An interview with Dominik Juszczyk, Gallup-Certified Strengths coach, who helps teams increase their productivity and efficiency.

During our last Nozbe reunion you conducted a workshop for our team. It was all about our talents :-) The workshop was based on our results from the StrengthsFinder test created by the Gallup Strengths Center that we took beforehand. What are “talents” anyway?

Hearing the word “talent,” we usually think of someone who can sing, dance or do something different, unique. We think of them in terms of the popular “Got Talent” TV show. Working according to the talents and strengths-based development method, we use a different definition. A talent may be an ability to make quick decisions, adopt a cautious approach to a problem, analyze other people’s emotions, or talk to strangers. Each of these traits is a talent. The Gallup Organization’s official definition of a talent is an innate and recurring pattern of reaction, feeling and action.

Do you already use project templates for repeating actions? Even if your answer is “yes,” you might have overlooked this cool feature. You’ll be surprised how it can simplify your work! After the last “Ask Michael” episode about Evernote, Michael presents an example for how to use relative dates as “start dates” for tasks in project templates. It’s a really nifty feature when you are planning or creating a recurring process for you or your team.

If so - we have a surprise for you! And if you took part in the live session but would like to watch it again - we’ve got something for you, too! Here is the recording of the webinar that Michael ran on April 6. The CEO of Nozbe focused on 10 practical productivity tips inspired by his “10 Steps to Ultimate Productivity Course.” He presented some great new insights, new examples, and super-practical ways to use Nozbe to get even more done.

After a short break, Michael is pleased to introduce the second season of his YouTube Show! Today he talks about how to use Evernote on a daily basis. We were so happy to have you here for the first season of “Ask Michael”. We hope it was a great productivity booster for you! As Michael got astonishing feedback, he’s very eager to go on answering your questions about productivity and life hacks.

Today is the last day of our semi-annual Nozbe Reunion - where our “No Office” team meets to hang out, socialize, discuss, brainstorm and work together in one physical space. This reunion was very fruitful as we’ve discovered a next step in productivity evolution: Nozbe Stories.

Nozbe is a very mature product that helps more than 400,000 people all around the world to get things done. More than 10 years in business, we want to keep the product simple, effective and dependable so instead of bloating it with all the features possible, we’re searching for the next step of innovation and productivity. What’s the one feature that would take our product to the next level? We believe we found it: it’s Nozbe Stories! Here’s why:

This is a guest post by Chad Garrett - our ambassador, power-user and a tremendous advocate for the GTD. See which Nozbe features he uses and how he deals with “loose tasks”.

My name is Chad Garrett and I am President of Productivity Grid, LLC and a Nozbe Ambassador. Nozbe is really the perfect productivity tool. I am a huge advocate for David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD) methodology and Nozbe fits perfectly into this workflow. So how do I use Nozbe? Let’s start with where I put my tasks.

Bucket Projects

Everything in Nozbe goes into a project (as defined in GTD, anything that takes two or more steps to complete). I currently have around 75 projects. This may seem like a lot, but in reality it isn’t - we are all this busy!

And here it is – the last episode of the first season of “Ask Michael!” Today Michael answers two questions we get all the time: After the previous episode, you already know that we run Nozbe with Nozbe – and without an office. Why do we only work remotely? Who else follows that approach? And where, actually, can you visit us? Watch the new episode! What now? We’re wrapping up the first season of “Ask Michael.

I’m not that creative… and worse yet - I’m blonde. I still happen to have ideas, though. Sometimes :-) When I need to, I force myself to reflect and come up with a nice solution or plan. More often, interesting thoughts just pop into my head in the most unexpected situations… Because I don’t want to lose these little treasures, I always capture them. I encourage you to do the same.

The purpose of all this commotion?

Idea dumping is a really handy procedure - whether you do it routinely or spontaneously. Thoughts in your mind, although precious, can be a hindrance to productivity. When they float around in your head, they will surface again and again at inappropriate times, stress you out and, worse still, be lost when they are actually needed.

You might want to run idea-dumping sessions for two reasons:

As a tech company, we’re armed with many apps to run our business. Some of you are curious about which apps we use and how. That’s where “Ask Michael” comes in!

Since we’re in No Office model, we have no other choice than using the best available services and applications to get our work done, to communicate and to discuss our efforts. But that’s just one side of the coin. In fact, playing with new things and upgrading our toolset is our passion. :)

Introduction

I stumbled upon Nozbe several years ago while searching – yet again – for the ideal multi-platform task management system. Even then, Nozbe had a clean, crisp, and powerful interface. Today, Nozbe stands alone as the ultimate expression of a well-designed task management system.

Each new version of Nozbe allows me to update and refine my personal productivity workflow. Nozbe, the company, works very closely with their user community to keep the flow of ideas moving and growing.