Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 38:01 — 34.8MB)

If you are looking for another Catholic site that melds work, productivity, and spirituality – then look no further. The Daily Saint, run by Mike St. Pierre, is a fantastic blog/podcast that really hits at the heart of the Catholic word ethic. He has a plethora of resources to help you kick butt at work and to focus on the things that truly make a difference.

Thankfully, Mike agreed to an interview on the Productive Catholic Podcast. Let me tell you, I am seriously in awe of how much this guy gets done. Not only does he find the time to spark a Catholic reformation and leadership revolution within a school of hundreds of kids, he manages to care for his family, and maintain his blog on a regular basis. It’s no doubt that he knows how to be effective.

In the podcast we talk about how he utilizes a hybrid form of GTD. While he uses an electronic means to keep track of tasks, he spends some time every morning planning his day in order to build a productivity anchor.

We also talk about how working smarter, not harder, is something that everyone should be striving for.  Just working for the sake of working is not what leads to holiness, but working effectively, setting boundaries, and finding the best way of doing things is something God wants.

Lastly, one very interesting discussion was on leadership, and how it is a skill that is extremely important to every Catholic.  Being a true leader involves inspiring others to be better in every way possible – that includes work.  The church needs more leaders that can teach others the value of being effective.  Currently, work is dominated by the secular and by secular leaders.  Of course, not everything secular is bad, but if we want to spark a Catholic reformation of work, leaders need to teach younger generations how to become successful and make a difference in the working world for Christ!

For more of The Daily Saint, visit his blog!  Also check out his podcast on iTunes!  You won’t regret it!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 21:57 — 20.1MB)

Although there are a lot of Catholic GTD lovers out there (yes, trust me there are), I am not one of them.  Don’t get me wrong, GTD is leaps ahead of other productivity systems, but the system of choice for this Catholic is Autofocus.

Now, I know what you are going to say, “what is Autofocus?”  Well, you are just going to have to listen to the podcast to find out.  So rather than tell you what it is and how to use it, I figured that I’d give you a little taste of how Autofocus has benefited me over the time I’ve used it.

Stress

The first and foremost benefit of using Autofocus is the drastic reduction in stress.  Personally, purging everything from my mind and putting onto paper in an actionable format is a life-saver.  Unlike GTD, I know where all of my tasks are at all times, and I know that I’ll never miss a task because I am constantly scanning over my list.

Creativity

Unlike other productivity methods, Autofocus really lends itself to creativity.  In fact, my new podcast would not exist had it not been for Autofocus.  Putting together a Podcast is a big ordeal, and Autofocus makes it a lot easier to handle in addition to all of the other things that you are doing.

Simplicity

I have a feeling that I am ADHD.  That being the case, the simpler things are, the more likely I am going to stick with them and find them useful.  Autofocus doesn’t require a planner or any fancy tools.  In fact, you can use it with just about anything.  That’s why I love it so much.  Not to mention, I don’t need to spend an hour setting it everyday.  It’s good-to-go right from the start.

Summary

Autofocus rocks!  I’ve seen a huge increase in productivity and creativity as a result of using the system.

As always, I would love to hear from you.  Leave me your questions and feedback on the feedback line at 714-643-5301.  Make sure you plug your podcast or blog in the message!

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 35:29 — 32.5MB)

In this episode I give a HUGE thank you to some folks that sent in some emails recently.  God has been tugging at my heart to return to updating Productive Catholic on a more consistent basis, and the feedback that I’ve received from some of you really confirmed that God wants me to continue. I had good reason to be away, my lovely wife decided that she wants to work full-time, and so I decided to work harder on my side-business so we could make that happen (if you don’t believe me, check out the Wall Street Journal article about it!).  So once again, thank you for the feedback!

I also mention a few sites on interest in these episode.  The first is True Manhood by Dave Dinuzzo, a great blog on manly purity.  Next is Matthew Warner’s site Fallible Blogma, a great social commentray blog from a Catholic perspective.  Lastly, I talk about The Daily Saint, a fantastic Catholic productivity blog done by Mike St. Pierre.  I highly recommend his site, and I even play a little snippet from his podcast. (Maybe I can get him for an interview soon?)

