Cortex

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:01:00 ◼   ► evaluate how we performed against our

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

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

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

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

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

00:01:16 ◼   ► can hear us establish our themes

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

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

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

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

00:01:29 ◼   ► third year Wow

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

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

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

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

00:01:40 ◼   ► just like something you mentioned that

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:01:56 ◼   ► traditions to be very important in

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:02:12 ◼   ► like it I had a number of

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:02:54 ◼   ► resolutions because resolutions are dumb

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

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

00:03:02 ◼   ► many goals and resolutions in throughout

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

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

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

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

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

00:03:17 ◼   ► see how it goes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:03:44 ◼   ► sense

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:04:09 ◼   ► percentage increases of those numbers

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:04:32 ◼   ► goals and objectives for those make

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

00:04:37 ◼   ► existence of the business that those

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:05:35 ◼   ► but for your flourishing as an

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

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

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

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

00:05:48 ◼   ► of them established itself halfway

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

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

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

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

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

00:06:01 ◼   ► that i established last year the

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

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

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

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

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

00:06:11 ◼   ► life and throughout those conversations

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:06:38 ◼   ► work to get going

00:06:40 ◼   ► with the interview process and then

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:07:09 ◼   ► like a hundred and fifty applications

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

00:07:16 ◼   ► interview now we thought our ten

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:07:34 ◼   ► the way that it's funny

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:07:53 ◼   ► through some of these applications I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:08:28 ◼   ► entertainment quality value which makes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:08:49 ◼   ► when you start talking about

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

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

00:08:57 ◼   ► people then start falling into

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:10:11 ◼   ► to disregard some applications I mean

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

00:10:16 ◼   ► the bank

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:10:29 ◼   ► really looked at it in detail

00:10:31 ◼   ► unfortunately not but this kind of

00:10:33 ◼   ► nothing you can do about it

00:10:35 ◼   ► so sympathies to anybody applying for

00:10:38 ◼   ► jobs it is horrible

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

00:10:43 ◼   ► thing I probably could have predicted

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:11:00 ◼   ► find myself being less annoyed

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:11:48 ◼   ► less comma work slash annoyance and

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:12:07 ◼   ► tracking has had and continues through

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:12:38 ◼   ► been time tracking has helped me

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

00:12:44 ◼   ► and those numbers make me feel

00:12:47 ◼   ► psychologically better because anybody

00:12:52 ◼   ► that runs their own business especially

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:13:17 ◼   ► psychological benefit in that for me

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

00:13:24 ◼   ► anymore because I actually have some

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:13:48 ◼   ► releasing all of the stress home

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:14:25 ◼   ► Year ticked over a mutual friend

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

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

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

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

00:14:35 ◼   ► and I again always find interesting

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:15:05 ◼   ► offering their editing services right

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:15:29 ◼   ► that I have handed over to

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:17:39 ◼   ► ratio of your editing time versus

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

00:17:42 ◼   ► was

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:18:09 ◼   ► includes everything that happens from

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:18:41 ◼   ► preparation double the amount of

00:18:45 ◼   ► preparations into recording and then

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:19:08 ◼   ► preparation and editing versus recording

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:19:28 ◼   ► absolutely everything else yeah and I

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:19:51 ◼   ► and I apologize for that

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

00:19:54 ◼   ► no apology needed like I am

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

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

00:20:01 ◼   ► it the compensation works great like

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:20:48 ◼   ► balance of my stuff especially because

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:21:04 ◼   ► things are self-explanatory right

00:21:06 ◼   ► editing recording sure preparation

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

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

00:21:12 ◼   ► of their information and dealing with

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

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

00:21:17 ◼   ► kind of stuff

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

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

00:21:23 ◼   ► answering questions and working on

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

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

00:21:30 ◼   ► things that decreased significantly for

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:22:07 ◼   ► it's a real AFM general

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:23:20 ◼   ► right there are some significant snows

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

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

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

00:23:29 ◼   ► doing nothing time significantly more

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:23:55 ◼   ► hours a day

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:24:53 ◼   ► everybody but it is also especially

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:25:33 ◼   ► like a really great improvement and

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

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

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

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

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

00:25:47 ◼   ► surprise for anybody that does pay

00:25:49 ◼   ► attention including myself for the first

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:26:35 ◼   ► I internalized

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

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

00:26:43 ◼   ► more right

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:26:59 ◼   ► would be there ultimately evil

00:27:01 ◼   ► creatively or financially so I decided

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:27:24 ◼   ► ADEA period

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

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

00:27:33 ◼   ► success because I internalized something

00:27:39 ◼   ► and basically stopped myself from this

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:28:09 ◼   ► projects and especially when you when

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:29:22 ◼   ► that you are an established podcast

00:29:24 ◼   ► person you have an established podcast

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

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

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

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

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

00:29:38 ◼   ► internal mental compass about what are

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

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

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

00:29:50 ◼   ► good way to go

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

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

00:29:57 ◼   ► and begin on it

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:30:44 ◼   ► stuff to say this time

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:31:04 ◼   ► calendar year it follows the Apple

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

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

00:31:12 ◼   ► technology with a significant focus on

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

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

00:31:24 ◼   ► a decline in overall excitedness amongst

00:31:26 ◼   ► people that care about Apple products

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

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

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

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

00:31:37 ◼   ► products everyone was happy no matter

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:31:50 ◼   ► because everything that happened was not

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

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

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

00:32:03 ◼   ► got something right there was something

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

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

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

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

00:32:14 ◼   ► positive and optimistic when talking

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:33:03 ◼   ► wandering through this valley of

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

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

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

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

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

00:33:16 ◼   ► of darkness like

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

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

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

00:33:24 ◼   ► like for mental health sometimes you

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

00:33:27 ◼   ► revaluation and say like yeah stuff

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

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

00:33:36 ◼   ► those funny

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

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

00:33:42 ◼   ► through like a playing tricks on

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:34:54 ◼   ► about my mic general contenders in

