The Paul Minors Podcast: Productivity, Business & Self-Improvement

In 2019 and 2020 , I shared a breakdown of how I spent my time for that year. It’s always an interesting exercise and it’s useful for me to analyse how I’m using my time differently year over year. Understanding how your time is being spent is one of the best things you can do to make better choices and plan more effectively in the future. So, without further ado, here’s my analysis for 2021. Show...

There are all sorts of techniques we can use and considerations to make when planning our time; how urgent is the work, what needs to be done first, how long do you need? Well, I’d like to add one more consideration to the mix: How much energy do you have? Depending on your energy and how much effort you can apply to your work, this will help you decide what you should work on. Show notes (please...

This week, I’d like to expand on an idea I started talking about last week where I discussed prioritising efficiency over growth. I was recently interviewed for the Adil Amarsi Unplugged Podcast and on the show, we talked about growing your business and income. I shared my philosophy on growth which I actually picked up from Paul Jarvis. I told Adil that right now, I’m more attracted to the idea o...

We live in a very opinionated world where it’s easier than ever to share your stance on a topic. But sometimes we get nervous about changing our opinions at the risk of sounding flakey; going back on your own words may come across as weak or even unintelligent. Personally, I don’t have an issue with changing my mind about something. I’m happy to be proven wrong and form a new opinion. I’m even hap...

If you’ve read my blog for a while, you’ve probably heard me talk about time blocking before. This is a technique I’ve been following since 2010 to schedule time on my calendar to work on specific tasks and projects. While I think it’s a very powerful technique and one of the best methods you can use to plan out your work, not everyone finds this technique easy to adopt. My colleague, Warwick, is...

My opinion of social media apps has changed in the last few years. Like a lot of people, I got on Facebook and Twitter around 2007 and I joined Instagram pretty early in 2010. And it’s interesting to have watched public opinion towards apps like Facebook change over the last decade. Facebook used to be liked and enjoyed by almost everyone. Now, more and more people are leaving the app as the compa...

Conflict is something we all have to deal with. We can do our absolute best to try and avoid conflict but like death and taxes, it is inevitable. I view any kind of conflict as a massive waste of time; time you could be spending on more productive, not to mention, more enjoyable things. Conflict is also a source of easily avoidable stress. Even after the conflict has been resolved, the tension han...

One of the things I get asked about the most is which tools to use and for what purpose. Whether you’re looking for a task management system, sales CRM, online scheduler or email automation tool, there are loads of products out there and a lot of them overlap in terms of functionality. People ask me about the difference between Asana, and Monday, Pipedrive and Hubspot, Zapier and Integromat. Or th...

Most businesses want to grow revenue each year. So the business creates new products, conducts marketing campaigns and does everything it can to increase sales. But this isn’t the only way to grow. Instead of focusing on revenue, growth can also be achieved by improving efficiency. Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://paulminors.com/227 If you enjoyed t...

Last week I was talking to a client about how to save time during the day and I found myself sharing a common tip: Whenever you find yourself doing a repetitive task, ask yourself: “How do I avoid doing this ever again?” Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://paulminors.com/226 If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review. Intro...

Welcome to episode 4 of Minor Updates. In this episode, I share some updates on what I've been up to over the last few months. Enjoy! If you'd rather watch the video or if you'd like to get the links of the stuff I mentioned, check out the show notes here » https://paulminors.com/225 If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review. Intro/Outro Music: "Synthia" by Scott & Br...

Last week, my wife Hayley shared a personality test with me and we went through a series of questions to work out what type of person I am. Here are the results and my thoughts on whether I think they’re accurate or not. Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://paulminors.com/224 If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review. Intro...

Last Friday, my colleague, Warwick, and I were doing our weekly review where we go through all the clients we’re working with and we prioritise his workload for the upcoming week. During the conversation, he asked me how to deal with ‘urgent’ requests that he gets via email. These are seemingly important tasks that need to be dealt with pretty quickly and put you into a reactive work mode. If you’...

If you haven’t already, check out part 1 of this series all about how to get started with automation where I discuss the mindset, benefits and how to start thinking about automation. Once you’ve thought about some of the processes or tasks that you’d like to automate, it’s time to start creating the actual workflows that can do the work for you. When it comes to automation, there’s no shortage of...

One of the most effective ways of saving time and getting more done is to automate the repetitive parts of your work. By using technology to actually DO parts of your job, not only do you save time but you increase the accuracy of certain processes by removing the potential for human error to occur. As my business has grown, I’ve automated as much as I can and it’s extremely satisfying when things...

Procrastination; the enemy of progress. We’ve all been in that situation where we intend to work on a task or project but can’t muster up the willpower to do the work. Even just making a start seems like a daunting task as you look at what feels like a mountain of work. Before you know it, you’re scrolling through Twitter, watching YouTube, checking email (again) and doing just about anything besi...

There’s nothing quite like that feeling of being in the zone; that place of flow and focus where you do your best work. If you’ve watched Disney Pixar’s Soul, it shows “the zone” as this generally joyful place between the conscious and unconscious world where you find yourself when you’re completely focussed on your craft or work. One of the ways I’m able to find this focus and enter ‘the zone’ is...

You’ve probably heard about the importance of providing value to potential customers before they purchase. By providing value first, you build trust and credibility that helps leads to eventually justify paying for your product or service. Free trials and samples are easy. But for coaches and consultants, it’s tricky working out how much free advice to give out without cannibalising your business....

Yesterday I turned 30. When you have a significant birthday like this it’s natural to look back on how you’ve grown over the years. Heading into my 30s, I’m pleased with where I’m at in life. When I turned 20, I was still at University and had the goal of running my own business. In my early 20s, I had a couple of great jobs which allowed me to learn a lot and develop as an individual. In 2014 I s...

Forming a new habit can be tough. Whether you’re trying to build a habit related to fitness, personal finances, business or personal well-being, forcing yourself to stop your old methods and start a new habit can feel weird at first. It takes time before the new habit becomes part of your routine and starts to feel normal. Looking back at some of the habits I’ve adopted, there’s one habit that I’v...

We all have various expressions and turns of phrase that we rely on to make a point and communicate our intentions. However, in this day and age, it’s easier than ever for messages to be misconstrued and taken out of content. Or, if we’re not careful, certain words and phrases can weaken our point and undermine the message entirely. Whether you’re writing an email or talking in person, here are a...

We all like to improve on what we’re doing and how we do things. Whether that’s improving a process in your business, learning a new skill at work or the way you take notes in a class. But the improvement often comes with an adjustment period where it takes time to become accustomed to the change before you can enjoy the benefits. This is why making improvements to the way you work can be challeng...

Out of the box, the Mac is a great piece of kit, but with a few tweaks and some useful apps, you can turn your Mac into an incredibly productive machine. In this episode, I’d like to list some of the tools and tweaks I’ve made to supercharge my productivity while using the Mac. If you’re a Mac user, I highly recommend spending some time learning about each of these tools. I can say with confidence...

If you want to be more organised and effective at managing your time, the key is simplicity. People often come to me for help because their systems are overly complicated and hard to manage. They tell me they spend more time maintaining their system than they do actually doing important work. As I’ve created and shared videos and blog posts, people often tell me how organised my systems appear to...

Passive income is often portrayed as the holy grail of earning money online; make money while you sleep, sounds good right? But before you quit your job to embark on the passive income lifestyle, I thought I’d share a few realities you may want to be aware of. To add some context for new readers, my business currently generates revenue in a few different ways. Primarily from providing consulting s...