Podcasts about dave bullis podcast

Today we go inside the mind of screenwriter Jim Uhls (Fight Club). This is re-broadcast from the Dave Bullis Podcast. He is the master screenwriter behind David Fincher’s “Fight Club”, one of the greatest films in my generation, in my humble option.When Chuck Palahniuk’s Fight Club was making the rounds in Hollywood, it was a tough sell to be adapted for the screen. But then Brad Pitt got involved; add David Fincher and Ed Norton, throw Jim Uhls into the mix and you’ve got a modern classic.Proud Member of the IFH Podcast Network (www.ifhpodcastnetwork.com)

In this episode, I talk about the productivity and life struggles of freelancers in 2020 and offer solutions and actions that you can take to increase your chances of success. I also list the upcoming episodes of season 5 which will be released on the 6th September.   For a full transcript of this episode please go to the official website https://www.filmproproductivity.com/   You can find out more about the show on these links. OFFICIAL WEBSITE: https://www.filmproproductivity.com/ TWITTER: @filmproprodpod FACEBOOK: @filmproproductivity CONTACT: https://www.filmproproductivity.com/contact   QUOTES: Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.Ralph Waldo Emerson No matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow. Maya Angelou Most of the important things in the world have been accomplished by people who have kept on trying when there seemed to be no hope at all. Dale Carnegie  You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it. Maya Angelou  You and I and everybody in show business and the entertainment industry fly by the seat of our pants. We don't know quite what is going to happen. William Shatner   References: None   Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin Music By: Music by A Himitsu Track: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsuhttps://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A

Today’s show is brought to you by THE DAVE BULLIS PODCAST Wow, so here we are at a very grand milestone for Film Pro Productivity and I’d like to thank all of you for taking time out of your busy schedules and joining me here on this very special occasion. I’m not going to launch this one with any grand fanfare though as next weeks episode is not only the final show of this season but it is also the New Year special. I’ll talk more about that a little later but first let me look back at the last show, which was all about OUTRAGE CULTURE, a blight on the modern world if ever there was one. In that show, I delve into that topic and shed light on a grand manipulation pulled by strings held by the world media. It’s called Outrage Porn and it's available to listen to right now so if you have a few minutes to spare, go check it out. Now Albert Einstein once said “…the exaggerated esteem in which my lifework is held makes me very ill at ease. I feel compelled to think of myself as an involuntary swindler.” And that feeling - spoken by a man that most today would regard as an unprecedented genius, is a very good example of how IMPOSTER SYNDROME manifests itself. I often have to remind myself that the topics I cover here, some of which I have been thinking of for many years, are often entirely new concepts to many listeners. The term IMPOSTER SYNDROME was coined in the late ’70s by psychologists Dr Clance and Dr Imes and describes the feeling that HIGH ACHIEVERS have when they cannot recognize their success and are afraid of being exposed as a fake. According to these doctors, it can be identified in three ways: Feeling a fraud and being afraid of being ‘found out’. Attributing success to anything but your own achievements. Downplaying your achievements. The term imposter syndrome is interchangeable for Imposter phenomenon, fraud syndrome or impostor experience but I’m going to refer to it as mostly today as IMPOSTORISM. Impostorism is a psychological pattern in which an individual doubts their accomplishments and has a persistent internalized fear of being exposed as a "fraud". I’ve touched upon it before in my season one episode entitled THE INNER CRITIC but today I want to get very specific about what it is, how it limits and damages us and what we can do to overcome it. A recent study noted that 70% of successful people had experienced feelings of imposter syndrome in their lives... And as it’s only the most awesome and highly successful people on the planet that listen to this show, I figured that this episode will be particularly relevant to you today. Initial studies of this phenomenon were focussed on women but over the years there have been many more and it’s now very evident that the problem of IMPOSTORISM is something that to an extent affects all genders and ethnicities. Even now in my quiet moments, I suspect that I am going to walk onto a film set to discover that I just don’t know what I’m doing and that someone of import there is going to ask me to leave and bring in someone to replace me. Over the years too I have very often dodged the bullet of direct praise by bouncing it off onto others that have been involved. I’m simply not comfortable with praise. I find it kind of embarrassing and try to slink away from it when offered. I don’t mean to be rude when this happens I just don’t like being in the limelight. Mostly though, I’ve been able to control these feelings. It took me years and years but I can now say pretty confidently, that I not only know what I’m doing in as much as it is possible to do so but that I’m really very good at what I do and deserve the payments and the accolades which I’ve had over the years. It’s hard to say that without sounding arrogant but I’ll stand by it. The pressure of not wanting to sound like I'm full of myself or arrogant, especially since I’ve worked with many people who really were arrogant and I don’t want to appear to others as they appeared to me - is something I do struggle with though. I find that it is always easier for someone else to announce how wonderful you are, rather than to do so yourself, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t believe it in yourself of course. A couple of things have happened recently which have strengthened my self-belief. The first was pretty simple. Partly due to my role here as the host of this podcast, I came to the realisation that everything doesn’t have to be perfect, just good enough. That knowledge takes the pressure off feeling like you are expected to know it all and to be perfect – which is good news indeed for a recovering perfectionist like myself. I have an affirmation I use, and I talked about affirmations a few episodes ago – check it out if you missed it, but the one I use now is that I CAN ONLY SEE SO FAR. No matter how hard I plan, I may still have to adapt on the day. This realisation takes the pressure of perfectionism off everything that I do but still allows me to plan in detail what I am doing. Secondly and I kind of hate going on about it but I got treated very badly a couple of times this year and have had to change my outlook and my way of working quite considerably as a result. As I mentioned numerous times this season, it actually resulted in my giving up on filmmaking, which I’d been doing for 12 years, but there’s only so much a person can take. Being looked down upon by idiots who have little or no understanding of matters on which I am an expert got me so annoyed that I finally called them out and when that happened the switch flipped in my head and I realised – wait a minute here – I AM THE EXPERT HERE not THEM. I won’t allow myself to be treated as an inferior again, and so I’ve worked hard to subdue my feelings of imposterism and stand up for my rights. A few episodes ago I also tackled the topic of bullying, and you may have to use some of the advice from that show to get back control for yourself. Lesson Now Jodie Foster famously suffers from this (She passed me once at the Cannes Film Festival and smiled in my general direction – just an aside - but I feel I know her now) She famously said - ‘When I won the Oscar, I thought it was a fluke. I thought everybody would find out, and they’d take it back. They’d come to my house, knocking on the door, “Excuse me, we meant to give that to someone else. That was going to Meryl Streep.”‘ That’s a really common theme with imposterism btw, Have you ever looked at someone else in your line of work and thought, I’m not as good as them, or as worthy of my place as them? I know I have… So to follow up on Jodie’s quote there,  Meryl Streep said on this topic ‘You think, “Why would anyone want to see me again in a movie? And I don’t know how to act anyway, so why am I doing this?”‘ Unquote You can never be a mind reader folks, so don’t even try. It’s getting you nowhere. The human brain has a negativity bias so you will always think the worst. The sort of people who most often suffer from the syndrome include “Perfectionists” who set extremely high expectations for themselves, “Experts” who feel the need to know every piece of information before they start a project, “Soloists” who feel they have to accomplish tasks on their own, and if they need to ask for help, they think that means they are a failure or a fraud and “Supermen” or “superwomen” who push themselves to work harder than those around them to prove that they’re not impostors —and feel stressed when they are not accomplishing something. I think I was one of those for a while. It didn’t end well. Do you think you might fit into one of these categories? And why do people suffer from Imposterism? In an article in Time Magazine by ABIGAIL ABRAMS, we discover that there’s no single answer. Some experts believe it has to do with personality traits—like anxiety or neuroticism— Psychologist Audrey Ervin focuses on family or behavioural causes. Sometimes childhood memories, such as feeling that your grades were never good enough for your parents or that your siblings outshone you in certain areas, can leave a lasting impact. “People often internalize these ideas: that in order to be loved or be lovable, ‘I need to achieve,’” says Ervin. “It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle.” Unquote. The IMPOSTOR CYCLE is described as follows. First, they’ll become anxious, which can make them spend too much time on the task or procrastinate and then rush to finish it. Once the project is done, they’ll feel relieved and accomplished. The feeling of relief when a project is over is something I have experienced many times. I am nearing the end of this series which has been very tough for me, and this feeling of anxiety about it all is extremely heightened right now. Next, The cycle continues as they won’t accept positive feedback. They’ll ignore the fact that they could actually be smart or talented — insisting that they got lucky, or just worked a lot without having real skills. They don’t think they deserve success, which creates more anxiety, so the cycle repeats itself once more.   IMPOSTORISM takes what we all know as self-doubt and magnifies it. I am trying to be careful not to drift too far from the topic so I’ll leave more general issues about confidence and self-belief for another show. If, however, what I’m going on about here is something you think applies to you then don’t panic - there are some simple ways you can start to overcome it: First things first - remember: everything doesn’t have to be perfect. Remind yourself that your best is good enough. As I said on my episode on perfectionism though, this is not a that’ll do, It’s accepting that your GOOD ENOUGH can be really very good indeed. Talk to someone. You are not alone – I’ve been researching for this for a few days and I can say that without exception, everyone that I have spoken to about it has recognised it in themselves. Share what you’re feeling with trusted friends or mentors. People who have more experience can reassure you that what you’re feeling is normal, and knowing others have been in your position can make it seem less scary. If you want to delve more deeply into these feelings, then seek out a professional psychologist. There’s no shame in that and it is affordable despite what you may think. Having a really strong support system and getting on-going feedback that validates your efforts and outcomes is important for improving confidence levels. Lastly, believe in yourself and ACKNOWLEDGE YOUR ACHIEVEMENTS. Take recognition for the work you did, treat yourself and move on. I’ve mentioned this before too and it’s part of what is known as the CYCLE OF PRODUCTIVITY. If you don’t acknowledge and celebrate your achievements, if you miss that part out, then YOU ARE DOING YOURSELF A DISSERVICE and burying your accomplishments in the past. RECOGNISE YOUR SUCCESSES and THE FAILURES FROM WHICH YOU HAVE LEARNED and celebrated them. Write down lists of your achievements, skills, and successes to demonstrate that they really do have concrete value to share with the world. When it’s there in black and white, it can’t be denied. Summing Up Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Grapes Of Wrath, John Steinbeck, also fought feelings of inadequacy – he said “I am not a writer. I’ve been fooling myself and other people.”  Imposterism can be debilitating, causing stress, anxiety, low self-confidence, shame and in some cases, DEPRESSION. Perhaps the most damaging part of dealing with imposter syndrome is that it can limit our courage to go after new opportunities, explore potential areas of interest, and PUT OURSELVES OUT THERE IN A MEANINGFUL WAY. Remember “You can still have an impostor moment, but not an impostor life.” Call To Action If today’s topic has resonated with you then I want you to begin to understand the power of your attitude toward yourself. How you perceive yourself, how you talk about yourself, and how you represent yourself eventually becomes a reality for you. One of the first steps to overcoming impostor feelings is to acknowledge your thoughts and put them in perspective. And this is a huge part of productivity too – Self-assessment is an ESSENTIAL SKILL to develop if you are trying to improve yourself. “Simply observing your thoughts as opposed to engaging them” can be helpful, so try and ask yourself ‘Do these thoughts help or hinder me?’” And if it happens that you're putting yourself down, belittling your worth, and making light of your talents, then you will come across as self-effacing, low in self-esteem, and almost a part of the wallpaper. You will also come across as I believe I did myself to some, A PUSHOVER. Your call to action is Take a few moments RIGHT NOW to celebrate your victories and achievements. Take this further by identifying a specific time each week where you can look back over what you have achieved and celebrate it each and every week from now on. Don’t miss out this crucial part of the productivity cycle. If you have a diary, write it in there. Write my achievements and schedule 15 minutes to look back and think on them. This is part of the productivity cycle – if you DON’T do this, you are setting yourself up for a much harder journey ahead. The 15 minutes you commit to this, and it may take less, are more valuable than having 15 minutes of free time. Ending Comedian and time-travelling international man of mystery Mike Myers says “At any time I still expect that the no-talent police will come and arrest me.” If that sounds like you, then I hope this episode will guide you to a better place. Today’s show was sponsored by THE DAVE BULLIS PODCAST and if it wasn’t that show I wouldn’t be here today. I have listened to and enjoyed his shows as I went to and from many a gig and they certainly have taught me a lot and inspired me to do more, not only when I was making films but as a podcaster too. His episodes are incredibly informative and engaging and he has created a body of work which is very significant. Sadly though this hasn’t timed in too well as at the end of this year Dave will be taking down all of his shows and stopping his podcast. It is my hope that they will be repurposed and re-released in some way but as for now, you only have a few days left before they will disappear. In Dave’s last show he recommends this show and Alex Farrari’s Indie Film Hustle and for that too, I thank you Dave. I just listened to his final show a week or so ago and it was absolutely incredible, so if you are a filmmaker and you plan to shoot a feature in 2020 I am ordering you to go and download it right now. Download as many as you can in fact because once they are gone we may not see them again. I’ll link to THE DAVE BULLIS PODCAST in the show notes and if you are on apple podcasts you may have to go there to listen as I think it’s already off of that platform. https://davebullispodcast.podbean.com/e/the-final-episode-alex-ferrari-rise-of-the-filmtrepreneur/ Next week’s show will be a retrospective look over the past 50 episodes with a TOP 10productivity tips section and a good bit of advice for moving forward into this new decade too. Please join me for that and for another 50 awesome episodes yet to come! Let me end with the words of Roy T. Bennett who wrote The Light in the Heart “Believe in yourself. You are braver than you think, more talented than you know, and capable of more than you imagine.” Now - take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’, and join me next time on Film Pro Productivity. The music you can hear right now is Adventures by A Himitsu You can view the show notes for this episode on the official website filmproproductivity.com You can follow my personal account on Twitter and Instagram @fight_director or follow the show on Twitter @filmproprodpod or on Facebook @Filmproproductivity Please support the show by subscribing, spreading the word and leaving an AWESOME review.   References: https://www.learning-mind.com/imposter-syndrome/ https://www.marieclaire.co.uk/entertainment/celebrity-quotes-on-impostor-syndrome-434739 https://www.grammarly.com/blog/imposter-syndrome-quotes/ https://fairygodboss.com/articles/confidence-quotes https://time.com/5312483/how-to-deal-with-impostor-syndrome/ https://www.wikihow.com/Build-Self-Worth   Thanks: A Himitsu Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsuCreative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsuhttps://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A    

