1 00:00:00,520 --> 00:00:03,640 Speaker 1: If you're a regular listener of this show, you will 2 00:00:03,640 --> 00:00:07,000 Speaker 1: be very aware of the fact that I wrote a book. 3 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:10,360 Speaker 1: It's my third one, and it's called time Wise, and 4 00:00:10,440 --> 00:00:11,520 Speaker 1: it's out now. 5 00:00:12,440 --> 00:00:13,120 Speaker 2: I've had so. 6 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:16,639 Speaker 1: Many questions from listeners and readers about the book. So 7 00:00:16,920 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 1: a couple of weeks ago, I sat down with one 8 00:00:19,239 --> 00:00:24,640 Speaker 1: of my teammates, fellow organizational psychologist, Charlotte Rush in a 9 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,880 Speaker 1: live virtual event, where we went through a whole bunch 10 00:00:27,920 --> 00:00:32,360 Speaker 1: of questions that people submitted. We shouted about the writing process, 11 00:00:32,520 --> 00:00:35,559 Speaker 1: my favorite tips from the book, and also my favorite 12 00:00:35,600 --> 00:00:43,120 Speaker 1: tips that didn't make it into the book. My name 13 00:00:43,240 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 1: is doctor Amanthea Imber. I'm an organizational psychologist and the 14 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:50,880 Speaker 1: founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this is how 15 00:00:51,000 --> 00:00:53,920 Speaker 1: I work a show about how to help you do 16 00:00:54,040 --> 00:00:54,920 Speaker 1: your best work. 17 00:00:55,480 --> 00:00:56,800 Speaker 3: I know that when you first came up with this 18 00:00:56,840 --> 00:00:58,880 Speaker 3: idea to write this book, you didn't have the titles 19 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 3: in mind, and I think the title really does tell 20 00:01:01,680 --> 00:01:03,840 Speaker 3: us a lot about the book, but I wouldn't really 21 00:01:03,880 --> 00:01:07,479 Speaker 3: want to know what is it that you first thought 22 00:01:07,520 --> 00:01:09,920 Speaker 3: of when you were really thinking about writing this book, 23 00:01:10,280 --> 00:01:11,920 Speaker 3: and now that you see it in front of you, 24 00:01:12,640 --> 00:01:16,240 Speaker 3: has what you've created really been an accurate representation of 25 00:01:16,240 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 3: what you originally intended to do. 26 00:01:19,440 --> 00:01:23,440 Speaker 1: I think it probably did change because when I thought 27 00:01:23,480 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: about the book, and it had been something that i'd like, 28 00:01:26,640 --> 00:01:29,600 Speaker 1: I'd had in the back of my mind for probably 29 00:01:29,800 --> 00:01:33,040 Speaker 1: a year or so before I actually wrote the book. 30 00:01:33,080 --> 00:01:37,680 Speaker 1: Proposal is I we was thinking about the podcast, and 31 00:01:38,120 --> 00:01:41,000 Speaker 1: a lot of people like podcasts. I think, I don't know, 32 00:01:41,040 --> 00:01:43,840 Speaker 1: something like thirty percent of Australians listened to a podcast 33 00:01:43,880 --> 00:01:47,880 Speaker 1: once a month, which is actually not huge when we 34 00:01:47,920 --> 00:01:51,280 Speaker 1: think about the total population. But you know, there's so 35 00:01:51,280 --> 00:01:53,800 Speaker 1: many great tips I hear on how I work, and 36 00:01:54,080 --> 00:01:58,840 Speaker 1: in order to access all those tips, that's hundreds of 37 00:01:59,000 --> 00:02:03,280 Speaker 1: hours of your life life just gone. And even if 38 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,040 Speaker 1: you're listening to the podcast, you might hear a tip 39 00:02:06,040 --> 00:02:08,600 Speaker 1: and go that's really cool, but then forget about it, 40 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:12,280 Speaker 1: as I often do when I'm listening to the podcasts 41 00:02:12,320 --> 00:02:15,360 Speaker 1: that are in the business and self development kind of genre. 42 00:02:16,080 --> 00:02:19,080 Speaker 2: And I just thought, functionally. 43 00:02:18,880 --> 00:02:21,560 Speaker 1: That would make a lot of sense if I collected 44 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:25,880 Speaker 1: my favorite tips and strategies that I've heard on how 45 00:02:25,919 --> 00:02:27,920 Speaker 1: I work and put them all in a book like 46 00:02:27,960 --> 00:02:29,760 Speaker 1: that would just be handy. That would be a resource 47 00:02:30,080 --> 00:02:34,360 Speaker 1: that I, you know, wish that my favorite podcasts would 48 00:02:34,560 --> 00:02:37,799 Speaker 1: you know, would create. So that was the idea, and 49 00:02:38,720 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 1: also from a marketing point of view, because the podcast 50 00:02:43,600 --> 00:02:44,760 Speaker 1: does does well. 51 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:45,919 Speaker 2: It's got a lot of listeners. 52 00:02:45,960 --> 00:02:49,040 Speaker 1: I think it's it's it's recently clopped over three and 53 00:02:49,080 --> 00:02:50,520 Speaker 1: a half million downloads. 54 00:02:51,480 --> 00:02:52,680 Speaker 2: From a marketing. 55 00:02:52,280 --> 00:02:56,919 Speaker 1: Perspective, that's, you know, that's a that's a good angle 56 00:02:57,040 --> 00:03:00,079 Speaker 1: for a publisher that there's a successful podcast behind and 57 00:03:00,680 --> 00:03:06,000 Speaker 1: the book. Because my lesson in the world of publishing. 