ProductivityCast

Consider this: you couldn't have gotten to this cast without reflection. Consciously or unconsciously, you reflected on taking that action that lead you here, right now, preparing to listen to ProductivityCast. But, downloading this episode won't simply, magically make you more productive. There's much more to it. You need to listen to the substance, then reflect on how the knowledge bomb Augusto, Francis and Art drop in this cast will help you. ;) So, enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, PhD

Getting Things Done: The Art of Stress-Free Productivity by David Allen

Evernote

OneNote

SkedPal

Todoist

Mind map

Research on mind mapping

Bullet Journal

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio).

Transcript coming soon!

Where do you work best? And for what type of work (focused thinking work, diffuse thinking work, mundane/ministerial tasks, big projects that require multiple modalities, or specialized handcrafting) do you do best in what environment? Creating your ideal workspace is important to being able to be and stay productive. In this cast, the ProductivityCast team discusses the factors and tools to get and sustain productivity in your workspace.

Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

The Zeigarnik Effect

Digital Bankruptcy

Inbox Zero

Unclutterer

80/20 Pareto Principle

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio).

0:00:00.030,0:00:04.110

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.809

come to the right place

0:00:07.109,0:00:12.360

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.809,0:00:14.820

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.360,0:00:18.029

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:14.820,0:00:20.939

Augusto Pinaud good morning everybody and

0:00:18.029,0:00:24.180

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:20.939,0:00:28.410

show about all things productivity today

0:00:24.180,0:00:31.890

we have Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks

0:00:28.410,0:00:33.930

with us and with me Augusto Pinaud

0:00:31.890,0:00:36.540

and Ray is somewhere in the world

0:00:33.930,0:00:39.149

missing hopefully having fun or sleeping

0:00:36.540,0:00:41.390

according to the recording time we have

0:00:39.149,0:00:45.719

today we are going to be talking about

0:00:41.390,0:00:48.899

creating your ideal workspace it is

0:00:45.719,0:00:51.059

important to understand what are the

0:00:48.899,0:00:53.730

needs of your work-place mostly or the

0:00:51.059,0:00:57.149

workspace mostly because you know will

0:00:53.730,0:01:00.600

allows you to establish higher levels of

0:00:57.149,0:01:02.430

productivity in that space or if you are

0:01:00.600,0:01:05.729

the lucky kind who can have it anywhere

0:01:02.430,0:01:08.400

anywhere so today we would like to split

0:01:05.729,0:01:11.909

the show in three parts the first part

0:01:08.400,0:01:14.070

will be where do we work best the second

0:01:11.909,0:01:17.330

part were the factors for that

0:01:14.070,0:01:20.580

and finally the effects on having that

0:01:17.330,0:01:23.759

ideal workspace and what you should if

0:01:20.580,0:01:25.560

you should have ownership on it or not

0:01:23.759,0:01:29.400

so how are you guys this morning

0:01:25.560,0:01:32.189

I'm fine a bang I'm doing well it's a

0:01:29.400,0:01:34.380

kind of drizzly day here right now but

0:01:32.189,0:01:36.900

you know mountain about mmm working

0:01:34.380,0:01:38.939

weird work needs to be done so I'm doing

0:01:36.900,0:01:41.220

well how about you been pretty good

0:01:38.939,0:01:44.130

doing pretty good and joined a really

0:01:41.220,0:01:46.649

nice day out of the window so I'm

0:01:44.130,0:01:48.659

working on the home office today and

0:01:46.649,0:01:52.380

record in actually from the home office

0:01:48.659,0:01:55.710

let's start this conversation where did

0:01:52.380,0:01:59.780

you work best my first thought was that

0:01:55.710,0:02:04.530

it worked best in my my office and

0:01:59.780,0:02:08.280

ideally my office is a quiet spot quiet

0:02:04.530,0:02:12.690

place no interruptions there's no phones

0:02:08.280,0:02:14.920

and pings and knocks and

0:02:12.690,0:02:17.980

no interruptions from the outside

0:02:14.920,0:02:21.430

environment but as I started to think

0:02:17.980,0:02:24.910

about it some more it's it's not for the

0:02:21.430,0:02:27.580

work that requires the quiet that I need

0:02:24.910,0:02:29.620

to get it done then my office is the

0:02:27.580,0:02:31.120

best place but what about when I'm

0:02:29.620,0:02:33.790

giving a speech I can't say that's the

0:02:31.120,0:02:36.040

best place to give a speech is in my

0:02:33.790,0:02:38.440

office you know be kind of crazy to say

0:02:36.040,0:02:40.810

that so it it's a tricky question

0:02:38.440,0:02:43.120

because I started to think that maybe

0:02:40.810,0:02:45.130

it's not as simple as it seems that

0:02:43.120,0:02:47.200

there is in order for me to give my best

0:02:45.130,0:02:48.880

speech for example it's not the case

0:02:47.200,0:02:50.530

that I have to be in my office it's the

0:02:48.880,0:02:53.260

case that I have to be in uninterrupted

0:02:50.530,0:02:56.110

and and I can have an environment in

0:02:53.260,0:02:58.480

which I can be focused so I then pivot

0:02:56.110,0:03:01.540

away from it having anything to do with

0:02:58.480,0:03:03.520

geography and that then I started to

0:03:01.540,0:03:06.070

think okay it has something to do with

0:03:03.520,0:03:08.920

being able to focus for a particular

0:03:06.070,0:03:11.380

level of intensity for as long as it

0:03:08.920,0:03:14.890

takes and that didn't seem to be boned

0:03:11.380,0:03:18.430

by geography it's it's more a function

0:03:14.890,0:03:21.070

of the environment as I'm able to create

0:03:18.430,0:03:23.530

it I think that that it's not really jog

0:03:21.070,0:03:25.930

rafi for me it's the environment as I

0:03:23.530,0:03:29.080

can create it yeah I gotta agree with

0:03:25.930,0:03:31.180

you on that one Francis for me a lot of

0:03:29.080,0:03:34.330

my work takes me to client locations or

0:03:31.180,0:03:38.560

various places and being able to create

0:03:34.330,0:03:40.840

a work space wherever I am is critical

0:03:38.560,0:03:42.370

for me to be able to be productive so

0:03:40.840,0:03:44.980

when I look at things such as you know

0:03:42.370,0:03:46.959

how am I going to work best my

0:03:44.980,0:03:48.700

headphones are probably one of the

0:03:46.959,0:03:51.880

biggest contributors to that to be able

0:03:48.700,0:03:54.100

to plug in to a sound source put in my

0:03:51.880,0:03:56.440

headphones block out the outside sound

0:03:54.100,0:03:58.390

and drop into a flow state to be able to

0:03:56.440,0:04:01.360

get work done that's what makes or

0:03:58.390,0:04:03.430

breaks it for me now saying that I did

0:04:01.360,0:04:05.620

spend four years working directly from a

0:04:03.430,0:04:08.170

home office and that was it was very

0:04:05.620,0:04:10.480

nice to have that isolated environment

0:04:08.170,0:04:12.310

you knew you had dedicated focus for

0:04:10.480,0:04:16.600

extended periods of time but I don't

0:04:12.310,0:04:19.510

think that that decrese how productive

0:04:16.600,0:04:22.900

someone will be you really have to find

0:04:19.510,0:04:26.139

a way that you can put your mind in the

0:04:22.900,0:04:27.939

right operating state regardless of the

0:04:26.139,0:04:30.909

because if the environment is what's

0:04:27.939,0:04:32.680

preventing you from being productive you

0:04:30.909,0:04:34.509

can either change the environment which

0:04:32.680,0:04:37.330

unfortunately is not an option for many

0:04:34.509,0:04:39.639

people or you can go through and you can

0:04:37.330,0:04:41.979

just find a way to create your own

0:04:39.639,0:04:44.319

little bubble so that's what I do I

0:04:41.979,0:04:46.389

carried the gear that I need in my bag

0:04:44.319,0:04:48.699

and I can sit down and create a bubble

0:04:46.389,0:04:51.789

somewhere and get work done you know it

0:04:48.699,0:04:55.449

is interesting you put it that way I if

0:04:51.789,0:04:58.300

I look back to my work experienced there

0:04:55.449,0:05:02.110

has been trickier up to this point at

0:04:58.300,0:05:04.479

least three really clear work styles you

0:05:02.110,0:05:08.529

know when I start that it was really

0:05:04.479,0:05:13.270

office bound and it was trying to make

0:05:08.529,0:05:16.509

that space productive and been able to

0:05:13.270,0:05:20.560

get in the zone between you know that

0:05:16.509,0:05:23.529

particular space there is a second stage

0:05:20.560,0:05:27.669

where I was what we will call a road

0:05:23.529,0:05:30.909

warrior and I was traveling 250,000

0:05:27.669,0:05:33.279

miles per year where I was pretty much

0:05:30.909,0:05:35.580

in that situation you are describing you

0:05:33.279,0:05:38.680

know where I needed to be productive

0:05:35.580,0:05:40.900

anywhere didn't matter it was an

0:05:38.680,0:05:44.650

airplane you know or a cramped airplane

0:05:40.900,0:05:48.129

or a hotel room or looking at the ocean

0:05:44.650,0:05:50.469

close to a client side and then it it's

0:05:48.129,0:05:53.289

we can talk about that the more recent

0:05:50.469,0:05:57.939

stage and where I am where I have now

0:05:53.289,0:06:00.159

the flexibility to work anywhere I can

0:05:57.939,0:06:02.589

be here my home office I can actually be

0:06:00.159,0:06:06.610

in the office or I can be on a client

0:06:02.589,0:06:10.860

side and the problem is still the same

0:06:06.610,0:06:13.509

you still need to find a way to identify

0:06:10.860,0:06:17.259

what kind of work you are going to do

0:06:13.509,0:06:20.830

and how to get in the zone for that kind

0:06:17.259,0:06:22.990

of work in my particular case it depends

0:06:20.830,0:06:25.389

what I'm trying to accomplish and what

0:06:22.990,0:06:29....

Is doing more faster really better? When is slow good for productivity? That’s what the ProductivityCast team seeks to find out in this cast on productivity and the need for speed!

Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

Weekly Review (GTD)

4AM - Augusto Pinaud

“Effective Utilization” (primarily in consulting)

Ray’s Unschedule video tutorial (based on The Now Habit by Dr. Neil Fiore)

PROCRASTINATION, DEADLINES, AND PERFORMANCE: Self-Control by Precommitment by Dan Ariely and Klaus Wertenbroch

Francis’s paper, Reducing the Risk of Un-Productive Team Members

Mindset by Carol Dweck, PhD

The pace of life in 31 countries

Reducing the Risk of Un-Productive Team Members

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, PhD

I’m So Busy I Must Be Important

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio).

