E37 R.J. Nestor: Action Powered Productivity In PKM
Jan 31, 2024
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R.J. Nestor, a Productivity Consultant, discusses Action Powered Productivity and the biggest mistakes people make with PKM. The importance of personalizing your PKM system and how to create one that promotes action is explored. The podcast also dives into the benefits of Obsidian University for students and how music and theater influenced Nestor's book 'The Rhythms of Productivity'. Plus, a fun discussion about their love for crunchy peanut butter.
Action-Powered Productivity prioritizes taking action first and building the system later, focusing on capturing recurrence and improving future actions.
Personalizing productivity and PKM systems by defining roles or identities helps with organization and clarity, while acknowledging the limitations of generic templates.
Effective note-capturing and organization is crucial in productivity systems to avoid losing valuable insights and ensure efficient retrieval and alignment with relevant contexts.
Deep dives
The concept of Action-Powered Productivity
Action-Powered Productivity emphasizes taking action first and allowing the structure of the system to follow. Instead of feeling the need to have a perfect system in place before taking action, the focus is on taking action and then building the necessary structure to support future actions. This approach involves capturing recurrence and recognizing the structure that can help improve future actions. It encourages creating a personalized toolkit that reflects the individual's needs and goals.
The importance of personalizing productivity and PKM systems
Personalizing productivity and PKM systems is crucial in order to align them with an individual's specific needs and circumstances. By defining roles or identities that embody different aspects of one's work and life, it becomes easier to determine the actions and projects associated with each role. This allows for better organization and clarity, as well as identifying areas where action may be lacking or excessive. Personalization also involves recognizing the limitations of generic templates and focusing on developing structures and processes based on individual actions and requirements.
The significance of capturing and surfacing notes
One common mistake in productivity and PKM is failing to capture notes effectively and ensuring they resurface when needed. Notes play a crucial role in productivity systems, including tasks, projects, and other relevant information. Without proper capturing and organization, notes can easily get lost or become challenging to retrieve. It's essential to have a system in place that prompts the necessary metadata when capturing notes, allowing for efficient retrieval and alignment with relevant contexts. By ensuring that notes are properly captured and surfaced, individuals can avoid missing valuable insights and actions.
The Power of Recurrence
The podcast emphasizes the importance of recurrence in driving faster, more accurate, and higher quality action. While many people fear repetition, recognizing recurrence as a powerful tool allows for learning from past experiences and improving future performance. By creating templates and structures that capture recurrence, tasks become more efficient and less repetitive, enabling greater productivity.
Consistency and Constraints in Creativity
The podcast highlights the paradoxical relationship between consistency and creativity. Consistently doing small tasks or dedicating specific time every day has a greater impact on progress compared to overwhelming oneself with too many goals and tasks. Additionally, constraining oneself can enhance creativity by providing boundaries to push against. This allows for problem-solving and discovering new ideas within the limitations, ultimately leading to a more profound and creative output.
R.J. Nestor is a Productivity Consultant, Tana Ambassador, family man, author, and musician. He’s done 11 cohorts of Action Powered Productivity and is coming out with his book Rhythms of Productivity in March 2024. I’m excited to have him on the podcast to bring a productivity perspective to PKM.
In this podcast you will learn:
How to create a PKM system that promotes action
The biggest mistakes people make with PKM and productivity
