Bridging the Gaps in Our Productivity with Chris Bailey
The Unmistakable Creative Podcast
Srinivas Rao
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 27 January 2016
⏱️ 48 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Chris Bailey, author of The Productivity Project returns to the show to discuss how to bridge the productivity gaps in our lives, and how to effectively manage your time, attention and energy.
HIGHLIGHTS
- How to create a structure for your projects
- Why limitations and constraints increase your creativity
- The difference between production and accomplishments
- Character traits coordinated with a lack of productivity
- Dealing with our addiction to “productivity porn”
- The biggest mistakes that people make in their productivity
- Why checking email hurts our ability to manage attention
- The 3 ingredients that you combine to increase your productivity
- Training the ability to manage your attention
- Why mindfulness is so essential to our work today
Resources
- The Productivity Roadmap
- The Productivity Project (Book)
- The Aging Booth App
Quotes
I really think this capacity to change is inherent in everyone.
Not all tasks are created equal
The more you use your brain to work, the more you need to manage your attention and energy
You work less efficiently if you don’t bring all of your attention to the work in front of you
Productivity is about the results that your action produces.
Attentional spaces breeds creativity.
When you let your mind wander and daydream you create the space for ideas to rise and bubble up to the surface
For every minute you spend organizing everything that’s a minute you don’t spend doing anything.
For exactly one year, beginning May 1st, 2013, Chris Bailey decided to follow his passion and devour everything he could get his hands on about productivity, and then write every day about what he learned on A Year of Productivity.
Finally, this podcast is sponsored by **Distraction Mastery-** my time & attention course for busy people. Regain your time and attention, regain your life. Learn more here, or receive a steep discount on the course by joining my inner circle newsletter here.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You know, we all have so many data points in our past. |
| 0:05.0 | And, you know, I look at everything through the lens of productivity, |
| 0:09.0 | but, you know, this is what I so often find in writing about productivity is, you know, people want to focus more and people want to have more energy and people want to be more motivated by their work, but, and so they try to look forward into the future |
| 0:25.9 | to find ways to become more productive and more focused and more passionate about what they do, |
| 0:31.2 | instead of looking behind and noticing, |
| 0:33.7 | wait, every time I've been fired up about my work, |
| 0:36.7 | I was doing a podcast interview. |
| 0:39.3 | Maybe I should start a podcast. |
| 0:41.2 | Every time I've been productive, I've been taming distractions or I've been on a deadline. |
| 0:46.0 | Maybe I should find more deadlines or seek out ways to make my work a bit more threatening. |
| 0:51.0 | You know, every time I've had a ton of energy to bring to my work, I've been |
| 0:57.0 | taking a lot of breaks at work. I've been having a consistent exercise regimen or a meditation regimen. |
| 1:03.6 | Maybe I should pick that back up. |
| 1:05.0 | So yeah, like you said, we have all these data points, |
| 1:08.3 | but we just need to look back for them. |
| 1:10.6 | It seems weird to kind of look into the past, but that's how we've lived our lives up to this point, and if we want to find a direction and a trajectory that's different from where we are, that's more productive, that's more focused, that's more meaningful, I think that's a great place to start. |
| 1:27.0 | I'm Sreni Rao and this is the unmistakable Creative Podcast where you get a window into the stories and insights of the most innovative and creative minds who started movements, built thriving businesses, written best-selling books, and created insanely interesting art. |
| 1:44.7 | For more, check out our 500 episode archive at unmistakable Creative.com. Attention to all passengers. You can now book your train tickets on Uber and get 10% back in Uber credits to spend on your next train journey |
| 2:06.0 | so no excuses not to visit your in-laws this Christmas. |
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... |
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