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Speaker 1: As a listener of how I work.

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Speaker 2: You've hopefully picked up a few tips on this show

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Speaker 2: to help you work better?

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Speaker 1: But do you want more?

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Speaker 2: And maybe in a book form, because let's face it,

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Speaker 2: books are the most awesome thing on the planet. Well,

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Speaker 2: now you can. In my new book, time Wise, I

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Speaker 2: uncover a wealth of proven strategies that anyone can use

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Speaker 2: to improve their productivity, work, and lifestyle. Time Wise brings

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Speaker 2: together all of the gems that I've learned from conversations

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Speaker 2: with the world's greatest thinkers, including Adam Grant, Dan Pink,

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Speaker 2: Mia Friedman, and Turia Pitt and many many others. Time

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Speaker 2: Wise is launching on July five, but you can pre

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Speaker 2: order it now from Amantha dot com. And if you

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Speaker 2: pre order time Wise, I have a couple of bonuses

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Speaker 2: for you. First, you'll receive an ebook that details my

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Speaker 2: top twenty favorite apps and software for being time wise

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Speaker 2: with email, calendar, passwords, reading, cooking ideas, and more. You

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Speaker 2: will also get a complementary spot in a webinar that

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Speaker 2: I'm running on June twenty nine, where I will be

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Speaker 2: sharing the tactics from time Wise that I use most often,

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Speaker 2: and also some bonus ones that are not in the

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Speaker 2: book that I use and love. Hop onto Amantha dot

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Speaker 2: com to pre order now. Productivity is important, and if

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Speaker 2: you're a fan of this show, that probably sounds comically obvious,

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Speaker 2: But usually when we talk about productivity, we're talking about

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Speaker 2: personal productivity. Maybe you realize you could get more done

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Speaker 2: in less time if you managed your calendar with a

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Speaker 2: bit more intention, or if you made an effort to

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Speaker 2: remove distractions from your workday.

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Speaker 1: But these are.

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Speaker 2: Personal choices geared towards making you more productive. If you're lucky,

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Speaker 2: you might work at an organization where your leaders support

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Speaker 2: your quest for greater productivity. Maybe you started developing a

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Speaker 2: desire to work smarter because of somewhere you worked or

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Speaker 2: someone you will. But what if you were responsible for

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Speaker 2: everyone else's productivity? And what if by everyone I met

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Speaker 2: everyone at Google? That is the heavy burden shouldered by

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Speaker 2: Laura may Martin, the executive productivity advisor at Google. Laura

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Speaker 2: coaches googler's one on one, helping them get a handle

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Speaker 2: on everything from their calendars to their workflows. Last time

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Speaker 2: Laura appeared on How I Work, she was laser focused

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Speaker 2: on helping Google transition to remote work. During the pandemic,

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Speaker 2: but now in the middle of twenty twenty two, her

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Speaker 2: attention has shifted to.

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Speaker 1: The new normal.

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Speaker 2: So from Laura's perspective, what worked about working from home

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Speaker 2: and what didn't and how can we make the transition

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Speaker 2: as seamless as possible. My name is doctor amanthe Immer.

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Speaker 2: I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science

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Speaker 2: consultancy Inventium, and this is how I work a show

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Speaker 2: about how to help you do your best work. So,

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Speaker 2: given people at Google and now making the transition to

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Speaker 2: coming back to the office, I wanted to know what

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Speaker 2: the bulk of Lawa's training and coaching work is currently

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Speaker 2: focused around. Now.

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Speaker 3: I think this is another big transition. It's another big

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Speaker 3: point where people, you know, are starting to figure out

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Speaker 3: what does my new cadence look like a lot of

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Speaker 3: people are starting to transition back to the office. For

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Speaker 3: some people that's one day a week, for some people

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Speaker 3: that's three, and some people it's all days of the week.

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Speaker 3: But even for people who are staying remote, it feels

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Speaker 3: like a new season because you know they're starting to

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Speaker 3: be some more commute traffic again, or maybe their colleagues

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Speaker 3: are going in or their travels picking up. So it's

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Speaker 3: kind of this new season of thinking about what does

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Speaker 3: my work schedule look like? How do I, you know,

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Speaker 3: adapt what I learned working from home and apply it

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Speaker 3: to this new way of working whatever that looks like

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Speaker 3: for you.

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Speaker 2: So you kind of like encouraging people to do a

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Speaker 2: bit of a race it, even if they continuing on

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Speaker 2: working from harm and doing exactly the same thing.

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Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. I call it spring cleaning because that's the

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Speaker 3: season that it is here, you know. But it's kind

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Speaker 3: of that idea of, Okay, this is one of those

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Speaker 3: chances to really take a look at some of those

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Speaker 3: things that you've been doing. So, whether it's that recurring

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Speaker 3: meeting that you have every two weeks, do you really

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Speaker 3: need that now? Do you need to make more room

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Speaker 3: in your schedule for something like a thirty minute drive

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Speaker 3: now into the office? Could some of your meetings become

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Speaker 3: phone calls? You know, now that your team's together once

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Speaker 3: a week in the office, do you still need that

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Speaker 3: catch up meeting that you set two years ago to

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Speaker 3: keep in touch when everybody was remote. So, you know,

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Speaker 3: it's kind of that idea of what's the new phase

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Speaker 3: look like? And then how can you make sure that

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Speaker 3: your current state is set up for success there, So

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Speaker 3: anything you can let go of any low hanging fruit

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Speaker 3: that you've been meaning to redo, clean out your inbox,

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Speaker 3: you know, start over. That's that's kind of the method

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Speaker 3: I've been you know, coaching people on is that spring

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Speaker 3: cleaning mentality?

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Speaker 2: And what if you decided to kpe, Like, what was

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Speaker 2: some of the good habits that did work for you

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Speaker 2: that you get to continue with.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. I always tell people, like,

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Speaker 3: don't let this whole period go to waste. You know,

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Speaker 3: like we all we all learned something about ourselves and

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Speaker 3: whether that was oh wow, I really do well, you

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Speaker 3: know when I take a mid morning walk because you

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Speaker 3: were able to do that from home, you know, don't

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Speaker 3: don't lose that because that's something that you've learned about

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Speaker 3: your own patterns. So for me, I think one thing

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Speaker 3: my team really enjoyed was having like a weekly catch

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Speaker 3: up that wasn't anything to do with work, so we

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Speaker 3: you know, called it like the tea or spilling the

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Speaker 3: tea or is just kind of like a fun team

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Speaker 3: meeting where we picked a top that wasn't related to work,

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Speaker 3: and whether it was like a good show you've been

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Speaker 3: watching recently, or bring your favorite recipe or something like that.

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Speaker 3: And we did it originally just because we knew everyone

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Speaker 3: was working from home and you know, wasn't talking to

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Speaker 3: a lot of people, and it was like a fun

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Speaker 3: way to keep in touch. But we loved it, and

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Speaker 3: now we've kept that. So sometimes it'll be in person,

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Speaker 3: sometimes it'll be virtual, but it was just a fun

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Speaker 3: way of saying, hey, like, instead of having all this

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Speaker 3: small talk in other meetings, let's keep this. And so

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Speaker 3: we're keeping that. And another thing that I started doing

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Speaker 3: when I wasn't commuting at all is waking up in

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Speaker 3: the morning and reading, because I used to read on

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Speaker 3: my commute or listen to audiobooks or things like that,

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Speaker 3: and I really missed that. So I started waking up

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Speaker 3: before my kids and trying to get in some reading

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Speaker 3: and a cup of coffee before anyone else woke up.

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Speaker 3: And that was easier when I didn't have as busy

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Speaker 3: of a schedule, and I've I've stayed with that because

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Speaker 3: it was a really good way to start my day.

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Speaker 3: So that's that's definitely one thing that I'm keeping. And

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Speaker 3: then I i'd say probably the last part is just

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Speaker 3: having that mentality of like planning more so. I think

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Speaker 3: the last time we talked, I was mentioning how, you know,

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Speaker 3: without childcare, I was just kind of working in these

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Speaker 3: sprints during my daughter's nap time. And I'm lucky enough

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Speaker 3: to have childcare now for the day, but I still

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Speaker 3: have that mentality of Okay, tomorrow's morning sprint, you know,

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Speaker 3: what am I going to get done? And then what

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Speaker 3: about in the afternoon. And I've kept that same idea

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Speaker 3: of breaking up my day into these work chunks, whether

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Speaker 3: those are full of meetings one time and then heads

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Speaker 3: down work another time. But I still kind of think

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Speaker 3: in my head, like, oh I need to get this done,

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Speaker 3: I'll do it in Thursday's afternoon sprint. So I never

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Speaker 3: really let that go because you know, it's how I

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Speaker 3: was working and it worked well for me.

