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There are just some things about Google that I don't like. Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

If you're already a subscriber to the Simpletivity channel, you know I talk an awful lot about a variety of Google products. For the most part, I'm very pleased with Google, but you know what—there are just some things that get under my skin.

So today, I'm sharing with you four different products: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Keep, and Contacts. I'm sharing with you things that I just can't stand—the things that I wish Google would improve upon.

Now just before I start, I would love to hear from you. If you see a great workaround to any of the problems that I'm going to point out, I'd love to hear from you, so be sure to share that in the comments below.

Google Calendar

Let's get things started off with Google Calendar, and I've got a sample calendar here—something that I use on a daily basis. Google Calendar is really my home base when it comes to my own productivity.

As you may know, I often use all-day tasks for my most important tasks, but of course, Google has reminders built right in, which is very helpful. But here's pet peeve number one.

Here on Friday and Saturday, you can see that I've got two different reminders here, and they show up at the top, which is great. Actually, I just have the one here on the Friday remember to do this thing.

But here's my pet peeve—I've got three reminders today, and there is no way for me to auto-expand all three. What Google Calendar will always do by default, if you have more than one reminder on a single day, is it's going to group them all together like this.

This really, really bugs me. In fact, I probably create fewer reminders as a result because of this.

I want to see all three of these reminders, just like if I had more than one all-day task, but I can't do that. Or at least I haven't figured out how to do that.

I always have to click on this and then take a look at those individual reminders down here. The exact same thing goes for the mobile experience as well.

So I wish there was a setting somewhere—I wish I could change this. If you know of a workaround, I'd love to hear from you.

Gmail

All right, let's move on to Gmail—something that again I use on a very regular basis. If you use Google products, chances are that you use Gmail as well.

Recently, Gmail had a facelift with a number of improvements but also some changes. Now, one of my favorite things in the previous version of Gmail was that when you hovered over an email address just here from your inbox, you got to see some of that information.

You got to see a profile picture, a name, and so forth, and they give you a few helpful icons here, right? If I want to send an email to this person, if I want to schedule an event, a few other helpful things as well.

But in the previous Gmail, you could see there was an additional link where you could see all of the emails which this individual had sent to you. If you wanted to quickly see all of the emails which this sender had sent to you, it was just one click away.

I can't do that anymore. This is going to start a new email to this user, and in fact, this icon is going to do the exact same thing—just send an email to this user.

But what I used quite frequently was this additional link, and no longer can you go back to the classic Gmail. This additional link allowed me to see all of the emails which I've received from that person.

Now what I have to do is essentially copy and paste their email address, put it up here in the search, and then that's going to bring back everything here in my search results. It's a bit clumsy, and I wish that they would bring that back.

Now there's one other pet peeve that I want to share here within Gmail, and that has to do with when you are creating a message. When we are creating a message here in Gmail, not a lot has changed here in the edit box as you're crafting a new message.

But something which has changed is down below here with the formatting options. Often, by default, I have the formatting options available here, right?

I want to change the font; I'm often bolding certain items of my text, or maybe I want to add a bullet point or realign some things. But what I really dislike about this area here—and you probably can't take full appreciation of it because I don't have a lot of text in here right away—but let me enter down here a little bit—there we go.

This is my pet peeve—I'm often crafting an email, and look what happens. This formatting bar here is floating on top of the email.

So often as I'm writing here, you can see how my signature is being hidden. Often as I'm replying or writing an email, it's hiding some of the text that either I've written or that was later on in that particular email.

In the previous version of Gmail, this was just on top—it would sort of expand this area so it would appear directly above this area. But now it floats on top, and it seems to squish everything in here.

I've got to go scrolling back and forth depending on where I am to see what is going on. This may not be the best example that I'm showing you right here, but you can even see some of my additions here—I've got assistant.com here, I've got Grammarly setup—it's kind of hiding that as well as it's floating over top.

I wish they would go back to just having this as a part of the console. I want to turn it on and off still—I mean, I want to still have that capability—but I don't like this floating option here.

Well, let's stick with a contact-related pet peeve of mine, and that has to do with Google Contacts. If you're using Gmail, chances are you're using the contacts, and of course, it's very easy to add and have Gmail automatically add your contacts here.

But probably my biggest pet peeve is just the default view here, in that I only have limited information. I've got the name, I've got the email address, and I've got a phone number, but that's it.

I can't change these columns in any way—I can't add a company name, I can't add a city, I can't add an additional number. Maybe I want both a business number and a mobile number present on this page.

If I want that information, I need to click on that person and then find that information down below. This is not exactly what I'd like to see—I’d like to have more flexibility here within Google Contacts.

If you know of an extension, if you know of something that enhances Google Contacts, again, I'd love to hear from you. Be sure to include those recommendations in the comments below.

Last but not least, my fifth pet peeve has to do with Google Keep. Now, I love the flexibility of Google Keep with the different types of notes that you can create, but that also is where this pet peeve comes from.

When you go to take a note, and let's say you want something with a checklist like this sample grocery list here, you have to make that choice upfront. What I'd like to do is to be able to add some additional text within a checklist, but currently, I can't do that here at this stage.

If I start taking a note, I can't just add a checklist at this point. I'm gonna have to delete this or close this note and select New List.

Once I start adding this checklist here, if I want to add some additional text below this checklist or above the checklist, I can't do it. I can't do it—I have to make that choice upfront.

So either your note is a checklist, or it is a text-based note. Now, you can add text to an image, and if I want to add further text to this, that's absolutely fine.

