sharppodcast

Episode 21 - UPDATE* - Mike is no longer working in the voiceover industry, but I think there's lots to get out of this episode, so I've left it up.

This week we talk to Mike Broderick. Mike is a UK based entrepreneur who specialises in Voiceover work. Mike shared with us his challenges, his solutions, and how he gets things done whilst continually revisiting how he does them. There are some practical tips in there, and I think a lovely story on Mike's frame of mind. Enjoy.

Some of the stuff in there is:

• How Mike went from Economic Development to talking into a microphone for a living
• Douglas Puryer's book - Your life can be better
• How it may have ideas for all of us
• Finding it hard to focus
• Batching
• Learning to not beat yourself up
• Why meditation allows you to decide what you feel about something
• The risks of trying to be too perfect
• The benefits of investing in a tool to speed up your processes instead of just sticking with doing things the same way
• Smiling
• Finding the opportunity to practice in everything you do
• The Moment Podcast with Brian Koppelmann and Seth Godin
• How our minds create a story after things happen to justify actions our brain and body already decided on
• Our story and how it may not be accurate
• Mike's myth and why he's changing his mind on it
• The power of taking time to define what you're grateful for
• Aiming to get a little better each day
• Meditation
• Google for creating lists with your voice
• Ralph Waldo Emerson - "What lies behind us and what lies before us are small matters compared to what lies within us. And when we bring what is within us out into the world, miracles happen"

Links and resource base:



• Douglas Puryer's book - UK Link:
• Your Life Can Be Better, Using Strategies for Adult ADD/ADHD
• US Link:
• Your Life Can Be Better, Using Strategies for Adult ADD/ADHD
• The Moment Podcast with Brian Koppelman and Seth Godin
• To find our more about Mike, what he does, and where you can contact him go to:
• His website here - www.mikebroderickvoiceover.com
• or at Twitter here - @MikeBroderickVO

Episode 20 - This week, we're showing you how to get in control of your inbox. Two options for you - pick any of the tips you like and apply them individually, or apply them all and get to 'INBOX ZERO' every day. In the first few minutes, we look at why email is not necessarily helping us, and then in part two, we show you 10 things you can do differently.

Some of the stuff in there is:



PART 1 - 01:33

• Who Elwood Edwards is
• Why is e-mail different now than it was in 1989
• The Radicati Group Estimate 269 Bn emails sent a day - in this article
• Why e-mail is no respecter of hierarchy, time or our priorities
• The Daily Mail claims email is taking up over 2 hours a day - article here
• The Huffington Post claim it's taking up over 6 hours a day - article here
• Lifehacker explains why it can take over 20 minutes to get interrupted concentration back - here
• The CTO who learned that email was costing his company the equivalent of a Learjet - article here
• We ask - do you want one whole working day back every month?
• Where some of my solutions have come from:
• GTD
• Merlin Mann

PART 2 - 09:08

• How to clear your inbox

1. Frame of mind - treat email like post; it's a task to get done so you can get back to your job; it isn't your job
2. Process emails don't read them - what's the verb, what's the action, be clear on what you need to do and when, and then put it into a system
3. 2-minute rule - if you can complete the action in 2 minutes, do it
4. Notifications - turn them off, and process mail at structured times in the day
5. Multiple folders -  get rid
6. Set up two folders - Action and Awaiting Response
7. Challenge expectations - especially your own. Would you prefer to be someone who is productive or someone who has a reputation for responding to emails?
8. Don't accept other people passing their urgency onto you - make your own decisions about whether the content is important and/or urgent - (don't forget there's a difference)
9. Send fewer emails -  consider other methods of communication
10. Avoid cc and reply all - unless you want ten emails back for the price of one

Episode 19 - Last time, we looked at setting goals. But unless you do something about them, they end up being nothing more than good intentions. In this episode, we share the resource that's out there to help you do your goals, keep them on track, measure your performance and make them happen. We feature 5 apps and 5 'paper-based' resources - so there's something for everyone!

