Covered in this episode:

• Different definitions of the word ‘productivity’
• Merlin’s superhero origin story as a productivity student
• The creation of 43Folders, the transition from then to today
• Getting Things Done by David Allen ©DavidCo, 2001.
• GTD Series on B2W: #95 - #96 - #97 - #98 - #99
• Erik's call in question on Back to Work episode #100 - Go Ahead, Caller.
• Merlin's interview with David Allen
• Erik's interview with David Allen
• What Inbox Zero started as, and what it really means
• Chasing the right zero
• Merlin's Inbox Zero talk at Google
• Moving items in our Inbox(s) from unknown to undefined to incomplete to complete
• Opportunity cost
• Sunk cost fallacy
• The real prologue to how Back to Work began
• Sven Fechner at SimplicityBliss.com
• Brett Terpstra
• Practically efficient
• Mac Power Users Podcast
• Macdrifter.com

Tweetable Quotes (Click to Tweet):

• We allow so many things into our lives that we have an uncertain relationship with. Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• You must always accept that everything you agree to do means there’s other things you can’t do. Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• If I haven’t decided what always trumps everything else, I don’t have clarity on what I care about. Tweet  Buffertweetable text

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Covered in this episode:

• Productivityist = a person who wants to get more efficient and more effective with their work
• Working on ways to get better work done
• Stop doing productivity and start being productive. - @MikeVardy Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• How do you determine the need for a new tool, how do you test a tool
• A More Meaningful To Do List - The Omnifocus Setup
• Projects first, tasks second
• Have to do’s are fine, but you also need to have want to do’s. - @MikeVardy Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Projects vs. tasks
• Jon Acuff - START
• Green Lantern - Willpower vs. Fear
• Chris Brogan You Are Your Own Superhero
• Getting Things Done by David Allen
• The Best Upgrade Is You by Patrick Rhone
• Low energy productivity
• The Front Nine
• Mike’s on Mic’s

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

He lives with his wife, Erica, and their two children in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. 

Covered and mentioned in this episode:

• Click to Tweet ->A tribe doesn’t necessarily involve a pedestal. - @BryanAllain Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Click to Tweet ->The chief of the tribe is still part of the tribe. - @BryanAllain Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Caedmon’s Call
• Derek Webb
• Don Miller
• Ben Arment Dream Year program
• Jon Acuff
• Killer Tribes
• Click to Tweet ->Tribes (and especially wives!) make you brave. Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Click to Tweet ->Communities aren’t formed by formulas. - @BryanAllain Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Click to Tweet ->Finding time often means hustling in the margins. - @BryanAllain Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Click to Tweet ->Just because you have more time doesn’t mean you automatically end up more productive. - @BryanAllain Tweet  Buffertweetable text

Get the Killer Tribes 2013 Audio for 40% off!

The price is $33 instead of $55 using the code 'todolist'

Offer expires May 14th, 2013.

Don’t forget a number of the Killer Tribes 2012 or 2013 speakers have been guests on this podcast!

Make sure to grab all of Bryan's books!

• 31 Days to Finding Your Blogging Mojo
• Community Wins: 21 Thoughts on Building a Thriving Online Tribe
• This Is Not A Treasure Map
• Actually Clams Are Miserable

Don't forget the homework for this episode: Leave a comment below about what tribes you are a part of, and which members of your tribe you are thankful for.

Tweet at Bryan and I on Twitter to let us know what you got from this episode, and start interacting in our tribes.

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Covered in this episode:

• Crystal's Book: 21 Days to a More Disciplned Life
• Andy Traub’s Early To Rise book - Why have you not grabbed this yet?
• Investing in yourself
• Tweet this: You can’t overhaul your life overnight. Pick one change to focus on for 3-6 weeks. - @MoneySavingMom Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• You have to know where your going in order to get there
• Moms need to set goals too
• Tweet this: Discipline begets discipline. - @MoneySavingMom Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Stress is a choice
• Tweet this: Any success I’ve had in my life is the result of standing on a huge pile of failure. - @MoneySavingMom Tweet  Buffertweetable text

Make sure to tweet Crystal @MoneySavingMom to let her know you appreciated this episode!

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

How much consideration do you put into choosing which affiliates links you use?

For most of my podcasts, affiliate links are easy—Amazon.com for everything because they sell everything at usually great prices.

But on my “how-to” podcast about podcasting, The Audacity to Podcast, affiliates are more complicated. I recommend many more products:

• mixers,
• microphones,
• software,
• audio cables,
• video cameras,
• mobile devices,
• web hosting,
• and anything else that helps podcasting.

In the past, I’ve used several affiliates:

• Amazon.com,
• Musician’s Friend,
• Monoprice, and
• B&H Photo Video.

