Kicking Your Productivity Up A Gear British English Teacher

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
BUSINESS ENGLISH · BUSINESS ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
KICKING YOUR
PRODUCTIVITY
UP A GEAR
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1 Warm up
In pairs, discuss the following questions.
1. What do you think of first when you see the word productivity?
2. Do you think that you are a productive person?
3. What kind of things make you more/ less productive?
4. Do you think people are more productive when they are at work or when they are outside of
work?
5. Do you have any tips on how to boost your energy levels?
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UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR
2 Focus on vocabulary
Match the following vocabulary to the definitions.
1. judgement (n) a. ability to make good decisions after careful preparation
2. mastery (n) b. having great knowledge or understanding of a particular thing
3. guilt (n) c. main causes of something such as a problem
4. roots (n) d. unhappy feelings caused by the fact you did something wrong
5. mindsets (n) e. attitudes that people have, and find difficult to change
3 Listen for predictions 1
Read the first part of the script and think about which words from the vocabulary section fit in the
gaps. Then watch the video (00:59- 02:07) and check your predictions. To finish have a discussion
with your partner about some of the things raised in the introduction.
The ideal of being a machine is actually a trap. It gets in the way of our productivity because it
1
makes us blind to the of our actual problems. We are not machines, we’re
emotional beings. And learning to skilfully recognise and work with our emotions is the only way
2
to actually be productive day-to-day. , shame, fear, so often they’re at the base of
what’s going on for us in ways that we barely understand. What’s underneath our productivity
problems isn’t just a need for a new tool or system, but something going on in our emotional lives.
And being aware of and observing how our emotions can affect us can open up a lot of flexibility
and freedom to make progress when we’d otherwise be stuck.
I found that the most productive people in the world, the ones who are most machine-like, actually
recognise this and they often do three things to work with it. They’re aware when they have a
3
problem, they observe what’s going on without so they can understand it, and
4
they keep experimenting with systems or teams, and tools until it changes.
This might sound simple, and it is, but it’s actually very hard to do because at each stage we get
blocked and twisted up by the shame, guilt, fear and doubt – the things that get in the way of
5
seeing things clearly. To do this well requires a level of emotional that is very
difficult to practise. So let me walk you through it and show you how it can work.
Now, ask your partner:
1. Do you think being machine-like is a positive or a negative?

2. Do you think that the ability to control your emotions is an important skill to have these days?
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4 Listen for predictions 2

In the next section of the video, you are going to hear two steps on how to improve your productivity.
Read the true or false statements below, discuss with your partner what you think the answer is and
then watch the second section of the video (02:08-04:08) to see what the speaker says.
Steps to improve productivity 1: Awareness
1. Awareness means being aware of problems in your productivity.

2. It’s much easier to ignore a problem and hope that it goes away.
3. Productive people don’t practise maintaining their awareness.
4. Going for a walk can maintain your awareness of yourself.
Steps to improve productivity 2: Observation
1. Observation without judgement was difficult for the speaker.

2. Most of the time the speaker’s inbox was a mess.
3. One single email can turn your whole inbox into a mess.
4. The logical place to intervene to stop the mess is every two weeks.
In the part of the video you just watched, the presenter used some useful vocabulary. Match the
words in bold to the definitions underneath.
1. It seemed like an indictment of me and my ability to be successful

2. And it had a very specific trigger, either a single email I really didn’t want to deal with
3. Whatever the problems that you’re encountering in your productivity
4. And when this happened, emails would start to pile up
5. I realised that there was a logical place to intervene
6. I realised that I had to face the fact that the backlog was causing problems
a. become involved in a situation so that it will improve

b. coming across something difficult
c. a quantity of work which should’ve already been completed
d. a sign that something is really wrong
e. become larger in size or quantity
f. an act of making someone feel sad or upset by reminding them of something stressful from their
past
Ask your partner:

1. Can you remember the last time when your work really started to pile up?
2. Have you ever encountered a situation at work that you weren’t happy with?
3. Can you think of a situation where you might need to intervene at your workplace?

