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Cortex

Cortex 66: Triggers - Creating Behaviour That Lasts

 

00:00:00   the screws aren't evenly done on my

00:00:01   soundproofing thing here that's annoying

00:00:03   I recommend not touching it right now

00:00:06   please let's not don't want me to touch

00:00:11   the soundproofing don't we I don't see

00:00:13   why I shouldn't touch the soundproofing

00:00:15   stuff oh look just came undone at the

00:00:18   top see I told you don't touch it I just

00:00:24   saw the hook undo from the top hold on a

00:00:26   second that thing only weighs like 300

00:00:30   pounds if it falls on me it's no problem

00:00:32   why does it weigh 300 pounds what is it

00:00:34   it's a it's a mobile recording booth

00:00:38   panel thing you're supposed to have four

00:00:40   of them I don't know who thinks this is

00:00:42   mobile because one guys delivered it you

00:00:49   have to construct a room inside of your

00:00:51   office look I'm basically building like

00:00:53   a little black monolith in which I will

00:00:55   reside to record the podcasts and I

00:00:58   don't see what's wrong with that or why

00:01:00   you would disapprove of that gray it is

00:01:02   much time merch we have Caltex

00:01:05   merchandise we have new t-shirts and a

00:01:07   hoodie for the first time we have a

00:01:09   whole selection so first time we've done

00:01:11   this we have four different styles of

00:01:14   product for you to go and buy gore-tex

00:01:18   listeners I want to give people a very

00:01:19   brief rundown of what we've got you can

00:01:22   go to cortex Murch com2 check out the

00:01:25   rain I love that URL by the way Mike I

00:01:27   love that I figure you got you know you

00:01:28   got it go to make it easy for people I

00:01:30   realized this in the past it's always

00:01:32   been like I'll go to here find the link

00:01:33   no yeah cortex Murch calm that's where

00:01:36   you go to buy our merchandise boom very

00:01:39   professional

00:01:40   we are partnering with our friends at

00:01:41   Cotton Bureau Cotton Bureau make the

00:01:44   best quality t-shirts that I've ever

00:01:46   worn they do worldwide shipping they

00:01:48   have great pricing for Europe and places

00:01:50   like that

00:01:51   - we have three t-shirts available and a

00:01:53   hoodie we're for the first time ever we

00:01:55   are selling merchandise with our logo on

00:01:58   it a little behind the scenes here

00:01:59   listeners because Mike is very excited

00:02:03   about the very exciting t-shirts as I'm

00:02:05   sure you can hear in his voice he's very

00:02:07   excited he's been working on this for a

00:02:09   long time sending me updates images to

00:02:12   approve that's my job too

00:02:13   give a little tap back reply thumbs up

00:02:16   yep on things but mike has been for

00:02:19   literally years now

00:02:21   holding back merchandise with the brain

00:02:26   logo on it I wouldn't say holding back

00:02:28   holding back is it maybe a harsher term

00:02:30   just waiting for the right time would be

00:02:33   what I would say all right all right

00:02:36   mike has been waiting for the right time

00:02:39   to new merchandise with the brain and I

00:02:43   have to agree with him this is the right

00:02:46   time the stuff he's been sending me

00:02:48   looks amazing but if you've been

00:02:50   thinking why don't they sell a t-shirt

00:02:52   or a hoodie with that amazing brain logo

00:02:55   on it well today's the day yesterday

00:02:57   today is your day to buy some brain

00:02:59   local merchandise we have the original

00:03:02   which is logos you know it in the nice

00:03:04   blue color that it has then we have two

00:03:06   special editions now these two special

00:03:09   editions this may be the only time we

00:03:11   ever sell these two one is the core tech

00:03:14   which is a green brain which is

00:03:16   glow-in-the-dark I love that and then we

00:03:22   have cortex over Surrey it was the gold

00:03:25   logo for our 50th episode and we're

00:03:27   coming up to like three years doing this

00:03:29   shows so it's about time that we do this

00:03:31   so the cortex of ursery is super special

00:03:34   gold foil the brain the gold foil on the

00:03:40   t-shirt so you know it's pretty special

00:03:44   and obviously as you can imagine did she

00:03:46   show up prices change as you would

00:03:47   expect them to through that range and

00:03:49   then we also have I think this might be

00:03:52   my favorite part we have a hoodie so we

00:03:55   have a hoodie that you can buy with the

00:03:57   brain logo on it but it's not printed it

00:04:00   is embroidered and it looks awesome

00:04:04   it looks so good I have to say Mike sent

00:04:06   me the images some of the pre-production

00:04:08   images of the hoodie and my response was

00:04:12   give me 10 of those yeah it look really

00:04:15   cozy I want them I wonder if you can put

00:04:18   in the show notes the that close-up

00:04:20   photo that you sent me where you can

00:04:23   really see the embossed nests of the

00:04:26   cortex

00:04:27   go on that hoodie because I think it

00:04:29   looks really sweet it looks really great

00:04:30   so here's the deal

00:04:32   for the time being this will be a

00:04:34   limited run so the hope is that we might

00:04:37   be able to find a way to sell these

00:04:38   again in the future hopefully on a more

00:04:41   permanent basis but for the time being

00:04:43   all of this much is available for three

00:04:45   weeks it is available until April the

00:04:48   10th 2018 so if you want it and trust me

00:04:52   you do go to cortex much comm check out

00:04:55   the range and buy everything that you

00:04:57   like and maybe in the future we might be

00:04:59   able to sell some of these items but

00:05:01   I'll tell you the glow-in-the-dark and

00:05:03   the foil this is the only time you're

00:05:05   gonna get these so bear that in mind

00:05:07   yeah those are the limited editions the

00:05:10   cortex of ursery it doesn't come around

00:05:12   all the time it doesn't not happened we

00:05:14   had that episode with the gold and you

00:05:17   know that was it there won't be another

00:05:19   cortex episode with the gold logo there

00:05:22   won't be another cortex of ursery gold

00:05:24   t-shirt gotta get it now especially you

00:05:27   only have three weeks to get this stuff

00:05:28   maybe if you want to look really cool at

00:05:30   an upcoming conference this summer this

00:05:33   seems like particularly good stuff to

00:05:35   get I don't know I don't know if there's

00:05:36   any conferences or cool events coming up

00:05:39   this summer but if there were I

00:05:41   certainly would want to get one of these

00:05:43   shirts for said cool person conference

00:05:46   especially you know if me or you or

00:05:48   maybe at cool person conferences and you

00:05:51   know I like high-fives so you know there

00:05:53   are lots of high fives that could be

00:05:55   given to people wearing the cortex brain

00:05:57   so cortex merch calm go and buy some

00:06:00   awesome merchandise yeah just to be

00:06:03   really clear though grey high fives not

00:06:04   included with the cortex merchandise no

00:06:06   I was very careful about that risk

00:06:13   great high fives cannot be given you

00:06:14   must check the purchase yeah we have a

00:06:16   whole little thing so yeah no I don't

00:06:18   even want to think about travel I have

00:06:19   no idea what I'm doing but I'm just

00:06:21   saying summertime conference time you

00:06:24   want to look cool what could be cooler

00:06:25   than a glow-in-the-dark

00:06:27   brain t-shirt I don't know anything or a

00:06:30   gold one can you imagine a gold foil

00:06:32   with with the hoodie wanna double up

00:06:37   come on I mean I feel like you have to

00:06:39   write

00:06:40   that's that's a pretty sweet situation

00:06:42   you're gonna leave the bling master I

00:06:44   want to talk about one of those events

00:06:46   in a minute but should we do some yearly

00:06:48   theme updates okay so I've been I've not

00:06:53   decided where my journal fits into my

00:06:56   yearly theme yeah I know it's in one of

00:06:58   them I just haven't worked out which one

00:07:00   can you remind the listeners and me in

00:07:02   this moment what your two themes are I

00:07:04   feel like because you went with two I

00:07:05   can't remember either of them they flown

00:07:08   right out of my head the year of

00:07:09   adulting okay write your adulting and

00:07:12   the year of branching out your branching

00:07:14   out I feel like the journal is much more

00:07:16   branching out than year of adulting the

00:07:18   year of adulting is very is like for

00:07:20   some very specific events right like

00:07:23   that but they overruled the big theme

00:07:25   for me this year is the year of

00:07:26   branching out and and this is one of

00:07:28   those things in a way cuz it is a little

00:07:30   bit different and it's a little bit

00:07:31   outside of my usual comfort zone to like

00:07:33   sit and write a journal every day but

00:07:35   I've been doing it every day I don't do

00:07:37   what weekend's is what I've come to the

00:07:40   to it's just a thing that I don't really

00:07:42   feel like I need to because as well a

00:07:44   lot of what goes in my journal is very

00:07:46   work focused so I tend not to write in

00:07:49   it on the weekends unless I'm having a

00:07:51   working day on the weekend so but yeah

00:07:55   I've been keeping it up I added in one

00:07:56   of your suggestions after the last

00:07:58   episode of the what's on my mind

00:08:00   heading oh yeah yeah and I found that to

00:08:03   be really helpful because sometimes I

00:08:05   want to write some stuff down that

00:08:07   doesn't fit in like something good

00:08:09   something bad or priorities or something

00:08:12   like that and and a lot of the time it

00:08:13   is just how I'm feeling and that has

00:08:17   been a nice addition which I don't use

00:08:18   every day but it's good to have it there

00:08:21   when I want it mmm somebody that's

00:08:23   working for you so it's still like I'm

00:08:25   still very impressed with your now that

00:08:29   we're like how long have you been doing

00:08:30   this town must be what a month is that

00:08:31   about right since you started I can tell

00:08:33   you actually cuz I wrote the date down

00:08:34   I've been doing this since 2004 February

00:08:39   yeah okay so yeah it's just about a

00:08:41   month I'm very impressed with that

00:08:43   because you know when we discussed

00:08:45   journaling you know and it got a little

00:08:47   got a little like touchy-feely last

00:08:50   episode you know sorry about that by the

00:08:52   way yeah

00:08:54   yeah I don't know how that happens this

00:08:56   is uncomfortable

00:08:58   discuss my feelings

00:09:00   this is one of those say that to tell

00:09:02   you right every now and then just like

00:09:05   you record something and it's done and

00:09:06   like you put it out there and that's it

00:09:08   but sometimes you get people reaching

00:09:12   out I had some friends like you okay all

00:09:21   right fine no fine or like I've had

00:09:24   people ask me things and then they're

00:09:25   like I'm sorry to give you more work no

00:09:27   no we're good we're good oh yeah yeah

00:09:30   it's like that time I put out a video

00:09:32   about death I got a lot of messages from

00:09:33   people in it like are you okay that's

00:09:41   fine like if I ever put out a video

00:09:42   about death again people you don't need

00:09:43   to send me messages about like are you

00:09:45   okay right it's just it's just an

00:09:46   interesting topic yeah but I could see

00:09:48   that on on show you start to have met

00:09:50   your feelings people like oh god are you

00:09:51   you on the edge alright I kind of break

00:09:53   down Mike if you went okay yeah so yeah

00:09:57   I got a bit emotional but no it's all

00:10:00   good I'm pleased I'm enjoying it and I

00:10:03   may be thinking about doing some

00:10:06   different stuff in it after having read

00:10:08   triggers which we're going to talk about

00:10:09   today but I haven't yet worked out how I

00:10:13   would maybe add these things in so that

00:10:15   my that's one of the things that I want

00:10:16   to go over when we talk about the book

00:10:18   in a little bit mmm can I get your

00:10:20   thoughts on it especially because I know

00:10:22   that influenced your stuff when you do

00:10:25   any journaling so it was the case that

00:10:27   after the last episode I was thinking oh

00:10:29   I should really I should really make a

00:10:32   real effort about trying to do the

00:10:34   journaling again and then I immediately

00:10:36   used the homework that I had assigned

00:10:39   ourselves about reading that book as an

00:10:41   excuse to not do it like well I can't do

00:10:43   it until I've reread this book and I

00:10:47   finished my reread of the book this

00:10:49   morning so I think my I have not I have

00:10:51   not done any journaling since the last

00:10:53   episode again I find this a really hard

00:10:55   habit to keep up outside so that's why

00:10:57   I'm doubly impressed with your ability

00:10:59   to do that so I think I think that's but

00:11:02   I think it's good I think that's a good

00:11:03   addition to the year of the year

00:11:06   branching out it will

00:11:07   we'll help you explore your ideas about

00:11:10   branching out like what what are you

00:11:12   gonna do what does that mean for this

00:11:14   upcoming year year of adulting that's

00:11:16   kind of a thing that the external world

00:11:17   just supposes upon you yeah exactly as I

00:11:20   hear carry this Boulder this Boulder

00:11:23   labeled being an adult but year of

00:11:26   branching out that's you looking towards

00:11:28   the horizon figuring out which way are

00:11:31   you in the boulder going to go I'm gonna

00:11:33   wish you wouldn't describe it that way

00:11:37   you don't like the mental pictures that

00:11:39   I paint Mike you didn't like my forest

00:11:41   fire last time although I'm still

00:11:43   absolutely convinced that was the proper

00:11:46   metaphor I don't know if you saw but

00:11:47   people were sending you pictures of of

00:11:49   what like forest fires look like when

00:11:50   they're making a forest nice and clean

00:11:52   by getting rid of all the underbrush did

00:11:54   you find any of these actual images of

00:11:56   forests burning down helpful in

00:11:59   understanding the visual picture that I

00:12:01   was trying to paint no it just it just

00:12:03   reinforced my original think feeling or

00:12:06   why this shouldn't be the metaphor that

00:12:07   we use mmm no I I think it's great and I

00:12:10   think you should also just think of the

00:12:11   year of adulting is like a boulder that

00:12:13   is being harnessed to your back that you

00:12:15   carry around not a thing that you choose

00:12:16   but a thing that is added onto you and

00:12:18   then the year of branching out is you

00:12:20   deciding where to walk with the boulder

00:12:22   oh so like I put the boulder on top of

00:12:25   the hill and then like drag it around

00:12:27   yeah you haven't chosen it it gets

00:12:29   attached to you that's what happens

00:12:31   that's your effort salting and then

00:12:33   you're branching out is where am I gonna

00:12:36   go now that I have this attached to me

00:12:38   that's that's how I if I were you that's

00:12:40   how I would like to think about it that

00:12:42   sounds very encouraging keep that in

00:12:47   mind I think that's a healthy mental

00:12:49   picture you want me to talk about what

00:12:50   another thing I'm doing to branch out is

00:12:52   that what you want me to do yeah that's

00:12:53   right that's where I'm leading so where

00:12:55   are you in the boulder going this year

00:12:56   Mike so WWDC is coming this is Apple's

00:12:59   conference where they're now sort of

00:13:02   their stuff for the next year mm-hmm

00:13:04   it's happening in San Jose again from

00:13:05   the 4th to the 8th of June and we're

00:13:09   doing a live show so last year we did

00:13:11   not do a live show because we moved

00:13:13   place but there is going to be a relay

00:13:16   FM live show at WWDC on Wednesday June

00:13:20   the 6th

00:13:21   this is branching out because there is

00:13:24   an audience of 900 people available in

00:13:27   the room the biggest live show that I've

00:13:29   ever done had 230 people so 900 is a is

00:13:34   a is a step to make there's quite an

00:13:36   increase it is quite an increase but I'm

00:13:39   very excited about it

00:13:40   so you can go and get tickets we're

00:13:43   doing this in partnership with a

00:13:45   conference called ort Kampf which is

00:13:46   happening next door to where Apple holds

00:13:49   their conference I'll put links in the

00:13:51   show notes but you can go to or can't

00:13:52   calm and they have tickets there for

00:13:54   real AFM live on June the 6th you should

00:13:57   come see us if you're gonna be in town

00:13:59   it's gonna be a gritty good show we're

00:14:01   planning out some fun stuff to do and

00:14:03   yeah I'm really excited about it yeah

00:14:06   just to be clear you don't have to be a

00:14:08   developer who's gotten a ticket to go to

00:14:10   WWC to be part of alt conf that's the

00:14:13   whole as the whole point point of all of

00:14:14   all calm yep all right is that it's next

00:14:16   door it's the alternative conference and

00:14:19   it's free yeah if like me you are not a

00:14:21   developer you're not one of these gods

00:14:24   who makes the apps for us you can go to

00:14:26   Kampf and it's cool you check out things

00:14:28   that are going on there and yep really

00:14:30   live show old conf tickets for our live

00:14:32   show of five dollars and all of that

00:14:34   money goes towards supporting what all

00:14:36   kampf

00:14:36   does providing free content people that

00:14:39   are gonna be in town so if you want to

00:14:40   come and see a great night of podcast

00:14:42   fun get on over to relay of home live on

00:14:45   June the 6th so it's gonna be awesome

00:14:46   and go get tickets at op conf calm to

00:14:51   see the relay FM live show this episode

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00:16:58   show and real afm how is the year of

