Sep 5, 2022 3 min read Newsletters

Coming Soon to a Mobile Device Near You

A number of my childhood hobbies are coming to bear as I begin the exciting journey of creating my very own YouTube channel. All those hours I spent building up my skills in storytelling, writing, drawing, filming, and editing will be put to use as I take the next step in my mission to help others get organized and live more productive lives.

Production on my first few videos has already begun! There’s no definitive launch date for the channel just yet, but I’m hoping it’ll be before the end of this month. Stayed tuned for more information!

To accommodate my production schedule, I’m adjusting how often I’ll be posting on the website. The newsletter will be published Mondays, a regular blog post on Wednesdays, and a brand new series of Sketchnote book summaries will be on Fridays (see the What’s New section for my first one on the book Atomic Habits by James Clear).

Tip of the Week:

How do you get started building a productivity system? The best way is to start simple. Grab a sticky note or a piece of paper and write down all the various tasks you’ve got floating around in your mind. Then simply start working through the list, checking them off as you complete them. For some, this may be all you need. Just the act of getting stuff out of your head and onto a piece of paper will be a huge relief to your brain and a boost to your productivity. As David Allen, author of Getting Things Done, said:

"The mind is for having ideas, not holding them."

For others, this simple practice might soon create some anxiety as the one list grows beyond that piece of paper. The next step is to grab a notebook and split that list up into different categories, each category having it’s own page. There may be tasks in your lists that need to be done on specific days, so you may want to write due dates next to them.

From here you could consider adopting the Bullet Journal method, a simple, yet flexible framework for managing tasks, notes, events, and projects. Or you may want to migrate to a digital task manager like Things 3 or ToDoist.

Whatever you decide to do, make small, incremental changes as you go along. Doing so will allow you to test and prove each part of the system as you add it and use it. Eventually, you’ll end up with a robust productivity system that’s perfectly tailored to you and how you work.

What I’m Reading / Watching / Listening to:

Video: How I Organize My Analog Visual Notes

I’m increasing the amount of Sketchnotes I’m producing, and as a result, I’m in need of a way to keep them all organized. While I mostly deal with digital Sketchnotes, and this video is mainly talking about analog ones, I found the part where he talks about keeping a backup of his Sketchnotes in Notion an intriguing idea. I currently use Notion for managing the content creation process for my blog (and soon to be YouTube channel), so it would be nice to have the Sketchnotes I’m creating for them to be stored in the same place.

Video: How to Articulate Your Thoughts and Spread Your Ideas

I’m attempting to improve my writing and speaking skills, and I found this video to be helpful with both. She lays out some simple frameworks to follow when presenting something completely new or a new take on something familiar.