Cortex

00:00:00 ◼   ► so we are over an hour late starting

00:00:03 ◼   ► today I'm not recording would you like

00:00:06 ◼   ► to tell everybody gray why that is it

00:00:09 ◼   ► was a snow day it is snowing in London

00:00:16 ◼   ► we we have had enough snow in that it

00:00:18 ◼   ► makes a significant difference which

00:00:20 ◼   ► it's not a lot of snow for London but it

00:00:23 ◼   ► doesn't have to be a lot right for it to

00:00:25 ◼   ► make a big difference but it's very cold

00:00:26 ◼   ► here right now and there is some snow as

00:00:28 ◼   ► always with these things if you post on

00:00:31 ◼   ► the internet that your city has snow and

00:00:34 ◼   ► things are closing down people from the

00:00:37 ◼   ► northern Arctic wasteland will get in

00:00:40 ◼   ► touch and they'll tell you about how you

00:00:42 ◼   ► don't know or understand what snow is

00:00:44 ◼   ► all right that that Europe babe is like

00:00:46 ◼   ► this is yeah I know that there's more

00:00:49 ◼   ► snow in places that are colder that's is

00:00:51 ◼   ► never the question it's it's entirely a

00:00:53 ◼   ► question of how economically feasible is

00:00:56 ◼   ► it to keep a whole fleet of snow plows

00:00:59 ◼   ► at the ready to get your city clear of

00:01:02 ◼   ► snow and the answer is if your London

00:01:04 ◼   ► where it didn't even snow last year you

00:01:06 ◼   ► just don't have any plows right like you

00:01:08 ◼   ► have nothing just don't have anything

00:01:10 ◼   ► and so then when you do get every two

00:01:12 ◼   ► years one inch of snow everything shuts

00:01:15 ◼   ► down but most importantly I woke up this

00:01:18 ◼   ► morning I saw that there was a lot of

00:01:20 ◼   ► snow

00:01:21 ◼   ► I immediately opened up carrot weather

00:01:22 ◼   ► and saw that there was going to continue

00:01:24 ◼   ► to be a lot of snow and I immediately

00:01:26 ◼   ► declared it a gray industry snow day

00:01:28 ◼   ► like nope year of order routine

00:01:33 ◼   ► establishing in the morning right out

00:01:35 ◼   ► the window it goes like it I just ran

00:01:37 ◼   ► into the streets and it was great I

00:01:40 ◼   ► spent all morning wandering around

00:01:42 ◼   ► central London enjoying the snow and it

00:01:45 ◼   ► was glorious but I did send you a

00:01:47 ◼   ► message as soon as I possibly could like

00:01:49 ◼   ► as soon as I popped up in Trafalgar

00:01:50 ◼   ► Square I was like oh oh it's not a snow

00:01:54 ◼   ► day for relay industries Mike's still

00:01:56 ◼   ► gonna want to record the podcast so I

00:01:58 ◼   ► sent you a message to try to give you a

00:02:00 ◼   ► heads up that I was going to be almost

00:02:02 ◼   ► certainly late coming back which I was

00:02:05 ◼   ► but I liked that you you attempted to

00:02:08 ◼   ► sweeten this by sending me picture up

00:02:10 ◼   ► dates every now and then of the

00:02:12 ◼   ► interesting things that you will find

00:02:13 ◼   ► around London like look look it's so

00:02:15 ◼   ► nice you know well III thought you're

00:02:18 ◼   ► probably sitting at home yes in the in

00:02:22 ◼   ► the real a company that is not having a

00:02:23 ◼   ► snow day and having a you know a sad at

00:02:26 ◼   ► the office day so I thought I was gonna

00:02:28 ◼   ► brighten your morning with pictures of

00:02:29 ◼   ► me frolicking in the snow

00:02:31 ◼   ► I thought you would enjoy that Mike I

00:02:33 ◼   ► did not and have not had a snow day it's

00:02:36 ◼   ► been snowing for a few days I have not

00:02:39 ◼   ► left the house even though I love snow

00:02:41 ◼   ► that there there are a few things in the

00:02:43 ◼   ► world that I love more than a naturally

00:02:45 ◼   ► occurring than snow because it's so rare

00:02:48 ◼   ► for me that like it's a real treat but

00:02:50 ◼   ► oh yeah I think throughout this episode

00:02:52 ◼   ► there is going to be a theme and the

00:02:55 ◼   ► theme of this episode is Mike Mike feels

00:02:57 ◼   ► very overwhelmed right now with work so

00:03:02 ◼   ► I have a I have a character flaw in that

00:03:07 ◼   ► when I feel very busy if I leave the

00:03:10 ◼   ► house it's like I have committed a crime

00:03:13 ◼   ► mmm

00:03:14 ◼   ► like I have to be here and it is the

00:03:19 ◼   ► only way that I can feel okay because if

00:03:21 ◼   ► I leave I have neglected the mountain of

00:03:26 ◼   ► work that I have to take care of so I

00:03:29 ◼   ► have not left the house yet I believe as

00:03:34 ◼   ► we're recording this today that when

00:03:38 ◼   ► Adina comes home she is dragging me out

00:03:40 ◼   ► of the house she's bought me a scarf

00:03:43 ◼   ► even because she is unhappy with the

00:03:46 ◼   ► fact that I have not left the house this

00:03:48 ◼   ► week to play in the snow which would

00:03:51 ◼   ► bring me great joy but right now I feel

00:03:54 ◼   ► like I'm not allowed to do that I too

00:03:56 ◼   ► had a mountain of work to do and I know

00:04:03 ◼   ► this is a thing that is is very hard to

00:04:06 ◼   ► do but I'm always really glad when I do

00:04:08 ◼   ► it which is intentional play time or

00:04:12 ◼   ► intentional goofing off or relaxing time

00:04:15 ◼   ► where instead of what is very easy to do

00:04:17 ◼   ► like oh I should be working but somehow

00:04:21 ◼   ► I'm a Mario karting I don't know how

00:04:23 ◼   ► this happened and as I cannot fully

00:04:25 ◼   ► enjoying the Mario Kart

00:04:27 ◼   ► because I know that there's something

00:04:29 ◼   ► that I should be doing and I'm just sort

00:04:31 ◼   ► of here procrastinating a little bit

00:04:32 ◼   ► that's the worst because you're not

00:04:34 ◼   ► enjoying the activity and you're not

00:04:35 ◼   ► getting anything done but that's why

00:04:37 ◼   ► this morning is like Oh woke up boom I'm

00:04:40 ◼   ► the CEO I'm declaring its a snow day no

00:04:42 ◼   ► work can happen on the morning of a snow

00:04:44 ◼   ► day so there's no guilt at all nothing

00:04:46 ◼   ► nothing is even possibly going to happen

00:04:48 ◼   ► and I feel like that that's the best way

00:04:51 ◼   ► to enjoy a thing is is to mentally

00:04:54 ◼   ► cordon it off as work can't possibly

00:04:58 ◼   ► happen while it's snowing outside

00:05:00 ◼   ► everyone knows that so there's no

00:05:02 ◼   ► there's no guilt because I couldn't be

00:05:04 ◼   ► answering emails this morning it just it

00:05:06 ◼   ► couldn't happen

00:05:07 ◼   ► well annoys me the most is that I feel

00:05:09 ◼   ► like I had gotten good like better at

00:05:11 ◼   ► that like I feel like I had gotten a lot

00:05:13 ◼   ► better at being able to say to myself

00:05:16 ◼   ► you know what I'm gonna sit down and

00:05:18 ◼   ► play Nintendo for a while and it's gonna

00:05:20 ◼   ► be great I gonna but that we I've been

00:05:23 ◼   ► going through some transitions

00:05:24 ◼   ► business-wise this year that seemed to

00:05:28 ◼   ► have upended everything I think that my

00:05:32 ◼   ► company is at a stage now where it's

00:05:34 ◼   ► there's just some changes happening like

00:05:36 ◼   ► we're old enough that just different

00:05:38 ◼   ► types of things are going on it's all

00:05:41 ◼   ► good stuff like all of this work this

00:05:45 ◼   ► additional work is being generated

00:05:47 ◼   ► because of good things and the stress

00:05:48 ◼   ► that I'm going through is because of the

00:05:50 ◼   ► additional work not that anything bad is

00:05:52 ◼   ► happening right like it's that kind of

00:05:54 ◼   ► stress it's an overworld witness rather

00:05:56 ◼   ► than a desperation type stress so I and

00:06:00 ◼   ► I have not yet adjusted to this new

00:06:05 ◼   ► world and right and I'm and I am trying

00:06:08 ◼   ► to do some things to help me adjust but

00:06:10 ◼   ► right now I'm not doing a very good job

00:06:12 ◼   ► with it I'm sorry to hear that Mike

00:06:16 ◼   ► overwhelmingness is maybe one of the

00:06:21 ◼   ► much more harder things to deal with

00:06:23 ◼   ► because it is that that it's just that

00:06:28 ◼   ► cloud that feeling of oh there are so

00:06:31 ◼   ► there are so many things it's it's very

00:06:34 ◼   ► hard to get a handle on but you know I

00:06:38 ◼   ► really think Edina needs to take you on

00:06:40 ◼   ► a snow day

00:06:41 ◼   ► yeah yeah I know I know it's tricky let

00:06:45 ◼   ► me tell you actually let me tell you

00:06:47 ◼   ► about something that I started doing

00:06:50 ◼   ► which I'm hoping will help with this

00:06:53 ◼   ► mm-hmm I have started a journal okay I'm

00:06:58 ◼   ► gonna need I'm gonna need a lot of

00:07:00 ◼   ► details on what this means to you yeah I

00:07:03 ◼   ► know because it's that because I'm a you

00:07:05 ◼   ► know I've basically gone anywhere from

00:07:06 ◼   ► dear diary to like writing down minute

00:07:10 ◼   ► by minute what I'm doing right is it is

00:07:11 ◼   ► a all-encompassing term which these days

00:07:14 ◼   ► means more and more and more so I have

00:07:19 ◼   ► in the past looked at journaling systems

00:07:23 ◼   ► I am a big pen and paper nerd I've

00:07:25 ◼   ► mentioned this on the show before but

00:07:27 ◼   ► this is a thing that really is one of my

00:07:29 ◼   ► big loves in life is pen and paper I

00:07:32 ◼   ► have an entire podcast dedicated to it's

00:07:34 ◼   ► called the pen addict and I will put a

00:07:37 ◼   ► link in the show notes in case people

00:07:38 ◼   ► are interested we are about to hit our

00:07:40 ◼   ► 300th episode it is a longest-running

00:07:43 ◼   ► show that I have ever done does there's

00:07:47 ◼   ► this weekly so you know like a lot of

00:07:50 ◼   ► pen and paper news so that's the thing

00:07:51 ◼   ► that I love very much so I've been very

00:07:53 ◼   ► aware of journaling systems you know

00:07:56 ◼   ► it's bullet journal is a big one right

00:07:58 ◼   ► and I actually know the guy who made it

00:08:01 ◼   ► his name is writer Carol and he's a

00:08:03 ◼   ► great guy and we've kind of been going

00:08:07 ◼   ► along with his journey over the time

00:08:08 ◼   ► that he created the bullet journal cuz

00:08:10 ◼   ► we first found out about it before it

00:08:12 ◼   ► was nothing

00:08:13 ◼   ► right the gute was just beginning and

00:08:14 ◼   ► now it's like a huge huge deal yeah but

00:08:17 ◼   ► I also bullet journal in my mind at

00:08:19 ◼   ► least from what I know of it bullet

00:08:21 ◼   ► journal is not a journal at all it's a

00:08:23 ◼   ► task management system this is why when

00:08:26 ◼   ► you say you started a journal I feel

00:08:28 ◼   ► like I need to know what it is that

00:08:29 ◼   ► you're talking about exactly so this is

00:08:31 ◼   ► it right like this is it that the term

00:08:33 ◼   ► journal means so much now but I said

00:08:36 ◼   ► like I have looked into bullet

00:08:37 ◼   ► journaling and I was considering it as a

00:08:39 ◼   ► thing but it didn't do for whatever

00:08:42 ◼   ► reason it wasn't doing what I wanted it

00:08:44 ◼   ► to do and then a couple of weeks ago I

00:08:47 ◼   ► had a call with mining your friend mr.

