Applied APP Cohort 8 is Underway!

Join the Action-Powered Productivity community to develop your productivity skills while you wait for Cohort Nine (early July)!

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Everything you've been told about productivity is backward

Every method, every app, aims to get your tasks and projects organized. And they always work... for a few days, maybe a few weeks.

But it never sticks. You're still frazzled. You're still frustrated.

It's particularly hilarious (read: soul-crushing) that you spend hours upon hours organizing your system, but somehow it is never actually organized. You don't know where to put things, you feel like stuff gets lost.

You spend more time adding tasks to lists than you do checking them off.

Want to know why?

Being organized does not lead to Action

For decades, gurus like David Allen have taught us that a well-structured system will help us focus on the right work at the right time.

His Getting Things Done system—you might have heard it called "GTD"—says we'll experience a Zen "Mind like water" state where taking action is easy, if only our tasks and projects are properly structured. It's a nice image—and to be fair, it's a state we can occasionally glimpse—but most of the time, our minds are drowning in that water.

You're drowning because you've stepped into the water with your cart before your horse.

An organized system does not generate Action Now.

An organized system is the result of Action Now.

You need tools and skills for making decisions and taking action more than you need elaborate organization to accommodate every minuscule task.

It's not that you should work blindly. But instead of (over-) engineering a productivity system "in theory" and then beating your head against the wall when it doesn't work, you should learn how to work and then discover what you need to support that work.

What is Action-Powered Productivity?

Action-Powered Productivity (APP) is a method comprising tools, skills, strategies, and mindsets to help you work effectively and lead a fulfilling life.

The tools, skills, strategies, and mindsets fall into three core components:

1. Workflows for Taking Action Right Now. Your Agenda, Log, Bins, and Projects are all the structure you need to jumpstart your decisions and focus moment-to-moment. Templates, checklists, and simple auxiliary tools will supercharge your execution.
2. An interface between your Second Brain and Main Brain. This ensures tasks, projects, ideas, etc., are captured efficiently and surfaced appropriately.
3. A design philosophy for aspects of your Second Brain. You don't need elaborate structure in advance. A few best practices will ensure your "system storage" is safe and effective, and the structure you need will emerge.

Applied Action-Powered Productivity is a six-week cohort to develop your productivity tools, skills, strategies, and mindsets

In Applied APP, we do not build you a system that only works "in theory." By the end of the cohort, you'll have a reliable productivity system that is tailored to accomplish the work that's important to you, and customized to overcome your specific productivity hurdles.

💡Outcome

At the end of the six-week, live cohort course, you'll be:

✅ Confident building, adapting, running, and maintaining productivity processes with Tana (or your Tool for Thought of choice) as the hub

✅ Comfortable integrating Tana with other apps or processes as needed for your work

✅ Equipped with tools and apps—including AI—to help you work efficiently, effectively, and accurately

✅ In control of your time

✅ Clear on your priorities

✅ Equipped with valuable routines & habits, as well as templates for your recurring processes and projects

✅ Able to handle urgent work without being overwhelmed by it

✅ Equipped to further develop your system to adapt to future changes in your life and work

✅ More efficient and effective than you've ever been with systems you've used in the past—because this system is tailormade for you

❓How does the cohort work?

In Applied Action-Powered Productivity, we are focused on action. Everything that's included is to support your ability to Take Action Now.

Here's what's included:

🆓 My Tana for Tasks self-paced course is included so you can learn the mechanics of task management in Tana (a $97 value, available as soon as you enroll!)

🆓 An invite to Tana is included, if you need one

🆓 Free enrollment to the Action-Powered Productivity community, including access to the Intro to APP course I'm creating right now! The community also has a forum, as well as spaces for discussion and learning from each other

👨‍👩‍👦‍👦 Once weekly Live Group Coaching sessions via Zoom

❓ Twice weekly live Zoom Office Hours for demos, discussion, and Q&A

📼 All live Zooms are recorded and available to watch later

📆 See the calendar of live events: Google Calendar | iCal link

📺 Easy-to-understand video lessons

🎓 Curriculum

Because this is a live cohort coaching course, the curriculum listed below is subject to adjust a bit as we recognize what specific issues you face. But this will help you understand the structure of the framework you'll learn.