0:00:00.000,0:00:04.110

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.809

come to the right place

0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.809,0:00:15.000

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.540,0:00:16.940

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:15.000,0:00:19.920

Augusto Pinaud

0:00:16.940,0:00:21.570

welcome everybody to productivity cast

0:00:19.920,0:00:23.880

the weekly show about all things

0:00:21.570,0:00:25.980

personal productivity we are back with

0:00:23.880,0:00:28.710

another action-packed episode of

0:00:25.980,0:00:29.279

productivity cast I have with me on the

0:00:28.710,0:00:31.800

show today

0:00:29.279,0:00:34.610

Augusto Pinaud Francis Wade and

0:00:31.800,0:00:37.890

Art Gelwicks we're going to be talking about

0:00:34.610,0:00:40.200

productivity and the need for speed you

0:00:37.890,0:00:43.200

know I'm a New Yorker as some people

0:00:40.200,0:00:46.410

know and as a New Yorker I'm frequently

0:00:43.200,0:00:48.420

told that I speak really fast and I tell

0:00:46.410,0:00:52.710

them that I just am more efficient with

0:00:48.420,0:00:54.449

communicating but but you know what's

0:00:52.710,0:00:55.890

really interesting about this is that I

0:00:54.449,0:00:58.739

think that I think that there are

0:00:55.890,0:01:01.739

different ways in which at least in

0:00:58.739,0:01:03.930

English people tend to see language

0:01:01.739,0:01:06.689

being communicated faster or slower for

0:01:03.930,0:01:08.430

example the British speak faster than

0:01:06.689,0:01:11.600

Americans they tend to think Americans

0:01:08.430,0:01:14.070

speak very very slowly with a drawl and

0:01:11.600,0:01:17.670

and I'm I've always been curious about

0:01:14.070,0:01:20.970

the the sort of linguistic cultures that

0:01:17.670,0:01:23.159

have developed because of that and but

0:01:20.970,0:01:26.820

today but I really want to focus on for

0:01:23.159,0:01:30.060

us all is really the importance of speed

0:01:26.820,0:01:32.520

in a productivity system that one is

0:01:30.060,0:01:34.710

developing what are the issues that we

0:01:32.520,0:01:37.259

tend to encounter when we when we do go

0:01:34.710,0:01:39.030

for speed over say any number of other

0:01:37.259,0:01:41.490

things that could be quality it could be

0:01:39.030,0:01:44.369

aesthetics it could be functionality and

0:01:41.490,0:01:46.409

and then finally first all to talk a

0:01:44.369,0:01:49.799

little bit about our own techniques for

0:01:46.409,0:01:52.290

getting more done and less time using

0:01:49.799,0:01:54.000

speed techniques in our own productivity

0:01:52.290,0:01:56.460

systems and where we might have some

0:01:54.000,0:01:59.850

positive consequences and maybe some

0:01:56.460,0:02:00.930

negative ones as well along the way good

0:01:59.850,0:02:04.350

morning everybody

0:02:00.930,0:02:06.630

this is a good tip nuts and I want to

0:02:04.350,0:02:08.190

mention a couple of things one regarding

0:02:06.630,0:02:12.000

the language of what answered your

0:02:08.190,0:02:13.800

question I am born and raised in

0:02:12.000,0:02:17.370

Venezuela

0:02:13.800,0:02:21.930

we Venezuelans tend to speak really

0:02:17.370,0:02:25.920

really tough years ago I married a lady

0:02:21.930,0:02:29.580

from Mexico and in Mexico of people

0:02:25.920,0:02:32.100

being Spanish was much much slower to

0:02:29.580,0:02:35.010

the point that if I talk to my parents

0:02:32.100,0:02:38.490

and I get home and I speak with my wife

0:02:35.010,0:02:41.160

she can know when I had I had speak with

0:02:38.490,0:02:45.780

my brothers or my parents because she

0:02:41.160,0:02:48.690

said that my speed increased tenfold so

0:02:45.780,0:02:50.790

I still thinks a matter of Christians if

0:02:48.690,0:02:52.950

you don't understand me faster you just

0:02:50.790,0:02:55.910

need to pay more attention but I made

0:02:52.950,0:02:59.790

mean agreement with the new yorker here

0:02:55.910,0:03:04.140

I did study Spanish underneath the

0:02:59.790,0:03:06.210

Colombian woman so so I must I must fall

0:03:04.140,0:03:12.480

into that category of very very slow

0:03:06.210,0:03:15.270

Spanish Spanish it's funny because I go

0:03:12.480,0:03:17.550

to the other extreme I may live and have

0:03:15.270,0:03:20.420

grown up outside of Philadelphia but my

0:03:17.550,0:03:22.440

family is all from the south so

0:03:20.420,0:03:24.900

conversations with my family when you

0:03:22.440,0:03:27.959

get going they can take a half hour just

0:03:24.900,0:03:30.090

to get one thing across but because once

0:03:27.959,0:03:33.330

you add that drawl in and you start to

0:03:30.090,0:03:36.330

wonder why those northerners are fast

0:03:33.330,0:03:41.030

and why are you talking so fast and just

0:03:36.330,0:03:41.030

relax then things just take forever but

0:03:42.170,0:03:53.850

but that said I sadly in productivity we

0:03:48.540,0:03:56.790

tend to try to apply the speed at the

0:03:53.850,0:04:00.420

wrong time and and what I'm saying what

0:03:56.790,0:04:02.610

I'm trying to say with bad is people

0:04:00.420,0:04:06.209

don't think about a speed up their

0:04:02.610,0:04:09.030

productivity only they only think about

0:04:06.209,0:04:11.880

speed up their productivity when they

0:04:09.030,0:04:13.950

feel overwhelmed or very feel their list

0:04:11.880,0:04:21.600

has grown up or they feel that the

0:04:13.950,0:04:24.000

manifestation Amin where people start

0:04:21.600,0:04:27.530

considering speed up their productivity

0:04:24.000,0:04:29.930

and in my experience

0:04:27.530,0:04:32.900

and what I have been able to coach and

0:04:29.930,0:04:35.570

teach people that is exactly the moment

0:04:32.900,0:04:38.630

to do the opposite to do the most

0:04:35.570,0:04:42.520

counterintuitive thing you can do that

0:04:38.630,0:04:46.490

is slow down and the reason is simple do

0:04:42.520,0:04:50.890

you still have the same amount of 24

0:04:46.490,0:04:54.440

hours but we know 24 is more like 16 and

0:04:50.890,0:04:58.010

when you try to speed up what happened

0:04:54.440,0:05:00.590

is unconsciously you tend to grab the

0:04:58.010,0:05:03.970

long hanging fruit so you feel that

0:05:00.590,0:05:07.100

you're crossing out of your list more

0:05:03.970,0:05:09.320

piping's the speed is not about what you

0:05:07.100,0:05:11.780

are crossing but how many of them are

0:05:09.320,0:05:16.510

you crossing how fast are you trying to

0:05:11.780,0:05:19.460

get to clean to have a clean slate and

0:05:16.510,0:05:21.500

when you reach those points when you're

0:05:19.460,0:05:25.850

overwhelmed when your system has too

0:05:21.500,0:05:28.940

many when did you feel you are in a

0:05:25.850,0:05:31.820

negative spot that is exactly the moment

0:05:28.940,0:05:34.990

to do the counterintuitive that is slow

0:05:31.820,0:05:38.720

down because basically now every

0:05:34.990,0:05:41.960

movement or every task that you peak has

0:05:38.720,0:05:45.890

a much bigger impact than when you have

0:05:41.960,0:05:48.229

time when you are not feeling not having

0:05:45.890,0:05:51.169

any of those feelings that is the moment

0:05:48.229,0:05:54.500

where you know in GTD terms you may need

0:05:51.169,0:05:56.330

to do a weekly review every day you may

0:05:54.500,0:05:58.550

need to look at your list you know two

0:05:56.330,0:06:01.070

at the time and pick two things and then

0:05:58.550,0:06:05.510

real valid after those two things are

0:06:01.070,0:06:08.540

done and if I believe your system need

0:06:05.510,0:06:12.229

to be able to allows you to speed up I

0:06:08.540,0:06:14.590

also think people tend to speed up at

0:06:12.229,0:06:17.180

the right at the wrong moment

0:06:14.590,0:06:19.850

I'd agree and and I think I think that

0:06:17.180,0:06:22.910

you know in order to get to a point of

0:06:19.850,0:06:24.500

you know use the running analogy you

0:06:22.910,0:06:27.020

know you sort of you need to accelerate

0:06:24.500,0:06:29.150

to a point of speed which means you need

0:06:27.020,0:06:31.820

to go slower before you get faster right

0:06:29.150,0:06:34.760

you just do don't go 0 to 60 or in human

0:06:31.820,0:06:38.150

...

Have you ever gotten stuck? Are you stuck right now? How do you get unstuck? Well, getting unstuck is tough, but it's doable! In this cast, the ProductivityCast team discusses what gets us stuck and methods for getting unstuck.

Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

What Designers of Task Management Apps Can Do to Catch Up with Pokemon Go by Francis Wade

50 Shades of Grey (if you didn’t get Augusto’s joke ? )

Getting Things Done by David Allen

OmniFocus 2

Todoist

Any.do

Habitica (f/k/a HabitRPG) (Let us know if you’d like to join Ray’s GTD Habitica Party!)

Intrinsic versus extrinsic motivation

SuperBetter - Jane McGonigal, PhD (McGonigal’s TED talk)

Jerry Seinfeld / Don’t Break the Chain

Bullet Journal

Unstuck app

Tim Ferriss - “deconstruction of expert process”:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DSq9uGs_z0E

https://tim.blog/2016/10/06/the-art-and-science-of-learning-anything-faster/

Human Senses

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio).