00:08:50 ◼   ► David sparks and he was telling me that

00:08:53 ◼   ► he had just started

00:08:55 ◼   ► himself but decided to just create his

00:08:59 ◼   ► own system which focused on things that

00:09:02 ◼   ► mattered to him and I was like oh okay

00:09:05 ◼   ► that's that's probably what I should do

00:09:07 ◼   ► like why focus on somebody else's system

00:09:10 ◼   ► when I don't I don't need a to-do list

00:09:14 ◼   ► mm-hmm on paper like I already have one

00:09:16 ◼   ► of those right so I figured I'm gonna

00:09:19 ◼   ► focus on what I want to do and I have

00:09:21 ◼   ► been keeping this journal for just over

00:09:22 ◼   ► a week and every day I sit down at one

00:09:28 ◼   ► point and I write out the headings of

00:09:30 ◼   ► the things that I want to focus on in

00:09:32 ◼   ► that day and then later on in the

00:09:33 ◼   ► evening I'll kind of complete it so let

00:09:35 ◼   ► me tell you what my system includes okay

00:09:39 ◼   ► so I sit down with a double-page in a

00:09:42 ◼   ► notebook and I write down a bunch of

00:09:44 ◼   ► headings one of them is priorities one

00:09:47 ◼   ► of them is called one good thing I have

00:09:50 ◼   ► one bad thing what did I learn what am I

00:09:53 ◼   ► looking forward to and then what pens

00:09:55 ◼   ► did I use this is also a way for me to

00:10:02 ◼   ► use my pens more which is nice but so

00:10:05 ◼   ► yeah so priorities right okay let's run

00:10:08 ◼   ► through these let's run through these

00:10:09 ◼   ► one at a time

00:10:10 ◼   ► priorities this is in essence like to

00:10:14 ◼   ► dues but they are much broader and much

00:10:19 ◼   ► more simple so like every day I may have

00:10:22 ◼   ► 10 tasks say that I want to a my to-do

00:10:26 ◼   ► list I want to complete right in

00:10:27 ◼   ► introduced but they don't actually all

00:10:31 ◼   ► need need need to be done today right

00:10:33 ◼   ► like that's not how my system works

00:10:35 ◼   ► sometimes sometimes I have to do is in

00:10:38 ◼   ► my my project manager in todoist knowing

00:10:41 ◼   ► that they won't be done today but I can

00:10:43 ◼   ► do a little bit of work towards them

00:10:44 ◼   ► today and then reschedule them right but

00:10:47 ◼   ► my priorities are the things that by the

00:10:50 ◼   ► end of the day today I will have a

00:10:52 ◼   ► hundred percent wanting to complete

00:10:53 ◼   ► these things so then when I'm coming to

00:10:57 ◼   ► the end of my day and I'm looking at two

00:10:59 ◼   ► duis and I'm moving seven tasks to

00:11:02 ◼   ► tomorrow and I get that feeling of like

00:11:05 ◼   ► tired

00:11:06 ◼   ► do anything today I can refer to my

00:11:08 ◼   ► journal and tick off the things that

00:11:11 ◼   ► I've done and be like old these were the

00:11:12 ◼   ► things that I actually achieved I set

00:11:14 ◼   ► out to achieve the most important things

00:11:16 ◼   ► that I needed to do today mm-hmm so it's

00:11:19 ◼   ► like a it's like a it's like a sublist

00:11:21 ◼   ► it doesn't bear any kind of control over

00:11:24 ◼   ► my actual to-do list system it's more

00:11:27 ◼   ► like it's more like pie in the sky type

00:11:30 ◼   ► stuff right like these are things and I

00:11:32 ◼   ► want to do and they can even be non-work

00:11:35 ◼   ► things and they are a lot of the time

00:11:37 ◼   ► not work things stuff that I wouldn't

00:11:39 ◼   ► actually have in my to-do list but so

00:11:41 ◼   ► like I'm gonna write one in right now as

00:11:43 ◼   ► we as we're talking cuz I add to my

00:11:45 ◼   ► journal throughout the day and it's

00:11:47 ◼   ► gonna say go out in the snow that's

00:11:51 ◼   ► gonna be added to my priorities list for

00:11:54 ◼   ► today and then later on we'll go out in

00:11:56 ◼   ► the snow but that's never gonna find its

00:11:58 ◼   ► way into the duyst because it's not part

00:12:00 ◼   ► of my system all right yeah and it also

00:12:03 ◼   ► doesn't in the structure of using

00:12:06 ◼   ► something to manage projects it doesn't

00:12:09 ◼   ► really make sense to make a project

00:12:11 ◼   ► which is called Mike is exposed to snow

00:12:15 ◼   ► because it's good for his mental health

00:12:17 ◼   ► exactly an action which is called go

00:12:19 ◼   ► outside all right like that doesn't make

00:12:21 ◼   ► it it's too heavy weight right it's way

00:12:23 ◼   ► too heavy wait what let me rephrase it

00:12:24 ◼   ► it's not good for the way that I have my

00:12:27 ◼   ► system some people may do that right but

00:12:29 ◼   ► that's not that doesn't work within the

00:12:31 ◼   ► way that I think about tasks right but

00:12:34 ◼   ► when I'm looking at like my priorities

00:12:35 ◼   ► for today then yeah maybe that works so

00:12:38 ◼   ► then I have one good thing on one bad

00:12:40 ◼   ► thing so every day I but try them write

00:12:43 ◼   ► down one good thing that happened and

00:12:45 ◼   ► one bad thing that happened and I

00:12:47 ◼   ► included the bad thing because I

00:12:49 ◼   ► included the good thing I didn't want

00:12:51 ◼   ► this to just be like an idealistic view

00:12:54 ◼   ► of my life because bad things happen

00:12:57 ◼   ► right and I didn't want this dis journal

00:12:59 ◼   ► to just be like Oh everything right it's

00:13:03 ◼   ► not like that it's not how life is okay

00:13:06 ◼   ► so already we're getting into a little

00:13:09 ◼   ► bit of a different function of this for

00:13:10 ◼   ► you which is the idea that this is a

00:13:12 ◼   ► thing like a traditional dear diary that

00:13:17 ◼   ► you might look back

00:13:19 ◼   ► as a record of what was going on in your

00:13:22 ◼   ► life right that's that's why the one bad

00:13:24 ◼   ► thing is there because it lets you know

00:13:26 ◼   ► what's going on I highly doubt that I

00:13:29 ◼   ► will even keep this journal when it's

00:13:32 ◼   ► finished like I'm not harvest the stuff

00:13:35 ◼   ► like this it's more just as a way for me

00:13:38 ◼   ► to reflect on something so like by

00:13:42 ◼   ► writing it down

00:13:43 ◼   ► it's like acknowledging a thing happened

00:13:45 ◼   ► or a thing didn't happen and honestly

00:13:48 ◼   ► like the one good thing none of this

00:13:51 ◼   ► stuff has I don't feel like it ever has

00:13:53 ◼   ► to be completed right if I don't have a

00:13:57 ◼   ► bad thing I'm not gonna write it I think

00:14:00 ◼   ► I'm not gonna magic something up but the

00:14:03 ◼   ► idea for me is more just like a way to

00:14:07 ◼   ► just reflect on things a little bit more

00:14:09 ◼   ► just so I can focus on like what good

00:14:12 ◼   ► things did happen today and my idea for

00:14:15 ◼   ► this is like moving into the future if I

00:14:18 ◼   ► feel like I've had a really bad day

00:14:20 ◼   ► mm-hmm

00:14:22 ◼   ► why don't I try and think about if there

00:14:24 ◼   ► was a good thing and it might help me

00:14:26 ◼   ► feel a little bit better and the reason

00:14:28 ◼   ► I'm doing this is because of one of the

00:14:31 ◼   ► things I learned about myself through

00:14:32 ◼   ► time-tracking of understanding I feel

00:14:36 ◼   ► like I've been very busy what the

00:14:37 ◼   ► numbers say hmm sometimes the numbers

00:14:41 ◼   ► say no you haven't so then it's like

00:14:44 ◼   ► okay well let me try and think about

00:14:45 ◼   ► that why do I feel this way if I have

00:14:48 ◼   ► something that tells me it's not this

00:14:50 ◼   ► way so it's like I might feel really bad

00:14:52 ◼   ► today but maybe that's just the last

00:14:56 ◼   ► half an hour mm-hmm as opposed to the

00:14:59 ◼   ► entire day so that's kind of what the

00:15:00 ◼   ► one good thing one bad thing is is meant

00:15:02 ◼   ► to be for like acknowledging that there

00:15:05 ◼   ► is both but also giving me a way to

00:15:07 ◼   ► think about what my day was actually

00:15:12 ◼   ► like because I don't know is this about

00:15:15 ◼   ► myself that like I can have a perfectly

00:15:18 ◼   ► good day but then things can ruin it

00:15:20 ◼   ► like something happens in and I'm in a

00:15:23 ◼   ► bad mood right and I am I'm very aware

00:15:26 ◼   ► of this and believe that I think I would

00:15:30 ◼   ► be overall more happy if I didn't dwell

00:15:32 ◼   ► on they

00:15:33 ◼   ► as much so this is kind of me trying to

00:15:40 ◼   ► curtail that a little bit by having more

00:15:43 ◼   ► of a structure more of a system around

00:15:47 ◼   ► good things that happen and actually the

00:15:48 ◼   ► next two parts of the journal also

00:15:51 ◼   ► enforced this so one of them is what did

00:15:54 ◼   ► I learn and this this serves two

00:15:57 ◼   ► functions one of them is basically for

00:16:00 ◼   ► the entire time that I have known Adina

00:16:01 ◼   ► if she wants to talk if what we want to

00:16:06 ◼   ► have a conversation but we don't have

00:16:08 ◼   ► anything to talk about you know I could

00:16:10 ◼   ► wear hang out hanging out with just

00:16:11 ◼   ► chatting she will say to me tell me the

00:16:13 ◼   ► three things you learned today and that

00:16:16 ◼   ► has always been I've strong exercise for

00:16:19 ◼   ► me that I fail at a lot of the time yeah

00:16:22 ◼   ► I'm gonna say even even as someone who

00:16:25 ◼   ► makes a real effort to try to read and

00:16:29 ◼   ► expose himself to different things what

00:16:34 ◼   ► are the three things you learned today

00:16:35 ◼   ► is a tall order so it's tricky

00:16:39 ◼   ► because I know that there are things but

00:16:42 ◼   ► I just don't remember them or like at

00:16:45 ◼   ► that moment I can't think back to like

00:16:48 ◼   ► the specific things that I went huh

00:16:50 ◼   ► about today right there must be more

00:16:53 ◼   ► than three every day so I've always

00:16:56 ◼   ► found this an interesting thing and a

00:16:58 ◼   ► thing that I've struggled with but it

00:17:00 ◼   ► was I thought it was a nice framework to

00:17:03 ◼   ► try and write some stuff down where I

00:17:06 ◼   ► try and write down a number of things

00:17:08 ◼   ► every day that I have learned but this

00:17:10 ◼   ► this is a very open thing where it can

00:17:14 ◼   ► be like facts one thing that's changed

00:17:16 ◼   ► my mind

00:17:17 ◼   ► or even just a thing about myself or a

00:17:19 ◼   ► thing that I found interesting like it

00:17:21 ◼   ► can be literally anything but it's just

00:17:24 ◼   ► three things that have kind of been in

00:17:26 ◼   ► my mind today is kind of how I approach

00:17:29 ◼   ► this so it can be like something pithy

00:17:33 ◼   ► like something that I just think is kind

00:17:35 ◼   ► of weird or funny or it can literally be

00:17:37 ◼   ► like oh I found out this thing about the

00:17:39 ◼   ► crown jewels today you know like so

00:17:40 ◼   ► three things that I consider like

00:17:41 ◼   ► notable pieces of information for one

00:17:44 ◼   ► reason or another that I have

00:17:46 ◼   ► accumulated

00:17:47 ◼   ► over the day and it can be three things

00:17:50 ◼   ► it can be six things sometimes it's one

00:17:52 ◼   ► thing or two thing right like it doesn't

00:17:54 ◼   ► really matter but it's more just what

00:17:56 ◼   ► did I learn and it can be any amount of

00:17:58 ◼   ► things but I try and aim to do three but

00:18:01 ◼   ► most days get like yeah so and this is

00:18:07 ◼   ► again another reflection thing like me

00:18:10 ◼   ► trying to focus on some stuff that's

00:18:12 ◼   ► happened in a day and just trying to

00:18:14 ◼   ► note down some some notable items and in

00:18:18 ◼   ► the next one is what I'm looking forward

00:18:20 ◼   ► to so something that's on the horizon

00:18:23 ◼   ► that I'm excited about and I have a

00:18:25 ◼   ► little personal rule of I can't repeat

00:18:28 ◼   ► the same thing over two days right so so

00:18:31 ◼   ► you can't say like I'm looking forward

00:18:34 ◼   ► to my upcoming wedding and you can't use

00:18:38 ◼   ► that for the next six months it's more

00:18:41 ◼   ► day-to-day so like I can have something

00:18:44 ◼   ► that I'm really excited about which is

00:18:46 ◼   ► happening on Saturday and I could write

00:18:47 ◼   ► it on Monday and Thursday for example

00:18:49 ◼   ► but it's it's more just like I can't

00:18:51 ◼   ► write whatever yesterday it has to be

00:18:53 ◼   ► different today mm-hmm and that's purely

00:18:56 ◼   ► because sometimes there'd be something

00:18:58 ◼   ► happening on Saturday and I would write

00:18:59 ◼   ► you in every single day and I feel like

00:19:01 ◼   ► that's I'm cheating yeah I think that's

00:19:04 ◼   ► that's cheating the the idea of what

00:19:07 ◼   ► you're trying to go for there mm-hmm and

00:19:09 ◼   ► then the last section is ranked down my

00:19:11 ◼   ► pens but you don't need to know any more

00:19:12 ◼   ► about that I I want to know much more

00:19:16 ◼   ► about okay well one thing is like

00:19:17 ◼   ► they're looking forward to I used so I

00:19:19 ◼   ► use two pens one pen to write the

00:19:21 ◼   ► headings and one pen to write everything

00:19:23 ◼   ► else in like the body of everything and

00:19:24 ◼   ► I don't use the same two pens in a row

00:19:27 ◼   ► either I have to use different pens

00:19:29 ◼   ► every day right so this is a mechanism

00:19:31 ◼   ► to help you rotate your pens yeah to

00:19:33 ◼   ► enjoy my hobby more the image in my head

00:19:35 ◼   ► is of a monk typesetting a book you know

00:19:40 ◼   ► where they have the uppercase and the

00:19:42 ◼   ► lowercase of all of the letters and

00:19:44 ◼   ► they're working at a big day like this

00:19:45 ◼   ► is my image of you writing out the

00:19:48 ◼   ► journal is you have this array of pens

00:19:51 ◼   ► neatly stored in front of you and so you

00:19:54 ◼   ► just select well from this big this big

00:19:57 ◼   ► array of pens is that was that was

00:19:59 ◼   ► actually occurring

00:20:00 ◼   ► I typically will go to my office and

00:20:03 ◼   ► pick two pens from my kind of top pen

00:20:08 ◼   ► selection which I keep on my desk at

00:20:10 ◼   ► times and then take those to somewhere

00:20:12 ◼   ► else in the house and write out my

00:20:14 ◼   ► journal okay all right that's nice yes

00:20:17 ◼   ► nice see you move around in the physical

00:20:19 ◼   ► space to do it

00:20:20 ◼   ► yep and then I keep the journal and the

00:20:23 ◼   ► body writing pen with me kind of

00:20:25 ◼   ► throughout the day and we'll add to it

00:20:29 ◼   ► where I need to so you're a week in

00:20:32 ◼   ► mm-hmm how do you think it's going it's

00:20:35 ◼   ► become part of my routine already which

00:20:40 ◼   ► I'm very surprised about I have a daily

00:20:42 ◼   ► task in todoist right to complete the

00:20:44 ◼   ► journal but it kind of gets to a point

00:20:47 ◼   ► in the day where I feel like oh it's

00:20:49 ◼   ► journal time they can it's not about me

00:20:52 ◼   ► being reminded like and I just feel like

00:20:55 ◼   ► oh I need to complete the journal now or

00:20:57 ◼   ► one thing that I've been doing is I

00:20:59 ◼   ► could get to a point nerd am like what

00:21:00 ◼   ► should I do next and like oh I know what

00:21:03 ◼   ► I'll do

00:21:03 ◼   ► oh so you know it is a it is a part busy

00:21:11 ◼   ► work exercise right so it's like a work

00:21:15 ◼   ► Craster nation type dealio because I'm

00:21:17 ◼   ► saying and I'm kind of doing a thing

00:21:19 ◼   ► which isn't real work and it's kind of

00:21:21 ◼   ► maybe putting off real work for a few

00:21:23 ◼   ► minutes but I'd it's also a thing which

00:21:27 ◼   ► is helping me think which I like yeah

00:21:31 ◼   ► I'm gonna disagree with there I think

00:21:33 ◼   ► that's entirely a category of real work

00:21:35 ◼   ► in my time tracking system I have a

00:21:37 ◼   ► category that I call meta work well and

00:21:40 ◼   ► that that's that's what I would classify

00:21:42 ◼   ► this kind of thing as is is it work like

00:21:46 ◼   ► editing a podcast no but it's work like

00:21:49 ◼   ► sorting out your brain and what you're

00:21:52 ◼   ► thinking about and what you're paying

00:21:53 ◼   ► attention to yeah I know that is a kind

00:21:56 ◼   ► of work well I like this you seem to be

00:22:00 ◼   ► very hesitant to let this count like I

00:22:04 ◼   ► am so this again this has been a trend

00:22:08 ◼   ► of my most recent busy time

00:22:11 ◼   ► I'm trying to really focus on my to-do

00:22:14 ◼   ► list as the work mm-hmm because there's

00:22:19 ◼   ► already so much in there I don't need to

00:22:22 ◼   ► also consider everything else work as

00:22:25 ◼   ► well because then it's just too much

00:22:28 ◼   ► it's too much work okay so you don't

00:22:32 ◼   ► want it to count as work because you

00:22:34 ◼   ► feel like you already have too much work

00:22:35 ◼   ► okay yeah then it's not work then it is

00:22:37 ◼   ► a personal project of yeah this journal

00:22:39 ◼   ► is a counterbalance against the

00:22:41 ◼   ► overworking right we're just gonna take

00:22:43 ◼   ► this activity out of this arbitrary set

00:22:46 ◼   ► of labels and oh look we've lifted it up

00:22:48 ◼   ► and we put it down here in this set of

00:22:51 ◼   ► arbitrary labels it's different now it's

00:22:55 ◼   ► a totally different thing I'm sorry Mike

00:22:59 ◼   ► it's not work at all I didn't I didn't

00:23:00 ◼   ► mean to you know I know take it all back

00:23:02 ◼   ► I take it all back this episode of

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00:25:04 ◼   ► to hover for their support of this show

