WEBVTT - Are We More Productive? 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:04.240 Hello. I'm Caitlin. My workplace problem is I'll be in 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:06.520 a meeting and there's a man who likes to sit 0:00:06.640 --> 0:00:09.319 right next to me, and you will use this pan 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.720 or pencil and just tap incessantly. And I'm having issues 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:19.040 with accountability in returning assignments. I want to know how 0:00:19.079 --> 0:00:21.880 to make more time. I guess I could just yank 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.439 it out at this hand. I don't know, but that 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.760 would make me too many friends. And I've tried several 0:00:26.800 --> 0:00:30.320 different things when it comes to time blocking. One thing 0:00:30.360 --> 0:00:34.120 to note is I am twenty five years old, and 0:00:34.479 --> 0:00:39.239 the group that I am coordinating typically are our superiors. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:42.000 Sometimes you get out of the time block and it 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:44.640 feels a little bit like you've already You're already behind. 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:47.440 I am curious to hear what you have for group 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.519 coordination and accountability. Thanks much, I have a good day. 0:00:51.640 --> 0:00:54.360 Bye bye. A lot of you have problems that you're 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.120 trying to solve at the office. So today, on the 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.680 final episode of Works for Me this season, we're going 0:01:00.760 --> 0:01:03.480 to look back at everything we've done and figure out 0:01:03.480 --> 0:01:18.560 whether solving work problems even works. Welcome to Works for Me, 0:01:18.640 --> 0:01:20.679 the show where we try to solve all of our 0:01:20.720 --> 0:01:24.280 work problems using productivity hacks to see if they'll work 0:01:24.400 --> 0:01:27.600 for you. I'm Francesco Leafy and I'm back at Greenfield. 0:01:28.080 --> 0:01:31.360 So this week is the last show of our season, 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.280 so sad, sad, So we're going to do something a 0:01:34.319 --> 0:01:37.679 little different. We are going to look back at all 0:01:37.680 --> 0:01:40.720 the experiments we did and see if the hacks really 0:01:40.760 --> 0:01:45.600 did work for us. Let's get started for our very 0:01:45.640 --> 0:01:49.000 first episode, Becca, you decided to make a bullet journal. 0:01:49.480 --> 0:01:53.400 This is a hand drawn journal that you customize with 0:01:53.440 --> 0:01:57.919 to do lists, calendars and trackers and kind of whatever 0:01:57.960 --> 0:01:59.200 else you want to put in it. And a lot 0:01:59.200 --> 0:02:05.080 of people get very serious about decorating it because it 0:02:05.120 --> 0:02:06.960 really doesn't matter if it's not parfect, because you're the 0:02:06.960 --> 0:02:09.720 one who wants to look at it every day. I'm 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:12.160 just like so nervous to mess up that it comes 0:02:12.200 --> 0:02:16.360 out looking kind of dumb. Oh my god, is ugly. 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:21.919 I'm really messing up basically, like I'm getting black pen 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:25.000 and places it shouldn't be the how did that happen? 0:02:25.440 --> 0:02:32.280 I don't love this pen. Oh god, that's ugly. As 0:02:32.320 --> 0:02:35.639 we just heard you, maybe we're not that great at 0:02:35.680 --> 0:02:38.040 like the beautiful aspect of it. Because it has this 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.560 Instagram quality of people making all these decorations and putting 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.680 pretty flowers and illustrations in the borders and using calligraphy 0:02:46.680 --> 0:02:49.600 and stuff. But you did find some use from it. 0:02:49.680 --> 0:02:52.040 So I want to know, first of all, are you 0:02:52.080 --> 0:02:54.960 still bullets turning? Yes, I still have a bullet journal. 