It’s great to read about ideal productivity systems, tactics and strategies, but what about putting it into action in real life? What does that look like?
In this 35 minute interview I chat to Richard Tubb, award-winning blogger, fellow productivity geek and author of The IT Business Owners Survival Guide, about what’s working for him – and what he’s still working on, including
- The systems he puts in place that enable him to get things done as a self-confessed “scatterbrained procrastinator”
- How he creates space for the things he loves to do – in work and in life
- What happens when he falls off the wagon (often!) – and why perfection is not the ultimate productivity goal
- The art of getting a good night’s sleep and his favourite apps for building habits
- How Doctor Who inspires him in his productivity journey
Prefer to listen to this as an audio track instead? Here’s the mp3.
Over to you
What do you think of Richard’s systems and tactics? Are you a procrastinator like Richard? Do you find routines and systems help? Or does it work differently for you? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
And while you’re there, let me know – who would you like me to interview? Whose behind the scenes productivity journey would you love to get a peek into?
I’ve just had the privilege of four months off between jobs (though it wasn’t planned to be that long) and I can’t believe how I survived the “busyness” of my previous work. I’ve used some of the time to look at productivity and particularly enjoyed Grace’s book “How to be Really Productive”. So I wondered if spending 35 minutes listening to this interview would be productive.
I would have liked more about beating procrastination as that’s one of my biggest problems, but there are two things that I wrote down while I was listening:
“It’s about getting back on the wagon”. To a perfectionist falling off the wagon is really painful so I’m going to try to remember that it’s about getting back on – and trying to keep my balance.
“Something’s wrong that often, that it’s become the new norm.” But it’s really difficult to stop firefighting and work out a plan. Any suggestions Grace?
I’m lucky that I’m going into a new job in a new department where I hope to be able to start building the plan from the start, but I will be following your blog with interest, and trying to practice conscious productivity.
So on balance I think the 35 minutes was worth it, and I feel I know Grace and Richard a bit better now, too.
So glad you found the book and the interview useful Sue – I loved the pilot analogy too. Somehow it changes things when you realise that getting back on course is not a sign of failure – it’s what we’re here to do.
As for the firefighting, what helps me is remembering that I am ‘boss’ and ‘worker’ – that it’s my job to “decide what to do”, as well as “do”. Firefighting often kicks our worker-mode into frantic overdrive but it’s the thinking we do in boss-mode that ensures what we do makes a difference.
Starting a new job is a great time to build in that thinking space into your everyday, so that it becomes part of – and shapes – your new norm from here.
PS. Happy to dig deeper into procrastination – let me know how/what/when it hijacks your productivity.