Most people think of goals as boxes to check off. But what if they were something completely different?
In this episode, I share how I think about goals in a way that makes decision-making easier, life less overwhelming, and priorities much clearer.
👉 A free tool you can use right away to get crystal clear on your next 3 actionable purpose-driven goals https://monthlymethod.kit.com/focus-finder
⏱️ Chapters
0:00 – My view on goals
0:59 – Example: Dental appointment
1:55 – The purpose of a goal
3:38 – Example: Weight loss
4:50 – Example: Work clothes
5:21 –Example: Learning how to cook
6:15 – Example: Shopping
7:48 - Free guide to discover your next 3 goals
Enrollment for the Focus Room October Sprint closes tomorrow! 🎉 In this episode, I share what the Focus Room is, how we run 3-week sprints with live planning, coworking, and reviews, and why it’s a calm, sustainable approach to productivity—tailored to your real life, not hustle culture. Join us before doors close Thursday to start your sprint this Friday!
Join the Focus Room → https://monthlymethod.com/focus-room/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★What if your life and projects were as simple and durable as a Fisher-Price toy?
In this episode, I talk about the Fisher-Price simplicity, how I've learned about it, and how it inspired me to apply it in my own life.
I talk about how my pursuit of elegance and optimization often led to unnecessary complexity, and why I’m choosing to rebuild my foundations on simplicity instead. Think: fewer frills, fewer moving parts, more durability, and more ease.
If you’ve been feeling paralyzed by over-optimization or weighed down by layers of complexity, this framework might help you get back to basics.
👉 Want support as you simplify and focus on what really matters? Join me inside the Focus Room, my membership where we work in 1-month sprints, keep each other accountable, and actually finish the projects we start: https://monthlymethod.com/focus-room/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Learn more about the Focus Room: https://monthlymethod.com/focus-room/
Enrollment closes this Thursday.
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★In this episode, I share a fresh perspective on why rest is essential for productivity—through the lens of agriculture. Just as farmers rotate crops and allow fields to rest to maintain soil health, we too need scheduled breaks to protect our focus, creativity, and long-term output.
I talk about:
This episode is about reframing rest not as laziness, but as a vital strategy for longevity, health, and sustainable productivity.
00:00 Introduction to the Cool Off Week
00:34 Understanding Soil Health and Agriculture
02:18 The Importance of Resting Fields
03:16 Government Initiatives and Soil Health
04:03 Applying Agricultural Principles to Productivity
05:24 Practical Tips for a Cool Off Week
07:04 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Join the Focus Room: https://monthlymethod.com/focus-room/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★My complicated relationship with summer is about to end.
Learn more about the focus room here: https://monthlymethod.com/focus-room/
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Polina from The Monthly Method discusses her hiatus from podcasting and introduces the 'Three Levers' framework, a concept she learned as a junior product manager. The framework helps simplify and streamline any project.
Learn more about the Focus Room: https://monthlymethod.com/focus-room
Timeline:
00:00 Introduction and Welcome Back
00:20 The Three Levers Framework
01:05 Applying the Framework to the Podcast
01:32 Exploring Resource Options
04:06 Adjusting the Timeline and Scope
06:28 Personal Insights and Changes
09:28 Normalizing and Optimizing
14:53 Final Thoughts and Invitation
The final ingredient of my Agile-inspired personal productivity system is the cool-off week. In this video, I share its origin story, explain what it is, describe what I do during this week, and reveal why it has been the key to staying consistent with my productivity system for the last 10 years.
The Calm Ambition Club: https://monthlymethod.com/calm-ambition-club/
Blogpost mentioned:
When feeling down, turn to aesthetics https://monthlymethod.com/aesthetics/
Timeline:
00:00 - Why I invented the cool-off week
01:44 - What is a cool-off week?
03:30 - What's the point of a cool-off week?
05:03 - I'd rather take the breaks on my own terms
06:33 - What do I do during the cool-off week?
