Productivity Book Group

I recently had the pleasure of having on the show with me, “Nametag Scott” Ginsberg, author, speaker, strategist, filmmaker, publisher, songwriter, and world record holder of wearing nametags. We discussed his Prolific book trilogy on this episode:

* Prolific: The Art & Science of Creating, Collecting and Communicating Your Ideas [ http://amzn.to/23GBwg5 ]

* When in Doubt, Create: Daily Strategies for Becoming Prolific [ http://amzn.to/23GCatQ ]

* When in Doubt, Commit: More Daily Strategies for Becoming Prolific [ http://amzn.to/23GC99v ]

Enjoy the interview!

Productivity Book Group Author Interview Series brings discussion participants, readers, and listeners of the podcast into contact with new and interesting productivity books and authors. I’ll be interviewing authors that we have read or will be reading here on Productivity Book Group, as well as other authors I find worth sharing with you all. These podcast interviews are injected between our normal discussion-format episodes that are published here on Productivity Book Group.

The Amazon book descriptions:

Prolific

How do you stay inspired when your job is to inspire others? When your work demands a consistent volume of idea creation, originality of voice is difficult to sustain over time. But what if you could create a unique inspiration pool that nobody else could replicate? What if you could build a system of rituals, practices and environments so new ideas flow as a natural consequence of your life? What if you could leverage identity and technology to establish a unique creative voice and a robust body of work? You would be become prolific. That’s the adjective people have always used to describe me. Prolific. Imagine The Artist’s Way meets Getting Things Done meets Behind the Music. That’s the best way to describe the book you’re about to read. And my goal is that this informative, engaging and inspiring program changes the way you think about the way you think. It’s more than just a collection of exercises; it’s a rubric for operable behaviors at all stages and levels of the creative process. Here’s what will you learn in this program: How to eliminate creative blocks for life with daily routines, rituals, postures and disciplines. How to create rigor around your intellectual property and knowledge management with and infrastructure and machinery to help kick things out. How to build a personalized content management system for capturing, cataloguing and communicating your thoughts and feelings. How to more fully flesh out your thoughts and messages for maximum impact. How to strategically publish and position your body of work as a crafter of compelling content. How to rewrite your creative vocabulary with a new lexicon of working. It’s the art and science of collecting, creating and communicating your ideas. Let’s get prolific.

When in Doubt, Create

All creativity begins with the moment of conception. That little piece of kindling that gets the fire going. That initial source of inspiration that takes on a life of its own. That single note from which the entire symphony grows. That single spark of life that signals an idea’s movement value, almost screaming to us, something wants to be built here. This book is a series of creativity case studies,, deconstructing my favorite moments of conception from popular movies. Each chapter contains a scene from a different film, along with a series of lessons we can learn from the characters.Go be prolific!

When in Doubt, Commit

All creativity begins with the moment of conception.

Productivity Book Group Author Interview Series is an opportunity to learn about new and interesting productivity books and authors. I’ll be interviewing some of the authors that we have read or will be reading here on Productivity Book Group as well as other authors. These shorter podcast interviews will be injected between our normal discussion-format episodes that are published here on Productivity Book Group.

I recently had the pleasure of interviewing Christoph Trappe, author of Get Real: Telling Authentic Stories for Long-term Success [ http://amzn.to/1nzz5Lh ]. Enjoy the interview!

The Amazon book description states:

Get Real: Telling Authentic Stories for Long-term Success discusses why you, your organization and anyone really should consider sharing authentic stories with each other, how to do it, what barriers you are likely to encounter and how to keep going. Authentic storytelling is a technique that you can easily include in your content marketing program and that can help your organization remain relevant long term.

Our next reading selections are:

Show Notes:

(Please listen to understand the context of the resources provided. If we missed something, please comment on the episode and let us know!)

* Christoph Trappe’s blog, AuthenticStorytelling.net

* To Sell Is Human [ http://amzn.to/2033w96 ] by Daniel H. Pink

* “How to Subscribe From Somebody’s Facebook Live Notifications” | http://authenticstorytelling.net/unsubscribe-somebodys-facebook-live-notifications/

* Christoph Trappe on Twitter [ http://twitter.com/ctrappe ]

Note: All registered service marks, trademarks and other copyrighted materials mentioned on the podcast are that of their respective owners. This group is not affiliated with or officially endorsed by those copyright owners.

