[MUSIC PLAYING]
[APPLAUSE]
GRAHAM ALLCOTT: Hello.
The first thing to say is
thank you all for coming.
I should probably say that
the turnout today perhaps
either reflects how amazing my
book is or the time of year,
and the fact that
everyone is starting
to think about productivity
at the start of January.
So welcome.
For the last just
coming up to 10 years,
my life has been about
obsessing and thinking
about the subject
of productivity.
It started out because I
myself had some big holes
in my own productivity,
and I didn't do things
particularly well.
And I started to really go on
a journey of conquering that
for myself, and then
started to falling
into teaching other people
about what I'd learned,
and teaching other
people on how they
could start to develop their
own productivity, as well.
So I'm going to talk
to you about some
of the key ideas
from my book, "how
to be a Productivity Ninja," and
hopefully give you a few ideas
and spark a few thoughts that
you can then take away and use
practically to make some changes
to the way that you work.
So the first thing
I want to talk about
is the fact that often
there's a bit more
fatigue around
this whole subject,
apart from, obviously, at
the very start of January.
And the reason for that is
that I think a lot of people
have been familiar with some
of the key ideas and techniques
of time management.
You've probably been on some
kind of time management course
before.
Just by a show of hands,
who's been on some kind
of time management thing?
And keep your hand up if
everything is now fixed,
and it's all sorted, and you're
100% wonderful in the way
that you work.
So I think, for me, time
management is broken,
time management is dead.
And I think the
flip side of that
is to start to think much more
about the idea of attention
management.
So rather than thinking
about how we manage our time,
really think about
attention as being
the most precious
resource that we have,
and how can we get the
best out of those times
that we have the best attention.
So I'm going to talk to
you about nine things
that you can do that
really help you to make
the best of your attention.
I have nine different
mindsets, nine ways of thinking
that will really help you to
become a productivity ninja,
and really help
you to move forward
in terms of turning some
those older time management
ideas into something a bit
more modern and a bit more
based in the world
that we live in today.
So the first one of
those is zen-like calm.
So often when I'm asked to
talk about productivity,
one of the questions
that I ask back is,
when was the time that
you were most productive?
So just if you think for
a few moments about when
was the last time you
really felt, yes, I'm
really on top of this, this is
a moment of key productivity.
Often, when people think
about that question,
one of the answers
that comes up a lot
is when I was on a deadline.
So you're on this deadline.
You've got this thing to do.
It's got to be in
at five o'clock.
You've got this deadline.
And everything else in
your life and everything
else in your brain
seems to fall away.
And you get into
what psychologists
refer to as flow,
this kind of state
of being totally in the
moment, focused on one thing.
You're not thinking
about what you're
going to have for
dinner today evening,
you're not thinking
about emails,
you're just totally you in
that zone working on whatever
that thing is, whether
it's a document,
whether it's ideas, whether
it's a thing that you're
doing as a team.
But everybody's
just kind of focused
or you're just really focused
on getting this thing delivered,
and that becomes the only thing
in your world at that point.
Now for me, the
problem with that
is that deadlines
are really expensive.
They cost us in terms of stress.
We start to-- love the
people kind of getting out
of the way of the camera there.
Love it.
So a deadline will really cost
you a lot in terms of stress.
If you're constantly
in deadlines
and you're constantly
using deadlines
as the thing that gets you
over the line with stuff,
and you're leaving
everything to the last minute
and letting the deadline push
you forward, then after a while
you're going to burn
out, whereas really,
what is a deadline doing anyway?
So what a deadline
does is it brings you
into this state
of zen-like calm.
It forces you to say, this
is the most important thing,
I know that nothing
else matters.
And my contention is you can
get to that place of saying
this is the most important
thing, nothing else matters,
without a deadline.
And what you need to
do to get to there
is much clearer thinking in
terms of what's on my plate
so that you're really much
clearer about your priorities.
So I'm going to talk you a
bit about how to get there,
but the idea is to
spend as much time as
possible in this state
of zen-like calm,
this state of flow,
and this state of I'm
working on one thing, I
really know what I'm doing,
and I'm really clear and
focused on that one thing.
This is how a lot of us
do spend a lot of time
in work, which is
that our brains are
just full of different ideas.
And does this image
look familiar?
So we have this whole
sense of feeling overloaded
and overwhelmed, and
we have this sense
of there's a hundred
things we could be doing,
we're not quite
sure where to start.
David Allen, who wrote the
book "Getting Things Done,"
has this lovely line, which is
"the mind is for having ideas,
not for holding them."
