The Productivity Lab

We all have a routine whether we are conscious of it or not. Suddenly, you find yourself wanting to add something to your morning or evening routine. Maybe you want to add five minutes of meditation or you want to start reading 30 minutes a day. Well, we have an app that just might help you! The Routinery App helps you create and manage your routines with guided task completion, task timer, and routine reminders. Does the app do what it claims? Does it help you build a routine? Kyle and Mark put the Routinery app to the test; find out their results in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Routinery App* Relay FM* Cortex* Focused Podcast* Mac Power Users* Connected – Relay FM* TPL – Time Tracking* TPL – Time Blocking* Up First – NPR* BJ Fogg* tiny habits* B._J._Fogg* Captology* Forest App – TPL* Themed Days – TPL* The Productivity Project

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* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s Instagram &

Burnout is the silent killer of productivity. It sneaks up on you like a snake in the dark, and then when it’s through with you it leaves you mentally and physically exhausted, unable to fend for yourself. That’s why it’s best to keep an eye out for the signs before it strikes.

In this surprise episode of The Productivity Lab, Kyle & Mark discuss how they’re feeling burnt out and what measures they’re taking to relieve it before it gets worse.

Resources & Fun Stuff

Steal Like An Artist by Austin KleaonWriting Fiction by Janet BorrowayEasy TigerTower of GodInvincibleGrammar Lab (Mark’s Grammar Class)AnalogAnalog Review – The Productivity LabMicrosoft TodoTodoistRoutinery – Play Store, App StoreThe Imaginative ArgumentScary Fast by Brian Michael StegnerScary Fast Book Review – The Productivity LabEssentialism by Greg McKeownReadwiseHyperfocused with Chris Bailey – Focused PocastNatural Alarm Clock Reviw – The Productivity LabMortal Kombat (2021)The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey

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* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

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* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s Instagram & Twitter

Credits

Logo & BrandingDesign for The Productivity Lab ...

Like the infamous Paper Only episode, Mark and Kyle jump back into the world of analog productivity with Analog by Ugmonk! Kyle, the digital loving productivist, and Mark, the paper loving planner, takes the Analog kit for work-day test to see how the system works for me. Did Mark find a new paper love? Will Kyle ditch digital for his to-do’s? What did they think about the Analog productivity kit? Find out in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Mixtape by Mark* Mark’s grammar course* Zettlekasten – TPL* Obsidian MD* Notion* Wanna Buy Exist?* Exist – TPL* Analog – By Ugmonk* Gather – By Ugmonk* Paper Only – TPL* Digital Only – TPL* Focused interview with Jeff Sheldon* Ivy Lee Method – TPL* Resistance List – TPL* Pano Book – by Studio Neat* Thoroughly Considered – Relay FM* Trello* Agile Framework* Routinery App

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* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

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* Mark’s personal website:

Sometimes it doesn’t matter just how productive you are there will always be those tasks that you just don’t want to do. Whether it be running to the store to pick up groceries, or planning for a meeting, there are just tasks that our brains do not want to do, no matter how essential or important they are. Enter the resistance list.

In this episode Mark and Kyle test out the resistance list. The resistance list is a simple method of consolidating everything your mind doesn’t want to do onto one list and picking an item from that list to focus on for just half an hour each day. With a long list and short commitments this method has to be foolproof, right? Listen now to find out!

Resources & Fun Stuff

* The Adventure Zone* My Brother, My Brother and Me* Sin & Syntax by Constance Hale* Mixtape Vol. 1 by Mark Askew (Support him on Amazon too!)* Zach Snyder’s The Justice League (aka “The Snyder Cut“)* Mark’s take on “the Snyder Cut”* “Productivity & Meditation, with Chris Bailey” – Focused Podcast* Daily Themes – The Productivity Lab* Task Matrix – The Productivity Lab* Automate the Boring Stuff with Python by Al Sweigart* Beyond the Basic Stuff with Python by Al Sweigart* Todoist* Microsoft To Do* Ugmonk* Analog by Ugmonk

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* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

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* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Subscribe to Mark’s weekly newsletter: askmark.io/newsletter* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s fiction writing website:

Algorithms to Live By from authors Ben Christian and Tom Griffiths, looks at how to apply computer algorithms, such as caching, sorting, or scheduling to your everyday life. In this episode, Kyle and Mark attempt to wrap their heads around the proposed algorithms. Find out what they thought and more in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Algorithms to Live By Book* Algorithms Google Talk (video)* Grammar Lab at UCSD* Oxford Comma Lawsuit Case Opinion* Summary by The New Yorker* The Adventure Zone* Less Wrong* Astral Codex Ten* Rationally Speaking* 80000 Hours Podcast* Bayes Rule* Thinking Fast & Slow* Chris Bailey* Focused Podcast

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* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

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* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website:

Back in the olden days of pre-COVID it was easier for one to separate where one works, relaxes, and sleeps, but in a post-COVID world, those separations have grown harder to distinguish between. From working at your dining room table to working out in your living room, the spaces where we once held sacred to different tasks have become a blend of many.

