0:00:00is it too late to wish you a Happy New
0:00:01Year I don't think it's too late to wish
0:00:04you a happy Court Xmas yeah I feel like
0:00:08we need to really do that before because
0:00:11court Xmas has happened if we say it's
0:00:14going to happen now that's not true
0:00:16right because there will be more soon
0:00:18but we have had we had a lot of cortex
0:00:21misses in last year though let's be real
0:00:23right there are a lot of them so we're
0:00:25there I don't know it felt like they
0:00:26were so they were so few like court Xmas
0:00:29is such a precious time and I guess that
0:00:31ties into your 2017 theme was it no wait
0:00:36mine was the year of less right you will
0:00:38like year or something or other that no
0:00:40one could work out you don't remember my
0:00:42theme for the year I'm disappointed you
0:00:44don't know her Mike Mike confusing
0:00:45poorly articulated theme for the year I
0:00:47didn't know I didn't it's written in
0:00:50front of me and I still don't know what
0:00:53so we are gonna we're gonna talk about
0:00:55our yearly themes but we're gonna talk
0:00:59about last year's we're going to
0:01:00evaluate how we performed against our
0:01:04yearly themes so we kind of established
0:01:08these in episode 44 of cortex and spoke
0:01:11about them a little bit more in episode
0:01:1245 if you're catching up it's probably
0:01:14worth listening to those as well so you
0:01:16can hear us establish our themes
0:01:18my theme of 2017 was the year of Les
0:01:21which was your 2016 theme right that was
0:01:25where that debuted is the year of Les
0:01:27we've done this for three this is the
0:01:29third year Wow
0:01:30the third time that we've done becoming
0:01:32a real tradition yeah I think that the
0:01:342016 one wasn't as like set in stone
0:01:38like there wasn't a set in stone it was
0:01:40just like something you mentioned that
0:01:41was what you were thinking about in that
0:01:43year right but then I think I might have
0:01:45been in 2017 where we started to like
0:01:47think about this as a thing that doesn't
0:01:49we started to lock ourselves in mm-hmm
0:01:51check out like a narrow tradition going
0:01:53which is important yeah I guess I find
0:01:56traditions to be very important in
0:01:57podcast people can look forward to it
0:01:59and it's something that is obviously
0:02:02cool on because I had people even in
0:02:04person told me when are you doing the
0:02:072018 yeah episode so people like it yeah
0:02:10I've got to say a people that people do
0:02:12like it I had a number of
0:02:13we'll mention him person to me as well
0:02:15like they were thinking about their own
0:02:17themes for the year and I've seen a
0:02:19bunch of chatter on the core-tex
0:02:20subreddit about what people are going to
0:02:22do for their own games for the year so I
0:02:24do say I think people like it and you
0:02:27know when we started talking about this
0:02:29I just again reiterate that I really
0:02:31much prefer the idea of a theme versus a
0:02:33goal I still feel the need right now to
0:02:37to be able to back out and say like you
0:02:39don't necessarily need a theme every
0:02:40year it doesn't need to be a tradition
0:02:41we don't absolutely have to do this
0:02:43maybe some year it doesn't make sense to
0:02:44do right but no but that that year will
0:02:46just be the year of no theme right so
0:02:48that that's how that works right okay
0:02:50that's how that works that the yearly
0:02:52themed stuff was so much better than
0:02:54resolutions because resolutions are dumb
0:02:57what you're doing is creating a basic
0:03:00idea or framework that you can build
0:03:02many goals and resolutions in throughout
0:03:04the year yeah you know like instead of
0:03:06me saying oh my new year's resolution is
0:03:09to hire somebody it was no I'm gonna be
0:03:13doing a year of less and then part of
0:03:14that might be doing this but I want to
0:03:17see how it goes
0:03:17so it works way nicer because it's more
0:03:20open-ended it's just a phrase as opposed
0:03:23to like a thing that has an actual like
0:03:25binary yes or no did I achieve it and I
0:03:27think that is a much nicer way to think
0:03:30about my working life so I appreciate
0:03:33that introduction to the idea yeah it's
0:03:35it's way better for the reasons you said
0:03:37I also like the idea that you don't feel
0:03:39as bound by it like if someone sets up a
0:03:42theme for the year and they realize
0:03:43halfway through the year it doesn't make
0:03:44sense
0:03:44it is not the same thing as like oh I've
0:03:47said the goal that this is the year I'm
0:03:49going to be really healthy and now I'm
0:03:50just a big fat failure right it's it's a
0:03:52different it's a different thing of like
0:03:54I want to adjust the theme midstream you
0:03:56know like it's it's a much better way to
0:03:58think about things and again like I'll
0:04:00say that these are like my personal
0:04:02feelings on it so for my company we have
0:04:05goals and objectives that we want to hit
0:04:06right relate it around hard numbers and
0:04:09percentage increases of those numbers
0:04:11but for myself personally I don't really
0:04:15like to set those really really rigid
0:04:17goals as such and and I think it works
0:04:21better like a company is made up of a
0:04:22selection of people and I feel like that
0:04:25the goals if you if you want to
0:04:27look at like Oh what will I revenue be
0:04:28like or how many listeners what we have
0:04:30right there are types of things setting
0:04:32goals and objectives for those make
0:04:34sense because it is vital for the
0:04:37existence of the business that those
0:04:38things remain or grow where like for me
0:04:41personally it is not vital to my
0:04:44existence as to whether I well maybe I
0:04:47was gonna say whether I go to the gym
0:04:48three times a week or twice possibly it
0:04:51is maybe that's a bad example but like
0:04:53it is not vital to my existence of like
0:04:55oh how many books am I gonna read this
0:04:57year like I don't I don't live or die on
0:05:00that metric yeah I was just starting to
0:05:03laugh because I was thinking yeah it's a
0:05:05theme is personal to an individual which
0:05:08is also why it wouldn't make sense for a
0:05:10company to do like I was thinking if Tim
0:05:12Cook came out one day was like we
0:05:14haven't we have a theme for the year for
0:05:15Apple right and like what's going on
0:05:17with Apple this year he's like our theme
0:05:19for the year is beauty it'd be like
0:05:20uh-oh in real trouble because it's also
0:05:24just like what does that mean to people
0:05:27right you need to then let up have all
0:05:29these bullet points so I it's like that
0:05:31out here if you're a company you need
0:05:33some goals right you need some metrics
0:05:35but for your flourishing as an
0:05:37individual human a theme is a much
0:05:40better framework in which to operate so
0:05:41tell me Mike how did your year of Les go
0:05:45so I actually had two yearly themes one
0:05:48of them established itself halfway
0:05:50through the year that's see they're very
0:05:52open to change I did a I took it and
0:05:55turned it right i innovated on that on
0:05:57the theme idea and we'll get to the
0:05:59second one in a minute but mike the one
0:06:01that i established last year the
0:06:02beginning of the year was the year of
0:06:04less because i had spent a year talking
0:06:07to you and looking at all the things
0:06:09that you were doing and the improvements
0:06:10that you were making on your working
0:06:11life and throughout those conversations
0:06:14i decided that there were things that I
0:06:15needed to do for mine and one of the big
0:06:19big things for year of less was to get
0:06:22help to get some kind of assistance and
0:06:25I did we hired an assistant and this
0:06:28person has been excellent for us and
0:06:31we're giving more and more and more to
0:06:33them and it was a lot of work to get
0:06:36going my gosh my gosh was it a lot of
0:06:38work to get going
0:06:40with the interview process and then
0:06:42after all of that you've got a like help
0:06:44train someone right you can't just be
0:06:46like oh you go do your job can you
0:06:48remind me when when in the year did that
0:06:50happen like when did when were you doing
0:06:52interviews at the very beginning of the
0:06:54year I think it was maybe like February
0:06:56or March or something like that okay so
0:06:58it was very early in the year I just
0:07:00wasn't sure it was very early yeah um we
0:07:03did it I mean just going through I don't
0:07:06know if I spoke about at the time but
0:07:07I'm happy to say now I think we've got
0:07:09like a hundred and fifty applications
0:07:11for the job and we took ten people to
0:07:16interview now we thought our ten
0:07:18people's flight that's ten hours and we
0:07:20did it in one week it was like it was
0:07:23tough it was a lot of work to go through
0:07:25all of that information and 150 is a lot
0:07:28when it kind of gets a little
0:07:30mind-numbing because so many people
0:07:32write the same stuff right I mean that's
0:07:34the way that it's funny
0:07:36you kind of think and I know I've been
0:07:38in this position you think that there is
0:07:41a specific way in which you should apply
0:07:43for a job right the things that you
0:07:44write and things that you say but the
0:07:46problem with that is you then just blend
0:07:48in to like to everybody else like going
0:07:53through some of these applications I
0:07:54kind of was unable to tell where one
0:07:57person ended in the next person began by
0:08:00the end of it yeah yeah and then but
0:08:02you've also got the the opposite problem
0:08:03if you try and stick out too much you
0:08:05maybe take a bit of a risk it is a
0:08:07tricky thing to apply if it's a gel it's
0:08:10a delicate balance yet because if you
0:08:11stick out too much now you're the weirdo
0:08:14all right and like okay this is the
0:08:17application that sticks out way too much
0:08:19there are certain types of jobs where
0:08:20it's easier like with yours people were
0:08:23able to provide you with a piece of work
0:08:25right and so there is like a an
0:08:28entertainment quality value which makes
0:08:30somebody stick out I guess but for me it
0:08:33was just like write me a cover letter
0:08:35like that was what I wanted to see and
0:08:37it's always just text I mean and so yeah
0:08:40it felt like it was blending in a little
0:08:42bit but I don't know maybe it's just
0:08:43because I don't like to read I didn't
0:08:45enjoy it who knows no but it's it is
0:08:47it's going to be the case that when you
0:08:49when you start talking about
0:08:51hundred and fifty people applying to a
0:08:53thing they said this is where again like
0:08:57people then start falling into
0:08:59categories like you're mentally you
0:09:01can't deal with a hundred and fifty
0:09:03people in your brain and so you start
0:09:04like bidding people into groups and then
0:09:07that's where it's like uh other day like
0:09:09I have a lot of sympathy for everybody
0:09:10applying to any kind of job because
0:09:14that's that's part of what the trouble
0:09:15is is like trying to try to indicate to
0:09:18the person who's reading the
0:09:20applications what kind of person you are
0:09:23and and like that you can do the job and
0:09:26like how how do you signal that when
0:09:28your only tool is a resume it's it's
0:09:32incredibly different and the issue is it
0:09:34if you as the hiring manager want to get
0:09:40this done in a timely fashion there is
0:09:43nothing you can do than to just
0:09:45disregard some people right oh every if
0:09:48and it's a shame and I wished it kind of
0:09:50wasn't like this and you could in theory
0:09:53if you had a month to make your decision
0:09:56going through the resumes then you could
0:09:58read every one and consider them all but
0:10:00if you weren't trying to fill a position
0:10:02which typically whenever you're trying
0:10:04to fill a position speed is always good
0:10:06right yeah that's right there is just an
0:10:09unfortunate part of it in that you have
0:10:11to disregard some applications I mean
0:10:13and I'm I hired when I was working at
0:10:16the bank
0:10:16I used to hire as well as part of what I
0:10:18did it was the same thing there as well
0:10:20it's like some people you just like I
0:10:22can read this and feel like I have a
0:10:24good sense of the type of person you are
0:10:26and you're not the type of person I want
0:10:27for this job and it's like but have I
0:10:29really looked at it in detail
0:10:31unfortunately not but this kind of
0:10:33nothing you can do about it
0:10:35so sympathies to anybody applying for
0:10:38jobs it is horrible
0:10:40but anyway it really is the interesting
0:10:43thing I probably could have predicted
0:10:45this but it's good to know that whilst
0:10:47it is all great to have to do less work
0:10:49of my own right so I have somebody who's
0:10:52able to take work away from me and do it
0:10:54for me that's actually not the value the
0:10:57value is less aggravation I have less I