For those that are new to Productive Catholic, I give an overview of the purpose of the site.  Namely not just work as a means to holiness, but efficient valuable work as a means to holiness.  I also touch briefly on tithing your talents and just how valuable your time is.

Since productivity is at the heart of this blog, I give you my top 3 productivity methods: Getting Things Done, Autofocus, and Franklin-Covey.  Which of these are what I use now?  Well, you’ll just have to listen to find out, and why!

Lastly, what makes this blog and everything about it so exciting is your comments, questions, and feedback.  If you have any of those, please leave me a voicemail at 714-643-5301 and you’ll get to hear your voice on the podcast!

Why we Want to Start “Organizing Ourselves”: Getting a Grip on the Mundane

I was thinking back the other day about all the crazy changes my wife and I went through since we got married: moving house and country four times, changing jobs, adapting to new cultures and languages, getting involved in various parishes and churches, starting a teacher training and a PhD…gosh, they say change is good, and it is, but they forgot to mention how stressful it is! Don’t get me wrong, I’m extremely happy about the final outcomes of all these changes, but man was it was tough sometimes. It was challenging, because it meant thinking about so many things at the same time. That’s where my need for a better productivity system came. That’s why I’m writing on this blog today.

We all had to live through stressful moments like that, where there seems to be no time for anything. However, I learned over time to embrace these times of change, and take them as opportunities. As it turns out, those moments are actually ideal to stop for a moment and re-think about our lives, not just about that new house and how the commuting thing is going to work with the new job, but to actually think about what our living space is, what work really represent for us.
These are the time when we think about “getting a system” to “be more efficient”, but they also can be the very moment when we can ask “why”?
These are the moments of chaos we can embrace to challenge assumptions and build a better life for ourselves and the people around us. These are the moment to buy a new filofax or try a spanking new iPhone to see if that’s going to finally work for us as a productivity tool, and these are also the moments to pray and ask the Lord to guide us in uncertain and sometimes outright scary moments.

Why we Should Keep our Productivity and Organization Skills Sharp: Staying In Touch with What Really Matters

These changes, these decisions we made to change our lives, what are they for? More importantly, who are they for? If you took the time to think about that, you’ll find the right productivity system, the best tools for you (that unique you, the real you, not the one that your boss or others might want you to be), simply because you know exactly what you want out of it. And if you know what you want, you’ll know what you need.
If the change was imposed on you through bad circumstances such as health or the economy (we live in very difficult times, especially for young people), this might be the perfect moment to make the best you’ve ever made of a bad moment. That’s what true success is all about: not avoiding failure and problems, but rising from them and being grateful for what we actually have. Hang in there, and learn to appreciate what is beautiful about you and your life before doing anything else: your family, your friends, your passion. Then, pray and think back to what your really want, what you really need, maybe that thing you never had the time to do before “it” happened. And then, do it. It will be hard, but you will find your way through it, if you know who you are, if you know what success, real success, means to you.

And here is the big secret, my friends: once you know where to go, a productivity system is only a compass to guide you there, so that you never, ever stop looking at what really, truly matters to you. And as Catholics, we believe that what truly matters to you, your profound desire, is actually God calling you to be great, for His glory. We think it’s so important, we even have a name for it: vocation. It comes from the latin “voce”, the voice.
Lets’s start listening.

Sometimes, in order to get something done you need a little push.  But we don’t always have the funds to pay for a personal coach, so there needs to be another way to get things done on time and efficiently.  Well, there is one thing tends to motivate just about everyone: guilt.

Good Old Catholic Guilt

Most people in the west hate guilt.  It’s a word that is often associated with knuckle slapping nuns and Sunday sermons about hell.  But guilt is often a great motivator.  Think about the times when you are most productive; isn’t it when something really important is almost due and if you don’t get it done other people will suffer?  Well, that isn’t just a coincidence, God made us that way for a reason.  However, rather than delve into a philosophic discourse on why we do things better when we are riddled with guilt, I’d rather explain how your can use guilt to your advantage.

