WEBVTT - Make your life simpler, with Roy Schwartz 0:00:03.020 --> 0:00:09.270 Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good morning, 0:00:10.060 --> 0:00:15.030 this is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's 0:00:15.170 --> 0:00:17.610 episode will be a slightly longer one, part of the 0:00:17.650 --> 0:00:20.910 series where I interview fascinating people about how they take 0:00:20.970 --> 0:00:23.810 their days from great to awesome and any advice they 0:00:23.850 --> 0:00:26.430 have for the rest of us. So today I am 0:00:26.470 --> 0:00:29.250 delighted to welcome Roy Schwartz to Before Breakfast. Roy is 0:00:29.290 --> 0:00:32.470 the co-founder of Axios and the co-author of the brand 0:00:32.510 --> 0:00:36.890 new book, simplify, do 50% more with 50% less. Roy, 0:00:36.930 --> 0:00:37.769 welcome to the show. 0:00:38.270 --> 0:00:39.480 Oh, thank you so much for having me. 0:00:39.800 --> 0:00:41.420 Yeah, I'm excited to have you here. Why don't you 0:00:41.460 --> 0:00:43.040 tell our listeners a little bit about yourself? 0:00:43.680 --> 0:00:46.320 Sure. As you mentioned, I'm Roy Schwartz. I'm one of 0:00:46.340 --> 0:00:50.040 the founders of Axios. Axios has three founders, the same 0:00:50.180 --> 0:00:53.510 group that originally put together Politico. And then we did 0:00:53.620 --> 0:00:57.340 that for 10 years and then created Axios. Axios was 0:00:57.380 --> 0:01:01.540 really created to provide people with news information as efficiently 0:01:01.580 --> 0:01:04.000 as possible. We saw an opening. We saw everyone being 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:09.120 overwhelmed with fake news, real news, text messages, Slack messages. 0:01:09.740 --> 0:01:12.160 And so we said, OK, what's a new way that 0:01:12.180 --> 0:01:15.330 we can format content so that it can be really efficient? 0:01:15.360 --> 0:01:18.490 And so that's why we launched Axios. And ultimately, that's 0:01:18.530 --> 0:01:20.650 what's led to our new book, Simplify, as well. 0:01:21.310 --> 0:01:24.389 Yeah, well, we are all about efficiency here at this podcast. 0:01:24.490 --> 0:01:28.440 Big fan of the topic. So 50%, I have to say, 0:01:28.470 --> 0:01:31.229 is very specific. Why are you guys promising that we're 0:01:31.250 --> 0:01:36.370 going to get 50% more done with 50% less, I guess, effort, time? 0:01:36.410 --> 0:01:37.089 I don't know. Tell me. 0:01:37.650 --> 0:01:39.610 Well, we've been implementing this for the last couple of 0:01:39.630 --> 0:01:42.509 years and have seen dramatic results, as well as starting 0:01:42.530 --> 0:01:44.940 to implement it within clients and seeing the same thing 0:01:44.980 --> 0:01:48.140 happen there. And so we don't write books. That's actually 0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.040 not our day-to-day occupation. So when we write something, we 0:01:51.080 --> 0:01:53.320 write it because we think it's going to add tremendous 0:01:53.380 --> 0:01:56.250 value to people's lives. And so we want to make 0:01:56.310 --> 0:01:58.810 a difference. We want to give back in many ways. 0:01:59.030 --> 0:02:02.770 And so Simplify is that. It captures all of these 0:02:02.910 --> 0:02:06.310 stories and lessons that we've learned over the last few 0:02:06.370 --> 0:02:10.419 years that have helped us to be super productive, super 0:02:10.440 --> 0:02:13.339 efficient with the use of AI, I may add, and 0:02:13.580 --> 0:02:15.500 where we find AI to be useful and where we 0:02:15.560 --> 0:02:19.260 find it to be detrimental. And so we thought now's 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:22.180 the time for this book because We're all kind of 0:02:22.240 --> 0:02:25.880 feeling anxious, right? We're feeling overwhelmed in terms of news 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:29.919 and change. And then there's this daunting thing that's about 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.180 to happen, right? Or is happening, right? Within AI and 0:02:33.200 --> 0:02:36.020 the impact that AI is going to have on our lives, 0:02:36.060 --> 0:02:39.459 whether professional or personal. And so we wanted to look 0:02:39.500 --> 0:02:41.640 at that and say, okay, well, who's going to win 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:45.360 when all of this takes place? And our belief is 0:02:45.400 --> 0:02:48.240 that the companies and the people that have simplified their 0:02:48.280 --> 0:02:50.500 lives so that they're able to focus, they're able to 0:02:50.540 --> 0:02:53.190 be efficient, and they're able to move quickly. Because one 0:02:53.230 --> 0:02:55.210 of the things that we see is there's going to 0:02:55.230 --> 0:02:56.870 be a lot of change happening and we're going to 0:02:56.889 --> 0:02:59.350 have to pivot, whether that's in your personal life and 0:02:59.370 --> 0:03:01.709 professional life, there's going to be changes that are coming 0:03:02.030 --> 0:03:04.090 and those that are able to adapt to it quickly. 0:03:04.410 --> 0:03:06.190 And in order to do that, you have to make space. 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:11.440 You guys refer to AI as something of a power tool. 0:03:11.840 --> 0:03:14.830 I wonder if you can explain that metaphor in terms 0:03:14.950 --> 0:03:18.150 of what AI is doing with us. 0:03:18.590 --> 0:03:20.810 Well, two things. We refer to the whole book as 0:03:20.850 --> 0:03:24.799 a power tool, right? It's written in a very, how 0:03:24.820 --> 0:03:27.560 do I actually simplify my life? What are the steps 0:03:27.580 --> 0:03:29.919 that I need to take? How do I actually use 0:03:29.940 --> 0:03:32.430 AI to hold myself accountable? I think the big difference 0:03:32.450 --> 0:03:34.510 between this book and a lot of other great books 0:03:34.550 --> 0:03:37.470 that are out there is we actually show you how 0:03:37.490 --> 0:03:40.050 to use AI to hold yourself accountable to the things 0:03:40.110 --> 0:03:42.790 in the book that you want to make part of 0:03:42.810 --> 0:03:44.890 your life. So I'll just give you an example. It's 0:03:45.010 --> 0:03:47.970 easy because everyone has meetings in their lives. We have 0:03:47.990 --> 0:03:50.830 a couple of chapters in the book about meetings. And 0:03:50.950 --> 0:03:54.050 so everyone's experienced this. There are too many meetings. The 0:03:54.070 --> 0:03:56.090 meetings are too long. There are too many people in them. 0:03:56.130 --> 0:03:59.100 There's often not an agenda in those meetings. And it 0:03:59.160 --> 0:04:01.710 is human nature. It's every company on the planet, no 0:04:01.730 --> 0:04:04.570 matter how efficient they are, will end up with more 0:04:04.610 --> 0:04:07.830 meetings than they should, longer meetings, too many people. And 0:04:07.910 --> 0:04:10.670 so we talk about how do you actually use AI 0:04:10.830 --> 0:04:15.090 to look at your calendar, to understand your goals, and 0:04:15.150 --> 0:04:17.710 to examine, basically like I would call it like a 0:04:18.089 --> 0:04:21.130 chief simplicity officer, right? Looking at your calendar and then 0:04:21.190 --> 0:04:24.279 coming back to you and saying, hey, these 10 meetings 0:04:24.300 --> 0:04:26.839 that you had last week, they match up with your goals. 0:04:26.940 --> 0:04:30.000 That's great. But these other five meetings, they don't seem 0:04:30.020 --> 0:04:33.140 to match up with your goals. And could they be 0:04:33.180 --> 0:04:35.440 better as an email? Do you have to go to them? 0:04:35.870 --> 0:04:38.409 Is there a better way to accomplish your goals and 0:04:39.089 --> 0:04:41.850 remove some things? Because our belief is, and this is 0:04:41.890 --> 0:04:45.250 what's covered in the book, that you confront, then you 0:04:45.290 --> 0:04:48.950 delete in order to be able to amplify. And so 0:04:49.029 --> 0:04:51.130 the delete part is really important because you need to 0:04:51.170 --> 0:04:53.290 make the room, you need to make the space. And 0:04:53.330 --> 0:04:57.349 so That's the way in which you can use AI 0:04:57.710 --> 0:05:00.830 to hold yourself accountable and actually stick to some of 0:05:00.850 --> 0:05:02.810 the things that you want to from the book. 