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

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

00:35:00 ◼   ► worry about things like that

00:35:02 ◼   ► my general my general feeling about

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

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

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

00:35:12 ◼   ► righteous path of the multi pad

00:35:14 ◼   ► lifestyle even though some people

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

00:35:18 ◼   ► about your incredibly confusing 2017

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

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

00:35:26 ◼   ► in the way of your

00:35:30 ◼   ► today's episode of cortex is brought to

00:35:32 ◼   ► you in part by our friends hover

00:35:34 ◼   ► building your online identity has never

00:35:37 ◼   ► been more important and havel will help

00:35:39 ◼   ► you find the domain that shows the world

00:35:41 ◼   ► exactly what you are passionate about

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

00:36:11 ◼   ► the name is there you've got it it's

00:36:13 ◼   ► locked down hover is super super simple

00:36:16 ◼   ► they allow you to keep your domain

00:36:18 ◼   ► separate from your hosting so you never

00:36:19 ◼   ► have to get stuck of a service that

00:36:21 ◼   ► doesn't meet your needs and what I love

00:36:23 ◼   ► is that they have best-in-class customer

00:36:25 ◼   ► support they have their hover connect

00:36:27 ◼   ► feature that allows you to connect your

00:36:28 ◼   ► domain to any website builder with just

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

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

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

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

00:36:38 ◼   ► your own and setting up an email address

00:36:40 ◼   ► rather than using Gmail or something

00:36:42 ◼   ► that looks real good and and that's a

00:36:44 ◼   ► great reason to get a domain I think

00:36:46 ◼   ► most people don't really think of very

00:36:47 ◼   ► much and of course who is privacy is

00:36:49 ◼   ► free so bad guys don't get your

00:36:51 ◼   ► information if you want to show the

00:36:53 ◼   ► world what you're passionate about and

00:36:55 ◼   ► set yourself up for your year hover is

00:36:58 ◼   ► there to help make that first step

00:37:01 ◼   ► head to hover comm slash cortex right

00:37:03 ◼   ► now and you'll get 10% of your first

00:37:04 ◼   ► purchase and show you support for this

00:37:06 ◼   ► show our thanks to hover for their

00:37:08 ◼   ► continued support of cortex and relay fm

00:37:10 ◼   ► looking back on my my past year and had

00:37:14 ◼   ► a at a confusing start with a terrible

00:37:16 ◼   ► name which so I originally was calling

00:37:18 ◼   ► it the year of Nu and then a listener to

00:37:21 ◼   ► the show having having heard me try to

00:37:23 ◼   ► wander through a bad description of what

00:37:24 ◼   ► I was up to redubbed it's the year of

00:37:27 ◼   ► redirection as you want actually doing

00:37:31 ◼   ► anything new so maybe the funny thing is

00:37:33 ◼   ► in retro I was I was going through this

00:37:35 ◼   ► morning getting ready for the show and I

00:37:36 ◼   ► was going through all of my records from

00:37:39 ◼   ► the year and looking stuff over

00:37:40 ◼   ► and it's funny to me because actually

00:37:43 ◼   ► calling it the year of knew slash

00:37:44 ◼   ► redirection is actually perfect because

00:37:46 ◼   ► there were like a bazillion new things

00:37:48 ◼   ► this year it just it just so happens

00:37:51 ◼   ► that this stuff isn't really public

00:37:53 ◼   ► facing to people but your year of new

00:37:55 ◼   ► slash redirection actually ended up

00:37:58 ◼   ► being just a perfect name for the year

00:37:59 ◼   ► but while I was while I was going

00:38:01 ◼   ► through the year I was thinking of it as

00:38:03 ◼   ► the year of redirection and what this

00:38:07 ◼   ► what this meant for me was trying to

00:38:12 ◼   ► think more deliberately about how I am

00:38:15 ◼   ► spending my time like what what things

00:38:19 ◼   ► maybe have too much time where are some

00:38:21 ◼   ► areas where I should spend more time in

00:38:24 ◼   ► a different way than I that I currently

00:38:27 ◼   ► was and part of this part of this was

00:38:31 ◼   ► that going into 2017 I feel like I was

00:38:35 ◼   ► dealing with a little bit of burnout so

00:38:37 ◼   ► I was trying to think about how can I

00:38:39 ◼   ► arrange my working life in a different

00:38:42 ◼   ► way or how can I do a bunch of things in

00:38:44 ◼   ► a different way in that upcoming year

00:38:47 ◼   ► there is a little bit of a funny thing

00:38:49 ◼   ► talking about this year because I

00:38:50 ◼   ► realized that this again is one of these

00:38:54 ◼   ► funny moments where I feel like I'm

00:38:55 ◼   ► coming up against this this this edge of

00:38:58 ◼   ► like being a private person who makes

00:39:01 ◼   ► his living in a very public way and also

00:39:03 ◼   ► there was just a bunch of stuff that

00:39:04 ◼   ► happened business-wise that doesn't make

00:39:06 ◼   ► sense really to talk about in a public

00:39:08 ◼   ► way so I it's funny because it's like I

00:39:11 ◼   ► had all of this stuff happen and I

00:39:14 ◼   ► redirected a bunch of my energy and time

00:39:16 ◼   ► on various projects but so I'm gonna

00:39:18 ◼   ► have to talk about this in like kind of

00:39:20 ◼   ► a high-level way but I'm aware of that

00:39:23 ◼   ► because there's a bunch of places where

00:39:24 ◼   ► it's like I just I just don't either

00:39:25 ◼   ► want to or it doesn't make sense really

00:39:27 ◼   ► to go into the details the lazer shock

00:39:29 ◼   ► business is booming Mike don't tell

00:39:32 ◼   ► people about the losers the volcano

00:39:34 ◼   ► where extraction companies just it's

00:39:36 ◼   ► working excellently you joke but you're

00:39:39 ◼   ► closer than you think

00:39:42 ◼   ► I'm still convinced that you are trying

00:39:45 ◼   ► to build an office building I am

00:39:47 ◼   ► convinced that this I absolutely 100% I

00:39:50 ◼   ► believe that you are trying to build an

00:39:53 ◼   ► office complex but this is

00:39:54 ◼   ► these are the felt I'd love to do it but

00:39:57 ◼   ► I've got to finish my clothing assembly

00:39:59 ◼   ► line first right like there's only so

00:40:00 ◼   ► much only so many industries and

00:40:03 ◼   ► factories you can it's totally true but

00:40:10 ◼   ► yeah so so there's a bunch of stuff

00:40:12 ◼   ► which is not obvious to people but like

00:40:13 ◼   ► one of the things that people who pay

00:40:16 ◼   ► very close attention to the numbers

00:40:18 ◼   ► would notice is like a thing that I

00:40:21 ◼   ► decided to do which you were sort of

00:40:23 ◼   ► referencing earlier is I very

00:40:26 ◼   ► intentionally at the beginning of 2017

00:40:28 ◼   ► decided to crank down my podcast output

00:40:33 ◼   ► just a little bit so if someone is going

00:40:37 ◼   ► through like how many episodes were

00:40:38 ◼   ► published he's month you were joking

00:40:40 ◼   ► about there being more cortex misses but

00:40:42 ◼   ► they're totally were and that was that

00:40:45 ◼   ► was a very intentional decision on my

00:40:47 ◼   ► part this was something that we

00:40:49 ◼   ► discussed and we worked out a good plan

00:40:51 ◼   ► for the year and I think we were but I

00:40:53 ◼   ► was very happy with the the output of

00:40:56 ◼   ► the last year's shows as well and yeah

00:40:58 ◼   ► it was less but I don't I actually think

00:41:01 ◼   ► it was a positive impact on the show

00:41:03 ◼   ► overall yeah and I have to say you you

00:41:05 ◼   ► were great to work with during this time

00:41:07 ◼   ► because like it's it is it is this like

00:41:10 ◼   ► one person is saying like I want to pull

00:41:12 ◼   ► back 15% right over the course of the

00:41:16 ◼   ► year and it's like well it's a

00:41:18 ◼   ► partnership like we work on this thing

00:41:19 ◼   ► together but you you were great with

00:41:21 ◼   ► this and so that was one of the big

00:41:24 ◼   ► things with with the year of a

00:41:25 ◼   ► redirection for me was like this was one

00:41:27 ◼   ► area where I thought the podcasts are

