Find The Geeks: Recent Episodes
Franklyn Gonzalez
Here's how you can manage a productive lifestyle and start today. Share your productivity story on www.findthegeeks.com and ask the community productivity questions that you have in mind.
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Business calls: If you are working for yourself and getting started on prospecting, you want to get ready for the weekday. If the business day is over, you work on the emails to send out to prospects.
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Appointments: Good to note when it is best to handle this, so your other tasks don’t overlap.
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Focused Tasks: At times, you are in the mode to work on the task you said you will accomplish, say for example, a friend wanted you to do them a favor or perhaps it has something to do that will help in your favor (a business connection or other), it’s continuous and not something you put off on the backburner.
What is your strategy to this reset? While you’re off somewhere outside of home, what do you do as soon as you come back home?
What does it mean to have a brand? Where does it fit in the productivity factor? A brand resembles you, personality trait and service. Working for a brand gives you the ability to see yourself from a third-person perspective. That means communication, customer service, and reliability.
With reminders, goals, projects, or even ideas that may revolve around your world, you owe it to yourself to beat the time allotted to get where you want to be.
However, once you have created a solid base for where you can stand up with your own two feet with clothes, warmth, and shelter, then you go after the bigger rewards in life. Purpose and drive.
Recently we started to work on a series of reminders to get productivity to a more efficient level. That means the usual things that distract us throughout the day. Some examples come down to...
Priorities may get mixed up as you find yourself in a rut with mental-taxing projects you have to complete by a certain date. How do you manage to focus on what really matters for your free time or work schedule?
Today, I will talk about the absence of Productivity in your projects.
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Steps involved as tasks
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Acknowledge how long you have had this resource and place a time limit on your goals to execute this project
When we’re not working, it feels like you have all of this time available to yourself. You may lose focus from time to time if you’re looking at your phone or watching the latest video your favorite influencer had just put out.
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Focusing on Structuring out your Targeted Achievements
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Where to start
o Time
o People Involved
o Tasks
o Direction
The state of mind that you are in when you start troubleshooting is a tough one to manage. It may be even harder for someone who finds it hard to focus on their personal projects and deliver the results on time. Work gives off that motivation because you’re paying off some bills or you have this amazing opportunity to work remote, owing them more effort and care in their environment.
By reminders, I share the thought of going over your goals, projects, or even affirmations, in your life. Once you add a hint of appreciate around those 3, your productivity game changes to a new level. A place that you may not notice from day one but gradually becomes part of your lifestyle.
Today, I plan to share my thoughts around:
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Your workload towards these events
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Having other moving parts and leading the plan
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Taking control of the situation
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Learning spontaneity
Mobility – Have the ability to check your work or follow along with lectures as you get up and write on the board.
Creativity – An added bonus to your problem solving skills, the will and determination to become consistent with what you want to solve
Productivity – Build momentum in your work as you have fun with what believe is essential to your goals
To get started on productivity, you need to have some form of discipline. It seems easier said than done if you are aware of what needs to be done everyday. And yet, there are certain procedures we have to take, in understanding what causes us to have a strong, getting-things-done day, or a slow, late start on today.
Productivity Tools:
DF Tube (Distraction Free Tube)
Rescue Time
FocusMe
Meditation Pose:
Burmese Pose (with pillow underneath your tailbone)
In productivity, at what point will you say enough is enough? What are your limits to getting out of situations like this? Are you waiting for someone to tell you to move by force? Or will you anticipate this move and find opportunities on your own?
When you take on an opportunity to travel for vacation, the last thing that comes to mind is work. Especially if you feel like you want to take a break from it all. What if you have an important project that you want to cover during your stay? How do you find the chance to find these types of accomodations?
There was one instance where I had a desk at the hotel that I stayed. The only problem was paying for WiFi. Hostels don’t have much private arrangements to focus your time on your own work. When I stayed over at a hostel, I didn’t have this kind of focus or peace to do my work in. Which led to not getting my reflections or podcasts done on time.
New tasks come into our lives in a matter of minutes. How do we determine if they are of importance? What if we continue to build up from this task in pursuit of opportunity for completing early?
There is much to consider in a busy day. Fixated on the focus on work or school. Possible burn out!
Keep track your thoughts on a to-do list and challenge yourself to build on this idea into a project.
How your attitude reflects on your work ethic
Work is tough, even if you want to serve clients as a freelancer. Understanding your attitude towards clients reflects on the work that you provide to them. At times, it comes from the first impression you get from your client. Their story and the problem that they want to solve. Not everytime one has the opportunity to move away from new situations. Which is why experience will tell us overtime that the gig was no good because of ‘X’.
