What would happen if you stopped chasing productivity hacks and started embracing simplicity and discipline in your everyday life? In this episode of Speaking with Confidence, we dive deep into building habits that stick, mastering boundaries, and simplifying the way you work, communicate, and live.
I had the pleasure of sitting down with Mark Struczewski, better known as Mister Productivity, a Houston-based productivity coach and host of the Mister Productivity podcast. With over 1,350 episodes and an unfiltered, real-world approach, Mark helps professionals conquer overwhelm and bring focus back into their days. After being fired from corporate America, Mark turned his setback into a thriving coaching practice, rooted in daily running discipline, his faith, and powerful, practical systems.
Mark’s journey started unexpectedly, with a hurricane keeping him cooped up at home and an article inspiring him to try running one mile a day. Since then, Mark’s daily running habit has surpassed 3,000 consecutive days, a testament to the transformative power of consistent discipline. We explored how that kind of commitment spills over into every area of life, and why the basics matter more than ever, whether you’re running, building a career, or communicating with confidence.
We dug into why so many people, especially young professionals, are constantly overwhelmed. Spoiler: It isn’t just about time management. Mark unpacks the role of FOMO, people-pleasing, lack of boundaries, and our addiction to technology. Together, we discuss how reclaiming focus and simplifying your approach can lead to more clarity and better results, both at work and at home.
Here’s what we covered in this episode:
Mark’s origin story and how a hurricane and Runner’s World article launched an 8+ year daily running habit
Why Mark’s daily discipline matters in fitness, work, and coaching
The link between doing hard things and building confidence
Why young professionals (and all generations) feel overwhelmed, and how FOMO and people-pleasing feed the cycle
The importance of saying “no” and setting unbreakable boundaries
Mark’s “get to the point” email and meeting philosophy, plus why more communication is rarely better
How to command attention in person by putting the phone away and giving people your full presence
Finding simplicity in a world that glorifies complexity and constant busyness
The real impact of taking one day completely off for rest, reflection, and recharging
Why being fired opened the door for Mark’s current calling, and how to view setbacks as setups for something new
How podcasting improves communication and the importance of clarity, preparation, and growth
The most impactful productivity principle you can apply right now taking mindful, technology-free micro breaks
If you’re ready to stop making excuses, cut through the overwhelm, and communicate with real confidence, this episode is for you. Mark brings actionable wisdom, humor, and a no-nonsense approach that will get you thinking and moving toward a simpler, more productive life.
Connect with Mark:
- Website: https://misterproductivity.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markstruczewski/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/misterproductivity/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MisterProductivity/
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Transcript
Tim Newman [00:00:00]:
Welcome back to Speaking with Confidence, the podcast that helps you build the soft skills that lead to real results. Communication, storytelling, public speaking, and showing up with confidence in every conversation that counts. I'm Tim Newman, a recovering college professor turned communication coach and I'm thrilled to guide you on your journey to becoming a powerful communicator. If you feel overwhelmed, distracted and constantly on, but never fully focused, this conversation is going to change how you think about productivity and simplicity. Today's guest is Mark Struczewski. Hopefully I said that right, Mark. Mark is better known as Mr. Tim Newman [00:00:47]: Productivity. Mark is a Houston based productivity coach and host of the Mr. Productivity podcast with over 1,350 episodes. Helping professionals conquer overwhelm and reclaim focus after being fired from corporate America. He turned that setback into a calling, building a thriving coaching practice rooted in faith, daily running discipline and practical systems that save clients 30% or more of their time. Mark's no nonsense style blends real world grit with grace filled wisdom and to help high achievers live with clarity and purpose. Mark, welcome to Speaking with Confidence. Mark Struczewski [00:01:26]: Tim, thank you so much for having me here. And I guess the first time didn't work out, so second, sometimes you got to do it over again. And that's good because this interview is going to be way better than the first one we did. Tim Newman [00:01:39]: Oh, absolutely. It's going to be, it's going to be way better. And I actually love doing it, doing it twice because like you said, not only is it going to be better, but you know, we're going to be able to talk about things maybe even a little bit deeper than we did the first time. And with that, let's start with the daily running discipline. Because you know when you say, and I hear other people say, I do it every day and what does that mean? That means that you do it every day, right? So talk about that daily running discipline, how it got started and what that actually does for you throughout your day. Mark Struczewski [00:02:11]: It all started back in 2017. We had a hurricane visit Houston called Hurricane Harvey and it stayed for three days. Apparently I liked the Houston area And it dumped 51 inches of rain on us in three days. And although my wife and I, where we live on the west side of Houston, we didn't, we got little, maybe a couple feet in the street. We didn't get our house flooded, but you couldn't go anywhere. The whole city was shut down. And during that weekend I happened to read an article on RunnersWorld.com that said what I learned from running one mile a day for 250 days, I told my wife, I said, huh, I could do that. And so after the storm started Moving east on August 29, I went out for my first run, which then became 100 days and then a thousand days. Mark Struczewski [00:02:59]: And I'm over 3,000 days in a row and counting. I'm 60 years young and running is such an integral part of my life. I'm not doing it to impress anyone. I'm already married to the woman of my dreams, so I'm not out there to impress anyone. I'm not trying to break records. I'm just running because when my mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's back in 2018, that was a wake up call for me. She lost her battle in 2022 because I was not taking care of myself at all. And her getting diagnosed kind of like shook me. Mark Struczewski [00:03:30]: And I'm like, you know what? I am going to start taking better care of myself now. She was diagnosed in 2018. I, when I started in 2017, a year prior, I had no idea how long it would go, but now I'm still going and I have no plans on stopping. Tim Newman [00:03:47]: And so what does that daily discipline mean for you throughout your day? I mean, because, because we're not just talking about the, the, the basic physiological health benefits anymore at this stage. Yes, those are still there. But what does that daily discipline mean for you over, over any given day? Mark Struczewski [00:04:06]: Well, one of the things I share with my clients, when they tell me, oh, I can't do that, that's too difficult, I'm like, look, I've run at least one mile for over eight and a half years. And so I do all these, like, I take a cold shower every day. I, I walk 15,000 steps every day. And the reason why I do this is so when I'm coaching my clients, I can say, look it, I started doing something was hard and now it's easy for me. One of my favorite authors is Robin Sharma. He wrote the 5am Club, which is why I get up so early in the morning. I don't get up at five, I get up at four o' clock in the morning. But he says all chains is hard at first, messy in the middle, and gorgeous at the end. Mark Struczewski [00:04:46]: The problem is when people start any new habit, it's hard and like, oh, they want to skip to the gorgeous part. You can't. You have to go through hard, messy and gorgeous. That's the way life hands it to you. And so we, what I do with my clients, I tell them, look it, I'm 60 I've been running every day for eight and a half years. I don't want to hear excuses. And I tell you this much, Tim. I have studied successful people. Mark Struczewski [00:05:12]: It's one of my, one of my obsessions is origin stories. I'm reading a book by Will Smith right now. Not one of those people got to where they are by making excuses. So I want to practice what I preach. Tim Newman [00:05:24]: Yeah, and I'm so glad you said that. And I talk about this a lot. You know, my background really comes from the sport industry and I use athletes kind of as the, as the backdrop here. You know, the, you can look at the greatest players of all time and their work ethic. Right. But even, let's just say a journeyman, a journeyman Major League baseball player, journeyman NBA player, they didn't get to be that good by just going to the gym twice a week and shooting or taking batting practice, this, that or the other thing. They focus on something and they do it every single day on se, in season, off season. And they're, they're constantly working on their, on their craft. Tim Newman [00:06:08]: And it's building that daily discipline of maybe some of the basic things that allows them to be able to do some of the, the higher level things even better. Mark Struczewski [00:06:18]: I once heard a story about Kobe Bryant that the day after they won the championship, he was back in the gym. And, and people are like, what are you doing? We just won the championship, there's next season. And I just think that is so incredible. He was not focused on what happened last night. He was focused on the next season. Tim Newman [00:06:38]: Right, right. And, and that, that's how he got, that's how he got to be Kobe Bryant. Right. I mean, that's how we, that's how we know his name. That's that, that's just kind of how it is. And you know, I, I think if, if we could impress upon, especially the younger generations, start developing good habits. And good habits you do every day. And what does that mean? It means every day it's not, you know, take a rest day, it's. Tim Newman [00:07:06]: You do them every day. And you know, whether it's, whether it's reading, whether it's running, whether it's, you know, eating healthy, whether it's drinking water, whatever that is, if you start developing one habit and do it every day, then you can start developing other habits as well, but you have to start with one. Mark Struczewski [00:07:24]: And James Clear talks about in his fantastic book Atomic Habits, which I think people should not only read, they should read it every year or every other year. It's that good of a book. He has a principle said that says never miss twice. I operate under never miss once. Do you think I'm going to take a day off from running when I have well over 3,000 days running? No. A rest day for me is a very slow 1 mile run. So I want people to. Don't go to. Mark Struczewski [00:07:56]: Well, I can miss once. No, try not to miss it all. So whether you're going to post on your favorite social media site every day, you're going to write your book every day, you're going to work out every day, do it safely, but try not to miss a day. Because what happens is we're human beings. One day becomes two days becomes three days, and all of a sudden you haven't worked out for four for two weeks because you took to never miss twice and now never missed two weeks, apparently. Tim Newman [00:08:22]: Right. And especially when it comes to working out, you think, oh man, it's two weeks. I'm really not interested in going through that pain again. So I get it. But let's talk about, you know, some young things that young professionals are going, going through today and what's the real reason they feel constantly overwhelmed. And it's not just about time management, is it? Mark Struczewski [00:08:47]: No, they, number one, they have a. I think FOMO is a pandemic in our world today. Everybody wants to be checking on all the social media websites and they always have to know what's going on because what if I miss something? I was born in 1965 and for the first 20 years of my life, there was no cell phones, there was no Internet, and, And you just, you found out when you found out. So I think FOMO is not an epidemic. I think it's a pandemic. The other problem is people are people pleasers. We don't want to say no to people. Well, here's the thing. Mark Struczewski [00:09:21]: If you study successful people like I have, they say no way more than they say yes because they have priorities. These are the most important things I want to do. You asked me to do something. It doesn't align. The answer is no. And I think those two things, FOMO and always saying yes, are big problems for any generation, not just the younger generation. Tim Newman [00:09:42]: Yeah, that's so important. And you and I are right around the same age. I'm 58. And I remember when we got our first answering machine, right before we got answering machine, we had call waiting and my father said, we're not getting call waiting because if I'm on the phone or somebody's on the phone, the people that are calling, they can wait till I get off the phone and call again. So I'm not clicking over. Then we got there, it's a machine. And now we're carrying these things that are called phones. And especially the younger generations don't use the phone. Tim Newman [00:10:19]: They're using texting, they're using social media and trying to get them to understand that the easiest way to get ahead is to dial that number and actually talk to the person that you want to talk to. Mark Struczewski [00:10:34]: You know, I go, I can beat you. Because I remember when there was no call waiting and your caller ID is when you picked up the phone and say, hello, Hello. I mean, so I'm going back that far. I mean, I remember the cord, the corded line. And this is