00:17:01   order got going sorry I had something my

00:17:04   throat there is it going okay you sound

00:17:06   ridiculous when you do that yeah of

00:17:08   course nobody says order like that

00:17:10   that's crazy

00:17:11   why would you yeah why would you that's

00:17:13   ridiculous but

00:17:16   yeah so year of order year of order is

00:17:21   is going well but there's a thing I feel

00:17:24   like I want to get it on the record now

00:17:25   just to put this to put this at the

00:17:27   beginning I have a very strong feeling

00:17:30   that this is going to be much more like

00:17:32   the years of order like I think I have a

00:17:36   feeling this is a theme that is not

00:17:39   going to be done it is a regime it's

00:17:46   like the regime of order like that I

00:17:48   don't have any specifics that I want to

00:17:51   really talk about on on the show but I

00:17:52   could just say like it's a thing that

00:17:53   I'm being very deliberate and also very

00:17:56   slow about like I'm trying not to rush a

00:18:01   bunch of things and also making it too

00:18:05   bit later but there's there are some

00:18:06   things where I feel like the year of

00:18:09   redirection slash chaos didn't really

00:18:13   end until like mid-february there were

00:18:16   some projects that kind of lingered over

00:18:17   and just being very delivered with it

00:18:20   but I want to get it on the record now

00:18:21   because future me might look like he

00:18:25   just couldn't think of a new theme for

00:18:28   the year when we have our next

00:18:29   discussion about like what are the

00:18:31   themes for the year I want it I want to

00:18:33   current me to save him and get it on the

00:18:35   record that if that guy thinks it's we

00:18:38   just need to have another year of order

00:18:40   to lead into the regime of order that he

00:18:43   was already thinking about it way back

00:18:46   at the beginning of the year it just

00:18:48   this feels like the more I think about

00:18:51   it and the more I do it just feels like

00:18:53   a much bigger thing than actually a a

00:18:55   single year because I really do feel

00:18:57   like this is touching on lots of

00:18:59   different aspects of my life so I feel

00:19:01   like this may be the years of order that

00:19:03   that's that might be I might be able to

00:19:05   help you here I've opened up the fuss

00:19:06   Oris mm-hmm

00:19:08   what about the year of procedure or the

00:19:10   year of structure the era of

00:19:13   codification you could just keep doing

00:19:16   that right so it's like it's the same

00:19:17   thing but you give it a different name

00:19:18   every year no that's dumb that's done a

00:19:21   year of symmetry that doesn't even make

00:19:23   no that doesn't even make any sense

00:19:25   there Mike ooh year of hominid I like

00:19:27   that one I could do some fun things took

00:19:29   it

00:19:29   about that you have harmony though that

00:19:32   feels like a very different kind of year

00:19:34   than the year of order your year of

00:19:35   order is that is not the same as harmony

00:19:37   your thesaurus is broken and it needs to

00:19:39   be better at the solarizing but no I

00:19:42   just I'm not gonna I'm not going to try

00:19:44   to pull one over on the audience by

00:19:47   giving the same thing a different name I

00:19:49   just I just wanted to get on the record

00:19:50   and this is also again well hi I like to

00:19:52   speak in terms of like seasons and even

00:19:55   this idea of like the year of order like

00:19:56   but when did when does the years start

00:19:58   like who knows whenever uh years to me

00:20:02   they can be two years they can be one

00:20:04   year who knows but I just have a feeling

00:20:06   like this is going to be a much a much

00:20:08   larger project and I want to get it on

00:20:10   record now for future me but that's

00:20:12   that's it's gonna happen

00:20:14   also I don't really have any specific

00:20:16   thoughts about this but I can already

00:20:18   see what is going to be the first really

00:20:21   major obstacle towards the year of order

00:20:23   which is yesterday I was finishing up my

00:20:26   travel schedule for the next couple

00:20:28   months and you know how we've discussed

00:20:32   you have that feeling of overwhelming

00:20:33   Ness I I definitely I was looking at the

00:20:37   things that I have booked myself for for

00:20:40   the next several months and I just

00:20:41   thought oh god like I got that real

00:20:45   tightness in much and I had this feeling

00:20:47   of like like travel sick without even

00:20:51   going this is so all good for me because

00:20:54   I'm I feel I'm I'm so sorry I feel like

00:20:59   I'm to blame for all of this anybody

00:21:02   here's the thing Mike you're not to

00:21:03   blame for all of this you are but a part

00:21:05   of this right of course you are part of

00:21:08   it but not remotely all of it but but it

00:21:11   was it was just a funny thing to be

00:21:13   looking at the travel schedule and like

00:21:15   oh my god and and recognizing that this

00:21:18   was really one of the things that that

00:21:19   started me thinking about the year of

00:21:21   order was doing all the travel last year

00:21:22   and feeling like I would through my life

00:21:24   into chaos and so I have I'm just aware

00:21:27   of trying to think about this in advance

00:21:29   and I've been thinking about some

00:21:32   strategies that I'm just toying with

00:21:34   right now about how to try to maintain

00:21:36   order in my life throughout a chaotic

00:21:37   schedule but when I was running over the

00:21:40   dates and plans and things with my

00:21:41   assistant she

00:21:43   had an idea which was the idea that made

00:21:46   me feel sick because I thought oh she's

00:21:47   not wrong but her suggestion was well

00:21:50   why don't you just fly to America in

00:21:53   April and not come back until the end of

00:21:56   June no that's crazy

00:22:01   Oh actually it's not that crazy it's a

00:22:06   crazy idea it is it might make sense in

00:22:09   your situation doesn't mean it's less

00:22:11   crazy it's a crazy that is wild because

00:22:14   like at that point like if you look like

00:22:16   you have a special situation but if you

00:22:18   were me I could be pushing up against

00:22:20   visa regulations I have a question for

00:22:29   you on this right yeah because you are a

00:22:32   man who cannot be made to do things

00:22:37   right like if you don't want to do

00:22:39   something you won't do it and and it

00:22:42   kind of doesn't matter what it is like

00:22:44   if you don't want to do it you won't do

00:22:46   it like people cannot pressure you into

00:22:48   doing things because you're very

00:22:50   strong-willed like that so considering

00:22:53   you know how much of a stress this

00:22:57   travel might be to you why are you doing

00:22:59   it all I mean why do we do anything like

00:23:01   because then that's not you do a thing

00:23:06   because it makes sense to do and this is

00:23:10   one thing this is one of the cases where

00:23:11   I don't want to get into into too many

00:23:14   of the particulars right now because

00:23:15   it's like it's just like a long story

00:23:16   but part part of it just is that at this

00:23:19   stage in my life it makes way more sense

00:23:20   and there's way more reasons to do

00:23:22   traveling than there was before and and

00:23:25   that's why I feel like I'm willing to

00:23:27   suck up a bunch of jetlag and disruption

00:23:31   to my calendar and once um once I'm able

00:23:36   to make that decision I always feel like

00:23:39   if I'm traveling if I'm going like I'm

00:23:42   going to be flying to America anyway I

00:23:44   might as well try to double or triple up

00:23:49   on what the trip actually is so there's

00:23:52   another there's a number of times where

00:23:53   it's like oh I'm flying into America for

00:23:56   I don't know maybe a thing on the west

00:23:58   coast and then then immediately I start

00:24:01   thinking about like well is there

00:24:03   something I can do on the East Coast on

00:24:05   my way in and also on the East Coast on

00:24:07   my way out and then I start planning

00:24:09   things like that so there are ways in

00:24:11   which I am sort of the the source of my

00:24:14   own problem but I don't I don't view it

00:24:17   as a problem I view it as like if I'm

00:24:19   going to go through this anyway how can

00:24:20   I try to maximize this time either in

00:24:23   like a business way or either in a

00:24:25   family or a personal way so that that's

00:24:28   partly why my travel schedule does look

00:24:30   a little crazy is I'm also taking things

00:24:32   and expanding them a little bit in

00:24:34   either direction to say like if I'm

00:24:36   going to be there anyway what's nearby

00:24:39   or can I combine this with another trip

00:24:41   so that's why trips to America very

00:24:43   quickly become at least two trips to

00:24:45   America for me yes yeah I'm still

00:24:47   interested to see how this plays out

00:24:49   though because that amount of travel was

00:24:51   part of a big contributing factor to

00:24:54   what made last year a year of chaos yep

00:24:56   but now you're doing basically the same

00:24:58   amount of travel but claiming it's gonna

00:25:00   be in order so I'm gonna no no no II

00:25:02   need to see where that goes just to be

00:25:04   clear here I'm not claiming it's going

00:25:06   to be an order oh I do Monde I would

00:25:09   demand but this is a situation where you

00:25:11   can't you can't make demands of your

00:25:14   future self because that guy doesn't

00:25:15   listen I'm not saying that it's going to

00:25:18   be order 'fl I fully expect there's

00:25:21   going to be a lot of stumbling over the

00:25:23   year of order during a summer of busy

00:25:26   travel but I'm just because I'm thinking

00:25:28   of the benefit of the year themes it's

00:25:31   like what do I want this year to be like

00:25:32   I wanted to be more order Philander then

00:25:35   it naturally starts me thinking ideas

00:25:37   about if I am going to be traveling and

00:25:40   I know from experience that it was kind

00:25:43   of a chaotic disaster last year

00:25:45   what can I try to do to minimize that

00:25:48   while I'm traveling so that that's all I

00:25:50   can I have some ideas about ways I could

00:25:53   try to make it better but I know it's

00:25:56   there's there's the ideal of how I would

00:25:58   want the travel to go and there's the

00:26:00   reality of how it actually will go but

00:26:03   maybe there are some strategies I can

00:26:05   try to implement to at least make it

00:26:06   more like the way I want it to be than

00:26:09   it was last

00:26:09   I think we've got some really

00:26:12   interesting themes going on this yeah I

00:26:14   think it's clear in the fact that we

00:26:16   keep talking about them mmm there is

00:26:18   like the two main things that we have

00:26:21   going on they seem to be moving way more

00:26:24   than last year's themes you know like

00:26:26   there seems to be more kind of like

00:26:28   ongoing development with them it's

00:26:30   interesting I think we've both really I

00:26:32   mean I know I have at least that really

00:26:34   latched on to my same idea yeah this

00:26:36   year because it's branching out could

00:26:38   mean so many things so and maybe putting

00:26:42   too much on myself because I want to

00:26:44   keep like going by the theme but I will

00:26:48   say that right now it is pretty exciting

00:26:50   yeah I think it is I feel like we both

00:26:52   have particularly good useful themes

00:26:56   this year from some of our our private

00:26:58   discussions as well I feel like they are

00:27:00   particularly relevant themes related to

00:27:02   like what has happened in the past year

00:27:04   and what we expect to happen in the

00:27:05   upcoming year like I think that they are

00:27:06   good they are good themes and it's nice

00:27:09   to have the theme to to orient your life

00:27:12   and your and your mind around to just

00:27:14   like keep focused on this idea as

00:27:16   opposed to goals which as we all know

00:27:18   goals are dumb gray I want to return to

00:27:22   the real kind of tempo item in the

00:27:24   history of our show email I want to talk

00:27:28   about email a little bit oh the wheel

00:27:30   uh-huh yeah because I hate email apps

00:27:34   again Oh Mike so you're going through

00:27:39   email what I went through with task

00:27:40   managers yep I hate email well I'm

00:27:43   coming surrett with task managers as

00:27:44   well I did a couple of days ago I kind

00:27:47   of looked up my iPad and I was like I'm

00:27:48   not happy with anything all systems that

00:27:53   I have I am unhappy with all of them I

00:27:56   don't know why this is going on I have

00:27:58   this very clear mental image of you like

00:28:00   a little child just with your arms

00:28:01   crossed and frowning and your iPad like

00:28:03   none of this is good don't wipe my

00:28:05   finger at it let's go what's going on

00:28:09   with your email because you've been

00:28:10   using what I've used for a long time

00:28:14   despite its many problems right you have

00:28:19   always been very upfront about that Mao

00:28:21   is a buggy app

00:28:23   and there are two problems that I have

00:28:26   one has been persistent which has been

00:28:28   nagging away at me in that when I have

00:28:31   an email application and I send an email

00:28:34   what I don't want my email app to do is

00:28:37   to completely lock up which is what it

00:28:41   does yeah that's that that would seem

00:28:43   bad yes so every time I send an email

00:28:45   with airmail the app completely freezes

00:28:48   for a period of time well it's busy

00:28:49   sending the email that's what I guess it

00:28:51   is so like I'd send an email and then if

00:28:53   I open another application into split

00:28:55   view was the emails sending everything

00:28:57   crashes and sometimes I just leave it

00:29:00   there and the app will just crash I what

00:29:03   I will say for email is they have a no

00:29:07   error rate of like not sending their

00:29:10   email so like if the app crashes they

00:29:12   will always send it when the app is

00:29:14   opened again but I still just I get

00:29:17   frustrated every time I use my email

00:29:19   application to send an email and my

00:29:21   email application becomes unresponsive

00:29:23   it just feels like something that

00:29:25   shouldn't be happening and yeah this has

00:29:28   been annoyingly concerning yeah is

00:29:31   concerning and then a couple of days ago

00:29:33   I open air mail and it sent every email

00:29:36   in my inbox to the archive okay I don't

00:29:42   know why it did it I couldn't stop it

00:29:44   and that was just the situation that I

00:29:47   was in okay I just need to pause here

00:29:49   for a little bit of clarification

00:29:50   because my understanding of your system

00:29:54   is that you only ever have like seven

00:29:57   emails in your inbox right yep so it's

00:30:00   not was for other people this this is a

00:30:03   huge disaster for you isn't obviously no

00:30:05   bueno

00:30:06   but so you're losing like seven to ten

00:30:09   messages rather here's the problem oh I

00:30:12   know what the problem is I just wanted

00:30:14   to clarify I think you know I trust me

00:30:16   I'm not like you just lost seven

00:30:19   messages no no I understand

