The 5 Pillars of Productivity

Hi everyone, my name is Matt and welcome back to another episode of Connect the Dots. I'm so happy that you've chosen to spend some time with me today, whether you're listening to this on your favorite podcast player or watching this on the Connect the Dots Podcast YouTube channel. And I do want to say that wherever you are listening or watching, it would mean a lot to me if you could leave a rating and review on your podcast player of choice or just subscribe to the YouTube channel and like this video, leave a comment, really helps the show grow. And, you know, to be honest, lets me know that people are excited about, about the show itself. So this is— we're getting close to about 20 episodes now, so I'm really like feeling, you know, kind of in a groove with it. And I do appreciate the ratings and reviews and the emails and the comments. Thanks to Transistor FM for like sharing my 10-year overnight success episode. Transistor is where I host the podcast, and they have been wonderful. The founder is a friend of mine, Justin Jackson. So thanks to Justin and the Transistor team. This isn't a sponsorship by them. I just really like what they do and have been a very happy customer. So thanks to Transistor. What I want to share with you in the episode today is what I consider the 5 pillars of productivity. And And if you think about the different productivity principles and concepts, I see them all kind of sitting on being supported by these pillars, these principles or concepts of productivity. And I'm going to share each of those with you today because it's important to think about when you come across a new framework, a new method, a new productivity tip or tactic, thinking about, okay, there are like literally hundreds of things that, you know, you have as, you know, a productive person, different tools and power-ups that you can use to be productive, but like what is the, what is the like pillar that they sit on top of? What is the container that they fit into so you can kind of quickly understand how it's going to help you? That's what I want to explain to you today. Now the reason that I share this with you is because it can be confusing to think about how do the different productivity tips, tricks, tactics, you know, concepts, frameworks, methods that I'm learning fit together. And it can be something that once you understand these different pillars or containers of productivity and see how they mix and match together, it can be super useful for understanding how to assemble a proper personal productivity kit that you can use to be really productive day to day, no matter what the challenge, the goal, or the situation is. The last thing I'll say before we get into these 5 pillars of productivity is if you would like for me to help you learn how to assemble your own personal productivity kit with all these different power-ups that you can use to deploy in your own hero's journey on the adventures of the day that you face, then please just sign up to my email list. Just matt Ragland.com/daily, and I will send you some emails— well, every day because it's daily— but you'll also learn about the upcoming round of the Productivity Power-Up group coaching program that I'm putting together. It's going to start in April, so right around the time that this episode will release. So make sure you check it out. I'll make sure that you have all the information that you need to decide if this is the right choice for you, if you would like for me to guide you on your own productivity journey at this given time for this particular round. Now let's talk about the 5 pillars of productivity. And the first one that I want to tell you about, the one that I believe is the most important for the productive person, is the pillar of action. The things that you need to do to be productive. And there's a way of thinking about this because there are, there are all kinds of things that you can do that are very like action-oriented. But to me, the concepts, the methods, the frameworks that fit into this are things like task management, like goal setting, like understanding habits and routines and how they help create the on-ramp and the confidence that will allow you to become more confident in the actions that you are taking. This also includes things like the, the GAP preview, so that goal action plan, or the WARPR review where you think about your wins, your aspirations, the results of those aspirations, and different ways that you can pivot going into that next week's GAP preview. So that is the first pillar of productivity, the action-oriented work that you do and all of the concepts and frameworks that fit into that. And so when you come across like a new goal-setting method, like mine is QMWD, that quarterly, monthly, weekly, daily breakdown. So when you come across new like goal-setting or task management methods, know that that really fits like into the action-oriented container or sits on top of the, you know, action pillar of productivity. Do you see how this kind of works? Like there are all kinds of things that you're going to learn about how to take action productively in your life. And no matter what those are, just understanding that they all kind of sit on top of this action pillar of productivity. Okay? So that's really important to understand, just that when you are learning new things, that is just another tool, another mindset, another power-up that you can use that fits onto these other, these pillars or into these existing containers. So let's go into the second one. The second pillar of productivity is that of time management. So we've talked about action, action steps, that first pillar. The second pillar is time management. And so you've heard me talk about time management a lot, both on Connect the Dots and on my YouTube channel. Things like time tracking, things like time blocking, calendar blocking, the 10-block method. I've even talked about like the next level time management or time transformation. Attention allocating types of time management like the 70/20/10 rule from Google or Jim Collins' 50/30/20 rule. You can also think about