So the problem is, if you've
got all these different things
going on in your
head, then it becomes
very difficult to get to
this state of zen-like calm,
because you're just
totally thinking, oh,
that email, that thing.
You know, your
brain is constantly
moving from one
thing to another,
trying to work out where
the biggest priority might
be in any given moment.
It never used to be
this complicated.
So Peter Drucker talked about
this idea of knowledge work
in the information age.
So moving from the industrial
age into the information age.
And what Peter Drucker
was very concerned with
was defining knowledge work.
You all in this room
are knowledge workers.
And what that means
is you add value
and you create value
out of information.
That wasn't always
how we worked.
So back in the
industrial age, you
might have had a job that
looked something like this.
So there's a cake factory,
there's a big conveyor belt,
and there's cakes coming
down the conveyor belt.
You've got a big
box of cherries,
and your job is to put
one cherry on each cake.
So you do that nine to five.
You put cherries on
cakes nine to five.
You have a break
at lunch time, you
have a break in the morning,
break in the afternoon,
you go home at five o'clock.
How many people in that
job, putting cherries
on cakes nine to five, would
be going home of an evening
and thinking, oh, the cherries
today, it just went crazy.
Or sat there on a Sunday
evening and you're
thinking to yourself,
I have no idea
how it's going to go next week.
It's going to be mental.
So it's very easy in
that kind of a job
to know exactly what
does done look like.
What does the end look like,
what does success look like.
Whereas in knowledge work
jobs, it's much more difficult.
Knowledge work jobs,
it's much more about
how we define success, how we
define those particular things
that make the difference.
And maybe your
viewpoint is slightly
different from your
boss's viewpoint,
and there's all these competing
priorities at the same time.
So really, one of the hardest
things to really acknowledge,
and one of things we've really
got to take into account when
we're trying to get into
this state of zen-like calm
is this idea that we're
simultaneously the boss
and the worker all
at the same time.
So by the way, all of you
have to put cherries on cakes.
That is part of what you do.
Those cherries on cakes are
the emails that you send,
the meetings that you set up,
the things that you deliver.
You are all putting
cherries on cakes.
And the trouble is, you're
also having to decide
what time should the
shift start today,
and how fast should the
conveyor belt be going,
and all these other
questions, and having
to think strategically about
what's going on in the wider
world is that everyone's
thinking about healthy eating,
so maybe we should
take these cherries
and make fruit cocktails
with them instead.
So we're having to make all
these intuitive judgments
at the same time as
delivering on work.
So we're simultaneously
the boss and the worker
all at the same time.
And really getting into
that state of zen-like calm,
getting into that state of being
able to deliver in a really
focused way involves doing
that boss thinking first,
like really getting to grips
with and defining what's
on my plate so that
I can then make
the best decisions in that
moment and do the best work.
So slightly a sort of different
energy to follow zen-like calm
would be ruthless.
So almost the opposite
energy from zen-like calm.
So the second of my
nine characteristics
is ruthlessness.
And a lot of people,
when I put this slide up,
they start to conjure up
images of Gordon Gekko in Wall
Street or Leonardo DiCaprio
in "The Wolf of Wall Street,"
kind of bowling with dwarves
and all this kind of stuff.
So I'm not talking
about stuff that
is sort of very unkind
or really aggressive,
but we have to really
think about ruthlessness
in terms of how we define
tasks, how we define what we're
working on, and just our own
mindsets around all this stuff.
So the first thing is to be
really ruthless with yourself.
Really start to really think
about how many things do
I have on my plate, what are
the things that really are going
to make the most difference, and
what are the really good things
that I should be doing that
I'm going to say no to.
So you know, most
people are very well
able to say no to the stuff
that doesn't really matter.
It doesn't mean that
we don't sometimes
spend time doing things
that doesn't really matter,
but sometimes really
the trick is saying no
to really good stuff, as well.
So Warren Buffett
has a lovely quote,
which is "the difference
between successful people
and very successful people is
that very successful people
say no to almost everything."
And for me, you know, this
sense of being really tight
and defined around
your role and what
you're working on, and saying
no to stuff that perhaps sounds
like a really good
idea, you know,
learning that art is
really, really important.
Also just being with
us with ourselves,
so recognizing when we are in
that sense of procrastinating.
So you know, who
turns on Facebook
or WhatsApp or Instagram on
your phone or on your computer?
Like, you do.
So getting ruthless with how
you manage yourself around that.
And I'll talk a little bit more
about how to manage attention,
and some of the stuff
that we can do around
that in a few minutes.