00:41:30 ◼   ► great they're a great way for me to

00:41:32 ◼   ► spend my time but I was also aware of

00:41:35 ◼   ► like man I have this little bit of a

00:41:37 ◼   ► feeling of burnout that it's like every

00:41:40 ◼   ► week there is a show to do and I need to

00:41:44 ◼   ► have a few more times in the year where

00:41:46 ◼   ► it's like okay I have one or two weeks

00:41:49 ◼   ► in a row where there's no podcasts and I

00:41:52 ◼   ► think this is this is the case of of

00:41:54 ◼   ► being like being an introverted person I

00:42:00 ◼   ► always do find that the podcasts are

00:42:03 ◼   ► quite mentally draining in this very

00:42:05 ◼   ► particular way and I just needed some

00:42:08 ◼   ► little bit more time to like recoup from

00:42:10 ◼   ► that that was a case where year of

00:42:12 ◼   ► redirection was was great like just

00:42:15 ◼   ► pulling back a little bit like I said

00:42:18 ◼   ► about 15% was was fantastic and is one

00:42:21 ◼   ► of these cases where it's like okay I'm

00:42:23 ◼   ► taking a small hit business-wise but I'm

00:42:28 ◼   ► getting a massive improvement like

00:42:30 ◼   ► psychologically like I feel much better

00:42:32 ◼   ► about this and I also think it made the

00:42:35 ◼   ► shows genuinely better as well to have

00:42:37 ◼   ► like more breaks I would say from my

00:42:39 ◼   ► perspective less shows meant that I

00:42:43 ◼   ► could prepare better for all of them so

00:42:46 ◼   ► like the things that we were talking

00:42:48 ◼   ► about and themes like I I was happier

00:42:51 ◼   ► with our 2017 output than our 2016

00:42:53 ◼   ► output because I have more time to come

00:42:56 ◼   ► up with ideas and it is worth noting

00:42:58 ◼   ► that this year will probably be pretty

00:42:59 ◼   ► similar sometimes there's one sometimes

00:43:01 ◼   ► it's two and that's kind of just how

00:43:03 ◼   ► we're gonna be going forward because it

00:43:06 ◼   ► fits into both of our schedules really

00:43:08 ◼   ► nicely because in case you'd never

00:43:09 ◼   ► guessed we travel quite a lot and

00:43:12 ◼   ► sometimes it can be a nightmare for us

00:43:15 ◼   ► to align our travel schedules like that

00:43:17 ◼   ► is an example of the thing where in one

00:43:20 ◼   ► way it sounds like an easy and easy

00:43:23 ◼   ► thing to say like oh I'm just gonna pull

00:43:24 ◼   ► back a little bit but I did this across

00:43:26 ◼   ► like all of my various business

00:43:28 ◼   ► endeavors was trying to pull back like

00:43:29 ◼   ► 15% like across the board and everything

00:43:31 ◼   ► I'm involved with like in everything

00:43:33 ◼   ► that I do and that ended up being like a

00:43:36 ◼   ► whole year long project and it was like

00:43:39 ◼   ► a very carefully managed thing and

00:43:41 ◼   ► trying to like balance a whole bunch of

00:43:43 ◼   ► inputs and outputs like that that was a

00:43:45 ◼   ► really big deal but I feel like it was a

00:43:47 ◼   ► huge success and a big win on my part

00:43:50 ◼   ► and there were a number of times in the

00:43:52 ◼   ► year where having that like extra 15

00:43:56 ◼   ► percent of time really did allow me to

00:43:59 ◼   ► redirect efforts and energy into other

00:44:03 ◼   ► things that came up or things that ended

00:44:05 ◼   ► up being new endeavors of one kind or

00:44:07 ◼   ► another so it was it was really great

00:44:11 ◼   ► for me and I'm so glad I did it but I

00:44:13 ◼   ► remember at the beginning of 2017 like I

00:44:16 ◼   ► was looking back through my my initial

00:44:17 ◼   ► planning now it sounds like man I was

00:44:19 ◼   ► really worried that it was

00:44:21 ◼   ► make 2017 just a total disaster that

00:44:24 ◼   ► little bit of a pull back but it didn't

00:44:26 ◼   ► it was it was really a really a great

00:44:28 ◼   ► decision a disaster in what way like

00:44:31 ◼   ► I've never had things on regular

00:44:34 ◼   ► schedules obviously but I feel like

00:44:37 ◼   ► there's got to be some kind of minimum

00:44:39 ◼   ► threshold below which you go that it it

00:44:42 ◼   ► starts turning bad like and I was

00:44:45 ◼   ► worried like maybe I'm closer to

00:44:46 ◼   ► whatever that minimum threshold is then

00:44:49 ◼   ► I thought and going like 15% less will

00:44:52 ◼   ► bring me below that threshold but it

00:44:54 ◼   ► turned out that's not the case so it's

00:44:56 ◼   ► like everything keeps growing and like

00:44:58 ◼   ► like we said the show was actually doing

00:44:59 ◼   ► better than they were before so I was

00:45:02 ◼   ► just worried like how close am I to the

00:45:04 ◼   ► edge of too infrequent and maybe I'm way

00:45:08 ◼   ► closer to that edge than I think but so

00:45:12 ◼   ► now it worked out great and like I said

00:45:14 ◼   ► for me personally it was really great

00:45:16 ◼   ► and it was really important during a

00:45:17 ◼   ► couple of times in the year in

00:45:19 ◼   ► particular yeah so that that is like one

00:45:21 ◼   ► of the most public facing ways that

00:45:23 ◼   ► people can see something is different in

00:45:25 ◼   ► in the year of redirection but you

00:45:28 ◼   ► brought up you brought up travel Mike

00:45:30 ◼   ► and this is where I feel like the year

00:45:33 ◼   ► of new is is a thing because this past

00:45:39 ◼   ► the amount of travel that I did exploded

00:45:43 ◼   ► it just exploded in this totally

00:45:48 ◼   ► unexpected way and I feel I feel like

00:45:51 ◼   ► here's here's the best way I can because

00:45:53 ◼   ► I was looking at like how much time I've

00:45:55 ◼   ► spent in airports this year which is

00:45:56 ◼   ► like phenomenal time but the thing that

00:46:00 ◼   ► really the thing that really hit home

00:46:02 ◼   ► which just happened yesterday was at the

00:46:06 ◼   ► beginning of the year I sort of knew

00:46:08 ◼   ► that I was going to be doing a bunch

00:46:10 ◼   ► more traveling I had a vague idea that

00:46:11 ◼   ► this was a thing that was going to

00:46:12 ◼   ► happen in the year and I was talking to

00:46:15 ◼   ► a friend of mine about it and he

00:46:17 ◼   ► convinced me to sign up for one of the

00:46:19 ◼   ► airline reward programs I was like I

00:46:22 ◼   ► don't know if I should like who cares

00:46:23 ◼   ► I'm just one point it's wild to me I

00:46:26 ◼   ► can't believe

00:46:28 ◼   ► come one well I just thought it was dumb

00:46:30 ◼   ► right and and front and also like for

00:46:33 ◼   ► most of my life the amount of traveling

00:46:35 ◼   ► that I did was very little and it

00:46:38 ◼   ► wouldn't really have mattered but so I

00:46:41 ◼   ► signed up at the beginning of the year

00:46:43 ◼   ► and you know when you sign up so I

00:46:44 ◼   ► signed up with British Airways and it's

00:46:46 ◼   ► like they send you a card and I'd like

00:46:47 ◼   ► welcome to the peasant class of rewards

00:46:49 ◼   ► right you get nothing except this card

00:46:51 ◼   ► which now says that you're in are you're

00:46:53 ◼   ► at the bottom of our caste system and

00:46:55 ◼   ► I'm like whatever

00:46:57 ◼   ► so yesterday I'd literally got a golden

00:47:02 ◼   ► envelope in the mail right the gold

00:47:04 ◼   ► muffler was a great thing to get from

00:47:07 ◼   ► British Airways yeah that I opened up I

00:47:09 ◼   ► had like tissue paper and and this fancy

00:47:12 ◼   ► thick paper and like they're like

00:47:15 ◼   ► welcome to the golden God class of

00:47:18 ◼   ► travel so I I have been on virgin for

00:47:23 ◼   ► the last couple years and I've gone

00:47:25 ◼   ► through that mm-hmm that whole thing but

00:47:27 ◼   ► I had to take a few flights with BA this

00:47:30 ◼   ► year because virgin didn't serve some

00:47:32 ◼   ► places so I lost my gold status by like

00:47:36 ◼   ► just a hair I lost it so I'm now

00:47:38 ◼   ► switching over to be a because I've done

00:47:40 ◼   ► bas before they're their progression

00:47:43 ◼   ► through their system is much better like

00:47:46 ◼   ► you get more for less with them so yeah

00:47:50 ◼   ► I I'm going through that right now and

00:47:53 ◼   ► probably by the end of the year I might

00:47:56 ◼   ► get the gold because I have a lot of

00:47:57 ◼   ► travel on ba this year including like

00:48:00 ◼   ► all my honeymoon stuff so I think we're

00:48:02 ◼   ► gonna be good yeah but it's like I have