it in the case or the example of Jim Lehrer, who in The Power of Full Engagement, which I have right up there on my bookshelf for the YouTube viewers, talks about managing your energy. My friend Chris Sparks talks about managing your energy instead of your time as well. But to me, All of these sit on top of or within the pillar or container of time management. So again, as you go through life and you're learning about new strategies, new tips and tactics, new tricks for managing your time or managing your energy, know that that all fits into the container or sits on top of the pillar of time management. So again, this really helps you understand that that even though you're learning something new that can be really helpful, it's still a part of, or sits on top of, this productivity pillar of time management. Okay, so, so far, right, pillar 1, action. Pillar 2, time. The 3rd pillar of productivity is how you manage your information and/or ideas. And so we've talked about this a lot with note-taking, with the Zettelkasten from Niklas Luhmann, and the wonderful book How to Take Smart Notes by Zonke Arendts. All of these concepts and frameworks for taking notes, for having a second brain as Tiago Forte talks about, for having a personal knowledge base of information and a way of tracking the different ideas, concepts, highlights, the things that you are building in your mind so that you can have this personal reservoir of information that you can treat as building blocks for future content, for future projects, for future goals that you have. In fact, you know, one of the things that I'm doing to exemplify this even in my own work is like I'm taking— you've probably seen these, but when I record this video or record this podcast, I also have it chopped up into like daily content that I use on social media, that I post on a YouTube channel, that sometimes I will use as the starting content for the daily emails that I write. And so the way that I manage this information, the ideas that I have, through, like I said, through note-taking, through distributed content, through personal, a personal knowledge base. And we just did a whole episode about this on Connect the Dots as well, of like Tiago Forte's PARA concept, that projects, areas, research, and archives are ways to manage your ideas, your goals, the things that you're doing in in a really simple, minimalist way so that you can access those ideas, projects, goals, you know, areas of research, the notes that you have, all at one time in one really easy way. So that is the third pillar of productivity, that you have a really solid way of organizing, understanding, and accessing the knowledge, the information, and ideas that you are putting together. So, so far we have Pillar 1, action, which are things like goal setting, task management. We have Pillar 2, which is time management, things like time tracking, time blocking, attention allocation, fighting distraction. And now Principle 3, or Pillar 3 of productivity, which is the way that you handle and access your information and ideas over time. The fourth pillar of productivity is the literal toolset. That you use in order to be productive. Now this is normally where people start and sadly enough, it's often where people get stuck and end their productivity journey, or they spend so much time like sorting through different tools that they have trouble like doing the actual work. Because sometimes you'll hear me speak about things like time management or goal setting as the tools, like the metaphorical tools that you use in your productivity journey,. But for this, like, you know, fourth pillar of productivity, I literally mean things like Notion or Roam or Taskade or, you know, Evernote or more analog tools. Like, I know many of you have come to my YouTube channel on things like the Bullet Journal or note cards or like the, like, sticky notes, different things that you use like in a very analog sense. And the thing that you need to understand is The tools that you use, like literal tools like apps and notebooks, don't matter near as much as your ability to focus on, like, say, those 3 previous pillars. The way that you take action, the way that you manage your time, and the way that you manage and access your information. If you can do those 3 things, you can use any tool, like literally any tool, in order to get the work done. Now, some may fit you better than others, and you may use some tools for one thing and other tools for another thing. I think that's totally fine because you are thinking about what tools do I need to use to get the right work done at the right time in the way that works best for me. That really matters, and you need to think about that and be focused on it without like being so like wrapped up in, I have to use this specific tool in this specific way because, you know, somebody I saw on YouTube, you know, even me, said I need to do it this way. You need to find a way to use like the literal tools that you have in front of you to work in the way that works best for you. Okay. So I hope you're picking up on that. I was just talking with my friend Mike Rohde on his sketchnoter Army podcast about this concept. Because too often, you know, what we were talking about is like people get stuck on, well, what kind of notebook should I get as a sketch artist? What kind of pens or pencils should I use? What kind of app should I use on my iPad in order to like be the best sketch artist or illustrator that I can be? And while there are like, sure, there are good ways and best practices to follow, but the most important thing is going to be to create a system and a toolset that works best for you. Basically, just remember that the tools that you use are just tools. The way that you use them, the way that you want to work, and the way that works best for you is going to be the most effective toolset over time. The fifth and final pillar of productivity is that of confidence and mindset. And you may think to yourself like, well, Matt, that's, that's not really That's not really a thing. You know, you are, you know, you have to like know all these specific tips