before wireless kids. This is when you had the cord on the phone was on the wall and you had long cord. And if I want to talk to my girlfriend, I had to, you know, take the cord and go around, come. Because we had one phone. Mark Struczewski [00:11:00]: My mom used to yell at me, you're stretching the cord, you're going to pull the phone off. So that's how old I am. Tim Newman [00:11:07]: That's awesome. Yeah, those were the days, right? But, you know, it's. The younger generation could understand the whole idea of what we just talked about saying no and saying no in a way, that's a powerful way to say no. Not just no to be a jerk, not just ghosted people. But, but, but say no. And why you're saying no and still providing value. Like, you know, if your friend asks you to go out and you've got to go to work, I got to get up early for work tomorrow. Let's do it Friday, let's do it Saturday. Tim Newman [00:11:43]: You know, when. When we can actually go out and have some fun. I need to get my rest so I can be productive at work tomorrow. Right. There's. There's ways to be able to do that that they really need to understand. Mark Struczewski [00:11:55]: I have been speaking a lot about boundaries. And the joke in my house is my boundaries are about 25 foot high, 10 foot thick. They're reinforced for rebar. I have a moat around my boundaries with alligators. I have snipers on top my boundaries, and I have a Star wars missile defense mission, missile defense system up in the sky. And so what does that mean in real life? If you were to ask me, hey, Mark, can you help me move this weekend? Nope. I don't have to think about it because I have strong boundaries. Again, it goes back to, is this Going to help me or hurt me? I'm 60 years young. Mark Struczewski [00:12:32]: I, I may. What if I pull a muscle and I can't run the next day? Or what if I can't get on a client call, come in pain? So a lot of people I talk to, both as clients and people I see in social media and even my friends, they have really teeny, tiny, like an inside boundaries. I said, you got to grow your boundaries. How do you do that? It takes practice. You have to decide. I'm going to start building my boundaries and you're going to tick people off along the way and that's okay. But it's about your sanity. You can't be productive if you don't have boundaries. Tim Newman [00:13:03]: Yeah, it's. And you don't have to give them a story about it either. It's just. Mark Struczewski [00:13:08]: Yeah. Thank you for saying that. Everybody thinks, everybody thinks they have to justify. Why can't you help me move? The answer is no, I don't have to justify. I remember when I you before I got fired in corporate, in corporate America, back in 2005, when I asked for personal time off, PTO, personal time off, my boss would ask me, what are you going to do? It's called personal time off. And he used to get so angry when I said it's personal. He wanted to know, you don't have to justify why you said no. Now, if you're saying no to your boss, that's not what we're talking about here. Tim Newman [00:13:42]: Right, right, right, right. But one of your hacks, which I really love, is simply getting to the point. And that's kind of what we're talking about here, but specifically with written communication and emails. Why do so many emails, meetings and presentations say in 10 minutes? What could be said in one? Mark Struczewski [00:14:02]: I don't know, maybe they're aspiring writers. I mean, the example I like to use is, is let's say your office needs to close an hour early because the power company's got to shut the power off because they get to do some work. Well, that could be all in the subject line. Office closing at 4pm you don't need to go through the why. And the power company and the guy who called you people are, are taking, wasting time. I'm not going to say taking. I'm going to say wasting time, giving you more information. You need to know we've all seen those emails. Mark Struczewski [00:14:34]: We where you start reading it, you're scrolling like, oh my gosh, where's the point of this? And I think you should try to get it in the subject line, like meeting Today, move to 2pm okay. Leave the email, leave the rest of the body empty. Or if you got to explain it, maybe one or two sentence. I say stick to the point, get to the point, stick to the point. So many people like to go. I live in Houston and if I wanted to go to San Antonio, I'm not going to go east to Florida and across the ocean to France, to Asia, to Japan, to la, to San Antonio, I'm going to go from Houston, San Antonio. A lot of people, when they write or they have meetings, they just go on and on and on and they wonder why the meeting's not effective because you are just, you're talking about things that don't even matter. So get to the point, stick to the point. Mark Struczewski [00:15:22]: And while I'm on that, if you've got four things to share with somebody, you send four emails because they're going to see that first thing and they're going to stop, do that thing and forget about the other three. So four email, four things to do. Four, four emails. Tim Newman [00:15:35]: Four emails, yeah. And I'm so glad you said that because as you're talking, that's kind of what I'm thinking. If you've got one thing, one email, two things, whatever it is, like you said, if there's four things, four emails, because again, like you said, it's top of mind. And then you can start clicking things off. Right, okay, yeah, I'm gonna address that, I'm address that, address that. And then when it comes to having meetings, only the only people that are involved in whatever should be talking about should be involved in that meeting. Right? I think, you know, we, we invite 17 people to a meeting that affects five, and you know, the other 12 are kind of sitting around going, they, they've checked out and they leave an hour meeting. Now I've just wasted an hour and I've got this one long email with 17 things in it. Tim Newman [00:16:25]: And, and that, that really kind of blows. A whole, whole morning or whole afternoon. Mark Struczewski [00:16:31]: You've just all been in those meetings. I have been in those meetings. When I was in corporate America, I would go to the meeting, they wouldn't ask me a single question. So why am I here? My boss was there and I'm there. Well, he could have given me the highlights. So people, I think meeting planners need to, I don't know, talk to me. You need to be careful. You need to take a lesson from Steve Jobs. Mark Struczewski [00:16:54]: I remember the story I read in Walter Isis Isaac's book about Steve Jobs. He was giving a presentation about the new iPad they were going to come out with, and he was in there talking about it, and he stopped in mid sentence. He noticed a woman was there. And I feel so sorry for this woman. He goes, what are you doing here? I mean, the typical Steve Jobs charisma. And she goes, well, my boss told me to come here. He goes, we will not be needing you. And he waited for her to get up and leave. Mark Struczewski [00:17:23]: I mean, I think that's kind of cold. Don't do that to your employers. But when you're. Or your