Cortex

◼   ► so we are over an hour late starting

◼   ► today I'm not recording would you like

◼   ► to tell everybody gray why that is it

◼   ► was a snow day it is snowing in London

◼   ► we we have had enough snow in that it

◼   ► makes a significant difference which

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

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

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

◼   ► here right now and there is some snow as

◼   ► always with these things if you post on

◼   ► the internet that your city has snow and

◼   ► things are closing down people from the

◼   ► northern Arctic wasteland will get in

◼   ► touch and they'll tell you about how you

◼   ► don't know or understand what snow is

◼   ► all right that that Europe babe is like

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

◼   ► snow in places that are colder that's is

◼   ► never the question it's it's entirely a

◼   ► question of how economically feasible is

◼   ► it to keep a whole fleet of snow plows

◼   ► at the ready to get your city clear of

◼   ► snow and the answer is if your London

◼   ► where it didn't even snow last year you

◼   ► just don't have any plows right like you

◼   ► have nothing just don't have anything

◼   ► and so then when you do get every two

◼   ► years one inch of snow everything shuts

◼   ► down but most importantly I woke up this

◼   ► morning I saw that there was a lot of

◼   ► snow

◼   ► I immediately opened up carrot weather

◼   ► and saw that there was going to continue

◼   ► to be a lot of snow and I immediately

◼   ► declared it a gray industry snow day

◼   ► like nope year of order routine

◼   ► establishing in the morning right out

◼   ► the window it goes like it I just ran

◼   ► into the streets and it was great I

◼   ► spent all morning wandering around

◼   ► central London enjoying the snow and it

◼   ► was glorious but I did send you a

◼   ► message as soon as I possibly could like

◼   ► as soon as I popped up in Trafalgar

◼   ► Square I was like oh oh it's not a snow

◼   ► day for relay industries Mike's still

◼   ► gonna want to record the podcast so I

◼   ► sent you a message to try to give you a

◼   ► heads up that I was going to be almost

◼   ► certainly late coming back which I was

◼   ► but I liked that you you attempted to

◼   ► sweeten this by sending me picture up

◼   ► dates every now and then of the

◼   ► interesting things that you will find

◼   ► around London like look look it's so

◼   ► nice you know well III thought you're

◼   ► probably sitting at home yes in the in

◼   ► the real a company that is not having a

◼   ► snow day and having a you know a sad at

◼   ► the office day so I thought I was gonna

◼   ► brighten your morning with pictures of

◼   ► me frolicking in the snow

◼   ► I thought you would enjoy that Mike I

◼   ► did not and have not had a snow day it's

◼   ► been snowing for a few days I have not

◼   ► left the house even though I love snow

◼   ► that there there are a few things in the

◼   ► world that I love more than a naturally

◼   ► occurring than snow because it's so rare

◼   ► for me that like it's a real treat but

◼   ► oh yeah I think throughout this episode

◼   ► there is going to be a theme and the

◼   ► theme of this episode is Mike Mike feels

◼   ► very overwhelmed right now with work so

◼   ► I have a I have a character flaw in that

◼   ► when I feel very busy if I leave the

◼   ► house it's like I have committed a crime

◼   ► mmm

◼   ► like I have to be here and it is the

◼   ► only way that I can feel okay because if

◼   ► I leave I have neglected the mountain of

◼   ► work that I have to take care of so I

◼   ► have not left the house yet I believe as

◼   ► we're recording this today that when

◼   ► Adina comes home she is dragging me out

◼   ► of the house she's bought me a scarf

◼   ► even because she is unhappy with the

◼   ► fact that I have not left the house this

◼   ► week to play in the snow which would

◼   ► bring me great joy but right now I feel

◼   ► like I'm not allowed to do that I too

◼   ► had a mountain of work to do and I know

◼   ► this is a thing that is is very hard to

◼   ► do but I'm always really glad when I do

◼   ► it which is intentional play time or

◼   ► intentional goofing off or relaxing time

◼   ► where instead of what is very easy to do

◼   ► like oh I should be working but somehow

◼   ► I'm a Mario karting I don't know how

◼   ► this happened and as I cannot fully

◼   ► enjoying the Mario Kart

◼   ► because I know that there's something

◼   ► that I should be doing and I'm just sort

◼   ► of here procrastinating a little bit

◼   ► that's the worst because you're not

◼   ► enjoying the activity and you're not

◼   ► getting anything done but that's why

◼   ► this morning is like Oh woke up boom I'm

◼   ► the CEO I'm declaring its a snow day no

◼   ► work can happen on the morning of a snow

◼   ► day so there's no guilt at all nothing

◼   ► nothing is even possibly going to happen

◼   ► and I feel like that that's the best way

◼   ► to enjoy a thing is is to mentally

◼   ► cordon it off as work can't possibly

◼   ► happen while it's snowing outside

◼   ► everyone knows that so there's no

◼   ► there's no guilt because I couldn't be

◼   ► answering emails this morning it just it

◼   ► couldn't happen

◼   ► well annoys me the most is that I feel

◼   ► like I had gotten good like better at

◼   ► that like I feel like I had gotten a lot

◼   ► better at being able to say to myself

◼   ► you know what I'm gonna sit down and

◼   ► play Nintendo for a while and it's gonna

◼   ► be great I gonna but that we I've been

◼   ► going through some transitions

◼   ► business-wise this year that seemed to

◼   ► have upended everything I think that my

◼   ► company is at a stage now where it's

◼   ► there's just some changes happening like

◼   ► we're old enough that just different

◼   ► types of things are going on it's all

◼   ► good stuff like all of this work this

◼   ► additional work is being generated

◼   ► because of good things and the stress

◼   ► that I'm going through is because of the

◼   ► additional work not that anything bad is

◼   ► happening right like it's that kind of

◼   ► stress it's an overworld witness rather

◼   ► than a desperation type stress so I and

◼   ► I have not yet adjusted to this new

◼   ► world and right and I'm and I am trying

◼   ► to do some things to help me adjust but

◼   ► right now I'm not doing a very good job

◼   ► with it I'm sorry to hear that Mike

◼   ► overwhelmingness is maybe one of the

◼   ► much more harder things to deal with

◼   ► because it is that that it's just that

◼   ► cloud that feeling of oh there are so

◼   ► there are so many things it's it's very

◼   ► hard to get a handle on but you know I

◼   ► really think Edina needs to take you on

◼   ► a snow day

◼   ► yeah yeah I know I know it's tricky let

◼   ► me tell you actually let me tell you

◼   ► about something that I started doing

◼   ► which I'm hoping will help with this

◼   ► mm-hmm I have started a journal okay I'm

◼   ► gonna need I'm gonna need a lot of

◼   ► details on what this means to you yeah I

◼   ► know because it's that because I'm a you

◼   ► know I've basically gone anywhere from

◼   ► dear diary to like writing down minute

◼   ► by minute what I'm doing right is it is

◼   ► a all-encompassing term which these days

◼   ► means more and more and more so I have

◼   ► in the past looked at journaling systems

◼   ► I am a big pen and paper nerd I've

◼   ► mentioned this on the show before but

◼   ► this is a thing that really is one of my

◼   ► big loves in life is pen and paper I

◼   ► have an entire podcast dedicated to it's

◼   ► called the pen addict and I will put a

◼   ► link in the show notes in case people

◼   ► are interested we are about to hit our

◼   ► 300th episode it is a longest-running

◼   ► show that I have ever done does there's

◼   ► this weekly so you know like a lot of

◼   ► pen and paper news so that's the thing

◼   ► that I love very much so I've been very

◼   ► aware of journaling systems you know

◼   ► it's bullet journal is a big one right

◼   ► and I actually know the guy who made it

◼   ► his name is writer Carol and he's a

◼   ► great guy and we've kind of been going

◼   ► along with his journey over the time

◼   ► that he created the bullet journal cuz

◼   ► we first found out about it before it

◼   ► was nothing

◼   ► right the gute was just beginning and

◼   ► now it's like a huge huge deal yeah but

◼   ► I also bullet journal in my mind at

◼   ► least from what I know of it bullet

◼   ► journal is not a journal at all it's a

◼   ► task management system this is why when

◼   ► you say you started a journal I feel

◼   ► like I need to know what it is that

◼   ► you're talking about exactly so this is

◼   ► it right like this is it that the term

◼   ► journal means so much now but I said

◼   ► like I have looked into bullet

◼   ► journaling and I was considering it as a

◼   ► thing but it didn't do for whatever

◼   ► reason it wasn't doing what I wanted it

◼   ► to do and then a couple of weeks ago I

◼   ► had a call with mining your friend mr.