But really getting
ruthless to put ourselves
in that right frame of
mind, that right zone
for productivity,
and really starting
to be strict with
ourselves sometimes to get
the right kind of work done.
And then this one is really key.
So I think, for me, I
mentioned at the beginning
that time is not your
most precious resource,
attention is your most
precious resource.
So in the book, I talk about
these three different modes
of attention.
So I think we have three
modes of attention.
The first is
proactive attention.
This is the two to
three hours a day
where we have the best
energy and the best ability
to do our best work.
So when you really
start to think about it
and track this stuff
and just reflect
on your own work over
a period of time,
let's say a couple
of weeks, you'll
start to notice real
kind of trends and sort
of peaks and troughs
in your energy levels.
So there's a time when
you're sat at your desk
and you feel totally
able, totally focused,
able to do the really
most difficult stuff.
So that's proactive attention.
On the other end of the scale,
who's had a time in your day
where perhaps you're sort
of looking at the screen,
you're scrolling up and down on
your email inbox or whatever,
and you know, it's
like the lights
are on but no one's home.
It's like four o'clock
in the afternoon.
And you know, so that's
managing time really well.
You're in the right place,
doing the right thing,
but actually you don't have
the right level of attention
to do really sophisticated
work at that point.
And there's loads of science
behind this, too, right?
So there's loads of
science around willpower,
and willpower is a
dwindling resource each day.
So it stands to reason that
there'll be a point in your day
where you have the best energy,
that proactive attention,
and also a point
in the day where
you have inactive attention.
And the bit in the middle
is called active attention.
So that's just kind of
the bit in the middle
where you can do some stuff,
but you can't do everything.
There's certain things that
you can do during that time.
Now, the problem is that
proactive attention often
comes at points in the day
where other people want
to take our attention away.
Other people want to
scramble our attention.
And so we have to get really
ruthless with how we protect
that proactive attention.
So if you think about it as
being two to three hours a day,
most of the studies that
have been done on this
say that that's generally,
for most people,
in the morning, rather
than the afternoon.
There are, of course,
exceptions to that.
But that morning
time, where people
tend to have that
proactive attention,
is also the time
where it's like, OK,
so I'm just going to spend this
just warming up for the day,
or like I'm in someone
else's meeting,
or like something
else is going on.
And so often, there
are so many forces
that can just take this
attention away from us,
and basically scramble
our attention.
So getting ruthless with
protecting those times
and knowing when those
times are, key for you.
So for example,
like personally, I
have a bit of a
policy, which is I
don't do meetings in the morning
and phone calls in the morning.
So my morning is like the heads
down, proactive attention time,
and the afternoon is the more
kind of collaborative time.
And that's kind of
easy for me to say
because I control my own diary.
And I get that there are lots
of other factors at play there.
But even if it's just looking
at one or two hours a day
and saying, I'm going to
ruthlessly try and protect
that time, that can make
a big, big difference.
Because in my
experience, most of--
certainly most of my
best work, and what
I observe in everyone
else that I work with,
is that that proactive
attention, the stuff that you
do in those one, two, three
hours of the day that really
makes a difference,
like, that's the stuff
that you'll get judged for.
All the other stuff
really is kind of filler.
You know, all the kind of
emails and conversations
and everything else.
The stuff that really makes you
famous in your job, the stuff
that really makes an impact
tends to happen in those two
to three hours a day.
So the third one I'm going to
talk about is weapon-savvy.
So obviously, a ninja has
to have weapons and tools.
It's fun to geek
out and have lots
of interesting kind
of conversations
with other productivity
geeks about different apps
and all this kind of stuff.
But like, we even have
to be savvy about how
we use tools, how we make
the best of all the tools
that we have.
So on the little
iPad there, you've
got like a few different tools.
The tool I use most
regularly is called Nozbe.
Nozbe is basically a to-do
list app, a very sophisticated
to-do list app.
And that really allows
me to manipulate the data
within my to-do
list really well.
I can look at it by the project
view, project by project what
am I working on,
I can look at it
by where am I going to
be to do certain things,
I can categorize stuff, I
can put date reminders in,
all that sort of thing.
So just like slightly
more functionality
than a lot of the more
basic to-do list apps.
Other ones you'll find
are things like Todoist,
Remember the Milk.
Really good apps.
Most of them have a kind
of freemium model, as well,
so you can get most
of what you need
from the kind of free version.
And then you pay
a bit more if you
want the kind of
subscription version.
