Transcripts
1. Class Introduction: All the productivity techniques and methods are amazing. But damn, they're so cold and clinical, perfect for robots, and cyborgs, and psychopathic evil geniuses. But that's not you, is it? You've got a heart, and a soul, and feelings. Well, this class is for anyone who wants to build a productivity foundation based on feelings. No, not fleeting, mushy feelings, we're going to build on top of what you care deeply about, what matters to you. You may call it your why, your cause, your mission, or your purpose. You don't have one of those? It's probably why being productive is so darn hard. But don't worry, this class kicks off with two exercises that help you figure out where you want to be in five years time, and most importantly, why you want to get there. Knowing this is like having a fire underneath your butt. However, unless you combine this passion and purpose with good productivity habits, you'll burn out in a matter of weeks, and that's why this class also contains three productivity exercises, because a foundation of purpose with a topping of productivity leads to success. With these three exercises, you'll define your next steps and cover what sharpens you, and then we'll end the class off by going old school and creating a time table so that you know what to work on and when to work on it. My name is Rich Armstrong from TapTapKaboom, I'm not a super human productivity guru or a cyborg, I'm a product designer who suffered from procrastination, overwhelm, and shiny object syndrome. Before I learned what I teach in this class, I used to start project after project without finishing anything. I know what it's like, and I'm telling you it can be different. By the end of this class, you'll know exactly what to spend your time doing, and you'll have made the time to do it. If all this sounds awesome, come take the class. It's short, it's practical, and all you need is a pen and some paper.
2. Your 5-Year Title: Hi. Welcome to this class. I'm super excited that you're here. The first thing we're going to do together is figure out what you want to be when you're older. You're going to brainstorm possible titles you'd like to have in five-years time and pick some favorites. But why this exercise? Well, almost everything we see these days is a social media post. They're awesome, shiny, and instant. Because we're exposed to so many of these things our brain start thinking, we can easily do and be all that we see, but we can't. There's just not enough time. So for this exercise, you're going to leave instaland where there's an abundance of instant, awesome, shiny things and spend time figuring out what you actually really, really want. When you leave instaland, the shiny things fade and you start remembering what matters to you. But there are two things that I do want you to remember from instaland. The first is that an instaland post is often a snapshot of a much grander journey, and the second is that instaland proves that there are endless journeys you can take. Our lives more than any other time in history are in our own hands. It means we can do the work and live the lives we've always wanted to. But no one makes it happen for us and no one gives us a map. Where we choose to go, how we choose to get there, and how we spend our time it's all up to us. That's why you need to look into the future and decide where you want to go. What you're going to do now is brainstorm possible titles you'd like to have in five-years time, we're brainstorming so we can surface all the options. All the ones you've discounted and forgotten about, the ones you thought you might be as a kid, the ones people said you couldn't become, and the ones you've ditched because they wouldn't make you money. Our brains file all these possibilities away and get distracted by the here and now. This is an opportunity to bring it all up again and to try some dreams and possibilities on, think big, and think realistic. It's five years, not Sunday, so stretch, dream, imagine. What do you really, really want to be in five-years time. Write down all the options, even if it's far-fetched, even if it won't make you money, even if everyone you know will think you're weird. If you need a more descriptive title make it up, but know what it is that you'll be doing. Pirate creator, hero academy instructor, irreverent opportunist, and include the company you're working for if it's applicable, head-design honcho at Apple, Chief mischief-maker at Pixar, that kind of a thing. Once you have a ton of options down, highlight a few of your favorites, and then on a separate piece of paper, try the titles on, write the following for each one. I really, really want to be a, fill in the title in five-years time. Imagine what this feels like, what it looks like and what kind of work you'll be doing. Once you've written out the really, really statements for your favorite titles, select your top five, and then take those into the next lesson. Take your time here, put on some music, and have some fun using mind maps so you can easily write down related titles, thoughts and ideas. The following eight prompts which are also available in the class worksheet are here to help you surface all the possibilities, nothing is off-limits. Write down whatever comes to mind, even if it doesn't relate to a