I’ve been surfing the web hoping to find some interesting stories from those who have decided to do more in less time and found these excellent resources:

The first is a very good profile of David Allen, who invented the GTD – Getting Things Done – system upon which my productivity methodology is based. David is one of the most interesting men in the ‘management guru’ marketplace at present. He isn’t your average salary whore.

The second is a record of the experiences of a UK-based journalist, so the spelling is correct. He makes a good case for the stress-reduction properties of the GTD method.

I suppose I should write a personal recollection…

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Thank you.

Although personal productivity is only a part of my message it is a fundamental skill. As I’ve said in my first podcast episode, there is no point in being creative if no one benefits from it.

In the unlikely event that I am your first port of call in your quest for greater productivity then there are some people you need to meet.

Obviously the first is David Allen, the creator of the GTD system which is the pre-eminent personal productivity method. David has an interesting personal history and comes from a spiritual place, in spite of his almost constant exposure to corporate America. David has created a company called David Co to help him to spread the word. Remind me to do that…

In my opinion, the most knowledgeable (certainly the most garrulous) of David’s followers is Merlin Mann. Former professional musician and prominent San Franciscan, Merlin has a blog called 43 Folders – named after David Allen’s tickler (!) – and a couple of media casts available from the ‘Merlin Elsewhere’ section, including the revealing David Allen interview series, the largely dormant 43 Folders podcast. ‘The Merlin Show’ where he interviews his friends, whom I believe to be very interesting and ‘The Phone Guy’ which makes me laugh. There is no doubt that Merlin is a wizard.

There are others, but these are the people who have made a difference to what I do and how I do it. I have stood on the shoulders of giants, it is an excellent way to keep a giant on the floor.

I’ll post a resources page every time I record a new episode to ensure that you have alternative points of view for every point of view I try to jam down your throat.

Soupy twist.

With this in mind I have designed what I believe to be the ideal planner format and described it in a document. I’ve packaged it as a PDF, it’s a lot easier to print the thing while you’re fiddling with paper and folders.

Click here to download the m2b8 planner instructions.

I hope you enjoy it. I also hope for world peace and not to be nearly forty.

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Matthew Bate asserts his right to be known as the creator of these works except where explicit citation or attribution has been made.

Thank you.

The episode is the foundation of my methods and is focused on doing more in less time.

The system is a modified and systematised version of the ‘Getting Things Done‘ system from the book of the same name by David Allen. You can find both David and his excellent book via his company, DavidCo.

Importantly, I have incorporated many other elements into the system in this episode so if you know the book, please don’t e-mail me telling me I’ve got it wrong!

I’ve taught this to many MANY people now and this is the simplest way I’ve found to establish a system that can be easily followed in the future. There is no point in building a complex system because you won’t keep it up. I hope I strike the correct balance between functionality and simplicity.

As a companion piece, I have prepared a post detailing my ideal paper planner system, which I have used personally for some time and have recently updated to include templates from the excellent DIY Planner web site.

I hope you enjoy it, let me know if you do.

I’ve also created a GTD community resources page and some general media links to give you some other perspectives on productivity.

Finally, here it is.

Episode 1 – Productivity

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I have very strong feelings on this subject because I have seen well meaning people caught-up in an altruistic fever when they realise they can make time to contribute. Not everyone makes the right decisions about what to do.

We all have things we will and won’t do. We will all only do some things for money or another consideration such as gratitude, attribution or the promise that it will happen the other way around next time… and we base these decisions upon the most important consideration, our ethics. Ethics are a very important element of what I’m trying to achieve with m2b8 because there are many ways to take a step backward while trying to step forward. I can’t imagine anything worse than everybody accelerating in the wrong direction. What would happen if our genes did that? A smaller frontal lobe, that’s what. Mind you, a tail would be nice.

It might be good for me to set an example by explaining a few things in which I won’t personally become involved.

Politics will always happen in other people’s brains, I know politicians and I like a couple, but they are in love with the idea of office and act in accordance with their plan for the acquisition and retention of a title on a business card and a salary. For this reason, m2b8 will always be a separate venture from my daily work where I need to earn enough money to support a coupe of expensive habits. I urge any person wishing to undertake a similar venture to consider a similar arrangement.

Many governments are not nice and those who are subject to democratic frameworks work very hard to make sure that influencing perception is at the top of the agenda. My alternative is simply to do what needs to be done. Politics will follow.

What I do is not journalism, even though I report on events beyond my own control. The difference being that while a journalist is only interested in reporting dispassionately, I want to bring about progress. It is a good idea to state this from the outset. Everything I post to m2b8 is either reported from external source, which I will attribute, or my personal opinion.