But one of the
things I'd recommend
is really thinking about
having some kind of app
that you're going to
use for your to-do list.
And then synchronizes with
your computer, with your phone,
with an iPad,
whatever you're using,
across those different
devices and platforms.
But it gives you that ability
to really kind of prioritize
and think clearly around
the work that you're doing.
So thinking about, if you're
going to use any apps at all,
think about what you're
going to use for what
I call the second brain.
So your own brain
is not particularly
great at holding
onto and remembering
all that different data.
So having a second brain where
you put all that stuff out,
you know, out on the page, as
it were, like inside the app,
and you start to see
projects and actions,
and start to be able to kind
of move those things around
and prioritize those things,
that's really the kind of best
use of technology you can have.
There's loads of other really
useful apps that I use,
but for me, like
getting really honed
around a really good second
brain kind of app for
me makes the biggest difference.
I want to talk just, like, for
a few moments just about email.
And so who loves
their email inbox?
Just by a show of hands.
So a couple of hands.
So for me, email is
one of those things
that has just sort of pervaded
work over the last few years.
I don't need to tell you
that you get a lot of emails
and that email is annoying.
That's kind of a given.
So I've, over the
last few years,
been a big proponent
of a thing called
Inbox Zero, the idea of getting
your inbox down to zero.
And I think that's often
a misunderstood thing.
I think the idea of
Inbox Zero is not
that you have your inbox
at zero all the time,
and that you spend
every minute of the day,
when one email comes in,
you have to kind of bat it
away and leave it at zero.
For me, it's more
of a mindset that
says email is just the medium
that we communicate through,
and it's not actually where
most of the best work gets done.
So Inbox Zero is really a way
of hacking that problem in order
you can get outside of the
inbox as much as possible.
The real work, for me, happens
outside of the email inbox.
Even when you're communicating
via email, really
what's the stuff that's
really making a difference?
It's the impact of those two
people having conversations.
And if you had that same
conversation face-to-face
or had that same
conversation over the phone,
you'd still get to
the same result.
So email is always
just the medium.
Some people get very bogged
down in the idea of email
is their job and
email is the one
thing they need to be doing.
And for me, actually,
like, amazing things
happen when you start to get
outside of your email inbox.
Just a very quick
overview, there's
a whole chapter in
the book that talks
about how to get your
email inbox to zero.
My company, Think Productive,
runs three-hour workshops.
And what I've tried to do is
take that three-hour workshop
and put it into that
chapter of the book.
So if you spend about 45
minutes to an hour just reading
that chapter with your
email in front of you
and then about an hour going
through the stuff that it says,
your inbox will be at zero.
We did-- we did some stats
over our three-hour workshop,
and we found that 96%
of people in three hours
left the room with
their inbox at zero.
So it doesn't take you anywhere
near as long as you think.
What it does mean
for the most part,
people have their email
inbox open in front of them,
but they're also working
on lots of other things
at the same time.
So for me when you get really
focused around just email,
you can actually start to
hack some of that stuff
away, delete anything
that's older than a few days
or whatever, and you really
start to get to zero very,
very quickly.
Next, I want to talk
about is a thing called
stealth and camouflage.
Ninja has to be
able to get slightly
off the grid at different times.
So the main part of this
that I'm going to talk about
is tactical hiding.
So you guys are very used to
working in a very open plan
open kind of culture.
I think there's some really
nice benefits to that for sure.
It also has some limitations.
And one of those limitations--
probably as you're sat here
listening to me, one of
things you're thinking is,
well, it's all
very well for him.
He probably works loads
of the time on his own.
He doesn't have loads of people
interrupting him at his desk
all the time.
And I get this complaint a lot
from people saying, I just--
I really want to
get my head down.
I really won't get into
that kind of zen-like calm
kind of mode, but
actually the thing
that's stopping me is
someone comes and asks
me a question then I get
loads more emails and loads
of other stuff going on.
So really thinking about
how we can avoid that.
And I often say to
people if you're
feeling like you're
being interrupted
the whole time, make yourself
just deliberately less
available.
For some people that's
going to work from a coffee
shop around the corner, finding
little cupboard somewhere
where no one's going to find
you, whatever that looks like
but just trying to again
protect those two to three hours
of time, proactive
attention time,
to really get down--
get your head down, get
really focused on things.
And it doesn't have to just be
a physical thing, as well, so
stealth and camouflage
in a more digital sense.
Both Outlook and Gmail
both have a function
of work offline,
which I think is just
a criminally underused thing.
The amount of times
I'll say to people,
do you use work offline?
And people don't tend to use it.