employees. But when you're talking to people and you're going to have a meeting, say, no, we really have a meeting. Make sure you only invite the people who absolutely need to be there. Because if somebody else needs to know what's going on, but they're not going to contribute, guess what? You can send out their specific tasks. You can send out meeting minutes or something like that, but don't have. Mark Struczewski [00:17:49]: I've been to meetings where there's like 50 people in there. Only two people talk to him. What are we all doing there? Tim Newman [00:17:54]: Right? It's. And then what ends up happening, right? The other people are sitting around, they start digging in their phone, they start playing on the computer when their iPad or whatever it is. And now you've upset people because you're not paying attention in a meeting that you shouldn't even be in. Right? And so there's backlash there. But let's dive into a little bit about that. You know, if you're talking to somebody and this is. This is something that. That bothers me, you're talking to somebody and they get a text message and they stop. Tim Newman [00:18:28]: Hold on a second. I've got to check this test text message where I got to read this email or whatever. What's your take on that? Because that. That to me is instant aggravation. Mark Struczewski [00:18:39]: Well, the first time it happens, I let them do their thing. And when they. And if they tell me, keep going, I'm like, no, I'll wait till I see your eyeballs. That's why I know you're paying attention. And when they finish, I'm like, oh, so what did the president have to say? Like, what do you mean, the president? Well, obviously it was that important, right, that we're having a great conversation. So it must have been the leader of your country that texted you or sent you an email. And they're like, don't be so stupid. I'm like, no, you're being inconsiderate right now because I'm right in front of you. Mark Struczewski [00:19:06]: I'm literally two feet away from you. And. And you stop communicating with me to answer your phone. So I don't do that. When I go out to a restaurant with my wife, put the phone on, do not disturb, because I'm there having lunch with her. I'm not. I don't care what's happening out in the world, okay? People need to understand that our phones are not more important than human beings. I don't care who I'm in front of, they're in front of me. Mark Struczewski [00:19:31]: They have given me the gift of their presence. Whether it's for lunch, a network event, whatever. They are more important than anything that happens on my phone. That's why one of the things on my phone I have disabled is vibration mode. Because you can put your phone in mute, put in your. Put it in your pocket, you get a text or a call or email, then your phone vibrates. So turn off vibration mode. That way you are not going to be distracted. Tim Newman [00:19:55]: Yeah. And again, I'm so glad that you said that. Your presence is what is so important. And that value. And so that whoever that person or group of people, 2, 3, 5, whatever it is, they need to think that they are the most important thing that's going on. Because if you're giving them that kind of attention, the value that's going back and forth, the ideas, the conversation, whatever it is, is more likely than not going to, number one, going to produce something so much better than somebody not paying attention or walking away. And the other thing about that is there's actually a biological or, excuse me, a physiological response that happens to you when you get a text message. You get a hit of dopamine, which makes you feel good. Tim Newman [00:20:44]: If you're on the other side of that, they get hit with the thing that says pain. Yes. Like if you were to stick yourself with a needle, it's the same response, it's the same chemical. And that's lost on me, but that's what happens. So think about that the next time you're talking to somebody and you get a text message. It may make you feel good, but it's actually causing pain to the people that you're interacting with. Mark Struczewski [00:21:13]: It is. And listen, I'm a professional speaker. It would be really weird if I'm up there giving my presentation, I stop, oh, I gotta take this check. That would be weird. People go, that's weird. Well, you're doing the same thing. So the only difference is I'm not speaking to a room full of people. I'm speaking to one person, but. Mark Struczewski [00:21:29]: But I don't care if it's one or a hundred or a thousand. You stay focused on who's in front of you, not what's on your phone. Tim Newman [00:21:35]: Exactly, exactly. And, you know, that's, you know, I generally talk about, you know, the younger professionals, but that's something that happens across the board. I mean, from, you know, young professionals all the way up through. Through people our age. And when we're. When people our age are dealing with younger professionals, as much as they do it, they have a much more. I wouldn't say aggressive, but a much more resistant approach to that because to them, that's another example of how we don't understand or respect them, even though they're doing the same thing. So we really have to. Tim Newman [00:22:18]: From our perspective, we really have to be mindful of that and how we're perceived by everybody. Mark Struczewski [00:22:24]: Yes, we do. Because here's the thing. If you and I are having a conversation, you keep looking down at your phone, you keep checking your phone. If we're out the lunch, and you keep flicking your phone up and down, I'm like, why am I here? And listen, I give tough love. And the closer you are to me, the more tough love I give you. Tim Newman [00:22:43]: Yes. Mark Struczewski [00:22:43]: And I'll just say we could have stayed at home and been on our phones. We went to a nice dinner, or if I'm with a friend or something like that. Tim Newman [00:22:53]: If. Mark Struczewski [00:22:53]: If I'm with you, let's communicate. Otherwise, we could just send text messages later. But people, that's why I said this is not an epidemic. It's a pandemic worldwide. People are so addicted to your phones. And I kind of envy these tribes over in Africa and other parts of the world who don't have technology because they just live their lives. They don't know what the Internet is. And guess what? They're. Mark Struczewski [00:23:19]: They're thriving. They're fine. Tim Newman [00:23:21]: They go out doing just fine. Mark Struczewski [00:23:22]: Go and kill something and bring home. So, I mean, sometimes, and I know this wouldn't affect. This would dramatically affect our interview today, but it'd be nice if we could just turn the power grid off. Not the electricity for our refrigerators and all that, but maybe the cell phone towers. 