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Speaker 1: And how long does a sprint last full?

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Speaker 3: Usually like two and a half hours or so, you know,

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Speaker 3: So like the morning will be like check the email,

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Speaker 3: and then there's a sprint, and then I have a

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Speaker 3: break for lunch, same thing, kind of do some lower

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Speaker 3: energy things, whether it like expenses or scheduling or email.

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Speaker 3: Then I have like another two hour sprint and then

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Speaker 3: kind of like a wrap up.

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Speaker 4: For the day.

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Speaker 3: So I think in my head, you know, like Wednesday afternoons,

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Speaker 3: I have like a standing meeting, and I just know

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Speaker 3: that's never going to be one of those sprints where

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Speaker 3: I get a ton of work done, you know, like

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Speaker 3: building a new presentation or anything like that, because it's

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Speaker 3: kind of broken up. So I just keep that in

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Speaker 3: mind and say, Okay, Wednesday afternoon sprint, that's a good

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Speaker 3: time to do something that takes maybe thirty minutes in

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Speaker 3: between those two meetings, and I just have that kind

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Speaker 3: of cadence and flow to my week and my days.

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Speaker 2: And so with the sprint. So it sounds like they're

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Speaker 2: primarily for deep work. What are the conditions that you

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Speaker 2: try to create to have a successful sprint?

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so, and I would say the sprints are for

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Speaker 3: deep work, but I guess I would think the more

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Speaker 3: as like groups of time. I guess, so sometimes they're

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Speaker 3: for deep work. But like I said that Wednesday afternoon

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Speaker 3: you know quote sprint would be more for back to

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Speaker 3: back meetings because that's just what I happen to have

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Speaker 3: that day. But for the head down sprints, I would

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Speaker 3: think of, you know, I try to tell myself and

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Speaker 3: others when I'm doing my coaching is to act like

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Speaker 3: your own assistant before those things begin. So if I'm

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Speaker 3: in charge, if I'm my own assistant, And I went

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Speaker 3: into my boss's office, who was me, and I was saying, Okay,

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Speaker 3: what can I do to make sure that she is

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Speaker 3: fully set up to be ready to focus in thirty minutes?

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Speaker 3: You know, I would set out maybe a snack, I

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Speaker 3: would put on headphones, I would clear the desk off,

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Speaker 3: I would close the email. I would pull up the

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Speaker 3: article that I should be reading or editing or whatever

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Speaker 3: that is, you know, water, whatever that is, and then

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Speaker 3: you know, kind of take a step away and come

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Speaker 3: back to it. And I've fully you know, almost like

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Speaker 3: child proofing. I've basically made it so that I cannot

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Speaker 3: be distracted. I've already closed out my chat, I've already

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Speaker 3: you know, checked all the email I need to check.

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Speaker 3: And it's almost even like when you start doing this

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Speaker 3: like panicky because you think like, oh my gosh, like

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Speaker 3: I have nothing to do except focus. But you know,

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Speaker 3: once you move past that, you really have no choice

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Speaker 3: other than to drop into that focus deep work because

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Speaker 3: there's literally nothing else for you to do.

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Speaker 2: It's interesting that you say that you'll check email first

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Speaker 2: before getting into a sprint, which is almost contrary to

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Speaker 2: a lot of what a lot of people will say,

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Speaker 2: because then you know you've got the sort of the

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Speaker 2: emails in your head and you you know, maybe just

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Speaker 2: in a reactive mode. So tell me about why you

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Speaker 2: choose to do that before your sprint rather than just

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Speaker 2: kind of starting it fresh if you like.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's a good point because on Fridays, I

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Speaker 3: actually I send out a big newsletter at Google on Friday,

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Speaker 3: and I actually don't check my email on Friday morning

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Speaker 3: before I write that newsletter and finalize it for that

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Speaker 3: exact reason, because I know that, you know, I may

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Speaker 3: get sucked into something. But in general, the rest of

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Speaker 3: the time, I want to make sure because I don't

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Speaker 3: really check my email at night after work, so I

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Speaker 3: usually want to make sure that anything that's come in

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Speaker 3: that is maybe global from you know, overnight, or needs

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Speaker 3: a response by that day, I've at least addressed it.

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Speaker 3: So I do have good email habits where I actually,

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Speaker 3: like have an egg timer at my desk and I

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Speaker 3: can turn it to thirty minutes and say, like when

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Speaker 3: that goes off, I'm done, so I don't get like

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Speaker 3: so involved in email to the point where my you know,

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Speaker 3: my sprint is lost. But I just kind of see

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Speaker 3: what's there so that I can quick response anything. I

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Speaker 3: can see if there's anything I need to make time

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Speaker 3: for in the rest of the day, you know, respond

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Speaker 3: to anything urgent, and then close the email, knowing that

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Speaker 3: I have time maybe later in the day during that

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Speaker 3: lunch block where it's lower energy and I just have

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Speaker 3: a little bit of time to you know, look at

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Speaker 3: my email and answer it. I know that that is

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Speaker 3: going to be addressed then, so it's usually just a

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Speaker 3: quick look to see what's there.

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Speaker 2: That You've also adopted what you call the no childcare

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Speaker 2: gut chick. Can you tell me about that, because as

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Speaker 2: far as I know, your kids are now back in childcare.

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Speaker 3: Yes, exactly. I think it's just like I had to

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Speaker 3: make cuts when I had no childcare. I just started

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Speaker 3: to ask myself, Okay, you know, is this worth me

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Speaker 3: asking my husband to take this slot and watch them,

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Speaker 3: or is it worth you know, me finding having my

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Speaker 3: parents come in to watch my kids during this time

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Speaker 3: or for me to work on this or is it

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Speaker 3: worth me working at night all night because I didn't

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Speaker 3: have someone to watch them during the day, and so

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Speaker 3: I just started to slowly shave off the things that

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Speaker 3: I probably shouldn't have been doing anyway, they were kind

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Speaker 3: of not my high priority things, but the things I

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Speaker 3: felt like, oh, maybe I will do that because someone

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Speaker 3: asked me to, even though it's not part of my goals.

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Speaker 3: You know, I started being like, well, no, that's probably

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Speaker 3: not worth having grandparents come into town to watch them for.

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Speaker 3: So it was just like a good way of asking myself,

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Speaker 3: you know, is this my priority? Which a lot of

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Speaker 3: us have have a hard time kind of like keeping

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Speaker 3: those consistent priorities and spending most of our time on that.

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Speaker 3: And so I've still find myself asking myself, you know,

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Speaker 3: is this worth having my husband switch schedules with me?

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Speaker 3: And then I'm like, oh, wait, you know, we we

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Speaker 3: have a lovely nanny who's at our house all day,

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Speaker 3: so I don't need to ask myself that. But it's

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Speaker 3: a good way of just me asking myself, you know,

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Speaker 3: is this that that high, super focused, high priority percentage

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Speaker 3: of work that I should be doing or is this

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Speaker 3: something that you know I probably could say no to

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Speaker 3: and it would be okay with what I really want

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Speaker 3: to accomplish in my goals.

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Speaker 1: I could totally relate to that.

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Speaker 2: I'm now because you know, everything has opened up and

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Speaker 2: I've now sort of back on planes, although not that much,

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Speaker 2: to be honest, When I'm asked to do something that

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Speaker 2: involves an early morning start and my main I don't

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Speaker 2: get to spend the morning with my daughter before school,

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Speaker 2: it's the same kind of thing. It's like, is this

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Speaker 2: important enough to miss a morning with my daughter? Sorry,

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Speaker 2: I could absolutely relate exactly.

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Speaker 3: See, you have the childcare gut check.

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Speaker 1: I totally do that.

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Speaker 2: You recently published a sort of update or companion pace

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Speaker 2: to your tips for Working from Home article, and this

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Speaker 2: one's about how people should approach their return to in

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Speaker 2: person work. So I'd love to know what are the

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Speaker 2: most important tips in that article.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so the first one I would say is just

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Speaker 3: being really buttoned up about your calendar, your schedule.

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Speaker 4: You know.