prompt. Come up with related ones, combine titles. Do whatever you want, just get as much out as possible, and when the prompt stop, keep on writing. The first prompt is, what are you currently doing? What's your current job title? What projects are you working on? What side projects are you working on? Write these down, junior designer and illustrator, freelance 3D character designer, and then write the five-year titles that come to mind. Senior Designer at Apple, Concept Artist at Netflix, Co-founder of a new social media startup. The second prompt is, what do you feel you must do? What can't you ignore? What's calling to you? International mural and hand lettering artist, ethical growth hacker, stay-at-home dad. The third prompt is, what's on your to-do list? These could be things that have been on your to-do list forever or the ones just for the coming week. Redesign website, Solo exhibition, create online class. Do any of these lead to possible five-year titles? Matrix-level ethical hacker, innovation workshopper, a full-time abstract artist. The fourth prompt is, what do you love doing? These could be personal things or work-related. Traveling to new cities and towns, seeing people thrive at work, at dinner table filled with friends and family, doodling, experimenting with food, and now what five-year titles do these conjure up? World traveling YouTuber, professional doodler, chief experience officer at Mars Colony Co. Prompt number 5, what are you good at doing? Cooking, illustrating, making things simple, listening. Sometimes these things may bore you, but can't you level them up or combine them with something else to make them epic? Author of three cooking books and chef on my own TV show, VR and AR illustrator, Forbes 500 coach, UX storyteller. Prompt number 6, what did you do as a kid? Play with Lego, build tree houses, scheme how to get past security at airports, create videos, translate these things into adult versions. Lego master builder, design strategist at Gensler, cyber detective, journalist. The seventh prompt is, what are you jealous of others doing? We often think just because someone else is doing it, we cannot. Pet influencer, creativity podcaster, ceramist living in Tuscany, Googler, secret spy. Prompt number 8, what can you only dream of doing? Write down the far-out things that you don't think are possible. Mars dweller, creative studio owner, Black-Belt ninja, CEO of Microsoft. That's it for the prompts. Pause the lesson here and keep writing until you're done. When all your five-year title options are on paper, highlight a few of your favorites, and then on a separate piece of paper, try them on by writing, I really, really want to be A, filling your title in five-years time. Then select your top five and take them into the next lesson where you'll discover why you want to become each one of these things.
3. Your Why: You've just come up with a ton of possible five-year titles and selected a few to bring into this exercise. This is an excellent first step, but knowing why we want a title in five years time is far more important and powerful than the actual title. But what we did in the previous exercise wasn't a waste of time. No, our title options lead us to what matters and are simple reminders of what's important to us. Discovering my why, my reason, my purpose is the most important thing I found when it comes to being productive. Here are five things that have changed since. Firstly, I get up in the morning raring to go. I'm excited and I cannot wait to start working. Secondly, I can focus on a project until the end without feeling like I'm missing out on something else. Thirdly, I make decisions far more easily. Fourthly, I have a consistent filter for what to say yes and no to, and it's mostly no's even to awesome projects that pay well. Lastly, I'm far more productive, because it means I get to change the world more. There are likely even more reasons why finding your why is amazing. But the one I'd like to focus on this class is that it will help you know what to spend your time on, because that's half of what productivity is. For each of your top five titles from the previous lesson, start exploring the reasons why you really, really want to be a sustainable capitalist 3D hair expert at Disney, a UI designer for the NBA, or whatever your title is in five years time. For each five-year title, come up with at least five reasons. The more the better. Because most of the time we simply come up with generic answers. Because I want to be successful. Because I want to be rich and famous. Because I want to help people. Because I like it. Go beyond these surface level reasons, get detailed. You'll need to dig for your true why. If a reason is surface level, ask yourself, why did I write that reason? Then give more details. Why do you want to be famous? Why do you want to tell stories? Why exactly do you want to work with other talented people at Pixar and not some other company? You may find a really good reason hiding beneath another. That's what's significant about this exercise. Your first reason may be because you want to help people, but that leads you to writing that you want to give opportunities to the poor, that's pretty interesting. Then a few minutes later, you write that it's actually because you want to give the hopeless opportunity