But just the idea
of that is that you
can work on the stuff
that's in front of you.
You can see the emails.
You can see the
calendar, whatever it is.
But actually, what
you don't have
is the new
notifications coming in
and the new emails coming in.
So just using that work
offline thing, really nice way
to just slightly make
yourself less available
and slightly get into
more of a focus mode.
This one here is an
app called Forest.
Who's come across Forest?
Do we have any Forest
fans, any of you?
Good, good.
So Forest is a really
nice little app for focus.
So the idea is that you
set a period of time.
So let's say it's 20
minutes, half an hour.
And you say, I'm going to really
get my head down and focus
on this one thing.
Often the thing that gets in
the way of that is just, ah,
what's on my phone?
Let me pick up my
phone and have a look
and see what's going on there.
And so what Forest does is
it starts to build a tree.
So you've got this 20
minutes, half an hour.
It's building this tree.
If during that 20
minutes, half an hour,
you attempted to
pick up your phone
and go and look at Twitter,
or Facebook, or whatever,
the tree dies.
All right?
So really small, little thing.
All it's doing is putting one
tiny, tiny, little positive
reason to not look at
your phone in competition
with all those other things
that are going on in your head.
And it's remarkably effective.
The other thing about Forest
is that, as a company,
they invest some of their
profits in planting real trees.
So you can actually get a real
guilt from the tree dying.
It's a real tree.
You have to think
about it in that way.
But really nice app.
There's a whole new chapter.
The updated version of the
book has a whole chapter
called "Stop Messing
About on Your Phone."
And one of things
that it talks about
is basically treating
yourself like a kid
for those two to three hours
of proactive attention.
So I have an app
on my Android phone
that's called QualityTime.
There's some other iPhone
implements of it as well.
But basically what
QualityTime does
is it allows me to
set scheduled breaks.
So in that scheduled break,
it's like in that two
to three hours, these
are things that I can now
access on my phone.
Everything else on my phone
is locked for that time.
So this two to three
hours of the day,
I have no access
to Google Chrome.
I have no access to Instagram.
I have no access to Twitter.
All those things
are locked down.
They are unavailable.
If I want to get them back,
then what I have to do
is I have to cancel
the scheduled break.
And the clock starts ticking
5 minutes, 4 minutes 59,
4 minutes 58.
Usually, as you watch
that clock ticking down,
it's got to get all the
way to zero before you're
allowed to turn the thing off.
Usually that's long enough
for you to go, ah, screw this.
I'm not going to sit around
for five minutes waiting
for the thing.
So it just tends to be, again,
just a nice piece of psychology
that keeps you locked away from
those things for those times
and just gives you that
kind of extra focus.
And obviously, the
more basic version
of that is just using
the airplane mode
and just using the do not
disturb features of the phone,
just to keep some of
that stuff in a more
stealth and camouflage
kind of mode.
The same, I think, can be
applied to people, as well.
So actually just having
conversations in your team
like, what's the time
where I really need
to get my head down and focus?
What are the times when
you need to do that?
How can we share
those responsibilities
and make that happen
for each other?
How can we do that
within the team?
So just for me, I feel like
when I go into organizations,
often it's really amazing
to me how many of those
conversations are
just left unsaid.
And it sort of builds
up and bubbles up
in tension or whatever.
But really, it never
gets put on the table.
What's the expectation
around email?
What's the expectation
around my attention?
People don't have those
conversations as often
as, perhaps, we need to do that.
Next one I'm going to
talk about is unorthodoxy,
just doing things
differently, thinking
in a very different way.
I think that's probably fairly
self-evident coming into Google
to talk about that.
But I go into so many
companies where what really
happens a lot is that
people spend a lot of time
looking at their
direct competitors,
looking at the direct market
that they are in or around,
and trying to get inspiration
from what everybody
else in their sector is doing.
And I'm a huge fan of just
looking way beyond that
and just thinking, how
would someone else solve
this problem?
How would someone else do
that piece of thinking?
How would someone
else communicate
those kind of ideas?
So thinking about it from
the point of view of someone
very principled, like Malala.
Or how would you
explain this problem
to a really curious,
intelligent six-year-old?
So just thinking about
those different ways
to approach that same idea or
that same piece of thinking,
and coming up with a solution.
The other thing around
unorthodoxy is experimentation.
So I'm a big believer
that all of us
are very stuck in ruts
with our own habits
and the way that we work.
So a couple of years
ago, I did this thing.
I did 12 extreme
productivity experiments,
so one for each month.
