Beyond Busy

This week we welcome Panos A. Panay and R. Michael Hendrix, the authors of the book "Two Beats Ahead", who are both leading figures in the legendary Berklee College of Music. Panos Panay is the Senior Vice President, Global Strategy & Innovation at Berklee College of Music. He is credited for spotting and capitalizing early on three emerging trends in the music business: the shift to online marketing; the emergence of an “artistic middle class”; and the shift to a consumer/brand-funded music business. He was awarded the Fast Company's "Fast 50" honor, Boston Business Journal's "40 under 40" and BosInno "50 on Fire" Award for excellence in education. In June 2016, Panay co-founded the non-profit Open Music Initiative in collaboration with the MIT Media Lab and individuals including inventor Dan Harple and IDEO partner Michael Hendrix. Michael Hendrix is a Partner and the Global Design Director of IDEO, based in the Cambridge, MA studio where he practices brand strategy, creative direction, and graphic design. He has been a recognised advocate and practitioner of design thinking since co-founding Tricycle Inc., a sustainable design firm in 2002 which was purchased by Shaw Industries in 2017. Hendrix also teaches entrepreneurship at the Berklee College of Music. The episode starts off by talking about the background of the guests. It is interesting that all the guests and Graham are in different time zones which really proves how music can spread inspiration worldwide. They also talk about the non-profit Open Music Initiative which the guests co-found together.'The objective is to create a shared open way of identifying rights-owners across the digital supply chain of music without going into a heck of a lot of details.' Then Graham confesses his love for music. He is surprised by how many musicians in their book became entrepreneurs using their creativity in other businesses too. He questions if there is a natural link between writing hit songs and being a successful entrepreneur.'It's a mindset that's already there that needs to be developed. We believe that the mindset can be unlocked really at anybody. Musicians are just the ideal situation to accelerate the development of the skills.'Of course, they are a lot of inspirational stories from the book and the guests' experience:'I had interviewed Pharrell Williams. He literally opened his speech by saying "Music is a skeleton key that opens everything up". I liked that! The way that a musician thinks often unlocks imaginations and creativity in the way it can be expressed not just in a musical performance or a song.'Graham Allcott is the founder of the time-management training company. This episode was produced by Pavel Novikov and the podcast is hosted on Podiant.The full conversation is available on the Beyond Busy YouTube channel. ✔ Links: Get the book 'Two Beats Ahead':https://www.amazon.com/dp/1541730585 Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links Edited by Pavel Novikov:https://www.linkedin.com/in/pavelnoviko See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Julie Nerney is one of the co-authors of “Own Your Day: New light on the mastery of managing in the middle". She’s worked at the heart of government and played a key leadership role in the London 2012 Olympics. Graham and Julie start off the conversation by talking about how they met through Sussex Lions, the Aston Villa fanclub in Sussex. Graham then asks Julie how she would summarise her very diverse background.'It is the common thread, through all the different types of roles and sectors. It’s about driving and securing change, but doing that in a way that’s got kindness and compassion at its heart. So it’s about cultures. It’s about creating environments that allow people to excel.'Julie then talks about her experiences as Head of Transport Integration for the London 2012 Olympics.'So I always say to people, it’s probably the thing I’ll be most proud of, because what a great showcase for the country. There was something optimistic and happy about that time, maybe there’s with rose-tinted glasses with the decade that’s come since then, but I never want to work like that again, in my life, because it was so utterly and relentlessly demanding.'The conversation then leads on to Julie’s time in central government and she talks about resisting the urge to slap a certain politician she had to have weekly meetings with as being up there as one of her biggest development challenges. Graham and Julie then talk about how to deal with disagreements and the importance of productive tension and how to create that.'So it’s kind of creating a permission environment but you have to contract around that, and you have to be overt about it. Because, otherwise people bring in their own preferences, their own motivations, their own kinds of things, and you don’t have a common goal to focus around.'Julie talks about her book “Own Your Day”, co-written with Diana Marsland, for people managing in the middle of organisations. She explains how Diana approached her with the idea of the book. And how she was convinced that the powerhouse in organisations was stuck between strategy and delivery, the demands from the top as well as trying to manage their teams, and how could we do stuff that liberates these people because that’s where the potential in organisations were. Julie and Graham then finish the podcast talking about the culture in different organisations, hierarchy, networking and the importance of creating a culture of feedback in teams.The full conversation is available on the Beyond Busy YouTube channel. Graham Allcott is the founder of the time-management training company Think Productive.