The Productivity Lab

In this episode, Kyle & Mark put their legs to work by turning their workstation into a bike? See how peddling throughout their work day impacts their productivity in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Exercise Peddler* League of Women Voters* Habit Hub* This Guy Edits

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

Do you hate eating? Does stopping for lunch in the middle of your work day bog you down? Do you find eating so many different things on your plate to be a waste of space? Well do we have an episode for you.

In this episode of The Productivity Lab, Kyle and Mark take a dive into the world of meal replacements like Soylent and Huel. Meal replacements promise a brave new world where we no longer have to stop in the middle of a busy day to prep our food, instead those pesky wasted minutes can be recovered with a few scoops of powder, and splash of water, and a good shake of the blender bottle. Voilà! You have yourself a complete meal in a matter of seconds.

Are meal replacements all that they’re hyped up to be? Are they really a good substitute for a nice meal? All of this and more in this episode of The Productivity Lab!

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Huel

* Soylent

* Everyday Superhumans

* “How Soylent Works” Stuff You Should Know

* Episode 17 – Themed Days

* Episode 15 – Getting Things Done Book Review

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

Knowing what to work on is hard enough and if you are like us, our task lists are a mix of things forcing us to often perform context switching. What if there was a way to bulk our tasks and combine them for easier execution? In this episode, Kyle & Mark try out Daily Themes in which they designate a specific day for a type of work such as writing, programming, or resting. See how they faired in their daytime jobs and side-project adventures in this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* The Fire Show – Moby* Austin Lady Pods* A Pocket Full of Do by Chris Do* Freelance and Business and Stuff Book* Games Done Quick* Forest App Review* Weird City Book* TPL Attention Logging Episode* Soylent* Huel

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 (

It might be February, but it’s never too late to plan out the year. This time we’re testing a year-long experiment: yearly themes.

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.

In this episode of The Productivity Lab, Kyle and Mark share their themes for 2020, and why they picked them.

What are your themes for 2020? Tweet them to us or message us on Instagram.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* 2020 Yearly Themes – Cortex

* The Theme System Journal

* Weird City: Sense of Place and Creative Resistence in Austin, Texas – Joshua Long

* Hello Internet: The Rise of Skywalker

* Eatin’ and Sippin’ Locally

* ATXplained

* Sleep Smarter: 21 Essential Strategies to Sleep Your Way to A Better Body, Better Health, and Bigger Success – Shawn Stevenson

* Why We Sleep: Unlocking the Power of Sleep and Dreams – Matthew Walker

* Julian Shapario

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

Are your projects piling up? Are your task list and to-do lists out of control? Do you find that you are always overwhelmed with the things you need to do? Then you need to listen to our third book review for Getting Things Done. In this episode, Kyle & Mark get heated when it comes to Getting Things Done. Kyle makes an explosive admission amid Mark’s tirade. See what got them fired up on this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Blog Summaries for Getting Things Done:

* Samuel Thomas Davies Summary* Wikisummaries* Faster to master

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Mark’s Getting Things Done Review* Austin Podcasters Newsletter #10* Goodtype Instagram* Bullet Journaling* Mark Caneso Instagram* Caneso socks* Caneso pencil pouch* Automate the boring stuff* Project Euler* P.A.R.A. Method* Hoodzpah Freelance Book* Atomic Habits Review* The Theme System Journal* Kyle’s ATX Streetart Instagram

More from The Productivity Lab

* TheProductivityLab.show* Follow us on Twitter @ProductiveLa...

Between last week’s review of Forest and the episode before it on the Mobile Monochrome method, we’ve explored apps that are supposed to limit our phone usages. Instead of trying to avoid our phones this time, we wanted to praise the apps that make us more productive people.

In this episode of The Productivity Lab Kyle & Mark reflect upon their top five apps they use to get stuff done in their productive lives. From the task managers to the calendars, Kyle & Mark share the apps they absolutely cannot live without.

We want to hear from you, what are your top five apps you can’t live without? Tweet them to us @ProductiveLab!

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Open Austin

* Automate the Boring Stuff Using Python

* Apex This

* Austin Podcasters on Instagram

* The PARA Method

*** App Spoilers Below! ***

Our Apps

Mark’s Top 5 Apps

* Number 5 – Instagram (iOS | Android)* Number 4 – Productive Habit Tracker (iOS) * Number 3 – Notion (iOS | Android) * Number 2 – Trello (iOS | Android) * Number 1 – FantasiCal (iOS)

Kyle’s Top 5 Apps

* Number 5 – Google Calendar (iOS | Android) * Number 4 – Notion (iOS | Android) * Number 3 – Google Keep (iOS | Android) & Habitica (iOS | Android)* Number 2 – Todoist (iOS | Android) * Number 1 –

In this episode, Kyle & Mark, reeling from their Mobile Monochrome challenge, head back to the land of time tracking and put the Forest App to work. Does this help keep us focused on our tasks? Does it block us from using our mobile devices? See how they fared on this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Forest App* KUTX* Austin Lady Pods* This Song Podcast* KUT Weekend* Austin Podcasters* Open Austin* TPL Time Tracking Episode* Pomodoro Technique* Hyperfocus Book Review Episode* Freedom Blocker* Apple Health

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

It’s been over a decade since the first iPhone came out, launching the smartphone revolution. Since then smartphones have gone from a novelty to a necessity in our daily lives, and as the smart phone has grown more and more ubiquitous so have concerns about the addicting behavior associated with the smartphone.

In this episode Kyle & Mark tackle a method touted by productivity bloggers to help with smartphone addiction. According to them you can control your smartphone usage by simply going into the settings and setting your device into grayscale / monochrome. Viola, addiction and distractions averted! Can making one simple change in your phone’s display really work? Find out our review of Mobile Monochrome.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Invisible Women* The Water Dancer * Brene Brown “The Power of Venurability” * Forest App (iOS, Android)* “Will turning your phone to greyscale really do wonders for your attention? ” – The Guardian* “Change Your Screen to Grayscale to Combat Phone Addiction” – LifeHacker* Take Control – Center For Human Technology

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

In this episode, Kyle & Mark take inspiration from the book Atomic Habits by James Clear and tackle two of their bad habits. See what habits they chose to tackle and how they fared on this episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources and Fun Stuff:

* Atomic Habits Book Review* Toggl* TPL Time Tracking* Deep Work Book* Getting Things Done Book* Habitica* James Clear Newsletter* The Water Dancer Book* Sofi Tukker Band* Alzheimer’s* Sleep council bedtime report* Reading can help reduce stress* Learning during sleep* Reading before bed

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 &

Welcome to our second book review! In this episode Mark and Kyle sit down to review the hit sensation in productivity circles around the world: Atomic Habits by James Clear. Just published over a year ago Jame Clear’s book took the productivity and self improvement corners of the internet by storm, and being praised as one of the best books on habit formation ever published.

Is this book overrated? What are the big takeaways from this books? And is it work your time and your money? All this and more in today’s episode of The Productivity Lab.

Resources & Fun Stuff

* Atomic Habits by James Clear * James Clear’s blog* James Clear’s newsletter* Screw Motivation What You Need Is Discipline * Triggers by Marshall Goldsmith* Habitca

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