0:11:00find myself being less annoyed
0:11:04because there's this thing I have to do
0:11:06right I am able to move around some of
0:11:08the tasks that are less enjoyable or
0:11:12just things I've done too many times you
0:11:15know like there was some weekly tasks
0:11:16right which I've been doing for three
0:11:18years every single week and it was like
0:11:20a spreadsheet based tasks and so I get
0:11:22no joy out of this anymore I used to
0:11:24enjoy it but I don't like it anymore and
0:11:26I could sit down to do it on like a
0:11:28Sunday evening or a Monday morning and
0:11:30it was like oh here we go again right
0:11:32and being able to pass that stuff away I
0:11:35have way less tasks that I have roll my
0:11:38eyes at now and that has been a
0:11:40wonderful result of my yearly theme is
0:11:45it is not basically it's like a year of
0:11:48less comma work slash annoyance and
0:11:51that's very great right the other thing
0:11:55that I did as part of my year of less
0:11:57was time tracking and that ended up
0:11:59becoming a thing that I would eventually
0:12:01start doing was like tracking my time
0:12:03and the benefit for me is that time
0:12:07tracking has had and continues through
0:12:10highlight areas that I was spending too
0:12:12much time in right everybody like all
0:12:14here are the things I'm spending too
0:12:16much time in this blah blah blah blah
0:12:17blah but it hasn't again that that was
0:12:21what I expected would be the case right
0:12:23like oh it would tell me the things I'm
0:12:24spending too much time in and then I
0:12:26would stop doing so many of those things
0:12:28right that was my initial thought that
0:12:31was my hypothesis in the same way that
0:12:32like hiring an assistant means I will do
0:12:35less work but the result has actually
0:12:38been time tracking has helped me
0:12:42highlight how much work I actually do
0:12:44and those numbers make me feel
0:12:47psychologically better because anybody
0:12:52that runs their own business especially
0:12:54but anybody that is very invested in the
0:12:56work that they do the can can get into a
0:13:00situation where it's on your mind all
0:13:02the time yeah so you feel like you're
0:13:05working 24 hours a day so to be able to
0:13:09look at graphs and chance and say like
0:13:12Oh on Monday I actually only worked for
0:13:14five hours not 23 there is like a sigh
0:13:17psychological benefit in that for me
0:13:20where I don't feel like I'm as busy
0:13:24anymore because I actually have some
0:13:26stuff that I can point to yeah I think
0:13:29the phrase you used earlier in the year
0:13:32talking about this was was that you can
0:13:34talk back to your mind and I think
0:13:37that's that's a great that's a great
0:13:39phrase because it's when your brain
0:13:42thinks that you've been way busier than
0:13:45you actually are it's you know it's busy
0:13:48releasing all of the stress home
0:13:49hormones and worries that are related to
0:13:51that and it's it's a way to try to
0:13:53calibrate your brain to say I guess
0:13:56we're we're busy but it's not what you
0:14:00think it is brain so you can chill out
0:14:03we don't need to be at 11 on the anxiety
0:14:06meter of all the stuff that needs to get
0:14:07done we can take it back to a much more
0:14:09reasonable level and here's a
0:14:11spreadsheet that you can look at which
0:14:13proves this to you so I think that's a
0:14:16that's a really good point about the
0:14:18time tracking you know the service that
0:14:20we both use toggle they have good
0:14:22they're pretty good reports and when the
0:14:25Year ticked over a mutual friend
0:14:28Federico 40g he tweeted he's like he
0:14:30tweeted his graph right like his pie
0:14:32chart to show like how his workers per
0:14:33glass a good idea so I looked at mine
0:14:35and I again always find interesting
0:14:38things 50% of my working time in 2017
0:14:42was spent editing podcasts whilst 25%
0:14:45was recording this is not a surprise to
0:14:47me because I a some projects don't take
0:14:52twice the amount of time they take to
0:14:53record but some take four or five times
0:14:55right depending on what the the show is
0:14:58and what I'm doing and when I mean I
0:15:01kind of shared this online as well so
0:15:03thought it was very interesting and I
0:15:04had a few people reach out to me
0:15:05offering their editing services right
0:15:07mmm and it was like it is interesting
0:15:11that that is what people take from it
0:15:13they see that and they're like oh you
0:15:15must want to do less of it but I don't
0:15:17really like that's not what that means
0:15:19it's like okay I see it's 50% of my time
0:15:22but I consider that time valuable right
0:15:26and there have been projects in 2017
0:15:29that I have handed over to
0:15:31else I am just about to hand over
0:15:33another show to be edited by somebody
0:15:35else which is great because it's
0:15:37probably one that what I know this
0:15:39person can do it very well and there's
0:15:41no need for me to continue doing it
0:15:43anymore specifically so it's fine right
0:15:45I can hand that one over but I'm not
0:15:48dying to do that for any of the projects
0:15:50that I'm currently doing because we work
0:15:52with some very talented editors we have
0:15:54a few people that we work with real AFM
0:15:56who we give these projects to so I know
0:15:58there are people that can do it but I
0:16:00don't feel like I need to I want to like
0:16:02I think people look at some of like they
0:16:04look at podcast editing or they look at
0:16:06some tasks and they're like oh that's
0:16:08just like monkey work right you don't
0:16:10want to do that but I make podcasts
0:16:13that's my job like that's what I do and
0:16:16part of that is the editing of them so
0:16:18it's like would as someone's like all
0:16:20you do 25% of your time is spent hosting
0:16:23a show you should give I should do that
0:16:26for you right like I can take some of
0:16:28that time away for you and it's like
0:16:30well no right it's but it's the same
0:16:32thing to me and I think you would agree
0:16:33rightly you could hand over the editing
0:16:35of all of your shows but you choose not
0:16:37to it's it's something you can get help
0:16:39along the way but you still want to be
0:16:41involved in it yeah and like what you
0:16:45would you ideally want having brought on
0:16:48the assistant is to see that in the pie
0:16:51chart of your working life that a larger
0:16:54percentage of it is being made of what
0:16:58are the like the core value producing
0:17:01yep activities that you engage in and
0:17:04the editing is an example of something
0:17:07that it's like invisible work all right
0:17:11when a show is well edited people are
0:17:13not aware of it and so people can easily
0:17:18think of something like that as oh you
0:17:21can just have somebody else do that but
0:17:23for some of the shows that you work on
0:17:26they're like the the the voice of this
0:17:29show or the particular way that things
0:17:31come out is is really dependent on
0:17:34exactly the Edit I have to say I am a
0:17:37little bit surprised at though at the
0:17:39ratio of your editing time versus
0:17:40recording so I was surprised about it I
0:17:42was
0:17:44but like I see it and I'm like okay
0:17:46right like it was a surprise to me but
0:17:48it's like if that's what it takes that's
0:17:51what he takes I mean okay I also say
0:17:53like bug us editing also includes all of
0:17:55the posting and all that sort of stuff
0:17:57so we can add a little bin one time on
0:17:59every time right like you know it might
0:18:01add like 15 minutes on every single time
0:18:04okay that makes more that makes more
0:18:06sense though actually in that ratio it
0:18:09includes everything that happens from
0:18:11the moment I open logic to the moment
0:18:14that the show is posted right Lee
0:18:16includes all of that stuff I had like a
0:18:19show posting thing for a while but it
0:18:21just seemed silly to me because it was
0:18:22just stopped one time I start another
0:18:25timer because by and large I post a show
0:18:29immediately after he's finished editing
0:18:31typically right like I don't have many
0:18:33shows that that's not the case so I kind
0:18:34of just leave that one that one thing so
0:18:37I mean the ratio I actually was kind of
0:18:39happy with that it's like I start with
0:18:41preparation double the amount of
0:18:45preparations into recording and then
0:18:47double the amount of recording is into
0:18:50editing it was like okay like that's
0:18:52that's interesting that's kind of how it
0:18:54breaks down for me so yeah I feel like
0:18:57all kind of worked out yeah I was just I
0:18:59was just pulling up my own report shows
0:19:01curious to see and of course this is
0:19:04it's not entirely fair but I was looking
0:19:06at with cortex like what is the ratio of
0:19:08preparation and editing versus recording
0:19:11time and mine is a lot closer to 5050
0:19:13but that's because I'm able to out I
0:19:15think about the farm out most of the
0:19:17work of producing cortex do you Mike but
0:19:20I was just kind of curious to see to see
0:19:22what it is that it's that for me the
0:19:23ratio on this show is a lot closer to
0:19:255050 for how much time is recording
0:19:26versus how much time is involved in in
0:19:28absolutely everything else yeah and I
0:19:31guess it's worth mentioning that a vast
0:19:33percentage of my cast recording time is
0:19:36cortex that's I wasn't gonna ask but I
0:19:40figured that this is I know that this is
0:19:42the bulk of the work yeah in terms of in
0:19:45terms of any particular show how much
0:19:46time do you spend and I know that I
0:19:48place a heavy editing burden on you Mike
0:19:51and I apologize for that
0:19:52there is no I said as many times there's
0:19:54no apology needed like I am
0:19:56to do it because the show it all works
0:20:00out right like the time that I put into
0:20:01it the compensation works great like
0:20:04it's fine like I'm happy too like if the
0:20:06show is this show had like five hundred
0:20:08people that listen to it I wouldn't do
0:20:11this right but but it all works out at
0:20:14the end of the day so like I'm fine with
0:20:16it right like it all works out but it
0:20:18says the other thing like looking back
0:20:19on the year for you of trying time
0:20:23tracking like do you like you said with
0:20:25this show you feel like the amount of
0:20:28time you spend on it and the reward you
0:20:29get from it is is comparable do you feel
0:20:31like now with a year's worth of data
0:20:33that tracks well across all of your
0:20:35projects like do you feel that your
0:20:37projects get the amount of time that
0:20:40they deserve or do you feel like there's
0:20:42stuff that's over or under served I
0:20:44think by and large I am happy with the
0:20:48balance of my stuff especially because
0:20:53you know I've seen some of those things
0:20:55go down so some of again so I'm gonna
0:20:58put a link to this image in the show
0:20:59notes so people can see it and give a
0:21:01bit of color around a couple of things
0:21:03so you know you can see some of these
0:21:04things are self-explanatory right
0:21:06editing recording sure preparation
0:21:08sponsor booking that is like when we
0:21:10have a sponsor and we're inputting all
0:21:12of their information and dealing with
0:21:13contracts and stuff like that and also
0:21:15contacting new people it's all of that
0:21:17kind of stuff
0:21:18sponsor aftercare that's just a phrase
0:21:20that I made up that just means like
0:21:23answering questions and working on
0:21:26things that people need right so like
0:21:28you know our sponsors might need certain
0:21:30things that decreased significantly for
0:21:32me as the year went on because this was
0:21:36a lot of stuff that we handed over to my
0:21:37assistant is the aftercare stuff so like
0:21:40dealing with people's queries and
0:21:41questions and stuff like that the one
0:21:43that was really surprised about was hi
0:21:45how highly the Mac stories project I was
0:21:49just looking at this the fact that Mac
0:21:50stories even registers is a thing for
0:21:52the whole year is hilarious to me that
0:21:54was the production of the audiobook that
0:21:56I put together it was a significant
0:21:59portion of my year so that was a big
0:22:00surprise it taught me some some things
0:22:02to think about for the future if I'm
0:22:04ever going to do that kind of thing
0:22:05again because it also went higher than
0:22:07it's a real AFM general
0:22:09is typically whenever me and Steven have
0:22:12calls about the company I did less of
0:22:15that in time in the entire year.then
0:22:20working on the audio book so that was
0:22:22fun that was a fun thing to say but the
0:22:25overall balance of this list I am I have
0:22:29no immediate need to change any of it I
0:22:33am happy with it I did look by the way
0:22:36and cortex accounts for 10% of the
0:22:40overall editing time mmm which I okay so
0:22:4210 10% of that 50% yeah 10% of the of
0:22:46the 50% so it was about it was about 70