911 calls to get through just so we can, like, hey, let's. Let's not be on technology. That's one of the reasons why I started. About six weeks ago, I started observing the Sabbath. Mark Struczewski [00:23:46]: Now, the Sabbath is a biblical concept, but breaking news, you don't have to be A believer to celebrate the Sabbath. All it is, you take a day off from work, that could mean technology. So the only thing I do on the Sabbath is I read a lot, hang out with my wife, watch TV, go for my run. I do allow myself like 15 minutes to check in on the only two social media platforms I'm active on, Substack and LinkedIn. That's it. The rest of the day I'm just relaxing. And it doesn't have to be Sunday. You could take Tuesday off, but I think everyone needs to have one day. Mark Struczewski [00:24:19]: They take off, they don't. They spend very minimal time on social media. When I say minimal, that doesn't mean three hours is a four. That means maybe 20 minutes and read a book, watch some movies with your family and just get some more one on one time with people. But people, when I tell them this, like, what, what, how am I supposed to do that? Well, you gotta, this is, this technology is making us stressed. How productive are you gonna be when you're stressed? Tim Newman [00:24:47]: Well, you're not. And again, taking that one day off, you become so much more productive when you come back, right? Because, well, for whatever reason, for me it's wow, you know what? I took that time off. I need to catch up from what I missed and get back to where we need to be. But it's, it's. Maybe that's not even the best mindset. It's you take off, you reset, and you pick up wherever it is that you left off. You're not behind, you're right where you're supposed to be. Mark Struczewski [00:25:21]: I heard a story in one of the books I've read, I'm an avid reader, where this guy wanted to become a real estate agent, so. So he was a Christian, as am I, and he decided, okay, I got my real estate license and I'm going to observe the Sabbath on Sunday. And all his real estate agents said, you're crazy. Sunday is the best day for showing property. He said, no, I'm convicted to take Sundays off. I'll be there Monday through Saturday. I'm taking Sundays off. They thought he was nuts. Mark Struczewski [00:25:51]: Well, guess what? At the end of the year, he sold more properties than everybody else did. And I'm not saying it's a blessing from God, but I think he rewarded himself saying, I'm going to dedicate this day to God, to my family, to relaxing. And he got rewarded for it. We think that we got to keep going, going, going. Maybe the secret is to stop and just don't do anything. Tim Newman [00:26:12]: I think you're Right. I definitely think that we, we as a, as a whole, both individually and societally, would be much, much better off. Mark Struczewski [00:26:21]: Really would. Yep. Tim Newman [00:26:23]: But you know, you didn't grow up wanting to be Mr. Productivity. You kind of fell into it after giving getting fired. And now before I go on, what everybody has to understand, especially people in younger generations, everybody is going to be fired. And that's okay. The day you get hired is the, it's kind of like coaches in professional sports. Right. The day you get fired is the day you are should start preparing to be fired. Tim Newman [00:26:52]: Right. Because it's going to happen. But after, after you got fired, you pivoted. And how did that experience reshape how you think about work and identity? Mark Struczewski [00:27:04]: Well, I was raised by two very well meaning parents. They both passed away by this time. And I just thought you go to school, you go to college, you get a job, you retire and you die. And I said, you know, I reject that. So I would do, in the beginning, I did what my parents did, you know, I just went to work and oh, I can't do anything, it's the weekdays. And I felt really constricted. And then when I was fired in 2005, I said, this is an opportunity, even though I was very angry when I got fired is an opportunity to try something new. So I decided to become a entrepreneur. Mark Struczewski [00:27:44]: Couldn't say, couldn't spell it, but I wanted to be one. And my first business was wedding and portrait photography, which failed. But the one thing that came out of that, now remember we're talking 2005, we had Facebook, we have Twitter, not X. It was Twitter back then and LinkedIn. We had email marketing and direct mail. And I am a type of person back then, obviously not now, where I didn't want to speak in front of an empty room. And I went to a friend of ours in Bible study class and says, hey, how could this very extremely introverted person become a professional speaker? Which is absolutely nuts when you think about it. And I got the bug. Mark Struczewski [00:28:23]: And so I started speaking to groups about how to take better pictures. But then I realized I did not want to tell people how to take better pictures. And so I invested in my first coats and I normally identify as Tigger for Winnie the Pooh. You younger generation, go Google, Winnie the Pooh. And I was having an Eeyore moment and the guy goes, well, what's going on? I like well explained the situation, I want to speak, don't know what to speak about. And he goes, why don't you talk about Productivity. I said, well, that's weird. Where'd that come from? He goes, I know a lot of people, a lot of people, and you are one of the most naturally gifted people being productive. Mark Struczewski [00:28:58]: You should go share that gift with the world. And I'm like, isn't everybody this productive? He goes, no, most people don't have a clue. Tim Newman [00:29:05]: And. Mark Struczewski [00:29:06]: And So I launched Mr. Productivity. Back then, I wasn't known as Mr. Productivity. Someone on LinkedIn identified that in me. I was just going by my real name, Mark Stucheski. Don't look for markstechewski.com because you. You probably can't spell my name, but MrProductivity.com is a lot easier. Mark Struczewski [00:29:22]: And I just found that people are drawn to me because I have a tendency. One of my principles is simplicity over complexity. And so I have a way of explaining things really simple, so everybody can understand it. And so that's how I became Mr. Productivity. Tim Newman [00:29:46]: And again, I love that because a lot of times people see things in us that we don't ever see, ever. And, and you were blessed to have somebody in your life that, that saw that in you and kind of nudged you or pushed you or threw you, however that, however that actually happened. Mark Struczewski [00:30:09]: Right? Tim Newman [00:30:09]: And. And you. And you embraced it, right? Because. Because again, we don't. If we don't see it sometimes, we fight it. Mark Struczewski [00:30:21]: Yes, we fight it. Tim Newman [00:30:23]: We fight it, we fight it. And again, as an introvert, staying on stages right here, I mean, it's, It's, It's. It's something that you have to. It's a skill that you have to learn, just like anything else. And the more you do it, if you're. The more you do it, hopefully the better you get at it. If you make adjustments and changes and you listen to people that are trying to help you, if you do the same thing over and over again, you're not going to get better at it. But my point is, if you are interested in being better, you. Tim Newman [00:30:55]: You'll get better. Mark Struczewski [00:30:57]: It goes back to what Robin Sharma said. It was. Speaking from the stage was hard at