◼   ► David sparks and he was telling me that

◼   ► he had just started

◼   ► himself but decided to just create his

◼   ► own system which focused on things that

◼   ► mattered to him and I was like oh okay

◼   ► that's that's probably what I should do

◼   ► like why focus on somebody else's system

◼   ► when I don't I don't need a to-do list

◼   ► mm-hmm on paper like I already have one

◼   ► of those right so I figured I'm gonna

◼   ► focus on what I want to do and I have

◼   ► been keeping this journal for just over

◼   ► a week and every day I sit down at one

◼   ► point and I write out the headings of

◼   ► the things that I want to focus on in

◼   ► that day and then later on in the

◼   ► evening I'll kind of complete it so let

◼   ► me tell you what my system includes okay

◼   ► so I sit down with a double-page in a

◼   ► notebook and I write down a bunch of

◼   ► headings one of them is priorities one

◼   ► of them is called one good thing I have

◼   ► one bad thing what did I learn what am I

◼   ► looking forward to and then what pens

◼   ► did I use this is also a way for me to

◼   ► use my pens more which is nice but so

◼   ► yeah so priorities right okay let's run

◼   ► through these let's run through these

◼   ► one at a time

◼   ► priorities this is in essence like to

◼   ► dues but they are much broader and much

◼   ► more simple so like every day I may have

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

◼   ► list I want to complete right in

◼   ► introduced but they don't actually all

◼   ► need need need to be done today right

◼   ► like that's not how my system works

◼   ► sometimes sometimes I have to do is in

◼   ► my my project manager in todoist knowing

◼   ► that they won't be done today but I can

◼   ► do a little bit of work towards them

◼   ► today and then reschedule them right but

◼   ► my priorities are the things that by the

◼   ► end of the day today I will have a

◼   ► hundred percent wanting to complete

◼   ► these things so then when I'm coming to

◼   ► the end of my day and I'm looking at two

◼   ► duis and I'm moving seven tasks to

◼   ► tomorrow and I get that feeling of like

◼   ► tired

◼   ► do anything today I can refer to my

◼   ► journal and tick off the things that

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

◼   ► things that I actually achieved I set

◼   ► out to achieve the most important things

◼   ► that I needed to do today mm-hmm so it's

◼   ► like a it's like a it's like a sublist

◼   ► it doesn't bear any kind of control over

◼   ► my actual to-do list system it's more

◼   ► like it's more like pie in the sky type

◼   ► stuff right like these are things and I

◼   ► want to do and they can even be non-work

◼   ► things and they are a lot of the time

◼   ► not work things stuff that I wouldn't

◼   ► actually have in my to-do list but so

◼   ► like I'm gonna write one in right now as

◼   ► we as we're talking cuz I add to my

◼   ► journal throughout the day and it's

◼   ► gonna say go out in the snow that's

◼   ► gonna be added to my priorities list for

◼   ► today and then later on we'll go out in

◼   ► the snow but that's never gonna find its

◼   ► way into the duyst because it's not part

◼   ► of my system all right yeah and it also

◼   ► doesn't in the structure of using

◼   ► something to manage projects it doesn't

◼   ► really make sense to make a project

◼   ► which is called Mike is exposed to snow

◼   ► because it's good for his mental health

◼   ► exactly an action which is called go

◼   ► outside all right like that doesn't make

◼   ► it it's too heavy weight right it's way

◼   ► too heavy wait what let me rephrase it

◼   ► it's not good for the way that I have my

◼   ► system some people may do that right but

◼   ► that's not that doesn't work within the

◼   ► way that I think about tasks right but

◼   ► when I'm looking at like my priorities

◼   ► for today then yeah maybe that works so

◼   ► then I have one good thing on one bad

◼   ► thing so every day I but try them write

◼   ► down one good thing that happened and

◼   ► one bad thing that happened and I

◼   ► included the bad thing because I

◼   ► included the good thing I didn't want

◼   ► this to just be like an idealistic view

◼   ► of my life because bad things happen

◼   ► right and I didn't want this dis journal

◼   ► to just be like Oh everything right it's

◼   ► not like that it's not how life is okay

◼   ► so already we're getting into a little

◼   ► bit of a different function of this for

◼   ► you which is the idea that this is a

◼   ► thing like a traditional dear diary that

◼   ► you might look back

◼   ► as a record of what was going on in your

◼   ► life right that's that's why the one bad

◼   ► thing is there because it lets you know

◼   ► what's going on I highly doubt that I

◼   ► will even keep this journal when it's

◼   ► finished like I'm not harvest the stuff

◼   ► like this it's more just as a way for me

◼   ► to reflect on something so like by

◼   ► writing it down

◼   ► it's like acknowledging a thing happened

◼   ► or a thing didn't happen and honestly

◼   ► like the one good thing none of this

◼   ► stuff has I don't feel like it ever has

◼   ► to be completed right if I don't have a

◼   ► bad thing I'm not gonna write it I think

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

◼   ► idea for me is more just like a way to

◼   ► just reflect on things a little bit more

◼   ► just so I can focus on like what good

◼   ► things did happen today and my idea for

◼   ► this is like moving into the future if I

◼   ► feel like I've had a really bad day

◼   ► mm-hmm

◼   ► why don't I try and think about if there

◼   ► was a good thing and it might help me

◼   ► feel a little bit better and the reason

◼   ► I'm doing this is because of one of the

◼   ► things I learned about myself through

◼   ► time-tracking of understanding I feel

◼   ► like I've been very busy what the

◼   ► numbers say hmm sometimes the numbers

◼   ► say no you haven't so then it's like

◼   ► okay well let me try and think about

◼   ► that why do I feel this way if I have

◼   ► something that tells me it's not this

◼   ► way so it's like I might feel really bad

◼   ► today but maybe that's just the last

◼   ► half an hour mm-hmm as opposed to the

◼   ► entire day so that's kind of what the

◼   ► one good thing one bad thing is is meant

◼   ► to be for like acknowledging that there

◼   ► is both but also giving me a way to

◼   ► think about what my day was actually

◼   ► like because I don't know is this about

◼   ► myself that like I can have a perfectly

◼   ► good day but then things can ruin it

◼   ► like something happens in and I'm in a

◼   ► bad mood right and I am I'm very aware

◼   ► of this and believe that I think I would

◼   ► be overall more happy if I didn't dwell

◼   ► on they

◼   ► as much so this is kind of me trying to

◼   ► curtail that a little bit by having more

◼   ► of a structure more of a system around

◼   ► good things that happen and actually the

◼   ► next two parts of the journal also

◼   ► enforced this so one of them is what did

◼   ► I learn and this this serves two

◼   ► functions one of them is basically for

◼   ► the entire time that I have known Adina

◼   ► if she wants to talk if what we want to

◼   ► have a conversation but we don't have

◼   ► anything to talk about you know I could

◼   ► wear hang out hanging out with just

◼   ► chatting she will say to me tell me the

◼   ► three things you learned today and that

◼   ► has always been I've strong exercise for

◼   ► me that I fail at a lot of the time yeah

◼   ► I'm gonna say even even as someone who

◼   ► makes a real effort to try to read and

◼   ► expose himself to different things what

◼   ► are the three things you learned today

◼   ► is a tall order so it's tricky

◼   ► because I know that there are things but

◼   ► I just don't remember them or like at

◼   ► that moment I can't think back to like

◼   ► the specific things that I went huh

◼   ► about today right there must be more

◼   ► than three every day so I've always

◼   ► found this an interesting thing and a

◼   ► thing that I've struggled with but it

◼   ► was I thought it was a nice framework to

◼   ► try and write some stuff down where I

◼   ► try and write down a number of things

◼   ► every day that I have learned but this

◼   ► this is a very open thing where it can

◼   ► be like facts one thing that's changed

◼   ► my mind

◼   ► or even just a thing about myself or a

◼   ► thing that I found interesting like it

◼   ► can be literally anything but it's just

◼   ► three things that have kind of been in

◼   ► my mind today is kind of how I approach

◼   ► this so it can be like something pithy

◼   ► like something that I just think is kind

◼   ► of weird or funny or it can literally be

◼   ► like oh I found out this thing about the

◼   ► crown jewels today you know like so

◼   ► three things that I consider like

◼   ► notable pieces of information for one

◼   ► reason or another that I have

◼   ► accumulated

◼   ► over the day and it can be three things

◼   ► it can be six things sometimes it's one

◼   ► thing or two thing right like it doesn't

◼   ► really matter but it's more just what

◼   ► did I learn and it can be any amount of

◼   ► things but I try and aim to do three but

◼   ► most days get like yeah so and this is

◼   ► again another reflection thing like me

◼   ► trying to focus on some stuff that's

◼   ► happened in a day and just trying to

◼   ► note down some some notable items and in

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

◼   ► to so something that's on the horizon

◼   ► that I'm excited about and I have a

◼   ► little personal rule of I can't repeat

◼   ► the same thing over two days right so so

◼   ► you can't say like I'm looking forward

◼   ► to my upcoming wedding and you can't use

◼   ► that for the next six months it's more

◼   ► day-to-day so like I can have something

◼   ► that I'm really excited about which is

◼   ► happening on Saturday and I could write

◼   ► it on Monday and Thursday for example

◼   ► but it's it's more just like I can't

◼   ► write whatever yesterday it has to be

◼   ► different today mm-hmm and that's purely

◼   ► because sometimes there'd be something

◼   ► happening on Saturday and I would write

◼   ► you in every single day and I feel like

◼   ► that's I'm cheating yeah I think that's

◼   ► that's cheating the the idea of what

◼   ► you're trying to go for there mm-hmm and

◼   ► then the last section is ranked down my

◼   ► pens but you don't need to know any more

◼   ► about that I I want to know much more

◼   ► about okay well one thing is like

◼   ► they're looking forward to I used so I

◼   ► use two pens one pen to write the

◼   ► headings and one pen to write everything

◼   ► else in like the body of everything and

◼   ► I don't use the same two pens in a row

◼   ► either I have to use different pens

◼   ► every day right so this is a mechanism

◼   ► to help you rotate your pens yeah to

◼   ► enjoy my hobby more the image in my head

◼   ► is of a monk typesetting a book you know

◼   ► where they have the uppercase and the

◼   ► lowercase of all of the letters and

◼   ► they're working at a big day like this

◼   ► is my image of you writing out the

◼   ► journal is you have this array of pens

◼   ► neatly stored in front of you and so you

◼   ► just select well from this big this big

◼   ► array of pens is that was that was

◼   ► actually occurring

◼   ► I typically will go to my office and

◼   ► pick two pens from my kind of top pen

◼   ► selection which I keep on my desk at

◼   ► times and then take those to somewhere

◼   ► else in the house and write out my

◼   ► journal okay all right that's nice yes

◼   ► nice see you move around in the physical

◼   ► space to do it

◼   ► yep and then I keep the journal and the

◼   ► body writing pen with me kind of

◼   ► throughout the day and we'll add to it

◼   ► where I need to so you're a week in

◼   ► mm-hmm how do you think it's going it's

◼   ► become part of my routine already which

◼   ► I'm very surprised about I have a daily

◼   ► task in todoist right to complete the

◼   ► journal but it kind of gets to a point

◼   ► in the day where I feel like oh it's

◼   ► journal time they can it's not about me

◼   ► being reminded like and I just feel like

◼   ► oh I need to complete the journal now or

◼   ► one thing that I've been doing is I

◼   ► could get to a point nerd am like what

◼   ► should I do next and like oh I know what

◼   ► I'll do

◼   ► oh so you know it is a it is a part busy

◼   ► work exercise right so it's like a work

◼   ► Craster nation type dealio because I'm

◼   ► saying and I'm kind of doing a thing

◼   ► which isn't real work and it's kind of

◼   ► maybe putting off real work for a few

◼   ► minutes but I'd it's also a thing which

◼   ► is helping me think which I like yeah

◼   ► I'm gonna disagree with there I think

◼   ► that's entirely a category of real work

◼   ► in my time tracking system I have a

◼   ► category that I call meta work well and

◼   ► that that's that's what I would classify

◼   ► this kind of thing as is is it work like

◼   ► editing a podcast no but it's work like

◼   ► sorting out your brain and what you're

◼   ► thinking about and what you're paying

◼   ► attention to yeah I know that is a kind

◼   ► of work well I like this you seem to be

◼   ► very hesitant to let this count like I

◼   ► am so this again this has been a trend

◼   ► of my most recent busy time

◼   ► I'm trying to really focus on my to-do

◼   ► list as the work mm-hmm because there's

◼   ► already so much in there I don't need to

◼   ► also consider everything else work as

◼   ► well because then it's just too much

◼   ► it's too much work okay so you don't

◼   ► want it to count as work because you

◼   ► feel like you already have too much work

◼   ► okay yeah then it's not work then it is

◼   ► a personal project of yeah this journal

◼   ► is a counterbalance against the

◼   ► overworking right we're just gonna take

◼   ► this activity out of this arbitrary set

◼   ► of labels and oh look we've lifted it up

◼   ► and we put it down here in this set of

◼   ► arbitrary labels it's different now it's

◼   ► a totally different thing I'm sorry Mike

◼   ► it's not work at all I didn't I didn't

◼   ► mean to you know I know take it all back

◼   ► I take it all back this episode of

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◼   ► a lot of my busyness is self-imposed and