00:25:05 ◼   ► a lot of my busyness is self-imposed and

00:25:09 ◼   ► I'm very aware of that and I'm trying to

00:25:15 ◼   ► find ways to counterbalance it to kind

00:25:18 ◼   ► of counteract it to break my thinking a

00:25:21 ◼   ► little bit like I am a busy individual I

00:25:23 ◼   ► do have a lot of things going on but I

00:25:27 ◼   ► know I'm not as busy as my brain tells

00:25:30 ◼   ► me I am right anyway because you do the

00:25:33 ◼   ► time track because that's one of the

00:25:36 ◼   ► many valuable things about doing yep

00:25:37 ◼   ► time tracking so I'm right now I'm just

00:25:40 ◼   ► trying to identify what is making me

00:25:43 ◼   ► feel this way I mean cuz there are like

00:25:45 ◼   ► again there of days this week where I've

00:25:47 ◼   ► been working a lot and my time tracking

00:25:49 ◼   ► reflects it like abnormal amounts of

00:25:51 ◼   ► working hours and that's fine like I

00:25:53 ◼   ► understand that I know what's going on

00:25:54 ◼   ► it's all good but just the overall

00:25:57 ◼   ► day-to-day feeling that I've had for

00:25:59 ◼   ► maybe the last two weeks of like this

00:26:02 ◼   ► complete of a la madness like I need to

00:26:04 ◼   ► try and I need to try and ascertain why

00:26:07 ◼   ► I'm feeling this way when a lot of the

00:26:10 ◼   ► things that's happening not everything

00:26:11 ◼   ► but a lot of the things are on the kind

00:26:13 ◼   ► of like the general schedule of things

00:26:14 ◼   ► the general kind of flow of time and I

00:26:16 ◼   ► have some additional projects and stuff

00:26:18 ◼   ► like that but logically they shouldn't

00:26:23 ◼   ► be making me feel like how I feel right

00:26:26 ◼   ► now mm-hmm

00:26:28 ◼   ► so I'm just trying to work out what is

00:26:31 ◼   ► going on and the only thing I have right

00:26:36 ◼   ► now is this journal it's my only

00:26:39 ◼   ► yeah so I'm just really focusing on that

00:26:42 ◼   ► which is why I wanted to bring it to

00:26:44 ◼   ► discuss today you're holding on to this

00:26:46 ◼   ► journal real time real time because it

00:26:49 ◼   ► is the only thing that it's you afloat

00:26:52 ◼   ► in the last ocean of your work that

00:26:55 ◼   ► stretches in every direction okay good

00:27:02 ◼   ► well I'm going to say that I think it's

00:27:06 ◼   ► a good idea

00:27:07 ◼   ► I'm not going to poopoo your journal and

00:27:15 ◼   ► one of the reasons I will not approve

00:27:17 ◼   ► your journal is because I have I have

00:27:20 ◼   ► done something similar to this and I

00:27:25 ◼   ► hope you just feel really hesitant to

00:27:29 ◼   ► talk about it because there's something

00:27:33 ◼   ► so there's something so touchy-feely

00:27:39 ◼   ► about this that I find myself a little

00:27:42 ◼   ► bit repulsed but I have I have totally

00:27:46 ◼   ► done this kind of thing and I have I

00:27:49 ◼   ► have definitely found it a helpful

00:27:52 ◼   ► exercise at times so yeah like I'll pull

00:28:02 ◼   ► up I'll pull up what it actually looks

00:28:03 ◼   ► like for me but sort of like when would

00:28:09 ◼   ► it have been now maybe like a year and a

00:28:11 ◼   ► half ago now at this point I was sort of

00:28:13 ◼   ► going through a bit of a rougher time

00:28:15 ◼   ► like you know we we touched upon some of

00:28:19 ◼   ► those things like some of the recurring

00:28:21 ◼   ► health issues for my wife and a few

00:28:22 ◼   ► other things and it's just like not the

00:28:25 ◼   ► best time in the world and this was one

00:28:29 ◼   ► of the first times I tried this kind of

00:28:31 ◼   ► thing because a friend of mine had

00:28:34 ◼   ► recommended it to me and he's like

00:28:35 ◼   ► listen you're gonna feel really stupid

00:28:37 ◼   ► doing this but you should really try it

00:28:39 ◼   ► and it's a good idea I was like okay

00:28:41 ◼   ► fine

00:28:42 ◼   ► I'll give this a shot and I did like the

00:28:45 ◼   ► even the way you're laying out your

00:28:47 ◼   ► journal I ended up doing something that

00:28:49 ◼   ► was very similar and I felt

00:28:53 ◼   ► so dopey about it because it's like okay

00:28:55 ◼   ► in your little journal here's what

00:28:57 ◼   ► you're gonna do you're gonna write down

00:28:58 ◼   ► three things that you're thankful for as

00:29:01 ◼   ► like how god am i do am i doing like a

00:29:03 ◼   ► gratitude exercise here the answer is

00:29:05 ◼   ► yes yes you are doing a gratitude

00:29:07 ◼   ► exercise it's like okay fine

00:29:09 ◼   ► so I'll write down like three things

00:29:11 ◼   ► that I'm grateful for and then sort of

00:29:16 ◼   ► like you're talking about what the

00:29:17 ◼   ► priorities just three things that I can

00:29:20 ◼   ► do that will make the day a good day and

00:29:23 ◼   ► then at the end of the day I would just

00:29:27 ◼   ► come back to that list see how things

00:29:29 ◼   ► had gone and also just again ad like

00:29:33 ◼   ► what were some good things that happened

00:29:36 ◼   ► during the day right that's all it was

00:29:37 ◼   ► it's like a way of starting something

00:29:41 ◼   ► answering a few questions

00:29:43 ◼   ► setting up the course of the day in my

00:29:46 ◼   ► mind with what are the what are the top

00:29:48 ◼   ► things that I want to do as opposed to

00:29:50 ◼   ► what is the big ball of stuff in my task

00:29:56 ◼   ► management system like just pick three

00:29:57 ◼   ► things and then simply at the end of the

00:29:59 ◼   ► day reviewing the situation and I did

00:30:03 ◼   ► this for the first time when I was on a

00:30:07 ◼   ► gradation in an undisclosed location in

00:30:10 ◼   ► finis Scandia and it was stupidly

00:30:15 ◼   ► effective like so effective I can't

00:30:19 ◼   ► believe how effective it was at just

00:30:21 ◼   ► changing my mental framing and also

00:30:23 ◼   ► helping just make it really clear about

00:30:26 ◼   ► I only have so much time today what are

00:30:30 ◼   ► the things that I really need to do and

00:30:32 ◼   ► so I'm gonna try to focus on those

00:30:33 ◼   ► things so it's not that far off from

00:30:38 ◼   ► what you're doing I did it for a while

00:30:41 ◼   ► it is something that I have found nearly

00:30:47 ◼   ► impossible to make stick as a part of a

00:30:50 ◼   ► regular routine even though it's a thing

00:30:52 ◼   ► that I in theory would want to do but I

00:30:57 ◼   ► find that I can only really maintain it

00:31:01 ◼   ► when I'm in a particular focused or

00:31:04 ◼   ► almost somewhat isolated

00:31:07 ◼   ► state-of-mind says like i am on a

00:31:08 ◼   ► gradation I am on like the corporate

00:31:10 ◼   ► retreat for one and I don't know there's

00:31:15 ◼   ► I talk about two going on these

00:31:18 ◼   ► corporate retreats for one things I

00:31:19 ◼   ► always always sounds kind of silly but

00:31:21 ◼   ► it is they're weirdly mentally draining

00:31:24 ◼   ► and they're they're very mentally

00:31:29 ◼   ► intensive and I feel like there's

00:31:31 ◼   ► there's something about having this

00:31:34 ◼   ► little thing running in the background

00:31:37 ◼   ► of like oh you're gonna review a little

00:31:38 ◼   ► journal at the end of the day that is is

00:31:41 ◼   ► very effective but I have just not been

00:31:43 ◼   ► able to make it last because I almost

00:31:45 ◼   ► find like it's it's to mentally tiring

00:31:48 ◼   ► even though it doesn't seem like it's a

00:31:51 ◼   ► big deal

00:31:52 ◼   ► but yeah so I've done that I've done

00:31:55 ◼   ► that almost every time I go away on a

00:31:57 ◼   ► corporate retreat I've sort of over the

00:32:00 ◼   ► over the time I have modified it to add

00:32:02 ◼   ► a couple of more questions or little

00:32:05 ◼   ► little spaces so it's sort of developed

00:32:07 ◼   ► into this thing that I now call a like

00:32:09 ◼   ► my bookend journal so it's like the day

00:32:12 ◼   ► starts and the day ends with looking at

00:32:16 ◼   ► just these couple of pieces of paper but

00:32:18 ◼   ► yeah it's I never look back at it it's

00:32:24 ◼   ► not a thing that's any kind of archive

00:32:26 ◼   ► for me it's just entirely a thing that I

00:32:30 ◼   ► come on I'm on the trip I have my iPad

00:32:33 ◼   ► and the pencil and I just fill it out

00:32:35 ◼   ► you know on on on some fake paper that I

00:32:39 ◼   ► had designed for me which I mentioned a

00:32:40 ◼   ► while back and don't know why did you do

00:32:44 ◼   ► that

00:32:44 ◼   ► I just I just had people stop asking me

00:32:47 ◼   ► for the designs the first time around

00:32:49 ◼   ► because you said you were gonna share

00:32:51 ◼   ► them and you never did III have plans to

00:32:54 ◼   ► share them at some point but I just I

00:32:56 ◼   ► just realized as I was discussing this

00:32:57 ◼   ► what I didn't want you to have in your

00:32:59 ◼   ► mind Mike was the romantic idea of me

00:33:03 ◼   ► with a quill pen and it really believed

00:33:06 ◼   ► that I for one second thought you were

00:33:08 ◼   ► doing is an actual pen and paper I don't

00:33:11 ◼   ► know what's in your head paper before I

00:33:18 ◼   ► made for you by

00:33:19 ◼   ► a mysterious individual and that I

00:33:22 ◼   ► assumed that you were doing it there

00:33:24 ◼   ► yeah that's where it still is but I am

00:33:27 ◼   ► happy to hear that you have found this

00:33:29 ◼   ► kind of thing effective too

00:33:30 ◼   ► it is interesting to me that like you

00:33:32 ◼   ► seem to speak really high of it but like

00:33:34 ◼   ► can't find a way to integrate it into

00:33:37 ◼   ► your life on a more permanent basis

00:33:39 ◼   ► that's kind of surprising to me like it

00:33:41 ◼   ► seems like counter to the types of

00:33:44 ◼   ► things that you usually do right find

00:33:46 ◼   ► something to be really useful but not

00:33:48 ◼   ► like force it here is one of the here's

00:33:51 ◼   ► one of the things this actually kind of

00:33:52 ◼   ► rolls up into year of order a little bit

00:33:55 ◼   ► which is the reason it works when I'm on

00:34:00 ◼   ► a gray casian is because I always treat