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness [ http://amzn.to/1rbRqZj ] by University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler (“THAY-LUHR”) and Harvard Law School Professor Cass Sunstein. Enjoy the discussion!

The Amazon book description states:

Nudge is about choices—how we make them and how we can make better ones. Drawing on decades of research in the fields of behavioral science and economics, authors Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein offer a new perspective on preventing the countless mistakes we make—ill-advised personal investments, consumption of unhealthy foods, neglect of our natural resources—and show us how sensible “choice architecture” can successfully nudge people toward the best decisions. In the tradition of The Tipping Point and Freakonomics, Nudge is straightforward, informative, and entertaining—a must-read for anyone interested in our individual and collective well-being.

Our next reading selections are:

2/27/2016 The 4-Hour Workweek: Escape 9-5, Live Anywhere, and Join the New Rich (Expanded and Updated) by Timothy Ferriss http://amzn.to/1nzHvMq

3/26/2016 Better Than Before: Mastering the Habits of Our Everyday Lives by Gretchen Rubin http://amzn.to/1OQLjKy

Show Notes:

(Please listen to understand the context of the resources provided. If we missed something, please comment on the episode and let us know!)

25 Tips for Productivity [ http://amzn.to/1UxQfUg ] by Augusto Pinaud [ http://augustopinaud.com ]

Nudge blog [ http://nudges.org/ ]

Pavlok [ http://pavlok.com/ ]

FitBit [ http://fitbit.com/ ]

Quantified Self [ http://quantifiedself.com/ ]

* Start With Why [ http://amzn.to/1KhHo8Z ] by Simon Sinek / TED Talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sioZd3AxmnE

* The Art of Thinking Clearly [ <...

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed Personal Kanban | Mapping Work, Navigating Life [ http://amzn.to/WltYRi ] by Jim Benson and Tonianne DeMaria Barry. Enjoy the discussion!

The Amazon book description for Personal Kanban states:

Machines need to be productive. People need to be effective. Productivity books focus on doing more, Jim and Tonianne want you to focus on doing better. Personal Kanban is about choosing the right work at the right time. Recognizing why we do the things we do. Understanding the impact of our actions. Creating value – not just product. For ourselves, our families, our friends, our co-workers. For our legacy. Personal Kanban takes the same Lean principles from manufacturing that led the Japanese auto industry to become a global leader in quality, and applies them to individual and team work. Personal Kanban asks only that we visualize our work and limit our work-in-progress. Visualizing work allows us to transform our conceptual and threatening workload into an actionable, context-sensitive flow. Limiting our work-in-progress helps us complete what we start and understand the value of our choices.

Our next reading selection is:

Productivity Book Group will be discussing Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness by  Richard H. Thaler and Cass R. Sunstein! – http://amzn.to/1rbRqZj

2016’s complete reading list is available at http://productivitybookgroup.org/upcoming-books/

 

Show Notes:

* We discussed Getting Things Done (Revised Edition – 2015) by David Allen – http://amzn.to/1MZC0Sp – last year: Getting Things Done (Revised Edition 2015) – Productivity Book Group.

* We have had a series of calls about Getting Things Done here on Productivity Book Group:

* Getting Things Done: Part 1: The Art of Getting Things Done: Introduction and Chapters 1-3

* Getting Things Done: Part 2a: Practicing Stress-Free Productivity: Chapters 4-6

* Getting Things Done: Part 2b: Practicing Stress-Free Productivity: Chapters 7-10

* Getting Things Done: Part 3: The Power of the Key Principles: Chapters 11-13 and Conclusion

* Also, there’s the GTD Virtual Study Group podcast worth checking out –

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions [ http://amzn.to/1lL2EIl ] by John C. Norcross, PhD. Enjoy the discussion!

Amazon Book Description:

CHANGE IS HARD. But not if you know the five-step formula that works whether you’re trying to stop smoking or start recycling. Dr. John C. Norcross, an internationally recognized expert, has studied how people make transformative, permanent changes in their lives. Over the past thirty years, he and his research team have helped thousands of people overcome dozens of behavioral ailments, and now his revolutionary scientific approach to personal improvement is available in this indispensable guide.

Unlike the overwhelming majority of self-help books, the Changeology plan has a documented track record of success. Whether you want to quit overeating or drinking or end depression, debt, or relationship distress, Dr. Norcross gives you the tools you need to change within ninety days. In addition, you can personalize your journey with Check Yourself assessments and helpful tools on the author’s interactive website, ChangeologyBook.com.