But I really wish that I could combine a checklist with additional text information and maybe even a picture as well. So those are some of my pet peeves within my most-used Google products.

Next, I would love to hear from you. What are some of the things that bug you the most when it comes to using your Google apps?

Whether it's Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Keep, Google Contacts, Drive, Maps—I don't care what it is—share with me and share with others what your biggest pet peeves are. Thank you so much for watching.

I'm looking forward to your comments, and I hope you subscribe right here to the Simpletivity channel. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Shh I've got a question for you. What would it feel like to have a stress-free workday?

What would it feel like if you are absolutely in control of everything that was on your plate? Now I can't speak for you, but I can speak for my clients—it feels great.

It feels absolutely wonderful to be in control of your calendar, your to-do list, and all of the commitments that you have on your plate. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not suggesting that you're not a high-performing professional.

You may be a business owner, an entrepreneur, or maybe you manage many other individuals. But you probably clicked on this video for a reason.

You've probably clicked on this video because you're looking for a way to improve your productivity. You're looking for more control in your workday.

Challenge

Well, I want to help you do just that. So you're probably wondering, can I help you feel more in control of your day in just a short video?

Well the answer is yes, but I'm going to ask something of you. I'm going to ask for your commitment to actually put these ideas into practice.

You know you can watch countless YouTube videos. You can read endless time management books and other blogs on the subject of productivity.

But if you don't put things into action, you're not gonna see those results. So here's my challenge: tonight I'd like you to spend five minutes, just five minutes, planning out your day tomorrow.

I want you to sit down with your calendar, your to-do list, and any other deadlines or commitments that you have coming up. And I don't want you to spend any more than five minutes with them.

Conclusion

In fact, to make sure that you stay within that deadline, I would encourage you to take out your smartphone and set a timer for five minutes. Not only will it keep you within that timeframe, it'll actually make it a little more fun.

Can you challenge yourself to spend just five minutes with your to-do list? Remember, if you fail to plan, plan to fail.

So the choice is yours. You can do the same old thing that you've always done, or you can try something new so you can be in control.

And I'm only asking for five minutes. Five minutes to plan your day ahead and set yourself up for success.

Now once you've fulfilled this challenge, I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. And I'm sure there's some of you who have already applied this technique as a part of your day today.

Thank you so much for watching. I hope you subscribe right here to the Simpletivity channel.

Give this video a thumbs up, and I look forward to your feedback in the comments. Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult—in fact, it's very simple.

What's the worst piece of productivity advice that I often hear? Find out next.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And recently here in the YouTube comments, I was asked what is one piece of productivity advice, Scott, that we often hear but you don't agree with.

I thought that was a fantastic question so I thought I'd share my answer with you today.

One of the most famous productivity quotes comes from Benjamin Franklin and he famously said, don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Now we often hear this piece of advice as it relates to procrastination that we shouldn't be putting off important things.

If we are able to do them today, then we should do them and not put them off until tomorrow.

But one of the things that I hate about this particular quote is that it's often used in the sense of hustling or just working harder, just bearing down and grinding it out.

Think about it for a second. There's an unlimited list of things that you or I would like to do today.

There's probably about 100 things that I would like to accomplish today and I could probably get through most of them if I ignored my family, if I ignored my health, if I ignored my diet, if I ignored my friends and neighbors.

I could accomplish a whole lot more if I just shut everything else around me.

The problem is is that leads to burn out, that leads to stress and it certainly doesn't win me any favors in my circle of friends.

So I think we need to put a pause on this particular quote and think about when it's appropriate to defer things to another day.

And whether that's work-related or perhaps that's something in your personal life, it's important for you to be able to push something to the future when it's appropriate.

Now in order to debunk this quote from Benjamin Franklin, I'm gonna use Benjamin Franklin.

That's right, I'm actually gonna use something that he is also famously known for.

In his autobiography, Benjamin Franklin included his regular daily schedule.

He outlined the things that he typically did in a day, everything that he did from when he got up in the morning at 5 a.m. all the way until he retired at 10 in the evening.

And what I love about reviewing his schedule is that if you look at his post-work activities, when you look at what he did after 6 p.m., it was very much un-work related.

In fact he reserved this time for things like music or diversions or good conversation.

He wasn't just working all hours of the day tucked up in an office somewhere.

No, he made sure that he spent some time with the people he loved, the people he cared about and other pursuits, including the arts.

So how does this apply to us in our day?

Well of course Benjamin Franklin didn't have email. He didn't have his smartphone going off every other minute.

But I think we can apply some of the things that Benjamin Franklin taught us.

Whether you work in an office, whether you work at home, whether you work for yourself or for a large corporation, I think it's important that you set a particular deadline, a particular time of day where you will relinquish your work activities.

I know most of us don't have a finite end of workday.

It's not like the old Fintstones cartoon where a bell is rung and everybody goes home.

You're probably even encouraged to work most of your waking hours.

But regardless of your working situation, I encourage you to select a particular end of workday and do your best to stick to it so you can reserve time for the people and also the pursuits and hobbies that are most important to you.

Don't just get caught up in the grind of accomplishing as much as you possibly can today because you're only going to lead yourself into a spiral of burn out, increased stress and poor performance in the long run.

So let's learn something important from Mr. Benjamin Franklin.

Not that we need to jam as much as we possibly can in a given day, but it's important to finish the day.

Finish our work at a particular time so that we can have time for family, friends and other personal pursuits.

