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Cortex

Cortex 62: 2018 Yearly Themes

 

00:00:00   is it too late to wish you a Happy New

00:00:01   Year I don't think it's too late to wish

00:00:04   you a happy Court Xmas yeah I feel like

00:00:08   we need to really do that before because

00:00:11   court Xmas has happened if we say it's

00:00:14   going to happen now that's not true

00:00:16   right because there will be more soon

00:00:18   but we have had we had a lot of cortex

00:00:21   misses in last year though let's be real

00:00:23   right there are a lot of them so we're

00:00:25   there I don't know it felt like they

00:00:26   were so they were so few like court Xmas

00:00:29   is such a precious time and I guess that

00:00:31   ties into your 2017 theme was it no wait

00:00:36   mine was the year of less right you will

00:00:38   like year or something or other that no

00:00:40   one could work out you don't remember my

00:00:42   theme for the year I'm disappointed you

00:00:44   don't know her Mike Mike confusing

00:00:45   poorly articulated theme for the year I

00:00:47   didn't know I didn't it's written in

00:00:50   front of me and I still don't know what

00:00:53   so we are gonna we're gonna talk about

00:00:55   our yearly themes but we're gonna talk

00:00:59   about last year's we're going to

00:01:00   evaluate how we performed against our

00:01:04   yearly themes so we kind of established

00:01:08   these in episode 44 of cortex and spoke

00:01:11   about them a little bit more in episode

00:01:12   45 if you're catching up it's probably

00:01:14   worth listening to those as well so you

00:01:16   can hear us establish our themes

00:01:18   my theme of 2017 was the year of Les

00:01:21   which was your 2016 theme right that was

00:01:25   where that debuted is the year of Les

00:01:27   we've done this for three this is the

00:01:29   third year Wow

00:01:30   the third time that we've done becoming

00:01:32   a real tradition yeah I think that the

00:01:34   2016 one wasn't as like set in stone

00:01:38   like there wasn't a set in stone it was

00:01:40   just like something you mentioned that

00:01:41   was what you were thinking about in that

00:01:43   year right but then I think I might have

00:01:45   been in 2017 where we started to like

00:01:47   think about this as a thing that doesn't

00:01:49   we started to lock ourselves in mm-hmm

00:01:51   check out like a narrow tradition going

00:01:53   which is important yeah I guess I find

00:01:56   traditions to be very important in

00:01:57   podcast people can look forward to it

00:01:59   and it's something that is obviously

00:02:02   cool on because I had people even in

00:02:04   person told me when are you doing the

00:02:07   2018 yeah episode so people like it yeah

00:02:10   I've got to say a people that people do

00:02:12   like it I had a number of

00:02:13   we'll mention him person to me as well

00:02:15   like they were thinking about their own

00:02:17   themes for the year and I've seen a

00:02:19   bunch of chatter on the core-tex

00:02:20   subreddit about what people are going to

00:02:22   do for their own games for the year so I

00:02:24   do say I think people like it and you

00:02:27   know when we started talking about this

00:02:29   I just again reiterate that I really

00:02:31   much prefer the idea of a theme versus a

00:02:33   goal I still feel the need right now to

00:02:37   to be able to back out and say like you

00:02:39   don't necessarily need a theme every

00:02:40   year it doesn't need to be a tradition

00:02:41   we don't absolutely have to do this

00:02:43   maybe some year it doesn't make sense to

00:02:44   do right but no but that that year will

00:02:46   just be the year of no theme right so

00:02:48   that that's how that works right okay

00:02:50   that's how that works that the yearly

00:02:52   themed stuff was so much better than

00:02:54   resolutions because resolutions are dumb

00:02:57   what you're doing is creating a basic

00:03:00   idea or framework that you can build

00:03:02   many goals and resolutions in throughout

00:03:04   the year yeah you know like instead of

00:03:06   me saying oh my new year's resolution is

00:03:09   to hire somebody it was no I'm gonna be

00:03:13   doing a year of less and then part of

00:03:14   that might be doing this but I want to

00:03:17   see how it goes

00:03:17   so it works way nicer because it's more

00:03:20   open-ended it's just a phrase as opposed

00:03:23   to like a thing that has an actual like

00:03:25   binary yes or no did I achieve it and I

00:03:27   think that is a much nicer way to think

00:03:30   about my working life so I appreciate

00:03:33   that introduction to the idea yeah it's

00:03:35   it's way better for the reasons you said

00:03:37   I also like the idea that you don't feel

00:03:39   as bound by it like if someone sets up a

00:03:42   theme for the year and they realize

00:03:43   halfway through the year it doesn't make

00:03:44   sense

00:03:44   it is not the same thing as like oh I've

00:03:47   said the goal that this is the year I'm

00:03:49   going to be really healthy and now I'm

00:03:50   just a big fat failure right it's it's a

00:03:52   different it's a different thing of like

00:03:54   I want to adjust the theme midstream you

00:03:56   know like it's it's a much better way to

00:03:58   think about things and again like I'll

00:04:00   say that these are like my personal

00:04:02   feelings on it so for my company we have

00:04:05   goals and objectives that we want to hit

00:04:06   right relate it around hard numbers and

00:04:09   percentage increases of those numbers

00:04:11   but for myself personally I don't really

00:04:15   like to set those really really rigid

00:04:17   goals as such and and I think it works

00:04:21   better like a company is made up of a

00:04:22   selection of people and I feel like that

00:04:25   the goals if you if you want to

00:04:27   look at like Oh what will I revenue be

00:04:28   like or how many listeners what we have

00:04:30   right there are types of things setting

00:04:32   goals and objectives for those make

00:04:34   sense because it is vital for the

00:04:37   existence of the business that those

00:04:38   things remain or grow where like for me

00:04:41   personally it is not vital to my

00:04:44   existence as to whether I well maybe I

00:04:47   was gonna say whether I go to the gym

00:04:48   three times a week or twice possibly it

00:04:51   is maybe that's a bad example but like

00:04:53   it is not vital to my existence of like

00:04:55   oh how many books am I gonna read this

00:04:57   year like I don't I don't live or die on

00:05:00   that metric yeah I was just starting to

00:05:03   laugh because I was thinking yeah it's a

00:05:05   theme is personal to an individual which

00:05:08   is also why it wouldn't make sense for a

00:05:10   company to do like I was thinking if Tim

00:05:12   Cook came out one day was like we

00:05:14   haven't we have a theme for the year for

00:05:15   Apple right and like what's going on

00:05:17   with Apple this year he's like our theme

00:05:19   for the year is beauty it'd be like

00:05:20   uh-oh in real trouble because it's also

00:05:24   just like what does that mean to people

00:05:27   right you need to then let up have all

00:05:29   these bullet points so I it's like that

00:05:31   out here if you're a company you need

00:05:33   some goals right you need some metrics

00:05:35   but for your flourishing as an

00:05:37   individual human a theme is a much

00:05:40   better framework in which to operate so

00:05:41   tell me Mike how did your year of Les go

00:05:45   so I actually had two yearly themes one

00:05:48   of them established itself halfway

00:05:50   through the year that's see they're very

00:05:52   open to change I did a I took it and

00:05:55   turned it right i innovated on that on

00:05:57   the theme idea and we'll get to the

00:05:59   second one in a minute but mike the one

00:06:01   that i established last year the

00:06:02   beginning of the year was the year of

00:06:04   less because i had spent a year talking

00:06:07   to you and looking at all the things

00:06:09   that you were doing and the improvements

00:06:10   that you were making on your working

00:06:11   life and throughout those conversations

00:06:14   i decided that there were things that I

00:06:15   needed to do for mine and one of the big

00:06:19   big things for year of less was to get

00:06:22   help to get some kind of assistance and

00:06:25   I did we hired an assistant and this

00:06:28   person has been excellent for us and

00:06:31   we're giving more and more and more to

00:06:33   them and it was a lot of work to get

00:06:36   going my gosh my gosh was it a lot of

00:06:38   work to get going

00:06:40   with the interview process and then

00:06:42   after all of that you've got a like help

00:06:44   train someone right you can't just be

00:06:46   like oh you go do your job can you

00:06:48   remind me when when in the year did that

00:06:50   happen like when did when were you doing

00:06:52   interviews at the very beginning of the

00:06:54   year I think it was maybe like February

00:06:56   or March or something like that okay so

00:06:58   it was very early in the year I just

00:07:00   wasn't sure it was very early yeah um we

00:07:03   did it I mean just going through I don't

00:07:06   know if I spoke about at the time but

00:07:07   I'm happy to say now I think we've got

00:07:09   like a hundred and fifty applications

00:07:11   for the job and we took ten people to

00:07:16   interview now we thought our ten

00:07:18   people's flight that's ten hours and we

00:07:20   did it in one week it was like it was

00:07:23   tough it was a lot of work to go through

00:07:25   all of that information and 150 is a lot

00:07:28   when it kind of gets a little

00:07:30   mind-numbing because so many people

00:07:32   write the same stuff right I mean that's

00:07:34   the way that it's funny

00:07:36   you kind of think and I know I've been

00:07:38   in this position you think that there is

00:07:41   a specific way in which you should apply

00:07:43   for a job right the things that you

00:07:44   write and things that you say but the

00:07:46   problem with that is you then just blend

00:07:48   in to like to everybody else like going

00:07:53   through some of these applications I

00:07:54   kind of was unable to tell where one

00:07:57   person ended in the next person began by

00:08:00   the end of it yeah yeah and then but

00:08:02   you've also got the the opposite problem

00:08:03   if you try and stick out too much you

00:08:05   maybe take a bit of a risk it is a

00:08:07   tricky thing to apply if it's a gel it's

00:08:10   a delicate balance yet because if you

00:08:11   stick out too much now you're the weirdo

00:08:14   all right and like okay this is the

00:08:17   application that sticks out way too much

00:08:19   there are certain types of jobs where

00:08:20   it's easier like with yours people were

00:08:23   able to provide you with a piece of work

00:08:25   right and so there is like a an

00:08:28   entertainment quality value which makes

00:08:30   somebody stick out I guess but for me it

00:08:33   was just like write me a cover letter

00:08:35   like that was what I wanted to see and

00:08:37   it's always just text I mean and so yeah

00:08:40   it felt like it was blending in a little

00:08:42   bit but I don't know maybe it's just

00:08:43   because I don't like to read I didn't

00:08:45   enjoy it who knows no but it's it is

00:08:47   it's going to be the case that when you

00:08:49   when you start talking about

00:08:51   hundred and fifty people applying to a

00:08:53   thing they said this is where again like

00:08:57   people then start falling into

00:08:59   categories like you're mentally you

00:09:01   can't deal with a hundred and fifty

00:09:03   people in your brain and so you start

00:09:04   like bidding people into groups and then

00:09:07   that's where it's like uh other day like

00:09:09   I have a lot of sympathy for everybody

00:09:10   applying to any kind of job because

00:09:14   that's that's part of what the trouble

00:09:15   is is like trying to try to indicate to

00:09:18   the person who's reading the

00:09:20   applications what kind of person you are

00:09:23   and and like that you can do the job and

00:09:26   like how how do you signal that when

00:09:28   your only tool is a resume it's it's

00:09:32   incredibly different and the issue is it

00:09:34   if you as the hiring manager want to get

00:09:40   this done in a timely fashion there is

00:09:43   nothing you can do than to just

00:09:45   disregard some people right oh every if

00:09:48   and it's a shame and I wished it kind of

00:09:50   wasn't like this and you could in theory

00:09:53   if you had a month to make your decision

00:09:56   going through the resumes then you could

00:09:58   read every one and consider them all but

00:10:00   if you weren't trying to fill a position

00:10:02   which typically whenever you're trying

00:10:04   to fill a position speed is always good

00:10:06   right yeah that's right there is just an

00:10:09   unfortunate part of it in that you have

00:10:11   to disregard some applications I mean

00:10:13   and I'm I hired when I was working at

00:10:16   the bank

00:10:16   I used to hire as well as part of what I

00:10:18   did it was the same thing there as well

00:10:20   it's like some people you just like I

00:10:22   can read this and feel like I have a

00:10:24   good sense of the type of person you are

00:10:26   and you're not the type of person I want

00:10:27   for this job and it's like but have I

00:10:29   really looked at it in detail

00:10:31   unfortunately not but this kind of

00:10:33   nothing you can do about it

00:10:35   so sympathies to anybody applying for

00:10:38   jobs it is horrible

00:10:40   but anyway it really is the interesting

00:10:43   thing I probably could have predicted

00:10:45   this but it's good to know that whilst

00:10:47   it is all great to have to do less work

00:10:49   of my own right so I have somebody who's

00:10:52   able to take work away from me and do it

00:10:54   for me that's actually not the value the

00:10:57   value is less aggravation I have less I

00:11:00   find myself being less annoyed

00:11:04   because there's this thing I have to do

00:11:06   right I am able to move around some of