0:05:03.230 --> 0:05:06.270 Well, let's talk about that three-part process, the confront, delete, 0:05:06.330 --> 0:05:08.230 and amplify and get to each of them. I mean, 0:05:08.270 --> 0:05:10.589 first of all, what does it mean to, what are 0:05:10.610 --> 0:05:13.589 we supposed to be confronting in our lives here? 0:05:13.910 --> 0:05:16.890 So really, and we take this to an extreme, but 0:05:16.950 --> 0:05:20.450 we say, okay, it's a little morbid, but imagine yourself 0:05:20.490 --> 0:05:23.230 in your deathbed. what are the three things that you 0:05:23.270 --> 0:05:26.450 want to be remembered for? And that's your North Star, right? 0:05:26.490 --> 0:05:29.110 Those are the things that you need to make sure 0:05:29.150 --> 0:05:32.230 you've made space for. And so in most people, they 0:05:32.270 --> 0:05:35.650 would say things like, you know, friends, family, loved ones, right? 0:05:35.750 --> 0:05:39.510 That's their number one, right? Number two is usually something 0:05:39.589 --> 0:05:43.750 related to meaning and work and purpose. And three might 0:05:43.770 --> 0:05:47.520 be something about life, longevity, you know, that's for everyone 0:05:47.560 --> 0:05:51.150 on their own. But in order to make sure that 0:05:51.210 --> 0:05:53.850 your life actually gets to, you get to be a 0:05:53.890 --> 0:05:56.470 good father, you get to be a good husband, right? 0:05:56.529 --> 0:05:59.130 I need to make room in my life and I 0:05:59.210 --> 0:06:02.130 need to know what's important, what my North stars are 0:06:02.570 --> 0:06:06.050 in order to be able to then delete the things 0:06:06.130 --> 0:06:09.650 that are less necessary in order to then amplify those 0:06:09.710 --> 0:06:12.570 areas in my life. So, you know, confront, you basically 0:06:12.690 --> 0:06:16.940 walk through, how do you confront things like meetings, like time, 0:06:17.480 --> 0:06:20.240 Like even we have this chapter that I think your 0:06:20.279 --> 0:06:23.580 audience will appreciate, which is the hell yeah rule, which 0:06:23.680 --> 0:06:27.989 is too often we say yes to something like a coffee, 0:06:28.010 --> 0:06:31.210 a drink off to work, a dinner party or something. 0:06:31.890 --> 0:06:34.690 And we then, you know, it's a month out. And 0:06:34.710 --> 0:06:36.710 then the day before we're dreading it. We're like, oh, 0:06:36.730 --> 0:06:38.560 my God, why did I say yes to this? Right. 0:06:39.279 --> 0:06:41.140 we have the hell yeah rule. If you're not going 0:06:41.160 --> 0:06:43.920 to say hell yeah, and you're not all in, don't 0:06:44.000 --> 0:06:47.200 say yes. In fact, say no. And I'm booked. You 0:06:47.220 --> 0:06:49.979 don't need to explain it. People don't need like a 0:06:50.160 --> 0:06:54.460 long story. I'm sorry. I'm booked. That's it. And too 0:06:54.560 --> 0:06:57.350 often we find ourselves saying yes to things. And that 0:06:57.450 --> 0:07:00.270 means that we're, and this is unconscious, but we're saying 0:07:00.430 --> 0:07:03.750 no to things that are important to us, like working out, 0:07:03.890 --> 0:07:08.039 like family, like friends. And so It gives you permission 0:07:08.310 --> 0:07:11.010 to really confront those things and to say no to 0:07:11.050 --> 0:07:14.430 things that might be taking up time that isn't as 0:07:14.490 --> 0:07:16.250 important as the other things in your life. 0:07:16.850 --> 0:07:19.850 Yeah, we have a saying around here that if you 0:07:19.870 --> 0:07:23.790 wouldn't say yes tomorrow, don't say yes for the future. 0:07:24.340 --> 0:07:26.320 Because it turns out that future you is going to 0:07:26.340 --> 0:07:28.770 be pretty similar to whatever you tomorrow is. But you 0:07:28.790 --> 0:07:31.250 have a more rational view of what tomorrow is going 0:07:31.270 --> 0:07:32.510 to look like than most of us do. 0:07:32.510 --> 0:07:36.230 I love that rule. That's exactly right. Tomorrow is a good, like, 0:07:36.370 --> 0:07:38.770 am I excited to go do it or not? And 0:07:38.830 --> 0:07:41.360 if the answer is no, just say no, because it's 0:07:41.420 --> 0:07:42.420 not going to change in a month. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:43.440 Not going to change at all. 0:07:43.460 --> 0:07:43.860 All right. 0:07:43.880 --> 0:07:45.440 We're going to take a quick ad break and I'll 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:54.680 be back with more from Roy Schwartz. Well, I am 0:07:54.800 --> 0:07:58.880 back talking with Roy Schwartz, who is the co-founder of Axios, 0:07:58.940 --> 0:08:02.200 the co-author of the new book, Simplify. So we've been 0:08:02.250 --> 0:08:07.370 talking about confronting and deleting. So I have a question 0:08:07.530 --> 0:08:12.270 about how AI is useful for this. Because you mentioned 0:08:12.290 --> 0:08:15.630 it looks at your calendar and says, well, these are 0:08:15.670 --> 0:08:18.050 your goals and this is your calendar and these five 0:08:18.130 --> 0:08:23.230 meetings don't match it. I do that myself. I mean, 0:08:23.270 --> 0:08:25.550 before I take it, I would sort of imagine that 0:08:25.590 --> 0:08:28.750 somebody who's thoughtful about their life would already be looking 0:08:28.810 --> 0:08:32.630 at their calendar and asking, is this, you know, meeting 0:08:32.650 --> 0:08:35.620 with my, does this match my priorities? Is this something 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:38.940 I should be doing? I mean, why is AI helpful 0:08:39.000 --> 0:08:41.780 for this in a way that like our own brains 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.520 or perhaps even with the assistance of our, you know, 0:08:46.080 --> 0:08:47.740 assistant can't do? 0:08:48.950 --> 0:08:52.090 I think in a very important way. So you might 0:08:52.110 --> 0:08:54.410 be able to look at your calendar today. You might 0:08:54.480 --> 0:08:56.540 even be able to take in the week that you 0:08:56.580 --> 0:09:00.000 can't take in the month. And so what AI can 0:09:00.020 --> 0:09:02.200 do is it can look back and it can look forward. 0:09:02.620 --> 0:09:06.660 It's unemotional. It doesn't, you know, justify things that are there. 0:09:07.040 --> 0:09:09.800 You obviously have to teach it. Right. And so, you know, 0:09:09.840 --> 0:09:12.160 a lot of people say, oh, I'm disappointed in how 0:09:12.240 --> 0:09:16.330 AI does it. AI is like having the smartest intern 0:09:16.370 --> 0:09:19.690 in the world, but on day one. You have to 0:09:19.990 --> 0:09:22.610 train it. You have to give it the context. Otherwise, 0:09:22.650 --> 0:09:25.940 you're going to get really bad results. And so what 0:09:25.980 --> 0:09:28.300 we talk about in the book, in the example you 0:09:28.340 --> 0:09:30.679 gave of the calendar, which I think is a really 0:09:30.720 --> 0:09:32.720 good one because everyone can sort of picture that in 0:09:32.760 --> 0:09:36.470 their mind, is You start with what are the goals 0:09:36.490 --> 0:09:38.990 that you're setting? So we'll use a month. So we'll say, okay, 0:09:39.150 --> 0:09:41.920 this month, these are my three objectives. And I keep 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:44.040 using the number three for an important reason I'll talk 0:09:44.059 --> 0:09:46.540 about in a second. But you say, these are the 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:50.500 three objectives that I'm trying to do for this month. 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:53.729 Now it looks at your calendar and it says, okay, 0:09:54.030 --> 0:09:58.130 these things seem to align and these things don't. And 0:09:58.170 --> 0:10:01.860 so then you can actually examine that. confront that and 0:10:02.100 --> 0:10:04.180 usually people just don't do that on their own as 0:10:04.220 --> 0:10:07.940 an example i did this and i was surprised 50 0:10:07.940 --> 0:10:10.960 of my calendar is not aligned with my goals Right. 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.520 And by the way, I've written a book on this topic. Right. 