Eventually, our attitude reflects on the experience we’ve had, taking us to a more practical approach. Coming in with a stoic personality and abiding the same rules for any prospect who asks for their service.
Investing is big right now. Ever since the stock market dropped most of their stocks to a new low price in March 2020, there is potential in making big gains from stocks. Why does this matter in productivity?
Well, the fact that your hard earned money is in the stock market, you are constantly checking when this stock will moon. It is worse on cryptocurrency. The fact that the market doesn’t close on cryptocurrency, is even a harder load to carry. The stock market runs from 9:30am-4:30pm.
A podcast episode out of The Tim Ferriss Show, featuring Jerry Seinfeld
When I found about this episode, I couldn’t believe it. I had to give it a listen. Jerry shared his thoughts on writing, productivity and TM (Transendtal Meditiation).
He says that not every one can write. Due to his efforts on his own writing for the show and jokes, he had described how his senses were always heighten during the editing process. Of course, the beginning of writing, in the way he describes it, is the easy part. Which is what most of my writing contributes to. Becoming relaxed enough to write whatever that comes to mind and produce it in this ‘talk-speak’ style.
Not ignoring them but forgetting they exist
This sounds like an odd request at first and yet, I’m sure you’ve been in the position having work take you on a ride for hours.
A state of mind where you leave no idle thought and continue to work. It’s another way to make these activities you call distractions, unimportant.
You see what others have and the games that they play, bothers you. Instead, look at the opportunities available to you, the life that you have, and the life you could have.
Focus on your own game.
I believe that if you become accustomed to a work schedule time, you are required to stand by that time frame. Especially if you work for the US military, they expect you to be on-time. Otherwise, you will get yelled at and disciplined for coming late.
If you worked for yourself, it wouldn’t matter as much what time you woke up or what time you start working, as long as your client receives the work as per your proposal.
There will always be something on your mind that you would like to work on. Most of the times, you find yourself doing work for others, but have you invested in yourself recently?
School work comes to mind when I do work for others. Teachers expect work completed by the due date. However, by the time the semester ends, I find myself wondering what else I should work on.
What are some ways that we can engage ourselves in productivity for the projects we would like to see completed?
I recall mentioning interviews on one of my recent episodes. Maybe to bring up new episodes next year based on interviews. I was going to work on another podcast with a friend but I haven’t seen much support from him at this time.
It may be easy enough to start small on this call. It doesn’t have to necessarily be in person (although that would be nice). I may have someone in mind and it will take some planning to get it started in the first place. A friend of mine, Ishaan, comes to mind. Another friend in software dev as well.
I share you the idea of writing every other day or week in the productivity series because the value has never left the door. Despite how you share your ideas, they remain your words and how you interpret your views. This welcomes the numerous ideas that you have planned for yourself. Writing is like personal hygiene for the mind, it is why I choose not to leave the idea out of the series.
A week ago, I bought a Blue Yeti in hopes to start new episodes with this microphone. Unfortunately, I'm still waiting for the adapter hub to connect from iPhone to USB. Should be in the mail tomorrow and will see how audio will change from there on end!
For sometime now, I've been working on these productivity episodes and I haven't reached out to anyone to comment on how they live their lifestyle around productivity. I aim to reach out to artists, software devs, writers, and more, on how they manage to get their projects done, on time.
In a casual conversation, you find yourself sharing stories that relates to the conversation topic. How you carry out your lifestyle, whether it be on timing, productivity, or landing a lucky opportunity, your story encourages people to do the same as you've done.
Throughout the series, we've covered topics to encourage listeners to use specific tools, follow guidelines, and overcome adversity. The episode on feedback is similar to this topic. Instead of receiving feedback, you are reflecting on your work.
A few days ago, I attended a AMA (Ask Me Anything) with an author who influences Computer Science students and Software Engineering job seekers to become prepared for coding interviews. Her book is called Cracking the Coding Interview.
It's easy to brush off the fact that by a few days of missing out on your routine tasks, that you could stop it for good. Has a thought like this ever crossed your mind?
For what may hold us back from doing the type of work we want to do, there must be a solution or an alternative around this problem. The purpose of this problem is to prevent you from completing the work you want to submit on time.
While you reflect on the lifestyle that you are after, you’re reminded what it takes to get there. I imagine that I would need to get most of my work done and stay consistent with the workflow I’ve built up to get there.
Are you willing to go through far lengths to isolate yourself in a small town and only consider working on yourself?