by opening doors locked by power, wealth and corruption. Pretty powerful, that's the stuff you're after. Knowing your why gives your life purpose and it lays the foundation for you to be insanely productive. Use a mind map to surface your reasons and find related ones quickly. One reason will lead to another and eventually, you'll find yourself writing things that excites or delight you. You may even surprise yourself by what you write and how much it resonates with you. I call these things nuggets, highlight them. What you're doing here is putting words to a why that's ready deep inside you. You just need to surface it and make it coherent and this is part of the process. As you search for nuggets, you may see similar ones popping up under different titles and this is the point. Your titles are meant to lead you to your why. I suggest spending at least 30 minutes on this exercise, but spend more if you need. Make sure you've explored all the related reasons for each one of your top five titles. Once you have a few nuggets highlighted, start crafting them into a why statement. I really, really want to be a: put your title here, in five years because, and then add your reason here. Try capture all the good stuff you've written and turn it into something easy to remember then try it on. Is this you? Is this something that excites you and makes you smile? Is it something that will get you out of bed in the morning? Is it something that you can work on for the next five years? You may need to rewrite it a few times. If you don't get to a concise, powerful, why statements in one sitting, that's okay. The first time I did this, it took me a few weeks to refine it into something I was happy with and I keep adjusting it every few months because I change and I learn more about my why the longer I work from it. My why has to do with helping creatives break down barriers to doing the work they want to do and creating the life they want to live. That's why I teach online classes and teach in the way I do. Now that you know what this exercise is about, if you want to revisit the previous exercise and add a few more five-year titles, then go for it. This does not have to be a linear process. Before moving onto the next lesson, choose the why statement that resonates with you most, and then write it out as big as you can. This is your foundation. This is the reason you should do the work you do. In the next lesson, we'll get started on our first productivity exercise and define what you need to work on next.
4. Your Next Steps: You've done the motivation exercises in this class. Now onto the productivity exercises. One of the biggest things to get right when it comes to being productive is knowing what to work on, and knowing when to work on it. Because you've got your why and your five-year title. Figuring this out is a lot easier. I'm going to borrow an exercise from my [inaudible] , which can be used to break down any task, project, or journey, whether it's big or small. The two things I really love about this exercise is one, it's visual, and two, it puts things into perspective. What I want you to do is grab the biggest piece of paper you have. The first step is to draw yourself where you are today. Then draw yourself with your title in five years time further down the page, add some details. Where are you, what's around you? What are you doing? Next, draw a winding line in between the two points. This line represents the next five years, where you journey from, where you are today to where you'll be in five years time. It will be fun, it will be adventurous, and it will be full of unexpected things. On a separate piece of paper, write down all the things you need to do from where you are now to where you are in five years time, get them out your head, then place them on your journey line in some kind of order. This will put your mind at ease. You're saying to your brain that you thought about it, noted it, and that your brain can stop worrying. Next, highlight just the first small portion of the journey line. This is what you've got to work on next. Simple. What is this for you? What comes before all else? You may have already put it down. Getting paper needs to come before you can start drawing every day, before you can get that illustration internship. Learning how to code better will help you code faster, build more projects and get that dream job. There is no point worrying about or working on anything that depends on prior tasks, and projects being completed. Work on those ones first. Every few weeks or whenever you're wondering what to work on next, do this exercise. You can refer to all the journey maps, but things change, and you'll always be at today with only the next few steps in front of you. That is one of the most helpful mindsets for getting work done. For the rest of this class, I'll call the work you're doing to get your five-year title, your what. Because what you work on will change. It could be learning a new skill this month, building an app the next month, and four months down the line, it could look like applying for a job. What you work on all stems from your why and where you want to go. If you haven't already, draw out your journey, and figure out what your next steps are. In the next lesson, we're going to discuss how to do more work by working less.
5. Your Axe Sharpeners: There's this quote by Abraham Lincoln that goes something like this, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening my ax." The way I like to see this is that you are the lumberjack with an ax. Your journey towards your five-year title as a forest and each task and project is a tree, and they should all be based on your why and a five-year title. Now, not many of us are literally cutting down trees. What does the ax represents and how do we sharpen it? Our ax could be the tools we use, but most of the time our mind is the ax. This is why it needs sharpening. Think of trying to cut down a tree with a really blunt ax or a baseball bat. That's what we try to do all too often. We spend long hours working really hard because our culture values business and overworking. But working more doesn't mean you get more work done. All it means is that you spend more time working. With the counter-intuitive ax sharpening ideology, we spend less time working and get more work done because we're sharp. But it's hard to break the cycle of all chopping and no ax sharpening. The less time you spend sharpening your ax, the more time it takes you to chop, which means you have less time to sharpen your ax, which means your ax gets blunter, which means it takes even more time to chop. How do we break the cycle? Well, the first step is to acknowledge that you need a sharp ax. The second step is to figure out what sharpening your ax looks like for you. The last step is to make time to sharpen your ax, which we'll get onto in the next lesson. What does sharpening your ax look like? Well, it's different for every person and it may not be related to your five-year title or your why. In fact, what sharpens you may surprise you. It may feel like an indulgence or a luxury. It may feel wasteful or unproductive, but these things support and strengthen us. They nourish our minds and souls. They help us think, they calm us, they make us joyful and happy. Some of these activities can be done on a daily basis, others on a weekly basis, and still others on a monthly or yearly basis. The things that sharpen me on a daily basis are writing, reading, exercise, and doodling. Drinking good coffee at cafes and spending time with friends sharpens me on a weekly basis. Then a few times a year I explore Amsterdam and travel to other parts of the world. The thing about ax sharpening activities is that I don't feel the need to be the best at them. I do them because they energize me, relax me, bring me joy and make me feel good. Because of this balanced approach to life, I do better work and I'm way more productive. What I want you to do is brainstorm things that sharpen you. Use a mind-map to help organize your thoughts. What sharpens you may be things you don't really enjoy, but help you a ton like running or drinking smoothies. They may be activities you can indulge in like massages and manicures or getting a hot shave. They may be weird or wonderful and they may be plain and simple. Once you've written down a bunch, highlight the top five things that sharpen you. The following ten prompts which are also available in the class worksheets are here to help you surface all the options for what sharpens you. Remember to include daily, weekly, monthly, annually things. The first prompt is, what makes you mind come alive? Reading, debating, public speaking, journaling. The second prompt is, what makes you feel free? Surfing, skydiving, scuba-diving, skating, roller coasters. The third prompt is, what does your soul need? Meditation, praying, yoga, Bible reading. Prompt number four, what do you need to be healthy? Smoothies, running, surfing, a gym. Prompt number five, how do you express self-love and self-care? Journaling, sleeping in on Saturdays, painting, drinking coffee in a cafe. The sixth prompt is, what relationships bring you life? My cat, spending time eating with close friends, pizza Fridays with my kids. The seventh prompt is, what hobbies or side hustles do you have a blast with? Paint-balling, taking photos, baking sourdough bread, making beer. Prompt number eight, what relaxes you like nothing else? Exploring Amsterdam, reading a book in an armchair, a holiday at a beach resort, listening to music with big headphones on. Prompt number nine, what makes you feel good? Reading books to elderly people, cleaning up the neighborhood, gardening, walking in nature, having a clean house. Prompt number 10, what is pure indulgence or luxury for you? Hot shaves, tanning salons, drinking whiskey at a bar, smoking cigars, spa days, a night at a fancy hotel. That's it for the prompts. If you've got more that didn't fit into the categories, add them, and once you're done, highlight your top five. In the next lesson, we're going to cover how to make time for working towards your five-year title and for the activities that sharpen you.