00:34:06 ◼   ► it as I wake up I get some coffee and I

00:34:10 ◼   ► sit down with this thing and I have like

00:34:12 ◼   ► I have some blank space one of the

00:34:13 ◼   ► questions I've added over time that I

00:34:14 ◼   ► find useful is just a big big blank area

00:34:17 ◼   ► that just says what's on your mind and I

00:34:19 ◼   ► just sort of just write some things down

00:34:20 ◼   ► just random freeform like what am I

00:34:22 ◼   ► thinking about that's nice yeah it's

00:34:25 ◼   ► it's surprisingly illuminating to just

00:34:27 ◼   ► sit and and have a blank piece of paper

00:34:29 ◼   ► in front of you and just wait and see

00:34:32 ◼   ► what thoughts surface and just go just

00:34:36 ◼   ► write them down and it's almost always

00:34:38 ◼   ► just kind of nonsense but very often it

00:34:40 ◼   ► will get to the it'll get to things like

00:34:42 ◼   ► what you're saying here like I'm feeling

00:34:45 ◼   ► overwhelmed but not about anything in

00:34:47 ◼   ► particular right it's like oh that's

00:34:48 ◼   ► interesting why like let's let's try to

00:34:50 ◼   ► figure this out a bit more but on the

00:34:52 ◼   ► gradations I treat it as the first

00:34:54 ◼   ► activity in the morning and I'm able to

00:34:59 ◼   ► work it into a routine then but in in my

00:35:03 ◼   ► regular working schedule so like now and

00:35:06 ◼   ► I'm I'm back home I'm in London and like

00:35:10 ◼   ► before I was going to my previous office

00:35:12 ◼   ► and now I am going to the glass cube to

00:35:15 ◼   ► create things which I think in my mind I

00:35:17 ◼   ► think it is now because I've decided

00:35:18 ◼   ► it's that's where creation is going to

00:35:20 ◼   ► occur like it's gone from the glass cube

00:35:22 ◼   ► to the glass Forge mmm

00:35:24 ◼   ► the glass Forge in the year of order

00:35:26 ◼   ► like I like these all of these things

00:35:28 ◼   ► but it just doesn't fit in the schedule

00:35:32 ◼   ► because I know on my regular life the

00:35:36 ◼   ► most important thing the thing that I

00:35:38 ◼   ► try to optimize for is wake up take a

00:35:42 ◼   ► quick walk and then get right to a

00:35:45 ◼   ► computer to work on a script for a video

00:35:48 ◼   ► like I've got to make that transition as

00:35:50 ◼   ► smooth as possible and doing the journal

00:35:54 ◼   ► puts me in like a very different kind of

00:35:56 ◼   ► mood it puts me in a much more like

00:35:57 ◼   ► pensive big-picture mood which is not

00:36:01 ◼   ► not the frame of mind for I want to

00:36:05 ◼   ► start revving this engine to get some

00:36:07 ◼   ► work done and so I like I've just never

00:36:10 ◼   ► quite figured out how to make it work in

00:36:12 ◼   ► a regular routine for me otherwise so

00:36:16 ◼   ► it's it has ended up being just largely

00:36:19 ◼   ► like a gradation kind of thing for me

00:36:23 ◼   ► and and that's how I use it but that's

00:36:25 ◼   ► kind of why I was curious like you're a

00:36:27 ◼   ► week into it and I think um I don't

00:36:29 ◼   ► think I have ever done it for more than

00:36:31 ◼   ► 10 or 14 days in a row which is about

00:36:34 ◼   ► the longest of the longest gradations

00:36:36 ◼   ► and then after that it falls apart very

00:36:39 ◼   ► quickly when I get back to my regular

00:36:40 ◼   ► life feel like I'm gonna have better

00:36:42 ◼   ► luck than you because of the secondary

00:36:46 ◼   ► purpose that it serves in my life mm-hmm

00:36:48 ◼   ► which is the act like the action of

00:36:52 ◼   ► using my pens because that that brings

00:36:55 ◼   ► me joy so like I I get something out of

00:36:58 ◼   ► it which is separate which is like a

00:37:00 ◼   ► feeling of happiness think that being

00:37:03 ◼   ► able to act on a pursuit that I love

00:37:06 ◼   ► mm-hmm

00:37:08 ◼   ► so like that's an additional benefit

00:37:09 ◼   ► that I get from this then what then what

00:37:12 ◼   ► you would get but I'm happy to hear that

00:37:14 ◼   ► is something that you do as well just

00:37:16 ◼   ► because then I'm not on my own I'm a

00:37:21 ◼   ► little wall right now no I totally get

00:37:24 ◼   ► it I totally get it like an if it hadn't

00:37:26 ◼   ► been a friend who I feel like is not a

00:37:28 ◼   ► very airy-fairy person suggesting it

00:37:31 ◼   ► quite strongly I think I never would

00:37:33 ◼   ► have tried it in the first place he's

00:37:34 ◼   ► like I'm not gonna sit down write three

00:37:37 ◼   ► things that I'm thankful for

00:37:38 ◼   ► that's dumb but like I said

00:37:41 ◼   ► like comically effective comically

00:37:46 ◼   ► effective at kind of changing your

00:37:48 ◼   ► mental mindset so yeah it it very much

00:37:52 ◼   ► works I'm gonna have a book

00:37:53 ◼   ► recommendation for you Mike uh uh at

00:37:55 ◼   ► this point I know you I know you don't

00:37:58 ◼   ► like that you're at you're adding

00:38:01 ◼   ► something to the work pile I know I know

00:38:05 ◼   ► that I'm adding something to the work

00:38:06 ◼   ► pile

00:38:07 ◼   ► but listen never has a more perfect

00:38:10 ◼   ► moment come to recommend something and

00:38:13 ◼   ► I'm we don't eat we don't even have to

00:38:17 ◼   ► commit to it being cortex book club I'm

00:38:19 ◼   ► just gonna mention it on the show and if

00:38:22 ◼   ► you read it and we want to talk about

00:38:24 ◼   ► understand then we can talk about it we

00:38:26 ◼   ► don't have to do it there's no

00:38:28 ◼   ► obligation here whatsoever Mike like I'm

00:38:31 ◼   ► only ever going to read this if it can

00:38:35 ◼   ► be a work thing right okay I've really

00:38:40 ◼   ► continued to I read books now for work

00:38:43 ◼   ► it's the only reason that I would read

00:38:46 ◼   ► any book now is to do it for work so is

00:38:51 ◼   ► it triggers by Marshall Goldsmith yes

00:38:54 ◼   ► yes so you saw this in the show notes

00:38:56 ◼   ► documents this is this has been here for

00:38:59 ◼   ► a while and I've been waiting to bring

00:39:01 ◼   ► it up because on my last gradation a

00:39:04 ◼   ► different good friend recommended this

00:39:07 ◼   ► book which title the title of of it

00:39:10 ◼   ► makes me laugh and it's a book that has

00:39:13 ◼   ► a subtitle which is also very self helpy

00:39:16 ◼   ► about creating behavior that lasts

00:39:18 ◼   ► becoming the person you want to be

00:39:19 ◼   ► everything about that sort of repels me

00:39:21 ◼   ► from the cover of the book but oh god

00:39:25 ◼   ► it's a leopard changing its spots

00:39:27 ◼   ► yeah I know right did you get that it

00:39:30 ◼   ► took a while right for the visual the

00:39:32 ◼   ► visual metaphor there to work its way in

00:39:34 ◼   ► yeah I know I was looking at that for a

00:39:36 ◼   ► while and I was like what the hell is

00:39:37 ◼   ► this cover I don't understand but yes it

00:39:40 ◼   ► the cover literally has a leopard

00:39:41 ◼   ► changing its spots but I read this on my

00:39:45 ◼   ► last gradation which was also at an

00:39:48 ◼   ► undisclosed location in finis kandia and

00:39:50 ◼   ► I thought it was pretty good like as far

00:39:53 ◼   ► as business books go I think this

00:39:55 ◼   ► was pretty good and what I specifically

00:39:57 ◼   ► wanted to do was let it sit for a while

00:40:00 ◼   ► and see if future me was still thinking

00:40:05 ◼   ► about it as a thing to come back to and

00:40:07 ◼   ► the answer to that has now been yes like

00:40:10 ◼   ► I've left it alone for a while and I

00:40:12 ◼   ► still keep thinking about it which means

00:40:14 ◼   ► okay I want to actually reread it and

00:40:16 ◼   ► think if there's anything here to

00:40:19 ◼   ► extract for me and it the most

00:40:22 ◼   ► actionable stuff is directly related to

00:40:25 ◼   ► things that are very similar to doing a

00:40:27 ◼   ► daily journal so if you are trying to do

00:40:31 ◼   ► a daily journal if you're trying to

00:40:33 ◼   ► figure out the edges of what that might

00:40:36 ◼   ► be this is this is the book to read to

00:40:39 ◼   ► see if there's anything in here for you

00:40:41 ◼   ► that might be useful and I want to

00:40:44 ◼   ► reread it to see if there's if there's a

00:40:47 ◼   ► way that I can modify my much more

00:40:52 ◼   ► intensive pensive book and journal into

00:40:57 ◼   ► something that's more like a daily

00:40:59 ◼   ► action plan book and journal so I am

00:41:02 ◼   ► going to reread this I suggest that you

00:41:05 ◼   ► might want to listen to it on audiobook

00:41:08 ◼   ► and if if you want to we could talk

00:41:12 ◼   ► about on a future show but there's no

00:41:14 ◼   ► pressure mic

00:41:14 ◼   ► because I will I refuse to add any more

00:41:16 ◼   ► work to your big work pile now let's do

00:41:20 ◼   ► it let's do it next time let's do it

00:41:23 ◼   ► okay alright because it's not that long

00:41:25 ◼   ► it's it's a six hour audio book which is

00:41:28 ◼   ► about a third of what we usually do so I

00:41:31 ◼   ► feel like I can knock that out by next

00:41:33 ◼   ► time all right so next episode we're

00:41:35 ◼   ► gonna do a claw textbook Club and maybe

00:41:38 ◼   ► for the first time it will be something

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00:41:44 ◼   ► you know how important it is to make

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00:41:50 ◼   ► make is to use fresh books because fresh

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00:42:17 ◼   ► I need to send an invoice fresh books is

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00:42:25 ◼   ► also let you see whether or not the

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00:42:30 ◼   ► guessing whether or not they've actually

00:42:32 ◼   ► received it and of course if you know

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00:42:44 ◼   ► this lets you spend less time chasing

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00:42:54 ◼   ► is the time to try fresh books is

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00:43:17 ◼   ► thanks to fresh books for supporting

