1 00:00:00,320 --> 00:00:03,560 Speaker 1: To me, the to do list became my boss. It 2 00:00:03,680 --> 00:00:06,240 Speaker 1: became it was like ruling my life. So one of 3 00:00:06,240 --> 00:00:09,160 Speaker 1: the most powerful tactics is to kind of ignore the 4 00:00:09,200 --> 00:00:12,200 Speaker 1: to do list as much as possible and instead, each 5 00:00:12,320 --> 00:00:16,439 Speaker 1: day choose one highlight and write it down. So every 6 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:20,560 Speaker 1: day in the morning, I'm saying, if the day was over, 7 00:00:21,000 --> 00:00:22,800 Speaker 1: what would I want to say was the highlight of 8 00:00:22,840 --> 00:00:25,119 Speaker 1: my day today? You know, would what would make me 9 00:00:25,320 --> 00:00:29,040 Speaker 1: feel satisfied or feel joyful? What would that be? And 10 00:00:29,400 --> 00:00:32,000 Speaker 1: to think of that one thing, not just one little task, 11 00:00:32,040 --> 00:00:34,159 Speaker 1: but like what you know, maybe be sort of ambitious, 12 00:00:34,200 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: make it a sixty to ninety minute thing, and write 13 00:00:36,880 --> 00:00:39,120 Speaker 1: it down. You know, today I will do this thing 14 00:00:39,120 --> 00:00:41,040 Speaker 1: and I just write down that one thing. And it 15 00:00:41,040 --> 00:00:43,560 Speaker 1: doesn't mean I'm not doing other things. It doesn't mean that, yeah, 16 00:00:43,640 --> 00:00:45,920 Speaker 1: I have to check email, and I do have to 17 00:00:45,960 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: keep a to do list of some little tasks. But 18 00:00:48,600 --> 00:00:52,080 Speaker 1: those things then are they're kind of in the backseat 19 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:55,720 Speaker 1: and I'm driving with the highlight. I'm driving with the 20 00:00:55,720 --> 00:00:58,320 Speaker 1: thing that I believe is the most important. And so 21 00:00:58,480 --> 00:01:01,160 Speaker 1: that's one of the most powerful It's a very small, 22 00:01:01,240 --> 00:01:04,880 Speaker 1: simple shift. It's a simple tactic, but it can really 23 00:01:05,000 --> 00:01:09,640 Speaker 1: change the way the day feels, and also just whether 24 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,320 Speaker 1: I get the things done that are really important. 25 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,240 Speaker 2: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 26 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:21,679 Speaker 2: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 27 00:01:21,720 --> 00:01:24,720 Speaker 2: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imbat. I'm an 28 00:01:24,800 --> 00:01:28,600 Speaker 2: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 29 00:01:28,640 --> 00:01:32,520 Speaker 2: finding ways to optimize my workday. My guest today is 30 00:01:32,640 --> 00:01:36,240 Speaker 2: Jake Knapp. Jake spent the last ten years at Google 31 00:01:36,319 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 2: and Google Ventures, where he created the design sprint, which 32 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:41,959 Speaker 2: is a method for building and testing a prototype in 33 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,759 Speaker 2: five days. He then went on and wrote a book 34 00:01:44,760 --> 00:01:47,360 Speaker 2: about the process called Sprint, which was a New York 35 00:01:47,360 --> 00:01:51,440 Speaker 2: Times bestseller, and recently he wrote another book called Make Time, 36 00:01:51,560 --> 00:01:55,440 Speaker 2: which I mentioned on a previous episode. I've personally loved 37 00:01:55,560 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 2: Make Time, which is all about strategies to help make 38 00:01:58,200 --> 00:02:01,080 Speaker 2: time for doing your most important work and really getting 39 00:02:01,160 --> 00:02:04,520 Speaker 2: the most out of each day. So I was very 40 00:02:04,600 --> 00:02:06,920 Speaker 2: excited when Jake said yes to being on the show 41 00:02:06,960 --> 00:02:10,080 Speaker 2: because I followed his work for several years, and what 42 00:02:10,160 --> 00:02:13,800 Speaker 2: I particularly loved about this chat was how practical Jake 43 00:02:13,919 --> 00:02:17,120 Speaker 2: is in his strategies and how he's applied them in 44 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:20,320 Speaker 2: his life, particularly during his decade or so at Google 45 00:02:20,320 --> 00:02:21,359 Speaker 2: and Google Ventures. 46 00:02:21,639 --> 00:02:24,240 Speaker 3: Now I should warn you that this chat somehow ended up. 47 00:02:24,120 --> 00:02:26,800 Speaker 2: Starting with a story about a near death experience, but 48 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:29,400 Speaker 2: don't worry, it does get more upbeat from there. 49 00:02:29,720 --> 00:02:32,280 Speaker 3: So on that note, over to Jake to find out 50 00:02:32,360 --> 00:02:36,440 Speaker 3: about how he works. Jake, Welcome to the show. 51 00:02:37,880 --> 00:02:40,480 Speaker 1: Hey, thank you for having me on, Amantha. I'm super 52 00:02:40,520 --> 00:02:42,880 Speaker 1: excited to be here. Well, I mean here virtually. I 53 00:02:42,880 --> 00:02:43,560 Speaker 1: guess we're. 54 00:02:43,440 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 3: Talking absolutely absolutely. 55 00:02:46,400 --> 00:02:50,160 Speaker 2: I want to start with the question of how you 56 00:02:50,280 --> 00:02:53,519 Speaker 2: became a time talk, which is obviously how you affectionately 57 00:02:53,840 --> 00:02:54,760 Speaker 2: refer to yourself. 58 00:02:54,800 --> 00:02:56,720 Speaker 3: So can you tell me how that all started? 59 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:01,799 Speaker 1: Yeah, well I am. I mean, I've always been interested 60 00:03:01,840 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: in design and building products, even before I realized that 61 00:03:05,240 --> 00:03:07,320 Speaker 1: was the name for what I was interested in. Even 62 00:03:07,360 --> 00:03:09,360 Speaker 1: as a kid. I wanted to like make games, and 63 00:03:09,400 --> 00:03:11,200 Speaker 1: I wanted to design things, and I worked on the 64 00:03:11,200 --> 00:03:13,560 Speaker 1: newspaper in high school. All these things that sort of 65 00:03:13,639 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 1: led me to It's easy to see how I became 66 00:03:16,440 --> 00:03:19,359 Speaker 1: a product designer. But how I got obsessed with time, 67 00:03:20,360 --> 00:03:23,720 Speaker 1: I don't know. I guess it's things in real life 68 00:03:23,880 --> 00:03:27,400 Speaker 1: that got me interested in it and you know, there's 69 00:03:27,600 --> 00:03:29,919 Speaker 1: a few sort of stories. I guess one of them 70 00:03:30,000 --> 00:03:34,679 Speaker 1: is that when I was in high school, I'm very tall, 71 00:03:34,720 --> 00:03:36,600 Speaker 1: and people have met me, you know, will know that 72 00:03:36,640 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: we'll agree that I'm extremely sort of freakishly tall. And 73 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:43,480 Speaker 1: so I played basketball. I love to play basketball, and 74 00:03:43,520 --> 00:03:49,880 Speaker 1: in high school I almost died playing basketball. Actually was yeah. 75 00:03:48,960 --> 00:03:54,560 Speaker 1: I had this guy actually into sort of a pickup 76 00:03:54,600 --> 00:03:59,680 Speaker 1: game accidentally kind of like caught my leg on a 77 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,360 Speaker 1: guy's shoulder when I was like jumping up for a 78 00:04:02,400 --> 00:04:08,360 Speaker 1: shot and I fell on my side. I ruptured my spleen. 79 00:04:08,960 --> 00:04:11,400 Speaker 1: I grew up on this little island, so like it 80 00:04:11,440 --> 00:04:13,400 Speaker 1: would have been actually a pretty serious injury no matter 81 00:04:13,440 --> 00:04:15,560 Speaker 1: where you were. But they had to like fly me 82 00:04:15,640 --> 00:04:17,960 Speaker 1: off of the island because there's no hospital where they 83 00:04:17,960 --> 00:04:20,520 Speaker 1: could do surgery on the island. And anyway, I came 84 00:04:20,640 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: very close actually to dying when I was, like, I 85 00:04:22,880 --> 00:04:26,279 Speaker 1: guess I was sixteen years old. And you know, I 86 00:04:26,320 --> 00:04:28,280 Speaker 1: mean when you're a kid, and usually I think as 87 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:31,680 Speaker 1: a kid, you get to have this long period of 88 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,839 Speaker 1: time where you feel immortal, you know, and you think 89 00:04:35,880 --> 00:04:37,599 Speaker 1: that nothing can happen to you. But I got a 90 00:04:37,720 --> 00:04:44,320 Speaker 1: very stark reminder that I was mortal, and that changed 91 00:04:44,360 --> 00:04:46,640 Speaker 1: the way I looked at the world I think, And 92 00:04:46,680 --> 00:04:50,560 Speaker 1: then I had about it was nine years later when 93 00:04:50,600 --> 00:04:53,400 Speaker 1: I my wife and I had our first child, and 94 00:04:53,520 --> 00:04:56,239 Speaker 1: having a kid was another thing that had a big 95 00:04:56,400 --> 00:05:00,000 Speaker 1: effect on me and made me really rethink the way 96 00:05:00,040 --> 00:05:02,680 Speaker 1: I was spending my time during the day and made 97 00:05:02,760 --> 00:05:05,440 Speaker 1: me want to want to slow time down and pay 98 00:05:05,480 --> 00:05:08,839 Speaker 1: more attention to what was going on. And and my 99 00:05:08,839 --> 00:05:12,159 Speaker 1: my father who was very close to he passed away 100 00:05:12,160 --> 00:05:14,600 Speaker 1: a couple of years ago, and he had he had Alzheimer, 101 00:05:14,680 --> 00:05:16,520 Speaker 1: so we knew for like a few years I could 102 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: tell he was ill, and and that also made me 103 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,279 Speaker 1: want to just I just felt I don't know, I 104 00:05:21,320 --> 00:05:24,000 Speaker 1: just feel like I had had And I think this 105 00:05:24,080 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 1: happens to every person you see life events. They happened 106 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:28,760 Speaker 1: to you, or they happen to people you care about, 107 00:05:28,880 --> 00:05:33,280 Speaker 1: beginnings and endings, and it makes you want to pay 108 00:05:33,320 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 1: attention to what goes on and make sure that it 109 00:05:36,960 --> 00:05:38,000 Speaker 1: doesn't go by in a blur. 110 00:05:39,240 --> 00:05:39,680 Speaker 3: Yeah. 111 00:05:39,720 --> 00:05:42,920 Speaker 2: How interesting that it start it all on the basketball 112 00:05:42,920 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 2: court for you. 113 00:05:44,920 --> 00:05:48,480 Speaker 1: Yeah? Yeah, it was. I mean, you know, it wasn't 114 00:05:48,560 --> 00:05:52,440 Speaker 1: like it wasn't like a big sort of wise moment 115 00:05:52,520 --> 00:05:54,680 Speaker 1: for me, I was just I was just a kid, 116 00:05:54,760 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: and you know, but yeah, man, I mean I was. 117 00:05:57,640 --> 00:06:01,240 Speaker 1: I woke up in the hospital after most fleen taken out, 118 00:06:01,320 --> 00:06:04,040 Speaker 1: and I was like, they were like, yeah, if you 119 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,600 Speaker 1: had if it had taken us fifteen more minutes to 120 00:06:06,800 --> 00:06:08,839 Speaker 1: get you here, you would have you would have died. 121 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:11,919 Speaker 1: So it was a it was a crazy event and 122 00:06:12,040 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: definitely just kind of like, you know, like just made 123 00:06:15,160 --> 00:06:17,120 Speaker 1: me a little more not all the time, but a 124 00:06:17,160 --> 00:06:20,080 Speaker 1: little more serious sometimes about how I did things. 125 00:06:20,560 --> 00:06:26,040 Speaker 2: Hmmm, that's wow, that's quite the story. And I want 126 00:06:26,080 --> 00:06:33,760 Speaker 2: to switch giars and with the near death story light 127 00:06:33,839 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 2: in the mood, awesome. Well, let's let's let's let's not 128 00:06:38,279 --> 00:06:41,480 Speaker 2: talk about death now, and let's just let's. 129 00:06:41,240 --> 00:06:44,120 Speaker 1: Just table that for at least ten minutes. 