0:22:49to 80 hours right now that's interesting
0:22:52because I mean our show is effectively
0:22:55one every three to four weeks pretty
0:22:58much on that no no it no it's this wave
0:23:00more frequent than that it's no no it's
0:23:03about three because it used to be every
0:23:04two weeks most of the years one every
0:23:06month like a 2017 so we're about three
0:23:08weeks I would say is fine but every
0:23:12other show I do by and large is weekly I
0:23:14have a couple of fortnightly shows so
0:23:1710% of that overall thing is significant
0:23:20right there are some significant snows
0:23:21so that we're getting really into the
0:23:23weeds now but time tracking was very
0:23:26good because now I am able to value my
0:23:29doing nothing time significantly more
0:23:32mmm I don't feel like when I'm doing
0:23:36nothing when I am playing stardew valley
0:23:38I am not like I'm not working I'm not
0:23:43working I've not done enough today I
0:23:45don't worry about that stuff anymore
0:23:46because I have a much greater sense for
0:23:49how long it takes me to take care of my
0:23:51work and right it turns out it's not 15
0:23:55hours a day
0:23:56it's more like six or seven right that's
0:23:59typically my work amount in during a day
0:24:02but it's spread throughout the day right
0:24:03so it feels like the work day begins at
0:24:078:00 and ends at 2:00 because my work
0:24:09happens at chunks throughout the day but
0:24:12once I got a better handle on how my
0:24:14time was spent which I did this year I
0:24:16was a time able to value everything more
0:24:19than before so that has been a great
0:24:21great goal for me a great thing
0:24:23to achieve yeah I think that that is I
0:24:25mean they're sort of jumping ahead a
0:24:27little bit this does tie into some of my
0:24:29own thoughts for the the previous year
0:24:31but yeah being able to being able to
0:24:36turn a bunch of that doing nothing time
0:24:39mentally from from like a like a guilty
0:24:44pleasure into no I'm just doing this and
0:24:47it's fine is a big psychological
0:24:50advantage and pick it is difficult for
0:24:53everybody but it is also especially
0:24:55difficult if you're a self-employed like
0:24:56this is the thing that I just when I
0:24:58talk to people who are self-employed is
0:24:59it is a constant refrain that it can be
0:25:02so you have so much that is under your
0:25:04control but it can be very difficult to
0:25:07enjoy your free time because there is
0:25:10this endless list of things that could
0:25:12in theory be done so it's it's really
0:25:15great to hear that that the time
0:25:16tracking is helping you feel like you
0:25:18have evidence to show your brain that
0:25:20you've done stuff you have a good
0:25:22estimate of how long things take you and
0:25:25then that that makes your doing nothing
0:25:28a relaxing time more able to be valued
0:25:31in in the moment so that that sounds
0:25:33like a really great improvement and
0:25:34another thing that I was even surprised
0:25:38to discover so I have no idea I don't
0:25:40know if anybody cares enough to pay
0:25:42attention to this kind of thing mm-hmm
0:25:45but I I would say this is probably a
0:25:47surprise for anybody that does pay
0:25:49attention including myself for the first
0:25:51time it may be my entire podcasting
0:25:53career 2017 was the first time that I
0:25:58have not launched a new show that I have
0:26:00been a part of I find this totally
0:26:03shocking I couldn't believe it I like I
0:26:05found it out by accident because I was
0:26:08for some other purposes I was looking at
0:26:11all of the shows that we've launched in
0:26:132017 and I realized I'm not on any of
0:26:17them yeah yeah when you mentioned this
0:26:20to me I felt like it blew my mind
0:26:22I don't know surely you're wrong surely
0:26:25you're wrong but I'm not wrong I this is
0:26:28the first time ever and I was like wow
0:26:30this is a big surprise to me how do you
0:26:32feel about that what it tells me is that
0:26:35I internalized
0:26:36two-year theme I have had ideas that
0:26:40I've just not done because that's adding
0:26:43more right
0:26:44a new show is adding more and I mean I
0:26:48had some projects that I've been working
0:26:50on in 2017 that I killed at the last
0:26:52minute because I came to realize how
0:26:55much work they would have taken and I
0:26:57didn't believe that the valley would
0:26:59would be there ultimately evil
0:27:01creatively or financially so I decided
0:27:03not to go through with them and this
0:27:05isn't a thing so when we talk about my
0:27:07next yearly theme it is building on what
0:27:10I learned and how I think to go forward
0:27:12from it but this was a big surprise to
0:27:14me because I really do believe that this
0:27:16is the first time in seven years that I
0:27:20have not launched a new show in like an
0:27:24ADEA period
0:27:24so I think that that tells me that the
0:27:30year of less theme was was a significant
0:27:33success because I internalized something
0:27:39and basically stopped myself from this
0:27:43habit that I have built up over the last
0:27:46seven years of every time I have an idea
0:27:49I just do it so I was pretty proud I was
0:27:55pretty happy to see that it's it may
0:27:57sound like a strange thing to do but but
0:27:58I I feel like I am so congratulatory
0:28:01towards you on that because it is really
0:28:05hard not to just go with all of the new
0:28:09projects and especially when you when
0:28:12you have the power to make those
0:28:14projects happen nobody's right yeah no
0:28:17exactly it's like nobody can stop you
0:28:20which is the best and the worst part of
0:28:22it right like you would you want to do a
0:28:24new project like there's nobody to stop
0:28:25you and and it's always like the new the
0:28:28new project is always more exciting than
0:28:30the current current project right it's
0:28:32always like ooh this new project so
0:28:34exciting is turning my head it's like
0:28:37well you know but it takes it takes a
0:28:39lot of recognition and ability to do not
0:28:44pursue all of those things so yeah
0:28:47whenever was you told me a couple weeks
0:28:48ago that you hadn't you know
0:28:50new show in 2017 and I just found it
0:28:52mind-blowing but I really do think it's
0:28:55great and I would also suspect that this
0:28:59is this is partly a better ability on on
0:29:03your part after having done this for
0:29:05many years to have a sense of what a
0:29:09potentially good payoff for a project is
0:29:11or isn't yeah when you're when you're
0:29:14newer it makes more sense to just like
0:29:17try a bunch of stuff and see what what
0:29:19sticks on the wall but you know now now
0:29:22that you are an established podcast
0:29:24person you have an established podcast
0:29:26network and you now have a better sense
0:29:29of the value of your time it makes less
0:29:32sense to go off on a whole bunch of new
0:29:34projects like they can be damaging in a
0:29:36way and you also probably have a better
0:29:38internal mental compass about what are
0:29:43the valuable directions to go in and and
0:29:46not everything that occurs to you that
0:29:47seems like a great idea one week is is a
0:29:50good way to go
0:29:51the following week yeah like I've made a
0:29:54conscious effort that if I have an idea
0:29:57and begin on it
0:29:58I don't launch it quickly like I spend I
0:30:02have I have mean we've had shows that we
0:30:05even have artwork for that will never be
0:30:07used now I've seen some of that art
0:30:09we've seen some it's very nice it's
0:30:10wonderful it's actually one of my
0:30:12favorites ever but no one's ever gonna
0:30:14see it don't ask you won't see it sorry
0:30:16maybe I'll use it for something one day
0:30:18and if I ever use it then I'll tell you
0:30:20that that's what it that it was for the
0:30:22secret project but it was just the look
0:30:25I I kind of let it just a a little bit
0:30:28and decided that no I don't think this
0:30:31is the right thing for me to do so I've
0:30:34had a few things like that this year and
0:30:36I think it's been of great benefit and
0:30:38an essay it ties him to my 2018 theme
0:30:41which was all about in a bit because I
0:30:42still have I had a lot of things I love
0:30:44stuff to say this time
0:30:46halfway through 2017 I started my second
0:30:51yearly theme which will run until June
0:30:53of this year which is the year of
0:30:56positivity slash optimism I refer it to
0:30:58both things I can never remember which
0:31:00one it is but we'll call it the year of
0:31:02optimism right and it follows the Apple
0:31:04calendar year it follows the Apple
0:31:06calendar year so WWDC to WWDC so much of
0:31:10my life is focused around talking about
0:31:12technology with a significant focus on
0:31:14Apple anybody listens to this show knows
0:31:17that and 2015 to 2016 to 2017 there was
0:31:24a decline in overall excitedness amongst
0:31:26people that care about Apple products
0:31:28there was a lot more frustrations and
0:31:30they ever had been and this really
0:31:32culminated in the beginning of 2017 it
0:31:35was just a bad time there were no new
0:31:37products everyone was happy no matter
0:31:39what you liked there was nothing for you
0:31:41yeah I still think of this period of
0:31:43time in my mind as the the Apple Valley
0:31:45of darkness we were wondering it was a
0:31:47very it was a dark time if you cared
0:31:49about this stuff it was a dark time
0:31:50because everything that happened was not
0:31:52good then WWDC 2017 was like the apology
0:31:58year and everybody got something it was
0:32:01Tim Cook turned into Oprah and everyone
0:32:03got something right there was something
0:32:06under everybody's seat and we all got
0:32:08the thing that we wanted so I decided to
0:32:11make a concerted effort which I'm still
0:32:12working on that I would try and be more
0:32:14positive and optimistic when talking
0:32:17about technology because that's what I
0:32:21enjoy I actually don't like being mad
0:32:23about it I like to enjoy it that's why I
0:32:26talk about it's not fun so I've been
0:32:29focusing on that and of course you slip
0:32:30every now and then but the overall
0:32:32feeling is that it's gonna be cool and
0:32:34we're gonna enjoy it and it's gonna be
0:32:35great so I'm happier to talk about this
0:32:38stuff on shows now because I'm generally
0:32:40more happy about it so that was that's
0:32:43my theme so my theme for 2017 and I'm
0:32:45very happy with them yeah I feel like
0:32:47the the year of positivity at least from
0:32:49my subjective experience was it was good
0:32:53it's good timing and also sort of like
0:32:56good for your mental health because yeah
0:32:58it's like yeah I also listen to a bunch
0:33:00of these shows like the same shows that
0:33:02you listen to words like everybody's
0:33:03wandering through this valley of
0:33:05Darkness together and like yeah it is it
0:33:08is terrible but at a certain point you
0:33:10just get tired of listening to everybody
0:33:12talk about how stuff is terrible even
0:33:14when like I too am there in the valley
0:33:16of darkness like
0:33:17talking about how things suck as well
0:33:18right like we're all here together but
0:33:21the this is one of these things where
0:33:24like for mental health sometimes you
0:33:26have to take a little bit of a like a
0:33:27revaluation and say like yeah stuff
0:33:29sucks but I'm gonna try to force through
0:33:32a thing and happiness is one of those
0:33:36those funny
0:33:37those funny topics like it's a where you
0:33:39you can make things better through it
0:33:42through like a playing tricks on
0:33:45yourself and in in some ways like
0:33:46deciding that you're going to be you're
0:33:48going to have a more positive outlook on
0:33:50stuff you can make that start to occur
0:33:53and I think it also happened to be great
0:33:56timing and a good time to start it with
0:33:57the 2017 WWDC but yeah I'm very glad
0:34:02that were past that part and I have to
0:34:05say as a listener to your shows I was
0:34:07always glad when when you were doing the
0:34:09the year positivity and I feel like
0:34:11there were a few moments where it really
0:34:13came through they're like oh there's
0:34:15Mike being positive about stuff like I
0:34:16can hear him doing it and as a listener
0:34:18I was appreciative saying it's a mental
0:34:21health thing is a really good point
0:34:23because it was like I was just finding
0:34:26myself just being sad about the thing
0:34:28that I liked and then having to talk
0:34:30about it like three times a week every
0:34:31week and it's just like this isn't good
0:34:34for my overall feeling so I decided to
0:34:37make of change to it and to try and see
0:34:39the light side of things it's still a
0:34:42battle because I have a lot of opinions
0:34:44and sometimes my opinions aren't always
0:34:46that things are good but ultimately I've
0:34:49been very happy I mean this came out a
0:34:52couple of weeks ago when I was talking
0:34:54about my mic general contenders in
0:34:57technology which you decided to be a