Whatever your goal or resolution, Changeology will help you achieve a life filled with greater health and happiness.

Our next reading selections are:

* 1/2/2016 at noon ET – Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life – Tonianne DeMaria Barry, Jim Benson – http://amzn.to/WltYRi

* 1/30/2016 at noon ET – Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness – Richard H. Thaler, Cass R. Sunstein – http://amzn.to/1rbRqZj

Show Notes:

(Please listen to understand the context of the resources provided. If we missed something, please comment on the episode and let us know!)

* Changeology’s website tools – http://changeologybook.com

* Soundview Executive Book Summary for Changeology – http://www.summary.com/book-summaries/_/Changeology/

* Elder Wisdom Circle – http://elderwisdomcircle.org/

The callers you hear in this episode are readers just like you, and you are more than welcome to join us on the live calls to discuss productivity books too! Please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and find out the details and the schedule for upcoming book discussion calls. If you plan to read ahead or read a little more slowly, please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and check out the schedule on the “Upcoming Books” page.

Please feel free to visit iTunes, Stitcher or whichever podcast directory or app you prefer to access Productivity Book Group…and feel free to review us there! This helps expand our readership and bring new discussion callers into the fold. Thank you.

Finally, all podcast episodes are archived at ProductivityBookGroup.org under “Episodes” so if you missed a call and wan...

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity (Revised Edition – 2015) [http://amzn.to/1CcpESN] by David Allen. Enjoy the discussion!

A complete re-write of David Allen’s best-selling 2001 Getting Things Done, this edition of “GTD” reinforces all the same principles that make this productivity methodology top-notch but he adds several new chapters to help refine our understanding and implementation strategies for GTD. This discussion focused on those updates and changes in this edition.

The Amazon book description states:

Since it was first published almost fifteen years ago, David Allen’s Getting Things Done has become one of the most influential business books of its era, and the ultimate book on personal organization. “GTD” is now shorthand for an entire way of approaching professional and personal tasks, and has spawned an entire culture of websites, organizational tools, seminars, and offshoots.

Allen has rewritten the book from start to finish, tweaking his classic text with important perspectives on the new workplace, and adding material that will make the book fresh and relevant for years to come. This new edition of Getting Things Done will be welcomed not only by its hundreds of thousands of existing fans but also by a whole new generation eager to adopt its proven principles.

Our next reading selections are:

* 12/5/2015 at noon ET – Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions – John C. Norcross, Kristin Loberg, Jonathon Norcross – http://amzn.to/1lL2EIl

* 1/2/2016 at noon ET – Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life – Tonianne DeMaria Barry, Jim Benson – http://amzn.to/WltYRi

Show Notes:

(Please listen to understand the context of the resources provided. If we missed something, please comment on the episode and let us know!)

* Intelligence Squared Debates | Smart Technology Is Making Us Dumb – http://goo.gl/KHh5LS

The callers you hear in this episode are readers just like you, and you are more than welcome to join us on the live calls to discuss productivity books too! Please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and find out the details and the schedule for upcoming book discussion calls. If you plan to read ahead or read a little more slowly, please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and check out the schedule on the “Upcoming Books” page.

Please feel free to visit iTunes, Stitcher or whichever podcast directory or app you prefer to access Productivity Book Group…and feel free to review us there! This helps expand our readership and bring new discussion callers into the fold. Thank you.

Finally, all podcast episodes are archived at ProductivityBookGroup.org under “Episodes” so if you missed a call and want to review it, feel free to head over and give them a listen.

Note: All registered service marks, trademarks and other copyrighted materials mentioned on the podcast are that of their respective owners. This group is not affiliated with or officially endorsed by those copyright owners.

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed The Joy of Less, A Minimalist Living Guide: How to Declutter, Organize, and Simplify Your Life [http://amzn.to/YgAYAz] by Francine Jay. Enjoy the discussion!

The Amazon book description states:

Having less stuff is the key to happiness.

Do you ever feel overwhelmed, instead of overjoyed, by all your possessions? Do you secretly wish a gale force wind would blow the clutter from your home? If so, it’s time to simplify your life!