On the subject of my personal opinion I will not become involved in any project involving animal use; this includes animal agriculture, sport or entertainment. I can find no ethical reason for animal use because there is no reason for humans to consume them or require their presence in a human-specific environment. I understand that the hunting, fast-food and gourmet enthusiasts have a differing opinion:

“but I like…” (tough)

“my Aunt lived for ninety two years…” (could have made a hundred)

“human beings are at the top of the…” (or standing next to it)

“animals are an important part of the rural landscape…” (and will be a long time after we’ve killed our bloody silly selves)

“animals enjoy…” (if you can explain exactly what you are doing and get their agreement…).

Sorry, not here. Build your own site. I’m happy that having researched the subject for close to twenty years that I know my subject. I am, however, happy to hear from anyone who has spent twenty years researching an opposing view. I sometimes hear from people who have done twenty minutes with Google to find that an eminent scientist has decided that because animals do not exist within the human moral framework they have no rights. If the scientist can perform the same trick with the concept of ethics then I will be impressed. Until then, you don’t have to kill, create or even inconvenience, so bloody don’t.

I have similarly strong feeling on a number of subjects, which makes me great fun at dinner parties. For this reason, in my presence it is a good idea to avoid any discussion of soap operas, the architecture of the current British housing boom, Volvos, reality TV, the Birmingham road system (UK…), the Iraq war, clipped poodles, Microsoft Windows, those who fail to control their children, Australian beer, common wisdom, American sport…

Sorry if I’ve alienated you. My intention is simply to ask you to think carefully about how you will spend your newly liberated hours.

Sermon over, here begineth the first lesson!

Productivity. How to do more, do better and with less stress.

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Thank you.

Apparently Charlton Heston also asked this of himself in the film of the book, which reached a wider audience.

As Rick Warren points-out in his book ‘A Purpose Driven Life’, that is the question you should ask yourself if you want to know what you can do for the furtherance of your self and your fellow man.

Although I agree little with the remainder of the contents of his book I do agree with his major point. If you want to make a difference, start with what you’ve got.

In the above example, Moses wanted to know what he could do to free his people from Egypt and lead them to the promised land of Israel. God asked him the question in the title. Moses was a shepherd, having retired from active seamanship as a child, so Moses was carrying a staff. Crooks came later. God asked Moses to throw it to the floor at which point it became a serpent. Upon Moses retrieving Hissing Sid it returned to sheep control mode. Handy when leading both people and sheep away from violent oppression.

Importantly, Moses hadn’t realised or valued this skill until it was explained to him, although I suspect he didn’t have the skill until God pointed it out.

Not many of us have a direct line to a god or a staff that turns into a serpent and if we did it would be a very bad idea to unleash it upon the world, although it hasn’t harmed Daniel Radcliffe’s career, but we have all got something and everybody’s something is different. How very Maya Angelou. I challenge you to find those two people in the same paragraph anywhere else.

Marlon Brando uttered a truncated version in response to being asked against what was he rebelling, and we’re all doing that. We’re rebelling against boredom, injustice and stupidity. Or is it just me?

What I’ve ‘got’ to sate my inner rebelion is a desire to live in a better world and in my hand is a lot of experience in personal productivity, project management and innovation. I won’t bore you with the details but if you want to be bored you can read a potted history of yours truly in the ‘about me‘ section of the site. You can be assured though that if any part of my life can have been considered truly interesting then you won’t find it there. Do I look like an idiot? … How do you know?

My plan is that what I have to teach can make anyone very much more effective at whatever it is that they do.

My hope is that others will be able to learn to do this and then learn to teach it. I would like to make a ‘conversion’ every week and send them off to teach what I’ve taught having come to it with an open mind and left with a sharp tool to use. They have then the opportunity to add to what I’ve done.

The tools I can give you are the training courses I’ve devised in the form of podcasts and a sequence of essays on matters related to both productivity and global citizenship.

I’ve started with the productivity episode and am progressing to project management and innovation. I have also written a short statement about ethics. There is nothing more important.

It is also important for me to point-out that what I’m not trying to do is to head a movement of any description. I’m simply a node pumping resources onto a network. I hope many others do the same but I’m not giving this a name nor am I building a structure. I do want to be adored and revered but only a little bit and only very quietly. If you haven’t worked it out by now, yes, I’m English. Being English I also have a genetic culpability for asset stripping the developing world and then disadvantageously lending money to those wishing to buy some of the assets back, which may go some way to explaining my current mood of altruism.

Having said that this isn’t a movement, it is time for me to get on with it and I hope you can find a way to contribute. I’m not saying that progress will be quick, look how long it took Moses to reach Israel according to legend, but it is progress.

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Matthew Bate asserts his right to be known as the creator of these works except where explicit citation or attribution has been made.

Thank you.