09:50 - Benefit: No burnout in the last 10 years
10:52 - Benefit: Gult-free rest
11:31 - Benefit: Looking forward to the next sprint
13:27 - Benefit: Interesting projects get done
15:07 - Benefit: Time and space to think
15:42 - Benefit: Serves as a reward for my long-term efforts
18:17 - Benefit: Creates a nice rhythm in my life
19:30 - If you want to actually DO the things you want to do.
Learn how to apply Agile to your life in a free course: http://monthlymethod.com/school/
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - monthlymethod.ck.page/newsletter
💻 Blog - https://monthlymethod.com/blog
𝕏 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
Sprint retrospective is the most important ritual in Agile philosophy. I'll share how you can build your own goal management system that is perfectly tailored to your life circumstances.
The Calm Ambition Club: https://monthlymethod.com/calm-ambition-club/
Blog posts mentioned:
Sprint-end celebration https://monthlymethod.com/sprint-end-celebration/
The baby shower story https://monthlymethod.com/failed-sprint-goals/
Optimizing life for a regular Tuesday https://monthlymethod.com/regular-tuesday/
Timeline:
00:00 - Overview
00:38 - What is a sprint retrospective?
01:07 - The shocking part
02:58 - Agile take on growth
04:03 - Sprint retrospective in teams
05:48 - Personal sprint retrospective
07:17 - Becoming your own guru and building your own system
08:51 - Cathedral Effect
09:18 - What got done?
10:46 - What didn't get done?
13:01 - How accurate was your sprint capacity calculation?
13:38 - Quality of life review
14:48 - Creating a Notes file for sprint retrospectives
15:50 - Example: Deeper Why
18:55 - Don't add to your to-do list
20:08 - Example: Making a promise
21:44 - Example: Leaving my phone at home
22:51 - Example: Reddit goal
25:54 - Going a level deeper into why we should do sprint retrospectives
26:54 - Life craftsmanship. The art of living.
28:50 - Curation in a function of time.
Learn how to apply Agile to your life in a free course: http://monthlymethod.com/school/
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - monthlymethod.ck.page/newsletter
💻 Blog - https://monthlymethod.com/blog
𝕏 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
Why the advice to disappear for a year is problematic. And what you can do instead.
Enrollment for the Calm Ambition Club - February sprint closes tomorrow https://monthlymethod.com/calm-ambition-club/
Chapters:
00:00 - YouTube, we have a problem
01:23 - The only way to change our lives
02:04 - What happens if you manage to disappear for a year?
03:00 - My favourite quote
03:43 - Celebrating limitations
06:26 - If you were feeling hopeless
07:56 - On young generation being lost
08:46 - If you can't escape your life
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - https://monthlymethod.ck.page/newsletter
💻 Website - https://monthlymethod.com
What a good gym membership can teach us about goal setting in other areas of our lives?
Learn more about the Calm Ambition Club: https://monthlymethod.com/calm-ambition-club/
Chapters:
00:00 - Have you ever wondered why people choose to pay for a gym membership in this day and age?
00:32 - What does it teach about our goals in general?
01:29 - Shopping for information
01:52 - Back to the initial question
05:26 - How to apply it to your goals for the New Year
06:29 - If you have creative or business goals that require a lot of deep work
09:59 - Become a founding member
13:12 - Who is the Calm Ambition Club for?
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - https://monthlymethod.ck.page/newsletter
💻 Website - https://monthlymethod.com
Ever feel like your work has to be perfect before hitting 'publish'? Discover how embracing B- work can actually accelerate success.
Blogpost with all the links mentioned: https://monthlymethod.com/b-work/
00:00 - My story of working in a tech startup
03:23 - Perfectionism and the B- work
05:19 - Done first. Improved later.
06:56 - The B- work can change the world.
09:39 - Time constraints help.