6. Your Timetable: You've got your what and five things that sharpen you, but now you actually need to spend time doing them or else this whole class will be for nothing. How do we do that? Well, we often struggle too much how much we want to do with how much time we have, or how little time we have, which often leads to stress, binge working, overworking, and a litany of unfinished tasks. We're going to create a visual timetable. A what? Am I in school, I don't need a timetable. That is ridiculous. I'm a creative soul. Well, as crazy as it sounds, this is one of the most effective things I've ever learned to do. You see, we actually already have a timetable. It's seven days long, has five working days and two non-working days and in each day there are 24 hours. The thing is, our minds try to manage all of this, which can be disastrous. Why? Because our minds are forgetful, they are lazy, they're self sabotaging, and they're easily distracted, especially by new projects and ideas. A visual timetable is what we're going to create. Why? Because most of us are visual people, which means when we see something we understand far better. With a visual timetable, we can one, realistically see what we can fit into our lives. We can clearly see if our ambitions are possible and it helps us manage our expectations, which well, l that helps a lot. Two, it helps us automate our decisions and free our minds to create, come up with ideas, and run toward that five-year title, rather than being a time keeper and a to-do list manager, and three, see what we're meant to be doing and when we're meant to be doing it. We can remind our forgetful mind what it's meant to be doing. What I want you to do is to create a seven-day timetable on the biggest piece of paper that you have. You can also use the class worksheet. Now, start adding everything that's already in your week. Start with the big things and the things you can't really change, full-time job, can't really change that. Sleep, definitely need that, can't change that, school times, add those in. Then get onto the smaller things: breakfast, lunch, dinner add those. Cooking, Netflix, showering add it. Learning to code, tennis practice, meetings add it. Add everything that's currently on your plate into your timetable. Now, I call this part of the exercise a time audit, and it's often illuminating and revelation and using. You'll probably start to see patterns and be surprised by what you see. If you're a freelancer or an employee, what I'd like you to do is split up your work time to add meetings, replying to e-mails, working on tasks, learning, and anything else you do in your work day. Do your best to estimate if you don't know exactly how much time you spend on something. Once you've added all you're currently doing, then you can set your expectations of what you can realistically fit in. This alone is super handy. But now you can identify problem areas and decide what to ditch and what to adjust. The next thing I want you to do is add time slots for working on your what. Once you've done this, I want you to add in the daily and weekly activities that sharpen you. You can add the monthly and yearly activities that sharpen you directly into your calendar at a later stage. What you may be noticing now is that there isn't much time for all that you want to do. Now, I remember doing this once at my wife's request. My timetable was packed. I was shocked by how much I wanted to do. Only then did I understand why I wasn't achieving the results I wanted to and why I was feeling so anxious and so frustrated. Seeing how I was trying to fit everything in gave me a massive revelation. From that moment, I changed how I chose to spend my time. I started ditching things. I was saying no to requests. I was reorganizing my time and focusing on my what. What I recommend now is doing your timetable again, but this time, make an ideal timetable, one that you can work towards over the next few weeks. Change things, just remove things, and try and make as much time for your what and for arch sharpening as possible. Here are seven tips for doing this. Tip number one, ask what's easy to ditch. These are often quick wins. For example, three hours of Netflix a day could become one hour or even zero hours. If you remove that iPhone game, you'd free up an extra seven hours per week. Tip number two, as Mo Willems said, if you ever find yourself in the wrong story, leave. You are the master of your time and life. Fire yourself from things you don't really, really want to do. You have the power to do that. Things like this slowly drain your energy, which leaves less and less energy for working on your what. I once handed over a web design retainer to a friend, I loath every minute of it, it was terrible. Even though it was super easy and it paid well. My friend on the other hand, relished the task and it made him come alive. Be honest with yourself and with the people who you've said yes to and try get out of these commitments as soon as possible, but also in a responsible way. Quick notcha, if you've got a job that isn't related to your what or your why, think twice before firing yourself from this. It may be something you need to feel stable. In fact, it may be something that sharpens your acts and it allows you to do the best work on your what without having to worry how you can provide for you and your family. Tip number three, for each item in your timetable ask if you can do it in a more effective manner. If you're spending five hours a week running and the reason is because you want to stay fit, you could replace it with four high intensity sessions that last 30 minutes each. If all you want to do is keep fit, spending that much time running isn't necessary. If you can replace these activities with things that sharpen your acts, especially if they lead to the same outcome, then do it. Tip number four, remember that when you're doing something, it means you're not doing