58 00:03:06,680 --> 00:03:09,760 Speaker 1: So this is my third book, it's my first through Penguin, 59 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:14,160 Speaker 1: and a few years ago I had this other concept 60 00:03:14,160 --> 00:03:19,120 Speaker 1: for a book, which was kord of in the productivity genre, 61 00:03:19,720 --> 00:03:23,560 Speaker 1: and I got taken on by this big US agent 62 00:03:24,400 --> 00:03:27,840 Speaker 1: who was fantastic. Tried to sell the book to US publishers, 63 00:03:28,280 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 1: but couldn't get it over the line because I didn't 64 00:03:30,680 --> 00:03:32,840 Speaker 1: have a big enough profile in the US. And what 65 00:03:32,919 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: I learned from that process is that for a business book, 66 00:03:36,800 --> 00:03:38,800 Speaker 1: it's kind of different for fiction, but certainly for a 67 00:03:38,800 --> 00:03:42,920 Speaker 1: business book. To secure a book deal with a major publisher, 68 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,800 Speaker 1: and it's about I think four or five major publishers 69 00:03:45,800 --> 00:03:48,760 Speaker 1: in the world, of which Penguin Random house is won. 70 00:03:49,600 --> 00:03:52,480 Speaker 1: You need a good idea, like a unique idea, but 71 00:03:52,520 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: you also need a big platform sort of and then 72 00:03:56,120 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: kind of the multiplier of that is how good it 73 00:03:59,880 --> 00:04:03,760 Speaker 1: do you will get? And that was interesting and so 74 00:04:03,840 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: I thought about that when I was putting together the 75 00:04:05,680 --> 00:04:08,640 Speaker 1: book proposal. And for people that are like, what's a 76 00:04:08,640 --> 00:04:11,880 Speaker 1: book proposal, it's kind of like a business plan for 77 00:04:11,960 --> 00:04:16,359 Speaker 1: a book. So it goes through what's the premise of 78 00:04:16,400 --> 00:04:19,840 Speaker 1: the book, what's the structure of the book, what's the 79 00:04:19,880 --> 00:04:24,520 Speaker 1: competitive landscape, like who, like, what ore the books of 80 00:04:24,600 --> 00:04:27,200 Speaker 1: these people buying? And why is yours better and different? 81 00:04:28,279 --> 00:04:32,000 Speaker 1: It goes through a marketing plan and then obviously like 82 00:04:32,040 --> 00:04:36,240 Speaker 1: about the author. So I don't know if that answered 83 00:04:36,279 --> 00:04:39,400 Speaker 1: your question, but that's kind of but it did evolve, Sorry, 84 00:04:39,400 --> 00:04:42,840 Speaker 1: it did evolve into not just being a straight productivity 85 00:04:42,839 --> 00:04:46,960 Speaker 1: book with lots of tips and hacks, but it did 86 00:04:47,240 --> 00:04:50,760 Speaker 1: evolve into going I think that this book is really 87 00:04:51,839 --> 00:04:55,120 Speaker 1: not about like doing things quicker, better, faster, although there 88 00:04:55,160 --> 00:04:59,120 Speaker 1: is one chapter about efficiency. It is about how we 89 00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 1: can think more deliberately, more consciously about. 90 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:04,080 Speaker 2: How we use the hours in the day that we 91 00:05:04,120 --> 00:05:05,080 Speaker 2: all have the same of. 92 00:05:05,600 --> 00:05:08,360 Speaker 3: That's definitely what I got out of reading it. I 93 00:05:08,440 --> 00:05:10,520 Speaker 3: kind of on the front of the book, it says 94 00:05:10,560 --> 00:05:15,160 Speaker 3: powerful habits more tigraded joy, And that's the real sentiment 95 00:05:15,200 --> 00:05:18,920 Speaker 3: that I got from it, is around greater joy and 96 00:05:18,960 --> 00:05:21,760 Speaker 3: really thinking about being more intentional with how we use 97 00:05:21,800 --> 00:05:24,320 Speaker 3: our time so that we can get more joy out 98 00:05:24,360 --> 00:05:26,000 Speaker 3: of our lives. And I think that was a surprise 99 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:28,479 Speaker 3: for me, you know, thinking obviously and being part of 100 00:05:28,520 --> 00:05:31,119 Speaker 3: that journey as well in kind of seeing the plan 101 00:05:31,160 --> 00:05:34,960 Speaker 3: at the start and seeing you go through the process. 102 00:05:35,000 --> 00:05:37,640 Speaker 3: And that was a nice surprise and something that I 103 00:05:37,720 --> 00:05:41,960 Speaker 3: really enjoyed about the book. We did have some presmitted 104 00:05:42,040 --> 00:05:44,240 Speaker 3: questions about the book writing process, and one of them 105 00:05:44,320 --> 00:05:46,760 Speaker 3: was did you have a detailed outline when you started 106 00:05:46,760 --> 00:05:48,880 Speaker 3: writing or did you just start with a high level 107 00:05:48,880 --> 00:05:51,280 Speaker 3: outline and it took shape as you put words to page. 108 00:05:52,839 --> 00:05:57,520 Speaker 1: I had an outline because of book proposal needs one, 109 00:05:58,240 --> 00:05:59,120 Speaker 1: but I. 110 00:06:00,760 --> 00:06:01,880 Speaker 2: But I didn't stick to it. 111 00:06:01,920 --> 00:06:06,520 Speaker 1: So how that worked is that I to write the book, 112 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:11,000 Speaker 1: I spent quite a while thinking what are the like 113 00:06:11,400 --> 00:06:15,440 Speaker 1: what are the best and most impactful and most novel 114 00:06:15,760 --> 00:06:19,320 Speaker 1: because I didn't want to include sort of just you know, 115 00:06:19,720 --> 00:06:23,039 Speaker 1: productivity strategies and time management strategies that you hear everywhere else. 116 00:06:23,120 --> 00:06:26,360 Speaker 1: I thought, what are the most novel and impactful things 117 00:06:26,360 --> 00:06:31,840 Speaker 1: that I've heard on How I Work? And I had 118 00:06:31,839 --> 00:06:34,760 Speaker 1: a whole bunch of those, like probably I cut it 119 00:06:34,800 --> 00:06:36,760 Speaker 1: down to about one hundred, so it's about a