How to apply Agile to your life: http://monthlymethod.com/start-here/
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - monthlymethod.ck.page/newsletter
💻 Website - https://monthlymethod.com
𝕏 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
I share the best tool I have found in Agile methodology for overcoming perfectionism and analysis paralysis. I talk about the process of picking your sprint goals and polishing them up with the Definition of Done.
Watch this episode is in video format: https://youtu.be/k7kR9OUn1B0
00:00 - Are you a perfectionist?
01:25 - Agile concepts we've already covered
02:25 - The purpose of your first sprint
03:16 - How do you pick your sprint goals?
03:25 - Can you get it done in one sprint?
04:00 - Account for your sprint capacity
04:20 - Had time to age
04:42 - You are still excited
04:55 - You are in full control of getting it done
06:53 - Finalizing your goals with the definition of done
09:35 - The Random Person Test
12:47 - The Definition of Done is not a collection of subtasks
13:58 - Where to find more examples of Definitions of Done
How to apply Agile to your life: http://monthlymethod.com/start-here/
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - http://monthlymethod.com/blog/
💻 Website - https://monthlymethod.com
𝕏 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
One of the core Agile concepts is working in short sprints vs. setting long-term goals and plans. Let's look into what a sprint is, how long it should be, how to calculate sprint capacity, and choose a sprint focus. As always, we'll discuss how you can apply all of this to your own personal projects and goals.
Timeline:
00:00 - Innovation in the tech industry
00:47 - What is a sprint?
02:07 - What is a good sprint duration?
04:36 - Sprint capacity
09:27 - Adjusting the scope of your sprint
10:15 - Calculating the sprint capacity is an investment in your future self
14:17 - Sprint capacity for the first sprint
15:49 - Sprint focus
20:29 - Topic for the next video
21:31 - Homework
How to apply Agile to your life: http://monthlymethod.com/start-here/
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - http://monthlymethod.com/blog/
💻 Website - https://monthlymethod.com
𝕏 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
💌 Send me an email: https://monthlymethod.com/contact/
Backlog is where an Agile sprint begins. It's the foundation of the Agile Framework. Let's dive into the deeper meaning behind a backlog, why you need one in your life, and how to build one from scratch.
Timeline:
00:00 Why Agile?
01:26 Backlog - what it is
01:58 Chaotic life filled with frantic action
03:00 How much time we actually have
04:10 How do we measure the quality of our goals?
06:56 The best time management hack
08:26 Agile tool for measuring the quality of your goals
09:22 Example of using backlog
10:06 That's how you stop the chaos
12:50 How to start a backlog
17:36 What you can do today
19:08 Unpopular opinion
21:35 The comment that made me record this video
How to apply Agile to your life: http://monthlymethod.com/start-here/
If you want to stay in touch:
💌 Newsletter (notes on applying Agile, calm productivity, and finding sanity in this hustle-culture obsessed world) - http://monthlymethod.com/blog/
💻 Website - https://monthlymethod.com
𝕏 Twitter - https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
Or simply leave a comment!
★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★Let's review the core components and rituals of a sprint cycle and how you can apply those to your personal goals and projects.
Link to the video version of this episode.
Timestamps:
In this episode I talk about why long-term goals don't work and how we've been mislead all this time by the traditional goal setting advice. I also share my story of finding out about Agile and how it changed my approach to personal productivity.
Link to the video version of this episode.
Timestamps:
A quick episode to say hi and give you some updates on my life and the Monthly Method. Please let me know what you think about the group sprints I have in mind!
Timeline:
00:00 Intro
00:41 What happened last year? 2023 updates
04:13 What's happening this year? Summer 2024
07:59 Plans for the fall 2024
Links mentioned in the episode:
- Read blog posts from last year: https://monthlymethod.com/blog/
- Subscribe to my newsletter to receive the latest blogposts to your email: https://monthlymethod.ck.page/2dd14791c4
- YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@AgileForOne
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/Agile_for_One
- Email: polina@monthlymethod.com