00:30:21   these are messages that require a

00:30:22   response yep they're all they're the

00:30:24   most important emails the most important

00:30:27   over a period of time which is not

00:30:29   linear right so when they are gone they

00:30:33   they're just gone mm-hmm right like

00:30:35   that's it now

00:30:37   and I had to reconstruct them from

00:30:39   memory as to what was what I thought was

00:30:41   in my inbox so this is one of those this

00:30:43   is the worst kind of for me like data

00:30:45   loss type problem yeah when you know

00:30:48   something's gone but you don't know what

00:30:51   it was yeah I 100% agree that is

00:30:54   definitely the worst kind of data loss

00:30:56   problem the that's like a known unknown

00:30:59   like you know for sure there were seven

00:31:03   to ten exactly how many did I get all of

00:31:06   them did I forget one now now you just

00:31:09   live in a cloud of uncertainty and and

00:31:11   also that is the kind of thing that that

00:31:13   for me when an app does that kind of

00:31:16   thing you suddenly feel like I can't

00:31:18   trust you to do any yeah I don't trust

00:31:19   it anymore

00:31:20   it doesn't matter if it's been working

00:31:22   perfectly for a year that kind of error

00:31:24   is the like nope I'm gone hey I need to

00:31:27   just stay like I am on the beta of a

00:31:29   male right look I am on a beta version

00:31:31   but some of the problems that it has

00:31:34   basically all of the problems that it

00:31:36   has still exists in the stable version

00:31:38   maybe if I was on a regular version it

00:31:40   wouldn't work I'd ever archived

00:31:42   everything but honestly that was just

00:31:44   the straw that broke the camel's back

00:31:46   right like I was already getting more

00:31:48   and more frustrated with it and the

00:31:50   reason I've never switched from airmail

00:31:51   is because I have never found found any

00:31:54   email application that works for me as

00:31:56   good as that one does from like how my

00:31:57   system works so I've been trying to

00:32:01   think like what do I need from an email

00:32:03   application so I have a few things I

00:32:05   want to list right I need a unified

00:32:07   inbox for multiple services not just

00:32:09   Gmail it has to have great iOS apps

00:32:12   which include things like drag and drop

00:32:14   on the iPad or even split view there's

00:32:17   an app called Edison mail that I was

00:32:18   thought was really nice but they broke

00:32:21   something and now it won't do split view

00:32:23   and they're not 100% sure when that's

00:32:24   coming back to the application what that

00:32:26   means I can't use it because now I don't

00:32:29   trust them either right yeah but I would

00:32:32   be like Oh Mike you can live without

00:32:33   drag and drop if it split view forget it

00:32:36   yeah drag and drop I can live without

00:32:37   even though it's like it's really

00:32:39   important to me if like if it was the

00:32:40   only feature that an app didn't have I

00:32:42   would get used to it but I can't have an

00:32:45   email application that doesn't work and

00:32:46   split on my iPad because that's how I

00:32:48   use email application

00:32:49   email application has to be next to

00:32:51   Safari otherwise it's 25% as useful

00:32:55   ideally it would have a Mac app but if

00:32:58   it didn't it would play nicely with

00:33:00   other applications like I don't want an

00:33:02   email after that like takes all of my

00:33:04   email and does something to it right

00:33:07   like I don't want that asking for the

00:33:08   mac app has already set the bar quite

00:33:10   high mm-hmm as long as it plays nicely

00:33:12   with a male or male on the Mac I'm fine

00:33:14   with that

00:33:15   right like that will do for me yeah and

00:33:17   by play nicely you mean it it's not

00:33:20   making special custom folders exact

00:33:22   whatever it does but yeah I I agree at

00:33:25   some point I did try a couple email

00:33:27   clients that did that kind of thing and

00:33:28   I'm immediately like no no no no you

00:33:31   don't mess with the folder structure of

00:33:33   my email like I don't care how good of

00:33:35   an app you are like you're gonna you're

00:33:38   gonna use straight-up IMAP with my

00:33:40   folders and you're gonna like it like

00:33:41   that that's what's gonna happen email

00:33:43   app no none of these special folders and

00:33:45   moving things around because that also

00:33:47   feels like it's like the Evernote

00:33:49   problem like how do I ever get out of

00:33:51   this system right like I'm gonna need to

00:33:53   move at some point so yeah that's a

00:33:54   total deal-breaker yep so we'll say I do

00:33:56   use sandbox right now which does some of

00:33:58   this stuff we're like filtering into

00:34:00   folders but sandbox can in theory work

00:34:02   of any applications what it's doing is

00:34:04   applying Gmail labels to things right so

00:34:06   I like that it works for me but that

00:34:08   using sandbox has introduced enough a

00:34:10   requirement for an email application

00:34:12   that there has to be quick and easy

00:34:14   access to labels or folders however it

00:34:16   calls them and in a sidebar which is

00:34:19   customizable so I've used a bunch of

00:34:21   apps which shows me every folder every

00:34:23   label that's no good because I only ever

00:34:25   want to see two of them I don't need

00:34:27   rest and so there are some apps that

00:34:30   will do this some that won't any push

00:34:32   notifications and a big one for me is a

00:34:34   clear business model if I am gonna start

00:34:38   using an email application I want to be

00:34:40   confident it's gonna be around next week

00:34:42   and if there is no I don't care what the

00:34:44   business model is to a point I just need

00:34:46   to be able to trace where the money's

00:34:48   coming from if I can't do that I don't

00:34:50   want to use it I don't you just want it

00:34:52   to be free though mic isn't free great

00:34:55   no I I mean I don't care I mean so like

00:34:59   I will pay I have no problem paying I'll

00:35:01   pay a subscription I have no problem

00:35:02   paying

00:35:02   and I don't care if it's free if it

00:35:04   makes sense right so like Microsoft

00:35:06   Outlook I know why that's free mmm oh

00:35:08   that's a good comparison yeah that's

00:35:10   that's a really good thing that is a

00:35:12   free app that I could feel good about

00:35:14   too with most free apps I feel like oh

00:35:17   this is garbage because what they want

00:35:18   me to do is become an office 365

00:35:20   customer like that's the business model

00:35:22   right get me into the Microsoft

00:35:24   ecosystem like I'm fine with that

00:35:27   or like Gmail on fire Gmail being free

00:35:29   like I'm good with it as long as there's

00:35:31   a reason for it if it's just like hey

00:35:33   we're a start-up in our email apps free

00:35:35   it's like yeah but where's the money

00:35:36   because businesses need that and so you

00:35:40   know and there are things right that I'm

00:35:41   willing to accept so like Gmail being

00:35:44   free I know it's because they use it to

00:35:45   serve ads to me and I'm fine with that

00:35:47   so I just something you know I'm I need

00:35:50   to know where the money's coming from so

00:35:51   I'm out in the email app woodenness once

00:35:54   again nothing is making me happy right

00:35:57   now to move away from email but I also

00:35:59   don't want to be on air mail so I don't

00:36:03   know expect to hear more from me about

00:36:04   this but I'm out in the wilderness and

00:36:07   everyone's gonna have suggestions and I

00:36:08   appreciate them like if you think you

00:36:10   have an app that conserves can give me

00:36:12   what I'm looking for like I want to know

00:36:14   in the reddit but my cursory searching

00:36:18   has told me that nothing nothing exists

00:36:20   I assume that Gmail is free because the

00:36:23   business model is actually there's an AI

00:36:25   that is slowly improving itself and it

00:36:27   just needs access to more and more data

00:36:29   yes that's what the actual business

00:36:30   model it's it's like oh the computer

00:36:33   sent it and it wants to know everything

00:36:34   about humans that's why Gmail is free as

00:36:37   a business model you know this clear are

00:36:42   you sending AI looking to take over the

00:36:44   world that's good at least I know what

00:36:45   you're doing not some flock by night

00:36:47   startup I can accept it right like the

00:36:50   AI needs it needs its brain juice you

00:36:52   know anyway it's gonna get it I suppose

00:36:54   that's a long list Mike I wish you I

00:36:57   wish you the best of luck with this but

00:37:00   all I can ever think when I look at

00:37:02   lists like this is just this fact of

00:37:04   life that with anything if you're trying

00:37:08   to make a decision or you're trying to

00:37:09   find something do you have one

00:37:12   requirement okay

00:37:14   you're probably going to be pretty happy

00:37:16   do you have two requirements you can

00:37:18   probably find something to with two

00:37:20   requirements that's too like a market

00:37:21   the instant you get to three or more

00:37:24   requirements I'm astounded about the

00:37:26   like the nonlinear descent of options

00:37:29   that if you're looking for something

00:37:32   that has three or four things it's like

00:37:34   your options decrease to nothing almost

00:37:37   immediately yeah so I'm looking at this

00:37:39   I'm looking at Mike has six bullet

00:37:40   points it's like no the universe is not

00:37:43   large enough that anywhere has sentient

00:37:46   life created an app that would meet all

00:37:48   of these requirements for you like I

00:37:49   think I think that's the situation I'm

00:37:51   willing to bend some of these I don't

00:37:54   know which ones right I think it depends

00:37:56   on what the application can do for me

00:37:58   because there are always changes I can

00:38:00   make to my system like my requirements

00:38:02   right now are built upon what I've

00:38:04   learned in using airmail for multiple

00:38:06   years right so honestly the application

00:38:09   that does the most of these is email and

00:38:11   I am aware of that

00:38:13   but the plan is to try and move away

00:38:15   from airmail so I will make compromise

00:38:17   but I don't know what those compromises

00:38:19   will be yet right right right

00:38:22   okay because I need to find an

00:38:23   application where I'm like okay I like

00:38:25   this app it doesn't do this one thing

00:38:27   but I'm willing to look past that now

00:38:30   Edison was the closest that kind of did

00:38:33   a lot of it but it's failing point might

00:38:36   be the most important which is has to

00:38:40   feel like a really good iPad app because

00:38:43   that's where I'm doing the vast majority

00:38:45   of my email so you know maybe I'll look

00:38:48   at it again but I'm not so sure like a

00:38:52   good app but if you do something to your

00:38:54   application that breaks split view and

00:38:55   you're not sure how long it's gonna take

00:38:56   to fix it but you a warning for me right

00:39:00   like it will this happen again so I'm

00:39:03   out in the wilderness that's where I

00:39:05   feel like I'm at right now like just

00:39:07   emails

00:39:08   there's envelopes and paper planes all

00:39:10   around my iPad right and I just have two

00:39:19   rows of icons that are paper planes or

00:39:21   envelopes email is neither of those

00:39:25   things

00:39:25   there is no paper involved in email

00:39:28   but the paper this is like the icon of

00:39:32   the paper plane has just so become an

00:39:33   email to me I'm like what do you mean

00:39:34   the paper plane is an email obviously

00:39:36   that's email you send it off with a

00:39:39   little with a little cute animation

00:39:40   where it swirls over as it goes like

00:39:42   this is how like we end up with a floppy

00:39:44   disk icon of save yeah of course right

00:39:47   and that we're in this world now where

00:39:50   people don't actually send letters

00:39:52   anymore they send emails that's how

00:39:54   you'd communicate with each other but

00:39:56   now emails is some email is somehow

00:39:58   synonymous for paper from it from a

00:40:00   design perspective right it doesn't make

00:40:02   any sense

00:40:02   so like I wonder the thing that replaces

00:40:05   email like what will its icon be right

00:40:08   like what will the eventual icon for

00:40:10   email be and then we're just gonna keep

00:40:12   going down that roof forever but as I

00:40:14   was thinking a lot about email it

00:40:17   brought me back to something that you

00:40:18   had mentioned last episode that you were

00:40:22   gonna try and do something about your

00:40:24   email backlog and you'd mentioned you

00:40:28   hadn't opened email for months so my

00:40:31   thought was kind of like is it even

00:40:33   worth it like how do you go through that

00:40:35   like is it even worth going through it

00:40:38   or surely all of the questions asked

00:40:41   have been answered by the fact that you

00:40:42   never replied so like isn't it worth

00:40:46   just like command a and archive this

00:40:49   episode of cortex is brought to you by

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00:42:13   got a lot I got a lot of comments from

00:42:15   the last show people like hey dude have

00:42:18   you heard of email bankruptcy mmhmm yeah

00:42:21   I've heard of email bankruptcy I think

00:42:23   maybe for some people that can work but

00:42:26   that that would not work for me I will

00:42:29   say personally I think email bankruptcy

00:42:31   is a terrible idea and basically every

00:42:34   situation I just don't think that's the

00:42:37   right way I don't know what the right

00:42:38   way is to deal with 20,000 emails but I

00:42:41   think it's it's it's not good because I

00:42:43   think what feel like if you've done that

00:42:45   once you'll be doing it forever yeah I

00:42:47   don't know like I can see situations

00:42:49   where it makes sense like I think of I

00:42:51   mentioned before but like when I used to

00:42:52   be a teacher and I'd you know be away

00:42:54   for being sick or something and come

00:42:55   back and they were just like thousands

00:42:56   of emails in my inbox and and that to me

00:42:59   was like hey you're all all of this is

00:43:01   going away and it struck me as I think

00:43:04   the optimal case for email bankruptcy

00:43:06   which is important things will come back

00:43:09   and that was my experience that like in

00:43:12   a working environment email bankruptcy

00:43:13   is many ways much easier to do yeah I

00:43:17   mean I used to do an element of this at

00:43:19   the bank but not all of it though and

00:43:21   like and I would look at it right yeah I

00:43:24   don't think that it's a totally useless

00:43:26   idea I just I feel like I don't know

00:43:29   maybe you need to be as I was a very

00:43:33   strategic slacker

00:43:34   if you're going to properly implement

00:43:36   the email Bank like you need to be at

00:43:38   just the right position and you need to

00:43:40   be able to have the expectation that

00:43:42   other people will put in the effort to

00:43:44   reach you about whatever it is that you

00:43:45   need but so the reason that I'm not

00:43:48   doing it now is a couple of folds

00:43:51   [Music]