✔ Links:  Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Graham Allcott’s co-author for the new book “How To Fix Meetings”, Hayley Watts, is this week's Beyond Busy episode guest. Hayley is a mum, a coach, and she also has a background as a leader in the charity sector, where she gained a lot of experience with meetings - both good and bad. Graham and Hayley start off by talking about how Hayley got into the whole productivity business which led her to join Think Productive as a Productivity Ninja, and how she helps people change their work habits for the better.'If somebody said to me "You need to do some work on how you organise yourself and your productivity" I might have said something quite rude to them about that.'They then go on to chat about meetings: what's broken about meetings and how that affects people and businesses.'I speak to so many of our clients who will say: "Oh, yeah, I've just got back to back meetings. I've got too many meetings. I can't get the work done because I'm in meetings all day." And then you look at people's calendars and they are in meetings all day - they're back to back! And, particularly people who are more senior in organisations will say: "Well, I spend all day in meetings, and I have to work in the evenings and at the weekends to get the work done". That's not sustainable. As we all know the Zoom meetings have taken over this past year.'Hayley and Graham talk about the benefits of online meetings but also the disadvantages. That then leads them on discussing different ways to fix the broken meetings and they share some great tips on how to make meetings take up less of your time and become more productive for everyone.'Very often, I think meetings don't need long pages of notes with who said what and other kinds of detail of the conversations. Sometimes they just need the action points. It will depend on the meeting. You know, if it's a board-level meeting, you probably want more detail than that. But, if it's a team meeting or project meeting, maybe the actions points are enough and somebody doesn't need to spend their effort and attention on typing up exactly who said what because you've captured the actions - all the things that matter.'Graham Allcott is the founder of the time-management training company Think Productive. This podcast is hosted on Podiant.The full conversation is available on the Beyond Busy YouTube channel. ✔ Links: Buy the book How To Fix Meetings:http://www.amazon.co.uk/Fixing-Meetings-Productivity-Ninja-Guide/dp/1785784757 Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Overnight online sensation, Jackie Weaver, talks about meeting etiquette, workplace respect, standing orders and more in this latest Beyond Busy episode. Graham and Jackie start the podcast by talking about why the public was so fascinated by the online video that made Jackie famous.'My take on it is that I think there’s something inherent in us that makes us want to see fairness. I think if you think about all the injustices you've seen, somebody cutting in front of you in traffic, We’re not talking about huge world-changing things here. You know, where you didn’t get the pay rise at work, where somebody was rude and they got away with it, all those things, and we put up with them all the time. And at that moment, I think what you saw was justice. I think that’s my take on it... Either that or I’ve just become the nation’s favourite grandmother.'Jackie tells Graham that she finds this a wonderful opportunity to shed more light on council meetings.'I kind of feel I’m supposed to say it’s been surreal or confusing or confusing or frightening or out of control or whatever, but it hasn’t really felt like that. I mean, it has just felt like a real opportunity that has to be just grabbed. I mean, we’ve been trying to get local councils noticed in some meaningful way, all of my career in local government and that’s 25 years. So somebody comes along and knocks on your door and says to you: "Tell me about local councils - What's all this about?" What do you say? No, sorry, I’m busy.'Jackie then shares how important it is for the youth to take an interest in local government.'How does the council know you’re interested? How does the council know what you’ve got to offer? Over the years, we’ve tried several initiatives across the country to encourage young people to get involved. So we have the Youth Parliament, a lot of councils created youth councils, and all that happened was that we ended up with youth councils that looked like Mini-Me’s. Now, that’s not all of