As you can guess, the majority of what we talk about in this episode is how Catholics can use social media to reach and evangelize a much larger community than they ever could before.  Not only that, parishes and ministries can communicate with their members in a much more effective and meaningful way.

Although there is a lot of fear and mistrust of social media among Catholics, Brandon shows us that it is just a tool that can be either used for good or for evil depending on how you choose to use it!

We talk about some of the productivity apps that we each use. JR introduces me to Diigo, a web-based application that lets you keep track of things that you find all over the Internet. He also shares his prized productivity tool called Task Coach, which let’s him stay organized while doing his doctorate studies. Both apps are free and pretty awesome!

In my neck of the woods, I share the tool that has been keeping me productive and sane for the past few week called Action Enforcer (affiliate link). I love this tool because of it’s ability to keep you on one task and racing against the clock! Unfortuantely it is not free, but is well worth the money. I’ll be doing some tutorial vids using it soon.

While I usually don’t get this touchy feely in podcasts, I definitely feel as though this is one of the most important posts that I’ve done – most of all because I need to hear it over and over again.  God is in control, and he is the main provider for you and your family.  Honor Him, worship Him, and all other things will be given to you.

Easier said than done….  I know.

Single-tasking, aside from making you more productive, helps you to see things in a greater perspective and to provide better quality in what you do.  One method that we discuss in this episode is the Pomodoro Method.  This technique helps you to maintain focus on a single task while still seeing the big picture of what you need to get done during the day.

Being Productive Vs. Being Busy

Following on the topic of single-tasking, we talk about the difference between being productive and being busy.  Often we mistake being busy for being productive.  We are drowning in things that we need to do on a daily basis, but in actuality those things don’t add value, they just keep us afloat.

Being productive means that you are creating something of value.  You are “producing” something that will benefit you or someone else.  In order to do that you need to take the time to create something.  As a Catholic, it is not enough to be busy.  Remember what Jesus said to busy Martha?

As an entrepreneur, Brian builds websites for clients and also owns and operates a boxing gym that helps troubled youth to get back on track and white collar Americans to get fit.  Brian Pedone has really synthesized his Catholic faith with his extremely productive entrepreneurial ventures.  If you want to find out more, visit any of his sites to see some of the amazing things that he’s doing!

In this episode I have the great honor of interviewing Devin Rose, an apologist and author of the book If Protestantism Is True. He talks about his journey, how he wrote and published his own book, and how he used the power of social media and blogging to make the book a success.

The most amazing thing about his story is that he shares how anyone can do what he did because of the opportunities that the Internet revolution has brought. Rather than depending on publishing companies, most of which turned down his book, with a little creativity and focus, he was able to fulfill his dream and impact hundreds of people.

If you want to learn more about Devin and his mission, or to buy his book, Check out his blog St. Joesph’s Vanguard!

In this podcast, I talk about how the whole reason that I was invited to speak in front of 150+ people who included representatives from Microsoft, HP, Mozilla, and others is because of social networking.  I believe that this resource is amazingly untapped by Catholics and that needs to change right away.  However, it’s not just about getting on these social networks but about engaging and meeting people in real-life that you meet through these channels.

Authentic Catholicism is very hard to turn down – and only authenticity thrives on these social networking platforms.  That being said, when we start talking to people in the manner that they prefer and add value to their lives, we will see that utilizing these tools and meeting new people could potentially change the face of the entire world.

Hey Everyone!  In this episode we talk about how it’s not just enough to find a productivity method that you can just check off tasks with.  When we check off tasks it’s reactive, and the last thing that we want is to be reactive.  True productivity is about being proactive and about shipping a product (as Seth Godin says).  The more that you create, the more that you produce, the more productive that you are.

In this episode we talk about how to create a schedule that fall’s in line with what God has willed for your life. Dr. John Yzaguirre, an amazing Catholic psychologist, is all about putting things in their right place.  His trademark schedule for segmenting the 7 areas in your daily life is a  life-changer and has helped me and thousands of others to live thriving lives and have thriving marriages.