00:43:53   one of one of the things is I know that

00:43:56   I will just never sleep well at night if

00:44:00   I just archive a year's worth of emails

00:44:02   and never look at them I will not get

00:44:04   the feeling that I want to get which is

00:44:06   I have successfully dealt with this

00:44:08   thing that I've avoided for a really

00:44:10   long time because if I just archive it I

00:44:13   will forever wonder about like is the

00:44:17   taxman gonna show up at my door with the

00:44:19   policeman because I forgot to fill out

00:44:20   some form that some accountants sent to

00:44:23   me ages ago right or like is there just

00:44:26   something important in there that I

00:44:27   missed like I just I would not get the

00:44:29   sense of relief yeah cuz a lot of those

00:44:33   things that are super risky those people

00:44:36   won't care enough to contact you again

00:44:37   like it's on you that's exactly it right

00:44:41   and this is again the difference about

00:44:43   like the school scenario where email

00:44:45   bankruptcy is possible is being a

00:44:47   strategic slacker there it's like ah

00:44:49   whatever most of this stuff is not

00:44:51   really my problem like I know the nature

00:44:52   of this work is all of this is somebody

00:44:54   else's problem and they'll they'll

00:44:56   contact me again I reminded of this

00:44:59   every time the accountant that I pay

00:45:02   every single month to do all of my tax

00:45:06   stuff because I can't do it on my own

00:45:08   when they send me an email and say can

00:45:11   you confirm this is alright before we

00:45:12   submit it and I think to myself why are

00:45:15   we playing this game you know I don't

00:45:18   know this right like you sending me this

00:45:20   to be submitted for the taxman what is

00:45:22   the point in me looking at it right this

00:45:24   is what I'm reminded of this stuff that

00:45:26   drives me I hate that so much it's like

00:45:29   I do it on my own if I knew what this

00:45:31   was yeah I completely agree that that

00:45:35   always strikes me as as fraud and

00:45:37   especially in my situation where it's

00:45:38   like there's hundreds of pages going to

00:45:41   two different countries and several

00:45:45   different like legal structure is that

00:45:48   it's just so complicated like yeah

00:45:51   because also with three different

00:45:52   citizenships like it's crazy

00:45:53   and I always feel the same thing like

00:45:56   like my accountants arranged a signing

00:45:58   day where I have come in and there is

00:46:01   just a table full of stacks of paper and

00:46:04   they're like well you have to sign all

00:46:06   of that

00:46:06   right yeah and you have to agree we did

00:46:09   it correctly

00:46:10   yeah and and we play the game where

00:46:12   they're like do you want some time to

00:46:13   read these 300 pages go put a coffee on

00:46:18   it's time yeah and they're like oh we

00:46:21   sent this to you in PDF form yesterday

00:46:23   and you agree that all of this is

00:46:25   correct is like dude I always feel the

00:46:27   same thing like I would never hire you

00:46:29   if I could just do this like I would be

00:46:32   doing this but thank you a lot of money

00:46:35   yeah it's it's a it's always it is

00:46:38   always a strange

00:46:39   it's crazy making but there is that

00:46:43   balance of like who needs who more in

00:46:45   the email exchange and the other thing

00:46:49   that's that's different here is I think

00:46:56   the nature of being self-employed is

00:46:57   that you you want to make sure you've at

00:46:59   least reviewed all of the messages even

00:47:01   if it's something from like six months

00:47:03   ago there is a way in which I wouldn't

00:47:06   feel good about declaring email

00:47:07   bankruptcy being self-employed without

00:47:11   having looked through those things and

00:47:14   then the other thing which is not really

00:47:17   it's not really broadly applicable but I

00:47:20   just do sort of want to say so people

00:47:22   understand the situation is that like

00:47:25   when you're a person in the public view

00:47:30   sometimes you get sent interesting

00:47:33   emails that are like like the kind of

00:47:35   thing that will happen to some someone

00:47:36   will say like oh hey I listen to the

00:47:37   show and I work at interesting place X

00:47:40   next time you're in City Y if you ever

00:47:43   want to see the behind the scenes like

00:47:44   let me know and and that's the kind of

00:47:48   thing where if someone sent that email

00:47:50   six months ago it doesn't exactly demand

00:47:54   a reply and it's a useful thing to kind

00:47:57   of archive for future reference like oh

00:48:00   when I'm in place why someone sent me an

00:48:03   email about this thing and maybe it's

00:48:06   cool to do right or where people just

00:48:09   contact you because they're like oh hey

00:48:10   I'm interesting person Z and I like your

00:48:13   work if you're ever in City maybe we

00:48:15   meet up for coffee that's also part of

00:48:18   the like why am I going through

00:48:20   this because I think of emails like that

00:48:23   as like infrequent and if not and not

00:48:28   even always accessible but like

00:48:30   infrequent little gems and I do do my

00:48:33   best to try to keep a record of all of

00:48:35   those kind of things so that when I'm in

00:48:37   a place I can try to search and be like

00:48:39   oh has anyone in this locale ever

00:48:41   contacted me about whatever and so

00:48:45   that's that's also why I'm not gonna

00:48:47   declare email bankruptcy because almost

00:48:50   certainly there are messages like that

00:48:51   that don't require a reply but are just

00:48:55   like open doors in the future so it's

00:48:59   it's the combination of all of these

00:49:00   things like worrying about extreme

00:49:02   negative downsides where the person

00:49:04   sending a message doesn't really care

00:49:06   about me following up like eventually

00:49:07   it'll just be a big problem and then

00:49:10   also like these very rare upsides mm-hmm

00:49:13   so so that's why I am very slowly

00:49:17   working my way through this and yeah I'm

00:49:22   going going through email I actually

00:49:25   only just started this morning a little

00:49:26   bit of trying to go through the email

00:49:28   opened up the old email and thought let

00:49:30   me do this let me start digging how many

00:49:34   are in there is not as terrible as

00:49:35   people are probably thinking I have in I

00:49:38   have in like the high hundreds of emails

00:49:40   to go through it's not thousands of

00:49:42   messages I how is it only that many I

00:49:45   mean I'm a little bit confused about

00:49:46   that because I'm assuming that you also

00:49:48   just get a lot of just like people

00:49:50   contacting you for things right like

00:49:52   viewers and stuff like that one of the

00:49:54   things that is great is that years ago I

00:49:58   took down my public contact email off of

00:50:01   the web and uh I don't think I've ever

00:50:04   mentioned it but I've been really

00:50:06   pleased that over the years there's been

00:50:08   like a half-life of random people

00:50:11   sending messages to that address that

00:50:14   has gone down because they come to you

00:50:16   enough of places right and don't Twitter

00:50:18   and on Reddit and things like that I

00:50:20   guess instead where you welcome it and

00:50:21   engage and want to want it to be I think

00:50:24   that is partly the factor like um

00:50:25   reasonably active on Twitter and fairly

00:50:28   active on Reddit especially when shows

00:50:30   or videos go up so people know that they

00:50:32   can contact me there

00:50:34   I was just like I just met to say I

00:50:39   think which is like oh I am I'm very

00:50:41   likely to see messages on reddit but

00:50:43   that I mistook you like do I want to say

00:50:44   that out loud because then people will

00:50:46   try to contact me I read like I don't

00:50:47   know whatever but like that is the case

00:50:48   that like people send me a lot of

00:50:50   messages through reddit and it's

00:50:52   actually not a bad medium because I

00:50:55   often don't feel any real obligation to

00:50:58   reply and still things are sometimes

00:50:59   interesting that come through there so I

00:51:02   think there is a side effect of like

00:51:03   accessibility in other areas plus like

00:51:08   the Internet and people kind of

00:51:10   forgetting what my actual email address

00:51:13   is or just like not bothering to send

00:51:15   stuff through there so over the years

00:51:17   the the amount of messages that I would

00:51:21   get via email from people who just

00:51:22   listen to the podcast or watch the

00:51:24   videos has dramatically decreased in

00:51:26   this like half life kind of way which is

00:51:28   quite frankly fantastic it's really

00:51:31   great and then the other main factors

00:51:33   are the things that we talked about in

00:51:34   earlier show is just that I can much to

00:51:37   my astonishment slack has absorbed I

00:51:41   mean literally thousands of messages and

00:51:44   communications that would have been

00:51:46   emails before like it's it's just

00:51:49   uncountable how many emails slack has

00:51:53   avoided

00:51:53   so the real important communication

00:51:57   happens through slack

00:51:58   and then the other the other bit of a

00:52:00   contributing factor is I do feel kind of

00:52:03   bad about but like people who need to

00:52:07   reach me for something important I have

00:52:09   learned over the years don't contact me

00:52:12   directly

00:52:12   they just contact my assistant directly

00:52:14   and they know that she will get a reply

00:52:17   back to them a million times faster than

00:52:21   if they try to contact me directly and

00:52:23   no small part often because she can just

00:52:25   get the answer or like she knows what

00:52:28   the procedure is

00:52:28   and so like there are a lot of messages

00:52:31   that go to her that I don't even see so

00:52:34   right that's the only reason why my my

00:52:37   situation of having not looked at email

00:52:40   hardly at all last year has not resulted

00:52:42   in like 20,000 messages it's resulted in

00:52:46   like a big

00:52:48   number and there is a thing that like

00:52:50   the messages that are left there are are

00:52:53   all little bits looking at things this

00:52:55   morning like idiosyncratic or difficult

00:52:57   to deal with so they're not easy

00:52:59   messages it's not it's not like a crazy

00:53:03   pile that's going to take me an infinity

00:53:06   of time to dig through it's it's just

00:53:09   like a bunch of messages that I will

00:53:11   hopefully clear eventually and that I do

00:53:13   want to clear eventually because I know

00:53:15   that there is some stuff in there that I

00:53:17   wouldn't want to miss and I also want to

00:53:18   be able to sleep well at night it's the

00:53:21   plan though that you will continue to

00:53:24   look at your email post the point of

00:53:27   putting it all into order again yeah I

00:53:30   think I think what will happen or what I

00:53:34   would like to happen for the year of

00:53:36   order is that I figure out where in my

00:53:41   schedule I should put a clearing of the

00:53:45   email and the problem is like as as time

00:53:50   has gone on I have really found this

00:53:52   interesting thing with my brain that has

00:53:53   changed where my brain just really hates

00:53:56   and is repelled by what I think of as

00:53:59   administrative work in a way that it

00:54:01   didn't used to be like I used to be much

00:54:03   better at dealing with administrative

00:54:05   work and I have definitely gotten way

00:54:06   worse at that over the years I mean I my

00:54:09   expectation would be it's because you

00:54:10   have an assistant who handles a lot of

00:54:12   that stuff for you now exactly like that

00:54:14   like know no doubt about it that's one

00:54:17   of the main reasons is that it's like oh

00:54:19   there's a ton of the stuff that I don't

00:54:21   have to do and then it then suddenly it

00:54:23   switches to like oh I have to do this

00:54:25   administrative tasks like oh that's

00:54:27   terrible like how annoying so I have

00:54:30   definitely gotten way worse at that but

00:54:32   I need to as part of the year of order

00:54:34   kind of sit down and figure out when is

00:54:37   it that I'm going to clear clear through

00:54:39   my email and it doesn't need to be

00:54:40   unlike a very frequent basis obviously

00:54:43   because I was able to get away with like

00:54:44   barely looking at it last year but I

00:54:47   need to do this so that I don't have the

00:54:51   nagging feeling in the back of my head

00:54:53   of like oh god is there something in

00:54:54   email that I need to deal with like that

00:54:55   that's the main reason why I want to do

00:54:58   it but I am very much aware that the

00:55:00   email feels a bit now

00:55:01   like the physical mail that comes to my

00:55:04   house where it's like oh this is a thing

00:55:06   that I just I have to deal with yeah but

00:55:09   it is in no way my primary method of

00:55:14   communication or do I feel like it's

00:55:16   it's a useful thing like email has

00:55:18   really become a kind of janitorial task

00:55:22   for me over time in a way that I find I

00:55:26   find interesting as opposed to being

00:55:28   what it used to be which is like a much

00:55:30   more primary communication method well I

00:55:33   wish you luck in finding that out Mike

00:55:36   mmm-hmm I think I think of the two of us

00:55:40   one of us is going to have an easier

00:55:42   time with his future of email yeah I

00:55:46   don't I don't think it's gonna be you in

00:55:47   a way I'll let you know when I get to

00:55:54   the bottom of my email and we'll see if

00:55:56   you found an app before then ready set

00:55:59   go

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00:56:15   is battery even just the journey from my

00:56:18   home to the airport when I'm getting on

00:56:20   a plane seems to somehow suck all of the

00:56:23   battery life force from all of my

00:56:25   devices I don't know what it is maybe

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00:58:18   AFM so it's the cortex book-club time

