WEBVTT - Give time themes, with Mike Vardy 0:00:02.960 --> 0:00:09.240 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning, 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:14.600 This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 0:00:14.640 --> 0:00:17.440 episode is going to be a longer one part of 0:00:17.480 --> 0:00:20.360 the series where I interview fascinating people about how they 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:23.160 take their days from great to awesome and any advice 0:00:23.239 --> 0:00:25.800 they have for the rest of us. So today I'm 0:00:25.840 --> 0:00:29.560 excited to be interviewing Mike Fardy. Mike is a productivity expert. 0:00:29.600 --> 0:00:32.040 He is the author of the new book The Productivity Diet, 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:35.440 which he will tell us about all about sustainable practices. So, Mike, 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:36.360 welcome to the shower. 0:00:36.479 --> 0:00:38.640 Thanks for having me. It's been a while since we've chatted. 0:00:38.640 --> 0:00:40.640 It's been a while. I'm glad to be chatting with 0:00:40.720 --> 0:00:42.520 you again. Why don't you tell our listeners a little 0:00:42.520 --> 0:00:43.200 bit about yourself. 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:46.800 So I am a, as you mentioned, a productivity expert. 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:49.479 I went from being like a kind of enthusiast to 0:00:49.520 --> 0:00:52.519 a specialist to a strategist and now having done this 0:00:52.520 --> 0:00:55.480 for fifteen years now I'm in that philosophical era now 0:00:55.800 --> 0:00:56.120 to a. 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:58.240 Degree, you're in your philosophical era, ykay. 0:00:58.280 --> 0:01:00.680 But I mean this book, The Productivity Diet, Practical Guide 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.520 to Nurturing your productive potential. It came out in early 0:01:03.600 --> 0:01:06.520 twenty twenty five, and it's kind of the you know again, 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:08.800 it leans into the how to how I'm able to do, 0:01:08.880 --> 0:01:14.000 you know, be simple, flexible and sustainable with my productivity practices, 0:01:14.120 --> 0:01:15.640 and that's kind of what I teach, so I write 0:01:15.640 --> 0:01:17.920 about it. I have a podcast, which you've appeared on 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.600 on a number of occasions, and I have linked learning classes, 0:01:22.800 --> 0:01:24.679 I have skill share classes. So I've been out there 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:27.520 for a while just teaching people how to stop doing 0:01:27.560 --> 0:01:31.479 productive and start being productive. And unlike you, well two things. 0:01:31.520 --> 0:01:34.360 Unlike number one, I'm Canadian. Number one. Number one, well, 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:36.880 I guess three because I'm a guy. Number two. Yes, 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:40.760 there's number two. I'm Canadian. Also, that's number three. I 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:41.920 am not a morning person. 0:01:42.600 --> 0:01:46.040 Yes, well, we will get to that for sure, because 0:01:46.440 --> 0:01:49.320 you know, that does change how we go about our 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.920 days and how we schedule things, and it's important to 0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.440 know ourselves with that and to you know, adjust how 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:58.480 we approach things based on who we are. But I 0:01:58.560 --> 0:02:00.919 want to talk a little bit first about what time 0:02:01.000 --> 0:02:04.600 crafting is, because one of your big ideas is time crafting. 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.200 So maybe you can explain to people what. 