00:11:08   the tasks that are less enjoyable or

00:11:12   just things I've done too many times you

00:11:15   know like there was some weekly tasks

00:11:16   right which I've been doing for three

00:11:18   years every single week and it was like

00:11:20   a spreadsheet based tasks and so I get

00:11:22   no joy out of this anymore I used to

00:11:24   enjoy it but I don't like it anymore and

00:11:26   I could sit down to do it on like a

00:11:28   Sunday evening or a Monday morning and

00:11:30   it was like oh here we go again right

00:11:32   and being able to pass that stuff away I

00:11:35   have way less tasks that I have roll my

00:11:38   eyes at now and that has been a

00:11:40   wonderful result of my yearly theme is

00:11:45   it is not basically it's like a year of

00:11:48   less comma work slash annoyance and

00:11:51   that's very great right the other thing

00:11:55   that I did as part of my year of less

00:11:57   was time tracking and that ended up

00:11:59   becoming a thing that I would eventually

00:12:01   start doing was like tracking my time

00:12:03   and the benefit for me is that time

00:12:07   tracking has had and continues through

00:12:10   highlight areas that I was spending too

00:12:12   much time in right everybody like all

00:12:14   here are the things I'm spending too

00:12:16   much time in this blah blah blah blah

00:12:17   blah but it hasn't again that that was

00:12:21   what I expected would be the case right

00:12:23   like oh it would tell me the things I'm

00:12:24   spending too much time in and then I

00:12:26   would stop doing so many of those things

00:12:28   right that was my initial thought that

00:12:31   was my hypothesis in the same way that

00:12:32   like hiring an assistant means I will do

00:12:35   less work but the result has actually

00:12:38   been time tracking has helped me

00:12:42   highlight how much work I actually do

00:12:44   and those numbers make me feel

00:12:47   psychologically better because anybody

00:12:52   that runs their own business especially

00:12:54   but anybody that is very invested in the

00:12:56   work that they do the can can get into a

00:13:00   situation where it's on your mind all

00:13:02   the time yeah so you feel like you're

00:13:05   working 24 hours a day so to be able to

00:13:09   look at graphs and chance and say like

00:13:12   Oh on Monday I actually only worked for

00:13:14   five hours not 23 there is like a sigh

00:13:17   psychological benefit in that for me

00:13:20   where I don't feel like I'm as busy

00:13:24   anymore because I actually have some

00:13:26   stuff that I can point to yeah I think

00:13:29   the phrase you used earlier in the year

00:13:32   talking about this was was that you can

00:13:34   talk back to your mind and I think

00:13:37   that's that's a great that's a great

00:13:39   phrase because it's when your brain

00:13:42   thinks that you've been way busier than

00:13:45   you actually are it's you know it's busy

00:13:48   releasing all of the stress home

00:13:49   hormones and worries that are related to

00:13:51   that and it's it's a way to try to

00:13:53   calibrate your brain to say I guess

00:13:56   we're we're busy but it's not what you

00:14:00   think it is brain so you can chill out

00:14:03   we don't need to be at 11 on the anxiety

00:14:06   meter of all the stuff that needs to get

00:14:07   done we can take it back to a much more

00:14:09   reasonable level and here's a

00:14:11   spreadsheet that you can look at which

00:14:13   proves this to you so I think that's a

00:14:16   that's a really good point about the

00:14:18   time tracking you know the service that

00:14:20   we both use toggle they have good

00:14:22   they're pretty good reports and when the

00:14:25   Year ticked over a mutual friend

00:14:28   Federico 40g he tweeted he's like he

00:14:30   tweeted his graph right like his pie

00:14:32   chart to show like how his workers per

00:14:33   glass a good idea so I looked at mine

00:14:35   and I again always find interesting

00:14:38   things 50% of my working time in 2017

00:14:42   was spent editing podcasts whilst 25%

00:14:45   was recording this is not a surprise to

00:14:47   me because I a some projects don't take

00:14:52   twice the amount of time they take to

00:14:53   record but some take four or five times

00:14:55   right depending on what the the show is

00:14:58   and what I'm doing and when I mean I

00:15:01   kind of shared this online as well so

00:15:03   thought it was very interesting and I

00:15:04   had a few people reach out to me

00:15:05   offering their editing services right

00:15:07   mmm and it was like it is interesting

00:15:11   that that is what people take from it

00:15:13   they see that and they're like oh you

00:15:15   must want to do less of it but I don't

00:15:17   really like that's not what that means

00:15:19   it's like okay I see it's 50% of my time

00:15:22   but I consider that time valuable right

00:15:26   and there have been projects in 2017

00:15:29   that I have handed over to

00:15:31   else I am just about to hand over

00:15:33   another show to be edited by somebody

00:15:35   else which is great because it's

00:15:37   probably one that what I know this

00:15:39   person can do it very well and there's

00:15:41   no need for me to continue doing it

00:15:43   anymore specifically so it's fine right

00:15:45   I can hand that one over but I'm not

00:15:48   dying to do that for any of the projects

00:15:50   that I'm currently doing because we work

00:15:52   with some very talented editors we have

00:15:54   a few people that we work with real AFM

00:15:56   who we give these projects to so I know

00:15:58   there are people that can do it but I

00:16:00   don't feel like I need to I want to like

00:16:02   I think people look at some of like they

00:16:04   look at podcast editing or they look at

00:16:06   some tasks and they're like oh that's

00:16:08   just like monkey work right you don't

00:16:10   want to do that but I make podcasts

00:16:13   that's my job like that's what I do and

00:16:16   part of that is the editing of them so

00:16:18   it's like would as someone's like all

00:16:20   you do 25% of your time is spent hosting

00:16:23   a show you should give I should do that

00:16:26   for you right like I can take some of

00:16:28   that time away for you and it's like

00:16:30   well no right it's but it's the same

00:16:32   thing to me and I think you would agree

00:16:33   rightly you could hand over the editing

00:16:35   of all of your shows but you choose not

00:16:37   to it's it's something you can get help

00:16:39   along the way but you still want to be

00:16:41   involved in it yeah and like what you

00:16:45   would you ideally want having brought on

00:16:48   the assistant is to see that in the pie

00:16:51   chart of your working life that a larger

00:16:54   percentage of it is being made of what

00:16:58   are the like the core value producing

00:17:01   yep activities that you engage in and

00:17:04   the editing is an example of something

00:17:07   that it's like invisible work all right

00:17:11   when a show is well edited people are

00:17:13   not aware of it and so people can easily

00:17:18   think of something like that as oh you

00:17:21   can just have somebody else do that but

00:17:23   for some of the shows that you work on

00:17:26   they're like the the the voice of this

00:17:29   show or the particular way that things

00:17:31   come out is is really dependent on

00:17:34   exactly the Edit I have to say I am a

00:17:37   little bit surprised at though at the

00:17:39   ratio of your editing time versus

00:17:40   recording so I was surprised about it I

00:17:42   was

00:17:44   but like I see it and I'm like okay

00:17:46   right like it was a surprise to me but

00:17:48   it's like if that's what it takes that's

00:17:51   what he takes I mean okay I also say

00:17:53   like bug us editing also includes all of

00:17:55   the posting and all that sort of stuff

00:17:57   so we can add a little bin one time on

00:17:59   every time right like you know it might

00:18:01   add like 15 minutes on every single time

00:18:04   okay that makes more that makes more

00:18:06   sense though actually in that ratio it

00:18:09   includes everything that happens from

00:18:11   the moment I open logic to the moment

00:18:14   that the show is posted right Lee

00:18:16   includes all of that stuff I had like a

00:18:19   show posting thing for a while but it

00:18:21   just seemed silly to me because it was

00:18:22   just stopped one time I start another

00:18:25   timer because by and large I post a show

00:18:29   immediately after he's finished editing

00:18:31   typically right like I don't have many

00:18:33   shows that that's not the case so I kind

00:18:34   of just leave that one that one thing so

00:18:37   I mean the ratio I actually was kind of

00:18:39   happy with that it's like I start with

00:18:41   preparation double the amount of

00:18:45   preparations into recording and then

00:18:47   double the amount of recording is into

00:18:50   editing it was like okay like that's

00:18:52   that's interesting that's kind of how it

00:18:54   breaks down for me so yeah I feel like

00:18:57   all kind of worked out yeah I was just I

00:18:59   was just pulling up my own report shows

00:19:01   curious to see and of course this is

00:19:04   it's not entirely fair but I was looking

00:19:06   at with cortex like what is the ratio of

00:19:08   preparation and editing versus recording

00:19:11   time and mine is a lot closer to 5050

00:19:13   but that's because I'm able to out I

00:19:15   think about the farm out most of the

00:19:17   work of producing cortex do you Mike but

00:19:20   I was just kind of curious to see to see

00:19:22   what it is that it's that for me the

00:19:23   ratio on this show is a lot closer to

00:19:25   5050 for how much time is recording

00:19:26   versus how much time is involved in in

00:19:28   absolutely everything else yeah and I

00:19:31   guess it's worth mentioning that a vast

00:19:33   percentage of my cast recording time is

00:19:36   cortex that's I wasn't gonna ask but I

00:19:40   figured that this is I know that this is

00:19:42   the bulk of the work yeah in terms of in

00:19:45   terms of any particular show how much

00:19:46   time do you spend and I know that I

00:19:48   place a heavy editing burden on you Mike

00:19:51   and I apologize for that

00:19:52   there is no I said as many times there's

00:19:54   no apology needed like I am

00:19:56   to do it because the show it all works

00:20:00   out right like the time that I put into

00:20:01   it the compensation works great like

00:20:04   it's fine like I'm happy too like if the

00:20:06   show is this show had like five hundred

00:20:08   people that listen to it I wouldn't do

00:20:11   this right but but it all works out at

00:20:14   the end of the day so like I'm fine with

00:20:16   it right like it all works out but it

00:20:18   says the other thing like looking back

00:20:19   on the year for you of trying time

00:20:23   tracking like do you like you said with

00:20:25   this show you feel like the amount of

00:20:28   time you spend on it and the reward you

00:20:29   get from it is is comparable do you feel

00:20:31   like now with a year's worth of data

00:20:33   that tracks well across all of your

00:20:35   projects like do you feel that your

00:20:37   projects get the amount of time that

00:20:40   they deserve or do you feel like there's

00:20:42   stuff that's over or under served I

00:20:44   think by and large I am happy with the

00:20:48   balance of my stuff especially because

00:20:53   you know I've seen some of those things

00:20:55   go down so some of again so I'm gonna

00:20:58   put a link to this image in the show

00:20:59   notes so people can see it and give a

00:21:01   bit of color around a couple of things

00:21:03   so you know you can see some of these

00:21:04   things are self-explanatory right

00:21:06   editing recording sure preparation

00:21:08   sponsor booking that is like when we

00:21:10   have a sponsor and we're inputting all

00:21:12   of their information and dealing with

00:21:13   contracts and stuff like that and also

00:21:15   contacting new people it's all of that

00:21:17   kind of stuff

00:21:18   sponsor aftercare that's just a phrase

00:21:20   that I made up that just means like

00:21:23   answering questions and working on

00:21:26   things that people need right so like

00:21:28   you know our sponsors might need certain

00:21:30   things that decreased significantly for

00:21:32   me as the year went on because this was

00:21:36   a lot of stuff that we handed over to my

00:21:37   assistant is the aftercare stuff so like

00:21:40   dealing with people's queries and

00:21:41   questions and stuff like that the one

00:21:43   that was really surprised about was hi

00:21:45   how highly the Mac stories project I was

00:21:49   just looking at this the fact that Mac

00:21:50   stories even registers is a thing for

00:21:52   the whole year is hilarious to me that

00:21:54   was the production of the audiobook that

00:21:56   I put together it was a significant

00:21:59   portion of my year so that was a big

00:22:00   surprise it taught me some some things

00:22:02   to think about for the future if I'm

00:22:04   ever going to do that kind of thing

00:22:05   again because it also went higher than

00:22:07   it's a real AFM general

00:22:09   is typically whenever me and Steven have

00:22:12   calls about the company I did less of

00:22:15   that in time in the entire year.then

00:22:20   working on the audio book so that was

00:22:22   fun that was a fun thing to say but the

00:22:25   overall balance of this list I am I have

00:22:29   no immediate need to change any of it I

00:22:33   am happy with it I did look by the way

00:22:36   and cortex accounts for 10% of the

00:22:40   overall editing time mmm which I okay so

00:22:42   10 10% of that 50% yeah 10% of the of

00:22:46   the 50% so it was about it was about 70

00:22:49   to 80 hours right now that's interesting

00:22:52   because I mean our show is effectively

00:22:55   one every three to four weeks pretty

00:22:58   much on that no no it no it's this wave

00:23:00   more frequent than that it's no no it's

00:23:03   about three because it used to be every

00:23:04   two weeks most of the years one every

00:23:06   month like a 2017 so we're about three

00:23:08   weeks I would say is fine but every

00:23:12   other show I do by and large is weekly I

00:23:14   have a couple of fortnightly shows so

00:23:17   10% of that overall thing is significant

00:23:20   right there are some significant snows

00:23:21   so that we're getting really into the

00:23:23   weeds now but time tracking was very

00:23:26   good because now I am able to value my

00:23:29   doing nothing time significantly more

00:23:32   mmm I don't feel like when I'm doing

00:23:36   nothing when I am playing stardew valley

00:23:38   I am not like I'm not working I'm not

00:23:43   working I've not done enough today I

00:23:45   don't worry about that stuff anymore

00:23:46   because I have a much greater sense for

00:23:49   how long it takes me to take care of my

00:23:51   work and right it turns out it's not 15

00:23:55   hours a day

00:23:56   it's more like six or seven right that's

00:23:59   typically my work amount in during a day

00:24:02   but it's spread throughout the day right

00:24:03   so it feels like the work day begins at

00:24:07   8:00 and ends at 2:00 because my work

00:24:09   happens at chunks throughout the day but

00:24:12   once I got a better handle on how my

00:24:14   time was spent which I did this year I

00:24:16   was a time able to value everything more

00:24:19   than before so that has been a great

00:24:21   great goal for me a great thing

00:24:23   to achieve yeah I think that that is I

00:24:25   mean they're sort of jumping ahead a

00:24:27   little bit this does tie into some of my

00:24:29   own thoughts for the the previous year

00:24:31   but yeah being able to being able to

00:24:36   turn a bunch of that doing nothing time

00:24:39   mentally from from like a like a guilty

00:24:44   pleasure into no I'm just doing this and

00:24:47   it's fine is a big psychological

00:24:50   advantage and pick it is difficult for

00:24:53   everybody but it is also especially

00:24:55   difficult if you're a self-employed like

00:24:56   this is the thing that I just when I

00:24:58   talk to people who are self-employed is

00:24:59   it is a constant refrain that it can be

00:25:02   so you have so much that is under your

00:25:04   control but it can be very difficult to

00:25:07   enjoy your free time because there is

00:25:10   this endless list of things that could

00:25:12   in theory be done so it's it's really

00:25:15   great to hear that that the time

00:25:16   tracking is helping you feel like you

00:25:18   have evidence to show your brain that

00:25:20   you've done stuff you have a good

00:25:22   estimate of how long things take you and

00:25:25   then that that makes your doing nothing

00:25:28   a relaxing time more able to be valued

00:25:31   in in the moment so that that sounds

00:25:33   like a really great improvement and

00:25:34   another thing that I was even surprised

00:25:38   to discover so I have no idea I don't

00:25:40   know if anybody cares enough to pay

00:25:42   attention to this kind of thing mm-hmm

00:25:45   but I I would say this is probably a

00:25:47   surprise for anybody that does pay

00:25:49   attention including myself for the first

00:25:51   time it may be my entire podcasting

00:25:53   career 2017 was the first time that I

00:25:58   have not launched a new show that I have

00:26:00   been a part of I find this totally

00:26:03   shocking I couldn't believe it I like I

00:26:05   found it out by accident because I was

00:26:08   for some other purposes I was looking at

00:26:11   all of the shows that we've launched in

00:26:13   2017 and I realized I'm not on any of

00:26:17   them yeah yeah when you mentioned this

00:26:20   to me I felt like it blew my mind

00:26:22   I don't know surely you're wrong surely

00:26:25   you're wrong but I'm not wrong I this is

00:26:28   the first time ever and I was like wow

00:26:30   this is a big surprise to me how do you

00:26:32   feel about that what it tells me is that

00:26:35   I internalized

00:26:36   two-year theme I have had ideas that

00:26:40   I've just not done because that's adding

00:26:43   more right

00:26:44   a new show is adding more and I mean I

00:26:48   had some projects that I've been working

00:26:50   on in 2017 that I killed at the last

00:26:52   minute because I came to realize how

00:26:55   much work they would have taken and I

00:26:57   didn't believe that the valley would

00:26:59   would be there ultimately evil

00:27:01   creatively or financially so I decided

00:27:03   not to go through with them and this

00:27:05   isn't a thing so when we talk about my

00:27:07   next yearly theme it is building on what

00:27:10   I learned and how I think to go forward

00:27:12   from it but this was a big surprise to

00:27:14   me because I really do believe that this

00:27:16   is the first time in seven years that I

00:27:20   have not launched a new show in like an

00:27:24   ADEA period

00:27:24   so I think that that tells me that the

00:27:30   year of less theme was was a significant

00:27:33   success because I internalized something

00:27:39   and basically stopped myself from this

00:27:43   habit that I have built up over the last

00:27:46   seven years of every time I have an idea

00:27:49   I just do it so I was pretty proud I was

00:27:55   pretty happy to see that it's it may

00:27:57   sound like a strange thing to do but but

00:27:58   I I feel like I am so congratulatory

00:28:01   towards you on that because it is really

00:28:05   hard not to just go with all of the new

00:28:09   projects and especially when you when

00:28:12   you have the power to make those

00:28:14   projects happen nobody's right yeah no

00:28:17   exactly it's like nobody can stop you

00:28:20   which is the best and the worst part of

00:28:22   it right like you would you want to do a

00:28:24   new project like there's nobody to stop

00:28:25   you and and it's always like the new the

00:28:28   new project is always more exciting than

00:28:30   the current current project right it's

00:28:32   always like ooh this new project so

00:28:34   exciting is turning my head it's like

00:28:37   well you know but it takes it takes a

00:28:39   lot of recognition and ability to do not

00:28:44   pursue all of those things so yeah

00:28:47   whenever was you told me a couple weeks

00:28:48   ago that you hadn't you know

00:28:50   new show in 2017 and I just found it

00:28:52   mind-blowing but I really do think it's

00:28:55   great and I would also suspect that this

00:28:59   is this is partly a better ability on on

00:29:03   your part after having done this for

00:29:05   many years to have a sense of what a

00:29:09   potentially good payoff for a project is

00:29:11   or isn't yeah when you're when you're

00:29:14   newer it makes more sense to just like

00:29:17   try a bunch of stuff and see what what

00:29:19   sticks on the wall but you know now now

00:29:22   that you are an established podcast

00:29:24   person you have an established podcast

00:29:26   network and you now have a better sense

00:29:29   of the value of your time it makes less

00:29:32   sense to go off on a whole bunch of new

00:29:34   projects like they can be damaging in a

00:29:36   way and you also probably have a better

00:29:38   internal mental compass about what are

00:29:43   the valuable directions to go in and and

00:29:46   not everything that occurs to you that

00:29:47   seems like a great idea one week is is a

00:29:50   good way to go

00:29:51   the following week yeah like I've made a

00:29:54   conscious effort that if I have an idea

00:29:57   and begin on it

00:29:58   I don't launch it quickly like I spend I

00:30:02   have I have mean we've had shows that we

00:30:05   even have artwork for that will never be

00:30:07   used now I've seen some of that art

00:30:09   we've seen some it's very nice it's

00:30:10   wonderful it's actually one of my

00:30:12   favorites ever but no one's ever gonna

00:30:14   see it don't ask you won't see it sorry

00:30:16   maybe I'll use it for something one day

00:30:18   and if I ever use it then I'll tell you

00:30:20   that that's what it that it was for the

00:30:22   secret project but it was just the look

00:30:25   I I kind of let it just a a little bit

00:30:28   and decided that no I don't think this

00:30:31   is the right thing for me to do so I've

00:30:34   had a few things like that this year and

00:30:36   I think it's been of great benefit and

00:30:38   an essay it ties him to my 2018 theme

00:30:41   which was all about in a bit because I

00:30:42   still have I had a lot of things I love

00:30:44   stuff to say this time

00:30:46   halfway through 2017 I started my second

00:30:51   yearly theme which will run until June

00:30:53   of this year which is the year of

00:30:56   positivity slash optimism I refer it to

00:30:58   both things I can never remember which

00:31:00   one it is but we'll call it the year of

00:31:02   optimism right and it follows the Apple

00:31:04   calendar year it follows the Apple

00:31:06   calendar year so WWDC to WWDC so much of

00:31:10   my life is focused around talking about

00:31:12   technology with a significant focus on

00:31:14   Apple anybody listens to this show knows

00:31:17   that and 2015 to 2016 to 2017 there was

00:31:24   a decline in overall excitedness amongst

00:31:26   people that care about Apple products

00:31:28   there was a lot more frustrations and

00:31:30   they ever had been and this really

00:31:32   culminated in the beginning of 2017 it

00:31:35   was just a bad time there were no new

00:31:37   products everyone was happy no matter

00:31:39   what you liked there was nothing for you

00:31:41   yeah I still think of this period of

00:31:43   time in my mind as the the Apple Valley

00:31:45   of darkness we were wondering it was a

00:31:47   very it was a dark time if you cared

00:31:49   about this stuff it was a dark time

00:31:50   because everything that happened was not

00:31:52   good then WWDC 2017 was like the apology

00:31:58   year and everybody got something it was

00:32:01   Tim Cook turned into Oprah and everyone

00:32:03   got something right there was something

00:32:06   under everybody's seat and we all got

00:32:08   the thing that we wanted so I decided to

00:32:11   make a concerted effort which I'm still

00:32:12   working on that I would try and be more

00:32:14   positive and optimistic when talking

00:32:17   about technology because that's what I

00:32:21   enjoy I actually don't like being mad

00:32:23   about it I like to enjoy it that's why I

00:32:26   talk about it's not fun so I've been

00:32:29   focusing on that and of course you slip

00:32:30   every now and then but the overall

00:32:32   feeling is that it's gonna be cool and

00:32:34   we're gonna enjoy it and it's gonna be

00:32:35   great so I'm happier to talk about this

00:32:38   stuff on shows now because I'm generally

00:32:40   more happy about it so that was that's

00:32:43   my theme so my theme for 2017 and I'm

00:32:45   very happy with them yeah I feel like

00:32:47   the the year of positivity at least from

00:32:49   my subjective experience was it was good

00:32:53   it's good timing and also sort of like

00:32:56   good for your mental health because yeah

00:32:58   it's like yeah I also listen to a bunch

00:33:00   of these shows like the same shows that

00:33:02   you listen to words like everybody's

00:33:03   wandering through this valley of

00:33:05   Darkness together and like yeah it is it

00:33:08   is terrible but at a certain point you

00:33:10   just get tired of listening to everybody

00:33:12   talk about how stuff is terrible even

00:33:14   when like I too am there in the valley

00:33:16   of darkness like

00:33:17   talking about how things suck as well

00:33:18   right like we're all here together but

00:33:21   the this is one of these things where

00:33:24   like for mental health sometimes you

00:33:26   have to take a little bit of a like a

00:33:27   revaluation and say like yeah stuff

00:33:29   sucks but I'm gonna try to force through

00:33:32   a thing and happiness is one of those

00:33:36   those funny

00:33:37   those funny topics like it's a where you

00:33:39   you can make things better through it

00:33:42   through like a playing tricks on

00:33:45   yourself and in in some ways like

00:33:46   deciding that you're going to be you're

00:33:48   going to have a more positive outlook on

00:33:50   stuff you can make that start to occur

00:33:53   and I think it also happened to be great

00:33:56   timing and a good time to start it with

00:33:57   the 2017 WWDC but yeah I'm very glad

00:34:02   that were past that part and I have to

00:34:05   say as a listener to your shows I was

00:34:07   always glad when when you were doing the

00:34:09   the year positivity and I feel like

00:34:11   there were a few moments where it really

00:34:13   came through they're like oh there's

00:34:15   Mike being positive about stuff like I

00:34:16   can hear him doing it and as a listener

00:34:18   I was appreciative saying it's a mental

00:34:21   health thing is a really good point

00:34:23   because it was like I was just finding

00:34:26   myself just being sad about the thing

00:34:28   that I liked and then having to talk

00:34:30   about it like three times a week every

00:34:31   week and it's just like this isn't good

00:34:34   for my overall feeling so I decided to

00:34:37   make of change to it and to try and see

00:34:39   the light side of things it's still a

00:34:42   battle because I have a lot of opinions

00:34:44   and sometimes my opinions aren't always

00:34:46   that things are good but ultimately I've

00:34:49   been very happy I mean this came out a

00:34:52   couple of weeks ago when I was talking

00:34:54   about my mic general contenders in

00:34:57   technology which you decided to be a

00:34:59   rain cloud over but we don't have to

00:35:00   worry about things like that

00:35:02   my general my general feeling about

00:35:04   right now is that I'm very I'm very

00:35:08   happy with my technology right now and I

00:35:11   feel like I'm still on I'm still on the

00:35:12   righteous path of the multi pad

00:35:14   lifestyle even though some people

00:35:15   decided to leave it so anyway let's talk

00:35:18   about your incredibly confusing 2017

00:35:20   theme the year of betrayal I think you

00:35:25   can't let other people's happiness get

00:35:26   in the way of your

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00:35:42   when it comes to thinking about new

00:35:45   projects there is never a better time

00:35:47   than the beginning of the year and any

00:35:50   new project comes with a new website and

00:35:53   that website needs a wicked call domain

00:35:55   name and that is why I have used hover

00:35:58   for so long for this stuff any project

00:36:01   that pops into my hand I will go there

00:36:03   and just get the domain for it like what

00:36:06   do you have to lose even if you just

00:36:07   stick on to it for one year of a yearly

00:36:09   theme right at least you've got it if

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00:36:31   a few simple clicks they do personalized

00:36:33   email that you can match your domain

00:36:35   that's a super professional thing by the

00:36:37   way you know grabbing a domain name of

00:36:38   your own and setting up an email address

00:36:40   rather than using Gmail or something

00:36:42   that looks real good and and that's a

00:36:44   great reason to get a domain I think

00:36:46   most people don't really think of very

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00:37:10   looking back on my my past year and had

00:37:14   a at a confusing start with a terrible

00:37:16   name which so I originally was calling

00:37:18   it the year of Nu and then a listener to

00:37:21   the show having having heard me try to

00:37:23   wander through a bad description of what

00:37:24   I was up to redubbed it's the year of

00:37:27   redirection as you want actually doing

00:37:31   anything new so maybe the funny thing is

00:37:33   in retro I was I was going through this

00:37:35   morning getting ready for the show and I

00:37:36   was going through all of my records from

00:37:39   the year and looking stuff over

00:37:40   and it's funny to me because actually

00:37:43   calling it the year of knew slash

00:37:44   redirection is actually perfect because

00:37:46   there were like a bazillion new things

00:37:48   this year it just it just so happens

00:37:51   that this stuff isn't really public

00:37:53   facing to people but your year of new

00:37:55   slash redirection actually ended up

00:37:58   being just a perfect name for the year

00:37:59   but while I was while I was going

00:38:01   through the year I was thinking of it as

00:38:03   the year of redirection and what this

00:38:07   what this meant for me was trying to

00:38:12   think more deliberately about how I am

00:38:15   spending my time like what what things

00:38:19   maybe have too much time where are some

00:38:21   areas where I should spend more time in

00:38:24   a different way than I that I currently

00:38:27   was and part of this part of this was

00:38:31   that going into 2017 I feel like I was

00:38:35   dealing with a little bit of burnout so

00:38:37   I was trying to think about how can I

00:38:39   arrange my working life in a different

00:38:42   way or how can I do a bunch of things in

00:38:44   a different way in that upcoming year

00:38:47   there is a little bit of a funny thing

00:38:49   talking about this year because I

00:38:50   realized that this again is one of these

00:38:54   funny moments where I feel like I'm

00:38:55   coming up against this this this edge of

00:38:58   like being a private person who makes

00:39:01   his living in a very public way and also

00:39:03   there was just a bunch of stuff that

00:39:04   happened business-wise that doesn't make

00:39:06   sense really to talk about in a public

00:39:08   way so I it's funny because it's like I

00:39:11   had all of this stuff happen and I

00:39:14   redirected a bunch of my energy and time

00:39:16   on various projects but so I'm gonna

00:39:18   have to talk about this in like kind of

00:39:20   a high-level way but I'm aware of that

00:39:23   because there's a bunch of places where

00:39:24   it's like I just I just don't either

00:39:25   want to or it doesn't make sense really

00:39:27   to go into the details the lazer shock

00:39:29   business is booming Mike don't tell

00:39:32   people about the losers the volcano

00:39:34   where extraction companies just it's

00:39:36   working excellently you joke but you're

00:39:39   closer than you think

00:39:42   I'm still convinced that you are trying

00:39:45   to build an office building I am

00:39:47   convinced that this I absolutely 100% I

00:39:50   believe that you are trying to build an

00:39:53   office complex but this is

00:39:54   these are the felt I'd love to do it but

00:39:57   I've got to finish my clothing assembly

00:39:59   line first right like there's only so

00:40:00   much only so many industries and

00:40:03   factories you can it's totally true but

00:40:10   yeah so so there's a bunch of stuff

00:40:12   which is not obvious to people but like

00:40:13   one of the things that people who pay

00:40:16   very close attention to the numbers

00:40:18   would notice is like a thing that I

00:40:21   decided to do which you were sort of

00:40:23   referencing earlier is I very

00:40:26   intentionally at the beginning of 2017

00:40:28   decided to crank down my podcast output

00:40:33   just a little bit so if someone is going

00:40:37   through like how many episodes were

00:40:38   published he's month you were joking

00:40:40   about there being more cortex misses but

00:40:42   they're totally were and that was that

00:40:45   was a very intentional decision on my

00:40:47   part this was something that we

00:40:49   discussed and we worked out a good plan

00:40:51   for the year and I think we were but I

00:40:53   was very happy with the the output of

00:40:56   the last year's shows as well and yeah

00:40:58   it was less but I don't I actually think

00:41:01   it was a positive impact on the show

00:41:03   overall yeah and I have to say you you

00:41:05   were great to work with during this time

00:41:07   because like it's it is it is this like

00:41:10   one person is saying like I want to pull

00:41:12   back 15% right over the course of the

00:41:16   year and it's like well it's a

00:41:18   partnership like we work on this thing

00:41:19   together but you you were great with

00:41:21   this and so that was one of the big

00:41:24   things with with the year of a

00:41:25   redirection for me was like this was one

00:41:27   area where I thought the podcasts are

00:41:30   great they're a great way for me to

00:41:32   spend my time but I was also aware of

00:41:35   like man I have this little bit of a

00:41:37   feeling of burnout that it's like every

00:41:40   week there is a show to do and I need to

00:41:44   have a few more times in the year where

00:41:46   it's like okay I have one or two weeks

00:41:49   in a row where there's no podcasts and I

00:41:52   think this is this is the case of of

00:41:54   being like being an introverted person I

00:42:00   always do find that the podcasts are

00:42:03   quite mentally draining in this very

00:42:05   particular way and I just needed some

00:42:08   little bit more time to like recoup from

00:42:10   that that was a case where year of

00:42:12   redirection was was great like just

00:42:15   pulling back a little bit like I said

00:42:18   about 15% was was fantastic and is one

00:42:21   of these cases where it's like okay I'm

00:42:23   taking a small hit business-wise but I'm

00:42:28   getting a massive improvement like

00:42:30   psychologically like I feel much better

00:42:32   about this and I also think it made the

00:42:35   shows genuinely better as well to have

00:42:37   like more breaks I would say from my

00:42:39   perspective less shows meant that I

00:42:43   could prepare better for all of them so

00:42:46   like the things that we were talking

00:42:48   about and themes like I I was happier

00:42:51   with our 2017 output than our 2016

00:42:53   output because I have more time to come

00:42:56   up with ideas and it is worth noting

00:42:58   that this year will probably be pretty

00:42:59   similar sometimes there's one sometimes

00:43:01   it's two and that's kind of just how

00:43:03   we're gonna be going forward because it

00:43:06   fits into both of our schedules really

00:43:08   nicely because in case you'd never

00:43:09   guessed we travel quite a lot and

00:43:12   sometimes it can be a nightmare for us

00:43:15   to align our travel schedules like that

00:43:17   is an example of the thing where in one

00:43:20   way it sounds like an easy and easy

00:43:23   thing to say like oh I'm just gonna pull

00:43:24   back a little bit but I did this across

00:43:26   like all of my various business

00:43:28   endeavors was trying to pull back like

00:43:29   15% like across the board and everything

00:43:31   I'm involved with like in everything

00:43:33   that I do and that ended up being like a

00:43:36   whole year long project and it was like

00:43:39   a very carefully managed thing and

00:43:41   trying to like balance a whole bunch of

00:43:43   inputs and outputs like that that was a

00:43:45   really big deal but I feel like it was a

00:43:47   huge success and a big win on my part

00:43:50   and there were a number of times in the

00:43:52   year where having that like extra 15

00:43:56   percent of time really did allow me to

00:43:59   redirect efforts and energy into other

00:44:03   things that came up or things that ended

00:44:05   up being new endeavors of one kind or

00:44:07   another so it was it was really great

00:44:11   for me and I'm so glad I did it but I

00:44:13   remember at the beginning of 2017 like I

00:44:16   was looking back through my my initial

00:44:17   planning now it sounds like man I was

00:44:19   really worried that it was

00:44:21   make 2017 just a total disaster that

00:44:24   little bit of a pull back but it didn't

00:44:26   it was it was really a really a great

00:44:28   decision a disaster in what way like

00:44:31   I've never had things on regular

00:44:34   schedules obviously but I feel like

00:44:37   there's got to be some kind of minimum

00:44:39   threshold below which you go that it it

00:44:42   starts turning bad like and I was

00:44:45   worried like maybe I'm closer to

00:44:46   whatever that minimum threshold is then

00:44:49   I thought and going like 15% less will

00:44:52   bring me below that threshold but it

00:44:54   turned out that's not the case so it's

00:44:56   like everything keeps growing and like

00:44:58   like we said the show was actually doing

00:44:59   better than they were before so I was

00:45:02   just worried like how close am I to the

00:45:04   edge of too infrequent and maybe I'm way

00:45:08   closer to that edge than I think but so

00:45:12   now it worked out great and like I said

00:45:14   for me personally it was really great

00:45:16   and it was really important during a

00:45:17   couple of times in the year in

00:45:19   particular yeah so that that is like one

00:45:21   of the most public facing ways that

00:45:23   people can see something is different in

00:45:25   in the year of redirection but you

00:45:28   brought up you brought up travel Mike

00:45:30   and this is where I feel like the year

00:45:33   of new is is a thing because this past

00:45:39   the amount of travel that I did exploded

00:45:43   it just exploded in this totally

00:45:48   unexpected way and I feel I feel like

00:45:51   here's here's the best way I can because

00:45:53   I was looking at like how much time I've

00:45:55   spent in airports this year which is

00:45:56   like phenomenal time but the thing that

00:46:00   really the thing that really hit home

00:46:02   which just happened yesterday was at the

00:46:06   beginning of the year I sort of knew

00:46:08   that I was going to be doing a bunch

00:46:10   more traveling I had a vague idea that

00:46:11   this was a thing that was going to

00:46:12   happen in the year and I was talking to

00:46:15   a friend of mine about it and he

00:46:17   convinced me to sign up for one of the

00:46:19   airline reward programs I was like I

00:46:22   don't know if I should like who cares

00:46:23   I'm just one point it's wild to me I

00:46:26   can't believe

00:46:28   come one well I just thought it was dumb

00:46:30   right and and front and also like for

00:46:33   most of my life the amount of traveling

00:46:35   that I did was very little and it

00:46:38   wouldn't really have mattered but so I

00:46:41   signed up at the beginning of the year

00:46:43   and you know when you sign up so I

00:46:44   signed up with British Airways and it's

00:46:46   like they send you a card and I'd like

00:46:47   welcome to the peasant class of rewards

00:46:49   right you get nothing except this card

00:46:51   which now says that you're in are you're

00:46:53   at the bottom of our caste system and

00:46:55   I'm like whatever

00:46:57   so yesterday I'd literally got a golden

00:47:02   envelope in the mail right the gold

00:47:04   muffler was a great thing to get from

00:47:07   British Airways yeah that I opened up I

00:47:09   had like tissue paper and and this fancy

00:47:12   thick paper and like they're like

00:47:15   welcome to the golden God class of

00:47:18   travel so I I have been on virgin for

00:47:23   the last couple years and I've gone

00:47:25   through that mm-hmm that whole thing but

00:47:27   I had to take a few flights with BA this

00:47:30   year because virgin didn't serve some

00:47:32   places so I lost my gold status by like

00:47:36   just a hair I lost it so I'm now

00:47:38   switching over to be a because I've done

00:47:40   bas before they're their progression

00:47:43   through their system is much better like

00:47:46   you get more for less with them so yeah

00:47:50   I I'm going through that right now and

00:47:53   probably by the end of the year I might

00:47:56   get the gold because I have a lot of

00:47:57   travel on ba this year including like

00:48:00   all my honeymoon stuff so I think we're

00:48:02   gonna be good yeah but it's like I have

00:48:05   to say that when I got that golden

00:48:07   envelope it was a real mixed feelings

00:48:09   moment it was like oh god this is a

00:48:11   physical manifestation of the subjective

00:48:15   feeling like I feel like I've travelled

00:48:16   a lot this year as like no here is

00:48:18   manifest proof that the amount of travel

00:48:21   I have done has just exploded like I

00:48:24   counted up like even just just in the

00:48:26   summer I think in the space of six weeks

00:48:29   I stepped on ten planes like it was some

00:48:32   crazy number like the whole summer of

00:48:34   travel was was especially explosive and

00:48:36   then this year was was on top of that

00:48:39   and this feels like

00:48:40   a really new and very different thing in

00:48:45   my life and it was also the case that

00:48:46   had I not cut back on some other work

00:48:50   stuff that would the combination of

00:48:53   increased business travel plus

00:48:55   maintaining the previous year's schedule

00:48:56   that really would have been a disaster

00:48:58   because we we certainly ran into enough

00:49:00   times this year of just trying to

00:49:02   coordinate both of our schedules that it

00:49:03   was it was really hard or we were really

00:49:05   running up against some very narrow

00:49:07   windows of time we live in the same town

00:49:10   but I think we have seen each other more

00:49:12   this year overseas oh yeah yeah without

00:49:16   a doubt that that is the case it's it's

00:49:22   been an interesting it's been an

00:49:23   interesting experience and I also feel

00:49:26   like travel I've traveled so much I have

00:49:29   become a very fundamentally different

00:49:31   person with travel I'm now I'm now the

00:49:33   kind of person who doesn't have a lot of

00:49:35   stress cutting it real close getting to

00:49:38   an airport I'm so I don't think I'm ever

00:49:40   gonna get there I never thought I would

00:49:42   be there either but I've I have become

00:49:44   that guy my thing is now I don't think

00:49:48   about the fact that I'm gonna be getting

00:49:51   on a plane very much before I do it

00:49:52   right like I know that like before I

00:49:55   started traveling a bunch of times every

00:49:57   year like thinking that I'm about to get

00:49:59   on a plane to go to America or whatever

00:50:01   was like a big thing that was in my mind

00:50:04   for a bit right but now it's kind of

00:50:07   just like I'll pack but I'm not really

00:50:09   thinking about it and I packed the day

00:50:10   before and then I just wake up and go to

00:50:12   the airport like it's like going to get

00:50:15   such a terrible thing to say I guess but

00:50:17   it's like going to get a train now

00:50:18   because I fly so much right and and the

00:50:22   reason we both do this is basically

00:50:23   everybody that we work with by and large

00:50:25   lives in America so there's so many

00:50:27   businesses that occur which require us

00:50:31   to be on the other side of the ocean so

00:50:34   that I do it so many times now that it's

00:50:36   it's like any kind of form of transport

00:50:39   which is a way healthier way to consider

00:50:42   air travel because you don't fret about

00:50:46   it I always found myself writing about

00:50:48   it because they there are so many things

00:50:50   about the process that are meant to make

00:50:52   you fret about it

00:50:54   and I'm now happier that I don't need to

00:50:56   do that yeah I agree there's a lot of

00:50:58   travel threading that is gone part of

00:51:01   that is being part of a members rewards

00:51:03   program which has which has advantages

00:51:05   like for me a huge psychological

00:51:07   advantage is being able to pick a seat

00:51:10   further and further ahead in time so

00:51:13   it's like I know I really do not want to

00:51:15   be penned in in a in a window seat on an

00:51:18   airplane if I can possibly avoid it and

00:51:19   so like get it getting an aisle seat is

00:51:21   extraordinarily psychologically

00:51:23   important to me when I'm flying and so

00:51:25   being able to like book and get that way

00:51:27   in advance makes a big difference but

00:51:30   yeah also just like the pure familiarity

00:51:32   with travel has has definitely decreased

00:51:35   the amount of fretting and has made some

00:51:37   things possible which would have been a

00:51:40   huge a huge deal like an inconceivably

00:51:44   large deal otherwise and I'll just I'll

00:51:47   briefly relay a story that I feel like

00:51:50   encompasses the entirety of of my travel

00:51:52   year but I had traveled so much this

00:51:55   year that come December I had decided

00:51:57   there's going to be no more travel I

00:51:59   cannot do any more flights it's too much

00:52:01   it's all too disruptive I don't want I

00:52:04   don't want to do it and it's like that's

00:52:06   one of the reasons why I was really

00:52:07   interested in going to pod con but I was

00:52:09   like I can't get on one more plane

00:52:12   because it's I've just flown too much

00:52:14   this year and it's a long one it takes a

00:52:17   long getting it to Seattle turns out

00:52:19   yeah it takes a long time to get to

00:52:21   Seattle but I was thinking like oh but I

00:52:22   can stay in great master time it'll all

00:52:24   be fine right as I ever start trying to

00:52:26   scheme it out but the rational part of

00:52:28   my brain said like too many flights dude

00:52:31   you just can't do this decide that there

00:52:34   is a travel veto on December no more

00:52:36   traveling and I decided it and I thought

00:52:38   okay that's great and then four reasons

00:52:43   for make sense that I can't go into the

00:52:45   details we'll just say that this is one

00:52:46   of the the many problems of being a

00:52:48   self-employed dual citizen we're one of

00:52:50   those citizenships is America America

00:52:53   makes it real difficult for

00:52:54   self-employed people living abroad but

00:52:57   it turned out I found out on Christmas

00:52:59   Eve that I needed to go to America to

00:53:02   sign a document before the end of the

00:53:05   year and so I ended up

00:53:08   at the very last minute between

00:53:09   Christmas and New Year's buying a plane

00:53:12   ticket to go to America for 36 hours to

00:53:16   return and fly back before New Year's

00:53:18   and while like that was an enormous pain

00:53:25   in the ass

00:53:26   there was a part of me which because I

00:53:28   had done so much travel I was like you

00:53:30   know what I can just deal with this

00:53:31   right it's not it was not something I

00:53:34   wanted to do but had I not done a ton of

00:53:37   flying otherwise that would have been a

00:53:41   incredible psychological problem but I

00:53:43   was but but I just I just had this

00:53:45   feeling of resignation of like I guess

00:53:47   I'm going to America for 36 hours to

00:53:49   sign a single piece of paper that had

00:53:51   before at the end of the calendar year

00:53:53   like okay here I go yeah that really

00:53:57   summed up a difference in you like and I

00:53:59   noticed it because we were chatting over

00:54:00   Christmas mm-hm and I knew I was seeing

00:54:03   you over the New Year's period and you

00:54:05   told me that you were getting on a plane

00:54:07   and I was like that's a different man

00:54:09   [Laughter]

00:54:13   what I loved about that though is even

00:54:15   when I checked in the gate agent looked

00:54:17   at my ticket and she's like hey come to

00:54:19   America for 36 hours

00:54:25   [Laughter]

00:54:28   it was totally nuts but I felt like that

00:54:31   was the perfect encapsulation I decided

00:54:33   there's no more travel and of course at

00:54:35   the 11th hour something else comes up

00:54:37   which is like this is mandatory travel

00:54:39   you have no option about it like okay

00:54:41   guess it's gonna happen so I feel like

00:54:44   looking back on my past year the the

00:54:48   amount of traveled the amount of new

00:54:49   locations like that is a huge difference

00:54:51   in in what was occurring over the

00:54:54   previous year the other major thing

00:54:55   though which was related to my year of

00:54:59   new and your redirection was while you

00:55:02   were doing time tracking for the first

00:55:04   time last year I was deciding to try to

00:55:07   time track everything in my life for the

00:55:11   previous year and I have to say I feel

00:55:15   like that was also a really great thing

00:55:17   to do and I've really appreciated

00:55:21   this I don't know I don't even know how

00:55:24   to phrase it but I feel like there is I

00:55:27   don't know how to say this in a way

00:55:29   that's not gonna sound to people like

00:55:30   it's a bad thing because I mean it's I

00:55:32   mean it in a very good way but I feel

00:55:35   like having done this for a long period

00:55:39   of time of trying to keep track of not

00:55:42   just working hours but also like leisure

00:55:44   time or socializing time or any any kind

00:55:49   of time I really have like a mental

00:55:53   clock in my head that is running and

00:55:58   that will that will sound bad to people

00:56:02   but what I mean by it is I feel like

00:56:03   it's established a real kind of in the

00:56:08   moment presence in a lot of the things

00:56:11   that I do so like again like so the

00:56:16   worst way that people would think about

00:56:17   is like if I'm socializing with someone

00:56:19   I do keep track of my socializing time

00:56:22   but it's not like I'm there on my watch

00:56:24   and it's like oh god how much time am i

00:56:26   spending with this person bleep bloop

00:56:28   ten personality points allocated yeah

00:56:33   it's it's much more this feeling of like

00:56:36   I have decided to spend time with this

00:56:39   person and I'm going to be as mentally

00:56:41   here in the moment as I possibly can be

00:56:44   and I feel like this is this is a mental

00:56:48   improvement that has been booted up in

00:56:52   my brain by trying to always have a

00:56:55   timer running in the background so that

00:56:57   I'm just time tracking my entire life so

00:56:59   I feel like it has made me much more

00:57:03   present focused then then would

00:57:07   otherwise than would otherwise be the

00:57:08   case so I'm I would not recommend that

00:57:12   everybody do this thing that I have done

00:57:14   like I really think it is on the edge of

00:57:16   crazy to try to time track an entire

00:57:18   life but I have found it really good and

00:57:22   it has it has been a worthwhile thing to

00:57:25   do after having already been four years

00:57:28   familiar with the idea of doing just

00:57:31   time tracking around more

00:57:32   specific activities yeah I I think I

00:57:35   have an example of this too because

00:57:36   because I do

00:57:37   ultimately think that what you do is way

00:57:39   more than I would want to do but once

00:57:41   you get into time tracking as a concept

00:57:44   that exists in your life you're able to

00:57:47   apply it some different things so as is

00:57:49   always with human beings I am trying to

00:57:53   make a more concerted effort of taking

00:57:55   care of my health and right now that is

00:57:58   meaning to exercise more now I'll give

00:58:01   you a fact about my curly my curly hates

00:58:04   exercise I have tried so many different

00:58:07   things I have never ever enjoyed

00:58:10   physical activity I didn't enjoy being

00:58:12   in school I just don't I for whatever

00:58:15   reason I'm not good at any of it and I

00:58:17   don't like it but it's just how I am I

00:58:20   that I do not get a good feeling from

00:58:23   going to the gym no matter what I do I

00:58:25   just don't I know that this is something

00:58:26   that people get and whatever and

00:58:28   endorphins and blah blah blah I never

00:58:31   get a good feeling out of it yeah those

00:58:33   people that's my feeling exactly the

00:58:36   only type of activity that I enjoy is

00:58:39   swimming I like to swim I'm pretty

00:58:41   decent at it I enjoy it

00:58:44   and it's I believe to be a pretty good

00:58:46   workout now the problem problem that I

00:58:49   have is that there where I live there

00:58:53   are not a lot of places I can swim so I

00:58:55   have to travel somewhere to go to a pool

00:58:59   and travel back and the problem that I

00:59:01   was seeing was I believed that it was

00:59:03   taking too much time for me to complete

00:59:07   this activity and it was eating into my

00:59:10   days to significantly so I decided to

00:59:14   time track it I was like let's find out

00:59:17   shall I like it I've had this feeling a

00:59:19   bunch before so let's find out I was

00:59:22   right it was taking too much time so I

00:59:25   have optimized some of the travel to and

00:59:27   from the place that I'm going to so like

00:59:31   I've tried to find ways to cut down the

00:59:32   travel time and to build it in two days

00:59:34   differently but I got the answer that I

00:59:36   needed from actually doing some

00:59:39   real-time tracking to see how many hours

00:59:41   this thing was taking you know I was

00:59:44   finding that it was taking me like

00:59:46   three hours to do 45 minutes of swimming

00:59:48   right well that's not good is it right

00:59:51   like that's not efficient so I've found

00:59:54   ways to cut that down by like a third so

00:59:56   it's like okay so let me try and see how

00:59:59   I can

00:59:59   I can

01:00:00   can build this in some yeah that that's

01:00:01   just something like a an example of when

01:00:04   you get into the time tracking mindset

01:00:05   you can use real data to prove theories

01:00:09   or disprove theories and then action

01:00:11   upon them that's that's what the benefit

01:00:13   for me is of seriously time tracking but

01:00:16   I am NOT I am NOT of the inclination to

01:00:19   to do what you do yeah like I don't want

01:00:22   to track the time that I spend playing

01:00:24   Nintendo like I don't I don't need to

01:00:26   see that right like I'm good let's just

01:00:30   assume that all of the time that isn't

01:00:32   what time is spent playing Nintendo and

01:00:35   then was good you ever see this this is

01:00:39   why I like doing the whole lifetime

01:00:41   tracking because a thing that we when we

01:00:45   get to what are themes for the next year

01:00:47   are I'll talk a little bit about more

01:00:48   but it does then if you're trying to do

01:00:52   the whole life tracking there is there

01:00:54   is data in like the missing data and

01:00:57   that's an interesting thing to look at

01:00:58   is to say like oh when you know I'm

01:01:00   awake 16 hours a day and like but how

01:01:04   many hours did I actually get in the day

01:01:06   and then that that missing piece becomes

01:01:09   an interesting piece of data of like

01:01:10   where did that time go or why is it that

01:01:13   during this week or this month I was

01:01:15   clearly way worse at time tracking than

01:01:17   than other times and so I like having

01:01:22   that because I feel like there is this

01:01:23   sense of like information in the

01:01:26   negative space of the time tracking if

01:01:29   you're trying to be really complete in

01:01:31   in what's occurring but we can talk more

01:01:33   about that later but I mean I guess I'll

01:01:36   just say that the year of new in the

01:01:37   year redirection was sort of vague much

01:01:41   more vague than the year of less was for

01:01:44   me which I'm where there's really

01:01:44   precise meaning but I still feel like a

01:01:48   lot of what I was trying to do I did I

01:01:52   feel much better about my work-life

01:01:54   balance there were some things last year

01:01:56   that made me think about like I just how

01:01:59   I how I spend like family time I wanted

01:02:01   to try to increase that like that is

01:02:04   definitely a thing that I accomplished

01:02:06   you know there were a bunch of just like

01:02:08   new things that I did new experiences

01:02:11   like there's some new business ventures

01:02:12   like there's

01:02:13   but there was a bunch of like new stuff

01:02:15   that was great because I had been able

01:02:19   to redirect how I spent some of my -

01:02:21   yeah into those new things I asked the

01:02:23   balance like it wasn't that you was

01:02:25   necessarily seeking out these new things

01:02:27   but by redirecting your time new things

01:02:31   could but could come to you it's kind of

01:02:35   like if that is the way I think that you

01:02:36   ended up balancing out cuz I don't know

01:02:39   if you necessarily set out the year to

01:02:41   be like I need some new business

01:02:42   ventures don't necessarily that was what

01:02:45   you were thinking like when you open up

01:02:47   space the thing to become available so I

01:02:51   feel I feel like that was that was

01:02:52   really good I guess in some ways I feel

01:02:54   like I had much more of the advantages

01:02:58   and fewer of the disadvantages of being

01:03:02   a self-employed person during the year

01:03:03   of redirection like I think that's

01:03:05   that's largely what happens like I did

01:03:09   some analysis I did like a like an 80/20

01:03:11   analysis of where where are the pain

01:03:13   points in my life and where are the

01:03:15   benefit points in my life and realized

01:03:17   that was a little bit off and worked to

01:03:20   reduce the things that were causing pain

01:03:22   and increase the number of things which

01:03:24   were causing enjoyment so I feel like

01:03:26   that that's the summation of like your

01:03:29   redirection ended up being the year that

01:03:31   I was able to benefit more from being a

01:03:34   self-employed person than I had in

01:03:35   previous years yeah cuz you could do

01:03:38   whatever you wanted right there was more

01:03:39   of that feeling of like I can I can pick

01:03:41   and choose and do the things that I want

01:03:43   to do without the feeling of like I am

01:03:46   bound into the things that I must do

01:03:48   there was kind of a bit more flexibility

01:03:50   in there yeah I mean I always think this

01:03:53   that there's a it's a thing I think I

01:03:57   see with a lot of people and it's very

01:03:59   natural for it to happen but it's like a

01:04:04   phrase but there's like there's this way

01:04:06   that being successfully self-employed

01:04:09   you can end up just building yourself a

01:04:12   golden cage and I feel like in 2016 I

01:04:17   came a little close to that edge or

01:04:20   closer to that edges and I really want

01:04:21   to be and that's the thing that I'm

01:04:22   always very conscious of and then like

01:04:24   2017 was was writing that ship

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01:06:07   have two themes for 2018 and starting

01:06:10   out which is also being coupled with my

01:06:13   theme which is running into a June yeah

01:06:16   so you're gonna have three overlapping

01:06:17   themes that's gonna happen oh yeah yeah

01:06:20   well okay so it will make sense when you

01:06:22   hear them so so one of the themes of my

01:06:24   year is the year of adulting I am gonna

01:06:28   become a serious adult this year is it's

01:06:34   time to get serious because this year I

01:06:36   turned 30 years old and I'm getting

01:06:38   married it's pretty serious yeah I feel

01:06:41   like these are pretty serious big adult

01:06:43   things that will occur so that I know

01:06:46   that's just gonna be a prevailing thing

01:06:48   in in my life this year I don't believe

01:06:51   there are any significant actions to it

01:06:54   but they are just guiding a lot of

01:06:56   things that are happening so especially

01:06:58   my wedding

01:06:59   it is guiding a lot of activity and

01:07:02   focus this year in in a way that I am

01:07:06   going to take my foot off the gas a

01:07:09   little bit more with some work stuff

01:07:11   this year because I have a very serious

01:07:12   big event going on so that that's kind

01:07:17   of a thought and really I don't think

01:07:18   that it will no one will see it right

01:07:21   now it's kind of in a way less than what

01:07:24   you did like I'm not gonna pull back on

01:07:26   a bunch of stuff but it's just informing

01:07:28   some things that I'm gonna be doing and

01:07:30   kind of how I'm gonna be approaching

01:07:32   some projects that are existing and new

01:07:35   because I'm gonna be having this this

01:07:37   this huge thing going on in my life this

01:07:40   year which I'm very excited about but

01:07:43   it's obviously gonna make an impact on

01:07:44   me which is a great thing about being

01:07:48   self-employed is that I'm able to make

01:07:50   those decisions right and and it was

01:07:52   like it was like when I when was buying

01:07:55   the house and I remember saying on the

01:07:57   show about like it's like a job of its

01:08:01   own and I don't know how people I just

01:08:03   don't know how people do it including me

01:08:05   I don't know how I did it and it's a

01:08:08   similar thing like getting married it's

01:08:11   like a job of its own and that's why

01:08:14   there is an entire industry of wedding

01:08:16   planners that exist because it is like a

01:08:19   big huge project to manage yeah it's a

01:08:22   giant logistical challenge on many

01:08:24   levels yeah probably the biggest

01:08:26   logistical thing that I will have be

01:08:28   involved with so yeah that's that's

01:08:31   informing a lot so that's one thing but

01:08:33   there's there's less kind of actions

01:08:35   from there and okay so this this might

01:08:37   sound in contrast to the previous thing

01:08:41   that I just spoke about but let me try

01:08:43   and explain 2018 will also be for me the

01:08:47   year of branching out so

01:08:50   I have some things that I want to do I

01:08:52   have some new things that I want to try

01:08:55   and I want to see if it's something that

01:09:00   I'm able to do so like one of those

01:09:02   things is more live shows I love doing

01:09:07   live shows and but they are there

01:09:10   they're real bear to arrange and we did

01:09:12   more in 2017 than we've done in 2016 and

01:09:15   I want to continue that I don't have any

01:09:18   handle on what that's gonna be I have no

01:09:21   plan we have no plan like significant

01:09:23   plan right now but we want to do more of

01:09:26   them right so we want a trip we want to

01:09:29   hopefully do one at wEDC

01:09:31   this year which we didn't do last year

01:09:33   so you know no plans but it's just hopes

01:09:35   and so that is a big thing because it

01:09:37   doing anytime you add another live show

01:09:40   into the calendar like it's a it's a big

01:09:42   logistical challenge and I am very lucky

01:09:44   in that I have Stephen to manage that

01:09:46   stuff Stephen is very good at putting

01:09:47   together live shows my co-founder a

01:09:49   relay event it's something that he has

01:09:51   developed in his skill set but for me if

01:09:54   I'm if I'm involved in hosting them that

01:09:57   is huge for me so like before I do any

01:09:59   type of live show I go into an almost

01:10:02   catatonic state okay I talk to anybody

01:10:06   and I really get kind of like focused on

01:10:11   it in a very significant way it like for

01:10:15   like an hour before I'm like sick I I

01:10:18   don't even know what it is I don't know

01:10:20   if it's nerves I don't know where it

01:10:22   comes from it's I don't know if it's

01:10:23   stage fright I don't know what it is

01:10:24   because as soon as we start I'm great

01:10:26   fine I can do them but I I feel like I

01:10:30   always need to prepare more and so I

01:10:33   kind of get into this like zone for a

01:10:36   while so they're always a lot to do but

01:10:38   it's something that I get great pleasure

01:10:40   from when we do them I love doing it so

01:10:43   we want to try and do more of that

01:10:45   and then trying new ideas is probably

01:10:49   the bigger thing for me and I've made

01:10:51   hints to this in the past that there is

01:10:53   an idea in my brain which is it is a

01:10:56   podcast idea I don't I don't know if

01:11:00   it's ever going to happen because it's

01:11:02   so different to any

01:11:03   thing else that I have done but I have

01:11:06   been stewing on this idea for about six

01:11:09   months and it won't go away it keeps

01:11:12   coming good sign

01:11:13   yeah that that's what like so that's

01:11:16   that okay so that's one of the big

01:11:18   things right 2016 Mike would have

01:11:21   already launched this project right

01:11:23   right but 2017 Mike learned to wait so

01:11:28   I'm still sitting on it but it's

01:11:32   something that I really want to do and I

01:11:34   saw Hamilton last week in London and

01:11:39   it's only made it worse

01:11:41   because Hamilton was created by one

01:11:43   person and it is this incredible

01:11:48   incredible thing which I urge anyone to

01:11:51   go and see if you can because it's

01:11:52   probably the greatest single piece of

01:11:54   meteor I've ever consumed it is a tour

01:11:57   de force I can't believe it here like I

01:12:02   haven't seen Hamilton I was aware

01:12:04   whatever was like last year when I first

01:12:06   came out that I started hearing

01:12:07   everybody in the world

01:12:08   talk about an overhype this thing and I

01:12:11   got like sick of hearing people talk

01:12:14   about Hamilton and I was like this is

01:12:16   ridiculous whatever like everybody's

01:12:18   just like a fad but then I felt like my

01:12:20   mind was changed because I last year I

01:12:23   watched Moana and I was like man the

01:12:26   music in this was just amazing it just

01:12:28   made this this was so fast like this

01:12:30   music is great and I thought like this

01:12:32   is one of the best movie watching

01:12:33   experiences I've had in a really long

01:12:35   time and and I did a thing which I never

01:12:37   do which is like who made this movie

01:12:40   looked at when it's like Oh turns out

01:12:43   that the guy who made Hamilton did all

01:12:44   the music for this I was like ah okay

01:12:47   maybe this Hamilton thing is worth

01:12:50   seeing great Hamilton is in London it's

01:12:53   gonna be here forever please try and get

01:12:56   tickets to it and I advise anyone to do

01:12:59   what I did because I think this is great

01:13:00   don't listen to the music beforehand

01:13:02   experience who will do that who with so

01:13:04   many people because honestly you can and

01:13:07   it's fine and you can get it but see it

01:13:09   so obviously I am no delusion of

01:13:14   grandeur here I don't think I can create

01:13:16   something that is of the scale

01:13:17   Hamilton ya see that's what I'm hearing

01:13:20   Mike's gonna make Hamilton - what Mike's

01:13:23   working on Jefferson right now but it

01:13:26   was it was just because what what I want

01:13:29   to do is a big is a big project is a

01:13:31   huge project it's something I don't know

01:13:33   if I have the skills or capabilities to

01:13:35   do but seeing something created by one

01:13:38   individual is very inspiring to me

01:13:42   because it's like well it shows that

01:13:45   people are able to do these types of

01:13:47   things so maybe I can make something

01:13:51   that's okay so it it's only basically

01:13:54   what is happening to me is I have this

01:13:56   idea and everything is inspiring me

01:14:00   right so many things I'm seeing alike

01:14:04   pushing me to be like see you can do

01:14:06   this stuff people can do this stuff

01:14:08   maybe you can so it's only feeding the

01:14:11   flame and yeah people could probably

01:14:15   guess what I have going on in my mind if

01:14:17   they pay attention to the clues you if

01:14:20   you guess it you're probably right

01:14:22   but it's it's a project that I don't

01:14:24   know if I had capability to do but 2018

01:14:27   I will make the decision by the end of

01:14:29   this year I'll have IVA done it or I'm

01:14:32   never gonna do it I'm setting that for

01:14:34   myself it's like you can't keep doing

01:14:37   this forever if you want to try and make

01:14:39   a go of this thing you've got to do it

01:14:42   this year so we'll see that's that's so

01:14:44   my bigger theme this year is branching

01:14:47   out trying some new big projects but

01:14:50   also being mindful of not just trying

01:14:53   anything and everything that comes to my

01:14:55   mind like I learned in 2017 well I look

01:14:57   forward to seeing your enormous project

01:14:59   at some point we're not coming to coming

01:15:02   to Broadway but I think that like what

01:15:05   you just said there is also like a great

01:15:07   a great point about like deciding that

01:15:13   you're gonna do this thing or you're

01:15:14   gonna have to let it go like and exactly

01:15:17   why you can't just keep having it in the

01:15:18   back of your mind for forever and I

01:15:20   think that's a it's an interesting it's

01:15:22   an interesting point to have with that

01:15:25   so yeah I wish you I wish you all the

01:15:27   best of luck with that Mike thank you I

01:15:30   hope it I hope it turns out

01:15:32   and all the live shows you're gonna

01:15:34   arrange that we're gonna do right are

01:15:36   you gonna how many live shows do you

01:15:37   want to commit to 1000 committing to

01:15:42   zero right X World Tour gore-tex World

01:15:46   Tour how many dates do you have zero so

01:15:51   what's your theme for 2018 okay so we

01:15:56   need a little bit of a run-up to this

01:15:57   because when I was recapping my year

01:16:00   mostly talking about how it was great

01:16:02   thank you every direction very happy

01:16:05   things worked out well but there's an

01:16:08   alternative name that I could have given

01:16:11   that year looking in retrospect and I

01:16:15   think I could have called 2017 standing

01:16:18   now at the beginning of 2018 the year of

01:16:21   chaos because what a really bad name to

01:16:28   give it proactively obviously

01:16:31   proactively does not the name to give

01:16:33   the thing but retro actively I think I'm

01:16:36   going to always think of 2017 as like

01:16:39   this year of chaos because this year was

01:16:45   just a year where I felt like I never

01:16:48   had any real consistent schedule for any

01:16:51   significant length of time I feel like

01:16:53   things were just all over the place and

01:16:57   again I do like to try to verify this

01:16:59   kind of stuff so when I was like

01:17:00   reviewing all the documentation I had

01:17:02   from the previous year the data totally

01:17:05   bears this out that that last year was a

01:17:08   year that was just all over the place in

01:17:12   every metric I can think of and so like

01:17:16   one of the things I was mentioned before

01:17:18   about the negative space and time

01:17:19   tracking I was looking over the year and

01:17:21   I could see like I want to see how well

01:17:23   did I do with this time tracking and my

01:17:25   mental my mental framework is that on a

01:17:28   on any particular day I should have 12

01:17:31   hours like 12 hours is the bare minimum

01:17:33   of competency 14 hours is good and like

01:17:37   16 hours is the theoretical maximum of

01:17:40   how much time I would be tracking in a

01:17:41   day

01:17:42   and the median day for the whole year

01:17:45   was like 13 and a half hours which I was

01:17:47   pretty happy with but if you break it

01:17:49   down by months some months I'm tracking

01:17:53   fifteen and a half hours a day like I'm

01:17:56   doing great and a couple of months

01:17:58   particularly in the summer and in April

01:18:00   I've got like six hours a day right like

01:18:03   total disaster across the board in terms

01:18:06   of the time tracking and it's like yeah

01:18:08   I remember those months I remember I

01:18:10   decided like the hell with this I can't

01:18:11   possibly do with it all so I just had

01:18:13   like a string of zero days in a row

01:18:15   because I'm like I can't I can't

01:18:16   psychologically deal with this today I

01:18:18   just got too much and I looked at things

01:18:21   like records of exercise and like

01:18:26   records of health and it's like crazy

01:18:28   lines all over the place of like how

01:18:30   frequently frequent were you exercising

01:18:32   it's like crazy or like like things with

01:18:36   like other health stuff like diet stuff

01:18:38   it's like okay it's like okay great I

01:18:40   have this stretch of time where

01:18:41   everything is perfect numbers really

01:18:43   focusing on and then it just was ghost a

01:18:44   total disaster later and like I think a

01:18:49   huge portion of that was just I am NOT a

01:18:53   person who was used to the travel so

01:18:55   it's like I can see that it's like the

01:18:57   calm pond of my life is totally

01:19:00   destroyed with ripples and waves every

01:19:02   time a rock of an airplane is thrown

01:19:04   into it and it's like this this really

01:19:06   takes things out of place but even on

01:19:10   top of that like I can I can just see

01:19:12   again from the records like I was really

01:19:14   bad last year about things like weekly

01:19:17   reviews and trying to stay on top of

01:19:19   stuff I think it wasn't wasn't helped by

01:19:23   my like sort of abandoning task managers

01:19:25   for a while as well which like went into

01:19:27   this theme of like a year of chaos yes I

01:19:29   still I honestly still can't get my head

01:19:31   around that

01:19:32   like I don't feel like I was ever

01:19:35   satisfied with the reasoning in which

01:19:37   you were doing it like yeah it just

01:19:39   never clicked for me I feel like that

01:19:41   that was a mistake that you made in the

01:19:44   year well I think I needed to pull back

01:19:47   from some of that stuff that that was a

01:19:49   little bit of like redirection like I'm

01:19:52   going to just like let this kind of go

01:19:56   so what I feel like with last year and

01:19:58   had this this experience where

01:20:01   high-level things were really great it

01:20:04   was a really successful year but unlike

01:20:06   the low level it was totally this this

01:20:09   like year of chaos so my theme for the

01:20:13   upcoming year is the year of order that

01:20:16   there is going to be order in 2018 oh

01:20:20   yeah

01:20:22   yes chaos to order so good

01:20:25   yeah you've you had a brain wave when

01:20:28   you came up with that one I like it it's

01:20:31   been itching it's been under my skin for

01:20:33   you know maybe since mid-december I

01:20:36   started was thinking about this because

01:20:37   as we were coming up to our your themes

01:20:39   I was like I don't really have a theme

01:20:41   like I'm just wishing what like whatever

01:20:42   and as I started to think about I was

01:20:44   like this is what it is it's the year of

01:20:46   order is 2018 and I've sort of started

01:20:52   on this in some ways but there's that

01:20:55   there's like a sentence in my mind which

01:20:58   I feel like is this this guiding

01:21:00   sentence for the year which is like the

01:21:03   work isn't the work the system is the

01:21:06   work and so I feel like I've set up a

01:21:09   bunch of stuff already to try to help

01:21:11   with it's like okay in the morning like

01:21:15   you get up in the first thing that you

01:21:16   do is is the writing and like it doesn't

01:21:19   matter how much you write her if it's

01:21:21   good at all because the system is the

01:21:23   work the work isn't the work like one of

01:21:25   my real focuses this year is I'm still

01:21:29   expecting that there's going to be a lot

01:21:31   of travel like I can already see my

01:21:33   calendars has a bunch of dates already

01:21:35   in the future like oh god here we go

01:21:37   but I think there can be a real

01:21:39   difference when I'm going I'm going into

01:21:43   the Year expecting and acknowledging

01:21:45   like there is going to be travel there

01:21:47   are going to be disruptions but I cannot

01:21:50   allow them to be as disruptive as they

01:21:52   were last year because I feel like last

01:21:54   year I was really caught off guard by a

01:21:57   lot of that kind of stuff so for me one

01:22:00   of the things is like re-establishing a

01:22:03   very clear schedule and sequence of

01:22:07   habits to follow like that is one

01:22:10   the big things for me in the year and

01:22:14   it's really interesting because I'm

01:22:16   coming back to you off the off the end

01:22:19   of a of a gradation off in the snowy

01:22:24   wastelands meditating on this idea of

01:22:26   the year of order you're on a leadership

01:22:29   my wife literally has started to call

01:22:31   these things that I do she's like you

01:22:33   going on corporate retreats for one like

01:22:35   that's what you're doing yeah and I

01:22:37   guess that is 100 percent the case set

01:22:39   up a little table name plaques and then

01:22:41   you move around the table depending on

01:22:43   what what you need to be talking about

01:22:45   you know yeah we do we do I mean there's

01:22:47   there's brainstorming on whiteboards of

01:22:49   like where's the company going to go for

01:22:51   the next year how do you build the human

01:22:52   pyramid but so like here's the thing

01:23:04   that was interesting to do so I I had

01:23:07   actually set up as part of the year of

01:23:10   redirection I had set up in advance this

01:23:13   period of time at the beginning of 2018

01:23:15   to be like this

01:23:16   dedicated great incorporated company

01:23:18   retreat and because it was really useful

01:23:21   last year and like I want to do this

01:23:22   again next year but I was really aware

01:23:25   that when I do these trips normally I

01:23:28   can very quickly get into like a great

01:23:31   schedule and I had a freaking rudl time

01:23:35   this year forcing my brain back into

01:23:38   this regular schedule and I was just

01:23:41   like ah I can see like I'm just not used

01:23:44   to this because my year has been so

01:23:46   chaotic that my brain is like bucking

01:23:49   the idea that we've got a we've got to

01:23:51   bust out the order again and it was just

01:23:55   it was an interesting experience to have

01:23:56   like it's taking me a lot of time to

01:23:59   force this change and it reminded me of

01:24:02   back back when I was adulting and when I

01:24:07   did my teacher training program and

01:24:09   realize like this is the first thing

01:24:10   I've ever come up against in my life

01:24:12   where I can't just slack my way through

01:24:14   and I actually need to figure out like

01:24:16   how to organize myself to be able to to

01:24:18   get things done and I remember that was

01:24:21   a really difficult mental time of like

01:24:23   and I'm so used to just sliding on

01:24:25   through life but suddenly I can't do

01:24:27   that now and I have to like become a

01:24:28   different person in order to succeed in

01:24:30   this endeavor

01:24:31   so being being on my like corporate

01:24:34   retreat I was just aware like man this

01:24:36   is real evidence that the past year has

01:24:38   been a very chaotic year because this

01:24:40   thing which is normally not a lot of

01:24:42   effort for me to do to like click back

01:24:44   into a regular schedule is actually

01:24:46   quite hard for me to do like even things

01:24:48   like waking up at a consistent time in

01:24:49   the morning like just brutal but it's

01:24:52   evidenced like when I look at my health

01:24:54   data like my sleep schedule it's all

01:24:55   over the place for the past year so

01:24:59   that's that's a big part of it is this

01:25:01   idea that like it is the routine like

01:25:03   the routine is the work the work isn't

01:25:05   the work and I'm really going to be

01:25:06   focusing on that a lot that's one of the

01:25:09   really big things there is a there is

01:25:12   like a little sub part of the year of

01:25:16   order which I haven't haven't quite

01:25:18   figured out precisely what this is yet

01:25:21   but it comes out of the time tracking

01:25:23   which is this idea of like a war on

01:25:27   unintentional 'ti so one of the things

01:25:32   with time tracking that I actually

01:25:33   mentioned in that those early episodes

01:25:34   is I do try to keep track of what I

01:25:38   think it was like unintentional time

01:25:40   where I'm doing something but it's not

01:25:44   really like on purpose I'm not being

01:25:46   intentional about the thing that I'm

01:25:48   doing and so I have this idea that like

01:25:51   part of the year on order there's like a

01:25:53   sub front which is the war on

01:25:55   unintentional 'ti and so that that can

01:25:57   be things like for example social media

01:26:00   like spending less time on social media

01:26:02   or the time that I spend on sotell me

01:26:05   social media is more intentional rather

01:26:09   than unintentional so that's that's a

01:26:12   thing like looking over my time tracking

01:26:14   data is I find the amount of

01:26:16   unintentional 'ti time registered in the

01:26:19   last year it's like it's too much I

01:26:21   don't like it and I feel like I want a

01:26:24   much higher percentage of the time in my

01:26:27   life to be intentional versus

01:26:29   unintentional so that's that's another

01:26:32   like part of this idea but that part is

01:26:35   much less wealth

01:26:37   than just the idea of like 2018 is the

01:26:41   year of order I'm gonna bring order to

01:26:43   the world so jealous of your name you

01:26:48   really went from just like atrocious

01:26:50   name to excellent name right 2017 was

01:26:54   just bad name and 2018 is real good name

01:26:56   but it has to be because I really think

01:26:59   I could not survive another year of

01:27:02   redirection like I think I would just I

01:27:04   would just lose it if I had another

01:27:07   unstructured year like that the

01:27:08   redirection year was like a just a

01:27:10   course correction change you can't do

01:27:12   that every year forever like that's an

01:27:14   exam out yucks right like restructuring

01:27:18   things take some time and you do it once

01:27:20   and then you do it again in like five

01:27:22   years time like it would be pointless to

01:27:24   do what you did last year every year

01:27:27   because you'd never get anything done

01:27:30   constantly changing your business but

01:27:32   not actually producing anything it's not

01:27:34   really a benefit to that now so anyway

01:27:37   there we go

01:27:38   year of order 2018 oh man I just as you

01:27:42   said that I just got a push notification

01:27:44   and todoist

01:27:45   that just says to work on big project

01:27:48   idea calling to you Mike

