Cortex

00:00:00 ◼   ► Hi Mike. Oh, hello. We're here. It's like a regular episode of Cortex. Ah, yes. Just a normal, non-special episode. Normal-tex.

00:00:08 ◼   ► We just ended up having two very particular episodes back to back. Yeah, this is one of those things where when you make stuff,

00:00:18 ◼   ► sometimes you have this little moment where it's like, oh, it just so happens to work out that we ended up with two special episodes in a row.

00:00:24 ◼   ► But then what always happens is if you do two of something in a row, people are like,

00:00:29 ◼   ► oh my god, is this what it's going to be like forever? I was like, no, no, it's okay guys. Like sometimes this just happens.

00:00:35 ◼   ► We've been talking

00:00:37 ◼   ► vaguely for like a year now maybe about trying to do

00:00:41 ◼   ► more what we're thinking of as like single topic episodes. We're like trying to create these episodes that are maybe

00:00:49 ◼   ► easier jumping on points for the show.

00:00:52 ◼   ► Yeah. Because we kind of feel like we had them already naturally, like state of the apps and yearly themes became these

00:00:59 ◼   ► singular things which aren't part of the month by month timeline of the show where we've kind of run

00:01:06 ◼   ► through a whole year talking. This day, like on this episode, we're going to do follow-up from previous episodes,

00:01:11 ◼   ► but those episodes don't have any of that and we noticed that people seem to really like them.

00:01:15 ◼   ► So we were trying to find ways to add more

00:01:18 ◼   ► special things throughout the year. The goal really is to add more episodes as opposed to

00:01:24 ◼   ► turning more of our like regular episodes into these specials.

00:01:28 ◼   ► Yeah, it's one of these things just like thinking about the show.

00:01:30 ◼   ► One of the things that's been

00:01:33 ◼   ► interesting to see that we talked about before is just like the YouTube channel is doing really well

00:01:37 ◼   ► and I feel like the YouTube channel has become a way to onboard people to the whole rest of the show.

00:01:42 ◼   ► And

00:01:44 ◼   ► you know me, Mike. I love a good spreadsheet. I love looking at some data and I was just really aware of like,

00:01:50 ◼   ► oh a lot of our shows that tend to be

00:01:53 ◼   ► dominated by a single topic seem like they're significantly better for new people.

00:01:58 ◼   ► And so this was also realizing like we've been kind of doing a lot of

00:02:02 ◼   ► half special episodes without even realizing it. So like a lot of our like book reviews, right?

00:02:09 ◼   ► Or like talking about a documentary. That kind of stuff was like basically half a special.

00:02:14 ◼   ► And as with many things it seems so obvious in retrospect, but you discover, oh, right when there's a clear topic

00:02:23 ◼   ► it's just a much easier place for people to start with a podcast that they're not familiar with.

00:02:29 ◼   ► And I feel like this is always the fundamental problem for podcasts is discovery. And so many podcasts you have the issue of,

00:02:36 ◼   ► oh god, there's like hundreds of episodes. Do I need to start at the beginning? Where do I go?

00:02:41 ◼   ► Any individual episode is dominated by everything else that came before right at the start.

00:02:48 ◼   ► And so like just jumping in at a random point is hard. So we thought like, okay, let's just follow the data here

00:02:54 ◼   ► and see if we can do some more of these like

00:02:56 ◼   ► individual episodes that are clearly focused on a thing as a way to get people on board

00:03:03 ◼   ► nice and easy with the show.

00:03:05 ◼   ► And as you said, I really want to underscore this. These are extra.

00:03:09 ◼   ► We're not going to make the show like lose all of its through line.

00:03:12 ◼   ► Because that's important to me too because I also think that this might be a reason somebody comes to the show

00:03:18 ◼   ► but then they end up sticking around for our audio issues.

00:03:22 ◼   ► You know what I mean? Like because that just becomes a thing.

00:03:24 ◼   ► And I would just say to you now talking about putting the episode in time,

00:03:27 ◼   ► I wasn't listening to you for about 25 seconds there because I just got my invite to go to Apple Park for WWDC.

00:03:33 ◼   ► Hey!

00:03:35 ◼   ► Congratulations. Oh my god.

00:03:37 ◼   ► We're going to try and do it again.

00:03:39 ◼   ► Wow!

00:03:40 ◼   ► We create the prayer circle amongst all cortexes. We all join hands that Mike actually f***ing makes it this time.

00:03:48 ◼   ► And doesn't sit in a hotel room for two weeks.

00:03:51 ◼   ► Oh, dude, I'm so excited for you. Oh, that's really great.

00:03:54 ◼   ► It says you're invited.

00:03:57 ◼   ► Like I'm not gonna lie, like when we were talking before and the invite hadn't come through.

00:04:03 ◼   ► Like I wasn't gonna say anything but I had a big cloud of "oh no" fill the room.

00:04:09 ◼   ► So, oh, I'm so pumped. Oh, that's great. That is like that is the best news all week.

00:04:15 ◼   ► I am so happy you got that invitation.

00:04:17 ◼   ► So I'm gonna do it. I'm doing it. Nothing's gonna stop me now. I'm gonna be there. So what are your plans?

00:04:23 ◼   ► What's gonna happen? What can you share that you're gonna be doing?

00:04:26 ◼   ► Well, all I know right now is it says I will be in person to watch the keynote address at Apple Park.

00:04:32 ◼   ► Like that's all I have. That will be if I actually can do it the realization of 15 years of work.

00:04:40 ◼   ► Like this is my bucket list item, which is why it was so soul crushing last year.

00:04:46 ◼   ► It's like this is for me in that part of my work of like Apple focus podcasting the one thing left.

00:04:56 ◼   ► It's the one goal, the one dream left to achieve is get to it.

00:05:02 ◼   ► Pretty much every single one of my colleagues at this point has done it and I nearly had it and I couldn't do it last year.

00:05:09 ◼   ► Because in case you're new to the show because you just found state of the hardware.

00:05:13 ◼   ► Last year I was invited to WWDC. I made it out and I tested positive coronavirus the day before so I couldn't go.

00:05:23 ◼   ► And this time I'm locking myself down. No one's coming near me and I'm gonna go and I'm gonna be there and I'm so excited.

00:05:33 ◼   ► I want to get some photos of Mike Bubble Wrap Boy on the airplane.

00:05:38 ◼   ► Just my whole head covered in 95 masks.

00:05:42 ◼   ► This is the time to be a lunatic and buy all of the eight seats around your seat.

00:05:48 ◼   ► Like you buy a middle seat and buy all of the immediate seats around you.

00:05:51 ◼   ► I mean like nobody's here right when people move over and they go "Oh we're a family we wanted to sit together there's a free row how delightful."

00:05:59 ◼   ► You say "No I purchased those seats get out of here."

00:06:03 ◼   ► Oh man I'm so relieved and so happy.

00:06:09 ◼   ► Oh that's fantastic Mike. I've been so nervous about it right.

00:06:13 ◼   ► Because it's just like I just want to do it you know.

00:06:15 ◼   ► And like it felt like it was gonna happen today and it's happened today and I feel like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.

00:06:24 ◼   ► I just want to get there. I'm gonna go to Apple Park. I'm gonna see the presentation.

00:06:29 ◼   ► All I'm gonna be doing is sitting in a chair and watching a screen.

00:06:32 ◼   ► But I will be doing it inside the venue. That's all I want to do.

00:06:36 ◼   ► To like I am a media professional going to the thing.

00:06:42 ◼   ► Like I will be in the media area with the other media professionals.

00:06:47 ◼   ► I have worked so hard for so long to achieve this thing.

00:06:53 ◼   ► To be recognized as someone who should be there.

00:06:58 ◼   ► And my hope Grey like that I will my first keynote is going to be one of the defining keynotes right.

00:07:06 ◼   ► Like the introduction of a brand new platform.

00:07:10 ◼   ► And if that's the case right and I get that I kind of feel like you know what.

00:07:14 ◼   ► Missing out on last year's worth it because I will be able to say like my first one was this one.

00:07:19 ◼   ► Oh man yeah.

00:07:21 ◼   ► I'm trying to think of a way to phrase something right.

00:07:25 ◼   ► Which is like Apple doesn't owe anything to anyone right.

00:07:29 ◼   ► Like they can do whatever they want. They can invite whoever they want.

00:07:33 ◼   ► For whatever wacky and whimsical arbitrary reasons fills their little Apple heart with joy.

00:07:39 ◼   ► Whatever like they can do what they want.

00:07:40 ◼   ► But at the same time I can think of no one else in the tech industry who deserves to be there more.

00:07:51 ◼   ► Who hasn't been there yet right.

00:07:53 ◼   ► It's like it's the intersection of these three things.

00:07:56 ◼   ► So our next episode we're going to be recording after WWDC.

00:08:01 ◼   ► Oh right right of course yes.

00:08:03 ◼   ► So not only will it be our WWDC episode.

00:08:06 ◼   ► Remember that the last half of last year's which was really sad.

00:08:09 ◼   ► And this year it should be really happy.

00:08:12 ◼   ► I really have the feeling that I just keep like blocking this story out of my brain.

00:08:15 ◼   ► Because it's too sad to think about.

00:08:17 ◼   ► A couple of months ago I went back and listened.

00:08:21 ◼   ► Because like there were three shows that I did right.

00:08:24 ◼   ► So I did like Upgrade, Connected and Cortex.

00:08:27 ◼   ► And I just went back and listened to like the intro of them all.

00:08:31 ◼   ► Because I just wanted to like remind myself of that moment.

00:08:36 ◼   ► And it was just like listening back to it was like wow.

00:08:38 ◼   ► Like that just feels like a completely different time.

00:08:41 ◼   ► Like a different person in a way.

00:08:43 ◼   ► It was just such a strange set of circumstances where I had to.

00:08:48 ◼   ► I've never really had something like this happen to me before.

00:08:51 ◼   ► Where especially with Upgrade.

00:08:54 ◼   ► Because that was on keynote day right.

00:08:56 ◼   ► Where I just had to dig deep and pull it together and get the work done.

00:09:03 ◼   ► You have a job to do and you just gotta do that job.

00:09:06 ◼   ► You are very sad but you've got to make it happen.

00:09:09 ◼   ► I just was like trying to recall like how did I sound.

00:09:14 ◼   ► Like and I actually think I did a good job like listening back to it.

00:09:18 ◼   ► And just getting on with it.

00:09:19 ◼   ► So this year will be very different I think.

00:09:23 ◼   ► - Yeah.

00:09:24 ◼   ► We're in the timeline now.

00:09:27 ◼   ► - I was really hoping this was going to happen today.

00:09:31 ◼   ► That it would come during our recording.

00:09:33 ◼   ► Like I was really hoping this is a good moment.

00:09:36 ◼   ► And then I hope we'll follow it up in a few weeks with another good moment.

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00:12:14 ◼   ► I have some follow up for you.

00:12:16 ◼   ► Oh, okay.

00:12:17 ◼   ► So I used the backpack.

00:12:19 ◼   ► Which backpack?

00:12:19 ◼   ► So in the last episode I told you about my new Bellroy Venture Ready backpack.

00:12:25 ◼   ► So I've used it now as my traveling bag to replace the Peak Design bag.

00:12:31 ◼   ► What did you think of it?

00:12:32 ◼   ► Super in, this bag is fantastic.

00:12:34 ◼   ► I'm really happy with it.

00:12:36 ◼   ► It is way better for me for what I want out of a bag like this.

00:12:42 ◼   ► I could get more in it.

00:12:43 ◼   ► It was more logical for me where like all of the pockets are inside.

00:12:47 ◼   ► So like it's not like where's this, where's that?

00:12:49 ◼   ► Like it was just much simpler.

00:12:51 ◼   ► What I will say is, you know, works for me.

00:12:54 ◼   ► It wouldn't work for you with the way you were describing it as like you didn't want

00:12:58 ◼   ► just a big open space.

00:12:59 ◼   ► 100% is that.

00:13:01 ◼   ► But I like that because a lot of the stuff I'm putting in the bag goes in its own little

00:13:05 ◼   ► pouch or whatever.