them. I’m sure some of them were extremely representative, but some that I know were kind of like older people in young clothes. So engaging with young people is difficult and, actually, some of it needs to come from the young people.'Graham asks Jackie what she thinks makes a good meeting.'For me meetings are about decisions. My frustration with some council meetings is they’re often viewed as an opportunity for an exchange of information. And I guess that there has to be some information sharing, of course, because you need something on which to base your decision. And you need some information sharing because it’s kind of like a glue that puts us together that forms a relationship. But after that, it’s kind of like, you know, why are we here? This is not a social event, let’s get these decisions taken so we can move forward so that decisions of the council can happen without taking four years to come to fruition. Because it’s that lack of decision making that takes those issues four years to be resolved. They don’t need to be.'Jackie then ends the podcast by sharing a productivity hack to help with ‘overwhelm’.'My head is very busy and I can feel overload. And when I feel that, when I feel that I’m no longer really able to capture what it is that I’m thinking about. That’s when I start to write it. Because I get overwhelmed and I don’t find that a comfortable place to be at all It feels out of control.'The full conversation is available on the Beyond Busy YouTube channel. Graham Allcott is the founder of the time-management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced by Rizelle Paredes and is hosted on Podiant.✔ Links:  Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

David Bradford and Carole Robins from the Stanford Graduate School of Business course Interpersonal Dynamics, talk about improving existing relationships, building new connections and more in this latest episode. They are also the authors of the book 'Connect: Building Exceptional Relationships with Family, Friends, and Colleagues'. Graham, David and Carole start the podcast by talking about the legendary 'Touchy-Feely' program in the Stanford Graduate School of Business course Interpersonal Dynamics.David: 'What they discover in this course, almost inevitably, is that the more they are themselves: the more interesting they are, the more attractive there. We frequently have students halfway through the course say to another one: "I thought in finance, you were really obnoxious, but now that I see you and I see that you’re human, I like you." So where this translates is that they not only learned that they can be themselves but they learn how to be themselves, they take this elsewhere.'Carole: 'People do business with people. They don't do business with ideas, or machines or money. So, that's why this course has become so legendary.'Graham then asks about the hallmarks of exceptional relationships.Carole: 'Relationships exist on a continuum. You can have a functional relationship, a perfectly functional relationship and not have it be exceptional. You can have dysfunctional relationships at the very other end. But an exceptional relationship is one where we both can be ourselves and neither one of us is afraid of what the other one will do, with whatever we share with each other. That's one of the hallmarks. Another hallmark is that we can have productive conflict, and in fact, we see conflict as an opportunity to deepen our relationships.'David: 'For this high trust, the essence of what you say is what you mean, that I don't have to second guess you.'Carole and David share how important rebuilding relationships is after disagreements.David: 'A key part of what we’re talking about is that you don’t have to do things perfectly. I mean, we’ve done things that have screwed up a lot with each other, each of us, with our spouse, with our friends and so on. But you can recover. If you wholeheartedly recover, and not just say: "Well, let’s agree to disagree" that doesn’t do anything, the relationship gets even stronger.'They also share their tips on how to de-escalate conflicts.Carole: 'Sometimes you have to take a breath and say: "You know what, I think we’re both a little too spun up right now. Let's take 10 minutes or 20 minutes and, you know, take a breath. But let’s commit to coming back". That’s the key.'David: 'It's a matter of sticking in there, being persistent, being exploratory, catching yourself and helping the other person to catch themselves. None of this is easy peasy.'Graham finishes the podcast by asking David and Carole if there is a downside to being experts at building relationships.Carole: 'I'm just as flawed as any other human being. We talk in the book about how it does take two to tango.'David: 'I find meaningful relationships, where people talk about what's important to them, so rewarding that I don't have patience for the superficial cocktail party stuff. I'm bored by that. I'd rather be by myself. Or I'd rather try to take that conversation and drive it deeper. So when I'm at a cocktail party, rather than going around and see how many people I can meet, I find somebody who looks a little interesting and then I ask things about them, because I want to find out about them so I’m able to build the sort of relationship, even if it’s temporary, that’s more meaningful.'Graham Allcott is the founder of time-management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced by Rizelle Paredes and is hosted on Podiant.