01:27:49   I want to thank fresh books for their

01:27:52   support of this show please take it upon

01:27:55   yourself if you are a freelancer to sign

01:27:58   up for fresh books now is the time I'm

01:28:01   gonna mention it again it's new year's

01:28:03   time it's time to make some changes make

01:28:05   this your yearly theme to get your

01:28:07   finances in order and one of the ways to

01:28:10   do that is to sign up for fresh books we

01:28:13   have been using them for our invoices

01:28:15   since day one of real AFM and it has

01:28:17   drastically reduced the amount of time

01:28:20   aggravation and hassle it takes for me

01:28:22   to get my job done fresh books can save

01:28:24   up to one hundred and ninety two hours

01:28:26   for freelancers with their cloud

01:28:28   accounting software because it's so easy

01:28:30   to use you get notifications that tell

01:28:32   you what you need to be focused on you

01:28:34   can automate late payment email

01:28:36   reminders so you don't have to spend

01:28:37   time chasing people you can even see

01:28:39   when somebody's looked at your invoice

01:28:40   so you just know you know it's there you

01:28:43   know it's been opened you can even see

01:28:44   if it's been printed it helps put an end

01:28:46   to those guessing games it's more than

01:28:48   just invoices you can set up projects

01:28:50   with your

01:28:51   and shared documents you can also have

01:28:53   all your expenses run through it is a

01:28:55   full system if you're not using fresh

01:28:58   books yet now is the time to try it

01:29:00   because they are offering an

01:29:01   unrestricted 30-day free trial for

01:29:04   core-tex listeners with no credit card

01:29:05   required just go to fresh books Comstock

01:29:08   or tax that is fresh books calm slash

01:29:10   cortex and when it tells you how did you

01:29:12   hear about them say that you heard about

01:29:14   them from this very show our thanks to

01:29:16   fresh books for their continued support

01:29:18   of the cortex podcast and relay FM so I

01:29:21   asked from the cortex Twitter account

01:29:23   which is at underscore cortex FM if

01:29:26   you're interested in following the

01:29:27   account for some ask cortex questions

01:29:29   related to yearly themes we have

01:29:33   answered throughout the course of this

01:29:34   conversation a lot of them there were

01:29:37   actually quite a few a surprising amount

01:29:39   of people that wanted to know about time

01:29:40   tracking so there you go you've got it

01:29:42   right those people those of you who care

01:29:43   about time tracking you've definitely

01:29:45   got that conversation this time but

01:29:47   there were a couple that I wanted to ask

01:29:49   you and for us to think about Toni asked

01:29:52   how do your themes inform your use of

01:29:55   devices and all your favorite apps now I

01:29:58   could say for me the one of the big

01:30:02   projects I'm trying to work on requires

01:30:04   a lot more planning than usually a show

01:30:06   that I would do requires it means more

01:30:08   writing to it it needs more thought it

01:30:10   needs more outlining so I am more

01:30:13   heavily using notes than I would

01:30:15   typically I will be using bear more for

01:30:19   longer pieces of writing and I'm

01:30:21   thinking about using something like an

01:30:23   app like mind node which is like a mind

01:30:27   mapping application to try to scrape out

01:30:29   some some big things some big

01:30:31   overarching ideas and to try and get my

01:30:33   thoughts more compiled so I think that

01:30:36   because of the way that meaning new work

01:30:38   the themes always inform the app choices

01:30:41   because this is how we get our work done

01:30:44   is with these apps so it does change I

01:30:46   mean I guess for you year of order will

01:30:49   mean finally getting your project

01:30:51   management in check yeah we can talk

01:30:54   about that on another show yes I'll say

01:30:58   that there's

01:30:59   two years ago one of the things that I

01:31:02   did which I need to do again for a

01:31:05   variety of reasons is I actually sat

01:31:07   down with good notes my my favorite

01:31:11   handwriting app and I was just writing

01:31:13   out what all of the devices were in my

01:31:16   life like okay which which iPads and

01:31:17   computers do I have like where are they

01:31:19   like what's here's I have a phone I have

01:31:21   a watch and I just sat down with that

01:31:24   list for a long time and sort of thought

01:31:26   very intentionally about what our each

01:31:29   of these devices for and so I think this

01:31:34   is a thing that people don't really do

01:31:37   like they just sort of happen to let

01:31:38   devices do whatever but I'm a big fan of

01:31:41   artificial restrictions around devices

01:31:45   and I'm definitely intending to again

01:31:50   sit down and really think through like

01:31:53   what is the minimum viable use for the

01:31:56   various devices in my life like I'm not

01:31:57   interested in devices that can do

01:31:59   absolutely everything all the time I'm

01:32:01   interested in being really intentional

01:32:02   about what they can do so when I was

01:32:06   doing it two years ago part of what I

01:32:08   was thinking about is like what

01:32:09   notifications can be seen where and you

01:32:14   know what devices do I have access to at

01:32:16   different times in the day and so

01:32:17   therefore what kinds of things do I want

01:32:20   to be able to do on them and then

01:32:22   setting up the devices as much as it was

01:32:24   possible so that those actions are the

01:32:26   only things that are possible to do on

01:32:29   those devices so I feel like the year

01:32:32   theme fits into that because it's it's

01:32:35   the idea of what do you want these

01:32:37   devices to do for you in your life and

01:32:39   yeah with the year of order I definitely

01:32:42   have a bunch of restructuring to do with

01:32:44   all of the devices in my life and

01:32:46   Jonathan asks what tools or mechanisms

01:32:48   you use to keep track of your yearly

01:32:50   themes do you review your progress

01:32:52   frequently do you do anything like this

01:32:54   there are things like I have a bunch of

01:32:57   questions that I kind of work through

01:32:58   and yeah one of the one of the questions

01:33:00   is it's nice I need a question but it's

01:33:02   like it's a note at the top of the

01:33:04   document that like this is the year of

01:33:05   whatever

01:33:06   and that's a thing that just exists to

01:33:08   keep it to keep it more present in my

01:33:10   mind as the years going along

01:33:11   what about you I don't say I don't think

01:33:13   I have a necessary structure because

01:33:15   like the first time I did it was last

01:33:16   year and the thing that I was doing

01:33:19   which is time tracking in and of itself

01:33:21   is a review which is constant right so

01:33:22   it wasn't really like I had to sit down

01:33:25   and I don't do the reviews the way that

01:33:27   you do that's not a thing that I do mmm

01:33:29   especially as well a lot of my work is

01:33:32   kind of itself structured in that way

01:33:35   that's true yeah I am very focused on

01:33:38   quarter-to-quarter because that's how my

01:33:40   business operates so I don't really have

01:33:43   to sit down and do a performance review

01:33:45   of myself because that I can see it on a

01:33:50   spreadsheet how the business is doing

01:33:51   and course-correct where needed I mean

01:33:55   maybe if I want to continue doing my

01:33:58   year of branching out it might require

01:34:00   more reviews because these are things

01:34:02   which are bigger than numbers these are

01:34:05   different things like last year I could

01:34:08   still really look at numbers more and

01:34:10   those numbers were in over themselves

01:34:12   just easy to see how it was going but my

01:34:15   branching out stuff it's a lot more

01:34:17   fluffy then last year's goals right so

01:34:20   it may require some progress reviews I

01:34:23   haven't worked that out yet

01:34:25   but it's probably something I should

01:34:26   think about and Jeff asked what is some

01:34:29   advice you would give to someone looking

01:34:30   to get their theme in place Oh number

01:34:34   one advice don't don't try to do it

01:34:36   quickly yeah like don't listen to this

01:34:38   show and think I have an idea for a

01:34:42   theme and as my theme for the year is

01:34:44   going to be this I like I think what has

01:34:48   happened in all of these cases is it's

01:34:49   been a kind of slow build this idea of

01:34:52   like hmm I think I need a theme for the

01:34:54   year or or like what is my theme for the

01:34:56   year going to be and it's useful to have

01:35:02   that as something that's on the back

01:35:04   burner and not something that you just

01:35:06   instantly decide because if you feel

01:35:08   like you go into the state where you are

01:35:10   thinking about what the theme should be

01:35:12   I feel like that helps you be more

01:35:15   observant in your own life about what

01:35:17   needs to happen like that's definitely

01:35:18   what happened to me

01:35:19   year we're coming out of the year of

01:35:22   chaos I thought like oh my chaotic life

01:35:24   doesn't need a year theme but simply

01:35:26   being aware like oh I'm gonna talk to

01:35:28   Mike about it at the end of January

01:35:30   started booting up a little process

01:35:31   where I noticed and thought much more

01:35:34   about how my life was going into things

01:35:36   that I wanted to change in my life so

01:35:38   without a doubt dude don't be hasty with

01:35:41   your year themes right like let it

01:35:43   simmer for a while like the idea of

01:35:46   yearly themes came to me when you

01:35:48   started talking about the year of less I

01:35:50   didn't have a theme and yeah I have a

01:35:52   theme the next year because we spent the

01:35:55   entire year talking about themes so it

01:35:58   like was embedding in my mind so

01:36:00   honestly I would say try if you think

01:36:03   that yearly themes are good they aim to

01:36:05   have one in 2019 like spend this next

01:36:08   year with that in mind and you know

01:36:10   maybe you could do what I did maybe in

01:36:12   June come up with a six month themes

01:36:14   like a theme for the rest of your year

01:36:15   but if something isn't jumping out to

01:36:17   you immediately like of course that's

01:36:20   what it is like

01:36:21   it's the clouds of parted and the idea

01:36:23   has come to your mind then just spend

01:36:25   some time rolling around this idea in

01:36:27   your brain that you want to have a

01:36:28   yearly theme listen to us talking about

01:36:31   our themes as we progress throughout the

01:36:32   year and stuff like that and then work

01:36:34   out what yours could be just through

01:36:36   kind of like osmosis of having this

01:36:38   thinking don't push it or I might

01:36:42   suggest if you want to get started a

01:36:43   little sooner it might be perfectly fine

01:36:47   to do like how I review my life in terms

01:36:49   of like seasons like thinking about

01:36:51   things more intentionally every season

01:36:53   well take me maybe start smaller called

01:36:56   gray quarterly like it's much better it

01:37:02   is much more romantic like to call it a

01:37:05   season right of course it is but is that

01:37:07   what we is that how we think about work

01:37:09   now I really appreciate the vague

01:37:11   boundaries of seasons I don't like the

01:37:14   precision of the quarter I like the

01:37:15   vague boundary of the season right so I

01:37:18   think also maybe breaking it down into

01:37:21   into smaller chunks like that might

01:37:23   might be helpful for just starting out a

01:37:25   little bit but yeah I think that the not

01:37:28   starting urgently is the main thing yeah

01:37:30   until next time until next time

01:37:32   good luck with your year themes