00:48:05 ◼   ► to say that when I got that golden

00:48:07 ◼   ► envelope it was a real mixed feelings

00:48:09 ◼   ► moment it was like oh god this is a

00:48:11 ◼   ► physical manifestation of the subjective

00:48:15 ◼   ► feeling like I feel like I've travelled

00:48:16 ◼   ► a lot this year as like no here is

00:48:18 ◼   ► manifest proof that the amount of travel

00:48:21 ◼   ► I have done has just exploded like I

00:48:24 ◼   ► counted up like even just just in the

00:48:26 ◼   ► summer I think in the space of six weeks

00:48:29 ◼   ► I stepped on ten planes like it was some

00:48:32 ◼   ► crazy number like the whole summer of

00:48:34 ◼   ► travel was was especially explosive and

00:48:36 ◼   ► then this year was was on top of that

00:48:39 ◼   ► and this feels like

00:48:40 ◼   ► a really new and very different thing in

00:48:45 ◼   ► my life and it was also the case that

00:48:46 ◼   ► had I not cut back on some other work

00:48:50 ◼   ► stuff that would the combination of

00:48:53 ◼   ► increased business travel plus

00:48:55 ◼   ► maintaining the previous year's schedule

00:48:56 ◼   ► that really would have been a disaster

00:48:58 ◼   ► because we we certainly ran into enough

00:49:00 ◼   ► times this year of just trying to

00:49:02 ◼   ► coordinate both of our schedules that it

00:49:03 ◼   ► was it was really hard or we were really

00:49:05 ◼   ► running up against some very narrow

00:49:07 ◼   ► windows of time we live in the same town

00:49:10 ◼   ► but I think we have seen each other more

00:49:12 ◼   ► this year overseas oh yeah yeah without

00:49:16 ◼   ► a doubt that that is the case it's it's

00:49:22 ◼   ► been an interesting it's been an

00:49:23 ◼   ► interesting experience and I also feel

00:49:26 ◼   ► like travel I've traveled so much I have

00:49:29 ◼   ► become a very fundamentally different

00:49:31 ◼   ► person with travel I'm now I'm now the

00:49:33 ◼   ► kind of person who doesn't have a lot of

00:49:35 ◼   ► stress cutting it real close getting to

00:49:38 ◼   ► an airport I'm so I don't think I'm ever

00:49:40 ◼   ► gonna get there I never thought I would

00:49:42 ◼   ► be there either but I've I have become

00:49:44 ◼   ► that guy my thing is now I don't think

00:49:48 ◼   ► about the fact that I'm gonna be getting

00:49:51 ◼   ► on a plane very much before I do it

00:49:52 ◼   ► right like I know that like before I

00:49:55 ◼   ► started traveling a bunch of times every

00:49:57 ◼   ► year like thinking that I'm about to get

00:49:59 ◼   ► on a plane to go to America or whatever

00:50:01 ◼   ► was like a big thing that was in my mind

00:50:04 ◼   ► for a bit right but now it's kind of

00:50:07 ◼   ► just like I'll pack but I'm not really

00:50:09 ◼   ► thinking about it and I packed the day

00:50:10 ◼   ► before and then I just wake up and go to

00:50:12 ◼   ► the airport like it's like going to get

00:50:15 ◼   ► such a terrible thing to say I guess but

00:50:17 ◼   ► it's like going to get a train now

00:50:18 ◼   ► because I fly so much right and and the

00:50:22 ◼   ► reason we both do this is basically

00:50:23 ◼   ► everybody that we work with by and large

00:50:25 ◼   ► lives in America so there's so many

00:50:27 ◼   ► businesses that occur which require us

00:50:31 ◼   ► to be on the other side of the ocean so

00:50:34 ◼   ► that I do it so many times now that it's

00:50:36 ◼   ► it's like any kind of form of transport

00:50:39 ◼   ► which is a way healthier way to consider

00:50:42 ◼   ► air travel because you don't fret about

00:50:46 ◼   ► it I always found myself writing about

00:50:48 ◼   ► it because they there are so many things

00:50:50 ◼   ► about the process that are meant to make

00:50:52 ◼   ► you fret about it

00:50:54 ◼   ► and I'm now happier that I don't need to

00:50:56 ◼   ► do that yeah I agree there's a lot of

00:50:58 ◼   ► travel threading that is gone part of

00:51:01 ◼   ► that is being part of a members rewards

00:51:03 ◼   ► program which has which has advantages

00:51:05 ◼   ► like for me a huge psychological

00:51:07 ◼   ► advantage is being able to pick a seat

00:51:10 ◼   ► further and further ahead in time so

00:51:13 ◼   ► it's like I know I really do not want to

00:51:15 ◼   ► be penned in in a in a window seat on an

00:51:18 ◼   ► airplane if I can possibly avoid it and

00:51:19 ◼   ► so like get it getting an aisle seat is

00:51:21 ◼   ► extraordinarily psychologically

00:51:23 ◼   ► important to me when I'm flying and so

00:51:25 ◼   ► being able to like book and get that way

00:51:27 ◼   ► in advance makes a big difference but

00:51:30 ◼   ► yeah also just like the pure familiarity

00:51:32 ◼   ► with travel has has definitely decreased

00:51:35 ◼   ► the amount of fretting and has made some

00:51:37 ◼   ► things possible which would have been a

00:51:40 ◼   ► huge a huge deal like an inconceivably

00:51:44 ◼   ► large deal otherwise and I'll just I'll

00:51:47 ◼   ► briefly relay a story that I feel like

00:51:50 ◼   ► encompasses the entirety of of my travel

00:51:52 ◼   ► year but I had traveled so much this

00:51:55 ◼   ► year that come December I had decided

00:51:57 ◼   ► there's going to be no more travel I

00:51:59 ◼   ► cannot do any more flights it's too much

00:52:01 ◼   ► it's all too disruptive I don't want I

00:52:04 ◼   ► don't want to do it and it's like that's

00:52:06 ◼   ► one of the reasons why I was really

00:52:07 ◼   ► interested in going to pod con but I was

00:52:09 ◼   ► like I can't get on one more plane

00:52:12 ◼   ► because it's I've just flown too much

00:52:14 ◼   ► this year and it's a long one it takes a

00:52:17 ◼   ► long getting it to Seattle turns out

00:52:19 ◼   ► yeah it takes a long time to get to

00:52:21 ◼   ► Seattle but I was thinking like oh but I

00:52:22 ◼   ► can stay in great master time it'll all

00:52:24 ◼   ► be fine right as I ever start trying to

00:52:26 ◼   ► scheme it out but the rational part of

00:52:28 ◼   ► my brain said like too many flights dude

00:52:31 ◼   ► you just can't do this decide that there

00:52:34 ◼   ► is a travel veto on December no more

00:52:36 ◼   ► traveling and I decided it and I thought

00:52:38 ◼   ► okay that's great and then four reasons

00:52:43 ◼   ► for make sense that I can't go into the

00:52:45 ◼   ► details we'll just say that this is one

00:52:46 ◼   ► of the the many problems of being a

00:52:48 ◼   ► self-employed dual citizen we're one of

00:52:50 ◼   ► those citizenships is America America

00:52:53 ◼   ► makes it real difficult for

00:52:54 ◼   ► self-employed people living abroad but

00:52:57 ◼   ► it turned out I found out on Christmas

00:52:59 ◼   ► Eve that I needed to go to America to

00:53:02 ◼   ► sign a document before the end of the

00:53:05 ◼   ► year and so I ended up

00:53:08 ◼   ► at the very last minute between

00:53:09 ◼   ► Christmas and New Year's buying a plane

00:53:12 ◼   ► ticket to go to America for 36 hours to

00:53:16 ◼   ► return and fly back before New Year's

00:53:18 ◼   ► and while like that was an enormous pain

00:53:25 ◼   ► in the ass

00:53:26 ◼   ► there was a part of me which because I

00:53:28 ◼   ► had done so much travel I was like you

00:53:30 ◼   ► know what I can just deal with this

00:53:31 ◼   ► right it's not it was not something I

00:53:34 ◼   ► wanted to do but had I not done a ton of

00:53:37 ◼   ► flying otherwise that would have been a

00:53:41 ◼   ► incredible psychological problem but I

00:53:43 ◼   ► was but but I just I just had this

00:53:45 ◼   ► feeling of resignation of like I guess

00:53:47 ◼   ► I'm going to America for 36 hours to

00:53:49 ◼   ► sign a single piece of paper that had

00:53:51 ◼   ► before at the end of the calendar year

00:53:53 ◼   ► like okay here I go yeah that really

00:53:57 ◼   ► summed up a difference in you like and I

00:53:59 ◼   ► noticed it because we were chatting over

00:54:00 ◼   ► Christmas mm-hm and I knew I was seeing

00:54:03 ◼   ► you over the New Year's period and you

00:54:05 ◼   ► told me that you were getting on a plane

00:54:07 ◼   ► and I was like that's a different man

00:54:09 ◼   ► [Laughter]

00:54:13 ◼   ► what I loved about that though is even

00:54:15 ◼   ► when I checked in the gate agent looked

00:54:17 ◼   ► at my ticket and she's like hey come to

00:54:19 ◼   ► America for 36 hours

00:54:25 ◼   ► [Laughter]