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
5 Listening for more details
Watch the final part of the video (04:09- 06:26) on Step 3: Experimentation, and answer these
questions.
This brings us to the next step: experimentation. Once productive people have recognized a
problem and observed its contours without judgment, they try new solutions to find out what
works. Again, this can be really easy to get twisted up about. We’re all filled with preconceptions
about what’s in and out of bounds to experiment with, and we’re really boxed in by those
preconceptions. We don’t want to look silly or weak. But if we allow ourselves to find what works
for us, we often find things that no one else would.
I tried a lot of different experiments to deal with my inbox problems. I tried going to a new coffee
shop every time I needed to power through some emails. I tried talking about it with my business
partner and other people at my company to try to lower my sense of shame about it. I tried a
one-touch email strategy, I tried only checking my email twice a day. But none of these really
solved the problem completely. So I kept going and I had a big insight. I figured out I might be able
to use my own desire not to let people down to help me get through my inbox. I’m lucky enough
to split a virtual assistant with my business partner, so I wondered, what if I put an hour on my
calendar a few times a week where they would babysit me. At the beginning of the hour, they’d
message me and ask me how many emails I had in my inbox. And at the end of the hour, they’d
message me again to ask how many I’d gotten done. I used my virtual assistant, but you could use
anyone in your life. A family member or friend who struggles with something similar and propose a
trade. It literally takes a couple of seconds to message back and forth.
When I started to consider this, my immediate reaction was shame. I felt like I should not need a
babysitter to do my work. And I dreaded the conversation where I had to ask for this kind of thing.
I also dreaded admitting it to anyone else. It all seemed very silly, but I decided to try it anyway.
And it turns out just that little interaction a few times a week makes a gigantic difference for me.
Getting a message from my assistant keeps me on task on my email and prevents the piles from
being created, which makes it really easy for me to keep my inbox clean at every other time. And
now I’m sitting here almost a year later with a clean inbox on a consistent basis. This may not work
for you, but it does work for me. You might find that other approaches are better, like transferring
your emails to your to-do list or making sure you’re following a one-touch inbox strategy or maybe
even examining why you need to get through your inbox in the first place. But the only way to find
that out is to try it.
What I’ve realised in all of my exploring is that I actually didn’t really ever want to be a machine. I
just felt guilty and ashamed for not being one. And once I started to work with that, everything
changed for me.
We think productivity is about software, notebooks and to-do lists frameworks, calendars,
schedules and inboxes. And it is all of those things, but it’s also about our brains and our bodies.
It’s about our emotions and how they guide us and sometimes get in our way. If you turn over the
rock of productivity, you can find a lot hiding underneath. Identifying what’s there is the best
productivity hack I know.

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
1. What did the speaker do every time he wanted to get through a lot of emails?
a. went to the library
b. went to a new restaurant
c. went to a new coffee shop
2. What desire did the speaker use to help him out with his inbox?
a. to earn more money
b. to not let people down
c. to get a promotion
3. What does the speaker share with his business partner?
a. a virtual relaxation room
b. a virtual assistant
c. a virtual bank
4. When the speaker receives a message from his virtual assistant what does it help him to do?
a. stay up late
b. stay on task
c. stay at the office

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
6 Extra vocabulary: synonyms
Look at the part of the script from the third section of the video, and try to find synonyms to match
the definitions.
1. trapped
2. factually
3. biases
4. vision
5. outlines
6. constant
7. feared
Use the synonyms from above to complete the questions below, then use them to have a discussion
with your partner.
1. Have you ever felt or trapped at work?
2. Do you think it is important for a manager to be fair and ?
3. Do you think its dangerous to have about countries that you have never travelled
to?
7 Talking point
Look at the questions and discuss them with your partner.
1. What did you think of the video? Did it make you think about your own productivity?
2. Which of the steps do you think would be the most useful for you?
3. Why do people think productivity is so important?
4. Can you think of any situations where it’s okay not to be productive?

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
8 Vocabulary for conversation
Look at the examples of natural language from the video with your partner and from the context,
try to guess the meaning of each one. To help you remember the expressions, have a chat with your
partner and use them to talk about your life.
• ... We feel like, well, that’s the job, I should just suck it up. ...
• ... I’d avoid my inbox and the pile would just get way worse. It was a vicious cycle. ...
• ... Again, this can be really easy to get twisted up about...
Let’s chat
1. Have you ever been in a situation at work where someone has told you to just suck it up?
2. What is the best way to get out of a vicious cycle if you find yourself caught in one?
3. When was the last time you found yourself in a situation that you got really twisted up about?