And the idea was
to just challenge
all of my initial assumptions
around productivity
and the way I worked.
So I did things
like, one was called
flipping the 9:00 to 5:00.
So I worked 5:00 till 9:00
AM and then clocked off
for the day at 9:00 AM.
I did the same 5:00 to 9:00 PM.
So I had the whole day, and then
I had my four hours of work.
What was incredible
about that was I
only had four hours a day.
And I thought I was super
focused and super productive
already.
But having this limitation
of four hours really
made me think twice about some
of the things I was doing.
I think constraint is always
a really beautiful thing
to really get us to a much
stronger sense of focus.
I still use some of the
lessons from that one.
I also tried one which
was working an hour a day
but seven days a week.
So literally like one-hour
bursts but seven days a week
just to see how that would feel.
Turns out I was really
stressed for most of that time.
You do need more than
an hour a day generally.
It depends on what you're doing.
I did one which was whenever
I feel unclear about decision
or I'm slightly procrastinating
about a decision,
I made that decision
by the throw of dice.
So what that meant is I
had to come up with one--
I had to come up with
basically two, or three,
or six different
answers to the question.
And then so sometimes, if you're
really stuck with something,
being forced to come up with
six different ways of thinking
about it just helps you
to open up your brain
and think about things
in a different way.
The other thing
about that one was it
was really amazing to be able
to detach ego from decisions.
It's like, well, I
didn't decide that.
The dice did.
It's a very different thing.
I think I say that because
I'm not necessarily
expecting you to go back
to your bosses and say,
I just want to
work an hour a day.
But I think for me, doing
those kind of experiments
from extremity is
a really nice way
to then get back to some
kind of sense of normality
but with new learning.
I think often learning comes
from those extreme things.
It comes when you're outside
of your comfort zone.
And I learned so
much by doing that.
And I think we can do those
things really simply in our day
to day.
So just getting off the bus
or the tube a stop early
and just exploring the area
for 10 minutes before work just
puts your brain in a
really different thing.
It gets you out of the sense of
every day starts the same way,
and every day has this
certain rhythm to it.
So if you're someone that
always gets into the office,
and the first thing you're
doing is on your phone,
on your email, try
having the first two
hours with no
phone and no email,
and just see what that's like.
If you're someone who usually
solves a thing by getting up
a document on the
screen, try doing it
with just pen and paper.
So sometimes just those
really tiny little changes
in habitually how
we work can just
make a huge
difference to the way
we think about certain things.
The next one I'm going
to talk about is agility.
So this idea of zen-like
calm and a lot of the ideas
around second brain and having
autonomy around our work.
They can be really compromised
where suddenly there's
a big fire that
we have to fight.
There's some big thing going on.
And we have to react to that.
So what I'd say
around that is we
have to be really aware of
where those things might
be coming from.
But also, having a really
good starting point.
If you don't feel
right now like you're
in some kind of big
firefighting emergency mode,
one of the best things
you can be doing
is really taking
stock and getting
clear around what
you are working on,
because you know that some
other emergency will come along.
There will be another fire.
So getting to a place
where you really
know what you're working
on and getting real clarity
around that stuff makes it much
easier to drop those things.
It makes it much easier when
your boss comes in and says,
right, can you work on
this for three days?
It's like, well, I can drop
all that because this is
what I was working on before.
We all agree that this is
the more important thing.
So getting that sense of
clarity and being organized
around your work is just the
most useful thing at the point
where a crisis hits, because
it's the time when you really
need to know what you're
dropping and being
able to do that in a way that
feels just more comfortable.
And you're more
able to know what
you're going to leave behind.
It can often be
a point of crisis
where we really start to
just look at the small things
and sweat the small
stuff rather than really
thinking much bigger.
So the other thing is
just habitually to really
be thinking, what
could be on the radar?
Really thinking about
that kind of future,
like what might be coming
up, and anticipating problems
before they happen.
Usually, just the best
way to solve problems
is to try and nip
them in the bud
and not let these things
become big things.
And the other
thing about agility
is just to dispel the
myth of multitasking.
I was talking about
this with somebody
just before we started.
A lot of the old-time
management books used
to talk about the holy
grail is multitasking,
like do two things
at the same time
and then you'll be
more productive.
Actually, all the science
points to the fact
that it's really hard for
your brain to do two thinking
tasks at the same time.
So multitasking really
doesn't exist in that way.
And in the kind of
stuff we're doing,
we need to focus much more
on the idea of monotasking,
like doing one thing at a time,
doing one thing with focus.
