“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. We should be looking toward a world of no problems, only projects.”

After decades of in-the-field research and practice of his productivity methods, David wrote the international best-seller Getting Things Done.
Published in over 28 languages, TIME magazine heralded it as “the defining self-help business book of its time.”

Today, David is considered the leading authority in the fields of organizational and personal productivity. The David Allen Company, run by David and his wife Kathryn, oversees the certification academy and quality standards for Global Partners offering Getting Things Done courses and coaching around the world.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Book a custom Virtual Tidying Experience with For the Love of Tidy

Join The Spark Joy Club today!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-David's journey to becoming one of the most important names in increasing productivity

-Learn what the Getting Things Done (GTD) method is all about and how you can use it to increase your productivity and gain more time that spark joy

-Practice with David using the GTD method to something as simple as receiving a wedding invitation

-David has worked from home since the early 1980's and he shares his tips for WFH that sparks joy

-David shares what is meant by "ambient anxiety", an "external brain", and the "two minute rule"

-What are Open Loops and how they impact your productivity

-Find all of David's books and guides here: David Allen on Amazon

-Learn some of David's time honored tips to increase your ability to Get Things Done with joy!

David's favorite productivity tip:
"Your head is for having ideas and not for holding them. Stop using your head as your office."

What sparks joy for David:
David's new video series "Two Minute Tips for Turbulent Times" coming soon.
And, walking his little Cavalier Springer Spaniel in the park!

To connect with David, you can find him at GettingThingsDone.com and on Twitter at GTDGuy

Gems:
"If you think about something twice, then you are paying it to much attention."

"You have to decide what the thing means to you to decide what to do with it."

"You need a discreet space to do your work, answer your email and focus. It's best if there is no other activity in that space . And, it should be a place where everyone in the home knows you are "on the job" even if you need to put yellow caution tape around your workspace!"

"What has your attention?"

"Your head is for having ideas, not holding them. Stop using your head as your office."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: David Allen.

Kristina is a licensed Realtor in Portland, Oregon. She is also a Home Functionality Coach and Podcaster. Her passion is helping people create a home that thrives, not just for today, but for the long haul.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Book a custom Virtual Tidying Experience with For the Love of Tidy

Join The Spark Joy Club today!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Kristina became interested in the concept of home space design
• What's motivating home owners these days and what to consider when you're thinking about making a change in your home- renovation, re-decorating, tidying, or moving
• How to make the most of the home you want with the space you have
• How to make renovations part of the fun of home ownership instead of a chore
• Surefire ways to add value to your home
• Simple upgrades that will make your home spark joy for you
• Learn about Hygge. Kristina finds this philosophy very inspiring The Little Book of Hygge-Danish Secrets to Happy Living

Kristina's favorite tidying tip:
Buy the storage solution for the gift you are giving-consider that as part of your gift as well! For example, a pretty box for jewelry, or a lovely planter for a plant.

What sparks joy for Kristina:
Vertical grow wall. It sounds amazing! Read about them here: New York Times: Vertical Gardens

You can find Kristina over at spaceandreason.com and on Instagram at @spaceandreason

Check out her podcast: Home Space and Reason

Gems
"I ask my clients what their passions are and if the home is supporting those passions and those values."
"Take bite size pieces of a project without getting overwhelmed."
"Plants humanize our surroundings."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Kristina Browning.

Our guest Greg McKeown has dedicated his career to discovering why some people and teams break through to the next level—and others don’t. His New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller,
“Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less” has frequently been the #1 Time Management book on Amazon. The book challenges core assumptions about achievement to get to the essence of what really drives success.

Greg also hosts a podcast called Essentialism with Greg McKeown.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Book a custom Virtual Tidying Experience with For the Love of Tidy

Join The Spark Joy Club today!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• The personal and professional, experiences that led Greg begin to pursuit the essential
• Essentialism boiled down
• Essentialism's connection to our personal energy management
• How to build life by design instead of default
• Essentialism's impact on Greg's family culture of "resounding yes" clarity
• The difference between Essentialism and "No-ism"
• The first episode of Essentialism podcast with Greg's wife Anna
• The short cut to Essentialism and how it impacts projects at home
• How to explain Essentialism to children
• How to journal like an essentialist
• Greg's tips for reevaluating what's essential as we navigate this pandemic
• Essentialism 21 Day Challenge

Greg's favorite tidying/productivity tip:
Discard one thing right now.

What sparks joy for Greg:
Making a list of twenty things that spark joy for you.

You can find Greg over at essentialism.com and sign up for the 21 day challenge.

Gems
"[Essentialism] is the anecdote to the undisciplined pursuit of more."
"Non-essentialism is a con...it doesn't deliver."
"I want to do the right things, at the right time, for the right reasons."
"Anything less than 90% important is at least questioned, or in fact entirely discarded."
"Essentialism is about becoming more of who you really are and less and less of who you really aren't."
"Is it essential?"
"Protect the asset."
"You can design essential activities to be fun or you can design them to be awful."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Greg McKeown.

“Your mind is for having ideas, not holding them. We should be looking toward a world of no problems, only projects.”

After decades of in-the-field research and practice of his productivity methods, David wrote the international best-seller Getting Things Done.
Published in over 28 languages, TIME magazine heralded it as “the defining self-help business book of its time.”