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Speaker 3: I joke that nothing more is more inefficient than every

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Speaker 3: person wondering where everybody is at different times on what

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Speaker 3: day and what office, you know, and it's just kind

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Speaker 3: of messy because there's so many different schedules. So you

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Speaker 3: want to be really buttoned up about having your calendar

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Speaker 3: up to date, accepting meetings, marking your location. You know,

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Speaker 3: within Google Calendar, you can say I am rsvping I'm

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Speaker 3: from a room, or am rsvping I'm attending remotely, and

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Speaker 3: then people can see how big does the room need

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Speaker 3: to be? You know, adding in events. If you're going

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Speaker 3: to drive your daughter to school every morning, you know,

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Speaker 3: make sure that's on your calendar and now so that

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Speaker 3: people aren't booking during that time. So just being really

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Speaker 3: I would guess you could call it calendar hygiene. But

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Speaker 3: I think when everyone was just sitting at home all

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Speaker 3: the time, it was easy to just you know, leave

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Speaker 3: your schedule open and be a little more laxadaisical about that.

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Speaker 3: So now I think it's you know, part of that

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Speaker 3: spring cleaning is just making sure that everything is exactly

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Speaker 3: where you're going to be updated to make you know,

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Speaker 3: scheduling easier.

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Speaker 2: So I didn't know about this function in Google Calendar

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Speaker 2: that I can say where I'm going to be attending from.

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Speaker 1: How do I do this?

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Speaker 3: Laura? Yeah, So there's a couple things in Calendar. You

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Speaker 3: can actually mark your working location. So within your calendar settings,

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Speaker 3: you can say set location, and you can even set

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Speaker 3: a schedule saying, you know, I'm going to be in

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Speaker 3: this office or this location or this you know city

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Speaker 3: on these days, and then every Friday, I'm going to

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Speaker 3: be at home. And that can be a standing schedule

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Speaker 3: that's public if your calendar is public, when people schedule

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Speaker 3: with you. But then within a meeting, you can RSVP

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Speaker 3: by dropping down and saying I'm rsvping Yes. There's a

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Speaker 3: little downward erarow. You can say yes remotely or yes

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Speaker 3: from a room, and that way it will show up

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Speaker 3: to attendees so they can see where you are.

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Speaker 2: Ah, and I've just got into Google Calendar now and

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Speaker 2: i can say that option, which is totally there staring

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Speaker 2: me in the face, which I had not noticed before.

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Speaker 1: That is very very helpful.

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Speaker 2: I'm going to get out of my calendar now I

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Speaker 2: can tell me some other teams.

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Speaker 3: Yeah. So also a little bit related to your calendar,

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Speaker 3: you know. I think when we talked before, we talked

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Speaker 3: about how there was two different types of people with

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Speaker 3: the work from home schedule. There were the people who

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Speaker 3: were sprinting like us, you know, with kids at home,

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Speaker 3: and then we had the marathoners who had more time

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Speaker 3: than ever. So Similarly, now we have people who are

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Speaker 3: really good at focusing in the office, you know, maybe

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Speaker 3: they're excited to go back that's where they do their

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Speaker 3: heads down work. Or we have people who say, oh wow,

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Speaker 3: I really get so much done when I'm focused at home.

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Speaker 3: So asking yourself, am I primarily focused at home? Or

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Speaker 3: for my primarily focus in the office person? And then

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Speaker 3: how do I optimize my schedule and my week and

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Speaker 3: my work to do that. So let's say that you're

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Speaker 3: a primarily you know, focus at home person, You're going

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Speaker 3: to want to make sure that in the office you're

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Speaker 3: taking advantage of seeing people of meetings. You know, be

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Speaker 3: okay with the fact that you might not get some

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Speaker 3: email done while you're there because you're moving around. Even

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Speaker 3: if you're taking a virtual meeting. You want to do

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Speaker 3: it on those days from the office because you know

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Speaker 3: that your days there are going to be kind of

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Speaker 3: broken up and you wouldn't get much done. Then at home,

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Speaker 3: you want to be really, really intentional about having big

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Speaker 3: blocks of time you can do heads down work. On

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Speaker 3: the opposite side, let's say you're coding and you love

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Speaker 3: doing it at the office because you really have a

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Speaker 3: big desk in your self up, et cetera. You'll want

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Speaker 3: to have headphones on and maybe have a little touch

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Speaker 3: lamp at your desk that you turn on and tell

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Speaker 3: people when this is on, please leave me alone. I'm focusing.

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Speaker 3: And then at home, you know, save that for more

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Speaker 3: chopped up work or virtual meetings or things like that.

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Speaker 3: So just knowing that about yourself can kind of help

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Speaker 3: you go into the next phase saying how do I

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Speaker 3: make sure I have that focus time instead of just

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Speaker 3: you know, splitting your time between both home and office

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Speaker 3: and not necessarily having any deep work.

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Speaker 1: I love the idea of having a lot on in

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Speaker 1: the office. Is that something that a lot of people

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Speaker 1: at Google do.

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Speaker 3: No, I haven't seen anyone do that yet, not yet,

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Speaker 3: but I've been talking to people about it. I think,

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Speaker 3: you know, a lot of offices have this open work environment,

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Speaker 3: and there's been mixed reviews because you know, some people

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Speaker 3: like to sit at their desk and really focus, and

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Speaker 3: other people like to go to the you know, cafe

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Speaker 3: and get a snack and chat and things like that.

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Speaker 3: But I haven't seen the light implemented. But I have

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Speaker 3: seen people use like big headphones. But I feel like

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Speaker 3: the light is kind of a way of closing your

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Speaker 3: office door in an open work environment. So I've actually

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Speaker 3: been giving away as like a prize for some of

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Speaker 3: my challenges recently and stuff. So maybe we'll start seeing

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Speaker 3: them more in Google offices.

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Speaker 1: I'd like this say out of that.

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Speaker 2: Now you spoken about I guess optimizing your calendar for focus,

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Speaker 2: you also talk about optimizing calendars for connection, and I

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Speaker 2: was wondering if you could talk a bit more about

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Speaker 2: that and how someone can do that.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think it's just thinking about, you know,

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Speaker 3: what are the biggest connection points that matter to me. So,

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Speaker 3: if you have a team that is primarily in the office,

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Speaker 3: the one thing that you would want to do, or

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Speaker 3: in the office that you are in, the one thing

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Speaker 3: you would want to do is make sure that you're

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Speaker 3: not you know, two ships crossing paths saying I'm in

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Speaker 3: on Monday, you're in on Tuesday. You know that's probably

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Speaker 3: not efficient because you're not getting that FaceTime. So the

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Speaker 3: first thing, which a lot of teams have already done

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Speaker 3: at Google is just kind of syncing up on what

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Speaker 3: that schedule might be. So if you're a sales team

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Speaker 3: and everybody typically travels Tuesday, through Thursday. Then Monday might

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Speaker 3: be a good day to meet as a team in

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Speaker 3: the office and make sure everyone's there, you know, but

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Speaker 3: if you have a different type of schedule, then you

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Speaker 3: might say, hey, we're going to be here Tuesday and

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Speaker 3: Wednesday and that's when we'll have our team meeting and

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Speaker 3: being really intentional about those touch points. So you know,

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Speaker 3: I think the first step is just learning what everyone's

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Speaker 3: schedule is going to be and making sure that it's

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Speaker 3: a good one that works for your team. And then

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Speaker 3: I think on the other side of it, it's just

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Speaker 3: remembering some of the things that we learned about connection

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Speaker 3: and collaboration during our work from home period. So you know,

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Speaker 3: one thing that really changed, I think is meetings, and

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Speaker 3: you know, people got involved when they were on a meeting,

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Speaker 3: they could chat or they could use emoticon reactions and

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Speaker 3: everybody was just a square and you know, it was

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Speaker 3: it was easy for people to chime in and it

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Speaker 3: wasn't a big board room where somebody was leading it

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Speaker 3: at the front. So you know, we kind of revolutionize

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Speaker 3: the way that we collaborate and take meetings, and I

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Speaker 3: think connecting with people and meetings changed for the better,

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Speaker 3: and some of those learnings about like having an open

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Speaker 3: question format and taking polls and things like that that

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Speaker 3: we did on virtual platforms is something we can bring

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Speaker 3: to the office as well.

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Speaker 2: Now, something that I think quite a lot about is

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Speaker 2: how to measure productivity, and I imagine, giving you are

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Speaker 2: a professional productivity expert, you have probably thought a lot

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Speaker 2: about this.

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Speaker 4: As well, and I would love to know how do

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Speaker 4: you assess productivity so that you can know whether, like

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Speaker 4: whether it be yourself or one of your coaching clients,

438
00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:48,159
Speaker 4: is actually working productively, or whether they've been more productive

439
00:21:48,200 --> 00:21:50,119
Speaker 4: as a result of the strategies you've given them.

