I’ve wasted dozens — possibly hundreds — of hours learning about the best productivity hacks and tools and techniques.
What have I learned? Basically, that just rolling up my sleeves and doing the work instead of watching productivity videos is a good idea.
Because most productivity videos focus on the next amazing software tool.
And with the revolution in generative AI, those tools are getting more amazing by the minute.
Tool Parade
Note taking (or is it “note-making” — I’m not kidding that this is actually a debate that people in the productivity field care about) apps like Craft, Obsidian, Tana, Evernote, Heptabase, and Capacities.
Task management apps like Todoist, Things 3, OmniFocus, and TickTick.
Time management (or are they “task consolidation”?) apps like Sunsama, Akiflow, Motion, and Routine.
And time-saving interfaces like Superhuman and Vimcal.
Whew — exhausted and confused yet? (Now you know what it’s like to spend a few minutes in my head!)
What’s the Point?
There’s a widespread assumption that productivity is just good. And the more of it, the better.
But the goal of life isn’t to die with all you to-dos checked off and all your projects completed.
Instead, it’s to have a worthwhile experience and maybe leave a legacy.
Can being more productive — getting more things done with less stress — contribute to those two goals?
Absolutely. As long as performance rituals and systems are means to those ends, and don’t get elevated to ends in their own right.
And that’s what we’re talking about in this conversation.
My guests, Tom Solid and Paco Cantero, are here to help us get shit done in a world of infinite bits and bytes, a world of 24/7 access to information, and a world which will grab our calendar by the short and curlies and impose a zillion external agendas upon us if we don't learn how to defend our time, our priorities, and our purpose.
Rather than focus on the latest and greatest individual tools (the “it girls” of the productivity world), Tom and Paco emphasize the need to understand systems, and use tools for particular purposes to achieve desired results.
We dive into their ICOR framework, and encounter such things as the Capturing Beast, the Single Source of Truth, and the pitfalls of using the internet as a “Second Brain.”
We also explore the difference between Deep and Shallow work, and why it's crucial to be deliberate in building time and space for the former.
I’d love to know if you find this conversation useful and empowering.
As you may know, I’ve spent the past couple of decades helping people go more plant-based. I started by writing books, and eventually decided that coaching was a better fit for my talents and inclinations.
And the more people I coached, the more curious I got about the real obstacles to change.
I realized that it wasn’t the food — not really.
It wasn’t the kitchen skills.
It wasn’t the initial motivation.
It wasn’t the knowledge.
It was whether people could develop the ability to master their own mindset.
When their conscious mind and their subconscious impulses learned how to pull together, they succeeded.
When there was continuous struggle, and they had to “willpower” through again and again, they reverted to their old ways.
As I helped my clients master their mindsets, we discovered that the benefits extended far beyond diet.
They adopted fitness habits.
They cleaned up relationships by having difficult conversations rather than defer and avoid them.
They made bold moves in their lives and careers, assessing risk soberly and claiming their capacity for change and growth.
This ability to play the “inner game,” I’ve found, is perhaps the single more important thing in our lives.
If this interests you — in domains that range far afield from plant-based eating and advocacy — then I invite you to join me in a weekly conversation: the Mindset Mastery Memo.
It’s a brief newsletter. I try to keep it relevant, practical, and goofy.
And I’d love for it to be a two-way conversation.
In terms of my business, this is the work I’m pursuing in the world — helping leaders and their teams achieve massive traction on what matters most to them and to the planet.
In other words, I’m looking to scale my impact so that I can rest every night knowing I’ve done all I can to contribute to what Buddhist activist and scholar Joanna Macy calls “The Great Turning”: the global shift from an industrial growth society to a life-sustaining civilization. (And make enough dough to pay the rent.)
Thanks for listening, reading, and engaging with Plant Yourself. I hope you find The Mindset Mastery Memo fun, practical, and inspiring. (And if you know someone who should be reading it, please spread the word!)