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How to be More Productive...With Hank!

2012-06-08 · list · Hank, Michael Aranda · 3:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Everyday life · mode: Comedy & performance · tags: guest or collab, self promotion

Hank parodies productivity advice with absurd tips, then sincerely says he gets a lot done because work feels like a hobby, he has teams helping him, he likes collaborating, and what works for him won't suit everyone.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Hank does all the jobs (VidCon, Lizzie Bennet at 50,000 subscribers, SciShow, Crash Course, Truth or Fail, EcoGeek, DFTBA Records); people ask for productivity tips

  • ★★ Hank lists his many jobs: VidCon is coming up at the end of the month, The Lizzie Bennet Diaries just passed 50,000 subscribers, plus SciShow, Crash Course, Truth or Fail, EcoGeek and DFTBA Records. — 00:00:03 · VidCon, SciShow, Crash Course, EcoGeek, DFTBA Records

00:00:17 — Mock productivity tips: pants two legs at a time, faster walking, Muscle Milk instead of eating, medical procedures in bulk, scripts that order Muscle Milk and email his wife spam-algorithm love notes, imagining doing things

  • ★★ As mock productivity tips, Hank claims to put his pants on two legs at a time, walk a faster way, replace meals with 2,000 calories of Muscle Milk, get medical procedures in bulk and script his Amazon orders. (parody) — 00:00:17 · Amazon
  • ★ Hank jokes that he wrote a script, based on a Russian spam-writing algorithm, that emails his wife romantic messages on important holidays. (joke) — 00:01:10 · Katherine Green

00:01:53 — For serious: RescueTime, work as a hobby, help from his teams, liking collaboration learned from the project with John

  • ★ Dropping the bit, Hank says he does not like Muscle Milk; Michael drinks it. (playful) — 00:01:53
  • ★★ Hank says he takes productivity seriously and uses RescueTime, which tracks what he does on his computer and scolds him for YouTube time, which is his job. — 00:02:05 · YouTube
  • ★★★ Hank says he works a lot because work is more like a hobby for him; he just likes making things, which is one of the things that make him excited about life. — 00:02:19
  • ★★★ Hank says he can be more productive because he has help: teams at VidCon, DFTBA Records, SciShow and Crash Course. — 00:02:35 · VidCon, DFTBA Records, SciShow, Crash Course, Alan Lastufka
  • ★★ Hank says the project with John taught him that he likes to collaborate and be on a team, though none of his collaborators is as good as John. — 00:02:51 · Vlogbrothers, John Green

00:03:06 — What works for him won't work for everybody: no rigid schedules, stress-driven priorities, Emma Stone's eyeball; sign-off

  • ★★ Hank says what works for him will not work for everybody: he dislikes rigid, micromanaged schedules and lets his internal stress level decide what to work on each day. — 00:03:06

Humor (significant)

  • Hank claims he has some excellent productivity tips, starting with getting dressed. — 00:00:17

    “Unlike apparently everyone else I put my pants on two legs at a time”

  • Hank wrote a script that emails his wife romantic messages on holidays, but he was too busy to write all of it. — 00:01:14

    “It was based on a Russian spam writing algorithm”

  • Hank's biggest tip: instead of doing things, just imagine doing fun things. — 00:01:43

    “while in the end making sure that you never really ever do anything”

  • Hank explains he likes to collaborate and be on a team. — 00:03:01

    “It's like sports, except you're actually doing something!”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

People: Emma Stone · Katherine Green · Michael Aranda

Projects: Crash Course · DFTBA Records · EcoGeek · SciShow · Truth or Fail · VidCon

Works: The Lizzie Bennet Diaries

Organizations: Amazon · RescueTime · YouTube

Products: Muscle Milk

Only in the description or credits: Alan Lastufka · Lifehacker

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