1 00:00:00,600 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: Did you ever have a great study buddy, someone in 2 00:00:04,960 --> 00:00:08,159 Speaker 1: high school or university who made those long sessions on 3 00:00:08,200 --> 00:00:12,560 Speaker 1: the books a little less punishing. What did that person 4 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:13,320 Speaker 1: actually do? 5 00:00:14,280 --> 00:00:17,840 Speaker 2: Were they giving you tips or was it enough to 6 00:00:18,000 --> 00:00:22,360 Speaker 2: just have them there? I know I work with a 7 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:26,239 Speaker 2: whole lot more concentration and energy when my teammates are around, 8 00:00:27,080 --> 00:00:31,160 Speaker 2: and Taylor Jacobsen does too. He had such a great 9 00:00:31,200 --> 00:00:34,200 Speaker 2: study buddy in college that he turned the experience into 10 00:00:34,240 --> 00:00:38,480 Speaker 2: a company folks mate, So how can we all turn 11 00:00:38,520 --> 00:00:47,840 Speaker 2: a regular social interaction into an accountability tool. My name 12 00:00:47,960 --> 00:00:51,440 Speaker 2: is doctor amanthe Immer. I'm an organizational psychologist and the 13 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,600 Speaker 2: founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this is how 14 00:00:55,760 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 2: I work A show about how to help you do 15 00:00:58,760 --> 00:01:02,520 Speaker 2: your best work. On today is my favorite Tip episode. 16 00:01:02,560 --> 00:01:04,720 Speaker 2: We go back to an interview from the past and 17 00:01:04,800 --> 00:01:07,600 Speaker 2: I pick out my favorite tip from the interview. In 18 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:12,160 Speaker 2: today's show, I speak with Taylor Jacobson, and if you 19 00:01:12,319 --> 00:01:16,039 Speaker 2: have never heard of Taylor's company, Focus Mate, a good 20 00:01:16,080 --> 00:01:19,640 Speaker 2: place to start is understanding how it actually works. 21 00:01:20,520 --> 00:01:25,520 Speaker 3: Very simply, you and another community member get paired up 22 00:01:25,560 --> 00:01:30,160 Speaker 3: for a video call where you sit quote unquote side 23 00:01:30,160 --> 00:01:32,200 Speaker 3: by side and you keep each other company and you 24 00:01:32,240 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 3: hold each other accountable while you each work on your 25 00:01:34,640 --> 00:01:39,400 Speaker 3: own work. Using Focusmate is going to the website and 26 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,840 Speaker 3: you log in and it's a calendar that shows all 27 00:01:42,920 --> 00:01:47,039 Speaker 3: of your appointments, and so you just decide, you know, 28 00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:48,960 Speaker 3: this is when I want to be working, and you 29 00:01:49,040 --> 00:01:52,680 Speaker 3: book an appointment at that time, and we take care 30 00:01:52,720 --> 00:01:54,920 Speaker 3: of the rest. We find you the right person based 31 00:01:54,960 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 3: on your preferences, and you just show up and you 32 00:01:58,280 --> 00:02:02,880 Speaker 3: join the video call, and in the first minute you 33 00:02:02,960 --> 00:02:06,560 Speaker 3: greet your partner. You know, Hiamantha, what are you working 34 00:02:06,600 --> 00:02:09,320 Speaker 3: on today? And you'll tell me what you're working on. 35 00:02:09,360 --> 00:02:11,800 Speaker 3: And you'll say, okay, Taylor, what are you working on today? 36 00:02:11,840 --> 00:02:13,880 Speaker 3: And I'll say, you know, I'm I'm trying to get 37 00:02:13,880 --> 00:02:16,000 Speaker 3: to inbox zero. I'm going to do as many emails 38 00:02:16,040 --> 00:02:18,120 Speaker 3: as I can, and then we just get to work. 39 00:02:18,280 --> 00:02:21,360 Speaker 3: People will often mute their microphones and kind of drag 40 00:02:21,480 --> 00:02:23,760 Speaker 3: their partner off to the side of their screen, or 41 00:02:23,760 --> 00:02:26,360 Speaker 3: they'll have their partner on a separate device so they 42 00:02:26,360 --> 00:02:30,200 Speaker 3: can keep them there sort of next to their main 43 00:02:31,000 --> 00:02:35,320 Speaker 3: screen workspace. And at the end of the session, whether 44 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:38,160 Speaker 3: it's twenty five minutes or fifty minutes, a bell goes off, 45 00:02:38,480 --> 00:02:41,040 Speaker 3: and then we come back and I say, you know, 46 00:02:41,080 --> 00:02:43,400 Speaker 3: how to go Atmantha? How'd you do on your whatever? 