130 00:06:44,480 --> 00:06:48,560 Speaker 2: Exactly exactly, Well, we'll revisit at the end. No, So 131 00:06:48,920 --> 00:06:50,600 Speaker 2: I want to talk about I want to talk about 132 00:06:50,600 --> 00:06:53,000 Speaker 2: Make Time, because that's your latest book, and I think 133 00:06:53,000 --> 00:06:56,880 Speaker 2: a lot of listeners would would know you from your 134 00:06:57,040 --> 00:07:01,120 Speaker 2: your first book, which was Sprint, which certainly had had 135 00:07:01,120 --> 00:07:02,960 Speaker 2: a really big impact on a lot of clients that 136 00:07:03,279 --> 00:07:05,960 Speaker 2: we work with. So I run an innovation consultancy and 137 00:07:06,440 --> 00:07:08,839 Speaker 2: I know a lot of people that are fans of 138 00:07:09,080 --> 00:07:12,960 Speaker 2: that book, as am I, And it's kind of like 139 00:07:13,000 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 2: an interesting transition where in Sprint you obviously talked about 140 00:07:16,400 --> 00:07:19,840 Speaker 2: how to make the most of time for kind of 141 00:07:19,840 --> 00:07:22,960 Speaker 2: I guess, discrete projects and getting them up and running 142 00:07:23,040 --> 00:07:27,119 Speaker 2: to solve problems. And I really loved reading Make Time. 143 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:30,880 Speaker 2: It's such a fun read. And I don't mean that 144 00:07:30,920 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 2: in a frivolous way. It's just it's super easy to 145 00:07:34,680 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 2: consume and laugh out loud funny, which you don't really 146 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,960 Speaker 2: expect from a book that is about managing your time. 147 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:44,880 Speaker 3: So there are a lot of strategies in the book. 148 00:07:44,920 --> 00:07:47,720 Speaker 2: I think maybe seventy or eighty off the top of 149 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:50,680 Speaker 2: my head, but I wanted to know, like, what are 150 00:07:50,720 --> 00:07:53,720 Speaker 2: the top ones for you? Like what have been the 151 00:07:53,760 --> 00:07:55,280 Speaker 2: absolute game changes for you? 152 00:07:56,720 --> 00:08:00,360 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, you know, part of part of this whole 153 00:08:00,400 --> 00:08:04,600 Speaker 1: thing is that I think, I mean, we started off 154 00:08:04,680 --> 00:08:07,360 Speaker 1: very serious, and I think that you do have to 155 00:08:07,400 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: take your time seriously, but you also kind of have 156 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 1: to have fun. I mean, because you know, like you 157 00:08:13,000 --> 00:08:15,200 Speaker 1: just sort of you gotta have fun. And we so 158 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:17,840 Speaker 1: often are in settings and work or whatever, and we're 159 00:08:17,920 --> 00:08:20,520 Speaker 1: encouraged to take things serious or we're a lot of 160 00:08:20,520 --> 00:08:24,080 Speaker 1: times the advice about time management, it's very serious and 161 00:08:24,080 --> 00:08:26,200 Speaker 1: intense and almost like guilty, you know, like you should 162 00:08:26,240 --> 00:08:29,360 Speaker 1: feel guilty about what's going on, or feel guilty about 163 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 1: wasting time or whatever. And I think that that idea 164 00:08:33,320 --> 00:08:38,880 Speaker 1: of guilt and heaviness even it's quite problematic. It's certainly 165 00:08:39,520 --> 00:08:41,360 Speaker 1: for me. There was this long you know, for years 166 00:08:41,360 --> 00:08:42,800 Speaker 1: and years and years trying to figure out and the 167 00:08:42,800 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: best way to manage my own time and how to. 168 00:08:45,240 --> 00:08:47,320 Speaker 1: I thought I could come up with some perfect system 169 00:08:47,400 --> 00:08:49,880 Speaker 1: that would mean that every day I would be doing, 170 00:08:50,080 --> 00:08:53,040 Speaker 1: you know, a great job, being super productive, and then 171 00:08:53,040 --> 00:08:56,160 Speaker 1: I just always ended up feeling guilty about it. And 172 00:08:56,240 --> 00:09:00,200 Speaker 1: so make Time is kind of about this change of 173 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,280 Speaker 1: heart and this new approach to looking at the ideas 174 00:09:03,280 --> 00:09:05,839 Speaker 1: that people have probably heard before, but different, a different 175 00:09:05,880 --> 00:09:08,000 Speaker 1: way of looking at them, a different way of talking 176 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:11,240 Speaker 1: about them and thinking about them, so that it's more fun, 177 00:09:11,280 --> 00:09:14,080 Speaker 1: it's more lightweight, and honestly, hopefully it works better. It 178 00:09:14,200 --> 00:09:18,040 Speaker 1: actually fits into real life in a better way. But 179 00:09:18,640 --> 00:09:21,160 Speaker 1: to answer your question, some of the tactics that are 180 00:09:21,280 --> 00:09:24,160 Speaker 1: the favorite of mine from this different way of looking 181 00:09:24,200 --> 00:09:27,720 Speaker 1: at it are one of them. Is instead like, okay, 182 00:09:27,760 --> 00:09:29,240 Speaker 1: to do lists. You kind of have to have a 183 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,040 Speaker 1: to do list, right, Like we got to keep track 184 00:09:31,040 --> 00:09:34,959 Speaker 1: of stuff that's going on, sure, but most productivity starts 185 00:09:35,000 --> 00:09:37,000 Speaker 1: and ends in the to do list. It's all about 186 00:09:37,040 --> 00:09:39,920 Speaker 1: getting the to do list right. It's all about prioritizing 187 00:09:39,960 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: that and managing those to do So there's all kinds 188 00:09:42,160 --> 00:09:44,920 Speaker 1: of software tools for managing those, assigning them, you know, 189 00:09:45,000 --> 00:09:48,120 Speaker 1: breaking them up. All this stuff. To me, the to 190 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: do list became my boss. It was like ruling my life. 191 00:09:52,400 --> 00:09:54,920 Speaker 1: So one of the most powerful tactics is to kind 192 00:09:54,960 --> 00:09:57,280 Speaker 1: of ignore the to do list as much as possible 193 00:09:57,679 --> 00:10:02,280 Speaker 1: and instead, each day choose one highlight and write it down. 194 00:10:02,520 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: So every day in the morning, I'm saying, if the 195 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:08,520 Speaker 1: day was over, what would I want to say was 196 00:10:08,559 --> 00:10:11,040 Speaker 1: the highlight of my day today? You know, what would 197 00:10:11,400 --> 00:10:14,880 Speaker 1: make me feel satisfied or feel joyful? What would that be? 198 00:10:15,440 --> 00:10:17,920 Speaker 1: And to think of that one thing, not just one 199 00:10:17,960 --> 00:10:20,120 Speaker 1: little task, but like what you know, maybe be sort 200 00:10:20,120 --> 00:10:22,360 Speaker 1: of ambitious, make it a sixty to ninety minute thing 201 00:10:22,960 --> 00:10:25,319 Speaker 1: and write it down. You know, today I will do 202 00:10:25,360 --> 00:10:27,000 Speaker 1: this thing and I just write down that one thing, 203 00:10:27,360 --> 00:10:29,200 Speaker 1: and it doesn't mean I'm not doing other things. It 204 00:10:29,200 --> 00:10:31,679 Speaker 1: doesn't mean that, yeah, I have to check email, and 205 00:10:31,760 --> 00:10:33,680 Speaker 1: I do have to keep a to do list of 206 00:10:33,720 --> 00:10:37,800 Speaker 1: some little tasks. But those things then are they're kind 207 00:10:37,840 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: of in the backseat and I'm driving with the highlight. 208 00:10:41,520 --> 00:10:43,360 Speaker 1: I'm driving with the thing that I believe is the 209 00:10:43,360 --> 00:10:46,839 Speaker 1: most important. And so that's one of the most powerful things. 210 00:10:46,840 --> 00:10:50,120 Speaker 1: It's a very small, simple shift. It's a simple tactic, 211 00:10:50,200 --> 00:10:53,160 Speaker 1: but it can really change the way the day feels, 212 00:10:54,120 --> 00:10:57,640 Speaker 1: and also just whether I get the things done that 213 00:10:57,679 --> 00:11:00,920 Speaker 1: are really important. So that's a big one. And another 214 00:11:01,000 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: one that I'll just mention real quickly. I can go 215 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:05,360 Speaker 1: on and on, because as you said, there are eighty 216 00:11:05,360 --> 00:11:07,079 Speaker 1: seven tactics in the boat, so there's a lot. But 217 00:11:07,120 --> 00:11:09,040 Speaker 1: I'll just the one other one for me that's really 218 00:11:09,080 --> 00:11:12,679 Speaker 1: powerful is has been deleting apps off of my phone 219 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,320 Speaker 1: and there are that this is a topic I have 220 00:11:16,360 --> 00:11:18,360 Speaker 1: to I can go on and on about. But there 221 00:11:18,440 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: are all of these, you know, sort of things on 222 00:11:22,360 --> 00:11:24,839 Speaker 1: our phone that pull at our attention, and we all 223 00:11:24,880 --> 00:11:26,839 Speaker 1: know this. This is a topic that has been much 224 00:11:26,960 --> 00:11:29,600 Speaker 1: discussed in the press and so on. Like there's a 225 00:11:29,600 --> 00:11:34,200 Speaker 1: lot of tech backlash and and although I used to 226 00:11:34,240 --> 00:11:37,000 Speaker 1: be a product designer working on Gmail, and I've I've 227 00:11:37,040 --> 00:11:39,079 Speaker 1: worked with a lot of these companies or no people 228 00:11:39,080 --> 00:11:41,800 Speaker 1: who work at them. I am very sympathetic. Like I 229 00:11:42,640 --> 00:11:46,480 Speaker 1: have a lot of trouble with things on my phone 230 00:11:46,679 --> 00:11:50,760 Speaker 1: that drawing my attention. And so six years ago, I 231 00:11:50,800 --> 00:11:52,320 Speaker 1: had this moment where I just realized, you know what, 232 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:54,880 Speaker 1: like I don't need that stuff on my phone. Is 233 00:11:54,920 --> 00:11:56,880 Speaker 1: fine for me if it's just on my laptop, and 234 00:11:56,920 --> 00:11:59,120 Speaker 1: the phone is still great even if I delete all 235 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:05,439 Speaker 1: that stuff. So I Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, email, even 236 00:12:05,960 --> 00:12:08,800 Speaker 1: you can turn off Safari on the iPhone. And I 237 00:12:08,960 --> 00:12:12,920 Speaker 1: turned all those things off and instead I have you know, podcasts, 238 00:12:12,960 --> 00:12:15,600 Speaker 1: I have a camera, I have maps, I have music, 239 00:12:15,880 --> 00:12:18,040 Speaker 1: I have a flashlight. I have all these things that 240 00:12:18,080 --> 00:12:20,680 Speaker 1: actually are really cool. They are really amazing, but it's 241 00:12:20,679 --> 00:12:23,319 Speaker 1: sort of half of what most folks have on their iPhone. 242 00:12:23,360 --> 00:12:26,440 Speaker 1: And for me, that distraction free iPhone, it's super powerful 243 00:12:26,520 --> 00:12:30,000 Speaker 1: because when I'm not sitting at a computer, then it's 244 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:32,120 Speaker 1: just me, you know, it's just with just my thoughts. 245 00:12:32,200 --> 00:12:35,960 Speaker 1: It's not this poll constantly to my pocket, and that's 246 00:12:36,040 --> 00:12:38,560 Speaker 1: really powerful. So those two if I would say like 247 00:12:38,559 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: to if you wanted to try two things today and 248 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,000 Speaker 1: you don't even have to read the book, if you know, 249 00:12:43,080 --> 00:12:44,880 Speaker 1: if you just tried those two things, I think that's 250 00:12:44,960 --> 00:12:45,840 Speaker 1: really powerful. 251 00:12:47,080 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 2: I'm a big fan of what you've done with the phone, 252 00:12:50,240 --> 00:12:53,240 Speaker 2: and I've sort of friend similar experiments myself. I've had 253 00:12:53,280 --> 00:12:56,240 Speaker 2: all social media apps deleted from my phone for probably a. 254 00:12:56,240 --> 00:12:57,400 Speaker 3: Year or something like that. 255 00:12:58,400 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: And how's that been for you? 256 00:13:00,760 --> 00:13:03,520 Speaker 3: The best? Like, it was fantastic. 257 00:13:03,800 --> 00:13:07,960 Speaker 2: It's sort of it started actually probably over a year 258 00:13:08,000 --> 00:13:11,360 Speaker 2: ago now where I just got into an Instagram black 259 00:13:11,400 --> 00:13:13,920 Speaker 2: hole after brushing my teeth at night, and I was 260 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,959 Speaker 2: just down that hole for two hours and I thought, oh, 261 00:13:18,080 --> 00:13:21,200 Speaker 2: oh my goodness, what have I done that. I've just 262 00:13:21,280 --> 00:13:26,280 Speaker 2: lost two hours doing nothing, So it's crazy. And then 263 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:30,600 Speaker 2: more recently, I deleted my email at because I found 264 00:13:30,640 --> 00:13:34,640 Speaker 2: that the email became the go to So it's just 265 00:13:34,720 --> 00:13:38,880 Speaker 2: so it's so lovely, And can I ask, like your 266 00:13:38,880 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 2: phone out, how long has your phone been distraction free? 267 00:13:42,400 --> 00:13:43,160 Speaker 3: As you call it? 268 00:13:44,360 --> 00:13:47,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's been six years actually, I just realized that, 269 00:13:47,280 --> 00:13:49,960 Speaker 1: and I just wrote a post. In fact, if your 270 00:13:50,000 --> 00:13:52,680 Speaker 1: listeners want to read even more about this, I just 271 00:13:52,679 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 1: wrote a post about it called six years with a 272 00:13:55,120 --> 00:14:00,199 Speaker 1: distraction free iPhone, and I illustrated it and every thing. 273 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:02,880 Speaker 1: I got really into kind of telling this story about 274 00:14:03,040 --> 00:14:05,160 Speaker 1: the phone and the effect it had on me. I 275 00:14:05,200 --> 00:14:07,800 Speaker 1: think it had a really powerful effect on my ability 276 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:10,960 Speaker 1: to do big projects, to do things like write books, 277 00:14:11,280 --> 00:14:16,160 Speaker 1: or to really experiment with and promote the design sprint process. 