The decision for a link is hard when affiliate programs vary in payouts and certain companies will happily reshare my content if I use their affiliates exclusively. But when a single product is the same price on several sites, it’s even harder to decide which affiliate to use.

I appreciate the affiliate relationship I have with B&H, but I know it’s often more convenient and cheaper for my audience to purchase from Amazon.com.

A quick poll on Twitter, Facebook, and Google+ revealed overwhelming preference for Amazon.com, even when other retailers had the same price. The reasons usually focused on the following.

• Amazon Prime members who could get free two-day shipping
• Amazon.com giftcards earned through programs like Swagbucks
• Account already exists on Amazon and don’t want to sign up somewhere else
• Amazon.com’s trusted reputation

I even prefer Amazon.com for most purchases because they usually have the best price, we have a warehouse nearby, and I regularly earn free giftcards from Swagbucks. Am I violating any rule by using an affiliate link to a retailer I may not prefer?

Then looking on the profit side, I usually make more money through my Amazon affiliates than I do with other affiliate links. Almost every month, I sell enough items through my combined Amazon tracking IDs that I earn a 6.5% commission (I’m always so close to 7%!). Each additional item sold through Amazon increases the possibility that I could earn a higher percentage rate.

Amazon offers handy widgets and plenty of linking options, including simply adding “tag=danieljlewis-20″ to any URL to turn it into an affiliate link.

Then there’s B&H. They have a great website, accurate search, great customer service, and handy link creation. While they offer a variety of widget formats, making widgets are a pain. My earning potential with B&H is a little lower. But they’ve reminded me that if I exclusively use B&H affiliate links in my product reviews, they would share my reviews with their social-media followers. And the better I perform, the more likely I can borrow some demo units for more reviews.

For most podcasting equipment I talk about on The Audacity to Podcast, I end up including affiliate links to both Amazon.com and B&H. This makes my linking process twice as long.

So what’s the ethical thing to do? I believe that is to continue offering Amazon.com affiliate links first unless a better price or better product is available elsewhere. Sure, this won’t make me popular with companies like B&H, but I believe this will give my followers the right options for them to make their own choices. After all, they’re smart people.

How do you handle affiliate links for the same product from competing retailers? I’d love to hear your opinions and experience in the comments below.

On Chris's blog, ChrisLocurto.com you will learn his personal insights on leadership, managing people, and financial stewardship.

Covered in this episode:

• EntreLeadership
• EntreLeadership Podcast
• Start the morning with a dump, a brain dump
• Early to Rise Series by Andy Traub
• Culture = Actions and Attitudes
• Click to tweet: You either force the culture that you want in your business, or it will be forced upon you. - @ChrisLoCurto Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Click to tweet: It’s the guys that deny their leadership is struggling that continue to fail. - @ChrisLoCurto Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Zig Ziglar’s wheel of life
• Setting goals
• Be honest with where you are
• Click to tweet: If you understand that what you do is what you do, not who you are, it changes your life. - @ChrisLoCurto Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Be there for others out of the resources you have

Tweet Chris to let him know what you got out of this episode: http://twitter.com/ChrisLocurto

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Dave’s Podcamp Nashville Session

Erik’s Podcamp Nashville Session

Covered in this episode:

• Events are not just about the speakers or the topics
• It’s about the people!
• Best practices to be productive in your event networking -
• Before:
  • Do your homework
  • Look to see who is attending ahead of time check the list of atendees and speakers
  • Make notes of who you want to make sure to meet or meet up with
  • Start connecting even before the event
  • Take note of the sponsers
  • Prepare business cards
  • Practice your ‘elevator pitch’ introducing who you are, what you do, why your at the event
• During:
  • Make use of lanyards and nametags
  • Look for the interesting people
  • Look for the people in similar sessions to you
  • You don’t have to rush
  • Listen to what people are talking about around you
  • Follow the event hashtag, start interaction online to bridge offline
  • We all need a safety net - by Carla Swank
  • How an introvert can network without going crazy by Britt Raybould
  • It takes courage!
• After:
  • Take notes as you are meeting people
  • ASK for business cards, don’t just give
  • Follow up with them digitally
  • Connect on Linked In
  • Nimble.com
  • Dumbars Number
  • Following up is important
• Dunbars number
• 32 Tips for #SXSW (Applicable elsewhere also)

For more great networking insight to add to what was in this episode, make sure to preorder Dave's Book!

Tweet at Dave and let him now what you got from this episode! http://twitter.com/DaveDelaney

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

START comes out April 22nd  - order it now!