0:10:13.559 --> 0:10:16.640 Like I'm really trying to focus in here. And yet 0:10:16.640 --> 0:10:19.449 50 percent of my meetings were not really. And so 0:10:19.710 --> 0:10:19.950 I am. 0:10:20.000 --> 0:10:22.050 I mean, what were these meetings like? I mean, sorry, 0:10:22.070 --> 0:10:23.610 I don't want to call out any of your colleagues here, 0:10:23.630 --> 0:10:25.230 but what does that mean when it's like, you know. 0:10:25.330 --> 0:10:28.069 It's a lot of like one on ones and check 0:10:28.170 --> 0:10:31.050 ins and skip levels and so forth. So some of 0:10:31.070 --> 0:10:35.050 them could be better as, um, shorter meetings for sure. 0:10:35.170 --> 0:10:38.490 Everything is for whatever reason, everything's a standard 30 minutes, right? Like, 0:10:38.570 --> 0:10:42.280 do you really need 30 minutes? Right. Um, two, some 0:10:42.300 --> 0:10:45.440 things are actually better written than they are in person. 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:48.920 Some things are about ego, right? Like, Oh, I should 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.960 be in this meeting or I've always been in this meeting, but, um, 0:10:52.410 --> 0:10:56.030 AI is pretty unemotional about these things. So I've taken 0:10:56.070 --> 0:10:58.309 it to an extreme. Maybe not all of your audience 0:10:58.330 --> 0:11:01.699 can do this, but my AI is connected to my calendar, 0:11:01.820 --> 0:11:05.120 to my email, and to my note taker. And so 0:11:05.300 --> 0:11:08.579 it really understands, am I talking in that meeting? What 0:11:08.620 --> 0:11:11.080 was said in that meeting? What were the emails leading 0:11:11.140 --> 0:11:13.480 up to that meeting? And then how long was that meeting? 0:11:13.580 --> 0:11:16.810 And so it really does have full context for And 0:11:16.830 --> 0:11:19.150 so it can take in a lot of information. And 0:11:19.170 --> 0:11:22.290 so it really can be the best assistant that you've 0:11:22.350 --> 0:11:25.290 ever had. Yes, a great assistant could do these things. 0:11:25.870 --> 0:11:28.820 But how many of us have that assistant and how 0:11:28.860 --> 0:11:31.460 many of us can make sure that that assistant does 0:11:31.500 --> 0:11:33.360 that work, you know, day in and day out? 0:11:33.920 --> 0:11:36.340 Now, before we talk a little bit more about meeting length, 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:39.720 I did want to circle back to the three aspects. 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.679 So why three? Okay. So we have a whole chapter 0:11:42.700 --> 0:11:46.280 in the book. And again, this book is well-researched. We 0:11:46.400 --> 0:11:50.720 try and uncover things that already exist. My two co-writers 0:11:51.140 --> 0:11:54.179 are reporters by training, right? So we come at this 0:11:54.220 --> 0:11:56.400 with a lot of research and analysis and a lot 0:11:56.450 --> 0:11:59.709 of case studies. What was really interesting is there's a 0:11:59.790 --> 0:12:03.370 lot of documentation that once you get past three goals, 0:12:03.750 --> 0:12:08.830 three objectives, your ability to actually achieve those goals or 0:12:08.870 --> 0:12:12.150 objectives goes down. And so three kind of is a 0:12:12.230 --> 0:12:16.230 magical number where once you had four or five or 0:12:16.429 --> 0:12:22.530 more objectives, goals, performance deteriorated. And so we try and 0:12:22.590 --> 0:12:25.600 think of things in threes. So what that does mean, 0:12:25.720 --> 0:12:28.550 because a lot of companies have way more than three objectives, 0:12:29.200 --> 0:12:33.239 is prioritizing for your team, making sure you're clear in 0:12:33.260 --> 0:12:37.120 your communication to your team, and maybe even condensing the timeline. 0:12:37.660 --> 0:12:40.620 Because a lot of companies plan around a year And 0:12:40.880 --> 0:12:42.580 I think those days are gone. I don't think you 0:12:42.600 --> 0:12:45.699 can plan anymore on an annual cycle. Look at how quickly, 0:12:45.760 --> 0:12:48.559 how many new models come out every single month and 0:12:48.600 --> 0:12:51.739 their capabilities that change every single month. And so if 0:12:51.780 --> 0:12:55.000 you're not re-examining what your company and what your team 0:12:55.059 --> 0:12:58.010 is doing on a monthly basis, you're going to fall behind. 