00:43:19 ◼   ► this show gray the drought is over oh

00:43:21 ◼   ► yeah mm-hmm

00:43:23 ◼   ► year-long drought of no new Mike early

00:43:27 ◼   ► vehicles so sad for the internet come to

00:43:30 ◼   ► an end and I haven't you show that I'm

00:43:32 ◼   ► very excited about and I want to just

00:43:35 ◼   ► tell our listeners about it so they can

00:43:37 ◼   ► go and check it out if they want to it

00:43:39 ◼   ► is called playing for fun and it's

00:43:42 ◼   ► hosted by Tiffany almond and myself it

00:43:45 ◼   ► is not the big project that I've been

00:43:48 ◼   ► teasing that is still in the offing this

00:43:52 ◼   ► is the problem when people know that

00:43:53 ◼   ► you're working on some kind of big

00:43:54 ◼   ► project yeah is that they think

00:43:56 ◼   ► everything's a project right oh he just

00:43:58 ◼   ► tweeted it was that the big project no

00:44:00 ◼   ► it was not I'll be working on this tweet

00:44:04 ◼   ► for four years I'm still the big project

00:44:08 ◼   ► is still kind of like being slowly

00:44:10 ◼   ► chipped at every few days I will have a

00:44:14 ◼   ► thought or I can idea and like I'm just

00:44:16 ◼   ► ever so slowly flashing their hours to

00:44:19 ◼   ► see if it's a thing that I'm going to do

00:44:21 ◼   ► this is a project I'm very excited about

00:44:23 ◼   ► every episode me and TIFF pick a video

00:44:26 ◼   ► game and we just talk about what we love

00:44:29 ◼   ► about the video game nothing else no bad

00:44:32 ◼   ► stuff just the good stuff it is a fun

00:44:35 ◼   ► happy positive show about things we love

00:44:39 ◼   ► we don't talk about industry news

00:44:41 ◼   ► we don't necessarily focus on the

00:44:42 ◼   ► biggest games the biggest games right

00:44:44 ◼   ► now we just pick a game that we love and

00:44:46 ◼   ► we talk about it and we just talk about

00:44:48 ◼   ► what we love about it and it is a show

00:44:52 ◼   ► that is bringing me a lot of happiness

00:44:53 ◼   ► because that's all it was about it's

00:44:56 ◼   ► just about happiness and I feel like I

00:45:00 ◼   ► get to talk about all of the things that

00:45:02 ◼   ► I love like that's kind of I've built an

00:45:05 ◼   ► incredible job for myself in that I just

00:45:09 ◼   ► talk about things that I like right the

00:45:11 ◼   ► things I'm passionate about the things

00:45:13 ◼   ► that I enjoy in life but I tend to talk

00:45:16 ◼   ► about them from a critical perspective

00:45:18 ◼   ► right so like with all of the things

00:45:22 ◼   ► where I'm talking about Apple stuff for

00:45:24 ◼   ► example but even on this show I like to

00:45:27 ◼   ► talk about working it's just a passion

00:45:29 ◼   ► that I have that is the thing that we

00:45:31 ◼   ► both share in just liking to talk about

00:45:34 ◼   ► work I also talk about bad things like

00:45:37 ◼   ► feeling overwhelmed right right but this

00:45:41 ◼   ► show playing for fun we only talk about

00:45:44 ◼   ► good things so it only makes you feel

00:45:46 ◼   ► good you're never gonna criticize a

00:45:47 ◼   ► video game like look I have another show

00:45:52 ◼   ► about video games where I criticize

00:45:54 ◼   ► video games right this one is just about

00:45:57 ◼   ► good things so you can find it at relay

00:46:00 ◼   ► that FM / playing for fun or any app

00:46:03 ◼   ► that you use or any service that you you

00:46:05 ◼   ► should be able to find it there it has

00:46:08 ◼   ► the best artwork and music of any show I

00:46:11 ◼   ► have ever been a part of it is

00:46:15 ◼   ► next-level good so if anything just go

00:46:18 ◼   ► check out the artwork so yeah it's

00:46:22 ◼   ► called playing for fun please go and

00:46:23 ◼   ► listen to it even if you don't like

00:46:25 ◼   ► video games because you might just enjoy

00:46:27 ◼   ► hearing two best friends talk about

00:46:29 ◼   ► something that they enjoy like we have

00:46:31 ◼   ► listeners of the pen addict that are

00:46:33 ◼   ► like this people write in to us like I

00:46:34 ◼   ► don't care about pen

00:46:35 ◼   ► I just like hearing the two of you talk

00:46:37 ◼   ► about things something that I don't

00:46:38 ◼   ► understand so yeah go and check it out I

00:46:41 ◼   ► just wanted to spend some time promoting

00:46:42 ◼   ► well if you do like video games

00:46:44 ◼   ► you should also listen to it as well

00:46:46 ◼   ► because whenever TIFF has guested on the

00:46:50 ◼   ► ATP podcast and she talks about video

00:46:52 ◼   ► games at the end I've always thought she

00:46:54 ◼   ► should have a podcast where she talks

00:46:55 ◼   ► about video games she plays a lot of

00:46:57 ◼   ► video games

00:46:57 ◼   ► she's pretty hardcore the way she plays

00:47:00 ◼   ► games is crazy but she's so yeah it's

00:47:09 ◼   ► she's she's very hardcore and I've

00:47:12 ◼   ► always enjoyed it when she's on ATP

00:47:13 ◼   ► talking about games I thought she's

00:47:14 ◼   ► talking about games more so you should

00:47:17 ◼   ► go listen to it plus TIFF has a great

00:47:19 ◼   ► podcasting voice she should do more

00:47:20 ◼   ► podcasts so I'm glad she's doing another

00:47:22 ◼   ► podcast with you alright let's talk

00:47:24 ◼   ► about some year of aura and some this is

00:47:28 ◼   ► part of my year of branching out by the

00:47:29 ◼   ► way both for those things we've been

00:47:31 ◼   ► talking about today I should have framed

00:47:33 ◼   ► it as such but both the journal and the

00:47:35 ◼   ► new show that's part of branching out

00:47:37 ◼   ► cuz these are new things these are

00:47:39 ◼   ► things that I haven't done before and

00:47:40 ◼   ► I'm branching out by doing those so that

00:47:43 ◼   ► that's actually part of my year of

00:47:45 ◼   ► Europe branching out see this is the

00:47:49 ◼   ► nice thing about your themes mike is is

00:47:50 ◼   ► they can be inclusive or exclusive as

00:47:54 ◼   ► you desire them to be yep right it's I

00:47:57 ◼   ► love the year themes they should have

00:47:59 ◼   ► these fuzzy boundaries so much better

00:48:00 ◼   ► than goals goals or dumb themes way

00:48:03 ◼   ► better and also okay so let's be real

00:48:06 ◼   ► for a second if you set a good theme

00:48:09 ◼   ► literally anything you do can be applied

00:48:12 ◼   ► to the theme so you always feel like

00:48:13 ◼   ► you're progressing yeah exactly right

00:48:16 ◼   ► it's great I've just made a new show

00:48:18 ◼   ► I've done this many times but it's part

00:48:20 ◼   ► of my year of branching out because it

00:48:21 ◼   ► wasn't something I did last year so I've

00:48:22 ◼   ► branched out but I could also say oh

00:48:25 ◼   ► it's nothing to do with the theme but

00:48:27 ◼   ► I'm gonna say is part of the theme

00:48:28 ◼   ► because then I feel like I'm progressing

00:48:30 ◼   ► something in my life which is great news

00:48:32 ◼   ► no it's fantastic to have in the back of

00:48:35 ◼   ► your mind I went through a box with a

00:48:37 ◼   ► bunch of computer cables in it and got

00:48:38 ◼   ► rid of the ones that I don't need guess

00:48:40 ◼   ► what

00:48:40 ◼   ► year of order advanced a Yalie theme I

00:48:43 ◼   ► have brought order to the books

00:48:45 ◼   ► yeah this box more ordered oh the

00:48:49 ◼   ► cutlery is out of place let me bring

00:48:51 ◼   ► year of all of it to the cutlery girl

00:48:54 ◼   ► order order in all things big and small

00:48:58 ◼   ► Mike right it's great its base it's

00:49:00 ◼   ► great I may leave the house today it is

00:49:02 ◼   ► part of the year of branching out think

00:49:04 ◼   ► that's stretching a little bit obviously

00:49:06 ◼   ► any orders in the drawer but yeah yeah I

00:49:08 ◼   ► mean that's well within the confines

00:49:10 ◼   ► yeah for sure yeah now I guess going out

00:49:13 ◼   ► going out for your snow day the snow day

00:49:14 ◼   ► is big enough does I think to be you're

00:49:16 ◼   ► branching out yeah that's good yeah I

00:49:17 ◼   ► think so I think so

00:49:21 ◼   ► no it's not normal in London so again

00:49:24 ◼   ► themes big thumbs up goals thumbs down

00:49:27 ◼   ► so what's going on in the airavata

00:49:37 ◼   ► okay I'm back with OmniFocus yes that's

00:49:40 ◼   ► what's going on right now I was I've

00:49:43 ◼   ► actually been talking to your co-founder

00:49:47 ◼   ► of real afm stephen hackett about this

00:49:49 ◼   ► on iMessage a bunch which is the cycle

00:49:52 ◼   ► of task management apps of going through

00:49:56 ◼   ► these regular cycles of one to the other

00:49:59 ◼   ► to the other it seems like stephenson in

00:50:01 ◼   ► the bit of uh he's in a bit of a

00:50:04 ◼   ► transition as well so we've been talking

00:50:05 ◼   ► about it a bit and i knew this was going

00:50:08 ◼   ► to happen and I feel like I have I have

00:50:11 ◼   ► mentally settled on a metaphor to try to

00:50:15 ◼   ► describe this process and I think it's a

00:50:18 ◼   ► bit like a forest fire where what

00:50:22 ◼   ► happens in life is you start out with

00:50:25 ◼   ► things really simple like I'm always

00:50:27 ◼   ► telling people hey when you're getting

00:50:28 ◼   ► started with task managers just start

00:50:29 ◼   ► with a piece of paper you don't even you

00:50:31 ◼   ► don't even know what you want you don't

00:50:33 ◼   ► need to get distracted by any of the

00:50:35 ◼   ► complexity and paper is fine so just

00:50:38 ◼   ► write down things did you want a piece

00:50:39 ◼   ► of paper and then eventually you realize

00:50:40 ◼   ► oh you know what I don't want to keep

00:50:42 ◼   ► rewriting these recurring tasks let me

00:50:44 ◼   ► try to find something and so you get o

00:50:45 ◼   ► to a simple task manager and then you

00:50:48 ◼   ► realize there's limitations in these

00:50:50 ◼   ► simple task managers and you go to

00:50:51 ◼   ► something a little bit more complex and

00:50:52 ◼   ► you keep stepping it up and then you do

00:50:55 ◼   ► have something that is very complex and

00:50:57 ◼   ► then I think just

00:50:59 ◼   ► like what you're going through now I

00:51:01 ◼   ► personally find that at some point I

00:51:07 ◼   ► feel this sense of vague

00:51:10 ◼   ► overwhelmingness that's hard to pin down

00:51:12 ◼   ► feeling like oh I have a whole bunch of

00:51:13 ◼   ► things to do and that's when the forest

00:51:16 ◼   ► fire comes through and sweeps it all

00:51:18 ◼   ► clean all right and you just and then

00:51:19 ◼   ► you start over you like you know what

00:51:21 ◼   ► I'm just gonna be here with my iPad in

00:51:23 ◼   ► my virtual paper and I'm gonna write