00:58:20   and we go so quite triggers anybody need

00:58:23   to get out of the way we're gonna talk

00:58:24   about triggers a lot and there's

00:58:26   multiple meanings for the word triggers

00:58:29   but triggers are a specific thing which

00:58:33   are in this book which don't really have

00:58:35   any meaning on the other whatever

00:58:37   meanings of trigger but like this is

00:58:39   kind of where we are really isn't even

00:58:42   about triggers very much like I find

00:58:44   like I find the title very funny in a

00:58:46   whole bunch of ways and one of which is

00:58:47   like it's like they picked a word that

00:58:49   actually mentioned a ton in the book

00:58:52   triggers are one part of many more parts

00:58:57   to the systems and ideas that Goldsmith

00:58:59   is trying to put across yeah so I don't

00:59:02   know why they chose triggers like

00:59:03   triggers are a big part of it but like

00:59:06   the daily questions and the questions

00:59:08   that he talks about active questioning

00:59:10   is also as important it's very peculiar

00:59:13   there's a whole bunch of other things

00:59:15   and I'm absolutely convinced there was

00:59:17   just a meeting at the publishers

00:59:18   somewhere where they were trying to they

00:59:19   were just trying to think of what the

00:59:20   title should be and just pick it and

00:59:23   like let's go for a thing that's a

00:59:24   single word

00:59:26   you know the book is published a few

00:59:28   years ago before the word became

00:59:29   slightly ridiculous and I think like oh

00:59:31   that's a good word let's go with that

00:59:32   and like oh no years later

00:59:34   it makes readers snicker but it was just

00:59:37   I'm sure that's what happened they were

00:59:40   just tryin to pick a bold word to be the

00:59:43   title of the book and yeah I don't I

00:59:46   don't think it's a title that really

00:59:47   suits the book very well and it's kind

00:59:50   of funny you want to hear my kind of

00:59:53   overall meta comments about this book I

00:59:55   died

00:59:56   yeah I am I'm interested to know your

00:59:58   general impression

00:59:58   general impression

01:00:00   of this book so I like that it wasn't

01:00:02   too long six hours which is you know for

01:00:06   a business book that is short

01:00:08   yeah that a rapid-fire this was in part

01:00:10   because for whatever reason they decided

01:00:13   to not fill this book with unnecessary

01:00:15   lists mmm-hmm there's not a lot of that

01:00:19   in this book and that was a nice break

01:00:21   to not have them list 25,000 things for

01:00:25   every one thing and every time that

01:00:27   there was a list I felt like that he was

01:00:29   going somewhere with it

01:00:30   right and he's actually only doing it to

01:00:33   add context as opposed to filling pages

01:00:35   it was read by the author which is

01:00:37   always a concern for me but I think he

01:00:40   did a pretty good job I think just think

01:00:43   I didn't realize it was read by the

01:00:44   author yeah and that's a red flag but

01:00:47   like this guy did he actually did a good

01:00:49   job it felt pretty genuine and he was

01:00:52   actually pretty good at it and he didn't

01:00:54   have any really peculiar ticks or

01:00:57   anything that sometimes many people do

01:01:00   right but that's why there are

01:01:02   professional audio book readers I like

01:01:09   that it was modern actually because this

01:01:11   is the first business like advisee focus

01:01:15   book that has clearly been written in

01:01:17   the modern era because he very

01:01:20   frequently mentions like Facebook and

01:01:22   Twitter and apps and like it's gonna

01:01:25   date this book horrific Lee but I liked

01:01:29   that it was modern because I felt like

01:01:30   these ideas have come at a time which is

01:01:35   now as opposed to these ideas will come

01:01:38   to 20 years ago and now they're just

01:01:41   trying to make sure that they still

01:01:42   apply yeah I am so used to these books

01:01:47   being one of two things old or had a

01:01:52   pose written by someone who feels really

01:01:55   old yeah right like someone who has a

01:01:58   mind that feels old and it was almost

01:02:01   surprising every time there's a mention

01:02:03   of like oh that's a book from a few

01:02:05   years ago this guy read like oh all

01:02:07   right that was a modern thing or talking

01:02:10   about apps and things like that it's

01:02:12   it's almost surprised I made it

01:02:13   he made her there's an app for that joke

01:02:15   at one point which I thought was yeah

01:02:18   alright like this isn't a very good joke

01:02:21   but I appreciate it anyway it was it was

01:02:25   good in that sense right and I will say

01:02:27   actually and I liked this book I

01:02:30   actually liked it quite a lot

01:02:32   I was not annoyed at this book like I

01:02:34   usually am at these books so I think for

01:02:36   that reason that you were right to

01:02:38   recommend this one because it didn't

01:02:39   drive me up the wall so that was good

01:02:41   there was one there is one thing that

01:02:43   was really really funny to me is like

01:02:45   how very proud he is of his airmiles

01:02:48   there's like a whole section up on that

01:02:51   where he keeps talking about his air

01:02:53   miles right like air miles come up a

01:02:55   bunch then like he just throws in at one

01:02:58   point that he has the American Airlines

01:03:00   like super mega amazing club thing like

01:03:04   in that George Clooney movie which he

01:03:05   even references the George Clooney movie

01:03:08   I like to explain it right he builds it

01:03:11   into a story about talking to people in

01:03:13   service industries and seeing how they

01:03:15   react and if they're engaged or not

01:03:17   but like it's all based around he's

01:03:19   super special airmiles thing and it was

01:03:22   it was really funny to me but yeah I

01:03:25   thought it was good I thought it was

01:03:26   good I have some quite I want to dive

01:03:28   into some of like the the theories that

01:03:30   I put forward in the book but I had a

01:03:32   couple of questions for you

01:03:33   mm-hmm I was wondering like why

01:03:37   specifically you've recommended this

01:03:39   book for me like what parts in this book

01:03:41   did you think would be good for me my

01:03:43   current situation and what did you learn

01:03:47   from it as well I assume they're pretty

01:03:49   similar things but I'm keen to

01:03:51   understand that well I wanted to get

01:03:54   your overall impressions first because I

01:03:57   felt after the last recording that I had

01:03:59   suddenly put myself on the hook a little

01:04:02   bit and I feel like I have put myself on

01:04:04   the hook a little bit with the listeners

01:04:06   because when we've done most of these

01:04:09   book clubs in the past it's very much a

01:04:11   hey we're gonna read a book that's

01:04:13   probably intolerable yeah you took a

01:04:15   risk right that's a real easy thing to

01:04:19   say right because you save most people

01:04:22   from reading it and if someone reads it

01:04:24   and it is intolerable like seven Habits

01:04:27   in fact to people it's like well great

01:04:30   warning right like it's my own dumb

01:04:33   fault for reading this this crazy book

01:04:35   and if the reader reads the book and

01:04:38   they do like it well then they can just

01:04:40   think oh he's wrong but I didn't waste

01:04:42   my time like I like this book I got

01:04:43   something out of it and I was just I've

01:04:45   suddenly felt very aware of like oh I

01:04:47   actually recommended the book and now I

01:04:49   feel like oh god I'm on the hook right

01:04:51   if the readers don't like it and if Mike

01:04:53   doesn't like it recommended to me at a

01:04:56   time when I really could do if not using

01:04:58   six hours on something I think you heard

01:05:04   me in the show I was trying to back off

01:05:05   because I know like how Mike's really

01:05:07   busy all right and somehow I felt like

01:05:08   we got sucked into this vortex of I'm

01:05:10   now going to steal six hours of your

01:05:12   life away with this audiobook so yes I

01:05:15   felt I felt very on the hook

01:05:18   this time so I I'm I'm not gonna lie I

01:05:21   am more than a bit relieved that you

01:05:23   didn't you didn't start with a fiery

01:05:26   tirade about how much you hated this

01:05:27   book and how it was not worth your time

01:05:29   and how you didn't you didn't need this

01:05:31   nonsense right now in your life so I'm

01:05:33   I'm I'm feeling quite relieved I will

01:05:35   say with the exception of creativity Inc

01:05:38   which is not really a business book

01:05:40   right if the books that we've done it

01:05:42   had some ideas in it but it was mostly a

01:05:44   biography I feel like it's an outlier

01:05:45   yeah I would say that this is the best

01:05:48   one just from an entertainment

01:05:51   perspective and from a lessons

01:05:54   perspective I think it had the clearest

01:05:56   ideas that were in a lot of ways new to

01:06:00   me where a lot of these books feel like

01:06:02   that they're kind of just telling you

01:06:03   something you already know but giving

01:06:05   you a different way of thinking about it

01:06:06   mmm-hmm I thought this one was really

01:06:08   smart and I liked a lot so that's why I

01:06:11   felt like I could recommend it at the

01:06:13   end of the last show is you know that

01:06:16   this one was recommended to me by

01:06:18   someone who said oh yeah this is this is

01:06:19   pretty good as these things go and I

01:06:21   really think that if someone's generally

01:06:25   thinking about ideas about how to be

01:06:28   productive or how to improve their

01:06:33   situation in life I think this is a

01:06:35   pretty good recommendation because it's

01:06:38   partly like what I was joking about

01:06:40   before that the title

01:06:41   kind of makes no sense because the book

01:06:43   talks about so much I feel like there

01:06:45   it's relatively short but it also covers

01:06:48   a lot of ground and that almost

01:06:49   certainly there are going to be very

01:06:53   different things in here that will

01:06:56   resonate with people at different stages

01:06:59   or or needing something different in

01:07:01   their life and so part of the reason why

01:07:03   I mentioned it to you was because we

01:07:05   were talking about the journaling last

01:07:06   time and I was thinking about how oh

01:07:08   yeah there was this whole section that's

01:07:09   like it's not exactly journaling but

01:07:11   it's very journaling adjacent and that's

01:07:15   the part that has had stuck with me and

01:07:16   kind of made me want to read the book

01:07:18   again but I also think for for someone

01:07:23   who has read fewer of these books or

01:07:26   like maybe someone who is more in the

01:07:30   stage of his like trying to become a

01:07:32   more effective or productive person I

01:07:33   feel like the the first part of this

01:07:36   book has a lot of great stuff in it as

01:07:38   well of like here's a way of thinking

01:07:40   about stuff you might just might not

01:07:42   have thought about before and that

01:07:46   that's the stuff that it'll be no

01:07:47   surprise to listeners of the show that I

01:07:48   really love like trying to talk to you

01:07:51   and convince the reader like hey you're

01:07:53   less in control of your choices than you

01:07:58   may think you are but there's also a lot

01:08:00   that you can do to try to increase your

01:08:02   autonomy or to make better decisions in

01:08:04   different circumstances and I think

01:08:07   that's a it's a good thing for people to

01:08:09   hear I feel like he does a pretty good

01:08:10   job talking through that idea in a bunch

01:08:14   of different ways and then there's

01:08:16   there's just a lot of other ideas in the

01:08:18   book which I think are good even if

01:08:21   they're not applicable so I feel like in

01:08:23   the middle third there's a bunch of

01:08:24   stuff about like working with employees

01:08:26   which I sort of skimmed over the first

01:08:28   time and skimmed over again the second

01:08:29   time but but this is but this is the

01:08:32   same thing where it's like at that

01:08:33   section is not really for me it's not

01:08:34   super relevant for me and it doesn't

01:08:36   matter and it also doesn't feel like I'm

01:08:39   slogging through 200 pages of management

01:08:42   theory that that's that section included

01:08:44   the airmiles thing yeah okay that's so

01:08:46   that's why I didn't didn't register in

01:08:48   my wine because it's about employee

01:08:49   engagement right and and even even there

01:08:52   it's just like oh okay this is not for

01:08:54   me but

01:08:55   I can still see he has some interesting

01:08:56   ideas about like here's four different

01:08:59   ways to think about how your employees

01:09:02   may respond to your feedback and from

01:09:07   talking with other people who actually

01:09:09   work in big like that seems to be a

01:09:12   useful section if you're in the right

01:09:13   situation but I can just blow past this

01:09:16   and it doesn't matter so I just felt

01:09:18   like there's a lot in it I think most of

01:09:20   it's good and I really deeply

01:09:23   appreciated like you said that it is not

01:09:26   bogged down in a lot of the usual

01:09:29   business book craziness like I don't

01:09:32   think I have a single note about crazy

01:09:34   stuff one of the things that many

01:09:36   business books do is to use examples of

01:09:39   people which we talk about all the time

01:09:40   because they sound so ridiculous and

01:09:42   this book uses examples heavily but I

01:09:45   believe them because two reasons one

01:09:48   they feel like real people and the other

01:09:50   sometimes they are real identifiable

01:09:52   people that he's talking about like he

01:09:54   has a whole section talking about Alan

01:09:56   Mulally the ex CEO of Ford right so like

01:10:00   it's legit the guy actually does do

01:10:04   things and help with like really

01:10:06   important executives and so I if he's

