Aug 29, 2022 3 min read Newsletters

Back to Productivity Basics

I’ve been studying the topic of productivity for so long that I forget there are others who are much earlier on in their productivity journey than me. I think I take for granted much of the knowledge I’ve gained over the years and just assume everyone knows what I’m talking about. I recently received some feedback that reminded me that wasn’t the case.

I took the time to write some articles going over some productivity basics, and as I promised in the last newsletter, I included Sketchnotes along with them! The articles aim to explain what a productivity system is, and the building blocks that make them up. You can check the articles out in the What’s New section below, along with an updated version of my productivity system diagram.

A new feature being introduced on the website this week is the ability to comment on articles. Commenting is restricted to members only, and if you’re reading this newsletter in your email, then good news, you’re already a member! I’ve included some Community Guidelines in an effort to keep conversations productive and civil. Please take the time to review the guidelines before commenting.

Tip of the Week:

Awhile back I was watching a video featuring Tiago Forte, and he said something that really resonated with me. He said:

"Learning is the ultimate form of procrastination."

At first I didn’t agree with this. I love to learn, and it felt like he was saying learning was a waste of time. But as I thought about it some more, I started to understand what he was trying to say. Oftentimes our fear of starting something new causes us to procrastinate and we end up researching a topic to death. We feel like if we only learned a little bit more about the subject, then we’d be able to do whatever it is we’re planning to do without mistakes. This, of course, isn’t true. We’re bound to make mistakes when trying something out, and that’s okay. Making mistakes is how we truly learn, not by endlessly researching. So let’s all follow the advice given by Walt Disney:

"The best way to get started is to stop talking and begin doing."

If there’s something you’d like to try and having been putting it off, I challenge you to take the leap and do it this week. I promise you’ll feel a lot better once you’ve given it a try.

What I’m Reading / Watching / Listening to:

Video: How to Film YouTube Videos on Your Phone

Taking my own advice I gave in the Tip of the Week, I’m finally going to do something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and that’s to start a YouTube channel. I’m not in any way new to the process of making videos; I’ve been making videos since I was a kid, so it’s not like I don’t have the skills. I’d somehow gotten it into my head that I didn’t know enough to start a YouTube channel, so I spent way too much time watching videos like these. I’m going to have courage and take the leap this week. I’ll let you know when I post my first video!

Video: How I WRITE ON TOP of My Videos using the iPad - Tutorial

I love doing Sketchnoting, so learning how to draw on top of my videos is an exciting idea to me. And the technique shared in this video is super easy! I even figured out how to do it in a different editing software than he was using. I’ll probably make my own video about it in the future.