I’m Brian Nelson-Palmer
& this is Productivity Gladiator.
I want to share knowledge, hacks, and ideas on work-life balance and personal productivity. I also want to talk to knowledgeable people in those areas, to share more than just my perspective.
I used to write a blog, and I realized that not everyone prefers to read, myself included! Some people prefer to listen, and some people prefer to watch. This show is about taking the educational topics that would have become blog posts, and TALKING through the ideas, not just writing a few hundred words. Also, I love having conversations with experts in the field. This show gives you a front-row seat to those conversations as well.
The Video
The Audio/Podcast
The Concept - Learning By Committee
In the world of personal development, I love to learn from multiple perspectives. I call it “learning by committee”. What I mean by that is, I would rather leverage the knowledge from many different perspectives, and take the parts that resonate with me from each, rather than learning everything from just one person. That’s what I mean when I say “learning by committee”.
Here’s a story that happened to me recently which further demonstrates what I mean. I’ve become a boat guy recently as an adult. I’ve never had someone in my life to teach me about operating power boats and being a captain. In order to learn, I have been out for lessons with several commercial captains. The first one was a surly, opinionated old chap named Captain Bob. Captain Bob told me “You must always have paper charts and maps. The biggest mistake you can make is to rely on electronic devices for navigation.” See, what Captain Bob doesn’t know about me is that I went paperless in my personal life years ago. I’ve also gotten rid of all my physical books because I’ve streamlined my home life. The concept of keeping a book of navigation charts isn’t my style, but I saw his point.
My next outing was with Captain Frank, a middle-aged friendly guy who was a little more hip. He wore his captain hat crooked and had a heart of gold. Frank introduced me to Navionics, which is an online chart mapping app that is like GPS for you while you’re on the boat. THAT was more my style! I also discovered it was $50/year, which was kind of a bummer, because I don’t go out that often, and I’m spoiled by Google Maps which is free GPS when I’m in the car. Since I’m frequently on the same waterways, going to similar places, having to pay that much for the app when I often knew where I was going was kind of a bummer!
My third outing was with Captain Brady, a “by the book” kind of guy, who talks to you with an aura of expertise from 3 decades of experience as a captain. He used to work for NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He told me about NOAA’s role in navigation charts, and how part of their public service as a government agency is to provide depth and navigation charts for all of the US’s waterways. Their charts are free! Now we were talkin!
That night, after meeting with Captain Brady, I was at home and started searching NOAA’s resources. While researching online, I found an app called Sea-IQ. Sea-IQ is a maps and GPS app like Navionics, but it has a free version which lets you see the latest NOAA charts from your phone. That was my win! I now use Sea-IQ as my navigation app.
For me, I learned a little bit from each captain I met. I saw Captain Bob’s point, that electronics could leave you stranded, and if I’m ever going on a long open water overnight journey, I bring a backup map device. Captain Frank gave me hope with the idea of a GPS app. Capt Brady introduced me to NOAA charts. Google helped me find the NOAA charts on a free app. I feel I’m better because of all of their perspectives. I think of this as me “learning by committee.”
This is also how I approach learning about work-life balance and personal productivity, which I’ll be talking about on this show. It’s a voyage. I hope there will be many captains for you in your voyage. Take the best things you hear from all the captains you follow! I’d be honored to be a part of that journey, and I hope this show helps you to become better and better.
Where This Is Headed
On this show, I’m bringing you along on my conversations, and my voyage. I teach Work Life Balance and Personal Productivity to employees of businesses and organizations. I’m also a self-improvement nut. I started this show because I wanted a way to continue to add value to people I’ve worked with. I don’t know about you, but in my career, I’ve been to so many work training sessions where at the end the instructor puts their email or contact info up on the board and invites people to keep in touch. In most cases, I’ve walked out of those sessions and not given them a second thought. My hope is, by doing this show, I have something to offer, to continue to add value for the people I’ve met.
Thanks for checking this out. Thanks for subscribing, listening, and engaging if you want. And thanks for being a part of my voyage with Productivity Gladiator.
I’m Brian. At age 4, I was diagnosed with insulin dependent (type 1) diabetes and told that my life was going to be 10-20 years shorter than everyone else. As a kid I took time for granted, but now as an adult, time is the most precious thing that I have. I created Productivity Gladiator because I saw what a difference it made for employees to improve their productivity, improve their work-life balance, and live their best life right now, today, not wait until retirement. Thanks for checking out Productivity Gladiator! Time is the currency of your life, spend it wisely.