00:13:06 ◼   ► It's just like a bunch of blocks and I just grab the ones that I need, right?

00:13:09 ◼   ► I have the case that has my AirPods Max in.

00:13:11 ◼   ► I have the Bellroy Tech Pouch that has my cables in.

00:13:14 ◼   ► I have my Nintendo Switch case that has my Nintendo Switch in.

00:13:17 ◼   ► Right, like I don't need that in pockets because it's all very protected and it just

00:13:21 ◼   ► makes sense.

00:13:22 ◼   ► And then I can also just like, I have a sweatshirt and just throw it in there.

00:13:25 ◼   ► I was never able to get that to work with the Peak Design.

00:13:29 ◼   ► I could never have put a sweatshirt in that bag with the way that I packed it.

00:13:32 ◼   ► Like it was just not going to happen.

00:13:34 ◼   ► But this one was much more simple.

00:13:36 ◼   ► Like the water bottle pocket was easy.

00:13:38 ◼   ► I hate the side pockets on the Peak Design.

00:13:40 ◼   ► Trying to get a water bottle in there is almost impossible for me.

00:13:43 ◼   ► But this just was easier.

00:13:45 ◼   ► I really liked the little secret pocket to put my passport and my keys in and it has

00:13:49 ◼   ► the little thing I could clip my keys to.

00:13:51 ◼   ► These are all simple things.

00:13:53 ◼   ► Yeah, but it's what makes the difference in backpacks though.

00:13:55 ◼   ► It's like, it's the backpacks are entirely the sum of small details.

00:13:59 ◼   ► So yeah, yeah.

00:14:00 ◼   ► And Cortex and Adam wrote in to Cortexfeedback.com to let us know about a line of Bellroy bags

00:14:06 ◼   ► that I didn't even know existed called the Transit Workpack line.

00:14:10 ◼   ► They do a 20, 28 and 38 litre of these.

00:14:13 ◼   ► This is very similar to the bag that I have, but is more focused on the daily commute rather

00:14:21 ◼   ► than the, like the bag I got is more like a, you're going out into the world.

00:14:26 ◼   ► But that was kind of perfect for me for general travel, like as a travel bag.

00:14:31 ◼   ► But this is a commuter's backpack that you can put overnight clothes in.

00:14:37 ◼   ► They even have compression straps in the backpack, which is like very smart, I think.

00:14:41 ◼   ► Because I've never seen that in a backpack before for people putting clothes in the bag.

00:14:45 ◼   ► Oh, okay.

00:14:46 ◼   ► Right, right.

00:14:47 ◼   ► I see.

00:14:47 ◼   ► And also there's, I think there's a little bit more structured organization in this bag

00:14:52 ◼   ► than the one that I have.

00:14:53 ◼   ► I don't know why I didn't think to look for a Bellroy backpack before now.

00:14:58 ◼   ► Like I have so many products, including my daily commuter bag.

00:15:02 ◼   ► I don't know why it never struck me to look at them to replace my travel bag.

00:15:08 ◼   ► So I will thank Instagram ads for making this possible.

00:15:11 ◼   ► It seems like you have gotten quite a lot of value in your life out of Instagram ads.

00:15:15 ◼   ► This is a very normal thing.

00:15:18 ◼   ► Like if you use Instagram enough, their advertising system really just gets to know you.

00:15:24 ◼   ► I would say like Instagram ads are the most effective and my favorite way to receive advertising.

00:15:30 ◼   ► Because I've found so many things on there that are genuinely useful and helpful to me.

00:15:35 ◼   ► Like I'm happy with advertising if it feels like a two-way street.

00:15:39 ◼   ► You're going to show me the ads anyway.

00:15:42 ◼   ► I at least want them to work for me.

00:15:44 ◼   ► Yeah, it is always weird when people complain about targeting advertising.

00:15:48 ◼   ► Like I partly understand it, but I also have the feeling of like,

00:15:52 ◼   ► but I want the ads to be relevant to me.

00:15:54 ◼   ► Like if I have to see them anyway, I would way prefer that the ads

00:15:59 ◼   ► have something to do with me than are just about random products.

00:16:03 ◼   ► I don't know anyone who thanks an advertising platform as much as I hear you

00:16:09 ◼   ► thank Instagram ads for bringing things into your life.

00:16:12 ◼   ► It just works, man.

00:16:14 ◼   ► It works.

00:16:14 ◼   ► Like this is one of, you know, when like Apple did the app tracking thing?

00:16:18 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:16:18 ◼   ► When it said like, "Hey, do you want to..."

00:16:20 ◼   ► Oh, right.

00:16:21 ◼   ► You know, like the person, I was like, "No, I want the ads to remain personalized for Instagram."

00:16:26 ◼   ► Right, right.

00:16:26 ◼   ► Most of the time I say, "Don't track me because it's like you're opening some app for the first

00:16:30 ◼   ► time."

00:16:30 ◼   ► It's like, "Why would I...

00:16:32 ◼   ► I have no relationship with you, app.

00:16:33 ◼   ► Like why am I going to let you track me?"

00:16:35 ◼   ► But with Instagram, it's like, "No, I want the tracking to continue because I'm getting

00:16:39 ◼   ► value out of this."

00:16:40 ◼   ► If they're still going to show me the ads anyway, if they become less relevant to me,

00:16:45 ◼   ► then it's an annoyance.

00:16:46 ◼   ► Yeah, very happy with the Bellroy backpack, the Venture Ready backpack.

00:16:50 ◼   ► So I'm going to mark this up again of like, for me, if you buy, you know, if you want

00:16:56 ◼   ► something and it's on Bellroy, this is how I feel like I'm just going to get it because

00:16:59 ◼   ► I know I'm going to like it because every single Bellroy product I've owned, I have

00:17:05 ◼   ► really enjoyed and used and I'm very happy with it.

00:17:08 ◼   ► So yeah.

00:17:09 ◼   ► Yeah, they're good.

00:17:10 ◼   ► I also like their little logo.

00:17:11 ◼   ► Their logo is very pleasing to me.

00:17:12 ◼   ► It's nice.

00:17:12 ◼   ► Yeah, no, this Transit work pack is intriguing to me.

00:17:16 ◼   ► I like this, I guess they're calling it like "clam shell" thing where the whole thing opens

00:17:20 ◼   ► if you lay it flat.

00:17:21 ◼   ► I find that very draw-some as a product.

00:17:24 ◼   ► This design is the same as on my one and what I really liked about it, it might be a little

00:17:28 ◼   ► complicated here because I have a pocket on the front, but I can just open half and just

00:17:33 ◼   ► like roll half of the bag down and it was like an easy way to get in and out.

00:17:37 ◼   ► But I guess if you put things in that front pocket, you might not be able to fold it in

00:17:41 ◼   ► half the same.

00:17:41 ◼   ► Yeah, I feel like I might be drawn to this one.

00:17:46 ◼   ► Since again, backpacks, infinite market like we discussed last time.

00:17:49 ◼   ► I neglected to mention, I'll just mention it here because it is worth it.

00:17:52 ◼   ► The other backpack that I do have is the Tom Bihn Daylight backpack.

00:17:58 ◼   ► And I'll say right away, I do not love this backpack, but this is one of these cases where

00:18:05 ◼   ► I'm trying to optimize for light and this is like the perfect backpack for that.

00:18:11 ◼   ► If like my primary concern is just it being light, like this backpack works.

00:18:16 ◼   ► This is interesting.

00:18:18 ◼   ► This looks to me like I think it's in the way they're marketing it as like the backpack

00:18:23 ◼   ► you have in your suitcase for when you go to the place.

00:18:26 ◼   ► Which is exactly how I have used it, yes.

00:18:28 ◼   ► So this rolls up to nothing like when it is empty, it takes up zero space in a suitcase.

00:18:34 ◼   ► And it's funny since that show, I kind of remembered like, "Oh, right!

00:18:39 ◼   ► I can go out with my laptop."

00:18:42 ◼   ► And so I've actually taken this a couple of times out into the city to just like work

00:18:45 ◼   ► in some random spots, which I haven't done since before COVID.

00:18:49 ◼   ► Wait, did it take State of the Harbor to remind you of this?

00:18:51 ◼   ► Yes, it did.

00:18:52 ◼   ► Yeah, I honestly think this is one of these things where I just gotten into a habit from

00:18:59 ◼   ► the past several years of like, "Oh, you just can't go anywhere."

00:19:03 ◼   ► And somehow there's like lodged it in my brain.

00:19:06 ◼   ► I'm like, "Oh, no, I like I totally can.

00:19:09 ◼   ► I can just throw my laptop into my backpack and go somewhere sometimes."

00:19:14 ◼   ► And so it's like, "Oh, it's been a lovely afternoon at the British Museum just like

00:19:18 ◼   ► working on a script in their little cafe."

00:19:20 ◼   ► It's like, this is delightful, right?

00:19:22 ◼   ► This is the advantage of living in a major city and just being able to like go somewhere.

00:19:25 ◼   ► And for that purpose, this is like the perfect backpack.

00:19:29 ◼   ► I only want it to be light.

00:19:31 ◼   ► That is my primary concern because I'm pretty much just putting a laptop in there and maybe

00:19:36 ◼   ► like a charger and a bottle of water and that's it.

00:19:38 ◼   ► That's all I want for it.

00:19:39 ◼   ► Congratulations on your promotion.

00:19:42 ◼   ► Do we have a job title for you?

00:19:44 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:19:45 ◼   ► Do we have a job title for me?

00:19:47 ◼   ► I mean, we could come up with one.

00:19:48 ◼   ► Maybe you could be like Chief Logistics Officer.

00:19:52 ◼   ► I'll take CLO.

00:19:53 ◼   ► That works for me.

00:19:54 ◼   ► Is that a C-level office?

00:19:56 ◼   ► I don't know how C-level offices work.

00:19:58 ◼   ► It seems like they just pick a word, right?

00:19:59 ◼   ► Everybody's like, "Yes."

00:20:01 ◼   ► The whatever and companies are just making up whatever they want for the C-level stuff.

00:20:05 ◼   ► Yeah, you could just make whatever you want.

00:20:06 ◼   ► It can be whatever you want it to be.

00:20:07 ◼   ► Yeah, so I'll take CLO.

00:20:09 ◼   ► I'll take Chief Logistics Officer.

00:20:10 ◼   ► That works for me.

00:20:12 ◼   ► Actually, I'm just having a funny moment here.

00:20:14 ◼   ► I think this is the first promotion I have ever gotten in my whole life, which I'm just

00:20:21 ◼   ► realizing.

00:20:22 ◼   ► I'm just trying to think of all of my jobs.

00:20:23 ◼   ► I either never got promoted and I got one demotion, which was my very first job where

00:20:32 ◼   ► I worked as a page at a library as a kid.

00:20:35 ◼   ► I started, I think because of some favors my dad pulled, in the very prestigious reference

00:20:41 ◼   ► department of the library, working as a page and helping people look up stuff.

00:20:44 ◼   ► And then like an idiot, I needlessly antagonized my boss and got demoted to the children's

00:20:52 ◼   ► library.

00:20:53 ◼   ► Wow, what were you doing at the children's library?

00:20:57 ◼   ► I was mostly just hiding and trying to avoid the shame of it, which as a tall teenager

00:21:04 ◼   ► was really hard because in the children's library, all the bookshelves were really short.

00:21:09 ◼   ► So it was like there was nowhere to hide in the children's library.

00:21:12 ◼   ► It was terrible.

00:21:13 ◼   ► I was mainly just like restocking books that little kids were returning and that kind of

00:21:17 ◼   ► stuff.

00:21:17 ◼   ► But yeah, so I'm just thinking, yeah, all of my other jobs, like when I worked as a

00:21:22 ◼   ► teacher, I was aggressively avoiding promotions.

00:21:25 ◼   ► I was offered it a couple of times and like, please know I would just rather stay a frontline

00:21:29 ◼   ► teacher.

00:21:30 ◼   ► So yeah, this is my very first promotion ever.