Now I'd love to hear from you. What type of productivity myths or common productivity phrases do you dislike and do you think we should debunk?

And also I'd love to hear what you think about Benjamin Franklin's schedule.

Do you think some of the things that he talks about, some of the things that he did so many years ago are still applicable today?

I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

I've read a lot of books in the past year, but which ones do I actually recommend? Let's find out next.

One of my favorite ways to unwind at the end of the day is by reading a good book. I do this almost each and every night.

This year, I've read about 20 to 25 books in total, but I certainly wouldn't recommend each and every title. In today's video, I wanna share with you my seven favorite books of the past year, and I've broken it down into different categories.

Everything from time management to sales to even a piece of fiction that I should've read many many years ago. Just to let you know, not all of these books were published in the past year.

These were books that I read for the first time in the last 12 months. If you'd like to learn more about any of these books, I've provided links in the description below.

So let's get started with surprise, surprise, time management. The first book on this list has quickly become one of my favorites, When, by Daniel Pink shows us the scientific secrets of perfect timing.

This has quickly become one of my favorite time management books of all time. In this book, author Daniel Pink shows us why when we do something is just as important as what we are doing.

For example, do you know that you should be avoiding a large number of activities between the hours of two and four p.m.? In particular, don't visit a hospital during those two hours.

Do you know that you should be starting many of your major goals on things like your birthday or maybe an anniversary? Don't just wait till the beginning of the year.

This book is jam-packed with great ideas that you could implement, not only for yourself, but also with your business. I've read a number of Daniel Pink's other works and I was very impressed.

But I have never been this much more engaged with his work than when I read When. So if you're a fan of time management or personal productivity books, you're gonna wanna pick this book up.

Never Split the Difference

Now the second book on my list, I'm gonna put into the category of sales, but really it goes so much further and beyond. Never Split the Difference by Chris Voss is all about negotiation.

And whether you are a salesperson or whether you have a conversation with almost anyone, you're gonna benefit by this book. In Never Split the Difference, Chris Voss talks all about high stakes, but also low stake negotiations.

Everything from selling a product to having a conversation with your spouse or maybe you want to get your kids to do something for you. Anyone can benefit from this book.

I found myself re-reading a number of the chapters, because whether I'm out to buy a new vehicle, or perhaps sell you a service, the tips in this book are most valuable.

Building a Story Brand

The third book that I read this year that I would recommend, I would put into the category of marketing. Of course, there's a difference between sales and marketing.

For this book, I've chosen Building a StoryBrand by Donald Miller. Most of us are trying to clarify our message.

As a business or an entrepreneur, you want someone to understand immediately what problem it is that you are trying to solve. And for many of us, we tend to scramble up that message within our website, within our social media, maybe even right here on YouTube.

Donald Miller gives you a fantastic template that you can replicate for different products or different businesses as a whole. In fact, he shows you why almost every single major motion picture follows this exact same story to clarify their message.

If you want to get clear with what you are trying to sell or the service you're trying to provide, I recommend you pick up this book.

Philosophy

During the course of my year, I try to pick up a book that is related to philosophy or perhaps psychology. And in this category, I would have to pick 12 Rules for Life by Jordan Peterson.

Both this book and Jordan Peterson are somewhat controversial, and I can't say that I recommend everything in which Dr. Peterson talks about within this book.

But, if you are looking for someone to challenge you and get you thinking about the different complexities that we face in this life, you're going to enjoy the 12 Rules for Life.

I particularly like how he brings in data, and as a clinical psychologist, how he brings in his own research with the research of others to try and defend his arguments or prove his points.

This wasn't an easy book to read, it certainly wasn't maybe the easiest thing to read before bedtime, but once in a while, you need a book to challenge you and that's what I liked about the 12 Rules for Life.

Selfhelp

My fifth recommendation on this list, I'm gonna have to put into the category of self-help. I know, you may not be wild about that title just like I'm not wild about that subject area, but let's be honest, we still use it.

You're still gonna find a self-help section in your local bookstore. For this category, the book that made the biggest difference in my life is The More of Less by Joshua Becker.

Joshua Becker runs a very popular blog all about minimalism, something that you've maybe heard a lot more frequently in the last few years about living with fewer items, having less clutter in your home.

I really appreciated his philosophy, and the things that he talked about in the book, because although most of them are related about the home and physical items, I think a lot of what he talks about is in line with what I teach and talk about right here on Simpletivity, that less really is more.

And by keeping things simple, you have an opportunity to work at your productive best. If you would like a taste of the minimalist lifestyle and get some great ideas about how you can purge some of that excess, I'd recommend The More of Less by Joshua Becker.

Biography

A year of reading for me wouldn't be complete without reading at least one biography. And this year, the one that I would recommend is Elon Musk by author Ashlee Vance.

This biography has been out for a number of years and it's been at the top of many bestseller lists during that period of time. I finally got around to reading it and I'm glad I did, but maybe not for the reasons that you think.

Yes, it's very impressive to see his life story and to see how many different things that he has accomplished, and really started to transform the way that we work and the way that we may be exploring other worlds.

But one of my takeaways from reading this biography is how we treat one another, and I have to admit, I walked away with some of the similar feelings I had after reading the Steve Jobs biography.

Both of these men have done some amazing things in their lives, however, at the cost of many other lives. And no, I'm not talking about death or murder, but it's very apparent that both of these men have been very ruthless with their relationships, both with the people closest to them including marriages and estranged children, but especially the people that work for them.

And although they both have very, very loyal fan bases, it often gets me to thinking about how we treat one another and is it worth it? So that's just my personal take on this particular biography.