0:12:58.030 --> 0:12:59.270 All right. 0:12:59.290 --> 0:13:01.609 So now let's move on to the meetings. You mentioned 0:13:01.630 --> 0:13:04.510 the default 30. I think you guys are a fan 0:13:04.530 --> 0:13:09.480 of 20-minute meetings, right? or something I believe, but what 0:13:09.500 --> 0:13:10.450 should we be doing with these? 0:13:10.750 --> 0:13:14.710 Listen, every organization, every person might be different. What we're 0:13:14.890 --> 0:13:19.989 more trying to confront is the default, right? So many 0:13:20.050 --> 0:13:24.069 things within an organization are done by default and not 0:13:24.130 --> 0:13:26.770 by design. And so we're actually trying to flip that. 0:13:26.809 --> 0:13:29.810 We're trying to say, okay, everything should really be by design. 0:13:30.190 --> 0:13:32.459 And the more you can think about that, the more 0:13:32.480 --> 0:13:34.200 you're going to be efficient in your life, the more 0:13:34.220 --> 0:13:36.160 you're going to be able to actually simplify your life. 0:13:36.740 --> 0:13:39.820 And so meetings, some meetings should be five minutes or 0:13:39.820 --> 0:13:42.220 10 minutes. You can get just as much accomplished and 0:13:42.320 --> 0:13:44.980 some need to be an hour, right? It might depend. 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.829 But what interestingly happens is the default on your calendar 0:13:48.850 --> 0:13:51.570 setting is 30. And so everything just ends up being 0:13:51.570 --> 0:13:54.450 30 minutes. And if you're like me, like they end 0:13:54.470 --> 0:13:56.770 up being back to back. And so we just said, 0:13:56.809 --> 0:13:59.870 let's examine that, right? Like, yes, delete a few, but 0:13:59.910 --> 0:14:02.270 also let's reduce the timeframe of a few of these 0:14:02.580 --> 0:14:05.200 so that we can amplify the ones like brainstorming sessions 0:14:05.240 --> 0:14:06.120 that might need to be longer. 0:14:06.720 --> 0:14:08.859 So let's talk about Amplify, because that's the last part 0:14:08.900 --> 0:14:13.080 of the confront, delete, amplify. What does it mean to 0:14:13.520 --> 0:14:17.099 amplify after we have gotten rid of all the extraneous 0:14:17.160 --> 0:14:18.800 stuff in our schedules? 0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:23.420 So I'll start with family and friends. I think that 0:14:23.820 --> 0:14:27.020 when you do that morbid exercise of your deathbed, you realize, 0:14:27.500 --> 0:14:29.440 I'm not spending enough time with my family. I'm not 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.840 spending enough time with my good friends. And you have 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:33.760 to make space for that. And so if you've done 0:14:33.800 --> 0:14:36.490 that by the confront and delete, then your job is 0:14:36.510 --> 0:14:38.950 to go in there and amplify, actually set time aside 0:14:39.550 --> 0:14:42.580 to work out, to work on your mindfulness, to spend 0:14:42.620 --> 0:14:44.880 time with your friends and your family, and make sure 0:14:44.890 --> 0:14:47.380 that you're actually kind of scheduling it the way that 0:14:47.400 --> 0:14:49.660 you would schedule meetings, right? Like make sure you put 0:14:49.880 --> 0:14:52.560 in the time and the effort. And so that's the 0:14:52.900 --> 0:14:55.740 personal side, I would say, of Amplify. On the work 0:14:55.760 --> 0:14:59.200 side of Amplify, it's really understanding those three goals that 0:14:59.240 --> 0:15:01.680 you're setting for yourself or for your team or for 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:07.570 your company and your strengths. Because In this future world 0:15:07.730 --> 0:15:12.050 that we're rapidly moving into, AI is going to be 0:15:12.130 --> 0:15:16.060 good at pretty much everything in terms of being average. 