If I recall correctly, I brought up the idea of note taking and mindmapping in an earlier episode. The nature of these two actions are for the sake of organized thoughts. Laid out in a numbered order, outline, or headline.
You wake up and all of a sudden, it's 12pm. Personal work kept you busy last night till 5am. You accept the fact that whatever good momentum you had, is gone and you go back to your old ways.
It's not everyday that you think about what helped you get to where you are now. I started working on my morning reflections back in 2018. Writing every morning was not easy. Same thing goes with the stretch routines I did around this time.
The workflow trial started yesterday. Most of my tasks haven't moved as much this month because it's been prioritized behind school work. My deadlines for projects started late. Close to mid October.
Today, I will cover how categories are easier on the eyes while still keeping track of your day to day tasks.
Today I share more insight on how you can get your workflow phases started with simple distraction free tasks.
Out of all the days you've set yourself up for, to complete this task and contribute a piece of your work to your audience — how good does it feel to make it this far?
And it's only the beginning!
Today I share the idea behind a productive lifestyle and what changes are needed to have the ideal lifestyle you want in life.
October has been heavy with work. Over this short period of time, I've brought up the idea of notetaking and workflow phases. My past 3 days needed notetaking. However, I did not end up using workflow phases in my normal routine due to a project that had to be turned in by October 30th. Here is my summary of this week and the month of October.
We've all been there before. Project gets left behind and forgotten in the trash bin. If you haven't made it to that point, that's great! If not, here are some things to keep in mind when you want to bring back that fire in your belly.
Today, I bring inspiration as to how productivity keeps you closer to your dream goals and why it’s best to start now than later in life.
Today, I will share ‘The Organized Money’ on how she uses her planner lifestyle. Here are my thoughts on the productivity lifestyle I live, compared to her lifestyle.
Today’s topic followed by Episode 59, is on workflow phases. Here are some steps to create your workflow phases to complete your goals and to keep up on work for your projects.
Today, I introduce you a chain of tasks that are a part of my lifestyle and how you can integrate this into your workflow state.
Programming projects have taken a different turn for me. An economist, Thomas Sowell, the writer of Basic Economics: A Citizens' Guide to the Economy, talks about how skills are essential to the employer from one of his interviewed videos.
When your day starts in the morning, you consider the to-do list as a list of items you need to get back to doing. Day by day, you think about what you need to work on and yet, not once have you relived the efforts it took to get you where you are right now.
Today I bring up Jerry Seinfeld’s productivity secret and a small tip on busy work days.
Here’s a couple of strategies to get your started with the work that you love, after your shift from work.
Today, I introduce hypothetical examples in my topics to create a better understanding and perspective of getting things done.
Face it, if you have the number 1 priority off your list, such as studying for your soon-to-come test date, you could move on to the next task that feels more in tuned with your personal projects.
Afternoons are what slow me down from doing what I need to accomplish throughout the day. If I start working on a project or a task at night, focus is easier for me to manage.
A quick overview of this week's tasks is brought to you by sleep! How sleep impacts your productivity and energy for the day.
Even I find my desk in these messy situations! In productivity, it’s good to stay organized to maintain that focus.
Today’s topic is focused on maintaining consistency and determination through challenges.
Today, I cover my topic on Happiness again and what you can do to limit yourself from distractions.
Another visual to add to your lifestyle - points! Keeping track of the tasks completed for the week and noting what you have accomplished in a word document.
Today, I talk about improv and using this into productivity. Getting back into the workflow state and organizing your thoughts together for the project. One of the books that came to mind was “A Whack on the Side of the Head: How You Can Be More Creative”
Today’s weekly series will cover feedback from your Kanban on the number of tasks completed for the week.
Tonight, I talk about habits in the tasks you can keep up with in the mornings. And even throughout the afternoon!
Much of success is depicted as hitting a hard roadblock outside of their project, and straight into trying hard enough to find what you're looking for.
Looking back on the time spent yesterday and what I expect to happen in a few days, I think about preparing myself for the main prize. To do exercises and complete them on time.
Today is the first weekly series topic that I have here on my channel for Findthegeeks.com. Every week, after 7 episodes, I plan to create a nice refresher around awareness. It is Wednesday, maybe I could call it Awareness Wednesday or Productivity Wednesdays. Will figure this out soon!
Today I follow up on the use of my blue sticky notes to create my Kanban board. I look forward to September’s monthly project ideas with my blue sticky notes!
Today I complete my Kanban board with the tools I’ve purchased in the mail. This is the start of the Kanban board series.