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:08.560 You mean by that sure. So I'm not a fan 0:02:08.600 --> 0:02:10.919 of the term time management because time has been here 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:13.280 before we arrived on this planet, and it will be 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:15.720 here long after. And I think it's rather arrogant for 0:02:15.800 --> 0:02:18.919 us to say we can manage something that is beyond us, right. Instead, 0:02:19.200 --> 0:02:20.800 what I suggest we can do is we can manage 0:02:20.840 --> 0:02:24.959 our relationship with it. And when people who are trying 0:02:25.000 --> 0:02:27.320 to kind of change that mentality from like I'm going 0:02:27.360 --> 0:02:30.040 to manage my time to manage my relationship with it, Really, 0:02:30.080 --> 0:02:32.800 what it boils down to is crafting your time. You know, 0:02:32.880 --> 0:02:35.240 we will never stop crafting our time until we no 0:02:35.320 --> 0:02:38.000 longer have a relationship with it, which means we are 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:41.040 no longer with time. Right. And it came to me 0:02:42.240 --> 0:02:45.160 through the title time crafting. The name of the practice 0:02:45.200 --> 0:02:46.720 came to me through a conversation I had with my 0:02:46.720 --> 0:02:49.480 son a number of years ago. We were walking to 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:53.040 his elementary school. He's now in high school. And you know, 0:02:53.080 --> 0:02:54.840 one of the things you're taught as a parent is 0:02:54.880 --> 0:02:57.120 don't ask your kids like how school going or what 0:02:57.160 --> 0:02:59.000 are you doing today? Because they're like fine, like they 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:01.200 shut down. They don't really talk a lot about it. 0:03:01.520 --> 0:03:04.320 But he had been playing Minecraft and I didn't know 0:03:04.360 --> 0:03:06.080 a lot about Minecraft, so I said, well, can you 0:03:06.120 --> 0:03:08.000 explain Minecraft to me? And he goes, well, Dad, you 0:03:08.000 --> 0:03:12.000 take these basic elements, you know, you know, earth stone, 0:03:12.520 --> 0:03:14.760 all these basic elements, and then you put them together 0:03:15.160 --> 0:03:17.440 and you craft something at a crafting table and you 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:19.519 get something useful out of it. You can make a weapon, 0:03:19.560 --> 0:03:22.840 you can make a house. And of course, as somebody 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.000 who has spent a lot of time writing creating over 0:03:26.040 --> 0:03:28.080 the years, I do have a background in comedy, so 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:29.799 I always look through things and try to find the 0:03:29.840 --> 0:03:32.720 funny and everything that's kind of transferred to my life 0:03:32.880 --> 0:03:35.880 that I live now. And I mean, I'm not going 0:03:35.960 --> 0:03:37.640 to say that as he was telling me about it. 0:03:37.680 --> 0:03:39.680 You know when you watch a movie and the person's 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.200 vocals kind of drifted to the distance and you're in 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:44.280 your own head at that point, you know, and they 0:03:44.320 --> 0:03:46.720 kind of like this mother, and you're like, what's going 0:03:46.760 --> 0:03:48.160 on in my head? That's kind of what happened where 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.280 I'm like, oh my gosh, that's what I've because that's 0:03:50.280 --> 0:03:52.480 what I'm teaching. I'm teaching people how to take things 0:03:52.520 --> 0:03:54.640 like their calendar and their to do list and these 0:03:54.640 --> 0:03:58.200 different things and put them together to craft their time. 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.520 And really what time rafting is made up of is 0:04:01.800 --> 0:04:05.960 three core elements, and they all involve the three kind 0:04:06.000 --> 0:04:08.920 of basic areas that I think help us craft our time, 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:12.120 which are time theming, which is directly related to the calendar, 0:04:12.160 --> 0:04:16.320 theming your days, your weeks, your months, even your year 0:04:16.400 --> 0:04:21.120 or seasons. Then there is attention paths, which are kind 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:23.760 of there, I would say, an evolution of getting things 0:04:23.800 --> 0:04:26.560 done's contexts, right, There's a bit more categories to them. 0:04:26.560 --> 0:04:28.840 There's types of attention pass and so for the people 0:04:28.839 --> 0:04:30.600 who are driven by their to do list, that's kind 0:04:30.640 --> 0:04:32.240 of the place that I start with them when I'm 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.600 coaching them or working with them. And then the third 0:04:34.640 --> 0:04:38.560 element is a reflective practice, so journaling, which is something 0:04:38.600 --> 0:04:42.440 that we tend to bypass a lot when we're making 0:04:42.440 --> 0:04:45.480 our way through time, and realistically it's probably one of 0:04:45.520 --> 0:04:49.320 the most undervalued and underappreciated elements because it allows us. 0:04:49.320 --> 0:04:50.960 I mean, you've talked about this, tracking your time is 0:04:50.960 --> 0:04:53.360 a form of reflective practice, right, like that kind of thing. 