✔ Links: Buy David and Caroles's book:https://www.amazon.com/Connect-Building-Exceptional-Relationships-Colleagues/dp/0593237099 Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Award-winning human resources conference speaker and author of "Solving the Productivity Puzzle – How People Engagement, Innovation and Performance Will Transform Work", Tim Ringo talks about the 3-dimensional definition of productivity, making the future of work more fun, how humans interact with machines and how to encourage more productivity at work. Graham and Tim open the conversation with an insight into the productivity paradox.'What we're seeing now, and this is what I found in my research, is that the technology in the past 10 years has been overwhelming people and organisations have not been very good at aligning people to that technology, and investing in them to align to that technology. We're really only getting back to where we were, you know, say early 2000s, in terms of levels of investment in that space.'Tim explains that there is more to the meaning of productivity and how we measure them in these modern times.'There's a small number, and growing number, of companies that are realising that, you know, people are much more complex, and that if you can engage them in what it is you do, get them to buy into your purpose and mission as an organization, you suddenly get a different kind of workforce. There are ones that show up, not only to produce what you ask them to do but they produce more and they enjoy doing it.'Tim also talks about the difference in the progress of technology at home and at work.'I think we're gonna have to see organisations change their policies, change their offices, and change their thinking to do that. Technology is going to be that that kind of facilitator of these things to keep people productive. So we're Jetsons at home but we're not Jetsons work yet and we have to fix that.'Graham asks Tim about his observations on how people work and how they are managed in different cultures.'The first thing that you have to recognise is you need to show the person you understand that for them is inappropriate. Then, I think the second thing is then behaving in a way that you build trust with that person, to show that you do get it and that you can be reasonable and respectful.'Graham and Tim finish the podcast talking about pro-tirement and what it means to pro-tire.'The UK Chief Medical Officer a couple years ago, and this is in the book as well, did a study on men who do some sort of gainful employment till about 70 and it shows the vast majority of them will live to 90, as long as you didn't have any underlying and it's really good for you, apparently, to keep doing things.'Graham Allcott is the founder of time-management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced by Rizelle Paredes and is hosted on Podiant.✔ Links: Buy Tim's book:https://www.amazon.com/Solving-Productivity-Puzzle-Individual-Performance/dp/1789664764Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

With over 100k followers on Instagram and YouTube, Rev. Chris Lee is on Beyond Busy to talk about enriching people’s lives on social media, how identity is one of today’s main sickness and accepting that we are loved. He also talks about his new book “The OMG Effect”. Graham and Chris start the podcast by talking about how he became viral on social media.'I started this thing called “60 second sermons” and then the 60 second sermons just hit a note with many people and suddenly it had its own growth and momentum.'Chris also talks about how ego is a struggle for many people.'I think CS Lewis said something like, "To be humble is not to think less of yourself, but to think of yourself less". And the idea to be confident and at peace with who you are, no matter what the situation, I think that’s a really powerful thing, a unique thing and something that I gravitate as a person towards. People who hold that and it’s rare in this world. We either overcompensate or we undersell ourselves, we’re insecure or arrogant, and all those things feed into each other. But, if you can hold a level of humility, I think humility is the mother of all other gifts... And ego and pride are the opposite of that.'Chris also shares why he chose social media as the platform for his 60-second sermons.'And where young people are is that they are online. So, I want to go there and say “Hey guys” and point away from myself as much as I can and say, you know, "You are beautiful. You are loved. You are precious. God is good, and He loves you and He’s for you".'On sharing his skills and talents as part of his duty, Chris has this to say:'Duty is a hard word, isn’t it? I think it’s my right and my privilege and based on my faith and understanding of who