Scott Dinsmore, founder of popular blog Live Your Legend, is gone. He passed away during a tragic mountain climbing accident on Mount Kilimanjaro. He was 33 years old.

Joe Buhlig is a technology guru, writer, and developer - and he’s back on the podcast to talk about his innovative ways to use OmniFocus, the task management software that we use at Asian Efficiency. Up your productivity and learn some advanced OmniFocus techniques in this episode.

Cheat Sheet

How many projects Joe actively manages at one time

His auto-parsing system for quickly adding ideas into OmniFocus

Why he has many single-action lists

What he thinks about a two-context approach to Omnifocus

The different contexts that Joe uses

About energy-based contexts

How he uses geo-fenced contexts

What Perspectives in OmniFocus are and how Joe uses them

His daily routine

About the OmniFocus “hotspot” that he set up

How he reviews his projects

Links

OmniFocus

Joe's OmniFocus setup and workflow

The two-context approach

Our blog post on "Clearing to Neutral"

Übersicht + OmniFocus task widget

hPDA (notecards)

Joe's OmniFocus hotspot

Creating Launch Daemons on Mac (for auto-parsing OmniFocus items)

OmniFocus auto-parser by Joe

Free Productivity Workshop

Connect with Joe Buhlig

Website

@joebuhlig

Joe's book Working with OmniFocus

Joe's new podcast

Screenshots from Joe Buhlig's OmniFocus:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Zack details his system for setting and reviewing goals (and sticking to them!) that has created immense personal and business growth in his life. Listen in to find out how to remind yourself of your goals on a daily basis and stay on track.

Cheat Sheet

A story about Zack’s college days

The process that helps Zack keep track and stay on top of his goals

The benefits of this system

Zack’s story of personal growth this year

Why we see the event and not the process that went into that event

Why other people’s urgent needs have a way of pulling at our time

The importance of written goals

How to write goals by writing a journal entry one year in the future

Why you should focus on one area of your life at a time

How Zack texts himself to remind him of his goals

A tutorial on how to use IFTTT to automate your goal notifications

Links

IFTTT

Wheel of Life diagram

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Tony Stubblebine is the CEO and Founder of the coaching platform Coach.me. Their goal is to bring the top coaches in the world to anyone in the world who wants to achieve massive success. In this episode we discuss why coaching matters and how to build great habits.

Cheat Sheet

Tony is the CEO of Coach.me

They have 2,000 coaches on the platform

Why so many successful people have coaches

About the world of behavior design

How his startup Lift turned into Coach.me

The insights he gained from the millions of users on Lift and Coach.me

The pros and cons of research in academia and research outside it

The 3 tiers of coaching

The research they did on meditation

What Tony’s personal mediation practice looks like right now

How you can find a coach on coach.me

Why active listening is the biggest asset in a coaching relationship

Links

Coach.me

The Strongest Mind in the Room (book)

Our guide to the "Don't Break the Chain" method

Free Productivity Workshop

Book, tool, ritual

Book: The Hard Thing about Hard Things

Tool: Postmates

Ritual: Gratitude Habit - tell each other 2 good things that happened during the day

Connect with Tony

Twitter

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Mike and Thanh talk about why rituals are much better than habits, and they break down the 5 flaws of habits. Listen in to learn how to make your rituals stick and how to break them down into manageable steps.

Cheat Sheet

The five flaws of habits

1. Habits aren’t very specific

2. They don’t get you started

3. There’s no why behind your habits

4. They inherently aren’t very sticky

5. There’s usually no step-by-step system behind a habit

Why rituals are habits 2.0

When we don’t know what the first step is, we can’t get started

The why behind something is what helps maintain a ritual

Why Mike and Thanh journal and the different reasons they do it

Not every habit is something you do every day

Adding notifications to your calendar

The 21-day myth

Things you can do to make a ritual sticky

Anchor a ritual to a specific location

Why fear is the most powerful form of influence

You want to create your ritual with as little variation as possible

Links

TPS2: Journaling

Rituals course

Pact app

Habits Crash Course

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Zack speaks with Rob Dial & Dean Devries at the Podcast Movement conference about how float tanks can help with your meditative practice and make you more productive.