But if you do want a fascinating look at a fascinating person, you may wanna check out the Elon Musk biography.

Fiction

Well, we're almost near the end of my list, but before I reveal my seventh and final recommendation, I wanna hear from you. What were your favorite books from the past year?

They don't have to have been published in the past year, but of all the books you read in the last 12 months, which ones were your favorite? Be sure to tell me in the comments below.

For my seventh and final selection, I have to go with a work of fiction. Something that I actually don't read a lot of. You probably already noticed that by hearing my six previous recommendations.

But when it comes to my favorite book in the genre of fiction, I'd have to go with The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I know, you might be surprised by that, 'cause I actually like science fiction, and this is already a classic.

But The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams combines two of my favorite things, science fiction and humor, and there are healthy doses of both throughout this classic.

So if you have not yet read The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, you might want to do so in the coming year. There you have it, my seven favorite books from the past year.

I hope that you make time as a part of your day to read each and every day. If you wanna get the most out of your business, if you wanna get the most out of your life, you need to continue to learn, and books are a fantastic way to do so.

Thank you again for watching today's video. I hope you subscribe. Give this video a thumbs up, and don't forget to tell me your book recommendations in the comments below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Hey everyone! Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity.

And as we head into the holidays, as we head into the very end of the year and the start of 2019, I wanted to take just a moment to express my thanks to you.

Thank you for supporting the Simpletivity channel, for all of your comments, for all of your questions, for attending the live streams, for participating in the RESET Productivity Boot Camp.

Any way, shape, or form, I want to express my thanks to you. It's hard for me to believe that a year ago we had something like 8 or 9 thousand subscribers.

And we are now on the verge, at least at the recording of this video, we're on the verge of exceeding 40,000 subscribers. But let me be honest, it's not about the subscribers.

It's not really about the numbers or the number of views. It's the ways that I get to interact with you, and I really appreciate all of your questions and comments.

I still try to do my best to read every single one of the comments. So, as we head into a new year, I wish you the best, Happy New Year!

I hope you have a fantastic 2019. And I'm looking forward to even new bigger and better videos in the coming year.

But just before I sign off, I've got a question for you. I feel like we've built up a community here.

You're more than just a viewer, I consider you a friend. I consider you a contemporary, a partner as we seek ways to be more productive and make the best use of our time.

So the question I'd like you to help me answer is what should we call this community? I've named my business Simpletivity.

But should we name ourselves something? Or would you like to be named something or referred to as something?

I'm not saying that we have to do this, but I want to throw that out there to you. Maybe it's something fun that you can think about and you can share with me in the comments below.

With that, I wish you a Merry Christmas, a Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year! Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Just a few days ago I opened up registration for the reset productivity bootcamp so in this video I wanted to answer the most frequently asked questions about reset I'm going to be using the five W's who what when where and why so you have everything you need to know about the reset boot camp number

What is Reset

one what exactly is reset well this is a four week online course where I teach you directly how to get the most out of your day whether you're dealing with distractions or interruptions perhaps you want a better way to prioritize all of your projects and tasks and most importantly how to create the optimal productivity system for you we are going to learn all of that within the reset productivity boot camp

Who is the Reset Boot Camp

who exactly is the reset boot camp for well I've had a variety of different professionals attend the reset boot camp over the last year and a half we've had

everyone from bookkeepers accountants real estate agents small business owners

entrepreneurs a wide variety of professionals it doesn't matter if you work for yourself if you work from home or if you work for a large organization this boot camp is all about transforming the way you work so you can work at your productive best if you don't believe me

What is the Reset Boot Camp about

you don't have to take my word for it here are just some of the things that passed reset alumni have said about the reset productivity boot camp I especially like what Gary had to say today's one hour reset webinar saved me approximately two hours this very afternoon something I hope you already know about me is that I'm all about

actionable tips and in each and every one of our live sessions I'm giving you actionable tips and weekly assignments you get a little bit of homework just to make sure that you follow through with this program make the differences that you want to see in your work day

Where does the Reset Boot Camp take place

Where does the reset bootcamp take place well it's wherever you want to be this

Is a online course but it is live that's right there's no pre-recorded videos with the reset productivity bootcamp I host four live webinars through the duration of the program so whether you want to take this from your home office if you want to do it at work and remember each

And every one of the live webinars will be recorded so if you can't make everyone live or only some of them live you can catch up and you can watch those videos in fact those of you who register for the reset productivity

bootcamp will have access to those videos for a full year once the course begins when does the reset boot camp When does the Reset Boot Camp take place

Take place well the course kicks off Wednesday May 1st and it will run every Wednesday throughout the month of May it's a one-hour webinar where you join me live and the other cohort participants you get to ask me questions directly but perhaps more importantly

I am teaching you directly as I share my screen as I share real-world examples and you get to ask questions and participate along with other students as

a part of the reset productivity boot camp so again that's May first starting things off each Wednesday throughout the month of May and perhaps the most

Why should you consider the Reset Boot Camp

Important question that you're wondering is why why should you be considering the

Reset productivity boot camp well as I said before this is very much unlike any other course you've probably taken before this isn't something that you can just click through over the course of a weekend know you get to work with me directly

And get direct access to me throughout those weeks you'll be invited to a private Facebook group where you can interact with myself and ask questions in between the webinars and you know if you're wanting to make some really big changes in your work day

It's important to have someone you trust it's important to have you it's important that you have a coach to guide you along the way that's one of the reasons why I only do this two times a year once in the spring and once in the fall so if

Register for the Reset Boot Camp

you would like to learn even more or register for the reset productivity boot camp I encourage you to visit simple tivity dot-com slash reset or you can click the link in the description below now we are still in the middle of early registration so you have an opportunity to save 40% off the regular price but registration is only open for a limited amount of time before the course begins May 1st as always

Remember being productive does not need to be difficult in fact it's very simple

Hi everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And today, I'm doing something just a little different.