0:00:00.000,0:00:04.110

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.809

come to the right place

0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.809,0:00:15.000

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.540,0:00:18.510

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:15.000,0:00:20.220

Augusto Pinaud hello everybody and

0:00:18.510,0:00:22.289

welcome back to another episode of

0:00:20.220,0:00:25.080

productivitycast the weekly show about

0:00:22.289,0:00:28.680

all things personal productivity today

0:00:25.080,0:00:31.230

on the show we have Augusto Pinaud Art

0:00:28.680,0:00:33.210

Gelwicks and Francis Wade welcome

0:00:31.230,0:00:35.640

everybody how's it going good morning

0:00:33.210,0:00:36.030

going great it's going great thanks a

0:00:35.640,0:00:38.280

lot

0:00:36.030,0:00:40.800

awesome so excited to have everybody on

0:00:38.280,0:00:43.950

for this recording because we're talking

0:00:40.800,0:00:46.559

about getting unstuck I wanted to I

0:00:43.950,0:00:48.480

wanted to lead off with just what we all

0:00:46.559,0:00:51.660

are thinking about when we talk about

0:00:48.480,0:00:53.879

getting stuck in the first place and how

0:00:51.660,0:00:56.190

and and what that means in the context

0:00:53.879,0:00:58.350

of productivity art had come up with a

0:00:56.190,0:00:59.520

really great suggestion which is that at

0:00:58.350,0:01:02.699

the end of the episode

0:00:59.520,0:01:06.180

we're each going to rapid-fire give some

0:01:02.699,0:01:08.460

of our own sort of tactical techniques

0:01:06.180,0:01:10.229

for our you know sort of our quick

0:01:08.460,0:01:14.250

tactics for being able to get unstuck

0:01:10.229,0:01:15.780

when we ourselves get stuck so we will

0:01:14.250,0:01:17.759

close out the episode with that but

0:01:15.780,0:01:21.479

let's let's start with just your

0:01:17.759,0:01:24.060

thoughts on what is getting stuck and

0:01:21.479,0:01:27.630

what is getting unstuck then as its

0:01:24.060,0:01:30.630

inverse I've found myself stuck in a

0:01:27.630,0:01:33.240

serious way when I moved back to Jamaica

0:01:30.630,0:01:36.390

brahmam living in the US all of a sudden

0:01:33.240,0:01:39.090

I was unproductive whereas I used to be

0:01:36.390,0:01:40.740

productive I used to lead before I moved

0:01:39.090,0:01:42.329

back I used to lead time management

0:01:40.740,0:01:45.060

programs and I thought I had that stuff

0:01:42.329,0:01:47.610

together and I moved into an environment

0:01:45.060,0:01:51.020

that was way more hectic than I expected

0:01:47.610,0:01:53.549

way more dramatic way less predictable

0:01:51.020,0:01:55.829

people we less trustworthy in terms of

0:01:53.549,0:01:58.350

what they could deliver and I was

0:01:55.829,0:01:59.670

totally at sea it was totally

0:01:58.350,0:02:01.290

disconcerting and I couldn't get

0:01:59.670,0:02:02.579

anything done I went looking on the

0:02:01.290,0:02:04.680

internet for answers and couldn't find

0:02:02.579,0:02:06.570

anything I had way more to do because I

0:02:04.680,0:02:10.440

was doing all people's jobs for them and

0:02:06.570,0:02:12.660

I had no idea how to cook things were

0:02:10.440,0:02:13.860

flying through the cracks and this is if

0:02:12.660,0:02:15.930

I couldn't remember

0:02:13.860,0:02:17.850

to do anything that I needed to do and

0:02:15.930,0:02:21.630

for the people who have never read those

0:02:17.850,0:02:24.240

post of presidents it has always been an

0:02:21.630,0:02:28.890

internal joke or at least for me between

0:02:24.240,0:02:31.620

Francis and I I from the outside instead

0:02:28.890,0:02:34.130

enjoy reading those posts incredibly I

0:02:31.620,0:02:37.470

was born and raised in Venezuela so I I

0:02:34.130,0:02:41.310

went the other way I felt is when I was

0:02:37.470,0:02:44.430

I learned productivity in a place where

0:02:41.310,0:02:47.760

it was completely unpredictable we're

0:02:44.430,0:02:49.350

getting to a meeting and the person who

0:02:47.760,0:02:52.770

gives you the meeting decide not to show

0:02:49.350,0:02:56.310

up and where predictability was almost

0:02:52.770,0:02:58.709

non-existent so when I moved to the

0:02:56.310,0:03:00.750

United States for me happen exactly the

0:02:58.709,0:03:02.700

opposite it was like oh great

0:03:00.750,0:03:05.670

so all these tools that I've been using

0:03:02.700,0:03:07.980

for years now make sense and over the

0:03:05.670,0:03:11.700

years they have evolved and change but I

0:03:07.980,0:03:15.570

was always feeling more stock before I

0:03:11.700,0:03:17.459

move here then then when I move and of

0:03:15.570,0:03:18.690

course that change and I've been stuck

0:03:17.459,0:03:22.320

and unstuck

0:03:18.690,0:03:25.920

multiple times and actually just

0:03:22.320,0:03:28.739

yesterday that this topic came you know

0:03:25.920,0:03:32.340

pretty timely and we were privately

0:03:28.739,0:03:35.280

joking via text messages because I was

0:03:32.340,0:03:40.980

doing my with the review I noticed that

0:03:35.280,0:03:44.310

I had 963 talk okay that is for me the

0:03:40.980,0:03:47.580

definition of stock because the reality

0:03:44.310,0:03:50.940

is there's no way for me to tackle 10%

0:03:47.580,0:03:53.250

of that in a day so that means even if I

0:03:50.940,0:03:56.250

have a really productive day is going to

0:03:53.250,0:03:58.709

feel as if I did nothing and the

0:03:56.250,0:04:00.570

question is what you do after you and I

0:03:58.709,0:04:02.670

will I'll say that to the episode but

0:04:00.570,0:04:07.019

that's a question I want to leave open

0:04:02.670,0:04:07.590

today for me stuck is usually one of two

0:04:07.019,0:04:11.280

things

0:04:07.590,0:04:13.410

it's either I've got things pulling me

0:04:11.280,0:04:15.900

in all different directions you get this

0:04:13.410,0:04:17.459

mental image of an object with ropes

0:04:15.900,0:04:19.019

tied to it pulling in all different

0:04:17.459,0:04:21.060

directions and the object doesn't move

0:04:19.019,0:04:25.380

because everything is pulling equally

0:04:21.060,0:04:27.450

but in different directions but also the

0:04:25.380,0:04:30.750

kind of the lack of

0:04:27.450,0:04:32.880

knowing exactly what the next step will

0:04:30.750,0:04:36.180

be to get me back on track for a

0:04:32.880,0:04:38.910

particular thing and not knowing that

0:04:36.180,0:04:41.250

often will push me into a direction for

0:04:38.910,0:04:43.910

something else leaving me stuck on that

0:04:41.250,0:04:47.790

particular item and it's easy to confuse

0:04:43.910,0:04:50.580

stuck and procrastination I don't think

0:04:47.790,0:04:51.600

that they're completely separate but I

0:04:50.580,0:04:56.280

also don't think they're completely

0:04:51.600,0:04:58.200

equal to one concede the other but I do

0:04:56.280,0:05:00.300

want to take five seconds though here

0:04:58.200,0:05:03.030

and I want to congratulate Francis's

0:05:00.300,0:05:05.820

Jamaican soccer team on their incredible

0:05:03.030,0:05:08.090

upset win last night in the Gold Cup so

0:05:05.820,0:05:09.960

now that I'm done with that

0:05:08.090,0:05:21.600

another nope said it was kind of

0:05:09.960,0:05:23.760

expected I made a note here as we were

0:05:21.600,0:05:25.620

preparing for the show and I wrote down

0:05:23.760,0:05:27.360

procrastination because I think I'm

0:05:25.620,0:05:30.000

pretty much on the same page here with

0:05:27.360,0:05:33.540

art which is to say that I see being

0:05:30.000,0:05:38.310

stuck in and being sort of a fork in the

0:05:33.540,0:05:41.600

road and one is avoidance and the other

0:05:38.310,0:05:43.860

is sort of lack of resources or

0:05:41.600,0:05:46.640

limitation of resources of some kind

0:05:43.860,0:05:49.290

whether it be mental physical time

0:05:46.640,0:05:51.510

energy money whatever it might be the

0:05:49.290,0:05:54.600

the reality is that that that sense of

0:05:51.510,0:05:57.630

avoidance that lack of resources causes

0:05:54.600,0:05:59.760

some kind of stymieing of your personal

0:05:57.630,0:06:03.900

...

Source: Google

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"If the things we believe in are different than the things we do, there can be no true happiness."

—Dana Telford

The ProductivityCast team tackles the concept of integrity and its relationship to your productivity system.

Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey, PhD

The 8th Habit by Stephen Covey, PhD

Servant leadership

Evernote

Skedpal

House, MD

Pocket

Instapaper

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio).

0:00:00.000,0:00:04.110

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.809

come to the right place

0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.809,0:00:15.000

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.540,0:00:16.800

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:15.000,0:00:19.230

Augusto Pinaud

0:00:16.800,0:00:21.869

hello again productivity enthusiasts

0:00:19.230,0:00:23.670

this is productivity cast the weekly

0:00:21.869,0:00:25.410

show about all things personal

0:00:23.670,0:00:27.090

productivity I'm Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:25.410,0:00:30.529