0:34:59rain cloud over but we don't have to
0:35:00worry about things like that
0:35:02my general my general feeling about
0:35:04right now is that I'm very I'm very
0:35:08happy with my technology right now and I
0:35:11feel like I'm still on I'm still on the
0:35:12righteous path of the multi pad
0:35:14lifestyle even though some people
0:35:15decided to leave it so anyway let's talk
0:35:18about your incredibly confusing 2017
0:35:20theme the year of betrayal I think you
0:35:25can't let other people's happiness get
0:35:26in the way of your
0:35:30today's episode of cortex is brought to
0:35:32you in part by our friends hover
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0:35:41exactly what you are passionate about
0:35:42when it comes to thinking about new
0:35:45projects there is never a better time
0:35:47than the beginning of the year and any
0:35:50new project comes with a new website and
0:35:53that website needs a wicked call domain
0:35:55name and that is why I have used hover
0:35:58for so long for this stuff any project
0:36:01that pops into my hand I will go there
0:36:03and just get the domain for it like what
0:36:06do you have to lose even if you just
0:36:07stick on to it for one year of a yearly
0:36:09theme right at least you've got it if
0:36:11the name is there you've got it it's
0:36:13locked down hover is super super simple
0:36:16they allow you to keep your domain
0:36:18separate from your hosting so you never
0:36:19have to get stuck of a service that
0:36:21doesn't meet your needs and what I love
0:36:23is that they have best-in-class customer
0:36:25support they have their hover connect
0:36:27feature that allows you to connect your
0:36:28domain to any website builder with just
0:36:31a few simple clicks they do personalized
0:36:33email that you can match your domain
0:36:35that's a super professional thing by the
0:36:37way you know grabbing a domain name of
0:36:38your own and setting up an email address
0:36:40rather than using Gmail or something
0:36:42that looks real good and and that's a
0:36:44great reason to get a domain I think
0:36:46most people don't really think of very
0:36:47much and of course who is privacy is
0:36:49free so bad guys don't get your
0:36:51information if you want to show the
0:36:53world what you're passionate about and
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0:37:10looking back on my my past year and had
0:37:14a at a confusing start with a terrible
0:37:16name which so I originally was calling
0:37:18it the year of Nu and then a listener to
0:37:21the show having having heard me try to
0:37:23wander through a bad description of what
0:37:24I was up to redubbed it's the year of
0:37:27redirection as you want actually doing
0:37:31anything new so maybe the funny thing is
0:37:33in retro I was I was going through this
0:37:35morning getting ready for the show and I
0:37:36was going through all of my records from
0:37:39the year and looking stuff over
0:37:40and it's funny to me because actually
0:37:43calling it the year of knew slash
0:37:44redirection is actually perfect because
0:37:46there were like a bazillion new things
0:37:48this year it just it just so happens
0:37:51that this stuff isn't really public
0:37:53facing to people but your year of new
0:37:55slash redirection actually ended up
0:37:58being just a perfect name for the year
0:37:59but while I was while I was going
0:38:01through the year I was thinking of it as
0:38:03the year of redirection and what this
0:38:07what this meant for me was trying to
0:38:12think more deliberately about how I am
0:38:15spending my time like what what things
0:38:19maybe have too much time where are some
0:38:21areas where I should spend more time in
0:38:24a different way than I that I currently
0:38:27was and part of this part of this was
0:38:31that going into 2017 I feel like I was
0:38:35dealing with a little bit of burnout so
0:38:37I was trying to think about how can I
0:38:39arrange my working life in a different
0:38:42way or how can I do a bunch of things in
0:38:44a different way in that upcoming year
0:38:47there is a little bit of a funny thing
0:38:49talking about this year because I
0:38:50realized that this again is one of these
0:38:54funny moments where I feel like I'm
0:38:55coming up against this this this edge of
0:38:58like being a private person who makes
0:39:01his living in a very public way and also
0:39:03there was just a bunch of stuff that
0:39:04happened business-wise that doesn't make
0:39:06sense really to talk about in a public
0:39:08way so I it's funny because it's like I
0:39:11had all of this stuff happen and I
0:39:14redirected a bunch of my energy and time
0:39:16on various projects but so I'm gonna
0:39:18have to talk about this in like kind of
0:39:20a high-level way but I'm aware of that
0:39:23because there's a bunch of places where
0:39:24it's like I just I just don't either
0:39:25want to or it doesn't make sense really
0:39:27to go into the details the lazer shock
0:39:29business is booming Mike don't tell
0:39:32people about the losers the volcano
0:39:34where extraction companies just it's
0:39:36working excellently you joke but you're
0:39:39closer than you think
0:39:42I'm still convinced that you are trying
0:39:45to build an office building I am
0:39:47convinced that this I absolutely 100% I
0:39:50believe that you are trying to build an
0:39:53office complex but this is
0:39:54these are the felt I'd love to do it but
0:39:57I've got to finish my clothing assembly
0:39:59line first right like there's only so
0:40:00much only so many industries and
0:40:03factories you can it's totally true but
0:40:10yeah so so there's a bunch of stuff
0:40:12which is not obvious to people but like
0:40:13one of the things that people who pay
0:40:16very close attention to the numbers
0:40:18would notice is like a thing that I
0:40:21decided to do which you were sort of
0:40:23referencing earlier is I very
0:40:26intentionally at the beginning of 2017
0:40:28decided to crank down my podcast output
0:40:33just a little bit so if someone is going
0:40:37through like how many episodes were
0:40:38published he's month you were joking
0:40:40about there being more cortex misses but
0:40:42they're totally were and that was that
0:40:45was a very intentional decision on my
0:40:47part this was something that we
0:40:49discussed and we worked out a good plan
0:40:51for the year and I think we were but I
0:40:53was very happy with the the output of
0:40:56the last year's shows as well and yeah
0:40:58it was less but I don't I actually think
0:41:01it was a positive impact on the show
0:41:03overall yeah and I have to say you you
0:41:05were great to work with during this time
0:41:07because like it's it is it is this like
0:41:10one person is saying like I want to pull
0:41:12back 15% right over the course of the
0:41:16year and it's like well it's a
0:41:18partnership like we work on this thing
0:41:19together but you you were great with
0:41:21this and so that was one of the big
0:41:24things with with the year of a
0:41:25redirection for me was like this was one
0:41:27area where I thought the podcasts are
0:41:30great they're a great way for me to
0:41:32spend my time but I was also aware of
0:41:35like man I have this little bit of a
0:41:37feeling of burnout that it's like every
0:41:40week there is a show to do and I need to
0:41:44have a few more times in the year where
0:41:46it's like okay I have one or two weeks
0:41:49in a row where there's no podcasts and I
0:41:52think this is this is the case of of
0:41:54being like being an introverted person I
0:42:00always do find that the podcasts are
0:42:03quite mentally draining in this very
0:42:05particular way and I just needed some
0:42:08little bit more time to like recoup from
0:42:10that that was a case where year of
0:42:12redirection was was great like just
0:42:15pulling back a little bit like I said
0:42:18about 15% was was fantastic and is one
0:42:21of these cases where it's like okay I'm
0:42:23taking a small hit business-wise but I'm
0:42:28getting a massive improvement like
0:42:30psychologically like I feel much better
0:42:32about this and I also think it made the
0:42:35shows genuinely better as well to have
0:42:37like more breaks I would say from my
0:42:39perspective less shows meant that I
0:42:43could prepare better for all of them so
0:42:46like the things that we were talking
0:42:48about and themes like I I was happier
0:42:51with our 2017 output than our 2016
0:42:53output because I have more time to come
0:42:56up with ideas and it is worth noting
0:42:58that this year will probably be pretty
0:42:59similar sometimes there's one sometimes
0:43:01it's two and that's kind of just how
0:43:03we're gonna be going forward because it
0:43:06fits into both of our schedules really
0:43:08nicely because in case you'd never
0:43:09guessed we travel quite a lot and
0:43:12sometimes it can be a nightmare for us
0:43:15to align our travel schedules like that
0:43:17is an example of the thing where in one
0:43:20way it sounds like an easy and easy
0:43:23thing to say like oh I'm just gonna pull
0:43:24back a little bit but I did this across
0:43:26like all of my various business
0:43:28endeavors was trying to pull back like
0:43:2915% like across the board and everything
0:43:31I'm involved with like in everything
0:43:33that I do and that ended up being like a
0:43:36whole year long project and it was like
0:43:39a very carefully managed thing and
0:43:41trying to like balance a whole bunch of
0:43:43inputs and outputs like that that was a
0:43:45really big deal but I feel like it was a
0:43:47huge success and a big win on my part
0:43:50and there were a number of times in the
0:43:52year where having that like extra 15
0:43:56percent of time really did allow me to
0:43:59redirect efforts and energy into other
0:44:03things that came up or things that ended
0:44:05up being new endeavors of one kind or
0:44:07another so it was it was really great
0:44:11for me and I'm so glad I did it but I
0:44:13remember at the beginning of 2017 like I
0:44:16was looking back through my my initial
0:44:17planning now it sounds like man I was
0:44:19really worried that it was
0:44:21make 2017 just a total disaster that
0:44:24little bit of a pull back but it didn't
0:44:26it was it was really a really a great
0:44:28decision a disaster in what way like
0:44:31I've never had things on regular
0:44:34schedules obviously but I feel like
0:44:37there's got to be some kind of minimum
0:44:39threshold below which you go that it it
0:44:42starts turning bad like and I was
0:44:45worried like maybe I'm closer to
0:44:46whatever that minimum threshold is then
0:44:49I thought and going like 15% less will
0:44:52bring me below that threshold but it
0:44:54turned out that's not the case so it's
0:44:56like everything keeps growing and like
0:44:58like we said the show was actually doing
0:44:59better than they were before so I was
0:45:02just worried like how close am I to the
0:45:04edge of too infrequent and maybe I'm way
0:45:08closer to that edge than I think but so
0:45:12now it worked out great and like I said
0:45:14for me personally it was really great
0:45:16and it was really important during a
0:45:17couple of times in the year in
0:45:19particular yeah so that that is like one
0:45:21of the most public facing ways that
0:45:23people can see something is different in
0:45:25in the year of redirection but you
0:45:28brought up you brought up travel Mike
0:45:30and this is where I feel like the year
0:45:33of new is is a thing because this past
0:45:39the amount of travel that I did exploded
0:45:43it just exploded in this totally
0:45:48unexpected way and I feel I feel like
0:45:51here's here's the best way I can because
0:45:53I was looking at like how much time I've
0:45:55spent in airports this year which is
0:45:56like phenomenal time but the thing that
0:46:00really the thing that really hit home
0:46:02which just happened yesterday was at the
0:46:06beginning of the year I sort of knew
0:46:08that I was going to be doing a bunch
0:46:10more traveling I had a vague idea that
0:46:11this was a thing that was going to
0:46:12happen in the year and I was talking to
0:46:15a friend of mine about it and he
0:46:17convinced me to sign up for one of the
0:46:19airline reward programs I was like I
0:46:22don't know if I should like who cares
0:46:23I'm just one point it's wild to me I
0:46:26can't believe
0:46:28come one well I just thought it was dumb
0:46:30right and and front and also like for
0:46:33most of my life the amount of traveling
0:46:35that I did was very little and it
0:46:38wouldn't really have mattered but so I
0:46:41signed up at the beginning of the year
0:46:43and you know when you sign up so I
0:46:44signed up with British Airways and it's
0:46:46like they send you a card and I'd like
0:46:47welcome to the peasant class of rewards
0:46:49right you get nothing except this card
0:46:51which now says that you're in are you're
0:46:53at the bottom of our caste system and
0:46:55I'm like whatever
0:46:57so yesterday I'd literally got a golden
