sharppodcast

Episode 56 - If you haven't yet discovered how great GTD is, we tell you why - regardless of your age - you should read GTD For Teens. It's an excellent way of getting to know how GTD can work for you.

Look at all this stuff we covered:

• We first covered GTD back in June 2017 in Episode 15
• Bruce Lee and David Allen have something in common (now you know why we chose this episode's cover art)
• Enter The Dragon
• What having a 'Mind Like Water' means
• David Allen's Ted Talk including his reference to this phrase
• How we are bombarded with more data than at any time in history
• Why this book could be the solution
• An overview of each section:
• Introduction - Myggy and Cortland and the state of 'ready'
• Part 1 - The Art of Getting Things Done
• Part 2 - The Practice of GTD
• 5 steps
• Planning Map
• Levels of Focus - Google Maps and zooming in
• Part 3 - The Lab. Big Buckets!

References/research/links

• Episode 15 - One Great Tool
• More info on GTD For Teens - plus buy the book here
• David Allen's TED Talk
• Bruce Lee - Be As Water
• Brain Pickings - Bruce Lee Artist Of Life
• Tech 21 - The Human Brain is Loaded Daily with 34GB
• Raconteur's Infographic
• Fast Company - Why It's Hard to Pay Attention
• Peter Bregman - 18 minutes

Episode 55 - Would you like an extra week in your year to focus on really important stuff? How about TWO weeks? How about ELEVEN days of fun/important/helpful personal time? Take control of your calendar and you could have that - and more. We show you how.

Here's all the good stuff:

• Forbes.com article on 6 things you should NOT have on your calendar
• Meetings
• Back to back appointments
• Checklists
• Notes
• Miniscule tasks
• Other people's priorities
• History.com and the Gregorian Calendar
• Today's date on the Hijri Calendar
• Yes - that idiot STEVE IN THE FIELD is back (well almost!)
• 9 things that SHOULD be on your calendar
• Tomorrow's frog
• Meetings with yourself
• Free/personal/family time
• Breaks
• Categories
• Where you are
• Travel time
• Date/time specific appointments
• Developing yourself
• LISA and Steve are back at the kitchen table TOO!
• 5 cool habits to support a SHARP calendar
• Weekly review
• Link work and home
• End of day review/journal
• Plan ahead - 2 further weeks each week
• Saying 'no' to yourself (by planning things other than the easy stuff)

Other research from:



• GTD
• Peter Bregman 18 minutes
• Project Management Hacks

Episode 54 - We talk to the whirlwind that is Laura Gassner Otting! With her new book coming out (in April 2019 at time of writing) Laura shares her view on life, what gets in the way, and how we can all enjoy a life without limits!

Look at all this stuff we covered:



• Laura's background and wide range of experience
• Socks (Isle of Wight of course!)
• New Year's resolutions
• Why there will always be a bigger boat
• How Laura uses her calendar (great tips here)
• Putting things off
• GTD
• "Limitless - How to Ignore Everybody, Carve your Own Path, and Live Your Best Life"
• Click on the link above to order/pre-order in the US, or here - To order in the UK
• What Consonance means to Laura
• The four C's:
• Calling
• Connection
• Contribution
• Control
• Why following your passion is bad advice
• Older entrepreneurs
• Your job may not be the reason why you're unhappy with your job
• Yep I had to read that twice - but it's correct
• Your brain is a liar
• What you do needs to match who you are
• Math(s), dancing, doing the big thing and much much more!

Episode 53 - In the last of our revisits to helping you get even SHARPER this year, we go back to episode 30, where we summarised all the good stuff about routines. How is your start of day routine? Is it setting you up for the best you can be each day? And what about your end-of-day routine - does that help you wind down in the right way? These episodes are definitely worth another listen, which is why we did it!

If you'd like to listen to the FULL episodes, the links are here:



• Episode 12 (Hello, Good Morning), where we cover:

• Why you should think about your morning routine
• Planning to plan from a personal perspective
• Having a morning routine isn't just for people running multi-million-pound operations
• But if they do it - why shouldn't you?
• I've done the research in places like Success magazine, Forbes, Tony Robbins, Jim Rohn, David Allen and so on, so you don't have to. Here are some articles for further reading:
• (Success link removed as article has since been taken down)
• FastCompany - The morning routines of the most successful people
• Forbes - Routines of 7 successful but human millennial entrepreneurs
• What my morning routine is - and why I do it
• Circadian rhythms and - why they make you feel like you do
• Your alarm is a conflict, but you can make it work for you
• Why do I get up at 4:50, and why should you get up at 6:37
• Laugh, smile - do it FIRST
• The psychology of smiling
• Water water everywhere - get it inside you
• Run for your life - why some exercise every day is a good idea
• Oy - YOU! (time)
• Get cold - If it's good enough for Tim Ferris and Tony Robbins, it's good enough for us
• What 30 seconds in a cold shower tells you about taking things for granted
• The 6 steps:
• Alarm - set it with intention, don't snooze
• Laugh - look in the mirror, laugh or smile at yourself. I promise you, it's funny and good
• Water - half a litre, 16 ounces re-hydrate quickly after you've woken up
• Activity - walk outside, gym, run - whatever works for you
• You time - 10 minutes of meditation, yoga, or just taking 10 to stop and think about what you want to do today
• Shower - cold blast, 30 seconds at the end.
• Episode 13 (Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me), where we cover:

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• How your 'start of day' and your 'end of day' routine support each other and support you in getting stuff done
• Why Forbes.com say how you end your day is critical - in this article
• Michael Hyatt says, "The right activities before you sleep can set you up for success the next day" in this article
• The two groups of 'end of day' routines - the workday one and the dayday one
• Why it's even more important to have a defined end-of-day process if you do work which doesn't have its own clear end to each day
• THE END OF WORKDAY ROUTINE:
• A great template for a 7-step routine from todoist.com - the full article is here
• 1. Clean up your physical and digital workspace
• 2. Review your to-done’s
• 3. Write out tomorrow’s to-do list
• 4. Set yourself up to “Eat Your Frog” first thing in the morning
• 5. Confront the things you’ve been putting off. (Break them down and choose one 'next step' for tomorrow)
• 6. Set a time to end your workday and stick to it
• 7. End on a high note:
• Forgive yourself
• Show gratitude
• Do someone a favour
• My personal end of workday routine (from 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction and Get the Right Things Done) looks like this:
• Spend 5 minutes asking yourself these key questions:
• How did my day go? What went well? What were my challenges?
• What did I learn today? About myself? About others? What do I plan to do - differently or the same tomorrow?
• Who did I interact with? Anyone, I need to update? Thank? Ask a question? Share feedback with?
• THE END OF DAY (DAY) ROUTINE:
• Set a 'turn off your screen' time - and stick to it
• What Scientific American say about - using screens before bedtime
• Coffee - did you know it has a 'half-life'? - The effect of caffeine on sleep
• Wind-down time, take it seriously
• Take the time to work out how long you need to start your wind-down process. Mine is 45 minutes between starting and going to sleep
• Journal. Take time in your wind-down space to write down:
• What went well for you today
• What you learned today which developed you or improved something
• Three things you appreciate or are grateful for. The more basic, the better