◼   ► I'm very aware of that and I'm trying to

◼   ► find ways to counterbalance it to kind

◼   ► of counteract it to break my thinking a

◼   ► little bit like I am a busy individual I

◼   ► do have a lot of things going on but I

◼   ► know I'm not as busy as my brain tells

◼   ► me I am right anyway because you do the

◼   ► time track because that's one of the

◼   ► many valuable things about doing yep

◼   ► time tracking so I'm right now I'm just

◼   ► trying to identify what is making me

◼   ► feel this way I mean cuz there are like

◼   ► again there of days this week where I've

◼   ► been working a lot and my time tracking

◼   ► reflects it like abnormal amounts of

◼   ► working hours and that's fine like I

◼   ► understand that I know what's going on

◼   ► it's all good but just the overall

◼   ► day-to-day feeling that I've had for

◼   ► maybe the last two weeks of like this

◼   ► complete of a la madness like I need to

◼   ► try and I need to try and ascertain why

◼   ► I'm feeling this way when a lot of the

◼   ► things that's happening not everything

◼   ► but a lot of the things are on the kind

◼   ► of like the general schedule of things

◼   ► the general kind of flow of time and I

◼   ► have some additional projects and stuff

◼   ► like that but logically they shouldn't

◼   ► be making me feel like how I feel right

◼   ► now mm-hmm

◼   ► so I'm just trying to work out what is

◼   ► going on and the only thing I have right

◼   ► now is this journal it's my only

◼   ► yeah so I'm just really focusing on that

◼   ► which is why I wanted to bring it to

◼   ► discuss today you're holding on to this

◼   ► journal real time real time because it

◼   ► is the only thing that it's you afloat

◼   ► in the last ocean of your work that

◼   ► stretches in every direction okay good

◼   ► well I'm going to say that I think it's

◼   ► a good idea

◼   ► I'm not going to poopoo your journal and

◼   ► one of the reasons I will not approve

◼   ► your journal is because I have I have

◼   ► done something similar to this and I

◼   ► hope you just feel really hesitant to

◼   ► talk about it because there's something

◼   ► so there's something so touchy-feely

◼   ► about this that I find myself a little

◼   ► bit repulsed but I have I have totally

◼   ► done this kind of thing and I have I

◼   ► have definitely found it a helpful

◼   ► exercise at times so yeah like I'll pull

◼   ► up I'll pull up what it actually looks

◼   ► like for me but sort of like when would

◼   ► it have been now maybe like a year and a

◼   ► half ago now at this point I was sort of

◼   ► going through a bit of a rougher time

◼   ► like you know we we touched upon some of

◼   ► those things like some of the recurring

◼   ► health issues for my wife and a few

◼   ► other things and it's just like not the

◼   ► best time in the world and this was one

◼   ► of the first times I tried this kind of

◼   ► thing because a friend of mine had

◼   ► recommended it to me and he's like

◼   ► listen you're gonna feel really stupid

◼   ► doing this but you should really try it

◼   ► and it's a good idea I was like okay

◼   ► fine

◼   ► I'll give this a shot and I did like the

◼   ► even the way you're laying out your

◼   ► journal I ended up doing something that

◼   ► was very similar and I felt

◼   ► so dopey about it because it's like okay

◼   ► in your little journal here's what

◼   ► you're gonna do you're gonna write down

◼   ► three things that you're thankful for as

◼   ► like how god am i do am i doing like a

◼   ► gratitude exercise here the answer is

◼   ► yes yes you are doing a gratitude

◼   ► exercise it's like okay fine

◼   ► so I'll write down like three things

◼   ► that I'm grateful for and then sort of

◼   ► like you're talking about what the

◼   ► priorities just three things that I can

◼   ► do that will make the day a good day and

◼   ► then at the end of the day I would just

◼   ► come back to that list see how things

◼   ► had gone and also just again ad like

◼   ► what were some good things that happened

◼   ► during the day right that's all it was

◼   ► it's like a way of starting something

◼   ► answering a few questions

◼   ► setting up the course of the day in my

◼   ► mind with what are the what are the top

◼   ► things that I want to do as opposed to

◼   ► what is the big ball of stuff in my task

◼   ► management system like just pick three

◼   ► things and then simply at the end of the

◼   ► day reviewing the situation and I did

◼   ► this for the first time when I was on a

◼   ► gradation in an undisclosed location in

◼   ► finis Scandia and it was stupidly

◼   ► effective like so effective I can't

◼   ► believe how effective it was at just

◼   ► changing my mental framing and also

◼   ► helping just make it really clear about

◼   ► I only have so much time today what are

◼   ► the things that I really need to do and

◼   ► so I'm gonna try to focus on those

◼   ► things so it's not that far off from

◼   ► what you're doing I did it for a while

◼   ► it is something that I have found nearly

◼   ► impossible to make stick as a part of a

◼   ► regular routine even though it's a thing

◼   ► that I in theory would want to do but I

◼   ► find that I can only really maintain it

◼   ► when I'm in a particular focused or

◼   ► almost somewhat isolated

◼   ► state-of-mind says like i am on a

◼   ► gradation I am on like the corporate

◼   ► retreat for one and I don't know there's

◼   ► I talk about two going on these

◼   ► corporate retreats for one things I

◼   ► always always sounds kind of silly but

◼   ► it is they're weirdly mentally draining

◼   ► and they're they're very mentally

◼   ► intensive and I feel like there's

◼   ► there's something about having this

◼   ► little thing running in the background

◼   ► of like oh you're gonna review a little

◼   ► journal at the end of the day that is is

◼   ► very effective but I have just not been

◼   ► able to make it last because I almost

◼   ► find like it's it's to mentally tiring

◼   ► even though it doesn't seem like it's a

◼   ► big deal

◼   ► but yeah so I've done that I've done

◼   ► that almost every time I go away on a

◼   ► corporate retreat I've sort of over the

◼   ► over the time I have modified it to add

◼   ► a couple of more questions or little

◼   ► little spaces so it's sort of developed

◼   ► into this thing that I now call a like

◼   ► my bookend journal so it's like the day

◼   ► starts and the day ends with looking at

◼   ► just these couple of pieces of paper but

◼   ► yeah it's I never look back at it it's

◼   ► not a thing that's any kind of archive

◼   ► for me it's just entirely a thing that I

◼   ► come on I'm on the trip I have my iPad

◼   ► and the pencil and I just fill it out

◼   ► you know on on on some fake paper that I

◼   ► had designed for me which I mentioned a

◼   ► while back and don't know why did you do

◼   ► that

◼   ► I just I just had people stop asking me

◼   ► for the designs the first time around

◼   ► because you said you were gonna share

◼   ► them and you never did III have plans to

◼   ► share them at some point but I just I

◼   ► just realized as I was discussing this

◼   ► what I didn't want you to have in your

◼   ► mind Mike was the romantic idea of me

◼   ► with a quill pen and it really believed

◼   ► that I for one second thought you were

◼   ► doing is an actual pen and paper I don't

◼   ► know what's in your head paper before I

◼   ► made for you by

◼   ► a mysterious individual and that I

◼   ► assumed that you were doing it there

◼   ► yeah that's where it still is but I am

◼   ► happy to hear that you have found this

◼   ► kind of thing effective too

◼   ► it is interesting to me that like you

◼   ► seem to speak really high of it but like

◼   ► can't find a way to integrate it into

◼   ► your life on a more permanent basis

◼   ► that's kind of surprising to me like it

◼   ► seems like counter to the types of

◼   ► things that you usually do right find

◼   ► something to be really useful but not

◼   ► like force it here is one of the here's