440
00:21:50,560 --> 00:21:53,640
Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's a great question, and I think it's

441
00:21:53,680 --> 00:21:56,840
Speaker 3: an important one. Anytime you set out to be more productive,

442
00:21:56,840 --> 00:21:59,040
Speaker 3: you really want to understand what does that actually mean?

443
00:21:59,080 --> 00:22:02,320
Speaker 3: What am I shooting for? Or so you know, sometimes

444
00:22:02,359 --> 00:22:04,560
Speaker 3: when I do big speaking events, I ask people to

445
00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,400
Speaker 3: close their eyes think about the most productive day they've

446
00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:10,239
Speaker 3: ever had, and then I ask them to open their

447
00:22:10,280 --> 00:22:12,480
Speaker 3: eyes and raise their hand if they were thinking about

448
00:22:12,520 --> 00:22:14,320
Speaker 3: a day where they sat on the couch and watch

449
00:22:14,359 --> 00:22:16,439
Speaker 3: TV all day. And of course no one raises their

450
00:22:16,480 --> 00:22:20,480
Speaker 3: hand because that's not our standard definition of being productive.

451
00:22:20,680 --> 00:22:24,199
Speaker 3: Checking things off your to do list, output output output, busyness.

452
00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,720
Speaker 3: But I always argue that if you set out to

453
00:22:27,840 --> 00:22:32,080
Speaker 3: relax and finish a season and then you did it

454
00:22:32,520 --> 00:22:35,880
Speaker 3: and you completed it, then that was a productive day.

455
00:22:35,960 --> 00:22:38,639
Speaker 3: So I think, you know, it's really thinking about what

456
00:22:38,720 --> 00:22:43,320
Speaker 3: are my biggest priorities? Am I setting an intention to

457
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,800
Speaker 3: do them, setting out time to do them in a

458
00:22:46,880 --> 00:22:50,199
Speaker 3: time that works for me, and then doing them well

459
00:22:50,480 --> 00:22:53,720
Speaker 3: and completing them. So I think, you know, for a

460
00:22:53,720 --> 00:22:56,600
Speaker 3: lot of people, when I start my coaching, I actually

461
00:22:56,720 --> 00:22:59,600
Speaker 3: ask a couple of questions in a weird format, so

462
00:22:59,640 --> 00:23:02,760
Speaker 3: they don't really know what I'm asking because sometimes when

463
00:23:02,800 --> 00:23:04,960
Speaker 3: you say, you know, what are your productivity goals, that's

464
00:23:05,000 --> 00:23:07,639
Speaker 3: a little too direct to really fish out what's going on.

465
00:23:07,800 --> 00:23:10,360
Speaker 3: So a lot of times I'll start by asking if

466
00:23:10,359 --> 00:23:13,440
Speaker 3: you had an extra hour in your day, what would

467
00:23:13,520 --> 00:23:16,040
Speaker 3: you do with it? And that's usually what I call

468
00:23:16,200 --> 00:23:18,880
Speaker 3: like the edge. It's kind of like what they feel

469
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:21,840
Speaker 3: like they should be doing but they aren't. Now, if

470
00:23:21,920 --> 00:23:23,800
Speaker 3: I told you, you know, you won the lottery, you

471
00:23:23,840 --> 00:23:25,560
Speaker 3: have a million hours in your day, you would give

472
00:23:25,640 --> 00:23:29,040
Speaker 3: like a very different answer. But this is usually okay.

473
00:23:29,200 --> 00:23:34,280
Speaker 3: I always wish I got to bigger visions for my team,

474
00:23:34,440 --> 00:23:37,480
Speaker 3: or spending more time with my kids or you know,

475
00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:40,359
Speaker 3: whatever that is. So I usually ask that what would

476
00:23:40,359 --> 00:23:43,199
Speaker 3: you do with an extra hour question because that's my

477
00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,560
Speaker 3: goal for them by the end of our coaching session,

478
00:23:46,600 --> 00:23:49,479
Speaker 3: because they don't really remember that they're setting that. But

479
00:23:49,520 --> 00:23:51,680
Speaker 3: then I say, hey, like, now that we've done all

480
00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,360
Speaker 3: this work, do you feel like you're spending more time

481
00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:56,480
Speaker 3: with your kids every day? And you know, hopefully the

482
00:23:56,560 --> 00:23:59,480
Speaker 3: answer is yes. So that's one way that I typically

483
00:23:59,680 --> 00:24:03,880
Speaker 3: measure productivity. And then a lot of it's just about

484
00:24:03,920 --> 00:24:07,520
Speaker 3: how you feel. So you know, a lot of people think, oh,

485
00:24:07,520 --> 00:24:09,399
Speaker 3: if I'm checking things off my to do list or

486
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,360
Speaker 3: I've been back to back meetings, that's productive. But as

487
00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:15,399
Speaker 3: I mentioned, you know, if you're burning yourself out, or

488
00:24:15,400 --> 00:24:18,040
Speaker 3: if you're doing work at night when you're a morning person,

489
00:24:18,119 --> 00:24:20,600
Speaker 3: and that's not great work. And so you know, a

490
00:24:20,600 --> 00:24:24,080
Speaker 3: lot of it's just what capacity do I feel like

491
00:24:24,119 --> 00:24:26,880
Speaker 3: I'm operating at? So that's another question I ask people

492
00:24:26,880 --> 00:24:30,080
Speaker 3: at the beginning and then ending of our coaching sessions

493
00:24:30,080 --> 00:24:32,840
Speaker 3: to see how they're feeling about you know, am I

494
00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:34,679
Speaker 3: feeling good? Am I on top of it? Do I

495
00:24:34,720 --> 00:24:39,639
Speaker 3: have energy? To do big projects and execute because that's

496
00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:42,280
Speaker 3: how you flow through your day and your week, which

497
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:43,400
Speaker 3: is how you stay productive.

498
00:24:47,240 --> 00:24:49,840
Speaker 2: We will be back soon with Laura talking about her

499
00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:54,160
Speaker 2: coaching sessions with Google's top executives and what they actually

500
00:24:54,200 --> 00:24:57,359
Speaker 2: look like and what are some of the first questions

501
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:58,560
Speaker 2: that she asks them.

502
00:24:59,400 --> 00:25:00,400
Speaker 1: If you'll looking.

503
00:25:00,280 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 2: For more tips to improve the way that you work,

504
00:25:03,160 --> 00:25:06,520
Speaker 2: I write a short fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool

505
00:25:06,640 --> 00:25:09,800
Speaker 2: things that I've discovered that helped me work better, ranging

506
00:25:09,920 --> 00:25:13,440
Speaker 2: from software and gadgets that I'm loving through to interesting

507
00:25:13,520 --> 00:25:17,000
Speaker 2: research findings. You can sign up for that at Howiwork

508
00:25:17,080 --> 00:25:21,680
Speaker 2: dot code. That's how I Work dot co. I want

509
00:25:21,680 --> 00:25:24,679
Speaker 2: to dig more into these coaching sessions because I personally,

510
00:25:24,720 --> 00:25:26,400
Speaker 2: I'd just love to be a fly on the wall.

511
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:28,240
Speaker 1: The sound fascinating, like what.

512
00:25:28,200 --> 00:25:31,480
Speaker 2: Does that first session look like with someone who you're

513
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:35,240
Speaker 2: coaching and presumably just to set the picture your coach

514
00:25:35,320 --> 00:25:38,880
Speaker 2: executives at Google? Is that that sort of yeah? So

515
00:25:39,400 --> 00:25:43,240
Speaker 2: people who I imagine have very very busy work lives,

516
00:25:43,280 --> 00:25:46,000
Speaker 2: Like what are some of the questions that you're asking

517
00:25:46,160 --> 00:25:49,560
Speaker 2: in that initial session? Other than like if you had

518
00:25:49,600 --> 00:25:51,560
Speaker 2: an extra hour, what would you be doing with that

519
00:25:51,600 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 2: and I love that question, by the way.

