Applied APP Cohort 9 is underway!

Join the Action-Powered Productivity community to develop your productivity skills while you wait for Cohort Ten (mid September)!

Join APP Free or APP Pro!

How much work never gets finished because it never gets started?

It takes way more time and effort to start work than it does to sustain it.

This isn't unique to productivity. The starter motor in a car gives the engine the extra energy it needs to get started, but after that the engine can run on its own. Or if you've ever coaxed a fire to start, you know it can be tedious tending those first flames, but after enough heat is generated, the fire burns on its own.

In chemistry, this is called Activation Energy: the minimum amount of energy required for a chemical reaction.

So, you might ask, is the goal of Cohort Nine of Applied Action-Powered Productivity (Applied APP) to consistently generate sufficient Activation Energy to start working?

No.

Our goal is to skip that step entirely.

Bridge to the Middle

Always Start in the Middle is the most important productivity mindset you can cultivate.

The mindset is simple: If the hardest part of work is getting started, then Bridging beyond the startup time & effort and into the Middle of your Action will allow you to get more work done.

✅ You can Start in the Middle of a day if you've bridged there with an Agenda. No need to waste your morning energy worrying about what to do.

✅ You can Start in the Middle of a work session if you've bridged there with your next action defined and the required materials assembled. No need to scramble to gather missing resources before you can start.

✅ You can Start in the Middle of a project if you've bridged the first 80% with a template. No need to reinvent wheels when you return to work you've done before.

The Always Start in the Middle mindset, and its accompanying strategy Bridge to the Middle, apply to every aspect of productivity.

Productivity begins with Action—but your Action will be more efficient and reliable over time if you consistently Bridge to the Middle of that Action.

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 four core components:

1. Workflows for Taking Action Right Now. Your Agenda, Log, Bins, and Projects are the structure you need to jumpstart your decisions and focus moment-to-moment. Templates, checklists, and simple auxiliary tools will supercharge your execution.
2. Tools and Strategies for building productivity Bridges. Every APP component I share, and everything you build on top of those components, is designed to increase the work you accomplish while also reducing the time and effort required.
3. An interface between your Second Brain and Main Brain. This ensures tasks, projects, ideas, etc., are captured efficiently and surfaced appropriately.
4. 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 bridge over 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

✅ 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 2 (T4T2) template and tutorials 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. 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 demos

🎓 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 June 30)

• Install Tana for Tasks 2 (T4T2) to have your task management 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 (June 30)

• Learn the basics of task management
  • 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
• Learn to Bridge from day to day with an Agenda, and from Action to Action by Capturing future ideas and work in the right Bins & Projects

Week 2: Applying the Mechanics of Recurrence (July 7)

• Learn the "next level" of task management
  • What are Recurring Tasks?
  • What are Procedures?
  • Why develop Project Templates?
• Learn to leverage these recurring structures to work more efficiently, effectively, and accurately
• Learn to Bridge hours of unnecessary work every week by harnessing recurrence and never starting from scratch again

Week 3: Applying the Mechanics of Feedback (July 14)

• 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
• Learn to Bridge from one week to the next, or one month to the next, and how effective reviews Bridge into the Middle of future work by providing clarity

Week 4: Applying the Mechanics of Execution (July 21)

• 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 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
• Learn to Bridge the "blinking cursor on the blank white screen" block with tools like AI, text expanders, macros, internal links, and more

Week 5: Applying the Mechanics of Vision (July 28)

• 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
• Learn to Bridge from Goals to Action by applying effective Strategy

Week 6: The Road Ahead (August 4)

• Learn to troubleshoot your productivity tools, skills, strategies, and mindsets
• Learn to keep building and adapting in the future
• Learn that the system you've built is, itself, a Bridge to simplify your future work

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 Nine will be June 30 through August 11. 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 July 7), 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!