hundred 120 00:06:36,839 --> 00:06:41,599 Speaker 1: or so strategies in the book. And then I spent many, 121 00:06:41,640 --> 00:06:47,040 Speaker 1: many hours, like on my big kitchen table with all 122 00:06:47,120 --> 00:06:51,880 Speaker 1: the strategies cut out in little sheets of paper, going Okay, thematically, 123 00:06:52,680 --> 00:06:57,480 Speaker 1: what makes sense here? Because it is really hard structuring 124 00:06:57,480 --> 00:07:02,680 Speaker 1: a book. And yeah, I remember when I interviewed Dan 125 00:07:02,880 --> 00:07:06,839 Speaker 1: Pink the first time I had him on How I Work. Yeah, 126 00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:09,880 Speaker 1: he was talking about like because I read his books, 127 00:07:09,920 --> 00:07:11,560 Speaker 1: and I'm like, oh my god, he's so good at 128 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:16,040 Speaker 1: structuring books. But I remember with his most recent book, 129 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:19,120 Speaker 1: or second most recent book, when I think he said 130 00:07:19,320 --> 00:07:22,600 Speaker 1: he had like about twenty different structures before he landed 131 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:26,920 Speaker 1: on the one that he did. And I feel like 132 00:07:27,240 --> 00:07:30,800 Speaker 1: I went through that very painful process of literally just 133 00:07:31,320 --> 00:07:34,520 Speaker 1: kind of playing tetris with all these different strategies and 134 00:07:34,560 --> 00:07:35,200 Speaker 1: going what. 135 00:07:35,120 --> 00:07:36,440 Speaker 2: Are the themes that make sense? 136 00:07:36,520 --> 00:07:38,560 Speaker 1: And then you know, you kind of want a theme 137 00:07:39,040 --> 00:07:43,720 Speaker 1: to be benefit driven, and then you kind of want 138 00:07:43,720 --> 00:07:47,160 Speaker 1: a roughly equal amount within each section, So the seven 139 00:07:47,200 --> 00:07:49,960 Speaker 1: sections of the book, you know, for those that have 140 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:52,560 Speaker 1: read it or when you do read it, just know 141 00:07:52,640 --> 00:07:56,360 Speaker 1: that a lot of thought and time went into going 142 00:07:56,480 --> 00:07:57,720 Speaker 1: how does this all come together? 143 00:07:58,920 --> 00:08:00,560 Speaker 3: And there was another question around what are the some 144 00:08:00,680 --> 00:08:02,120 Speaker 3: of the steps that you need to take to write 145 00:08:02,120 --> 00:08:03,760 Speaker 3: a great book? And I think you've already shared some 146 00:08:03,800 --> 00:08:07,160 Speaker 3: of that around especially that inside around having that great 147 00:08:07,200 --> 00:08:09,080 Speaker 3: platform as well, especially if you want to get some 148 00:08:09,120 --> 00:08:12,640 Speaker 3: of the great publishers in Australia. Anything else you want 149 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,640 Speaker 3: to add there in terms of the steps need to 150 00:08:14,640 --> 00:08:17,680 Speaker 3: take to turn a great idea into a book, like 151 00:08:17,760 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 3: practically or even just like that creative process as well. 152 00:08:21,680 --> 00:08:25,200 Speaker 1: Yeah, I think like the other thing, I feel like 153 00:08:25,240 --> 00:08:29,000 Speaker 1: when I shared this with people, they're like, oh what 154 00:08:30,280 --> 00:08:32,840 Speaker 1: so authors Like, it's really hard to make a living 155 00:08:32,880 --> 00:08:36,960 Speaker 1: from being an author. So when you think about the 156 00:08:37,000 --> 00:08:42,480 Speaker 1: process of writing a book, unless you're I don't know, 157 00:08:42,520 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: like Leanne Moriarty or someone like that, not that she's 158 00:08:47,080 --> 00:08:49,080 Speaker 1: even a business writer, it's not like you can just 159 00:08:49,080 --> 00:08:51,440 Speaker 1: take a year off work and go I'm just going 160 00:08:51,480 --> 00:08:52,760 Speaker 1: to be indulgent and. 161 00:08:52,720 --> 00:08:55,840 Speaker 2: Write a book, because that's a job that will get 162 00:08:55,840 --> 00:08:56,960 Speaker 2: me a salary. 163 00:08:58,040 --> 00:09:02,439 Speaker 1: It's generally not for for most authors. So, like, the 164 00:09:02,480 --> 00:09:06,840 Speaker 1: biggest challenge I think when you work in a full 165 00:09:06,840 --> 00:09:09,479 Speaker 1: time job, although we do a four day week. 166 00:09:09,400 --> 00:09:11,440 Speaker 2: Is finding time to write a book. 167 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:14,520 Speaker 1: So the book is I think it's a little over 168 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:17,560 Speaker 1: seventy thousand words. I think it ended up being like 169 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:19,320 Speaker 1: seventy two thousand words, and that's quite a lot of 170 00:09:19,320 --> 00:09:22,400 Speaker 1: words to produce, and plus you've contracted to do it 171 00:09:23,000 --> 00:09:26,160 Speaker 1: in a certain amount of time. Granted, like I chose 172 00:09:26,200 --> 00:09:30,160 Speaker 1: that amount of time, I'm like six months, that feels fine. 173 00:09:30,720 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 1: I think that was quite short. I ended up getting 174 00:09:33,280 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: it done in about five and a half months because 175 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,800 Speaker 1: I wanted to be on brand and submit early obviously, 176 00:09:39,840 --> 00:09:41,960 Speaker 1: which I did. But what I found is just the 177 00:09:42,000 --> 00:09:46,560 Speaker 1: discipline of having a writing ritual. So it was the 178 00:09:46,720 --> 00:09:49,600 Speaker 1: very first