I'm joined here today with Augusto

0:00:27.090,0:00:34.200

Pinaud and Francis Wade welcome guys

0:00:30.529,0:00:37.410

good to be here good morning Ray's great

0:00:34.200,0:00:38.850

we have a fantastic show today we are

0:00:37.410,0:00:41.129

going to be talking a little bit

0:00:38.850,0:00:43.170

philosophically today not that we don't

0:00:41.129,0:00:46.320

philosophically talk on most episodes

0:00:43.170,0:00:48.870

right but but today we're gonna be

0:00:46.320,0:00:52.170

talking about productivity and its

0:00:48.870,0:00:54.120

relationship to integrity and what I

0:00:52.170,0:00:57.420

wanted us to do is to start off with a

0:00:54.120,0:00:58.980

discussion about how we actually define

0:00:57.420,0:01:01.440

integrity because I think it's actually

0:00:58.980,0:01:05.820

very different from person to person in

0:01:01.440,0:01:10.110

terms of what integrity is I think for

0:01:05.820,0:01:13.159

me integrity means having a system that

0:01:10.110,0:01:17.220

is complete so that nothing is missing

0:01:13.159,0:01:19.979

that there are no elements that are out

0:01:17.220,0:01:21.740

of place but I find with a lot of my

0:01:19.979,0:01:24.479

clients and people that train is that

0:01:21.740,0:01:27.590

their systems are are for the most part

0:01:24.479,0:01:29.460

self developed or self created and

0:01:27.590,0:01:31.409

somewhere in their teens they put

0:01:29.460,0:01:34.799

together a bunch of habits practices and

0:01:31.409,0:01:37.170

tools and they come into adulthood and

0:01:34.799,0:01:38.430

sometimes in late adulthood never really

0:01:37.170,0:01:41.369

having examined what they put together

0:01:38.430,0:01:44.220

and as a result sometimes something is

0:01:41.369,0:01:46.290

missing so for example I'm working with

0:01:44.220,0:01:47.430

one client one trainee who told me that

0:01:46.290,0:01:50.369

you know she was feeling really guilty

0:01:47.430,0:01:52.939

because she couldn't remember all of her

0:01:50.369,0:01:56.340

tasks and I said well you probably

0:01:52.939,0:01:57.659

outlive and outstrip the boundaries of

0:01:56.340,0:01:59.850

your memory you probably need to use

0:01:57.659,0:02:01.860

something totally different like writing

0:01:59.850,0:02:05.009

it down or capturing it on a smartphone

0:02:01.860,0:02:07.290

or using some recording device or

0:02:05.009,0:02:09.660

something and she said oh I didn't

0:02:07.290,0:02:12.660

realize that she thought that she needed

0:02:09.660,0:02:13.890

to use her memory so for her being all

0:02:12.660,0:02:15.660

of integrity menu

0:02:13.890,0:02:18.600

a system for capturing that couldn't

0:02:15.660,0:02:20.940

keep up with the demands on her life so

0:02:18.600,0:02:23.790

for me integrity is having all of the

0:02:20.940,0:02:26.970

elements in place and having a complete

0:02:23.790,0:02:29.040

set that works for the individual that

0:02:26.970,0:02:33.600

makes a lot of sense and I think a lot

0:02:29.040,0:02:37.320

of people miss the idea that one can

0:02:33.600,0:02:41.250

have their system and still have areas

0:02:37.320,0:02:43.350

that need to improve and if you are in

0:02:41.250,0:02:45.750

some way shape or form feeling pain in a

0:02:43.350,0:02:47.730

part of your life then that means the

0:02:45.750,0:02:49.980

system itself is potentially lacking

0:02:47.730,0:02:51.690

integrity and and is something that can

0:02:49.980,0:02:55.620

be worked on and we'll talk about that

0:02:51.690,0:02:59.489

later in this episode integrity is do

0:02:55.620,0:03:02.100

what you said you were going to do when

0:02:59.489,0:03:07.080

you said you were going to do it it

0:03:02.100,0:03:09.810

sounds simple but it is of people with

0:03:07.080,0:03:13.050

listening today Pro one of the hardest

0:03:09.810,0:03:15.840

thing to do and when you're going to

0:03:13.050,0:03:19.440

talk about productivity systems and

0:03:15.840,0:03:21.690

integrity conscious or not that is the

0:03:19.440,0:03:24.690

reason that make people start looking

0:03:21.690,0:03:27.239

for a better productivity system or for

0:03:24.690,0:03:29.430

the first productivity system is the

0:03:27.239,0:03:31.739

fact that they are saying they are going

0:03:29.430,0:03:34.320

to accomplish they are going to do or

0:03:31.739,0:03:37.079

they are going to deliver things that

0:03:34.320,0:03:39.480

are not happening right now and they are

0:03:37.079,0:03:42.299

not happening at the time they're even

0:03:39.480,0:03:47.430

offering them or they're not happening

0:03:42.299,0:03:49.860

at all and they need to match what is

0:03:47.430,0:03:51.570

happening in their life with what they

0:03:49.860,0:03:52.200

are saying it should be happening in

0:03:51.570,0:03:54.540

their life

0:03:52.200,0:03:56.610

now as Francis said with his person

0:03:54.540,0:03:59.070

trying to remember everything the

0:03:56.610,0:04:02.579

problem is not if she was forgetting or

0:03:59.070,0:04:06.570

not forgetting and the problem is she

0:04:02.579,0:04:10.230

knows out of her integrity or his

0:04:06.570,0:04:12.480

integrity that he or she wasn't doing

0:04:10.230,0:04:14.970

what she was saying that she was going

0:04:12.480,0:04:18.060

to do at the time that she was going to

0:04:14.970,0:04:21.209

do and that is the reason most people

0:04:18.060,0:04:24.890

look desperate into productivity is to

0:04:21.209,0:04:26.160

be able to work with that integrity

0:04:24.890,0:04:30.750

hello

0:04:26.160,0:04:35.330

and to be able to be more effective on

0:04:30.750,0:04:38.450

the send people is not looking to cross

0:04:35.330,0:04:43.320

instead of ten items out of their least

0:04:38.450,0:04:46.200

25 450 or more people is looking to

0:04:43.320,0:04:49.950

match what they said they were going to

0:04:46.200,0:04:52.590

do with what they are actually doing and

0:04:49.950,0:04:55.410

that what they are trying to do in a

0:04:52.590,0:04:58.680

more simpler way is try to match these

0:04:55.410,0:05:00.900

or to bring integrity to the table

0:04:58.680,0:05:04.670

and do what they are actually trying to

0:05:00.900,0:05:04.670

are saying that they're going to do I

0:05:05.690,0:05:12.150

see integrity as an alignment of a

0:05:10.230,0:05:15.090

complete system sort of the alignment

0:05:12.150,0:05:16.950

and commitment to a complete system and

0:05:15.090,0:05:20.430

I think that's really important for

0:05:16.950,0:05:23.370

people to truly be trusting of their

0:05:20.430,0:05:25.920

system right because integrity increases

0:05:23.370,0:05:28.380

trust both in an in an interpersonal

0:05:25.920,0:05:31.410

perspective right if you if you believe

0:05:28.380,0:05:34.320

someone lives with integrity you believe

0:05:31.410,0:05:37.740

they live with some moral code some

0:05:34.320,0:05:39.150

sense of ethics and therefore they are

0:05:37.740,0:05:42.510

they have the sort of moral uprightness

0:05:39.150,0:05:45.300

in personal productivity it's really a

0:05:42.510,0:05:47.700

relationship with yourself and others to

0:05:45.300,0:05:50.810

getting things done and I believe it's

0:05:47.700,0:05:53.880

that that alignment and commitment to

0:05:50.810,0:05:55.290

the systems that you've created that are

0:05:53.880,0:05:59.970

really important in personal

0:05:55.290,0:06:03.300

productivity so how does one integrate

0:05:59.970,0:06:05.010

personal productivity systems into their

0:06:03.300,0:06:07.890

life so that their there is this

0:06:05.010,0:06:10.320

wholeness and this relationship that

0:06:07.890,0:06:12.950

that seems to be right if you want to

0:06:10.320,0:06:16.830

call it that versus wrong in your life

0:06:12.950,0:06:19.170

my opinion is that most people don't go

0:06:16.830,0:06:21.240

past complaining so they don't they

0:06:19.170,0:06:23.490

don't deal with themselves from the

0:06:21.240,0:06:26.610

point of view that their integrity is

0:06:23.490,0:06:28.680

important enough to stop complaining so

...

In the last episode, Art asked a poignant and thought-provoking question of the ProductivityCast team? "What would it take to change to the opposite platform or operating system than the one you're currently on?" It piqued our interest to think and discuss this, so that's what we're doing on this episode! Enjoy!

Have you thought about a change to the opposite platform, operating system, or ecosystem than you're currently using? What were your experiences? Let us know; we love feedback and user experiences! Also, please subscribe, and also leave a rating on your favorite podcast app/directory. And, thank you for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, you can also click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

WWDC (Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference)

Star Wars Edge of The Empire RPG: Beyond The Rim

Star Wars Force and Destiny RPG Beginner Game

Google Drive

Dropbox

PushBullet

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases. The time coding is h:mm:ss.ms to h:mm:ss.ms (e.g., 0:00:00.000,0:00:04.000 starts at 0.00 seconds and ends at 4 seconds in the cast's audio). 