00:21:33 ◼   ► Thanks, Mike.

00:21:34 ◼   ► Chief Logistics Officer at Cortex Brand.

00:21:36 ◼   ► I don't even remember how this started, but you made a spreadsheet.

00:21:40 ◼   ► Yeah, this is one of these funny things.

00:21:43 ◼   ► I don't really know what this is like from your perspective.

00:21:45 ◼   ► I kind of feel like I have been bullying you for the past month and a half in some ways,

00:21:53 ◼   ► slash also being a real overly explaining nerd is this is like my perception of it.

00:22:00 ◼   ► But yeah, it's a thing that I've just had in the back of my mind for a long time that

00:22:04 ◼   ► as soon as we had a second project that was of similar or larger size than the theme system

00:22:13 ◼   ► journal, I thought, oh, at this point, it makes sense because there's enough things

00:22:19 ◼   ► and enough data to start building a spreadsheet to try to assist the business.

00:22:24 ◼   ► Whereas before with just the theme system, it always felt to me like there wasn't really

00:22:29 ◼   ► enough there to work with.

00:22:31 ◼   ► So from my perspective, what happened is the Sidekick notepad was a surprise success, which

00:22:37 ◼   ► had the good problem to have if we were running out of stock way too fast.

00:22:42 ◼   ► This is how it started.

00:22:45 ◼   ► Basically, I built a little spreadsheet to try to give you some estimates about what

00:22:51 ◼   ► was happening with the stock because I just I know from experience that when you're looking

00:22:55 ◼   ► at data like daily sales numbers, it's very hard to accurately predict where this ends

00:23:03 ◼   ► up over a long period of time that what seemed like small variations in daily sales over

00:23:08 ◼   ► the space of two months can make a huge difference in like when are you actually going to run

00:23:12 ◼   ► out or not.

00:23:13 ◼   ► So that's what it was.

00:23:14 ◼   ► I made this spreadsheet as starting as a piece of evidence to show you to try to talk to

00:23:21 ◼   ► you about like, hey, we've got to change the way we do logistics around here.

00:23:25 ◼   ► So that's my perspective on how it got started.

00:23:27 ◼   ► And then I feel like I was basically bullying you and slowly improving this over time is

00:23:34 ◼   ► how it feels like to me.

00:23:35 ◼   ► But how does it feel like to you?

00:23:36 ◼   ► What like what happened from your perspective here?

00:23:38 ◼   ► So it I mean, it kind of started with a little spreadsheet and a bunch of phone calls where

00:23:43 ◼   ► you were quite manic in explaining to me what you were doing.

00:23:48 ◼   ► Is that fair?

00:23:49 ◼   ► I don't know.

00:23:49 ◼   ► I probably was.

00:23:50 ◼   ► Yes, you were very excited.

00:23:51 ◼   ► But I loved the excitement and I love the excitement.

00:23:54 ◼   ► And it's turned out to be, I think over like a six week period or so, you've created like

00:24:00 ◼   ► three spreadsheets.

00:24:01 ◼   ► They just keep that's how it feels to me.

00:24:04 ◼   ► Like it looks like this and now it's all gone and it looks like this.

00:24:07 ◼   ► And now we have the restockotron is a thing that you've built now, which is like a dashboard

00:24:13 ◼   ► showing all of the stuff.

00:24:14 ◼   ► So we now have this huge spreadsheet where I input the daily sales figures for all of

00:24:20 ◼   ► our products and it's doing some very, I assume, intense mathematics to work out what is our

00:24:28 ◼   ► expected daily sales rate like kind of flattened out, right?

00:24:31 ◼   ► Rather than just all the peaks and stuff.

00:24:33 ◼   ► What are the dates that we expect a product's going to be in stock until?

00:24:37 ◼   ► How many months of stock do we think we have?

00:24:39 ◼   ► Like it's doing a bunch of smart stuff to predict things.

00:24:41 ◼   ► But what I want to explain from my side is when you make a change to the spreadsheet,

00:24:46 ◼   ► you like to explain it to me.

00:24:48 ◼   ► And so you tell me what's going on and I get these Slack messages from you that have the

00:24:56 ◼   ► vibe to me of you're at the train station.

00:25:00 ◼   ► There are two trains coming towards each other.

00:25:03 ◼   ► One is at 60 miles an hour and one is at 40 miles an hour.

00:25:06 ◼   ► Which one will find its way to Albuquerque quickest?

00:25:09 ◼   ► That is how every single message you have sent me about the spreadsheet reads to me.

00:25:12 ◼   ► I cannot understand the, I know all of the words.

00:25:18 ◼   ► Oh no.

00:25:19 ◼   ► But when you put them together, I don't understand any of it.

00:25:25 ◼   ► Zero.

00:25:26 ◼   ► Nothing.

00:25:27 ◼   ► What I understand is the output.

00:25:31 ◼   ► Oh God, I feel shame.

00:25:31 ◼   ► So like the output is fantastic.

00:25:34 ◼   ► And like just the spreadsheet itself is incredible.

00:25:38 ◼   ► But as you're trying to explain things to me, I don't understand what it means.

00:25:46 ◼   ► I just don't, it doesn't make any sense to me at all.

00:25:51 ◼   ► But I love that you love it.

00:25:53 ◼   ► Oh, oh my.

00:25:55 ◼   ► Okay.

00:26:01 ◼   ► Well, that's interesting to take on board because, yeah.

00:26:07 ◼   ► I've been basically kind of treating this as like extremely lightweight app developments

00:26:14 ◼   ► and giving Mike like change logs, right?

00:26:17 ◼   ► Of like, oh, here's what's changed on the spreadsheet.

00:26:19 ◼   ► Here's what's changed on the spreadsheet.

00:26:20 ◼   ► Okay.

00:26:21 ◼   ► So here's what I said.

00:26:21 ◼   ► When you give me those, it's good.

00:26:24 ◼   ► But I want, can I read an example?

00:26:26 ◼   ► Okay.

00:26:27 ◼   ► About 10 days ago, you completely redid the spreadsheet and exploded us like with explaining

00:26:33 ◼   ► things to me, right?

00:26:34 ◼   ► I woke up with some good ideas.

00:26:37 ◼   ► It was fantastic.

00:26:37 ◼   ► Look, I need you to understand.

00:26:40 ◼   ► I am over the moon that you have made this and that you want to be like this engaged

00:26:45 ◼   ► with such specific things like this, right?

00:26:47 ◼   ► Like I'm super excited about that.

00:26:50 ◼   ► Okay.

00:26:52 ◼   ► Pen data is still new, which the error range column is telling you by being a shorthand

00:26:57 ◼   ► for how unconfident it is in all of the numbers in that row.

00:27:00 ◼   ► Edited to add, I should probably reverse that to be more human readable.

00:27:05 ◼   ► Like I did, I'm reading these things and I'm like, hmm.

00:27:09 ◼   ► And I get this feeling of like, should I understand what that means?

00:27:15 ◼   ► I don't, I don't know.

00:27:17 ◼   ► Should understand what it means.

00:27:19 ◼   ► You don't need to know, but I will just point out that the new predictors starts out on

00:27:25 ◼   ► column BN.

00:27:26 ◼   ► So column C through BM were all hidden calculations.

00:27:29 ◼   ► I'm like, ah, yes, of course.

00:27:32 ◼   ► You must hide the calculations.

00:27:34 ◼   ► See, like, okay.

00:27:35 ◼   ► I'm trying to like articulate, like what is it that I've been trying to express here?

00:27:39 ◼   ► And I think what it is is a little bit of my concern level is very high that you won't

00:27:46 ◼   ► take the spreadsheet seriously.

00:27:48 ◼   ► And in some ways the spreadsheet is the manifestation of my panic over not running out of stock.

00:27:56 ◼   ► Okay.

00:27:57 ◼   ► Like I think as a company, there's a couple of things that are just major problems that

00:28:02 ◼   ► people often don't consider.

00:28:04 ◼   ► And like, we've talked about this on the show before that like running out of stock

00:28:07 ◼   ► is a thing that sounds like it's great because you've sold all your things, but it's

00:28:12 ◼   ► a real business problem to like not have stock in.

00:28:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:28:16 ◼   ► And since I've taken over as like chief logistics officer here, putting things together

00:28:22 ◼   ► in terms of numbers to me has been like, Oh my God, like being out of stock for a month

00:28:28 ◼   ► is a disaster.

00:28:29 ◼   ► Cause we have actual numbers of what that means.

00:28:32 ◼   ► And then I'm trying to predict like, Ooh, I think it is non obvious that we need to

00:28:38 ◼   ► have much more stock on hand than we previously thought.

00:28:43 ◼   ► And so my feeling is like, I'm trying to put together a document of evidence that shows

00:28:48 ◼   ► this and like make some recommendations about how much stock we should be buying when, but

00:28:52 ◼   ► I'm constantly afraid that when I change something, you're going to be like, Hey,

00:28:57 ◼   ► wait, this is a good idea.

00:28:59 ◼   ► Hey, wait, that estimate changed by 50%.

00:29:01 ◼   ► Like what's even happening over here in this like clown logistics department.

00:29:05 ◼   ► If like the estimates are going up and down by 50%.

00:29:08 ◼   ► They're like, these guys in the logistics department, they're going wild over here.

00:29:11 ◼   ► Yeah, exactly.

00:29:12 ◼   ► Like I'm like down at the coffee machines slacking you off to the other employees.

00:29:17 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:29:17 ◼   ► But like you're, you're, you're going to look at it and you end like, so I think the

00:29:21 ◼   ► thing with that, like that message about the error rate, I know exactly what I was thinking

00:29:24 ◼   ► where I was like, I was trying to express like, Oh, Hey, this, this is trying to show

00:29:29 ◼   ► you what the anticipated error rate in these calculations is.

00:29:32 ◼   ► So like the real value is this value plus or minus 45%.

00:29:36 ◼   ► Like that's just something that we need to keep in mind.

00:29:39 ◼   ► So I think that's what it is.

00:29:42 ◼   ► Like, I feel the need to explain every time I've changed something because I don't want

00:29:47 ◼   ► you to feel like I'm just making random changes over here.

00:29:52 ◼   ► And it's like, Oh, these numbers keep going like up and down.

00:29:55 ◼   ► And like today he says, I need to order X many units.

00:29:58 ◼   ► And then tomorrow he says, I need to order twice X units.

00:30:01 ◼   ► And it's like, why, like what changed between yesterday and today?

00:30:05 ◼   ► And then that's where I'm coming in going like, well, let me tell you what changed between

00:30:09 ◼   ► yesterday and today.

00:30:09 ◼   ► Like I'm using a different method to try to estimate what the resubscribe rate is for

00:30:15 ◼   ► theme system journals, like that kind of thing.

00:30:16 ◼   ► Here's the thing that you need to know, right?

00:30:19 ◼   ► I feel like we're having, this is like business therapy at the moment.

00:30:22 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:30:22 ◼   ► I trust you.

00:30:27 ◼   ► That's what you need to know.

00:30:27 ◼   ► Like this thing that you're making, I trust you.

00:30:29 ◼   ► If you tell me it's this and this is the day, I will just trust you.

00:30:33 ◼   ► Because what I know is I don't understand how to do this.

00:30:37 ◼   ► Like I have been doing this stuff on gut.

00:30:40 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:30:41 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:30:41 ◼   ► Right.

00:30:41 ◼   ► And we've done okay.

00:30:44 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:30:44 ◼   ► But I'm doing it on gut and that's not a sustainable long-term thing.

00:30:48 ◼   ► And I know that at some point we had to get smart about this.

00:30:52 ◼   ► I didn't know that this would be something you would be so engaged in.

00:30:55 ◼   ► And now I'm super happy that one of us is doing this.

00:30:59 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:30:59 ◼   ► And I guarantee you the best person for the job is the guy who's currently doing it because

00:31:05 ◼   ► I don't understand like you tell me these terms and like, and I get what they mean,

00:31:11 ◼   ► but I don't know how you get there.

00:31:13 ◼   ► So like one of the things you're talking about a lot is like a confidence rate of like the

00:31:18 ◼   ► amount of data that you're putting into the system is allowing you to be able to predict

00:31:23 ◼   ► things confidently.

00:31:24 ◼   ► And each product has a confidence rating in the restockotron about how confident you are

00:31:31 ◼   ► in the dates that you're giving, right?

00:31:33 ◼   ► Of like when it needs to be restocked.

00:31:34 ◼   ► I don't understand how you are able to calculate that.

00:31:40 ◼   ► Like I know what goes in and I know what comes out, but like this is everything in the middle.

00:31:45 ◼   ► I don't get it.

00:31:46 ◼   ► I've never been able to understand things like this, like the calculations required.

00:31:50 ◼   ► And so like you can please feel free to continue giving me this information, but like there

00:31:56 ◼   ► are things of it that are very helpful.

00:31:58 ◼   ► Like when we had a conversation today about subscriber numbers and how they're being

00:32:03 ◼   ► calculated and like that I understand, but like when you're like, so this is how I did

00:32:08 ◼   ► this.

00:32:08 ◼   ► And if you want to tell me, because I know that like sometimes you just want to like

00:32:14 ◼   ► and I'm like this, like people just want to say things aloud, right?

00:32:17 ◼   ► Because it like just helps with going through a thing.

00:32:20 ◼   ► Did you know, did I do this right?

00:32:21 ◼   ► How does this feel when I explain it to someone?

00:32:24 ◼   ► And maybe you're able to work through some problems if I'm asking you questions, but

00:32:29 ◼   ► like I just need you to know I don't understand it.

00:32:31 ◼   ► Okay.

00:32:31 ◼   ► It's also funny that you mentioned about like what you put in and like what comes out.

00:32:38 ◼   ► So for any aspiring spreadsheet makers out there, like this is one of my basic pieces

00:32:43 ◼   ► of advice.

00:32:44 ◼   ► Is the thing I've done on the spreadsheet for Mike, especially if you're working in

00:32:48 ◼   ► a team, but even on your own, you need to have two colors on your spreadsheet.

00:32:53 ◼   ► Make the background of some cells green and that's where information comes in and then

00:32:58 ◼   ► some cells are blue and that's where information comes out.

00:33:02 ◼   ► And I think like, I don't know if this is exactly your experience, but I feel like that's

00:33:06 ◼   ► one way to try to make a spreadsheet clear of like what's happening because yeah, ultimately

00:33:11 ◼   ► it's just a machine where you want to put some numbers in and then you should get some

00:33:16 ◼   ► meaningful actionable information out and everything else in the middle doesn't matter,

00:33:23 ◼   ► especially if.

00:33:24 ◼   ► Yeah, because again, like we're in this position of I'm performing a job where I'm trying

00:33:28 ◼   ► to give you a tool because you're ultimately the person who is working way more closely

00:33:35 ◼   ► with the manufacturers than I ever will.

00:33:38 ◼   ► And so you're always going to be the person making the final call about orders and how

00:33:44 ◼   ► much are you willing to pay and like when is it going to come or if we have it shipped

00:33:48 ◼   ► this way or that way, like what will happen?

00:33:50 ◼   ► Eventually these are all data points, right?

00:33:52 ◼   ► After a certain period of time, we'll know exactly how long it takes to reproduce every

00:33:56 ◼   ► product.

00:33:57 ◼   ► So then it can just maybe put into the system.

00:33:59 ◼   ► You know what I mean?

00:33:59 ◼   ► Like, oh, well, I mean, yes, that's one of the things that I want to have as an upgrade

00:34:03 ◼   ► at some point in the future.

00:34:03 ◼   ► And I was trying not to bug you earlier today, but I was like, Mike, I need historical data

00:34:07 ◼   ► about how long is it between when you send the first email and when like the thing arrives

00:34:12 ◼   ► at the warehouse?

00:34:13 ◼   ► Like, I just want to start having historical data about that.

00:34:15 ◼   ► But yeah, so there is this thing with all spreadsheets of input, output, and then calculations

00:34:21 ◼   ► in between.

00:34:22 ◼   ► And I think for lots of people when they make spreadsheets, it's not visually clear.

00:34:27 ◼   ► Like you need to separate out these parts and then all of the quote normal cells a user

00:34:34 ◼   ► can just completely ignore like all of the crazy stuff that's happening in the middle.

00:34:38 ◼   ► But yeah, I think you're partly right.

00:34:41 ◼   ► Even that little thing that you just read there, you can see that I edited to add that

00:34:46 ◼   ► I was like, oh, wait a minute, this number that I'm giving you, it's more human readable

00:34:50 ◼   ► if it's the opposite direction.

00:34:52 ◼   ► I think it's just funny to me now to hear you say like, gray, either way, I don't know

00:34:57 ◼   ► what the hell this number means.

00:34:59 ◼   ► But I please, I don't, I want to create a good working environment.

00:35:06 ◼   ► Please continue sharing all of the information.

00:35:09 ◼   ► There is some stuff in there that is genuinely helpful to me, but some of it, it's going

00:35:15 ◼   ► over my head.

00:35:15 ◼   ► But I am and I have where like I need feel like I need to understand, I am asking for

00:35:21 ◼   ► more clarification.

00:35:22 ◼   ► This is just not my skill set.

00:35:24 ◼   ► Like it just isn't.

00:35:25 ◼   ► I don't understand how to make a spreadsheet like the one that you've made.

00:35:29 ◼   ► Like I know how to make very simple spreadsheets.

00:35:32 ◼   ► Like I just made one a couple of days ago to help me calculate the overall cost of a

00:35:38 ◼   ► thing because you wanted that.

00:35:39 ◼   ► And so I figured, well, I've been doing it all manually.

00:35:41 ◼   ► So I'm actually just made a number spreadsheet that would just do a bunch of the calculations

00:35:45 ◼   ► for me.

00:35:45 ◼   ► But that's kind of where my experience starts and ends.

00:35:49 ◼   ► You know, I know how to take this cell, multiply it by that cell.

00:35:52 ◼   ► But I know that there's a bunch of things going on in this spreadsheet that I just don't

00:35:58 ◼   ► know how anyone could understand.

00:36:01 ◼   ► You showed me this book that you bought.

00:36:02 ◼   ► No, no, no.

00:36:03 ◼   ► Which is just like maybe the worst book for me ever written.

00:36:08 ◼   ► But you seem very excited about it.

00:36:10 ◼   ► Oh, right.

00:36:10 ◼   ► The book.

00:36:11 ◼   ► I was very excited.

00:36:12 ◼   ► It was a book on statistics, right?

00:36:13 ◼   ► Or something like logistic statistics.

00:36:15 ◼   ► Yeah, well, so this is kind of embarrassing.

00:36:21 ◼   ► What's the actual book title?

00:36:23 ◼   ► Because my wife had a completely different reaction to that.

00:36:25 ◼   ► Like, so both you and my wife were like, what the hell is this book that you just purchased?

00:36:31 ◼   ► Okay, so the exact title of the book is called Understanding Variation, the Key to Managing

00:36:39 ◼   ► Chaos.

00:36:39 ◼   ► And it has a little picture of like a nebula on the front, you know, in like a spacey kind

00:36:46 ◼   ► of image.

00:36:46 ◼   ► And my wife took one look at this, and she goes, what the hell is this new age crap that

00:36:54 ◼   ► you just bought?

00:36:55 ◼   ► It does look like that.

00:36:56 ◼   ► The font on the front cover is very new agey.

00:37:00 ◼   ► Yeah, so if you didn't know anything about it, it was a completely acceptable judgment

00:37:05 ◼   ► to make of like, what happened to my husband that he bought this dumb book, right?

00:37:09 ◼   ► Like, she's used to weird books getting shipped to the house all the time because of my job.

00:37:15 ◼   ► But even among someone who buys outlier books, this one caught her attention as extremely

00:37:20 ◼   ► worrying for I can't believe this arrived.

00:37:23 ◼   ► When I saw this, I'm like, what has happened to my co-founder Weiss?

00:37:26 ◼   ► He bought this book!

00:37:28 ◼   ► I don't understand.

00:37:30 ◼   ► And even when you explained what it did, or what it was for, and you sent me some screenshots

00:37:34 ◼   ► of some pages.

00:37:35 ◼   ► And I don't know what it means.

00:37:37 ◼   ► I don't know what any of it means.

00:37:39 ◼   ► How would you describe what you think this book is?

00:37:41 ◼   ► Like, The Lord of the Rings for statistics.

00:37:47 ◼   ► What an interesting description there.

00:37:51 ◼   ► Maybe that's also saying about how I feel about Lord of the Rings.

00:37:54 ◼   ► Yeah, I feel like you've disparaged two things at once very close to my heart with Lord of

00:38:00 ◼   ► the Rings.

00:38:00 ◼   ► "Every count has an area of opportunity.

00:38:03 ◼   ► Here, the area of opportunity is the number of closings each month.

00:38:07 ◼   ► If the area of opportunity remains constant over time, then one may directly compare the

00:38:11 ◼   ► counts."

00:38:12 ◼   ► I don't know what it means.

00:38:15 ◼   ► Okay, so to explain for listeners, right?

00:38:19 ◼   ► Can you?

00:38:21 ◼   ► No, no.

00:38:21 ◼   ► So no, I'm going to explain in like a broad way, right?

00:38:26 ◼   ► Which is, so what's happening and why did I buy this book and what's the deal with this

00:38:30 ◼   ► spreadsheet?

00:38:31 ◼   ► So, longtime listeners will know I am a big booster of getting a physics degree if you

00:38:38 ◼   ► can.

00:38:38 ◼   ► Like, I think if you're the kind of person who is interested in physics at all, I highly

00:38:42 ◼   ► recommend you get a physics degree.

00:38:45 ◼   ► And one of the main reasons for that is that people with a physics degree are just highly

00:38:52 ◼   ► in demand in the world of employment.

00:38:54 ◼   ► Like, I know people who will hire someone for a job with zero qualifications for that

00:39:01 ◼   ► actual job just because they have a physics degree and it's like, I don't know, they'll

00:39:04 ◼   ► be able to like figure it out, right?

00:39:05 ◼   ► They can apply stuff that they've learned.

00:39:07 ◼   ► And that's kind of what's going on here is like, "Oh, I did this physics degree, you

00:39:14 ◼   ► know, back in college."

00:39:15 ◼   ► And by the nature of the subject is that it teaches you all of the useful parts of math.

00:39:25 ◼   ► It's like, it's the useful parts of math as they're applied to the physical world, but

00:39:30 ◼   ► you can just take any of these things and apply them to other stuff.

00:39:35 ◼   ► And so this is one of these cases where like what I'm doing with this spreadsheet, it's

00:39:42 ◼   ► very much like, "Oh, a lot of stuff that you would do in physics if you were like running

00:39:46 ◼   ► an experiment and you wanted to try to publish a result and then also publish error bars

00:39:52 ◼   ► on that result."

00:39:53 ◼   ► Like it's the exact same thing.

00:39:54 ◼   ► It's like, "Oh, well, whether I've just taken a hundred measurements for like the

00:39:59 ◼   ► weight of an electron or it's the like sum of daily sales volume for our company, it

00:40:06 ◼   ► doesn't really matter what the data is.

00:40:09 ◼   ► There's just like a bunch of tools that you can apply."

00:40:12 ◼   ► And just like general principles about how to think about data.

00:40:15 ◼   ► And so I'd made this spreadsheet just sort of off the top of my head with a bunch of

00:40:21 ◼   ► like old knowledge about mathematics and statistics.

00:40:24 ◼   ► And I bought this book because I just sort of happened to come across it also at the

00:40:30 ◼   ► exact moment I was just thinking about this, which was I'm looking for a book which is

00:40:36 ◼   ► kind of like the equivalent of when I switched over to trying to do an economics minor.

00:40:41 ◼   ► I'm like, "Oh, can someone just give me an overview of what the mathematics in economics

00:40:46 ◼   ► is?"

00:40:46 ◼   ► And then I can just like immediately translate all the physics stuff here.