thing that I would do every morning before 179 00:09:49,600 --> 00:09:51,600 Speaker 1: I did any other kind of work, and any kind 180 00:09:51,600 --> 00:09:54,959 Speaker 1: of inventing in work as well. So I would write 181 00:09:55,040 --> 00:09:59,559 Speaker 1: for typically a couple of hours in the morning, and 182 00:09:59,840 --> 00:10:02,679 Speaker 1: I I would have and I got this advice from 183 00:10:03,000 --> 00:10:07,680 Speaker 1: Greg McEwan, who wrote Essentialism and Effortless. I had like 184 00:10:07,840 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 1: upper and lower bounds, so on, like my lower bound 185 00:10:12,840 --> 00:10:15,160 Speaker 1: was I had to write at least five hundred words, 186 00:10:15,480 --> 00:10:21,480 Speaker 1: and my upper bound was about it was three three chapters, 187 00:10:21,480 --> 00:10:23,360 Speaker 1: so the chapters are quite short. They are about seven 188 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:26,480 Speaker 1: hundred words, so an upper bound of about two thousand words. 189 00:10:27,559 --> 00:10:30,120 Speaker 1: So that I found really helpful in going I hit 190 00:10:30,160 --> 00:10:33,800 Speaker 1: my target. And then also I did that thing that 191 00:10:33,920 --> 00:10:37,839 Speaker 1: Jerry Seinfeld is quite famous for doing where he has 192 00:10:37,880 --> 00:10:44,679 Speaker 1: a calendar and he writes, he writes every day and 193 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:46,880 Speaker 1: he does a cross on his calendar if he does 194 00:10:46,920 --> 00:10:48,800 Speaker 1: his writing, and then he builds up a streak, and 195 00:10:48,840 --> 00:10:51,920 Speaker 1: then the longier streak is, the more compelling it is 196 00:10:51,960 --> 00:10:53,040 Speaker 1: to keep that streak going. 197 00:10:53,120 --> 00:10:56,280 Speaker 2: And so I did exactly that. So I had a paper. 198 00:10:56,000 --> 00:10:58,800 Speaker 1: Calendar that I printed out and stuck it on the whiteboard, 199 00:10:58,840 --> 00:11:01,600 Speaker 1: and I'd do a cross, you know, every day that 200 00:11:01,880 --> 00:11:03,800 Speaker 1: I hit my goal and I didn't want to break 201 00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,760 Speaker 1: the streak, so they were I found those quite useful. 202 00:11:07,160 --> 00:11:09,080 Speaker 3: I love the streak. I've got the streak in due 203 00:11:09,160 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 3: Lingo with my Spanish, and so I'm up to like 204 00:11:11,320 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 3: day thirty five. Now. Luckily, if you miss a day, 205 00:11:14,480 --> 00:11:17,319 Speaker 3: they sometimes freeze your streak, which is quite a nice 206 00:11:17,360 --> 00:11:20,480 Speaker 3: little thing. If something happens so that you don't lose 207 00:11:20,559 --> 00:11:27,480 Speaker 3: your streak, which is nice. Okay, so obviously you have 208 00:11:27,960 --> 00:11:30,480 Speaker 3: You were already a really productive person before you started 209 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:33,160 Speaker 3: this book, but I'm sure you've probably learned a lot 210 00:11:33,240 --> 00:11:36,199 Speaker 3: more through writing the book and obviously through all your interviews, 211 00:11:36,240 --> 00:11:38,200 Speaker 3: and I think a lot of people know that you 212 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:40,280 Speaker 3: are a very productive person. I think I said to 213 00:11:40,280 --> 00:11:42,760 Speaker 3: my dad that you had a third book coming out, 214 00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:46,040 Speaker 3: and he said to me, isamanthis kind of energizer bunny 215 00:11:46,160 --> 00:11:49,000 Speaker 3: or something like? It was just like, should just get 216 00:11:49,120 --> 00:11:52,520 Speaker 3: so much stuff done? But having said that, I'm sure 217 00:11:52,520 --> 00:11:55,800 Speaker 3: there are days when you feel not your productive self 218 00:11:56,000 --> 00:11:59,080 Speaker 3: and not particularly time wise. So what does that look 219 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 3: like for you? And when you're having those challenging days, 220 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,719 Speaker 3: what strategies do you use to really pull yourself out 221 00:12:05,760 --> 00:12:06,920 Speaker 3: of them. 222 00:12:07,400 --> 00:12:09,719 Speaker 1: It's so funny because I don't see myself as an 223 00:12:09,840 --> 00:12:15,040 Speaker 1: energizer bunny, and I don't see myself as someone who's like, like, 224 00:12:15,080 --> 00:12:18,959 Speaker 1: I'd say, yes, I'm above average productivity because I think 225 00:12:19,000 --> 00:12:20,760 Speaker 1: about it and I write about it a lot, and 226 00:12:20,760 --> 00:12:24,680 Speaker 1: I apply the strategies. But I like, yeah, I feel 227 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:28,280 Speaker 1: like probably maybe people's perception of how I work is 228 00:12:28,360 --> 00:12:32,360 Speaker 1: quite different from the reality, I feel like I'm like 229 00:12:32,679 --> 00:12:36,440 Speaker 1: relatively normal, maybe a bit above above average. 230 00:12:36,480 --> 00:12:40,000 Speaker 2: Maybe. So what do I do if I'm having a 231 00:12:40,040 --> 00:12:40,720 Speaker 2: bad day? 232 00:12:41,640 --> 00:12:45,240 Speaker 1: I you know what I'm tending to do at the 233 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:50,440 Speaker 1: moment if I'm finding myself quite unfocused and I'm quite 234 00:12:50,480 --> 00:12:55,199 Speaker 1: aware of when I'm feeling that pool to check email 235 00:12:55,280 --> 00:13:00,640 Speaker 1: too many times a day or do something that you know, 236 00:13:01,080 --> 00:13:03,439 Speaker 1: like I don't know. Because I was doing this campaign 237 00:13:03,520 --> 00:13:06,640 Speaker 1: for LinkedIn for the last nine months, I've been much 238 00:13:06,679 --> 00:13:10,000 Speaker 1: more active on social media than I used to be. 239 00:13:10,120 --> 00:13:13,360 Speaker 1: And also with the book out now, my agent has 240 00:13:13,400 --> 00:13:16,120 Speaker 1: said you need to be on Instagram more. So I've 241 00:13:16,679 --> 00:13:19,760 Speaker 1: got bloody Instagram on my phone again, and I feel 242 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:20,480 Speaker 1: like I have to. 243 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:22,760 Speaker 2: I don't like having. 