calendar improve one's productivity?
• Why you shouldn't fill up your calendar with work if you are self-employed
• A clear calendar is open to interruptions and stimulates creativity
• How to stay focused and avoid getting lost in free time
• How to be healthy active on social media
• An experiment that you can try at home or at the office
• How clearing the calendar can be used by employees at traditional or regimented offices
• How to observe the benefits of unstructured or free time
• Other ways to experiment with your calendar and free time

Related links

• Justin’s talk on YouTube
• Justin is the co-founder of Transistor.fm
• Learn more about Justin at JustinJackson.ca
• Follow @mijustin on Twitter
• Justin (megajustin) livestreams on Twitch
• Books by Basecamp
• Shape Up by Ryan Singer
• 11 Reasons Why You Should Schedule Free Time For Yourself by Glenn Santos

Related Episodes

• 003. Goals and Actions Episode
• 006. Top Disciplines Episode
• 009. Working On Your Own Episode
• 019. The Optimization Trap
• 020. Multitasking
• 021. Staying Organized with Idea Management
• 023. 3 Hat Productivity with Christian Genco
• 027. Productive Creativity with Pete Sena

Where to find Tim Mitra online

• @TimMitra on Twitter
• Host of the More Than Just Code Podcast and Spockcast
• Cohost of RoundaboutFM
• it-guy.com
• Author of How to Keep Learning After 50
• Tim's SwiftTO talk about Neuroplasticity

Neuroplasticity

• Why should we keep learning?
• Neuroplasticity in simple terms
• The advantage of learning in 45-minute spurts
• Compound learning:
  1. Short-term memories
  2. Long-term memories through repetition
  3. Micro-skill development (building functions in the brain)
• Breaks help move memories from one level to the next
• Use communication to reinforce learning
  • Explain and seek confirmation
  • The rubber ducking technique
  • Using emoji to punctuate words with emotion
  • What the ~ at the end of a Tweet or text means
• Applying learning concepts to unlearning
  • The amygdala typically makes statements
  • The neocortex typically asks questions
  • Self-monitor and ask yourself questions to consciously replace habits

Related links

• Brainjo's Breakthrough Banjo Course
• Dr. Lara Boyd's TEDx Talk about Neuroplasticity
• Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language by Gretchen McCulloch

Related episodes

• Multitasking

In this episode

• The value in public speaking for you and your audience
• How to understand your audience by researching the conference
• Different ways to organize a talk: story-telling, LEGO instructions, fireside chat, speed dating, and more
• How to handle interruptions and questions
• Following up with your audience after your talk
• Tips for promoting yourself and your work without giving a sales pitch
• Practice: it smooths out the wrinkles and lets your confidence shine
• Different ways to practice your talk before the big event
• Use simple slides, don't switch apps, use a clicker, more words, fewer pictures, use notes
• Observe your body language, tone, pace, and filler words
• How to turn your nervousness into confidence and excitement
• Get extra practice at Toastmasters, meetups, and lunch-and-learns, but remember to get feedback
• Figure out what to speak about by considering past conference topics, your own expertise, whatever excites you, and where you want to grow
• How to find speaking gigs and tips for getting accepted to speak

Special thanks to

• Justin Jackson
• Kristen Belcher
• Mohammad Faani
• Olivia Liddell
• Patrick Masi

Related episodes

• Event Planning with Jessica D'Amico

Where we plan events

• Erik: Lansing Codes
• Leo: Lansing Marketing Hackers
• Jess: Peers Conference

As self-employed folks, events are a great way to get feedback from others and learn new things. Part of productivity isn’t just about doing it all yourself, but also about reaching out to others and educating yourself.

