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

A lot of task management tools give you the option to assign high, medium or low priority status to a task. Personally, I find this pointless and I’ve never liked assigning a priority to a task. In this episode, I explain why. Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://paulminors.com/210 If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review....

On my recent episode of Minor Updates , I shared that I’ve now hired my friend Warwick as a full-time contractor within my business. I’ve been working as a solo-operator since I started my business in 2015 so this is a pretty significant change to how I work. Many of the people who follow my work are freelancers or consultants, like me. So I decided to share how I went about making this decision i...

I was recently contacted by the author, Adii Pienaar, wanting to share his new book all about 'life profitability'. As someone who prioritises building a business that supports the lifestyle you want, this concept of 'life profitability' really got my attention! Adii mentioned that he'd been in contact with one of my online business heroes, Paul Jarvis. You might remember that I interviewed Paul o...

Welcome to episode 3 of Minor Updates . In this video, I share some updates on what I've been up to in the first quarter of 2021. Enjoy! Linked and resources mentioned in this video This is the eufyCam 2C 2-Cam Kit that we set up at the front door and back garden. Check out Ark and Sea where you can purchase a t-shirt that funds the removal of 1kg of plastic from the ocean. Currently reading Ready...

Email continues to be one of the main time-sucks for the average knowledge worker. Every morning I’m greeted by about 20-30 new messages. This is a lot less than some people and I still have to schedule time each morning to process my inbox. In the past, I’ve shared some tips on how to save time on email . In this week’s post, I’d like to drill down into one point in particular, how to get less em...

Tell me if this sounds familiar – When you plan your time, do you ever over-commit and run out of time to do your work? Especially when it comes to doing deep work that generates results but requires real focus. It’s so easy to say, “I’m going to spend the day working on X” only to get bogged down with other admin tasks and distractions. I’ve been caught out by this more than a few times… It’s eas...

About 6 months ago I started ‘Floating’ on a regular basis. Floating is where you lie in a tank of warm, salty water in pitch dark and absolute silence. The high-density of the saline solution makes you feel weightless and the absence of light and sound eliminates all distractions. This is known as ‘sensory deprivation’. What’s the point in all this? When you eliminate all senses this supports dee...

It seems like every day there’s a new tool coming out that supposedly helps you to get more done and be more efficient. And if we’re not careful, shiny object syndrome tempts us to try these new tools because we feel like that’s the answer to better productivity. In reality, the tools we use really aren’t as important as the principles and HOW we actually use the tool. That said, whenever I’m temp...

We all know about the importance of quality over quantity. And what I find interesting is to think about what you prefer (quantity or quality) as it relates to different areas of your life. We often assume that quality is the better alternative. But this doesn't always have to be the case. The key is to be aware of what type of person you are and be proactive about making the right choice for you....

If you want to be more productive, it’s pretty simple… A lot of books, courses and other resources show you how to build these elaborate systems that help you to be more organised, prioritise your work and plan your time. The reality is, if you want to get more done, it’s quite simple… You need to be disciplined and show up to do important work that matters. That’s it. Show notes (please leave me...

Today I’m recording my 200th podcast episode. I started my podcast back in 2015 when I was still working full-time and I was trying to "make it" creating content and starting an internet business. A lot has changed in that time but the podcast is one thing that’s remained pretty consistent. While the podcast numbers remain pretty steady, I enjoy showing up each week and sharing a thought or idea t...

Last week I emailed my newsletter list to learn more about the kinds of things people want to learn about in 2021. And one of the most popular topics that kept coming up is organisation. With so many tools available to us know, if you’re not careful, keeping track of what you’re doing and all your ‘stuff’ can be challenging. In the future I’m sure I’ll be doing a deep dive into this topic and spec...

Over the holidays I was listening to an episode of Simon Sinek’s podcast, A Bit of Optimism. And in an interview with Derren Brown , Derren gets you to think about happiness as a verb, something you do, rather than as a noun, something you have. And as I was listening I had one of those moments where the penny dropped and I suddenly realised, of course, you can’t be happy all the time. And yet, as...

Welcome to episode number 2 of Minor Updates. After recording my first update video a few months ago, I received really positive feedback and people seemed to really enjoy the more informal updates I shared. I decided to close out the year with another update to share some of the things I've been working on and stuff I'm thinking about for 2021. Show notes (please leave me a comment with your ques...

Last year I published a summary of how I spent my time in 2019. It was a fascinating exercise and I received positive feedback on the analysis. 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, I thought it would be worth repeating this exercise again this year. NOTE: This analysis covers the period f...

The end of the year is fast approaching and when you look back and think about everything that’s happened this year, it’s crazy how fast the time has gone by! As the end of the year approaches, I’m starting to think about how I want to finish off the year and prepare for 2021. This is what I’ve got planned so far… Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://pa...

Even before 2020, I was already spending a lot of time on Zoom. Being a virtual consultant from New Zealand where 95% of my clients are overseas, it’s an app that gets a lot of usage from me. Then 2020 happened and everyone started working remotely and using Zoom to host family get-togethers, gym classes or to catch up with friends while on lockdown. According to Timing, I’ve spent 266 hours on Zo...

As I’m sure you’re aware, journaling is one of those habits that a lot of ‘successful’ (whatever that means) people seem to have adopted. And journalling is often presented through this lens of being a tool to help you be more successful. And I don’t have an issue with that. But for me, journaling isn’t something I do to try and be successful. For me, journaling is a tool to find peace of mind. In...

I had a great ‘ah-ha’ moment last week. I was listening to an interview on the Tim Ferriss podcast between Tim and Mr Money Moustache (a.k.a Pete Adeney). For those that don’t know, Mr Money Moustache is a pioneer of the F.I.R.E movement (financial independence, retire early). On his blog he deconstructs the numbers behind creating a passive income and living within your means so you can retire ea...

We just got back from a family vacation and it was great taking a week off to relax and spend some quality time with the family. When we were at the beach, my wife, Hayley, snapped these cute photos of me pulling our little boy Jay up a rock and it got me thinking about an interesting metaphor for being a father.. Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://pa...

When I think about the habits and routines that have helped me to achieve my goals over the last 5 years, there’s one thing that stands out from the rest: consistency. Put another way, being consistent, is the number 1 thing that has helped me to make progress towards my goals both in business and my personal life. So, if you have a goal in mind and you’re wondering what you can do to reach it, be...

This is the first video I’m creating as part of a new series called ‘Minor Updates’. In these videos, I’ll be sharing more casual and personal updates about what’s going on in my life and what I’m working on. Most of the content I produce is very direct and to the point. I like creating content that I enjoy consuming. This ‘no fluff’ approach has worked well and people really appreciate it. But in...

One of the great things about building a website on WordPress is all the customisation and support that’s available in the WordPress ecosystem. My website has been running on WordPress since its inception in 2012. In this episode, I’d like to discuss some of the most important plugins I use to run my website. Show notes (please leave me a comment with your questions and feedback) » https://paulmin...

In the last 10 years, the number of apps the average knowledge worker uses to do their work has exploded. And a lot of these apps come with ‘inboxes’ i.e. places you have to check to see what changed the last time you used the app. When you stop and think about it, so much of our day is spent checking these inboxes: So, how do you keep up with all these inboxes? In this episode, I’ve listed some o...

I love tracking stuff. Whether it’s using my Apple Watch to track my fitness and sleep, or tracking my time using a tool like Timing (affiliate link) . And when it comes to tracking personal finances, I love using Pocketsmith (affiliate link) to see what’s going on with our finances. Pocketsmith is a personal finance tracker that works by connecting to your bank accounts. Once connected, you can c...