244 00:13:22,559 --> 00:13:26,200 Speaker 1: It on my phone, but it's really tedious and annoying 245 00:13:26,280 --> 00:13:30,079 Speaker 1: to post like from your desktop, which I sometimes do 246 00:13:30,200 --> 00:13:32,680 Speaker 1: when I'm doing content for social media. 247 00:13:33,640 --> 00:13:35,199 Speaker 2: But I would say. 248 00:13:35,080 --> 00:13:38,679 Speaker 1: I will just go, okay, I'm either going to take 249 00:13:38,720 --> 00:13:40,680 Speaker 1: a break and I'm going to be easy on myself, 250 00:13:40,880 --> 00:13:44,400 Speaker 1: or I will just make some progress on shallow work, 251 00:13:44,520 --> 00:13:48,000 Speaker 1: like work that is fairly easy to do that I 252 00:13:48,040 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 1: can just kind of do in bursts of five or 253 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:53,360 Speaker 1: ten minutes and kind of feel like I'm making some 254 00:13:53,440 --> 00:13:57,199 Speaker 1: progress on not shallow work that doesn't matter, but shallow 255 00:13:57,240 --> 00:14:00,800 Speaker 1: work that actually does need to get done. But I 256 00:14:00,840 --> 00:14:03,839 Speaker 1: sort of feel like I can at least mentally feel 257 00:14:03,880 --> 00:14:07,560 Speaker 1: like I'm having an okay day if I can tick 258 00:14:07,600 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: off a. 259 00:14:07,920 --> 00:14:11,400 Speaker 2: Few things that do actually need to get done but 260 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,040 Speaker 2: don't require too much brain power and just go easy 261 00:14:14,040 --> 00:14:14,640 Speaker 2: on myself. 262 00:14:15,679 --> 00:14:19,160 Speaker 3: One of the presummitted questions someone sent through was they 263 00:14:19,240 --> 00:14:23,760 Speaker 3: wanted to know what are the kind of behaviors that 264 00:14:23,800 --> 00:14:26,720 Speaker 3: you found most challenging to change, Like what's like your 265 00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 3: kryptonide or something that you've just tried to change but 266 00:14:30,160 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 3: keep coming back to. 267 00:14:33,720 --> 00:14:34,800 Speaker 2: Definitely my email. 268 00:14:36,240 --> 00:14:41,840 Speaker 1: I feel like my inbox still is a struggle for me. 269 00:14:42,120 --> 00:14:46,120 Speaker 1: It's not a struggle in the morning, but it's a 270 00:14:46,160 --> 00:14:51,600 Speaker 1: struggle I would say after I'm out of doing deep work, 271 00:14:51,600 --> 00:14:55,600 Speaker 1: which is typically about eleven am thereabout. Sometimes I'll start 272 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 1: quite early, so it's more like ten am or sometimes earlier. 273 00:14:59,160 --> 00:15:01,640 Speaker 2: But but that's still a struggle. 274 00:15:01,920 --> 00:15:06,400 Speaker 1: And there are a few strategies about email, and one 275 00:15:06,440 --> 00:15:11,000 Speaker 1: of the most useful ones I have received, and this 276 00:15:11,240 --> 00:15:14,560 Speaker 1: was from Laura may Martin, who you mentioned before. 277 00:15:14,560 --> 00:15:17,080 Speaker 2: Google's executive Productivity Advisor. 278 00:15:16,920 --> 00:15:21,360 Speaker 1: And she I feel like she told me this on 279 00:15:21,640 --> 00:15:24,680 Speaker 1: like she was I invited her back on the show recently, 280 00:15:24,880 --> 00:15:28,240 Speaker 1: so that episode maybe was from a couple of months ago, and. 281 00:15:29,240 --> 00:15:33,120 Speaker 2: She said, just make sure you close your. 282 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,520 Speaker 1: Email a couple of times a day, because most productivity 283 00:15:36,560 --> 00:15:40,320 Speaker 1: people will say keep like, only check your email three 284 00:15:40,400 --> 00:15:45,800 Speaker 1: times a day. And for most people, but particularly most 285 00:15:45,840 --> 00:15:49,520 Speaker 1: people that have requests being made on them by different 286 00:15:50,080 --> 00:15:53,920 Speaker 1: different people in their company or clients or wherever, they 287 00:15:54,800 --> 00:15:58,280 Speaker 1: they said, that's just that's not realistic. And I totally 288 00:15:58,320 --> 00:16:03,400 Speaker 1: get that, but I I find it hard to just 289 00:16:03,520 --> 00:16:05,280 Speaker 1: check email three times a day, even though I know 290 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:08,520 Speaker 1: that leads to greater happiness and greater productivity according to research. 291 00:16:09,040 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 2: So I find though. 