Productivityist

Define Your Days | Filter Your Focus | Make Every Moment Matter

  • Start Here
  • The Blog
  • The Book
  • The Podcast
  • Get The $5 Guarantee

DEFINE YOUR DAY.
FILTER YOUR FOCUS.
MAKE EVERY MOMENT MATTER.

The Productivityist Daily Progress Planner can help you do all of that. And it's FREE.

Get your FREE daily planning sheet now!

Episode 262: Start Finishing with Charlie Gilkey

by Mike Vardy

On this episode, I chat with my good friend Charlie Gilkey. He’s the author of the book Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done and is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a company that helps professional creatives, leaders, and changemakers take meaningful action on work that matters.

This episode is brought to you by the University of California Irvine Division of Continuing Education. Established in 1962, UCI offers education for adult learners in Orange County. But thanks to technology, their courses and certification programs in various fields are now available worldwide and online for just about anyone who’s interested. You can get 15% off of one (1) course by visiting http://ce.uci.edu/productivityist then enter the promo code timecrafting. Make sure you take advantage of this limited time offer soon as it is only valid until December 31, 2019 at 11:59 pm.

This episode is brought to you by Blinkist. It’s hard to find the time to sit down to read and learn more. When you don’t have free time, you can’t read or work on personal development. Blinkist is an incredible app that solves this problem and I highly recommend it. I’ve been a satisfied customer for years and I’d love for you to join me. Head to https://www.blinkist.com/timecrafting and start your 7 day free trial today AND get 25% off a new subscription!

Charlie and I have been friends for years and we see eye yo eye and a lot in the world of personal productivity. This book has been a long time coming and we spend time discussing the building of the book, the role of pacing in productivity, the idea of the “thrash” and how it impacts finishing, and much more. There’s a lot to unpack in this episode and I’m really happy to bring to you. Enjoy!

Talking Points

  • We talk about the relationship between starting and finishing to the calendar (4:28)
  • How important is pacing when it comes to productivity? (6:32)
  • Charlie explains where folks like him and I can get in trouble (8:45)
  • How does someone keep themselves from getting run over by other projects when they are focusing on other ones? (10:32)
  • This is something that didn’t make the cut during the editing process of Charlie’s book (12:25)
  • Charlie says that this is one of the pillars of productivity (14:09)
  • What is thrashing? (16:24)
  • What does Charlie think about making all projects…well, projects? (17:12)
  • How did Charlie deal with thrashing during the writing of his book? (26:54)
  • Charlie talks about getting past the “hard side of things” (36:30)

“A project in motion stays in motion. A project at rest stays at rest.”

– Charlie Gilkey

Helpful Links

  • Start Finishing
  • Productive Flourishing
  • The Productivityist Podcast: Jon Acuff
  • The Productivityist Podcast: Cal Newport
  • The Productivityist Podcast: James Clear
  • The Productivityist Podcast: Josh Kaufman
  • The Productivityist Podcast: Austin Kleon

Finishing is hard. But it can be done as long as you know that you’re going to face this idea of “thrashing” along the way, especially for things that really matter to you. I know I’m going to face that thrashing as I write my book (among other things) and knowing that is going to be there is the first step in seeing it through to the finish. The next step you could (and should) take is picking up Charlie’s book because it will help you with every other step thereafter.

Enjoy the show? Want to keep up with the podcast? You can subscribe to the podcast feed by clicking the “Share” button in the player above – and you can share it further using the same button as well. You can take things even one step further by rating and reviewing the show wherever you listen to podcasts. (FYI: I use Overcast on iOS.)

Do you want ideas, insights, and information on how to craft your time in just one weekly email?

Then you want ATTN: sent to you.

ATTN: is a weekly digest from Productivityist that delivers a week's worth of content in a nice little package directly to your inbox. Just enter your email to subscribe.

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

I will not send you spam and you can unsubscribe at any time. Powered by ConvertKit

About Mike Vardy

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, productivity strategist, and founder of Productivityist. He is the author of The Front Nine: How to Start the Year You Want Anytime You Want, The Productivityist Playbook, and TimeCrafting: A Better Way to Get the Right Things Done, to be released in June 2020 by Mango Publishing.

Categories: The Podcast

  • Apps
  • Articles
  • Best of
  • Books
  • Gear
  • Intention and Attention
  • Mode-Based Work
  • Routines
  • The Podcast
  • Time Theming

Categories

Awareness Building Class

Most Popular Posts

How to Make Monday Work for You

3 Things You Should Put On Your Calendar

The One Email Trick That Keeps My Inbox In Shape

Using Energy Levels as Contexts

The One Email You Must Send Before You Go on Vacation

Suggested Book

Jeb Blount Objections

Objections (2019) explores the secrets behind turning around common sales objections. Drawing on insights from both the business world and psychology, these blinks show how you can transform even the most reluctant prospect into an eager buyer.

Read for free

Freedom - Get More Done

Guidelines Ad-2

As Seen In

As Seen In
  • Start Here
  • The Blog
  • The Book
  • The Podcast
  • Get The $5 Guarantee

Copyright © 2019 · Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in

  • Terms & Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  • Derivative Works Policy
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube