Productivity Nerd

Welcome to Productivity Nerd by Personally Virtual – your go-to spot for smart, slightly nerdy conversations about productivity, time management, and working smarter (not harder!). Hosted by Virtual Assistant and productivity enthusiast Kathy Soulsby, we unpack powerful tools, books, and habits - from Getting Things Done to Slow Productivity and beyond. Whether you’re a solo business owner, a time-blocking fanatic, or just looking to tame your to-do list, you’ll find actionable tips, interviews, and real talk to boost your focus and reclaim your time.

Productivity Nerd is a business podcast hosted by kathy.soulsby, with 114 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

kathy.soulsby hosts Productivity Nerd, a business show with 114 episodes published.

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  Productivity Nerd

  Taking a well earned break

  Jul 30, 20261 min

  Welcome to a little message from the Productivity Nerd crew. We’re taking a bit of a break over August. The last few months have been hectic and a rather challenging personally so finding guests and reading business books hasn’t been a priority I’m afraid, the day job and staying sane has taken precedence, as it absolutely should. You know us, we work hard to understand what is important. What this means is that we’ve rather lost our nice buffer of Leadtime on episodes so I say we’re taking a break in August. That’s not actually the case. We’ll be prepping a load of episodes for you. We’re playing catch up in the background so we come back in September like the highly efficient folks you know us to be! I look forward to seeing you properly again in September. In the meantime, whatever the summer has in store for you, I hope it’s fun.

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  Productivity Nerd

  Episode 57 - Out of Office, In the Moment: Holiday Prep That Actually Works, with Claire Ennion

  Jul 29, 202634 min

  Going on holiday? Here are some holiday planning tips to help you actually switch off - before you go, while you're away, and on that brutal first day back. Kathy and Claire (joined by work-experience guest Emily) cover the stuff nobody warns you about: how to hand over work without a 20-item panic list, whether to set up an OOO or get someone to manage your inbox, how to draw boundaries around "just checking in," and why your first morning back deserves its own plan. Whether you're employed, self-employed, or the boss, there's a tip in here you can actually use. Because a holiday you spend dreading your inbox isn't really a holiday...it's just working from a different place.

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  Productivity Nerd

  Episode 56.5 - Using ‘Waiting Time’ Productively – Small things you can do in short gaps of time.

  Jul 21, 20266 min

  A tiny mini pod on making the most of the awkward gaps in your day, those 5 or 7 minute windows before an appointment or between tasks that feel too short to bother with. Kathy shares two very different ways to use them: ticking off quick wins from a ready made task list, or putting the phone down and doing absolutely nothing. Because sometimes the best use of five minutes is no use at all.

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  Productivity Nerd

  Episode 56 - How to Find Your Values (Using Your Pet Peeves)

  Jul 15, 202647 min

  Why does it make you irrationally furious when someone doesn't indicate at a roundabout? According to this episode, that's not just a bad mood, it's a value getting stepped on. Kathy and Helen dig into the ideas from Mark Manson's SOLVED podcast on how to actually find your values, starting with the frustrations and pet peeves that flare up without warning. They cover the difference between an interest and a value, why chasing money never gets you anywhere on its own, and why going all in on one thing for too long quietly wrecks everything else. Honest, a bit chaotic, and genuinely useful for anyone who's ever wondered what their own rage is trying to tell them. Your pet peeves are a map. Follow them.

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  Productivity Nerd

  Episode 55 - The Productivity Advice That Works When You're Falling Apart with Gilly Mulford

  Jun 30, 202635 min

  Gilly Mulford wrote her book Where Dandelions Grow while her world was falling apart - not after it, during it. In this conversation, Kathy catches up with Gilly to explore what happens when the usual productivity tools - the habits, the systems, the routines - fail you because your nervous system is too frazzled to play along. They dig into the relationship between resilience and getting things done, the inner critic Gilly has named Dave, the surprisingly seductive pull of catastrophising, and why acceptance isn't the same as giving up. If you've ever wondered why you can't just implement the productivity advice you know works, this episode might be the missing piece. Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is stop and rebuild from the roots up. Order your copy of Gilly's book here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1067617906

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