278 00:14:16,200 --> 00:14:19,000 Speaker 1: Those things were They're the kinds of projects that were 279 00:14:19,480 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: I felt like, really important. But they're also the kind 280 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: of things that would constantly get pushed aside by day 281 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:27,560 Speaker 1: to day work requirements, you know, and the kinds of 282 00:14:27,560 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 1: things that historically in my career had always not happened, 283 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:34,560 Speaker 1: they had always fallen by the wayside. And I credit 284 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:38,320 Speaker 1: a deal of that to just shutting down those distractions 285 00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:43,200 Speaker 1: on my phone, because when like the smartphone came out, 286 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:45,280 Speaker 1: it's been like ten years, right, My phone ten just 287 00:14:45,320 --> 00:14:47,240 Speaker 1: came out, So it's been well, not just but last year, 288 00:14:47,240 --> 00:14:49,040 Speaker 1: but it's been like ten years since we've had smartphones 289 00:14:49,040 --> 00:14:51,840 Speaker 1: as this big part of our of our day to 290 00:14:51,920 --> 00:14:54,960 Speaker 1: day lives. And in those ten years, like so much 291 00:14:55,120 --> 00:15:00,920 Speaker 1: of the distraction has migrated from the desktop to the phone. 292 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:02,920 Speaker 1: Like I remember when I started working at Google. I'm sorry, 293 00:15:02,920 --> 00:15:04,760 Speaker 1: I'm just rambling now. But when I started working at Google, 294 00:15:05,440 --> 00:15:07,840 Speaker 1: my very first project, very very first project when I 295 00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,320 Speaker 1: began was working on Google Talk. I don't know if 296 00:15:10,360 --> 00:15:12,640 Speaker 1: anyone remembers what that is, but it was like a 297 00:15:12,680 --> 00:15:17,040 Speaker 1: desktop chat client for that Google made for Windows computers. 298 00:15:17,520 --> 00:15:21,520 Speaker 1: And then eventually that chat was also in Gmail and 299 00:15:21,520 --> 00:15:23,800 Speaker 1: I worked on that as well. But we used to 300 00:15:23,840 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: think about how to make chat work as well as 301 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,400 Speaker 1: it could on the desktop, which was like at that 302 00:15:29,600 --> 00:15:31,680 Speaker 1: time in two thousand and seven, you know, right before 303 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 1: the iPhone came out, that was like that was a 304 00:15:33,800 --> 00:15:36,640 Speaker 1: big deal to try to, you know, make sure people 305 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 1: were able to communicate as efficiently and effectively as possible. 306 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:41,400 Speaker 1: It's so weird to think of that now, like that 307 00:15:41,440 --> 00:15:43,560 Speaker 1: would totally be a mobile first thing now, right, But 308 00:15:43,640 --> 00:15:46,200 Speaker 1: like ten years ago, the desktop was where all of 309 00:15:46,240 --> 00:15:49,760 Speaker 1: the attention went. And because everything, all of people's efforts 310 00:15:49,800 --> 00:15:53,760 Speaker 1: has focused so successfully on mobile phones for the last 311 00:15:53,800 --> 00:15:56,440 Speaker 1: decade now, it's like such a high leverage place. If 312 00:15:56,480 --> 00:15:58,480 Speaker 1: you want your attention back and you take those apps 313 00:15:58,520 --> 00:16:02,640 Speaker 1: off of the phone, then like the desktop is comparatively quiet. 314 00:16:02,800 --> 00:16:05,760 Speaker 1: You know, it's actually quite easy to control what goes 315 00:16:05,800 --> 00:16:08,000 Speaker 1: on on the desk. Stop when you shut down that 316 00:16:08,200 --> 00:16:10,160 Speaker 1: noisy voice in your pocket. 317 00:16:10,760 --> 00:16:11,960 Speaker 3: That's so true. 318 00:16:11,720 --> 00:16:14,000 Speaker 2: I I gosh, I've just got like a ton of 319 00:16:14,080 --> 00:16:17,240 Speaker 2: questions freeing from all of that. I want to come 320 00:16:17,280 --> 00:16:18,960 Speaker 2: back to your time at Google in a moment. But 321 00:16:19,360 --> 00:16:21,600 Speaker 2: I guess it's like whenever people are bored, the phone 322 00:16:21,600 --> 00:16:23,560 Speaker 2: will come out. So when they're queuing in line for 323 00:16:23,600 --> 00:16:25,960 Speaker 2: a coffee, for example, you pull your phone out. Or 324 00:16:26,000 --> 00:16:28,600 Speaker 2: if you know you're out for dinner with family or friends, 325 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:30,840 Speaker 2: they go to the bathroom, your phone comes out. What 326 00:16:30,840 --> 00:16:33,360 Speaker 2: what do you do in those moments? Given it sounds 327 00:16:33,400 --> 00:16:35,120 Speaker 2: like there's not much going on on your phone? 328 00:16:36,280 --> 00:16:39,800 Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I mean like I kind of have to 329 00:16:39,840 --> 00:16:42,880 Speaker 1: do nothing because yeah, there's nothing. And this is actually 330 00:16:42,880 --> 00:16:44,960 Speaker 1: an objection that a lot of people have with the 331 00:16:45,080 --> 00:16:48,040 Speaker 1: distraction free phone. I mean legitimately, they're like, I really 332 00:16:48,080 --> 00:16:50,040 Speaker 1: like the sound of that, but what am I going 333 00:16:50,080 --> 00:16:53,680 Speaker 1: to do to fill the space in between? You know? 334 00:16:53,800 --> 00:16:57,320 Speaker 1: And and again it's like it's not like I'm, you know, 335 00:16:57,800 --> 00:17:00,560 Speaker 1: proposing that you go back to like wearing like a 336 00:17:01,520 --> 00:17:03,520 Speaker 1: like an animal skin and living in a cave. Like 337 00:17:03,560 --> 00:17:05,440 Speaker 1: it's not that far back in time that we didn't 338 00:17:05,480 --> 00:17:08,280 Speaker 1: have smartphones, right, Like when people were cool, they were 339 00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:10,240 Speaker 1: were fine. They were like making it through the day, 340 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:12,920 Speaker 1: you know, making it through like a meal with if 341 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 1: somebody went to the bathroom, like you'll be all right actually, 342 00:17:15,640 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: And that that is part of the thing that like 343 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:19,679 Speaker 1: if if the phone is there, because all of this 344 00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:24,199 Speaker 1: comes from not for me being like so like masterful, 345 00:17:24,320 --> 00:17:27,159 Speaker 1: it's because I can't handle the phone at all. I 346 00:17:27,200 --> 00:17:29,520 Speaker 1: am like, I'll be the first one. If there's anything 347 00:17:29,520 --> 00:17:31,640 Speaker 1: on my phone that I can like look at, I'm 348 00:17:31,640 --> 00:17:34,320 Speaker 1: definitely gonna look at it. So when it's not there, 349 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,679 Speaker 1: I'm like I'm just looking around the restaurant probably, you know, 350 00:17:38,000 --> 00:17:41,080 Speaker 1: like like I'm just like I like, I literally will 351 00:17:41,119 --> 00:17:43,400 Speaker 1: just be bored for a minute. And I think actually 352 00:17:43,400 --> 00:17:48,520 Speaker 1: being bored is pretty powerful. And there are you know, 353 00:17:48,800 --> 00:17:51,960 Speaker 1: there's some there's some studies about this, but like basically, 354 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:54,399 Speaker 1: when your when your mind is quiet, like it, it 355 00:17:54,440 --> 00:17:57,239 Speaker 1: gives your brain the chance a different part of your 356 00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:00,119 Speaker 1: brain the chance to work, you know, and and and 357 00:18:00,480 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: sometimes that's when an idea might come to me, you know, 358 00:18:03,359 --> 00:18:06,680 Speaker 1: an idea for something that I'm writing. Maybe I'll just 359 00:18:06,920 --> 00:18:09,240 Speaker 1: start thinking about something or maybe I can just notice 360 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 1: where I am. And this all sounds very like I 361 00:18:11,760 --> 00:18:13,679 Speaker 1: know it sounds boring, like this is like what me 362 00:18:13,760 --> 00:18:17,439 Speaker 1: describing being bored is boring, but there is actually that 363 00:18:17,560 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 1: is actually like a resource. Like if you can have 364 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:23,080 Speaker 1: little pockets of boredom every now and again in the day, 365 00:18:23,200 --> 00:18:24,600 Speaker 1: like if you have like a couple times a day 366 00:18:24,640 --> 00:18:26,359 Speaker 1: when you're bored, or like five times a day when 367 00:18:26,359 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 1: you're bored, or just a few times per week even 368 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:31,680 Speaker 1: that you didn't have before, Like that lets your brain 369 00:18:31,800 --> 00:18:34,119 Speaker 1: rest in a way, and sometimes for me, lets the 370 00:18:34,160 --> 00:18:37,280 Speaker 1: subconscious come up with a solution to something, solve something 371 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:40,200 Speaker 1: or propose is an idea that I hadn't had before, 372 00:18:40,600 --> 00:18:43,800 Speaker 1: or maybe if I'm really lucky, I actually like notice 373 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:46,639 Speaker 1: something nice that's going on. I noticed the people around me, 374 00:18:46,680 --> 00:18:49,920 Speaker 1: I noticed the weather outside, or you know, just something 375 00:18:49,920 --> 00:18:52,639 Speaker 1: that's nice that that just feels like, yeah, I was alive, 376 00:18:52,800 --> 00:18:56,040 Speaker 1: Like times slowed down, and when I'm looking at my phone, 377 00:18:56,080 --> 00:19:00,080 Speaker 1: it's like time just disappears. You know, I'm just giving 378 00:19:00,080 --> 00:19:03,360 Speaker 1: away my life. Honestly, I'm like giving away like some 379 00:19:03,440 --> 00:19:06,920 Speaker 1: small little piece of my life because I won't remember it. 380 00:19:07,119 --> 00:19:08,879 Speaker 1: I won't. It's like I'm just going to give myself 381 00:19:08,880 --> 00:19:11,560 Speaker 1: amnesia for those for that time and give it away. 382 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:14,920 Speaker 1: So it's a way too. It might not always be exciting, 383 00:19:14,920 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 1: but it's a way to like reclaim myself. I guess. 384 00:19:19,680 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 3: I love that description of it. 385 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,320 Speaker 2: It's almost like boredom is kind of like the new 386 00:19:23,400 --> 00:19:25,040 Speaker 2: meditation or something like that. 387 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:28,399 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, right, I mean in a way, that's like 388 00:19:28,400 --> 00:19:30,960 Speaker 1: the easiest way to meditate is just if you're bored 389 00:19:31,080 --> 00:19:33,800 Speaker 1: and can't do anything, you will become more mindful. 390 00:19:34,480 --> 00:19:34,960 Speaker 3: Exactly. 391 00:19:35,200 --> 00:19:38,240 Speaker 2: Just do nothing, Just do nothing. I want to Yeah, 392 00:19:38,320 --> 00:19:41,800 Speaker 2: I want to come back to the highlight. It's and firstly, 393 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:45,560 Speaker 2: I'm curious, like just to give people listening an example, 394 00:19:45,640 --> 00:19:48,479 Speaker 2: like what was what was the highlight for you today? 395 00:19:48,600 --> 00:19:50,440 Speaker 2: Or maybe the highlight for you yesterday? 396 00:19:51,760 --> 00:19:55,439 Speaker 1: Sure, yeah, so I'm going to tell you about today. 397 00:19:55,560 --> 00:19:58,440 Speaker 1: Yesterday was the same this today. I'll give you three days. 398 00:19:58,440 --> 00:20:02,040 Speaker 1: So today it's to write fifteen hundred words. I'm working 399 00:20:02,080 --> 00:20:05,080 Speaker 1: on a novel. I'm trying to write a science fiction novel, 400 00:20:05,200 --> 00:20:09,800 Speaker 1: and so it's really important for me, and I think 401 00:20:09,800 --> 00:20:11,719 Speaker 1: it was probably true for most people who when when 402 00:20:11,840 --> 00:20:14,640 Speaker 1: doing a writing project, really important to do it every day, 403 00:20:14,760 --> 00:20:16,720 Speaker 1: to have my head in it every day, where it 404 00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:18,680 Speaker 1: takes a really long time to boot up, like it 405 00:20:18,720 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 1: takes a few days. Like if you think about booting 406 00:20:20,400 --> 00:20:22,719 Speaker 1: up a computer. For me, the writing computer is like 407 00:20:22,880 --> 00:20:24,760 Speaker 1: it takes days to boot up. So I have to 408 00:20:24,840 --> 00:20:28,160 Speaker 1: keep it running. So I'll try to write fifteen hundred 409 00:20:28,200 --> 00:20:29,840 Speaker 1: words today, and if I do that, I know I'll 410 00:20:29,840 --> 00:20:34,080 Speaker 1: feel really satisfied. That was also my highlight for yesterday 411 00:20:34,680 --> 00:20:36,560 Speaker 1: was to get those fifteen hundred words in. And I 412 00:20:36,560 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 1: got him done, like just before midnight, you know, but 413 00:20:39,080 --> 00:20:41,480 Speaker 1: I did get him. I did get him in. And 414 00:20:41,640 --> 00:20:43,760 Speaker 1: the day before that it was also to write fifteen 415 00:20:43,840 --> 00:20:47,600 Speaker 1: hundred words. But during the day, I had the opportunity 416 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,399 Speaker 1: to go to My son is now fifteen, so I 417 00:20:50,440 --> 00:20:53,480 Speaker 1: was sixteen when I had my basketball accident. My son 418 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:56,080 Speaker 1: is fifteen. He's playing high school basketball, and I had 419 00:20:56,080 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: the chance to go to his basketball practice and help out. 420 00:20:59,640 --> 00:21:02,120 Speaker 1: Also tall like me, so they needed a tall guy 421 00:21:02,200 --> 00:21:05,280 Speaker 1: to just for him to like bang into for a while. 