the character of God is, I want to lean into the gifts that I’ve been given and trust in them. I want to do that.'Graham then asks about how Chris views work-life balance.'There is also a place to remember that you’re human and you’re more than your work.'On dealing with difficult people, Chris shares this tip:'I try to remember the core - the deepest them, is love. The deepest them is good. And they’ve just either forgotten it along the way, or it has been beaten out of them in some way. So, I try to keep a soft heart. Just try have the acknowledgement that the first layer is often superficial from people, so they’re going to be angry, defensive, or whatever.'Graham and Chris finish the podcast talking about the playlist that comes with the book.'We’re more than just our thinking-brain. We’re feeling in our body, it is important to the way we understand everything as well. So, music for me is a powerful embodiment of understanding in a way and sometimes music and art speak to me powerfully. That makes sense that words don’t articulate well. I love music. I love film, I love listening to things and allowing it to speak to me. And so I thought, well, if I’m writing a book about self-help and stuff like that, why not put in music as well?'You can follow Chris on Korean Englishman, Jolly and on Instagram. You can get the book “The OMG Effect” on Amazon. Graham Allcott is the founder of time management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced and edited by Rizelle Marie Paredes and is hosted on Podiant.✔ Links:  Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Acing interviews, managing recruitment websites and creating happiness at work with James Reed, Chairman of REED – Britain’s biggest and best-known recruitment brand and the largest family-owned recruitment company in the world. He is also the author of the book “Why You?: 101 Interview Questions You’ll Never Fear Again”. Graham and James start the podcast by giving a bit of a background on what the company, REED, is all about and what the company focus is. James then shares a brilliant strategy that he believes helped their business grow:'Our strategy is to build it organically. So like a tree from the ground up. I say to people, the only two ways you can grow a business organically is: One - is through service, good service, so people come back. The other is through ideas, good ideas, so you can get a new service. That’s our focus.'James then shares a great chapter in his book called "The Fateful 15".'We call them the fateful 15. In fact, there are 15 questions. The first one is: Tell me about yourself. If you prepare those 15 in the book, you’re pretty well placed for any interview because most of the other questions are sort of variants of those 15. And I think that’s quite a helpful way of thinking about it because an interview can be a pretty daunting prospect.'Graham then asks James to talk about failing and what that had taught him.'I remember my father saying something to me years ago. He said, “You know, being an entrepreneur or being in business is different than going to the casino. If you put money on red on the roulette wheel and it comes up in the casino. It only comes out once. But if you have a good idea and you get it up and running, it keeps coming around.” So I hold on to that thought because it suggests that you should keep trying.'James then shares his different work experiences and what he learned from them.'If you’re early in your career, find a boss that you can learn from. Yeah, that’s something that is hugely valuable.'Graham and James then talk about getting projects done and how important the people behind the project are.'Finding the right people and then letting them get on with it is key to getting things done because you have to move on to the next thing. I mean, if you have to do it yourself, you will not get as much done as when you can find someone good to help you, or several people, and then move on to the next problem or challenge or opportunity. So it’s all about people in the end.'Graham and James then finish by talking about unhappiness at work and the importance of having a clear purpose and objective at work.'I think if you’re unhappy in your work, look to change because you don’t have to be unhappy at work. And, I think it’s possible for everyone to be happy in some form of work or other. I think that’s really important, and I guess often overlooked.'Find out more about James Reed on his website or if you have any questions for him, send him an e-mail. You can grab his book: “Why You?: 101 Interview Questions You’ll Never Fear Again” on Amazon. Graham Allcott is the founder of time management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced and edited by Rizelle Paredes and is hosted on Podiant.