00:54:28 ◼   ► it was totally nuts but I felt like that

00:54:31 ◼   ► was the perfect encapsulation I decided

00:54:33 ◼   ► there's no more travel and of course at

00:54:35 ◼   ► the 11th hour something else comes up

00:54:37 ◼   ► which is like this is mandatory travel

00:54:39 ◼   ► you have no option about it like okay

00:54:41 ◼   ► guess it's gonna happen so I feel like

00:54:44 ◼   ► looking back on my past year the the

00:54:48 ◼   ► amount of traveled the amount of new

00:54:49 ◼   ► locations like that is a huge difference

00:54:51 ◼   ► in in what was occurring over the

00:54:54 ◼   ► previous year the other major thing

00:54:55 ◼   ► though which was related to my year of

00:54:59 ◼   ► new and your redirection was while you

00:55:02 ◼   ► were doing time tracking for the first

00:55:04 ◼   ► time last year I was deciding to try to

00:55:07 ◼   ► time track everything in my life for the

00:55:11 ◼   ► previous year and I have to say I feel

00:55:15 ◼   ► like that was also a really great thing

00:55:17 ◼   ► to do and I've really appreciated

00:55:21 ◼   ► this I don't know I don't even know how

00:55:24 ◼   ► to phrase it but I feel like there is I

00:55:27 ◼   ► don't know how to say this in a way

00:55:29 ◼   ► that's not gonna sound to people like

00:55:30 ◼   ► it's a bad thing because I mean it's I

00:55:32 ◼   ► mean it in a very good way but I feel

00:55:35 ◼   ► like having done this for a long period

00:55:39 ◼   ► of time of trying to keep track of not

00:55:42 ◼   ► just working hours but also like leisure

00:55:44 ◼   ► time or socializing time or any any kind

00:55:49 ◼   ► of time I really have like a mental

00:55:53 ◼   ► clock in my head that is running and

00:55:58 ◼   ► that will that will sound bad to people

00:56:02 ◼   ► but what I mean by it is I feel like

00:56:03 ◼   ► it's established a real kind of in the

00:56:08 ◼   ► moment presence in a lot of the things

00:56:11 ◼   ► that I do so like again like so the

00:56:16 ◼   ► worst way that people would think about

00:56:17 ◼   ► is like if I'm socializing with someone

00:56:19 ◼   ► I do keep track of my socializing time

00:56:22 ◼   ► but it's not like I'm there on my watch

00:56:24 ◼   ► and it's like oh god how much time am i

00:56:26 ◼   ► spending with this person bleep bloop

00:56:28 ◼   ► ten personality points allocated yeah

00:56:33 ◼   ► it's it's much more this feeling of like

00:56:36 ◼   ► I have decided to spend time with this

00:56:39 ◼   ► person and I'm going to be as mentally

00:56:41 ◼   ► here in the moment as I possibly can be

00:56:44 ◼   ► and I feel like this is this is a mental

00:56:48 ◼   ► improvement that has been booted up in

00:56:52 ◼   ► my brain by trying to always have a

00:56:55 ◼   ► timer running in the background so that

00:56:57 ◼   ► I'm just time tracking my entire life so

00:56:59 ◼   ► I feel like it has made me much more

00:57:03 ◼   ► present focused then then would

00:57:07 ◼   ► otherwise than would otherwise be the

00:57:08 ◼   ► case so I'm I would not recommend that

00:57:12 ◼   ► everybody do this thing that I have done

00:57:14 ◼   ► like I really think it is on the edge of

00:57:16 ◼   ► crazy to try to time track an entire

00:57:18 ◼   ► life but I have found it really good and

00:57:22 ◼   ► it has it has been a worthwhile thing to

00:57:25 ◼   ► do after having already been four years

00:57:28 ◼   ► familiar with the idea of doing just

00:57:31 ◼   ► time tracking around more

00:57:32 ◼   ► specific activities yeah I I think I

00:57:35 ◼   ► have an example of this too because

00:57:36 ◼   ► because I do

00:57:37 ◼   ► ultimately think that what you do is way

00:57:39 ◼   ► more than I would want to do but once

00:57:41 ◼   ► you get into time tracking as a concept

00:57:44 ◼   ► that exists in your life you're able to

00:57:47 ◼   ► apply it some different things so as is

00:57:49 ◼   ► always with human beings I am trying to

00:57:53 ◼   ► make a more concerted effort of taking

00:57:55 ◼   ► care of my health and right now that is

00:57:58 ◼   ► meaning to exercise more now I'll give

00:58:01 ◼   ► you a fact about my curly my curly hates

00:58:04 ◼   ► exercise I have tried so many different

00:58:07 ◼   ► things I have never ever enjoyed

00:58:10 ◼   ► physical activity I didn't enjoy being

00:58:12 ◼   ► in school I just don't I for whatever

00:58:15 ◼   ► reason I'm not good at any of it and I

00:58:17 ◼   ► don't like it but it's just how I am I

00:58:20 ◼   ► that I do not get a good feeling from

00:58:23 ◼   ► going to the gym no matter what I do I

00:58:25 ◼   ► just don't I know that this is something

00:58:26 ◼   ► that people get and whatever and

00:58:28 ◼   ► endorphins and blah blah blah I never

00:58:31 ◼   ► get a good feeling out of it yeah those

00:58:33 ◼   ► people that's my feeling exactly the

00:58:36 ◼   ► only type of activity that I enjoy is

00:58:39 ◼   ► swimming I like to swim I'm pretty

00:58:41 ◼   ► decent at it I enjoy it

00:58:44 ◼   ► and it's I believe to be a pretty good

00:58:46 ◼   ► workout now the problem problem that I

00:58:49 ◼   ► have is that there where I live there

00:58:53 ◼   ► are not a lot of places I can swim so I

00:58:55 ◼   ► have to travel somewhere to go to a pool

00:58:59 ◼   ► and travel back and the problem that I

00:59:01 ◼   ► was seeing was I believed that it was

00:59:03 ◼   ► taking too much time for me to complete

00:59:07 ◼   ► this activity and it was eating into my

00:59:10 ◼   ► days to significantly so I decided to

00:59:14 ◼   ► time track it I was like let's find out

00:59:17 ◼   ► shall I like it I've had this feeling a

00:59:19 ◼   ► bunch before so let's find out I was

00:59:22 ◼   ► right it was taking too much time so I

00:59:25 ◼   ► have optimized some of the travel to and

00:59:27 ◼   ► from the place that I'm going to so like

00:59:31 ◼   ► I've tried to find ways to cut down the

00:59:32 ◼   ► travel time and to build it in two days

00:59:34 ◼   ► differently but I got the answer that I

00:59:36 ◼   ► needed from actually doing some

00:59:39 ◼   ► real-time tracking to see how many hours

00:59:41 ◼   ► this thing was taking you know I was

00:59:44 ◼   ► finding that it was taking me like

00:59:46 ◼   ► three hours to do 45 minutes of swimming

00:59:48 ◼   ► right well that's not good is it right

00:59:51 ◼   ► like that's not efficient so I've found

00:59:54 ◼   ► ways to cut that down by like a third so

00:59:56 ◼   ► it's like okay so let me try and see how

00:59:59 ◼   ► I can

00:59:59 ◼   ► I can

01:00:00 ◼   ► can build this in some yeah that that's

01:00:01 ◼   ► just something like a an example of when

01:00:04 ◼   ► you get into the time tracking mindset

01:00:05 ◼   ► you can use real data to prove theories

01:00:09 ◼   ► or disprove theories and then action

01:00:11 ◼   ► upon them that's that's what the benefit

01:00:13 ◼   ► for me is of seriously time tracking but

01:00:16 ◼   ► I am NOT I am NOT of the inclination to

01:00:19 ◼   ► to do what you do yeah like I don't want

01:00:22 ◼   ► to track the time that I spend playing

01:00:24 ◼   ► Nintendo like I don't I don't need to

01:00:26 ◼   ► see that right like I'm good let's just

01:00:30 ◼   ► assume that all of the time that isn't

01:00:32 ◼   ► what time is spent playing Nintendo and

01:00:35 ◼   ► then was good you ever see this this is

01:00:39 ◼   ► why I like doing the whole lifetime

01:00:41 ◼   ► tracking because a thing that we when we

01:00:45 ◼   ► get to what are themes for the next year

01:00:47 ◼   ► are I'll talk a little bit about more

01:00:48 ◼   ► but it does then if you're trying to do

01:00:52 ◼   ► the whole life tracking there is there

01:00:54 ◼   ► is data in like the missing data and

01:00:57 ◼   ► that's an interesting thing to look at

01:00:58 ◼   ► is to say like oh when you know I'm

01:01:00 ◼   ► awake 16 hours a day and like but how

01:01:04 ◼   ► many hours did I actually get in the day

01:01:06 ◼   ► and then that that missing piece becomes

01:01:09 ◼   ► an interesting piece of data of like

01:01:10 ◼   ► where did that time go or why is it that

01:01:13 ◼   ► during this week or this month I was

01:01:15 ◼   ► clearly way worse at time tracking than

01:01:17 ◼   ► than other times and so I like having

01:01:22 ◼   ► that because I feel like there is this

01:01:23 ◼   ► sense of like information in the