00:40:50 ◼   ► And if there's something that they're doing in a different way, it's more obvious.

00:40:54 ◼   ► And so this book, Understanding Variation, Key to Managing Chaos, as best I can tell

00:41:01 ◼   ► and like having skimmed through it, it seems to be the case of like, "Oh, this is someone

00:41:05 ◼   ► who's just recently written a book that is basically business math.

00:41:10 ◼   ► Like here's just a bunch of business math."

00:41:12 ◼   ► And so I want to kind of read through it and just see like how are people in this field

00:41:19 ◼   ► using various statistical tools?

00:41:22 ◼   ► And this is one of those kind of things of like, if there's a single idea in here that

00:41:28 ◼   ► is novel to me, like the book is completely worth it instantly.

00:41:31 ◼   ► So anyway, that's why I was kind of excited.

00:41:33 ◼   ► It was like, "Oh, let me just see," because almost all of these tools I'm already familiar

00:41:38 ◼   ► with in a different context, and it's just a bit of like, "Let me see how does someone

00:41:42 ◼   ► apply this to business stuff in general?"

00:41:46 ◼   ► So this book, the title is the way that it is, which like sounds very airy-fairy, but

00:41:52 ◼   ► it's trying to get across the concept of like, how do you get your business under control

00:41:57 ◼   ► using graphs and spreadsheets, right?

00:41:59 ◼   ► How do you not be surprised?

00:42:01 ◼   ► And like, and that's exactly the thing that I'm trying to do here.

00:42:05 ◼   ► Which is what we need.

00:42:06 ◼   ► Yeah, like how do we not be surprised?

00:42:08 ◼   ► So important.

00:42:09 ◼   ► This is so important because we spent the first kind of 18 months realistically of our

00:42:14 ◼   ► business being very surprised.

00:42:16 ◼   ► I mean, and we were surprised again, and I do feel like there is no way to apply this

00:42:23 ◼   ► kind of thinking to a brand new product, right?

00:42:25 ◼   ► Like, because there's no data.

00:42:27 ◼   ► That's exactly it.

00:42:28 ◼   ► I mean, I'd have to like double check the way it went, but I feel like the first three

00:42:32 ◼   ► or four times we restocked the journal, we just had no idea.

00:42:36 ◼   ► And that data would also have been complete garbage.

00:42:39 ◼   ► Like it just wouldn't have been very helpful at all.

00:42:41 ◼   ► So it's, there's a lot that goes on with data where it's like, you need a bunch for

00:42:48 ◼   ► it to be useful at all.

00:42:50 ◼   ► And just like having too little and especially having a thing where you're running up against

00:42:55 ◼   ► a limit, but you don't have even the foggiest idea of like, did we just sell out or not?

00:43:01 ◼   ► We couldn't have done it from the start.

00:43:02 ◼   ► I think one of the things that I like that you're doing with the spreadsheet is eliminating

00:43:06 ◼   ► spikes from some of the data, which I think is helpful.

00:43:10 ◼   ► But like, if we have two days where we get a bunch more sales than usual, that it's

00:43:16 ◼   ► not going to be considered like, well, this is the new normal.

00:43:19 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:43:20 ◼   ► Right?

00:43:20 ◼   ► Like I feel like that would be such an easy way for someone to do it if they weren't

00:43:24 ◼   ► trying to eliminate chaos.

00:43:26 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:43:26 ◼   ► And again, that's like just straight from a bunch of physics stuff is like, oh, you

00:43:30 ◼   ► know, when you conduct an experiment, you're going to have some portion of the data is

00:43:34 ◼   ► like outlier data and it just makes sense to get rid of that.

00:43:37 ◼   ► Or you just know that some results was weird for various reasons.

00:43:43 ◼   ► And that result doesn't help you get to what the true thing is.

00:43:46 ◼   ► Because in some sense, like, what is the goal of this?

00:43:50 ◼   ► It's really trying to figure out in kind of a platonic ideal world, how many units

00:43:59 ◼   ► of each product do we sell every day?

00:44:01 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:44:02 ◼   ► And actually, even just explaining things to you earlier today, I realized like, oh,

00:44:05 ◼   ► actually, I should bin the data by week.

00:44:07 ◼   ► That makes totally more sense because our data points are actually weekly sales.

00:44:10 ◼   ► They're not daily sales.

00:44:11 ◼   ► Daily sales are introducing too much variation.

00:44:13 ◼   ► What does bin the data mean?

00:44:14 ◼   ► What are we going to do in the next version of the spreadsheet is right now you're entering

00:44:19 ◼   ► the data points of like, each product each day, how many sold.

00:44:23 ◼   ► But so one of the things that we can see is that there's a really big variation between

00:44:29 ◼   ► Monday to Saturday.

00:44:31 ◼   ► Saturday's a disaster.

00:44:32 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:44:32 ◼   ► It's so interesting.

00:44:34 ◼   ► Like no one buys the products on Saturdays, every Saturday.

00:44:38 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:44:38 ◼   ► It's crazy.

00:44:39 ◼   ► So this is also where like, we sort of knew this by just like talking about and casually

00:44:46 ◼   ► looking at the data.

00:44:46 ◼   ► Like this is a thing you told me is like, oh, Saturdays are bad.

00:44:50 ◼   ► But then what you can do with spreadsheets and graphs is be like, how bad?

00:44:54 ◼   ► And it's like, oh, very bad.

00:44:56 ◼   ► Like the set that it's just so strange.

00:44:58 ◼   ► Like Monday is great.

00:45:00 ◼   ► It drops a little through to Friday and then Saturday it just like plunges to the center

00:45:04 ◼   ► of the earth and then it recovers on Sunday.

00:45:06 ◼   ► And it really is like, where does everybody go on Saturday?

00:45:10 ◼   ► No one's thinking about work on Saturday, I guess.

00:45:13 ◼   ► But then like, are they on Sunday?

00:45:14 ◼   ► Like, I don't get it.

00:45:16 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:45:16 ◼   ► Shouldn't Fridays also be bad?

00:45:18 ◼   ► Like, I don't get it.

00:45:19 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:45:19 ◼   ► I would think like Friday and Saturday should look the same, but they don't.

00:45:23 ◼   ► But okay, so whenever you're trying to figure out anything, there's like a true number,

00:45:30 ◼   ► but all you can do in the real world is you can take measurements and the measurements

00:45:36 ◼   ► are just like an indication of what is the real number.

00:45:39 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:45:40 ◼   ► It's a bit like even if you take your own weight, right?

00:45:42 ◼   ► You can step on a scale twice in a row and it can be a little different, right?

00:45:46 ◼   ► So like, oh, there is some real number that is your weight at any point in time.

00:45:52 ◼   ► But how precisely do you care about that?

00:45:55 ◼   ► And how many measurements do you want to take?

00:45:57 ◼   ► Like that's part of the question here.

00:45:59 ◼   ► So there's always variation.

00:46:00 ◼   ► And the bigger the variation, the more uncertain you are about what the real number is.

00:46:07 ◼   ► Now, most time, if you step on a scale, for example, it's like, oh, the weight will only

00:46:11 ◼   ► vary by like a tenth of a pound or two tenths of a pound on a good scale.

00:46:16 ◼   ► So you can be like, all right, I know my weight within this small range.

00:46:20 ◼   ► So that's like, good enough.

00:46:21 ◼   ► You only ever step on the scale once and see what the actual number is.

00:46:24 ◼   ► But it's just not like that with things like sales data.

00:46:28 ◼   ► You can't say like, how many units are sold on a Monday?

00:46:32 ◼   ► Because they're all over the place.

00:46:33 ◼   ► And the problem with looking at our data and trying to predict a daily sales number is

00:46:42 ◼   ► that the variation between Monday and Saturday is really big.

00:46:48 ◼   ► And so that like, artificially creates more uncertainty than there really is.

00:46:54 ◼   ► Because if we were just comparing Saturdays to Saturdays, the variation between the sales

00:46:59 ◼   ► would be smaller.

00:47:00 ◼   ► So what I mean is, it dawned on me today that we can get more accurate measurements of when

00:47:08 ◼   ► we're going to run out of stock.

00:47:09 ◼   ► If instead of running all of my analysis on a, what is the average day?

00:47:16 ◼   ► Instead say, what is the average week?

00:47:19 ◼   ► Because the variation between weeks should be much smaller.

00:47:24 ◼   ► Because we're combining together the best sales day every time and the worst sales day

00:47:31 ◼   ► every time.

00:47:32 ◼   ► So this is what I'm saying.

00:47:33 ◼   ► It's like, okay, I should redo that.

00:47:35 ◼   ► Because there's just less variation between those two measurements.

00:47:40 ◼   ► So in some sense, it's like our real data is actually weekly, even though you're

00:47:46 ◼   ► entering in daily data.

00:47:48 ◼   ► And so that's the thing that you can do in the spreadsheet is like have it filter out

00:47:51 ◼   ► like, okay, before we run all the data analysis, just take the average number for the week,

00:47:57 ◼   ► and then do everything else that's going to happen afterwards with that.

00:48:01 ◼   ► So that's going to be the next upgrade to the spreadsheet, Mike.

00:48:04 ◼   ► Weekly binning.

00:48:05 ◼   ► That's what's happening there.

00:48:06 ◼   ► But again, I would say too, I really love the spreadsheet.

00:48:09 ◼   ► But I don't have a brain for this stuff.

00:48:12 ◼   ► But I have been thinking recently, like, it's part of another reason why I think it was

00:48:16 ◼   ► such a perfect partnership, because you understand this and I don't.

00:48:19 ◼   ► And so like, you are bringing to the business this really important thing that I just would

00:48:25 ◼   ► not be able to do.

00:48:26 ◼   ► So I think you've totally reframed for me what problem I'm trying to solve a lot of

00:48:31 ◼   ► times when I explain it, because my mental framing of this is not, you should trust me.

00:48:37 ◼   ► It's like, well, that's ridiculous.

00:48:39 ◼   ► Like the whole reason to make the spreadsheet is to not trust me.

00:48:41 ◼   ► Right?

00:48:41 ◼   ► To not be like, oh, Gray says we should buy some amount of stock and then you just do

00:48:47 ◼   ► it.

00:48:47 ◼   ► It's like, no, no, I want to show you.

00:48:49 ◼   ► Here's where this is all coming from.

00:48:51 ◼   ► But in a partnership, I think I can reframe this.

00:48:54 ◼   ► Like, you can just trust me that I'm doing the best job on this kind of thing that I

00:48:59 ◼   ► can in exactly the same way that I don't.

00:49:03 ◼   ► So Mike, when you tell me a lot about what's happening with glue binding for particular

00:49:09 ◼   ► notebooks.

00:49:10 ◼   ► Oh, I know.

00:49:11 ◼   ► I don't know what you're talking about half the time.

00:49:14 ◼   ► Right.

00:49:14 ◼   ► But it's the same thing.

00:49:17 ◼   ► Like, I trust you to make an amazing notebook.

00:49:20 ◼   ► That's your skill set.

00:49:22 ◼   ► Maybe it's the same thing.

00:49:23 ◼   ► Like I do ask some questions about what's happening, but I think, yeah, I think maybe

00:49:30 ◼   ► that's similar.

00:49:31 ◼   ► Like I'm just kind of probing your thought process on how it is you're putting a thing

00:49:36 ◼   ► together.

00:49:36 ◼   ► A lot of the time you kind of ask me like, why are we making that choice or why do you

00:49:41 ◼   ► want it done this way?

00:49:42 ◼   ► Like, what are the benefits of doing it this way?

00:49:44 ◼   ► Does it feel nicer?

00:49:45 ◼   ► Like that kind of stuff you need to ask me, which is helpful, right?

00:49:48 ◼   ► Because then if I can explain it to you, that's good.

00:49:50 ◼   ► If I can't explain it to you, then why am I making the decision?

00:49:53 ◼   ► Yeah, yeah.

00:49:55 ◼   ► I think we're a good partnership.

00:49:56 ◼   ► I think so.