422 00:21:05,720 --> 00:21:08,919 Speaker 1: So so I went for an hour before his practice 423 00:21:08,960 --> 00:21:11,040 Speaker 1: started to work out with him. And then they said, well, 424 00:21:11,040 --> 00:21:12,840 Speaker 1: why don't you stick around for the whole practice and 425 00:21:12,960 --> 00:21:15,120 Speaker 1: just like play with us, you know, like we need 426 00:21:15,119 --> 00:21:18,320 Speaker 1: an extra they need an extra person in their practice. 427 00:21:18,359 --> 00:21:19,800 Speaker 1: So I got to I got I mean, this is 428 00:21:19,840 --> 00:21:21,639 Speaker 1: like the every old guy's dream, Like I got to 429 00:21:21,680 --> 00:21:24,720 Speaker 1: do high school basketball like practice again. It was really fun. 430 00:21:25,200 --> 00:21:28,680 Speaker 1: But that I was I was playing basketball for three hours. 431 00:21:28,760 --> 00:21:33,600 Speaker 1: I was totally worked. Afterwards, I was like, I was exhausted, 432 00:21:33,720 --> 00:21:36,960 Speaker 1: totally wiped out. And so I did not get my 433 00:21:37,000 --> 00:21:39,800 Speaker 1: writing target done that day. But when I looked at 434 00:21:39,840 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: the day, I was like, well, clearly the highlight became 435 00:21:42,600 --> 00:21:45,320 Speaker 1: playing basketball with my son, Like that was that was 436 00:21:45,359 --> 00:21:48,960 Speaker 1: something unanticipated, that was great, and I'm happy to give 437 00:21:49,080 --> 00:21:52,159 Speaker 1: up meeting my you know, my like very sort of 438 00:21:52,200 --> 00:21:55,920 Speaker 1: work related highlight for this life related highlight. And now 439 00:21:55,960 --> 00:21:59,120 Speaker 1: at the end of that day on Saturday, I was like, yeah, 440 00:21:59,160 --> 00:22:01,520 Speaker 1: this was a great day. Like I don't like, I 441 00:22:01,520 --> 00:22:04,359 Speaker 1: don't feel bad about not meeting my goal because really 442 00:22:04,400 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 1: it's kind of like a big part of this philosophy 443 00:22:06,960 --> 00:22:10,760 Speaker 1: is just honestly, it's like it's both raising and lowering 444 00:22:10,800 --> 00:22:13,840 Speaker 1: expectations at the same time. So instead of thinking I'm 445 00:22:13,880 --> 00:22:15,959 Speaker 1: going to do like a thousand things today, if I 446 00:22:16,080 --> 00:22:19,280 Speaker 1: just do one thing that's really important, that's enough, you know, 447 00:22:19,400 --> 00:22:22,119 Speaker 1: that's enough to be satisfied. But I want to choose 448 00:22:22,119 --> 00:22:25,239 Speaker 1: what that thing is if at all possible, and so 449 00:22:25,680 --> 00:22:27,639 Speaker 1: on that day, I know, like it's okay that I 450 00:22:27,640 --> 00:22:29,880 Speaker 1: didn't do every single thing on the list. It's okay 451 00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:32,280 Speaker 1: that I changed what was most important. I did what 452 00:22:32,480 --> 00:22:35,760 Speaker 1: was most important, and I can feel satisfied even if 453 00:22:35,800 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: it's one thing. 454 00:22:37,640 --> 00:22:41,119 Speaker 2: I like that that's there's some nice examples, and I 455 00:22:41,160 --> 00:22:46,000 Speaker 2: liked the flexibility there, I think because I really the 456 00:22:46,040 --> 00:22:48,879 Speaker 2: idea of a highlight really resonated with me when I 457 00:22:48,920 --> 00:22:52,360 Speaker 2: read Make Time. But the thing that I struggled with, 458 00:22:52,400 --> 00:22:55,240 Speaker 2: like how I structure my own like to do list, 459 00:22:55,280 --> 00:22:58,760 Speaker 2: if you like, is ever since reading cal Newport's Deep Work, 460 00:22:58,760 --> 00:23:02,359 Speaker 2: which I think you reference in your book, which which 461 00:23:02,440 --> 00:23:04,560 Speaker 2: was just I just love that book, it's so good. 462 00:23:05,200 --> 00:23:07,960 Speaker 2: I now split my to do list up into a 463 00:23:08,000 --> 00:23:10,560 Speaker 2: deep work list and a shallow work list, because I 464 00:23:10,600 --> 00:23:13,080 Speaker 2: find if it's all in the one list, then your 465 00:23:13,080 --> 00:23:15,760 Speaker 2: brain just defaults to the easy thing, which is always 466 00:23:15,760 --> 00:23:19,800 Speaker 2: shallow work or non cognitively demanding work. And I think 467 00:23:19,840 --> 00:23:22,480 Speaker 2: with the highlight generally on my deep work list, how 468 00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:25,080 Speaker 2: I found that I tend to work is that I'll 469 00:23:25,119 --> 00:23:28,199 Speaker 2: have a handful of things which might be you know, 470 00:23:28,280 --> 00:23:32,679 Speaker 2: writing my regular column for entrepreneur, for example, or trying 471 00:23:32,680 --> 00:23:36,160 Speaker 2: to kind of work through the details of a product 472 00:23:36,240 --> 00:23:40,199 Speaker 2: that I'm trying to design or something like that. And 473 00:23:39,080 --> 00:23:43,280 Speaker 2: I don't know if it's like a type a personality 474 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:47,400 Speaker 2: thing like that. It's like, no, I want to highlights, 475 00:23:47,560 --> 00:23:48,600 Speaker 2: give me two highlights? 476 00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:49,280 Speaker 3: Well maybe three? 477 00:23:50,240 --> 00:23:53,320 Speaker 2: Is that a common thing like that comes up? It 478 00:23:53,400 --> 00:23:56,240 Speaker 2: is like, yeah, what do you say to that? 479 00:23:56,400 --> 00:23:59,359 Speaker 1: It is, well, it is a common thing, and I 480 00:23:59,400 --> 00:24:02,280 Speaker 1: mean part of the thing I would say, and you know, honestly, like, 481 00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,520 Speaker 1: I think one thing that is a challenge for people 482 00:24:06,760 --> 00:24:10,040 Speaker 1: with adopting Make Time is that it is not it 483 00:24:10,080 --> 00:24:15,919 Speaker 1: does not feel extreme. And I think people like solutions 484 00:24:15,920 --> 00:24:20,280 Speaker 1: that are extreme or opinions that are extreme, and my 485 00:24:20,359 --> 00:24:22,919 Speaker 1: opinion about this is not extreme. I think if you 486 00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,640 Speaker 1: find that for you, it makes a lot of sense 487 00:24:25,680 --> 00:24:28,080 Speaker 1: to have two highlights, then I would say, Hey, you're 488 00:24:28,160 --> 00:24:30,119 Speaker 1: you and I'm me. I'm not going to tell you 489 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:31,879 Speaker 1: what it's like to be you or what it's like 490 00:24:31,920 --> 00:24:34,439 Speaker 1: to do the work that you do or whatever. Like 491 00:24:34,960 --> 00:24:38,439 Speaker 1: that's great, go for it, but like I, but I 492 00:24:38,440 --> 00:24:41,480 Speaker 1: don't want to demand that of everybody. And the reason 493 00:24:41,520 --> 00:24:45,199 Speaker 1: why that does not work well for me personally is 494 00:24:45,880 --> 00:24:49,800 Speaker 1: that if I set two highlights for myself, I'm being 495 00:24:49,840 --> 00:24:54,240 Speaker 1: dishonest with myself with my capacity about what I can 496 00:24:54,280 --> 00:24:59,080 Speaker 1: do in a day. I as for my own podcast, 497 00:24:59,640 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 1: which you know we mentioned before we started recording product, 498 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: Breakfast Club is this podcast I have with my friend John. 499 00:25:05,080 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 1: But I interviewed another friend of mine. Her name is 500 00:25:07,800 --> 00:25:10,800 Speaker 1: Sarah Cooper. She's a designer, she's a but she's primarily 501 00:25:10,880 --> 00:25:15,119 Speaker 1: a comedian and a writer. Really super funny Sarah Cooper. 502 00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,680 Speaker 1: If you follow her on Twitter, check out her books. 503 00:25:17,720 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 1: She's absolutely hilarious. But I interviewed her about her work process, 504 00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,879 Speaker 1: how she does her work because, like me, she had 505 00:25:23,960 --> 00:25:26,679 Speaker 1: left Google to pursue a different kind of you know, 506 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:30,720 Speaker 1: work of writing and being comedian full time. And one 507 00:25:30,760 --> 00:25:32,960 Speaker 1: of the things she said that stuck with me. I 508 00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:36,080 Speaker 1: thought it was such a powerful idea was she said 509 00:25:36,119 --> 00:25:40,760 Speaker 1: that it's been really important to actually like be honest 510 00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:43,080 Speaker 1: about how long it takes to do things, Like instead 511 00:25:43,080 --> 00:25:45,119 Speaker 1: of saying I'm going to do these ten things today, 512 00:25:45,480 --> 00:25:47,760 Speaker 1: like to say, like I'm going to do like this 513 00:25:47,880 --> 00:25:49,679 Speaker 1: one more important thing. I'm going to do it, like 514 00:25:49,720 --> 00:25:51,399 Speaker 1: it's going to take me a week maybe, or like 515 00:25:51,720 --> 00:25:53,960 Speaker 1: maybe making the timeframe for doing things that are important, 516 00:25:54,000 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: like a month. And I think there is so much 517 00:25:56,320 --> 00:26:00,640 Speaker 1: of a culture of busyness around most of us, all 518 00:26:00,680 --> 00:26:02,840 Speaker 1: the time at work and even at least in the 519 00:26:02,920 --> 00:26:06,200 Speaker 1: United States, like even outside of work, when I talk 520 00:26:06,240 --> 00:26:08,280 Speaker 1: to other parents and I see how busy they are, Like, 521 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:11,600 Speaker 1: it's just it's everywhere. We're very busy people. And so 522 00:26:11,640 --> 00:26:13,800 Speaker 1: the expectation is always to do more and more and 523 00:26:13,800 --> 00:26:17,560 Speaker 1: more do it faster. And part of the idea with 524 00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:20,159 Speaker 1: Make Time is to say, hey, like it's okay to 525 00:26:20,280 --> 00:26:24,480 Speaker 1: have one focal point and to do maybe less, but 526 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:29,200 Speaker 1: give it more energy. Some of this idea of focusing 527 00:26:29,400 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: on doing less each day, of having one thing each 528 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:36,359 Speaker 1: day comes from the experience that my co author John 529 00:26:36,400 --> 00:26:39,959 Speaker 1: Zaratsky and I had running design sprints and watching all 530 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,760 Speaker 1: these teams, you know, we were sort of facilitating the sprint, 531 00:26:42,800 --> 00:26:45,440 Speaker 1: running them through this process. We got to observe them, 532 00:26:45,720 --> 00:26:47,639 Speaker 1: you know, during during the week, during the day and 533 00:26:47,720 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: during the week, and one of our big observations was 534 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:54,359 Speaker 1: that there's like one peak energy in the day for people, 535 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:57,600 Speaker 1: like one peak sort of cognitive energy. And if you 536 00:26:57,800 --> 00:27:00,600 Speaker 1: engineer that, if you plan, like there's one main thing 537 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:02,080 Speaker 1: we want to do each day, and we're going to 538 00:27:02,160 --> 00:27:04,520 Speaker 1: make that the focal point of the day. And sure 539 00:27:04,560 --> 00:27:06,199 Speaker 1: we're going to do other things today, but they're going 540 00:27:06,240 --> 00:27:08,040 Speaker 1: to kind of lead up to and build up to that. 541 00:27:08,440 --> 00:27:11,000 Speaker 1: Then we got much better results and it's more satisfying 542 00:27:11,000 --> 00:27:12,840 Speaker 1: at the end of the day. So for me, if 543 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:14,960 Speaker 1: I felt like I have two highlights today, like the 544 00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,359 Speaker 1: reality is, yeah, I might have two wonderful things happen, 545 00:27:17,440 --> 00:27:19,720 Speaker 1: or I might get two things done. Maybe that happens 546 00:27:19,720 --> 00:27:22,200 Speaker 1: in a given day. But to set the expectation for 547 00:27:22,320 --> 00:27:25,320 Speaker 1: myself each day, it could be exhausting, It could lead 548 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:27,560 Speaker 1: me to do not my best work, and it could 549 00:27:27,560 --> 00:27:30,600 Speaker 1: be also disappointing when I can't actually deliver on it. 550 00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:34,240 Speaker 1: But again, you know that's me, and so it's just me. 551 00:27:34,760 --> 00:27:35,760 Speaker 3: I like that. 552 00:27:35,400 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 2: That's quite essentially, quite a compelling reason to make me 553 00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:43,600 Speaker 2: just go, okay, just one highlight, that's stuff being ridiculous. 