James Franco: My Productivity Role-Model & NOTE TO MODERATOR

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For a while now, James Franco has been my productivity role model.

A few years ago, there was a LOT of media attention about him and how he is some sort of productivity/ multi-tasking dynamo.

This picture will give you a summary of why he gained this reputation:
24[dot]media[dot]tumblr[dot]com/tumblr_ldfe2b7T8Q1qzxlhqo1_400[dot]jpg
...and during that time period and since then, he's since done much, much, much more.

I decided to read about him and I realized a few things about him that I think may explain how he does what he does.

This interview with James Franco is enlightening:
youtube[dot]com/watch?v=9MwT_10russ

I learned a few things from it.
-He has a (probably deeply ingrained) attitude that "There's always stuff he needs to be doing" and he feels that he always "Has a lot to do."
-He doesn't understand the concept of "kicking back and doing nothing."
-He's a multitasker (conducting this interview while in the middle of a photoshoot and going about his day - driving, eating lunch, etc)
-He feels like a failure if he allows himself to get comfortable (he refused to sleep on his bed and instead fell asleep on his couch when he was physically exhausted and simply could not do any more.

Here's an article about him in New York magazine that gives a glimpse of this man's life and how he is able to stay so productive:
nymag[dot]com/movies/profiles/67284/index3[dot]html

Here's an excerpt:
~
Morgan, a former UCLA classmate of Franco's, manages his minute-to-minute existence: makes sure he wakes up, gets dressed, eats. "I guarantee you he would not eat unless I fed him," she says. "He'll do the hand-to-mouth part, but I definitely bring it to his hands. It's not that he's helpless. It's just that he would not take the time to find food. He has the luxury of not having to worry about it."
Despite the hired help, Morgan tells me, Franco's hyperproductive life is not always easy. "He definitely gets overwhelmed at times. Sometimes we'll look at each other, and it's been 36 hours since either of us has closed our eyes, and he's switched from decaf to regular, and we're on a train or a plane or a car and he'll go, 'What am I doing? What's going on?' But then it's like: 'Well, we're making things happen the way you want.' "~


Here's an article that actually CRITICIZES him but also gives an interesting lesson about leveraging other peoples' time and efforts to build on your own success:
salon[dot]com/2011/03/30/franco_nyu_teach_poetry/


What do you guys think? Do you have a productivity role model? Why is that person your role model?
#franco #james #moderator #note #productivity #rolemodel
  • Profile picture of the author Anthony Gibson
    My productivity role model would probably be a businessman I met while working at a Business Center. He ALWAYS had multiple cool and large projects on the go and had multiple executive assistants. He would get overwhelmed every once in a while as well and fell asleep during a meeting with me. When that happened I knew I needed to step my game up. He was already wealthy and successful and he still pushed himself to the point of pure exhaustion.
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