Today, I wanna give you a tour of my actual workspace.

Now, you may be familiar with this background here. This is where I record my monthly webinars. This is where I host the Reset Productivity Bootcamp.

If you've ever attended any of my online training, this is where you're probably used to seeing me, but this isn't actually where I do most of my work.

No, I do most of my work at a different location in my home. I do have an office location and just two weeks ago, I purchased a brand new desk.

So I wanna give you a tour of the new desk, give you reasons why I chose this particular desk and I'm hoping you can maybe help me finish off organizing this desk.

You can choose where I get to put certain items 'cause I'm looking forward to your feedback.

So, let's head upstairs and let me show you my new desk.

Desk Tour

So, here it is, my brand new desk.

And I'm sure the first thing that you're saying is, that doesn't look like a desk.

Well, no, it's a converting desk, sometimes better known as an armoire desk. It looks more like a chest, right? It looks more like a dresser.

Well, I'm big on saving space and so I purposely purchased such a converting desk so not only can I save space, but I'm gonna show you how I can easily pack up shop and leave my work behind at the end of the day.

So, with any converting desk, all you need to do is pull on one of these handles and this desk part folds out.

I've got plenty of space for my laptop, room for a notepad, a piece of paper. This is where I do all of my video recordings, as well.

One of the reasons why I chose this particular model is that, as I close this up, for example, you'll see that it actually has some supporting arms here on the corner that fold out, right? The mechanism is built in.

I wanted to make sure that I had a desk that was sturdy enough because I'd seen other folding desks before and sometimes it was just, sort of, a very thin hinge. That was the only thing that was keeping this part here, but this is more than sturdy enough for my laptop, for my big microphone that I use for recording my videos.

Lots of space here for a notepad and some additional paper. But this is more than enough space for me to get the work done that I need to do.

The other reason why I chose this particular model is that there's ample room for storage space. You can see here, I've got room for my tablet there, I've got some scrap paper there, and in fact, I've got a lot of empty space and this is where I'm hoping you might be able to help me out.

Where and what should I be putting into these different slots here? I don't usually keep a lot of mail or paper.

Now, got some of my favorite candy. I'm a big Skittles fan there, in the background, but I'm still not sure what exactly I should be putting into these four slots.

I've got a few small pull out drawers here where I can leave some knick-knacks. I only have a few things in there, a charging cable and a USB drive. But, plenty more storage down below.

So let me just fold in, put my laptop back inside. Let me fold up the desk here.

And here on the front, you can see, I've got two drawers and two cupboard drawers.

Now, one of the disadvantages of this particular desk is that when the desk itself is folded out, it makes these drawers essentially inaccessible, right? I can't access these when the desk is folded up, but that's why I purposely put in things that I don't need very often.

Here I have a number of business cards in this particular drawer. I'm only needing, you know, one or two writing utensils at a time, so I keep those on my desk. I can leave my extras in this drawer here.

But down below, I've got much more space. Down below here, I've got mostly my recording equipment for recording YouTube videos. I've got a few snacks, a few of my favorite power bars, Clif Bars, down below.

Here I've got, actually, a new timer that I'm looking forward to reviewing in an upcoming video, and you can see, I haven't really maximized the use of this space yet. I've got lots of room still left in this cupboard here.

And if I move over to the left hand side, I've got even more space. In fact, the only thing (laughs) that is on this top shelf is my windscreen for recording videos, the thing that I put in front of my microphone.

But this is the other nice component that I like here is that it actually has a drawer, a nice wooden drawer here, that has hanging files.

And you may recognize this system. This is often referred to as a tickler file system. I'm actually experimenting with something else new with this new structure, as I'm doing, sort of, a modified tickler folder system, where I'm actually using three dates at a time because I don't like the idea of having to flip out a folder each and every day.

I find as long as I'm on top of things within a three-day window, I can do so. If you don't know much about a tickler folder system, it was popularized in the Getting Things Done book by David Allen. You can find many great resources online. Just type in tickler folder or 43 Folders and you can find out how this system works.

But I love how this is built right into it. I didn't have to buy a hanging folder system, it was built right into the desk.

So let me fold that up here.

On the top, I try to keep it nice and sparse. Sometimes I leave my phone up here. I've got a bit of a charging station here in the corner and a little lamp that I use from time to time if I need some more appropriate light.

But let me fold this out one more time, just to explain why I chose a folding desk system such as this.

Why a Folding Desk

Now, I already mentioned that one of the reasons why I chose this desk is I like to save space and maximize my surroundings. That's why I wanted a converting desk.

But there's another reason why I chose this particular desk and that is, at the end of the day, I wanted to literally close up shop, as you see here.

I wanted to close my desk and actually hide my computer, actually make it a little, tiny bit more difficult for me to access my desktop at the end of my workday.

You see, I think it's important to finish your workday at a particular time. The reason being is that that's the only way you can guarantee time for other pursuits and other time with your family, with your friends, and maybe other hobbies.

I truly feel that by having a particular stop time or end time, it's gonna make you more productive in the long run.