◼   ► one of the things this actually kind of

◼   ► rolls up into year of order a little bit

◼   ► which is the reason it works when I'm on

◼   ► a gray casian is because I always treat

◼   ► it as I wake up I get some coffee and I

◼   ► sit down with this thing and I have like

◼   ► I have some blank space one of the

◼   ► questions I've added over time that I

◼   ► find useful is just a big big blank area

◼   ► that just says what's on your mind and I

◼   ► just sort of just write some things down

◼   ► just random freeform like what am I

◼   ► thinking about that's nice yeah it's

◼   ► it's surprisingly illuminating to just

◼   ► sit and and have a blank piece of paper

◼   ► in front of you and just wait and see

◼   ► what thoughts surface and just go just

◼   ► write them down and it's almost always

◼   ► just kind of nonsense but very often it

◼   ► will get to the it'll get to things like

◼   ► what you're saying here like I'm feeling

◼   ► overwhelmed but not about anything in

◼   ► particular right it's like oh that's

◼   ► interesting why like let's let's try to

◼   ► figure this out a bit more but on the

◼   ► gradations I treat it as the first

◼   ► activity in the morning and I'm able to

◼   ► work it into a routine then but in in my

◼   ► regular working schedule so like now and

◼   ► I'm I'm back home I'm in London and like

◼   ► before I was going to my previous office

◼   ► and now I am going to the glass cube to

◼   ► create things which I think in my mind I

◼   ► think it is now because I've decided

◼   ► it's that's where creation is going to

◼   ► occur like it's gone from the glass cube

◼   ► to the glass Forge mmm

◼   ► the glass Forge in the year of order

◼   ► like I like these all of these things

◼   ► but it just doesn't fit in the schedule

◼   ► because I know on my regular life the

◼   ► most important thing the thing that I

◼   ► try to optimize for is wake up take a

◼   ► quick walk and then get right to a

◼   ► computer to work on a script for a video

◼   ► like I've got to make that transition as

◼   ► smooth as possible and doing the journal

◼   ► puts me in like a very different kind of

◼   ► mood it puts me in a much more like

◼   ► pensive big-picture mood which is not

◼   ► not the frame of mind for I want to

◼   ► start revving this engine to get some

◼   ► work done and so I like I've just never

◼   ► quite figured out how to make it work in

◼   ► a regular routine for me otherwise so

◼   ► it's it has ended up being just largely

◼   ► like a gradation kind of thing for me

◼   ► and and that's how I use it but that's

◼   ► kind of why I was curious like you're a

◼   ► week into it and I think um I don't

◼   ► think I have ever done it for more than

◼   ► 10 or 14 days in a row which is about

◼   ► the longest of the longest gradations

◼   ► and then after that it falls apart very

◼   ► quickly when I get back to my regular

◼   ► life feel like I'm gonna have better

◼   ► luck than you because of the secondary

◼   ► purpose that it serves in my life mm-hmm

◼   ► which is the act like the action of

◼   ► using my pens because that that brings

◼   ► me joy so like I I get something out of

◼   ► it which is separate which is like a

◼   ► feeling of happiness think that being

◼   ► able to act on a pursuit that I love

◼   ► mm-hmm

◼   ► so like that's an additional benefit

◼   ► that I get from this then what then what

◼   ► you would get but I'm happy to hear that

◼   ► is something that you do as well just

◼   ► because then I'm not on my own I'm a

◼   ► little wall right now no I totally get

◼   ► it I totally get it like an if it hadn't

◼   ► been a friend who I feel like is not a

◼   ► very airy-fairy person suggesting it

◼   ► quite strongly I think I never would

◼   ► have tried it in the first place he's

◼   ► like I'm not gonna sit down write three

◼   ► things that I'm thankful for

◼   ► that's dumb but like I said

◼   ► like comically effective comically

◼   ► effective at kind of changing your

◼   ► mental mindset so yeah it it very much

◼   ► works I'm gonna have a book

◼   ► recommendation for you Mike uh uh at

◼   ► this point I know you I know you don't

◼   ► like that you're at you're adding

◼   ► something to the work pile I know I know

◼   ► that I'm adding something to the work

◼   ► pile

◼   ► but listen never has a more perfect

◼   ► moment come to recommend something and

◼   ► I'm we don't eat we don't even have to

◼   ► commit to it being cortex book club I'm

◼   ► just gonna mention it on the show and if

◼   ► you read it and we want to talk about

◼   ► understand then we can talk about it we

◼   ► don't have to do it there's no

◼   ► obligation here whatsoever Mike like I'm

◼   ► only ever going to read this if it can

◼   ► be a work thing right okay I've really

◼   ► continued to I read books now for work

◼   ► it's the only reason that I would read

◼   ► any book now is to do it for work so is

◼   ► it triggers by Marshall Goldsmith yes

◼   ► yes so you saw this in the show notes

◼   ► documents this is this has been here for

◼   ► a while and I've been waiting to bring

◼   ► it up because on my last gradation a

◼   ► different good friend recommended this

◼   ► book which title the title of of it

◼   ► makes me laugh and it's a book that has

◼   ► a subtitle which is also very self helpy

◼   ► about creating behavior that lasts

◼   ► becoming the person you want to be

◼   ► everything about that sort of repels me

◼   ► from the cover of the book but oh god

◼   ► it's a leopard changing its spots

◼   ► yeah I know right did you get that it

◼   ► took a while right for the visual the

◼   ► visual metaphor there to work its way in

◼   ► yeah I know I was looking at that for a

◼   ► while and I was like what the hell is

◼   ► this cover I don't understand but yes it

◼   ► the cover literally has a leopard

◼   ► changing its spots but I read this on my

◼   ► last gradation which was also at an

◼   ► undisclosed location in finis kandia and

◼   ► I thought it was pretty good like as far

◼   ► as business books go I think this

◼   ► was pretty good and what I specifically

◼   ► wanted to do was let it sit for a while

◼   ► and see if future me was still thinking

◼   ► about it as a thing to come back to and

◼   ► the answer to that has now been yes like

◼   ► I've left it alone for a while and I

◼   ► still keep thinking about it which means

◼   ► okay I want to actually reread it and

◼   ► think if there's anything here to

◼   ► extract for me and it the most

◼   ► actionable stuff is directly related to

◼   ► things that are very similar to doing a

◼   ► daily journal so if you are trying to do

◼   ► a daily journal if you're trying to

◼   ► figure out the edges of what that might

◼   ► be this is this is the book to read to

◼   ► see if there's anything in here for you

◼   ► that might be useful and I want to

◼   ► reread it to see if there's if there's a

◼   ► way that I can modify my much more

◼   ► intensive pensive book and journal into

◼   ► something that's more like a daily

◼   ► action plan book and journal so I am

◼   ► going to reread this I suggest that you

◼   ► might want to listen to it on audiobook

◼   ► and if if you want to we could talk

◼   ► about on a future show but there's no

◼   ► pressure mic

◼   ► because I will I refuse to add any more

◼   ► work to your big work pile now let's do

◼   ► it let's do it next time let's do it

◼   ► okay alright because it's not that long

◼   ► it's it's a six hour audio book which is

◼   ► about a third of what we usually do so I

◼   ► feel like I can knock that out by next

◼   ► time all right so next episode we're

◼   ► gonna do a claw textbook Club and maybe

◼   ► for the first time it will be something

◼   ► of use to all the freelancers out there

◼   ► you know how important it is to make

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◼   ► one of the smartest decisions you can

◼   ► make is to use fresh books because fresh

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◼   ► thanks to fresh books for supporting