first. Then it got messy. Now it's absolutely gorgeous. So it applies to all areas of your life. But you, you can't go into something, whether it's becoming a speaker or creating a podcast or an author, whatever, with going, well, I hope I can. That's Eeyore. Mark Struczewski [00:31:23]: We want to say, I will do it. I don't know how I'm going to do it. We'll figure it out as we go along. And I just Want to say one, one note. I think speaking and coaching are two things that AI will not affect. And here's why. Nobody's going to go to a conference and hear a robot up there walking on the stage. That's not going to happen. Mark Struczewski [00:31:41]: And everything I am teaching people on this podcast or I teach my clients. Yes, you can go to your favorite AI and, and it gives you the same advice, probably better advice. But here's the thing. If you don't go to that app and have a conversation, it's not going to chase you down. It's not going to call you on the phone or text you. And I think personal one on one coaching, whether it's over Zoom or Google Meet or in person, it's going to be, it's not going to go away because people still want one on one. They want to see people's eyeballs. They want to be able to shake someone's hand. Mark Struczewski [00:32:18]: So I don't think AI is going to the lazy people who are just phoning in, yes, it'll affect them, but people are really good at what they do. It won't affect them. Tim Newman [00:32:26]: Won't affect them at all. I agree with that. And you said something a minute ago about being simple and not complex. Right? Why do people gravitate towards complex and complicated systems even though they don't work? Mark Struczewski [00:32:42]: It's like the badge of honor. Like if I hustle, If I work 185 hours a week, I'm better than you. No, you're not. Because you work after a certain period of time. This is proven by studies. After a certain number of hours, your efficiency goes down. So I think people will go, I want to make it complex. I'm like, why? I mean, when I get on a phone call with a client and I, I, I, I practice what I preach, I tell them, here's something you could do. Mark Struczewski [00:33:04]: And like, I'm paying you a lot of money to give me this simple piece of advice. I'm like, why are you doing it now? Well, no. Well, let's start there. Okay. And they go do it. And all of a sudden they start getting momentum on their side. I think I specialize in helping people get un overwhelmed and I can't do that by entering complexity in the equation. I think as human beings, members of this big blue planet we call Earth, we got to get back to simplicity. Mark Struczewski [00:33:31]: When players go back to training camp, I don't care if you're a Tom Brady or who you are, what do they do? They go back to the basics. He throws A football. He's been throwing a football for years. They go back to the basics to make sure his foundation and our foundation is solid. That is all about simplicity. Tom, can you still throw a football? Well, he doesn't sit there and go, oh, I've won seven Super Bowls. Why do I have to do this? He knows it's part of the process. Tim Newman [00:33:59]: Right? Mark Struczewski [00:33:59]: So I think people will be doing themselves a great service if they keep going back and saying, how simple can I make this project or this task? And maybe you break up a complicated task into 20 simple tasks, but that's going to help you get more things done. Tim Newman [00:34:17]: Yeah. And I literally had this conversation last night. We're sitting around table, my wife and I and a few friends, and they're trying to take this one thing and make it really complicated. I said, number one, you guys need to stop. You're making my brain hurt. I mean, well, I don't understand why you would do all those things to get to this point. If you just do this thing and then this thing, you're not only are you going to have a better result, it's going to take you far less time. And they said, oh, man, we never, never really thought of that. Tim Newman [00:34:54]: So, okay, great, but so we can now move on. I don't have to listen to that. It literally gave me a headache. And these are smart people, right? And I think sometimes we get so in the weeds with things that we have ownership in. We can't see the forest for the trees. Right. It takes somebody like a coach to be able to step back and see it from a different perspective and be able to give that nudge to the simple side. Mark Struczewski [00:35:28]: One of my favorite questions I like to ask a client, when they tell me they do this, this, this, this, this, I'm like, why? And I get this blank look on their. On their face like, huh, why are you doing those things? I mean, you may have to do those things, but do you know why? And they're like, huh. So how many people are listening to this podcast right now are doing things that they have no clue why they're doing them? That's a red flag that should. Your dashboard lights should be flashing going, yeah, why am I doing this thing? So I really hope as a result of them listening to this podcast, they start questioning, why are they doing A, B and C. And if you don't have an answer, here's a safe way to do it. You can stop doing it for a few days, and if the world doesn't end, do it a week and this world doesn't end after that, maybe two weeks, then get rid of it completely. Because if you stop doing the things that don't need to get done, you guess what? You have a lot more time to do. I mean, you have a lot more time to do what you actually really need to do. Tim Newman [00:36:30]: Right. And maybe things that you enjoy doing. Mark Struczewski [00:36:33]: Yes, yes. Tim Newman [00:36:34]: Or want to do, or, you know, those types of things. And you just said something about ask why? And I'm, I'm thinking about, you know, the two of us, same generation, we were really brought up to not ask questions. It's just, do, just do what you're told to do. Do what you're told to do. And I always got in trouble because I asked a lot of questions. I mean, I just, it just, it because things. If something doesn't make sense to me or if I don't understand something, I'm not asking to be a jerk. I'm not asking to put people on the spot. Tim Newman [00:37:03]: I'm truly asking because I don't understand. I really want to know why things are the way that they are. And I think the people that are truly the most successful are the ones that ask a lot of good questions. Mark Struczewski [00:37:20]: Yeah, I think people are afraid of rocking the boat. That's something we used to say back in the 60s and 70s. But I don't think questions are a bad thing. You may say, oh, it's a stupid question. Maybe not. Maybe eight other people want the same answer. Someone's got to ask the question first. Matter of fact, one of the things I do when I'm speaking, I always go find out one of the extroverts and say, hey, will you be the first one to ask the question? Because I. Mark Struczewski [00:37:49]: As soon as he asks a question or she asks a question, then the floodgates open up. So I think questions are great. People like, what if I misspeak? Or what if I trip over my tongue? I'm