Productivity Overhaul

I’ve been learning and using productivity systems since I was 12 or 13. I read Getting Things Done, Lifehacker, and 43 Folders. David Allen, Gina Trapani, and Merlin Mann were my heroes. I implemented everything I learned and used it for years and years and years, as a high school student, in college, and later in monastic training.

I took Tiago Forte’s Building a Second Brain course, and even worked for Forte Labs for a while in a few different capacities (including as a guest blogger).

I built the Digital Productivity Coach with my friend and collaborator James Stuber. We built the DPC to include everything we know about productivity, so that our systems will scale.

The DPC is tried-and-true. It works. If U are self-motivated, U can take it and run with it, and come out stronger and more powerful for having implemented the suggestions and systems within it.

And: we’ve discovered that people get the most value out of the DPC if they pair it with hands-on support from myself or James, or someone else who’s deeply familiar with the material. Since we built the DPC in 2019, I’ve coached many of my friends and collaborators informally on their productivity systems.

That’s where Productivity Overhaul comes in. I want to help U achieve a sense of power and confidence when it comes to your digital systems. I want to help U implement the best practices and sane defaults I’ve learned, and adapt them to your own needs and circumstances. I want to set U up for success to live your fullest life—your vow—for your own joy and the world’s benefit!

i want to help heroes and bodhisattvas on this Earth to gain digital skill and power for the benefit of all beings

Who?

This program might be a good fit for U if U don’t like using computers, but U wish U did.

Maybe U feel overwhelmed by all the messages and pop-ups and files that come up when U are at your laptop or phone.

Maybe your inboxes have hundreds of thousands of unread messages and U are used to it, inured to it.

Maybe U have trouble tracking your obligations, commitments, tasks, projects, such that U don’t have confidence that U can achieve your goals in the future.

Maybe U don’t take notes, so U don’t learn from your experiences as fast or as deeply or as consistently as U might.

This program is a good fit for someone who wants to make a massive improvement in their productivity systems, their relationship with their computer and devices, and their sense of agency and capacity in the their life and the world. Somene who has big dreams, and is willing to do the work to put systems in place to make those dreams possible.

This program is not for someone who exclusively prefers analog productivity systems (calendar, notebooks). U can use these as part of your system, but this offering is primarily focused on digital productivity.

Format

Here’s how it works:

1. Fill out an interest form. I want to hear about your current situation, your desires and goals, and make sure this program is a good fit for U.
2. Once accepted, U will gain access to the Digital Productivity Coach if U don’t already have it. I’ll ask U to do some initial legwork to get a baseline for your current skillset, and to set us up for success for working together.
3. We’ll have an initial call to discuss your current situation, initial first steps, and our plan for working together. We’ll agree on a date for U to aim to finish the Digital Productivity Coach by.
4. During the container, your job is to master the Digital Productivity Coach, and its three main sections: Digital Fluency, Task Management, and Personal Knowledge Management.
5. I’ll be available for asynchronous support—U can text me with questions, obstacles, and wins, and I’ll offer all the help I can.
6. To close out the process, we’ll have a review call to see how your systems are going, celebrate your achievements, debug any problems U ran into, and plot your next steps.

Outcome

After this offering, U will:

• have Inbox Zero—no more nagging alerts telling U you have hundreds of thousands of unread emails
• have a task manager, note-taking systems, and other tools that work for U
• have tried-and-true systems for regularly reviewing tasks, projects, notes, responsibilities and acting on them intelligently
• feel a renewed sense of capacity, confidence, and possibility with achieving your goals in your life and dreams for our world

Cost

This program costs $750. That includes two video calls and asynchronous support from me, over a two to three month period.

If U are interested in this material, but that price would be prohibitive, U can use the Digital Productivity Coach, a self-paced tool which contains everything I know about productivity.

I can also heartily recommend David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and its pragmatic counterpart, the Getting Things Done Workbook, as well as any of Tiago Forte’s materials.

This program is designed for individuals, but I’m happy to discuss the possibility of providing productivity support to teams of companies, non-profits, or other crews and organizations. Email me (tasshinfogleman @ gmail) to inquire about availability and pricing.

Call to Action

If working on your productivity skills and systems in this way feels like a heck yes, fill out the application form here:

The art in this post was created by Sílvia Bastos, and is licensed under a CC BY 2.0 license. You can support her work on Patreon.