We talk about setting up the Seven Rooms In Your House of Self and how to set up your day and week to serve God and others.  While it may sound a bit daunting, it is actually very simple to do.

Your House of Self falls into these 7 areas:

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Work
4. God
5. Community
6. Health
7. Education

When you focus on each of these, one-at-a-time, you will not only be more productive, you will also grow in love for God and for others.  It’s a great way to learn the holy art of single-tasking (as opposed to the impossible farce of multi-tasking), and will teach you to trust God more with those things that are out of your control

Premium Content

Thank you all so much for the support of some of the premium content that I am making.  I really appreciate it!  As the premium section grows, there will be a lot more content that focuses on business, productivity, and other things that will help to live a more abundant life.  I’ll also be adding templates, checklists, and webinars in the near future!  Let me know what you’d like to see and I’ll make it happen.

In this episode I talk about productivity templates that I use from a guy by the name of David Seah.  The great thing about the templates and the things that make them different is that they are focused mainly on taking care of only the most important things that you should be working on.

As a business owner, one of the most important things that you can do is to not let yourself get bogged down in the day-to-day operations of the business.  Of course, you need to know what’s going on, but you shouldn’t be the one doing the work.  The productivity templates that David has helps you to live this out. The templates are point-based, and fun little tools that itemize the most important tasks that you should be doing on a daily basis and helps to quantify how well you are doing them.

Personally, I have used his Concrete Goals Tracker for a while now and it has helped me tremendously to get my business off of the ground.  So I hope that you enjoy the templates and that they help you to meet the goals that you have set out.

Habits

I also talk about habits (not priestly habits), and how in order to have a working productivity system you need to develop the habits of actually using it.  It helps to have a system that you can access anywhere, but as long as you start writing things down and getting into the habit of keeping track of tasks, you’ll start to see yourself becoming more productive as time goes by!

Business Consulting: I’m available for one-on-one business consulting.  If you have a business and want to find ways to lower your expenses and maximize revenue with a virtual assistant or other technology, or if you are looking to start a business from scratch, I’d love to work with you.  You can email me at dean@prosulum.com, or give me a call at 714-868-6745.

In this episode, Jared Dees from The Religion Teacher and also from Prayer Habits asks a question about what project management he should use when building websites for local Catholic schools?  I mention that although I have bounced around from tool to tool, I always seem to come right back to Basecamp.  Basecamp is just easier than any other project management tool that I’ve used, yet it’s still powerful for a number of reasons.

The first reason is that it’s easy to use as a project manager.  The faster I can add tasks in an orderly fashion, the easier it is for me to manage multiple people.  Basecamp is makes that happen.

The second reason is that all of my virtual assistants love it and use it.  I was using other systems for a while but they were just a pain and my VAs rarely ever used them because of how un-friendly the software was.

Lastly, my customers love is and use it. It let’s my clients see what’s going on and interact.  This is super important with Catholic parishes and schools since they are generally afraid of technology as a whole.  The easier that you can make it for them, the more they will love you!

Awesome feedback from Sam

One of the coolest things was that we got some great feedback from Sam in England.  Although it came about 5 months ago, it was definitely inspiring and brought about the restoration of the podcast.

From here on out, the main part of the blog is going to be the podcast.  I truly feel that the most exciting and entertaining part of Productive Catholic is the podcast, so it’s going to be on the forefront.  There’s a lot of great things coming down the pipe, so stay tuned!

Hello,

I was listening to your podcast #008 and you mentioned switching from blogger to wordpress. I just started a blog using blogger and wish I would have listened to your podcast earlier.

Anyway, can you explain to me how to do this? I also want to start a Catholic podcast and would love any advice or direction on how to do this. I have little to no money.

Oops, I forgot to mention I am a Mac user.