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
9 Writing: a conclusion
With your partner, you are going to write a conclusion for the video you just watched about productivity.
The conclusion should begin with:
• We think productivity is about...
Read through the script together and look for the main points that you can include in your conclusion.
After you have chosen the main points, write 80-100 words and then compare your conclusion with
the rest of your classmates.

HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
TEACHER MATERIALS · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)
Transcripts
3. Listen for predictions 1
Dan Shipper: I’ve always secretly wanted to be a machine. I felt like if I was a machine, I’d never let
things fall through the cracks, I wouldn’t forget things, and I’d do everything I needed
to do on time every time. I knew there were people out there that were like this, and
I wanted to know what makes them tick.
Dan Shipper: So a few years ago, I started a newsletter called Super Organisers, where I profiled
50 of the top performers in a variety of fields. I’ve talked to managers who track
everything they do in a day in 15-minute increments. I’ve talked to investors who
keep spreadsheets of every single person they’ve ever met, and CEOs who keep their
calendars basically empty and rarely ever do meetings, ever.
Dan Shipper: I’ve also experimented with a lot of hacks myself to try to get me closer to my ideal.
I’ve taped my mouth shut while I’m sleeping and stared at a sunlamp to increase my
energy levels. I visualised my compassionate self and tried all sorts of supplements to
hack my body chemistry. Sometimes the things I try work, and sometimes they don’t.
Sometimes they’re just kind of ridiculous. But I want to share with you the best trick
I’ve learned in all of my exploring.
Dan Shipper: The ideal of being a machine is actually a trap. It gets in the way of our productivity
because it makes us blind to the roots of our actual problems. We are not machines,
we’re emotional beings. And learning to skilfully recognise and work with our emotions
is the only way to actually be productive day-to-day. Guilt, shame, fear, so often
they’re at the base of what’s going on for us in ways that we barely understand. What’s
underneath our productivity problems isn’t just a need for a new tool or system, but
something going on in our emotional lives. And being aware of and observing how our
emotions can affect us can open up a lot of flexibility and freedom to make progress
when we’d otherwise be stuck. I found that the most productive people in the world,
the ones who are most machine-like, actually recognise this and they often do three
things to work with it. They’re aware when they have a problem, they observe what’s
going on without judgment so they can understand it, and they keep experimenting
with systems or teams, mindsets and tools until it changes. This might sound simple,
and it is, but it’s actually very hard to do because at each stage we get blocked and
twisted up by the shame, guilt, fear and doubt – the things that get in the way of seeing
things clearly. To do this well requires a level of emotional mastery that is very difficult
to practice. So let me walk you through it and show you how it can work.
FOOOOTERAPPENDIXRIGHT
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
Dan Shipper: Awareness is the first step. That means being aware of problems in your productivity.
But that’s harder than it seems. No matter what the issue is, it’s much easier to ignore
it and hope that it goes away than to admit that something’s wrong. We feel like we
should be able to just do better. We feel like, well, that’s the job, I should just suck it
up. Whatever the problems that you’re encountering in your productivity, you might
not think about them that often because it’s pretty painful.
Dan Shipper: But there’s magic in becoming aware of the problems that we’re ordinarily not aware
of. The most productive people have regular practices that they use to maintain that
awareness. Sometimes it’s journaling, sometimes it’s mindfulness, sometimes it’s just
a walk, sometimes it’s therapy. But everyone has something.
Dan Shipper: Here’s an example from my own life. I have a ton of trouble staying on top of my inbox.
I’m the CEO of a start-up, and so this was really hard for me to admit at first. It seemed
like an indictment of me and my ability to be successful if my inbox was a mess. But
last year, after a lot of reflection, I realised that I had to face the fact that the backlog
was causing problems throughout my company.
Dan Shipper: Once I was aware of the problem, I could start the next step: observation. When I
moved into the observation stage, I wanted to see with as little judgment as possible
what usually leads to my inbox being crowded. Observing without judgment was really
difficult for me. My sense of doubt and fear came up. I thought: Should I really need
to do this? I really felt like I should just be able to get through my inbox without any
problems. But once I got beneath that, I began to notice something really surprising.
There were actually many periods where I was on top of my inbox. It’s just that every
couple of weeks there would be a shift where it would just turn into a giant mess. And
it had a very specific trigger, either a single email I really didn’t want to deal with or a
really busy period in my life where I couldn’t look at my inbox for a day or two. And
when this happened, emails would start to pile up, and I’d start to feel shame. I’d avoid
my inbox and the pile would just get way worse. It was a vicious cycle. Once I saw
this, I realised that there was a logical place to intervene. What I really needed to do
was to catch myself right at the point every couple of weeks where my clean inbox