520
00:25:53,520 --> 00:25:57,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, So you know a lot of times I ask,

521
00:25:57,200 --> 00:26:00,160
Speaker 3: what are your top three priorities right now? And and

522
00:26:00,240 --> 00:26:03,400
Speaker 3: you know, that's another thing that I'll sometimes secretly pull

523
00:26:03,480 --> 00:26:05,439
Speaker 3: up their calendar from the last three weeks and have

524
00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,320
Speaker 3: it printed out and then say, okay, so, based on

525
00:26:08,359 --> 00:26:10,440
Speaker 3: those three priorities you just told me, let's go ahead

526
00:26:10,440 --> 00:26:12,840
Speaker 3: and highlight everything that was focused on that in the

527
00:26:12,880 --> 00:26:15,480
Speaker 3: last three weeks to see, you know, where you're spending

528
00:26:15,520 --> 00:26:18,080
Speaker 3: your time. So I don't want to call them sneaky,

529
00:26:18,200 --> 00:26:20,679
Speaker 3: but you know, they're like questions to try to flush

530
00:26:20,720 --> 00:26:24,479
Speaker 3: something out. You know. Then I ask, you know, what

531
00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:29,240
Speaker 3: is your ideal collaborative time versus focus time, because I

532
00:26:29,240 --> 00:26:33,440
Speaker 3: think it's important to know each exec's kind of ideal situation.

533
00:26:33,600 --> 00:26:35,720
Speaker 3: Because there are some who say, you know, I really

534
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:38,160
Speaker 3: don't need to have a lot of heads down time.

535
00:26:38,280 --> 00:26:41,400
Speaker 3: My job is to just review product ideas and give feedback.

536
00:26:41,440 --> 00:26:44,119
Speaker 3: So if their calendar has tons of meetings on it

537
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:46,520
Speaker 3: all day, that's okay, because that's their job. And then

538
00:26:46,520 --> 00:26:48,840
Speaker 3: there's some that are saying, hey, I really need to

539
00:26:48,920 --> 00:26:51,960
Speaker 3: research and code and I need to have that heads

540
00:26:52,000 --> 00:26:55,280
Speaker 3: down time. So their schedule would look totally different. So

541
00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:58,639
Speaker 3: I also ask, you know, what are your two to

542
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:01,840
Speaker 3: three boundaries that you always live by? And notice how

543
00:27:01,880 --> 00:27:05,320
Speaker 3: I don't ask do you have any? Because I try

544
00:27:05,359 --> 00:27:08,480
Speaker 3: to catch them off guard, almost to say, oh, you know,

545
00:27:08,960 --> 00:27:12,439
Speaker 3: I try not to work after eight pm or whatever

546
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:14,919
Speaker 3: that is. You know, I try to get them to

547
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:17,359
Speaker 3: either admit that they don't have any boundaries or they

548
00:27:17,359 --> 00:27:20,840
Speaker 3: haven't stuck to them, or if I can tell right

549
00:27:20,880 --> 00:27:23,120
Speaker 3: away if they have them and they stick to them,

550
00:27:23,160 --> 00:27:25,240
Speaker 3: you know, which many of them do. They'll say, you know,

551
00:27:25,280 --> 00:27:27,520
Speaker 3: I never work on the weekends or I never send

552
00:27:27,600 --> 00:27:30,640
Speaker 3: email on Sundays or whatever that is. So I try

553
00:27:30,680 --> 00:27:33,480
Speaker 3: to figure out, you know, where is it that they

554
00:27:33,680 --> 00:27:37,680
Speaker 3: are placing some of the importance on, like their own

555
00:27:37,760 --> 00:27:41,240
Speaker 3: well being and boundaries. And then you know, with the

556
00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:44,480
Speaker 3: top three priorities, a lot of times they'll answer me

557
00:27:44,560 --> 00:27:46,240
Speaker 3: only things that have to do with work. But I

558
00:27:46,240 --> 00:27:48,480
Speaker 3: always say, you know, you don't have a work you

559
00:27:48,680 --> 00:27:52,240
Speaker 3: and a personal you. It's kind of just you. And

560
00:27:52,280 --> 00:27:55,760
Speaker 3: so if one of your priorities right now is selling

561
00:27:55,800 --> 00:27:58,240
Speaker 3: your house or whatever that is, you know, that's something

562
00:27:58,280 --> 00:28:01,399
Speaker 3: that should be part of your circle, because that's something

563
00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:04,639
Speaker 3: that will be part of your time, so, you know,

564
00:28:04,680 --> 00:28:07,240
Speaker 3: I asked them that. Another one I ask is if

565
00:28:07,240 --> 00:28:12,160
Speaker 3: you were home by yourself tomorrow with no meetings and

566
00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,560
Speaker 3: just some work and emails to do and nobody else

567
00:28:15,640 --> 00:28:17,600
Speaker 3: was there, how would you structure your day? And the

568
00:28:17,640 --> 00:28:20,840
Speaker 3: goal of that question is to understand are they a

569
00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,240
Speaker 3: morning person? You know, a lot of people say, oh,

570
00:28:24,320 --> 00:28:25,720
Speaker 3: I do a lot of my work at night, and

571
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:27,280
Speaker 3: then I ask them and they say, no, I'm more

572
00:28:27,280 --> 00:28:29,359
Speaker 3: of a morning person. I just have meetings in the morning.

573
00:28:29,440 --> 00:28:32,159
Speaker 3: So okay, that's not ideal because you know, if you

574
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:34,199
Speaker 3: focus better in the morning, you should have some of

575
00:28:34,200 --> 00:28:36,600
Speaker 3: that time block. So I try to see are they

576
00:28:36,640 --> 00:28:40,120
Speaker 3: a late riser who likes to do their workout and

577
00:28:40,160 --> 00:28:43,440
Speaker 3: then get into work in the afternoon and work in

578
00:28:43,480 --> 00:28:46,320
Speaker 3: the evening, or are they, you know, the opposite. So

579
00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:48,400
Speaker 3: my goal is to figure out, like, what is their

580
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 3: natural flow with no other variables there, and then that

581
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 3: helps me figure out, you know, how could their schedule

582
00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:58,360
Speaker 3: be more optimized to capitalize on that?

583
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:03,600
Speaker 2: How do you use executive assistants because I imagine they

584
00:29:03,600 --> 00:29:06,240
Speaker 2: would have a great deal of insight into the executives

585
00:29:06,240 --> 00:29:07,160
Speaker 2: that you're coaching.

586
00:29:07,280 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: So what do you work through with them.

587
00:29:10,800 --> 00:29:13,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a great question. And I always meet with

588
00:29:13,760 --> 00:29:16,960
Speaker 3: the assistant first before I meet with the EXEC because

589
00:29:16,960 --> 00:29:20,040
Speaker 3: I feel like it's just good context. It helps me understand,

590
00:29:20,160 --> 00:29:21,680
Speaker 3: you know, what are the ins and outs of what

591
00:29:21,760 --> 00:29:24,800
Speaker 3: the EXEC might be dealing with. Maybe it's like they

592
00:29:24,880 --> 00:29:27,080
Speaker 3: are in the middle of a big reorg, or they

593
00:29:27,160 --> 00:29:29,760
Speaker 3: had somebody leave their team and they're taking on a

594
00:29:29,800 --> 00:29:32,200
Speaker 3: ton of responsibilities. So it kind of just sets the

595
00:29:32,240 --> 00:29:35,280
Speaker 3: scene for what I'm about to get into. So I

596
00:29:35,280 --> 00:29:37,880
Speaker 3: feel like I can have a lot more context and

597
00:29:37,960 --> 00:29:40,800
Speaker 3: give better advice than showing up, you know, right from

598
00:29:40,840 --> 00:29:43,440
Speaker 3: the start with these questions. I mean, they're good and

599
00:29:43,480 --> 00:29:45,480
Speaker 3: they pull out a lot, but with that and the

600
00:29:45,520 --> 00:29:49,240
Speaker 3: context from the assistant, that's really helpful. I also usually

601
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 3: have the assistant kind of prepare some things ahead of

602
00:29:52,080 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 3: time that give us data based insights. So, for example,

603
00:29:55,920 --> 00:29:59,000
Speaker 3: if I'm working with an exec who says I feel

604
00:29:59,040 --> 00:30:01,560
Speaker 3: like I'm in a lot of meetings, you know, that's

605
00:30:01,680 --> 00:30:05,280
Speaker 3: just a kind of an overarching statement, but what does

606
00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,120
Speaker 3: that really mean? So beforehand, I'll have the assistant fill

607
00:30:08,120 --> 00:30:11,280
Speaker 3: out what I call like a meeting frequency analysis that says,

608
00:30:11,880 --> 00:30:16,520
Speaker 3: who are you meeting with bi weekly, monthly, weekly, you know, quarterly,

609
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 3: what is your weekly management meeting? And what is the

610
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:23,320
Speaker 3: total time you're spending in those a quarter Because a

611
00:30:23,320 --> 00:30:25,640
Speaker 3: lot of times we throw out these words like bi weekly,

612
00:30:25,720 --> 00:30:29,120
Speaker 3: but it's like two hours bi weekly is actually more

613
00:30:29,200 --> 00:30:31,840
Speaker 3: than a thirty minute check in weekly. So it's like

614
00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:35,080
Speaker 3: what are the actual total times? And then we sort

615
00:30:35,160 --> 00:30:38,960
Speaker 3: from the top, descending to say like is this what

616
00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:41,160
Speaker 3: you thought you were spending your most time on? Does

617
00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:43,160
Speaker 3: this look right? You know, are you spending the most

618
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,280
Speaker 3: time with the people you want to? So they'll do that,

619
00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:48,800
Speaker 3: they'll do an analysis more of like, you know, what

620
00:30:48,840 --> 00:30:51,200
Speaker 3: projects are you spending a lot of time on this quarter?