0:04:53.800 --> 0:04:56.280 But again, nuance has to be applied to all of this. 0:04:56.480 --> 0:04:59.760 So when I talk about time theming, it's not quite 0:04:59.800 --> 0:05:01.880 the s same as time blocking. Right, there's a bit 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.640 more flexibility built in. When I talk about attention paths, 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.200 it's not quite the same as contexts because there are 0:05:07.200 --> 0:05:09.360 some elements to it, like energy plays a role in it. 0:05:09.720 --> 0:05:12.200 And then reflective practice doesn't have to be you know, 0:05:12.320 --> 0:05:15.880 tracking your time. It could be you know, chronological journaling 0:05:15.920 --> 0:05:18.680 through a daily log. It could be you know, just 0:05:18.720 --> 0:05:21.080 basic interstitial journaling. It could be the one line a 0:05:21.120 --> 0:05:24.719 day journal that James Clear does. So those three elements essentially, 0:05:24.760 --> 0:05:26.800 if you do any or all of those with great 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:29.560 regularity in a consistent and sustainable way, then you are 0:05:29.800 --> 0:05:31.680 time crafting. And that's what I teach and and I 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:33.800 go into it in the second part of the book, right, 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.279 I want I want to get people's mindsets in order 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.000 before we go down this path. Because when I say 0:05:39.400 --> 0:05:43.880 time management is a fallacy and a myth, it immediately people, 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.039 what are you talking about? We've managing time for years, 0:05:46.440 --> 0:05:47.040 have we though? 0:05:47.880 --> 0:05:50.680 So No, we're really just all playing Minecraft with our time. 0:05:50.760 --> 0:05:53.120 I guess this is what it comes. I mean, I mean, 0:05:53.320 --> 0:05:56.599 we hear like the ideal week, you know, the perfect week, 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:58.799 that is such a I mean, it's great to aspire 0:05:58.839 --> 0:06:02.120 to that, but life happens. There are so many external forces, 0:06:02.600 --> 0:06:05.000 and our attention is really the thing. Like the things 0:06:05.000 --> 0:06:06.839 that we should be trying to manage are things that 0:06:06.880 --> 0:06:09.400 we actually have some agency over, a greater deal of 0:06:09.440 --> 0:06:17.520 agency over expectations, boundaries, again, your relationship with time, things, attention, right, 0:06:17.600 --> 0:06:20.239 like those kind of things. And so what time crafting 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:22.080 does is it kind of allows you to use time 0:06:22.600 --> 0:06:25.760 and your relationship with time kind of as a framing device, right, 0:06:26.000 --> 0:06:28.640 and space as well to make your way through your days, 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:31.040 your weeks or months, your years, and ultimately your life. 0:06:31.640 --> 0:06:33.520 Yeah. Well you talked about it being more of a 0:06:34.120 --> 0:06:39.280 partnership with time and the idea that productivity is you know, 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:41.719 you and time working together to get things done. 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:44.760 Yeah. Yeah, I mean I also have strong opinions after 0:06:44.800 --> 0:06:47.080 being again I told you I'm in my philosophical phase 0:06:47.080 --> 0:06:50.359 of productivity is broken, right, I mean, you know, the 0:06:50.440 --> 0:06:54.480 speed speed is not the end goal when it comes 0:06:54.480 --> 0:06:57.279 to being productive. Yet it's being kind of rammed down 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:59.120 our throats in a lot of ways, like get things done, 0:06:59.120 --> 0:07:02.120 like check off as many boxes as possible, be efficient, 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.680 be efficient yet, but efficiency is a byproduct of being productive. 