a professional. I'm not going to go, what can't you speak? What's he got a new tongue? I'm like, okay, well, I'll help you along. Because I think questions unlock so much. And if people just get over their fear of asking questions, they're going to see their life is going to explode for them. Tim Newman [00:38:19]: Yeah, why do you, why do you think people are. Have that fear to ask the questions? Mark Struczewski [00:38:24]: Judgment. They fear they're going to be judged by the people around them. They go, well, what if I answer this question, ask this question, and other people go, oh, what a dumb question, even though that person who's judging them is going, you know, I really want to know the answer that question. Tim Newman [00:38:39]: It's true, though. I 100% agree with you. And, you know, when I was teaching the classroom, I would tell the students, look, I want leaders. I'm looking for leaders. I'm looking for people who, if you have a question, are going to ask it. Because again, like you said, there's more than just you that has that question in this room. And if nobody asks that question, there won't ever be an answer because I may not know what questions you have. Yeah, right. Tim Newman [00:39:06]: And I can't know all those things. And that's where you start asking questions, and that's where dialogue starts, and that's where ideas really start becoming exchanged, and that's where things start to evolve and ideas start to evolve and minds are changed by just asking good questions. And the piece I always end with is, you're worried about this person over here judging you, who doesn't even know you, who's not going to take care of you when you're broke, who's not going to worry about, you know, you need to start thinking about, you know, what's best for, for you. If these people don't want to ask questions, that's. That's on them. You need to start thinking about what's, what's best for you, and you getting the information that you need so that you can go off, do the things that's best for you. Mark Struczewski [00:39:59]: Yep, I agree. Tim Newman [00:40:01]: And I get the bobblehead look, you Mark Struczewski [00:40:03]: know, Tim Newman [00:40:06]: we laugh, we laugh and joke, but I mean, it's, it's, it's part of it. And they eventually get that message that it's also part of being a professional. And when you're a student, that's one thing, but it's also part of being a professional. Like you said, performing a task at work, if you don't understand why you're actually performing that task, that, to me, is a problem. Like you said, you better figure out why. And maybe you have a better way of doing it. Maybe you have a more efficient way of doing it. Maybe that's something they haven't even thought of yet. Tim Newman [00:40:37]: Um, but that, that, to me, that's part of being. Being a professional to begin with. So, anyway, 13, 50 plus podcast episodes, to me, to me, that's wild. I mean, it really is your podcast. A lot of people don't realize how long podcasting has actually truly been around, but it's, it's really become more mainstream since COVID how did you get involved in it and how did you feel when you first started? Because I. I know how I felt when I first started. Mark Struczewski [00:41:14]: Well, I got started back in 2017 when I happened to catch a video from Gary Vaynerchuk, and he said, the future is voice and audio and everyone needs to have a podcast. Probably 99.99 of the people saw that, went about their day, or scroll to the next video. I went to Google and typed in, how do you start a podcast? And I started it on July 17, 2017. And the first podcast I recorded was not live. I was just sitting from my office and I was sweating bullets. Why was I so scared? I mean, nobody even knew I was doing anything yet. So. So, yeah, I've got over 1360 episodes now. Mark Struczewski [00:41:53]: And actually, what's interesting is about a couple of days ago, we're recording this On February, what, 12th, I think I decided I'm pausing the podcast because I have identified the big objectives for me for this year. I want to grow my coaching business. I'm doing that through speaking. So the three things I'm going to spend my time working on is obviously speaking outreach. That's number one. Number two, they're kind of two A and two B is substack and LinkedIn. And number three is my email newsletter. I'm not taking the podcast off. Mark Struczewski [00:42:26]: I've got 1360 episodes. There's plenty. If I could take two, three months off, you're not going to miss me. And if I. Here's the thing about having my own podcast. If I have an idea, oh, I want to share this, I just go create a podcast episode. But I'm relieving myself of that obligation of creating a weekly podcast, because the podcast is important to me. But I have other things. Mark Struczewski [00:42:51]: And this is one thing I was. I always like talking about is priorities. People don't have their priorities nailed down. They're on TikTok and Facebook and Instagram and X and LinkedIn and this, that, and the other thing, threads, blue sky, you name it. And I'm like, okay, well, that's a lot of time. And it took me a while to get. Get it through my thick head. And so I identified. Mark Struczewski [00:43:12]: I want to grow my speaking business because it's really hard to speak, as, you know, not just anybody can become a speaker. So I'm going to lean heavily in that. And I'm using substack, LinkedIn and my email newsletter in order to get people to come to my website and thinking about maybe either hiring, hiring me for as a speaker or a coach or something like that. So the podcast is not going away. I keep promoting it. It's. It's all evergreen stuff I don't talk about, you know, I'm not a. I'm not a news podcast. Mark Struczewski [00:43:40]: So it's evergreen. And so that. That's. I still can't believe I've got over 1360 episodes. That's absolutely insane to me. Tim Newman [00:43:49]: It's crazy. So let me ask kind of a different question. How has podcasting, you know, really shaped your confidence and clarity as a communicator? Mark Struczewski [00:44:01]: Oh, tremendously. Because once you start doing a few episodes, you start wondering, wow, I could actually go live on platforms. I can actually speak from the stage. And if you can develop the gift of being a speaker, whether on a podcaster or on a zoom call or a webinar, people are going to want to hear more from you. Now, there's the whole, you know, the hook, the storyline, and how to do webinars. But you got to have a communication skills. And I know people, and I'm kind of envious of them. They're horrible speakers, and they make a buttload of money. Mark Struczewski [00:44:41]: And it's like. And they're like, so, like, how you making so much money? You can't even speak correctly. And they're not even. It's not even a foreigner. They're. They're native speakers. And they go all, you know, and I'm like. And I see that they've made like fifty thousand, a hundred thousand dollars on sales. Mark Struczewski [00:44:56]: I'm like, I had to give up. I couldn't take it because I can't take that. And I think the more you speak, number one, when