  This show is the last of season 2 and today I will encourage you yet again to take control of your life and work and dreams and ambitions by adopting the productivity techniques that I have talked about here on this podcast. Call it a motivational talk if you will, but by recapping on some of the key techniques I have introduced here, I will show you how you can gain back control of your life and take positive action to move forward. As usual, I will do a quick recap on last week’s episode before moving on to the main subject and that show simply recommended 5 more awesome and mostly free apps which are useful for improving your productivity. One thing I have discovered since releasing it is that Apple no longer has the Call Recorder app I recommended in their store, but I have linked in last week’s show notes to several similar apps in order to cover this. Sadly it does seem that Apple is charging for a number of apps that you get for free on Android but I guess that’s the way they roll. If you missed the episode then please go back and check it out as there are some awesome apps in there that will make your life a hell of a lot easier. I’ve wasted too much time on apps that are supposedly good for productivity but have turned out to be not much use in the long run. What I can guarantee is - if you adopt and utilise any of my suggestions, and it’s worth noting is that they are largely free to download and use, that you will thank me later. Can I just add that if you would like to recommend your own favourite apps for productivity for inclusion in a future episode then please get in touch as I’d really appreciate your input on this topic.   THE LESSON Kenneth Branagh’s definition of success, he says, is CONTROL. This doesn’t mean that he’s a control freak - it just means that he wants to be driving the bus. In his career, in his personal life, in whatever he does. I believe that if you don’t actively take control by assuming a level of higher level thinking as I talked about in episode 1, then the chances of you getting where you want to go in your life, or in your career will be near zero. Getting yourself to a place where you are in CONTROL is the basis of this episode. It’s all too easy to get yourself into a state of mind where you feel trapped. Where you feel like you are missing out on your dreams or your goals and ultimately in your happiness because of a decision - or a series of decisions you had made along the way. Those decisions, oftentimes made out of necessity, which were the correct things to do at the time, might ultimately leave you with a feeling of dissatisfaction or indeed, downright unhappiness with where you are now in your life or your career.  You may feel that although you are successful and happy in one area of your life and work that you have lost control or direction in another.  I’ve called today’s show YOU HAVE THE POWER, but I was very close to calling it SAVE YOURSELF. You see buried under the weight of the day to day distractions, commitments, fears and anxieties that you find yourself sometimes lost or trapped within, it really is only you and ONLY YOU that has the power to get yourself out of trouble and back on track. My feeling is that unless you actively work to defeat these distractions and negative emotions that they will drag you down. They smother your hopes and dreams and cling to your time and your mental energy like barnacles – You have to take the hammer and chisel that the productivity techniques I talk about here offer you, and chip away these problems, one at a time. Once you start to do that you will soon get back control and create the ability to steer things in a direction of your choosing. Motivational writer and philosopher Steven Redhead says that you must “Start living by taking back the control of your life now! Create a life more in tune with your true desires.” There are a few parts to that statement I want to reiterate. The START LIVING part is essential – When you start to consider the larger picture, everything that follows will be driven by what you learn from it, and that can only happen if it goes hand in hand with the second essential part - CREATING A LIFE WHICH IS IN TUNE WITH YOUR DESIRES and I would add your VALUES. If you are unhappy, stressed, frustrated or simply lost, then you may feel that the life or career you’d hoped for is slipping away or is already so far out of reach that you have given up. You must remember though that stress and worry over your problems, depletes your energy reserves, solves nothing and actually blocks you from thinking about solutions. In the very first episode of the podcast I said that you should begin to work ON your life and career at the same time that you find yourself living and working IN it - and to do this you needed to develop that HIGHER LEVEL OF THINKING I mentioned a minute ago. I believe that we all have the power to take control, to a degree at least, over our lives but that it is only possible if we engage our minds in strategizing how to do it. Author of ALPHABET SUCCESS Tim Fargo said that “Who you are tomorrow begins with what you do today.” and that “If you want to get ahead you must slow down and focus”. Fargo’s advice to “slow down and focus” is the key to getting back control. Look back to my episode on KILLING THE MICROWAVE MINDSET for more advice on slowing down btw. With well thought out, focused strategies we can create long term plans to achieve what we seek in life. Author Steve Maraboli says “Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what you do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't.” Now productivity encapsulates a large degree of positivity, but sometimes I have to offer advice that is more of a REALITY SLAP than a positive affirmation of what you would like to hear. After I made my feature film, which was distributed by Cineworld and had some success, I was told by the main Scottish film funding organisation, that they would not fund my project development because someone else already had their backing and as someone new to the game there was simply nothing for me. They actually told me that they would NEVER fund me which was quite aggravating, but it was a REALITY which at least they were honest about. The reality slap I ask you to accept is that there is such a thing as SUPPLY and DEMAND. Everyone, right off the bat - can’t be the Director, or the Cinematographer, or the Writer, Designer, Lead Actor or Actress as these are limited positions. Some roles have tons of demand, while others have very limited demand. I don’t mean don’t aspire to that role, just don’t be shocked if the job isn’t there for you when you go looking for it and don’t be shocked if you have to be a camera assistant for a few years before the first opportunity comes along for you to be the DP. Remember that nobody owes you anything. Just because you want a position doesn’t mean someone is required to give you a job. You must demonstrate you can create value for people, or else they’ll find another person to get things done. Creating value means learning things other people don’t know btw. It means doing things other people aren’t willing to do. It sometimes means working for free to demonstrate you’re capable of performing. It means taking on tasks no one else wants and turning them into something better. It means working harder than everyone else. It means demonstrating you’re worth keeping around and worth paying for. And I want to just hammer this one home a bit further with this quote from Gary Vaynerchuk - “A penguin cannot become a giraffe, so just be the best penguin that you can be.” And one more by Charles T. Munger – He said “To get what you want, you have to deserve what you want. The world is not yet a crazy enough place to reward a whole bunch of undeserving people.” I wanted to make that point as there’s a fine line between confidence and delusion – and it’s important you recognise this. If you are getting hot and bothered about getting nowhere fast in your life or career, then persistence and patience maybe useful allies on your journey. If you’ve listened to this podcast for a while you’ll already have the productivity techniques at hand to help you clear the space in your life, your work, your time and your energy to take a breather for a wee while, make a plan and get yourself moving again… this time - in a direction of your choosing. I’m referring to the earlier Tim Fargo quote of course - “If you want to get ahead you must slow down and focus”. I’ve just spent 6 weeks (amongst other things it’s fair to say) writing, producing and hosting this podcast for which I receive no payment whatsoever but I’ve CHOSEN to do this and with that choice comes satisfaction. By assuming a position of Higher Level Thinking I realised that I at certain points in the year I can now afford to work on my own creative projects, this being one of them. I accepted that I don’t have full control over my year. That I can work on other cool and interesting projects with cool and interesting creative people during the larger part of the year to earn money and pay bills, but in the quieter parts of the year I have a tremendous opportunity to advance my own creative endeavours when my work is quiet. I am not sitting on a pile of cash here, but to a large degree at least I am in control of my own life and work. I don’t think there’s a one-size-fits-all answer to this question but I’d like you to ask yourself - WHAT DOES SUCCESS MEAN TO YOU? It’s something you simply must consider if you genuinely want to take control and move forward. WHAT EXACTLY ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE? I can’t help thinking of Simon Synek’s book FIND YOUR WHY when I talk about this SO perhaps you should also ask yourself WHY YOU WANT WHAT YOU WANT? If you know what you are trying to achieve, and why you want to achieve it, then you will be able to determine what success will mean to you. Making these decisions will mean that you can focus on what really matters. Peter Drucker says “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient that which should not be done in the first place.”, and what we are getting down to here is what I talked about in episode 3. That to give yourself the best possible chance of success, you need to PRIORITIZE WHAT IS IMPORTANT OVER WHAT IS NOT. Considering, as I said before, WHAT YOU CAN CONTROL AND WHAT YOU CANNOT will also save you a lot of wasted time and effort. Do you understand? I could go into a number of other factors here, but that’s what the full podcast episodes are for. A contender for chief amongst the lessons here is that - you must look out for toxic people who will get their claws into your time and energy and ensure that your own dreams always come SECOND. Listen to Episode 24 for advice on that one, or Episode 18 for advice on protecting your mental energy as that’s way up there in importance too, but I’m going right back to episode 2 to give you the final piece of advice on gaining control… You have to -  have to - HAVE TO – Learn to say NO. Zig Ziglar says “The first step to getting what you want is to have the courage to get rid of what you don’t.” I’ve written a note on my board for season 3  to do an episode on PEOPLE PLEASING which is a big problem for some of us, and it ’s likely a huge problem for you if you have trouble saying NO to people. Here’s the thing though. Unless you can find the strength within you to start saying NO to things that do not further your own dreams or goals in some way, then you will forever be putting your own dreams and goals second or third or tenth in line to someone else’s and you will NEVER gain control of your own life, or work or creative endeavours. Go right back to episode 2 and have a listen, it’s one of my earlier ones so forgive me if it’s less polished but check it out and take note as YOU ABSOLUTELY MUST LEARN TO SAY NO - you must get over this in built need to people please as the cost is too high. STOP WORRYING ABOUT UPSETTING PEOPLE – If they do get upset because you say NO is that someone you even want in your life anyway? Your life won’t fall apart because you’ve prioritised your own things over theirs. STOP FEELING GUILTY – Why is saying NO to someone causing you this guilt? Saying NO to someone isn’t a moral issue. Saying NO to someone isn’t doing anything wrong – so why feel guilty about it? The fact is that saying NO is doing something right for you, and in the long run saving you stress through overwhelm of over commitment. Stella Adler has a quote for actors which I think I can hijack for general use on this point.  She said – “You need a kind of aggression, a kind of inner force. Don't be only one-sided, sweet, nice, good. Get rid of being average. Find the killer in you.” Maybe you need a bit of that killer instinct to get what you want too. James Doohan, who played Scotty in Star Trek served as a captain in the Canadian Forces and led men into battle on D-Day, said later in life that he didn’t want control, he just wanted to be told what to do. He said he’s spent his military years ordering people about and when that career ended he just wanted to be the best actor he could be. At a glance that may seem that he didn’t want control but he made his decisions along the way, became the best actor he could be and he was happy.  Remember that to be in control you don’t have to be the boss. “You can influence, direct and control your own environment. You can make your life what you want it to be.” Napoleon Hill, unquote. CALL TO ACTION As this is the last episode of the series, their likely won’t be any more than the odd inbetweenisode for about 3 months, so I think that’s plenty of time for me to give you a major Call To Action. If you want to gain control over your life, or your career, or your training, or your creative projects, or free time, or whatever you set your mind to then take the steps I have discussed and that I list here now to do so. Remember too to write all it down as when you take that action it greatly increases the odds of your succeeding in your endeavour. DECIDE ON WHAT SUCCESS MEANS TO YOU. Decide what you are trying to achieve. SAY NO TO ANYTHING THAT DOESN’T FURTHER YOUR DREAMS, GOALS AND AMBITIONS. This will find you time you thought you never had. PRIORITISE WHAT IS IMPORTANT OVER WHAT IS NOT. MAKE A PLAN. Write it down and stick to it. Slow down. PLAY THE LONG GAME. And 5 – BE CONFIDENT BUT NOT DELUSIONAL. If you follow these steps and you will gain control, slowly but surely over your life. Take control and make your life happy. ENDING Internationally renowned psychologist Irene Kassorla said, “The pen that writes your life story must be held in your own hand.” So if you feel trapped, restricted or cornered in some way don’t worry. This too shall pass. Take the steps I suggest to gain back control. You’re going to be ok. Everything is going to be alright. Thanks once again for taking the time to join me on this season. I hope it’s been beneficial and enjoyable for you to do so. I’ll take this opportunity to recommend a few filmmaking podcasts which you may find of interest. Check out Alex Ferrari’s awesome, Indie Film Hustle, Ian O’Neill’s How They Did It Filmmaking podcast, The Filmmakers Podcast which has a number of presenters, but I’ll give a shout out to Giles Alderson as he’s a great supporter of this show, and finally the very first podcast I listened to, the brilliant, Dave Bullis Podcast as I’ve been looking for an opportunity to plug it all season and it’s a great show. Next season I’m considering splitting the show with a new format of 6 interviews with productivity authors and 6 solo shows, but you’ll just have to wait and see what happens. It will come around in approximately 3 months and if you’re very lucky you will get a bonus inbetweenisode or two in the break. Please follow the show on Facebook @filmproproductivity or on twitter @filmproprodpod if you’d like to stay up to date with what’s going on. I also have personal accounts on Instagram and twitter @fight_director Now, take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next season on Film Pro Productivity. The music you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com PLEASE get in touch via the contact page on the website if you would like to suggest new topics for the show and I encourage you to use the Speak Pipe Voicemail service there as I love to hear who is listening – it’s completely free to use. Please support this podcast by subscribing, leaving an AWESOME review preferably on iTunes where it really seems to matter in podcast terms and by spreading the word and getting folk to listen. That’s why I do this after all. Have a great summer! Thanks: A Himitsu   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A Sources: http://www.sean-johnson.com/why-you-cant-be-anything-you-want-to-be/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc4Y72CpHwQ