0:07:05.680 --> 0:07:09.880 It's it's not being productive, right, So to me, I 0:07:09.920 --> 0:07:12.560 think that what I try to do in a productivity 0:07:12.600 --> 0:07:15.600 diet is and I've been trying to do this over 0:07:15.720 --> 0:07:18.360 the years that I since I left life hack, because 0:07:18.640 --> 0:07:21.840 life hacks really have been both a blessing and a curse. Right. 0:07:22.120 --> 0:07:24.720 The idea of hey, we can shortcut some of this stuff, 0:07:24.920 --> 0:07:26.880 but then we end up life hacking and life hacking 0:07:26.960 --> 0:07:28.480 and life hacking, and all of a sudden, we've hacked 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.720 our life to death with no hacking essentially is derived 0:07:31.720 --> 0:07:34.240 from a Latin term which I'm not going to necessarily 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:37.440 be able to translate right now, but the idea of 0:07:37.480 --> 0:07:41.320 hacking is to cut without care, right, So this is 0:07:41.360 --> 0:07:46.040 more of a deliberate, intentional kind of pruning and curating. 0:07:46.320 --> 0:07:48.760 And so to me, productivity isn't about being efficient and 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:52.320 effective like I said, those are byproducts. Productivity is about 0:07:52.320 --> 0:07:55.240 the active link between your intentions big or small, and 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.520 your attention and that partnership. So those two like if 0:07:58.520 --> 0:08:00.800 you can think about productivity and in a different way. 0:08:00.840 --> 0:08:03.920 And that's why the productivity diet I'm not talking about 0:08:03.960 --> 0:08:05.800 a diet is in like a crash diet like quick, 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.200 it's a lifestyle. And that's what this book kind of 0:08:09.200 --> 0:08:11.400 purports to help you with is to craft a lifestyle 0:08:11.440 --> 0:08:13.160 that allows you to craft your time in a way 0:08:13.400 --> 0:08:19.080 that allows you to live a fulfilling life where you know, 0:08:19.160 --> 0:08:21.560 you keep in mind things like cadence, rhythm. You mentioned 0:08:21.640 --> 0:08:25.080 listening to yourself listening, you know, living with nuance. I 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.560 talk about in the book the idea of absolutes, and 0:08:27.840 --> 0:08:31.600 I mean, for somebody who's a night owl, we can't help, 0:08:31.640 --> 0:08:33.280 but here all the time, Oh you got to get 0:08:33.360 --> 0:08:34.960 up early, you got to do this, you got to 0:08:35.000 --> 0:08:37.600 do that. So many health issues with people who you know, 0:08:37.640 --> 0:08:40.040 stay up late, but we don't look at the underlying 0:08:40.120 --> 0:08:43.199 or the underpinning elements of that. There's nuance to all 0:08:43.240 --> 0:08:45.280 of this stuff. And that's what I try to get 0:08:45.320 --> 0:08:46.920 into in the book is the idea of like, let's 0:08:46.960 --> 0:08:49.600 keep nuance in mind as we make our way through time. 0:08:50.360 --> 0:08:52.360 Absolutely well, We're going to take a quick ad break 0:08:52.400 --> 0:08:54.240 and then I will be back with more from Mike Verdi. 0:09:01.480 --> 0:09:04.640 I am back with Mike Farty. We are talking productivity 0:09:04.679 --> 0:09:07.400 in the different ways we can do time crafting. I 0:09:07.440 --> 0:09:10.720 want to talk a little bit about time theming, because 0:09:11.160 --> 0:09:14.600 you have different levels of this and the idea roughly, 0:09:14.760 --> 0:09:18.680 is you're choosing different kinds of tasks to do a 0:09:18.760 --> 0:09:22.880 different intervals, or you know, assigning a theme to a 0:09:22.880 --> 0:09:23.840 different length of time. 