Prior to Week 1 (before April 21)

• Work through Tana for Tasks to have your task management tools ready to go in Tana
• Watch Intro to Action-Powered Productivity videos to learn the APP vocabulary
• Get your calendar set with the live cohort sessions you can attend

Week 1: Applying the Mechanics of Now (April 21)

• Learn the basics of your task management hub in Tana
  • What's an Agenda?
  • What's a Log?
  • What are Bins?
  • What are Projects?
• Learn to leverage your Agenda, Log, Bins, and Projects to make better decisions in the moment, and to focus on the right work at the right time

Week 2: Applying the Mechanics of Recurrence (April 28)

• Learn the "next level" of your task management hub in Tana
  • What are Recurring Tasks?
  • What are Procedures?
  • Why develop Project Templates?
• Learn to leverage these recurring structures to work more efficiently, effectively, and accurately

Week 3: Applying the Mechanics of Feedback (May 5)

• Nothing can improve without feedback, but if gathering feedback is difficult or time-consuming, we won't do it
• Learn to improve your productivity skills and maintain your productivity tools without unnecessary hassle
• Design reviews at the day, week, and month levels—and within projects as needed—that won't take forever or waste precious energy

Week 4: Applying the Mechanics of Execution (May 12)

• It's one thing to focus on the right work at the right time. It's another thing to do the work, and do it efficiently, effectively, and accurately
• Learn to use tools like text expanders, macros, internal links, and more, to work faster but also more accurately
• Learn where AI tools can fit into your workflows
• Learn how to discover better workflows and develop proficiency with them, even within apps and tools you already use
  • This includes demoing apps and workflows for each other, which we'll continue from Week 4 through the end of the cohort

Week 5: Applying the Mechanics of Vision (May 19)

• Goals don't work unless they're tied to Action Now—which is why we often set big goals but fail to work toward them
  • But once we have our Mechanics of Now, Recurrence, Feedback, and Execution firing, seeing the big picture is critical
• Learn to set your course for bigger picture goals, and recalibrate as needed based on regular feedback
• Learn to set boundaries based on your core values, so you don't take all the bandwidth your new productivity skills have freed up and fill it with work that doesn't matter to you

Week 6: The Road Ahead (May 26)

• Learn how to troubleshoot your productivity tools, skills, strategies, and mindsets
• Learn how to keep building and adapting in the future

Course Guide: R.J. Nestor

R.J. Nestor is a productivity coach, musician, and writer. He is a communication and productivity expert with 20 years of experience helping people say what they mean to say and do what they mean to do.

As a coach, R.J. helps you get important work done. He coaches entrepreneurs, executives, and freelancers from diverse industries: technology, finance, architecture & design, real estate, insurance, fitness, law, and more.

You have great ideas and boundless potential. R.J. provides the tools and guidance to execute your ideas and realize your potential.

FAQ

When does the course start and finish?

Cohort Eight will be April 21 through June 2. See the calendar of live events: Google Calendar | iCal link

How long do I have access to the course?

All lessons will be available to you in the APP Productivity community, and for APP Pro members will be regularly updated as future cohorts are completed.

What if I am unhappy with the course?

The refund policy is simple: If you can demonstrate you completed the Week One content, and at that point you decide the cohort isn't for you, DM me in the Circle community to request a full refund. Once the video content for Week Two is available (sometime April 28), no further refunds will be processed.

How do I access the private course community?

The sign-up link will be available when you enroll. If you have trouble joining the community, contact me.

Are there scholarships available for cohorts?

There are! Use this Scholarship Application Google Form to apply!