0:02:54.960 --> 0:02:56.880 It's sitting right here in front of me right now, 0:02:57.520 --> 0:03:02.160 and I do still use the to do lists. So 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:05.079 I never kept to do list before the bullet journal, 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:09.080 which I know what was I thinking, um, But now 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:10.959 I write it to do list every day when I 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.040 get to work, and I'm pretty strict about writing it, 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:16.200 and I'm pretty strict about crossing things off every day, 0:03:16.280 --> 0:03:19.080 and I that is a habit I picked up totally 0:03:19.120 --> 0:03:21.280 from this. So I don't do a lot of the 0:03:21.320 --> 0:03:25.120 other bullet journal things, but at the very least I 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:27.280 do to do list. Yeah, because you learned how to 0:03:27.280 --> 0:03:30.560 do like calendars and activity trackers and all these other 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:33.880 special features. And you're saying, like you mostly it's mostly 0:03:33.880 --> 0:03:36.560 just a book of to do list to do list book. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:40.520 I do a couple other things. I keep a wind's page, 0:03:40.840 --> 0:03:43.200 which is very popular in the bullet journal world, where 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.920 you write down your winds, which is really good for 0:03:45.960 --> 0:03:49.560 people who um have low self esteem or impostors and 0:03:49.880 --> 0:03:53.920 worn't get really down about their work yourself. Yeah, and 0:03:53.960 --> 0:03:56.280 I did try this other a couple other things, but 0:03:56.480 --> 0:04:00.160 mostly to do list journal. But you did. Also. One 0:04:00.160 --> 0:04:02.760 of your takeaways from doing the bullet journal in the 0:04:02.760 --> 0:04:04.880 first place was that, like, you can kind of pick 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.080 and choose the parts of it that work for you. Yeah, 0:04:07.160 --> 0:04:09.920 and the big takeaway was that writing things down can 0:04:10.000 --> 0:04:13.400 help reveal things about yourself. I'm not as good at 0:04:13.400 --> 0:04:15.480 that part, but I did try something called a good 0:04:15.480 --> 0:04:19.960 time journal, where you write down all your tasks throughout 0:04:20.080 --> 0:04:22.400 the day and you categorize them in a special way 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.400 to figure out what you most like about your job. 0:04:27.040 --> 0:04:30.440 So that falls into the category of writing things down 0:04:30.480 --> 0:04:33.880 to reveal a deeper truth. Maybe I should try that. Yeah, 0:04:33.920 --> 0:04:37.160 it's cool. After hearing me go through bullet journaling, did 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:39.400 you take anything from the experiment and apply it to 0:04:39.440 --> 0:04:41.520 your work life? You know, while you were doing the 0:04:41.520 --> 0:04:43.839 bullet journal, even though originally I thought it was kind 0:04:43.880 --> 0:04:47.000 of silly and over the top, like just how much 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.960 time people spend on it in the bullet journal world 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.880 and how fussy it seemed, but secretly I was actually 0:04:53.960 --> 0:04:56.560 kind of catching some of the fever. And at the time, 0:04:57.120 --> 0:04:59.280 I think I even bought some jail pens and like 0:04:59.600 --> 0:05:01.599 maybe I'd didn't get as far as buying a bullet journal, 0:05:01.640 --> 0:05:04.400 but I thought maybe I'd start doing it, but I 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:06.039 couldn't really bring myself to do it. But what I 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:11.200 did instead was I started using a physical journal again. 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:13.040 I have like a date book that has blank pages 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:15.320 in it. I was keeping to do lists in like 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.760 lots of different places electronically, and now my to do 0:05:18.839 --> 0:05:22.040 list in my appointments are all analog and they're all 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.680 in the same place. Yeah, that's great. That's That's exactly 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:28.640 what I use mine for. And I'm proud of you. 0:05:29.520 --> 0:05:33.160 Week number two, you were trying to fix your mornings, 0:05:33.160 --> 0:05:36.039 which had become a mess according to you. So you 0:05:36.120 --> 0:05:39.640 did the rise Up method, which was a six step 0:05:39.680 --> 0:05:46.640 method to make the most out of the early hours. 