292 00:16:10,560 --> 00:16:15,400 Speaker 1: I use Superhuman as my email client, which is so 293 00:16:15,440 --> 00:16:18,320 Speaker 1: it's different software, so it's not like Gmail, where you're 294 00:16:18,320 --> 00:16:21,840 Speaker 1: typically opening a new tab on your browser, and most 295 00:16:21,880 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 1: people have their browser open all day. But I like 296 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:27,960 Speaker 1: the idea of just closing software for at least a 297 00:16:28,040 --> 00:16:30,880 Speaker 1: couple of hours during the day and then I'm out 298 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:34,480 Speaker 1: of it because it's annoying to have to click on Superhuman, 299 00:16:35,040 --> 00:16:37,400 Speaker 1: wait a few seconds for it to open, wait a 300 00:16:37,400 --> 00:16:40,440 Speaker 1: few more for a few more seconds for emails to load, 301 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,400 Speaker 1: and you know that's not quite instant gratification because you're 302 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:46,880 Speaker 1: waiting probably ten seconds for that hit. 303 00:16:47,080 --> 00:16:48,560 Speaker 2: So that helps me a lot. 304 00:16:49,560 --> 00:16:51,240 Speaker 3: Now. One thing that, as I said at started really 305 00:16:51,280 --> 00:16:54,400 Speaker 3: surprising about the book was the real focus on happiness 306 00:16:54,520 --> 00:16:57,160 Speaker 3: and joy and finding more meaning in your life. So 307 00:16:57,200 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 3: it's not just a book about getting more stuff done. 308 00:17:00,040 --> 00:17:03,160 Speaker 3: It's really about enjoying the process of life and finding 309 00:17:03,200 --> 00:17:06,440 Speaker 3: more joy as well. And one thing that I particularly 310 00:17:06,480 --> 00:17:09,840 Speaker 3: enjoyed reading was the chapter about reminding yourself that you 311 00:17:09,920 --> 00:17:14,800 Speaker 3: will die. So what do you knew that is that 312 00:17:14,840 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 3: are curious about that? Amantha? Can you share this strategy 313 00:17:18,840 --> 00:17:20,720 Speaker 3: and also anything else that really stood out for you 314 00:17:20,760 --> 00:17:24,280 Speaker 3: as strategies to really improve the quality of your life 315 00:17:24,280 --> 00:17:27,399 Speaker 3: and finding more joy both at work but also not 316 00:17:27,440 --> 00:17:27,840 Speaker 3: at work. 317 00:17:29,440 --> 00:17:31,080 Speaker 2: So the death strategy. 318 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:34,639 Speaker 1: So this came from a couple of people, actually, so 319 00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:40,560 Speaker 1: it came from French Besta, who is a big tech entrepreneur, 320 00:17:41,040 --> 00:17:45,000 Speaker 1: and also Ci who's a maid of mind, Cyan Taid, 321 00:17:45,640 --> 00:17:49,000 Speaker 1: who's co founder of Invato, which is a unicorn, a 322 00:17:49,040 --> 00:17:53,960 Speaker 1: billion dollar tech company, and both of them said the 323 00:17:53,960 --> 00:17:54,439 Speaker 1: same thing. 324 00:17:54,560 --> 00:17:57,040 Speaker 2: They both have reminders that they will die. 325 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:00,760 Speaker 1: SI stopped hers though, so she download did an app 326 00:18:00,800 --> 00:18:03,280 Speaker 1: and I think the names of the apps in the 327 00:18:03,320 --> 00:18:07,520 Speaker 1: book that there, I think death clock might be one maybe, 328 00:18:08,040 --> 00:18:11,200 Speaker 1: And Sy said her app reminded her that she was 329 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:15,280 Speaker 1: going to die five times a day, and basically, why 330 00:18:15,320 --> 00:18:17,639 Speaker 1: you would do that is so that you can be 331 00:18:17,840 --> 00:18:23,480 Speaker 1: more grateful and appreciative and present, knowing that you know 332 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:27,800 Speaker 1: our time is short. Life can be short, and so 333 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:29,399 Speaker 1: it sort of just reminded her to stay present. 334 00:18:29,400 --> 00:18:32,119 Speaker 2: But then I think one of her kids. 335 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,560 Speaker 1: Saw the death app and they were like, Mom, why 336 00:18:36,720 --> 00:18:40,080 Speaker 1: why are you reminding yourself you'll die? And then she 337 00:18:40,240 --> 00:18:42,840 Speaker 1: just thought, I think I just need to delete this app. 338 00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:47,680 Speaker 1: It's not it's not a parent friendly app. In terms 339 00:18:47,680 --> 00:18:48,359 Speaker 1: of joy. 340 00:18:49,359 --> 00:18:54,120 Speaker 2: Oh gosh, there's some hot. 341 00:18:54,320 --> 00:18:56,320 Speaker 1: This is something I do try to think about because 342 00:18:56,320 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: I feel like often I will feel like I'm in 343 00:18:59,119 --> 00:19:04,680 Speaker 1: a rush, and I really really hate being late, even 344 00:19:04,720 --> 00:19:07,280 Speaker 1: one or two minutes. Running one or two minutes late 345 00:19:07,400 --> 00:19:09,960 Speaker 1: for something, whether that be a virtual meeting or a 346 00:19:10,000 --> 00:19:14,800 Speaker 1: face to face meeting, makes me feel disproportionately stressed. 347 00:19:15,280 --> 00:19:16,879 Speaker 2: I'm sure that we could link that back to my 348 00:19:16,960 --> 00:19:23,720 Speaker 2: childhood somehow, but I really like the advice that I 349 00:19:23,720 --> 00:19:25,400 Speaker 2: got from Michelle Laurie. 350 00:19:25,000 --> 00:19:30,239 Speaker 1: The comedian, and this is Buddhist thinking, and something she 351 00:19:31,000 --> 00:19:33,679 Speaker 1: reminds herself to do is to let others go first. 352 00:19:34,320 --> 00:19:39,359 Speaker 1: And she lives her day with that in mind, you know, 353 00:19:39,520 --> 00:19:41,320 Speaker 1: not every minute of the day, but she tries to 354 00:19:41,359 --> 00:19:45,600 Speaker 1: remember that just as a general principle, let others go first. So, 355 00:19:46,040 --> 00:19:48,840 Speaker 1: you know, if you're stuck in traffic is probably where 356 00:19:49,040 --> 00:19:51,200 Speaker 1: I think about it most, because I feel like when 357 00:19:51,240 --> 00:19:55,840 Speaker 1: I'm in traffic, I feel like I'm racing against Google 358 00:19:55,880 --> 00:19:58,359 Speaker 1: Maps to see if i can outdo the time that 359 00:19:58,400 --> 00:19:59,840 Speaker 1: it's predicted. 