Getting started with event planning

• Organizing an event as a way to connect people that can help each other out
• Events have many benefits including establishing oneself in a community, educating others, reinforcing skills, developing new skills, and opportunities to travel
• Find speakers by paying attention to who's talking online and offer a way to accept proposals
• Find sponsors and volunteers by picking ambassadors who know an area well and are eager to ask others for help
• For a first event, start small, set reasonable goals, and keep logistics such as room size in mind
• As an event grows, try different things to keep things fresh and understand what the audience wants
• Some ways to get participants contributing:
  • Ask "what are you working on?"
  • Ask an audience about the challenges they face
  • Host speed-dating style events
  • Think about formats you've never used before
• Consider the power dynamics at your event
• Pick a venue that is physically accessible and easy to get to
• Reach a wider audience by repeating your message a lot, talk about what you're doing, help people be seen, offer discounts and free tickets to underrepresented people
• Twitter is a great place to practice talking to and helping others

There will be challenges

• Start locally and keep it simple to avoid unnecessary challenges
• Make sure to cover the basic necessities like water and bathrooms
• Help everyone feel welcome
• Don't make the event a sales pitch
• Pay attention to the things that feel right
• Paying a venue to manage logistics can reduce the stress and planning you need to do, but can cost more and seem less authentic
• Have a few backup speakers or audience members who can wing a conversation
• Layout a logistics plan down to the minute
• Audiences are often sympathetic when challenges arise
• Write down the things you want to pay attention to and keep it in mind when reading tweets, considering proposals, etc.
• Make sure your profiles on social media direct people where you want them to get involved
• Have a Code of Conduct and be clear about it
• Train on important issues like how to remove a disruptor and what to do in a medical emergency
• You can’t have a plan for everything, but planning helps prepare for the unexpected things too
• Be selective about where you’re spending your time
• Emulate people you think are doing it well

Useful tools

• Google Sheets for budget tracking
• TypeForm for forms and surveys
• Zapier for scheduling and automating communication
• Trello for task management
• Twitter Lists for reaching and connecting people
• TweetBot to more effectively navigate Twitter
• Buffer for scheduling social media
• Slack for coordinating with your team

Where to find Jess

• Twitter: @justjessdc
• Peers Conference
• DC Women Who Code

Introduction

• Pete Sena (@petesena) is the founder, CEO, and CCO of Digital Surgeons, a design, branding, and digital marketing consultancy
• Pete explains his responsibilities as Chief Creative Officer

The intersection of creativity and productivity

• Create / Produce vs. Creativity / Productivity
• The seesaw of effectiveness and efficiency
• Creativity is born from curiosity
• Productivity is how people are a pro at their craft
• Critical thinking is important for becoming great creatives
• Being "Creatively productive"
• "Creativity is just connecting things." -Steve Jobs
• "My powers are ordinary. Only my application brings me success." -Isaac Newton
• Understanding shortcuts
• Repetitive vs. Unique

Managing creative duties and other responsibilities

• How productivity differs in a CEO and a CCO role
• “Labels are important but be careful how they define and limit you”
• Set a vision
• Remove obstacles
• Methods for giving all roles the attention they need
• Mitigating affronts to productivity in different roles

Tips for managing creative people

• Stop managing creative people!
• Understand their motivations and enable them
• Servant leadership
• Daniel Pink’s Drive: three intrinsic motivators
• Problems that are unique to creative teams and their work
• Pete's advice for a new manager of a creative team
• Dividing work up in a creative team
• Find out why work is important to the team and client
• Translating the needs and wants of the client
• Look at team members, project requirements, brands, rules, etc.
• Logistical planning meetings for dividing tasks and ensuring consistent messaging
• Create concepts to review
• Find opportunities for people to collaborate

Cultivating a creative skill

• Critical thinking is clearly listening to the intention of the person who is saying or writing something
• Design thinking exercises
• Combine uncommon things (three columns exercise)
• Idea discussion > brainstorming
• Keep using it. If you’re not, then the skill will diminish.
• Outside of work: make a vision board, mash sources from media (e.g. magazines)
• Improving a creative skill over lunch breaks
• Why do you want to start that creative thing? (5 why’s)
  • If there are multiple answers, split them up and explore them
  • Elon Musk's first-principles thinking
  • Use existing tools, read, and watch others
  • Micro progress and the power of getting started, a James Clear interview
  • Make a game out of it
• Other ways someone can grow a creative skill
• The importance of motivation, inspiration, technique, gumption, and experience
• Knowing where to focus your energy when developing a skill

Related links

• Digital Surgeons
• Warren Berger’s Three-Part Method for More Creativity on Farnam Street
• Pete Sena blogs about productivity on Medium
• Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott for better writing
• Write Dumb: Writing Better By Thinking Less by James Dowd

Related episodes

• 017. Atomic Habits by James Clear - Part 1
• 018. Atomic Habits by James Clear - Part 2