Today I talk about the use of RescueTime to log activity taking place in your internet browser and applications on your PC.
Today I’ll be talking about one of the mistakes I’ve made on a recent episode about Kanban, this is for the paper demonstration.
Today I’ll be talking more about getting started with your day. There may be a few scenarios that prevent us from doing so, i.e. work, and it takes awareness first to acknowledge the time that gets you going on certain tasks.
I may have had to end this talk early with just describing a condition as ‘hard’ due to some noise I was going to have in this video. Perhaps in the future I will explore more around the idea of getting the day started off right.
If you have full control over your time through moderation, I believe that you can fully engage in productivity in whatever task, source of entertainment, that you do. Happiness ties into productivity in this aspect, where you want to have a good time with your day and feel comfortable in your environment.
Today, I introduce you to my stack of post its which I’ll be using on Thursday for my personal Kanban board.
Coming soon! Kanban board setup and future episodes on how I manage my board with tasks, goals, and projects. Stay tuned for more from findthegeeks.com
Understanding your situation around you, as far as goals, processes, and projects go. Findthegeeks will add more information on the forum soon!
A follow up from the last episode that brought up the idea around Rubber Ducking Code. The idea of Rubber Ducking Code has helped me prepare for problems I would normally have to work on solo. Allowing myself to talk through my code and describe what each line does.
Every once in awhile, you have an idea you want to put into action. Other times, you want an idea to relate to another topic or a book. Making the connection from your resources via search helps to broaden the idea.
Today I cover on how you can take on challenges with small principles that I keep in mind. I guarantee you that this will help you get started as it helped for me.
Today I bring up the progress I’ve made, around the projects that I’ve completed or missed. How you can integrate project deadlines into your productivity lifestyle is through the example of my project progress on this video.
In today’s episode, I bring up one of the books I use to get started with stretching and that is Becoming a Supple Leopard by Kelly Starrett. You may find other resources as well to help you with this journey and the basic items you need to get started are mentioned in this episode.
On today’s episode, I talk about two books, Personal Kanban and How to Take Smart Notes, on how they impact productivity in our lives.
On today’s episode, I talk about how Kanban is introduced into projects that require a constant completion of tasks. In later episodes, I share more insight around the culture and history behind Kanban.
This episode explores the idea of laying out your content everyday. Taking on your project ideas and planning them out in a step by step structure. It’s not something you would expect to do on a daily basis but it is worth considering. Especially in my case with the amount of episodes I’ve made. More ideas to come, geared towards literature next time.
There are moments when resources are the only place to find motivation in getting yourself started with your project. If it wasn’t for that list of companies that I saw on the chat channel, I may have taken longer to get started with my goal of reaching 200 applications!
Today’s episode by findthegeeks is on Music. Since 11am, I’ve been listening to music by Netherlands Bach Society. I had a late start on my routine and yet, music helped me add more to what I’ve had to say for my action plan for today. Some fundraising copywriting sources I am looking at comes from the Robert Collier Letter book and Million Dollar mailings by Denison Hatch for a small project I have in reserve for findthegeeks.
On today’s topic, I talk about how discussion boards are used in conjunction with virtual conventions. Even forums will do this. I share the possibility of a productivity convention for findthegeeks.com sometime in the future.
How you can add a step up from reflection writing to action plans. These plans react to what you haven’t accomplished since last week and you can add how much progress you’ve made on the project in your plans.
You want to know more about a topic of interest. Feedback is important. Notes on the kind of questions you want from a professional is the feedback you’re looking for. Before going into that convention, come prepared!! - www.findthegeeks.com
When it comes to creating for yourself, there is the possibility where you can create for others. To help others with a specific problem. Visit findthegeeks.com for more info on the productivity community.
Hard to get up early in the morning! But this time around, I stayed up long enough to set up a great bike day with an old classmate of mine.
For what comes to mind, place your thoughts on a piece of paper and get started with your day. Even if you feel unproductive and not ready.
Today’s episode for findthegeeks.com - I’m introducing a short setup for viewers on how I change up my mindset for the month.
On today’s episode, I talk about challenges in a daily routine. Visit findthegeeks.com and share your productivity workflow.
First video I’ve ever made, clear and unedited, for the forum findthegeeks (www.findthegeeks.com).
There may be some points I’ve missed here, such as going into more detail about goals and my stopwatch. And yet, this is the start of many videos to come. In helping you master the art of productivity, follow me on this journey as I start vlogging about my failures and successes finding time to finish what I started in the first place.