    In this, the final episode of season 1, I’ll be talking about one of the most powerful weapons in the productivity-ists arsenal GOAL SETTING.   Before I go into that though, last week’s episode introduced 5 free productivity apps which I do encourage you to try. I chose to highlight 5 but I could probably have found 25 if I’d put my mind to it. For every great productivity app though there are 100 more that will steal your time and slow you down and distract you, and even with productivity apps you can get too much of a good thing. One of the very best productivity tips I can offer is to switch your phone off every now and again. Try and form the habit (listen to episode 13 for advice on that one) of restricting your phone use for an hour before you go to bed and an hour after you wake up. This will allow you to focus on all the things you should be doing instead of checking Facebook, or twitter, or getting lost in clickbait, watching YouTube vidoes or opening up your work email. The American motivational speaker Daymond John believes that “the last thing I read at night will likely manifest when I'm sleeping. You become what you think about the most.” Unquote… So take a bit of time out to relax and enjoy life while you can, avoid the phone at night. If you banish the phone form your bedroom in fact you’ll sleep better as a result. Oh and if you use your phone as an alarm, as I often do myself, putting it in another room will give you very good reason to get out of bed sharpish the next morning.   Now with Season 2 coming up soon, I’m very interested in including your thoughts and comments within it. I’d love to hear what productivity techniques you are adopting or what matters that you are struggling with out there. You can send me your thoughts via the contact page at filmproproductivity.com or by catching me on Twitter @filmproprodpod.   Book Recommendation: Your Best Year Yet! A Proven Method for Making the Next 12 Months Your Most Successful Ever.   This book has come very highly recommended. If you'd like to support the copy please purchase through one of my Amazon affiliate links :-)   US: https://amzn.to/2EwGhWr UK: https://amzn.to/2IWauwC   ANECTDOTE Mark Twain wrote that: “To live a fulfilled life, we need to keep creating the "what is next", of our lives. Without dreams and goals there is no living, only merely existing, and that is not why we are here.” Unquote. When I first set out to create this podcast and I know I’ve referred to it before here - but I FAILED. I would say I failed because I was unspecific and uncertain in what I wanted to do. More recently though I dusted myself down and I tried again, and I did a few things differently.   Firstly - I knew EXACTLY WHAT SORT OF PODCAST I WANTED TO MAKE, and…   Secondly - I GAVE MYSELF A DEADLINE, and I have to say that date that you know is looming ever closer, really puts a rocket up your backside when it comes to drive.   Next - When I assessed the goal I was trying to achieve I created a tactical action plan to achieve it, and I stuck to it.   And this endeavour has not been easy at all. It’s been far more costly than I’d thought possible, the learning curve has been sharper than I’d imagined and, and it’s taken far more time too. Researching and recording a single episode doesn’t take just a few hours – it takes days… but I did it anyway.   YES - This is a vastly time-consuming thing for me, but the last main reason that I think that I have succeeded is because – well - I WANT TO - because I absolutely believe that it WILL HELP creatives, filmmakers, and other film professionals to move toward a BETTER, HAPPIER LIFE, and that in turn gives me great satisfaction.   THE LESSON   Have you thought about what you want to be doing in five years' time? Are you clear about what your main objective at work is at the moment? Do you know what you want to have achieved by the end of today? The world renowned motivational speaker and life coach Tony Robbins says that “Setting goals is the first step in turning the invisible into the visible.” – I’ve left the topic of goal setting till now as it is such an important part of the productivity landscape that it deserves its place in the final episode of the series. Goals are essential, and whether they are large or small, daily, weekly, hourly or for life - without them we tend to meander along and settle for where we are.   With New Year just around the corner, and a whole load of productivity lessons behind us, I figured this would be the ideal time to delve into the topic.   I covered it to some extent in episode 11, THE TWELVE WEEK YEAR, but let’s look a little bit closer.   The SMART acronym which is also known as the 5 GOLDEN RULES OF GOAL SETTING is where we will begin. SMART translates to: · SPECIFIC. · MEASURABLE. · ATTAINABLE. · RELEVANT. · TIME BOUND.   By SPECIFIC we of course mean that your goals must be clear and well defined. Without a precise direction to travel in, you will get lost trying to pin down your vague, unspecific and ever changing goals - and that will simply mislead you and short circuit your endeavour. By defining precisely where you want to end up, you have much more realistic chance of getting there. An example of a specific goal might be, to write a first draft of your new film by a date exactly 6 weeks from today. That goal in turn could be part of a larger specific life goal.   And your goals MUST also be MEASURABLE. Unless you are precise about each element of the goal, and include dates, potential costs etc then you will find it difficult to measure the degree of your success. If your goal is simply defined as "To lose weight" how will you know when you have been successful? Without a way to measure your success you miss out on the opportunity to celebrate your win.   The SMART acronym says that you MUST also set ATTAINABLE Goals. In Episode 13 I talked about Stephen Guises MINI HABITS. In that system he aims to ensure that the habits you set out to create are achievable as the damage caused by failure, can be very destructive to your will power – your willingness to try again. But Stephen Guise was talking about HABITS and that’s NOT what this episode is about. We are talking about GOALS – And although you can certainly aim small and achieve the little wins, the goals I encourage you to consider should make you want to "raise the bar" and aim for greatness. I think I have probably use this Peter Drucker quote before but it’s a very important point - He said that “Nothing is less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.” I mention this as these goals MUST be RELEVANT to the direction YOU WANT YOUR LIFE AND CAREER TO TAKE. You simply cannot allow yourself to get distracted by the unimportant. You must engage your Higher Level Thinking and narrow down your focus. If you don’t you will waste your time and mental energy on the unimportant. As Bruce Lee once said - “‎The SUCCESSFUL WARRIOR is the AVERAGE MAN, with LASER-LIKE FOCUS.” Finally your goals must be TIME ORIENTED. So set a deadline for the specific goal: for next week, in three months, or six months. Setting an end point for the goal gives you a clear target to achieve. Remember Parkinson’s Law though - "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion". – Make your time frames realistic but don’t let them be too flabby. Push yourself a little. When you are working on a deadline, your sense of urgency increases and that gives you drive.   Put it in WRITING   I’ll follow up the SMART system by urging you to write your goals down. MINDTOOLS.com makes this point a follows. “The physical act of writing down a goal makes it real and tangible. You have no excuse for forgetting about it.” As you write, Mindtools tells you to use the word "will" instead of "would like to" or "might." For example, "I will produce the pilot episode of my next series by the 1st of February next year” not "I would like to produce the pilot episode of my next series by the 1st of February next year " The first goal statement has power and you can "see" yourself shooting that episode, the second lacks passion and gives you an excuse if you get sidetracked.”   They also suggest that you write yourself a TO-DO LIST that has your goals written at the top of it. You can do that in the TO-DOIST app I mentioned last week btw. You can create titles for each list, and they can be your goals.   I’d add to this that when you set goals for yourself, it is important that they motivate you, that they are important to you, and that there is some value to you in achieving them. If you have no interest in the outcome then the chances of you putting in the work to achieve these goals are very low. As Elon Musk said though, “If something is important enough, even if the odds are against you, you should still do it.” Can I suggest too that you build in reminders to keep yourself on track, and make regular check-ins to review your goals – put them in your diary – I have them in my Google calendar app and they pop up every 6 months. Sometimes perhaps through changes in circumstance you may even alter your long term goals along the way – that’s perfectly fine – just be sure to re-define the new goals and keep on moving. Your GREATER GOAL may remain similar over the long term, but your strategic action plan to achieve it might change significantly. That’s just life. It’s OK.   SUMMING UP   I hope that this episode has been helpful because without goals you will undoubtedly lack focus and direction.   I’d now like you to consider your GREATER LIFE GOALS. These are the larger outcomes you will achieve when you dedicate YOUR TIME and YOUR THOUGHTS and YOUR PASSION to reach them.   Tony Robbins sets out three steps to setting these larger goals. You may want to re-listen to this section when you aren’t busy, and have a pen in hand.   · In Step 1 he says: Take 6 minutes and brainstorm a list of anything you’d like to achieve, create, do, have, give and/or experience in the next 20 years. Write as many things down as fast as you can in this time. · In Step 2 he asks you to go back through your list and write 1, 3, 5, 10 or 20 years next to each goal to indicate how long it will take to achieve them. You have a minute and a half to get this done, so be quick and go with your gut. · In Step 3 he asks you to then review your list. Choose your top four 1-year goals. These are goals that make you really excited. Write a paragraph for each goal explaining why you will absolutely achieve this goal within the next 12 months. This should take you about 15-20 minutes total.   Now, if you have the chance to share what you’ve written down with a friend, family member or other person you trust, do so. If not, just say them out loud to yourself. Tony Robbins is at the top of his game in this field and it’s for good reason - I’ll put some links to him in the show notes.   Now achieving these goals won’t always be easy - Booker T. Washington said that “You measure the size of the accomplishment by the obstacles you have to overcome to reach your goals.” So things will get tough - but goal setting will allow you to navigate the correct path and provide you with a benchmark for determining whether you are actually getting there. I’ll finish up now with the words of CS LEWIS “You are never too old to set a new goal or to dream a new dream.” Having goals is for everyone, it’s not just a game for the young. In whatever path you take and whatever goal you set out to conquer I wish you well.   CALL TO ACTION   So that is now the end of series 1. I encourage you to look back over the previous episodes and see if there’s anything that you missed. This season has been kinda structured to help those that are feeling overwhelmed in their life and work, and much of it has been aimed at stemming the flow of lost time and energy. In episode 1, I introduced the concept of HIGH LEVEL THINKING, and the principle of working ON your life and career at the same time that you find yourself living and working IN it. By now, I hope that this concept has had a bit of an impact on you and that you have been able to, at least in part, take back control of your life.   In season 2, I’ll continue to introduce even more productivity topics. I’ve got a good idea of where I’m heading with it, but I’d love to include YOUR thoughts and comments within it. If you want to help, please let me know what you are struggling with by leaving short voicemail message on the speakpipe recorder on the filmproproductivity.com contact page. You can always send a written message but if you leave a voicemail I may include it in future episodes.   ENDING   I feel that before I go I should explain perhaps why I’ve chosen the seasonal format. That fact is that in order for me to avoid my own OVERWHELM, and to allow me to go and SHOOT my OWN new CREATIVE PROJECTS, I just can’t commit to delivering an episode of this show every week of the year.   And it’s a choice I made before I started. My SPARE time, my days off between paid fight contracts or the stolen hours on shoot days when I find myself hanging about waiting to be called to set, when I’ not writing risk assessments, is currently dedicated to researching and writing these episodes. I now HAVE to commit these lumps of spare time to a DIFFERENT creative project.   As if I did say yes to releasing a new episode EVERY week, I’d be saying NO many other opportunities.   But don’t worry – I will be back. I will return in just a few months with a new 12 episode season.   If YOU would like to SUPPORT this podcast, then please buy from one of my AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS listed in the film pro productivity.com show notes. I think the way it works is that you don’t have to actually buy what I suggest, but if you go to Amazon through my links and buy anything at all, I get a supportive bump for directing you there.   You can even hit me up using the DONATE button on the website too. It’s at the bottom of each page.   Just as important though, I’d like you to keep telling people that the podcast exists, keep leaving awesome reviews and generally spread the word. Knowing that this podcast is helping people is perhaps the greatest reward of all.   For now though - take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next season on Film Pro Productivity.   · The music you can hear right now is Adventures by A Himitsu · You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/epsiode15 · Please follow me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod · Finally I’d like to thank fellow podcaster Stephen Rowan, of THE STEPHEN ROWAN SHOW who produced the 1st two episodes for his knowledge and advice in guiding me to a better podcast. I’d also like to thank The DAVE BULLIS PODCAST, PODCRAFT, SCHOOL OF PODCASTING, The NO FILM SCHOOL PODCAST, The FILMMAKERS PODCAST, and INDIE FILM HUSTLE for the inspiration. · Thanks for supporting the show by subscribing, spreading the word and leaving an AWESOME review. Sources: https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newHTE_90.htm https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/287870 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zLtfzsaP58 https://www.mindtools.com/page6.html

Show Notes EPISODE 10 – MULTITASKING (The myth) Transcript Thanks again for clocking in and listening to the show. I really appreciate the fact that you are willing to give this podcast your time from whatever hectic schedule you find yourself in. If you like what you are hearing and want to help the show then the best way to do that is to just tell people about it, subscribe to it, and to leave a great review. I want to build an audience and although I’d be happy to know that it helps just one person out, good audience numbers will, in turn, help me to have faith that it’s all worthwhile. On last week’s show, I gave you 4 productivity rules to hack procrastination and get things done. If you missed that episode then check it out as it’s a doozy. As usual, I’d love to hear how you are getting on with the techniques and concepts that I talk about here and you can get in touch via the contact page on filmproproductivity.com. Why not leave a message for me on the speakpipe voicemail service I have there? H you in person would be really quite amazing. One other thing I want to say at this juncture is that I will do an episode on goal setting towards the end of the season or maybe even at the start of the next as without clear long-term goals, much of these productivity techniques effectively become tools for fighting fires as it were – Tools for dealing with the more immediate problems that come up in our life and work. Once you have a vision and a goal to reach they will in turn support that and help you to move towards it. I look at this 1st season, and the preseason too as kinda being themed for those suffering overwhelm and burnout so I have that in mind as I choose topics. The tools for fighting these productivity FIRES that come with overwhelm will buy you time to stabilise your position and starting looking towards those long-term goals.  THIS WEEKS INTRO This week I am talking about multitasking and why it’s a bad thing for productivity. You’ve likely heard the old adage that HE WHO CHASES TWO RABBITS, CATCHES NEITHER – or maybe you prefer SHE WHO CHASES MANY RABBITS CATCHES NONE. Simply doing one thing at a time is the most direct way to be EFFICIENT and ultimately PRODUCTIVE in what you set out to do. If you “chase too many rabbits” or too many “goals and objectives” simultaneously then you will likely find that you end up with none of them at all. To choose to follow one idea when our brain is churning out a 10 new thoughts a minute though, can be very difficult, but until you can get over that hurdle and get yourself focussed on one thing then you’re guaranteed to dissipate your energy and slow down your journey towards whatever goal you have in mind. ANECTOTE I personally don’t find this easy by the way but I’m getting better at it. Even as I sat down to write this episode I had to stop myself from doing too much at once. Although I have a clear idea of what I wanted to say I found myself with a copy of Garry Keller and Jay Papason’s awesome THE ONE THING book at my side, about 8 or 9 different tabs on the subject opened on Google, and social networking pings and addictions luring me to look at my phone every 2 minutes – I was jumping from one the other to build up the episode and offer new things and new ideas but it was slowing and slowing and the episode was going nowhere. I’ve had to stop and take on my own advice. Now the phone is off, the book and tabs are away and I start again with only one thing in mind. To create an episode on this topic that will make a difference. Just before I go onto the lesson I just want to say that the book, THE ONE THING I mentioned a minute ago is awesome, and I will do an episode review of it somewhere down the line for sure. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes but although I’ll touch on some it’s key messages here it covers way more than these basic concepts and I can highly recommend it. Gary Keller points out in THE ONE THING that “Multitasking is a lie” which is kinda where I’m going with this episode. THE LESSON Messing two things up at the same time isn`t multitasking” The constant jumping about of the mind really slows us down. That’s one of the fundamental problems with the multitasking. Every time you switch, you need to refocus on a new thing, and that in turn takes a bit of time. When I first looked into this I heard this example. If you count, 12345 you can do it in like 2 seconds. And if you go through the alphabet a,b,c,d,e, then maybe 1 or 2 seconds works, but if you have to do both at the same time, 1a, 2b, 3c, 4d, 5e then the total time is nearer 5 or 6 seconds. For me, in that one example, that’s multitasking proven to fail. And a win for the DO ONE AT A TIME ideology. Concentrating on a single task is one aspect of something called FLOW, or the FLOW state of mind. WIKIPEDIA says about this, quote “In positive psychology, flow, also known as being in THE ZONE, is the mental state of operation in which a person performing an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and enjoyment in the process of the activity. In essence, flow is characterized by complete absorption in what one does, and a resulting loss in one's sense of space and time.” Put simply then, if you are jumping about you really will never hit any sort of flow. New York Times Columnist David Brooks points out that “A person who is interrupted while performing a task takes 50% more time to complete it and make 50% more errors.” I used to think that multitasking was something I was good at, and I had a sort of pride in it, but I have come to realise now that it just slows me down and if anything it stops me from achieving my goals. I might feel busy and productive but the reality is that I still jump about between tasks and with every jump I slow down and lose more and more time as I tune back in. I can kinda multitask “a bit” but only on a very basic level. For example, I can walk the dog and listen to a podcast, but to be honest, that’s maybe slightly unfair on my dog Angus who demands somewhat more attention than at times I want to give. You’re almost guaranteed too that 5 or six times in the walk I’ll yank the headphones out of my ears or their socket when I throw a ball, and I have to reset it. But by doing this I am kinda doing more than one thing at the same time. If I multitask on most things, however, I am literally just doing a bit of one and a bit of another and then returning to the last one and doing a bit more. When multitasking, the quality of your work goes down, and your understanding and comprehension goes way down with it. More often than not when I meet a new person I instantly forget their name – because my mind is somehow distracted and unable to process or retain the new information. I’m terrible for this and I really have to work at it. So multitasking short circuits the short-term memory, meaning that very often we have to revisit things which if we’d done one thing at a time we would have managed. When doing several things at once, your mind is divided between them and it’s guaranteed that your mistakes will multiply. The name forgetting thing is a good example. An AD introduced himself to me on set yesterday and I was straight in and working out a fight and I had to covertly ask his name a wee bit later. I’d totally not taken it in. You see when I'm multitasking: I can listen, ignore and forget at exactly the same time. And today’s fast-paced digital world where we have phones pinging every couple of minutes and apps to which we become addicted makes focusing on just one thing all the more difficult. Maybe you have more willpower than I do, but if you want to stop procrastinating and get stuff done. Let's start by putting that phone far away – like in another room, and by using the do not disturb function, by just deleting the apps that suck your time away time and time again or even by turning it off! Yes, I went there – turn your phone off, then your productivity will increase as your focus on the task at hand narrows in. I have a freelancer stress thing about my phone that goes beyond the app addiction btw. It’s a hang on from the days when I really needed the work. I feel that I can’t miss a call or that if an email comes in I must answer it right away. I’ve basically had to deal with that. I know it’s a thing. My higher level thinking self, knows it’s not that important and so when it comes to meetings or even visiting family or friends I try to switch my phone off. Unless I know that I am expecting something important. The thing is EMAILS generally DON’T NEED RESPONDED TO RIGHT AWAY and unless that important CALL is expected, you can ALWAYS just CALL SOMEONE BACK. We can chill out. Everything is going to be alright. We all know too that checking your phone whilst you are in a meeting or with friends, then it’s kinda rude and disrespectful but can find ourselves doing it nonetheless. In a meeting, it means you are not on the ball and if you a professional then you should bring your “A game”. Flight mode, silent, do not disturb or preferably off are all better options than checking your Facebook feed whilst the director talks about their vision. Have a notebook and a pen. That’s what you really need. And you can always doodle if you have to. Just give others your full attention and show respect. Be IN THE ROOM. If you are running a meeting then ask people to turn their phones off. I know many go paperless now on ipads etc but they can still have their devices on flight mode if you ask them to. Before I wrap this all up I need to talk a little bit about mindfulness here. This is a productivity pod but I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that saving time and energy is not really about fitting in more and more work. Becoming more productive simply means to be more efficient and effective. I said this in episode 1 and its important – it’s kinda the whole point in fact - If we can be more effective , save time, be better, be more productive we will move forward in our goals and as we do that and achieve great things, it will free up more time for family and friends, and for us to think about our health and ultimately improve our outlook and spirit. Never lose sight of that. Buy yourself a break. I’m open to the possibility that you do not like what you hear here or that you totally disagree but if you genuinely want to be more productive, significantly more productive - then you just have to learn to do one thing at a time. SUMMING UP Gary Keller says that SUCCESS DEMANDS A SINGLENESS OF PURPOSE but even knowing all this I still find myself checking emails when I should be working, and checking Twitter and Instagram when I should be paying attention to the people in front of me. And I still end up on Youtube watching cat videos and the knight rider theme played on the Banjo (Which is awesome btw but I digress). If you can do one thing at a time and not get bored by the focused effort, not check your twitter feed or play a game every couple of minutes and interrupt whatever, then you are far more likely to succeed. CALL TO ACTION I’ll be revisiting this subject now and again as there’s a little more to it that I think will be useful for you. I don’t want to overload you with too many applications of this. In learning, as I learned myself when I became a fencing coach many years ago, we all need a period of reflection on a topic, to think about it and ingest and consider it before bringing in more. Take these gaps between episodes to consider what I’m introducing and try the techniques out. Try to kill that nasty multitasking habit you’ve gotten into, or your forever distracted by technology way of working you have developed once and for all. This episode covers a simple but powerful message. Give it a try. You’ll thank me later. ENDING So thanks again for tuning in - Next episode I’ll be talking about my TWELVE WEEK YEAR and how I used it as an escape plan to move out of an overwhelmed rut and onto the path of productivity. For now, though, take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me NEXT TIME on Film Pro Productivity. The music that you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode10 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then spread the word about the show and I’d really appreciate it if you would leave an awesome review. References:  https://www.forbes.com/sites/lisaquast/2017/02/06/want-to-be-more-productive-stop-multi-tasking/#59de681955a6 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)#0 https://www.ics.uci.edu/~gmark/chi08-mark.pdf  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O4bmWPM_LWU Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A