01:01:26 ◼   ► negative space of the time tracking if

01:01:29 ◼   ► you're trying to be really complete in

01:01:31 ◼   ► in what's occurring but we can talk more

01:01:33 ◼   ► about that later but I mean I guess I'll

01:01:36 ◼   ► just say that the year of new in the

01:01:37 ◼   ► year redirection was sort of vague much

01:01:41 ◼   ► more vague than the year of less was for

01:01:44 ◼   ► me which I'm where there's really

01:01:44 ◼   ► precise meaning but I still feel like a

01:01:48 ◼   ► lot of what I was trying to do I did I

01:01:52 ◼   ► feel much better about my work-life

01:01:54 ◼   ► balance there were some things last year

01:01:56 ◼   ► that made me think about like I just how

01:01:59 ◼   ► I how I spend like family time I wanted

01:02:01 ◼   ► to try to increase that like that is

01:02:04 ◼   ► definitely a thing that I accomplished

01:02:06 ◼   ► you know there were a bunch of just like

01:02:08 ◼   ► new things that I did new experiences

01:02:11 ◼   ► like there's some new business ventures

01:02:12 ◼   ► like there's

01:02:13 ◼   ► but there was a bunch of like new stuff

01:02:15 ◼   ► that was great because I had been able

01:02:19 ◼   ► to redirect how I spent some of my -

01:02:21 ◼   ► yeah into those new things I asked the

01:02:23 ◼   ► balance like it wasn't that you was

01:02:25 ◼   ► necessarily seeking out these new things

01:02:27 ◼   ► but by redirecting your time new things

01:02:31 ◼   ► could but could come to you it's kind of

01:02:35 ◼   ► like if that is the way I think that you

01:02:36 ◼   ► ended up balancing out cuz I don't know

01:02:39 ◼   ► if you necessarily set out the year to

01:02:41 ◼   ► be like I need some new business

01:02:42 ◼   ► ventures don't necessarily that was what

01:02:45 ◼   ► you were thinking like when you open up

01:02:47 ◼   ► space the thing to become available so I

01:02:51 ◼   ► feel I feel like that was that was

01:02:52 ◼   ► really good I guess in some ways I feel

01:02:54 ◼   ► like I had much more of the advantages

01:02:58 ◼   ► and fewer of the disadvantages of being

01:03:02 ◼   ► a self-employed person during the year

01:03:03 ◼   ► of redirection like I think that's

01:03:05 ◼   ► that's largely what happens like I did

01:03:09 ◼   ► some analysis I did like a like an 80/20

01:03:11 ◼   ► analysis of where where are the pain

01:03:13 ◼   ► points in my life and where are the

01:03:15 ◼   ► benefit points in my life and realized

01:03:17 ◼   ► that was a little bit off and worked to

01:03:20 ◼   ► reduce the things that were causing pain

01:03:22 ◼   ► and increase the number of things which

01:03:24 ◼   ► were causing enjoyment so I feel like

01:03:26 ◼   ► that that's the summation of like your

01:03:29 ◼   ► redirection ended up being the year that

01:03:31 ◼   ► I was able to benefit more from being a

01:03:34 ◼   ► self-employed person than I had in

01:03:35 ◼   ► previous years yeah cuz you could do

01:03:38 ◼   ► whatever you wanted right there was more

01:03:39 ◼   ► of that feeling of like I can I can pick

01:03:41 ◼   ► and choose and do the things that I want

01:03:43 ◼   ► to do without the feeling of like I am

01:03:46 ◼   ► bound into the things that I must do

01:03:48 ◼   ► there was kind of a bit more flexibility

01:03:50 ◼   ► in there yeah I mean I always think this

01:03:53 ◼   ► that there's a it's a thing I think I

01:03:57 ◼   ► see with a lot of people and it's very

01:03:59 ◼   ► natural for it to happen but it's like a

01:04:04 ◼   ► phrase but there's like there's this way

01:04:06 ◼   ► that being successfully self-employed

01:04:09 ◼   ► you can end up just building yourself a

01:04:12 ◼   ► golden cage and I feel like in 2016 I

01:04:17 ◼   ► came a little close to that edge or

01:04:20 ◼   ► closer to that edges and I really want

01:04:21 ◼   ► to be and that's the thing that I'm

01:04:22 ◼   ► always very conscious of and then like

01:04:24 ◼   ► 2017 was was writing that ship

01:04:27 ◼   ► a little better this episode of cortex

01:04:30 ◼   ► is brought to you by our friends at

01:04:31 ◼   ► Casper Casper is the company focused on

01:04:34 ◼   ► sleep and they're dedicated to making

01:04:36 ◼   ► you exceptionally comfortable one night

01:04:39 ◼   ► at a time if you were to track your

01:04:42 ◼   ► sleep you'd see that you spend close to

01:04:45 ◼   ► a third of your life sleeping and if you

01:04:48 ◼   ► spent a third of your life doing

01:04:49 ◼   ► anything you'd want to make sure it's as

01:04:51 ◼   ► best as possible

01:04:53 ◼   ► that's why you need Casper Casper

01:04:56 ◼   ► mattresses are perfectly designed for

01:04:58 ◼   ► humans with engineering to soothe and

01:05:00 ◼   ► support your natural geometry it's got

01:05:03 ◼   ► all the right support in all the right

01:05:05 ◼   ► places they combine multiple supportive

01:05:07 ◼   ► memory foams for a quality mattress with

01:05:10 ◼   ► just the right sink and bounce you can

01:05:12 ◼   ► be sure of your purchase with Casper's

01:05:14 ◼   ► 100 night risk-free sleep on it to trial

01:05:17 ◼   ► they deliver the mattress directly to

01:05:19 ◼   ► your door and if for any reason you

01:05:21 ◼   ► don't love it Casper has a hassle-free

01:05:24 ◼   ► return policy but I think you're going

01:05:28 ◼   ► to like it because I first had the

01:05:30 ◼   ► chance to try a Casper during my very

01:05:33 ◼   ► hectic summer of travel and I really

01:05:36 ◼   ► loved it and just a few days ago my wife

01:05:39 ◼   ► and I ordered a Casper to replace our

01:05:41 ◼   ► current mattress it's really great it's

01:05:44 ◼   ► really comfortable so to start sleeping

01:05:46 ◼   ► on a Casper

01:05:47 ◼   ► visit Casper come slash cortex and use

01:05:51 ◼   ► cortex at checkout this will get you

01:05:53 ◼   ► fifty dollars towards select mattresses

01:05:56 ◼   ► once again that's Casper comm slash

01:05:59 ◼   ► cortex and offer code cortex for fifty

01:06:02 ◼   ► dollars towards select mattresses thanks

01:06:05 ◼   ► to Casper for supporting the show so I

01:06:07 ◼   ► have two themes for 2018 and starting

01:06:10 ◼   ► out which is also being coupled with my

01:06:13 ◼   ► theme which is running into a June yeah

01:06:16 ◼   ► so you're gonna have three overlapping

01:06:17 ◼   ► themes that's gonna happen oh yeah yeah

01:06:20 ◼   ► well okay so it will make sense when you

01:06:22 ◼   ► hear them so so one of the themes of my

01:06:24 ◼   ► year is the year of adulting I am gonna

01:06:28 ◼   ► become a serious adult this year is it's

01:06:34 ◼   ► time to get serious because this year I

01:06:36 ◼   ► turned 30 years old and I'm getting

01:06:38 ◼   ► married it's pretty serious yeah I feel

01:06:41 ◼   ► like these are pretty serious big adult

01:06:43 ◼   ► things that will occur so that I know

01:06:46 ◼   ► that's just gonna be a prevailing thing

01:06:48 ◼   ► in in my life this year I don't believe

01:06:51 ◼   ► there are any significant actions to it

01:06:54 ◼   ► but they are just guiding a lot of

01:06:56 ◼   ► things that are happening so especially

01:06:58 ◼   ► my wedding

01:06:59 ◼   ► it is guiding a lot of activity and

01:07:02 ◼   ► focus this year in in a way that I am

01:07:06 ◼   ► going to take my foot off the gas a

01:07:09 ◼   ► little bit more with some work stuff

01:07:11 ◼   ► this year because I have a very serious

01:07:12 ◼   ► big event going on so that that's kind

01:07:17 ◼   ► of a thought and really I don't think

01:07:18 ◼   ► that it will no one will see it right

01:07:21 ◼   ► now it's kind of in a way less than what

01:07:24 ◼   ► you did like I'm not gonna pull back on

01:07:26 ◼   ► a bunch of stuff but it's just informing

01:07:28 ◼   ► some things that I'm gonna be doing and

01:07:30 ◼   ► kind of how I'm gonna be approaching

01:07:32 ◼   ► some projects that are existing and new

01:07:35 ◼   ► because I'm gonna be having this this

01:07:37 ◼   ► this huge thing going on in my life this

01:07:40 ◼   ► year which I'm very excited about but

01:07:43 ◼   ► it's obviously gonna make an impact on

01:07:44 ◼   ► me which is a great thing about being

01:07:48 ◼   ► self-employed is that I'm able to make

01:07:50 ◼   ► those decisions right and and it was

01:07:52 ◼   ► like it was like when I when was buying

01:07:55 ◼   ► the house and I remember saying on the

01:07:57 ◼   ► show about like it's like a job of its

01:08:01 ◼   ► own and I don't know how people I just

