Superstar Interview: Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani Talks Beer and Productivity

When somebody first start digging around for GTD and productivity-related websites, it won’t take long before they arrive at Lifehacker.com. A fine mixture of links to quality articles and products, as well as full-length features, how-tos and all sorts of other goodies. Like it or not, it’s hard to deny that LH is a force to be reckoned with.

Behind the behemoth sits Gina Trapani. Powered by a staff of stellar writers and a love for all things lifehackery, she keeps the music playing. And being such a fan of their site, I was especially excited to get the opportunity to ask her a few questions. Enjoy!

Can you give a brief intro about yourself for the 2 people who read this blog and haven’t heard of you?

I’m Gina Trapani, and I’m the founding editor of a daily weblog on software and productivity called Lifehacker, and I’m sure way more than two of you didn’t know that.

Does your job inspire “productivity tool sprawl”? In other words, does playing around with the latest/greatest new toys and tools make you want to frequently change what you’d normally use?

After three years of writing the site, I’ve become mostly immune to productivity sprawl. Every day there’s going to be something new. After all this time, I realize that the most productive people are the ones who stick to a system and set of tools, accept their shortcomings (every system has them) and concentrate on getting stuff done versus organizing and reorganizing their to-do list in Yet Another App. At Lifehacker, we do encourage readers to try out new personal organization software almost every day, which I’m sure leads to sprawl. But regular readers are smart and savvy and skeptical, and I know they have to be super-impressed with a new app to move all their stuff into it.

Given the wide range of “implementations” for personal productivity from paper to PDA, do you think technology can overly complicate (or even undermine) productivity?

Definitely! There’s so much you *can* do with organizational tech, so many advantages to doing things this way or that way, the question to constantly ask is “Do I need this? Just because I *can* do things this way, does it mean I *should*?” If the answer is more often “yes” than “no,” you’re going to spend more time setting up new tech and systems and tagging your to-do’s and syncing them to your handheld, etc, etc, and less time accomplishing anything. It’s an easy way to tell ourselves we’re being productive when we’re actually just avoiding the thing we should be working on. That’s the dirty little secret of personal productivity media

Are there any productivity-related books (beside GTD) that you find especially inspiring or worthwhile?

I enjoyed David Allen’s less popular book, Ready for Anything, in addition to Getting Things Done. It’s a collection of thought-provoking essays that complements GTD well, but it’s heavy on philosophy and light on actual system. Though most wouldn’t bill this a productivity book, I also loved Steven Pressfield’s The War of Art, which discusses the mental “battle” we all fight in order to accomplish the things we’re called to do (in Pressfield’s case, that’s “write,” but it can be applied to any profession or vocation.) For something more practical and “rubber to the road” when it comes to digital life, Mark Hurst’s Bit Literacy was a good read. Hurst and I share similar views on the best ways to wrangle all the data (”bits”) in your life.

Does being a high-profile productivity blogger ever make you feel somehow forced to being uber-organized? Perhaps to be an example for all of your loyal readers?

Yes, very much so. In fact, your readers should know that I was embarrassed by how long it took me to respond to your email requesting this interview! I get behind, like everyone else, and I feel like a hypocrite for not always practicing what I preach. I just hope that people who see that I’m not uber-organized can appreciate the fact that, like them, I’m still in the trenches, working at it.

Do you have any “productivity weaknesses”? Like a TV show, website, etc. that’s guaranteed to derail whatever you’re working on?

The web is a constant struggle, especially since I work on it every day and there are tempting video clips and articles beckoning behind every shiny link. In fact, just this morning I burned at least 20 minutes watching Letterman clips on Jezebel, Lifehacker’s sister site. Halo 3, anything related to Battlestar Galactica, The Wire, or Grey’s Anatomy, Ask MetaFilter, Buffy comic books, whatever book I’m reading at the moment–all of these are my weaknesses.

How do you unwind? What kinds of things do you like to do when you’re not doing Lifehacker?

Many nights I collapse on the couch to watch TV after dinner, but my favorite unwinding activities are physical. I play racquetball twice a week, I practice yoga, and I body board down at the beach pretty regularly. (I’m working up to learning how to actually surf.) I also like to take long walks during the week, especially stressful work days, to think things over and breathe and stretch my muscles, so they don’t atrophy while I sit at the computer all day.

Follow-up: What’s your favorite adult beverage?

A tall pint of frothy Guinness. It’s like a meal in a cup!

Do you have any tips for us budding productivity bloggers?

Differentiate yourself from the crowd. Pick a specialty; take a unique angle on things; make yourself stand out somehow. The productoblogosphere has exploded in the last three years, but many of the sites blend into one another. As bloggers we tend to just link to other blogs and echo what they said, but it’s original content that will make readers come to you.

For your daily dose of technology and lifehacks, I highly recommend adding Lifehacker to your favorite feed reader.

Special thanks to Gina for taking the time to answer my questions!

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January 21, 2008 | Filed Under GTD, Hacking Life, Productivity, Technology 

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2 Responses to “Superstar Interview: Lifehacker’s Gina Trapani Talks Beer and Productivity”

  1. K Stone on February 1st, 2008

    So cool to “meet” the person behind Lifehacker. It’s reassuring to hear about your struggles with managing it all, like the rest of us! Great sites Brett and Gina! Thanks

  2. Kelly @ Small Business Guru on February 29th, 2008

    I agree - Lifehacker has become such a ‘thing’ it almost easy to forget the brilliant people behind it.
    I really love her comment on original content and how the productoblogosphere has a bad habit just linking to one another and echoing each other’s ideas.

    I think that’s the real challenge and I think that’s why Gina & Lifehacker have seen so much success.

    Ohhh and btw - now you have 3 readers. I just discovered your site. Excellent, very funny stuff.

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