That can be as applicable to
the desk space in front of you.
So not having five
different bits of paper
that relate to five
different projects
when you're trying
to focus on one.
Just putting those things
in a drawer to one side.
Same with your desktop.
Who's got hundreds of
different open windows
on your computer and hundreds
of different unfiled things that
get in the way?
So really getting that focus
around monotasking, not
multitasking really,
really helps.
A couple more before
we finish, mindfulness.
So when I first wrote the
book about five years ago,
I was really struggling to
find the time and the space
to do that, because I
had a business to run
and all the rest of it.
So it was this thing
that kept coming up.
Every week I looked at my to-do
list, it was like, write book.
I was like, oh, that's
not really happening.
What do I need to do?
So what I did was
something quite extreme.
I booked a plane
ticket to Sri Lanka.
I found a beach hut that had
no Wi-Fi, no phone signal.
I was totally off the grid.
And I went away to Sri
Lanka, and I wrote the book.
And I didn't really have
very many conversations
while I was there
with different people,
because I was just on my own.
But I did meet a Buddhist
monk at the bus stop.
And basically, the
Buddhist monk asked
me to come to the monastery
and taught me meditation.
And it was a really
beautiful thing.
Meditation wasn't supposed to
be one of the characteristics
in the book.
But I was there, and I
was writing the book.
And suddenly, I was having this
experience around meditation.
It was like this has
to be in the book.
This has to be a thing.
And I thought it was
risky at that point
to put meditation and
mindfulness in the book.
And I was going to go
into my corporate clients.
And they were going to be
like, this is all a bit hippie
woo-woo.
What's going on?
And what's happened
in the last few years
is that the opposite
has become true,
which is that mindfulness has
become such a saturation thing.
And you get all these really
annoying things on Twitter that
say, the one thing you need
to do to be a better leader,
meditate for five minutes a day.
Ah, well, if only
it was that easy.
Great.
So I think meditation
is an amazing tool.
It's not for everybody.
And I think there are lots
of different ways in my mind
that we can get to a
place of mindfulness.
Really for me, mindfulness
is noticing your thoughts,
noticing the things
that you might
be stressed about
in that moment,
and starting to
really understand
where your brain might be
going in certain things.
So you can get that
just through walking.
Lots and lots of
different ways that you
can start to really
understand your brain.
And for me the
benefit of that is
thinking about this idea
of the lizard brain.
So the lizard brain
is the amygdala.
It's the part of your brain that
gives you this fight or flight
response.
And often the things that become
really tricky for us to do,
or we start to procrastinate
over, or we're scared about
are because the lizard brain is
having some big response to it.
So for example, when I put
a book out into the world,
my lizard brain is saying
to me, don't do this.
And the reason for that is that
books are going to be judged.
People are going to write
Amazon reviews about them,
and you know people are
going to make judgments
about what you do.
And that's a scary thing.
It's the same reason
if you're going
to stand up and give a
presentation in front
of a bunch of your colleagues,
or even worse a bunch
of your bosses, it's like,
I'm going to be judged here.
This just becomes a scary thing.
So recognizing that
that lizard brain
is often going to
try and sabotage.
It's going to try
and get in the way.
It's going to try and give you
a period of procrastination
rather than a period
of really useful work.
So when we start to
recognize that that's
lizard brain
thinking, we can start
to override it and do
something differently.
And for me, mindfulness
is one of the best ways
that we can start to get
into that kind of place.
I think also mindfulness is
just a really useful thing
to help us just take a step back
and realize how far we've come.
So this is always quite a good
point in the year, I think,
where people start to take stock
of where they were last year
and what they want
to do this year.
So just taking that
step back sometimes
and thinking how far we have
come, what we have achieved.
A really nice
productivity tip that
doesn't feel like one is once
a week or on a regular basis,
write a have done list.
So as well as your to-do
list, write a have done list.
It's a really nice
empowering thing.
Also just overrides that
lizard brain thinking
of like, oh, I'm not capable.
I feel guilty that
I've not achieved this.
It just gives you that sense
of momentum, which again fuels
the next round of productivity.
Preparedness.
One of things I talk
about in the book
is an idea called
the weekly checklist.
So this is a thing
that you do once a week
where you just take a step
back from all of the work
that you're doing, and
you prioritize just
really clear thinking.
And sometimes, one
of the things I
come across quite
a lot in businesses
is people feel like
they don't have
the time for clear thinking.
It just feels like a luxury.
It feels like
something that I'll
do when everything dies down
or when everything changes.