0:47:02envelope in the mail right the gold
0:47:04muffler was a great thing to get from
0:47:07British Airways yeah that I opened up I
0:47:09had like tissue paper and and this fancy
0:47:12thick paper and like they're like
0:47:15welcome to the golden God class of
0:47:18travel so I I have been on virgin for
0:47:23the last couple years and I've gone
0:47:25through that mm-hmm that whole thing but
0:47:27I had to take a few flights with BA this
0:47:30year because virgin didn't serve some
0:47:32places so I lost my gold status by like
0:47:36just a hair I lost it so I'm now
0:47:38switching over to be a because I've done
0:47:40bas before they're their progression
0:47:43through their system is much better like
0:47:46you get more for less with them so yeah
0:47:50I I'm going through that right now and
0:47:53probably by the end of the year I might
0:47:56get the gold because I have a lot of
0:47:57travel on ba this year including like
0:48:00all my honeymoon stuff so I think we're
0:48:02gonna be good yeah but it's like I have
0:48:05to say that when I got that golden
0:48:07envelope it was a real mixed feelings
0:48:09moment it was like oh god this is a
0:48:11physical manifestation of the subjective
0:48:15feeling like I feel like I've travelled
0:48:16a lot this year as like no here is
0:48:18manifest proof that the amount of travel
0:48:21I have done has just exploded like I
0:48:24counted up like even just just in the
0:48:26summer I think in the space of six weeks
0:48:29I stepped on ten planes like it was some
0:48:32crazy number like the whole summer of
0:48:34travel was was especially explosive and
0:48:36then this year was was on top of that
0:48:39and this feels like
0:48:40a really new and very different thing in
0:48:45my life and it was also the case that
0:48:46had I not cut back on some other work
0:48:50stuff that would the combination of
0:48:53increased business travel plus
0:48:55maintaining the previous year's schedule
0:48:56that really would have been a disaster
0:48:58because we we certainly ran into enough
0:49:00times this year of just trying to
0:49:02coordinate both of our schedules that it
0:49:03was it was really hard or we were really
0:49:05running up against some very narrow
0:49:07windows of time we live in the same town
0:49:10but I think we have seen each other more
0:49:12this year overseas oh yeah yeah without
0:49:16a doubt that that is the case it's it's
0:49:22been an interesting it's been an
0:49:23interesting experience and I also feel
0:49:26like travel I've traveled so much I have
0:49:29become a very fundamentally different
0:49:31person with travel I'm now I'm now the
0:49:33kind of person who doesn't have a lot of
0:49:35stress cutting it real close getting to
0:49:38an airport I'm so I don't think I'm ever
0:49:40gonna get there I never thought I would
0:49:42be there either but I've I have become
0:49:44that guy my thing is now I don't think
0:49:48about the fact that I'm gonna be getting
0:49:51on a plane very much before I do it
0:49:52right like I know that like before I
0:49:55started traveling a bunch of times every
0:49:57year like thinking that I'm about to get
0:49:59on a plane to go to America or whatever
0:50:01was like a big thing that was in my mind
0:50:04for a bit right but now it's kind of
0:50:07just like I'll pack but I'm not really
0:50:09thinking about it and I packed the day
0:50:10before and then I just wake up and go to
0:50:12the airport like it's like going to get
0:50:15such a terrible thing to say I guess but
0:50:17it's like going to get a train now
0:50:18because I fly so much right and and the
0:50:22reason we both do this is basically
0:50:23everybody that we work with by and large
0:50:25lives in America so there's so many
0:50:27businesses that occur which require us
0:50:31to be on the other side of the ocean so
0:50:34that I do it so many times now that it's
0:50:36it's like any kind of form of transport
0:50:39which is a way healthier way to consider
0:50:42air travel because you don't fret about
0:50:46it I always found myself writing about
0:50:48it because they there are so many things
0:50:50about the process that are meant to make
0:50:52you fret about it
0:50:54and I'm now happier that I don't need to
0:50:56do that yeah I agree there's a lot of
0:50:58travel threading that is gone part of
0:51:01that is being part of a members rewards
0:51:03program which has which has advantages
0:51:05like for me a huge psychological
0:51:07advantage is being able to pick a seat
0:51:10further and further ahead in time so
0:51:13it's like I know I really do not want to
0:51:15be penned in in a in a window seat on an
0:51:18airplane if I can possibly avoid it and
0:51:19so like get it getting an aisle seat is
0:51:21extraordinarily psychologically
0:51:23important to me when I'm flying and so
0:51:25being able to like book and get that way
0:51:27in advance makes a big difference but
0:51:30yeah also just like the pure familiarity
0:51:32with travel has has definitely decreased
0:51:35the amount of fretting and has made some
0:51:37things possible which would have been a
0:51:40huge a huge deal like an inconceivably
0:51:44large deal otherwise and I'll just I'll
0:51:47briefly relay a story that I feel like
0:51:50encompasses the entirety of of my travel
0:51:52year but I had traveled so much this
0:51:55year that come December I had decided
0:51:57there's going to be no more travel I
0:51:59cannot do any more flights it's too much
0:52:01it's all too disruptive I don't want I
0:52:04don't want to do it and it's like that's
0:52:06one of the reasons why I was really
0:52:07interested in going to pod con but I was
0:52:09like I can't get on one more plane
0:52:12because it's I've just flown too much
0:52:14this year and it's a long one it takes a
0:52:17long getting it to Seattle turns out
0:52:19yeah it takes a long time to get to
0:52:21Seattle but I was thinking like oh but I
0:52:22can stay in great master time it'll all
0:52:24be fine right as I ever start trying to
0:52:26scheme it out but the rational part of
0:52:28my brain said like too many flights dude
0:52:31you just can't do this decide that there
0:52:34is a travel veto on December no more
0:52:36traveling and I decided it and I thought
0:52:38okay that's great and then four reasons
0:52:43for make sense that I can't go into the
0:52:45details we'll just say that this is one
0:52:46of the the many problems of being a
0:52:48self-employed dual citizen we're one of
0:52:50those citizenships is America America
0:52:53makes it real difficult for
0:52:54self-employed people living abroad but
0:52:57it turned out I found out on Christmas
0:52:59Eve that I needed to go to America to
0:53:02sign a document before the end of the
0:53:05year and so I ended up
0:53:08at the very last minute between
0:53:09Christmas and New Year's buying a plane
0:53:12ticket to go to America for 36 hours to
0:53:16return and fly back before New Year's
0:53:18and while like that was an enormous pain
0:53:25in the ass
0:53:26there was a part of me which because I
0:53:28had done so much travel I was like you
0:53:30know what I can just deal with this
0:53:31right it's not it was not something I
0:53:34wanted to do but had I not done a ton of
0:53:37flying otherwise that would have been a
0:53:41incredible psychological problem but I
0:53:43was but but I just I just had this
0:53:45feeling of resignation of like I guess
0:53:47I'm going to America for 36 hours to
0:53:49sign a single piece of paper that had
0:53:51before at the end of the calendar year
0:53:53like okay here I go yeah that really
0:53:57summed up a difference in you like and I
0:53:59noticed it because we were chatting over
0:54:00Christmas mm-hm and I knew I was seeing
0:54:03you over the New Year's period and you
0:54:05told me that you were getting on a plane
0:54:07and I was like that's a different man
0:54:09[Laughter]
0:54:13what I loved about that though is even
0:54:15when I checked in the gate agent looked
0:54:17at my ticket and she's like hey come to
0:54:19America for 36 hours
0:54:25[Laughter]
0:54:28it was totally nuts but I felt like that
0:54:31was the perfect encapsulation I decided
0:54:33there's no more travel and of course at
0:54:35the 11th hour something else comes up
0:54:37which is like this is mandatory travel
0:54:39you have no option about it like okay
0:54:41guess it's gonna happen so I feel like
0:54:44looking back on my past year the the
0:54:48amount of traveled the amount of new
0:54:49locations like that is a huge difference
0:54:51in in what was occurring over the
0:54:54previous year the other major thing
0:54:55though which was related to my year of
0:54:59new and your redirection was while you
0:55:02were doing time tracking for the first
0:55:04time last year I was deciding to try to
0:55:07time track everything in my life for the
0:55:11previous year and I have to say I feel
0:55:15like that was also a really great thing
0:55:17to do and I've really appreciated
0:55:21this I don't know I don't even know how
0:55:24to phrase it but I feel like there is I
0:55:27don't know how to say this in a way
0:55:29that's not gonna sound to people like
0:55:30it's a bad thing because I mean it's I
0:55:32mean it in a very good way but I feel
0:55:35like having done this for a long period
0:55:39of time of trying to keep track of not
0:55:42just working hours but also like leisure
0:55:44time or socializing time or any any kind
0:55:49of time I really have like a mental
0:55:53clock in my head that is running and
0:55:58that will that will sound bad to people
0:56:02but what I mean by it is I feel like
0:56:03it's established a real kind of in the
0:56:08moment presence in a lot of the things
0:56:11that I do so like again like so the
0:56:16worst way that people would think about
0:56:17is like if I'm socializing with someone
0:56:19I do keep track of my socializing time
0:56:22but it's not like I'm there on my watch
0:56:24and it's like oh god how much time am i
0:56:26spending with this person bleep bloop
0:56:28ten personality points allocated yeah
0:56:33it's it's much more this feeling of like
0:56:36I have decided to spend time with this
0:56:39person and I'm going to be as mentally
0:56:41here in the moment as I possibly can be
0:56:44and I feel like this is this is a mental
0:56:48improvement that has been booted up in
0:56:52my brain by trying to always have a
0:56:55timer running in the background so that
0:56:57I'm just time tracking my entire life so
0:56:59I feel like it has made me much more
0:57:03present focused then then would
0:57:07otherwise than would otherwise be the
0:57:08case so I'm I would not recommend that
0:57:12everybody do this thing that I have done
0:57:14like I really think it is on the edge of
0:57:16crazy to try to time track an entire
0:57:18life but I have found it really good and
0:57:22it has it has been a worthwhile thing to
0:57:25do after having already been four years
0:57:28familiar with the idea of doing just
0:57:31time tracking around more
0:57:32specific activities yeah I I think I
0:57:35have an example of this too because
0:57:36because I do
0:57:37ultimately think that what you do is way
0:57:39more than I would want to do but once
0:57:41you get into time tracking as a concept
0:57:44that exists in your life you're able to
0:57:47apply it some different things so as is
0:57:49always with human beings I am trying to
0:57:53make a more concerted effort of taking
0:57:55care of my health and right now that is
0:57:58meaning to exercise more now I'll give
0:58:01you a fact about my curly my curly hates
0:58:04exercise I have tried so many different
0:58:07things I have never ever enjoyed
0:58:10physical activity I didn't enjoy being
0:58:12in school I just don't I for whatever
0:58:15reason I'm not good at any of it and I
0:58:17don't like it but it's just how I am I
0:58:20that I do not get a good feeling from
0:58:23going to the gym no matter what I do I
0:58:25just don't I know that this is something
0:58:26that people get and whatever and
0:58:28endorphins and blah blah blah I never
0:58:31get a good feeling out of it yeah those
0:58:33people that's my feeling exactly the
0:58:36only type of activity that I enjoy is
0:58:39swimming I like to swim I'm pretty
0:58:41decent at it I enjoy it
0:58:44and it's I believe to be a pretty good
0:58:46workout now the problem problem that I
0:58:49have is that there where I live there
0:58:53are not a lot of places I can swim so I
0:58:55have to travel somewhere to go to a pool
0:58:59and travel back and the problem that I
0:59:01was seeing was I believed that it was
0:59:03taking too much time for me to complete
0:59:07this activity and it was eating into my
0:59:10days to significantly so I decided to
0:59:14time track it I was like let's find out
0:59:17shall I like it I've had this feeling a
0:59:19bunch before so let's find out I was
0:59:22right it was taking too much time so I
0:59:25have optimized some of the travel to and
0:59:27from the place that I'm going to so like
0:59:31I've tried to find ways to cut down the
0:59:32travel time and to build it in two days
0:59:34differently but I got the answer that I