554 00:27:43,760 --> 00:27:46,560 Speaker 1: Well, I guess one other part is to just distinguish 555 00:27:46,560 --> 00:27:48,840 Speaker 1: between what's a highlight and what's like a thing on 556 00:27:48,880 --> 00:27:50,800 Speaker 1: your list that you'll need to do. So, like if 557 00:27:50,840 --> 00:27:53,960 Speaker 1: you are writing the article for Entrepreneur, like that might 558 00:27:54,000 --> 00:27:57,040 Speaker 1: be that might be the highlight that day, you know, 559 00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:58,600 Speaker 1: or it might be a thing that's just like on 560 00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:01,480 Speaker 1: your to do list because it does require maybe the 561 00:28:01,600 --> 00:28:03,320 Speaker 1: draft that you're working on or the editing that you're 562 00:28:03,320 --> 00:28:05,640 Speaker 1: working on on that given day. It doesn't require your 563 00:28:05,680 --> 00:28:07,480 Speaker 1: peak energy. So part of the way I think about 564 00:28:07,480 --> 00:28:09,200 Speaker 1: it is like, what do I want to give my peak? 565 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 1: What do I can give my best to today? And 566 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,080 Speaker 1: I'm going to design an engineer the day around having 567 00:28:14,119 --> 00:28:17,560 Speaker 1: my best available for that one moment or that one 568 00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:21,560 Speaker 1: sort of session of effort and focus. And then you're 569 00:28:21,640 --> 00:28:23,680 Speaker 1: kind of prioritizing a bit. So even if there are 570 00:28:23,720 --> 00:28:26,359 Speaker 1: two or three important things you're saying, but this one 571 00:28:26,440 --> 00:28:27,800 Speaker 1: gets the best of me. 572 00:28:29,240 --> 00:28:30,959 Speaker 3: I like that way of looking at it. 573 00:28:31,000 --> 00:28:35,280 Speaker 2: That's really cool, That's very cool. What I want to 574 00:28:35,320 --> 00:28:37,520 Speaker 2: move on to your time at Google and then you're 575 00:28:37,560 --> 00:28:40,520 Speaker 2: at Google Ventures. I think you were at each one 576 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:43,680 Speaker 2: for sort of about five years respectively. Because I imagine that 577 00:28:44,440 --> 00:28:47,240 Speaker 2: there are people listening, going, well, that's all. 578 00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:47,760 Speaker 3: Well and good. 579 00:28:47,840 --> 00:28:50,760 Speaker 2: You're a writer, You're in control of all your time. 580 00:28:51,680 --> 00:28:54,440 Speaker 2: I want to know because you're at Google Ventures recently. 581 00:28:54,480 --> 00:28:56,760 Speaker 2: I think you left there about eighteen months ago, and 582 00:28:57,280 --> 00:28:59,840 Speaker 2: I want to know, like, Yeah, what was your approach 583 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:04,120 Speaker 2: to dealing with meetings and protecting your time? Because I 584 00:29:04,120 --> 00:29:07,840 Speaker 2: feel like meetings are the biggest thing that people struggle 585 00:29:07,880 --> 00:29:10,880 Speaker 2: with when it comes to getting great work and deep 586 00:29:10,920 --> 00:29:13,680 Speaker 2: work and focused work or a highlight done during the 587 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 2: day because other people control your diary unless you work 588 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:20,120 Speaker 2: at base Camp, of course, but if you don't, other 589 00:29:20,120 --> 00:29:23,120 Speaker 2: people generally control your diary, so you can can you 590 00:29:23,160 --> 00:29:24,680 Speaker 2: tell me, like how you manage that? 591 00:29:26,480 --> 00:29:28,800 Speaker 1: Well? Yeah, and I have had I have had all 592 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:35,160 Speaker 1: kinds of jobs in my life, and including lots of 593 00:29:35,200 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 1: different kinds of jobs at tech companies. And it's probably 594 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:42,720 Speaker 1: easiest to remember Google ventures because it's the most recent, 595 00:29:42,760 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 1: but I've also worked as I've worked as a manager, 596 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,239 Speaker 1: I've worked as an individual contributor, as an intern, I've 597 00:29:48,240 --> 00:29:51,160 Speaker 1: worked as a receptionist. I've worked as a busboy, dishwasher. 598 00:29:51,200 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 1: I've had all kinds of different jobs, and so I'm 599 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,200 Speaker 1: definitely aware that there are there are different kinds of 600 00:29:57,200 --> 00:30:01,320 Speaker 1: demands and different kinds of expectations and requirements for different jobs, 601 00:30:02,120 --> 00:30:05,120 Speaker 1: and different cultures of the way that the teams work. 602 00:30:06,840 --> 00:30:09,160 Speaker 1: I think that actually, I mean this is sort of 603 00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:12,280 Speaker 1: we don't have to explore this topic, but ironically it 604 00:30:12,360 --> 00:30:14,760 Speaker 1: is I feel I have almost less control over my 605 00:30:14,840 --> 00:30:17,720 Speaker 1: schedule now than I did as you know, as a writer, 606 00:30:17,760 --> 00:30:20,040 Speaker 1: as a sort of self employed person whose time is 607 00:30:20,240 --> 00:30:22,240 Speaker 1: like the structure is one percent up to me. In 608 00:30:22,240 --> 00:30:25,760 Speaker 1: some ways, it's actually harder to do things. But but 609 00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:28,560 Speaker 1: that's that's neither here nor there, at least for right now. 610 00:30:29,120 --> 00:30:33,920 Speaker 1: The thing that I would do at Google Ventures was, 611 00:30:34,160 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: I mean, for one thing, the design Sprint was a 612 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:42,240 Speaker 1: really powerful redesign of the work week. And so this 613 00:30:42,680 --> 00:30:46,280 Speaker 1: originally sprang from my experience working on you know, as 614 00:30:46,280 --> 00:30:49,800 Speaker 1: a designer building products and as a manager managing designers 615 00:30:49,840 --> 00:30:53,280 Speaker 1: who are working on products at Google, and so I 616 00:30:53,320 --> 00:30:58,320 Speaker 1: wanted to actually get the time to focus on work 617 00:30:58,360 --> 00:31:00,880 Speaker 1: so that we could get way into it and rapid progress. 618 00:31:00,920 --> 00:31:03,640 Speaker 1: Because when you could just focus on one thing, you know, 619 00:31:03,680 --> 00:31:05,640 Speaker 1: you can get more done. And when you could batch 620 00:31:05,760 --> 00:31:09,120 Speaker 1: those days of focus together and get everybody focused, like 621 00:31:09,160 --> 00:31:11,400 Speaker 1: thinking on about the same thing, like, all of those 622 00:31:12,240 --> 00:31:15,840 Speaker 1: benefits just exponentially increase. So the design Sprint at first 623 00:31:15,880 --> 00:31:19,960 Speaker 1: was like this trick to redesign the way the calendar 624 00:31:20,000 --> 00:31:22,920 Speaker 1: worked because instead of other people owning the calendar, instead 625 00:31:22,920 --> 00:31:25,160 Speaker 1: of sort of dodging around all of these things that 626 00:31:25,200 --> 00:31:28,160 Speaker 1: were already on there, recurring meetings and team meetings and 627 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:30,840 Speaker 1: stand ups and one on ones. Then I could for 628 00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,320 Speaker 1: one week say nope, everything gets erased. Now we're starting 629 00:31:34,320 --> 00:31:36,720 Speaker 1: from scratch and we're just focusing on one thing. So 630 00:31:36,760 --> 00:31:38,680 Speaker 1: by the time I got to Google Ventures, many of 631 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:43,920 Speaker 1: my weeks were design sprints, and then it was it 632 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:46,479 Speaker 1: was easy to figure out. I mean, built into that 633 00:31:46,640 --> 00:31:48,640 Speaker 1: was the idea of a highlight for each day because 634 00:31:48,640 --> 00:31:50,720 Speaker 1: every day of the design sprint has one focal point. 635 00:31:51,200 --> 00:31:53,720 Speaker 1: On Monday you make a map, Tuesday you sketch, Wednesday, 636 00:31:53,720 --> 00:31:58,480 Speaker 1: you decide, Thursday, prototype, Friday, test, and there were no 637 00:31:58,560 --> 00:32:02,200 Speaker 1: other meetings. It was very easy on weeks when we 638 00:32:02,200 --> 00:32:05,880 Speaker 1: were not in design sprints. Then we had to figure 639 00:32:05,880 --> 00:32:07,479 Speaker 1: out what to do. And one of the things that 640 00:32:07,560 --> 00:32:10,320 Speaker 1: John and my co author who was also my colleague 641 00:32:10,400 --> 00:32:15,040 Speaker 1: at Google Ventures, started doing was to batch our meetings 642 00:32:15,080 --> 00:32:19,040 Speaker 1: together because we wanted some of that great focus that 643 00:32:19,200 --> 00:32:21,960 Speaker 1: like the resource of having a day with no meetings 644 00:32:22,040 --> 00:32:25,840 Speaker 1: is it's really special. You can do different kinds of 645 00:32:25,880 --> 00:32:27,520 Speaker 1: things than even if you have one meeting, right, it 646 00:32:27,520 --> 00:32:29,680 Speaker 1: can kind of spoil the attention, Like I know, it's 647 00:32:29,720 --> 00:32:31,880 Speaker 1: coming up, and I'm like, kind of, I don't really 648 00:32:31,880 --> 00:32:33,360 Speaker 1: want to get all the way into something because I 649 00:32:33,400 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: know I'm going to have to go talk to that 650 00:32:35,280 --> 00:32:39,280 Speaker 1: person or whatever. And so an unspoiled, totally clear day 651 00:32:39,320 --> 00:32:43,840 Speaker 1: is really powerful. So we would block off two or 652 00:32:43,840 --> 00:32:48,240 Speaker 1: three days a week and have those be meeting free days, 653 00:32:48,280 --> 00:32:50,600 Speaker 1: and then batch together all of our meetings on the 654 00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:52,920 Speaker 1: other two days. So like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday might be 655 00:32:53,520 --> 00:32:56,400 Speaker 1: like just totally clear, and we would be focusing on 656 00:32:56,560 --> 00:33:01,440 Speaker 1: writing projects or design projects whatever. Thursday, Friday we would 657 00:33:01,480 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 1: just cram full of meetings. I'd be totally in meeting 658 00:33:04,600 --> 00:33:06,440 Speaker 1: mode on those days, and you know, I would actually 659 00:33:06,480 --> 00:33:09,240 Speaker 1: do a better job of being in meetings of you know, 660 00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:12,440 Speaker 1: advising companies or whatever it might be in those days 661 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:15,960 Speaker 1: because I was totally locked in to that mode of 662 00:33:16,000 --> 00:33:18,320 Speaker 1: being in meeting mode. So that was the way I 663 00:33:18,320 --> 00:33:20,960 Speaker 1: dealt with it at Google Ventures. But there even still 664 00:33:20,960 --> 00:33:24,400 Speaker 1: I had a lot more control over my schedule than 665 00:33:25,040 --> 00:33:27,720 Speaker 1: I did when I was working at Google as an 666 00:33:27,760 --> 00:33:30,480 Speaker 1: individual contributor or you know, like the further back I 667 00:33:30,560 --> 00:33:34,280 Speaker 1: remember in my career, the less agency I had, and 668 00:33:34,320 --> 00:33:36,240 Speaker 1: so a lot of the tactics in Make Time are 669 00:33:36,280 --> 00:33:39,480 Speaker 1: about how to start creating that space from scratch, from 670 00:33:39,480 --> 00:33:42,160 Speaker 1: a situation where you might not have one hundred percent 671 00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,520 Speaker 1: control over the calendar. And one of the things that 672 00:33:45,680 --> 00:33:48,280 Speaker 1: I really like doing is, for one thing, just even 673 00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,680 Speaker 1: if you don't do anything to the calendar, but you 674 00:33:50,800 --> 00:33:53,160 Speaker 1: become aware of what's most important to you each day 675 00:33:53,280 --> 00:33:56,240 Speaker 1: with the highlight that changes the day. Now you know 676 00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:58,960 Speaker 1: where to give your attention. That's powerful if you can 677 00:33:59,000 --> 00:34:02,200 Speaker 1: then also block time for it on the calendar, so 678 00:34:02,240 --> 00:34:04,160 Speaker 1: you say, okay, the most important thing is that it's 679 00:34:04,200 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: not if it's not already a meeting or something, let 680 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:08,960 Speaker 1: me actually place the time on the calendar so I 681 00:34:09,000 --> 00:34:11,040 Speaker 1: can defend it figure out when it's going to happen. 