Covered in this episode:

• The 5 Seasons - Learning, Editing, Mastering, Harvesting, Guiding
• Be a student of you
• The first thing a dream costs is time and hustle. - @JonAcuff Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Be selfish at 5am
• Andy Traub - Early to Rise
• Dan Miller - Wisdom Meets Passion
• EntreLeadership Podcast
• How do you rescue time?
• You don’t always have to know the finish line before you cross the starting line. - @JonAcuff #StartBook Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Not just time management, energy management
• Making sure to reserve thinking time
• 90% perfect & published always changes more lives than 100% perfect and stuck in your head. - @JonAcuff #Startbook Tweet  Buffertweetable text
  
• How do you figure out what your 90 percent is?
• You don’t need to monetize every single moment of your day. - @JonAcuff Tweet  Buffertweetable text

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Covered in this episode:

• Asana
• Find the tools and systems to keep you honest about your processes. - @ProlificLiving Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Tweet this
• Pomodoro technique
• The Daily Interaction Podcast
• Your Comprehensive Green Juicing Guide
• The Healthy Juicer's Bible: Lose Weight, Detoxify, Fight Disease, and Live Long

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Covered in this episode:

• John’s Kickstarter campaign for Pressgram
• Finding freedom within structure using boundaries
• Protecting your  mornings
• Getting up early
• There’s an incredible freedom found within a structure created by boundaries. - @Saddington Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Suggestions on how to test the waters of entrepreneurship
• Take some time out of your day consistently and build your own stuff and see what happens. - @Saddington Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Email Strategy and thoughts on the Mailbox app

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Daniel hosts several award-nominated podcasts:

• Award-winning "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• clean-comedy podcast

Covered in this episode:

• Don’t wait for everything to be perfect, start!
• Jump in and start
• Even a dream job can be a dead end, if you accomplish every dream you want to do there
• Technology can help or hinder you
• Transition from full time employee to entrepreneur, as well as a newlywed
• e.ggtimer.com
• Productivity is often about ruling our technology, instead of letting it rule us. - @TheRamenNoodle Tweet  Buffertweetable text

Check out Daniel J. Lewis's personal blog to learn more about his business and services.

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

• I host a podcast about podcasting (The Audacity to Podcast), and there are a few others;
• I offer one-on-one consulting, and there are many others who offer the same services;
• I host a Once Upon a Time podcast (ONCE podcast), and there are more than a dozen others; and
• I’m a web designer, public speaker, and presentation designer, and you know there are tens of thousands of others like that.

There are many ways I’m tempted to feel competitive or approach others with a competitive attitude. Here are five steps I follow to address my perspective, especially as it relates to content-creators on the Internet.

1. Admit that you feel competitive

Don’t be naive about competition. You may want to pretend that you’re not in competition with others, but the actual facts are undeniable. If you do a similar thing as others, that makes you competition with each other.

Sometimes, you just have to admit to yourself or others around you. Sometimes, this may even mean acknowledging to your competition that you recognize your place.

But this is your first step to set things right. Competition is a good thing in business. It drives companies to innovate. But if you stay feeling competitive, you’ll eventually start feeling antagonistic about others.

2. Recognize this as a sign of success

If you have no competition, then you either have a monopoly, or you’re magical enough to make something work that no one else can.

Look at others in your niche as an indication that the niche is maturing and has great potential.

Even if someone else is finding huge success in your field, this doesn’t mean they’re stealing from you. This shows you some of the potential you could have in that same niche if you really put yourself into it.

3. Foster a community

Several people doing similar things can work more effectively when they team up and work together. Look for ways that you can create a community between you and your competition. Acknowledge their successes and the unique experience they bring to the field. Invite them to contribute to what you’re doing.

In content-creation, the subject is covered much better when more people cover it from their different perspectives. It’s like making a three-dimensional object—running all the processes from only one side returns an incomplete product. But let each person approach with their specialties from their angle, and you’ll have a thorough result that aids the consumer much better.

4. Look for how you can improve

Consider the smartphone wars. Apple and Google are fierce competition with their mobile operating systems. But this competition has forced each company to find new ways of improving their own products.

Yes, this sometimes leads to patent wars, too. But others times it leads to outside-the-box thinking, such as Microsoft did with it’s Windows Phone operating system that is quite different from iOS or Android.

Find what’s working for others but don’t copy it; look for how you can make something similar—or even completely different—work for you, too. If someone else offers specialized training, maybe you could also offer specialized training but on a different subject.

5. Commit to having character

Your competition won’t always respond well to you. In my fields, I have some “competition” who are now close friends and we frequently refer people to each other. But some of my other “competition” won’t play nice.

This is where you have to commit to be the better person by continuing your practice in honor and respect. This may even be a public behavior by recognizing the others when relevant and appropriate, or encourage your content-consumers to also check out what others are doing in the same field.

How do you deal with competitiveness? I’d love to hear from you! Please leave a comment below.