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.880 So on day one, after making it out of bed, 0:05:51.560 --> 0:05:53.760 I did my level best to follow along with the 0:05:53.839 --> 0:06:00.320 yoga video I found on YouTube hold your blank three 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.120 and then going side to side, did you want at 0:06:03.120 --> 0:06:10.279 a time working away signing with are you still doing 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:14.040 this rise Up method? I kept up with it for months. 0:06:14.240 --> 0:06:20.400 I was like a dedicated riser, didn't touch the snooze button. 0:06:20.440 --> 0:06:22.320 That had been my big challenge in the episode was 0:06:22.360 --> 0:06:27.880 like training myself to stop pressing snooze and just face 0:06:27.960 --> 0:06:29.839 my demons and get right out of bed and get started, 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:31.880 no matter how tired I felt. And then the other 0:06:32.240 --> 0:06:35.160 my other big takeaway was how good it felt to 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:38.560 find time to exercise, to do a little yoga routine 0:06:38.920 --> 0:06:40.479 first thing in the morning, every morning. So I was 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.800 doing it every day, five days a week for months 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:47.000 and months, and then I got pregnant and I took 0:06:47.000 --> 0:06:53.320 a break because I stopped, I think, but I'm looking 0:06:53.320 --> 0:06:55.560 forward to going back to it. I think that of 0:06:55.640 --> 0:06:57.840 all of the experiments we've done, it probably had like 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.880 the most holistic impact on my whole the whole rest 0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:07.560 of my life. Like I felt fitter. I started my 0:07:07.640 --> 0:07:10.440 day feeling like I was kind of taking control of it. 0:07:10.440 --> 0:07:13.480 I wasn't controlled by like whenever my son decides to 0:07:13.480 --> 0:07:15.560 wake up and make noise and demand things. I was 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:18.000 just like doing my thing, and I was, you know, 0:07:18.120 --> 0:07:20.160 notching a little win the first thing in the morning. 0:07:20.640 --> 0:07:25.560 That is amazing considering where you started from. Which was, Yeah, 0:07:25.840 --> 0:07:28.320 just like kind of total chaos and really pushing that 0:07:28.360 --> 0:07:31.360 snooze button a lot. And I think it is impressive 0:07:31.440 --> 0:07:35.000 to do anything in the morning, So I think that's cool. 0:07:35.240 --> 0:07:38.440 What about you. Did you have any takeaways from my 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:44.320 morning routine? I was sincerely impressed with you doing exercise 0:07:44.360 --> 0:07:46.840 in the morning. I did not change my morning routine 0:07:47.000 --> 0:07:50.560 one bit. I know there's so much room for improvement, 0:07:50.640 --> 0:07:53.600 but I just can't do it right now. I'm just 0:07:53.840 --> 0:07:56.920 I'm not motivated enough. But it's good to know that 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.960 that options there the morning exists for me to take 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:03.720 one day. There you go, just not right now. In 0:08:03.800 --> 0:08:06.920 episode three, you wanted to work on your concentration and 0:08:06.920 --> 0:08:10.480 your ability to really focus deeply on tasks at work. 0:08:10.600 --> 0:08:14.320 So you try a method where you built up to 0:08:14.680 --> 0:08:18.680 thirty minute sessions of totally uninterrupted focus on one thing. 