621
00:30:51,320 --> 00:30:53,480
Speaker 3: I have like a template for that. So they usually

622
00:30:53,520 --> 00:30:56,320
Speaker 3: come with some of the data based insight and they're

623
00:30:56,400 --> 00:30:58,440
Speaker 3: kind of the first line of defense for the EXEC

624
00:30:58,520 --> 00:31:01,200
Speaker 3: as far as how they're protecting the schedule and what

625
00:31:01,280 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 3: they're already doing to be productive. So that's always, you know,

626
00:31:04,440 --> 00:31:06,760
Speaker 3: every EXEC I talked to has things that they're doing

627
00:31:06,800 --> 00:31:09,640
Speaker 3: that I actually learn from or take to other sessions.

628
00:31:09,680 --> 00:31:11,960
Speaker 3: So I find that really helpful to talk to the

629
00:31:11,960 --> 00:31:14,800
Speaker 3: assistant first and say, wow, I can already see you know,

630
00:31:14,840 --> 00:31:17,600
Speaker 3: they have good boundaries, or their team says they're amazing

631
00:31:17,640 --> 00:31:20,280
Speaker 3: at email, or they already host office hours, which is

632
00:31:20,320 --> 00:31:22,720
Speaker 3: a good way to condense some of those random meetings

633
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,760
Speaker 3: things like that. So I get a lot of info

634
00:31:25,840 --> 00:31:26,600
Speaker 3: from the assistant.

635
00:31:27,120 --> 00:31:30,000
Speaker 2: What are some of the is it a standout or

636
00:31:30,200 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 2: maybe quirkiest strategies that you've heard some of these execs.

637
00:31:34,280 --> 00:31:36,360
Speaker 1: Applying before they start working with you.

638
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, that's why I feel like I just feel so

639
00:31:39,560 --> 00:31:42,240
Speaker 3: lucky because there's always little things that I can help with,

640
00:31:42,320 --> 00:31:44,560
Speaker 3: and you know, somebody might be in a transition period

641
00:31:44,600 --> 00:31:47,719
Speaker 3: where I can provide, you know, some activities and insight.

642
00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,120
Speaker 3: But I've just learned so much from all the execs

643
00:31:51,160 --> 00:31:52,920
Speaker 3: I've worked with that I feel like there's things that

644
00:31:52,960 --> 00:31:56,160
Speaker 3: I've even implemented myself. But you know, some of the

645
00:31:57,600 --> 00:32:01,040
Speaker 3: practices I think are really cool are having like a

646
00:32:01,200 --> 00:32:04,880
Speaker 3: post it on your computer screen with your top three priorities.

647
00:32:04,920 --> 00:32:07,880
Speaker 3: One exec I worked with did that, and every time

648
00:32:08,040 --> 00:32:10,000
Speaker 3: something came up where she was asked to speak at

649
00:32:10,080 --> 00:32:11,880
Speaker 3: something or do this or do this, it was like

650
00:32:11,920 --> 00:32:14,160
Speaker 3: her top three priorities were just like staring her in

651
00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,040
Speaker 3: the face, so that you know, occasionally she would go

652
00:32:17,080 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 3: outside of those, but you know, it was like, hey, no,

653
00:32:19,720 --> 00:32:21,959
Speaker 3: at the end of the year, I'm going to ask myself,

654
00:32:22,000 --> 00:32:24,120
Speaker 3: did I accomplish these things, and like, you know, I

655
00:32:24,200 --> 00:32:26,920
Speaker 3: need to keep that time. So I think that's nice

656
00:32:26,960 --> 00:32:30,600
Speaker 3: as just a constant reminder. I had one exec that

657
00:32:31,160 --> 00:32:35,720
Speaker 3: had a daily urgent schedule block, you know, right after

658
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:39,520
Speaker 3: lunch from one to two, and it was public. He

659
00:32:39,920 --> 00:32:42,560
Speaker 3: told his team about it. It was only things that

660
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:45,960
Speaker 3: came up day of were allowed there, and it was

661
00:32:46,040 --> 00:32:48,880
Speaker 3: his way of like not blowing up his entire schedule

662
00:32:48,960 --> 00:32:52,719
Speaker 3: if something came up that day, and so it became

663
00:32:52,880 --> 00:32:55,280
Speaker 3: just common language on his team where they would say, oh,

664
00:32:55,320 --> 00:32:57,440
Speaker 3: we need a decision from him. We know that we'll

665
00:32:57,440 --> 00:32:59,840
Speaker 3: get him tomorrow at one or one thirty, so let's

666
00:32:59,840 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 3: go to make sure everyone's free. Then you know, it's

667
00:33:02,240 --> 00:33:05,600
Speaker 3: just like so efficient because everyone knew about it, and

668
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:08,280
Speaker 3: you know, they knew that only things that were truly

669
00:33:08,400 --> 00:33:10,000
Speaker 3: urgent were going to go on that day and if

670
00:33:10,080 --> 00:33:13,240
Speaker 3: nothing came up, then he used it as a time

671
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:17,400
Speaker 3: to work or catch up on email. So that's definitely

672
00:33:17,440 --> 00:33:22,479
Speaker 3: one that I've taken and given to others, And you know,

673
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:25,600
Speaker 3: I have a lot of execs who really understand their

674
00:33:25,600 --> 00:33:29,560
Speaker 3: own flows. So some of them say, you know, I

675
00:33:29,600 --> 00:33:31,400
Speaker 3: come up with my best ideas when I take a

676
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:33,760
Speaker 3: thirty minute walk in the afternoon, so I do that

677
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,960
Speaker 3: without my devices and things like that. So I think

678
00:33:36,960 --> 00:33:40,000
Speaker 3: people really, during work from home, came up with those

679
00:33:40,600 --> 00:33:45,800
Speaker 3: what are my ways of decompressing? And you know, for you,

680
00:33:45,840 --> 00:33:48,160
Speaker 3: maybe it's spending time with your daughter in the morning,

681
00:33:48,320 --> 00:33:50,760
Speaker 3: or I found that I, you know, just really love

682
00:33:51,040 --> 00:33:53,560
Speaker 3: cutting my own grass, so I still do that at

683
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:54,960
Speaker 3: the end of the work day and it kind of

684
00:33:55,000 --> 00:33:57,760
Speaker 3: helps me decompress and think of of the things I

685
00:33:57,760 --> 00:33:59,640
Speaker 3: want to tell my team or whatever that is. So,

686
00:34:00,400 --> 00:34:03,280
Speaker 3: you know, it's funny to hear what people's routines are,

687
00:34:03,480 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 3: especially after we've had the chance to work from home

688
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:07,000
Speaker 3: and really flesh them out.

689
00:34:08,120 --> 00:34:10,879
Speaker 2: It sounds like some of these execs I really thought

690
00:34:10,960 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 2: quite teficuitely about productivity, which I love, But what about

691
00:34:13,680 --> 00:34:17,680
Speaker 2: the ones that just you starting from scratch, Like, what

692
00:34:17,719 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 2: are the basic or fundamental shall we say, productivity strategies

693
00:34:23,560 --> 00:34:26,279
Speaker 2: that you think most people could benefit from, Like if

694
00:34:26,280 --> 00:34:27,760
Speaker 2: you ask, starting from a blank slite?

695
00:34:28,080 --> 00:34:31,360
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I think you know, like you said, everyone

696
00:34:31,440 --> 00:34:35,400
Speaker 3: is different. Everyone has different responsibilities, different strengths, but I

697
00:34:35,440 --> 00:34:40,480
Speaker 3: think there's just if I'm like, okay, let's start from

698
00:34:40,560 --> 00:34:46,000
Speaker 3: the basics here. The first thing I do is I

699
00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:49,240
Speaker 3: ask them to do an analysis of their calendar, because

700
00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,200
Speaker 3: I think a lot of pressure gets thrown on the calendar.