Derek and I talk about:

• The super hero origins of his passion and gift for music
• The moment he knew he was good at it
• His path to being in a band, and path to being a solo artist
• How he and wife Sandra McCracken manage their lives as full time parents and full time solo artists
• The catalyst experiment that lead to the creation of the Noisetrade business: Why it’s smart viral marketing/good will creating; How new and established bands are using it to work smart at building their fan base and tribes
• Starting a conversation about technology addiction with his last two projects: Ctrl and SOLA-MI
• Derek's next album: 'I was wrong, I’m sorry, I love you'

Grab Derek's first album free on Noisetrade

Grab the free SOLA-MI album here.

Derek also just made the acoustic version of CTRL available for free on Noistrade as well. If you like it, make sure to grab the fully produced album too. It's excellent.

If you grab SOLA-MI and CTRL and want to dig a bit for a deeper experience, go to Derek's blog here. If you need help or want to talk about it deeper after that, tweet me. I'd love to have a dialogue about this project.

• Derek's Music on (iTunes) (Amazon)
• Sandra McCracken - Desire Like Dynamite on (iTunes) (Amazon)
• Derek Webb & Sandra McCracken EP's on (iTunes) (Amazon) (Youtube)

Let Derek and myself know you enjoyed listening by tweeting us on Twitter:

• @DerekWebb
• @ErikJFisher

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Most people encounter at least one “shipwreck” during their twenties.  Everything you think you know about yourself, your life, your future, and even your faith suddenly breaks apart.  You’re left scrambling to construct a lifeboat that will take you back to the shore.

Christin Taylor knew how her life was going to turn out, but just eight weeks after moving to L.A., her hopes and dreams were shattered.  The next four years found Christin circling around, into, and back out of the film industry, until she finally found her way home.

Christin lives in historic Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Dwayne, and their children, Noelle and Nathan. They have lived and worked with college students since 2008. Christin teaches writing at Gettysburg College.

Covered in this episode:

• Shipwrecked by Christin Taylor
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller
• A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller
• Bird By Bird by Anne Lamott
• Strengthfinders 2.0 by Tom Rath
• Tweet this ->Just because you say no to something now for a season, doesn’t mean you’ll never get to pick it back up again. Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Tweet this ->The strength of responsibility means you put your name to whatever you take on. Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Tweet this ->You don’t start something you can’t finish, if you can’t finish it well. Tweet  Buffertweetable text

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

Covered in this episode:

• In my ideal day, I’ve already gotten two hours of work in & a workout before I hit the office. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• Getting stuff done before the rest of the world is up is a great momentum to carry into your day. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• Productivity is about getting done what’s most important to you in the face of everything life will throw at you during the day.
• Defend your time
• Just because the phone is ringing doesn’t mean you need to answer it. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• Choose the right medium for the message
• Set expectations with your team
• Don’t spend so much time cultivating a to do list that you don’t take action. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• Time management should be saving you time, not taking your time. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• It’s not about one app being the ultimate solution. Pick the app that suits your style and needs. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• It’s not so much about the tool, as much as its’ ability to fit your lifestyle. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• Choose the tools that you’ll actually use. - @TMNinja Tweet  Buffertweetable text <- Click to tweet
• If you have the best to do list in the world but never touch it because it’s too complicated, it’s not going to help you out.

Apps:

• Things - to do lists
• Drafts - Craig’s post on Drafts app
• Fitocracy
• Liftapp
• Habit list
• Google+

Early to Rise by Andy Traub

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview

The app would need to audio and video playback abilities, as well as access to the camera LED (on devices that have them). I would like to launch in March.

If you can develop universal apps on iOS or Android apps (for smartphones and tablets), then please complete the following form.

Covered in this episode:

• Tweet this->It’s not the hours you save, it’s the minutes that add up. - @apinaud Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Tweet this->One of the biggest mistakes is to save an hour, and then have no clue what to do with it. - @apinaud Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Tweet this->In order to have the ideal day, you need to plan it. - @apinaud Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• Tweet this->If the day turns out awful, but I already had 2 productive hours, I’m ahead of most people. - @apinaud Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• The rule of the two browsers
• The different types of NO
• Saying no is a muscle.
• Tweet this->Multitasking is like saying ‘maybe’ to everything at once, and doing none of it well. - @ErikJFisher Tweet  Buffertweetable text
• The economy of words when writing
• 25 tips for productivity
• NO by Augusto Pinaud
• Andy Traub’s Early to Rise
• Tim Ferris - 4 hour chef
• AugustoPinaud.com
• Prod365.com

 Connect with Augusto on Twitter.

Please connect with me

• Subscribe, rate, and review in iTunes
• Follow @ErikJFisher

• Christian movie reviews with critical thinking
• A "how-to" podcast about podcasting and using Audacity
• Once Upon a Time podcast
• Clean-comedy podcast
• Christian worldview