0:08:20.040 --> 0:08:26.160 And I feel so freaking good, Like it's just doing 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:30.400 thirty minutes of writing where you just get through it, 0:08:30.800 --> 0:08:35.200 you focus. I feel like a queen. Are you still 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.120 a queen? Do you still feel like a queen? Do 0:08:37.160 --> 0:08:39.480 you still feel like a focused ruler? You had gotten 0:08:40.280 --> 0:08:42.560 like addicted to doing these focus sessions. Are you still 0:08:42.559 --> 0:08:46.600 doing them. I have back slot a tiny bit, but 0:08:46.679 --> 0:08:49.520 I do still do focus sessions. I would say that 0:08:49.600 --> 0:08:52.120 for me, this episode had the biggest impact on my 0:08:52.200 --> 0:08:54.640 day to day work life. I when I need to 0:08:54.679 --> 0:08:58.679 get work done, I put on my playlist. In fact, 0:08:58.760 --> 0:09:01.200 my Spotify Discover has now learned that that's the type 0:09:01.240 --> 0:09:04.280 of music that I listened to most often. And I 0:09:04.480 --> 0:09:06.400 put a time around for thirty minutes, and I try 0:09:06.440 --> 0:09:09.559 it really hard to get through it, and it still works. 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:13.360 I yeah, I'm still into it. I think I haven't 0:09:13.960 --> 0:09:16.280 tried to increase the time more and I'm not as 0:09:16.360 --> 0:09:18.360 consistent about it, But just knowing that I have that 0:09:18.400 --> 0:09:20.720 in my back pocket can make me feel a little 0:09:20.760 --> 0:09:23.400 better when I'm feeling a little overwhelmed about a task 0:09:23.559 --> 0:09:25.880 I have to do. You told me you've got a 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:29.240 lot of responses to this particular episode. What kind of 0:09:29.240 --> 0:09:32.120 feedback were you getting from listeners. Yeah, a lot of 0:09:32.160 --> 0:09:34.600 people want to try the focus session. I think it's 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:36.400 something that a lot of people struggle with, and they 0:09:36.400 --> 0:09:40.640 were excited to have a pretty concrete, easy thing to do. 0:09:41.000 --> 0:09:43.600 I did get some questions from people. They asked how 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.880 often I was doing it or how often they should 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:49.600 be doing it in a given day. And my response was, 0:09:49.720 --> 0:09:52.280 just as often as you think you need to do 0:09:52.360 --> 0:09:54.800 it for me in a given day, I'll do it 0:09:55.080 --> 0:09:59.520 anywhere from zero to four times thirty minute sessions. Obviously, 0:09:59.640 --> 0:10:01.520 four time means I have a lot of work going 0:10:01.559 --> 0:10:03.199 on in that day, so I think you can customize 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.600 it for however works for you. Did you ever try 0:10:06.600 --> 0:10:11.800 a focus session? Once again, impressionable me. I was influenced 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:15.280 by you, and I totally did. I haven't done it recently, 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:17.520 but basically, any time I've had deep work to do, 0:10:17.640 --> 0:10:22.400 like something thoughtful to write, like a script, I have 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:27.080 I expand to the full screen so I can't see 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:31.040 any of the apps, I try to snooze any notifications, 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.559 and yeah, I'll do that. I'll do I usually try 0:10:34.600 --> 0:10:37.960 to do twenty minutes or thirty minutes, and if I 0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.360 go longer, that's great, because sometimes you pick it up 0:10:40.360 --> 0:10:42.000 and you just get into it and you lose track 0:10:42.080 --> 0:10:43.679 of the time, and then you focus for longer than 0:10:43.679 --> 0:10:46.480 you intended to, which isn't bad. But I have found 0:10:46.520 --> 0:10:48.840 it to be you feel so accomplished, Like you can 0:10:48.920 --> 0:10:51.160 hear it in that tape where you're like on top 0:10:51.200 --> 0:10:54.080 of the world. I feel great because you get so 0:10:54.200 --> 0:10:56.080 much done so quickly, and I think we're used to 0:10:56.120 --> 0:11:00.760 like seeing time just disappear without feeling that great about 0:11:00.760 --> 0:11:03.760 what we've done in that time. So when you've passed 0:11:03.800 --> 0:11:07.320 twenty minutes and you've like written a couple of pages 0:11:07.320 --> 0:11:10.320 of something, it's