Show Notes EPISODE 9  – FOUR COOL HACKS TO BEAT PROCRASTINATION Transcript   So I’m a good bit into the podcast now and I feel that I’m doing alright. I hope you’re finding possibilities in what I’m presenting here and that they are working for you. I think that any early troubles with the Podcast feed or syndication have been dealt with now but if you ever do have trouble with it then grab the Podbean app from the link on my website. Film Pro Productivity is syndicated all over the place but Podbean is my media host and will always have the new episodes first. It’s a free app and it’s available for IPhone and Android. I also post the latest episodes on the website as they launch and you can grab them there if you prefer to listen on your desktop. Last week I introduced the very simple 5 second rule and talked about how it can be used to overcome obstacles, and cheat the brain into conquering your fears. I’ve been trying that one out and it certainly does work if you can buy into it. THIS WEEKS INTRO Procrastination makes easy things hard, hard things harder. Mason Cooley This week I’m going to squeeze in 4 more productivity “rules” that I know will make your life easier and continue to help you to beat procrastination and just get things done. I’m talking about the one-touch rule, and it’s close cousin the two minute, then I will move on to the 5-minute rule and the 10-minute rule. These rules have much in common but if you can get to grips with them individually they’ll help you to decimate your task lists and kick procrastination right in the mammy daddy button. ANECTOTE My fightdirector.com email address receives a vast number of messages every day and if I don’t pay attention to it overwhelms me. On many occasions, I’ve found myself having to stop everything else just to work back through those emails and deal with the backlog. The simplest productivity technique of all is the DELETE button but once it’s done its job I’m left with a plethora of small to mid-sized replies, links and follow-ups to deal that just can’t be avoided. I started looking for solutions and ways of thinking that could help me clear my backlog of incomplete tasks quickly and efficiently and s. I’ve been messing about with these sort of things for a few years now - some float to the top and get used more than others and a few start to become habit - Nowadays I find them coming into play in day to day life without me consciously considering them. The four rules that I am introducing today are solutions to procrastination problems. It needn’t be emailed, it could be telephone calls or just simple jobs about the house - It can even be larger tasks that you’ve split up into chunks. That’s called chunking btw and that in itself is an awesome productivity method. THE LESSONS Firstly I want to introduce to you The one touch rule which simply means that you must process a task the first time you touch it. YOU MUST PROCESS A TASK THE FIRST TIME YOU TOUCH IT. It was formalised by Productivity consultant Ann Gomez and it’s more of a guideline or a hack than a rule but if you adopt it, you’ll find that most of the little tasks that can clog up your vision, and deplete your mental energy start to disappear. Ann also points out that it builds the habit of starting things only when you're ready: She explains and I quote, “It's a simple trick to help you batch your work into scheduled, focus blocks: you won't open an email until you're ready to give it your full attention, or you'll decline to accept your co-worker’s rough draft until later when you know you'll have the time to sit down and do it.” I use this all the time now, especially when collaborating on scripts with my colleague Bryan. I ask not to be sent updates as they come up but I schedule time to look at new drafts and complete my work on them at one sitting. It’s immensely useful and saves both of us from wasting time. Beyond that specific use, I use it to blast small tasks like email sorting right out of the water, to generally prioritize better and I force myself to stop leaving tasks half-finished. That just clogs up my brain and messes me up. The two-minute rule is another simple strategy. I first saw it in David Allen's bestselling book, Getting Things Done and I threw it out there at the end of the 1st episode in very basic terms as I felt I should introduce at least one technique before asking listeners to join me on episode 2 - but here it is in a little more detail. It’s also an anti-procrastination hack. All of these small rules can be used in that way but there’s a bit more to them. They can generally be used to tackle tasks that aren’t actually that difficult to do. The 2 Minute Rule overcomes procrastination or as it’s sometimes known laziness by making it SO EASY for you to start taking action that you can’t say no. It’s surprising how many things we put off that we could get done in two minutes or less. That’s the rule in action - if you have a task that takes less than two minutes, just do it now. You got an email to respond to? Do it now. You got an online payment to make? Do it now. Need to pack the dishwasher. Do it now. Need to send an invoice, or send a thank you text, or make the bed or whatever you have to do, just do it now and it’s done, and it's behind you. If you don’t then these small easily doable jobs build up and suddenly you’re looking at 10 or twenty of them and they’re on your mind and they’re a mountain of work. If you shoot them down as you go, then they are gone and you’ll be able to focus on the stuff that matters. Doing them as you go has the fringe benefit of giving you an on-going feeling of accomplishment and this buoys your spirit and brings confidence and positivity into your life. A good example and its something that I do every day is just to make my bed. Now this, like many of the productivity techniques I adopt, might seem to be unimportant but think of it like this. That minor achievement, every day, means that I am leaving the house, even with early starts on film shoots with at least a small sense of accomplishment before I leave the house. My day actually starts very early and I achieve usually a lot more, but we’ll talk about the 5 am miracle at another time.  Can all of your goals be accomplished in less than two minutes? No, but every goal can be STARTED in 2 minutes or less. And that’s the point. Small accomplishments like this start to become a habit and large jobs split into small parts, become after time, a sum of their parts, and complete. So that’s the basics of the two-minute rule. Give it a try to see if it’s something that will work for you. Get your head in the right space and see what you can either deal with in two minutes or that you can begin or chunk into two-minute bites. Once you’re sitting down to do something you may find, kinda like the one-touch rule that you complete it in that sitting. Thinking of it as a two-minute commitment though will possibly trick you into doing more. My next rule again links into that and it is known as The 5 Minute Rule. Kevin Systrom the billionaire CEO and co-founder of Instagram came up with this simple trick to tackle procrastination. It’s similar in many ways to the 2-minute rule but is worth tackling separately. Kevin’s 5-minute rule states that “If you don’t want to do something, make a deal with yourself to do at least five minutes of it. After five minutes, you’ll end up doing the whole thing.” According to Psychology Today, we procrastinate because of. LACK OF STRUCTURE. Without knowing why we are doing something or when it is to be done by we find ourselves putting it off. We find ourselves checking Facebook instead of doing work and today's easy online access makes this easy. I’m a terrible addict of Youtube, but when I’m focussed on a specific task with a deadline my focus becomes much sharper. UNPLEASANT TASKS. Any task we consider unpleasant, boring, or uninteresting is one that we can find ourselves putting off to another day. Here procrastination occurs when you postpone tasks because they are not imminently important. If there is good reason to put them off, for example, because you have higher priority tasks to deal with first, then that’s fair, but if not, why not just deal with them and move on? SELF-CONFIDENCE. When difficulties arise, people with low self-confidence develop doubts about their ability to accomplish the task at hand, while those with strong beliefs are more likely to continue their efforts. I cover this topic in the episode about the inner voice. Episode 6. If self-confidence is a problem then check that one out. I think this is particularly true of some creative roles in the film industry. A close cousin of lack of self-confidence and one I know all too well. Avoidance is a well-known form of coping with anxiety. Procrastinators will postpone getting started because of a fear of failure and evidence also indicates that procrastination is associated with high levels of stress. To relieve stress procrastinators shift their focus away from the future toward more immediate rewards in order to avoid challenging high-priority tasks. …and I personally can take procrastination much further - I’m a black belt in procrastination. I’ll procrastinate over even the opening of an email, because I’m frightened and anxious that it will cause me bother, like clash with a job I have already started or create more unnecessary work for me. If I have things running smoothly, I get the fear that an email or the returning of a phone call will upset my finely organised day or week and I’ll try and dodge it. So the five-minute rule tricks our brains into thinking that we can dip quickly into a task, but once we are in there it also makes room for us to re-assess our position and, after ultimately overcoming the initial burst of effort to get started - it allows us to choose to give it more time. You might not want to do it at first, but once you have started and committed just 5 minutes, you will likely decide that you might as well get it finished. The momentum created by starting a task is carried forward should you choose to give it more time. And once you’ve started, you just might find that you have a more positive attitude toward the task than you thought beforehand and actually want to give it more time and mental energy. Also if the task you have started at first seemed vast, then once you are into it, it may feel more achievable and less impossible just because you are moving forward. So that’s the 5-minute rule, but wait a minute did I not do a full episode on the 5-second rule in episode 8, then how many rules can there be? And can you handle one more – If yes - what is The 10-minute rule? Well, put simply it states that - Every task on your to-do list should take no more than 10 minutes to complete. If tasks longer than 10 minutes, then break them down into smaller tasks or delegate it to someone else. This rule involves setting the alarm on your phone or a stopwatch to go off after 10-minutes and that in turn focuses your efforts into a very tight timescale. This isn’t about tricking your brain, this is about setting yourself forced deadlines to complete specific tasks. To help you to follow concept this let me talk about Parkinson's law - Which is the adage that "work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion" – This is an awesome concept and is so true it makes me laugh. It goes hand in hand with my episode on perfectionism too. If I say give myself a week to write notes on a script I’ve been sent, I can guarantee you I will take a week, but if I’m given 4 hours to do the same job I bet ya I can get it done. No, it might not be perfect but I’ll get it done. That’s Parkinson's law in action. It’s incredible to see what you can achieve when you consciously commit to the ten-minute rule. It’s like an extension of the High-Level Thinking I batter on about and all it takes is a bit of conscious effort to make this work. I want you to find those easy ten minute tasks or break a larger project into ten-minute bites and set a timer. It can be an email reply, a phone call, a brainstorming session - whatever. This stuff is always easier of course if you remove any distractions so get your phone and that time destroying app you find yourself on all the time, you know the one, and either delete it or get it the hell away from you. Actually yeh – delete that app in fact as you’ll need the ten-minute timer on your phone. That app’s a great distraction, isn’t it? Get rid of it. You know I’m right. And that do not disturb function on the phone is just a click away remember. Hit that too. Now set the timer and get to work. That’s all you need to do. SUMMING UP I always like to end episodes with a quote a Brainy Quote threw up these, Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy. Wayne Gretzky a Canadian Athlete came up with that one and I love it, but more commonly I hear “Never put off till tomorrow what may be done day after tomorrow just as well.” ― Mark Twain Not everything is urgent and not everything needs done today, but if you know you have a problem with procrastination and you can feel things getting on top of you then grab hold of these techniques and start applying them - You’ll find that life will get a little easier and as a side effect you might find yourself a little happier too. CALL TO ACTION These rules really work btw but you need to engage in them and commit. You might be asking yourself, how does this work? It doesn’t make sense. Well suck it and see. That’s all you need to do with the things I discuss here. There’s a lot of info in this episode and I’ll detail all of it with links to resources in the show notes, which can be found at filmproproductivity.com/episode9. Take just one or all of these techniques and give them a test drive. The one-touch rule, the 2-minute rule, the 5-minute rule and the 10-minute rule. All are similar but different. All are highly effective if applied correctly. Abraham Lincoln said that “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.” If procrastination has snuck up on you and you are in a bit of trouble then grab one of these rules, apply it to your life and work today and things will get easier. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about MULTITASKING AND WHY DOING ONE THING AT A TIME IS A FAR, FAR FAR BETTER OPTION. For now, though, take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me NEXT TIME on Film Pro Productivity. The music that you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/Episode9 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would spread the word and leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://lifehacker.com/stop-leaving-tasks-half-finished-with-the-one-touch-ru-1626933101 https://jamesclear.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating https://www.themuse.com/advice/the-10minute-rule-it-seems-crazy-but-it-will-revolutionize-your-productivity https://qz.com/work/999979/the-five-minute-trick-that-helps-instagrams-ceo-crush-procrastination/ Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.       Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A  