01:08:03 ◼   ► don't know how people do it including me

01:08:05 ◼   ► I don't know how I did it and it's a

01:08:08 ◼   ► similar thing like getting married it's

01:08:11 ◼   ► like a job of its own and that's why

01:08:14 ◼   ► there is an entire industry of wedding

01:08:16 ◼   ► planners that exist because it is like a

01:08:19 ◼   ► big huge project to manage yeah it's a

01:08:22 ◼   ► giant logistical challenge on many

01:08:24 ◼   ► levels yeah probably the biggest

01:08:26 ◼   ► logistical thing that I will have be

01:08:28 ◼   ► involved with so yeah that's that's

01:08:31 ◼   ► informing a lot so that's one thing but

01:08:33 ◼   ► there's there's less kind of actions

01:08:35 ◼   ► from there and okay so this this might

01:08:37 ◼   ► sound in contrast to the previous thing

01:08:41 ◼   ► that I just spoke about but let me try

01:08:43 ◼   ► and explain 2018 will also be for me the

01:08:47 ◼   ► year of branching out so

01:08:50 ◼   ► I have some things that I want to do I

01:08:52 ◼   ► have some new things that I want to try

01:08:55 ◼   ► and I want to see if it's something that

01:09:00 ◼   ► I'm able to do so like one of those

01:09:02 ◼   ► things is more live shows I love doing

01:09:07 ◼   ► live shows and but they are there

01:09:10 ◼   ► they're real bear to arrange and we did

01:09:12 ◼   ► more in 2017 than we've done in 2016 and

01:09:15 ◼   ► I want to continue that I don't have any

01:09:18 ◼   ► handle on what that's gonna be I have no

01:09:21 ◼   ► plan we have no plan like significant

01:09:23 ◼   ► plan right now but we want to do more of

01:09:26 ◼   ► them right so we want a trip we want to

01:09:29 ◼   ► hopefully do one at wEDC

01:09:31 ◼   ► this year which we didn't do last year

01:09:33 ◼   ► so you know no plans but it's just hopes

01:09:35 ◼   ► and so that is a big thing because it

01:09:37 ◼   ► doing anytime you add another live show

01:09:40 ◼   ► into the calendar like it's a it's a big

01:09:42 ◼   ► logistical challenge and I am very lucky

01:09:44 ◼   ► in that I have Stephen to manage that

01:09:46 ◼   ► stuff Stephen is very good at putting

01:09:47 ◼   ► together live shows my co-founder a

01:09:49 ◼   ► relay event it's something that he has

01:09:51 ◼   ► developed in his skill set but for me if

01:09:54 ◼   ► I'm if I'm involved in hosting them that

01:09:57 ◼   ► is huge for me so like before I do any

01:09:59 ◼   ► type of live show I go into an almost

01:10:02 ◼   ► catatonic state okay I talk to anybody

01:10:06 ◼   ► and I really get kind of like focused on

01:10:11 ◼   ► it in a very significant way it like for

01:10:15 ◼   ► like an hour before I'm like sick I I

01:10:18 ◼   ► don't even know what it is I don't know

01:10:20 ◼   ► if it's nerves I don't know where it

01:10:22 ◼   ► comes from it's I don't know if it's

01:10:23 ◼   ► stage fright I don't know what it is

01:10:24 ◼   ► because as soon as we start I'm great

01:10:26 ◼   ► fine I can do them but I I feel like I

01:10:30 ◼   ► always need to prepare more and so I

01:10:33 ◼   ► kind of get into this like zone for a

01:10:36 ◼   ► while so they're always a lot to do but

01:10:38 ◼   ► it's something that I get great pleasure

01:10:40 ◼   ► from when we do them I love doing it so

01:10:43 ◼   ► we want to try and do more of that

01:10:45 ◼   ► and then trying new ideas is probably

01:10:49 ◼   ► the bigger thing for me and I've made

01:10:51 ◼   ► hints to this in the past that there is

01:10:53 ◼   ► an idea in my brain which is it is a

01:10:56 ◼   ► podcast idea I don't I don't know if

01:11:00 ◼   ► it's ever going to happen because it's

01:11:02 ◼   ► so different to any

01:11:03 ◼   ► thing else that I have done but I have

01:11:06 ◼   ► been stewing on this idea for about six

01:11:09 ◼   ► months and it won't go away it keeps

01:11:12 ◼   ► coming good sign

01:11:13 ◼   ► yeah that that's what like so that's

01:11:16 ◼   ► that okay so that's one of the big

01:11:18 ◼   ► things right 2016 Mike would have

01:11:21 ◼   ► already launched this project right

01:11:23 ◼   ► right but 2017 Mike learned to wait so

01:11:28 ◼   ► I'm still sitting on it but it's

01:11:32 ◼   ► something that I really want to do and I

01:11:34 ◼   ► saw Hamilton last week in London and

01:11:39 ◼   ► it's only made it worse

01:11:41 ◼   ► because Hamilton was created by one

01:11:43 ◼   ► person and it is this incredible

01:11:48 ◼   ► incredible thing which I urge anyone to

01:11:51 ◼   ► go and see if you can because it's

01:11:52 ◼   ► probably the greatest single piece of

01:11:54 ◼   ► meteor I've ever consumed it is a tour

01:11:57 ◼   ► de force I can't believe it here like I

01:12:02 ◼   ► haven't seen Hamilton I was aware

01:12:04 ◼   ► whatever was like last year when I first

01:12:06 ◼   ► came out that I started hearing

01:12:07 ◼   ► everybody in the world

01:12:08 ◼   ► talk about an overhype this thing and I

01:12:11 ◼   ► got like sick of hearing people talk

01:12:14 ◼   ► about Hamilton and I was like this is

01:12:16 ◼   ► ridiculous whatever like everybody's

01:12:18 ◼   ► just like a fad but then I felt like my

01:12:20 ◼   ► mind was changed because I last year I

01:12:23 ◼   ► watched Moana and I was like man the

01:12:26 ◼   ► music in this was just amazing it just

01:12:28 ◼   ► made this this was so fast like this

01:12:30 ◼   ► music is great and I thought like this

01:12:32 ◼   ► is one of the best movie watching

01:12:33 ◼   ► experiences I've had in a really long

01:12:35 ◼   ► time and and I did a thing which I never

01:12:37 ◼   ► do which is like who made this movie

01:12:40 ◼   ► looked at when it's like Oh turns out

01:12:43 ◼   ► that the guy who made Hamilton did all

01:12:44 ◼   ► the music for this I was like ah okay

01:12:47 ◼   ► maybe this Hamilton thing is worth

01:12:50 ◼   ► seeing great Hamilton is in London it's

01:12:53 ◼   ► gonna be here forever please try and get

01:12:56 ◼   ► tickets to it and I advise anyone to do

01:12:59 ◼   ► what I did because I think this is great

01:13:00 ◼   ► don't listen to the music beforehand

01:13:02 ◼   ► experience who will do that who with so

01:13:04 ◼   ► many people because honestly you can and

01:13:07 ◼   ► it's fine and you can get it but see it

01:13:09 ◼   ► so obviously I am no delusion of

01:13:14 ◼   ► grandeur here I don't think I can create

01:13:16 ◼   ► something that is of the scale

01:13:17 ◼   ► Hamilton ya see that's what I'm hearing

01:13:20 ◼   ► Mike's gonna make Hamilton - what Mike's

01:13:23 ◼   ► working on Jefferson right now but it

01:13:26 ◼   ► was it was just because what what I want

01:13:29 ◼   ► to do is a big is a big project is a

01:13:31 ◼   ► huge project it's something I don't know

01:13:33 ◼   ► if I have the skills or capabilities to

01:13:35 ◼   ► do but seeing something created by one

01:13:38 ◼   ► individual is very inspiring to me

01:13:42 ◼   ► because it's like well it shows that

01:13:45 ◼   ► people are able to do these types of

01:13:47 ◼   ► things so maybe I can make something

01:13:51 ◼   ► that's okay so it it's only basically

01:13:54 ◼   ► what is happening to me is I have this

01:13:56 ◼   ► idea and everything is inspiring me

01:14:00 ◼   ► right so many things I'm seeing alike

01:14:04 ◼   ► pushing me to be like see you can do

01:14:06 ◼   ► this stuff people can do this stuff

01:14:08 ◼   ► maybe you can so it's only feeding the

01:14:11 ◼   ► flame and yeah people could probably

01:14:15 ◼   ► guess what I have going on in my mind if

01:14:17 ◼   ► they pay attention to the clues you if

01:14:20 ◼   ► you guess it you're probably right

01:14:22 ◼   ► but it's it's a project that I don't

01:14:24 ◼   ► know if I had capability to do but 2018

01:14:27 ◼   ► I will make the decision by the end of

01:14:29 ◼   ► this year I'll have IVA done it or I'm

01:14:32 ◼   ► never gonna do it I'm setting that for

01:14:34 ◼   ► myself it's like you can't keep doing

01:14:37 ◼   ► this forever if you want to try and make

01:14:39 ◼   ► a go of this thing you've got to do it

01:14:42 ◼   ► this year so we'll see that's that's so

01:14:44 ◼   ► my bigger theme this year is branching

01:14:47 ◼   ► out trying some new big projects but

01:14:50 ◼   ► also being mindful of not just trying

01:14:53 ◼   ► anything and everything that comes to my

01:14:55 ◼   ► mind like I learned in 2017 well I look