something else. Or in our case, when you're doing something else, you're not working on your what or sharpening your acts. Do you want to make that sacrifice? Now, as you ditch things or schedule less time for them, you may freak out. You may feel like you're missing out. You may feel your perfectionism drive kicking in or the need to fit in, or you may start comparing your life to others. In these cases, remember your why and your five-year title and know that it is perfectly okay to suck at stuff, even if you know, you could do better. Tip number five, when it comes to deciding when to work on your what, pick a time when you have the energy to work on it. Even if you work less hours, working when you have the energy is way more productive. If this means you need to get up an hour early, try it out. Tip number six, leave room to breathe. You don't want your timetable to look like a school boys timetable, because if you mess one thing up, it ripples through out your day. Also you want the flexibility to have an afternoon nap and do things that are spontaneous, and tip number seven, I include 30 minutes of adamantine per day. There seems to be a never ending list of things to do. Ordering supplies, calling insurance companies, tidying the studio that kind of stuff. Spending time each day taking a few things off, keeps the adamant wolf at bay. Now that you've made your timetable, use it to plan next week or next month. Because as Annie Dillard says, how we spend our days, is of course, how we spend our lives. Make each day, the day you want it to be. Put the items from your timetable into your calendar, even if they're just meetings with yourself. When something tempting comes up, don't say yes right away. Check your calendar first. Remember that when you add something to your calendar, it's replacing something else. Know what it's replacing. Even if it's replacing doing nothing. It may feel rigid at first, but I encourage you to look at your timetable or your calendar at least once a day and try stick to it. After a while, your timetable will become your default and you won't need to look at it at all. You'll get into routine and you'll build habits. This is where the power of the timetable really shines. When you're working within your time table, you'll be able to make adjustments and know what's working and what's not. Sometimes you need more time on one thing and sometimes less. Sometimes you need to work on your what after you exercise and not before. Sometimes you need free time between items or entire days off just to do whatever. Sometimes you realize that certain acts shock me activities don't actually work that well. Review how it's going every few weeks, at least. Now, you may not be able to adjust your timetable that much and that's okay. Knowing that you only have three hours to work on your what per week means you won't expect yourself to output 21 hours of work, which our mind somehow magically expect us to do. This will ease the stress, frustration, and anxiety. Perhaps over time you'll be able to work on your what more and more. In the next lesson, I'll offer you a few more tips before saying goodbye and letting you go conquer the world.
7. The Conclusion: We've been over a lot in this class and you've probably learned a ton about yourself in the process. You know where you want to go and why you want to get there. You know what your next steps are, you know what sharpens you, and you have a timetable to refer to. You're lined up for success. Now, if you wanted to have a look at all those Cyborg and evil genius productivity methods and techniques, you're much better equipped to do so. You have an incredible foundation to build on top of when it comes to doing the work you want to do and living the life you want to. But there are a few things that can derail you. One of them is productivity porn. It lures you into spending more time learning about productivity and actually implementing what you learn or doing your what. It can be a deep and nasty rabbit hole. I recommend setting time aside to learn about something productivity-related and then trying it out before learning about the next thing. Simply learning about productivity does not make you productive. You've got to implement what you learn. Another thing that can derail you is Instaland. Even with our awesome foundation, Instalands awesome shiny and instant posts can be so alluring that they distract us from what really matters. When this happens, return to your why and start referring to your timetable again. I want to thank you for taking this class and investing the time to get your productivity habits right, it will make a big difference. Maybe not tomorrow, but if you measure in weeks, months, and years, you'll see how much these exercises change your life. Speaking of change, you may be wondering what should I do if my why changes and what should I do in four years' time when I no longer want that five-year title? Well, in four years' time, there will be a one-year title. I encourage you to keep pursuing what you want in five years' time. Of course, you'll change. That's normal. Sometimes you change in big amounts and sometimes in small amounts. But the reason you change is often because you do work based on your why. It changes you, it morphs, it becomes more detailed, and you're often glad to adapt with it, and as you do, productivity follows. Finally, how people spend their time is very personal. If you feel comfortable sharing what your five-year title is, I would love to know. Will you share that in your Skillshare projects along with anything else you feel comfortable sharing. I would also love you to review this class. It means a lot to me and to students wondering if they should or shouldn't take it. That's it for me. I hope you've learned a lot. I hope you've had fun and I'm curious to see where you'll be in five years' time. Okay, bye for now.
Rich From TapTapKaboom, Multi-hyphenate Artist