and tactics and things that you have to do, all these tools that are going to be really effective, that are going to help me be the productive person that I need to be. And to a point, some of that is true, but you can have all the knowledge in the world, you can have the right tool set set up the right way that you're like, okay, this checks all the boxes for me. But if you have trouble mentally getting over yourself and some of your fear and some of your worry and some of your anxiety, or, you know, not some, all of it, then all the right tools and tips and tricks and tactics in the world aren't going to matter for you. So here's what I want to recommend to you, because this confidence to do the work, this like courage to take the first step, is incredibly important. And so here's what I want to recommend to you: anytime you feel yourself stuck, just start as small as possible. This is really common in, like, habit-building and confidence-building, you know, like, research. And there are two professors who have done a lot of research on this. One is Wendy Wood, the other is BJ Fogg. They both have great books and blogs and all kinds of content. And so I want to encourage you to check their work out, but when they talk about these tiny habits— Professor Fogg talks about this especially— when they talk about these tiny habits, it's just like really simple things like write one sentence in your journal for the day about how you're feeling. If you want to get even tinier, you could just do like a thumbs up, thumbs down type of day review for just an emoji. So I want you to think about how you can start really small with whatever thing you feel kind of stuck on. And as you build on those tiny habits, you'll realize that you can make a lot more progress than you expected. And another thing, we've talked about this in other episodes of Connect the Dots, is think about if you're going to focus on a specific task that you're doing, say like I want to write 500 words, or are you going to give yourself a specific amount of time that you just want to focus on the writing? Or, you know, whatever thing that you're trying to do. And that could be like, I'm going to write for 30 minutes no matter how many words I get to. You just have to, you know, do the thing for 30 minutes, or you can just write 500 words no matter how long that takes you. So look at the stuff that I've talked about with task versus time. That'll really help. And what you want to think about is how many times can you complete like the habit loop, the routine, the system, no matter like how you feel about it, because the more like The more completed rounds that you like finish, the more that you stack up, the more confident and competent you will feel because that consistency leads to confidence. That consistency also leads to clarity about what you can do more of that is going to work for you. Now that's a lot of C's. I'm probably going to do an episode just about like all those C's that I talked about, that, you know, consistency, leads to a feeling of confidence and competency. And the more consistent you are, the more clear— the clearer you will get about the kind of content that you want to be creating, the kind of work that you want to be producing. And we've talked about this in the 10-rep rule episode, so make sure you check that one out, that when you do 10, you really get a feel for like, okay, I can keep doing this, or no, this isn't for me, I'm going to try something else. And then when you hit 100 rounds, that's when you really feel like you're creating a lot of momentum. And there are some like, like mini milestones within that. Like I said, I'm about to hit 20 episodes of Connect the Dots around the time that this releases, and by the end of the year I will have hit 50. But you know, when you've done something pretty consistently, say weekly, for a year or two, then you're going to naturally feel like a lot more confident about it, and that really matters. Now if you keep going on, you know, down a path like this, like I am, once you get 1,000 completed rounds or 1,000 reps of something like completed videos or written emails, like pieces of content, you're like, dang, I'm getting close to that 10,000 hours, that like that feeling of true mastery of the subject and of the content. But the more confident you are, the better that you feel about this, even, and even when you don't like feel great about it. Like, I don't always feel great when I get on a new podcast or I start to write an email or I start to like record a video. I don't always feel super confident. But now at this point, I can look back over the past 3, 4 years, even 10 years if you listen to my 10-Year Overnight Success, and I can look at the literal hundreds of pieces of content that I've created over the years. And it's easier at that point to be like, even though I doubt myself right now and I don't feel awesome about this, I can look back and say, you know, you literally have done this for years now and you can do it. You can do it again. And so that, that fifth pillar of productivity being the confidence to know that I have done the work over time and that makes me feel, you know, really good and really confident about the work that I'm going to do today and the work that I'm going to do tomorrow and the way that I'm going to show up in the world. That is so, so, so important. Now, the trick is, is to not, you know, be too complacent. Now there's another C, because we don't want to be too complacent in the work that we are doing. And so you're kind of consistently putting yourself into new experiences or new opportunities, new connections that lead you to, you know, bring forth that same courage. Like we've talked about this with like the hero's journey of productivity that we talked about in a previous episode of Connect the Dots. That when you start to feel like, okay, I'm, you know, kind of in that— yeah, I'm just, I'm just really comfortable with what I'm doing— there's going to be a new challenge. Gosh, another C. There's going to be a new challenge that like calls you forth, a new quest that's like, come on, let's do