0:00:00.000,0:00:04.110

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.780

come to the right place

0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.780,0:00:15.000

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.540,0:00:16.800

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:15.000,0:00:18.990

Augusto Pinaud

0:00:16.800,0:00:21.330

the one question we didn't answer we

0:00:18.990,0:00:23.130

didn't ask and it probably could be a

0:00:21.330,0:00:25.260

whole separate discussion would you

0:00:23.130,0:00:27.480

switch is there something that would

0:00:25.260,0:00:31.070

compel you to switch from one to the

0:00:27.480,0:00:36.000

other and that's a really hard question

0:00:31.070,0:00:38.570

so is it really the device that's making

0:00:36.000,0:00:41.629

the difference or is it us

0:00:38.570,0:00:44.510

welcome everybody to productivity cast

0:00:41.629,0:00:48.870

today we are going to have a

0:00:44.510,0:00:52.559

continuation of last week's conversation

0:00:48.870,0:00:56.100

and today we have Augusto Pinaud Art

0:00:52.559,0:01:00.210

Gelwicks and Francis Wade last episode

0:00:56.100,0:01:02.219

listeners heard us debating the the

0:01:00.210,0:01:05.070

whole idea of smartphone productivity

0:01:02.219,0:01:07.619

choosing smartphones and the various

0:01:05.070,0:01:10.650

features both hardware and software wise

0:01:07.619,0:01:13.320

we're doing so Art Gelwicks came up with

0:01:10.650,0:01:14.880

this question at the end so art what

0:01:13.320,0:01:16.920

were you thinking when you asked that

0:01:14.880,0:01:19.110

question and we're gonna we're gonna

0:01:16.920,0:01:21.540

have that conversation today and really

0:01:19.110,0:01:22.979

discuss what it would take for us to

0:01:21.540,0:01:25.500

switch sides

0:01:22.979,0:01:27.570

whether you're Apple going to Android or

0:01:25.500,0:01:30.869

if you're on the Android platform going

0:01:27.570,0:01:33.540

to Apple or even Windows Phone and

0:01:30.869,0:01:35.549

making the switch to to Apple or

0:01:33.540,0:01:37.020

otherwise so so are you want to give us

0:01:35.549,0:01:37.340

some background there and we'll go from

0:01:37.020,0:01:40.650

there

0:01:37.340,0:01:45.750

okay it was really a kind of a two-part

0:01:40.650,0:01:47.490

thought the first part was related to if

0:01:45.750,0:01:50.040

you think about how frequently we change

0:01:47.490,0:01:53.790

productivity apps most of the people who

0:01:50.040,0:01:56.430

like to to delve into the different

0:01:53.790,0:01:58.500

application we change these things all

0:01:56.430,0:02:00.329

the time we're always trying to new and

0:01:58.500,0:02:03.420

we're always trying new functionality

0:02:00.329,0:02:06.299

we're bouncing from app to app but it's

0:02:03.420,0:02:07.619

always within the same platform so if

0:02:06.299,0:02:09.509

you're an Apple user you're always

0:02:07.619,0:02:11.370

looking at the Apple version if you're

0:02:09.509,0:02:12.020

an Android user you're always looking at

0:02:11.370,0:02:16.750

the Android

0:02:12.020,0:02:20.840

and so on so what occurred to me is that

0:02:16.750,0:02:24.560

what would be compelling enough about an

0:02:20.840,0:02:27.190

application to make you change not

0:02:24.560,0:02:30.740

application but actually entire

0:02:27.190,0:02:32.360

platforms if there is even something I

0:02:30.740,0:02:35.930

spent quite a bit of time since the last

0:02:32.360,0:02:39.230

show thinking about this and I can't at

0:02:35.930,0:02:41.870

least personally find anything that

0:02:39.230,0:02:44.500

would be compelling enough to make me

0:02:41.870,0:02:47.590

change that entire underlying platform

0:02:44.500,0:02:50.930

so then I go to the second part which is

0:02:47.590,0:02:54.350

what's so compelling about the platform

0:02:50.930,0:02:57.080

that you're on that would keep you from

0:02:54.350,0:02:59.060

making that switch and I ask that

0:02:57.080,0:03:01.880

because years ago I used to have an

0:02:59.060,0:03:03.950

iPhone 4 I just have an iPad and I made

0:03:01.880,0:03:05.990

the switch to Android and I thought

0:03:03.950,0:03:10.100

about it over the weekend would I be

0:03:05.990,0:03:14.390

able to make the switch back and I

0:03:10.100,0:03:17.360

honestly cannot find a single argument

0:03:14.390,0:03:20.450

that would be compelling enough for me

0:03:17.360,0:03:22.730

to make that jump back over to the Apple

0:03:20.450,0:03:23.930

ecosystem and the same thing to go the

0:03:22.730,0:03:25.670

other direction if I had gone the other

0:03:23.930,0:03:27.770

direction so that's the question I'm

0:03:25.670,0:03:30.230

throwing out to you guys thinking about

0:03:27.770,0:03:32.600

your platforms that you use in the tools

0:03:30.230,0:03:37.340

that you use what would it take to make

0:03:32.600,0:03:41.180

you change I also I had because of work

0:03:37.340,0:03:44.000

I have in my bag and Android device

0:03:41.180,0:03:48.140

because of another project that is going

0:03:44.000,0:03:51.110

to use Google Docs

0:03:48.140,0:03:53.420

I consider the possibility of getting me

0:03:51.110,0:03:55.400

you know I'm more powerful Android

0:03:53.420,0:03:58.850

device or a Chromebook or something on

0:03:55.400,0:04:03.650

those mines I also spend time looking at

0:03:58.850,0:04:06.230

it oh okay what will require if I said

0:04:03.650,0:04:08.780

okay well let's change oh that's the

0:04:06.230,0:04:11.840

first thing will be of course this I

0:04:08.780,0:04:16.910

already I'm pretty invested hardware

0:04:11.840,0:04:19.790

wise okay into iOS will that means I

0:04:16.910,0:04:22.490

need to reinvest and get much of the

0:04:19.790,0:04:26.009

stuff I asked into Android but that

0:04:22.490,0:04:28.720

without any doubt will make the change

0:04:26.009,0:04:31.150

difficult but then I went to their

0:04:28.720,0:04:33.610

scenario and say okay fine let's go

0:04:31.150,0:04:35.770

let's assume the MasterCard fairy comes

0:04:33.610,0:04:38.020

to you and said well you know we're

0:04:35.770,0:04:40.389

going to let you use this card and then

0:04:38.020,0:04:42.970

now buy all the hardware you want so

0:04:40.389,0:04:47.800

how're will not be an issue will I

0:04:42.970,0:04:50.440

change and like you I spend a lot of

0:04:47.800,0:04:52.930

time thinking on the answer to that and

0:04:50.440,0:04:57.069

I couldn't find a compelling reason

0:04:52.930,0:04:59.080

either so it's not that as we

0:04:57.069,0:05:01.300

established is more powerful or less

0:04:59.080,0:05:03.849

powerful than the other one I think that

0:05:01.300,0:05:08.650

was pretty well established that it's

0:05:03.849,0:05:11.949

not the case I just think it is an

0:05:08.650,0:05:15.520

argument we're similar to what we have

0:05:11.949,0:05:22.210

years ago about being a PC user for a

0:05:15.520,0:05:27.220

Mac user both platforms as we agreed on

0:05:22.210,0:05:30.220

a certain way surprisingly for me both

0:05:27.220,0:05:32.409

platforms has everything to be able to

0:05:30.220,0:05:35.770

run one way or the other

0:05:32.409,0:05:39.580

now it's a matter of how much you want

0:05:35.770,0:05:42.580

to deal with certain things so Android

0:05:39.580,0:05:44.650

and I I think we all agree will allows

0:05:42.580,0:05:50.199

you to do a lot more customization that

0:05:44.650,0:05:53.320

what iOS does and iOS for everything

0:05:50.199,0:05:55.690

that I do it works fine is there

0:05:53.320,0:05:57.310

anything I want to do I can only and I

0:05:55.690,0:06:00.250

expect I'm thinking and there was only

0:05:57.310,0:06:03.789

two things I would love to do that I

0:06:00.250,0:06:09.130

cannot do on my iPod but I will be able

0:06:03.789,0:06:12.639

to do on on an Android device but they

0:06:09.130,0:06:15.789

were not they were nice you have not

0:06:12.639,0:06:17.919

must have I couldn't find any must-haves

0:06:15.789,0:06:21.250

that I will say okay we've said let's

0:06:17.919,0:06:24.969

move on but in the other side on the iOS

0:06:21.250,0:06:27.759

I found a couple of apps that there is

0:06:24.969,0:06:29.889

no answer at this point at least not in

0:06:27.759,0:06:33.340

the same application I may need to

0:06:29.889,0:06:35....

And, the gloves come off! In this episode, the ProductivityCast gang dukes out the merits of a productive smartphone. We discuss the specific models we use, customization, productivity app selection, ease of use / intuitiveness, form factor, customer / technical support, and how to be most productive on your smartphone.

Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

Handspring

PalmPilot

#iPadOnly by Augusto Pinaud

Appification

Microsoft Office Professional

Quantified Self

Huawei Watch

AndroidWear

Instant (Android/iOS)

Android Support

Apple Genius Bar

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by keywords or key phrases.