◼   ► this show gray the drought is over oh

◼   ► yeah mm-hmm

◼   ► year-long drought of no new Mike early

◼   ► vehicles so sad for the internet come to

◼   ► an end and I haven't you show that I'm

◼   ► very excited about and I want to just

◼   ► tell our listeners about it so they can

◼   ► go and check it out if they want to it

◼   ► is called playing for fun and it's

◼   ► hosted by Tiffany almond and myself it

◼   ► is not the big project that I've been

◼   ► teasing that is still in the offing this

◼   ► is the problem when people know that

◼   ► you're working on some kind of big

◼   ► project yeah is that they think

◼   ► everything's a project right oh he just

◼   ► tweeted it was that the big project no

◼   ► it was not I'll be working on this tweet

◼   ► for four years I'm still the big project

◼   ► is still kind of like being slowly

◼   ► chipped at every few days I will have a

◼   ► thought or I can idea and like I'm just

◼   ► ever so slowly flashing their hours to

◼   ► see if it's a thing that I'm going to do

◼   ► this is a project I'm very excited about

◼   ► every episode me and TIFF pick a video

◼   ► game and we just talk about what we love

◼   ► about the video game nothing else no bad

◼   ► stuff just the good stuff it is a fun

◼   ► happy positive show about things we love

◼   ► we don't talk about industry news

◼   ► we don't necessarily focus on the

◼   ► biggest games the biggest games right

◼   ► now we just pick a game that we love and

◼   ► we talk about it and we just talk about

◼   ► what we love about it and it is a show

◼   ► that is bringing me a lot of happiness

◼   ► because that's all it was about it's

◼   ► just about happiness and I feel like I

◼   ► get to talk about all of the things that

◼   ► I love like that's kind of I've built an

◼   ► incredible job for myself in that I just

◼   ► talk about things that I like right the

◼   ► things I'm passionate about the things

◼   ► that I enjoy in life but I tend to talk

◼   ► about them from a critical perspective

◼   ► right so like with all of the things

◼   ► where I'm talking about Apple stuff for

◼   ► example but even on this show I like to

◼   ► talk about working it's just a passion

◼   ► that I have that is the thing that we

◼   ► both share in just liking to talk about

◼   ► work I also talk about bad things like

◼   ► feeling overwhelmed right right but this

◼   ► show playing for fun we only talk about

◼   ► good things so it only makes you feel

◼   ► good you're never gonna criticize a

◼   ► video game like look I have another show

◼   ► about video games where I criticize

◼   ► video games right this one is just about

◼   ► good things so you can find it at relay

◼   ► that FM / playing for fun or any app

◼   ► that you use or any service that you you

◼   ► should be able to find it there it has

◼   ► the best artwork and music of any show I

◼   ► have ever been a part of it is

◼   ► next-level good so if anything just go

◼   ► check out the artwork so yeah it's

◼   ► called playing for fun please go and

◼   ► listen to it even if you don't like

◼   ► video games because you might just enjoy

◼   ► hearing two best friends talk about

◼   ► something that they enjoy like we have

◼   ► listeners of the pen addict that are

◼   ► like this people write in to us like I

◼   ► don't care about pen

◼   ► I just like hearing the two of you talk

◼   ► about things something that I don't

◼   ► understand so yeah go and check it out I

◼   ► just wanted to spend some time promoting

◼   ► well if you do like video games

◼   ► you should also listen to it as well

◼   ► because whenever TIFF has guested on the

◼   ► ATP podcast and she talks about video

◼   ► games at the end I've always thought she

◼   ► should have a podcast where she talks

◼   ► about video games she plays a lot of

◼   ► video games

◼   ► she's pretty hardcore the way she plays

◼   ► games is crazy but she's so yeah it's

◼   ► she's she's very hardcore and I've

◼   ► always enjoyed it when she's on ATP

◼   ► talking about games I thought she's

◼   ► talking about games more so you should

◼   ► go listen to it plus TIFF has a great

◼   ► podcasting voice she should do more

◼   ► podcasts so I'm glad she's doing another

◼   ► podcast with you alright let's talk

◼   ► about some year of aura and some this is

◼   ► part of my year of branching out by the

◼   ► way both for those things we've been

◼   ► talking about today I should have framed

◼   ► it as such but both the journal and the

◼   ► new show that's part of branching out

◼   ► cuz these are new things these are

◼   ► things that I haven't done before and

◼   ► I'm branching out by doing those so that

◼   ► that's actually part of my year of

◼   ► Europe branching out see this is the

◼   ► nice thing about your themes mike is is

◼   ► they can be inclusive or exclusive as

◼   ► you desire them to be yep right it's I

◼   ► love the year themes they should have

◼   ► these fuzzy boundaries so much better

◼   ► than goals goals or dumb themes way

◼   ► better and also okay so let's be real

◼   ► for a second if you set a good theme

◼   ► literally anything you do can be applied

◼   ► to the theme so you always feel like

◼   ► you're progressing yeah exactly right

◼   ► it's great I've just made a new show

◼   ► I've done this many times but it's part

◼   ► of my year of branching out because it

◼   ► wasn't something I did last year so I've

◼   ► branched out but I could also say oh

◼   ► it's nothing to do with the theme but

◼   ► I'm gonna say is part of the theme

◼   ► because then I feel like I'm progressing

◼   ► something in my life which is great news

◼   ► no it's fantastic to have in the back of

◼   ► your mind I went through a box with a

◼   ► bunch of computer cables in it and got

◼   ► rid of the ones that I don't need guess

◼   ► what

◼   ► year of order advanced a Yalie theme I

◼   ► have brought order to the books

◼   ► yeah this box more ordered oh the

◼   ► cutlery is out of place let me bring

◼   ► year of all of it to the cutlery girl

◼   ► order order in all things big and small

◼   ► Mike right it's great its base it's

◼   ► great I may leave the house today it is

◼   ► part of the year of branching out think

◼   ► that's stretching a little bit obviously

◼   ► any orders in the drawer but yeah yeah I

◼   ► mean that's well within the confines

◼   ► yeah for sure yeah now I guess going out

◼   ► going out for your snow day the snow day

◼   ► is big enough does I think to be you're

◼   ► branching out yeah that's good yeah I

◼   ► think so I think so

◼   ► no it's not normal in London so again

◼   ► themes big thumbs up goals thumbs down

◼   ► so what's going on in the airavata

◼   ► okay I'm back with OmniFocus yes that's

◼   ► what's going on right now I was I've

◼   ► actually been talking to your co-founder

◼   ► of real afm stephen hackett about this

◼   ► on iMessage a bunch which is the cycle

◼   ► of task management apps of going through

◼   ► these regular cycles of one to the other

◼   ► to the other it seems like stephenson in

◼   ► the bit of uh he's in a bit of a

◼   ► transition as well so we've been talking

◼   ► about it a bit and i knew this was going

◼   ► to happen and I feel like I have I have

◼   ► mentally settled on a metaphor to try to

◼   ► describe this process and I think it's a

◼   ► bit like a forest fire where what

◼   ► happens in life is you start out with

◼   ► things really simple like I'm always

◼   ► telling people hey when you're getting

◼   ► started with task managers just start

◼   ► with a piece of paper you don't even you

◼   ► don't even know what you want you don't

◼   ► need to get distracted by any of the

◼   ► complexity and paper is fine so just

◼   ► write down things did you want a piece

◼   ► of paper and then eventually you realize

◼   ► oh you know what I don't want to keep

◼   ► rewriting these recurring tasks let me

◼   ► try to find something and so you get o

◼   ► to a simple task manager and then you

◼   ► realize there's limitations in these

◼   ► simple task managers and you go to

◼   ► something a little bit more complex and

◼   ► you keep stepping it up and then you do

◼   ► have something that is very complex and

◼   ► then I think just

◼   ► like what you're going through now I

◼   ► personally find that at some point I

◼   ► feel this sense of vague

◼   ► overwhelmingness that's hard to pin down

◼   ► feeling like oh I have a whole bunch of

◼   ► things to do and that's when the forest

◼   ► fire comes through and sweeps it all

◼   ► clean all right and you just and then

◼   ► you start over you like you know what

◼   ► I'm just gonna be here with my iPad in

◼   ► my virtual paper and I'm gonna write