01:14:57 ◼   ► forward to seeing your enormous project

01:14:59 ◼   ► at some point we're not coming to coming

01:15:02 ◼   ► to Broadway but I think that like what

01:15:05 ◼   ► you just said there is also like a great

01:15:07 ◼   ► a great point about like deciding that

01:15:13 ◼   ► you're gonna do this thing or you're

01:15:14 ◼   ► gonna have to let it go like and exactly

01:15:17 ◼   ► why you can't just keep having it in the

01:15:18 ◼   ► back of your mind for forever and I

01:15:20 ◼   ► think that's a it's an interesting it's

01:15:22 ◼   ► an interesting point to have with that

01:15:25 ◼   ► so yeah I wish you I wish you all the

01:15:27 ◼   ► best of luck with that Mike thank you I

01:15:30 ◼   ► hope it I hope it turns out

01:15:32 ◼   ► and all the live shows you're gonna

01:15:34 ◼   ► arrange that we're gonna do right are

01:15:36 ◼   ► you gonna how many live shows do you

01:15:37 ◼   ► want to commit to 1000 committing to

01:15:42 ◼   ► zero right X World Tour gore-tex World

01:15:46 ◼   ► Tour how many dates do you have zero so

01:15:51 ◼   ► what's your theme for 2018 okay so we

01:15:56 ◼   ► need a little bit of a run-up to this

01:15:57 ◼   ► because when I was recapping my year

01:16:00 ◼   ► mostly talking about how it was great

01:16:02 ◼   ► thank you every direction very happy

01:16:05 ◼   ► things worked out well but there's an

01:16:08 ◼   ► alternative name that I could have given

01:16:11 ◼   ► that year looking in retrospect and I

01:16:15 ◼   ► think I could have called 2017 standing

01:16:18 ◼   ► now at the beginning of 2018 the year of

01:16:21 ◼   ► chaos because what a really bad name to

01:16:28 ◼   ► give it proactively obviously

01:16:31 ◼   ► proactively does not the name to give

01:16:33 ◼   ► the thing but retro actively I think I'm

01:16:36 ◼   ► going to always think of 2017 as like

01:16:39 ◼   ► this year of chaos because this year was

01:16:45 ◼   ► just a year where I felt like I never

01:16:48 ◼   ► had any real consistent schedule for any

01:16:51 ◼   ► significant length of time I feel like

01:16:53 ◼   ► things were just all over the place and

01:16:57 ◼   ► again I do like to try to verify this

01:16:59 ◼   ► kind of stuff so when I was like

01:17:00 ◼   ► reviewing all the documentation I had

01:17:02 ◼   ► from the previous year the data totally

01:17:05 ◼   ► bears this out that that last year was a

01:17:08 ◼   ► year that was just all over the place in

01:17:12 ◼   ► every metric I can think of and so like

01:17:16 ◼   ► one of the things I was mentioned before

01:17:18 ◼   ► about the negative space and time

01:17:19 ◼   ► tracking I was looking over the year and

01:17:21 ◼   ► I could see like I want to see how well

01:17:23 ◼   ► did I do with this time tracking and my

01:17:25 ◼   ► mental my mental framework is that on a

01:17:28 ◼   ► on any particular day I should have 12

01:17:31 ◼   ► hours like 12 hours is the bare minimum

01:17:33 ◼   ► of competency 14 hours is good and like

01:17:37 ◼   ► 16 hours is the theoretical maximum of

01:17:40 ◼   ► how much time I would be tracking in a

01:17:41 ◼   ► day

01:17:42 ◼   ► and the median day for the whole year

01:17:45 ◼   ► was like 13 and a half hours which I was

01:17:47 ◼   ► pretty happy with but if you break it

01:17:49 ◼   ► down by months some months I'm tracking

01:17:53 ◼   ► fifteen and a half hours a day like I'm

01:17:56 ◼   ► doing great and a couple of months

01:17:58 ◼   ► particularly in the summer and in April

01:18:00 ◼   ► I've got like six hours a day right like

01:18:03 ◼   ► total disaster across the board in terms

01:18:06 ◼   ► of the time tracking and it's like yeah

01:18:08 ◼   ► I remember those months I remember I

01:18:10 ◼   ► decided like the hell with this I can't

01:18:11 ◼   ► possibly do with it all so I just had

01:18:13 ◼   ► like a string of zero days in a row

01:18:15 ◼   ► because I'm like I can't I can't

01:18:16 ◼   ► psychologically deal with this today I

01:18:18 ◼   ► just got too much and I looked at things

01:18:21 ◼   ► like records of exercise and like

01:18:26 ◼   ► records of health and it's like crazy

01:18:28 ◼   ► lines all over the place of like how

01:18:30 ◼   ► frequently frequent were you exercising

01:18:32 ◼   ► it's like crazy or like like things with

01:18:36 ◼   ► like other health stuff like diet stuff

01:18:38 ◼   ► it's like okay it's like okay great I

01:18:40 ◼   ► have this stretch of time where

01:18:41 ◼   ► everything is perfect numbers really

01:18:43 ◼   ► focusing on and then it just was ghost a

01:18:44 ◼   ► total disaster later and like I think a

01:18:49 ◼   ► huge portion of that was just I am NOT a

01:18:53 ◼   ► person who was used to the travel so

01:18:55 ◼   ► it's like I can see that it's like the

01:18:57 ◼   ► calm pond of my life is totally

01:19:00 ◼   ► destroyed with ripples and waves every

01:19:02 ◼   ► time a rock of an airplane is thrown

01:19:04 ◼   ► into it and it's like this this really

01:19:06 ◼   ► takes things out of place but even on

01:19:10 ◼   ► top of that like I can I can just see

01:19:12 ◼   ► again from the records like I was really

01:19:14 ◼   ► bad last year about things like weekly

01:19:17 ◼   ► reviews and trying to stay on top of

01:19:19 ◼   ► stuff I think it wasn't wasn't helped by

01:19:23 ◼   ► my like sort of abandoning task managers

01:19:25 ◼   ► for a while as well which like went into

01:19:27 ◼   ► this theme of like a year of chaos yes I

01:19:29 ◼   ► still I honestly still can't get my head

01:19:31 ◼   ► around that

01:19:32 ◼   ► like I don't feel like I was ever

01:19:35 ◼   ► satisfied with the reasoning in which

01:19:37 ◼   ► you were doing it like yeah it just

01:19:39 ◼   ► never clicked for me I feel like that

01:19:41 ◼   ► that was a mistake that you made in the

01:19:44 ◼   ► year well I think I needed to pull back

01:19:47 ◼   ► from some of that stuff that that was a

01:19:49 ◼   ► little bit of like redirection like I'm

01:19:52 ◼   ► going to just like let this kind of go

01:19:56 ◼   ► so what I feel like with last year and

01:19:58 ◼   ► had this this experience where

01:20:01 ◼   ► high-level things were really great it

01:20:04 ◼   ► was a really successful year but unlike

01:20:06 ◼   ► the low level it was totally this this

01:20:09 ◼   ► like year of chaos so my theme for the

01:20:13 ◼   ► upcoming year is the year of order that

01:20:16 ◼   ► there is going to be order in 2018 oh

01:20:20 ◼   ► yeah

01:20:22 ◼   ► yes chaos to order so good

01:20:25 ◼   ► yeah you've you had a brain wave when

01:20:28 ◼   ► you came up with that one I like it it's

01:20:31 ◼   ► been itching it's been under my skin for

01:20:33 ◼   ► you know maybe since mid-december I

01:20:36 ◼   ► started was thinking about this because

01:20:37 ◼   ► as we were coming up to our your themes

01:20:39 ◼   ► I was like I don't really have a theme

01:20:41 ◼   ► like I'm just wishing what like whatever

01:20:42 ◼   ► and as I started to think about I was

01:20:44 ◼   ► like this is what it is it's the year of

01:20:46 ◼   ► order is 2018 and I've sort of started

01:20:52 ◼   ► on this in some ways but there's that

01:20:55 ◼   ► there's like a sentence in my mind which

01:20:58 ◼   ► I feel like is this this guiding

01:21:00 ◼   ► sentence for the year which is like the

01:21:03 ◼   ► work isn't the work the system is the

01:21:06 ◼   ► work and so I feel like I've set up a

01:21:09 ◼   ► bunch of stuff already to try to help

01:21:11 ◼   ► with it's like okay in the morning like

01:21:15 ◼   ► you get up in the first thing that you

01:21:16 ◼   ► do is is the writing and like it doesn't

01:21:19 ◼   ► matter how much you write her if it's

01:21:21 ◼   ► good at all because the system is the

01:21:23 ◼   ► work the work isn't the work like one of

01:21:25 ◼   ► my real focuses this year is I'm still

01:21:29 ◼   ► expecting that there's going to be a lot

01:21:31 ◼   ► of travel like I can already see my

01:21:33 ◼   ► calendars has a bunch of dates already

01:21:35 ◼   ► in the future like oh god here we go

01:21:37 ◼   ► but I think there can be a real

01:21:39 ◼   ► difference when I'm going I'm going into

01:21:43 ◼   ► the Year expecting and acknowledging

01:21:45 ◼   ► like there is going to be travel there

01:21:47 ◼   ► are going to be disruptions but I cannot

01:21:50 ◼   ► allow them to be as disruptive as they