Show Notes EPISODE 8 – The 5 Second Rule Transcript On this week’s show, I will be talking about MEL ROBBINS 5 SECOND RULE and how you can use it to cut through indecision, Beat fear and uncertainty, hack procrastination, Become confident, Share your ideas with courage, Stop worrying and feel happier. Before that though, in the last episode, I detailed how the Pereto Principle can be applied to our lives and work, to save time and effort on the wrong things. Have you been able to identify something in your own life or work in which the 80/20 rule can be applied? If you have then have been able to make it work for you? I’d really love to hear from you so please remember that you can call into the show using the speakpipe recorder on filmproproductivity.com’s contact page or get in touch via twitter @filmproprodpod if you want to report in. THE LESSON I’ve got so many anecdotes about missed opportunities and risks not taken in my life that I could fill out a full episode just on that, but amongst them all, it’s very probably opportunities missed when working with people that I admire that I regret the most. It took me three times working with John Gordon Sinclair for me to actually pluck up the courage to discuss Gregory's Girl with him, a film that I absolutely love. TBH it was my friend Fin that told him I was a fan in the end. I directed fights on a movie with Idris Elba and Clarke Peters in it too, it was called Legacy and was shot by Black Camel Pictures in Glasgow. I regret not asking for my photo with these two amazing actors. I talked myself out of it. I talked myself into just sailing along and not engaging too much as I was in awe. When all is said and done I should have asked one of those amazing actors if they’d consider being in one of my films. I didn’t ask, and I have regrets… This week I decided to try a new productivity hack. It was to listen to the audio version of a book rather than reading it. I chose Mel Robbins 5 Second Rule, which I listened to on Audible whilst I was driving to and from work and at the gym. It was an excellent exercise and the content was strong - I figure that while it’s fresh on my mind I should bring it to you – I’ll also post a link to it in the show notes as it’s got far more to it than I can possibly go into here. I’d also like to say that Mel reads the book herself on Audible and it’s a great listen.  She is passionate and enthused about the technique which she first raised on a Ted talk that you can view on Youtube. That was in 2011 and I’ll put a link to it in the shownotes. Right up front, I’ll clarify, just as Mel does, that we are not talking about a rule for picking up dropped food. But Mel’s 5 Second Rule is simple. If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it. I’ll say that again If you have an instinct to act on a goal, you must physically move within 5 seconds or your brain will kill it. This Rule is a simple, one-size-fits-all solution for the one problem we all face—we hold ourselves back. The secret isn’t knowing what to do—it’s knowing how to make yourself do it.  Mel’s Ted Talk is called How to stop screwing yourself over and I love that title, as I do think that we sabotage our own efforts time and time again through politeness or upbringing or fear of letting others down. The thing is, if you watch the TED Talk, The 5 Second Rule is something she says literally in the last two minutes, but it’s so essentially simple, and actionable that it’s spawned a book and a whole ethos. Mel explains that The 5-second rule is a way of harnessing “activation energy”.  That’s a chemical term, but it’s one that serves Mel’s productivity rule well. She says that the moment you feel an instinct or a desire to act on a goal or a commitment, use the Rule. When you feel yourself hesitate before doing something that you know you should do, count 5-4-3-2-1-GO and physically move towards action. Through little acts of courage, the 5 Second Rule makes you less afraid over time. But the “right time” might never come, so you just have to start. The 5 Second Rule helps to override your feelings, a tactic which is called psychological intervention. There is a window that exists between the moment you have an instinct to change and your mind killing it. It’s a 5-second window. And it exists for everyone. So - How does this work? Just start counting backwards to yourself: 5-4-3-2-1 – Mel tricked herself into getting out of bed when she really didn’t want to, the morning after watching a rocket launch – and how did she do it? How did she stop herself from hitting snooze again and again on her alarm clock. Well she counted down 54321 and took action. It’s as simple as that. In whatever you are doing, as soon as you reach “1” – push yourself to move. The counting down focuses you on the goal or commitment at the same time that it distracts you from the worries, thoughts, and excuses in your mind. 5 seconds is all it takes. But if you don’t act on an instinct within that 5-second window, that’s it. You’re not doing it. She breaks this down further and explains that there are 5 elements to the rule. “The moment you have an instinct…” which Mel defines as any urge, impulse, pull, or knowing that you should or should not do something because you can feel it in your heart and gut. These instincts are the urges. They are the “knowing” that you should do something even if you don’t “feel” like doing it. “To act on a goal…” and her point here is that it’s an instinct that’s tied to a goal. The “gut feelings” when our hearts and minds are trying to tell us something. And usually, these gut impulses are tied to greater goals. “You must push yourself…” The Rule is about pushing yourself even when you don’t want to. It’s about taking control of your own life, one push at a time. The moment comes. You feel the instinct. You know it’s tied to a goal. Right now. It’s a window of opportunity. Your brain wants to shut this instinct down. It’s going to do it. But, in that moment, you take control. “To move within 5 seconds…” Physical movement is the key. All you need to do is move in the direction of your instinct. If you do not take physical action WITHIN 5 SECONDS, your brain will kill the instinct. You do your countdown. 54321 And then you GO. You take action. This could mean a number of things. It means saying something you’ve been holding back. Speaking up at a meeting. Putting on your running shoes. Grabbing that healthy snack. Holding your tongue instead of saying something mean to your partner. Sending that email to a potential client or mentor. Anything that’s related to your goal. These 5-second windows, as she calls them, are the critical moments between you changing your life and your brain stopping you. “Or your brain will kill it.” If you don’t physically move within 5 seconds, your mind WILL kill your dreams. Your brain is like an overprotective, irrational, “helicopter” parent. It has 3 basic jobs. It narrates your life as you live it and catalogues your memories. It operates your body’s functions. And it protects you from danger. How does it protect you? By keeping you from doing anything that feels scary, hard, or uncertain. So the 5 Second Rule is a way to outsmart your brain by changing hesitation into ACTION. The book is full of real-life stories of the 5-second rule in action, with examples such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King to those that follow Mel’s lead these days and use the rule in their day to day lives. It’s a tool that creates massive change. Those 5-second windows add up. In almost any situation, there’s an application for the Rule. SUMMING UP Mel Robbins also points out that “from each small act of courage, more courage follows. It compounds and says that hopefully when you’re old, you will be able to look back on a courageous life.” Much of this episode uses the words of Mel, but I felt that was a good quote to end on. CALL TO ACTION Before you doubt all this, try it out. Try it yourself. Mel Robbins rule first touted in that Ted Talk just 7 years ago, allows you to create great drive in yourself, find courage where there was none and to seize the opportunity when it arises. In this week’s call to action, I urge you to get to grips with the 5-second rule. When that alarm goes off, don’t hit snooze. Count 54321 and get up. When you see an opportunity to talk to someone you admire, count 54321 and talk to them, don’t let your brain take over. When you are stuck and need to make any decision hit 54321 and you will find the decision has been made, subconsciously for you and you will be able to move on. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about The One Touch rule and other systems which will allow you to deal with the day to day slog of getting stuff done! Until then - take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next time on Film Pro Productivity. The music that you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode8 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would spread the word and leave an AWESOME review. Mel Robbins Ted Talk - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lp7E973zozc Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A    

  EPISODE 7  – APPLYING THE PARETO PRINCIPLE Before I go on to that though, thanks again for choosing to spend your time here with me. I really do appreciate it. Last week I spoke about silencing the INNER CRITIC and how to use your positive inner voice to fuel your drive and put you firmly in the driving seat. I would love to hear how you are getting on with that and any of these techniques I raise here. Also about what you are struggling with out there, so if you have a moment to spare click onto the contact page at filmproproductivity.com and leave me a message. Your feedback will be very useful in helping me to plan future episodes. I’m slowly refining the podcast and if I can understand what other pros are struggling with then I can create new episodes to cover those topics. The speak pipe on the contact page allows you to leave a message and your message could be included in future episodes. THIS WEEKS INTRO On today's show I’ll be looking at one of The Productivity Worlds most effective strategies – often referred to simply as the 80/20 rule. ANECDOTE In January I started applying the Pareto Principle to all of my fight directing work. My premise was this. I was tired of having my time wasted by low paying fight days, and even more tired of jobs which were a pain in the ass and messed me about. I, therefore, started saying NO (a premise I detail in episode 2 of this season) to any work that I didn’t want to do. If it’s not a HELL YEH, then it’s a NO, remember? I also decided to not hunt down work on which the communication with potential employers was bad. If I was availability checked for example, and then left hanging, I stopped phoning them and asking for info. If they want me they will find me. The result so far, and as I put together this episode its August, well the result is the I am doing less work, for fewer companies and I am getting paid more money. I’ve had people knocking down my door to ask me on board, and yes once or twice I’ve still had my time wasted but overall I’ve owned it and had the best financial year of employment I’ve had in the last 10 years or so. To further prove my point, do you think I would have produced this podcast if I’d been fannying about with time wasters and amateurs? The Pareto Principle works, but what’s it all about? If you enjoy this episode and would like to know more about the Pareto Principle please support this podcast by buying the book The 80/20 Principle by Richard Koch through my Amazon Affiliate link. I get a small bump for any sale made (Doesn’t have to be what I am linking to either!)   US: https://amzn.to/2DktgOX UK: https://amzn.to/2OI3dCF   THE LESSON The Pareto Principle is also known as the Pareto Rule or the 80/20 Rule. It was named after economist Vilfredo Pareto originally referred to the observation that 80% of Italy’s wealth belonged to only 20% of the population. He became somewhat obsessed with this ratio, seeing it in everything. For example, he observed that 80% of the peas in his garden came from 20% of his pea plants. It is sometimes referred to as “The Law of the Vital Few”. The basic principle that 80 percent of consequences come from 20 percent of the causes or an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs has been drawn into the productivity world and has had a massive impact. So roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Let’s apply that to my anecdote there. I realised that 80% of my income was coming from 20% of my clients. By effectively ignoring or giving minimal time to everyone else I was able to focus and give a better commitment to my remaining well-paying clients. Adversely I’d say that 80% of my hassle comes from 20% of my clients, so the added benefit of not chasing them down or deliberately side-lining them was that I no longer had all that hassle. I had hassle with well-paying jobs but then that was well paid. It was worth a bit of hassle, but any poor paying big hassle jobs went in the can and I at the other end got lots more time off to work on what I want to do. Do you get it? Do you see why The Pareto Principle is awesome yet? Let’s look at it in more detail. AN IN-DEPTH LOOK AT THE PARETO PRINCIPLE It must be noted that the Pareto Principle is the observation (not law) that most things in life are not evenly distributed. It can mean that: 20% of the workers produce 80% of the result 20% of the customers create 80% of the revenue 20% of your clients cause 80% of your heartache 20% of your effort creates 80 % of the finished work 20% of criminals commit 80% of the crimes. 20% of pub-goers consume 80% of the alcohol. 20% of car drivers cause 80% of the accidents. Or looking at it another way: 80% of value is achieved with the first 20% of the effort 80% of work is completed by 20% of your team We spend 80% of our time with 20% of our friends. From my personal point of view I can say that: 80% of my fight work uses 20% of the techniques and skillset that I have. 80% of the time I spend on the phone is virtually useless. If I didn’t enjoy Twitter and interacting with the community there I would shut it down, and occasionally when things start to get on top of me I do. If you’re interested in speed reading then you might agree that 80% of the value in a book can be gleaned from 20% of its content. I wear 20% of my wardrobe 80% of the time. I’ve done a bit of a Steve Jobs on this in recent years and tend to wear the same style of shirts and jeans and boots every day. I have multiple sets and I just don’t have to think about it anymore. That’s really a comment about decision fatigue which I’ll get into on a later episode. As a final example and if we are to believe Woody Allen: 80% of success is just showing up – that makes some sense if you consider that "showing up" is 20% of the effort… Richard Koch, who wrote the book The 80/20 Principle explains the common misconception that the numbers 20 and 80 do not need to add up to 100. They are cause and effect – meaning they are not of the same denominator. It just so happens that the observation made by Pareto was 80/20 - I’ll quote from him here as he is the main man when it comes to this and I’ll put a link to that book in the show notes. “The numbers don’t have to be “20%” and “80%” exactly. The key point is that most things in life and work are not distributed evenly. It doesn’t have to be a literal 80-20 ratio — for example, 70% of the effects can be contributed by 15% of the causes or 60% of effects can be contributed by 30% of the causes. The percentages of effects and causes don’t have to add up to 100% either — 80% refers to the effect while 20% refers to the cause, meaning they are not of the same denominator. It just happened that Pareto’s observation was 80-20 (rather than 70-20 or 60-10).” I watch a lot of YouTube, frankly too much YouTube – I’ll have to do an episode on YouTube addiction once I figure out how to beat it. There’s a guy on there that talks about language hacking and I only speak English so I’m useless when I’m anywhere else so I’ve watched a few of his - His whole system and he’s released a lot of books on this - is based on the principle that the 20% of the words in any language account for 80% of our usage. By making a list of words organized by how frequently they’re used, and studying just those, he can account for a significant portion of daily usage. He also had another hack which effectively says that a lot of other languages use versions of English words and that you should learn them first, but that’s me getting side-tracked. Very interesting though and its a terrific real-world example of The Pareto Principle in action. So let’s look at how this can actually be applied to our life and work in the creative industries. If 20% of your tasks bring 80% of the results – on any specific goal – then this means that we can accurately find the tasks which must be made a top priority. We can prioritise these tasks over other less important work to achieve maximum results with the least effort. With that knowledge, we can become highly efficient with our time and prioritise with that knowledge For me, the whole 80/20 principle thing is a way to prioritise. It allows me to focus on the vital - the 20% high-value tasks, rather than spreading myself thinly across everything. It allows me to say, my time is not worth that effort – whatever it may be – and I can delegate the less important work, automate it, postpone it or just remove it altogether. Look to episode 3 if you want to know more about prioritising. SUMMING UP So let me sum up. Richard Koch says that: “Conventional wisdom is not to put all of your eggs in one basket. 80/20 wisdom is to choose a basket carefully, load all your eggs into it, and then watch it like a hawk.” I can’t believe I’ve done this many episodes without referencing Tim Ferris – well here we go at last. Tim says “Doing less is not being lazy. Don't give in to a culture that values personal sacrifice over personal productivity.” What a great line eh?  Why the personal sacrifice – what is it getting you? Heartache? Stress? Let it go. Value your own time more. Listen to Dale Carnegie who said  “Do the hard jobs first. The easy jobs will take care of themselves.” – That’s the 80/20 rule in action. CALL TO ACTION So if  The Pareto Principle is the prediction or observation that 80% of effects come from 20% of causes. Can you assess any aspect of your own life or work where you can apply it? If the answer to that is yes, then what are you waiting for? That’s this week’s homework. Assess your own task list and apply it – I am certain you will find something in there to which this applies. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about Mel Robbins’ 5 second Rule and how you can use it to cut through indecision, Beat fear and uncertainty, hack procrastination, Become confident, Share your ideas with courage, Stop worrying and feel happier. For now, though, take control of your own destiny, silence those negative thoughts, keep on shootin’ and join me NEXT TIME on Film Pro Productivity. The music that you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode7 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would spread the word and leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://www.amazon.co.uk/80-Principle-Expanded-Updated-Achieving/dp/0385491743 Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A    