360 00:19:59,280 --> 00:20:02,160 Speaker 2: To to get me too the location, which is terrible. 361 00:20:02,200 --> 00:20:04,640 Speaker 2: It's so bad. I shouldn't be doing this. But then 362 00:20:04,680 --> 00:20:08,200 Speaker 2: I remember let others go first, which might be if 363 00:20:08,200 --> 00:20:10,679 Speaker 2: someone wants to get in front of me, you know, 364 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:13,239 Speaker 2: in a lane, then just let them go first. It 365 00:20:13,280 --> 00:20:18,000 Speaker 2: doesn't matter. So I find that I do. Actually, I 366 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,720 Speaker 2: think about that definitely on a weekly basis. 367 00:20:22,000 --> 00:20:25,520 Speaker 3: Now, for anyone that's done writing, like whether you are 368 00:20:25,560 --> 00:20:28,679 Speaker 3: someone that writes articles, maybe you're someone that has written 369 00:20:28,680 --> 00:20:32,159 Speaker 3: the book, you probably know that writing is a separate 370 00:20:32,200 --> 00:20:35,880 Speaker 3: process to editing. And I can only imagine that when 371 00:20:35,880 --> 00:20:38,399 Speaker 3: most kind of we're writing, is Amantha, You probably had 372 00:20:38,440 --> 00:20:40,040 Speaker 3: to go through a lot of editing, and even when 373 00:20:40,080 --> 00:20:42,320 Speaker 3: you were kind of putting all the strategy down on 374 00:20:42,320 --> 00:20:43,959 Speaker 3: the table, I'm sure there were lots that you had 375 00:20:44,000 --> 00:20:46,880 Speaker 3: to check out because you know, you could only put 376 00:20:47,400 --> 00:20:51,240 Speaker 3: a hundred strategies in this book. But I guess I 377 00:20:51,280 --> 00:20:54,400 Speaker 3: want to know which one is like one of your 378 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:57,640 Speaker 3: favorite strategies that you knew you absolutely had to include 379 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:01,560 Speaker 3: in the book. But also if you can't this, potentially 380 00:21:02,720 --> 00:21:05,720 Speaker 3: was there anything that you didn't include that was still 381 00:21:05,760 --> 00:21:08,440 Speaker 3: super valuable that you could share with the audience who's 382 00:21:08,480 --> 00:21:09,800 Speaker 3: with us now live as well? 383 00:21:12,160 --> 00:21:14,399 Speaker 1: You know what, maybe if I just share a couple 384 00:21:14,440 --> 00:21:17,720 Speaker 1: that weren't in the book. And it's like one of 385 00:21:17,760 --> 00:21:21,720 Speaker 1: my pet hates actually when I hear authors being interviewed 386 00:21:22,280 --> 00:21:25,399 Speaker 1: is that they only talk about the stuff that's in 387 00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:28,920 Speaker 1: the book. And even when I'm interviewing authors on how 388 00:21:28,960 --> 00:21:34,000 Speaker 1: I work, I'm desperately trying to find a way in 389 00:21:34,240 --> 00:21:36,159 Speaker 1: to get them to talk about things that are not 390 00:21:36,480 --> 00:21:38,880 Speaker 1: in the book, because that's what they're talking about in. 391 00:21:38,800 --> 00:21:41,679 Speaker 2: Every other interview. So I feel like I'll be more 392 00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:43,439 Speaker 2: useful if I talk about some that are not in 393 00:21:43,480 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 2: the book. 394 00:21:44,440 --> 00:21:46,399 Speaker 3: I'm so glad because I didn't want to put the 395 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,840 Speaker 3: pressure on you know, you know, because if everyone's listening. 396 00:21:49,119 --> 00:21:51,359 Speaker 3: We didn't pre plan these questions. Amantha didn't know what 397 00:21:51,400 --> 00:21:52,640 Speaker 3: I'll ask you her, So I didn't want to set 398 00:21:52,680 --> 00:21:54,359 Speaker 3: her up for failure. So I kind of wanted to 399 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,479 Speaker 3: give her an out, like, if you can give us 400 00:21:57,520 --> 00:21:59,159 Speaker 3: something that's not in the book. 401 00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:04,600 Speaker 2: Yes, So something that I loved. 402 00:22:04,600 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: And often the things that didn't make the book were things. 403 00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:12,280 Speaker 2: That I learned low after. 404 00:22:13,240 --> 00:22:16,479 Speaker 1: I think October last year was when I submitted so 405 00:22:17,320 --> 00:22:21,119 Speaker 1: the like the first draft and and it's it's not 406 00:22:21,280 --> 00:22:24,800 Speaker 1: really super cool to put new content in after that, 407 00:22:24,920 --> 00:22:28,280 Speaker 1: and unless you know your editors, like there's like because 408 00:22:28,280 --> 00:22:28,520 Speaker 1: I did. 409 00:22:28,560 --> 00:22:28,760 Speaker 2: I did. 410 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:30,720 Speaker 1: Actually, I remember when I sent it to my editors 411 00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:34,400 Speaker 1: is He and Clive. I said, hey, you know, here's 412 00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:37,800 Speaker 1: my first draft. It's over the word count because with 413 00:22:37,880 --> 00:22:40,960 Speaker 1: the contract, you're contracted to write a certain amount of words. 414 00:22:40,960 --> 00:22:43,840 Speaker 1: So I was contracted to write sixty to seventy thousand words. 