0:15:16.840 --> 0:15:21.080 And you, as a person, are average at most things 0:15:21.120 --> 0:15:23.850 or below average at some things, but you're exceptional at 0:15:23.890 --> 0:15:27.370 a few things. And our belief, and there's countless studies 0:15:27.430 --> 0:15:29.620 on this, The more time you spend on your strengths, 0:15:30.080 --> 0:15:32.000 the more outcomes you're going to get. And that is 0:15:32.060 --> 0:15:34.560 actually going to be amplified in this AI era that 0:15:34.580 --> 0:15:36.750 we're all stepping into. You'll be able to do more. 0:15:36.870 --> 0:15:39.390 You'll be able to achieve more. And you will not 0:15:39.430 --> 0:15:45.170 be as easily set aside because you are extremely talented 0:15:45.330 --> 0:15:48.260 in these one, two, three areas, as opposed to trying 0:15:48.280 --> 0:15:50.360 to be average in multiple areas. 0:15:51.410 --> 0:15:54.840 You talk about using AI as a creative partner. I 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:57.280 wonder if you could talk a little bit about smart 0:15:57.320 --> 0:15:58.580 ways to do that. 0:15:59.300 --> 0:16:01.960 Yeah, I think too many people use AI as a 0:16:02.120 --> 0:16:05.940 search agent, right? To just answer a question and maybe 0:16:06.380 --> 0:16:09.420 probe the one or two questions deeper. What we're actually 0:16:09.460 --> 0:16:12.900 talking about is setting up AI to be able to 0:16:12.920 --> 0:16:15.880 be a thought partner, to go back and forth. And 0:16:16.210 --> 0:16:17.430 one of the things that we talk about in the 0:16:17.450 --> 0:16:19.550 book is making sure that the memory that the AI 0:16:19.590 --> 0:16:23.910 has is accurate. So actually looking, asking it. This is 0:16:23.930 --> 0:16:26.490 the only technology where you could ask it, how does 0:16:26.550 --> 0:16:29.060 it work? How do I get the most out of it? 0:16:29.430 --> 0:16:33.480 And so you don't even have to struggle through online searches. 0:16:33.660 --> 0:16:35.440 You want to figure out how to connect AI to 0:16:35.460 --> 0:16:38.120 your calendar. You just ask AI, how do I connect 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.140 you to my calendar? And it will walk you through 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.850 those steps. But in this case, what we're talking about 0:16:44.180 --> 0:16:47.010 is saying, how do I make sure that the memory 0:16:47.070 --> 0:16:49.970 that it has is accurate so it has the context 0:16:50.010 --> 0:16:52.770 to help me make decisions? And then when I'm putting 0:16:52.850 --> 0:16:55.150 something in there, I'm not just one and done. I'm 0:16:55.170 --> 0:16:57.640 not just asking a question and walking away. I'm actually 0:16:57.680 --> 0:17:00.290 having a pretty long, in some cases, you know, in 0:17:00.330 --> 0:17:02.950 my case, I will have sometimes an hour or two 0:17:03.010 --> 0:17:06.800 hours of conversation with AI when I'm sorting through a 0:17:07.000 --> 0:17:08.629 difficult or complex problem. 0:17:09.940 --> 0:17:14.570 Do you do that with your co-founders? So, I mean, 0:17:14.970 --> 0:17:19.010 how does AI relate to, you know, having this conversation 0:17:19.230 --> 0:17:22.210 with the two gentlemen you write this book with, for instance? 0:17:22.290 --> 0:17:26.210 Yes. So Jim and I, quite famously, because we talk 0:17:26.250 --> 0:17:28.850 about this in our books and in our articles, but 0:17:29.450 --> 0:17:33.770 they are both incredibly early risers. probably Jim's first call 0:17:33.830 --> 0:17:36.410 is to Mike because they're up early. And we have 0:17:36.570 --> 0:17:41.669 Axios AM, which is a 10 item, very efficient news 0:17:41.750 --> 0:17:44.520 briefing that we send out as a newsletter to, I 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:45.940 think at this point, we have two and a half 0:17:46.000 --> 0:17:49.340 million readers. And so that goes out every morning. So 0:17:49.640 --> 0:17:52.000 the first call is between Jim and Mike to look 0:17:52.020 --> 0:17:55.159 through that list, make sure that it's the best use 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:57.590 of everyone's time who's going to read it. And then 0:17:57.609 --> 0:17:59.750 the next call is to me usually. And we're talking 0:17:59.790 --> 0:18:03.909 about you know, it's like an ongoing conversation about maybe 0:18:03.950 --> 0:18:07.190 it's major issues that we're dealing with, what we're trying 0:18:07.230 --> 0:18:09.870 to do from a day-to-day standpoint, or what we're trying 0:18:09.890 --> 0:18:12.990 to accomplish in the next month or six months. 