like it feels so compressed and you 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.800 feel like a hero. So because you've been telling yourself 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.480 for so long that you can't, Yeah, but you can, 0:11:15.880 --> 0:11:18.320 but you can. And then I guess the danger is 0:11:18.360 --> 0:11:21.400 which you got at in your episode. And I noticed 0:11:21.440 --> 0:11:24.600 also that you can then be like we've done that, 0:11:24.679 --> 0:11:27.680 like no need to do anything else for the day. Yeah, 0:11:27.720 --> 0:11:30.160 I think I do. Think there's another episode on procrastination 0:11:30.240 --> 0:11:35.640 to be done next season. An episode for you tried 0:11:35.720 --> 0:11:40.160 to reign in a meeting that you thought had gone 0:11:40.160 --> 0:11:42.880 off the rails, and you used a bunch of different 0:11:42.880 --> 0:11:46.600 techniques for meeting experts to try to get more out 0:11:46.640 --> 0:11:55.120 of your meetings. Hello, welcome to the team meeting. Please 0:11:55.120 --> 0:12:00.520 help yourself to some rude or doubta enjoy beling with 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:05.360 some of these NINDS enhancing toys. If you need something 0:12:05.400 --> 0:12:08.280 to do with your hands, are you still using any 0:12:08.320 --> 0:12:10.760 of the techniques to hold meetings like that that the 0:12:10.800 --> 0:12:13.440 meeting experts told you about. This is the experiment that 0:12:13.480 --> 0:12:16.440 I have fallen off the most on. Some of the 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.600 techniques that I learned were, like, make an agenda ahead 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:21.760 of time that you involve everybody else in the meeting 0:12:21.760 --> 0:12:26.200 in so that they contribute items and you all collectively 0:12:26.320 --> 0:12:31.240 own the discussion. Keep a timed agenda so that things 0:12:31.240 --> 0:12:34.160 stay on track and no one person is dominating the conversation, 0:12:34.200 --> 0:12:37.520 are talking too much, and like try to keep people 0:12:37.559 --> 0:12:41.640 engaged with food on the table and toys and other 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:46.360 kinds of things. And I I pretty much do none 0:12:46.360 --> 0:12:49.120 of that when I have this weekly meeting. I think 0:12:49.120 --> 0:12:52.680 what I did retain from it was that the other 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:56.720 people in the meeting also rely on it, rely on 0:12:56.720 --> 0:12:58.440 it to be a source of information that they can't 0:12:58.440 --> 0:13:01.040 really get anywhere else. And so when I'm in the meeting, 0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:03.160 I think I do kind of take it more seriously 0:13:03.280 --> 0:13:04.800 and I try to make it a little more structured 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.720 than it was. But I was run out of time 0:13:07.720 --> 0:13:10.120 to prepare for the meeting, and so it's really hard 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:11.920 to make a weekly meeting something that you feel like 0:13:12.000 --> 0:13:15.720 you kind of think about a bunch the day before 0:13:16.320 --> 0:13:19.400 or even like the hour before. So I don't know. 0:13:19.440 --> 0:13:21.080 I think I still have a lot of work to 0:13:21.160 --> 0:13:24.240 do in this area. Did you learn anything from my 0:13:24.320 --> 0:13:27.680 meetings adventures? Not really. I don't have the same meeting 0:13:27.800 --> 0:13:30.400 problem as you. I think it's so specific, so I 0:13:30.400 --> 0:13:33.440 don't know. I think that's fair. I've heard a lot 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.760 from listeners that a lot of people have issues with meetings, 0:13:37.760 --> 0:13:39.880 but none of them are really the same issues. Some 0:13:39.880 --> 0:13:41.600 people have too many meetings and they just want to 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:43.560 know how to have fewer, or some people have meetings 0:13:43.600 --> 0:13:45.520 where they never get a chance to talk. So you 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:49.880 can't solve everybody's meeting problems in one episode. This this 0:13:49.960 --> 0:13:52.120 episode really felt like the one where it's like the 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:55.280 