So I like that I actually have to put my laptop, I have to tuck it in, just a few inches here on the inside, and then all I have to do is fold this up and it's, sort of, out of sight, out of mind.

That was key for me. This is why I chose such a desk as this one.

So I hope you enjoyed that little tour.

Outro

Of my new desk and my workspace.

I'm looking forward to your questions and your comments and feedback, but more importantly, I'd love to learn more about your workspace and what makes it unique for you.

What do you love about your desk and your setup and what do you wish you could improve upon?

Be sure to let me know in the comments down below.

I wanna thank you so much for subscribing right here to the Simpletivity channel.

I hope you give this video a thumbs up and don't forget to leave me a comment down below.

Remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

hello everyone Scott Friesen here at simple tivity helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress and today's video is a little different because I've never done something quite like this before I'm seeking your help here's how it's gonna work

I love reading all of your comments all of your suggestions and questions here

on my videos on the simple tivity channel a lot of those questions a lot of those suggestions become future videos well I'm just in the middle of

What are your suggestions

planning out my new video content for the rest of spring and through the summer months and I want to hear from you so I hope you participate in this what I'd like you to do is in the comment section down below I'd like you to add your suggestions as to what types of videos you would like to see right here on the channel in the coming months it could be something related to technology or a how-to video or anything

related to time management or productivity or getting the most out of your day but instead of adding all of

How you can help

your suggestions in a single comment if you've got two or three suggestions I'd

like you to add them as separate comments and here's why other people are

gonna have an opportunity to give you and you can thumbs up or vote up other

people's suggestions and what I'm gonna commit to is whatever suggestion gets

the most likes get gets the most thumbs up down in the comments below I'm going

to commit to making that video I'm probably going to be making a lot of the

Videos, a lot of the suggestions that you add down below, but I'm promising you right here and now, whichever suggestion gets the most likes, I will most definitely be producing that video.

So I hope you get involved, take just a few moments, add some suggestions down below in the comments, take some time to maybe review some of the other things that are being suggested, and vote on the ones that you want to see right here on the Simpletivity channel.

I want to thank you so much in advance for participating. I want to thank you for supporting the channel. As of this recording, we are approaching 60,000 subscribers.

Thank you so much, and remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

Not too long ago, I asked you what kinds of videos you'd like to see more of here on the Simpletivity channel.

And Mihow had a great suggestion. He said he wanted to see the best books, podcasts, and resources that helped me to be more productive.

So today I wanna share with you seven of my favorite books and podcasts that help me stay on top of my game.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And let's jump right in with Mr. Daniel H. Pink.

And my first book recommendation is his latest and it's called "When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing".

Now you may be familiar with Daniel Pink. He's the author of books such as "Drive" and also "To Sell is Human". I've read both of those books and a few others and I've thoroughly enjoyed his style of writing.

But until recently he had never tackled the topic of time management or personal productivity. And what I love about "When" is that he backs it up with research and with real data.

So for example, did you know that you should try to avoid hospitals between the hours of 2:00 p.m. and 4:00 p.m.? In fact between two and four in the afternoon, you should probably try to avoid a lot of important things, including important meetings or important phone calls.

That's just a little bit of a teaser. You'll have to find out why by reading it for yourself. But I thoroughly enjoyed "When" by Daniel Pink.

Now I'm gonna be alternating between books and podcasts. So my first podcast recommendation might be a little surprising to some of you because it may seem as though it's not focused on productivity at first glance. I regularly listen to Freakonomics or more specifically Freakonomics Radio which was loosely based or is loosely based on the book by the same name.

Now the authors of Freakanomics go into some really interesting topics. And as you glance at some of these, you may again say, "How does this help you, Scott, to be more productive?"

But if I scroll down just a little bit further, you'll see that there are episodes such as "A Better Way to Eat", "The Zero-Minute Workout", "How Does the Behavior-Change Revolution?", "How Goes the Behavior-Change Revolution?", and "Long-term Thinking in a Start-Up Town". I love that Freakonomics interviews a wide variety of experts and professors, not just economics professors but a wide variety of professionals. And I found that it's given me some really interesting insight into my own business and my own behavior, as I'm thinking of new routines and changing the way that I go about my day.

Freakonomics releases a new episode roughly once a week and they are very very well produced. So you'll certainly, it's certainly worth your time to check out Freakonomics.

All right, back to a book recommendation. And for this I have to go to Mr. Cal Newport. Now Cal Newport's latest book is entitled, "Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World." A lot of it has to do with taking a social media fast but the book that I wanna recommend by Cal Newport is "Deep Work".

Now you've may have heard me talk about "Deep Work" in the past. It's one of my all-time favorite productivity books. "Deep Work: Rules for Focused Success in a Distracted World". And it really does come down to how do we keep and achieve the focus we need to be as successful as we can, whether that's in our work or even when that's in our personal lives.

Now Cal Newport is somewhat famously known for having almost no social media presence. I don't believe he has a Twitter or Instagram account. He's not active, even if he does, he's not active in any of those places and that's really surprising for a multiple best-selling author. But if there's one thing that Cal knows a lot about that is focus. And I really enjoyed "Deep Work", immediately started to apply a number of the things that he talks about within his book.