this. You know, like, okay, I got to get a little uncomfortable again and move out of the status quo into the new, like, into the new quest, into the new adventure that life has for me. Let's bring all these things together now, these 5 pillars of productivity, of action, of time management, of information and ideas, of the toolset that you use and the confidence that you build. And let's look at— I want to give you an example of how all these things fit together, because often when you are like called into that new adventure, that new challenge, or you're bringing yourself into a goal that you want to achieve or a new challenge that you want to overcome. When you understand these, you know, 5 pillars of productivity and the different like concepts, frameworks, methods that fit into each of them or on top of each of them, then you're going to see how you can pick and choose and combine these different productivity power-ups into like a custom personal productivity kit that allows you to like go forth on the adventure to fight the dragon of procrastination or fear or whatever it may be. So let me give you a really specific example. This is with one of my clients and he is creating YouTube videos and I was talking with him and he was having trouble like putting some videos together and And I realized, like, okay, well, let's go ahead and— because I've talked about this concept with him before, he's very aware of, like, I go through this with all my one-on-one or group clients of, like, let's put together your personal productivity kit so you can know which things to deploy at which time to make sure that you have, you know, the right tools, the right power-ups available to you based on the outcome or the goal that you want to achieve. And he was like, okay, let's do it. And so we were doing this on a one-on-one coaching call and I was like, okay, well, what's, what's your goal? He's like, I need to make a new YouTube video. I was like, okay, well, we talked about some of the things that were keeping him stuck and they were just like really simple. Let's just start with the time. Let's go to the time pillar and make sure that we select the right power-ups. How long does it take you to create a YouTube video? He's like, oh, well, you know, It, like, just the creating of the video probably takes me an hour. Okay, it's like, okay, great. And he knows this because he's been time tracking— another power-up. I was like, okay, great. Well, you know, when is an hour then that you can block? There's the time blocking principle. Where is an hour that you can block to get this done? He's like, okay, I can do it Friday at 9 AM. I was like, okay, great. So we've got that taken care of. Now We've all probably done this before, like, okay, well, I'm totally going to do this thing at 9:00 AM, but 9:00 AM comes and maybe we don't feel as comfortable doing it, or we don't have all of our different things together. Uh, we don't quite have our content ready. So we're like, ah, well, you know, I can't really do it right now. You know, raise your hands wherever you are unless you're driving, but just nod with me. Be like, yep, that's happened to me before. And you know, that has happened to, that has happened to me. That was happening to my client, to my friend. And so I was like, okay, well, the thing that we need to make sure of is that when 9 AM hits, you are ready to record, right? He's like, right, that's one of the things that I get stuck on. And so we're like, okay, well, before that, we need to take like, say, 30 minutes, and we're going to create a checklist of all the things that you need to have done. So this is like getting into that action pillar a little bit. What's your checklist of the things that you need to have ready in order to feel like you can record the video at Friday at 9:00 AM? He's like, okay. So we went through the checklist, like, okay, great. Now we've got the checklist. Now from the information, from the idea standpoint, okay, asking him what is the video going to be about? So we, you know, we made an outline for him. We gathered some other notes from, you know, different content that he's made in the past, or just like highlights that he's made from like other books, you know, different things, just, just from our conversations as well. So now he has all the information that he needs. He's been able to gather his ideas. Do you see how these things are coming together now? And the last, the last couple of things, like if we just used all— if we accessed, you know, if we access tools or tips from all 5 pillars, and we can, like I said, like, okay, what are the tools? Now for this, it was really simple. Like, he could make his outline just on a note card or in a notebook. But you also want to think of it like if you're talking about specific types of content that he needed to have his camera ready to go, he needed to make sure that his screen recording software was all, you know, up and, you know, updated before it was time. So he was going to do all those things, added that to his checklist as well. And then finally, you know, Number 5, the confidence piece. And what we talk about a lot when I'm coaching people, not just on productivity but on creativity, is that you have to do it in order to feel it. You know, you can't, you can't build confidence in something that you are not allowing yourself to do. So that was the 5th and final one. And I, you know, I heard from him this morning and he was able to record that video. But you can see how all of these things, like, stacked on top of each other. How long is this going to take? When am I going to do it? What do I need to have ready? What kind of checklist do I need to put together so that I can feel confident? What kind of content do I need to have ready? What do I need to have outlined so that I can enter that specific time block ready to go, completely out of excuses for like, oh, you know, I just, I don't, I don't have that outline ready yet, and so I I can't do it right now. And so, or maybe I will do the outline right now and oh, look there, my hour is gone, but I feel prepared now. And you know, maybe that's