big existential problem everybody has, just like meetings are on 0:13:55.320 --> 0:13:58.480 everybody's minds, but for different reasons. We also learned that 0:13:58.559 --> 0:14:01.920 like canceling all meetings is not the answer either, because 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:05.520 meetings do serve a purpose. So I don't know, man 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:25.320 meetings crack that NT yet. Yeah. In episode five, you 0:14:25.360 --> 0:14:27.040 wanted to address the fact that you didn't feel like 0:14:27.080 --> 0:14:29.080 you had anyone to talk to about your long term 0:14:29.120 --> 0:14:32.960 career goals, so you went out mentor hunting. You used 0:14:32.960 --> 0:14:36.160 a four step method to find somebody who could be 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:40.280 a sort of official career mentor for you. Hi, Arian 0:14:40.600 --> 0:14:43.440 Hayman Nush Hi Jodi, Hi Rebecca. My name is Becca 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:45.960 green My name is Becca Greenfield. I'm a reporter. I'm 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.720 on the Race, Class and Gender in the Right Place 0:14:48.720 --> 0:14:53.760 team here, I admired. So have you continued your mentor 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:58.800 hunt or are you still talking to Manus Samaroti, who 0:14:58.840 --> 0:15:02.240 was the woman who end up kind of meeting your 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:06.080 mentor needs in that episode. I have not tried to 0:15:06.080 --> 0:15:10.120 find a different mentor yet. Um. The process is a lot, 0:15:10.600 --> 0:15:14.000 and I think it's it's emotionally exhausting to just reach 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:17.200 out to people all the time and networking and being 0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:19.880 social and all that. I've tried some of the tricks 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:23.120 that the mentor expert Ellen and Shirt told me to 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:26.080 keeping up my relationship with Manuche, which is, you know, 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.400 reaching out to her about other things. Um. I sent 0:15:29.480 --> 0:15:32.040 her that episode when it came out. She was really 0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:34.160 nice and put it in her newsletter. So I think 0:15:34.280 --> 0:15:38.960 the relationship is slowly continuing and building, but it's still 0:15:39.000 --> 0:15:43.800 not to level in my fantasy mind of us gabbing 0:15:43.800 --> 0:15:46.080 all the time about my my career stuff. What was 0:15:46.120 --> 0:15:49.080 your what's your unrealistic fantasy that you would meet once 0:15:49.080 --> 0:15:51.480 a month and have like, yeah, a two hour dinner. 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:54.440 Yeah that sounds great. I feel okay about that. I 0:15:54.440 --> 0:15:57.680 think it's a really big goal, and so I'm just 0:15:57.720 --> 0:16:00.360 happy that I even tried to chip away at it 0:16:00.360 --> 0:16:03.840 in an episode. Have you tried to fend a mentor? 0:16:03.960 --> 0:16:06.240 And I inspire you? I have not gone out looking 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:10.240 for a mentor, but I was impressed by your journey, 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:12.080 and I think what I took away from it was 0:16:12.120 --> 0:16:17.360 that you should always go after bigger, bigger things, and 0:16:17.400 --> 0:16:20.800 also just like bigger people than you, then you think 0:16:20.920 --> 0:16:23.560 you're entitled to because you got the encouraging thing with 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:25.600 a lot of people wrote you back. So it just 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:28.320 kind of reminded me that, like, we're always a little 0:16:28.320 --> 0:16:30.600 people always have a tiny bit more time for us 0:16:30.640 --> 0:16:34.880 than we expect them to. Yeah, people are nice. In 0:16:34.960 --> 0:16:39.840 episode six, we worked on our problem together. We sought 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:45.640 out a management coach to help us with our teamwork. Obviously, 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:47.200 the two of you really