00:49:57 ◼   ► I think that I have this with Relay too.

00:50:00 ◼   ► Like if you can find someone who between the two of you, you can make a hole, then you're

00:50:06 ◼   ► great.

00:50:07 ◼   ► Because I think that's what it takes to run a business.

00:50:09 ◼   ► You need good people around you because nobody can do everything.

00:50:15 ◼   ► It's just not possible.

00:50:18 ◼   ► And I think you are best off finding a group of people, whether it's two or three or four

00:50:23 ◼   ► or more, who are all good at certain things and you put them together and you become better

00:50:30 ◼   ► as a whole.

00:50:31 ◼   ► Like, I think that's what's truly valuable.

00:50:35 ◼   ► There is no such thing as an excellent all rounder.

00:50:38 ◼   ► You can get someone who might be good at a bunch of things, but you would be able to

00:50:42 ◼   ► get a set of individual people who are all individually better at each thing.

00:50:46 ◼   ► That's what I believe.

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00:53:06 ◼   ► So I just made a 100% year of the weekend focus decision.

00:53:12 ◼   ► Yeah.

00:53:13 ◼   ► Where in it I was like, oh, I'm super happy about the theme that I've chosen.

00:53:18 ◼   ► So right now I actually think I'm in the busiest month of my year.

00:53:25 ◼   ► Maybe with the exception of September because of podcastathon stuff, right?

00:53:29 ◼   ► But for regular work this month, wild, right?

00:53:35 ◼   ► So two episodes of Cortex, that's enough.

00:53:37 ◼   ► Like put two episodes of Cortex in one month, that's enough for me.

00:53:43 ◼   ► Let alone all of the other stuff that I'm doing and preparing for WWDC, right?

00:53:47 ◼   ► So I have big episodes of my regular Apple focus shows where we turn both of our predictions

00:53:54 ◼   ► episodes into games.

00:53:55 ◼   ► They take a lot of work to do.

00:53:57 ◼   ► They're really important to me.

00:53:58 ◼   ► I love doing them, but it's big stuff, right?

00:54:00 ◼   ► This is like trying and then trying to get ready for like a basically a two week trip.

00:54:04 ◼   ► There's a lot going on right now.

00:54:06 ◼   ► But I took a mini vacation in the middle of it.

00:54:09 ◼   ► Which is on paper to me, like previous Mike, terrible idea.

00:54:14 ◼   ► Like if you're that busy, would you take four days out of your week to go and join somebody

00:54:20 ◼   ► on a vacation?

00:54:22 ◼   ► Those are four days where you could be preparing more, where you could be editing, where you

00:54:27 ◼   ► could be recording.

00:54:29 ◼   ► We could have recorded this show last week rather than this week, which would have given

00:54:32 ◼   ► me longer before we got to get it out.

00:54:34 ◼   ► Like these are things where previous me on paper would have been like, no way.

00:54:40 ◼   ► Take the time to work.

00:54:41 ◼   ► The year of the weekend, Mike, is realizing the value in taking breaks.

00:54:47 ◼   ► And what has ended up happening is taking a three to four day vacation in the middle

00:54:53 ◼   ► of one of the busiest months in the year has put a split down the middle.

00:54:57 ◼   ► So instead of being a really busy four weeks, it was busy two, busy two.

00:55:01 ◼   ► And I was able to recharge in the middle of it.

00:55:04 ◼   ► So friend of ours, friend to the world, underscore David Smith, the maker of Widgetsmith.

00:55:09 ◼   ► He just celebrated a big birthday in Scotland and he invited me and Idina to come along

00:55:16 ◼   ► and spend it with him as a family and friends.

00:55:18 ◼   ► And so that was one of these things.

00:55:20 ◼   ► I was like, that is an honor.

00:55:21 ◼   ► You can't turn down something like that.

00:55:23 ◼   ► If a friend asks you, I feel if it's somebody that you care about and they want you to join

00:55:27 ◼   ► them on something that's important to them, you do everything you can to try and do it.

00:55:31 ◼   ► And so I did it.

00:55:32 ◼   ► And I was a couple of days into this wonderful time in the Scottish Highlands and this beautiful

00:55:37 ◼   ► home of all these, this wonderful nature around me.

00:55:40 ◼   ► And I was like, this was a good idea because it's allowed me to have this recharge to now

00:55:48 ◼   ► this final stint before heading off to San Francisco for WWDC.

00:55:53 ◼   ► Oh man.

00:55:55 ◼   ► I feel like you've taken your theme very seriously.

00:55:58 ◼   ► I don't know if I could have done that in your position.

00:56:00 ◼   ► You're right.

00:56:01 ◼   ► When you get a serious invitation, I think you're right.

00:56:03 ◼   ► You have to take it seriously and say yes.

00:56:05 ◼   ► But man, I would, I would have been very nervous about that.

00:56:11 ◼   ► And I understand it.

00:56:12 ◼   ► This doesn't fit with you right now.

00:56:13 ◼   ► This is the exact opposite of the year of work.

00:56:16 ◼   ► But what I have realized is that I'm just at a point where that kind of burning the

00:56:23 ◼   ► candle at both ends is just not good for me right now.

00:56:26 ◼   ► And it has been.

00:56:27 ◼   ► And in the future, it will be again.

00:56:28 ◼   ► I have no doubt about that, but I believe that our lives roll in these cycles and the

00:56:33 ◼   ► cycle that I'm in right now demands of me to take better care of myself.

00:56:39 ◼   ► So this was like a perfect example of that where I will now be in a couple of weeks getting

00:56:44 ◼   ► ready to go on a plane and I'm going to feel nice and prepared and ready and fresh where

00:56:49 ◼   ► I would have felt at my wits end, I think otherwise, if I would have been working solid

00:56:56 ◼   ► all the way through.

00:56:57 ◼   ► I mean, it does help that I am taking my weekends, but similarly, because we've got two episodes

00:57:03 ◼   ► of cortex in a month, they are reduced weekend times a little bit because I do edit mostly

00:57:08 ◼   ► on the weekends.

00:57:09 ◼   ► So again, like having these few days is making sure I still make up for those days that I

00:57:14 ◼   ► otherwise be losing, which is I've been very good at that.

00:57:17 ◼   ► If I'm taking a work day on the weekend, I am still taking my weekdays.

00:57:21 ◼   ► But this has been like a little life hack for me now where I've banked four days so

00:57:26 ◼   ► I can now spend those weekend days throughout the rest of the month.

00:57:30 ◼   ► Also, I saw something I've never seen before.

00:57:33 ◼   ► The most incredible rainbow I have ever experienced.

00:57:37 ◼   ► I'm sending you a couple of pictures of this rainbow.

00:57:39 ◼   ► - In Scotland?

00:57:40 ◼   ► - In Scotland.

00:57:41 ◼   ► - Even better than Hawaii rainbows?

00:57:44 ◼   ► I was like, you've been to Hawaii?

00:57:45 ◼   ► - I have never been this close to a rainbow where I genuinely felt like I could see where

00:57:52 ◼   ► it ended.

00:57:53 ◼   ► And I also, I sent another picture, could see the entire arc of the rainbow, which again

00:58:01 ◼   ► is like another thing I have never experienced before.

00:58:04 ◼   ► - That's a really good one.

00:58:05 ◼   ► - It's a good rainbow, right?

00:58:06 ◼   ► - I guess I don't really think of Scotland as rainbow territory, but of course it's very

00:58:11 ◼   ► misty so it's gotta be great rainbow territory.

00:58:13 ◼   ► - Well, the weather was surprisingly incredible the entire time.

00:58:18 ◼   ► Like nice and warm, just only a little bit windy, no rain.

00:58:23 ◼   ► So we didn't get, I don't think we got the full Highland experience, but overall, excellent.

00:58:29 ◼   ► And that rainbow, man, come on.

00:58:31 ◼   ► - Does look like just past the tree line is a pot of gold.

00:58:37 ◼   ► - It actually looks like it's on top of the house in this image because the rainbow is

00:58:42 ◼   ► in front of those trees.

00:58:43 ◼   ► You can see the colors of the rainbow is affecting the way those trees look.

00:58:46 ◼   ► - This is very charming, Mike.

00:58:51 ◼   ► - I had a great time and it was so helpful for me.

00:58:54 ◼   ► And I think that like, this is a really, really good thing for me to consider in the future.

00:59:01 ◼   ► - I was gonna ask, like, it sort of sounded crazy to me when I knew that you were going

00:59:04 ◼   ► to do this, like right before and right in the middle of this really busy time, but it

00:59:10 ◼   ► does seem to have worked out great for you.

00:59:11 ◼   ► So I think if you're thinking that this was a good thing and you want to do it in the

00:59:18 ◼   ► future, this is something you've got to lock into the calendar now because future Mike

00:59:25 ◼   ► will have plenty of reasons why it's not a good time to take a break.

00:59:29 ◼   ► But that's why I feel like current Mike needs to lock future Mike in, in a way, where it's

00:59:37 ◼   ► hard to say no.

00:59:37 ◼   ► Like, that's the favor that Underscore did for you here, which is, it was not just that,

00:59:42 ◼   ► like, oh, he whisked you away to a magical rainbow land.

00:59:46 ◼   ► It's that you also just like couldn't say no.

00:59:49 ◼   ► And so like that makes the trip like, this is gonna happen.

00:59:51 ◼   ► I'm gonna make it happen.

00:59:52 ◼   ► - Yeah, I think what I would take away from this is like, if I have something like this

00:59:55 ◼   ► going on and I will try and apply this for, say the podcast is on, is to, before like

01:00:02 ◼   ► a huge trip like this, where I'm under a lot of pressure and there's a lot of expectation,

01:00:07 ◼   ► maybe take a little short city break, go to London for the weekend, the weekend before,

01:00:11 ◼   ► and just use it as an opportunity to just like switch off for a couple of days, you

01:00:16 ◼   ► know, and like get out of home, right?

01:00:18 ◼   ► Don't just spend the weekend at home, like go and just like be in a different environment

01:00:23 ◼   ► and not have to think about work, try and get out of the work mode, get out of that

01:00:28 ◼   ► mindset.

01:00:29 ◼   ► I think that that is like a nice little addition to this like year of the weekend mentality

01:00:34 ◼   ► of in these high intense scenarios, create a little special weekend in a way.

01:00:41 ◼   ► So I think I'm gonna try and think about more about how that will be because when I,

01:00:46 ◼   ► you know, some of these things, they can be so intense, like WWDC is gonna be intense.

01:00:52 ◼   ► September will be super intense, you know, because again, it's like the podcast is on

01:00:55 ◼   ► and the iPhone tend to line up with each other.

01:00:57 ◼   ► It's just like two really important things.

01:01:00 ◼   ► So trying to find ways to take these breaks, I think is gonna be a nice little addition

01:01:07 ◼   ► and an important thing to ensure that the year of the weekend is being observed.

01:01:11 ◼   ► This really is a beautiful rainbow.

01:01:13 ◼   ► I'm just like leaving it on my screen.

01:01:16 ◼   ► I've never seen one like that.

01:01:18 ◼   ► Like I've seen some great rainbows in Hawaii, but that has got some strong colors.

01:01:23 ◼   ► Like that's the thing about it is the colors are so strong.

01:01:26 ◼   ► So in the first image that I sent you, I have boosted the color a bit to like really show

01:01:31 ◼   ► it, but this is akin to how it looked to my eye when I saw it.

01:01:35 ◼   ► But the thing is also you can like if you look at it, you've got the ROYGBIV colors,

01:01:40 ◼   ► but you can see them start to repeat again, which is like really shows the strength of

01:01:45 ◼   ► the rainbow, right?

01:01:46 ◼   ► That like rainbows, I forget the exact details of this, but it's like every rainbow you're

01:01:51 ◼   ► looking at is a multiple rainbow.

01:01:53 ◼   ► It's just that the colors are too faint for you to be able to see, but it's like it's

01:01:57 ◼   ► a repeated effect, but you can only ever see the one.