the case sometimes, but getting all of these things in order and combining these different like power-ups— like notice I didn't talk to him about like, hey, let's make sure we set up a QMWD like goal structure, this really— no, the goal is just to create a video this week. So what kind of tools, tips, tactics, what kind of power-ups do we need to access to complete this first big goal, to achieve this first big goal of just recording the video? So you can see how, whether it's daily, weekly, you know, monthly productivity, once you build that early, again, small kind of, you know, confidence, that tiny step, that tiny action that allows you to snowball that into more momentum and confidence for the type of work that you want to be doing. As we wrap up this episode, I want to give you a quick recap of those 5 pillars of productivity. The first one, and the one that most of us should and do start with, is like, what do, what do I need to do? What actions do I need to take? Those are things like task management, goal setting, the habits that you create, that GAP preview and WARP review. So that's productivity pillar number 1, action. Productivity pillar 2 is time. And those are things like time tracking, time blocking, calendar blocking, the way that you allocate your attention to different projects or areas of responsibility in your life, the way that you kind of manage maybe your energy just as much as your time and recognizing like, okay, I feel more creative in the morning than I do in the afternoon. So I'm going to block my creative time, my writing, recording, whatever time in the morning. The third productivity pillar is that of ideas and information, like creation, curation, management. Things like the note-taking that we've talked about, Quick Notes, the Zettelkasten, things like a personal knowledge base, Tiago Forte's PARA method, and the way that if you, if you watched or listened to the PARA episode, how I've kind of shifted that into my WILD framework, which, you know, is based on PARA, but a customization of the way that I have liked to use it. But that's number 3, information and idea management, creation, curation. Number 4 is that of like the actual literal tools and apps that you use. So that could be digital apps like Notion, Roam, Taskade, uh, you know, calendars of course. And then things that we all, you know, most of you who are listening to this will will enjoy using the Bullet Journal. Things like note cards or like planners like the Full Focus Planner or something like that. Just remember that when you're using those tools, remember the tools are there for you to use. The tools do not make the work that you create. All right, so just don't get too hung up on the tools. Just, you know, kind of do, do the work and things will be fine. Now the fifth and at times most important pillar of of productivity is confidence, and the confidence that can only come from the courage to create and make progress. The consistency that you have with creation or with the work that matters to you is how you build confidence over time. And the more that you put yourself out there and you do the work that matters and you overcome your own, you know, fears and anxiety and frustrations about the work that you want to do, then the more confident that you become. Because, you know, over time, even on days that you don't feel awesome, you'll be like, well, I've done work like this, work that matters to me, for years now. And so even if I don't feel like 100% in it right now, I know that I can do it because I've done it in the past. So those are the 5. And if you want to be a part of a program that I'm putting together throughout the year and probably going forward, then I encourage you to sign up to my daily email list. Just go to mattrogland.com/daily. You can also go to 3keys.fyi for some more like, you know, productivity printables as well. But either way that you sign up to those, and you can find links to those in the show notes or in the description of the YouTube video, you're going to learn about the new round of the Productivity Power-Up that I'm putting together. Together. You heard me mention several times that I help people put together their personal productivity kits, that you get to understand like how these different power-ups like habits, time management, note-taking, PARA, WILD, like all these things that I've talked about in this episode and in previous episodes, how I help you understand how you can create your own like personal custom productivity kit for whatever challenge, whatever goal whatever adventure that you're on in your life. And so we go through all of these principles, we talk about each of the pillars, each of the power-ups that are kind of embedded and contained or on top of like those, those elements, so that you can look at the work that you have to do in your life at your job or in your side hustle, the business that you own, and think what kind of power-ups What kind of tools do I need to deploy at this time to get a positive outcome? And you understand how all of those things work together and the different ways to combine them based on the challenge that you face. You get, again, a lot more confidence about going into each day, each week, and each month because you're like, okay, I know how to handle this problem. I know how to do these things, and I understand how to make progress and not, you know, get stuck stuck in procrastination or perfectionism. So again, just go to mattreilham.com/daily or 3— that's the number 3— keys, like in a car,.fyi. 3keys.fyi to like sign up for a special video training or to my daily emails, and you will learn about how to be a part of the Productivity Power-Up Round 2. But thank you so much for listening or watching this episode of Connect the Dots. It's really awesome to share all these principles, these pillars of productivity with you. And if you have any questions about them, please reach out to me on Twitter or Instagram @MattRagland. I'd love to chat with you and learn more about how I can help you on your own personal productivity adventure. Thanks so much, and I'll see you next time. Bye.