In this episode of The Productivity Lab, Kyle and Mark talk about the benefits of separating out those spaces within your own house, or apartment. They share their methods, provide some helpful advice, and discuss the dangers of TV trays. All that and more in this episode of The Productivity Lab!

References & Fun Stuff

* The Snowpacolypse (AKA Winterstorm Uri, AKA The February 13–17, 2021 North American winter storm)* 2021 Texas Power Crisis – Wikipedia* Marks Personal Newsletter* Zettelkasten – The Productiviy Lab* Spaceship You – CGP Grey* Conditioned to eat while watching television? Low-income caregivers’ perspectives on the role of snacking and television viewing among pre-schoolers* Reward, dopamine and the control of food intake: implications for obesity* Algorithms to Live By: The Computer Science of Human Decisions by Brian Christian and Tom Griffiths

More from The Productivity Lab

* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

More from Mark & Kyle

* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s Instagram & Twitter

Credits

Logo & BrandingDesign for The Productivity Lab is provided by Adam Dodson DesignsMusic“Getting it Done” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Looking for a better method to take notes? Introducing Zettelkasten.Zettelkasten (German for slip box) is a note taking and management system popularized by Niklas Luhman. The system, in tactile form, makes extensive use of index cards for the taking of and organization of notes but can be managed easier within a digital system.In this episode, Kyle and Mark discuss their methods and results in utilizing this new way of taking notes. Find out in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Taskade — Zettelkasten* Phoenix Saga / Dark Phoenix Saga – X Men* CodeWars* Sum of pairs – CodeWars* Annihilation* Borne Series* Everyday Superhumans* Atomic Notes – Cortex* Masters of Creative Note Taking* The notecard system* I’m Ryan Holiday, and This Is How I Work* Commonplace Book* How to Take Smart Notes* Readwise* The PARA Method* “Second Brain” * Notion* Obsidian *

The world can seem large and chaotic sometimes. Every day we are bombarded with news about events we can’t control in locations far from us. This can result in anxiety and hopelessness, especially during times of crisis like the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. But what if we told you that that stuff doesn’t really matter? Enter stoicism.

Stoicism is the philosophy of focusing on the things that you can control, whether it be your daily routine to your own reactions to events. Originating in ancient Rome, the practice of stoicism is valuable more now than ever with our 24-hour news cycles and doom scrolling.

In this episode of The Productivity Lab Kyle & Mark try out Stoic Week, a one-week exercise incorporating the stoic principles into their daily lives. From morning meditations to nightly journaling, could stoic week be what we need during the crazy year of 2020 (and now 2021)? Find out in this episode of The Productivity Lab!

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Meditations by Marcus Aurelius* Letters from a Stoic by Seneca* Ryan Holiday* The Daily Stoic by Ryan Holiday & Stephen Hanselman* Kenosis* Mr. Rogers’ Song before Congress* Toni Morrison* Karl Ove Knausgård* Theme System Journal

More from The Productivity Lab

* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

More from Mark & Kyle

* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s Instagram & Twitter

Credits

Logo & BrandingDesign for The Productivity Lab is provided by Adam Dodson DesignsMusic“Getting it Done” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0

Don’t. Break. The Chain!How long can you go in building a streak, a habit, or in completing a daily goal with no breaks in-between?In this episode, Kyle and Mark discuss their methods and results in following the Don’t Break the Chain productivity challenge. What did they choose? Did they succeed? Find out in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Don’t Break the Chain – Blog* Sin & Syntax Book* The Culture Series by Iain M Banks* The Heap by Kyle* Top Notch* /r/TheXEffect* Atomic Habits* Habit Hub* Streaks (iOS)* Ian Barnard YouTube* Gal Shir

More from The Productivity Lab

* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

More from Mark & Kyle

* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s Instagram & Twitter

Credits

Logo & BrandingDesign for The Productivity Lab is provided by

The effect of COVID-19 upon the world was not a small one. With remote work becoming the norm overnight workplaces and workers had to adapt to the new challenges of getting stuff done in their own homes. Now that we’ve ten months into the pandemic remote work has become even more ingrained into our culture, with some employees preferring it overworking in the office. In her book, The New Corner Office, Laura Vanderkam lays out the argument that we should continue this trend of working from home indefinitely. She argues that working from home is not only more productive but also is better for the mental health of workers everywhere.

In this episode of The Productivity Lab, Kyle and Mark discuss Larua’s arguments and apply them to their working lives to see if they are up to snuff. Listen now to see if working from home indefinitely is right for you!

Resources & Fun Stuff

* NaNoWriMo* Self Editing for Fiction Writers by Renni Browne & Dave King* Maniac on Netflix* The Heap by Jonathan K Webb (AKA Kyle)* Before Breakest Podcast* Working From Home Review – The Productivity Lab* Don’t Break the Chain* /r/TheXEffect

More from The Productivity Lab

* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLab* Check us out on Instagram @ProductiveLab

More from Mark & Kyle

* Mark’s personal website: askmark.io* Mark’s Instagram & Twitter* Kyle’s personal website: quadrantnine.net* Kyle’s Instagram & Twitter

Credits

Logo & BrandingDesign for The Productivity Lab is provided by Adam Dodson DesignsMusic“Getting it Done” by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0