    EPISODE 6 – DEALING WITH YOUR INNER CRITIC   In this episode, I’ll be talking about negative and debilitating thoughts and how to handle them. Last week I left you with my thoughts on perfectionism and why it’s a really bad thing. I wanted you to stop trying to be perfect and start living your lives. That was your homework. I have a feeling that for those of you who tried it will have given some real results. Are you aware of your inner voice or inner monologue – The part I’m talking about today is more aptly named the inner CRITIC – it’s that voice in your head that will troll you and put you down at every opportunity. It’s talking to me right now, literally right this second. It’s saying. This is a waste of time. No one cares. It’s saying, what if I get this wrong? I don’t know how to launch a podcast. People are not going to be happy about me giving out advice – what makes me so special? It’s saying Film Pro Productivity is a terrible name for a podcast anyway. It’s saying lots and lots of negative things about everything that I do, everything that I plan and everything that I create. It’s more persistent than any internet troll, any annoying idiot on a forum and any film critic out there. The film critics that think they are cutting when they review other peoples work, are nothing NOTHING compared to that inner voice that’s whispering in our ears during every step of the creative process and saying this, whatever it is you are doing – just ain’t good enough. This inner critic can be totally self-destructive. If we listen to it. THE LESSON I have my own opinions about the topics I raise on Film Pro Productivity but I do a good bit of research on them before I bring them to you so that I can bring you a more rounded opinion. On this topic, however – and I think this s particularly relevant to those working in creative industries such as film - there wasn’t much. I mean it’s out there but it’s thin on the ground, it’s sometimes disguised under different headings, but you have to dig. I found good information in some online articles aimed at women as it happens, although this is definitely a problem which both sexes have to face, and I think particularly for CREATIVES. One article details a survey that Activia did where they asked women what was holding them back from reaching their dreams? 80% of the time, the answer was themselves. There are of course positive and negative voices to our inner monologue. On one shoulder we have a devil with a pitchfork and horns but on the other we have an angelic saint wearing a halo. At least that’s what they look like in the cartoons. Each one is saying don’t listen to the other guy, whispering in our ears and influencing our lives. Of course, in truth, they are far more complex characters. I’d go for a sarcastic internet hater (the ones that lurk on forums just waiting for you to say something they can disagree with) versus a sensible guiding mentor, teacher or even a supportive parent but the visuals for them are a lot more complex. If I split our inner monologue into three different parts though: The INNER VOICE – is the positive voice that supports, calms and reassures us - born from our sense of right and wrong and our sense of goodwill, family and friendship. It gives us drive and is fuelled by passion. This inner voice should be considered as our guide. It’s the voice that says Let’s do this. Get up, brush your teeth, pay your bills, write that script, go to the gym, phone your mammy and don’t worry. Everything’s going to be alright. It’s the voice that calms you, allows stress to wash over you and that says well done, good job and sometimes, lets you just walk away. The much quoted Derek Sivers line - if it’s not a HELL YEH, then it’s a No, comes from that inner voice advising us that maybe this job or task or invitation is not good for you – It is looking after your wellbeing. You won’t ever get this voice mixed up with the inner critic as the inner critic will be grabbing you round the throat and whispering poison in your ear - but you might feel that you have lost touch with reality a little and there are solutions to that. I’ll do a future episode on affirmations which will go into this in a bit of detail. Consciously curated affirmations can act as a crutch for those feeling lost out there. The second element would be what I have talked about in detail already - The INNER CRITIC –If we let this bully take control, it will feed our self-doubt, pick on our weaknesses and say we’re not good enough, not worthy enough, not charming enough, not experienced enough and if we start listening to it we are going to stop ourselves before we even start. There’s a third part to this perhaps which I’m going to tackle in a mini-episode which I’ll release just after this and that’s Rumination. It’s like an extreme form of the inner critic but it’s not so much an inner voice, more a replaying of experiences emotions or thoughts in an endless loop that keeps you awake at night and wears away at your soul. I’ll talk about it separately as it needs a bit of time to get into, but we can tackle it and we will. DEALING WITH THE INNER CRITIC The way I see it, there’s a fourth part to all this. The part that listens to the negative voice. The silent partner that passively gives the critic an ear in which to catastrophize... You. Let’s give permission to that silent partner to speak up. My favourite example of a creative overcoming their inner critic is.  JK Rowling - Harry Potter was rejected by 12 publishers before BLOOMSBURY picked it up for an advance of just £1500 quid. It’s now sold over 450 million copies worldwide. If she’d listened to her inner critic she’d not have persevered and the world would have missed out on an absolutely cracking set of stories. I’m certain that JK Rowling had a few moments along the way where she said to herself – What am I doing? But she persevered, shut down that negativity and drove what she believed into completion. Support this podcast by purchasing anything at all through my affiliate links. The Harry Potter Complete Collection is not a productivity book but it's still awesome... :-)   US: https://amzn.to/2MSFBtk UK: https://amzn.to/2I5bZbh   What can we do to combat the inner critic? It’s easy to say just ignore it, but perhaps trickier in practice – what we can do once we have recognised that it is there is to implement strategies to live with it or disrupt its influence along the way. In time you will build habits that will give you back control. First Things First - How’s about you just give yourself a break? Don’t concede to the enemy within. If you recognise what I’ve been talking about where you can handle it - this podcast will help you to recognise when the critic is in the driving seat and it’s then that you can say no to the negative voice and take over. Building up our belief in ourselves and our self-worth is key. I get a LOT of fight directing work in the UK – It’s how I pay my bills - but it took a visit to China and after just a few minutes of watching the amazing Donnie Yen direct a fight sequence for me to realise - that wow – He works exactly the same way I do. I’d forgotten how good I was as I almost always work on my own. It’s easy to forget how good you are at what you do if you live and work in a vacuum. It’s also too easy to stop yourself before you start. One of the principles of good mental health is to get out there and experience the world. If you find your inner critic gets to be just too much – try going for a walk. Hit the gym. Meet a friend for a coffee. Just the change of environment can make the difference and help you to remember that you are in control. You can also defeat the inner critic before it starts by planning ahead. Define what your tasks are very specific. Plan what you want to achieve and don’t want when you start on something. One article I read said that the inner critic will make incomplete and undefined tasks an “amorphous blob of un-do-ability” which is a wonderful description. That’s what your inner critic will make of unspecific tasks. Listen to my episode on prioritising and use the brain dump technique and prioritising strategies to define exactly what is important. With a written plan you can save yourself a lot of time and give your work focus. That plan might allow you to break larger tasks down into a series of smaller more edible tasks, to effectively make them a sum of their parts. Parts so small that the inner critic will find it harder to combat. Using the techniques from my episode on perfectionism will also allow you move on. Don’t catastrophize! I used to be really bad for this. Stop yourself from dwelling on worst-case scenarios, and all the things that could possibly go wrong and look towards what is realistic. I had an unbelievable conversation with a young assistant director at the Edinburgh Film Festival this year. He’d convinced himself that no one wanted to hire him but the reality was he hadn’t actually sent out a Resume or told anyone out there that he was available for work. It’s amazing how debilitating that critic can be. His solution was to take action, and I advised him to do so. In the words of Winston Churchill – Success is not final – Failure is not fatal – it is the courage to continue that counts. Taking action is my solution to many of these debilitating situations, and to do that you need to develop Drive. A subject which I’ll commit an entire episode to later on. It goes hand in hand with the self-belief that I mentioned a minute ago. Constant unchecked movement will create a snowball effect and allow you to develop a habit of work that your inner critic will be unable to stop. One other action you might take if you have reached an impasse with your inner critic is to share your thoughts with someone else. Getting out of your own head; Like I talk about in my earlier episode on Prioritising in fact, and hearing feedback from someone else that you trust will silence your inner critic quite effectively. Talking it over with a friend will give almost always give you a realistic perspective if what you’ve been doing is catastrophising - presenting a situation as considerably worse than it actually is. SUMMING UP The Psychologist William James said “The greatest weapon against stress is our ability to choose one thought over another.” The weapon therefor and the choice of how you wield it is yours - You are the master of our own destiny. CALL TO ACTION Use the techniques I’ve talked about today to tackle your negative inner thoughts and you will find that you will have a more productive and happy life as a result. Next time it happens. Catch yourself and question it. Use your positive inner voice to fuel your drive and put you firmly in the driving seat. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about THE PERETO PRINCIPLE and how it can be applied to our work in the creative industries. For now, though, take control of your own destiny, silence those negative thoughts, keep on shootin’ and join me NEXT TIME on Film Pro Productivity. The music for this podcast and that you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode5 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would spread the word and leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://joshkaufman.net/getting-things-done/, https://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-immediate-and-easy-ways-to-silence-your-inner-critic/, https://www.psychologytoday.com/gb/blog/compassion-matters/201305/4-ways-overcome-your-inner-critic Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A        

  EPISODE 5 – PERFECTIONISM & WHY TO AVOID IT On this week’s show, I will be talking about how PERFECTIONISM is NOT the way forward if you want to be PRODUCTIVE and HAPPY. Before we start though last week I detailed the 5 a day for good mental health system which I had attached to the acronym ALIVE. I hope that it’s been a good topic of discussion for you and its helped a few people along the way. If you missed it you can access it right now on the podcast app of your choice or at filmproproductivity.com/episode4 THE LESSON Leo Tolstoy in AnnaKarenina says “If you look for perfection, you'll never be content.” so this is no new topic of discussion In productivity terms, PERFECTIONISM, or dealing with the problems that arise as a result of perfectionism, could have been split over two episodes as it’s a huge topic. It is something that tied me down for years - I have found it a major hindrance in my life. Good was never good enough and good enough was rarely PERFECT. Now I’m ABSOLUTELY NOT saying here that we shouldn’t have high standards but perfectionism is a trait which will more often than not leave you frustrated and dissatisfied with your work even if it’s excellent. It can incapacitate you if you let it, create strain on your relationships, damage your health and leave you constantly unhappy and disappointed. I used to think that my perfectionism was a strength, in fact at one point in my life it was on my Resume for like 2 years. I was obsessed with getting things right, I still am, to be honest, but I am no longer a perfectionist. International productivity author Stephen Guise wrote a book about this called How to be an im-perfectionist – That’s a far better description of how I see myself now. Stephen says If you don't manage to reframe perfectionism as a damaging and inferior mindset, the illusion of its superiority will thwart your desired changes. You can support The podcast by buying the book How To Be An Imperfectionist by Stephen Guise (or indeed anything else via this link) from Amazon. I am an Amazon Affiliate and get a supportive bump back for the podcast from any sale. Alternately hit the DONATE BUTTON at the bottom of the page :-)   US: https://amzn.to/2xGP9lp UK: https://amzn.to/2OI0ARj   Shortly after I made my feature film, I had a colossal breakdown and only then did I begin to realise that perfectionism was what had put me there. I was diagnosed as having a dissociative disorder and PTSD – Yes PTSD – who would have thought that making a low budget feature film would lead to similar mental stresses to those returning from war zones? During my recovery, I signed up for health classes the STEPS organisation, which I think are now called Wellbeing Glasgow.  One was called Dealing with Stress – and every 6 weeks in Glasgow at that time 130 new people started with that class – stress today is an epidemic and it is killing people. In the hand-outs that we got with the classes, there was a list of things that led to stress, anxiety and depression. Top of that list was the word PERFECTIONISM. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The thing that I had always thought was a positive trait was, I suddenly realised, the likely reason that I had gone bananas. My obsession with getting things perfect, and rarely achieving that goal, had been destroying me. It’s not PC to say this anymore, but I was having a nervous breakdown. I couldn’t remember things, I had no confidence left, my perception of reality was skewed and I was frightened and totally burned out. But the realisation that everything doesn’t have to be PERFECT is something that many people find hard to swallow - I mean what’s wrong with wanting things to be perfect right? Well – wanting things to be perfect is normal, but becoming obsessed with achieving perfection can be paralysing. It cramps your life and leads to anxiety, depression, eating disorders, stress and other mental health issues - and all of that, in turn, leads to damaged relationships, a problematic work-life balance and ultimately loss of joy for life. You see as a perfectionist. There can be no room for mistakes. They spend a crazy amount of time correcting tiny mistakes that ultimately don’t make a difference. They are hypercritical, taking the finish of what you are doing to a level far beyond that which others would deem excellent. Things have got to be done their way, and that’s a very specific way. They find it very difficult to find good people to work with and many people won’t want to work with them for fear of miss-footing and drawing their wrath. As a result, they disregard their health, compromise relationships, take on more and more and all of that leads to more and more pressure, lack of sleep and stress. Even if they delegate, they keep worrying about it. They micro-manage, even when things are going well. They become obsessed with the end result. They don’t care what it takes to achieve the goal, and if they don’t make it, they feel like a failure. They even get hung up on past perceived “failures” because they just can’t let go even years later. They can’t stop thinking about work, because they are afraid everything will fall apart without them. Their, what I would call, inner critic is forever trolling them and comparing what they are doing with what someone who has done it for years has done. So they are immensely hard on themselves. Because their standards are so high they become huge procrastinators– I don’t know the number of filmmakers out there that have made films and not even released them as they have lost faith in what they are doing. It’s not perfect so it has no worth. They become perpetually locked in a state of preparation, waiting for the right moment to proceed. For the perfect alignment of the stars which will result in the perfect product. It’s crippling. No matter what they do, it’s never enough. Success is never enough for that inner voice I mentioned earlier. It’s a motivation killer because they hold themselves to unachievable standards and much of the time they don’t even start. It is ALL or NOTHING. We're constantly worried about your work being judged – which is not surprising as in this social networking age we will be. And finally they leave themselves no room to get better – They have forgotten that we all need to make mistakes in order to learn. SO LET'S TALK ABOUT HOW TO BEAT PERFECTIONISM If you see yourself in what I’ve just been describing then fear not, WE CAN BEAT THIS ADDICTION TO PERFECTION, REPROGRAM OUR VIEW OF REALITY and STILL ACHIEVE BRILLIANCE IN WHAT WE SET OUT TO DO. I beat my addiction to perfection with this simple premise - I asked myself in whatever it was I was doing: Is this perfect? NO Then I asked myself - Is it good enough? and my good enough is really very good btw – and if it isn’t good enough I will do more but if my truthful answer is YES - if it meets my minimum standard – Then I will give myself permission to move on. I just won’t allow myself to get hung up in a perpetual loop of micro improvement and I will proceed with imperfection. I’ve seen that this is also the conclusion that many others in this field have come to. Stephen Guise’s solution is effectively the same as mine but adds another level. He has a floor and a ceiling to his high standards. His im-perfectionist lives between the floor, or the bare minimum standard for it to be ok, to be good, passable, and acceptable and a ceiling – which is a magical dreamlike perfection, the highest possible standard. He explains that the perfectionist who seeks the highest possible standard makes that their floor, and in turn that makes their ceiling unachievable – On that basis, the PERFECTIONIST will NEVER REACH PERFECTION. Changing your standard from the unachievable to a very high standard frees you up from all the other problems that come with it. Try going for 80 or 90% of perfection. That’s a much more achievable aim. Eliminating perfection from your life is NOT a THAT’LL DO philosophy. It allows you to set high achievable standards. As we embrace imperfection we need to kill the ALL OR NOTHING MINDSET by accepting that there is a natural progression to things. We can advance my question by asking - Is it good enough FOR NOW? Can I let this stand FOR NOW and improve it at a later date? Writers will do it in their drafts and redrafting process, gradually improving. Students will study to get better and as their understanding of a topic or skill broadens they will improve. The best analogy is perhaps the one of learning to ride a bike. You have to practice to get better and eventually the training wheels will come off. You can’t immediately achieve brilliance – You should work your way towards it. On that same topic, we must stop comparing ourselves to others. Applying constant pressure on yourself to meet the unrealistic standard that a competitor or mentor that has 20 years more experience than you sets is the ultimate route to procrastination. Fear of your work not being of a high enough standard will simply make you stop because you are holding yourself to an ideal they can't possibly reach. Yet. We also need to focus on the positive and on the things we are doing well. We can’t linger on our doubts and allow the inner voice to paralyse us. Switch off your negative self-talk. We must also make health our priority and stop sacrificing rest in the name of work. Care for yourself. Make fitness and eating priorities in your life and don’t let stress creep up on you. One that I am trying to figure out right now and I am having some success with is that we should embrace the process and not be so target oriented. Stay in the moment and enjoy the task. Don’t make your happiness depend on whether you hit a goal or miss it. Having goals is a truly great thing but if the bar is too high then it will just be demotivating. We must figure out our work/ life balance and not go down the slippery slope of obsessing over our work at the cost of missing our families or our partners. We must value our relationships and personal life. If you put 100% of your energy into work you will leave no room for anything else, including your own downtime. We must learn to delegate, and that’s something I’ve raised in earlier episodes of this podcast. You may feel that it’s easier and faster for you to do everything yourself but that’s not really the case. It may be done a little differently from how you would like it done, but if you find good reliable people to work with, and relay your instructions well, then whatever task you delegate will get done. Here’s a secret that I use to get great work done by others. I only work with brilliant people. You’ve got to hunt for them, but they are out there. We must prioritise our tasks and ignore the less important. A perfectionist will try to do it all and dissipate their energy. If you can prioritise, and I spoke about that in my last podcast, then you can focus on what is the most important without being hung up on the small details. SUMMING UP My all-time favourite quote on this topic is by ― Ernest Hemingway who said that “The first draft of anything is shit.” I’ll balance that last quote with one by Lao Tzu who says that a journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step. I love this one as it captures the spirit of recovery. When you understand the ideas that these quotes demonstrate, and realise that DONE is better than PERFECT, it opens the door for us to write that first draft, or make our first film, or record our first sound or paint our first painting or even – as I am proving here – create your first podcast. I’ve spent a lot of time on my podcast but it’s anything but perfect. I know that, and I am releasing it anyway. I don’t compare it to the awesome podcasts that are already out there but I do allow them to inspire and educate me. I celebrate them as I put this one together. I silence my inner critic and release my imperfect Podcast to the world, and I do it with courage. No one is going to hear it if I don’t release it so here it is. Completed and out there. I’ve fought through my procrastination, launched with imperfection and know that I will get better as I create more and learn from my mistakes. For now, though I hope that it has been useful to those who have listened and that you will be able to take the ideas which I have presented forward and into your own life and work. That filmmaker that’s frightened to release his film as it doesn’t compare to Spielberg’s latest masterpiece CALL TO ACTION How many of you have slaved over the wording of an email for example – working at it to be perfect? Was that email really that important that it deserved an hour or more of your time? Probably not. That’s a tiny example of perfectionism intruding on your time and mental energy. Spot this perfectionism and work round it. TEACH YOURSELF TO CARE A LITTLE LESS. I just want you to stop trying to be perfect and start living your lives. That’s the homework. ENDING If you want to tell me how you are getting on with the productivity concepts that I talk about here then I’d love to hear from you. Get in touch via the speakpipe recorder on filmproproductivity.com’s contact page or on twitter @filmproprodpod. If you can take a minute or two to tell me what is working for you and what you are struggling with then I’ll do my best to feedback in future episodes. Thanks again for listening – This has been a big episode so Next time will be shorter – I’ll be talking to you about ALIVE - a simple acronym to improve your mental health. But for now, just take control of your destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next time on Film Pro Productivity. The music for this podcast and that you are listening to right now is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode5 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would spread the word and leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8pti-Swh_E&t=59s, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAoakO64ixA, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/better-perfect/201611/9-signs-you-might-be-perfectionist Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A    