01:10:10   gonna tell one story that I can see is

01:10:12   true that I'm willing to believe the

01:10:14   rest as well and if I'd probably did

01:10:16   some digging and could probably work out

01:10:17   who the people are because you know he

01:10:20   seems to be interesting in that way and

01:10:22   like works with some interesting people

01:10:23   but they're real people and that makes

01:10:25   me respect the book way more if I

01:10:27   believe that the person can actually do

01:10:30   what they're saying they can do because

01:10:33   they have a brute they have a track

01:10:34   record which you can see exists if

01:10:36   they've actually helped real successful

01:10:38   people yeah the the examples of people

01:10:42   in the book they're not Sarah's right

01:10:45   stories where they're just wowed with

01:10:48   how amazing the author is like an e myth

01:10:51   revisited and view the author as some

01:10:54   kind of savior figure who is passing on

01:10:57   amazing knowledge and their entire life

01:10:59   exists just to be a perfect parable of

01:11:01   whatever the author wants they really do

01:11:04   feel like actual people and like you

01:11:06   said he has named actual people do

01:11:08   you happen to look at in the beginning

01:11:10   the the section where before the book

01:11:13   starts but it's like people giving

01:11:14   blurbs for the book have you did you

01:11:15   take a look at that it's not in the

01:11:17   audio book oh of course it's not in the

01:11:19   audio book okay

01:11:20   this book has maybe the most impressive

01:11:25   list of people I have ever seen giving

01:11:28   blurbs for the book okay and working

01:11:30   with the author give me some give me

01:11:32   some names Jim Kim 12th president of the

01:11:36   World Bank it's like I've had the great

01:11:43   fortune of working with Marshall for

01:11:44   several years and he has helped me in so

01:11:46   many ways right as like just glowing

01:11:48   praise so then it's like CEO of the New

01:11:52   York City Public Library System CEO of

01:11:56   the Harvard Business Review just like

01:11:59   there's so many I'm trying to pick up

01:11:59   the ones that are more recognizable but

01:12:01   they're all they're all just crazy CEO

01:12:04   and Managing Partner at goldman sachs

01:12:08   CEO of Rothschilds group founder and

01:12:12   chairman of Getty Images CEO of del

01:12:15   Monte foods incorporated managing

01:12:18   partner at the Blackstone Group CEO of

01:12:21   Herman Miller yeah okay asbestos not

01:12:23   messing around right like I have I have

01:12:25   gone through 25 percent of the thanks

01:12:30   for working with me section at the

01:12:32   beginning of this book okay I have never

01:12:35   seen anything like it it is just crazy

01:12:38   so I didn't I didn't notice that until

01:12:42   after having read it but going back it

01:12:44   was like holy-moly like this is no joke

01:12:48   and I think it's I was astounded by the

01:12:51   authors business model where his

01:12:53   business model is he will work with

01:12:56   these high-powered people and he will

01:12:59   not get paid unless people in the

01:13:03   clients life agree that he has been

01:13:07   effective at implementing change two

01:13:11   years after they start working together

01:13:13   it's like whoa that is a man who has set

01:13:17   himself up in a situation where he is

01:13:20   going to figure out what is

01:13:22   actually effective and what is not and

01:13:25   it is just remarkable that is it's not

01:13:29   even that the client gets to say oh yes

01:13:31   I think he was effective it's like no no

01:13:33   the clients spouse gets to determine

01:13:36   whether or not he should get paid and

01:13:38   that is a much higher bar it is a way

01:13:41   higher bar

01:13:42   so yeah the author is totally not

01:13:45   messing around and I think that is why

01:13:48   the examples in the book feel real they

01:13:52   did they don't feel forced or imaginary

01:13:54   like he's just thinking about the

01:13:56   clients he's worked with and people who

01:13:58   are good examples of whatever he happens

01:14:01   to be talking about so let's go through

01:14:02   a couple of the things that a focus on

01:14:05   we weren't good for everything because

01:14:06   she said like I don't think that it's

01:14:08   necessarily all applicable for everyone

01:14:09   and there are some parts of this book

01:14:11   where like I've heard things like this

01:14:12   before

01:14:13   yeah the beginning section is about

01:14:15   triggers and the triggers go hand in

01:14:18   hand with behavioral change that's kind

01:14:20   of what the book is about is like

01:14:22   changing your behavior yeah and I I

01:14:25   loved it like it basically starts off

01:14:27   with being like look out up behavioral

01:14:29   change is a really really hard thing to

01:14:31   do like it's really hard to change your

01:14:33   behavior as an adult I I love this as

01:14:36   the start of the book and I feel like

01:14:37   it's it's something that really sold me

01:14:39   on it is because and I haven't

01:14:41   highlighted you know his his section

01:14:44   this is like literally page two is he's

01:14:48   like I'm gonna tell you the truth and

01:14:49   the truth is that meaningful behavioral

01:14:51   change is very hard to do as it quote

01:14:53   I'd go so far as to say that adult

01:14:56   behavioral change is the most difficult

01:14:58   thing for sentient human beings to

01:15:01   accomplish I love that quote so much

01:15:03   it's great and what I love about it is I

01:15:07   really think it's true and he spends the

01:15:09   next couple of pages kind of forcing you

01:15:13   to think about it and and he's like when

01:15:15   was the last time you changed some

01:15:17   behavior in your life and he go he's

01:15:20   kind of knocks down the things that

01:15:22   people are going to mention where they

01:15:23   just they just discuss something that's

01:15:25   actually different in there like

01:15:27   something that has happened to have

01:15:29   changed but he's trying to find his case

01:15:31   where like you have decided to do

01:15:33   something differently and you were

01:15:34   successful in maintain

01:15:35   that change over a long period of time

01:15:37   and it kind of makes me think of of like

01:15:40   why I like to talk about the time

01:15:41   tracking so much because I think he does

01:15:43   do a pretty good job of making you take

01:15:46   a brutal look in the mirror and see how

01:15:48   horrific alee uneffective you have

01:15:50   actually been at deciding to change

01:15:52   something in your life and he's like and

01:15:55   I think that's a great set it was like

01:15:57   this is gonna be really hard what you

01:15:59   need to do to change your behavior is

01:16:00   simple but simple does it mean that it

01:16:03   is easy and almost everybody fails at

01:16:05   this almost all of the time and I just

01:16:07   think that is such a refreshing start to

01:16:08   a book like that because he even uses

01:16:10   smoking as an example of not being

01:16:13   enough because there are so many reasons

01:16:16   that you might want to quit smoking that

01:16:18   it's not really a behavioural change

01:16:19   like you're doing it because your health

01:16:21   is at risk or you're doing it but right

01:16:22   people around you don't want you to do

01:16:24   it anymore and so like it doesn't really

01:16:26   count as changing a behavior you've just

01:16:28   quit smoking Wow okay you know messing

01:16:32   around there Goldsmith exactly it you're

01:16:35   like don't tell me about your quitting

01:16:37   smoking I'm not interested so we should

01:16:40   talk about the triggers there's there's

01:16:41   a couple of different things that he

01:16:42   talks about with the triggers but the

01:16:44   real meaty one the one that I found

01:16:46   really interesting is what is referred

01:16:48   to as environmental triggers so how and

01:16:51   this is what really hit me your

01:16:55   environment can make you react to things

01:16:59   in certain ways so like for example if

01:17:03   somebody speaks to you softly you will

01:17:06   speak back to them softly that is an

01:17:08   environmental trigger because something

01:17:10   that you have no control over is making

01:17:13   you react in a way that you wouldn't

01:17:16   normally react if you had complete

01:17:18   control of a situation so somebody being

01:17:21   softly spoken will make you do that too

01:17:23   and there are these types of things that

01:17:25   happen in our lives constantly these

01:17:28   different situations that were in

01:17:29   different groups that were a part of

01:17:32   that effect of the way that we react to

01:17:35   certain situations and an individual

01:17:37   throughout a day can go through a myriad

01:17:41   of these things in what may make

01:17:44   somebody appear to do something that is

01:17:45   in direct direct conflict or something

01:17:48   they did earlier in the day

01:17:49   because they're in a different situation

01:17:51   and he uses a great example of like a

01:17:53   mother who is an executive right and at

01:17:57   home in the morning

01:17:59   getting the children ready for school

01:18:00   that is your environment and in that

01:18:02   environment you are top of the tree the

01:18:05   kids will listen to you and you get them

01:18:06   ready and you send them off but well

01:18:08   you're like a mid low level executive at

01:18:10   a company you don't tell everyone what

01:18:12   to do anymore

01:18:12   you're in an organization and you may do

01:18:16   something for somebody that you wouldn't

01:18:18   do at home and it's like wow like okay I

01:18:21   get it

01:18:22   right the environment that you're in can

01:18:24   change the way that you react to certain

01:18:26   requests and certain actions yeah I love

01:18:28   this idea and I feel like this this

01:18:30   really goes to the core of some of my

01:18:33   beliefs about how how people act and in

01:18:37   just just again in that this idea like

01:18:40   you are in different circumstances a

01:18:43   different person I don't know when I

01:18:46   talk to people I find a lot of people

01:18:47   have like a like a weird resistance to

01:18:49   this idea or like they think of other

01:18:53   people as like oh this person should be

01:18:55   totally consistent all the time but like

01:18:57   but nobody is like people act

01:19:00   differently in different environments

01:19:02   but I think he does do a very good job

01:19:04   of trying to not just discuss that idea

01:19:09   that you are different in different

01:19:10   situations but trying to bring it to

01:19:13   your attention about like when are you

01:19:16   when are you acting like a better self

01:19:19   or worse self yeah trying to identify

01:19:21   like what is it in this environment that

01:19:24   is making me act better or really the

01:19:27   thing that he's mostly focusing on is

01:19:29   what is the thing in this environment

01:19:31   that is making you act worse and yeah he

01:19:35   has a little detail which I really like

01:19:36   which is thinking about the human

01:19:38   environment not just the physical

01:19:40   environment so he talks about people as

01:19:43   an environment like you know if someone

01:19:46   is not getting along with a colleague

01:19:47   like he uses an example like a guy

01:19:49   called Simon who's like causing problems

01:19:51   for you with the office that you need to

01:19:53   think about it as like you are now in

01:19:55   the Simon environment and recognize that

01:19:58   you have a history of acting poorly in

01:20:01   this environment

01:20:02   what can you do like step one

01:20:05   acknowledging that and then step two

01:20:08   trying to think about how to react in

01:20:10   those circumstances but I just I really

01:20:13   like that idea of people and

01:20:15   combinations of people as a as a kind of

01:20:18   environment that they're not just like

01:20:21   it's not like what I normally think of

01:20:23   is like the physical space is the

01:20:25   environment and the humans are like

01:20:26   props inside that environment so you

01:20:28   know the environment is the combination

01:20:31   of all of these things I think that's a

01:20:33   nice addition into how to think about

01:20:35   the way you are acting or reacting to

01:20:37   what's going on and this is where the

01:20:39   triggers come in so you have the

01:20:41   environment right so you use the Simon

01:20:43   environment the person you don't get on

01:20:44   with well at work that environment

01:20:47   triggers you to react in a certain way

01:20:50   and that might be that you become very

01:20:53   short-tempered when you're around that

01:20:55   person because they frustrate you and

01:20:56   that's what you need to change you need

01:20:59   to change the trigger you can't change

01:21:02   the environment the environment is what

01:21:04   it is

01:21:04   but you have to try and change the way

01:21:07   that you react in those environments and

01:21:10   that's what the triggers are the trigger

01:21:12   is how you react so like there is a

01:21:15   thing that happens and different people

01:21:18   react to that thing differently and

01:21:20   every single person however they react

01:21:23   that is the way that they are triggered

01:21:24   some people can deal with certain things

01:21:26   that other people can't

01:21:28   etc etc that's the triggers are

01:21:29   different for different people depending

01:21:30   on the environment that they're in

01:21:32   and the triggered response is the thing

01:21:35   that you have to try and change if you

01:21:37   want to make behavioural change so like

01:21:39   some examples of ways that people have

01:21:41   been able to do with this stuff is like

01:21:43   he's an example of a guy who writes

01:21:45   things down on an index card to remind

01:21:47   him how to react in a certain way or

01:21:50   there's a somebody who's taking friends

01:21:53   out in a city and he's doing this a

01:21:55   bunch and he's getting bored of like

01:21:56   showing people the same tourist things

01:21:57   so he has a reminder go off on his phone