0:59:36needed from actually doing some
0:59:39real-time tracking to see how many hours
0:59:41this thing was taking you know I was
0:59:44finding that it was taking me like
0:59:46three hours to do 45 minutes of swimming
0:59:48right well that's not good is it right
0:59:51like that's not efficient so I've found
0:59:54ways to cut that down by like a third so
0:59:56it's like okay so let me try and see how
0:59:59I can
0:59:59I can
1:00:00can build this in some yeah that that's
1:00:01just something like a an example of when
1:00:04you get into the time tracking mindset
1:00:05you can use real data to prove theories
1:00:09or disprove theories and then action
1:00:11upon them that's that's what the benefit
1:00:13for me is of seriously time tracking but
1:00:16I am NOT I am NOT of the inclination to
1:00:19to do what you do yeah like I don't want
1:00:22to track the time that I spend playing
1:00:24Nintendo like I don't I don't need to
1:00:26see that right like I'm good let's just
1:00:30assume that all of the time that isn't
1:00:32what time is spent playing Nintendo and
1:00:35then was good you ever see this this is
1:00:39why I like doing the whole lifetime
1:00:41tracking because a thing that we when we
1:00:45get to what are themes for the next year
1:00:47are I'll talk a little bit about more
1:00:48but it does then if you're trying to do
1:00:52the whole life tracking there is there
1:00:54is data in like the missing data and
1:00:57that's an interesting thing to look at
1:00:58is to say like oh when you know I'm
1:01:00awake 16 hours a day and like but how
1:01:04many hours did I actually get in the day
1:01:06and then that that missing piece becomes
1:01:09an interesting piece of data of like
1:01:10where did that time go or why is it that
1:01:13during this week or this month I was
1:01:15clearly way worse at time tracking than
1:01:17than other times and so I like having
1:01:22that because I feel like there is this
1:01:23sense of like information in the
1:01:26negative space of the time tracking if
1:01:29you're trying to be really complete in
1:01:31in what's occurring but we can talk more
1:01:33about that later but I mean I guess I'll
1:01:36just say that the year of new in the
1:01:37year redirection was sort of vague much
1:01:41more vague than the year of less was for
1:01:44me which I'm where there's really
1:01:44precise meaning but I still feel like a
1:01:48lot of what I was trying to do I did I
1:01:52feel much better about my work-life
1:01:54balance there were some things last year
1:01:56that made me think about like I just how
1:01:59I how I spend like family time I wanted
1:02:01to try to increase that like that is
1:02:04definitely a thing that I accomplished
1:02:06you know there were a bunch of just like
1:02:08new things that I did new experiences
1:02:11like there's some new business ventures
1:02:12like there's
1:02:13but there was a bunch of like new stuff
1:02:15that was great because I had been able
1:02:19to redirect how I spent some of my -
1:02:21yeah into those new things I asked the
1:02:23balance like it wasn't that you was
1:02:25necessarily seeking out these new things
1:02:27but by redirecting your time new things
1:02:31could but could come to you it's kind of
1:02:35like if that is the way I think that you
1:02:36ended up balancing out cuz I don't know
1:02:39if you necessarily set out the year to
1:02:41be like I need some new business
1:02:42ventures don't necessarily that was what
1:02:45you were thinking like when you open up
1:02:47space the thing to become available so I
1:02:51feel I feel like that was that was
1:02:52really good I guess in some ways I feel
1:02:54like I had much more of the advantages
1:02:58and fewer of the disadvantages of being
1:03:02a self-employed person during the year
1:03:03of redirection like I think that's
1:03:05that's largely what happens like I did
1:03:09some analysis I did like a like an 80/20
1:03:11analysis of where where are the pain
1:03:13points in my life and where are the
1:03:15benefit points in my life and realized
1:03:17that was a little bit off and worked to
1:03:20reduce the things that were causing pain
1:03:22and increase the number of things which
1:03:24were causing enjoyment so I feel like
1:03:26that that's the summation of like your
1:03:29redirection ended up being the year that
1:03:31I was able to benefit more from being a
1:03:34self-employed person than I had in
1:03:35previous years yeah cuz you could do
1:03:38whatever you wanted right there was more
1:03:39of that feeling of like I can I can pick
1:03:41and choose and do the things that I want
1:03:43to do without the feeling of like I am
1:03:46bound into the things that I must do
1:03:48there was kind of a bit more flexibility
1:03:50in there yeah I mean I always think this
1:03:53that there's a it's a thing I think I
1:03:57see with a lot of people and it's very
1:03:59natural for it to happen but it's like a
1:04:04phrase but there's like there's this way
1:04:06that being successfully self-employed
1:04:09you can end up just building yourself a
1:04:12golden cage and I feel like in 2016 I
1:04:17came a little close to that edge or
1:04:20closer to that edges and I really want
1:04:21to be and that's the thing that I'm
1:04:22always very conscious of and then like
1:04:242017 was was writing that ship
1:04:27a little better this episode of cortex
1:04:30is brought to you by our friends at
1:04:31Casper Casper is the company focused on
1:04:34sleep and they're dedicated to making
1:04:36you exceptionally comfortable one night
1:04:39at a time if you were to track your
1:04:42sleep you'd see that you spend close to
1:04:45a third of your life sleeping and if you
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1:06:07have two themes for 2018 and starting
1:06:10out which is also being coupled with my
1:06:13theme which is running into a June yeah
1:06:16so you're gonna have three overlapping
1:06:17themes that's gonna happen oh yeah yeah
1:06:20well okay so it will make sense when you
1:06:22hear them so so one of the themes of my
1:06:24year is the year of adulting I am gonna
1:06:28become a serious adult this year is it's
1:06:34time to get serious because this year I
1:06:36turned 30 years old and I'm getting
1:06:38married it's pretty serious yeah I feel
1:06:41like these are pretty serious big adult
1:06:43things that will occur so that I know
1:06:46that's just gonna be a prevailing thing
1:06:48in in my life this year I don't believe
1:06:51there are any significant actions to it
1:06:54but they are just guiding a lot of
1:06:56things that are happening so especially
1:06:58my wedding
1:06:59it is guiding a lot of activity and
1:07:02focus this year in in a way that I am
1:07:06going to take my foot off the gas a
1:07:09little bit more with some work stuff
1:07:11this year because I have a very serious
1:07:12big event going on so that that's kind
1:07:17of a thought and really I don't think
1:07:18that it will no one will see it right
1:07:21now it's kind of in a way less than what
1:07:24you did like I'm not gonna pull back on
1:07:26a bunch of stuff but it's just informing
1:07:28some things that I'm gonna be doing and
1:07:30kind of how I'm gonna be approaching
1:07:32some projects that are existing and new
1:07:35because I'm gonna be having this this
1:07:37this huge thing going on in my life this
1:07:40year which I'm very excited about but
1:07:43it's obviously gonna make an impact on
1:07:44me which is a great thing about being
1:07:48self-employed is that I'm able to make
1:07:50those decisions right and and it was
1:07:52like it was like when I when was buying
1:07:55the house and I remember saying on the
1:07:57show about like it's like a job of its
1:08:01own and I don't know how people I just
1:08:03don't know how people do it including me
1:08:05I don't know how I did it and it's a
1:08:08similar thing like getting married it's
1:08:11like a job of its own and that's why
1:08:14there is an entire industry of wedding
1:08:16planners that exist because it is like a
1:08:19big huge project to manage yeah it's a
1:08:22giant logistical challenge on many
1:08:24levels yeah probably the biggest
1:08:26logistical thing that I will have be
1:08:28involved with so yeah that's that's
1:08:31informing a lot so that's one thing but
1:08:33there's there's less kind of actions
1:08:35from there and okay so this this might
1:08:37sound in contrast to the previous thing
1:08:41that I just spoke about but let me try
1:08:43and explain 2018 will also be for me the
1:08:47year of branching out so
1:08:50I have some things that I want to do I
1:08:52have some new things that I want to try
1:08:55and I want to see if it's something that
1:09:00I'm able to do so like one of those
1:09:02things is more live shows I love doing
1:09:07live shows and but they are there
1:09:10they're real bear to arrange and we did
1:09:12more in 2017 than we've done in 2016 and
1:09:15I want to continue that I don't have any
1:09:18handle on what that's gonna be I have no
1:09:21plan we have no plan like significant
1:09:23plan right now but we want to do more of
1:09:26them right so we want a trip we want to
1:09:29hopefully do one at wEDC
1:09:31this year which we didn't do last year
1:09:33so you know no plans but it's just hopes
1:09:35and so that is a big thing because it
1:09:37doing anytime you add another live show
1:09:40into the calendar like it's a it's a big
1:09:42logistical challenge and I am very lucky
1:09:44in that I have Stephen to manage that
1:09:46stuff Stephen is very good at putting
1:09:47together live shows my co-founder a
1:09:49relay event it's something that he has
1:09:51developed in his skill set but for me if
1:09:54I'm if I'm involved in hosting them that
1:09:57is huge for me so like before I do any
1:09:59type of live show I go into an almost
1:10:02catatonic state okay I talk to anybody
1:10:06and I really get kind of like focused on
1:10:11it in a very significant way it like for
1:10:15like an hour before I'm like sick I I
1:10:18don't even know what it is I don't know
1:10:20if it's nerves I don't know where it
1:10:22comes from it's I don't know if it's
1:10:23stage fright I don't know what it is
1:10:24because as soon as we start I'm great
1:10:26fine I can do them but I I feel like I
1:10:30always need to prepare more and so I
1:10:33kind of get into this like zone for a
1:10:36while so they're always a lot to do but
1:10:38it's something that I get great pleasure
1:10:40from when we do them I love doing it so
1:10:43we want to try and do more of that
1:10:45and then trying new ideas is probably
1:10:49the bigger thing for me and I've made
1:10:51hints to this in the past that there is
1:10:53an idea in my brain which is it is a
1:10:56podcast idea I don't I don't know if
1:11:00it's ever going to happen because it's
1:11:02so different to any
1:11:03thing else that I have done but I have
1:11:06been stewing on this idea for about six
1:11:09months and it won't go away it keeps
1:11:12coming good sign
1:11:13yeah that that's what like so that's
1:11:16that okay so that's one of the big
1:11:18things right 2016 Mike would have
1:11:21already launched this project right
1:11:23right but 2017 Mike learned to wait so
1:11:28I'm still sitting on it but it's
1:11:32something that I really want to do and I
1:11:34saw Hamilton last week in London and
1:11:39it's only made it worse
1:11:41because Hamilton was created by one
1:11:43person and it is this incredible
1:11:48incredible thing which I urge anyone to
1:11:51go and see if you can because it's
1:11:52probably the greatest single piece of
1:11:54meteor I've ever consumed it is a tour
1:11:57de force I can't believe it here like I
1:12:02haven't seen Hamilton I was aware
1:12:04whatever was like last year when I first
1:12:06came out that I started hearing
1:12:07everybody in the world
1:12:08talk about an overhype this thing and I
1:12:11got like sick of hearing people talk
1:12:14about Hamilton and I was like this is
1:12:16ridiculous whatever like everybody's
1:12:18just like a fad but then I felt like my
1:12:20mind was changed because I last year I
1:12:23watched Moana and I was like man the
1:12:26music in this was just amazing it just
1:12:28made this this was so fast like this
1:12:30music is great and I thought like this
1:12:32is one of the best movie watching
1:12:33experiences I've had in a really long
1:12:35time and and I did a thing which I never
1:12:37do which is like who made this movie
1:12:40looked at when it's like Oh turns out
1:12:43that the guy who made Hamilton did all
1:12:44the music for this I was like ah okay
1:12:47maybe this Hamilton thing is worth
1:12:50seeing great Hamilton is in London it's
1:12:53gonna be here forever please try and get
1:12:56tickets to it and I advise anyone to do
1:12:59what I did because I think this is great
1:13:00don't listen to the music beforehand
1:13:02experience who will do that who with so
1:13:04many people because honestly you can and
1:13:07it's fine and you can get it but see it
1:13:09so obviously I am no delusion of
1:13:14grandeur here I don't think I can create