01:02:01 ◼   ► But that's why it really catches my eye here of like, it must have been very strong in

01:02:05 ◼   ► person to be able to see like immediately below the start of the pattern again.

01:02:11 ◼   ► Very magical.

01:02:11 ◼   ► And it was just one of those things where like 12 adults were turned into children because

01:02:17 ◼   ► we're just like this thing.

01:02:19 ◼   ► There's just this unbelievable because it really like seeing the end like that made

01:02:25 ◼   ► it feel fake.

01:02:26 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:02:27 ◼   ► In a way like I've never experienced a rainbow that felt so physically close to me.

01:02:32 ◼   ► It was kind of awesome.

01:02:34 ◼   ► I'm going to imagine you and Underscore as the double rainbow across the sky guy taking

01:02:39 ◼   ► a look at this in Scotland.

01:02:41 ◼   ► I've been asking cortexans to submit questions over at cortexfeedback.com where they can

01:02:47 ◼   ► submit Ask Cortex Questions for us with our fancy form.

01:02:50 ◼   ► Jamie wrote in to ask, do you have any advice on how to keep a daily task list shorter?

01:02:57 ◼   ► I'm thinking about not just the most important tasks, but also the one time tasks.

01:03:01 ◼   ► At the moment, I end up having an entire walkthrough of my day, along with a wish list of nice

01:03:06 ◼   ► to have things that I want to do.

01:03:08 ◼   ► Overall, I'm looking at over 20 task items per day and it's just unrealistic that I'm

01:03:13 ◼   ► going to get to them all.

01:03:14 ◼   ► Oh, Jamie.

01:03:16 ◼   ► So I think for all of us, it's just completely unavoidable that you always feel like my task

01:03:23 ◼   ► list is way too long, basically, no matter what you're doing.

01:03:26 ◼   ► So I think I would suggest two ideas here.

01:03:31 ◼   ► One for me, the main idea, which I think I first talked about in my time management for

01:03:36 ◼   ► teachers video, which is still up on my YouTube channel.

01:03:38 ◼   ► Is it still there?

01:03:39 ◼   ► Yeah, it's still there.

01:03:40 ◼   ► It's still survived.

01:03:42 ◼   ► Is it a public video?

01:03:44 ◼   ► Yeah, it's a public video.

01:03:45 ◼   ► Incredible.

01:03:45 ◼   ► It's also very funny to see like, oh, it still hasn't hit a million views.

01:03:51 ◼   ► It's like my oldest video.

01:03:53 ◼   ► Any day now.

01:03:53 ◼   ► Any day now.

01:03:55 ◼   ► But there's an idea that I sort of talk about in there, which I want to like elaborate on

01:03:59 ◼   ► a little bit, which is your to-do list is functionally infinite in many ways, but there's

01:04:05 ◼   ► like a clear dividing line in my mind that's critical.

01:04:10 ◼   ► That dividing line is the like, I can't go home today, or I can't finish the work day

01:04:18 ◼   ► until these items are done.

01:04:20 ◼   ► Like that's, that's the one really hard boundary for looking at to-do list items.

01:04:28 ◼   ► Like, it just has to be mission critical that this gets done today.

01:04:32 ◼   ► I cannot go home.

01:04:34 ◼   ► And the thing that you can kind of like mentally use to try to identify those items is like,

01:04:39 ◼   ► these are the things that I would stay late at work for or keep working longer to finish

01:04:46 ◼   ► because they're just like absolutely vital.

01:04:49 ◼   ► But of course, you don't want to just do those items.

01:04:53 ◼   ► So a thing that I didn't mention in that old video, but I think is also useful for the

01:04:57 ◼   ► like, what things have to be on the list is it's not just those, but it's also the

01:05:03 ◼   ► tasks that you know save you a significant amount of time and stress the following day.

01:05:12 ◼   ► So like, I think whenever I'm talking to people about to-do lists, it's like, those

01:05:17 ◼   ► are the two things that I'm looking for, for like when someone's trying to put together,

01:05:22 ◼   ► like, what am I going to do today?

01:05:23 ◼   ► It's like absolutely mission critical and the stuff that is going to save you a significant

01:05:30 ◼   ► amount of time and stress tomorrow, even if it doesn't have to happen today.

01:05:36 ◼   ► And I don't know, for me, like again, in my old teaching job, the classic example of

01:05:41 ◼   ► saving time and stress tomorrow for me was always like, if you need to make photocopies

01:05:47 ◼   ► of anything for tomorrow's classes, don't wait until tomorrow because it's just always

01:05:52 ◼   ► a nightmare, right?

01:05:53 ◼   ► And like causes you these problems of like, oh, there's a big line at the copier or

01:05:58 ◼   ► the copier isn't working, right?

01:05:59 ◼   ► Like you can really screw yourself over by waiting until the last minute with something

01:06:03 ◼   ► like that.

01:06:04 ◼   ► I think those are like the two things that you really want to focus on.

01:06:09 ◼   ► But for the rest of the list, I'm going to suggest a kind of mental reframing of what

01:06:16 ◼   ► to-do lists are.

01:06:18 ◼   ► And in order to do this, I'm going to use an example from one of my favorite things

01:06:25 ◼   ► to pull examples from ever, Magic the Gathering.

01:06:28 ◼   ► - Of course, this doesn't come up in a while.

01:06:31 ◼   ► That's how you know, by the way, if we're doing a special episode or a regular episode,

01:06:35 ◼   ► just great reference Magic the Gathering as a metaphor or not.

01:06:38 ◼   ► - That might not be unfair.

01:06:40 ◼   ► Yeah, that might not be unfair at all.

01:06:42 ◼   ► Okay, so in Magic the Gathering, my absolute favorite mechanism of the game is something

01:06:50 ◼   ► that most players consider quite banal and boring, but it is something

01:06:54 ◼   ► called Scry.

01:06:56 ◼   ► And Scry is the ability to look at the top cards of your deck and rearrange their order

01:07:05 ◼   ► or put some of them on the bottom.

01:07:07 ◼   ► And I love this so much in the game.

01:07:10 ◼   ► And I love this as a concept that I think is just applicable everywhere.

01:07:15 ◼   ► It's one of the very few words of the game that I like has so dug itself into my brain.

01:07:23 ◼   ► I sometimes just use it in conversation without clarification and then feel real awkward when

01:07:29 ◼   ► someone is like, "What the hell did you just say about like scrying your list?"

01:07:33 ◼   ► Like, "Oh no, this is very embarrassing."

01:07:35 ◼   ► But the thing about this is like the concept that it's trying to express here is in most

01:07:42 ◼   ► games of Magic, you're never getting to the bottom of your deck.

01:07:45 ◼   ► The thing that you're really concerned about is like, what is the order of the next

01:07:52 ◼   ► two to five things that's going to happen?

01:07:55 ◼   ► And I think people should just think about their to-do lists as a list of cards that

01:08:03 ◼   ► they're scrying through.

01:08:04 ◼   ► Your job is not to get through all of these to-do items.

01:08:07 ◼   ► Your job is to arrange them in the correct order.

01:08:13 ◼   ► And sometimes that means like, "Oh, you're looking at something and just like in Scry,

01:08:17 ◼   ► you put a card on the bottom of the deck because you don't want it right now."

01:08:21 ◼   ► It's like, you're going to take this to-do list item and you're going to put it at the

01:08:24 ◼   ► bottom of the deck and probably you're going to die before you get to that to-do list item,

01:08:30 ◼   ► right?

01:08:31 ◼   ► But that's fine, right?

01:08:32 ◼   ► Like that's just what life is.

01:08:34 ◼   ► Like, I think you're doing life wrong if you're consistently getting to the bottom

01:08:41 ◼   ► of your to-do list.

01:08:42 ◼   ► - Damn.

01:08:43 ◼   ► Oh, that's good.

01:08:45 ◼   ► - There is something about that that is really interesting to me where I don't know if you're

01:08:50 ◼   ► saying it this way, but like, if it's like an ambition thing, if you've done all of your

01:08:55 ◼   ► to-do items, then you're not reaching for something else.

01:08:58 ◼   ► - That's exactly the way I mean it is if your to-do list is empty, something about

01:09:04 ◼   ► your life is wrong and it's probably that you're not reaching hard enough or you're

01:09:10 ◼   ► just not thinking about the, just like the scope of things that you can actually do.

01:09:15 ◼   ► So this might be like in a game of magic, the games always end and like most games, players

01:09:21 ◼   ► still have cards in their deck.

01:09:23 ◼   ► You know that like in an average game, you're only going to ever get through like at most,

01:09:28 ◼   ► you're only going to see 40% of the cards in your deck in a normal game, but you still

01:09:34 ◼   ► have more cards in the deck than that and it's just like, it's the same with life.

01:09:38 ◼   ► - I would imagine you have some in your hand, right?

01:09:40 ◼   ► It's like, oh, I had some plans here.

01:09:42 ◼   ► Like I was going to do some cool stuff if it came around, but I just never got the chance.

01:09:46 ◼   ► - Yeah, exactly.

01:09:47 ◼   ► - I like this.

01:09:48 ◼   ► This is a good way of thinking about it.

01:09:49 ◼   ► - I feel very confident about this of like, people are framing this wrong and I used to

01:09:55 ◼   ► frame this wrong.

01:09:56 ◼   ► Feeling guilty that at the end of every day, I didn't complete my to-do list, but I just,

01:10:03 ◼   ► I think that's totally wrong.

01:10:05 ◼   ► Your actual job is like arranging the correct order of the next things that you want to

01:10:11 ◼   ► work on and that means putting some things at the bottom of the list, which you're just

01:10:17 ◼   ► never going to get to and that's fine.

01:10:20 ◼   ► That's totally fine.

01:10:22 ◼   ► In fact, it's way better than the alternative of having an empty to-do list.

01:10:27 ◼   ► - Man, I love that.

01:10:29 ◼   ► I really, I'm going to be thinking about that a lot.

01:10:31 ◼   ► That's like a really good metaphor.

01:10:33 ◼   ► Like it's not too dissimilar to how I am because I'm just realistic about like, I know

01:10:38 ◼   ► I always have more on my to-do list and I have time to fit into a day, but I'm able

01:10:43 ◼   ► to look at my list and I know what is like absolutely must be done and everything else

01:10:48 ◼   ► is movable or like I can do a little bit of it today.

01:10:52 ◼   ► I won't finish it.

01:10:53 ◼   ► So I'll get it closer to the point where I can check it off.

01:10:55 ◼   ► I don't feel guilty about there being things because I know I have come to accept that

01:11:02 ◼   ► I never have a day where I complete every item on my to-do list.

01:11:07 ◼   ► It just doesn't happen because I just know that there's always more to go if I want to

01:11:12 ◼   ► find time for it and that works for me great.

01:11:14 ◼   ► But I know, I just know by being able to look at things, what is the most important and

01:11:19 ◼   ► sometimes I flag them, you know, like in to-do list, I can change the color of a thing if

01:11:23 ◼   ► I need to be able to have something stand out to me, I can do that.

01:11:27 ◼   ► But I do think it's a skill that you have to learn over time.

01:11:31 ◼   ► There are some truths about the world you have to accept first and I think what you

01:11:35 ◼   ► have perfectly encapsulated is one of those of like, it's realistically just not possible

01:11:40 ◼   ► for you to do it all.

01:11:41 ◼   ► Once you've accepted that, you can then start to better prioritize.

01:11:45 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:11:45 ◼   ► And I still want to say like, there's just a slightly different framing here, which is

01:11:49 ◼   ► the like, it's not that you don't feel guilty for not having completed the thing.

01:11:54 ◼   ► No, no, no.

01:11:55 ◼   ► This is the way it should be.

01:11:57 ◼   ► Like you should end every day with more things on your to-do list than you were able to do.

01:12:04 ◼   ► The real question is, did you order things properly for the day?

01:12:09 ◼   ► Not, did you get everything done for the day?

01:12:11 ◼   ► [BEEP]

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01:14:27 ◼   ► Jens asks, Apple is rumored to be working on a journaling app.

01:14:32 ◼   ► Have you ever considered making your own digital journaling app?