All right back over to a podcast recommendation and for this one I have to go to the Five AM Miracle Podcast by Mr. Jeff Sanders. Now I had the pleasure of interviewing Jeff Sanders a few years ago. And I was actually a guest on his podcast at the same time. And what I love about the Five AM Miracle Podcast is that Jeff is just such a positive guy. He really gets you going, whether you're listening to this early in the morning or some other part of your day, he gives you actionable tips and a great interviewer as well. As you get to hear from a wide variety of professionals on a wide variety of topics. But it really is focused on productivity, on technology. As you see here, the episodes run typically, probably about 45 minutes in length, a pretty typical podcast length. But something that is a great way to either start your day or to keep you on that positive side as you go about your workday.

All right, it's time for another book recommendation and this may just be my favorite on this list. It may be a little bit surprising to many of you that I've included it on this list but it's quickly become one of my all-time favorite books. And that is "Never Split the Difference" by Mr. Chris Voss.

Now first, let me talk a little bit about the author, Chris Voss. I wanna highlight some text here. Chris Voss was the FBI's hostage negotiation representative for the National Security Council's hostage working group. He led international kidnapping negotiating for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for many many years. In essence, if there was ever an American who was taken hostage in a foreign country, Chris Voss was either directly or indirectly involved.

So if we're talking about negotiation, he's certainly the expert we wanna be listening to. But the focus here is not just on the author but the book itself, and it's called, "Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It". And what I love about this is that very early in the book, Mr. Voss talks about, in a hostage negotiation there's no such thing as let's meet halfway, right? There's no such thing as, "Hey, why don't you release one of the hostages and then you can go ahead and kill the other hostage." That's never ever acceptable from a hostage negotiation standpoint. And he uses the things which he learned over his decades of hostage negotiation and applied it in a real-world sense.

Now you may think if you're not in sales, is this book really gonna be helpful to you? And I would say, absolutely. We are negotiating day in and day out, regardless if you're dealing with contracts or not. Even in your personal life, you're negotiating constantly with a spouse, with your children, with your neighbors, with good friends, with family members. But especially within our work world, whether it's clients, whether it's your own boss, or coworkers. The things that are discussed, the things that are provided in this book are invaluable and I was able to apply a number of them in my own business almost immediately. Like I said before, "Never Split the Difference" has quickly become one of my all-time favorite books and I think it will help you with your productivity. You'll be able to accomplish more because you get to start thinking in a slightly different way.

Back over to my last podcast recommendation on this list. We've got one more book recommendation to go but my podcast recommendation is the Productivityist Podcast. Now I know that's a bit of a mouthful at first, Productivityist. Who is the Productivityist? Well it's Mr. Mike Vardy and he's been doing this podcast for a number of years and I like his take and I especially love his interviewing style within the podcast. He releases his podcast typically on a weekly basis and it is an interview format. He interviews a number of authors, a number of other productivity coaches and consultants. But some really great topics, some really great things that you can start to apply right away. And what I love, whether I'm reading a book or whether I'm listening to a podcast is hearing someone else's story, someone else's journey. And a lot of times that's what Mike Vardy focuses on. What was someone else's journey? How did they improve their productivity? And I love grabbing just the key tidbits or the things that really resonate with me and I try to start to apply them in my own life, see what works and see what doesn't. So if you want some helpful tips, a very entertaining podcast, be sure to check out the Productivityist Podcast.

And that brings us to my final recommendation in today's video. And with this I have to go with Angela Duckworth's book, "Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance." Now again, you may be asking yourself, what does this have to do with productivity? Well I think it has all to do with productivity because it has to do with how do we push through certain barriers? What separates the most successful from everyone else? And how can you apply those techniques within your own day today?

You might wanna start off by watching Angela's TED Talk which is very good. It gives you a bit of a summary of the book itself. But again I'm a big fan of books that can back up their claims with real-world research and data. And Angela Duckworth and her team have done a number of studies in a variety of places, some of the most prestigious universities and businesses in a variety of countries. And she's come up with some great insight on how you can be more grit-worth. How you can bear down but also be more successful in the end.

Well there you have it, there are seven of my favorite books and podcasts. Books that I've read recently and podcasts that I continue to listen to, to help me be more productive.

I would love to hear from you. What are some of your recommendations? What are some of your suggestions? I'd love to hear some of your favorite books, some of your favorite podcasts. Maybe there are some other resources that you use.

Be sure to share them with me and share them with others in the comments below.

Remember being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.

(logo wooshing)

• [Scott] Let's be honest, you have a lot of choice when it comes to project management tools. Whether it's Trello, Asana, or maybe Monday.com, and they all do an excellent job of managing tasks and giving you the ability to collaborate with others. However, Hive Project Management is doing something a little different. In fact, I think it is game-changing when it comes to communication. And so today, I want to show you three ways that Hive is allowing you to communicate directly, from within its system so you don't have to go anywhere else.

Hello everyone, Scott Friesen here at Simpletivity, helping you to get more done and enjoy less stress.

And I've talked about Hive Project Management before in the past. I really love their clean and simple layout. I also enjoy the different types of views that it gives you for managing and taking a look at all of your different projects, but the real game-changer that I wanna show you today has to do with messaging.

So here on the left-hand side, let's start with "direct messages." And you can see I've got two areas here: there's "groups" up top and then there's "direct messages" down below.

So if I wanna have a complete conversation here with Jessica, I can do so. I don't have to leave anywhere. I don't have to do it within a particular task. I can do it right here from within Hive. And beyond just simple text, I can also drag in certain tasks.

So if I drag in this task, I can talk directly about this task, so she knows exactly what I'm talking about. And of course you can click on it and go directly to that task as well.

But up top, I can also have a direct messaging conversation with my entire team, or I can create subgroups, very much just like in Slack. I can create a marketing team, and we can have our conversation here.

