Part 9 – Establishing Your Shutdown Ritual — Working Through the Productivity Field Guide

Reading Time: 6 minutes Do you have a shutdown ritual when you stop work for the day and plan for the next day? In this post in the “Working through the Productivity Field Guide” series, we will discuss the benefits of a shutdown ritual and when and how to do it. The Benefits of a Shutdown Ritual There are …

Read more

Connecting With My Readers by Writing From the Heart

Reading Time: < 1 minute We live in a world overflowing with content, but much of it is impersonal. More and more text is generated by Artificial Intelligence. AI-generated text is the ultimate in impersonal writing since it’s machine-generated. Whether you’re a writer, artist, entrepreneur, or simply sharing your thoughts with the world, how do you truly connect with your …

Read more

Part 8 – Following Through and Doing the Work— Working Through the Productivity Field Guide

Reading Time: 6 minutes In this post in the “Working through the Productivity Field Guide” series, we will discuss how to follow your daily plans. It’s not enough to make a daily plan; for it to be effective, you must also follow it. Often, that’s not as easy as it sounds. You’d think that you’d be primed to do …

Read more

Confessions of a Journaling App Jumper

Reading Time: 4 minutes We’re lucky to live in a time when multiple software options exist for daily journaling. People use the daily notes feature in Obsidian and Craft, and multiple journaling-specific apps are available: Day One, Apple Journal, and Journey are examples. The abundance of apps is great because it gives us many different designs and options to …

Read more

The Key to a Fulfilling Retirement: Embrace Growth, Purpose, and Making a Difference

Reading Time: 5 minutes Our culture has an unwritten expectation that a retired person will be unproductive. The very words “retire” or “retirement” perpetuate the myth that old age is an unproductive time in life and imprints the belief that people in their later years should simply sit back or indulge in a recreational activity like golf. The Seven …

Read more

Part 7 – Hyper-Scheduling to Make Progress on Your Arete— Working Through the Productivity Field Guide

Reading Time: 8 minutes In this post in the “Working through the Productivity Field Guide” series, we will discuss hyper-scheduling, or time blocking, as it’s commonly known. You use hyper-scheduling to make progress on your Arete statements, which state your intentions to do work that is important to you. This is where we really get tactical. It’s great to …

Read more

Part 6: Maker, Manager, and Consumer — Working Through the Productivity Field Guide

Reading Time: 6 minutes This is the sixth blog post in a series about my experiences working through the Productivity Field Guide by David Sparks, available in the Plus and the Standard editions. In this post, we’ll discuss how the maker, manager, and consumer functions work within our roles. Each of these “hats” we wear within roles has different …

Read more

Part 5: Achieving Your Best Self Through Consistent Weekly Reviews and Daily Planning — Working Through the Productivity Field Guide

Reading Time: 6 minutes This is the fifth blog post in a series about my experiences working through the Productivity Field Guide by David Sparks, available in the Plus and the Standard editions. In this post, I want to help you get the work done to “move the needle” on your Arete projects and habits. We’ll discuss how to …

Read more