✔ Links:  Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Productivity Ninja, Grace Marshall is back on Beyond Busy to talk about life's sh!tty moments, overcoming trauma, and how difficult times inspired her new book "Struggle". Graham welcomes Grace and asks her about where she got her inspiration for her newest book "Struggle".'Sometimes, the fact that we're struggling with something doesn't mean that we're in the wrong place. Sometimes it means we're absolutely in the right place. And so, I felt like there was this thing around struggle that we weren't talking about in productivity, but generally, in the world as well. I just wanted to have a different conversation about struggle.'Grace talks about different kinds of struggle and the shame we feel when we talk about it.'Sometimes the most dignity you can give somebody is to allow them to speak into your world, to allow them to help you.'Graham and Grace then cover the topic of crisis management when it comes to work. They talk about their experiences when the lockdowns were fairly new and the challenges their team at Think Productive faced.'We expect to feel tired or stressed or whatever, in the moment. But actually, sometimes it's not until afterwards that it catches up with us. I think, yes, we can absolutely respond to crisis but if that's ongoing, and we don't have time where we can collapse then actually that's not sustainable. That's when we get to burnout.'Grace also discusses the importance of rest and why high achieving people are scared of it.'I think you there's the reason why it's terrifying to rest is because it catches up with you. And when you rest is when everything catches up with you. It's when you can actually start to kind of process what's been going on rather than just react to it. There's also a lot of trust involved in rest, because you're stepping away and you're releasing, I guess some people say, the illusion of control, but like you're releasing control.'Grace then also tells us about the 'three sh!ts' mentioned in her book and why it's important to recognize things that make life beautiful in these 'sh!tty' moments.'It’s recognizing that actually, if you know that there is treasure to be found, then when you’re waiting in sh!t, yes, it is still sh!tty, but it’s not just sh!t. There will be light in the middle of that.'Grace's book 'Struggle' is available on Amazon. You can listen to Grace's first guesting on Beyond Busy here. Graham Allcott is the founder of time management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced by Rizelle Paredes and is hosted by Podiant. ✔ Links:  Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

FreelanceHER100 ambassador and mentor, and author of the book ‘Survival Skills for Freelancers’, Sarah Townsend talks about the Pomodoro technique, how freelancing has changed over the years, curbing perfection and how important community is over competition. Graham and Sarah first talk about her 20 years of freelancing and what her freelancing journey has been like.'I wanted to achieve that perfect sort of idyllic balance that we all think about when we think about going freelance, the flexibility and the freedom to kind of do the things you love, and also to get paid good money for doing the work that you enjoy. Working from home and maintaining a balance between running a freelance business and being a mom can be a challenge.'Sarah covers the important topic of setting healthy boundaries and switching off.'Anne Lamott said "almost everything will work again if you reboot it, including if you reset it, turn it off and on again", you know, that kind of concept. And it’s so true because we rarely think to do that with our brains. And we need to build in time to do the other things, the flow of activities that the things that you do - you lose track of time and you’re completely focused and mindful in the activity that you’re working on.' Graham and Sarah also talk about how helpful the productivity hack called the “Pomodoro” technique is.'I recommend every time you get your five-minute breaks, make sure you get up and away from your desk, have a bit of a shakeout.'Sarah then talks about how curbing perfection can prevent procrastination.'If you just actually realize that done is better than perfect. If you let the thing go, you know, when it’s good enough, it doesn’t have to be perfect and sometimes it’s just better to allow yourself the freedom to kind of put something out there that isn’t perfect.'Sarah then ends the podcast by sharing her views about the importance of community over competition.'That support that you can get from the people who do the same job as you can be just immense because they’ve been there and they’ve done it. And if they haven’t, and they’re new to the game, just think how much support you can give to them and you’re giving back to the community.'You can find out more about Sarah on her website. Check out her book here: Survival Skills for Freelancers.Graham Allcott is the founder of time management training company Think Productive. This podcast is produced by Riz Paredes and is hosted by Podiant.✔ Links:  Subscribe to Graham's Newsletter: https://www.grahamallcott.com/sign-up​​ Buy “How to be a Productivity Ninja”: http://amazon.co.uk/dp/1785784617​​  Our Show Sponsors: Think Productive - Time Management Training:http://www.thinkproductive.com​​ Useful links:https://www.grahamallcott.com/links See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.