So this is fantastic for keeping everyone in line and not allowing them to be distracted, or to be engaged in so many other different channels, especially it reduces the need to have multiple tabs open, or other things open on the screen at the same time.

But maybe the biggest game-changer that Hive has introduced is email integration. So here in the top left-hand corner, you can see something that's labeled "inbox." And when I open this up, do you know what this is? This is my actual Gmail inbox. And you know what, it's more than just a teaser. It's more than just a view of my inbox; I can actually do everything that I can within my regular email, right here from within Hive.

So if I want to go into this email here, for example, and I want to reply to it, I've got a reply button, and I can say, "Yes, let's meet Friday." All right, and I can send it directly from within Hive. I can send my emails directly from within the Hive interface.

It gets better than that though. Probably I want to attach this to an existing task or maybe I wanna create a task. So I can create a new action if I want, but I can also create a link to an existing one here. So let's see here, I think I've got something that's called "marketing," or is it "call client back"? So I'm gonna say "call client back" here on my test project. I'm gonna say "add," and now I can go directly to this existing action.

So Jessica, for example, she's already on this one, but this conversation, this email I thought was relevant, and so now I've got that email directly here. It's embedded directly into this particular card. Here it is, "Yes, let's meet Friday." And I can continue that conversation. As I get more responses to this, it's not just gonna stay static. This message isn't going to end here because it's directly linked to my email; I'm gonna continue to see those new messages here as well. So I never have to leave Hive. I can continue to be productive, reply to my emails, see new emails, especially if they're assigned to a particular task. I can have that happen directly here from within Hive. I think this is absolutely fantastic.

Now the next thing that I wanna show you when it comes to emails: how many times have you been in a particular task and you've said to yourself, "Well, oh you know I forgot to write this email," or "I need to tell the client about this"? Well, why waste your time going to another application? Why not just hit "new message"? And now I can start to craft a brand new email, right here from within Hive.

And again, it's gonna stay connected to this particular task. So I don't have to worry if this person, after I've sent this message, I don't have to worry if someone has replied to it and I'm not going to see it. It's gonna show up right here within this particular task. It's also gonna show up in my inbox here on the left-hand side as well. So no longer do you have to send an attachment, right? Or send something that looks a little funny into your particular card or your particular task. It's gonna be the real email, and the best thing is, you can reply to it, you can forward it directly here from within Hive.

Now, if that wasn't good enough, I want to show you another communication feature which Hive has, which I think is great for keeping everyone on task. Down in the bottom right-hand corner, you can see that there's a little pop-up here that says "notes." Let me click on "notes." Now these "notes" are always available at all times. I can have personal notes, I can have notes that other people have shared with me.

Let's open up these meeting notes and see how we can effectively use this feature.

So here are a couple of meeting notes that we collected a few days ago, and I'm sure this sounds familiar to you, right? You've faithfully had someone on your team take these notes, or maybe you've taken some of these notes, and you know, you start to write things like, "Okay this one here, I think we want to get Jessica to do that one." So we're gonna put Jessica's name beside it, and maybe afterwards, you email out this list, or something like that. And you just hope, right? You just cross your fingers that Jessica opens it up, reads it, and sees that this is the thing that she is supposed to do. And maybe, you know, you got one down below here, and this one's assigned to me. And you just hope that people follow up with this and they see it.

Well, why do this? Why just add a little text-based name? Why email things after the fact? Why not take your notes and then assign it directly? So if Jessica is meant to do this, I'm just gonna highlight this, and I'm gonna create an action. And over here, I'm gonna assign Jessica to it. And let's give it a due date. Let's say we'd like this done within about the week. We've given it a due date, we've assigned it to someone, all within the meeting. This can all happen before the meeting is over.

How about the one below? The one that's supposed to be done by me. I'm gonna create an action here as well, or you can see, we can link it to an action as well. This one, I'm gonna take on. And let's say that I'm supposed to do this by the end of the year.

So now we've got something actionable here, and it's also gonna track it here below as well. So let me just minimize this for a second and let's go back here to see what is happening here.

So if we look at Jessica, here is the one that's been assigned to her. It's already shown up in her list. She didn't even have to attend that meeting. It's gonna show up here because we assigned it within those meeting notes. And when we come in here and check it off, what's gonna happen is if we open our notes back up again, let's open up those meeting notes. It's checked off, right? She didn't have to come back into the meeting notes. She didn't have to tell someone else. She came in here and checked off this task.

How about this one, "Follow up Ted about the Dallas office"? Well, let's go back here and let's see where it is with me. Here it is. It showed up in my task list. And here I can add a description, I can add, I can change the due date, email new comments, everything that you would do with a typical task. And when it's over, I'm gonna check it off, so maybe the next time we get together in our follow-up meeting, yeah, everyone's gonna see that it's been checked off, that we followed up with those particular action items.

No longer are you gonna have meeting notes or meeting action items that fall by the wayside or just get ignored. Why not convert those notes directly into actions in the middle of the meeting or immediately after?

So I am pretty excited about the way that Hive has integrated communication, whether that's email, whether that's direct messaging, or assigning things directly from their notebook. I think this is an amazing way for them to keep everyone in line and on top of what they need to do.

So, I'd love to hear from you next, what did you think about these features here within Hive? Let me know, down below, in the comments.

Thank you so much for watching today's video. I hope you subscribe right here to Simpletivity and remember, being productive does not need to be difficult. In fact, it's very simple.