682 00:34:11,200 --> 00:34:15,279 Speaker 1: That's powerful. Over time, you can start blocking like a 683 00:34:15,320 --> 00:34:19,080 Speaker 1: recurring time on the calendar when it's your time to 684 00:34:19,120 --> 00:34:21,839 Speaker 1: do work, it's your time to do your highlight, whatever 685 00:34:21,840 --> 00:34:25,319 Speaker 1: it might be, and blocking it off might defend other 686 00:34:25,400 --> 00:34:28,239 Speaker 1: people from being able to take it over. And I 687 00:34:28,280 --> 00:34:32,319 Speaker 1: think that over time doing that, saying no to projects 688 00:34:32,360 --> 00:34:36,240 Speaker 1: that are you know, going to infringe on your ability 689 00:34:36,280 --> 00:34:38,439 Speaker 1: to do what you think is most important. You can 690 00:34:38,480 --> 00:34:41,200 Speaker 1: slowly apply you know, you can try to just slowly, 691 00:34:41,640 --> 00:34:46,000 Speaker 1: degree by degree, turn your your calendar into a base 692 00:34:46,080 --> 00:34:50,120 Speaker 1: camp calendar. And I actually think that's that's possible. You know, 693 00:34:50,160 --> 00:34:51,880 Speaker 1: there are cases where you're going to have to actually 694 00:34:51,920 --> 00:34:54,840 Speaker 1: have a tough discussion with a boss or a colleague 695 00:34:54,880 --> 00:34:58,600 Speaker 1: and explain why your prioritization needs to shift, why you 696 00:34:58,680 --> 00:35:04,040 Speaker 1: need that time back. But in many cases, the choice 697 00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:07,320 Speaker 1: to give up our time is one that we're making 698 00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:10,000 Speaker 1: ourselves by default. Like I would often just give up 699 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,080 Speaker 1: my time because I'll say yes to meetings. I'll assume 700 00:35:13,160 --> 00:35:14,680 Speaker 1: that the default of I have to go to that 701 00:35:14,719 --> 00:35:16,880 Speaker 1: meeting is the correct one, when if I just didn't 702 00:35:16,880 --> 00:35:19,759 Speaker 1: show up, if I said no, the world wouldn't end 703 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:21,319 Speaker 1: and I would be able to do a better job 704 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:22,080 Speaker 1: on my own work. 705 00:35:22,480 --> 00:35:26,160 Speaker 2: When you did have less control over your working life, 706 00:35:26,320 --> 00:35:30,400 Speaker 2: like how did you get your boss or your coworkers 707 00:35:30,480 --> 00:35:33,319 Speaker 2: to kind of buy into what you were doing with 708 00:35:33,400 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 2: your time? Do you remember sort of any strategies that 709 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:41,600 Speaker 2: you used back then, aside from blocking out that. I 710 00:35:41,600 --> 00:35:43,000 Speaker 2: guess one highlight if you like. 711 00:35:44,480 --> 00:35:47,560 Speaker 1: One thing that is really powerful and there's actually a 712 00:35:47,600 --> 00:35:52,000 Speaker 1: study about the power of the word because it's my gosh, 713 00:35:52,080 --> 00:35:54,160 Speaker 1: I can't remember the year. But it's long enough ago 714 00:35:54,920 --> 00:35:59,319 Speaker 1: that xerox machines were a big deal. So you know, 715 00:35:59,400 --> 00:36:02,360 Speaker 1: if if listeners are old enough to remember when we 716 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: used to have to make photocopies quite often, having to 717 00:36:05,600 --> 00:36:08,120 Speaker 1: make a xerox or a photocopy of something was a 718 00:36:08,120 --> 00:36:10,640 Speaker 1: really big deal, and and people would wait in line, 719 00:36:10,680 --> 00:36:13,080 Speaker 1: like I remember being a college student and waiting in 720 00:36:13,120 --> 00:36:16,080 Speaker 1: line to use a copy machine to copy off my paper. 721 00:36:17,200 --> 00:36:21,880 Speaker 1: So this study that they did was they were trying 722 00:36:21,880 --> 00:36:25,200 Speaker 1: to see what kinds of excuses would let would allow 723 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:28,359 Speaker 1: people to sort of let people cut them and cut 724 00:36:28,360 --> 00:36:30,440 Speaker 1: in front of them in line to use the xerox machine. 725 00:36:30,480 --> 00:36:33,560 Speaker 1: And I mean they just wanted to. They were studying excuses, 726 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:36,960 Speaker 1: not xeroxes in particular. But so what they found was 727 00:36:36,960 --> 00:36:43,279 Speaker 1: that when people used the word because, folks were crazily 728 00:36:43,440 --> 00:36:45,960 Speaker 1: more likely to let them cut in line, even if 729 00:36:46,000 --> 00:36:49,799 Speaker 1: the only thing they said was can I use the 730 00:36:49,880 --> 00:36:52,640 Speaker 1: xerox machine before you because I need to make copies? 731 00:36:53,080 --> 00:36:54,640 Speaker 1: If that was the only reason, because I need to 732 00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:56,600 Speaker 1: make copies, which is the only thing anyone who is 733 00:36:56,640 --> 00:36:58,520 Speaker 1: in line could do with a xerox machine. That's all 734 00:36:58,520 --> 00:37:00,799 Speaker 1: it did was make copies. But there's just something about 735 00:37:00,840 --> 00:37:03,560 Speaker 1: saying because that if they if somebody said, because I 736 00:37:03,600 --> 00:37:06,600 Speaker 1: need to make copies, versus saying, can I use the 737 00:37:06,680 --> 00:37:09,799 Speaker 1: xerox machine ahead of you? They like people were like 738 00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,120 Speaker 1: fifty percent more likely to let or something I can't 739 00:37:12,160 --> 00:37:14,640 Speaker 1: remember the exact number more likely to let them cut 740 00:37:14,719 --> 00:37:19,000 Speaker 1: in line. And it's not that this is like underhanded 741 00:37:19,080 --> 00:37:22,359 Speaker 1: or tricky, but if you tell people why you want 742 00:37:22,400 --> 00:37:26,560 Speaker 1: to do something different, people are much more accommodating than 743 00:37:26,920 --> 00:37:28,799 Speaker 1: I think we generally give them credit for. I think 744 00:37:28,840 --> 00:37:32,359 Speaker 1: generally in work environments where you know, if you if 745 00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:34,560 Speaker 1: you remember like starting your job, the first day you 746 00:37:34,560 --> 00:37:36,239 Speaker 1: start your job or any you know, you go into 747 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,960 Speaker 1: a new workplace, it's natural that you're trying to figure out, 748 00:37:40,040 --> 00:37:42,640 Speaker 1: like what are the rules here? Like you know and 749 00:37:42,840 --> 00:37:44,960 Speaker 1: not that like in an office there's all these rules, 750 00:37:45,000 --> 00:37:46,160 Speaker 1: but you're kind of trying to figure out, like how 751 00:37:46,200 --> 00:37:48,480 Speaker 1: do stuff work. I remember starting to work at Google 752 00:37:48,560 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 1: or before that, I worked at Microsoft, and like starting 753 00:37:50,560 --> 00:37:53,600 Speaker 1: off a new project, new teams, new company, and like 754 00:37:53,600 --> 00:37:55,839 Speaker 1: trying to figure out, like how do things work? What 755 00:37:55,880 --> 00:37:57,520 Speaker 1: do you do? Like how do I get things done? 756 00:37:57,520 --> 00:37:59,200 Speaker 1: How do I be effective in my job? And how 757 00:37:59,239 --> 00:38:01,240 Speaker 1: do I also help other people do what they're trying 758 00:38:01,239 --> 00:38:03,680 Speaker 1: to do, and you're kind of on the lookout for 759 00:38:03,760 --> 00:38:06,279 Speaker 1: the norms and for like how to kind of make 760 00:38:06,320 --> 00:38:09,640 Speaker 1: sure you're working in the appropriate way. And we do 761 00:38:09,760 --> 00:38:13,200 Speaker 1: this out of the best of intentions, but the result 762 00:38:13,320 --> 00:38:16,600 Speaker 1: is that we're often like we get really set and 763 00:38:16,640 --> 00:38:19,239 Speaker 1: like stuck on these default ways that people behave. So 764 00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,759 Speaker 1: if you want to, for example, block off your mornings 765 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:26,359 Speaker 1: every morning of the week from you know, I don't know, 766 00:38:26,480 --> 00:38:29,000 Speaker 1: eight am till eleven am or eight am till noon, 767 00:38:29,480 --> 00:38:32,319 Speaker 1: just to work on individual work and to be heads down, 768 00:38:32,360 --> 00:38:33,920 Speaker 1: to not let people interrupt you so that you can 769 00:38:33,920 --> 00:38:37,839 Speaker 1: do your own project that might break the norms of 770 00:38:37,880 --> 00:38:40,080 Speaker 1: what other people are doing, but just because it breaks 771 00:38:40,080 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: the norms, like you can't assume that people really care 772 00:38:43,680 --> 00:38:46,759 Speaker 1: about the norms that much. And if you tell people like, 773 00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,480 Speaker 1: I'm breaking the norm because and then you just give 774 00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:52,759 Speaker 1: them a reason why you're doing it, people are inclined 775 00:38:52,840 --> 00:38:54,839 Speaker 1: to let you do that, I think because sort of 776 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:58,160 Speaker 1: unlocks this this feeling that we all have of like trust. 777 00:38:58,239 --> 00:39:00,400 Speaker 1: We generally want to trust one another and want to 778 00:39:00,400 --> 00:39:02,759 Speaker 1: give each other the benefit of the doubt. So yeah, 779 00:39:02,800 --> 00:39:04,800 Speaker 1: so My tactic would be, like back when I was 780 00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:07,400 Speaker 1: at Google, like, hey, I'm blocking this off or I'm 781 00:39:07,400 --> 00:39:09,400 Speaker 1: going to say no to that meeting or whatever because 782 00:39:09,600 --> 00:39:12,839 Speaker 1: I'm working on this project I'm working on. I would 783 00:39:12,840 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: tell people the name of the thing, you know, or 784 00:39:14,719 --> 00:39:16,960 Speaker 1: I might just say I'm working on an important project. 785 00:39:17,040 --> 00:39:18,960 Speaker 1: I can't do it right now, or I need this 786 00:39:19,040 --> 00:39:21,840 Speaker 1: time because I'm working on an important project. That was 787 00:39:21,960 --> 00:39:25,480 Speaker 1: really powerful putting a little signature at the bottom of 788 00:39:25,560 --> 00:39:28,240 Speaker 1: my email that said I'm only checking email two times 789 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:31,759 Speaker 1: a day because I'm focusing on important work, and that 790 00:39:31,840 --> 00:39:33,720 Speaker 1: was always on there. You know, that was a powerful 791 00:39:33,760 --> 00:39:36,120 Speaker 1: way to let people know I'm not going to get 792 00:39:36,120 --> 00:39:37,960 Speaker 1: back to your email as fast as possible. But the 793 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:40,560 Speaker 1: thing that actually was amazing about both of those things 794 00:39:41,200 --> 00:39:44,120 Speaker 1: was the most powerful signal wasn't to the other people. 795 00:39:44,239 --> 00:39:46,919 Speaker 1: It was to me. It was to tell me, Hey, Jake, 796 00:39:47,040 --> 00:39:49,760 Speaker 1: is okay to not check your email every five minutes. 797 00:39:49,800 --> 00:39:53,520 Speaker 1: Oh hey, it's okay to actually focus on that thing 798 00:39:53,520 --> 00:39:55,759 Speaker 1: that you think is important on in the mornings. I'm 799 00:39:55,800 --> 00:39:58,719 Speaker 1: giving myself permission by doing that. Other people are less 800 00:39:58,760 --> 00:40:01,600 Speaker 1: hard on us than we are hard on ourselves. Usually 801 00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:04,880 Speaker 1: about being true to what we believe is important. 802 00:40:05,200 --> 00:40:06,320 Speaker 3: That's such great advice. 803 00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,360 Speaker 2: And on the topic of email, yet you write a 804 00:40:09,360 --> 00:40:12,759 Speaker 2: little bit about email in Make Time, But I'm curious 805 00:40:13,200 --> 00:40:16,759 Speaker 2: right now, how do you approach email? I was interested 806 00:40:17,160 --> 00:40:19,520 Speaker 2: when I approached you. I emailed you to TV on 807 00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,160 Speaker 2: the show, and I think you took a few weeks 808 00:40:21,200 --> 00:40:25,040 Speaker 2: to respond, and you certainly didn't respond to my tweet 809 00:40:25,080 --> 00:40:27,120 Speaker 2: on Twitter, not that I was expecting that, but when 810 00:40:27,160 --> 00:40:29,399 Speaker 2: we started locking in a time, you were pretty fast 811 00:40:29,440 --> 00:40:31,360 Speaker 2: on the response. So I just want to know, like, 812 00:40:31,920 --> 00:40:34,239 Speaker 2: how are you approaching email and what was behind sort 813 00:40:34,239 --> 00:40:35,759 Speaker 2: of I guess that that strategy. 