00:51:24 ◼   ► things down like this for a little while

00:51:26 ◼   ► and I feel like it's a healthy cycle

00:51:29 ◼   ► because when the fire sweeps through

00:51:32 ◼   ► gosh part of what happens is it's a way

00:51:35 ◼   ► of discarding a whole bunch of tasks

00:51:38 ◼   ► that you were never going to get to

00:51:39 ◼   ► anyway I really I really would love a

00:51:43 ◼   ► nicer metaphor than the one you know

00:51:47 ◼   ► what about tides

00:51:49 ◼   ► it's an ass isn't that less aggressive I

00:51:52 ◼   ► don't like forest fires like you can't

00:51:55 ◼   ► we call it like just like the tide comes

00:51:57 ◼   ► in and it sweetens everything away from

00:51:59 ◼   ► the beach it's working nicer now Mike

00:52:02 ◼   ► you with your happy fuzzy life and your

00:52:04 ◼   ► happy fuzzy podcasts no it's a forest

00:52:07 ◼   ► fire because look I think it's

00:52:09 ◼   ► appropriate because it's very easy in

00:52:11 ◼   ► your life that I feel like the little

00:52:14 ◼   ► tasks they grow up and around sort of

00:52:17 ◼   ► just like in a forest like the forest

00:52:19 ◼   ► becomes too dense and also the forest

00:52:22 ◼   ► fire

00:52:22 ◼   ► you have to realize like the forest fire

00:52:24 ◼   ► is healthy for the forest right we're

00:52:27 ◼   ► not we're not talking about like Oh some

00:52:29 ◼   ► guy in California throws a cigarette out

00:52:31 ◼   ► of the window and the whole state burns

00:52:33 ◼   ► to the ground like oh it's a sight like

00:52:35 ◼   ► a forest fire out somewhere in like

00:52:37 ◼   ► Montana or Wyoming right where it's part

00:52:39 ◼   ► of the lifecycle of the forest and it's

00:52:41 ◼   ► actually required for seed pods to

00:52:43 ◼   ► germinate this kind of thing so I feel

00:52:47 ◼   ► like at the beginning of the year I went

00:52:49 ◼   ► through the forest fire when I was on

00:52:51 ◼   ► the gray keishon I stepped up to using

00:52:53 ◼   ► things which I totally loved and

00:52:55 ◼   ► definitely highly recommend but I knew I

00:52:58 ◼   ► was eventually going to go back to

00:52:59 ◼   ► something more complicated and then Omni

00:53:02 ◼   ► wrote their blog post about what their

00:53:03 ◼   ► plan for the rest of the year is and I

00:53:06 ◼   ► do like some of the things in there and

00:53:08 ◼   ► I thought okay things is kind of running

00:53:12 ◼   ► up against the limitation

00:53:13 ◼   ► of things and I also do have to say I

00:53:15 ◼   ► really appreciate it I wrote the

00:53:17 ◼   ► developers one particular question about

00:53:19 ◼   ► like Oh could they change a thing and

00:53:21 ◼   ► what I really love is unlike most

00:53:24 ◼   ► developers who will say oh we'll put

00:53:26 ◼   ► that on our list for consideration

00:53:27 ◼   ► things wrote back and said no we're

00:53:30 ◼   ► never going to do that look great I'd

00:53:32 ◼   ► rather know I'd rather know that you

00:53:33 ◼   ► never know you know that there's no

00:53:35 ◼   ► point waiting yeah exactly and so some

00:53:40 ◼   ► of the limitations and things just

00:53:41 ◼   ► became too limiting as I'm back into the

00:53:45 ◼   ► regular cycle of like regular podcasts

00:53:47 ◼   ► and regular work and a whole bunch of

00:53:48 ◼   ► other stuff I need something more so

00:53:50 ◼   ► anyway long story short I'm back with

00:53:53 ◼   ► OmniFocus and so that's what I've been

00:53:55 ◼   ► using for the past couple weeks and

00:53:58 ◼   ► almost certainly for the next six months

00:54:01 ◼   ► it's what I'm going to be using for a

00:54:03 ◼   ► while and then the forest fire will

00:54:05 ◼   ► sweep through and everything will start

00:54:06 ◼   ► all over again about this because you

00:54:10 ◼   ► know all right so I'll tell you right

00:54:11 ◼   ► now I'm playing with things because they

00:54:14 ◼   ► just added this new automation system

00:54:16 ◼   ► and it's really interesting and I'm kind

00:54:17 ◼   ► of just toying around with it like look

00:54:20 ◼   ► amazing I think that ultimately it

00:54:22 ◼   ► probably won't make me as comfortable

00:54:27 ◼   ► feeling is to do is does but I'm just

00:54:29 ◼   ► playing around to it because there's

00:54:30 ◼   ► some stuff that it can do which I've

00:54:32 ◼   ► wanted to do of a task manager for a

00:54:34 ◼   ► while but it didn't exist until now so I

00:54:37 ◼   ► I just want to see what that's like so

00:54:39 ◼   ► for example one big project that I have

00:54:41 ◼   ► is this show and posting this show just

00:54:47 ◼   ► from a point of like when the Edit is

00:54:49 ◼   ► complete is a two-day process full of

00:54:52 ◼   ► lots of things that need to be taken

00:54:54 ◼   ► care of and we've using something

00:54:58 ◼   ► incredible that Federer friend Federico

00:55:00 ◼   ► vtg came up with which I will link in

00:55:02 ◼   ► our show notes he created this like

00:55:04 ◼   ► natural language passing system in

00:55:07 ◼   ► workflow that can hand over a full

00:55:11 ◼   ► project into things but it has an icon

00:55:14 ◼   ► I've been adapting and tweaking with the

00:55:16 ◼   ► workflow to the point where I can get

00:55:18 ◼   ► like headings in a project which I've

00:55:22 ◼   ► never seen before in any task manager so

00:55:24 ◼   ► just like heading who's like one that

00:55:26 ◼   ► says audio

00:55:27 ◼   ► one that says video one that says

00:55:29 ◼   ► posting so it separates out the projects

00:55:32 ◼   ► I think I mentioned this last time as

00:55:33 ◼   ► these non meaningful dividers that it

00:55:36 ◼   ► things have which is lovely which is

00:55:38 ◼   ► absolutely lovely because it can break a

00:55:40 ◼   ► project up visually rather than just

00:55:42 ◼   ► this like sea of items that look exactly

00:55:45 ◼   ► the same

00:55:46 ◼   ► yeah it's so nice they in OmniFocus

00:55:50 ◼   ► there's a way that I can kind of trick

00:55:52 ◼   ► it which is to have these fake sub

00:55:54 ◼   ► projects and then have things listed

00:55:56 ◼   ► under these fake sub projects and the

00:55:57 ◼   ► those aren't real projects in the system

00:56:00 ◼   ► but I I do I don't like the the lack of

00:56:04 ◼   ► clarity where I'm what I'm looking at

00:56:05 ◼   ► the list I have to remember oh that's

00:56:07 ◼   ► not really a sub-project it's just a

00:56:09 ◼   ► thing that I've made so I can group a

00:56:11 ◼   ► bunch of similar things together it's

00:56:13 ◼   ► one of the very nice things about things

00:56:15 ◼   ► is the visual look of it and when I

00:56:18 ◼   ► first saw the headings I thought oh this

00:56:20 ◼   ► is dumb I'll never use this and turns

00:56:23 ◼   ► out actually one of my favorite things

00:56:24 ◼   ► in that app it's the headings is great

00:56:27 ◼   ► and it's so visually nice so like I've

00:56:31 ◼   ► been playing around with this project

00:56:34 ◼   ► this list of tasks and grouping them out

00:56:37 ◼   ► and using some of the there's a tool in

00:56:41 ◼   ► in workflow called magic variables which

00:56:45 ◼   ► was basically making variables like a

00:56:48 ◼   ► like a construction set and it means

00:56:51 ◼   ► that someone like me can use workflow

00:56:54 ◼   ► more simply so what I've been doing is

00:56:57 ◼   ► when I set the task when I say I want

00:57:00 ◼   ► this project to begin what I want is for

00:57:03 ◼   ► x to be entered into a to do manager

00:57:06 ◼   ► that a relative's at a time that I

00:57:08 ◼   ► started the project so right I want to

00:57:11 ◼   ► be able to start a project and be like

00:57:12 ◼   ► this thing needs to go off half an hour

00:57:15 ◼   ► from the point that I begin and no other

00:57:18 ◼   ► system that I've been able to use has

00:57:21 ◼   ► been able to do this so I thought to

00:57:23 ◼   ► myself oh I can do this in workflow

00:57:26 ◼   ► because I can go into workflow and I can

00:57:29 ◼   ► say okay by using their kind of date

00:57:31 ◼   ► tools what is the current time add 30

00:57:34 ◼   ► minutes to that time and then I can drop

00:57:37 ◼   ► it into Federico's workflow as a magic

00:57:40 ◼   ► variables

00:57:41 ◼   ► it can look at the time that I've

00:57:42 ◼   ► selected and been like 30 minutes from

00:57:44 ◼   ► now right and and I've been able to

00:57:47 ◼   ► piece that together in so I am playing

00:57:49 ◼   ► around with this it's just like a what

00:57:50 ◼   ► does that look like so then I end up

00:57:52 ◼   ► with this multiple day it's not finished

00:57:54 ◼   ► yet like this is taking me a while it's

00:57:56 ◼   ► multiple day project with everything

00:57:59 ◼   ► broken out which is all time relative

00:58:01 ◼   ► front this is exactly what I've wanted

00:58:03 ◼   ► for this specific project which is

00:58:06 ◼   ► posting this show which is one of the

00:58:09 ◼   ► like larger projects that I have purely

00:58:12 ◼   ► because I just there are a lot of little

00:58:13 ◼   ► pieces to it I don't want to get wrong

00:58:15 ◼   ► so I have wait I don't do this for other

00:58:18 ◼   ► shows because the process is is more

00:58:21 ◼   ► simple and it's more streamlined and

00:58:22 ◼   ► it's easier to repair if something goes

00:58:24 ◼   ► wrong but with our show it's a little

00:58:27 ◼   ► bit more tricky because there's also

00:58:28 ◼   ► like all of the YouTube stuff and you

00:58:31 ◼   ► know if if there's something wrong in

00:58:33 ◼   ► the audio it is way harder for me to fix

00:58:36 ◼   ► then with my other shows than adjust

00:58:38 ◼   ► audio right because I would also have to

00:58:41 ◼   ► change the video and like I just so I

00:58:42 ◼   ► like to make sure I've got absolutely

00:58:44 ◼   ► everything 100% taken care of before I

00:58:46 ◼   ► do anything so it's a huge list of tasks

00:58:49 ◼   ► and it looks like with this thing's

00:58:52 ◼   ► automation I can create a template able

00:58:54 ◼   ► project that I can run which will be in

00:58:57 ◼   ► a much nicer state than anything

00:58:58 ◼   ► OmniFocus has given me and to do this

00:59:00 ◼   ► has given me because I've built these

00:59:01 ◼   ► projects in both of these other apps but

00:59:04 ◼   ► I've never been fully happy about it and

00:59:06 ◼   ► it looks like that things can do that

00:59:09 ◼   ► and I don't know what this is gonna mean

00:59:11 ◼   ► for me but because I'm still playing

00:59:13 ◼   ► around of it on this point and the

00:59:15 ◼   ► reason I was laughing about all of this

00:59:17 ◼   ► is I have I think I have come up with

00:59:20 ◼   ► like a grand unifying theory about to do