01:22:00   to remind him like don't be an idiot

01:22:02   about this right because his usual

01:22:04   trigger would be to get grumpy or if

01:22:07   you're around Simon your usual trigger

01:22:08   is to get like really snappy with Simon

01:22:11   but your trigger needs to be not that

01:22:13   right the way that you react in that

01:22:15   situation

01:22:16   needs to be not that and you have to try

01:22:18   and change the way that you react in

01:22:20   those instances environments yeah like I

01:22:22   think that the practical example of the

01:22:25   guy who getting bored showing visitors

01:22:27   around the same events in the city I

01:22:29   like what he's trying to suggest there

01:22:31   is you have a little reminder pop up on

01:22:33   your phone because phones exist in this

01:22:34   modern business right I did note I

01:22:38   thought like this is so simple but it's

01:22:40   a great idea of having your phone pop-up

01:22:42   a reminder every 45 minutes asking are

01:22:46   you enjoying the time with your friends

01:22:48   right to to change the mental framing

01:22:51   from like I'm at this I'm at the Statue

01:22:54   of Liberty for the 40th time that you

01:22:57   change the framing to like my

01:23:00   environment is that I am I'm with my

01:23:03   friends and the question is like am i

01:23:05   enjoying this time with them like don't

01:23:07   focus on like oh I'm at the Statue of

01:23:09   Liberty again that's not that's not the

01:23:12   relevant thing here I thought like

01:23:13   that's actually a pretty great idea to

01:23:15   just have a little thing pop up to

01:23:17   constantly remind you it's like yeah

01:23:18   it's simple and it's dumb but I could

01:23:21   totally see that being an effective

01:23:23   thing to do and I've actually in a

01:23:25   couple of scenarios used something like

01:23:28   that whereas like just poke a little

01:23:30   reminder to kind of ask me a question

01:23:32   about the situation that I'm into like

01:23:33   reframe it mentally and I think it's I

01:23:36   think it's actually quite effective so

01:23:37   use an example there of what clever

01:23:40   active or engaging questions as a way to

01:23:44   change the triggers so this is an idea

01:23:46   of having a question that you ask

01:23:48   yourself which is like an open question

01:23:50   that you have to react to and this is

01:23:54   how Goldsmith recommends that we change

01:23:57   our triggers is by having these ways of

01:24:00   checking in with ourselves on a frequent

01:24:02   a regular basis usually with some method

01:24:04   of accountability from another

01:24:05   individual as a way to try and enforce a

01:24:08   change in us so for example I'm gonna

01:24:11   give some like a short list of questions

01:24:13   that are given in the book is engaging

01:24:15   questions so like did I do my best to

01:24:18   set clear goals today did I do my best

01:24:21   to be happy today did I do my best to be

01:24:23   engaged today and these are like

01:24:25   questions that you have to give some

01:24:27   kind of answer to like you have to like

01:24:30   all them in some way is the way that he

01:24:32   recommends it's like you'd give your

01:24:33   scarf self a score out of 10 or

01:24:35   something for like how well did I do in

01:24:37   each of these areas and this is one of

01:24:39   the ways you will change your triggers

01:24:41   the way that you react to things because

01:24:43   you start to frame your life slightly

01:24:45   differently yeah and this was this was

01:24:47   really the core of the section that I

01:24:48   was thinking of when when you were

01:24:50   discussing journaling last time because

01:24:52   because reading this book and sort of

01:24:54   going through stuff and this to me feels

01:24:56   like prime journaling material and I

01:25:00   think this this to me was that what was

01:25:02   the part of the book that that stuck

01:25:04   with me the most

01:25:05   I noticed it like as soon as I got to

01:25:08   this section I could see why you

01:25:09   recommended the book to me hmmm yeah and

01:25:12   there's a few things that I really I

01:25:15   really liked about this and okay so one

01:25:19   of the things is he has these questions

01:25:21   that he asks himself every day and they

01:25:24   all start with did you try your best to

01:25:27   and when I first start reading this

01:25:31   stuff I kind of like roll my eyes a

01:25:33   little bit but then he immediately

01:25:35   addresses exactly what's going on and I

01:25:38   thought like this is this is actually a

01:25:39   great linguistic change that he makes

01:25:42   that he makes the point that we totally

01:25:44   treat effort as what he calls like a

01:25:47   second-class citizen and that what

01:25:53   matters in behavior change is like it's

01:25:57   not actually the absolute record of

01:26:00   success or failure that what matters is

01:26:04   you were keeping it in your mind as this

01:26:07   is a thing that you are trying to do and

01:26:12   so in with that framing like it's

01:26:16   perfectly okay to fail to achieve

01:26:19   behavior change on particular days

01:26:21   because that's not what the question is

01:26:22   asking it's asking like did you try I

01:26:27   feel like this book really changed my

01:26:29   mind on that kind of framing around

01:26:33   trying versus succeeding that like

01:26:35   effort really does count in this field

01:26:39   in a way that in other fields it totally

01:26:42   doesn't count like there's many places

01:26:44   where as

01:26:44   like a for effort means F for

01:26:47   achievement and I'm so used to that as

01:26:50   being the default but I just I really

01:26:52   like this there's different framing of

01:26:55   things and that is the part that has

01:26:56   stuck with me the most is thinking about

01:27:00   trying to rework a journal into my

01:27:05   regular life with a series of these

01:27:08   questions about like did you try your

01:27:10   best to whatever and I don't know I just

01:27:14   that that was the part that really

01:27:16   really struck me and I thought it I

01:27:18   thought it's just it makes something in

01:27:21   my mind clear about these questions and

01:27:23   when I've thought about the kinds of

01:27:25   things that I would want to change in my

01:27:26   own life I'm very aware that the trying

01:27:29   framework is is different because is

01:27:32   like um you know I often go on stretches

01:27:35   where I am stricter or looser with say

01:27:38   limiting the carbohydrates in my diet

01:27:40   and when I when I've thought about that

01:27:42   for like oh I'm trying to reduce

01:27:44   carbohydrates in my diet there's

01:27:46   something very different about the the

01:27:48   decision moments in life where it's like

01:27:52   oh maybe I could eat a pizza right and

01:27:54   there's something different about

01:27:55   thinking like oh I have failed today to

01:28:00   do this thing versus it feels way worse

01:28:03   to think like if I press a button and a

01:28:05   pizza comes to my house I didn't even

01:28:07   try right and it's like oh that makes me

01:28:10   kind of re reframe this in in a very

01:28:15   different way where it's like it's

01:28:16   somehow weird like it's almost more

01:28:17   acceptable to just fail right like the

01:28:20   difference is having a slice of toast is

01:28:22   like okay I didn't do the best I could

01:28:25   have done today I ma me maybe I scored

01:28:28   like a seven out of ten

01:28:29   mm-hmm it's compared to like if you

01:28:31   didn't have if it was like a binary yes

01:28:33   on though you could eat an entire

01:28:34   baguette right right and it wouldn't

01:28:37   matter because you've already failed

01:28:39   today so you may as well fail

01:28:40   spectacularly yeah exactly supposed to

01:28:42   grading yourself on like like how well

01:28:45   did I do well okay I had a piece of

01:28:47   toast but I only have one piece yeah as

01:28:50   opposed to like well I just ate the

01:28:51   entire loaf because why not

01:28:53   right like I've already failed yeah like

01:28:55   yeah it avoids a kind of cascade of

01:28:56   failures where you feel like I haven't

01:28:58   done

01:28:58   thing at all so I might as well really

01:29:01   not do it so like one of the just a very

01:29:05   very slick if you're struggling like

01:29:07   conceptualize this God focus an example

01:29:10   of a very simple question so did you

01:29:13   have a good day

01:29:14   mm-hmm right and that is like a yes or a

01:29:17   No right did I have a good day three no

01:29:19   I didn't have a good day today this is

01:29:21   very different to what he thinks is a

01:29:23   bad question which is what did you do

01:29:25   today to make a positive impact mm-hmm

01:29:28   that is very different as a question

01:29:30   because you may not have had a good day

01:29:32   but you might have done one thing that

01:29:35   was good yeah so now the day wasn't a

01:29:37   complete failure yeah or even just a

01:29:39   more simple rephrasing of did I try to

01:29:42   have a good day today like immediately

01:29:45   changes moments in your life or you feel

01:29:47   like you were being grumpy just to be

01:29:49   grumpy you weren't even trying to have a

01:29:52   good day whereas it's way easier to

01:29:54   score it is like no I didn't have a good

01:29:56   day at all I was super grumpy and it's

01:29:59   just I think it really is just a just a

01:30:01   super great reframing of this but he

01:30:04   does suggest this is where the

01:30:07   journaling comes in it's like you're

01:30:08   keeping a record over time and that like

01:30:11   you're you're checking in at a

01:30:12   particular time and seeing how these

01:30:14   things are going and of course I totally

01:30:17   love that

01:30:19   just like the section in the beginning

01:30:20   he also acknowledges like this is is

01:30:22   really hard to do and if you are scoring

01:30:25   yourself honest honestly he talks again

01:30:27   about like it's really hard to at the

01:30:30   beginning face the reality that like you

01:30:32   claim these things are important but

01:30:34   you're not even trying if you're being

01:30:36   honest with the scoring a lot of the

01:30:37   times and again I just think that's

01:30:40   great and it all again it makes me think

01:30:42   of the time tracking where it's like

01:30:43   it's just so brutal to look at when you

01:30:46   first begin but that's kind of the point

01:30:47   and so when you're trying to come up

01:30:50   with a list of questions about

01:30:51   behavioral changes that you want like

01:30:52   you should totally expect that you're

01:30:55   going to have a real brutal list of

01:30:58   numbers to look at sometimes and that's

01:31:00   that's to force you to think about are

01:31:02   you really trying is this a thing that

01:31:04   you actually want to do right now or is

01:31:06   this a thing that like is not really a

01:31:08   priority in your life one of his little

01:31:10   antidotes is he's talking about

01:31:12   a discussion with Atul Gawande who is

01:31:15   the author of the checklist manifesto

01:31:16   his book I've talked about before is

01:31:19   really liking the details of the

01:31:21   anecdotal area like here's a guy who was

01:31:25   written a book on checklists who is

01:31:27   unable to do a simple thing in his life

01:31:30   it was to sign up the life insurance

01:31:33   yeah that's yeah that's what it was like

01:31:34   just to sign up for life insurance and

01:31:37   he just his question then at the end of

01:31:40   the day is like did you try to set up

01:31:42   any kind of life insurance for your

01:31:44   family today and it's like an incredibly

01:31:47   successful guy who's a doctor who is a

01:31:51   multiple New York Times bestselling

01:31:53   author who wrote a book on literal

01:31:55   checklists like even this guy has things

01:31:59   on his mind that he feels like oh this

01:32:00   is super important and I should do and

01:32:02   has to face the grim reality of you

01:32:04   didn't even try today to do this thing

01:32:07   that you claim is so important and

01:32:10   eventually I could guilt guilt trips

01:32:12   himself into into doing it but I just

01:32:14   always like to see that kind of thing

01:32:16   that is like even people who are very

01:32:17   successful have these kinds of problems

01:32:20   so Atul Gawande says like there was a

01:32:22   quote from him in the book that like

01:32:24   this system changed his life right thing

01:32:28   is I believe it because he named him

01:32:31   because this is an example of when in

01:32:34   other books you would roll your eyes to

01:32:36   be like all someone who wrote the book

01:32:38   on checklists needed your question for

01:32:41   his checklist to be able to actually do

01:32:43   a thing but I will believe it because

01:32:45   you named the guy because you can say

01:32:47   you were lying right so it's like this

01:32:50   is an example of why I'm willing to like

01:32:52   I'm more willing to believe that this

01:32:54   system works because the examples are

01:32:57   believable because the examples are

01:32:58   supposed to show me the system works so

01:33:01   if I believe the examples I believe that

01:33:02   there's value in the system hmm now I've

01:33:05   really really liked this engaging

01:33:07   question saying but and I have a problem

01:33:10   for it so I created a small list of

01:33:11   questions for myself but I'm not sure

01:33:13   how to integrate them into my journal it

01:33:15   wouldn't work like I don't want to write

01:33:18   seven questions out every single day and

01:33:20   then score them so like I'm trying to

01:33:23   find a way to make it make sense for me

01:33:25   like

01:33:26   maybe I have like a different part of

01:33:28   the book where I kind of keep a score

01:33:30   maybe in the back or something I haven't

01:33:32   worked this out yet but I'm I'm gonna

01:33:33   try and I'm willing to share the

01:33:35   questions if you were interested to hear

01:33:37   them I am interested to hear them

01:33:38   although I'm just I'm curious like if

01:33:40   you use some sort of digital paper

