11 Inspiring TED Talks On Productivity For Planners and Schedulers

Conquer your projects like a pro. We all need a little boost some days when we just aren’t as productive as we would like to be. For the days we feel like we’ve reached the ultimate ‘Blah’ and would just love to spend the day at the beach instead, take a little break and watch some very inspiring Ted Talks on productivity.

TED Talks offer very inspiring discussions on a wide range of topics that can help get you motivated and your creative juices flowing. Check out 11 TED Talks on productivity below. Get yourself into gear and make a dent on your project list.

1. Stefan Sagmeister: The Power of Time Off

Sagmeister owns a design studio in New York and said that he closes his company down every 7 years for a year to pursue other personal endeavours that cannot be done during the normal working years. “Taking Breaks makes you more focuses and Productive.” – S. Sagmeister

2. Kelly McGonigal: How to Make Stress Your Friend

McGonigal is a Health Psychologist and believes that stress isn’t the enemy but how we view stress that affects us. A study found that “43% of people died prematurely from the belief that stress is bad for you.” She explains how if you can change your mind about stress you can change how your body responds to it.

3. Jason Fried: Why Work Doesn’t Happen At Work

Fried talks about the distractions that people face when at the office. He asked people where they go to do work and the places they mentioned are far from the office. He said people don’t have a work day but work moments and “People need long stretches of time to actually get things done” – Jason Fried.

4. Shawn Achor: The Happy Secret To Better Work

Achor humorously talks about positive psychology and how happiness stimulates creativity and productivity.

5. Eddie Obeng: Smart Failure for a Fast-Changing World

Obeng is a business educator whose talk is focused on the most important changes in the world for understanding productivity.

6. Matt Cutts: Try Something New For 30-Days

Matt Cutts has long been known to SEOs worldwide as Google’s premiere search Engineer. In this fascinating talk, Matt explains that changing behaviour isn’t as difficult as it seems. Cutts explain how adding a 30-day challenge to your life can help cut unproductive behaviours and how it can help get you out of a rut we tend to get caught in. Done any 30-day challenges lately? According to Cutts we all should.

7. Nilofer Merchant: Got A Meeting? Take a Walk

Sitting is Killing Us. Merchant is an author, speaker and management consultant who is heading up the stand-up movement. The average person sits for 9.3 hours a day. In her talk she suggests ways to get moving during those busy day at the office.

8. Tim Ferriss: Smash Fear, Learn Anything

Tim Ferriss one of Michael’s favourite authors and podcasters. He is a best-selling author famously known for “The 4-Hour Workweek”. Always intriguing, in this talk Tim reveals his childhood challenges and how he learned how to break down frightening challenges into parts that can be controlled based on your mindset.

9. Yves Morieux: As Work Gets More Complex, 6 Rules To Simplify

Morieux talks about how disengaged employees can be at work which seems to be due to old-fashioned management. He provides 6 simplified rules for employees to navigate through this complexity.

10. Pico Lyer: The Art of Stillness

Lyer is a travel writer who highlights the value of stillness and provides some strategies on how to feel less overwhelmed when dealing with constant distraction.

11. Daniel Pink: The Puzzle of Motivation

Daniel Pink is a Career Analyst and well-known author of “Drive: The Truth About What Motivate Us”. A great speaker, Pink’s talk focuses on the effectiveness of traditional rewards when running a business and how motivation and productivity can go hand-in-hand.

What TED Talks do you find inspiring?