The Joy of Less is a fun, lighthearted guide to minimalist living. Part One provides an inspirational pep talk on the joys and rewards of paring down. Part Two presents the STREAMLINE method: ten easy steps to rid your house of clutter. Part Three goes room by room, outlining specific ways to tackle each one. Part Four helps you trim your to-do list and free up your time, and explains how saving space in your closets can save the planet.

Francine Jay started blogging about minimalist living in 2009 and has published over 100,000 copies of her three books, Frugillionaire, The Joy of Less, and Miss Minimalist. Francine is a minimalist and describes “being a minimalist isn’t only about white walls and empty spaces. It’s about eliminating the distractions that keep us from fully appreciating life” on her website, MissMinimalist.com.

Our next reading selections are:

* 12/5/2015 at noon ET – Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions – John C. Norcross, Kristin Loberg, Jonathon Norcross – http://amzn.to/1lL2EIl

* 1/2/2016 at noon ET – Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life – Tonianne DeMaria Barry, Jim Benson – http://amzn.to/WltYRi

Show Notes:

* One Year to an Organized Life: From Your Closets to Your Finances, the Week-by-Week Guide to Getting Completely Organized for Good – Regina Leeds

* One Year to an Organized Work Life: From Your Desk to Your Deadlines, the Week-by-Week Guide to Eliminating Office Stress for Good – Regina Leeds

* The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing – Marie Kondo

* Decluttering and Organization by Professional Organizer Bev Hitchins of Align Your Life

* Shoeboxed [ http://shoeboxed.com ]

Note: All registered service marks, trademarks and other copyrighted materials mentioned on the podcast are that of their respective owners. This group is not affiliated with or officially endorsed by those copyright owners.

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed the second half of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience [ http://amzn.to/1lE8nPz ] – by the renowned psychologist, Dr. Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi. Enjoy the discussion!

Dr. Czikszentmihalyi is currently Claremont Graduate University’s Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management. He was formerly a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago for 31 years, also serving as the department head of psychology until 2000. As the father of positive psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman, has said, Dr. Czikszentmihalyi is the world’s leading positive psychology researcher.

In 1990, he published, Flow, and I thought it would be good to explain his definition of “flow” and then we can get into the discussion.

Over the course of 900 interviews, Dr. C.’s analysis of happy people from all walks of life and professions around the globe, he started to hear a word being used for this condition of ecstatic absorption in one’s activity–”flow.” Flow is this effortless state of doing and can be defined by its parts. We may also know this in athletics terms as being “in the zone.”

Through Dr. C.’s research he has identified seven major components:

* Goals and rules of the activity are clear, not confusing, and not conflicting, with immediate, moment by moment feedback.

* Challenges of the activity are matched with the skills of the person.

* Duality of attention disappears; merged action and awareness. Think of this as absolute focus.

* Intensity of the present moment…creating a new reality…what he calls “escape forward”…moving you into a focus, productive modality.

* A confidence in your control of a experience.

* Ego defenses dissipate and you lose a sense of self-consciousness. After the activity, self-esteem increases; one of the paradoxes of flow.

* Time warps. More time passes than experience, or time slows down relative to reality.

These are the conditions most-often necessary to achieve flow in your life. Czikszentmihalyi aims in the book, Flow, to engage the reader in knowing as much about these components so that he or she can increase flow in everyday life.

FAVORITE QUOTATION

Here is my favorite quotation from Dr. Czikszentmihalyi’s Flow:

…instead of using our physical and mental resources to experience flow, most of us spend many hours each week watching celebrated athletes play in enormous stadiums. Instead of making music, we listen to platinum records cut by millionaire musicians. Instead of making art, we go to admire paintings that brought in the highest bid at the latest auction. We do not run risks acting on our beliefs, but occupy each day watching actors who pretend to have adventures, engaged in mock-meaningful action. This vicarious participation is able to mask, at least temporarily, the underlying emptiness of wasted time. But it is a very pale substitute for attention invested in real challenges. The flow experience that results from the use of skills leads to growth; passive entertainment leads nowhere. (p. 162)

The callers you hear in this episode are readers just like you, and you are more than welcome to join us on the live calls to discuss productivity books too! Please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and find out the details and the schedule for upcoming book discussion calls. If you plan to read ahead or read a little more slowly, please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and check out the schedule on the “Upcoming Books” page.

Please feel free to visit iTunes, Stitcher or whichever podcast directory or app you pre...

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed the first half of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience [ http://amzn.to/1lE8nPz ] by the renowned psychologist, Dr. Mihalyi Czikszentmihalyi. Enjoy the discussion!

