Latest / Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh / Productivity Tips and Techniques

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Productivity Tips and Techniques · Chatting with The Experts with Paula Okonneh

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  Hello, everyone, and welcome to a special episode of Chatting
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  with the Experts TV show.
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  I speak with amazing women from all over the world, in particular,
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  I say from Africa and the Caribbean and in the diaspora.
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  But I also make exceptions.
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  And so we've had some men come on the show.
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  We've had women who are not from Africa, the Caribbean.
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  And so today I have my friend, Fran, who is not from Africa, is not from
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  the Caribbean, but she's here with me and we want to discuss something
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  that's really very much on her heart.
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  She's always been an expert when it comes to talking about productivity.
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  I have learned so much from her.
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  In fact, I always tease her or tell her that my daughter used to say, Mom, Ms.
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  Fran seems to know everything about these apps.
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  You don't seem to know anything about them.
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  And so today she's going to be sharing with us some of the amazing
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  apps that are out right now that we can use to make our life better.
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  So over to you, Fran.
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  Well, thank you, Paula.
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  It's an honor to be on here.
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  Yeah.
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  I mean, productivity, what can I say?
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  We all have the same amount of time in the day, but some of us
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  get more stuff done, don't we?
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  So it can be really challenging and we both have worked for
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  ourselves for a long time now.
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  Yes.
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  And you have to be really strict about getting stuff done because
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  it's just very tempting to be out there doing other stuff.
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  Oh, yeah.
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  So I really think that for a lot of folks, that it's the environment where you're
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  actually working, which is the kicker.
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  Mm-hmm.
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  And I didn't realize that for the longest time.
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  I just I put my computer in a specific room, you know, worked from home or
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  had a home office and that was where I thought that all my work would take place.
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  And after some time I realised, no, it's the environment.
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  Different things need different environments for it to flourish.
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  For example, I have a chair, more like a loveseat actually.
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  But that is the place where I'll sit and the creativity comes.
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  Mmm.
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  I will, somehow I can absorb books and just knowledge better there.
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  That's the spot.
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  If I try and do that at my desk where my computer is, no, that's not the place.
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  And I found that when I was writing blog posts, that going to the coffee
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  shop was the place where that happened.
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  It wasn't at my loveseat or at the computer.
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  I had to be out somewhere else.
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  So I really think that working out where your environment is that you can
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  do the best work for the tasks at hand.
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  Once you've nailed that, that's a big piece of it.
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  Wow!
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  So you see guys, I'm learning some of her secrets.
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  I never knew that.
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  I never knew it was the environment that enabled her
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  to write some amazing proposal.
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  When we'd meet, she'd say, Paula, I have this idea.
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  And I'd be like, tell me what it is.
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  And it was always so mind-boggling.
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  So it was the environment.
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  Okay.
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  So that's tip number one, right?
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  Yes.
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  So definitely the environment is huge.
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  And another thing that took me a long time to really understand how
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  important it was for productivity was to have buffers on your calendar.
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  So we've got lots of apps and software now that have scheduling and you can
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  put in buffers so that if somebody books at your website that you're not
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  getting back to back meetings where you've got these buffers in there.
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  So that was something that like back in the day doing a lot of networking.
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  I would be zipping around here, there, everywhere and I didn't put enough
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  buffers in there and I was always like Well, I'm running a bit late, you know...
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  and I laugh because they can relate to that.
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  Having the buffers really helps and I tell you a big thing like think
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  about when you go on vacation and then you put maybe in your out of office.
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  You're gonna be back on whatever date.
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  Don't put that date down, put another one down, like a day or two after,
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  because otherwise you'll be back at work, trying to get stuff done that
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  came into your inbox, whatever while you were away, and an inbox is everybody
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  else's agenda being pushed onto you.
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  Yeah.
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  So if folks know that you're back that day, your inbox will be even fuller, so
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  tell them you're coming back a day later.
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  Gives you the time to get that stuff done before everybody starts loading
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  on you, do this for me, do that for me, so I found buffers to be very helpful.
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  And I can see how that comes into play because you know, many times after
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  a vacation, Let me talk for myself.
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  I'm tired.
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  I'm exhausted.
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  You know, it's almost like you need a vacation after the vacation.
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  Yes.
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  So that's where the buffer comes into play.
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  So if you're coming back on the 10th, start work on the 12th.
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  Or you can start work, you know, whenever, but like, just let folks
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  know that it's a day later than when you're actually all going to be back.
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  Right.
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  So I just found that it gives you the time to decompress.
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  Look at The stuff that you know you've got to do and it gives you
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  that little bit of extra time.
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  I love that.
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  I really do love that.
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  So are there any, like, digital apps that we can put into play
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  that Okay, like the buffers, I know we can put that on our calendars.
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  We have scheduling tools now, so that's nice.
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  Part of where the buffers come in.
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  Something else you mentioned.
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  So I'm having a senior moment.
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  . So am I.
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  So the two of us . Yeah.
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  But you know, as I said, she has always been so good at that.
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  I remember one thing that you taught me too was the the timer.
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  I'm just using a regular timer.
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  Yes.
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  So the Pomodoro technique.
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  You guys may have heard of it.
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  Pomodoro is Italian for tomato.
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  So the guy that came up with this idea, apparently he had a kitchen
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  timer that shaped like a tomato.
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  So he just used that to put on like 25 minutes, work on something, focus on
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  something, and then have five minutes off.
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  Rinse and repeat four times.
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  On the fourth go around.
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  You've worked for nearly two whole hours and It's a Pomodoro.
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  Do two of those, and you're probably more productive than the average
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  American worker in an office.
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  Which is scary, isn't it?