00:59:22 ◼   ► apps okay know to do app will ever be

00:59:27 ◼   ► perfect because it is impossible to meet

00:59:30 ◼   ► the specific requirements of an

00:59:32 ◼   ► undefined

00:59:33 ◼   ► user base right everyone uses their

00:59:36 ◼   ► to-do app slightly differently even if

00:59:39 ◼   ► they follow a system like GTD everyone

00:59:41 ◼   ► has their own preferences so like it is

00:59:43 ◼   ► impossible to create a perfect to-do app

00:59:46 ◼   ► because nobody can ever be satisfied

00:59:49 ◼   ► because no one is ever fully satisfied

00:59:52 ◼   ► when a new app comes along

00:59:55 ◼   ► there's always the promise of maybe this

00:59:57 ◼   ► is the perfect one

00:59:57 ◼   ► is the perfect one

01:00:00 ◼   ► and that's why you move to it and you

01:00:02 ◼   ► just keep doing this in the hopes that

01:00:04 ◼   ► over time something will become perfect

01:00:07 ◼   ► but the funny thing is it never will

01:00:10 ◼   ► yeah I mean this is why I've always said

01:00:12 ◼   ► like the the market for to do apps is

01:00:13 ◼   ► infinite because everybody thinks about

01:00:15 ◼   ► things in different ways but there's

01:00:17 ◼   ► even there's even more granular problems

01:00:21 ◼   ► like one of the things that has been on

01:00:25 ◼   ► my mind

01:00:25 ◼   ► in my move back to hominid focus when

01:00:27 ◼   ► I'm getting the heavyweight stuff set up

01:00:31 ◼   ► like I always feel like going going

01:00:32 ◼   ► OmniFocus is bringing in the big guns

01:00:34 ◼   ► like we're serious now and we're heading

01:00:36 ◼   ► into a real serious phase of work yeah

01:00:39 ◼   ► but there's a so here's the thing even

01:00:44 ◼   ► an an individual user who has a clearly

01:00:47 ◼   ► defined idea

01:00:48 ◼   ► so OmniFocus for me has my projects in

01:00:53 ◼   ► it so things like posting podcasts and

01:00:55 ◼   ► videos and other clearly work-related

01:00:57 ◼   ► stuff I have a constrained use for it I

01:01:00 ◼   ► know how to use the system everything is

01:01:03 ◼   ► great but even then you don't always

01:01:07 ◼   ► want your to-do app to have the same

01:01:10 ◼   ► behaviors at different times and so for

01:01:13 ◼   ► example when do I want OmniFocus to

01:01:16 ◼   ► alert me about something when it's due

01:01:20 ◼   ► ahead of time like eat and right then

01:01:23 ◼   ► there that immediately throws you into

01:01:26 ◼   ► all of these problems of well the app is

01:01:29 ◼   ► designed to set alerts when a thing is

01:01:31 ◼   ► due so you have to build your whole

01:01:34 ◼   ► system around the concept of okay if I

01:01:36 ◼   ► want alerts

01:01:36 ◼   ► I need the due dates to be when I expect

01:01:39 ◼   ► the alerts to be right and this is just

01:01:40 ◼   ► like behavior in a single app and to do

01:01:44 ◼   ► managers are always going to run into

01:01:47 ◼   ► that problem of you have to adapt

01:01:51 ◼   ► yourself a little bit to however they

01:01:53 ◼   ► think of things but like when I was when

01:01:56 ◼   ► I was using the things app I was very

01:01:58 ◼   ► aware of okay I need to build my system

01:02:02 ◼   ► around the way they manage the today and

01:02:05 ◼   ► the anytime lists and it's like okay

01:02:08 ◼   ► this is great this is fine I can get

01:02:10 ◼   ► this to work but you're always going to

01:02:12 ◼   ► run up against a moment where you feel

01:02:13 ◼   ► like

01:02:13 ◼   ► oh but I want this thing to appear in

01:02:16 ◼   ► the today list in a way that the app is

01:02:19 ◼   ► never going to to do it so even within a

01:02:22 ◼   ► single app or within a single user

01:02:24 ◼   ► you're going to want inconsistent

01:02:27 ◼   ► behaviors that are impossible to program

01:02:29 ◼   ► for like oh I I do want alerts on

01:02:33 ◼   ► deadlines but not for these tasks right

01:02:36 ◼   ► but I do want them for those tasks or I

01:02:38 ◼   ► want an alert for these things but I

01:02:40 ◼   ► don't want to put a deadline on them

01:02:41 ◼   ► right so is it it's just a it's a

01:02:44 ◼   ► fundamentally impossible area and this

01:02:47 ◼   ► is one of the reasons why for years now

01:02:49 ◼   ► I have actually used multiple to do apps

01:02:53 ◼   ► because I try to categorize different

01:02:57 ◼   ► sorts of activities that I'm looking for

01:02:59 ◼   ► and this this is why I like the

01:03:03 ◼   ► longest-running one now is to do for me

01:03:06 ◼   ► the number two do where I use that for

01:03:11 ◼   ► what I think of as my starting the day

01:03:14 ◼   ► and ending the day in other routines

01:03:16 ◼   ► because I can have that app act the way

01:03:20 ◼   ► that I want these particular kinds of

01:03:23 ◼   ► tasks to be and that app happens to be

01:03:26 ◼   ► really great at the ability to say sort

01:03:29 ◼   ► of reset a day where it's like oh man

01:03:31 ◼   ► I've totally blown off all my routine

01:03:33 ◼   ► stuff but I just want to press two

01:03:34 ◼   ► buttons to like reset tomorrow and at

01:03:37 ◼   ► twenty things just work it's like that's

01:03:39 ◼   ► great that's totally fine it works

01:03:41 ◼   ► because there's a constrained set of

01:03:43 ◼   ► things in that app and they're

01:03:46 ◼   ► quarantined from OmniFocus which is a

01:03:49 ◼   ► different kind of thing where like

01:03:50 ◼   ► resetting a day is a fundamentally

01:03:52 ◼   ► impossible thing to do so even even if

01:03:56 ◼   ► you're willing like me to go to the

01:03:58 ◼   ► mental effort of saying I'm going to

01:04:01 ◼   ► division certain kinds of tasks that

01:04:04 ◼   ► make sense to put these ones over here

01:04:05 ◼   ► and those ones over there you still

01:04:07 ◼   ► always run into this problem of we kind

01:04:10 ◼   ► of want to do managers to read our minds

01:04:13 ◼   ► and show us exactly what we want to see

01:04:16 ◼   ► when we want to see it in a way that is

01:04:19 ◼   ► impossible to programmatically define

01:04:21 ◼   ► and of course it is also very easy to

01:04:24 ◼   ► get enticed by the shiny to give it to

01:04:26 ◼   ► give it a try

01:04:27 ◼   ► because I feel like like a brand-new

01:04:30 ◼   ► journal or a physical notebook it holds

01:04:33 ◼   ► the promise of a better future this

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01:06:23 ◼   ► this show great let's do some ask cortex

01:06:26 ◼   ► questions I need to lighten this mood a

01:06:28 ◼   ► little bit I need to I need to go out

01:06:30 ◼   ► into the world and pick some questions

01:06:33 ◼   ► from our listeners to help me right now

01:06:37 ◼   ► so that sound good if questions from the

01:06:39 ◼   ► listeners will

01:06:40 ◼   ► help you Mike let's do questions for the

01:06:42 ◼   ► listeners gray it always helps me and

01:06:45 ◼   ► the first one comes from Chad and Chad

01:06:47 ◼   ► says if you were applying for a new job

01:06:49 ◼   ► today and had to update your resume

01:06:51 ◼   ► what fonts would you choose uh do you

01:06:58 ◼   ► have like a preferred font for stuff

01:07:00 ◼   ► well no what my brain was just mentally

01:07:06 ◼   ► rolling back there is realizing that the

01:07:08 ◼   ► last time I put together a resume I was

01:07:14 ◼   ► doing it in latex I don't have any idea

01:07:17 ◼   ► how I would reset what is that like a

01:07:23 ◼   ► letterpress what is that okay Mike

01:07:25 ◼   ► anybody who's done a PhD they will know

01:07:27 ◼   ► what later oh look at you um if you'd

01:07:30 ◼   ► have done a PhD then you'd know no

01:07:32 ◼   ► because because obviously you don't know

01:07:35 ◼   ► Mike you didn't do a PhD well I didn't

01:07:39 ◼   ► do a PhD either right just just to be

01:07:43 ◼   ► clear here I closest I got to a PhD was

01:07:47 ◼   ► dropping out of a master's course and

01:07:49 ◼   ► sorry dr. grey I came across it because

01:07:52 ◼   ► when I was a physics student the people

01:07:54 ◼   ► who were doing the PhDs introduced it to

01:07:56 ◼   ► me and they're like oh hey here's this

01:07:58 ◼   ► thing that you can use to write papers

01:08:00 ◼   ► and you actually hit precisely what it

01:08:03 ◼   ► is it's if you think of the monk who is

01:08:06 ◼   ► manually typesetting a book latex is the

01:08:09 ◼   ► is the computer version of this so I

01:08:13 ◼   ► would say it's like a think of like

01:08:16 ◼   ► markdown make markdown ten times more

01:08:20 ◼   ► complicated but it has a whole bunch of

01:08:23 ◼   ► commands that allow you to produce a

01:08:26 ◼   ► thing that looks like it has been

01:08:29 ◼   ► professionally typeset latex is a thing

01:08:33 ◼   ► that will produce just beautiful

01:08:35 ◼   ► beautiful looking documents how is it

01:08:39 ◼   ► spelled capital L lowercase a capital T

01:08:43 ◼   ► lowercase e capital X so why don't say

01:08:47 ◼   ► it lay tech because I get nervous about

01:08:50 ◼   ► how I'm supposed to say it because in my

01:08:52 ◼   ► head I would always call it late

01:08:54 ◼   ► but then people would tell me that I'm

01:08:56 ◼   ► pronouncing it wrong and I think it's

01:08:59 ◼   ► supposed to be lei tech and I've heard

01:09:02 ◼   ► people say la tech I've heard a million

01:09:05 ◼   ► different things but all I know is if I

01:09:07 ◼   ► ever say it out loud and I say latex

01:09:09 ◼   ► then the people who are actually doing

01:09:11 ◼   ► PhD starts coughing and they're like oh

01:09:13 ◼   ► okay well you don't really know this

01:09:15 ◼   ► thing but anyway the reason the reason I

01:09:19 ◼   ► was mentally rolling it back is because

01:09:21 ◼   ► I would just use a ton of the defaults

01:09:23 ◼   ► in this markup language so I have no

01:09:25 ◼   ► idea what font that would have picked

01:09:28 ◼   ► from it was spitting out my resume so uh

01:09:30 ◼   ► I don't know I don't know Chad I would

01:09:33 ◼   ► pick I would pick a safe font I think

01:09:37 ◼   ► that's I think that's what I would do

01:09:39 ◼   ► something nice and safe but presumably

01:09:41 ◼   ► in this scenario I would be applying to

01:09:43 ◼   ► a school and you just want to convey

01:09:46 ◼   ► safety and boredom in that in that

01:09:49 ◼   ► resume as a as um as someone looking to

01:09:52 ◼   ► get another physics teaching job so

01:09:54 ◼   ► you're gonna be like Arial Calibri or

01:09:56 ◼   ► Times New Roman

01:09:57 ◼   ► yeah times new roman' thats probably

01:10:00 ◼   ► which way would go yeah what about you

01:10:02 ◼   ► Mike

01:10:02 ◼   ► Joe common and Comic Sans let's really

01:10:05 ◼   ► just wrap this one up no I I have to

01:10:13 ◼   ► [Music]

