The Productivity Lab

In time for the new year, Kyle and Mark reflect on their 2020 themes and establish themes for the coming year.

Themes are different from resolutions, where resolutions notoriously fail, themes propose a different approach: they provide a filter to make all your decisions through. A theme allows you to ask yourself questions like “Is this what I should be doing right now?” or “What’s the best way to fulfill my theme today?” Instead of relying on lofty goals. A theme, in this sense, is a way of life.

Join Kyle and Mark in this episode of The Productivity Lab as they discuss their year.

What are your themes for 2021? Tweet them to us or message us on Instagram.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* 2020 Yearly Themes – TPL* NaNoWriMo* Chris Do * Austin Podcasters* Essentialism – Book* Keep Productive Notion Goal Planning* Mark’s Q3 Digital Planning Vid* No Alarms – TPL* Antifragile* The Black Swan* Exist* Exist Review – TPL* CryptoCurrent Podcast* Everyday Superhumans* HAAM* Automate The Boring Stuff* Data Sience Bootcamp*

What if there was a drink out there that just by the simple act of drinking it could magically make you more productive and focused? And no we’re not talking about coffee. Well, the folks over at Magic Mind sure think they’ve cracked the code, going as far as calling it the “world’s first productivity drink.” With their blend of nootropics and other mind and body enhancing supplements, the team at Magic Mind guarantees that in just two weeks time of drinking their concoction that you will see an increase in your productivity.

In this episode Kyle & Mark put their claims to the test. Is Magic Mind really as good as they claim it to be? Or is it just another scam like Bullet Proof Coffee? Listen now to find out!

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* NaNoWriMo* Ugmonk* Analog Productivity* Nootropic Depot* Labdoor – Great site that ranks the best supplements including nootropics.* “How This Under 30 Entrepreneur Moved From Software To Create Silicon Valley’s New Morning Elixir: Magic Mind” – Forbes * Beyond Coffee* Greater Courses: The Addicted Brain* A Beginner’s Nootropic: L-Theanine and Caffeine – Nootropedia

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

Do you Time Block? Or block your time? Do you block your time by time blocking? In this episode, Kyle and Mark discuss Time Blocking, what works for them, how they do it and what they’ve learned. All this and more in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* The Constant – Quadrant Nine* Dark Souls 3* Todoist Time Blocking* Google Calendar* Themed Days – TPL* Toggl * Time Tracking – TPL* Rescue Time Article* Time Auditing – TPL* Focused Podcast* Clockwise* Tasker* YNAB* Apps We Can’t Live Without – TPL* The Futur – How To Manage Your Time* Magic Mind* UgMonk* UgMonk Analog* Nootropics* No Caffeine – TPL

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

The modern world is built upon caffeine, from a Starbucks on every corner to a coffeemaker in every office, everything around us can be attributed to busy bodies like you and I consuming the sweat sweat caffeine to make us more alert, more awake, and more focused. But what if all those energy drinks and cups of coffee are overrated? What if there is a way to get things done without supplementing ourselves?

In this episode of The Productivity Lab, Kyle and Mark put away their coffee cups and stash their coffee beans out of sight and abstain themselves from caffeine to see if they really needed it in the first place. It’s true what they say: if you love it, set it free, even if that’s a nice cup of coffee.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson* Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay* We Have Always Lives in the Castle by Shirley Jackson* American Prometheus:American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird* Apex This* Everyday Superhumans* WebFlow* Exist Review – The Productivity Lab* Hyperfocus by Chris Bailey* Hyperfocus Review – The Productivity Lab* The Productivity Project by Chris Bailey* Attention Logging – The Productivity Lab* Timeblocking – Wikipedia

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.

It isn’t talent that makes people successful. It’s Grit. What is it? And do you have it?

Join Kyle and Mark in this episode as they review Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth. See what the book is about and how it can impact your productivity. All this and more in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Grit* Audacity* Hidenberg* NaNoWriMo* Angela Duckworth’s podcast* Mindset Carol Dewick* Atomic Habits* Outliers – Gladwell* Murderbot Diaries* Super Mario 3D All Stars* Pear Method* So Good They Can’t Ignore You – Cal Newport* Deepwork – Cal Newport* Grit Test* Survivorship Bias* Angela Duckworths TED Talk* Natural Alarm Clocks – TPL Episode

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 &

Sometimes our task lists can be overwhelming and you don’t know just where to draw the line. There are many different task triage systems out there from the Eisenhower Matrix to the Rule of 3, in this episode Kyle and Mark put to the test the Ivy Lee Method a system where you pick the six most important tasks each day and do them in order of importance. Can such a simple fix really help you focus? Find out on this episode of The Productivity Lab!

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* James Clear – Ivy Lee* Typewise* Anysoft Keyboard* Interception – Quadrant Nine* A Minor Accident – Quadrant Nine* ApexThis* Adobe XD* Scrivener* Vellum* Podcast Movement* Draft2Digital* Toggl Track* Toggle Plan* Toggl Hire* Toggl color update* Grit – Angela Duckworth* Task Matrix – The Productivity Lab* Eisenhower Matrix* Kanban Method – The Productivity Lab* Kanban Method* Ug Monk* Ug Monk – Analogue Productivity Notes

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 (

In this episode, Kyle & Mark put The Kanban Method to the test. See what they think on this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Mark’s Short Stories * Kyle’s Short Stories* How Mark Uses Read Wise* Read Wise* Publish & Thrive Training Course* Scrivener* Draft to Digital* Kanban Method* Agile Methodology* Waterfall Methodology* SCRUM* Trello* Asana* Monday* Notion* Jira* Eatin & Sippin Locally* Todoist* Todoist Karma Levels (Point System) * Digital Only – TPL* Paper Only – TPL* A Year of Experiments – TPL*

Unfortunately today’s episode has been lost to time. Kyle’s audio file is corrupted and any attempts to recover it have failed so far. We hope to return to the topic of the quantified self again in the future, but for the time being please stand by until our next episode is out.

And as always, stay productive!

In this episode, Kyle & Mark put the Exist App to work. Does this app help us review and track things that could be affecting our productivity? See what they think on this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Hello Code* Hello Code Podcast* Larder* Hello Habits* Hello Code: The Way We Run Exist* Hello Code: Use Cases* Hello Code: 4 years of tracking with Exist* NaNoWriMo* ApexThis* Scrivner* Podcast Movement* Paper Mario The Origami King* Toggl* Fitbit* Pi-hole* Mozilla VPN* Quantified Self Wiki

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

Today we take a turn from the best sellers list and take a deep dive into the self publishing scene within our work of productivity. In this episode Kyle & Mark review Scary Fast, a little known book by Canadian-American author Brian Michael Stegner. The book promises that the methods it covers will not only make you more productive, but significantly more so.

How does this book compare to the A listers previously reviewed on the show? What exactly is “scary fast”? And is it really possible to 10x your productivity? All of this and more in this episode of The Productivity Lab!

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Kinesis Freestyle 2 Split Ergonomic Keyboard* SmartDesk 2 by Autonomous* Camp NaNoWriMo* Apex This* The 80/20 Rule (Aka Pareto Principle)* Parkinson’s law* Hyperfocus Book Review – The Productivity Lab* Zipf Mystery – Vsauce* SMART Goals* Notion* Todoist* Cold Showers Review – The Productivity Lab* One Year of Experiments – The Productivity Lab* Zapier* TextExpander* WaitButWhy* The Four Hour Work Week by Tim Ferris* Getting Things Done by David Allen

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