Cheat Sheet

What float tanks are.

How they can help with meditation and productivity.

About Rob and Dean’s new podcast.

About Dean’s first time going into the sensory deprivation chamber.

The link between highly efficient people and meditation.

What the “delta state” is.

The challenge that Rob and Dean have for listeners.

Why hiring a coach is important.

Links

Calm.com - a meditation app

Headspace - meditation app and program

Holosync - Meditation and "brain hack" program

Tim Ferris Podcast episode w/ Noah Kagan

Zero Gravity Institute - float tanks in Austin, TX

Connect with Rob & Dean

MWF Motivation podcast

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Zack chats with Asian Efficiency team member Mike Schmitz, who has tried out the Apple Watch and shares how to use the watch to increase productivity. They also discuss the best apps for the Apple Watch, and what not to use it for.

Cheat Sheet

How Mike ordered his Apple Watch the first day they became available.

The health tracking that the watch can do.

The comfort level of the Apple Watch.

How the watch reminds you to stand up and walk around every hour.

How to prune the number of notifications that you get on your watch in order to keep your focus.

What glances are and how they can increase productivity.

Tip: Glances are great as long as you only pick a few of them.

Why the Apple Watch does a few things well and isn’t intended to do everything.

Why Mike doesn’t use email notifications on his watch.

The things that are missing from the Apple Watch.

Why apple pay is amazing!

How the maps app works.

Links

Apple Watch

Sense (Hello.is)

Asian Efficiency blog post on the Workflow app for iOS

Mike's running belt

Screenshot of Mike's Apple Watch face that he mentions in the episode.

Best Native & 3rd Party Apple Watch Apps:

Native: (see them in action here)

Workout app

Watch app

Reminders app

Maps app

Camera app

3rd Party:

Omnifocus

Overcast

Workflow

Fantastical

Aeropress Timer

One Password

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Always struggled with problem solving, planning ahead, organizing? This is a must-listen episode for you. We speak with Jan Johnston-Tyler about how to organize your day, play to your strengths, and be more productive.

Talk about an archeological deep dive.

Cheat Sheet

How to sort and organize your thoughts.

A mindful habit to find your keys every time.

How distraction and "multi-tasking" can lead to aggravation, anxiety, and time loss.

The best time to take in information and the best time to write or produce information.

Put yourself in environments that will add to your success.

Why you may find better flow later in the day.

How to figure out if you have a strong working memory and what that means for you.

What it means when your eyes look up and to the left.

Hyper-focusing vs. multitasking.

Play to your strengths, and how to scaffold your weaknesses.

Why it's important to do a mental walkthrough of your calendar.

How to set aside time for the important but not urgent items on your list.

Links

Stickk

Beeminder

Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy

The Power of Full Engagement

Neurodiversity

Getting Things Done by David Allen

Leave us a message!

Free Productivity Workshop

Book, tool, frog

Book: Reality is Broken

Tool: Color coordinated calendar

Frog: finding time for rest and relaxation

Connect with Jan

Evolibri.com

The CEO of Self

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Zachary visits Evernote HQ and discusses the history of the company and the future of work and productivity with Evernote's VP of Marketing & Co-founder Andrew Sinkov.

Cheat Sheet

How Andrew helped start Evernote.

Why Evernote is very popular in Japan.

Tips for using Evernote for everything.

What the 400-person Evernote team uses Evernote for.

Andrew’s vision for the future of work and productivity.

Why some writing software is still designed with the objective to print.

How Evernote is making paper better with technologies like text recognition in images.

The idea of micro-working.

Links

Evernote

Book, tool, frog

Book: Shady Characters by Keith Houston

Tool:

The Command-J tool in Evernote

Mailplane

Frog:  A story about how software companies need to kill the print button.

Connect with Andrew:

@sinkov

Posts by Andrew on the Evernote Blog.

If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, Sticher, Overcast, PocketCast or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show gain exposure. You can also leave a review! Here's how.

Julia Tunstall is a delegation specialist and automation nerd. She works with solo business owners to help them streamline their business and find opportunities to delegate and automate their busywork so they can spend their time doing the work they care about.