814 00:40:37,160 --> 00:40:41,160 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, I've so I talk a bit about my strategy, 815 00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:44,480 Speaker 1: like there are some techniques that we talk about in 816 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,520 Speaker 1: Make Time, and I've been thinking I should write up 817 00:40:47,560 --> 00:40:49,840 Speaker 1: the exact way that I do it. Now it's just 818 00:40:49,880 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 1: somewhat insane, I mean, and it doesn't It wouldn't work 819 00:40:53,160 --> 00:40:54,840 Speaker 1: for everybody, but I think there are elements of it 820 00:40:54,880 --> 00:40:57,600 Speaker 1: that could work for anybody. One of the things is 821 00:40:57,680 --> 00:41:01,080 Speaker 1: I try to be as slow as possible to respond 822 00:41:01,320 --> 00:41:04,160 Speaker 1: on email, like as slow as I feel like I 823 00:41:04,200 --> 00:41:07,520 Speaker 1: can possibly get away with, because I know that I 824 00:41:07,840 --> 00:41:12,160 Speaker 1: love email. I love it I love. I mean I've 825 00:41:12,200 --> 00:41:15,360 Speaker 1: been using it since it was there's this used to 826 00:41:15,360 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: be a tool called Pine you just like it was 827 00:41:17,480 --> 00:41:21,080 Speaker 1: just a text only interface for email. And when I 828 00:41:21,120 --> 00:41:23,600 Speaker 1: first saw email, I just thought, this is so magical 829 00:41:23,680 --> 00:41:25,319 Speaker 1: that you can just like send a message and it 830 00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,680 Speaker 1: just instantly goes wherever, like it just I don't know it. 831 00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:33,160 Speaker 1: It was just amazing to me, magical. And as I said, 832 00:41:33,200 --> 00:41:35,960 Speaker 1: I worked on the Gmail product for actually a few years, 833 00:41:37,120 --> 00:41:39,880 Speaker 1: and it's a powerful tool. Actually, Email sort of seems 834 00:41:39,960 --> 00:41:42,719 Speaker 1: kind of old fashioned, I guess in some ways nowadays, 835 00:41:42,800 --> 00:41:45,360 Speaker 1: and often we don't even pay attention to it because 836 00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,200 Speaker 1: it seems like just it's just like oxygen. It's everywhere, 837 00:41:48,239 --> 00:41:50,720 Speaker 1: like we don't really think about it. But it's really 838 00:41:50,760 --> 00:41:53,960 Speaker 1: powerful as this really powerful effect on our prioritization. I mean, 839 00:41:54,000 --> 00:41:56,040 Speaker 1: it's most of our to do lists live in our 840 00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:59,399 Speaker 1: email inboxes, and this feeling that we have to check 841 00:41:59,440 --> 00:42:02,600 Speaker 1: it all the time. You know, people criticize social media 842 00:42:02,640 --> 00:42:05,600 Speaker 1: all the time, but often we don't think about the 843 00:42:05,600 --> 00:42:09,240 Speaker 1: distraction email causes. And so anyway, it's it's really powerful, 844 00:42:10,040 --> 00:42:12,400 Speaker 1: sort of has this control over our time in a 845 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:17,040 Speaker 1: way that no other tool does. I believe but yeah, 846 00:42:17,120 --> 00:42:20,720 Speaker 1: so so for me trying to restrict myself from using email, 847 00:42:20,760 --> 00:42:23,600 Speaker 1: it's actually like I have to hold myself back like 848 00:42:23,960 --> 00:42:26,120 Speaker 1: if it took me like if it and it sometimes 849 00:42:26,120 --> 00:42:28,200 Speaker 1: will take me like a couple months to get back 850 00:42:28,200 --> 00:42:31,120 Speaker 1: to people on email. It's not because like what I 851 00:42:31,160 --> 00:42:34,400 Speaker 1: most want to do is answer email like I would 852 00:42:34,440 --> 00:42:37,080 Speaker 1: like I want to like go because it's it's easy. 853 00:42:37,120 --> 00:42:39,880 Speaker 1: I feel like I'm making progress, I'm communicating with people 854 00:42:39,960 --> 00:42:43,080 Speaker 1: like it gives me these small senses of productivity. The 855 00:42:43,160 --> 00:42:47,360 Speaker 1: problem is that productivity gets in the way of being purposeful, 856 00:42:47,560 --> 00:42:50,799 Speaker 1: and so productivity versus purposeful is a concept I've been 857 00:42:50,840 --> 00:42:54,879 Speaker 1: thinking about a lot, and productivity is like a way 858 00:42:54,920 --> 00:42:57,399 Speaker 1: to measure a factory, Like if a factory cranks out 859 00:42:57,400 --> 00:43:00,120 Speaker 1: a lot to widgets, then it's a productive factory and 860 00:43:00,160 --> 00:43:02,600 Speaker 1: it's doing lots of things. And I think that all 861 00:43:02,640 --> 00:43:05,799 Speaker 1: of our obsession with productivity and work is misplaced because 862 00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:08,960 Speaker 1: it treats humans like we're a factory, like making widgets, 863 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,759 Speaker 1: making things, making as many little things as possible, where 864 00:43:12,760 --> 00:43:14,440 Speaker 1: it's like if you're purposeful, you might be doing a 865 00:43:14,480 --> 00:43:16,800 Speaker 1: lot less. But you know, it's back to that idea 866 00:43:16,800 --> 00:43:20,480 Speaker 1: of deep work versus shallow work. You're doing things that matter, 867 00:43:21,040 --> 00:43:24,680 Speaker 1: and email is for me, it's just something that I 868 00:43:24,840 --> 00:43:26,920 Speaker 1: will burn up a ton of time and energy on 869 00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,560 Speaker 1: if I don't get control of it. So the way 870 00:43:29,600 --> 00:43:32,600 Speaker 1: I handle it is, for one thing, I have to 871 00:43:32,640 --> 00:43:35,080 Speaker 1: lock myself out of it. I use this tool called freedom, 872 00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:36,759 Speaker 1: so I not only don't have it on my phone, 873 00:43:36,760 --> 00:43:38,440 Speaker 1: but I also have to lock myself out of it 874 00:43:38,560 --> 00:43:41,400 Speaker 1: on the computer so that I will force myself to 875 00:43:41,440 --> 00:43:44,880 Speaker 1: write or to do whatever sort of more meaningful project 876 00:43:44,960 --> 00:43:47,040 Speaker 1: at the time I need to work on each day. 877 00:43:47,560 --> 00:43:51,840 Speaker 1: So I'm locked out of email between like from in 878 00:43:51,880 --> 00:43:55,080 Speaker 1: the morning all the way till ten am, and then 879 00:43:55,840 --> 00:43:58,120 Speaker 1: I think it shuts off again at eleven am, so 880 00:43:58,160 --> 00:44:00,440 Speaker 1: I have like a one hour window and then it's 881 00:44:00,480 --> 00:44:02,879 Speaker 1: shut off until three pm. So even during the day, 882 00:44:03,000 --> 00:44:05,200 Speaker 1: like I have very limited windows, so I really only 883 00:44:05,200 --> 00:44:09,080 Speaker 1: have those two chances to check email. And then the 884 00:44:09,120 --> 00:44:11,399 Speaker 1: other thing I'll do is when I'm traveling or when 885 00:44:11,440 --> 00:44:14,120 Speaker 1: I have stuff going on, I try to go all 886 00:44:14,160 --> 00:44:16,120 Speaker 1: in on those projects, whatever it might be if I'm 887 00:44:16,160 --> 00:44:18,560 Speaker 1: teaching workshops or when I was promoting make time. So 888 00:44:18,600 --> 00:44:20,200 Speaker 1: when you wrote to me, it's around the time when 889 00:44:20,200 --> 00:44:23,120 Speaker 1: I'm was promoting make time, and I try to give 890 00:44:23,160 --> 00:44:26,360 Speaker 1: myself permission to let the email just pile up, with 891 00:44:26,400 --> 00:44:29,200 Speaker 1: the idea that I'll actually be more effective answering it 892 00:44:29,239 --> 00:44:31,400 Speaker 1: if I do it in a batch. Later on, I 893 00:44:31,440 --> 00:44:33,960 Speaker 1: know that if something is really pressing an urgent people 894 00:44:34,000 --> 00:44:37,440 Speaker 1: will they'll find a way to contact me otherwise, you know, 895 00:44:37,520 --> 00:44:39,960 Speaker 1: and folks who I already know, or folks who've already 896 00:44:40,160 --> 00:44:43,200 Speaker 1: started having a conversation with on email, like those messages 897 00:44:43,239 --> 00:44:46,280 Speaker 1: will come to the top. People can you know, text 898 00:44:46,360 --> 00:44:48,960 Speaker 1: me if they have my phone number, And so I 899 00:44:49,040 --> 00:44:53,160 Speaker 1: found that the urgent stuff will come through. Sometimes there 900 00:44:53,320 --> 00:44:56,719 Speaker 1: are little bad things that happen, and this is something 901 00:44:56,760 --> 00:44:58,720 Speaker 1: Tim Ferriss I think uses this phrase of like letting 902 00:44:58,760 --> 00:45:00,799 Speaker 1: little bad things happen. You have to be willing to 903 00:45:00,840 --> 00:45:03,000 Speaker 1: do that, you know, sort of in the service of 904 00:45:03,400 --> 00:45:06,400 Speaker 1: doing these larger projects. But for me, it's all about 905 00:45:06,560 --> 00:45:09,360 Speaker 1: whatever I can do to slow down the inbox, to 906 00:45:09,600 --> 00:45:13,600 Speaker 1: resist my desire to be on it. And I actually 907 00:45:13,680 --> 00:45:15,920 Speaker 1: I used to teach a class at Google on how 908 00:45:15,920 --> 00:45:18,440 Speaker 1: to keep your inbox empty at all times, and so 909 00:45:18,520 --> 00:45:20,800 Speaker 1: I have gone way down the rabbit hole in that direction. 910 00:45:21,000 --> 00:45:24,520 Speaker 1: But now I've reformed. I think that's actually the wrong 911 00:45:24,560 --> 00:45:26,759 Speaker 1: way to do it. So I'm trying to put on 912 00:45:26,800 --> 00:45:27,759 Speaker 1: the brakes all the time. 913 00:45:28,560 --> 00:45:30,640 Speaker 2: That's awesome, And I got to say I love the 914 00:45:30,719 --> 00:45:33,399 Speaker 2: freedom app. I'll link to a lot of the things 915 00:45:33,440 --> 00:45:35,200 Speaker 2: that we've been talking about in the show notes. But 916 00:45:35,680 --> 00:45:38,640 Speaker 2: I feel like that is that is gold. If you 917 00:45:38,640 --> 00:45:42,759 Speaker 2: don't have the willpower and coun't people the resisting temptation, 918 00:45:43,160 --> 00:45:46,200 Speaker 2: then just take it away with freedom, which can block 919 00:45:46,239 --> 00:45:50,560 Speaker 2: you out of really anything that you want. I want 920 00:45:50,600 --> 00:45:52,520 Speaker 2: to start sort of asking just a few wrap up, 921 00:45:52,640 --> 00:45:57,840 Speaker 2: sort of rapid fire questions because we are over time 922 00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:00,600 Speaker 2: and I need to get what you get. 923 00:46:03,000 --> 00:46:06,319 Speaker 3: No, I could just keep on chatting. This is great. 924 00:46:07,080 --> 00:46:07,719 Speaker 3: I want to know. 925 00:46:07,800 --> 00:46:10,719 Speaker 2: Like one of the things I always ask yes is 926 00:46:10,760 --> 00:46:13,040 Speaker 2: because I think like there's so much information out there, 927 00:46:13,040 --> 00:46:15,840 Speaker 2: and I know that you're you're not a consumer of 928 00:46:15,880 --> 00:46:18,960 Speaker 2: a lot of things like the news, for example, and 929 00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:21,440 Speaker 2: I want to I feel like it's really valuable to know, well, 930 00:46:21,440 --> 00:46:24,120 Speaker 2: what are you consuming? So on the topic of books, 931 00:46:24,160 --> 00:46:26,799 Speaker 2: and I think let's go with the genre of you know, 932 00:46:26,880 --> 00:46:29,640 Speaker 2: being more purposeful with your time. What are what are 933 00:46:29,680 --> 00:46:31,680 Speaker 2: your sort of you know, one or two or three 934 00:46:31,760 --> 00:46:35,200 Speaker 2: kind of go to books that have really changed your thinking. 935 00:46:37,360 --> 00:46:41,000 Speaker 1: One of the things that changed my thinking a lot. Well, gosh, 936 00:46:41,320 --> 00:46:44,960 Speaker 1: I'll talk about three. I guess the first one is 937 00:46:45,000 --> 00:46:46,920 Speaker 1: Deep Work. I mean, I think that's a great One's 938 00:46:47,040 --> 00:46:52,120 Speaker 1: very recent. I feel like that I read that. Actually 939 00:46:52,120 --> 00:46:55,719 Speaker 1: we were already underway writing Make Time, and a lot 940 00:46:55,760 --> 00:46:59,360 Speaker 1: of people have pointed out there's the philosophies are so similar. 941 00:46:59,400 --> 00:47:03,040 Speaker 1: The approach, the way we talk about what to do 942 00:47:03,200 --> 00:47:05,719 Speaker 1: or advise people want to do, and even sort of 943 00:47:05,719 --> 00:47:07,560 Speaker 1: I think the tone of the writing is very different, 944 00:47:07,640 --> 00:47:11,320 Speaker 1: but the philosophies, I think we're just like so similar, 945 00:47:12,680 --> 00:47:15,480 Speaker 1: and so I love I love that book. And if 946 00:47:15,520 --> 00:47:18,000 Speaker 1: you either if you pick up Make Time and you 947 00:47:18,040 --> 00:47:21,680 Speaker 1: feel like, oh this isn't like kind of serious or 948 00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:24,719 Speaker 1: academic enough, or if you like Make Time but you're 949 00:47:24,760 --> 00:47:26,080 Speaker 1: like I want to know more. I want to know 950 00:47:26,120 --> 00:47:28,160 Speaker 1: more about like the science behind this or like really 951 00:47:28,200 --> 00:47:31,839 Speaker 1: deep you know, like thinking behind this. Call Newport's Deep 952 00:47:31,840 --> 00:47:35,320 Speaker 1: Work is great, and it's it's just he's a super 953 00:47:35,360 --> 00:47:39,719 Speaker 1: smart guy and and really really opinionated, And that's a 954 00:47:39,880 --> 00:47:43,239 Speaker 1: that's a good one to read for me. The two 955 00:47:43,280 --> 00:47:46,640 Speaker 1: other books that I think we were so powerful for me. God. Actually, 956 00:47:46,680 --> 00:47:48,560 Speaker 1: there's three other ones I want to talk about. You 957 00:47:48,560 --> 00:47:50,239 Speaker 1: said they we're gonna be fast questions. Sorry, I'll try 958 00:47:50,280 --> 00:47:55,040 Speaker 1: to be fast. Yeah. One of them is Getting Real, 959 00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:58,120 Speaker 1: which is written by Jason Freed of base Camp, Jason 960 00:47:58,160 --> 00:48:02,600 Speaker 1: Freed and David henemeier Hand, And they wrote this before 961 00:48:02,640 --> 00:48:04,200 Speaker 1: base Camp was base Camp, when it used to be 962 00:48:04,200 --> 00:48:06,600 Speaker 1: called thirty seven Signals, and it was a free book 963 00:48:06,640 --> 00:48:09,160 Speaker 1: that you could download online. They self published it. You 964 00:48:09,200 --> 00:48:11,840 Speaker 1: can still like you can, I think you can buy it, 965 00:48:11,880 --> 00:48:13,600 Speaker 1: but you can also just read it online. So if 966 00:48:13,640 --> 00:48:17,320 Speaker 1: you search for Getting Real thirty seven Signals or Getting 967 00:48:17,400 --> 00:48:19,719 Speaker 1: Real base Camp, I think you'll find it. And that 968 00:48:19,760 --> 00:48:22,920 Speaker 1: book eventually was like sort of rewritten and expanded and 969 00:48:23,160 --> 00:48:26,440 Speaker 1: revised and became Rework, which was a you know, like 970 00:48:26,680 --> 00:48:29,720 Speaker 1: a regular real published book that you could buy everywhere. 