Thanks,

Terry

These are two great questions.  In the podcast Igive a quick Internet 101 course and explain what hosting, what domain names are, and how you can can basically set up WordPress with one click using a web host like Bluehost (who I use and would recommend a hundred times over).

Once set up, you can install a Blogger to WordPress redirection plugin (there are a few of them) and import your posts using the built-in blogger importer found in the tools section under import.

One thing I noticed when migrating blogger over to WordPress is that blogger “labels”, which should be treated the same as WordPress tags, are treated as categories.  Please, please, please do not leave them the way they are.  Your categories should be broad topics and you should have no more than 3 categories per post.  Tags, on the other hand, can be plentiful.

For some great tutorials on WordPress, check out WordPress.tv

In regards to the podcasting equipment on the cheap, I suggest just grabbing an inexpensive USB microphone, install Audacity for Mac and go to town.  Unless you are looking for something more than a hobby, it is okay to start small.

There is a plugin that you can use called Blubrry PowerPress.  Search for that plugin in the plugin area of your WordPress installation and install it.  It has pretty good documentation, and is a great way to get started with podcasting.

Since you are looking to do a Catholic podcast, costent and passion is all that you need right now.  If you want to see how to take podcasting to the next level, I highly suggest listening to my interview with Cliff Ravenscraft on my other podcast, So Totally Business Savvy.

All that being said, here are some action items.

• Say goodbye to blogger.
• Sign up with Bluehost (affiliate link.  you won’t be disappointed)
• Install WordPress
• Install a blogger to WordPress Redirect Plugin
• Migrate your data over using the WordPress importer tool
• Have loads of fun

If you, or anyone, needs more help.  I am available for one-on-one consulting on WordPress and productivity strategies.  Thank you so much for the feedback, it’s an honor to be able to help answer your questions. =)

I’ve been outsourcing a great deal of my work for the last 2 years.  To be completely honest, many of my current projects are done by someone else. Of course, I need to understand what my hired help is doing in order to be successful,  But whether it’s giving a cousin of mine a site to design, having a team in India complete a business application, or having my Filipino virtual assistant help to manage my calendar, being able to let goof a task is a vital part of my being productive.

In this podcast episode, I talk about the why and how of outsourcing.  I also toch a little bit on the morality of outsourcing and why, even though it may be a bad word in America, a Catholic should have no problem with hiring someone from another country to help.

I also give some shout outs to Dorian Speed, Devin Rose, and Jared Dees for their support of productive Catholic.  Oh, and I also give a HUGE thanks to Mike St. Pierre from the Daily Saint for having me on his podcast.  If you get a chance to head over to his site, be sure to check out that episode.

Remember, I’d love to hear your feedback, so don’t hesitate to give me a call on my voicemail feedback line at 714-643-6501.  I am ready to answer any questions that you may have about having a virtual assistant, or about absolutely anything related to productivity.

By the way, JR Duboc, one of this blog’s writers, is opening up a new business to teach you French the easy way.  It’s called reFrench!  Go check it out!

How to Make Easy Video Intros

I’m going to share the secret of making professional looking videos in only a few minutes: Animoto (<– affiliate link).  I;ve been using the business version of Animoto for the last year.  It is an extremely easy way to make a whole bunch of great video slideshows and intros.  That’s what I’ve been using for my videos.  Here are some examples below:

In order to do what I do legally, you need to buy the business version.  It’s a bit expensive, but I think it’s worth it.  But, I want to list the pros and cons:

• Pros of the business version.
  • Very fast and easy to make videos.
  • You get 100+ royalty free music choices.
  • Hi-def videos when you need them.
• Cons
  • It’s a bit expensive.
  • The videos tend to look the same after a while.
  • People who use Animoto know that you are using an Animoto video.

Overall, I definitely recommend the service.  But listen to my podcast for a more opinionated view of the web application.