01:10:16 ◼   ► figure it out that's like me yeah - I

01:10:22 ◼   ► like Gotham and Futura no good they're

01:10:27 ◼   ► good the fonts that I like a future a

01:10:31 ◼   ► bold mm-hmm and Gotham

01:10:35 ◼   ► I think medium I like my favorite so I

01:10:37 ◼   ► would try and find something within

01:10:39 ◼   ► those typefaces to use in future and

01:10:42 ◼   ► Gotham because I like them and

01:10:45 ◼   ► especially Gotham it can look just

01:10:48 ◼   ► relatively normal looking like future in

01:10:51 ◼   ► many styles can be like a little bit too

01:10:53 ◼   ► much right you you kind of look like

01:10:56 ◼   ► you're really going for a thing but you

01:10:58 ◼   ► know that they're my to know my two

01:11:00 ◼   ► favorites although I am very very

01:11:03 ◼   ► partial to a font in Google Docs called

01:11:05 ◼   ► creepster

01:11:07 ◼   ► which I use quite liberally on show

01:11:10 ◼   ► notes document when there's the thing

01:11:11 ◼   ► that we have to talk about that you

01:11:13 ◼   ► don't want to talk about so like

01:11:15 ◼   ► business stuff is is all written in the

01:11:18 ◼   ► creep stuff on which is bad like bloody

01:11:21 ◼   ► dreary home right you'll you'll put that

01:11:26 ◼   ► at the top of our shared document and it

01:11:27 ◼   ► will just say q3 scheduling right

01:11:31 ◼   ► because you don't want to convey that

01:11:35 ◼   ► everyone understands right it's like

01:11:38 ◼   ► this is scary stuff but we have to do it

01:11:41 ◼   ► mmm Nathan asked on the topic of the

01:11:45 ◼   ► year of order I'd love to hear an update

01:11:47 ◼   ► on how both of you deal with email these

01:11:50 ◼   ► days especially we're helping your

01:11:52 ◼   ► assistants have either of you tried

01:11:54 ◼   ► services like missive to let assistants

01:11:57 ◼   ► triage your inbox I don't I don't really

01:12:04 ◼   ► want to talk about email because because

01:12:07 ◼   ► I question for you next I will just say

01:12:13 ◼   ► that like you are feeling

01:12:15 ◼   ► overwhelmingness one of the things that

01:12:18 ◼   ► for me triggered the idea of I need a

01:12:19 ◼   ► year of order is that my year of

01:12:22 ◼   ► redirection left I'll put it this way it

01:12:27 ◼   ► left all of my communications with the

01:12:30 ◼   ► outside world in total chaos

01:12:33 ◼   ► including my email the number of times I

01:12:36 ◼   ► opened my email last year was very very

01:12:39 ◼   ► few and so while I have I have many sub

01:12:45 ◼   ► projects that are going on in the year

01:12:47 ◼   ► of order I want to set up my physical

01:12:49 ◼   ► space and then I want to work on my

01:12:52 ◼   ► routine and get that really narrowed

01:12:54 ◼   ► down but one of the one of the things

01:12:56 ◼   ► immediately after that is I need to work

01:13:01 ◼   ► my way through this terrifyingly large

01:13:06 ◼   ► communications backlog that I have on

01:13:08 ◼   ► many fronts across many things so I

01:13:12 ◼   ► don't really want to talk about email

01:13:13 ◼   ► now I'm gonna have to deal with that at

01:13:16 ◼   ► some point later a couple of days ago we

01:13:19 ◼   ► were talking

01:13:20 ◼   ► and you kind of mentioned in passing I

01:13:23 ◼   ► haven't looked to email in months and I

01:13:27 ◼   ► just there's like a part of me that's

01:13:29 ◼   ► like I can't believe that that is true

01:13:32 ◼   ► like you can't mean that like absolutely

01:13:36 ◼   ► right

01:13:38 ◼   ► well I mean sometimes websites will send

01:13:42 ◼   ► you verification codes through your

01:13:43 ◼   ► email and you need to click on those

01:13:44 ◼   ► right and so yeah I've opened email for

01:13:47 ◼   ► that sort of thing but as we have

01:13:50 ◼   ► discussed as we have discussed in the

01:13:52 ◼   ► past though almost almost everything

01:13:56 ◼   ► that is of any importance to me now

01:13:59 ◼   ► either people just know to contact my

01:14:02 ◼   ► assistant directly because it will get

01:14:04 ◼   ► them vastly faster turnaround then

01:14:08 ◼   ► trying to contact me directly or its

01:14:10 ◼   ► things through slack so part of this is

01:14:13 ◼   ► a structural problem that I try to limit

01:14:17 ◼   ► how much time I spend on administrative

01:14:20 ◼   ► stuff and so slack and things coming

01:14:25 ◼   ► straight from my assistant are much

01:14:26 ◼   ► higher up on the queue of importance and

01:14:29 ◼   ► so the hit rate and email has gone way

01:14:32 ◼   ► down but I do really mean it that is I

01:14:34 ◼   ► have not I have not looked at email in

01:14:36 ◼   ► any meaningful way in a very very long

01:14:39 ◼   ► time I have an enormous backlog of who

01:14:43 ◼   ► knows what in there and it's it is time

01:14:46 ◼   ► to it's time to get out the shovel and

01:14:49 ◼   ► go through that at some point in the

01:14:51 ◼   ► future but not not today not tomorrow

01:14:54 ◼   ► but you know later there are so many

01:14:56 ◼   ► things that mean you agree upon when it

01:14:59 ◼   ► comes to getting what done what our

01:15:02 ◼   ► approaches to email yeah yeah polarizing

01:15:06 ◼   ► yeah I think about that every time I see

01:15:09 ◼   ► an email notification on your watch

01:15:10 ◼   ► right and it's like and I would just

01:15:12 ◼   ► wanna be clear I totally know that that

01:15:14 ◼   ► works for you right and it clearly does

01:15:16 ◼   ► but it makes me it makes me sort of

01:15:18 ◼   ► smile on the inside every time that

01:15:20 ◼   ► we're together in person and I see a

01:15:22 ◼   ► little poop and there's the email

01:15:23 ◼   ► notification on your watch and it's like

01:15:25 ◼   ► this is one area where we live very

01:15:27 ◼   ► different lives if I use the application

01:15:31 ◼   ► email right now like to do apps

01:15:34 ◼   ► ever fully satisfied of email

01:15:35 ◼   ► applications but I have it set with all

01:15:39 ◼   ► of the preferences on my iPhone and even

01:15:41 ◼   ► on my iPad

01:15:42 ◼   ► that basically an inbox like so a list

01:15:45 ◼   ► of email you can kind of see in like an

01:15:48 ◼   ► inbox view maybe about seven or eight

01:15:50 ◼   ► emails a time

01:15:52 ◼   ► kind of like in at one time if I have to

01:15:55 ◼   ► scroll that list

01:15:56 ◼   ► I am very uncomfortable mm-hmm so at a

01:16:00 ◼   ► given time there is typically never more

01:16:03 ◼   ► than eight emails in my inbox and

01:16:05 ◼   ► they're not being hidden like they're

01:16:08 ◼   ► being one way or another dealt with

01:16:11 ◼   ► mm-hmm we have very very different

01:16:13 ◼   ► approaches to email it's really very

01:16:17 ◼   ► different in regards to sharing email

01:16:19 ◼   ► with people that I work with I would

01:16:22 ◼   ► like to try and find a system for this

01:16:24 ◼   ► eventually because right now it's a lot

01:16:26 ◼   ► of forwarding going on which it's not

01:16:30 ◼   ► ideal really oh yeah right I need and

01:16:33 ◼   ► it's also with the situation I'm in the

01:16:35 ◼   ► way that I've got things working for me

01:16:37 ◼   ► it also wouldn't work for me to share my

01:16:40 ◼   ► email inboxes they'd be way too much

01:16:42 ◼   ► discussion about what email needs to be

01:16:44 ◼   ► dealt with by who mm-hmm I want to be

01:16:47 ◼   ► able to find an application or a service

01:16:49 ◼   ► where you can kind of like assign email

01:16:52 ◼   ► but I haven't been happy with anything

01:16:54 ◼   ► that I've seen so far maybe one day I

01:16:56 ◼   ► would like that but the triaging of my

01:17:00 ◼   ► inbox is currently served by my Apple

01:17:03 ◼   ► watch

01:17:03 ◼   ► that is my triage assistant is my own

01:17:06 ◼   ► little watch and Anil ash asked how do

01:17:09 ◼   ► you manage your personal business email

01:17:11 ◼   ► do you separate them across different

01:17:13 ◼   ► applications or do you keep them all in

01:17:15 ◼   ► one app you use unified inboxes I'm just

01:17:17 ◼   ► assuming that like it's all goes in one

01:17:20 ◼   ► huge bucket for you and it all is not

01:17:22 ◼   ► dealt with yeah that's correct one

01:17:24 ◼   ► gigantic unlooked at payal yup great

01:17:26 ◼   ► even when I've been more on top of my

01:17:28 ◼   ► email in the past I've never really

01:17:31 ◼   ► found the hassle of multiple inboxes

01:17:33 ◼   ► worth it for me again that that's a

01:17:35 ◼   ► side-effect of the way I have structured

01:17:37 ◼   ► my businesses but I've just I've never

01:17:39 ◼   ► found the payoff to be worth it I have

01:17:42 ◼   ► everything all go into one place you're

01:17:44 ◼   ► gonna find in bots one application

01:17:46 ◼   ► personal business email

01:17:47 ◼   ► because honestly like email that is

01:17:50 ◼   ► personal is not personal really like all

01:17:55 ◼   ► of the email that I get will be deemed

01:17:57 ◼   ► going to a personal account it's still

01:18:00 ◼   ► like transactions and things that need

01:18:02 ◼   ► to be checked upon you know like it's

01:18:04 ◼   ► never really like my buddy sending me an

01:18:07 ◼   ► email people don't email me like they

01:18:09 ◼   ► have other ways to contact me right that

01:18:12 ◼   ► like it tends to be all work no matter

01:18:14 ◼   ► what email address is going to this one

01:18:17 ◼   ► comes from Rafael gray has commented a

01:18:20 ◼   ► couple of times about taking note of

01:18:22 ◼   ► every idea that he has so you can get

01:18:25 ◼   ► Muffy's mine and deal with him later

01:18:26 ◼   ► how does gray deal with having ideas in

01:18:29 ◼   ► bed right before sleeping does he pick

01:18:31 ◼   ► up his phone and take notes or does he

01:18:33 ◼   ► just let it go and hopes that he

01:18:35 ◼   ► remembers the idea the next day okay

01:18:37 ◼   ► this is gonna be really unhelpful but I

01:18:40 ◼   ► fall asleep very fast so I get into bed

01:18:45 ◼   ► and then it's morning so this is not a

01:18:51 ◼   ► problem that I really have to deal with

01:18:53 ◼   ► you made a we had a disgruntled noise

01:18:56 ◼   ► there Mike I'm guessing this is not your

01:18:57 ◼   ► situation no it's not my situation is I

01:19:04 ◼   ► have to just wait until I can't be awake

01:19:07 ◼   ► anymore okay and so I do thank you sleep

01:19:12 ◼   ► yes that's why I go to bed at like 2:00

01:19:13 ◼   ► a.m. because it's like body can't step I

01:19:16 ◼   ► like sleeping hate going to sleep mm-hmm

01:19:21 ◼   ► want some sleep inks awesome don't want

01:19:23 ◼   ► to stop it but the act of like going to

01:19:27 ◼   ► do it I hate it I hate mm-hmm so like I

01:19:31 ◼   ► just would do things until I can't be

01:19:33 ◼   ► awake anymore there's like this weird

01:19:35 ◼   ► thing like in my admirer I feel like I'm

01:19:37 ◼   ► just kind of just wasting time like I

01:19:39 ◼   ► might as well just be reading Twitter

01:19:40 ◼   ► for an hour and wait until like my

01:19:42 ◼   ► eyelids are so bad I think everything in

01:19:48 ◼   ► my life that would be deemed unhealthy

01:19:50 ◼   ► the way I approach sleep is do is the

01:19:52 ◼   ► least healthy part like it's it's really

01:19:55 ◼   ► bad

01:19:55 ◼   ► I can see though that it sounds like you

01:19:58 ◼   ► and my wife are using the same sleep

01:20:00 ◼   ► strategy which is

01:20:01 ◼   ► only only when exhaustion grasps you by

01:20:05 ◼   ► the throat rips you and you cannot

01:20:08 ◼   ► escape is that like I'm a little sleepy

01:20:12 ◼   ► I lay down boom

01:20:13 ◼   ► almost immediately I'm asleep that I

01:20:17 ◼   ► would hate that

01:20:18 ◼   ► well luckily you don't have to suffer

01:20:19 ◼   ► from that bike yeah I'll sleep next to

01:20:22 ◼   ► you I guess because that would also

01:20:24 ◼   ► drive me mad yeah let's not do that