701
00:34:52,640 --> 00:34:56,040
Speaker 3: A lot of times execs think, you know, I have

702
00:34:56,120 --> 00:34:59,399
Speaker 3: too many meetings. But you start to see, okay, it's

703
00:34:59,440 --> 00:35:02,720
Speaker 3: because they're not answering emails that people are just throwing

704
00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:05,640
Speaker 3: time on their calendar, you know, so the pressure is

705
00:35:05,680 --> 00:35:08,080
Speaker 3: going to come somewhere, or I feel really distracted. I'm

706
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:10,919
Speaker 3: getting chatted all the time, and it's like, well, that's

707
00:35:10,960 --> 00:35:12,920
Speaker 3: because you don't have any breaks in your schedule, so

708
00:35:12,960 --> 00:35:15,560
Speaker 3: people again are trying to find you, you know. So

709
00:35:15,600 --> 00:35:17,280
Speaker 3: we kind of just take a look at the calendar

710
00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:21,160
Speaker 3: because I feel like that's probably like the heart of productivity.

711
00:35:21,200 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 3: I would say, is like, you know, I've heard a

712
00:35:23,800 --> 00:35:26,280
Speaker 3: quote that I love that said, don't tell me, don't

713
00:35:26,280 --> 00:35:29,879
Speaker 3: tell me your priorities, show me your calendar, because it's

714
00:35:29,880 --> 00:35:32,960
Speaker 3: basically like that is where you're spending your time, So

715
00:35:33,040 --> 00:35:35,600
Speaker 3: let's see what's going on there. So I put if

716
00:35:35,640 --> 00:35:37,719
Speaker 3: I had to do one thing, it would basically be

717
00:35:37,920 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 3: put someone on what i'd call like a meeting diet,

718
00:35:40,760 --> 00:35:43,120
Speaker 3: you know, like where can we cut, Where can we

719
00:35:43,200 --> 00:35:46,520
Speaker 3: make sure that we don't have anything that doesn't need

720
00:35:46,560 --> 00:35:50,160
Speaker 3: to be there. Let's just take off. Let's look next week.

721
00:35:50,239 --> 00:35:52,160
Speaker 3: Is there anything we can cut. Let's look at this

722
00:35:52,280 --> 00:35:54,640
Speaker 3: past week. Is there anything that was a waste of time?

723
00:35:55,239 --> 00:35:57,279
Speaker 3: I call it look back, look forward, you know, So

724
00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 3: that would be like my first strategy is let's figure

725
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,799
Speaker 3: out where you have too many meetings, lighten that up,

726
00:36:04,640 --> 00:36:07,840
Speaker 3: and then the inbox is usually kind of the next

727
00:36:07,840 --> 00:36:11,800
Speaker 3: step of saying okay, again, the pressure might be blowing

728
00:36:11,880 --> 00:36:15,200
Speaker 3: up your inbox because you're not available during the day

729
00:36:15,440 --> 00:36:17,520
Speaker 3: or you know, you're not reading your email during the day,

730
00:36:17,560 --> 00:36:19,920
Speaker 3: so then you're feeling like you're behind in your meetings

731
00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,200
Speaker 3: or whatever that is. So they usually go hand in hand.

732
00:36:22,280 --> 00:36:25,479
Speaker 3: So in the inbox, I do a version of kind

733
00:36:25,480 --> 00:36:28,279
Speaker 3: of like get everything out that does not need to

734
00:36:28,280 --> 00:36:30,200
Speaker 3: be there. You know, some people say to me, oh,

735
00:36:30,200 --> 00:36:33,560
Speaker 3: I have seventy four thousand unread emails, but really, you know,

736
00:36:33,760 --> 00:36:35,960
Speaker 3: I only need to see so and so I don't

737
00:36:36,000 --> 00:36:38,000
Speaker 3: open these, and I'm like, that's like going into your

738
00:36:38,000 --> 00:36:40,880
Speaker 3: closet and saying I have five thousand shirts, but I

739
00:36:40,880 --> 00:36:43,640
Speaker 3: only wear four of them. You know what, that's still

740
00:36:43,680 --> 00:36:45,759
Speaker 3: taking up all your mental energy when you go in

741
00:36:45,800 --> 00:36:48,319
Speaker 3: your closet, So get rid of them. You don't need

742
00:36:48,360 --> 00:36:50,360
Speaker 3: to see them. Like how much easier would it be

743
00:36:50,400 --> 00:36:52,560
Speaker 3: to get dressed if you only had four shirts in

744
00:36:52,560 --> 00:36:55,760
Speaker 3: your closet? And so, you know, I start saying, Okay,

745
00:36:55,840 --> 00:36:58,040
Speaker 3: doesn't need to hit the inbox an alias you don't

746
00:36:58,080 --> 00:37:00,759
Speaker 3: care about from your old job, you know, get it out,

747
00:37:00,760 --> 00:37:03,120
Speaker 3: get it out, get it out, and then make sure

748
00:37:03,160 --> 00:37:05,560
Speaker 3: you're popping what you do need to see. If your

749
00:37:05,600 --> 00:37:07,920
Speaker 3: manager is emailing you and you need to open that

750
00:37:08,000 --> 00:37:10,560
Speaker 3: right away, that should look totally different than your manager

751
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,680
Speaker 3: emailing your whole team about you know, social happy hour

752
00:37:13,760 --> 00:37:16,280
Speaker 3: next week. So how do we make that look different?

753
00:37:16,360 --> 00:37:20,480
Speaker 3: And then, you know, how do we make sure that

754
00:37:20,680 --> 00:37:23,319
Speaker 3: you're opening and answering the things that you need to

755
00:37:23,480 --> 00:37:26,279
Speaker 3: right away. So those two things, I think if you

756
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:29,040
Speaker 3: were only going to do two things, that would probably

757
00:37:29,040 --> 00:37:31,680
Speaker 3: be it. And then the last piece would be which

758
00:37:31,719 --> 00:37:34,360
Speaker 3: is more of like a long term goal. Once you

759
00:37:34,520 --> 00:37:37,560
Speaker 3: have a little bit of room based on shaving down

760
00:37:37,560 --> 00:37:41,920
Speaker 3: your schedule, is asking yourself, you know when are my

761
00:37:42,200 --> 00:37:45,759
Speaker 3: big times to get things done. So when is that

762
00:37:46,280 --> 00:37:49,200
Speaker 3: two hours that I love having free because it means

763
00:37:49,280 --> 00:37:51,439
Speaker 3: I can do what I want with it, whether it's

764
00:37:51,520 --> 00:37:56,080
Speaker 3: email or deep work or thinking or brainstorming or whatever

765
00:37:56,320 --> 00:37:59,279
Speaker 3: project I'm working on. And if it's you know, eight

766
00:37:59,280 --> 00:38:01,759
Speaker 3: to ten am, how can we block that even one

767
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,719
Speaker 3: to two days a week. So that's definitely one of

768
00:38:04,719 --> 00:38:07,080
Speaker 3: my ultimate goals with execs is getting to that point

769
00:38:07,120 --> 00:38:10,080
Speaker 3: where they feel like, okay, like I have my Friday

770
00:38:10,120 --> 00:38:12,560
Speaker 3: mornings where I know I'm high energy, I know what

771
00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:15,080
Speaker 3: I need to do. Then you know, I don't schedule meetings,

772
00:38:15,120 --> 00:38:18,480
Speaker 3: then having some time I can count on where I

773
00:38:18,520 --> 00:38:21,719
Speaker 3: know I'm going to perform my best. So that's kind

774
00:38:21,760 --> 00:38:24,680
Speaker 3: of the ultimate goal. Once we loosen up the calendar some.

775
00:38:25,360 --> 00:38:28,480
Speaker 2: That sounds like the calendar is really critical to your work.

776
00:38:28,640 --> 00:38:32,759
Speaker 2: And I've heard you talk about zero based calendaring.

777
00:38:32,880 --> 00:38:35,200
Speaker 4: Can you explain what that is exactly?

778
00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:40,600
Speaker 3: Yeah, so many people have heard of zero based accounting.