0:18:13.630 --> 0:18:16.310 But I'm saying like, what do you get out of 0:18:17.270 --> 0:18:21.730 using an AI partner, thought partner that you aren't getting 0:18:21.859 --> 0:18:23.229 from Jim and Mike? 0:18:23.410 --> 0:18:26.320 I'll give a great example. We were trying to redesign 0:18:26.580 --> 0:18:30.350 one of our newsletters and, um, You don't have to 0:18:30.430 --> 0:18:32.990 wait anymore. I mean, this is, you know, again, I'm 0:18:33.040 --> 0:18:36.480 not an AI optimist or pessimist. You know, I'm just 0:18:36.560 --> 0:18:40.440 practical about the usage. But I had some ideas of 0:18:40.520 --> 0:18:44.610 how I wanted to redesign this newsletter. And I just 0:18:44.680 --> 0:18:46.950 went into, in this case, it was OpenAI. I was 0:18:47.010 --> 0:18:50.010 in chat GPT. I said, here's the existing one. Here's 0:18:50.050 --> 0:18:52.630 how I want to change it. And no joke, within 0:18:52.910 --> 0:18:57.750 maybe 45 seconds, I had four versions of that newsletter 0:18:58.170 --> 0:19:01.710 with the way in which I'd wanted it to be changed. Now, 0:19:01.800 --> 0:19:04.879 were they all perfect? No. But then I was able to, again, 0:19:05.060 --> 0:19:07.020 kind of have a conversation. Okay, I really like the 0:19:07.040 --> 0:19:09.400 top one. Here are the changes I want you to make. 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:13.570 Let's redo that and then edit that one. Then I actually, 0:19:13.609 --> 0:19:15.810 in this case, sent that to Jim and Mike and said, okay, 0:19:16.109 --> 0:19:18.830 I like this one. What do you guys think of it? Okay, gotcha. 0:19:19.280 --> 0:19:20.429 All right, well, we're going to take a quick ad 0:19:20.450 --> 0:19:30.200 break and then I'll be back with more from Roy Schwartz. Well, 0:19:30.260 --> 0:19:32.500 I am back talking with Roy Schwartz, who is the 0:19:32.600 --> 0:19:36.859 co-founder of Axios, the co-author of the new book, Simplify. 0:19:37.800 --> 0:19:42.300 So you mentioned that Axios, the morning report to the newsletter, 0:19:42.800 --> 0:19:44.520 I believe that's part of your morning routine. Can you 0:19:44.540 --> 0:19:45.640 tell us about your morning routine? 0:19:46.320 --> 0:19:49.850 Yes. So Axios AM is the first thing I read 0:19:49.890 --> 0:19:52.870 in the morning. I grab a cup of coffee and 0:19:53.090 --> 0:19:55.630 I'm not the reporter, so I'm not really reading my 0:19:55.730 --> 0:19:58.189 own stuff, although obviously I'm a founder of the company. 0:19:58.580 --> 0:20:01.200 But we were trying to solve a problem that we had, 0:20:01.280 --> 0:20:03.520 which was I want to get up to date on 0:20:03.700 --> 0:20:08.340 factual news. We're nonpartisan. We have no editorial, so we 0:20:08.359 --> 0:20:11.240 don't lean one way or another. And we wanted to 0:20:11.300 --> 0:20:13.980 cover what are the most important things that you maybe 0:20:14.220 --> 0:20:17.199 missed yesterday or that are going to happen today. And 0:20:17.240 --> 0:20:20.550 because we have about 200 reporters, there's a lot of 0:20:20.890 --> 0:20:24.730 first party information in there, like things that other companies 0:20:24.770 --> 0:20:26.970 will later grab, like the New York Times might grab 0:20:27.010 --> 0:20:30.840 something and say, oh, Axios reported X, Y, Z. And 0:20:30.859 --> 0:20:32.239 so that goes out to about two and a half 0:20:32.280 --> 0:20:36.690 million people, but probably most importantly, We started with influencers. 0:20:36.850 --> 0:20:39.410 So we started with Capitol Hill. We started with the president, 0:20:39.450 --> 0:20:42.419 the people around the president and CEOs of companies. And 0:20:42.460 --> 0:20:46.419 so this is really well read amongst influencers in the country. 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.160 And so we're very good at understanding what are the 0:20:50.220 --> 0:20:52.889