like each other, you really 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.800 respect each other, and which is great. What we're going 0:16:49.840 --> 0:16:52.400 to move into now is I'm gonna ask you about 0:16:52.480 --> 0:16:55.560 some things that have been challenges between the two of you, 0:16:55.640 --> 0:16:59.080 and I'm going to let either of you start. I 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.320 can start, okay, since Becka started with the nice things, 0:17:02.880 --> 0:17:04.720 so he gave us some tips for working better together, 0:17:04.760 --> 0:17:07.880 things like talking to each other in person rather than 0:17:07.920 --> 0:17:12.040 over chat. Um, not making every situation into or not 0:17:12.080 --> 0:17:15.240 feeling like every single situation is an emergency and urgent 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:19.119 it has to be dealt with right away, and phrasing 0:17:19.359 --> 0:17:23.920 requests in a way that showed how we individually feel 0:17:23.920 --> 0:17:29.080 about them, not like their demands. Um. Do you feel 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:33.320 like you're still using these tips now? I think the 0:17:33.359 --> 0:17:36.280 one that's stuck with me the most is trying to 0:17:36.320 --> 0:17:38.800 realize that not everything is an emergency all the time. 0:17:39.680 --> 0:17:43.440 I don't think I've particularly tried to talk in person more. 0:17:43.920 --> 0:17:45.679 I noted a time where I did the thing that 0:17:45.760 --> 0:17:48.600 he said we weren't supposed to do, which was, instead 0:17:48.640 --> 0:17:52.119 of leading with my emotions, lead with you need to 0:17:52.160 --> 0:17:54.879 do X thing in this time. But I remember looking 0:17:54.920 --> 0:17:58.639 back and thinking, oh, I probably should have done the 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:01.560 emotions thing. So it's a mixed bag, how about you. 0:18:02.640 --> 0:18:04.560 I also haven't been doing a great job of keeping 0:18:04.640 --> 0:18:07.480 up with talking in person. I think we talk in 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.040 person a lot, but I've definitely noticed a couple of 0:18:10.080 --> 0:18:13.679 times when I've expressed my displeasure with how something was 0:18:13.720 --> 0:18:17.119 handled over chat and then I've been like, should I 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:18.920 pick this up in real life? But then by then 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:21.399 it's kind of like past and it doesn't feel like 0:18:21.400 --> 0:18:23.520 a big enough deal to keep going with it, and 0:18:24.400 --> 0:18:26.960 we don't have a podcast that we're recording that is 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.920 an incentive to like have a sit down conversation. I 0:18:30.000 --> 0:18:31.879 do think when we talk in person, and we do 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:34.719 talk in person a lot, we always get more out 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:36.480 of it than when we try to like sort through 0:18:36.520 --> 0:18:40.560 a problem over chat um. But I haven't increased I 0:18:40.560 --> 0:18:44.439 haven't increased my I r L time. I One of 0:18:44.440 --> 0:18:46.560 the things I've tried to do more that he also 0:18:46.560 --> 0:18:49.800 recommended to us was kind of giving more context for 0:18:50.560 --> 0:18:53.159 why when I have to triage or when I have 0:18:53.240 --> 0:18:56.679 to change the way we're doing something, um, like what 0:18:56.840 --> 0:19:00.280 else is going on with my workload that I might 0:19:00.320 --> 0:19:02.640 want to make and then offer a solution. And I've 0:19:02.800 --> 0:19:05.680 as a result, I felt a little less bad about 0:19:05.720 --> 0:19:08.160 doing it because my issue was, like I was kind 0:19:08.160 --> 0:19:11.080 of getting I was having a lot of guilt about things, 0:19:11.160 --> 0:19:13.320 and then I just wasn't talking about them. I also 0:19:13.400 --> 0:19:15.360 thought the upshot of our whole session was good, like 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:18.520 we came away from it feeling like we do work 0:19:18.560 --> 0:19:21.080 pretty well together and that the problems that we had 0:19:21.119 --> 0:19:25.160 to solve were relatively minor unsolvable, And so I think 0:19:25.200 --> 0:19:29.400 that that left a good like halo on our whole collaboration. 