you're out speaking in public, whether at a networking event or at your church or synagogue or mosque or whatever, when you are a better communicator, people listen to you because you're not using all these filler words. So to become a better communicator, there's no downsides to it. Tim Newman [00:45:19]: No, there's not. There really isn't. And you're absolutely right. Because, you know, doing this, there's a level of preparation. Just like in any other type of communication, if you don't prepare, you're going to get the uhs and the ums and all those other things, right? So there's a level of preparation that needs to be done, and you have to be able to take that preparation, synthesize it, have that conversation, be able to think on your feet, be able to listen and respond, and that's not something that is a natural thing for people to do. And if you can do it here, not all that stuff transfers into being on a stage, but a lot of it really does. The preparation, does the back and forth, does being able to think on your feet, does the being able to answer a question based on research that you've done because you know who you're going to go in and talk to, that. That stuff really does translate. Tim Newman [00:46:17]: I've got maybe 200 episodes out of two podcasts. And if you go back to the first episodes of each, each of these things, I just want to delete them, I want to get rid of them. But you know, people say leave them. And I say, yes, I'm going to leave them, because you can go back and look and see growth. And that's really what we want from our clients as well. We want to be able to show them growth. We want them to be able to see, wow, this is what happens when you put the work in and be able to and follow through and have that discipline. I would suggest to everybody, figure out what that is for you, figure out what that discipline is going to be for you and get started. Tim Newman [00:46:55]: But if someone remembers only one thing from our conversation today, what's the simplest productivity principle that would immediately improve how they work and communicate? Mark Struczewski [00:47:08]: It's so difficult to pick just one. But I'm going to share about what I call my micro breaks. Because we sit behind these computer screens for way too long and if we're not on this big screen, we're or on the little screen in our phones. I want to encourage people to go outside. Now, I live in Houston, Texas. If you're up north, you can still do this. Go outside, don't be on your technology. If it's cold, give it, get a jacket. Mark Struczewski [00:47:37]: If it's raining, get an umbrella. Don't go out in a lightning storm and just be quiet for five minutes. Don't think about anything, don't be on your phone, don't talk to anyone. These micro breaks will give you a really all natural boost of energy. Now, if you live in an area that is more conducive, you could do what I do. Take your shoes and socks off, stand on the grass. Now, we had a cold couple cold days a couple weeks ago and I went outside. I do this thing in the morning when I let the dogs out. Mark Struczewski [00:48:10]: I go out and ground with my bare feet and I squat for four minutes to keep my hip flexors intact. 17 degrees was the coldest day I've ever done it I've also went running when it was 21 degrees and a couple years ago we had 4 inches of snow. I actually shoveled a 6x6 section of my backyard and I grounded out there. Why do I do this? I'm not better than anyone else, but to prove you, I don't make excuses. It's four minutes. I was dressed from the top of my head to my ankles and it's four minutes. You're not going to get frostbit in four in. In four minutes. Mark Struczewski [00:48:47]: Now if you live up in Minnesota and it's 14 below zero, don't do this. But I'm just saying taking micro breaks outside is enclose your eyes too because this way your eyes don't have to process anything for four minutes. It'll let me know if you do this and you don't get anything different because I've never had anyone tell me. Yeah, I did that micro break thing. It made me more anxious. No, it'll calm you down, trust me. Tim Newman [00:49:15]: Yeah, I think if somebody said to you that you're a liar, either you haven't done it or you're lying. But that's awesome advice. It really is. But where should people go if they want to learn how to simplify their work and eliminate overwhelm without turning productivity into a second job? Because I get that a lot too. Oh gosh. And I've got to do all this other stuff. No, no, no. It's not how what happens? Where should they go? Mark Struczewski [00:49:42]: Just go to my website, Mr. Productivity.com youm gotta spell out the word Mr. So don't go Mr. Productivity. It's M I S-T E R misterproductivity.com at the very top. You can sign up to get my free free 10 question productivity scorecard. It'll give you a pretty much assessment where you are with your productivity. It's a scale of one to 50. Mark Struczewski [00:50:06]: Nobody's got a 50. No one's got a zero. So you're somewhere between zero and 50. And then you can also check out my podcast which although I'm not putting new episodes out now, it's, it's. The link is on the website. You can also find out where I am on LinkedIn and Substack. That's all on my website, Mr. Productivity.com. Tim Newman [00:50:24]: yeah, that, that's awesome. And Mark, I can't tell you there's a lot of gold in this. I mean, we're for, you know, 45, 50 minutes. You have provided so much useful information. I can't thank you enough for doing that force. Mark Struczewski [00:50:37]: Thank you. It's an honor to be here. Tim Newman [00:50:39]: Thanks. Take care. We'll talk to you soon. Be sure to Visit speaking with confidencepodcast.com to get your free eBook, the top 21 challenges for public Speakers and How to Overcome Them. You can also register for the Formula for Public Speaking course. Always remember, your voice has the power to change the world. We'll talk to you next time. Take care. Tim Newman [00:51:01]: Sam.
About Mark Struczewski
Mark Struczewski (STRU-CHESS-KEY), known as Mister Productivity, is a Houston-based productivity coach who empowers busy professionals to crush overwhelm and live with intentional focus. Host of the Mister Productivity™ Podcast with over 1,350 episodes since 2017, Mark delivers proven, faith-informed strategies drawn from his own journey—being fired from corporate America and rebuilding stronger through daily running, ruthless priorities, and surrender to God’s plan.
He helps clients reclaim 30%+ of their time, build unbreakable habits, and align work with purpose, proving productivity isn’t about grinding harder—it’s about stewarding what matters most. From executives to entrepreneurs, Mark guides people to breakthroughs without the hustle trap, blending science-backed tools with authentic motivation rooted in grace and truth.
As a sought-after speaker and mentor, Mark’s mission is simple: help you become the best version of yourself by doing less nonsense and more of what God created you for.
Connect with Mark:
Website: https://misterproductivity.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markstruczewski/