  Show Notes EPISODE 4 – 5 A DAY FOR GOOD MENTAL HEALTH A.L.I.V.E. This week I’ll be talking about 5 simple steps to a happier life through mental well-being using the acronym ALIVE. ANECTOTE We have designated Mental Health Awareness Weeks every year. In Europe it’s in May, in North America, it’s usually the end of September into October. World suicide prevention day is on the 10th September every year. 1 in 5 people across the world suffer from some form of mental illness. It’s a topic that we need to talk more about. We need to eliminate the stigma about mental illness and talking about it is a great way to start. I first came across the 5 A Day for good mental health system when I was attending stress classes run by Glasgow’s STEPS program, now called Wellbeing Glasgow. In that 6 evening course, it was raised and presented as part of the class and detailed the books that accompanied it. Later on, I went on to volunteer with the course leader Dr Jim White on media matters. The 5 a day system had made a great impact on me but as I questioned him on it I couldn’t recall them all. At that time. Neither could he. It was some weeks later when I travelled with my brothers to Moniaive in Dumfriesshire to attend my Aunt Jean’s funeral, that my brothers and I came up with the acronym ALIVE to remember the system. If anyone ever wonders where this episode was born, it was there in that car, and this podcast is my first effort to get it out there. THE LESSON Before I go into my own interpretation for this let’s talk about 5 A DAY FOR MENTAL WELLBEING. It was borne of a European Union survey on mental health which for the life of me I’ve never been able to track down. Now, this 5 a day system is touted everywhere, and quite rightly as it’s a brilliant and effective system. It consists of 5 elements.   Connect Connect with the people around you: Your family, friends, colleagues and neighbours. Spend time developing these relationships. Put five minutes aside to ask someone how they are Arrange to meet up with friends that you haven’t seen in a while Join a local group or club and meet new people in your community   Be active You don’t have to go to the gym. Take a walk, go cycling or play a game of football. Play Pokémon Go! Find the activity that you enjoy, and make it a part of your life. Go for a short walk at lunchtime Discover a physical activity you enjoy and one that suits you   Keep learning Learning new skills can give you a sense of achievement and a new confidence. So why not sign up for that cooking course, start learning to play a musical instrument, or figure out how to fix your bike? Sign up for a class and learn something new Rediscover an old interest, such as cooking or gardening Take on a new challenge to make or fix something   Give to others / or Volunteer (your time) Even the smallest act can count, whether it’s a smile, a thank you, or a kind word. Larger acts, such as volunteering at your local community centre, can improve your mental wellbeing and help you build new social networks. Volunteer your time for a cause you are passionate about Spend time with someone who you know has been having a difficult time   Take notice Be more aware of the present moment, including your feelings and thoughts, your body and the world around you. Some people call this awareness “mindfulness,” and it can positively change the way you feel about life, and how you approach challenges. Set aside time to practise mindfulness or take up yoga Take notice of how your friends or colleagues are feeling Spend time outdoors, enjoy the fresh air and notice what’s around you So these are quite simple steps which we should all be aware of, but how do we easily remember them. ALIVE My system uses the appropriate acronym ALIVE. A - Stay active, keep moving every day. L – look about, observe the world about you, watch a sunset, smell a flower, I – Interact with others, get out of the house, V – volunteer your time, you don’t need to start a podcast, just help someone with the little things like lifting their shopping, mowing a lawn, or just lifting up the phone and lastly E – Educate – Keep learning – that is the key to your future. Try Udemy or listen to more podcasts. Keep that brain active and keen. If a specialist doctor couldn’t remember these off the top of his head then I can assure you that we need this. It’s my gift to the world. Take it – fly with it – spread the word. Just telling people about this will make you feel much better about your own troubles. It’s a great conversation starter and it really helps those in need. Productivity is as much about gaining a happier, healthier life as it is about getting more done. Having poor mental health is as sure to stop you working as anything else. SUMMING UP “When your mind is in a dark place it is difficult not to think in shadows.” ― Charlie Hasler, Words From An Unlikely Poet With one in five people suffering this means it is likely that you or someone in your immediate family or someone you work with is struggling with their mental health. Can you imagine them having to deal with that stigma? A stigma that causes people in need of help to keep it to themselves! Dealing with mental illness is extremely hard on its own, doing so in silence makes it that much harder. CALL TO ACTION This week's call to action is - if you know someone with a mental health concern, reach out and talk to them. Let them know that while you may not understand what they are feeling, you are there for them and are supportive of them. Share this podcast, or the ALIVE acronym to help get the conversation started. There will be a full transcript on the website. I want you to memorise the ALIVE acronym and talk about it often and keep spreading the word. ENDING Thanks again for listening and for giving me your time. I’d like to thank Doctor Jim White and the STEPS team in Glasgow for helping me in my own struggles and I dedicate this episode to my old friend and creative colleague Keith Munro who we lost some years ago. Next episode I’ll be talking about PERFECTIONISM and how it can be applied to our work in the creative industries. For now, though, take control of your own destiny, silence those negative thoughts, keep on shootin’ and join me NEXT TIME on Film Pro Productivity. The music for this podcast is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode4 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://www.livingwell.org.au/well-being/five-ways-to-mental-wellbeing/ https://www.samh.org.uk/about-mental-health/self-help-and-wellbeing/five-ways-to-better-mental-health Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A  

   PRIORITIZING In this episode, we will be looking at how to prioritise your tasks and gain clarity of mind that will allow you to move forward. Before we start though: have you been actioning the word NO from last week’s episode? I started with NO for good reason – it’s going to stop you sliding down whatever slippery slope you are on. Whatever time-consuming rabbit holes you have found yourself in. This week’s topic is prioritising because saying NO to the wrong things means that you can start saying YES to the right – Saying NO liberates you from non-essential commitments and makes much more room for you to say yes to what is meaningful and important to you. It opens up free time by giving you choices. NO being one that will stop the influx of new commitments, MAYBE which will buy you time to think about a commitment and YES which comes from knowing that commitment is something that furthers your end goals something you really want to do or perhaps just something that pays the bills. But how can you decide what’s important and what is not? THE LESSON I nearly called this episode WHITE NOISE AND HOW TO NAVIGATE THROUGH IT as that’s often how I feel when I get bogged down in my THINGS TO DO list – It’s a foggy buzzy place where I can get lost and sometimes I find myself obsessing over things which when all are said and done, are just not important. That fog, no matter how driven you are, can drop down and, in productivity terms at least, hide from you what is important, and cause you to slow down and meander into a rhythm of unproductiveness. About a year ago I picked up 6 retro  VHS camcorders from a college that was getting rid of them. I had them sent to me and all in it was about £200. Great deal and I had a plan for them. I was going to give them to fellow filmmaker friends with a challenge, I’d give them a camcorder and a single tape which costs about £2, the means to capture from them which was another £10 and I was going to ask them all to make a short film to a deadline with a prize of keeping the camcorder and something more for the winner – It would be fun right? Wrong. I ended up chewing over how I would do this for months, and it was always on my mind. I had a Ton of other far more important things to do, fight contracts that required constant attention, relationships, I had just got a puppy, I had my own films I was trying to develop and a load of house-related problems and personal matters that needed my time and time. When I stopped for a moment and looked at what I had on my todo list it was probably 6 months later and I was drowning. Within two minutes of assessing what I had to do, I realised I had to dump this camcorder idea. As I stopped and took stock I realised it was a total waste of time and money. I mean if I’d been a millionaire playboy with plenty of free time maybe I could have done it with my friends one weekend, but I’m no millionaire. By simply eliminating this task not doing it I was able to: Save a load of money. Save a load of hassle - communicating and organising an idea which other filmmakers would likely not have the time to actually do anything with. These people have businesses and families. Save a load of time. This project wouldn’t have taken 5 minutes. It would have taken weeks and possibly months of time I didn’t have. Free up my mind for more important things. Getting what’s on your mind and onto paper, or on to a whiteboard as that’s my preferred medium, allows you to honestly assess what is important and what was not. My time consuming altruistic camcorder idea which would ultimately led to me giving away my those camcorders just didn’t fit with what I was about at that time. I only realised that though when I stopped and assessed all that I had on my mind. Prioritising starts with what I call a BRAIN DUMP. Get a whiteboard or a just a piece of paper, but whiteboards are cheap and really give you a good chance at tackling this sort of thing. I actually have 4 large whiteboards in my office and one at home for doing this sort of thing. Get that whiteboard and Dump whatever is on your mind onto it. Get it all out there. Any incomplete task, anything that’s on your mind and anything that is slowing you down. If you’re using a whiteboard and run out of space you can always photograph it and type it up and start a new board btw. If you enjoy this episode and would like to support the show, please buy whiteboard through my Amazon Affiliate link. I get a small bump for any sale made (Doesn’t have to be what I am linking to either!) Thanks! Whiteboard US: https://amzn.to/2xGP9lp UK: https://amzn.to/2NvDMro   Now the task of getting everything onto a whiteboard or a piece of paper starts to make a difference to your mind. That working space that’s been holding these ideas and worries starts to free up. That RAM or headspace can be put to better use than remembering all these incomplete tasks. Just having that host of tasks in your head will actually tire you out. In 1927 a Russian psychologist called Bluma Zeigarnik found that waiters remembered orders only as long as the order was in the process of being served. When we hold multiple things in short-term memory, we have to rehearse them continuously, otherwise, they would disappear. This requires a lot of cognitive effort and the more things we are rehearsing the more effort. The Waiters had better recollections of still unpaid and incomplete orders but after the completion of the task — after everyone had paid — they were unable to remember any more details of the orders. This trick now known as the Zeigarnik effect is very well applied by soaps and serials. The episode ends, but the story doesn’t. Thus you get stuck in a cliffhanger. Software designers do the same things with games. The point is that this is a thing, it’s been understood for years and it’s something you can deal with. HOW TO SAY PRIORITISE So now that we know that we have gotten these tasks out of our short-term memory and on a whiteboard or a piece of paper we can now apply one of several systems to help us to prioritise. The "Eisenhower Method" stems from a quote attributed to Dwight D. Eisenhower: who said "I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent is not important, and the important is never urgent." I’ll detail that system in the show notes but my preferred system is Rory Vaden’s focus funnel. The way this works is - If you can imagine a funnel wide at the top and getting tighter as it goes down, you would run you to do list through this. This dilutes your list into a priority list. ELIMINATE – What can you get rid of. For me, it was, amongst other things, the camcorder thing. It was an incomplete task or loop in my head and it took up space for no good reason. AUTOMATE – Examples DELEGATE – Dog Walking. PROCRASTINATE – till a later date CONCENTRATE – This is the dilution of what is important.   SUMMING UP The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule but to schedule your priorities. Stephen Covey I’ll look at the bigger questions of life purpose and life goals which will, in turn, inform your priorities in a later episode but the combination of a Brain Dump and the Focus Funnel system will help you to navigate your way through the white noise of everyday life and work and start to get back on top. Straight off the bat, decide what of your to-do list can be eliminated – combine that with a  bit of honesty in yourself and the word NO I talked about last time, and you are well on the way to escaping that overburdening feeling of obligation you may have gotten yourself into. CALL TO ACTION Let's get that white noise out of your head and onto a piece of paper, or a whiteboard. Apply the focus funnel, which again will be shown as a diagram in the show notes and you will soon get back control. Remember that you are driving the bus, not some unimportant commitment or incomplete task. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about PERFECTIONISM and why it’s a really bad thing. Good luck in the week ahead. Buckle up, take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next time on Film Pro Productivity. The music for this podcast is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode3 If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://www.southwesternconsulting.com/roryvaden/blog/the-focus-funnel/focus-funnel-from-procrastinate-on-purpose-by-rory-vaden/ Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin. Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A  