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:25.800 Sure. Sure, So the way I look at it is 0:09:26.200 --> 0:09:30.280 time theming is giving an overarching focus to a like 0:09:30.320 --> 0:09:32.800 you said, a type of task, maybe a role that 0:09:32.840 --> 0:09:37.800 you have, maybe a category. Right, So to me, I 0:09:37.840 --> 0:09:40.319 think the first off, a lot of people will say, 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:41.959 there's no way that I can theme my time. My 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.960 days are too dynamic, et cetera, et cetera. Whenever I 0:09:45.000 --> 0:09:47.840 start talking about time theming, I immediately go to things 0:09:47.840 --> 0:09:49.839 that are certain, because that's what we look at. Right. 0:09:49.920 --> 0:09:53.880 So when I'm working with clients or I discuss this 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:55.920 with people who have kids, I'm like, well, do your 0:09:55.960 --> 0:09:59.000 kids go to school on Saturday or Sunday? No? No, okay, 0:09:59.040 --> 0:10:01.160 So therefore you you know that your kids don't go 0:10:01.200 --> 0:10:02.959 to school on those days. So you may not want 0:10:03.000 --> 0:10:05.640 to be doing things like, I don't know, recording podcasts 0:10:05.679 --> 0:10:08.000 on Saturdays or Sundays. If you're running your own business 0:10:08.120 --> 0:10:11.439 or things that require you to tell your kids to 0:10:11.520 --> 0:10:13.240 keep down, keep it down, so on and so forth, 0:10:13.240 --> 0:10:15.440 you can orchestrate your time around that. And that's really 0:10:15.440 --> 0:10:18.200 what we're talking about here. So yes, there's daily themes. 0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.520 There's also what I call horizontal themes, which are increments 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:23.839 of time throughout the day. So as a night owl, 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.520 I do all of my writing tasks in the afternoon, 0:10:27.559 --> 0:10:30.560 So I have a writing theme that goes from two 0:10:30.559 --> 0:10:34.160 to four pm Monday through Friday. So at two o'clock, 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.480 no matter what my day is looking like, it's like, 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:39.400 all right, two o'clock, it's time for me to work 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.000 on my writing. Means nobody can schedule meetings during that 0:10:42.120 --> 0:10:45.439 time all of that stuff. The distinction between time theming 0:10:45.440 --> 0:10:48.600 and say time blocking, especially in those smaller increments, is 0:10:48.640 --> 0:10:52.120 that it is a consistent time it is. It's not 0:10:52.160 --> 0:10:55.360 like you're patchworking it, which can happen with time blocking 0:10:55.640 --> 0:10:58.960 plus time theming, because it's an overarching focus you're looking for, 0:10:59.360 --> 0:11:01.360 kind of like the just right, You're not trying to 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:03.120 be too narrow with your focus. So if I was 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.920 to say my two to four time is to focus 0:11:05.960 --> 0:11:09.600 on book writing, but I'm not writing a book, then 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:12.040 it's useless, right, Or yeah. 0:11:11.880 --> 0:11:14.280 You want to make it not too narrow, but that 0:11:14.520 --> 0:11:15.360 too broad as to be. 0:11:15.440 --> 0:11:17.640 Exactly, which, by the way, also you want to do 0:11:17.679 --> 0:11:20.000 with attention pass as well, because I mean one of 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:22.600 the things that and I love David Allen's work. He's 0:11:22.640 --> 0:11:25.439 a mentor. I've had many conversations with him. But when 0:11:25.440 --> 0:11:28.280 people use a context like home, especially during the era 0:11:28.400 --> 0:11:31.360 of COVID and remote work, not a terribly helpful context 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:32.840 in a lot of ways. I mean, because what they 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.520 should do is they should act as filters, and that's 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:38.080 what time theming does. So if I know that, like today, 0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:40.319 as we're recording, it's my connection day. So this is 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:42.600 the day where I will do outreach. It's where I 0:11:42.640 --> 0:11:45.000 will actually send a bunch of these books out in 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.079 the mail to people to say, hey, here, check out 0:11:47.080 --> 0:11:49.600 this book. It's where I will do that sort of thing, 0:11:49.760 --> 0:11:52.800 both personally and professionally, because it's covering my entire day. 0:11:53.160 --> 0:11:55.280 You and I are having this conversation right now, This 0:11:55.320 --> 0:11:58.439 would be an abstraction, So I stop focusing on that. 