Three steps to guilt-full productivity

Using guilt to power the way that you get things done can be a very uncomfortable, but powerful process.  It’s uncomfortable because you will no longer have the opportunity to flake out, and it’s powerful because you will do anything within your power not to fail in the sight of others. The good part though is that it’s easy to get things started in 3 easy steps.

1. The next time you need to get something done, rather than just writing it down in a task list, think of a feasible date that the task can be accomplished.
2. Once you’ve decided on an end date, find someone with some authority or stake in the goal that you plan to accomplish.
3. Send them an email (or call them) letting them know that you will complete the task on that specific date.

Easy peasy, lemon squeazy.

An example please?

Just to give you an idea of how you can use this system, imagine that you have a hard time waking up for Mass.  Rather than fail over and over again, volunteer to be a lector.  The guilt of knowing that there will be an entire congregation that is suffering because you can’t get your lazy butt out of bed is better than any alarm clock.

Has anyone ever used this tactic successfully?  Let me know in the comments!

Every new year we come up with new things that we would like to change – and that is no surprise.  It is also not surprising that most of the goals that we would like to complete fail within the first two weeks.  There is a very simple reason for this: big life-changing goals are hard to make into habits.  While they may be difficult stick to, your new year resolutions are not impossible to accomplish.  However, if you expect to change long-ingrained habits, you need a concrete way to track progress toward your goals.

David Seah is a designer who created the Concrete Goals Tracker.  The original purpose of the goals tracker was to allow him to ensure that he was spending time doing the things that truly made his business better.  The great thing is, he made an editable version – which means that you can use it for just about anything that you want.

The Concrete Goals Tracker allots points for specific tasks that help to further an overall change that you want to see.  For example, since I am freelancing I use the goals tracker to make certain that I am spending the majority of my time doing things that will sustain and grow my business.  Although writing blog posts may be fun, it does not pay the bills (or the taxes involved with a business).  However, that doesn’t mean that blogging and self-promotion is not important to a business, but they are not as important as signing up new clients.

Just to reiterate, the purpose of the goal tracker is not to be a task management system that you use forever.  You will most likely use it for a few weeks to a few months in order to change your mindset and habits toward your goals.  For a full explanation of the free template and to actually download it, you can head over to David Seah’s site.

Concrete Goals Tracker [Original Site]

Hey everyone! I had an epiphany (no pun intended) this advent season that has literally changed my life, and also how I get things done throughout the day. I don’t want to spoil it for you, so you’ll need to check out the video, but it’s somewhat along the lines of the Getting Things Done Like the Saints series.

Let me know what you think, am I stretching this whole thing a bit, or am I on the right track?

You and I need to be leaders! What else can I say? Leadership is the single attribute that will grow your career, help everyone around you, and save the world. Why do I say that? I say it because it’s true. Leadership and decision-making is a rare commodity among in the workforce and within the Church. If you don’t believe me, why the heck do you think companies pay thousands of dollars per employee to have them go on weekend retreats where they learn team building and fall back into the arms of someone they “trust”? Leadership is powerful, and the driving force behind any successful venture. Read the full story

Okay, so I’ve been noticing that I’ve been getting a little thick around the mid-section.  Now, you are probably thinking, ” No way Dean, you are both sleek and svelte.  I refuse to believe there is an ounce of fat on that wonderful temple of the Holy Spirit of yours!”  Sadly, it’s true, I have been gaining some major pounds because of my desk job.  But that’s okay, I know just how to fix that – the productive way! Read the full story

With the pro-life battle raging in the U.S.  legislature, I thought that it be fitting to look at the life of the most popular pro-life saint (they are all pro-life, obviously) from the 20th century.  I venture to say that just about everyone who is Catholic and actually practices their faith knows who St. Gianna is.  In short, she was a physician that gave up her life in order for her child to come into the world.  The great thing about her that I find most attractive – other than the fact that she was very cosmopolitan and a purveyor of the latest fashions of her day – is that she was a working professional. Read the full story