    Show Notes Episode 2: HARNESSING THE POWER OF NO Transcript THIS WEEKS INTRO In this episode, I’ll be talking about how the word NO can turn your life around and get you on the road to success. ANECTOTE Saying no is very near the top of the productivity techniques that I use most often – Learn to say ‘no’ to the good so you can say ‘yes’ to the best. John C. Maxwell Too many commitments that do not serve your own goals and objectives in life or within a specific project only lead to overwhelm and burnout. I should know. I’ve been there – My first feature film was shot before I’d ever heard the word productivity. During that project I found myself picking up and dealing with every incomplete task that came my way. Given that I was already Exec Producer and Director on the film and had more than enough to worry about, this had a predictable outcome. I put myself under so much pressure and strain that after it all ended I had what they used to call a nervous breakdown. I made many mistakes on the film, but if I’d just said NO more often and avoided the evil they call PERFECTIONISM, (which I’ll be talking about in episode 4) then I’d have had a happier life, an even better film and certainly a healthier outcome. I eventually realised that for want of a better word I had to start being more SELFISH – or to put it more kindly I needed to be less ALTRUISTIC. THE LESSON Learning to say NO is a lesson that I learned the hard way. Avoiding burnout starts by saying NO often, and meaning it. It seems simple, but why do so many people find it difficult? For me saying YES seems to come from an internal need to be Nice - to be incessantly agreeable. You may find yourself saying YES because you want to impress, or gain favour, or maybe because you have an inherent fear of rejection and don’t want to disappoint people, make them angry or just appear unkind. Perhaps you say it just because it’s your default answer – you might not really understand why you say YES – If it’s just born out of habit then it’s one that can be and must be changed if you are to give yourself the best chance for success. If you say yes to everything that comes your way you’ll never be productive. If you say yes to things that really don’t light your fire, or that don’t further your dreams and goals then you are doing yourself a disservice. You’re likely spreading yourself so thin that you’re doing the person you’ve said yes to a disservice too. You’re not only setting yourself up to fail but that in turn will get you stressed out and create feelings of anger and resentment for the person that’s you’ve said yes to. It’s a bad route to follow. Saying NO starts by STOPPING yourself from saying YES and you can do that if you put a bit of work in. We’ll be talking about getting our priorities straight in episode 3 but you really have to know what you want and work towards your own goals, without getting side-tracked or manipulated to further other peoples priorities above your own instead. By saying NO to any unimportant tasks, requests and even thoughts we can avoid a lot of angst and if you’re already in over your head - begin to reclaim your life. So: First of all, you need to DECIDE WHAT YOUR PRIORITIES ARE and make YOUR OWN goals, objectives and prosperity your first priority. I’ll be working on this in episode 3 but for now… STOP BEING NICE – Guard your TIME by saying NO to unnecessary requests. Other people’s goals, that don’t in turn further your own in some way, are NOT your responsibility. STOP BEING NICE – Guard your MONEY by refusing to be the easy touch. Other people's financial problems are NOT your responsibility. Make NO your default answer. One thing to absolutely be aware of is manipulators. They are out there and many might not even know they are doing it but they use a series of underhand diversion or set up tactics which the less aware amongst us may fall for. Manipulators will say things like, this would be really good for you, but you can question that – will it really? Why? They’ll use flattery to pull you in. Oh, I really love your work, I’d love you to be involved. They will try and guilt you into it, saying things like well you said you would help, or even blame you for something not working out unless you come on board – this is sometimes called blameshifting – without you, this won’t work. I need you. YOU will ruin their #Blank if you don’t help. Or I helped you, and now you owe me – This is something which may also not actually be true – Did they help you or did they just think they helped you? Even if they did and you want to help, what cost will it be to your life, your work, your relationships? How’s about the term gaslighting? Are you aware of this one? Some people will entirely make things up and try and convince you that you said or did something that committed you to their purpose. The less aware amongst us will out of politeness accept what is said, but it must be challenged. Some people will out and out threaten you. If you don’t help me then I’ll use your competitor for example. Manipulators are everywhere and their tactics are diverse. Avoid them. If you get in with these sorts of people and say YES, then be prepared for your involvement to NEVER END. They will move the goal posts and pull you further and further in. HOW TO SAY NO. Learning to say no was not an easy road for me. I still struggle with it but I am aware and I am getting better. When I first started thinking about this – I’d actually googled it in stressed out state and Google started me on the path - I  stood back and looked at where my career and my bank balance was going it as a result of my non important commitments to other people films and lives and that made saying NO much easier. This is something you need to practice so start small by using it in your day to day life, I found it really difficult, and still do, to be honest, but I practiced it when ordering a coffee – would you like to upsize that? NO, and then just started making a definite no, without an appended apology to more important matters. Of course not every opportunity has a yes or no answer but, you can buy yourself time by saying I’ll think about it and get back to you if you are uncertain. SUMMING UP I’ll end this episode with a quote from Akiroq Brost “Learn to set boundaries. In short, learn to say no. Don't guilt and shame yourself. Say no to people and things you don't want. Just say no. It is your right, it is your time, it is your energy.” ― Productivity starts with you taking control of your own life, your own destiny. Remember every time you say YES  to one thing you’re saying NO to something else. CALL TO ACTION If you have difficulty with saying no, then start practicing it today. Your homework for this week is to do just that. Practice with the small things and work up. By applying this rule and making NO your default answer, you’ll start to recover time, and stem the flow of lost energy which you give to other people. The hours here and there which you’ve given to other people, will become yours, the money you’ve loaned out to never see again will stay in your pocket and the creative energy which gets dissipated by playing someone else’s tune will remain yours to invest back into your own creative projects, your own work life and relationships. ENDING Thanks again for listening - Next episode I’ll be talking about getting your priorities straight and getting what’s on your mind into a system which will help you to, on a very simple level, clarify your thoughts and identify your priorities. That episode is available right now as I launch so buckle up, take control of your own destiny, keep on shootin’ and join me next time on Film Pro Productivity. This episode was produced by Stephen Rowan and the music is Adventures by A Himitsu. You can view the show notes for this episode at filmproproductivity.com/episode2  If you’re struggling with something you think I can help with or would like to tell me how you are getting on then please get in touch via the contact page on the website. Alternately you can get me on Twitter @fight_director or follow the show @filmproprodpod Please subscribe on the podcast app of your choice and if you are in the caring/ sharing mood then I’d really appreciate it if you would leave an AWESOME review. Sources: https://psychcentral.com/lib/learning-to-say-no/, https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-say-no-to-anyone-even-a-good-friend Thanks: A Himitsu, Stephen Rowan, Dave Bullis Podcast, Podcraft. Main Photographs taken on the Giordano UK shoot by Bryan Larkin.   Music: Adventures by A Himitsu https://www.soundcloud.com/a-himitsu Creative Commons — Attribution 3.0 Unported— CC BY 3.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b... Music released by Argofox https://www.youtu.be/8BXNwnxaVQE Music provided by Audio Library https://www.youtu.be/MkNeIUgNPQ8 ––– • Contact the artist: x.jonaz@gmail.com https://www.facebook.com/ahimitsu https://www.twitter.com/ahimitsu1 https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgFwu-j5-xNJml2FtTrrB3A  

Watch the sketch on YouTube here!: Dave Bullis (@Dave_Bullis) of the, get this, “Dave Bullis Podcast” (DaveBullis.Com). I know! How amazing that he happens to host a podcast that has HIS NAME IN THE TITLE! That’s what I call Serendipity… which I would imagine Dave would agree with me is by far the GREATEST MOVIE OF ALL TIME! No, I doubt he would, but he would definitely tell me why it is not. Dave is a film maker and film enthusiast who has the highly successful Dave Bullis Podcast where he talks to filmmakers and other people in the industry for people that are interested in knowing more about the creative process and the technical aspects of making persistently changing images (which is a really douchey way of saying movies). What is your favorite way to listen to the podcast? Is it iTunes? (bit.ly/SCPSitunes) is it Stitcher? (bit.ly/SCPSstitch) Could it be you want to try something completely different and actually see something while listening? Head over to the official Sketch Comedy Podcast Show YouTube channel (bit.ly/SCPSyoutube) and enjoy seeing our artwork come alive through the Ken Burns effect on iMovie and, dare I say? (Dare, DARE!) Video of our guests doing the show! What’s your favorite PART of the show? Is it the sketches? Then go to our Sketch Playlist and BOOM, you get nothing but the sketches. Do you prefer hearing the stories and conversations with the guests? BOOM! You can go to our Recording Sessions Playlist. Wanna hear them both? Go to the main playlist on the page entitled “Episodes” and enjoy! I’m really pleased with how it’s turning out. Still a work in progress, but who isn’t? And now, episode 14 “(De)Motivational Speaker” Sketch Comedy Podcast show is an independent and completely improvised sketch podcast that is based on conversations with interesting people like YOU! We welcome all suggestions, and we are always looking for new and interesting people to have on the podcast. Thank you so much for enjoying the show, and please check out our other links for more information, interaction and overall fun! For more episodes, information, and a chance to be on the show, visit: http://sketchcomedypodcastshow.com Tell us what you are hungry for at Facebook: http://facebook.com/sketchcomedypodcastshow Tweet us your favorite recipes at: http://twitter.com/sketchcompod Send us pictures of whatever you make at: http://instagram.com/sketchcompod Subscribe on iTunes: http://bit.ly/SCPSitunes Or Google Play: http://bit.ly/SCPSgplay Or Anywhere!: https://scps.fireside.fm/rss Sketch Comedy Podcast Show is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. © Copyright 2017 Marathon Productions, LLC.

On this episode of Podcasting Smarter, I am joined by Dave Bullis who is a screenwriter, director, producer, and podcaster in the Philadelphia area. He is just one person, and his show, the Dave Bullis Podcast was voted one of the best filmmaking podcasts by Mentorless, the Indie Film Academy. And Podbean. Dave Bullis' Podcasting Smarter Tips:Don't underestimate the value of creating. Podcasting reignited Dave's creativite spark and got him writing again. Podcasting will expand your network by giving you a reason to connect with interesting and influential people by inviting them on your podcast. Everyone has a unique story based on their journey. Even when they come from the same background or industry. Instead of looking at podcast production as a ton of work, be happy that you get to do it and reap all its benefits. Find guests by having a contact form on your website, getting previous guest recommendations, and scouring social media. Make it easy for guests to share their episode by emailing them with links to the show. Also tag them on social media with a photo, and use their name as a hashtag. Dave monetized his show by a combination of crowdfunding, and Amazon as well as Audible Affiliate links. Dave's favorite productivity tool is Evernote. Have a specialized angle. The barriers to entry are so low, you are now in a war for eyeballs and ears. You need to stand out. Dave' fantasy podcaster: Mel Brooks Dave's hypothetical podcast about his life: WTF with Dave Bullis, a comedy show. Best starter episode of the Dave Bullis Podcast: Episode 131-Joseph Poliquin You can find the Dave Bullis Podcast on Podbean, iTunes, and Stitcher.  Don't forget to follow him on Twitter and Facebook too!

Joseph Poliquin is a filmmaker, and actor who's starred in American Horror Story, Hot Pursuit,Vice Principals, and the new film, #FollowFriday. Show Notes-- GiveLousianaLove - Charity to help the people of Louisiana -- #FollowFriday-- Joseph on the Simpy Don Podcast - Don was the guest for the 100th episode of the Dave Bullis Podcast. ContactJoseph Poliquin -- Twitter-- IMDBDave Bullis-- Official Site-- Twitter-- Instagram-- Facebook-- YoutubeSupport the Podcast1. Sign Up for Dave's email list2. Rate the Podcast on iTunes3. Buy on Amazon.com using my affiliate link4. Buy Final Draft screenwriting software using my affiliate link5. Buy Jason Brubaker's, 'How to Sell Your Movie' course via my affiliate link6. Buy Jason's Brubaker, '101 Short Film Ideas' book for only $7!7. My Podcast Amazon wish list 8. Buy a shirt in the Zazzle store9. The Dave Bullis Podcast on PatreonSubscribe to the Podcast-- Podbean -- iTunes -- Stitcher

Episode 23 Dave Bullis (returning from episode 1) joins Michele for a Tool Talk episode where we learn about how to get started with Final Draft screenwriting software. Dave Bullis is a Philadelphia based filmmaker. In 2016, Dave won 1st place in the Robert McKee Cartoon Contest and his podcast, The Dave Bullis Podcast, hit its 100th Episode. www.DaveBullis.com --- Michele the Trainer Engineering/Freelance Global Project Manager Author, Public Speaker, Podcast Host at Michele the Trainer Show Personal Trainer, Wellness Expert & Mentor/Lifecoach Email:Michele@MicheleTheTrainer.com Projects MTTCS: www.MTTConsultingSolutions.com Speaking: www.MicheleTheTrainerWellness.com Health/Wellness :www.MicheleTheTrainer.com Michele’s Blog: www.EngineeringWellness.com Nature Blog: www.LiquidHike.com Follow Me: Amazon Twitter Yelp LinkedIn Instagram Facebook YouTube Pinterest

Dave Bullis - Podcast In this episode, I interview the host of the Dave Bullis Podcast, Dave himself.  Bullis has interviewed nearly 100 experts in the independent film world, and his perspective on the state of affairs of indie film is revealing. Subscribe with iTunes Subscribe to the YouTube Channel Join the G+ Community Listen and Subscribe to… The post 099: State of Affairs in Indie Film with Dave Bullis appeared first on Film Trooper.

Dave Bullis - Podcast In this episode, I interview the host of the Dave Bullis Podcast, Dave himself.  Bullis has interviewed nearly 100 experts in the independent film world, and his perspective on the state of affairs of indie film is revealing. Subscribe with iTunes Subscribe to the YouTube Channel Join the G+ Community Listen and Subscribe to…