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:01.920 And once we're done having our conversation, my brain doesn't go, 0:12:02.040 --> 0:12:04.160 well now what My brain goes, Okay, hold on what 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:06.200 day is it? Oh, it's Tuesday? Okay, which is Tuesday? 0:12:06.280 --> 0:12:09.400 Meaning oh, Tuesday's connection? What are my connection tasks? And 0:12:09.440 --> 0:12:12.400 then I can go from there. So, yeah, it is. 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:15.440 It is essentially giving you an overarching focus. You don't 0:12:15.480 --> 0:12:18.000 them all seven days of the week, not especially not 0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:19.600 out of the gate. Start with the one that you 0:12:19.720 --> 0:12:22.080 know that you can have the most success with, and 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:23.600 then if you want to add more, you know you're 0:12:23.600 --> 0:12:26.600 gonna have two daily themes, maybe a horizontal theme that's 0:12:26.679 --> 0:12:28.720 kind of what time theming is. And again there's monthly 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:30.079 themes and so on and so forth. 0:12:30.360 --> 0:12:32.360 Well, what are some other useful themes? I mean you 0:12:32.400 --> 0:12:34.760 said connections. I think that's one that would be broadly 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:36.559 useful for a lot of people. Like this is when 0:12:36.559 --> 0:12:38.160 I reach out, this is when I have my nice 0:12:38.160 --> 0:12:39.160 to have conversations. 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:43.920 What might be in an administrative at mid day a 0:12:43.920 --> 0:12:47.880 horizontal theme would be let's say, actually, I'll tell you 0:12:48.040 --> 0:12:50.800 a great one. I was working with a client who 0:12:50.840 --> 0:12:54.280 was an administrative assistant, not just for the CEO, but 0:12:54.320 --> 0:12:56.160 for I mean, and what would happen when they were 0:12:56.200 --> 0:12:59.880 working with their CEOs and invariably others would ask this 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.320 person to do other things, and so they said, I 0:13:02.360 --> 0:13:04.240 was having a really hard time doing my things, and 0:13:04.280 --> 0:13:05.720 I was doing all these other things. I said, well, 0:13:05.720 --> 0:13:07.960 what if you had a horizontal theme. Well, first off, 0:13:08.000 --> 0:13:10.400 we work backwards from their certainty. So I said, when 0:13:10.440 --> 0:13:13.400 do people stop bugging you? Like? That was the first 0:13:13.720 --> 0:13:16.240 which no one had as asked her. She's like, oh, well, 0:13:16.240 --> 0:13:17.920 you know the afternoons people are kind of in there. 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.600 I'm like, okay, I go, so people that means they're 0:13:20.640 --> 0:13:23.320 primarily bugging you before lunch, right, yeah? Yeah? Like well 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.160 what if your what if your morning time from let's 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:30.559 say eight to noon is serving, that's your your theme. 0:13:30.800 --> 0:13:34.000 So it means anything you're doing is serving others, whether 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:36.480 it's the CEO, whether it's that's what you're focusing on. 0:13:36.559 --> 0:13:39.440 And then lunch access kind of like that boundary. And 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:43.200 then after lunch, your overarching focus is the self serving stuff. 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:44.679 And I go, by the way, if you're doing the 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:47.400 self serving stuff, right, you're serving others anyway, especially in 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.600 your role. And what she had to do then was 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.200 look at her to do list and just put s 0:13:53.280 --> 0:13:55.800 next to the tasks that we're serving others, and then 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:59.280 SS next to the tasks that were serving herself. And 0:13:59.280 --> 0:14:00.760 then all she would do is look at our list 0:14:00.760 --> 0:14:02.640 and instead of looking at the details of the to 0:14:02.720 --> 0:14:05.040 do list, which is where we can get caught up. 0:14:05.520 --> 0:14:07.680 She was looking in that last at the end of 0:14:07.720 --> 0:14:10.160 the task, saying, oh, these are all my ass tasks. 