0:00:00.030,0:00:04.080

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.100,0:00:05.910

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.080,0:00:06.750

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:05.910,0:00:09.660

come to the right place

0:00:06.750,0:00:12.360

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.660,0:00:14.790

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.360,0:00:18.660

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:14.790,0:00:21.449

Augusto Pinaud welcome back everybody to

0:00:18.660,0:00:24.029

productivity cast episode 10 I wish had

0:00:21.449,0:00:26.849

a kazoo it's a it's the birthday tenth

0:00:24.029,0:00:28.500

episode of productivity cast so thank

0:00:26.849,0:00:30.869

you all for listening and thank you for

0:00:28.500,0:00:33.360

joining us here today I'm joined with a

0:00:30.869,0:00:36.600

gusto pin out my co-host as well as

0:00:33.360,0:00:38.940

Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks so we are all

0:00:36.600,0:00:42.739

together here today for this episode

0:00:38.940,0:00:46.379

let's get into it today we are going to

0:00:42.739,0:00:50.850

mostly fight in good good faith and good

0:00:46.379,0:00:53.820

effort about smartphone productivity and

0:00:50.850,0:00:57.390

and in essence what the best smartphone

0:00:53.820,0:00:59.100

is out there to be most productive and I

0:00:57.390,0:01:01.980

thought that what we would cover today

0:00:59.100,0:01:05.070

was was really the the essence of how we

0:01:01.980,0:01:06.900

use our phones to be productive and in

0:01:05.070,0:01:08.520

the vein of the mobile productivity

0:01:06.900,0:01:10.890

topics that we have had over the last

0:01:08.520,0:01:14.640

several episodes I want us to talk about

0:01:10.890,0:01:17.549

the pros and cons of the various nomally

0:01:14.640,0:01:20.400

hardware put software that we use for

0:01:17.549,0:01:22.820

our smart phones so I think it's

0:01:20.400,0:01:27.659

probably best for us to go around and

0:01:22.820,0:01:30.509

say what our primary smartphone is that

0:01:27.659,0:01:31.110

we're using today and then we'll get

0:01:30.509,0:01:35.130

into it

0:01:31.110,0:01:38.430

so I'll start I am currently using a

0:01:35.130,0:01:41.520

Google Nexus 5x as my primary phone and

0:01:38.430,0:01:45.390

I am running Android nougat which is

0:01:41.520,0:01:47.040

seven point X so the latest version of

0:01:45.390,0:01:49.110

seven point I think is seven point one

0:01:47.040,0:01:50.130

point something that's what I'm doing

0:01:49.110,0:01:52.140

well

0:01:50.130,0:01:54.180

apparently was established before these

0:01:52.140,0:01:57.649

girls start recording that I you have a

0:01:54.180,0:02:03.450

dumb phone and my gum phone is running

0:01:57.649,0:02:08.429

can access six plus so you have the six

0:02:03.450,0:02:12.390

plus I'm running an LG g4 Android that's

0:02:08.429,0:02:13.440

running Android six I want to say 601

0:02:12.390,0:02:14.850

right now that

0:02:13.440,0:02:17.850

the current version and the Nova

0:02:14.850,0:02:19.460

Launcher and for Android you got a name

0:02:17.850,0:02:22.110

the launcher if you're if you're running

0:02:19.460,0:02:24.180

Android because that's part of the fun

0:02:22.110,0:02:26.190

of what makes it productive okay well

0:02:24.180,0:02:28.710

well then I'll say I'm I'm running the

0:02:26.190,0:02:32.010

Google launcher because it's a Google

0:02:28.710,0:02:37.290

Nexus 5x and so I stick with pure

0:02:32.010,0:02:40.200

Android yeah I'm a peer Android guy I

0:02:37.290,0:02:44.220

just really I really love the interface

0:02:40.200,0:02:46.830

I'm using at Alcatel I don't know the

0:02:44.220,0:02:49.830

model number but it's running Android 6

0:02:46.830,0:02:55.650

great so we can we can all gang up on a

0:02:49.830,0:02:58.020

gusto actually this is probably a pretty

0:02:55.650,0:03:00.810

good this is a pretty good percentage of

0:02:58.020,0:03:03.990

the number of Android users versus the

0:03:00.810,0:03:06.570

number of iPhone users globally so tall

0:03:03.990,0:03:08.580

order ago so notice that in order for

0:03:06.570,0:03:11.370

them to steal but they have any chance

0:03:08.580,0:03:20.730

to be us they needed to come three to

0:03:11.370,0:03:24.150

one oh you just brought the pain you

0:03:20.730,0:03:29.160

just you know apples bruise easily right

0:03:24.150,0:03:31.470

so but it's true the number the number

0:03:29.160,0:03:34.110

of iPhones that I have the screens that

0:03:31.470,0:03:36.470

I've cracked is far beyond the number

0:03:34.110,0:03:40.250

that I have cracked of of other phones

0:03:36.470,0:03:42.269

this whole glass packed phone trend

0:03:40.250,0:03:43.800

actually I think has caused a lot of

0:03:42.269,0:03:47.070

issue with that I know a guy who has

0:03:43.800,0:03:48.690

managed to break multiple Samsung's that

0:03:47.070,0:03:51.450

have the glass back I think it's he's

0:03:48.690,0:03:54.450

got the 7 I don't know that I would

0:03:51.450,0:03:56.540

chalk that up as a negative to one side

0:03:54.450,0:03:59.700

or the other I think both of them have

0:03:56.540,0:04:01.920

bouncing issues they don't handle

0:03:59.700,0:04:04.290

impacts well that may need to agree with

0:04:01.920,0:04:08.040

that we on they're raised to make the

0:04:04.290,0:04:11.310

phone look prettier we has been

0:04:08.040,0:04:14.610

sacrificed durability in a massive

0:04:11.310,0:04:17.160

expense I don't recall and I'm sure they

0:04:14.610,0:04:21.510

did but I don't recall on the old old

0:04:17.160,0:04:23.850

phone so pre iPhone era that to break

0:04:21.510,0:04:27.130

your screen down Austin I don't remember

0:04:23.850,0:04:28.810

anybody really breaking their screen on

0:04:27.130,0:04:31.270

Claude when they were pretty much

0:04:28.810,0:04:34.780

indestructible I mean I think my Palm

0:04:31.270,0:04:37.570

Pilot and I broke one is Greenup up on

0:04:34.780,0:04:39.700

pilots as far as I remember never broke

0:04:37.570,0:04:41.830

on the trio but even before that when I

0:04:39.700,0:04:44.560

had the star tags I think those things

0:04:41.830,0:04:46.330

were simply indestructible yeah I don't

0:04:44.560,0:04:49.720

I don't think I don't know how I could

0:04:46.330,0:04:52.600

destroy one of those LCD screens on one

0:04:49.720,0:04:54.760

of my handspring Palm Pilots way back

0:04:52.600,0:04:56.680

when but the handspring I mean like I

0:04:54.760,0:04:58.930

threw that thing all over the place it

0:04:56.680,0:05:01.360

balanced it slid it got crunched in my

0:04:58.930,0:05:04.060

truck door several times you know in a

0:05:01.360,0:05:06.490

coat pocket and the thing kept kept on

0:05:04.060,0:05:08.920

ticking with the iPhone I felt as though

0:05:06.490,0:05:11.260

I was carrying around this dainty little

0:05:08.920,0:05:14.170

thing that every time I went outside

0:05:11.260,0:05:17.770

there was a potential for me to to have

0:05:14.170,0:05:20.170

a loved one die no it was a little a

0:05:17.770,0:05:22.810

nick of the screen it was it was a it

0:05:20.170,0:05:24.610

was a death knell and so unfortunately

0:05:22.810,0:05:27.250

because of that I ended up going to very

0:05:24.610,0:05:28.660

strong cases that meant that for all

0:05:27.250,0:05:30.760

intents and purposes I no longer had an

0:05:28.660,0:05:32.170

iPhone I had this giant brick in my

0:05:30.760,0:05:34.810

pocket because I was always concerned

0:05:32.170,0:05:38.320

about damaging it but let's let's let's

0:05:34.810,0:05:40.180

veer back on on on topic which is the

0:05:38.320,0:05:41.860

productivity of a smartphone what are

0:05:40.180,0:05:44.560

the what are the foundations here that

0:05:41.860,0:05:46.870

we want to really cover in terms of the

0:05:44.560,0:05:49.740

things that make a smartphone productive

0:05:46.870,0:05:52.510

and then we can have a better sort of

0:05:49.740,0:05:54.940

comparison or compare and contrast as it

0:05:52.510,0:05:56.860

relates to the various products on the

0:05:54.940,0:05:59.470

market and I think you know to have that

0:05:56.860,0:06:01.510

discussion we may need to come close to

0:05:59.470,0:06:05.710

an agreement that on the smart phone

0:06:01.510,0:06:06.700

rings they are kind of three really well

0:06:05.710,0:06:11.230

defined

0:06:06.700,0:06:13.480

IRA's you have the free iphone where you

0:06:11.230,0:06:15.850

had the pump eyelets and the blackberry

0:06:13.480,0:06:17.920

race today really we're competing

0:06:15.850,0:06:21.990

completely different ways but they were

0:06:17.920,0:06:25.390

near origin of this as my smartphone

0:06:21.990,0:06:26.950

prays and then you have a moment and to

0:06:25.390,0:06:29.560

be honest with you I don't know exactly

0:06:26.950,0:06:33.670

...

If you are looking to purchase your first mobile tablet, or you're in the market to buy a new one, you're in luck! In this episode, Ray, Augusto and Francis tackle some of the important questions you should ask yourself about what kind of mobile tablet you should own.

As a quick overview, please take note of the following criteria you can use to make a decision:

Operating System – Choose the operating system that matches your smartphone.

If you don’t have a smartphone, compare Android, iOS and Windows operating systems against one another by the features you're most likely to use, not the marginal features.

Choose the right tablet format factor for your productivity needs.

App parity, or select based on the need of a specific app(s).

Decide on a budget.

Choose a few tablets based on operating system, form factor, app parity, and budget to test in your local electronics store.

Now, go enjoy this cast! Give us feedback! And, thank you for listening and please send us your questions!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

Amazon Kindle Fire tablets

Day One (iOS/Mac journal software)

OmniFocus 2 (iOS/Mac GTD-inspired software)

iCalendar Sync Cloud

Google Chrome Remote Desktop

Outlook

Microsoft Outlook

Evernote

ASUS Chromebook Flip

Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Lenovo Yoga and Yoga Book

UX (user experience / user design)

Palm Foleo

Jeff Hawkins

Amazon Fire Kids Edition

Facebook developers forced to use Android smartphones until it's better

Google Maps

Raw Text Transcript

Raw, unedited and machine-produced text transcript so there may be substantial errors, but you can search for specific points in the episode to jump to, or to reference back to at a later date and time, by key words or phrases.

0:00:00.000,0:00:04.080

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.100,0:00:05.940

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.080,0:00:06.779

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:05.940,0:00:09.719

come to the right place

0:00:06.779,0:00:12.389

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.719,0:00:14.849

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.389,0:00:18.210

are your hosts ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:14.849,0:00:20.310

Augusto Pinaud welcome back everybody to

0:00:18.210,0:00:22.710

productivity cast the weekly show about

0:00:20.310,0:00:24.840

all things personal productivity I'm Ray

0:00:22.710,0:00:26.490

S-dney-Smith and I'm here with Augusto

0:00:24.840,0:00:28.980

Pinaud how's it going Augusto good

0:00:26.490,0:00:32.070

morning how are you today I'm doing

0:00:28.980,0:00:34.079

really well and we are joined again with

0:00:32.070,0:00:36.120

our regular contributor Francis Wade how

0:00:34.079,0:00:37.290

are you doing Francis I'm fine it's

0:00:36.120,0:00:40.469

great to be with you guys again

0:00:37.290,0:00:42.750

I am sitting in my office and looking at

0:00:40.469,0:00:44.700

the beautiful sunny sky and looking

0:00:42.750,0:00:47.520

forward to this conversation we are

0:00:44.700,0:00:50.460

going to be talking about choosing a

0:00:47.520,0:00:52.680

tablet computer and/or mobile tablet as

0:00:50.460,0:00:54.390

some people call it and I think this is

0:00:52.680,0:00:56.969

a really important topic for a lot of

0:00:54.390,0:01:00.120

people because of the fact that we we

0:00:56.969,0:01:03.899

use screens of different sizes today and

0:01:00.120,0:01:05.880

as we traverse between screens that's

0:01:03.899,0:01:09.330

really important that the tool we use

0:01:05.880,0:01:11.220

the tool we choose to use is effective

0:01:09.330,0:01:12.689

for us and that comes with a lot of

0:01:11.220,0:01:15.210

different options and a lot of choices

0:01:12.689,0:01:16.770

and I think it's really good that we

0:01:15.210,0:01:19.200

make that choice that first choice right

0:01:16.770,0:01:21.750

out the gate I want to talk about

0:01:19.200,0:01:25.439

operating system and form factor and

0:01:21.750,0:01:27.119

budget and at parity across ecosystems

0:01:25.439,0:01:29.520

we're each gonna probably have a

0:01:27.119,0:01:30.600

different opinion on choosing some of

0:01:29.520,0:01:32.579

these pieces and I think that'll be

0:01:30.600,0:01:34.439

really healthy for us so let's get

0:01:32.579,0:01:37.310

started with choosing an operating

0:01:34.439,0:01:40.619

system I believe in an operating system

0:01:37.310,0:01:42.180

choices being sort of twofold right you

0:01:40.619,0:01:45.390

have the selection of the operating

0:01:42.180,0:01:47.640

system because it matches your smart

0:01:45.390,0:01:49.140

phone right it so it's already your

0:01:47.640,0:01:51.540

smart phone operating system why

0:01:49.140,0:01:53.250

shouldn't it be your tablet operating

0:01:51.540,0:01:55.439

system and then the other side is that

0:01:53.250,0:01:57.240

you're not particularly wedded to your

0:01:55.439,0:01:59.549

smartphone or you don't own a smartphone

0:01:57.240,0:02:02.219

and so therefore you should compare it

0:01:59.549,0:02:05.280

against the three major tablet operating

0:02:02.219,0:02:07.799

systems and make a choice based on those

0:02:05.280,0:02:11.310

that comparison that you that you meet

0:02:07.799,0:02:13.250

for me is starred a matter of something

0:02:11.310,0:02:17.300

I'd paid I

0:02:13.250,0:02:20.510

I was on and I think my tablet or my

0:02:17.300,0:02:23.780

original tablet when the first iPad came

0:02:20.510,0:02:27.980

out where tablet still was not something

0:02:23.780,0:02:31.400

that was mainstream I understood the

0:02:27.980,0:02:34.670

power that God doublet May had on my

0:02:31.400,0:02:39.260

work or what I was hoping he was going

0:02:34.670,0:02:41.690

to have on mark worthless and after I

0:02:39.260,0:02:47.000

moved there and have been so many years

0:02:41.690,0:02:52.070

in the iOS ecosystem there certain apps

0:02:47.000,0:02:54.770

that are still only available the iPad

0:02:52.070,0:02:59.090

that I use that make me hard and unmake

0:02:54.770,0:03:00.860

a challenge to for me to leave the iOS

0:02:59.090,0:03:03.860

mostly because then I need to find out

0:03:00.860,0:03:06.320

my replacement and I like them and enjoy

0:03:03.860,0:03:10.070

them and use them almost every day not

0:03:06.320,0:03:12.590

every day multiple times so sorry I'm in

0:03:10.070,0:03:15.050

a certain way of talking iOS there is a

0:03:12.590,0:03:19.340

couple of outside projects I'm doing

0:03:15.050,0:03:23.900

right now where the people is forcing me

0:03:19.340,0:03:27.530

to go to Google Docs and it's been a

0:03:23.900,0:03:31.220

struggle because Google Docs on the iPad

0:03:27.530,0:03:33.620

it works 80% so you can write and all

0:03:31.220,0:03:37.459

that but you cannot see for example as

0:03:33.620,0:03:40.910

of today the changes that others do or

0:03:37.459,0:03:42.019

have done to that document but then or a

0:03:40.910,0:03:43.850

co-writing

0:03:42.019,0:03:46.489

stakes that is what we're doing on that

0:03:43.850,0:03:50.030

case in that project it's a problem

0:03:46.489,0:03:51.680

because I cannot go simply and dump text

0:03:50.030,0:03:55.239

in there and you know what happened and

0:03:51.680,0:03:59.150

what not so that has forced me to

0:03:55.239,0:04:02.570

consider the possibility of adding

0:03:59.150,0:04:04.720

another piece of gear to my arsenal but

0:04:02.570,0:04:07.130

I'm trying to avoid mostly because I

0:04:04.720,0:04:12.140

already carry more gear than what I

0:04:07.130,0:04:14.840

should and on and when then when you

0:04:12.140,0:04:17.780

look into that you discover that the

0:04:14.840,0:04:20.900

gear you know I need it it's basically

0:04:17.780,0:04:24.590

forcing or going to lock me into a

0:04:20.900,0:04:26.480

Chromebook or Chrome tablets because of

0:04:24.590,0:04:29.870

that that said

0:04:26.480,0:04:31.790

my criteria for laptop or her tablets

0:04:29.870,0:04:35.120

used to be the same one as laughter the

0:04:31.790,0:04:37.310

larger the battery the better that is

0:04:35.120,0:04:40.940

one of the reasons I have used also the

0:04:37.310,0:04:43.610

iPad for so long because in it used to

0:04:40.940,0:04:46.340

last me a whole workday now the

0:04:43.610,0:04:49.130

processor has improved and more speed

0:04:46.340,0:04:50.960

has improved and I use it more it loves

0:04:49.130,0:04:54.890

me the whole workday but then I have no

0:04:50.960,0:04:57.080

use for night so sorry eventually end up

0:04:54.890,0:04:59.510

charging my iPad around the middle of

0:04:57.080,0:05:03.020

the day so that way I have used for the

0:04:59.510,0:05:05.870

night but I believe that the better the

0:05:03.020,0:05:08.990

larger the larger the capacity working

0:05:05.870,0:05:11.960

wise for the battery that is in my

0:05:08.990,0:05:16.400

opinion the most important feature that

0:05:11.960,0:05:18.770

a tablet and a laptop can have well for

0:05:16.400,0:05:21.530

me if you remember the last time we

0:05:18.770,0:05:24.140

talked about this I spoke about the way

0:05:21.530,0:05:26.990

that I use my ecosystem I used my laptop

0:05:24.140,0:05:30.590

for creation my tablet for consumption

0:05:26.990,0:05:32.720

and my phone for mobility no I can't say

0:05:30.590,0:05:35.720

that I started out thinking that I

0:05:32.720,0:05:39.320

should do it this way it is it's more of

0:05:35.720,0:05:41.960

an evolution and to be honest I only got

0:05:39.320,0:05:44.480

a tablet because I wanted to watch

0:05:41.960,0:05:46.280

movies on a veranda that's that's what

0:05:44.480,0:05:48.260

motivated me I said you know what it's

0:05:46.280,0:05:50.930

...

