Connect the Dots is a show about how different topics converge to form a new idea. We start from the perspective of productivity or creativity and how they intersect.
But one of the things that has proven most fascinating to me over the years is how many other topics and disciplines impact creative and productive work. Like how much is productivity impacted by the improvement of physical health? How does creativity increase when you learn from new sources of inspiration? It's these questions that form the heart of Connect the Dots.
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
๐๏ธ Listen to Never Start From Scratchon CTD
๐ Get my note-taking email series (select "Ideas" from the menu)
๐ Sonke Ahrens How to Take Smart Notes book
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
Watch me in trainingย at Artista in Nashville, TN
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get $20 off my course The Most Productive Week Ever
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Listen to E33 - A Poker Player's Advice for Goal Selection
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
My name is Matt Ragland and in each episode I share a short lesson about how to be more focused and productive. I draw these lessons from personal experience, work with clients, modern psychology and real-world application.
Thank you for listening and if you enjoy the Daily Dot please share it with a friend and rate + review on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Get my FREE 5 day productivity email course
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Related
โ๏ธ The Gap (E36)
๐ฏ 10 Rep Rule (E10)
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Check out CTD11 - How Note-Taking Improves Creativity
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
๐ง Listen to the full Ira Glass "Gap" segment
๐ Listen to "My 10 Year Overnight Success"
Last day to sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
Connect with me on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland
02:43 - The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life
03:40 - Courage is Calling
04:47 - Bird by Bird
05:53 - The Hero Within
07:01 - Awareness
08:20 - How to Take Smart Notes
09:06 - Loving What Is
10:30 - The War of Art
11:31 - The World Ending Fire
13:36 - Rooted
15:07 - Bullet Journal Method
16:00 - Devotions
16:43 - Almanack of Naval Ravikant
17:34 - You are a Badass at Making Money
18:37 - Thinking In Bets
19:44 - Black Buck
20:51 - Greenlights
22:27 - Psychology of Money
24:01 - Callings
25:18 - Thinking Better
26:30 - Atomic Habits
27:45 - Radical Candor
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Book recommendation: Thinking in Bets by Annie Duke
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Listen to the GAP Method episode "Winning the First Week of 2022".
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist.
If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
This lesson comes from chapter 4 of the book The Lion Tracker's Guide to Life. In this episode I also mentioned the book Tiny Habits.
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist.
If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Watch QMWD on my YouTube channel
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Watch the Flywheel on my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ehgen7gXoxI&t=471s
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
A short daily idea, a daily dot, if you will, to help you connect the dots in your own life. Let's see how this goes. I might delete them all in 10 days. Listen while they exist. If you like this, better let me know on Twitter or Instagram @mattragland.
Learn more and sign up for my 4 week course at http://productivitypowerup.com
Episode highlights (following WRAP Method)01:34 - Thanks to the Super Fans
04:58 - Wins for 2021
09:35 - Starting therapy
11:56 - Results of my 2021 Goals
19:35 - Reporter vs Judge
25:28 - Alignment of Work/Self
27:38 - My $35 month (and more therapy)
34:04 - Pivots for 2022
36:39 - Themes & Intentions for 2022
Watch the YouTube version of this podcast
Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
More ways to connect
Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
More ways to connect
Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Read more about GAP and WARP at DailyProductivity.Blog
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One of the 10 productivity frameworks that has changed my life is the PARA framework created by my friend Tiago Forte (article link). It's not even just about work; you can have all these different applications for literally any part of your life, and it really has been huge for me in terms of keeping things calm and organized in my work and in my life. So let me tell you what PARA stands for.
PARA stands for Projects, Areas, Research, and Archives.
The first one P is for Projects and Projects are things that have a very definitive end date, deadline, or just specific outcomes; it's not something that's open-ended. When this is done, it's done. Examples could be things like each episode of Connect the Dots, because once I have it planned, I have it filmed, I have it edited, and then it's published, that specific Project is complete.
Now the next phase of this is Areas of Responsibility and Areas are things that are open-ended. They don't have a definitive end date. They're something that you are committed to, you're working on, or is an ongoing part of your life.