was turning into a mess. And if I could do that, I knew I could keep it clean the rest of
the time.
Dan Shipper: This brings us to the next step: experimentation. Once productive people have
recognized a problem and observed its contours without judgment, they try new
solutions to find out what works. Again, this can be really easy to get twisted up about.
We’re all filled with preconceptions about what’s in and out of bounds to experiment
with, and we’re really boxed in by those preconceptions. We don’t want to look silly
or weak. But if we allow ourselves to find what works for us, we often find things that
no one else would.
FOOOOTERAPPENDIXLEFT
Learn without forgetting! ii
HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
Dan Shipper: I tried a lot of different experiments to deal with my inbox problems. I tried going to
a new coffee shop every time I needed to power through some emails. I tried talking
about it with my business partner and other people at my company to try to lower
my sense of shame about it. I tried a one-touch email strategy, I tried only checking
my email twice a day. But none of these really solved the problem completely. So I
kept going and I had a big insight. I figured out I might be able to use my own desire
not to let people down to help me get through my inbox. I’m lucky enough to split a
virtual assistant with my business partner, so I wondered, what if I put an hour on my
calendar a few times a week where they would babysit me. At the beginning of the
hour, they’d message me and ask me how many emails I had in my inbox. And at the
end of the hour, they’d message me again to ask how many I’d gotten done. I used
my virtual assistant, but you could use anyone in your life. A family member or friend
who struggles with something similar and propose a trade. It literally takes a couple of
seconds to message back and forth.
Dan Shipper: When I started to consider this, my immediate reaction was shame. I felt like I should
not need a babysitter to do my work. And I dreaded the conversation where I had to
ask for this kind of thing. I also dreaded admitting it to anyone else. It all seemed very
silly, but I decided to try it anyway. And it turns out just that little interaction a few
times a week makes a gigantic difference for me. Getting a message from my assistant
keeps me on task on my email and prevents the piles from being created, which makes
it really easy for me to keep my inbox clean at every other time. And now I’m sitting
here almost a year later with a clean inbox on a consistent basis. This may not work
for you, but it does work for me. You might find that other approaches are better, like
transferring your emails to your to-do list or making sure you’re following a one-touch
inbox strategy or maybe even examining why you need to get through your inbox in
the first place. But the only way to find that out is to try it.
Dan Shipper: What I’ve realised in all of my exploring is that I actually didn’t really ever want to be a
machine. I just felt guilty and ashamed for not being one. And once I started to work
with that, everything changed for me.
Dan Shipper: We think productivity is about software, notebooks and to-do lists frameworks,
calendars, schedules and inboxes. And it is all of those things, but it’s also about our
brains and our bodies. It’s about our emotions and how they guide us and sometimes
get in our way. If you turn over the rock of productivity, you can find a lot hiding
underneath. Identifying what’s there is the best productivity hack I know.
FOOOOTERAPPENDIXRIGHT
Learn without forgetting! iii
HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
Key
1. Warm up
5 mins.
This gives the teacher an opportunity to set the context and allows the students time to talk about their previous
experiences related to productivity and how it relates to their lives.
*The warm up section replaces the intro for the video as the topic is the same. If you would like to show your students
the introduction then it runs from 00:00-00:59.
2. Focus on vocabulary
5 mins.
Make sure students can correctly pronounce the target vocabulary. Ask them to complete the task by themselves
first, and then compare answers with a partner.
1. → a. 2. → b. 3. → d. 4. → c. 5. → e.
5 mins.
Ask students to read the excerpt of the transcript and discuss with their partner where they think each word
from the vocabulary section goes. Play the video, ask the students check their predictions and then have a short
discussion about issues raised.
1. roots 2. Guilt 3. judgment 4. mindsets 5. mastery
10 mins.
Inform students that they are going to watch Part 2 of the video and ask them to look at the true or false statements
and decide what they think the answer is. You may want to split this section of the video and review after each
table is complete.
In the second part the students should match the expression to the correct definition and then practise them using
the conversation questions.
Awareness
1. T 2. T 3. F 4. T
Observation
1. T 2. F 3. T 4. T
Definitions
1. → d. 2. → f. 3. → b. 4. → e. 5. → a. 6. → c.
5. Listening for more details
5 mins.
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT
Play the final section of the video (04:09- 06:26) and ask the students to select the correct option from below. A
pre-listening prediction activity would also work well here.
1. c. 2. b. 3. b. 4. b.
6. Extra vocabulary: synonyms
10 mins.
To improve the students’ range of vocabulary, ask them look through the final part of the text for synonyms. You
could do this prior to the final section of the video or after. As an extension task students fill in the gaps of the
conversation questions with the new language.
Synonyms:
1. boxed in 2. literally 3. preconceptions 4. insight