◼   ► things down like this for a little while

◼   ► and I feel like it's a healthy cycle

◼   ► because when the fire sweeps through

◼   ► gosh part of what happens is it's a way

◼   ► of discarding a whole bunch of tasks

◼   ► that you were never going to get to

◼   ► anyway I really I really would love a

◼   ► nicer metaphor than the one you know

◼   ► what about tides

◼   ► it's an ass isn't that less aggressive I

◼   ► don't like forest fires like you can't

◼   ► we call it like just like the tide comes

◼   ► in and it sweetens everything away from

◼   ► the beach it's working nicer now Mike

◼   ► you with your happy fuzzy life and your

◼   ► happy fuzzy podcasts no it's a forest

◼   ► fire because look I think it's

◼   ► appropriate because it's very easy in

◼   ► your life that I feel like the little

◼   ► tasks they grow up and around sort of

◼   ► just like in a forest like the forest

◼   ► becomes too dense and also the forest

◼   ► fire

◼   ► you have to realize like the forest fire

◼   ► is healthy for the forest right we're

◼   ► not we're not talking about like Oh some

◼   ► guy in California throws a cigarette out

◼   ► of the window and the whole state burns

◼   ► to the ground like oh it's a sight like

◼   ► a forest fire out somewhere in like

◼   ► Montana or Wyoming right where it's part

◼   ► of the lifecycle of the forest and it's

◼   ► actually required for seed pods to

◼   ► germinate this kind of thing so I feel

◼   ► like at the beginning of the year I went

◼   ► through the forest fire when I was on

◼   ► the gray keishon I stepped up to using

◼   ► things which I totally loved and

◼   ► definitely highly recommend but I knew I

◼   ► was eventually going to go back to

◼   ► something more complicated and then Omni

◼   ► wrote their blog post about what their

◼   ► plan for the rest of the year is and I

◼   ► do like some of the things in there and

◼   ► I thought okay things is kind of running

◼   ► up against the limitation

◼   ► of things and I also do have to say I

◼   ► really appreciate it I wrote the

◼   ► developers one particular question about

◼   ► like Oh could they change a thing and

◼   ► what I really love is unlike most

◼   ► developers who will say oh we'll put

◼   ► that on our list for consideration

◼   ► things wrote back and said no we're

◼   ► never going to do that look great I'd

◼   ► rather know I'd rather know that you

◼   ► never know you know that there's no

◼   ► point waiting yeah exactly and so some

◼   ► of the limitations and things just

◼   ► became too limiting as I'm back into the

◼   ► regular cycle of like regular podcasts

◼   ► and regular work and a whole bunch of

◼   ► other stuff I need something more so

◼   ► anyway long story short I'm back with

◼   ► OmniFocus and so that's what I've been

◼   ► using for the past couple weeks and

◼   ► almost certainly for the next six months

◼   ► it's what I'm going to be using for a

◼   ► while and then the forest fire will

◼   ► sweep through and everything will start

◼   ► all over again about this because you

◼   ► know all right so I'll tell you right

◼   ► now I'm playing with things because they

◼   ► just added this new automation system

◼   ► and it's really interesting and I'm kind

◼   ► of just toying around with it like look

◼   ► amazing I think that ultimately it

◼   ► probably won't make me as comfortable

◼   ► feeling is to do is does but I'm just

◼   ► playing around to it because there's

◼   ► some stuff that it can do which I've

◼   ► wanted to do of a task manager for a

◼   ► while but it didn't exist until now so I

◼   ► I just want to see what that's like so

◼   ► for example one big project that I have

◼   ► is this show and posting this show just

◼   ► from a point of like when the Edit is

◼   ► complete is a two-day process full of

◼   ► lots of things that need to be taken

◼   ► care of and we've using something

◼   ► incredible that Federer friend Federico

◼   ► vtg came up with which I will link in

◼   ► our show notes he created this like

◼   ► natural language passing system in

◼   ► workflow that can hand over a full

◼   ► project into things but it has an icon

◼   ► I've been adapting and tweaking with the

◼   ► workflow to the point where I can get

◼   ► like headings in a project which I've

◼   ► never seen before in any task manager so

◼   ► just like heading who's like one that

◼   ► says audio

◼   ► one that says video one that says

◼   ► posting so it separates out the projects

◼   ► I think I mentioned this last time as

◼   ► these non meaningful dividers that it

◼   ► things have which is lovely which is

◼   ► absolutely lovely because it can break a

◼   ► project up visually rather than just

◼   ► this like sea of items that look exactly

◼   ► the same

◼   ► yeah it's so nice they in OmniFocus

◼   ► there's a way that I can kind of trick

◼   ► it which is to have these fake sub

◼   ► projects and then have things listed

◼   ► under these fake sub projects and the

◼   ► those aren't real projects in the system

◼   ► but I I do I don't like the the lack of

◼   ► clarity where I'm what I'm looking at

◼   ► the list I have to remember oh that's

◼   ► not really a sub-project it's just a

◼   ► thing that I've made so I can group a

◼   ► bunch of similar things together it's

◼   ► one of the very nice things about things

◼   ► is the visual look of it and when I

◼   ► first saw the headings I thought oh this

◼   ► is dumb I'll never use this and turns

◼   ► out actually one of my favorite things

◼   ► in that app it's the headings is great

◼   ► and it's so visually nice so like I've

◼   ► been playing around with this project

◼   ► this list of tasks and grouping them out

◼   ► and using some of the there's a tool in

◼   ► in workflow called magic variables which

◼   ► was basically making variables like a

◼   ► like a construction set and it means

◼   ► that someone like me can use workflow

◼   ► more simply so what I've been doing is

◼   ► when I set the task when I say I want

◼   ► this project to begin what I want is for

◼   ► x to be entered into a to do manager

◼   ► that a relative's at a time that I

◼   ► started the project so right I want to

◼   ► be able to start a project and be like

◼   ► this thing needs to go off half an hour

◼   ► from the point that I begin and no other

◼   ► system that I've been able to use has

◼   ► been able to do this so I thought to

◼   ► myself oh I can do this in workflow

◼   ► because I can go into workflow and I can

◼   ► say okay by using their kind of date

◼   ► tools what is the current time add 30

◼   ► minutes to that time and then I can drop

◼   ► it into Federico's workflow as a magic

◼   ► variables

◼   ► it can look at the time that I've

◼   ► selected and been like 30 minutes from

◼   ► now right and and I've been able to

◼   ► piece that together in so I am playing

◼   ► around with this it's just like a what

◼   ► does that look like so then I end up

◼   ► with this multiple day it's not finished

◼   ► yet like this is taking me a while it's

◼   ► multiple day project with everything

◼   ► broken out which is all time relative

◼   ► front this is exactly what I've wanted

◼   ► for this specific project which is

◼   ► posting this show which is one of the

◼   ► like larger projects that I have purely

◼   ► because I just there are a lot of little

◼   ► pieces to it I don't want to get wrong

◼   ► so I have wait I don't do this for other

◼   ► shows because the process is is more

◼   ► simple and it's more streamlined and

◼   ► it's easier to repair if something goes

◼   ► wrong but with our show it's a little

◼   ► bit more tricky because there's also

◼   ► like all of the YouTube stuff and you

◼   ► know if if there's something wrong in

◼   ► the audio it is way harder for me to fix

◼   ► then with my other shows than adjust

◼   ► audio right because I would also have to

◼   ► change the video and like I just so I

◼   ► like to make sure I've got absolutely

◼   ► everything 100% taken care of before I

◼   ► do anything so it's a huge list of tasks

◼   ► and it looks like with this thing's

◼   ► automation I can create a template able

◼   ► project that I can run which will be in

◼   ► a much nicer state than anything

◼   ► OmniFocus has given me and to do this

◼   ► has given me because I've built these

◼   ► projects in both of these other apps but

◼   ► I've never been fully happy about it and

◼   ► it looks like that things can do that

◼   ► and I don't know what this is gonna mean

◼   ► for me but because I'm still playing

◼   ► around of it on this point and the

◼   ► reason I was laughing about all of this

◼   ► is I have I think I have come up with

◼   ► like a grand unifying theory about to do