Royalty-Free Music

When it comes to music that you can use for your podcast, you get what you pay for.  If you are looking for free music, they tend to not be very good.  I bought my podcast intro music from Music Bakery.  Each track runs about $50.  There are other sites like Jamendo and Smartsound that run about the same.  But the music is great quality and help you to build your brand.  The downside is that other people may use the same songs (listen to the podcast to find out who else uses my intro).

Hope these answers help! If anyone has a question, give me a call on my 24/7 voicemail line at 714-643-5301.  Your questions and feedback make this blog and podcast to keep going!

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!

We discuss how a father, husband, and Catholic managed to become an entrepreneur and create a valuable service to parishes and catholic organizations around the world. FlockNote allows parishes to reach their parishioners is ways that they never could before. Each member of the parish can choose how they want to be communicated to, and leaders can easily organize events and disseminate news. There is a whole host of other capabilities, too.

We also talk about time management and how Matt chooses what is important. Although there are countless opportunities to support the Church and also new creative ventures, he finds a way to weed out those things that may not be valuable to his overall goals. If you would like to find out more about Matt and the work that he is doing, check him out at Fallible Blogma. It was a blast to have him on the show, and I hope he finds to to come on again.

I highly recommend taking a look at using flockNote for your parish or organization.  With the money that you spend on one snail mail shot to your parishioners, you could send unlimited messages to people in the way that they’d like to receive it.  It is a fantastic way to keep everyone connected, informed, and in your community.

Are you looking to help the Church by putting your talents to good use?  Or maybe you have a question on how to find the time to get important things done in your life?  If so, leave me voicemail on the feedback line.  I’d love to here about what you have going on and what you are doing to make a difference.

Carlos, a seminarian from Edmonton, Canada, asked if I could give him some resources that he could use to organize his time and tasks more efficiently.  Rather than bog him down with long winded articles from my site (ha!) I shot him three resources that I believe are key to finding a way to better organize your time.

• Inbox Zero - an effective way to handle email (mentioned in the podcast).
• Getting Things Done
• Autofocus

In  the interview with J.R., we discuss why GTD is the productivity method of choice for this French Catholic.  The surprising thing is that, although he is an advocate for GTD, he is very honest in relaying that it took him about 2 years to fully implement it into a habit.  Forming productive habits is necessary in order to perform extraordinary work.  It’s just like prayer, unless you form the habit it’s unlikely that you will excel spiritually.

We also talk about how being productive and efficient with your work is actually very much inline with Church Teaching.  In fact, J.R. notes that David Allen‘s (creator of GTD) ideas about work come very close to the philosophy of JPII in regards to sanctity and purpose through labor (see his encyclical on human work.  very cool stuff).  Work makes you holy, but working as efficiently and effectively as possible (using that noggin of yours) makes you even holier.

Overall, this is an exciting interview that you won’t want to miss.  I’d love to hear your questions and feedback for either me or J.R.!  Leave me a voicemail 24/7 at 714-643-5301.

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!

I give a quick summary of what GTD is, and how it is different from the tradition priority driven productivity methods out there.  I talk about how the GTD workflow (you can see a great chart of it here) is extremely powerful and how it allows you to move all of the stuff that’s in your mind into an external and actionable format.  The workflow lets you know what tasks require your attention, when you need to take action on them, or if you even need to do them at all.

I also discuss how there are so many electronic tools that allow you to implement GTD, and there are web-based tools that are made specifically for individual and group use of the method.  Some of these applications include Microsoft Outlook 2007, Things, and Producteev.

Of course, I can’t sing the praises of the method the whole show.  There are a number of cons that are associated with GTD to include its complexity, the fact that it is extremely difficult to stay with it for long periods of time, and that some people just don’t need it.

Overall GTD is a great tool to help you to manage the day-to-day tasks and projects that come at you.  It gives you a means to remove the stressful stuff that is floating in your mind and turn them into actionable tasks.  While it may not be the method that I use anymore, I highly recommend it!

If you have a question, or just a comment, please don’t hesitate to leave a voice-mail on the feedback line at 714-643-5301.

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!