1:13:16something that is of the scale
1:13:17Hamilton ya see that's what I'm hearing
1:13:20Mike's gonna make Hamilton - what Mike's
1:13:23working on Jefferson right now but it
1:13:26was it was just because what what I want
1:13:29to do is a big is a big project is a
1:13:31huge project it's something I don't know
1:13:33if I have the skills or capabilities to
1:13:35do but seeing something created by one
1:13:38individual is very inspiring to me
1:13:42because it's like well it shows that
1:13:45people are able to do these types of
1:13:47things so maybe I can make something
1:13:51that's okay so it it's only basically
1:13:54what is happening to me is I have this
1:13:56idea and everything is inspiring me
1:14:00right so many things I'm seeing alike
1:14:04pushing me to be like see you can do
1:14:06this stuff people can do this stuff
1:14:08maybe you can so it's only feeding the
1:14:11flame and yeah people could probably
1:14:15guess what I have going on in my mind if
1:14:17they pay attention to the clues you if
1:14:20you guess it you're probably right
1:14:22but it's it's a project that I don't
1:14:24know if I had capability to do but 2018
1:14:27I will make the decision by the end of
1:14:29this year I'll have IVA done it or I'm
1:14:32never gonna do it I'm setting that for
1:14:34myself it's like you can't keep doing
1:14:37this forever if you want to try and make
1:14:39a go of this thing you've got to do it
1:14:42this year so we'll see that's that's so
1:14:44my bigger theme this year is branching
1:14:47out trying some new big projects but
1:14:50also being mindful of not just trying
1:14:53anything and everything that comes to my
1:14:55mind like I learned in 2017 well I look
1:14:57forward to seeing your enormous project
1:14:59at some point we're not coming to coming
1:15:02to Broadway but I think that like what
1:15:05you just said there is also like a great
1:15:07a great point about like deciding that
1:15:13you're gonna do this thing or you're
1:15:14gonna have to let it go like and exactly
1:15:17why you can't just keep having it in the
1:15:18back of your mind for forever and I
1:15:20think that's a it's an interesting it's
1:15:22an interesting point to have with that
1:15:25so yeah I wish you I wish you all the
1:15:27best of luck with that Mike thank you I
1:15:30hope it I hope it turns out
1:15:32and all the live shows you're gonna
1:15:34arrange that we're gonna do right are
1:15:36you gonna how many live shows do you
1:15:37want to commit to 1000 committing to
1:15:42zero right X World Tour gore-tex World
1:15:46Tour how many dates do you have zero so
1:15:51what's your theme for 2018 okay so we
1:15:56need a little bit of a run-up to this
1:15:57because when I was recapping my year
1:16:00mostly talking about how it was great
1:16:02thank you every direction very happy
1:16:05things worked out well but there's an
1:16:08alternative name that I could have given
1:16:11that year looking in retrospect and I
1:16:15think I could have called 2017 standing
1:16:18now at the beginning of 2018 the year of
1:16:21chaos because what a really bad name to
1:16:28give it proactively obviously
1:16:31proactively does not the name to give
1:16:33the thing but retro actively I think I'm
1:16:36going to always think of 2017 as like
1:16:39this year of chaos because this year was
1:16:45just a year where I felt like I never
1:16:48had any real consistent schedule for any
1:16:51significant length of time I feel like
1:16:53things were just all over the place and
1:16:57again I do like to try to verify this
1:16:59kind of stuff so when I was like
1:17:00reviewing all the documentation I had
1:17:02from the previous year the data totally
1:17:05bears this out that that last year was a
1:17:08year that was just all over the place in
1:17:12every metric I can think of and so like
1:17:16one of the things I was mentioned before
1:17:18about the negative space and time
1:17:19tracking I was looking over the year and
1:17:21I could see like I want to see how well
1:17:23did I do with this time tracking and my
1:17:25mental my mental framework is that on a
1:17:28on any particular day I should have 12
1:17:31hours like 12 hours is the bare minimum
1:17:33of competency 14 hours is good and like
1:17:3716 hours is the theoretical maximum of
1:17:40how much time I would be tracking in a
1:17:41day
1:17:42and the median day for the whole year
1:17:45was like 13 and a half hours which I was
1:17:47pretty happy with but if you break it
1:17:49down by months some months I'm tracking
1:17:53fifteen and a half hours a day like I'm
1:17:56doing great and a couple of months
1:17:58particularly in the summer and in April
1:18:00I've got like six hours a day right like
1:18:03total disaster across the board in terms
1:18:06of the time tracking and it's like yeah
1:18:08I remember those months I remember I
1:18:10decided like the hell with this I can't
1:18:11possibly do with it all so I just had
1:18:13like a string of zero days in a row
1:18:15because I'm like I can't I can't
1:18:16psychologically deal with this today I
1:18:18just got too much and I looked at things
1:18:21like records of exercise and like
1:18:26records of health and it's like crazy
1:18:28lines all over the place of like how
1:18:30frequently frequent were you exercising
1:18:32it's like crazy or like like things with
1:18:36like other health stuff like diet stuff
1:18:38it's like okay it's like okay great I
1:18:40have this stretch of time where
1:18:41everything is perfect numbers really
1:18:43focusing on and then it just was ghost a
1:18:44total disaster later and like I think a
1:18:49huge portion of that was just I am NOT a
1:18:53person who was used to the travel so
1:18:55it's like I can see that it's like the
1:18:57calm pond of my life is totally
1:19:00destroyed with ripples and waves every
1:19:02time a rock of an airplane is thrown
1:19:04into it and it's like this this really
1:19:06takes things out of place but even on
1:19:10top of that like I can I can just see
1:19:12again from the records like I was really
1:19:14bad last year about things like weekly
1:19:17reviews and trying to stay on top of
1:19:19stuff I think it wasn't wasn't helped by
1:19:23my like sort of abandoning task managers
1:19:25for a while as well which like went into
1:19:27this theme of like a year of chaos yes I
1:19:29still I honestly still can't get my head
1:19:31around that
1:19:32like I don't feel like I was ever
1:19:35satisfied with the reasoning in which
1:19:37you were doing it like yeah it just
1:19:39never clicked for me I feel like that
1:19:41that was a mistake that you made in the
1:19:44year well I think I needed to pull back
1:19:47from some of that stuff that that was a
1:19:49little bit of like redirection like I'm
1:19:52going to just like let this kind of go
1:19:56so what I feel like with last year and
1:19:58had this this experience where
1:20:01high-level things were really great it
1:20:04was a really successful year but unlike
1:20:06the low level it was totally this this
1:20:09like year of chaos so my theme for the
1:20:13upcoming year is the year of order that
1:20:16there is going to be order in 2018 oh
1:20:20yeah
1:20:22yes chaos to order so good
1:20:25yeah you've you had a brain wave when
1:20:28you came up with that one I like it it's
1:20:31been itching it's been under my skin for
1:20:33you know maybe since mid-december I
1:20:36started was thinking about this because
1:20:37as we were coming up to our your themes
1:20:39I was like I don't really have a theme
1:20:41like I'm just wishing what like whatever
1:20:42and as I started to think about I was
1:20:44like this is what it is it's the year of
1:20:46order is 2018 and I've sort of started
1:20:52on this in some ways but there's that
1:20:55there's like a sentence in my mind which
1:20:58I feel like is this this guiding
1:21:00sentence for the year which is like the
1:21:03work isn't the work the system is the
1:21:06work and so I feel like I've set up a
1:21:09bunch of stuff already to try to help
1:21:11with it's like okay in the morning like
1:21:15you get up in the first thing that you
1:21:16do is is the writing and like it doesn't
1:21:19matter how much you write her if it's
1:21:21good at all because the system is the
1:21:23work the work isn't the work like one of
1:21:25my real focuses this year is I'm still
1:21:29expecting that there's going to be a lot
1:21:31of travel like I can already see my
1:21:33calendars has a bunch of dates already
1:21:35in the future like oh god here we go
1:21:37but I think there can be a real
1:21:39difference when I'm going I'm going into
1:21:43the Year expecting and acknowledging
1:21:45like there is going to be travel there
1:21:47are going to be disruptions but I cannot
1:21:50allow them to be as disruptive as they
1:21:52were last year because I feel like last
1:21:54year I was really caught off guard by a
1:21:57lot of that kind of stuff so for me one
1:22:00of the things is like re-establishing a
1:22:03very clear schedule and sequence of
1:22:07habits to follow like that is one
1:22:10the big things for me in the year and
1:22:14it's really interesting because I'm
1:22:16coming back to you off the off the end
1:22:19of a of a gradation off in the snowy
1:22:24wastelands meditating on this idea of
1:22:26the year of order you're on a leadership
1:22:29my wife literally has started to call
1:22:31these things that I do she's like you
1:22:33going on corporate retreats for one like
1:22:35that's what you're doing yeah and I
1:22:37guess that is 100 percent the case set
1:22:39up a little table name plaques and then
1:22:41you move around the table depending on
1:22:43what what you need to be talking about
1:22:45you know yeah we do we do I mean there's
1:22:47there's brainstorming on whiteboards of
1:22:49like where's the company going to go for
1:22:51the next year how do you build the human
1:22:52pyramid but so like here's the thing
1:23:04that was interesting to do so I I had
1:23:07actually set up as part of the year of
1:23:10redirection I had set up in advance this
1:23:13period of time at the beginning of 2018
1:23:15to be like this
1:23:16dedicated great incorporated company
1:23:18retreat and because it was really useful
1:23:21last year and like I want to do this
1:23:22again next year but I was really aware
1:23:25that when I do these trips normally I
1:23:28can very quickly get into like a great
1:23:31schedule and I had a freaking rudl time
1:23:35this year forcing my brain back into
1:23:38this regular schedule and I was just
1:23:41like ah I can see like I'm just not used
1:23:44to this because my year has been so
1:23:46chaotic that my brain is like bucking
1:23:49the idea that we've got a we've got to
1:23:51bust out the order again and it was just
1:23:55it was an interesting experience to have
1:23:56like it's taking me a lot of time to
1:23:59force this change and it reminded me of
1:24:02back back when I was adulting and when I
1:24:07did my teacher training program and
1:24:09realize like this is the first thing
1:24:10I've ever come up against in my life
1:24:12where I can't just slack my way through
1:24:14and I actually need to figure out like
1:24:16how to organize myself to be able to to
1:24:18get things done and I remember that was
1:24:21a really difficult mental time of like
1:24:23and I'm so used to just sliding on
1:24:25through life but suddenly I can't do
1:24:27that now and I have to like become a
1:24:28different person in order to succeed in
1:24:30this endeavor
1:24:31so being being on my like corporate
1:24:34retreat I was just aware like man this
1:24:36is real evidence that the past year has
1:24:38been a very chaotic year because this
1:24:40thing which is normally not a lot of
1:24:42effort for me to do to like click back
1:24:44into a regular schedule is actually
1:24:46quite hard for me to do like even things
1:24:48like waking up at a consistent time in
1:24:49the morning like just brutal but it's
1:24:52evidenced like when I look at my health
1:24:54data like my sleep schedule it's all
1:24:55over the place for the past year so
1:24:59that's that's a big part of it is this
1:25:01idea that like it is the routine like
1:25:03the routine is the work the work isn't
1:25:05the work and I'm really going to be
1:25:06focusing on that a lot that's one of the
1:25:09really big things there is a there is
1:25:12like a little sub part of the year of
1:25:16order which I haven't haven't quite
1:25:18figured out precisely what this is yet
1:25:21but it comes out of the time tracking
1:25:23which is this idea of like a war on
1:25:27unintentional 'ti so one of the things
1:25:32with time tracking that I actually
1:25:33mentioned in that those early episodes
1:25:34is I do try to keep track of what I
1:25:38think it was like unintentional time
1:25:40where I'm doing something but it's not
1:25:44really like on purpose I'm not being
1:25:46intentional about the thing that I'm
1:25:48doing and so I have this idea that like
1:25:51part of the year on order there's like a
1:25:53sub front which is the war on