◼   ► apps okay know to do app will ever be

◼   ► perfect because it is impossible to meet

◼   ► the specific requirements of an

◼   ► undefined

◼   ► user base right everyone uses their

◼   ► to-do app slightly differently even if

◼   ► they follow a system like GTD everyone

◼   ► has their own preferences so like it is

◼   ► impossible to create a perfect to-do app

◼   ► because nobody can ever be satisfied

◼   ► because no one is ever fully satisfied

◼   ► when a new app comes along

◼   ► there's always the promise of maybe this

◼   ► is the perfect one

◼   ► is the perfect one

◼   ► and that's why you move to it and you

◼   ► just keep doing this in the hopes that

◼   ► over time something will become perfect

◼   ► but the funny thing is it never will

◼   ► yeah I mean this is why I've always said

◼   ► like the the market for to do apps is

◼   ► infinite because everybody thinks about

◼   ► things in different ways but there's

◼   ► even there's even more granular problems

◼   ► like one of the things that has been on

◼   ► my mind

◼   ► in my move back to hominid focus when

◼   ► I'm getting the heavyweight stuff set up

◼   ► like I always feel like going going

◼   ► OmniFocus is bringing in the big guns

◼   ► like we're serious now and we're heading

◼   ► into a real serious phase of work yeah

◼   ► but there's a so here's the thing even

◼   ► an an individual user who has a clearly

◼   ► defined idea

◼   ► so OmniFocus for me has my projects in

◼   ► it so things like posting podcasts and

◼   ► videos and other clearly work-related

◼   ► stuff I have a constrained use for it I

◼   ► know how to use the system everything is

◼   ► great but even then you don't always

◼   ► want your to-do app to have the same

◼   ► behaviors at different times and so for

◼   ► example when do I want OmniFocus to

◼   ► alert me about something when it's due

◼   ► ahead of time like eat and right then

◼   ► there that immediately throws you into

◼   ► all of these problems of well the app is

◼   ► designed to set alerts when a thing is

◼   ► due so you have to build your whole

◼   ► system around the concept of okay if I

◼   ► want alerts

◼   ► I need the due dates to be when I expect

◼   ► the alerts to be right and this is just

◼   ► like behavior in a single app and to do

◼   ► managers are always going to run into

◼   ► that problem of you have to adapt

◼   ► yourself a little bit to however they

◼   ► think of things but like when I was when

◼   ► I was using the things app I was very

◼   ► aware of okay I need to build my system

◼   ► around the way they manage the today and

◼   ► the anytime lists and it's like okay

◼   ► this is great this is fine I can get

◼   ► this to work but you're always going to

◼   ► run up against a moment where you feel

◼   ► like

◼   ► oh but I want this thing to appear in

◼   ► the today list in a way that the app is

◼   ► never going to to do it so even within a

◼   ► single app or within a single user

◼   ► you're going to want inconsistent

◼   ► behaviors that are impossible to program

◼   ► for like oh I I do want alerts on

◼   ► deadlines but not for these tasks right

◼   ► but I do want them for those tasks or I

◼   ► want an alert for these things but I

◼   ► don't want to put a deadline on them

◼   ► right so is it it's just a it's a

◼   ► fundamentally impossible area and this

◼   ► is one of the reasons why for years now

◼   ► I have actually used multiple to do apps

◼   ► because I try to categorize different

◼   ► sorts of activities that I'm looking for

◼   ► and this this is why I like the

◼   ► longest-running one now is to do for me

◼   ► the number two do where I use that for

◼   ► what I think of as my starting the day

◼   ► and ending the day in other routines

◼   ► because I can have that app act the way

◼   ► that I want these particular kinds of

◼   ► tasks to be and that app happens to be

◼   ► really great at the ability to say sort

◼   ► of reset a day where it's like oh man

◼   ► I've totally blown off all my routine

◼   ► stuff but I just want to press two

◼   ► buttons to like reset tomorrow and at

◼   ► twenty things just work it's like that's

◼   ► great that's totally fine it works

◼   ► because there's a constrained set of

◼   ► things in that app and they're

◼   ► quarantined from OmniFocus which is a

◼   ► different kind of thing where like

◼   ► resetting a day is a fundamentally

◼   ► impossible thing to do so even even if

◼   ► you're willing like me to go to the

◼   ► mental effort of saying I'm going to

◼   ► division certain kinds of tasks that

◼   ► make sense to put these ones over here

◼   ► and those ones over there you still

◼   ► always run into this problem of we kind

◼   ► of want to do managers to read our minds

◼   ► and show us exactly what we want to see

◼   ► when we want to see it in a way that is

◼   ► impossible to programmatically define

◼   ► and of course it is also very easy to

◼   ► get enticed by the shiny to give it to

◼   ► give it a try

◼   ► because I feel like like a brand-new

◼   ► journal or a physical notebook it holds

◼   ► the promise of a better future this

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◼   ► this show great let's do some ask cortex

◼   ► questions I need to lighten this mood a

◼   ► little bit I need to I need to go out

◼   ► into the world and pick some questions

◼   ► from our listeners to help me right now

◼   ► so that sound good if questions from the

◼   ► listeners will

◼   ► help you Mike let's do questions for the

◼   ► listeners gray it always helps me and

◼   ► the first one comes from Chad and Chad

◼   ► says if you were applying for a new job

◼   ► today and had to update your resume

◼   ► what fonts would you choose uh do you

◼   ► have like a preferred font for stuff

◼   ► well no what my brain was just mentally

◼   ► rolling back there is realizing that the

◼   ► last time I put together a resume I was

◼   ► doing it in latex I don't have any idea

◼   ► how I would reset what is that like a

◼   ► letterpress what is that okay Mike

◼   ► anybody who's done a PhD they will know

◼   ► what later oh look at you um if you'd

◼   ► have done a PhD then you'd know no

◼   ► because because obviously you don't know

◼   ► Mike you didn't do a PhD well I didn't

◼   ► do a PhD either right just just to be

◼   ► clear here I closest I got to a PhD was

◼   ► dropping out of a master's course and

◼   ► sorry dr. grey I came across it because

◼   ► when I was a physics student the people

◼   ► who were doing the PhDs introduced it to

◼   ► me and they're like oh hey here's this

◼   ► thing that you can use to write papers

◼   ► and you actually hit precisely what it

◼   ► is it's if you think of the monk who is

◼   ► manually typesetting a book latex is the

◼   ► is the computer version of this so I

◼   ► would say it's like a think of like

◼   ► markdown make markdown ten times more

◼   ► complicated but it has a whole bunch of

◼   ► commands that allow you to produce a

◼   ► thing that looks like it has been

◼   ► professionally typeset latex is a thing

◼   ► that will produce just beautiful

◼   ► beautiful looking documents how is it

◼   ► spelled capital L lowercase a capital T

◼   ► lowercase e capital X so why don't say

◼   ► it lay tech because I get nervous about

◼   ► how I'm supposed to say it because in my

◼   ► head I would always call it late

◼   ► but then people would tell me that I'm

◼   ► pronouncing it wrong and I think it's

◼   ► supposed to be lei tech and I've heard

◼   ► people say la tech I've heard a million

◼   ► different things but all I know is if I

◼   ► ever say it out loud and I say latex

◼   ► then the people who are actually doing

◼   ► PhD starts coughing and they're like oh

◼   ► okay well you don't really know this

◼   ► thing but anyway the reason the reason I

◼   ► was mentally rolling it back is because

◼   ► I would just use a ton of the defaults

◼   ► in this markup language so I have no

◼   ► idea what font that would have picked

◼   ► from it was spitting out my resume so uh

◼   ► I don't know I don't know Chad I would

◼   ► pick I would pick a safe font I think

◼   ► that's I think that's what I would do

◼   ► something nice and safe but presumably

◼   ► in this scenario I would be applying to

◼   ► a school and you just want to convey

◼   ► safety and boredom in that in that

◼   ► resume as a as um as someone looking to

◼   ► get another physics teaching job so

◼   ► you're gonna be like Arial Calibri or

◼   ► Times New Roman

◼   ► yeah times new roman' thats probably

◼   ► which way would go yeah what about you

◼   ► Mike

◼   ► Joe common and Comic Sans let's really

◼   ► just wrap this one up no I I have to

◼   ► [Music]