0:19:29.920 --> 0:19:32.959 In episode seven, you tried in Box zero to tackle 0:19:33.119 --> 0:19:36.280 your unruly in box. You know what, I'm just I 0:19:36.359 --> 0:19:39.440 just gotta do it. This is crazy. I have thousands 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:43.000 of emails in here. Oh my god, this is nerve wracking. Okay, 0:19:43.960 --> 0:19:54.680 am I really doing this? Okay, here we go shift, click, delete, delete, delete. 0:19:55.000 --> 0:19:59.119 So in the course of the episode, you really transformed 0:19:59.160 --> 0:20:01.639 yourself and it went from someone who ignored emails to 0:20:01.680 --> 0:20:05.000 someone who ignored everyone else to answer her emails. Are 0:20:05.040 --> 0:20:09.840 you still that person? Yes, I'm still I'm still fully 0:20:09.880 --> 0:20:11.520 in box zero. I make sure by the end of 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.320 the day that when I leave the office there's nothing 0:20:14.320 --> 0:20:17.720 in my inbox. I've either deleted it or filed into folders. 0:20:17.800 --> 0:20:21.400 And as for what has had the biggest effect on 0:20:22.119 --> 0:20:26.160 my workplace productivity, it's had some downsides like, yes, I do. 0:20:26.640 --> 0:20:29.320 Sometimes I'm distracted in meetings because I'm checking emails, and 0:20:29.359 --> 0:20:33.200 sometimes I spend too much time on email. But it's 0:20:33.200 --> 0:20:39.320 had more upsides because I am incentivized to react to 0:20:39.400 --> 0:20:42.000 things really quickly because I want so badly to get 0:20:42.000 --> 0:20:45.280 them out of my inbox. So like little dumb, annoying 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:49.760 tasks that I might have previously ignored, I just do 0:20:49.840 --> 0:20:52.000 them right away. The converse of that is that for 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:54.439 the bigger tasks, the things that I get emails about 0:20:54.760 --> 0:20:58.439 that I previously might have avoided because they were too 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:00.960 daunting and scary, Now I have a whole system for 0:21:01.000 --> 0:21:03.840 dealing with them, and I know exactly what's on my 0:21:03.880 --> 0:21:07.200 plate because I'm not worried that there's like three dozen 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:09.879 emails buried at the bottom of a list of spam 0:21:10.000 --> 0:21:13.280 that I'm forgetting about. Emails are like a debt. It's 0:21:13.280 --> 0:21:15.919 like what you owe to other people. And in the 0:21:15.960 --> 0:21:18.840 past I just wasn't balancing my checkbook. And now I 0:21:18.960 --> 0:21:21.359 know what I owe and so I can deal with 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:23.480 my expenses as they come in. So I think the 0:21:23.480 --> 0:21:26.359 benefits are worth the distraction that email is to you now, 0:21:26.359 --> 0:21:30.720 because I think that is the biggest criticism of being 0:21:30.760 --> 0:21:33.480 into email. Yeah, I mean I think that the ongoing 0:21:33.560 --> 0:21:36.160 challenge is limiting the amount of emails that I get 0:21:36.200 --> 0:21:39.000 so that it isn't a huge distraction. As I've been 0:21:39.040 --> 0:21:42.119 going along, I've been trying as many new methods as 0:21:42.160 --> 0:21:45.840 I can to get fewer emails. Like I act really 0:21:45.880 --> 0:21:48.680 proactive if I'm on an email thread that I shouldn't 0:21:48.720 --> 0:21:51.560 be on, or I make new folders and filters as 0:21:51.640 --> 0:21:54.000 I realize they're necessary, And so when I sit back 0:21:54.000 --> 0:21:56.800 down at my desk, it's not like thirty new emails. 0:21:57.320 --> 0:22:00.280 It's like ten new emails and eight or ane of 0:22:00.320 --> 0:22:04.680 them I can delete right away. So I don't think 0:22:04.680 --> 0:22:06.320 it's sucking up as much time as it was right 0:22:06.320 --> 0:22:08.399 after I started doing it. What about you? Did you 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:14.600 take any email tips away from my experience? No, there 0:22:14.640 --> 0:22:16.840 are so many things I want to do that you did, 0:22:17.119 --> 0:22:21.200 Like color coding recipients I think would be really helpful, 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:25.040 um making folders. Don't have any of those. I just 0:22:25.119 --> 0:22:28.840