1:25:55unintentional 'ti and so that that can
1:25:57be things like for example social media
1:26:00like spending less time on social media
1:26:02or the time that I spend on sotell me
1:26:05social media is more intentional rather
1:26:09than unintentional so that's that's a
1:26:12thing like looking over my time tracking
1:26:14data is I find the amount of
1:26:16unintentional 'ti time registered in the
1:26:19last year it's like it's too much I
1:26:21don't like it and I feel like I want a
1:26:24much higher percentage of the time in my
1:26:27life to be intentional versus
1:26:29unintentional so that's that's another
1:26:32like part of this idea but that part is
1:26:35much less wealth
1:26:37than just the idea of like 2018 is the
1:26:41year of order I'm gonna bring order to
1:26:43the world so jealous of your name you
1:26:48really went from just like atrocious
1:26:50name to excellent name right 2017 was
1:26:54just bad name and 2018 is real good name
1:26:56but it has to be because I really think
1:26:59I could not survive another year of
1:27:02redirection like I think I would just I
1:27:04would just lose it if I had another
1:27:07unstructured year like that the
1:27:08redirection year was like a just a
1:27:10course correction change you can't do
1:27:12that every year forever like that's an
1:27:14exam out yucks right like restructuring
1:27:18things take some time and you do it once
1:27:20and then you do it again in like five
1:27:22years time like it would be pointless to
1:27:24do what you did last year every year
1:27:27because you'd never get anything done
1:27:30constantly changing your business but
1:27:32not actually producing anything it's not
1:27:34really a benefit to that now so anyway
1:27:37there we go
1:27:38year of order 2018 oh man I just as you
1:27:42said that I just got a push notification
1:27:44and todoist
1:27:45that just says to work on big project
1:27:48idea calling to you Mike
1:27:49I want to thank fresh books for their
1:27:52support of this show please take it upon
1:27:55yourself if you are a freelancer to sign
1:27:58up for fresh books now is the time I'm
1:28:01gonna mention it again it's new year's
1:28:03time it's time to make some changes make
1:28:05this your yearly theme to get your
1:28:07finances in order and one of the ways to
1:28:10do that is to sign up for fresh books we
1:28:13have been using them for our invoices
1:28:15since day one of real AFM and it has
1:28:17drastically reduced the amount of time
1:28:20aggravation and hassle it takes for me
1:28:22to get my job done fresh books can save
1:28:24up to one hundred and ninety two hours
1:28:26for freelancers with their cloud
1:28:28accounting software because it's so easy
1:28:30to use you get notifications that tell
1:28:32you what you need to be focused on you
1:28:34can automate late payment email
1:28:36reminders so you don't have to spend
1:28:37time chasing people you can even see
1:28:39when somebody's looked at your invoice
1:28:40so you just know you know it's there you
1:28:43know it's been opened you can even see
1:28:44if it's been printed it helps put an end
1:28:46to those guessing games it's more than
1:28:48just invoices you can set up projects
1:28:50with your
1:28:51and shared documents you can also have
1:28:53all your expenses run through it is a
1:28:55full system if you're not using fresh
1:28:58books yet now is the time to try it
1:29:00because they are offering an
1:29:01unrestricted 30-day free trial for
1:29:04core-tex listeners with no credit card
1:29:05required just go to fresh books Comstock
1:29:08or tax that is fresh books calm slash
1:29:10cortex and when it tells you how did you
1:29:12hear about them say that you heard about
1:29:14them from this very show our thanks to
1:29:16fresh books for their continued support
1:29:18of the cortex podcast and relay FM so I
1:29:21asked from the cortex Twitter account
1:29:23which is at underscore cortex FM if
1:29:26you're interested in following the
1:29:27account for some ask cortex questions
1:29:29related to yearly themes we have
1:29:33answered throughout the course of this
1:29:34conversation a lot of them there were
1:29:37actually quite a few a surprising amount
1:29:39of people that wanted to know about time
1:29:40tracking so there you go you've got it
1:29:42right those people those of you who care
1:29:43about time tracking you've definitely
1:29:45got that conversation this time but
1:29:47there were a couple that I wanted to ask
1:29:49you and for us to think about Toni asked
1:29:52how do your themes inform your use of
1:29:55devices and all your favorite apps now I
1:29:58could say for me the one of the big
1:30:02projects I'm trying to work on requires
1:30:04a lot more planning than usually a show
1:30:06that I would do requires it means more
1:30:08writing to it it needs more thought it
1:30:10needs more outlining so I am more
1:30:13heavily using notes than I would
1:30:15typically I will be using bear more for
1:30:19longer pieces of writing and I'm
1:30:21thinking about using something like an
1:30:23app like mind node which is like a mind
1:30:27mapping application to try to scrape out
1:30:29some some big things some big
1:30:31overarching ideas and to try and get my
1:30:33thoughts more compiled so I think that
1:30:36because of the way that meaning new work
1:30:38the themes always inform the app choices
1:30:41because this is how we get our work done
1:30:44is with these apps so it does change I
1:30:46mean I guess for you year of order will
1:30:49mean finally getting your project
1:30:51management in check yeah we can talk
1:30:54about that on another show yes I'll say
1:30:58that there's
1:30:59two years ago one of the things that I
1:31:02did which I need to do again for a
1:31:05variety of reasons is I actually sat
1:31:07down with good notes my my favorite
1:31:11handwriting app and I was just writing
1:31:13out what all of the devices were in my
1:31:16life like okay which which iPads and
1:31:17computers do I have like where are they
1:31:19like what's here's I have a phone I have
1:31:21a watch and I just sat down with that
1:31:24list for a long time and sort of thought
1:31:26very intentionally about what our each
1:31:29of these devices for and so I think this
1:31:34is a thing that people don't really do
1:31:37like they just sort of happen to let
1:31:38devices do whatever but I'm a big fan of
1:31:41artificial restrictions around devices
1:31:45and I'm definitely intending to again
1:31:50sit down and really think through like
1:31:53what is the minimum viable use for the
1:31:56various devices in my life like I'm not
1:31:57interested in devices that can do
1:31:59absolutely everything all the time I'm
1:32:01interested in being really intentional
1:32:02about what they can do so when I was
1:32:06doing it two years ago part of what I
1:32:08was thinking about is like what
1:32:09notifications can be seen where and you
1:32:14know what devices do I have access to at
1:32:16different times in the day and so
1:32:17therefore what kinds of things do I want
1:32:20to be able to do on them and then
1:32:22setting up the devices as much as it was
1:32:24possible so that those actions are the
1:32:26only things that are possible to do on
1:32:29those devices so I feel like the year
1:32:32theme fits into that because it's it's
1:32:35the idea of what do you want these
1:32:37devices to do for you in your life and
1:32:39yeah with the year of order I definitely
1:32:42have a bunch of restructuring to do with
1:32:44all of the devices in my life and
1:32:46Jonathan asks what tools or mechanisms
1:32:48you use to keep track of your yearly
1:32:50themes do you review your progress
1:32:52frequently do you do anything like this
1:32:54there are things like I have a bunch of
1:32:57questions that I kind of work through
1:32:58and yeah one of the one of the questions
1:33:00is it's nice I need a question but it's
1:33:02like it's a note at the top of the
1:33:04document that like this is the year of
1:33:05whatever
1:33:06and that's a thing that just exists to
1:33:08keep it to keep it more present in my
1:33:10mind as the years going along
1:33:11what about you I don't say I don't think
1:33:13I have a necessary structure because
1:33:15like the first time I did it was last
1:33:16year and the thing that I was doing
1:33:19which is time tracking in and of itself
1:33:21is a review which is constant right so
1:33:22it wasn't really like I had to sit down
1:33:25and I don't do the reviews the way that
1:33:27you do that's not a thing that I do mmm
1:33:29especially as well a lot of my work is
1:33:32kind of itself structured in that way
1:33:35that's true yeah I am very focused on
1:33:38quarter-to-quarter because that's how my
1:33:40business operates so I don't really have
1:33:43to sit down and do a performance review
1:33:45of myself because that I can see it on a
1:33:50spreadsheet how the business is doing
1:33:51and course-correct where needed I mean
1:33:55maybe if I want to continue doing my
1:33:58year of branching out it might require
1:34:00more reviews because these are things
1:34:02which are bigger than numbers these are
1:34:05different things like last year I could
1:34:08still really look at numbers more and
1:34:10those numbers were in over themselves
1:34:12just easy to see how it was going but my
1:34:15branching out stuff it's a lot more
1:34:17fluffy then last year's goals right so
1:34:20it may require some progress reviews I
1:34:23haven't worked that out yet
1:34:25but it's probably something I should
1:34:26think about and Jeff asked what is some
1:34:29advice you would give to someone looking
1:34:30to get their theme in place Oh number
1:34:34one advice don't don't try to do it
1:34:36quickly yeah like don't listen to this
1:34:38show and think I have an idea for a
1:34:42theme and as my theme for the year is
1:34:44going to be this I like I think what has
1:34:48happened in all of these cases is it's
1:34:49been a kind of slow build this idea of
1:34:52like hmm I think I need a theme for the
1:34:54year or or like what is my theme for the
1:34:56year going to be and it's useful to have
1:35:02that as something that's on the back
1:35:04burner and not something that you just
1:35:06instantly decide because if you feel
1:35:08like you go into the state where you are
1:35:10thinking about what the theme should be
1:35:12I feel like that helps you be more
1:35:15observant in your own life about what
1:35:17needs to happen like that's definitely
1:35:18what happened to me
1:35:19year we're coming out of the year of
1:35:22chaos I thought like oh my chaotic life
1:35:24doesn't need a year theme but simply
1:35:26being aware like oh I'm gonna talk to
1:35:28Mike about it at the end of January
1:35:30started booting up a little process
1:35:31where I noticed and thought much more
1:35:34about how my life was going into things
1:35:36that I wanted to change in my life so
1:35:38without a doubt dude don't be hasty with
1:35:41your year themes right like let it
1:35:43simmer for a while like the idea of
1:35:46yearly themes came to me when you
1:35:48started talking about the year of less I
1:35:50didn't have a theme and yeah I have a
1:35:52theme the next year because we spent the
1:35:55entire year talking about themes so it
1:35:58like was embedding in my mind so
1:36:00honestly I would say try if you think
1:36:03that yearly themes are good they aim to
1:36:05have one in 2019 like spend this next
1:36:08year with that in mind and you know
1:36:10maybe you could do what I did maybe in
1:36:12June come up with a six month themes
1:36:14like a theme for the rest of your year
1:36:15but if something isn't jumping out to
1:36:17you immediately like of course that's
1:36:20what it is like
1:36:21it's the clouds of parted and the idea
1:36:23has come to your mind then just spend
1:36:25some time rolling around this idea in
1:36:27your brain that you want to have a
1:36:28yearly theme listen to us talking about
1:36:31our themes as we progress throughout the
1:36:32year and stuff like that and then work
1:36:34out what yours could be just through
1:36:36kind of like osmosis of having this
1:36:38thinking don't push it or I might
1:36:42suggest if you want to get started a
1:36:43little sooner it might be perfectly fine
1:36:47to do like how I review my life in terms
1:36:49of like seasons like thinking about
1:36:51things more intentionally every season
1:36:53well take me maybe start smaller called
1:36:56gray quarterly like it's much better it
1:37:02is much more romantic like to call it a
1:37:05season right of course it is but is that
1:37:07what we is that how we think about work
1:37:09now I really appreciate the vague
1:37:11boundaries of seasons I don't like the
1:37:14precision of the quarter I like the
1:37:15vague boundary of the season right so I
1:37:18think also maybe breaking it down into
1:37:21into smaller chunks like that might
1:37:23might be helpful for just starting out a
1:37:25little bit but yeah I think that the not
1:37:28starting urgently is the main thing yeah
1:37:30until next time until next time
1:37:32good luck with your year themes