Some of the stuff in there is:



• Why it's no good just deciding on your goals
• Apps and mobile-based resource can track and support your goals because your device is always with you
• We reviewed loads of different websites, blogs and resource to research what apps are out there
• We (I) found 95 different apps to consider
• So then I filtered them based on which ones got recommended the most
• In the episode, I talked about the top 5 - here they are:
• Coach.me
• Goals on track
• Strides
• Irunurun
• Lifetick
• I also promised you I'd link to the top 10 in the show notes, so here are the next 5:
• HabitBull
• StickK
• Balanced
• Habit List
• Way Of Life
• Next up was a 'paper-based' resource - sometimes it's just nice to write with a pen
• Especially if you're in a field (or the field)
• The Self Journal - here's the link
• While researching The Self Journal, I came across this video by Gillateen. He's funny and cool
• My Pro Planner - (link disabled while they re-stock)
• They had a nice video, too - here it is
• Action Day planners - here's the link
• Two further bits of resource which are paper-based but not journals:
• Design the Life You Love by Ayshe Birsel - here's the link
• Field Notes notebooks, my absolute fave - here they are
• Fisher Space pen can write upside down, underwater, or in the snow. So if you find yourself upside down in snowy water, it's a must. Also, if you just want to have a handy small pen, it's also a must. Again - here's the link
• I also said I'd publish links to all the resource we used for this podcast. Here you go:
• Lifewire.com
• Michael Hyatt
• Entrepreneur.com
• App Advice.com
• Buzzfeed
• The Job Network
• The Guardian
• Lifewire (again)
• Forbes Books
• Lifehacker
• Tomas Lau
• Free Apps For Me
• Archipreneur
• Makeuseof.com
• Inside Source
• pk.acmgold.com
• Flightcentre
• Better Humans
• NY Times
• Inc
• PHEW! As I said - we do the work, so you don't have to!

Episode 18- We've spent some time looking at goals. No, not football goals - life goals! We've gathered together 5 KEY actions for setting effective goals, plus ONE missing thing that most of the resource doesn't tell you. It's not a secret; it's in the title!

 Some of the stuff in there is:

• The resource out there on setting goals
• 5 steps that many people agree on when setting successful goals
• 1) Visualising your goal - invoke all of your senses
• The brain's link between sounds, smells and memory
• 2) Writing your goal down - using the S.M.A.R.T. acronym
• Be Specific about what the goal is
• Define how you would Measure whether you've achieved the goal
• Use 'Action' language - Do, Become, Develop
• Realistic - either take this literally and make the goals realistic or take the 'Big Hairy Audacious' approach and set really stretching goals. You decide!
• Set a Time limit to when you want to achieve the goal by
• 3) Sharing your goal
• Two schools of thought on this, make them public or keep them private. Here are two perspectives:
• Fact Company say make it public 
• Derek Sivers says keep them private
• 4) Break it down
• Be sure to split bigger goals into smaller steps
• Be clear on the NEXT step
• Make it something you can do within 24 hours
• 5) Plan
• Set yourself dates in the diary to review your progress AND to celebrate your success
• The one thing missing from most of the advice - WHY
• Why WHY?
• Never underestimate the power of stating the obvious
• 30 million people have given up smoking this way
• 5 whys, according to iSixSigma
• 5 whys, according to Toyota
• A version delivered from our kitchen table
• How can you make reviewing progress more satisfying
• Use a good planner to manage your progress - this is nice Action Day Academic Diary 17/18
• The importance of being flexible - your goals don't have to be set in stone
• In fact, if you set the wrong ones and you've changed them, then the process works!

Episode 17 - Today, we talk to Andrew O'Neill, a standup comedian, author and amazing guitar player. Andrew spent some time talking to us about how you deal with a routine when you don't have a routine. Their struggle with paying attention. Why you should write things down, and the importance of visualisation when you are deciding what your goals are. It all sounds very grown up - it wasn't.

 Some of the stuff in there is:



• A secret you didn't know about standup comedy
• Ritual Magick
• Big Bird and to-do lists
• Notebooks and showers - Aqua Notes website
• ADHD and the internet
• Meditation - The Josh Groban podcast with 10% Happier 
• Work-life balance and how it applies to comedy
• You say sigil - I say goal setting
• The importance of breaking a goal into its component steps - it works like magic (magick)
• Gnosis - and how you can move the moon in front of the sun
• Be richer tomorrow - by not buying that cup of coffee
• Neil Gaiman, Netflix and the BBC - how networking happens when you're not paying attention
• Deciding on making a difference by having a routine
• Our version of 'The Trip'
• Andrew's stuff:
• 'About' Andrew on his website
• Have a look at his Twitter, account pages here
• The book Neil Gaiman says is 'Absolutely Hilarious' - A History of Heavy Metal