This is a big difference and a big distinction in PARA and it's a really important one to understand. You can still have something that is very similar in nature, or maybe exactly the same, but the way that you treat it will distinguish it between a Project and an Area of Responsibility.
The R is for Research. Now, even though it's third in the order of PARA, many projects will begin as Research.
And finally, the other A is for Archive. It's rather simple. Once something is no longer a Project, it's not an Area of Responsibility, you're not doing active Research on it, then it just moves into Archive. If something ever happens where you're bringing the thing you archived back into existence as a Project or a new Area of Responsibility, you just go into your Archive and you pull it back out.
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Watch this episode on YouTube
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One of the most impactful books I read in 2020 was "How to Take Smart Notes". This type of permanent or durable note taking was a total game-changer for my reading and creative output. I set a public goal of 90 smart notes in 90 days as 2020 came to a close... and created 100 smart notes!
In this episode I explain how to take smart notes, organization strategies, how I use smart note taking to supercharge my content creation, and why I use notecards as the first note (instead of Roam or Notion). This type of note-taking is based on the Zettelkasten system of Niklas Luhmann. See the complete Note-Taking playlist on YouTube for more visual examples!
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The 10 Rep Rule is going to be one the core "philosophies" I'll be known for - just you wait. I've seen over and over in my own life and in other creators there's a different type of "10x Rule" at play. Here it is in the most basic form:
Our minds don't do a great job distinguishing between the beginning, (long) middle, and mountain-top achievements in life-changing work. We normally quit something after a few tries based on how we feel, not the results. Then it's hard to stick with something we like even through the long middle. Gladwell's 10,000 hours to mastery feels like something that can only be achieved by child prodigies - who has that kind of time?!
There's a simple path to follow to the mountain-top of mastery. Trying a new thing 10 times gives you enough quantitative data to pair with your qualitative feelings about if you want to continue. By the time you've done it 100 times there's real momentum and it's a strong habit. Do it 1,000 times and you're well on your way to mastery.
Resources
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A few years I ago I started testing 8 week cycles for my side hustle (YouTube, courses, etc). The idea is to focus on a specific project or goal for 6 weeks then take 1 week to buffer and 1 week to rest. It went moderately well as a YouTube schedule, but I was still working full-time at ConvertKit. Could I really take a full week off so early in my new company? Listen in and find out!
Apologies for being a day late! Had trouble with the upload all weekend ๐
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10 Productivity Frameworks
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In this (shorter) episode I talk about how I finally started meditation, taking cold showers, and making more time for reading and notes. These helpful habits make an outsized impact in my life and work, but I struggled to make them a priority. I know all about building good habits, but couldn't make these stick. Doing so took a bit more than simple knowledge, I needed a structure and motivation. Here's how!
p.s. sorry about the rustling sound in the podcast - it was my jacket
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Understanding how and what you spend your time on is critical for improving productivity and focus. In this episode I share two key frameworks that helped me spend the right amount of time on different areas and types of work.
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Happy New Year! This episode of Connect the Dots is all about how you can build healthy habits and systems. But in case you're not listening to this on the first Monday of 2021, January 4th, there is a lot to help you build better habits, create a healthier environment and design the life that you care about. Thanks for listening and check out the show on YouTube!
Resources from the episode
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If you're a beginner bullet journal practitioner, this show is perfect for you. I share 5 simple tips that make it easy to start and setup your first bullet journal. Watch the full video with examples on my YouTube channel.
The biggest challenge for new bullet journalers is the sheer amount of setup it appears to take just to get started. I'm here to tell you there's an easier way to start and be successful without all the art and doodling.
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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Connect the Dots on YouTube + Free Training
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My name is Matt Ragland and welcome to the very first episode of the Connect the Dots podcast! I've been wanting to do this for a really long time. One of the things that we're going to tackle in this first episode, Is how do you get over the hump with something that you've wanted to do for a long time?
Maybe you are a little scared about maybe you can't quite think about how you would put everything together and maybe you've made some initial plans, but especially you're probably going to be here in this. It's going to be coming out right around Christmas and the New Year. Habits are really a big part of how a lot of people like to start the new year. That's how we're going to kick off the show!
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