01:33:41   system you could just I don't want to

01:33:44   you know when you said to me that you

01:33:46   were you were really impressed I kept

01:33:48   the journal going like so easily part of

01:33:51   it is because I love using my pens and

01:33:53   paper right of course right so getting

01:33:56   to do that every day brings a joy to me

01:33:58   that doing up my iPad wouldn't and so if

01:34:01   I want to integrate this into my system

01:34:03   I need to find a practical way of doing

01:34:05   it and I just have you know what that is

01:34:07   yet I have seven flash like great copy

01:34:13   and paste tell me tell me what your

01:34:15   questions are okay did I do my best to

01:34:18   be creative today did I do my best to

01:34:21   advance new ideas today did I do my best

01:34:24   to make sure revenue is being generated

01:34:26   did I do my best to make my colleagues

01:34:29   feel valued did I do my best to do

01:34:33   something good for Edina did I do my

01:34:35   best to engage with my audience and did

01:34:38   I do my best to improve my health they

01:34:42   are my questions so far yeah those are

01:34:44   good

01:34:45   those are good and I tried to keep them

01:34:47   open I tried to keep them like vague

01:34:49   like the one did I do my best to make

01:34:52   sure revenue is being generated they're

01:34:54   like a bunch of different ways that I

01:34:55   can answer that question and I could

01:34:58   have said did I do my best to make a

01:35:00   sale today that's very different yeah

01:35:04   the revenue one is a way better question

01:35:06   so I thought hard about that one because

01:35:07   I wanted to have something in there

01:35:08   right because I saw podcast sponsorships

01:35:11   but it's not the only way my company can

01:35:13   generate revenue and like there are

01:35:14   other things that I can do to try and

01:35:17   like set a basis for doing this as

01:35:20   opposed to actually making a sale and I

01:35:23   figured that that would be for my

01:35:24   personal mental health more important

01:35:26   then because the sales don't happen

01:35:29   every day because they don't need to

01:35:30   they have grown if they happen every

01:35:33   week then we're doing great right like

01:35:35   you could get one sale a week and it's

01:35:37   fine because they happen in

01:35:39   in like chunks of time so I wouldn't

01:35:41   want to be every single day beating

01:35:43   myself up over not signing a contract

01:35:46   yeah so yeah the thing a little detail

01:35:50   that I like here in the book as well is

01:35:52   well it starts out with that tough love

01:35:55   of guess what this is going to be really

01:35:57   hard and guess what you're gonna say

01:35:58   things that are important to you you're

01:36:00   gonna not even try for a week every day

01:36:02   to do them he immediately goes to this

01:36:05   example of like and guess what your

01:36:08   questions are going to be that different

01:36:10   from everybody else's questions oh I

01:36:12   loved that I was like you're gonna be a

01:36:14   cliche but there's a reason yeah yeah

01:36:17   yeah he totally says like yeah he's like

01:36:18   you're gonna be just like everybody else

01:36:20   right and so to paraphrase is slightly

01:36:23   he says like your goals will be plucked

01:36:25   from a classic self-improvement menu the

01:36:27   menu we all feast on lose weight get fit

01:36:30   get organized learn something new quit a

01:36:33   bad habit save more money help others

01:36:35   spend more time with family travel to

01:36:37   new places fall in love and be less

01:36:40   stressed what's great is if he finishes

01:36:42   with because you feel a bit like oh I

01:36:44   guess I'm just like another sheep in

01:36:45   this system but I love the he

01:36:47   acknowledges like the fact that other

01:36:49   people have similar goals doesn't make

01:36:51   those goals less worthy and I feel like

01:36:55   that really does free you up to be able

01:36:59   to have just like boring anodyne goals

01:37:01   and that's fine alright this is the same

01:37:04   goals everybody has and there is nothing

01:37:06   wrong with that and I just I really like

01:37:08   that he took a moment to explicitly call

01:37:10   that out of like hey you don't need to

01:37:13   be super creative with these questions

01:37:15   like these are the things that as a

01:37:16   human race we have agreed upon will make

01:37:18   us happy yeah this is the stuff that

01:37:20   everybody wants to do and is a reason

01:37:22   for it so I just but I really like that

01:37:24   little moment just be like don't worry

01:37:26   you need to be super fancy with your did

01:37:28   I generate revenue today right it's like

01:37:30   whatever you want to lose weight welcome

01:37:33   to the Western world you're it's fine

01:37:35   that's perfectly fine to have as a goal

01:37:36   there was one last part I wanted to

01:37:39   touch on with this book which happens

01:37:40   before the questions because so the

01:37:42   questions are about creating a system of

01:37:44   accountability right that's what you do

01:37:46   you create these questions and then if

01:37:48   you want to make your change you have to

01:37:49   answer the questions and you're

01:37:50   accountable to the questions

01:37:52   but before that he talks about like why

01:37:55   we need this type of system and it's

01:37:58   because as humans we are superior

01:38:00   planners and inferior doers so like

01:38:04   saying that each individual is both a

01:38:06   leader and a follower in the morning at

01:38:09   the beginning of our day the leader is

01:38:11   ready for action setting out our tasks

01:38:14   and wanting and like believing this is

01:38:16   the stuff I want to do today and I'm

01:38:18   gonna achieve all of it then you hand

01:38:20   over to the follower part of yourself

01:38:21   who has to then execute on the leaders

01:38:24   plan and that doesn't work out because

01:38:28   we get tired or we get distracted like

01:38:30   is in the same way that if you have

01:38:33   anybody work for you you may ask them to

01:38:35   do a task but it doesn't get completed

01:38:37   right you do that to yourself every

01:38:41   single day and this was like one of the

01:38:44   most genius things I've ever heard in

01:38:46   business training is the systems of

01:38:49   leadership and motivation that we

01:38:51   learned to try and motivate and lead

01:38:52   other people you have to do to yourself

01:38:56   mm-hmm and it like oh but this like open

01:38:59   my mind like that is a genius right that

01:39:03   like we learn all of these things about

01:39:05   leadership styles and mentorship styles

01:39:08   and like how to motivate and engage

01:39:10   people but we never think about the fact

01:39:13   that you also have to do it to yourself

01:39:16   because you rely on yourself to do work

01:39:18   every day and I was like oh my god that

01:39:21   is genius

01:39:22   I loved it yeah it's a really great part

01:39:25   of the book and it also goes to that

01:39:28   idea of like not not being a consistent

01:39:30   self that you react differently in these

01:39:33   different environments but also the

01:39:35   again I love how he points out like how

01:39:38   many times have you successfully

01:39:40   implemented the plan the morning you had

01:39:42   it's like wow I can count those numbers

01:39:44   of days like on one hand because morning

01:39:47   you is always way optimistic about what

01:39:50   can actually occur and as like Oh 2:00

01:39:53   p.m. you is real sleepy I just I think

01:39:57   it's I think it is a great framing it's

01:39:59   a great way to be aware of things and I

01:40:03   like it on both ends where he's trying

01:40:05   to

01:40:05   amp down planning use desires and and

01:40:11   trying to do do they like you set up

01:40:15   things for the you who is going to be

01:40:18   lazier in the future right and you try

01:40:20   you try to make it easy for that guy and

01:40:23   that guy's gonna need some serious

01:40:24   management help and for morning you it's

01:40:28   he has a hard time recognizing that and

01:40:31   I do like that he just really calls out

01:40:33   that part of your plan about any kind of

01:40:35   behavior change has to include the easy

01:40:38   to forget fact that in the future you

01:40:42   will not be as motivated as you

01:40:44   currently are and you have to take that

01:40:47   into account and I just I think it's

01:40:50   such it's such an obvious oh my knee of

01:40:52   these points like some of them are

01:40:53   they're very obvious but it's great to

01:40:56   do draw that in to be like you need to

01:40:58   explicitly think about this all business

01:41:01   book stuff is obvious once you hear it

01:41:04   but it's about the way they codify it I

01:41:06   think that's what's so like another

01:41:09   great example is saying about weather

01:41:11   forecasting like people that care about

01:41:14   the weather check the weather constantly

01:41:16   and adjust their days to match is that

01:41:19   why don't we do that for ourselves in

01:41:22   our tasks and motivations for the day

01:41:23   like you set out with an idea in the

01:41:26   daytime but you're keeping track of what

01:41:29   is going on and adjusting on the fly to

01:41:31   deal with that and it's like all of this

01:41:33   stuff is just like this is a really good

01:41:36   book this is a very good book I like it

01:41:39   a lot there's one there's many many more

01:41:41   points in the book we could cover but I

01:41:43   really think that this is booking it a

01:41:44   lot in it and it and there's like a

01:41:46   bunch of things that I would I highlight

01:41:48   it because I feel like ooh this really

01:41:49   this really speaks to me in my

01:41:52   particular situation but might not be

01:41:53   interesting in a general conversation

01:41:55   but he made one point that again is so

01:42:00   obvious but to hear someone just talk

01:42:01   about it in a clear way is like you know

01:42:04   that's an excellent point and one of the

01:42:07   things he talks about is activities that

01:42:09   have a certain kind of inertia and you

01:42:11   just talked about being aware that

01:42:13   whatever you're doing it's often very

01:42:15   hard to stop doing that thing

01:42:19   and so it's like okay you sit down to

01:42:21   watch a little bit of Netflix and nobody

01:42:24   watches a little bit of Netflix right

01:42:26   and it just it made me think about like

01:42:29   one of these pieces of productivity

01:42:31   advice that I've always thought like is

01:42:32   they're human on earth who can do this

01:42:34   because it's not me you'll hear people

01:42:35   say things like why don't you work for a

01:42:37   little while and then you give yourself

01:42:38   a break a nice reward and you spend 10

01:42:41   minutes on social media and then you go

01:42:43   right back to work and you know it's a

01:42:46   reward for having like does anybody do

01:42:48   that

01:42:48   is there anybody on the face of the

01:42:50   earth who's like well does Buddha at

01:42:51   Mario Kart for 10 minutes just play a

01:42:53   couple races and then I'll get right

01:42:55   back into that important work I was

01:42:57   doing like nobody does that

01:42:58   and so you talked about this this idea

01:43:02   of inertia and there's something that's

01:43:06   been creeping up in my mind which he

01:43:10   doesn't talk about but like I've started

01:43:13   to think about the flip side of that

01:43:15   because I was thinking like wait a

01:43:16   minute there are a bunch of activities

01:43:17   that aren't this way things like

01:43:20   exercise all right or things like

01:43:25   writing a script or certain kinds of

01:43:29   very intense work I feel like I've come

01:43:33   to recognize this category of things

01:43:35   that I'm thinking of as self terminating

01:43:37   activities I really think that there is

01:43:41   there's an importance in recognizing

01:43:44   that there are a lot of things that are

01:43:46   self terminating activities versus the

01:43:49   stuff that he's talking about like

01:43:52   inertial activities and I feel like this

01:43:56   is I haven't quite settled my thoughts

01:43:58   on this entirely but there's something

01:44:00   here about gaining an understanding of

01:44:04   the distinction between these two things

01:44:06   and that in in general self terminating

01:44:10   activities are are things that you'd

01:44:12   rather spend your time on than inertial

01:44:15   activities where you can just do them

01:44:17   forever that there's that there's I

01:44:22   don't know I jump I wish I could explain

01:44:25   this better in my head but just it's

01:44:26   just something that has been on my mind

01:44:27   since I first read the book is this this

01:44:29   thought of like things worth doing

01:44:32   ourself

01:44:32   emanating and things that are enjoyable

01:44:36   but maybe less worthy in a way have this

01:44:40   inertial quality that he talks about

01:44:42   that you just want to keep doing them

01:44:43   for forever but and it's just it's just

01:44:47   a thing that struck me and I'm gonna

01:44:49   again recommend the book pretty highly

01:44:50   because I feel like there's a lot in

01:44:53   here that even if some of it doesn't

01:44:55   seem to resonate at all I think that

01:44:57   almost everybody will find something

01:44:59   that you feel like sticks sticks with

01:45:02   you after you've read the book yeah I

01:45:04   recommend it I really do recommend it

01:45:07   this is this is a good pick there's a

01:45:08   lot of interesting stuff in there as we

01:45:10   said like it's not a big book I

01:45:12   recommend going to it there's like a

01:45:14   bunch of like still really practical

01:45:17   things we've not even touched on that

01:45:19   there's there's a lot we haven't touched

01:45:21   on I think there's I think people could

01:45:22   get a lot from this so I recommend it so

01:45:24   again it's triggers by Marshall

01:45:25   Goldsmith it's very very good book

01:45:27   before we go cortex much calm cortex

01:45:30   much calm go there by merch at cortex

01:45:32   much calm cortex Murch dot-com