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  But, the Pomodoro, I just went to Walmart, I got one of those
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  Better Homes and Gardens.
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  A timer that's got a little recipe card slot on the top.
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  And I would put, write an index card, put that in the slot.
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  That's what I was working on for 25 minutes.
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  And then at the end of 25 minutes, what did you do?
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  You got up, took a walk, or?
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  Put it on for five minutes.
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  And then you go and do something completely different.
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  So if you're working at the computer, go off and do some laundry, or walk
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  stairs, something completely different.
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  Then you come back, and you start your 25 minutes again.
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  Do that four times.
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  That equals a Pomodoro.
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  Try and do two Pomodoros a day.
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  You're going to be super, super successful.
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  productive.
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  And it really depends what you're working on.
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  I found that if I'm doing sort of boring more admin type
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  tasks, pomodoros are great.
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  If you're doing things that are more creative, I find that squeezing that
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  into 25 minutes and saying I have to get, I have to create something amazing
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  in 25 minutes might be a bit difficult.
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  Yes.
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  But, I've found that having that kitchen timer is great
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  because I'd be like Pavlov's dog.
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  I'd hear the tick tick tick tick tick and I would like typing really
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  fast and I would get much more done, especially like writing something,
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  because like I said, your brain, you've got 15 minutes or 25 minutes.
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  Quick, quick, quick, write, write, write and I would knock out stuff.
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  But like I said, it's not the best for everything.
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  And you are supposed to just work on one thing at a time, but I
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  still kind of like batch things that come into that 25 minutes.
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  Because you can't always find a task that is in a 25 minute block, right?
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  As long as you're focusing on something that I think is all part
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  of like, a little project maybe, have that as your 25 minutes.
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  So, there's plenty of apps that have the timer, 25 minutes, maybe show some
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  confetti or something when you've done your pomodoro, but really, you can
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  just use a kitchen timer, like I said.
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  And batching then, segue over to batching, that's a really good way
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  of doing stuff, finding things in your task list that are similar,
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  and just work on those all at once.
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  And maybe batch for, if you don't like doing pomodoros, you know, say, I'm going
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  to just do this for two hours straight.
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  Some folks like to do every Monday, I'm writing a blog post, two
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  hours dedicated, and that's set.
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  Right?
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  So, it depends how you like to do it, but batching and buffering are good.
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  The two B's, batching and buffering.
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  I know for those of us who are, like, doing podcasts and video podcasts and
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  the batching has been perfect because you're able to, like, you know, if you're
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  going to do some recording of podcasts, you have three, four guests, people
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  like me who interview guests, and you do the recording of the three or four
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  guests on the same day so that now you have a repository of guests that you can
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  put out for the next four to six weeks, depending on how many guests you have.
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  And that batch recording takes away, you know, having to schedule or
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  reschedule because now you know that everyone is going to come in on that
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  particular, well, different times, of course, and do their recording.
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  So batching has been excellent for me in that way.
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  But segueing off into cameras, I know of an app she told me of called Camo.
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  Well, so Camo may be not so much for productivity.
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  No.
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  But if you want your videos to look really good, Camo by a company called Reincubate.
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  It allows you to use your camera on your laptop, computer, or you can plug in
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  your phone, and have a continuity camera.
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  But it enables you to adjust the lighting, you know, have the ISO, you have the
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  aperture, you also have gamma, you've got vibrant saturation, a whole lot of things.
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  And you can also add layers.
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  So maybe if we were doing this video on Camo, our names could be underneath us
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  and it could say the name of the show.
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  You have a lot of little extras that you can use.
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  But it's also really good for blurring out your background and
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  making you look like you've got that cinematic setting going on your phone.
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  It's very good and you can adjust that very finely.
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  But different environments, different lighting, having something like camo
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  where you can just easily slide the different settings and make your phone
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  look or the output look very similar from environment to environment.
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  Useful.
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  I love Camo.
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  I started using Camo but I ran into some problems with it.
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  For some reason, for me, it just wouldn't sync my mouth with my words.
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  So I'd be talking on camera and I'd be saying something but there was a lag.
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  So I don't know.
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  You mentioned to me that I should probably reach out to a customer service.
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  Yeah.
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  I've not experienced that myself.
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  Okay.
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  So And they've got great customer service.
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  That's true.
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  They're very quick.
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  They're very efficient.
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  Yeah.
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  All right, folks.
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  So, you know, I told you this was going to be different.
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  I was speaking.
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  I am speaking with the productivity lady, the productivity queen, the one who my
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  daughter always said, try and be like her.
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  Any last words?
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  No.
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  That's a good, that's an answer.
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  That's an answer.
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  I guess other than don't beat yourself up if you're not as
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  productive as you think you should be.
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  I found that over the years I would be just really trying to get stuff
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  done, you know, go, go, go, and then just be disappointed when other things
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  got in the way and my project didn't get done when I thought it was, etc.
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  Don't beat yourself up.
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  You can't be 100 percent productive all the time.
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  You're going to have ups and downs.
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  That's just the way it is.
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  And life is going to happen.
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  So add extra time into your estimates for projects, for anything that you're doing.
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  If you're doing pomodoros and stuff, I mean, have buffers.
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  Embrace the buffer.
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  That It's what I will leave you with.
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  Thank you, Fran.
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  Thank you.
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  for having me.
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  Absolutely.
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  But we still have one more question.
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  If anyone wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way?
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  Probably just visit my website, mobilemarketingmax.
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  com.
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  There's a link on there to reach me via form or to set up a virtual chat so.
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  Awesome and that folks was Fran Jeanes the CEO of Mobile Marketing Max.
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  MMM.
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  Thank you all see you next week.
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  Bye everybody.
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  Bye.