Nicola Barron (Masterclasses) is joined by Mark Channon, productivity coach and World Memory Grand Master no less, to explore ways in which we can stay focused and get things done. Plus, boost your power of recall with Mark’s memory technique.
Here’s a fully automated transcript of this episode:
Hi, I'm Nicola Barron from Masterclasses at the Evening Standard.
We recently showcased our brand new programme of Masterclasses on this podcast.
Our Masterclasses are live and interactive workshops with some of our city's leading experts.
If you missed that episode, we've highlighted it in the show notes.
It's called How to Succeed as an Introvert, and it's certainly worth a listen.
On this episode, as it's September, officially back to school season, and perhaps if you're lucky enough to have taken a break this summer, the pressure may now be on to get things done and fast.
Well today, we're joined by Mark Channon, Productivity Coach and World Memory Grandmaster no less, to explore ways in which we can stay focused and get things done.
So, Mark, welcome to the podcast.
Good to be here.
Thanks.
So, you're a Productivity Coach.
So, tell me what that is.
Why might I come to you as a Productivity Coach?
Yeah, good question.
Well, I've actually been doing this stuff in some form or another for about 30 years now.
I actually started in memory.
So, I got into memory techniques and then that led into focus and then productivity.
And I actually work with a range of people, like from all different industries.
But I tend to attract, I guess nowadays, people who are either business owners, they're running their own business, they're freelancers, like a lot of creative types, a lot of authors.
I think it's mostly to do with if you're doing one of those types of roles, then you've got to create your own structure.
There's not necessarily a structure that is there for you.
Having said that though, I also work with a lot of professionals.
And they tend to be spinning multiple plates, they're super busy.
I think what's common across the board is people can get caught up in the weeds, and they just can get swept along in the busy work.
So, to be honest, it's a range of people that I'm working with, and ultimately, because of what I do, people want to feel less busy.
They want to feel more in control.
They want to feel more productive in the life, rather than kind of caught up in the cycle of things.
Great.
Now, personally, I love a to-do list, but my problem is, I think the temptation is to cram everything into it, and it's just simply not achievable in the time I have available.
What advice do you have for me?
Yeah, okay.
So, I have a very specific take on to-do lists, but in order to maybe bring clarity to that, I have to go back to just talking about time.
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When it comes to time, there are essentially two different aspects.
You've got the mindset aspect of time, and you've got the strategies for time.
How do you maximize your time?
And the thing is, for the mindset, I would say most people, they don't quite get this right.
No one's coming to me and saying, “hey Mark, I've got so much time.”
“I feel so time rich.”
No one's doing that, right?
It's like, “Mark, I've got no time, help me.”
“What do I do?”
And actually, the first thing you need to do is change how you think about time.
And I think as you get older, maybe this happens to you, maybe more naturally.
How much time have I got?
But essentially, as a strategy, I always suggest to people, look, when it comes to time, first acknowledge that you've actually got some time, but then be grateful for it.
When you wake up in the morning, think about the opportunity in terms of time you have that you've got to do this week, this month, this year, because when you start to think of time as opportunity, everything starts to shift.
Now, if you can make that happen and then you think about strategies, this is where we get on to the to-do list stuff.
Now, from the people that I work with, when I've worked with thousands of people over the years, when it comes to the to-do list, my suspicion is for most people, it's a lot of busy work.
It's not necessarily the work that is creating real impact.
When I talk about impact, I'm talking about something that you feel makes you grow, you're making a difference, or stuff that moves you towards your goals, or your business goals, your career goals, whatever it is for you.
And so, what I always suggest to people, it's a really simple strategy, is rather than just having this to-do list, extract all that impact stuff and just create another list.
So, you've got two lists.
This is how you can manage your time.
On one list is full of stuff that moves you forward.
On the other side, that to-do list, yeah, you could have important stuff on there.
You could have urgent stuff.
It could be both.
But for most people, my guess is they're spending 80 to 90% of their time on the busy work rather than the impact.
So, when you flip that, imagine what your life's like now when 80% of your time is the stuff that moves you forward and 20% is the other thing.
Now in reality, for most people, it might not be practical to have that split.
But if you can get 50-50, that's going to be an improvement.
Bring those two things together, get your mindset working, feel time rich, maximize your time by really focusing on impact.