PPP 411 | Google’s Top Productivity Expert on Boosting Your Productivity and Well-Being, with Laura Mae Martin

People and Projects Podcast: Project Management Podcast

Summary

In this episode, Andy interviews Laura Mae Martin, Google's productivity expert and author of the book Uptime: A Practical Guide to Personal Productivity and Wellbeing. They discuss the concept of productivity and how it is often misunderstood. Laura shares her perspective on productivity, emphasizing the importance of intention and execution. She introduces the five C's of productivity and explains the concept of the list funnel. They also discuss the challenges of procrastination and the importance of setting boundaries and learning to say no. Throughout the conversation, Laura provides practical tips and strategies for improving personal productivity.

Sound Bites

• "Sometimes I'll look at my calendar in a couple of weeks and be like, wow, Future Me is going to be very mad if I leave that there!"
• "When intention matches action, it's productive."
• "I was a recovering 'Say Yeser'."

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction
• 01:46 Start of Interview
• 02:59 What Does Productivity NOT Mean?
• 04:57 Intention and Action
• 06:20 Introduction to the 5C's of Productivity
• 09:10 Learning to Say No
• 12:48 The List Funnel
• 18:02 Dealing With Procrastination
• 22:50 Tool Hacks for Productivity
• 25:52 Tips for Parents to Help Their Kids With Productivity
• 27:24 Thinking About Future You
• 28:38 Interview Wrap Up
• 29:08 Andy Comments After the Interview
• 34:03 Outtakes

Learn More

You can learn more about Laura and her book at LauraMaeMartin.com. Also, check out the Google Workspace YouTube channel that Laura mentions. You can find that here: https://www.youtube.com/@googleworkspace/playlists.

If you’d like more on this subject, here are some episodes to check out:

• Episode 376, with Nick Sonnenberg about his book Come Up for Air
• Episode 385, with Vanessa Patrick about her book, The Power of Saying No

AI for Project Managers and Leaders

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Thank you for joining me for this episode of The People and Projects Podcast!

Talent Triangle: Power Skills

The following music was used for this episode:

Music: Brooklyn Nights by Tim Kulig Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/11192-brooklyn-nights License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license

Music: Tropical Vibe by WinnieTheMoog Free download: https://filmmusic.io/song/10446-tropical-vibe License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license