971 00:48:30,040 --> 00:48:32,480 Speaker 1: But I read Getting Real back in two thousand and 972 00:48:32,520 --> 00:48:35,279 Speaker 1: six or whenever it came out. I was working at Microsoft, 973 00:48:35,360 --> 00:48:37,840 Speaker 1: and it just was like, you know, their whole approach 974 00:48:37,920 --> 00:48:42,360 Speaker 1: to saying like, hey, like the way work works doesn't 975 00:48:42,400 --> 00:48:44,480 Speaker 1: have to be that way. I was like, wow, like 976 00:48:44,560 --> 00:48:48,080 Speaker 1: that's it. Just it opened my mind. I need a 977 00:48:48,120 --> 00:48:51,439 Speaker 1: lot of that philosophy. Stuck with me through thinking about 978 00:48:51,440 --> 00:48:54,319 Speaker 1: the design sprint, which was really trying to wipe away 979 00:48:54,400 --> 00:48:56,319 Speaker 1: all of the default ways we did work and create 980 00:48:56,320 --> 00:48:59,359 Speaker 1: a recipe for doing it a different way. Stuck with 981 00:48:59,440 --> 00:49:02,040 Speaker 1: me through kind of thinking about how I handled my 982 00:49:02,040 --> 00:49:05,160 Speaker 1: own work. That's a powerful one. Another one that was 983 00:49:05,560 --> 00:49:07,759 Speaker 1: really powerful for me is Getting Things Done, which is 984 00:49:07,840 --> 00:49:12,880 Speaker 1: just like the classic productivity book, and I think that 985 00:49:13,680 --> 00:49:16,000 Speaker 1: applying so this by David Allen Getting Things Done. And 986 00:49:16,400 --> 00:49:17,960 Speaker 1: you know, most people, I think maybe have heard of 987 00:49:17,960 --> 00:49:22,040 Speaker 1: this book already. It's a very prescriptive sort of system 988 00:49:22,280 --> 00:49:27,760 Speaker 1: for handling to dos and for handling you know, email 989 00:49:27,800 --> 00:49:30,279 Speaker 1: and messages and like everything that we have to do 990 00:49:30,680 --> 00:49:32,800 Speaker 1: in our lives and how to get them done. Now, 991 00:49:33,120 --> 00:49:36,280 Speaker 1: for me, there are problems with the system. It's too perfect. 992 00:49:36,520 --> 00:49:41,359 Speaker 1: And when I was was running the system perfectly, I 993 00:49:41,480 --> 00:49:43,719 Speaker 1: was just kind of servicing the system, and I found 994 00:49:43,760 --> 00:49:46,319 Speaker 1: I was just kind of reacting to other people's priorities. 995 00:49:46,400 --> 00:49:49,239 Speaker 1: I couldn't. It was like it was like it consumed me. 996 00:49:49,480 --> 00:49:52,120 Speaker 1: And then when I wasn't doing it right, I felt guilty. 997 00:49:52,160 --> 00:49:54,160 Speaker 1: Now that's just me. A lot of people have success 998 00:49:54,200 --> 00:49:56,480 Speaker 1: with it and they sort of get this freedom from it. 999 00:49:56,640 --> 00:49:59,520 Speaker 1: That I never quite got to. But I would say 1000 00:49:59,600 --> 00:50:04,080 Speaker 1: that the philosophy, the way he talks about how sort 1001 00:50:04,080 --> 00:50:07,400 Speaker 1: of breaking things down into smaller components, and like the 1002 00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:11,919 Speaker 1: almost like the it's almost like a bit a bit 1003 00:50:12,080 --> 00:50:17,600 Speaker 1: like philosophical or even like like like like meditative at times, 1004 00:50:17,600 --> 00:50:20,560 Speaker 1: like he's talking about unlocking psychic energy by doing some 1005 00:50:20,800 --> 00:50:22,640 Speaker 1: you know, tasks that you haven't been able to start. 1006 00:50:22,680 --> 00:50:24,520 Speaker 1: And it's really true, and I think it gave me 1007 00:50:24,560 --> 00:50:27,360 Speaker 1: sort of a like a sense of the power of 1008 00:50:27,440 --> 00:50:29,759 Speaker 1: rethinking the way we do our work. Anyway, I love 1009 00:50:29,880 --> 00:50:32,839 Speaker 1: I love the way he talks about doing stuff. And 1010 00:50:32,880 --> 00:50:35,120 Speaker 1: then the third one I want to recommend is the 1011 00:50:35,160 --> 00:50:39,040 Speaker 1: Happiness Fourth I guess it's fourth, can't count. The fourth 1012 00:50:39,080 --> 00:50:41,799 Speaker 1: one is the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. And the 1013 00:50:41,800 --> 00:50:45,400 Speaker 1: Happiness Project is so great. It's just she spent a 1014 00:50:45,480 --> 00:50:49,400 Speaker 1: year doing experiments herself to try to be happier, not 1015 00:50:49,560 --> 00:50:51,520 Speaker 1: to try to do the you know, like a lot 1016 00:50:51,520 --> 00:50:53,160 Speaker 1: of the things we do are with an end goal 1017 00:50:53,200 --> 00:50:54,680 Speaker 1: of being happy. And she was like, well, let's just 1018 00:50:54,719 --> 00:50:57,680 Speaker 1: cut right to the quick. What makes people happier? And 1019 00:50:57,840 --> 00:51:00,600 Speaker 1: it's it really also made me think about how to 1020 00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:03,080 Speaker 1: run experiments and treat what was going on in my 1021 00:51:03,120 --> 00:51:05,279 Speaker 1: life day to day as an experiment, which is a 1022 00:51:05,280 --> 00:51:07,319 Speaker 1: big idea in Make Time. Sorry, that wasn't rapid fire 1023 00:51:07,360 --> 00:51:08,080 Speaker 1: at all. I'll do better. 1024 00:51:09,080 --> 00:51:09,880 Speaker 3: It's so funny. 1025 00:51:09,880 --> 00:51:13,680 Speaker 2: No one answers these rapid fire questions rapidly, so pretty 1026 00:51:13,760 --> 00:51:16,440 Speaker 2: much like every other guest. I love the Happiness Project. 1027 00:51:16,520 --> 00:51:19,240 Speaker 2: That would be one of my favorites as well. It's 1028 00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:20,600 Speaker 2: such a cool book. 1029 00:51:20,680 --> 00:51:22,520 Speaker 3: I want to ask. 1030 00:51:23,600 --> 00:51:27,120 Speaker 2: I want to ask about apps and tools that you're using, 1031 00:51:27,680 --> 00:51:30,080 Speaker 2: and look, I'll put a link to I think it 1032 00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:32,799 Speaker 2: was the resources page on the Make Time website where 1033 00:51:32,800 --> 00:51:34,840 Speaker 2: you list to quite a few different tools. 1034 00:51:34,840 --> 00:51:36,080 Speaker 3: But what are your favorites? 1035 00:51:36,120 --> 00:51:40,160 Speaker 2: You mentioned freedom and either online or offline tools that 1036 00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,800 Speaker 2: you feel kind of things that you use almost on 1037 00:51:42,840 --> 00:51:44,200 Speaker 2: a daily basis at the moment. 1038 00:51:44,800 --> 00:51:47,719 Speaker 1: Yeah, we have an app coming out for Make Time, 1039 00:51:47,880 --> 00:51:50,560 Speaker 1: and depending on when this episode comes out, it'll come 1040 00:51:50,600 --> 00:51:52,960 Speaker 1: out in the app will come out in January, So 1041 00:51:54,400 --> 00:51:56,799 Speaker 1: if folks are listening to this in January or after 1042 00:51:56,960 --> 00:51:59,520 Speaker 1: January twenty nineteen or after, you can look for the 1043 00:51:59,520 --> 00:52:02,879 Speaker 1: Make Time app. And that's sort of a it's meant 1044 00:52:03,040 --> 00:52:06,439 Speaker 1: hopefully it works well. I hope it's really a shame 1045 00:52:06,520 --> 00:52:08,839 Speaker 1: if it doesn't, since I'm a product designer and it's 1046 00:52:08,960 --> 00:52:11,680 Speaker 1: the book, but it's a it's a way to sort 1047 00:52:11,719 --> 00:52:15,040 Speaker 1: of apply this idea of creating a highlight and actually 1048 00:52:15,160 --> 00:52:17,880 Speaker 1: like making time for it. It has a timetimer. So 1049 00:52:17,920 --> 00:52:20,480 Speaker 1: one of the things I love is a physical time timer. 1050 00:52:20,600 --> 00:52:23,520 Speaker 1: This is the name of this timer, and they're really great. 1051 00:52:23,640 --> 00:52:26,480 Speaker 1: They have a little dial that you turn and you 1052 00:52:26,520 --> 00:52:29,920 Speaker 1: can see the time lapse as it just helps me 1053 00:52:29,960 --> 00:52:33,160 Speaker 1: focus on whatever I'm doing. That's kind of built into 1054 00:52:33,200 --> 00:52:35,279 Speaker 1: the app as well, but you can buy physical ones. 1055 00:52:35,320 --> 00:52:38,359 Speaker 1: So Timetimer is one. Make Time app is one. There's 1056 00:52:38,400 --> 00:52:40,880 Speaker 1: an app called Block and Flow that I really like. 1057 00:52:41,040 --> 00:52:46,600 Speaker 1: Is just a very simple, very positive way to nudge 1058 00:52:47,360 --> 00:52:52,440 Speaker 1: me towards focusing on an activity. And I really like 1059 00:52:52,520 --> 00:52:55,160 Speaker 1: that one. It's it's a it's a nice little app 1060 00:52:55,239 --> 00:52:59,360 Speaker 1: called Block and Flow I really like. Quite honestly, I 1061 00:52:59,400 --> 00:53:02,840 Speaker 1: think a very powerful apps are the reminders app and 1062 00:53:02,840 --> 00:53:05,000 Speaker 1: the notes app on the phone, and because I have 1063 00:53:05,120 --> 00:53:08,520 Speaker 1: so stripped down what's on my phone to such a 1064 00:53:08,560 --> 00:53:11,280 Speaker 1: great extent, I don't have much on there, but actually 1065 00:53:11,280 --> 00:53:13,920 Speaker 1: the ability to be able to type in notes on 1066 00:53:13,960 --> 00:53:16,640 Speaker 1: the phone and then have it sink and be available 1067 00:53:16,640 --> 00:53:20,160 Speaker 1: everywhere is really amazing. It's magical. I just think back 1068 00:53:20,160 --> 00:53:23,080 Speaker 1: to like eleven years ago when we didn't have iPhones, 1069 00:53:23,120 --> 00:53:25,879 Speaker 1: like that was amazing. That's an amazing thing to have 1070 00:53:26,520 --> 00:53:28,400 Speaker 1: being able to talk to the phone and say, remind 1071 00:53:28,440 --> 00:53:30,000 Speaker 1: me of this thing at that time so that it 1072 00:53:30,040 --> 00:53:32,880 Speaker 1: goes out of my head and Siri like listens to 1073 00:53:32,920 --> 00:53:35,439 Speaker 1: what I say and does it. Like that's amazing. That's 1074 00:53:35,560 --> 00:53:39,960 Speaker 1: enough for me for the the iPhone to be so though, 1075 00:53:40,000 --> 00:53:43,439 Speaker 1: some of those simple tools are so powerful. And then 1076 00:53:43,719 --> 00:53:46,120 Speaker 1: I guess, as we already talked about freedom, freedom is 1077 00:53:46,160 --> 00:53:48,960 Speaker 1: a huge one. So just like letting me make the 1078 00:53:49,040 --> 00:53:51,520 Speaker 1: choice once that I want to be offline and focused, 1079 00:53:51,520 --> 00:53:53,319 Speaker 1: and then I don't have to use willpower anymore. It 1080 00:53:53,400 --> 00:53:54,560 Speaker 1: sort of takes care of it for me. 1081 00:53:55,760 --> 00:53:59,560 Speaker 3: Awesome, awesome. And look, finally, how can people find you, 1082 00:53:59,680 --> 00:54:01,480 Speaker 3: Jake and read more of your stuff? 1083 00:54:02,719 --> 00:54:02,919 Speaker 2: Oh? 1084 00:54:03,000 --> 00:54:05,759 Speaker 1: Yeah, So the two places I would direct people are 1085 00:54:05,880 --> 00:54:09,040 Speaker 1: to jakenap dot com and I have like you'll find 1086 00:54:09,040 --> 00:54:11,200 Speaker 1: links to my books and links to some of my 1087 00:54:12,239 --> 00:54:15,200 Speaker 1: blog posts, and you'll also find link to my podcast. 1088 00:54:15,239 --> 00:54:17,080 Speaker 1: That's the other place I would say you could check out. 1089 00:54:17,719 --> 00:54:21,480 Speaker 1: My podcast is called product breakfast club. It's I don't 1090 00:54:21,520 --> 00:54:23,400 Speaker 1: really know what it's about, but it's me and my 1091 00:54:23,400 --> 00:54:25,720 Speaker 1: friend John just kind of rambling and talking about stuff 1092 00:54:25,719 --> 00:54:30,800 Speaker 1: and occasionally we talk about business and design and ways 1093 00:54:30,800 --> 00:54:33,400 Speaker 1: of working. But it's much less it's much less focused 1094 00:54:33,400 --> 00:54:36,040 Speaker 1: than this conversation was, but sometimes fun. 1095 00:54:37,000 --> 00:54:38,279 Speaker 3: It's so it's so much fun. 1096 00:54:38,360 --> 00:54:42,040 Speaker 2: I got to say, I love your podcast and and 1097 00:54:42,080 --> 00:54:43,879 Speaker 2: for those that have listened to these episode, I reckon 1098 00:54:43,880 --> 00:54:46,440 Speaker 2: a great one to start with is the interview that 1099 00:54:46,480 --> 00:54:49,000 Speaker 2: you guys do with Jason Freed from Vice Camp. 1100 00:54:49,080 --> 00:54:51,360 Speaker 3: That was That was such a fantastic chat. 1101 00:54:51,800 --> 00:54:53,440 Speaker 1: Yeah, that was that was a lot of That was 1102 00:54:53,480 --> 00:54:58,160 Speaker 1: a lot of fun. He schooled us on uh on 1103 00:54:58,239 --> 00:55:00,280 Speaker 1: all things products business. 1104 00:55:01,160 --> 00:55:01,440 Speaker 3: Cool. 1105 00:55:01,480 --> 00:55:01,680 Speaker 1: Cool. 1106 00:55:01,680 --> 00:55:03,920 Speaker 3: Well, look, thank you so much for your time, Jake. 1107 00:55:04,000 --> 00:55:06,800 Speaker 2: The day has only just started here in Melbourne, Australia, 1108 00:55:06,800 --> 00:55:09,200 Speaker 2: where I'm based, but this has definitely been the highlight 1109 00:55:09,320 --> 00:55:10,040 Speaker 2: of my days. 1110 00:55:10,160 --> 00:55:12,000 Speaker 3: So so thank you so much. 1111 00:55:12,680 --> 00:55:14,480 Speaker 1: This has been super fun. Thanks for having me on 1112 00:55:14,560 --> 00:55:14,920 Speaker 1: about that. 1113 00:55:15,840 --> 00:55:17,920 Speaker 3: Hello there, that is it for today's show. 1114 00:55:18,040 --> 00:55:20,960 Speaker 2: I hope you enjoyed my chat with Jake Napp. I 1115 00:55:20,960 --> 00:55:23,560 Speaker 2: would encourage you to read Make Time. It's a great 1116 00:55:23,560 --> 00:55:26,160 Speaker 2: book and there's also an app available. I think if 1117 00:55:26,200 --> 00:55:30,400 Speaker 2: you search for make Time wherever you download your apps from, 1118 00:55:30,920 --> 00:55:34,760 Speaker 2: you'll be able to find it. And as always, if 1119 00:55:34,800 --> 00:55:38,160 Speaker 2: you like How I Work, if you like today's show, 1120 00:55:38,520 --> 00:55:42,440 Speaker 2: or enjoying the whole show in general, please tell a 1121 00:55:42,520 --> 00:55:45,960 Speaker 2: friend or maybe several friends, maybe hundreds of friends about 1122 00:55:45,960 --> 00:55:49,279 Speaker 2: How I Work. It's generally how podcasts like this get 1123 00:55:49,320 --> 00:55:52,200 Speaker 2: discovered through word of mouth, so I would be eternally 1124 00:55:52,239 --> 00:55:56,399 Speaker 2: grateful if you did that. And also, if you feel 1125 00:55:56,440 --> 00:55:59,600 Speaker 2: like being doubly awesome, leave a review for How I 1126 00:55:59,680 --> 00:56:02,480 Speaker 2: Work in iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts. 1127 00:56:02,800 --> 00:56:06,040 Speaker 3: So that is it for this show. I'll see you 1128 00:56:06,120 --> 00:56:06,600 Speaker 3: next time.