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:12.640 Let me batch those. Okay, that's what I'm gonna do 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:16.080 in the morning. So that's that's a very nuanced approach 0:14:16.120 --> 0:14:18.960 for an individual. But I have a day called the 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:23.280 household day, you know, and that means that that's when 0:14:23.280 --> 0:14:26.080 I do household tasks, which we all do anyway, Like, 0:14:26.440 --> 0:14:28.920 you know, I think I read a meme recently that 0:14:29.040 --> 0:14:32.080 was the week The weekend is either a day where 0:14:32.120 --> 0:14:34.200 we do all the things we love to do or 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.120 all the thing errand's we have to run. And we 0:14:36.160 --> 0:14:40.240 hate both options, like we want both options, right, But 0:14:40.240 --> 0:14:42.520 but i've you know, if you are somebody like let's 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.320 say a light bulb burnt out in my study here, 0:14:45.280 --> 0:14:49.160 I could stop and do that, but it's not affecting 0:14:49.160 --> 0:14:51.080 the light in my house. So if I wanted to, 0:14:51.440 --> 0:14:53.800 I could just write it down on my list the 0:14:53.880 --> 0:14:57.960 day I would probably the default day would be Saturday, 0:14:58.040 --> 0:14:58.920 let's say, and. 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:02.200 Then you but there's like an annual theme too, Like 0:15:02.240 --> 0:15:05.160 an annual axiom is sort of an overarching theme. I'm 0:15:05.240 --> 0:15:08.200 very curious what your your annual axiom is this year. 0:15:08.520 --> 0:15:11.120 So the annual axiom acts is kind of like a 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.360 north star, right, So it's very much like all of 0:15:14.360 --> 0:15:19.640 my projects have to serve that. If they don't, then 0:15:20.280 --> 0:15:22.600 probably going to be pushed aside, or they better serve 0:15:22.640 --> 0:15:25.240 a monthly theme at the very least. So my annual axiom, 0:15:25.520 --> 0:15:27.560 which I've returned to, and I mentioned this in the book, 0:15:28.320 --> 0:15:33.560 is Redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim. And I've had them in the past. 0:15:33.560 --> 0:15:35.960 One was called whatever it takes, no matter what. I've 0:15:36.000 --> 0:15:38.600 had three words, I've used the three words that Chris 0:15:38.640 --> 0:15:41.000 Brogan has used in the past. And what the annual 0:15:41.040 --> 0:15:43.200 acxiom does is I'm the only thing I'm resolute about 0:15:43.240 --> 0:15:46.360 is following my annual axiom. So if I want to 0:15:46.560 --> 0:15:50.080 I'm turning fifty one this year, I can't eat what 0:15:50.120 --> 0:15:52.080 I used to be able to eat very very you know, 0:15:52.160 --> 0:15:54.760 I have to start to take care of myself. So 0:15:54.800 --> 0:15:58.520 I'm going to. Okay, redesign, Rebuild, Reclaim does getting myself 0:15:58.520 --> 0:16:03.200 in shape and building a habit around exercise makes sense? Absolutely? Okay? 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:06.560 So what does that look like. I've been in this 0:16:06.640 --> 0:16:10.000 business now for fifteen years, and sometimes there's some reinvention 0:16:10.080 --> 0:16:12.000 that goes on sometimes. You know, when you've been writing 0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:13.880 a book and you've kind of been well, you know this, 0:16:13.920 --> 0:16:15.360 you've written books, and you kind of go away for 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:16.960 a little while, and then you come back out. You know, 0:16:17.040 --> 0:16:19.320 I've got this book, right, You're kind of peppering things 0:16:19.320 --> 0:16:22.080 out there, but you're you're in the weeds with the book. 0:16:23.600 --> 0:16:26.120 All right, Well, what things can I do that are 0:16:26.160 --> 0:16:29.000 project related that will live up to redesigning? You know, 0:16:29.080 --> 0:16:31.520 maybe where I'm at rebuilding, you know, maybe I've been 0:16:31.560 --> 0:16:33.520 gone for a while. I want to build my reputation 0:16:33.640 --> 0:16:36.360 back up, or my presence back up, let's say, and 0:16:36.400 --> 0:16:39.080 then reclaim you know, hey, you know being on this show, 0:16:39.280 --> 0:16:40.640 like you're saying, Mike, would you like to be on 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:42.880 this podcast? Number one? You know, you and I have 0:16:42.920 --> 0:16:44.840 known each other for a long time, and I've got 0:16:44.880 --> 0:16:47.080 a book to market, so there's no question it makes sense. 0:16:47.360 --> 0:16:50.360 But also it does serve that axiom, right, it does. 0:16:50.440 --> 0:16:54.600 So what I often recommend if people are tired of 0:16:54.600 --> 0:16:57.040 New Year's resolutions, and I'm also a big believer and not, 0:16:57.240 --> 0:16:59.040 you don't have to start the year on January first, 0:16:59.120 --> 0:17:02.320 either start my ear typically in September because my kids 0:17:02.320 --> 0:17:06.400 start school in September. But do like Slogan's work mantras 0:17:06.480 --> 0:17:09.359 like anything like that, and it really is helpful. You 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.480 can pair this up with reflective practice too. I don't 0:17:11.480 --> 0:17:13.679 get this into the into this in the book, but 0:17:13.720 --> 0:17:16.399 if you like meditation and you've got a mantra and 0:17:16.440 --> 0:17:18.879 your annual action can be that mantra that you chan't 0:17:19.320 --> 0:17:21.639 when you're doing like TM or something like that, it 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:24.560 can actually allow you to kind of choose the kind 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:26.199 of work that you want to do, the projects you 0:17:26.200 --> 0:17:28.119 want to take on, the initiatives that you want to 0:17:28.119 --> 0:17:30.680 bring to life. The annual action can kind of steer 0:17:30.720 --> 0:17:32.600 you in the right direction as opposed to you just 0:17:32.640 --> 0:17:35.120 going okay, well what do I do? How do I? 0:17:35.119 --> 0:17:39.040 I mean, that's because our brains will do we as 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:42.040 we make our way through time. We can either do 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:45.639 the primitive stuff, you know, like just survive or we 0:17:45.680 --> 0:17:49.480 can thrive. Right, So by giving our the newer part 0:17:49.520 --> 0:17:52.639 of our brain, the prefrontal cortex, some kind of help 0:17:52.760 --> 0:17:54.960 along the way, a bit of a compass, and that's 0:17:55.000 --> 0:17:58.880 what you know, timecrafting can do. And it also can 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:01.919 short circuit any argument that the older part of your 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:03.480 brain the ivingo that can kind of go, hey, well 0:18:03.520 --> 0:18:04.960 I don't really feel like doing this. Yeah, but you 0:18:04.960 --> 0:18:08.119 know what, it's Tuesday. Tuesday's your connection day, all right, fine? 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:10.879 Or I'm tired. What can I do when I'm tired? 0:18:11.200 --> 0:18:13.639 Oh I can do all these things? Yeah, but you 0:18:13.680 --> 0:18:18.080 know it's the afternoon and or sorry, it's the evening 0:18:18.520 --> 0:18:21.159 and work's done. Okay, Well, let's look at our personal 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.960 projects that are low energy and do those. All right, fine, 0:18:25.080 --> 0:18:27.159 I'll come back later to scrap with you again. So 0:18:27.200 --> 0:18:29.600 I could figure out, like that's the war that's constantly 0:18:29.600 --> 0:18:31.640 going on in our head, and having an annual action 0:18:31.720 --> 0:18:33.720 in any of these themes kind of give us a 0:18:33.760 --> 0:18:36.040 place to go absolutely. All right. 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:37.680 Well, we're gonna take one more quick ad break and 0:18:37.680 --> 0:18:46.560 then i'll be back with more from Mike Varty. Well, 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:49.520 I am back talking with Mike Vardy, and we've been 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:52.960