47 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,040 Speaker 3: And you know you say, oh, it went pretty well. 48 00:02:46,080 --> 00:02:48,239 Speaker 3: I got distracted for like a minute in the middle there, 49 00:02:48,240 --> 00:02:50,440 Speaker 3: but not a big deal. And you asked me how 50 00:02:50,440 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 3: to go for you Taylor, and oh, I think I 51 00:02:52,720 --> 00:02:56,400 Speaker 3: got through like eight emails. Felt great. And then we 52 00:02:56,520 --> 00:02:59,600 Speaker 3: say thanks, goodbye, and you know, and we go off 53 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:00,400 Speaker 3: on day. 54 00:03:01,240 --> 00:03:04,800 Speaker 2: It's interesting my team and I invent heres. There's about 55 00:03:04,800 --> 00:03:09,079 Speaker 2: ten of us. We try something similar. We call it 56 00:03:09,440 --> 00:03:12,040 Speaker 2: what do we call it, like virtual deep caves or 57 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:16,280 Speaker 2: something like that, where we basically book out. It's typically 58 00:03:16,280 --> 00:03:18,840 Speaker 2: a one and a half to two hour time period 59 00:03:19,000 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 2: and everyone in the team is invited, although probably about 60 00:03:22,840 --> 00:03:26,320 Speaker 2: half to two thirds will actually attend, just due to 61 00:03:26,520 --> 00:03:31,120 Speaker 2: coordiniting diaries and someone will facilitate it. We'll do a 62 00:03:31,160 --> 00:03:34,240 Speaker 2: little like round the virtual table to talk about what 63 00:03:34,240 --> 00:03:36,800 Speaker 2: we're working on. Then we'll get into work. 64 00:03:36,920 --> 00:03:39,600 Speaker 1: Our cameras will be switched on, which kind of makes you. 65 00:03:39,560 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 2: Feel accountable, like you can't just go off and make 66 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:45,200 Speaker 2: multiple cups of tea or something. And then we'll have 67 00:03:45,600 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 2: a halfway check in where we'll talk about how we're 68 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,520 Speaker 2: all going, and then we'll get back to work, and 69 00:03:50,560 --> 00:03:53,680 Speaker 2: then we'll do a little wrap up at the end. 70 00:03:53,800 --> 00:03:57,000 Speaker 1: And I must say I love those sessions. 71 00:03:57,120 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 2: I mean, if any of my team are listening, we 72 00:03:59,600 --> 00:04:02,920 Speaker 2: don't them often enough. I feel like once a fortnight, 73 00:04:03,040 --> 00:04:04,960 Speaker 2: and I'd be loving them if they're like once every 74 00:04:04,960 --> 00:04:06,840 Speaker 2: couple of days, because I just get. 75 00:04:06,880 --> 00:04:08,760 Speaker 1: So much work done. 76 00:04:08,920 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 2: And tell me, like, what are the behavioral triggers that 77 00:04:12,280 --> 00:04:14,360 Speaker 2: this kind of idea is tapping into. 78 00:04:15,160 --> 00:04:18,360 Speaker 3: Yeah, well, I can like hear you smiling as you 79 00:04:19,200 --> 00:04:21,880 Speaker 3: as you think about it, And that's kind of a 80 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:25,200 Speaker 3: good segue in terms of the behavioral triggers because we 81 00:04:25,240 --> 00:04:28,960 Speaker 3: can get into some of the details of specific triggers, meaning, hey, 82 00:04:29,000 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 3: there's research that's validated this thing, and here's what it's 83 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,280 Speaker 3: called according to these studies, blah blah blah. Right, But 84 00:04:35,760 --> 00:04:38,400 Speaker 3: if we just take a step back, all of it, 85 00:04:38,480 --> 00:04:41,520 Speaker 3: I think, or a great deal of the science of 86 00:04:41,560 --> 00:04:43,880 Speaker 3: it is is just based on the fact that we're 87 00:04:44,120 --> 00:04:47,720 Speaker 3: tribal animals that were social animals, that were mammals, pack animals. 88 00:04:47,760 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 3: That's how our brains work, it's our bodies work, that's 89 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:58,400 Speaker 3: how our nervous system is optimized to function. So that's 90 00:04:58,560 --> 00:05:01,359 Speaker 3: why it works, is we're tapping in to just human 91 00:05:01,440 --> 00:05:05,039 Speaker 3: nature basically, is we work better when we're you know, 92 00:05:05,200 --> 00:05:07,000 Speaker 3: playing as part of a team or a tribe or 93 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 3: or what have you. So you know, just just for example, 94 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:12,760 Speaker 3: you know, and this one is sort of the like 95 00:05:12,960 --> 00:05:16,160 Speaker 3: the obvious, but there are studies that show that if 96 00:05:16,200 --> 00:05:18,480 Speaker 3: you are in the room with another person while you're 97 00:05:18,520 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 3: performing a task, your performance increases pretty pretty pretty straightforward. 98 00:05:26,279 --> 00:05:29,560 Speaker 3: You know, there's research that shows if you tell another 99 00:05:29,600 --> 00:05:33,680 Speaker 3: person what you're going to do, your performance increases. There's 100 00:05:33,680 --> 00:05:37,560 Speaker 3: some other cool stuff and one of my favorites is 101 00:05:37,560 --> 00:05:40,040 Speaker 3: is actually the reflection that we do at the end. 102 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,200 Speaker 3: There's a little celebration and reflection at the end, and 103 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:46,640 Speaker 3: actually both of those are impactful. So you know, celebration 104 00:05:47,760 --> 00:05:52,279 Speaker 3: provides some dopamine, right, so it really reinforces what we 105 00:05:52,400 --> 00:05:55,640 Speaker 3: just did, create some more momentum. But then also reflection. 106 00:05:55,920 --> 00:05:59,719 Speaker 3: You know, there's there's two types of work quote unquote, 107 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:04,600 Speaker 3: one executive function and the other is reflective function. And 108 00:06:05,360 --> 00:06:08,680 Speaker 3: I think societally we're pretty obsessed with the executive function thing, 109 00:06:08,720 --> 00:06:12,119 Speaker 3: which is like what we think of as getting things done. 110 00:06:12,160 --> 00:06:15,640 Speaker 3: We don't necessarily think of even writing our to do 111 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:18,880 Speaker 3: list is like, it's not part of getting things done 112 00:06:18,920 --> 00:06:20,919 Speaker 3: in a sense. It you know, it feels like prep 113 00:06:20,960 --> 00:06:23,920 Speaker 3: work or something like that. But it turns out that 114 00:06:24,680 --> 00:06:29,400 Speaker 3: reflection is extremely valuable in making us more productive. So 115 00:06:29,600 --> 00:06:31,960 Speaker 3: even just taking sixty seconds at the end of a 116 00:06:33,279 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 3: coworking session to just talk about how it went, it's 117 00:06:37,480 --> 00:06:40,600 Speaker 3: just a moment of awareness, but doing it right then 118 00:06:40,760 --> 00:06:41,600 Speaker 3: is really valuable. 119 00:06:43,120 --> 00:06:48,400 Speaker 2: So I wonder if after this extract you're feeling inspired 120 00:06:48,560 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 2: or perhaps just a little intrigued to set up a 121 00:06:51,520 --> 00:06:56,400 Speaker 2: virtual working and accountability session. I love the virtual caves 122 00:06:56,400 --> 00:07:00,000 Speaker 2: we run an Invantium. We currently do a deep work 123 00:07:00,120 --> 00:07:03,640 Speaker 2: cave every Monday morning from nine thirty to eleven thirty 124 00:07:03,680 --> 00:07:06,400 Speaker 2: am and a shallow work cave from two to three 125 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:10,480 Speaker 2: point thirty pm on Thursdays. And while it's often just 126 00:07:10,520 --> 00:07:12,840 Speaker 2: a small group of us that do it regularly, I 127 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,080 Speaker 2: personally find them very motivating and productive, and also just 128 00:07:17,120 --> 00:07:19,240 Speaker 2: a nice chance to hang out with my work mates 129 00:07:19,560 --> 00:07:22,120 Speaker 2: given that we don't work in the same office together. 130 00:07:22,880 --> 00:07:25,360 Speaker 2: If you're looking for more tips to improve the way 131 00:07:25,400 --> 00:07:28,920 Speaker 2: that you work, I write a short fortnightly newsletter that 132 00:07:28,960 --> 00:07:31,800 Speaker 2: contains three core things that I've discovered that helped me 133 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:36,000 Speaker 2: work better, ranging from software and gadgets that I'm loving 134 00:07:36,040 --> 00:07:39,120 Speaker 2: through to interesting research findings. You can sign up for 135 00:07:39,160 --> 00:07:44,440 Speaker 2: that at Howiwork dot co. That's Howiwork dot co. How 136 00:07:44,480 --> 00:07:47,440 Speaker 2: I Work is produced by inventing and with production support 137 00:07:47,480 --> 00:07:50,560 Speaker 2: from Dead Set Studios, and thank you to Matt Nimba 138 00:07:50,640 --> 00:07:53,320 Speaker 2: who does the audio mix for every episode and makes 139 00:07:53,360 --> 00:07:56,160 Speaker 2: everything sound so much better than it would have otherwise. 140 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 1: See you next time.