Today, David is considered the leading authority in the fields of organizational and personal productivity. The David Allen Company, run by David and his wife Kathryn, oversees the certification academy and quality standards for Global Partners offering Getting Things Done courses and coaching around the world.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Book a custom Virtual Tidying Experience with For the Love of Tidy

Join The Spark Joy Club today!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

-David's journey to becoming one of the most important names in increasing productivity

-Learn what the Getting Things Done (GTD) method is all about and how you can use it to increase your productivity and gain more time that spark joy

-Practice with David using the GTD method to something as simple as receiving a wedding invitation

-David has worked from home since the early 1980's and he shares his tips for WFH that sparks joy

-David shares what is meant by "ambient anxiety", an "external brain", and the "two minute rule"

-What are Open Loops and how they impact your productivity

-Find all of David's books and guides here: David Allen on Amazon

-Learn some of David's time honored tips to increase your ability to Get Things Done with joy!

David's favorite productivity tip:
"Your head is for having ideas and not for holding them. Stop using your head as your office."

What sparks joy for David:
David's new video series "Two Minute Tips for Turbulent Times" coming soon.
And, walking his little Cavalier Springer Spaniel in the park!

To connect with David, you can find him at GettingThingsDone.com and on Twitter at GTDGuy

Gems:
"If you think about something twice, then you are paying it to much attention."

"You have to decide what the thing means to you to decide what to do with it."

"You need a discreet space to do your work, answer your email and focus. It's best if there is no other activity in that space . And, it should be a place where everyone in the home knows you are "on the job" even if you need to put yellow caution tape around your workspace!"

"What has your attention?"

"Your head is for having ideas, not holding them. Stop using your head as your office."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: David Allen.

David Kadavy is a writer who helps creatives get more out of their energy. He’s author of two books, The Heart to Start and Design for Hackers, and host of the Love Your Work podcast. His third book, Mind Management, Not Time Management debuts in the fall of 2020.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Join The Spark Joy Club today!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• David's journey to becoming a writer and figuring out where in the world he gets his best work done

• How the concept of "loss aversion" helped David sell most of his posessions and move from Chicago to Columbia and make space for the future

• How designing his life to include a "behavior shaping contraint," living in South America, allowed David to stop living by his to-do list and pay closer attention to his energy

• How Episode 136 of David's podcast "Love Your Work," where he explores The Art of Staying In and how it applies to quarantine

• Our relationship with time and how it's actually more productive to save our time for less productive activities

• Trevor Noah meme

• Spark Joy Episode 128 Book Review: Joy at Work, Organizing Your Professional Life by Marie Kondo and Scott Sonenshein

• What to do next when we DON'T love of work

• The guest that we happen to be bringing on Spark Joy next week that inspired David's productivity

David's favorite time management tip:

• Have a weekly review on Sunday afternoon and set alarms for appointments on your phone while keeping it on silent for the week

What sparks joy for David:

• David's hammock

To connect with David, you can find him at kadavy.net and on Twitter and Instagram at @kadavy

With so many people working from home, writing is an even more important skill. David shares 14 tools he uses to hone his focus and quadruple his writing output. Download it here.

Gems:
"It hurts twice as much for us to get rid of something as it does feel good for us to get something."

"It is about not so much having the time to do something, but having the energy to do something."

"What mood do I need to be in to get this thing done?"

"One of the nice things about quarantine is it takes away some of that FOMO a little bit."

"When you save time, keep it!"

"What discomfort are you willing to endure to have some future sparking of joy?"

"When you have a place for things, then all the natural creative state that you experience as a human has space to flourish."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: David Kadavy.

Laura Vanderkam is the author of several time management and productivity books, including Juliet’s School of Possibilities, Off the Clock, I Know How She Does It, What the Most Successful People Do Before Breakfast, and 168 Hours. Her work has appeared in publications including the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, and Fortune. She is the host of the podcast Before Breakfast and the co-host, with Sarah Hart-Unger, of the podcast Best of Both Worlds. She lives outside Philadelphia with her husband and five children, and blogs at LauraVanderkam.com.

We want to hear from you! Tell us your burning tidying questions or share stories about how KonMari has impacted your life. Find us at www.sparkjoypodcast.com and click “Ask Spark Joy” to leave a question or comment for a chance to be featured on next week’s show.

While you’re there, sign-up to join our Spark Joy podcast community and get notified when each episode airs. You can also join the Spark Joy podcast community on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter at the handle @sparkjoypodcast.

Join The Spark Joy Club today!

In this episode, you’ll enjoy:

• How Laura became a student of time and a time management expert

• The quote from Laura that summarizes time management in a nutshell

• What to do first when it comes to figuring out exactly where your time goes and how it's similar to the KonMari Method

• The questions you should ask yourself when taking inventory of your time and tips that help you protect that time while tidying

• Laura (mom of FIVE!) shares her tips for working moms trying to manage their time and make time for what matters

• How avoid chasing a "typical" week when time tracking

• Laura's podcasts Before Breakfast podcast and Best of Both Worlds

Laura's favorite time management tip:
Plan your week on Fridays.

What sparks joy for Laura:
Her bar height set of tables and chairs for her deck.

To connect with Laura, visit her at lauravanderkam.com and download her free Time Makeover Guide.

Gems:

“Time is the ultimate non-renewable resource."
"We often blame time for things that aren't really about time at all."
"Saying 'I'm too busy' or 'I don't have time' puts the responsibility somewhere else."
"If anyone wants to spend their time better the first thing they should do is figure out where their time is going now."
"What do I like about my schedule?"
"What do I want to spend more time doing?'
"Don't bring it in if it's just going to be schedule clutter."
"Anytime someone asks you to do something in the future, ask yourself if you'd do it tomorrow."
"Start thinking of your life in terms of a week instead of a day."

You can find Karin Socci at The Serene Home
You can find Kristyn Ivey at For the Love of Tidy

Special Guest: Laura Vanderkam.