Let’s get ready to ruuuummmmmblllllle! We’re going to battle until the last spreadsheet software is standing! Okay, not really. But, isn't that an exciting way to start anything!?

In this episode, we introduce our latest, regular podcast contributor, Art Gelwicks of The Idea Pump, to ProductivityCast. We’re excited to now have Francis and Art join us going forward and really increase the value of diverse productivity perspectives and knowledge. We each come at the world of personal productivity from different angles and backgrounds, and we believe that strengthens our ability on ProductivityCast to get to universal axioms as well as the deeper discussions of differences in personalities and workflows, from which you, our listeners, will benefit.

So, let’s get on with the discussion about the pro’s and con’s of the most popular spreadsheet software--and their productive uses!

Enjoy! Give us feedback! We love to hear from you and send your questions and suggestions. And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Art Gelwicks

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

Early history of Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel

Google Sheets

Apple Numbers

LibreOffice Calc

SharePoint

Microsoft Access

G Suite ← this is a free 30-day trial of G Suite for new accounts (Thank Ray, Google Small Business Advisor - Productivity! ;-)

Getting Things Done in Google Sheets / Excel (template and video tutorial)

Evernote ← Sign up for a free Evernote account here!

CRM (This is a Webinar Ray presented on How to Choose a CRM for Small Business)

OneNote

Google Apps Script

Google Slides

Apple Pages

iCloud

Apple Keynote

OpenDocument format

Google Drive

Microsoft Excel Training

Google Sheets Training

Apple Numbers Training

Ray: We didn’t discuss this, but I’d remisce if we didn’t mention Airtable. Per their website, “Airtable makes it easy to organize stuff, people, ideas and anything else you can imagine with your team.” Worth checking out!

Raw Text Transcript

0:00:00.030,0:00:04.080

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.129,0:00:05.940

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.080,0:00:07.049

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:05.940,0:00:09.750

come to the right place

0:00:07.049,0:00:12.450

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.750,0:00:14.880

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.450,0:00:18.510

are your hosts Ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:14.880,0:00:20.580

Augusto Pinaud and welcome back to

0:00:18.510,0:00:22.050

productivity cast everybody the weekly

0:00:20.580,0:00:24.510

show about all things personal

0:00:22.050,0:00:26.279

productivity as do you know I'm Ray

0:00:24.510,0:00:28.500

Sidney-Smith and I'm here with Augusto

0:00:26.279,0:00:30.900

Pinaud how's it gonna Augusto going pretty

0:00:28.500,0:00:33.090

well pretty well fantastic

0:00:30.900,0:00:34.890

well it's our pleasure to introduce our

0:00:33.090,0:00:36.780

newest podcast contributor to the

0:00:34.890,0:00:38.790

productivity cast team Art Gelwicks

0:00:36.780,0:00:40.860

he's a business process project

0:00:38.790,0:00:42.450

management and collaboration consultant

0:00:40.860,0:00:45.059

for professionals small to medium-sized

0:00:42.450,0:00:46.770

businesses and nonprofits our is also

0:00:45.059,0:00:48.930

the founder of The Idea Pump

0:00:46.770,0:00:51.120

consultancy definitely check out the

0:00:48.930,0:00:53.969

blog over there at the idea pump dot com

0:00:51.120,0:00:55.620

and is an experienced public speaker

0:00:53.969,0:00:57.300

welcome to ProductivityCast oh thank you

0:00:55.620,0:00:59.940

I appreciate it it's good to be with you

0:00:57.300,0:01:02.430

guys and talk about the topic du jour

0:00:59.940,0:01:04.170

we're looking forward to having you on

0:01:02.430,0:01:05.040

as a regular contributor so that's

0:01:04.170,0:01:09.659

always a good thing

0:01:05.040,0:01:14.220

and so today we are going to be talking

0:01:09.659,0:01:16.320

about software that I think everybody

0:01:14.220,0:01:18.720

pretty much knows I mean you know we all

0:01:16.320,0:01:22.110

use it in some way shape or form which

0:01:18.720,0:01:25.470

is spreadsheet software and there are so

0:01:22.110,0:01:26.880

many today that we sort of I thought

0:01:25.470,0:01:30.060

would be really fun for us to actually

0:01:26.880,0:01:33.210

discuss the variety of them and their

0:01:30.060,0:01:35.640

pros and cons based on how all of us

0:01:33.210,0:01:38.310

sort of used them just as a sort of

0:01:35.640,0:01:40.409

primer you know we started off with

0:01:38.310,0:01:42.540

really Microsoft Excel I mean it was a

0:01:40.409,0:01:45.390

it was another product that was bought

0:01:42.540,0:01:47.159

by Microsoft way back you know in I

0:01:45.390,0:01:48.750

believe it's the 80s and forgive me if

0:01:47.159,0:01:51.329

I'm someone can correct me if I'm wrong

0:01:48.750,0:01:53.430

but the you know the software has

0:01:51.329,0:01:56.790

developed into what is now Microsoft

0:01:53.430,0:02:00.450

Excel and here we are you know 30 odd

0:01:56.790,0:02:02.969

years later and now we have you know

0:02:00.450,0:02:05.310

products from Apple to open-source

0:02:02.969,0:02:07.500

software like libre office having calc

0:02:05.310,0:02:10.700

to so many other spreadsheet software

0:02:07.500,0:02:13.770

and I want to just sort of talk about

0:02:10.700,0:02:17.520

what we use why we use it

0:02:13.770,0:02:19.590

and the pros and cons of those pieces so

0:02:17.520,0:02:22.440

let's start off with the big elephant in

0:02:19.590,0:02:24.630

the room which is Microsoft Excel what

0:02:22.440,0:02:27.810

we all have experienced with Microsoft

0:02:24.630,0:02:29.400

Excel how Microsoft Excel is one of

0:02:27.810,0:02:31.920

those things that I consider the Swiss

0:02:29.400,0:02:34.710

Army knife of the office suite I've used

0:02:31.920,0:02:36.930

I have used personally and watched Excel

0:02:34.710,0:02:38.520

be used for just about everything

0:02:36.930,0:02:40.950

positive and lots of things that

0:02:38.520,0:02:43.200

probably shouldn't be used for when you

0:02:40.950,0:02:45.390

look at the function set that's included

0:02:43.200,0:02:48.180

in it and its capability of not only

0:02:45.390,0:02:49.650

handling and basic mathematical

0:02:48.180,0:02:51.690

functionalities and financial

0:02:49.650,0:02:54.510

calculations things that are extremely

0:02:51.690,0:02:57.480

common that it's used for Excel is also

0:02:54.510,0:03:00.510

very commonly used as a data modeling

0:02:57.480,0:03:02.160

tool in a database in many cases where

0:03:00.510,0:03:04.200

you would actually think that you would

0:03:02.160,0:03:07.110

probably push into a larger database

0:03:04.200,0:03:09.330

system a lot of those pieces come back

0:03:07.110,0:03:11.100

into Excel I work a lot in the

0:03:09.330,0:03:13.380

collaborative space with systems like

0:03:11.100,0:03:16.110

SharePoint so you start to see Excel

0:03:13.380,0:03:19.110

tying to those data systems to pull

0:03:16.110,0:03:21.030

information down for analysis the

0:03:19.110,0:03:23.610

challenge you get with something like

0:03:21.030,0:03:25.890

Excel is you're right it's the elephant

0:03:23.610,0:03:29.040

in the room and unfortunately often the

0:03:25.890,0:03:31.410

elephant can take out 90% of the room it

0:03:29.040,0:03:33.810

has such a intersect and so many

0:03:31.410,0:03:36.060

capabilities that like most things in

0:03:33.810,0:03:38.670

office only about 20% of them are

0:03:36.060,0:03:41.180

actually used by anyone but you start to

0:03:38.670,0:03:44.100

miss out on some of the capabilities but

0:03:41.180,0:03:46.020

just over a couple of days like today

0:03:44.100,0:03:48.660

I'm going to be spending most of the day

0:03:46.020,0:03:49.620

using Excel building out data models and

0:03:48.660,0:03:52.770

wireframes

0:03:49.620,0:03:56.670

or an application design is it the

0:03:52.770,0:03:59.220

optimal tool for that no but it can do

0:03:56.670,0:04:01.050

it and it can do it notably well and it

0:03:59.220,0:04:04.500

happens to be one that's right there and

0:04:01.050,0:04:06.570

readily available I remember my first

0:04:04.500,0:04:09.840

use of Excel was actually developing

0:04:06.570,0:04:12.360

applications for you know the company

0:04:09.840,0:04:14.180

that I worked for and you know because

0:04:12.360,0:04:17.450

it could do all of these sophisticated

0:04:14.180,0:04:21.419

formulas that we just decided to turn

0:04:17.450,0:04:25.740

the various sheets into the workflow

0:04:21.419,0:04:27.360

that helped us move data from one set of

0:04:25.740,0:04:30.150

cells within

0:04:27.360,0:04:32.250

one tab to the next each department put

0:04:30.150,0:04:34.710

in their information you know in each of

0:04:32.250,0:04:38.219

the various tabs and then we got sort of

0:04:34.710,0:04:40.289

the output on the other side and it was

0:04:38.219,0:04:41.789

it did its job you know what I mean it

0:04:40.289,0:04:44.669

was great and there was a time in which

0:04:41.789,0:04:49.409

I felt that was sort of the ultimate

0:04:44.669,0:04:51.629

until I got more geeky and excited about

0:04:49.409,0:04:53.460

using access Microsoft Access and then

0:04:51.629,0:04:56.460

we used you know the Microsoft Excel

0:04:53.460,0:04:58.830

database as our as our database to pull

0:04:56.460,0:05:01.409

into access and really use the front-end

0:04:58.830,0:05:05.370

access you know graphic user interface

0:05:01.409,0:05:06.930

the GUI for purposes of having forms and

0:05:05.370,0:05:09.419

things of that nature for people to be

0:05:06.930,0:05:12.449

...