Henry Ford has
this amazing quote,
which is, "Thinking is
the hardest work there is,
which is the probable
reason so few engage in it."
And I really love that quote
because I think for me, when
we're in a knowledge
work job, our job
is to add value and create
value out of information.
The way we think and
really quality thinking
is the biggest
asset that we have.
Our brains are our biggest tool.
So taking some time to
step back and really
look at your projects,
look at your second brain.
Make sure all that
stuff feels fresh.
I think sometimes
to-do lists fall apart
and the apps fall
apart because we
lose trust in what the
data is within those apps.
So we start to look
at what's in the app.
And we start to go, oh, I know
there's more stuff in my head.
So I don't quite trust the
app as being the full record
of everything that I've got.
And then we lose trust in it.
We stop using it,
and it changes.
So really having that
weekly checklist,
having that regular time
where your only job really
is to interact with
those lists and really
get clear on what's
on your plate
is a really nice way of
keeping those things fresh.
And ultimately, it
gives you more focus.
But there is a
cost to that, which
is a little bit of
maintenance time.
So just coming back and using
those checklists to really make
those good decisions happen.
The other thing
about preparedness
is, the idea of our biggest
tool being our brain,
is basically sleep.
And this slide is
just to indicate
that sleep is a good thing.
And it's really good
to get enough sleep.
So I think when you think
about your biggest tool being
your brain getting
good sleep, and there's
a whole lot of other stuff.
Hydration's a really important
thing and stuff that we know.
I've just actually
just finished writing
a book called "Work Fuel,"
which is all about nutrition
and how to eat to
have better energy.
Looking at the
things on your plate.
Googlers, you're
doing a good job.
It's good.
But I think it's just one of
those really underrated things.
I really couldn't find
any books out there
that looked at nutrition
and productivity
and married those two things
in a really specific way.
So I've been working with
a nutritionist called
Colette Heneghan, who
was my nutritionist
for a couple of years, to
really put that into practice.
So that comes out in March.
And I think for me,
all of those things
that help us to fuel our
brain, whether it be nutrition,
whether it be sleep, whether
it be hydration, exercise.
Mindfulness to an extent
can do the same thing.
But just all those
things are really
important to give us as much
of that energy and proactive
attention as possible.
And finally, just
to say that a ninja
is a human but not a superhero.
So when you do a lot
of the stuff that's
in the book, when
you really start
to have a really good
second brain and really
good load of apps and
tools that you're using,
when you've really got
the best productivity
setup that you have, people will
look at you across the office.
And they'll say, oh, this person
just feels like a superhero.
They're doing all
this amazing stuff.
You'll start to be really
valued because of that.
And often people will start
to go, how do they do it?
Have they got some kind
of special super power?
And really none of
us have superpowers.
We're all just humans
but with good tools,
and good ways of thinking,
and all that stuff.
I think that's a
really useful thing
to come back and remind
ourselves of regularly, just
this idea of being
human, not superhero,
because what that does mean
is that we have limitations.
It does mean that we need to
acknowledge that humanness
sometimes and not work
ourselves too hard
too often, because
ultimately we're going
to risk burnout by doing that.
And we also need to
recognize that humans
do need that time to refresh
the mojo a little bit
and come back to who
we are outside of work
and be a human being,
not just a human doing.
So for me, that's a
really important part
of the whole productivity
ninja philosophy,
really, is this idea of
human, not superhero.
I think productivity
is one of those topics
that it would be really
boring if you could just
systematize everything,
and everything could just
be done by robots.
And then it's all done.
There's no challenge
in that for me.
I think the interesting
part of productivity
for me is that we
all come to this
with all those weird thoughts
that we have in our brain.
With my podcast--
I have a podcast
called "Beyond Busy"--
I've done about
100 interviews now
with often very high
achieving people.
And people often say to me,
having done all that work
and done these really long
in-depth conversations
with high achieving people,
what's the commonality?
What are the things that
these people have in common?
And I always say,
well, the only thing
I can find that all these
people have in common
is that humans are weird.
Humans are weird.
And we all come at all
of our work with a lot
of mental baggage, if you like.
We have a lot of
thoughts in our head
that derail us, try and
stop what we're doing,
try and get in the way
of what we're doing.
And actually, by coming
back and reconnecting
with the humanness,
I think that's where
we start to recognize
some of those things,
overcome some of these things.
And also by doing that, we start
to realize that productivity
is a really amazing thing.
Humans are amazing.
We do so much amazing stuff.
And despite all
those limitations,
despite all these things,
we can just do amazing work.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
