I’ve received a question from one of my podcast listeners, “What is your opinion about motivation? Is it helpful or is it just temporary?” I think it’s definitely helpful. It is temporary but my overall opinion is that the importance of motivation is highly overrated. I think motivation is a trend that is popular right …
Today, I am going to share the story of how I’ve lost the first 10 pounds by applying some of the Scrum principles to weight loss. Initial Sprint Review Before embarking on a big project like weight loss, I like to the initial review: What have I tried already up to this point? What worked? …
Today, we are talking about how I’ve used Scrum principles to find a job and change my career altogether from being a supply chain manager to now being a product manager in a tech startup. This is a question that I got from one of my listeners. You can submit your question here. It took me …
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It’s been a couple of weeks since my last podcast episode. The last couple of weeks have been interesting. I think I’ve hit some sort of plateau in this journey where everything I was doing didn’t feel the same anymore. As a result, I wanted to take a break. I wanted to just observe what …
I want to invite you to listen to the interview I’ve done for the Skyward Spriral podcast. If you’re looking to listen to learn more about Scrum and some of the principles that I teach within the Monthly Method, definitely check out the interview. I had a lot of fun talking to David. And we …
I am going to tell you about the common assumption we all have when setting goals and how your chances for success increase when you flip this assumption around. I’m amazed at how well it works and I can’t wait to share it with you. How we usually set goals Think back to the last …
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Let’s talk about combining your full-time job with a side project. It doesn’t have to be a side business. It can be a hobby, a volunteering project, house renovation, etc. Something that requires a substantial amount of time on your end. Something that you wanted to do for the longest time, but just couldn’t find …
Today we are going to talk about another Scrum concept called a Sprint Retrospective. What is it? How does it work in scrum teams? Why is it useful? And how can we apply it to our own personal productivity? What is Sprint Retrospective? A sprint retrospective is a recurring meeting held at the end of …
The daily standup is one of the core meetings in scrum teams. I want to give you some ideas on how you can bring the core principles of the daily standups to your own productivity as an individual. Daily standup in Scrum Teams During the daily standup, a scrum team gets together. Ideally, everyone is …
The productivity world is fixated on building new habits. They have phrases like “You don’t decide your future. You decide your habits and your habits decide your future.” We also have bestselling books like Atomic Habits. The overall consensus is that building new habits is always a good idea. As you probably know, I love …
We are taught to set professional goals. But it’s the non-work goals that have the highest impact on the quality of your daily life. As you probably know, under the Monthly Method you set goals in 3 areas of your life: Career and Growth Health & Key Relationships The Quality of Life I came up …
Last week I had two clients mention to me that they’ve lost interest in YouTube and Netflix. Today I want to share these stories and my theory on why my clients stop watching Netflix. Don’t worry. It’s not about imposing a strict screen time limit or heavily relying on self-discipline. It’s better than that. Mike & …
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When you sign up for the Monthly Method, you go through a three-week sprint. Then you have a week off – a break from productivity. I call it maintenance week. During this week you are not supposed to do anything related to productivity. All your goals are done. Today I want to share why I think …
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Remember the days when you are full of energy? And then we also have days when we are low on energy. Why is that? One way to explain is through the Energy Cycle of Daily Life. Generally speaking, you can divide all your daily tasks into two categories: Need to do (go to work, finish that …
A few weeks ago I talked about the power of time blocking. Today I want to answer the most common questions I receive about time blocking. I am excited to share the tips and tricks I have from doing time blocking on a daily basis for the past 4 years. What’s my ideal unit of …
Welcome to the new edition of the Productivity Tips found on Reddit series. If you want to see more Reddit productivity tips, check out these three posts: February collection March collection April collection Favourite Productivity Tips from Reddit This Month Tip #1: Value your attention as much as Facebook values it. Link to the original post. …
Unconventional Productivity Tips from Reddit [June 2021 edition] Read More »
Yesterday I had four calls with my clients. And I had the same conversation with each of them. We spoke about the power of time blocking. I told them that I think time blocking is the most stress-reducing activity I do on a daily basis. And in today’s episode, I want to explain why I think that, …
I decided to start sharing the main lessons I have learned from working with over a dozen first clients. These people adopted the Monthly Method for at least a month and I’ve learned some major lessons from their experience. One of the main ones is “Dream big but go small.” Three types of goal setters …
A few weeks ago I talked about one question that is very impactful when it comes to avoiding procrastination. This week I want to talk about the question I recently discovered that allows me to do the tasks on my to-do list even when I don’t feel like doing them. The question that recently turned my …
It was time to record my monthly Unconventional Tips Found on Reddit series. I sat down and did my regular routine. I checked all the usual subreddits looking for something useful and unconventional. I spent about an hour researching with no luck. I just couldn’t find anything I haven’t heard before. At first, I felt …