Dr. Czikszentmihalyi is currently Claremont Graduate University’s Distinguished Professor of Psychology and Management. He was formerly a professor of psychology at the University of Chicago for 31 years, also serving as the department head of psychology until 2000. As the father of positive psychology, Dr. Martin Seligman, has said, Dr. Czikszentmihalyi is the world’s leading positive psychology researcher.

In 1990, he published, Flow, and I thought it would be good to explain his definition of “flow” and then we can get into the discussion.

Over the course of 900 interviews, Dr. C.’s analysis of happy people from all walks of life and professions around the globe, he started to hear a word being used for this condition of ecstatic absorption in one’s activity–”flow.” Flow is this effortless state of doing and can be defined by its parts. We may also know this in athletics terms as being “in the zone.”

Through Dr. C.’s research he has identified seven major components:

* Goals and rules of the activity are clear, not confusing, and not conflicting, with immediate, moment by moment feedback.

* Challenges of the activity are matched with the skills of the person.

* Duality of attention disappears; merged action and awareness. Think of this as absolute focus.

* Intensity of the present moment…creating a new reality…what he calls “escape forward”…moving you into a focus, productive modality.

* A confidence in your control of a experience.

* Ego defenses dissipate and you lose a sense of self-consciousness. After the activity, self-esteem increases; one of the paradoxes of flow.

* Time warps. More time passes than experience, or time slows down relative to reality.

These are the conditions most-often necessary to achieve flow in your life. Czikszentmihalyi aims in the book, Flow, to engage the reader in knowing as much about these components so that he or she can increase flow in everyday life.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

Q1. What is “happiness” to you? And, what do you think about Dr. Czikszentmihalyi’s thoughts on happiness?

Q2. Can you describe times when you achieve flow?

Q3. How do you feel like you can manufacture more components of flow into your personal and family life?

Q4. Physical and mental improvement seem to be the easiest first step toward flow, according to the author. What ways can you “dip your toe” into flow this way?

Q5. How do you feel like you can create more opportunities for flow in your professional life?

Q6. Dr. C. talks about passive experiences, like watching TV where others are in a state of flow, as being counter to us finding our own states of flow. In what ways do you think we can achieve flow even during passive activities to make them active? And, how do we combat this cultural shift toward more sedentary, passive experience?

The callers you hear in this episode are readers just like you, and you are more than welcome to join us on the live calls to discuss productivity books too! Please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and find out the details and the schedule for upcoming book discussion calls. If you plan to read ahead or read a little more slowly, please visit ProductivityBookGroup.org and check out the schedule on the “Upcoming Books” page.

Please feel free to visit iTunes, Stitcher or whichever podcast directory or app you prefer to acc...

Productivity Book Group [ http://productivitybookgroup.org ] discussed Brilliant Email: How to win back time and take control of your inbox [ http://amzn.to/1JzaARA ] by Monica Seeley, PhD. Enjoy the discussion!

Our next reading selections are:

* 12/5/2015 at noon ET – Changeology: 5 Steps to Realizing Your Goals and Resolutions – John C. Norcross, Kristin Loberg, Jonathon Norcross – http://amzn.to/1lL2EIl

* 1/2/2016 at noon ET – Personal Kanban: Mapping Work | Navigating Life – Tonianne DeMaria Barry, Jim Benson – http://amzn.to/WltYRi

NOTES:

* Email Charter – http://emailcharter.org

* Inbox by Google – http://inbox.google.com

* Sanebox – http://sanebox.com

* Unroll.me – http://unroll.me

* Grammarly – http://grammarly.com/

* Ginger Software – http://gingersoftware.com

* Microsoft Sharepoint – https://products.office.com/en-us/sharepoint/collaboration

* Dropbox – http://dropbox.com

* Box – http://box.com

* Google Apps for Work – https://goo.gl/Jz3w4h

The referral link above to Google Apps for Work offers $10.00 USD off per user for the first year of service. See these instructions and use these redemption codes:

4DNELJGAHXKEUR

AE4EQ69DP3VJEW

* OoberDocs – http://ooberdocs.com

(Please listen to understand the context of the resources provided. If we missed something, please comment on the episode and let us know!)

Note: All registered service marks, trademarks and other copyrighted materials mentioned on the podcast are that of their respective owners. This group is not affiliated with or officially endorsed by those copyright owners.