In the last episode, Augusto posed a question for the ProductivityCast team about how we chose the hardware we use today, to be most productive. Much of the discussion centers on operating systems, as you’ll see from this second part of that discussion, about our own choices in hardware, software ecosystems, and operating systems. They’re so intrinsically connected today. Though, as Ray will note, that’s all going to change eventually!

Do you have thoughts or questions after listening to today’s episode about choosing the best productivity hardware (or platform) for your situation? Let us know and we’ll try to answer your question on an upcoming episode!

Enjoy! Give us feedback! And, thanks for listening!

If you'd like to discuss this episode, please click here to leave a comment down below (this jumps you to the bottom of the post).

In this Cast

Ray Sidney-Smith

Augusto Pinaud

Francis Wade

Show Notes

Resources we mention, including links to them will be provided here. Please listen to the episode for context.

Parallels Desktop Emulator

GNU with Linux

Test Drive PC Game

PageMaker (Mac)

Microsoft Publisher

Open Source Software

Scribus

Inkscape

PhotoShop

Google Drive

Mozy Backup

The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwartz, PhD

Open Document Format

How to Install ChromeOS on an Old Computer/Laptop

How to Install Chrome OS on Any PC and Turn It Into a Chromebook

NeverNote/NixNote (Evernote alternative for Linux)

Adult scoliosis

Scrivener

Things

OmniFocus

DayOne

1Password

Andromeda - Fuschia

Raw Text Transcript

0:00:00.060,0:00:04.110

are you ready to manage your work and

0:00:02.159,0:00:06.000

personal world better to live a more

0:00:04.110,0:00:07.109

fulfilling productive life then you've

0:00:06.000,0:00:09.780

come to the right place

0:00:07.109,0:00:12.540

welcome to productivity cast the weekly

0:00:09.780,0:00:15.000

show about all things productivity here

0:00:12.540,0:00:18.449

are your hosts ray Sidney-Smith and

0:00:15.000,0:00:20.310

Augusto Pinaud so last time we got

0:00:18.449,0:00:23.310

together we were discussing about the

0:00:20.310,0:00:25.260

different you know tools and hardware

0:00:23.310,0:00:27.990

pieces of hardware we have the windows

0:00:25.260,0:00:31.050

to max the iPad the tablets and

0:00:27.990,0:00:33.719

everything else and but I wanted to

0:00:31.050,0:00:37.230

continue the discussion into how to

0:00:33.719,0:00:40.620

choose because Francis I know it's on a

0:00:37.230,0:00:44.190

Windows machine I am mostly on an iPad

0:00:40.620,0:00:47.250

and you know have access to to a Mac if

0:00:44.190,0:00:49.920

I need to but but hasn't always been

0:00:47.250,0:00:51.660

like that you know and it has changed

0:00:49.920,0:00:53.910

over the years and have jumped from the

0:00:51.660,0:00:57.140

Mac to the PC to the Mac and and

0:00:53.910,0:01:00.420

different things so doesn't matter which

0:00:57.140,0:01:02.039

operating system you are for the 90% of

0:01:00.420,0:01:05.189

the things you know you can go

0:01:02.039,0:01:08.670

Chromebooks and be ok

0:01:05.189,0:01:10.890

iPad and be ok windows and be ok

0:01:08.670,0:01:14.820

and then the Mac you keep on to those

0:01:10.890,0:01:18.479

four and even Linux introduced those 5

0:01:14.820,0:01:19.770

operating systems you can really do 90

0:01:18.479,0:01:22.799

percent and now it's a matter of

0:01:19.770,0:01:25.860

software specific that will limit a

0:01:22.799,0:01:29.430

matter of capability it's less and less

0:01:25.860,0:01:32.159

these days so I'm curious how we can how

0:01:29.430,0:01:34.829

we choose which hardware to use and what

0:01:32.159,0:01:37.430

are those criteria that we have for the

0:01:34.829,0:01:40.439

hardware we use and and what we will

0:01:37.430,0:01:42.689

recommend people you know when they need

0:01:40.439,0:01:45.060

to choose a different kind of hardware

0:01:42.689,0:01:47.610

and we have with us our regular

0:01:45.060,0:01:50.070

contributor Frances Wade Frances how are

0:01:47.610,0:01:53.280

you today I'm great pleasure to be here

0:01:50.070,0:01:54.570

fantastic so as the lead in talked about

0:01:53.280,0:01:57.840

we're going to be talking about hardware

0:01:54.570,0:02:03.060

choices and it's as a continuation of

0:01:57.840,0:02:06.479

our conversation last week before I was

0:02:03.060,0:02:10.259

I my first computer you know if I go

0:02:06.479,0:02:12.060

really really back was an Apple

0:02:10.259,0:02:20.670

Macintosh

0:02:12.060,0:02:22.709

Tandy II here I may need - I may need to

0:02:20.670,0:02:29.910

research what kind of computer was that

0:02:22.709,0:02:31.769

that was not available on my time that

0:02:29.910,0:02:33.480

was not available on my time I really

0:02:31.769,0:02:38.090

don't know what kind of machine is that

0:02:33.480,0:02:41.550

but the first computer that made it home

0:02:38.090,0:02:46.500

was an Apple Macintosh that's what I

0:02:41.550,0:02:50.640

start my scene I went from there to a PC

0:02:46.500,0:02:56.069

and went through the different pains of

0:02:50.640,0:02:58.410

being a Windows user 2007 I decide it

0:02:56.069,0:03:01.860

was time to go back to the Mac I was at

0:02:58.410,0:03:05.220

that time pc user but i really did not

0:03:01.860,0:03:08.190

enjoy my computer and experience so i

0:03:05.220,0:03:13.620

wanted something better so I decided to

0:03:08.190,0:03:17.489

test a MacBook and I really fell in love

0:03:13.620,0:03:20.790

with the fact that it works you know

0:03:17.489,0:03:23.370

when I did that change a good friend of

0:03:20.790,0:03:26.730

mine came to have dinner with us at home

0:03:23.370,0:03:28.170

and he asked so how is the Mac because

0:03:26.730,0:03:30.989

he was really curious he wanted to do

0:03:28.170,0:03:33.569

the same and before I could answer my

0:03:30.989,0:03:36.180

wife said oh it's great everybody on

0:03:33.569,0:03:38.459

this dinner table look at her like how

0:03:36.180,0:03:40.500

do you know and she said it was great

0:03:38.459,0:03:43.410

now he going to his home office and he

0:03:40.500,0:03:45.780

don't shout before this is to hear all

0:03:43.410,0:03:47.670

these awful words coming from the office

0:03:45.780,0:03:50.880

I'm going to throw you to the window you

0:03:47.670,0:03:53.639

beep okay that was a change that the Mac

0:03:50.880,0:03:56.130

brought for me it was more a machine

0:03:53.639,0:03:58.380

that works for what I needed to do not

0:03:56.130,0:04:01.290

perfect by any means but it was a

0:03:58.380,0:04:03.329

machine where I could be much more

0:04:01.290,0:04:05.900

productive and much more relaxed and for

0:04:03.329,0:04:10.500

that reason I really like the platform

0:04:05.900,0:04:13.560

but at that time I was heavy road

0:04:10.500,0:04:18.539

warrior I was traveling over 250,000

0:04:13.560,0:04:23.220

miles a year on 2010 when the iPad was

0:04:18.539,0:04:25.830

announced I look you know for what I did

0:04:23.220,0:04:28.470

I look at the iPad I say

0:04:25.830,0:04:32.340

with the current version as it was with

0:04:28.470,0:04:35.430

all their limitations in 2010 I can

0:04:32.340,0:04:39.569

probably get rid of half of the gear on

0:04:35.430,0:04:42.780

my back and in fact I did pages at that

0:04:39.569,0:04:46.379

time was not as powerful numbers at that

0:04:42.780,0:04:49.500

time was not as powerful but I could get

0:04:46.379,0:04:52.379

by for 90% of the stuff and instead of

0:04:49.500,0:04:57.000

carry that much weight I turn myself

0:04:52.379,0:04:58.740

into a superlight bag that even even

0:04:57.000,0:05:01.349

with the standards of battery at that

0:04:58.740,0:05:03.569

time you know I could last most of the

0:05:01.349,0:05:07.879

day and if not it was a piece of cake to

0:05:03.569,0:05:11.909

carry the charger with me and the more I

0:05:07.879,0:05:14.879

work on the iPad with again their

0:05:11.909,0:05:19.050

difficulties I fall in love with the

0:05:14.879,0:05:20.699

difference on how much how they I was

0:05:19.050,0:05:24.840

working on the iPad and at that

0:05:20.699,0:05:27.419

evolution came I begin to see more and

0:05:24.840,0:05:30.870

more power I'm a bit of history as I

0:05:27.419,0:05:39.000

started off using a Texas Instruments 99

0:05:30.870,0:05:43.080

for a back in 1980 one or two long time

0:05:39.000,0:05:46.529

ago I I was fortunate enough to spend

0:05:43.080,0:05:50.490

three two summers working at a company

0:05:46.529,0:05:53.099

that had its first IBM pcs ones where

0:05:50.490,0:05:56.219

the two floppy drives and so forth so I

0:05:53.099,0:06:00.349

was using DOS Mac then when I went to

0:05:56.219,0:06:02.729

university it was really mostly about

0:06:00.349,0:06:05.310

apple Macintosh's which had just been

0:06:02.729,0:06:07.169

purchased we use them heavily but they

0:06:05.310,0:06:08.969

were also lots of Windows program not

0:06:07.169,0:06:10.620

Windows at the time but there were PC

0:06:08.969,0:06:13.199

programs that we had to use also this

0:06:10.620,0:06:16.560

was engineering school so we had to use

0:06:13.199,0:06:20.460

both and when I left sort of ended

0:06:16.560,0:06:22.529

entered industry the Macintosh of stills

0:06:20.460,0:06:26.099

or Apple machines were still sort of

0:06:22.529,0:06:28.710

exotic so I grew up in the Windows or in

0:06:26.099,0:06:31.139

the Microsoft ecosystem and never really

0:06:28.710,0:06:36.149

left I've never owned have an owner of

0:06:31.139,0:06:37.919

an Apple machine never not even not even

0:06:36.149,0:06:39.540

a phone part of the justification for

0:06:37.919,0:06:42.360

that is only because

0:06:39.540,0:06:44.760

I use I like to test out new apps and

0:06:42.360,0:06:47.430

they in the past they always tended to

0:06:44.760,0:06:49.560

come out on the windows ecosystem first

0:06:47.430,0:06:50.850

and I never wanted to give up the apps

0:06:49.560,0:06:53.790

...