5. contours 6. consistent 7. dreaded
Gaps:
1. boxed in 2. consistent 3. preconceptions
7. Talking point
5 mins.
Students discuss talking points from the video and share their opinions with each other about the importance of
productivity, they also link it to their own experiences.
8. Vocabulary for conversation
5 mins.
Ask students to look through the sentences together and try to guess the meaning, monitor to support, and then
allow them to personalise the vocabulary with a quick discussion.
Suck it up- accept something difficult or unpleasant
Vicious cycle- a negative series of events that continue and get worse
Get twisted up about – become extremely confused
9. Writing: a conclusion
10 mins.
Inform the students that you haven’t played them the conclusion form the video and you want the students to
make their own conclusion. Students should work in pairs and plan and write their piece starting with – We* think
productivity is about...
*Elicit the meaning of "We" in this sentence, it should refer to everybody/ society
After the students have written their conclusion then play the final section of the video (06:27-06:48) for them
to compare.
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HEAAADERLOGORIGHT

BUSINESS ENGLISH · BUSINESS ISSUES · UPPER-INTERMEDIATE (B2-C1)

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 1/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

Match the following vocabulary to the deﬁnitions.

1. judgement (n) a. ability to make good decisions after careful preparation

2. mastery (n) b. having great knowledge or understanding of a particular thing

3. guilt (n) c. main causes of something such as a problem

3 Listen for predictions 1

Now, ask your partner:

1. Do you think being machine-like is a positive or a negative?

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 2/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

4 Listen for predictions 2

Steps to improve productivity 1: Awareness

1. Awareness means being aware of problems in your productivity.

Steps to improve productivity 2: Observation

1. Observation without judgement was diﬃcult for the speaker.

1. It seemed like an indictment of me and my ability to be successful

a. become involved in a situation so that it will improve

Ask your partner:

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 3/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

5 Listening for more details

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 4/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

a. went to the library

b. went to a new restaurant

c. went to a new coﬀee shop

a. to earn more money

b. to not let people down

3. What does the speaker share with his business partner?

a. a virtual relaxation room

c. stay at the oﬃce

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 5/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

6 Extra vocabulary: synonyms

1. Have you ever felt or trapped at work?

2. Do you think it is important for a manager to be fair and ?

Look at the questions and discuss them with your partner.

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 6/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

8 Vocabulary for conversation

FOOOOTERRIGHT Learn without forgetting! 7/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

• We think productivity is about...

FOOOOTERLEFT Learn without forgetting! 8/8

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

3. Listen for predictions 1

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

3. Listen for predictions 1

1. roots 2. Guilt 3. judgment 4. mindsets 5. mastery

4. Listen for predictions 2

5. Listening for more details

KICKING YOUR PRODUCTIVITY UP A GEAR

6. Extra vocabulary: synonyms

1. boxed in 2. literally 3. preconceptions 4. insight

1. boxed in 2. consistent 3. preconceptions

8. Vocabulary for conversation

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