779
00:38:40,719 --> 00:38:44,160
Speaker 3: So what that means is instead of looking at last

780
00:38:44,239 --> 00:38:47,840
Speaker 3: year's budget to build this year's budget, let's just start

781
00:38:47,880 --> 00:38:52,400
Speaker 3: from scratch. Because we all have that tendency to say, well,

782
00:38:52,800 --> 00:38:55,880
Speaker 3: we spent ten thousand dollars on events last year, so

783
00:38:56,160 --> 00:38:59,480
Speaker 3: let's just put that as ten thousand this year, and

784
00:38:59,520 --> 00:39:02,040
Speaker 3: so kind of we just look at it as well,

785
00:39:02,080 --> 00:39:04,360
Speaker 3: it already existed, so let's just go with that and

786
00:39:04,360 --> 00:39:06,960
Speaker 3: then tweak it a little bit so you know, another

787
00:39:07,200 --> 00:39:10,080
Speaker 3: zero based example is you could do zero based closeting

788
00:39:10,120 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 3: where you act like your closet is a store. You

789
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,480
Speaker 3: walk in and you say, would I buy this today

790
00:39:15,760 --> 00:39:18,640
Speaker 3: and the answer is no, then you probably are just

791
00:39:18,719 --> 00:39:21,200
Speaker 3: keeping it because you already had it, not because you

792
00:39:21,320 --> 00:39:24,520
Speaker 3: love it and want to wear it. So that's when

793
00:39:24,560 --> 00:39:27,280
Speaker 3: we look at our calendar that way and ask ourselves,

794
00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,919
Speaker 3: what's just kind of hanging around because we've always had

795
00:39:30,960 --> 00:39:33,920
Speaker 3: it and not because it's really what we need for

796
00:39:34,040 --> 00:39:37,080
Speaker 3: our role and our priorities right now. That's kind of

797
00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:40,360
Speaker 3: the zero based mentality. So sometimes what I'll do is

798
00:39:40,680 --> 00:39:44,040
Speaker 3: print out a totally blank calendar for an exec or

799
00:39:44,040 --> 00:39:47,200
Speaker 3: whoever I'm working with, and say, okay, let's put the

800
00:39:47,239 --> 00:39:50,360
Speaker 3: things on the calendar that you absolutely cannot change, you know,

801
00:39:50,480 --> 00:39:53,680
Speaker 3: like your manager's meeting. You're not going to cancel that. Okay,

802
00:39:53,719 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 3: you put that on your calendar. Now let's draw in

803
00:39:57,120 --> 00:39:59,920
Speaker 3: like if you could start from scratch today, based on

804
00:40:00,160 --> 00:40:03,680
Speaker 3: your current team, your current role, your current priorities. What

805
00:40:03,719 --> 00:40:06,120
Speaker 3: would you want your week to look like meeting wise

806
00:40:06,640 --> 00:40:10,279
Speaker 3: or time wise, and even just the act, even just

807
00:40:10,360 --> 00:40:12,680
Speaker 3: having a blank calendar in front of them. You should

808
00:40:12,680 --> 00:40:14,799
Speaker 3: see how giddy people get, even if none of this

809
00:40:14,960 --> 00:40:18,040
Speaker 3: was ever going to become true. It's just that idea

810
00:40:18,120 --> 00:40:21,640
Speaker 3: of starting from a clean slate and asking themselves, Okay,

811
00:40:21,719 --> 00:40:24,680
Speaker 3: you know what do I want? If I was in control,

812
00:40:24,800 --> 00:40:28,320
Speaker 3: you know what would I design for myself? So instead

813
00:40:28,320 --> 00:40:31,880
Speaker 3: of saying, well, you've always met bi weekly with Pam,

814
00:40:32,120 --> 00:40:34,359
Speaker 3: you know now, they're like, okay, I guess I'll add

815
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:36,719
Speaker 3: that on. It's like, no, is that still a good you?

816
00:40:36,760 --> 00:40:38,920
Speaker 3: So your time? Do you always have an agenda to

817
00:40:38,960 --> 00:40:40,680
Speaker 3: talk to her about? Do you meet with her in

818
00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:43,279
Speaker 3: other places? Do you ever cancel because you have nothing

819
00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:46,760
Speaker 3: to say? Okay? If so, let's not put that on there.

820
00:40:46,800 --> 00:40:50,839
Speaker 3: So you know right now, we kind of just leave

821
00:40:50,920 --> 00:40:54,440
Speaker 3: our schedule as it is because that's the easiest. But

822
00:40:54,640 --> 00:40:57,080
Speaker 3: when you think of zero based calendaring, it's just a

823
00:40:57,080 --> 00:40:59,520
Speaker 3: way of saying I'm not going to keep any meeting

824
00:40:59,560 --> 00:41:02,240
Speaker 3: because I've always had it, or because it worked before

825
00:41:02,440 --> 00:41:05,840
Speaker 3: or because I previously needed it, or because I always

826
00:41:05,880 --> 00:41:08,920
Speaker 3: attend so I definitely always should. You know, it's no,

827
00:41:09,280 --> 00:41:12,040
Speaker 3: does this work for me? Now? Does this make the

828
00:41:12,080 --> 00:41:13,480
Speaker 3: most sense? Now?

829
00:41:13,600 --> 00:41:16,200
Speaker 1: I love that answer. I'm going to steal that for myself.

830
00:41:16,640 --> 00:41:17,560
Speaker 3: Yea, Laura.

831
00:41:17,640 --> 00:41:20,359
Speaker 2: For people that want to connect with you and read

832
00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:22,759
Speaker 2: more and consume more of the content that you've put

833
00:41:22,800 --> 00:41:24,720
Speaker 2: out into the world, what's the best way for people

834
00:41:24,760 --> 00:41:25,160
Speaker 2: to do that?

835
00:41:25,880 --> 00:41:29,040
Speaker 3: Yeah, So I have a YouTube channel under the Google

836
00:41:29,080 --> 00:41:33,279
Speaker 3: Workspace brand, which is g dot co backslash work or

837
00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:36,520
Speaker 3: sorry forward slash work your space. And then I have

838
00:41:38,120 --> 00:41:41,480
Speaker 3: many articles on the Google keyword blog, So if you

839
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:43,239
Speaker 3: just search my name on there, you can see a

840
00:41:43,239 --> 00:41:46,120
Speaker 3: lot of my tips on email and hybrid work and

841
00:41:46,200 --> 00:41:47,640
Speaker 3: remote work and things like that.

842
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:50,760
Speaker 2: Amazing. I will link to those in the show notes.

843
00:41:50,800 --> 00:41:52,799
Speaker 2: I have no doubt they will be getting lots of

844
00:41:52,880 --> 00:41:57,120
Speaker 2: clicks and views. Laura, I feel just as inspired after

845
00:41:57,120 --> 00:42:00,000
Speaker 2: I did the first time we chatted on this show.

846
00:42:00,320 --> 00:42:02,040
Speaker 1: You're just like, Oh, You're just like.

847
00:42:02,000 --> 00:42:04,000
Speaker 2: A foundain of knowledge when it comes to how to

848
00:42:04,040 --> 00:42:07,480
Speaker 2: work better. So thank you so much for spending another

849
00:42:07,520 --> 00:42:08,120
Speaker 2: hour with me.

850
00:42:08,800 --> 00:42:11,040
Speaker 3: Yes, it was great. Thank you so much for having me.

851
00:42:12,520 --> 00:42:15,440
Speaker 2: I am such a fan of Laura's work and one

852
00:42:15,440 --> 00:42:17,840
Speaker 2: of the things I took out of this chat myself

853
00:42:18,560 --> 00:42:21,120
Speaker 2: was asking myself the question, if I had an extra

854
00:42:21,160 --> 00:42:23,239
Speaker 2: hour in the day, what would I do with it?

855
00:42:23,920 --> 00:42:27,719
Speaker 2: It's such an interesting question to ponder, and you know,

856
00:42:27,840 --> 00:42:30,480
Speaker 2: to consider am I living a life that is in

857
00:42:30,520 --> 00:42:33,319
Speaker 2: line with my values? And am I spending enough time

858
00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:35,600
Speaker 2: on the things that really matter to me, whether that

859
00:42:35,640 --> 00:42:38,200
Speaker 2: be to do with my work life or my non

860
00:42:38,239 --> 00:42:42,520
Speaker 2: work life. How I Work is produced by Inventing with

861
00:42:42,560 --> 00:42:45,879
Speaker 2: production support from dead Set Studios. The producer for this

862
00:42:45,920 --> 00:42:49,120
Speaker 2: episode was Liam Riordan, and thank you to Matt Nimba,

863
00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:52,040
Speaker 2: who does the audio mix for every episode and makes

864
00:42:52,080 --> 00:42:54,879
Speaker 2: everything sound so much better than it would have otherwise.

865
00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:56,160
Speaker 1: See you next time.