01:14:36 ◼   ► Have we, Mike?

01:14:37 ◼   ► We'd be doing a lot of work with the word "considered".

01:14:42 ◼   ► So let me just, I will reference this by saying there is a suggestion that Apple is going

01:14:46 ◼   ► to be making a brand new app, which will be journaling focused.

01:14:49 ◼   ► It will prompt you to write down things in the day, but also like collect up information

01:14:54 ◼   ► about where you've been and who you've been with and like pre-populate some of that stuff.

01:14:58 ◼   ► It's an interesting idea, like I actually like it as an idea for a journaling app.

01:15:02 ◼   ► Although I do have some questions about like, will anybody else be able to use this information

01:15:08 ◼   ► that Apple's putting into their own journaling app?

01:15:11 ◼   ► But we'll see about that one.

01:15:13 ◼   ► And so I'm super intrigued to see what that's all about.

01:15:15 ◼   ► In regards to making a theme system journal app, no.

01:15:19 ◼   ► Right?

01:15:20 ◼   ► Like, I mean, have we considered it in a sense of making a decision on it?

01:15:24 ◼   ► Yes.

01:15:26 ◼   ► And the decision is we're not interested in doing it.

01:15:29 ◼   ► Yeah, we've discussed it, but I think every discussion has been a rather unambiguous no.

01:15:36 ◼   ► That this just doesn't make sense for us to do in this company as a project for a whole bunch of reasons.

01:15:44 ◼   ► The main one for me personally is I just think that this stuff is better when you are making

01:15:49 ◼   ► an intentional decision to sit down with a set of things, a pen and a notepad or a book or a journal of some kind.

01:15:57 ◼   ► Like get your phone away from you and sit and write down how you're feeling, what you're thinking about.

01:16:03 ◼   ► Like, I think that that is important and there's like, honestly, for me, the act of doing that thing

01:16:11 ◼   ► is part of what is important about doing it anyway, that you are choosing to sit down and do this thing.

01:16:18 ◼   ► Where I feel like if my phone is sending me a notification to remind me to write in a journal

01:16:24 ◼   ► and then I tap that and I write in my journal and press like set, like it just feels like any

01:16:29 ◼   ► thing that I have on my phone.

01:16:31 ◼   ► I have a daily to do task to write in my journal, but that doesn't then mean that I open GoodNotes

01:16:38 ◼   ► and start writing with the Apple Pencil.

01:16:41 ◼   ► Like, I've never done that.

01:16:42 ◼   ► I like to be able to sit down with this item that I care about, that I look after,

01:16:48 ◼   ► that it's mine and that I can see it's got my handwriting in it and it's filled up at the end.

01:16:52 ◼   ► I think that that is an important practice, like a thing to do.

01:16:57 ◼   ► So that is one of the reasons.

01:16:59 ◼   ► The other is just, have you heard about the economics of the App Store?

01:17:03 ◼   ► - Yeah.

01:17:03 ◼   ► - It would take a lot of time and money to make an app which has a high enough quality

01:17:10 ◼   ► that we will put our name on.

01:17:11 ◼   ► This is similar to the physical product stuff, right?

01:17:14 ◼   ► Me and you are going to have an app that's Cortex brand.

01:17:17 ◼   ► It's got to be really good that we would be happy with it.

01:17:21 ◼   ► So that's going to be expensive to make.

01:17:22 ◼   ► And then like trying to run that as a business, I don't know if I want to do that, to be honest.

01:17:31 ◼   ► I feel confident in being able to work with people to produce these products that we have.

01:17:36 ◼   ► Making an app to a high quality just feels like a completely different thing.

01:17:41 ◼   ► But also is not a thing that I particularly want to put my energy into because it would feel

01:17:49 ◼   ► like there's no good way of saying this without me sounding like, look at this guy.

01:17:55 ◼   ► But it would feel like it wasn't true to what I believe for the theme system.

01:18:01 ◼   ► I believe it is best used when using our journal or another notebook and thinking in this way.

01:18:12 ◼   ► I have a yearly theme and every day I'm going to sit and write in my thing that is focused

01:18:18 ◼   ► around my theme and it's going to help guide me because I'm taking the intentional time every day

01:18:23 ◼   ► to think about it and just write down how I'm feeling, how I'm getting on.

01:18:26 ◼   ► I think that that is important and I think the act of writing it down is the important part

01:18:32 ◼   ► by sitting and making that intention rather than just being like, let me open my app.

01:18:37 ◼   ► I don't know.

01:18:38 ◼   ► I can imagine so many people are listening to me and they don't see a difference.

01:18:42 ◼   ► That's fine.

01:18:43 ◼   ► But I feel this way and I'm part of the decision making of the things that we're doing.

01:18:50 ◼   ► Yeah, and I back you on this.

01:18:52 ◼   ► I agree there's a lot of problems with the economics of this.

01:18:56 ◼   ► Again, largely stemming from how would the two of us want this to be done.

01:19:03 ◼   ► It's not a question of like, is it possible to make an app that is vaguely this?

01:19:08 ◼   ► It's a question of making it the way that we would want to be, which is very different.

01:19:15 ◼   ► But I do also agree with you that I think behavior change is really hard for people.

01:19:21 ◼   ► It's especially difficult in absence of signals to yourself that you're really trying to

01:19:28 ◼   ► do something differently.

01:19:32 ◼   ► And for most people in the current modern world, having a notebook that is a physical object,

01:19:41 ◼   ► I think is a real signal to their own brain to pay attention that something is different here.

01:19:46 ◼   ► Sometimes you try to think about like, who are you making products for?

01:19:51 ◼   ► And like, who are you trying to help with things?

01:19:53 ◼   ► And I sometimes imagine a kind of customer that I can easily imagine as like a younger

01:19:59 ◼   ► version of myself as well, like someone who is like really tech oriented and spends a

01:20:07 ◼   ► lot of time around electronics, like just like I did, but is also dissatisfied with

01:20:13 ◼   ► life in various ways and is having a hard time like changing themselves.

01:20:18 ◼   ► And to buy a physical notebook, which itself acts as a physical reminder in your real life

01:20:27 ◼   ► space about something that you're trying to do, I think it really shows your brain like,

01:20:32 ◼   ► this is different from all of the other things in your environment.

01:20:36 ◼   ► Take it seriously.

01:20:37 ◼   ► And so I think for that kind of customer, the fact that it is a physical object is much

01:20:44 ◼   ► more helpful to them in terms of enacting actual change.

01:20:48 ◼   ► And that I can kind of imagine that selling an app, even if it is profitable, might be

01:20:56 ◼   ► a disservice to that exact kind of customer because it would be less helpful to them because

01:21:03 ◼   ► it is less distinct.

01:21:04 ◼   ► And like, something needs to be different is the whole thing about why you might be

01:21:10 ◼   ► buying this, which is why it helps that it's a physical product.

01:21:14 ◼   ► So I think we're in agreement.

01:21:16 ◼   ► No app of the theme system.

01:21:18 ◼   ► And we sell the theme system journal, use any notebook you like.

01:21:21 ◼   ► We're not using this as a time to try and sell you on it.

01:21:23 ◼   ► Like watch Grey's video, he explains it.

01:21:26 ◼   ► But like that is an important part to the two of us.

01:21:28 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:21:28 ◼   ► And that's also why like, I've talked about that.

01:21:31 ◼   ► We've talked about that.

01:21:32 ◼   ► We obviously sell a notebook, but I like, I don't know.

01:21:36 ◼   ► I don't want to get all cheesy here, but I really do feel it.

01:21:39 ◼   ► Like I feel very strongly about wanting to try and help people to be happier and to live

01:21:49 ◼   ► more satisfied lives because I know I could have had a really bad time in life.

01:21:55 ◼   ► And these kinds of things, if you catch someone at the right time with them are literally

01:22:02 ◼   ► life-changing.

01:22:03 ◼   ► It's important to me that people try this kind of stuff.

01:22:06 ◼   ► Obviously we want to sell notebooks, but I care a lot more that someone who needs it

01:22:11 ◼   ► like gives this a try and maybe it's helpful to them and you can just do it on anything.

01:22:15 ◼   ► But not an app.

01:22:22 ◼   ► Ian asks, a fairy or member of the appropriate government agency grants you an extra employee

01:22:29 ◼   ► at no cost to you that has whatever skillset you need.

01:22:33 ◼   ► What part of what you do now would you offload to them and why?

01:22:38 ◼   ► Ooh.

01:22:39 ◼   ► What would you say to this?

01:22:43 ◼   ► So this is the key of why like it's a fairy.

01:22:47 ◼   ► Okay.

01:22:48 ◼   ► Cause it's like there's magic involved.

01:22:50 ◼   ► There's magic involved.

01:22:51 ◼   ► Right.

01:22:51 ◼   ► Okay.

01:22:52 ◼   ► What I would want is someone who could help me with show production in like finding interesting

01:22:59 ◼   ► stories to talk about, helping me think about and expand on certain topics.

01:23:04 ◼   ► Like what's some interesting stuff that we could talk about.

01:23:07 ◼   ► The reason we need a fairy for this is because this person needs to think and work like me.

01:23:11 ◼   ► Exactly.

01:23:12 ◼   ► Because I wouldn't want to work with anyone like this if they didn't share my exact thinking.

01:23:18 ◼   ► Which is why I have no actual desire to find a producer because I like the way that I think

01:23:24 ◼   ► about topics for my shows.

01:23:26 ◼   ► Would I like it if there were two of me?

01:23:29 ◼   ► Great.

01:23:29 ◼   ► Right.

01:23:29 ◼   ► Other than that, this isn't a role that I would be looking to fill because I want to still be

01:23:35 ◼   ► involved.

01:23:36 ◼   ► But if there's someone who already thinks like me, then I'm already doing it.

01:23:39 ◼   ► You know?

01:23:40 ◼   ► That's why that's the fairy part.

01:23:41 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:23:42 ◼   ► If there's okay, if there's magic involved, this is in some sense an easier, but.

01:23:46 ◼   ► Exactly.

01:23:46 ◼   ► That's why I pick this question because there's magic involved.

01:23:50 ◼   ► Right.

01:23:51 ◼   ► So if there's magic involved, what I would want is a first draft script writer.

01:23:59 ◼   ► That would be the thing that I would want.

01:24:00 ◼   ► Right.

01:24:01 ◼   ► See, there we go.

01:24:02 ◼   ► You know, again, it's like, do the first part, but think like me.

01:24:06 ◼   ► Yes, exactly.

01:24:07 ◼   ► Exactly.

01:24:07 ◼   ► Yeah.

01:24:08 ◼   ► It's like, I mentioned this before, but like my skill is not writing.

01:24:11 ◼   ► My skill is editing.

01:24:13 ◼   ► And so getting to the point where there's the first, what I think of as readable draft is

01:24:19 ◼   ► so much work and it's so hard.

01:24:22 ◼   ► And the problem is like that first draft, it's the same thing you have.

01:24:27 ◼   ► But like there's, there's a certain kind of quality that I'm looking for.

01:24:29 ◼   ► And I know people are always like, oh, but you can hire writers.

01:24:34 ◼   ► And it's like, look, I'm just going to say, like, I know YouTube channels who have brought

01:24:39 ◼   ► on other writers.

01:24:40 ◼   ► And even when they're reasonably good, it's like, but they're just never quite the same

01:24:46 ◼   ► as the person who started the thing.

01:24:48 ◼   ► And like, you can just feel channels getting a little bland or it's just like, it's just

01:24:55 ◼   ► feels a little different.

01:24:56 ◼   ► And very often it's like, ah, they brought on more writers.

01:24:59 ◼   ► And it's like, it's just changed.

01:25:01 ◼   ► So I think that's the thing that I would want most if there was like a magic employee, it

01:25:06 ◼   ► would be the like, I'll give you, that's like, I'll keep doing the selection.

01:25:09 ◼   ► Like I'll pick something, but if you can give me like a first draft that I can start editing

01:25:15 ◼   ► from, that would be amazing.

01:25:17 ◼   ► But that would also be basically magic.