◼   ► figure it out that's like me yeah - I

◼   ► like Gotham and Futura no good they're

◼   ► good the fonts that I like a future a

◼   ► bold mm-hmm and Gotham

◼   ► I think medium I like my favorite so I

◼   ► would try and find something within

◼   ► those typefaces to use in future and

◼   ► Gotham because I like them and

◼   ► especially Gotham it can look just

◼   ► relatively normal looking like future in

◼   ► many styles can be like a little bit too

◼   ► much right you you kind of look like

◼   ► you're really going for a thing but you

◼   ► know that they're my to know my two

◼   ► favorites although I am very very

◼   ► partial to a font in Google Docs called

◼   ► creepster

◼   ► which I use quite liberally on show

◼   ► notes document when there's the thing

◼   ► that we have to talk about that you

◼   ► don't want to talk about so like

◼   ► business stuff is is all written in the

◼   ► creep stuff on which is bad like bloody

◼   ► dreary home right you'll you'll put that

◼   ► at the top of our shared document and it

◼   ► will just say q3 scheduling right

◼   ► because you don't want to convey that

◼   ► everyone understands right it's like

◼   ► this is scary stuff but we have to do it

◼   ► mmm Nathan asked on the topic of the

◼   ► year of order I'd love to hear an update

◼   ► on how both of you deal with email these

◼   ► days especially we're helping your

◼   ► assistants have either of you tried

◼   ► services like missive to let assistants

◼   ► triage your inbox I don't I don't really

◼   ► want to talk about email because because

◼   ► I question for you next I will just say

◼   ► that like you are feeling

◼   ► overwhelmingness one of the things that

◼   ► for me triggered the idea of I need a

◼   ► year of order is that my year of

◼   ► redirection left I'll put it this way it

◼   ► left all of my communications with the

◼   ► outside world in total chaos

◼   ► including my email the number of times I

◼   ► opened my email last year was very very

◼   ► few and so while I have I have many sub

◼   ► projects that are going on in the year

◼   ► of order I want to set up my physical

◼   ► space and then I want to work on my

◼   ► routine and get that really narrowed

◼   ► down but one of the one of the things

◼   ► immediately after that is I need to work

◼   ► my way through this terrifyingly large

◼   ► communications backlog that I have on

◼   ► many fronts across many things so I

◼   ► don't really want to talk about email

◼   ► now I'm gonna have to deal with that at

◼   ► some point later a couple of days ago we

◼   ► were talking

◼   ► and you kind of mentioned in passing I

◼   ► haven't looked to email in months and I

◼   ► just there's like a part of me that's

◼   ► like I can't believe that that is true

◼   ► like you can't mean that like absolutely

◼   ► right

◼   ► well I mean sometimes websites will send

◼   ► you verification codes through your

◼   ► email and you need to click on those

◼   ► right and so yeah I've opened email for

◼   ► that sort of thing but as we have

◼   ► discussed as we have discussed in the

◼   ► past though almost almost everything

◼   ► that is of any importance to me now

◼   ► either people just know to contact my

◼   ► assistant directly because it will get

◼   ► them vastly faster turnaround then

◼   ► trying to contact me directly or its

◼   ► things through slack so part of this is

◼   ► a structural problem that I try to limit

◼   ► how much time I spend on administrative

◼   ► stuff and so slack and things coming

◼   ► straight from my assistant are much

◼   ► higher up on the queue of importance and

◼   ► so the hit rate and email has gone way

◼   ► down but I do really mean it that is I

◼   ► have not I have not looked at email in

◼   ► any meaningful way in a very very long

◼   ► time I have an enormous backlog of who

◼   ► knows what in there and it's it is time

◼   ► to it's time to get out the shovel and

◼   ► go through that at some point in the

◼   ► future but not not today not tomorrow

◼   ► but you know later there are so many

◼   ► things that mean you agree upon when it

◼   ► comes to getting what done what our

◼   ► approaches to email yeah yeah polarizing

◼   ► yeah I think about that every time I see

◼   ► an email notification on your watch

◼   ► right and it's like and I would just

◼   ► wanna be clear I totally know that that

◼   ► works for you right and it clearly does

◼   ► but it makes me it makes me sort of

◼   ► smile on the inside every time that

◼   ► we're together in person and I see a

◼   ► little poop and there's the email

◼   ► notification on your watch and it's like

◼   ► this is one area where we live very

◼   ► different lives if I use the application

◼   ► email right now like to do apps

◼   ► ever fully satisfied of email

◼   ► applications but I have it set with all

◼   ► of the preferences on my iPhone and even

◼   ► on my iPad

◼   ► that basically an inbox like so a list

◼   ► of email you can kind of see in like an

◼   ► inbox view maybe about seven or eight

◼   ► emails a time

◼   ► kind of like in at one time if I have to

◼   ► scroll that list

◼   ► I am very uncomfortable mm-hmm so at a

◼   ► given time there is typically never more

◼   ► than eight emails in my inbox and

◼   ► they're not being hidden like they're

◼   ► being one way or another dealt with

◼   ► mm-hmm we have very very different

◼   ► approaches to email it's really very

◼   ► different in regards to sharing email

◼   ► with people that I work with I would

◼   ► like to try and find a system for this

◼   ► eventually because right now it's a lot

◼   ► of forwarding going on which it's not

◼   ► ideal really oh yeah right I need and

◼   ► it's also with the situation I'm in the

◼   ► way that I've got things working for me

◼   ► it also wouldn't work for me to share my

◼   ► email inboxes they'd be way too much

◼   ► discussion about what email needs to be

◼   ► dealt with by who mm-hmm I want to be

◼   ► able to find an application or a service

◼   ► where you can kind of like assign email

◼   ► but I haven't been happy with anything

◼   ► that I've seen so far maybe one day I

◼   ► would like that but the triaging of my

◼   ► inbox is currently served by my Apple

◼   ► watch

◼   ► that is my triage assistant is my own

◼   ► little watch and Anil ash asked how do

◼   ► you manage your personal business email

◼   ► do you separate them across different

◼   ► applications or do you keep them all in

◼   ► one app you use unified inboxes I'm just

◼   ► assuming that like it's all goes in one

◼   ► huge bucket for you and it all is not

◼   ► dealt with yeah that's correct one

◼   ► gigantic unlooked at payal yup great

◼   ► even when I've been more on top of my

◼   ► email in the past I've never really

◼   ► found the hassle of multiple inboxes

◼   ► worth it for me again that that's a

◼   ► side-effect of the way I have structured

◼   ► my businesses but I've just I've never

◼   ► found the payoff to be worth it I have

◼   ► everything all go into one place you're

◼   ► gonna find in bots one application

◼   ► personal business email

◼   ► because honestly like email that is

◼   ► personal is not personal really like all

◼   ► of the email that I get will be deemed

◼   ► going to a personal account it's still

◼   ► like transactions and things that need

◼   ► to be checked upon you know like it's

◼   ► never really like my buddy sending me an

◼   ► email people don't email me like they

◼   ► have other ways to contact me right that

◼   ► like it tends to be all work no matter

◼   ► what email address is going to this one

◼   ► comes from Rafael gray has commented a

◼   ► couple of times about taking note of

◼   ► every idea that he has so you can get

◼   ► Muffy's mine and deal with him later

◼   ► how does gray deal with having ideas in

◼   ► bed right before sleeping does he pick

◼   ► up his phone and take notes or does he

◼   ► just let it go and hopes that he

◼   ► remembers the idea the next day okay

◼   ► this is gonna be really unhelpful but I

◼   ► fall asleep very fast so I get into bed

◼   ► and then it's morning so this is not a

◼   ► problem that I really have to deal with

◼   ► you made a we had a disgruntled noise

◼   ► there Mike I'm guessing this is not your

◼   ► situation no it's not my situation is I

◼   ► have to just wait until I can't be awake

◼   ► anymore okay and so I do thank you sleep

◼   ► yes that's why I go to bed at like 2:00

◼   ► a.m. because it's like body can't step I

◼   ► like sleeping hate going to sleep mm-hmm

◼   ► want some sleep inks awesome don't want

◼   ► to stop it but the act of like going to

◼   ► do it I hate it I hate mm-hmm so like I

◼   ► just would do things until I can't be

◼   ► awake anymore there's like this weird

◼   ► thing like in my admirer I feel like I'm

◼   ► just kind of just wasting time like I

◼   ► might as well just be reading Twitter

◼   ► for an hour and wait until like my

◼   ► eyelids are so bad I think everything in

◼   ► my life that would be deemed unhealthy

◼   ► the way I approach sleep is do is the

◼   ► least healthy part like it's it's really

◼   ► bad

◼   ► I can see though that it sounds like you

◼   ► and my wife are using the same sleep

◼   ► strategy which is

◼   ► only only when exhaustion grasps you by

◼   ► the throat rips you and you cannot

◼   ► escape is that like I'm a little sleepy

◼   ► I lay down boom

◼   ► almost immediately I'm asleep that I

◼   ► would hate that

◼   ► well luckily you don't have to suffer

◼   ► from that bike yeah I'll sleep next to

◼   ► you I guess because that would also

◼   ► drive me mad yeah let's not do that