415 00:22:44,160 --> 00:22:45,800 Speaker 1: And I said, look, it's a bit over the word count, 416 00:22:45,920 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: so there's buffer for you to cut any strategies that 417 00:22:49,119 --> 00:22:53,200 Speaker 1: you think are just not all that good and they 418 00:22:53,359 --> 00:22:56,359 Speaker 1: and so that's where I had a few backups, but 419 00:22:56,480 --> 00:22:58,800 Speaker 1: they said, no, we want to keep them all. 420 00:22:58,800 --> 00:22:59,760 Speaker 2: They're all great. 421 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:05,480 Speaker 1: So from October, I've learned so much on the podcast, 422 00:23:05,760 --> 00:23:08,200 Speaker 1: and it's either way, it's kind of it's frustrating because 423 00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:09,520 Speaker 1: it's like, oh, I wish I could have included that 424 00:23:09,560 --> 00:23:12,560 Speaker 1: tip and that tip anyway to answer your question. One 425 00:23:12,680 --> 00:23:17,560 Speaker 1: tip that I really loved came from Phil Libbon, who's 426 00:23:17,760 --> 00:23:21,600 Speaker 1: the co founder of ever note, which is very popular 427 00:23:21,680 --> 00:23:27,160 Speaker 1: note taking software, and also co founder of presentation software 428 00:23:27,200 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: that we use it Inventium where you can superimpose yourself 429 00:23:30,680 --> 00:23:32,720 Speaker 1: sort of on top of the slides, which is a 430 00:23:32,760 --> 00:23:36,640 Speaker 1: good visual effect for presentations. And he was talking about 431 00:23:36,640 --> 00:23:41,560 Speaker 1: decision making and something that he differentiates between is when 432 00:23:41,600 --> 00:23:44,040 Speaker 1: he's got a big decision to make, like a decision 433 00:23:44,080 --> 00:23:47,720 Speaker 1: that feels really hard, he asks them himself, does this 434 00:23:47,800 --> 00:23:53,639 Speaker 1: decision feel hard because it's actually a complex decision, or 435 00:23:53,640 --> 00:23:57,199 Speaker 1: does it feel hard because it's an unpleasant decision? So, 436 00:23:57,520 --> 00:24:02,639 Speaker 1: you know, an unpleasant decision sample might be you know, 437 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:07,399 Speaker 1: leaving a marriage, or if you're a manager, like having 438 00:24:07,480 --> 00:24:12,440 Speaker 1: to fire someone for poor performance. So like those are 439 00:24:12,480 --> 00:24:16,199 Speaker 1: examples of very unpleasant decisions, but you know what the 440 00:24:16,280 --> 00:24:22,239 Speaker 1: right way forward is. Whereas complex decisions, they're tricky, they're like, 441 00:24:22,400 --> 00:24:25,080 Speaker 1: you know, there's lots to think about. There's no sort 442 00:24:25,119 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 1: of straightforward, simple solution or decision, if you like. But 443 00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:33,760 Speaker 1: where people get stuck is that they allocate similar amounts 444 00:24:33,760 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: of time to both types of decisions. But Phil says, 445 00:24:38,000 --> 00:24:40,239 Speaker 1: if upfront you can just figure out is this an 446 00:24:40,280 --> 00:24:44,920 Speaker 1: unpleasant decision or is this a complex decision, you will 447 00:24:45,320 --> 00:24:49,040 Speaker 1: spend your time much more wisely, essentially because you don't 448 00:24:49,080 --> 00:24:52,040 Speaker 1: need to spend time thinking about the unpleasant decisions. Yes, 449 00:24:52,080 --> 00:24:54,679 Speaker 1: you need to manage your emotions, but you know what 450 00:24:54,720 --> 00:24:57,280 Speaker 1: the right way forward is whereas allocate your time to 451 00:24:57,280 --> 00:25:00,720 Speaker 1: the complex decisions. And that really stuck with me. You know, 452 00:25:00,760 --> 00:25:02,400 Speaker 1: I can think of so many times where I've had 453 00:25:02,440 --> 00:25:06,320 Speaker 1: to make unpleasant decisions and I've just I've stewed on them. 454 00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,879 Speaker 1: I've spent so much time thinking about them, but only 455 00:25:10,080 --> 00:25:13,280 Speaker 1: because I was scared to do the thing that I 456 00:25:13,320 --> 00:25:14,360 Speaker 1: knew I had to do. 457 00:25:15,520 --> 00:25:16,800 Speaker 2: So that really stuck with me. 458 00:25:17,480 --> 00:25:23,399 Speaker 1: And a recent one that I think you will have 459 00:25:23,440 --> 00:25:26,199 Speaker 1: heard this from me already, Shah, but it's stuck with me, 460 00:25:26,240 --> 00:25:31,080 Speaker 1: and I love it so much. I recently interviewed Richard Wiseman, 461 00:25:31,119 --> 00:25:34,199 Speaker 1: who's a psychology professor in the UK, and I've just 462 00:25:34,240 --> 00:25:36,320 Speaker 1: been such a fan of his for about a decade, 463 00:25:36,840 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 1: and he was telling we're talking about like presentations, and 464 00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:45,199 Speaker 1: he was telling me about a friend of his that 465 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:50,080 Speaker 1: is a magician, famous magician, and Richard is also a 466 00:25:50,080 --> 00:25:52,879 Speaker 1: magician as well, and he was talking to his magician 467 00:25:52,920 --> 00:25:58,200 Speaker 1: friend about like how he designs his shows, and he says, look, 468 00:25:58,240 --> 00:26:00,280 Speaker 1: I think about what I want people to say to 469 00:26:00,320 --> 00:26:02,240 Speaker 1: me at the end of a performance. 470 00:26:02,320 --> 00:26:05,040 Speaker 2: And a lot of performers and probably a lot of people, 471 00:26:05,080 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 2: you know, just normal people to give presentations want people 472 00:26:08,200 --> 00:26:10,080 Speaker 2: to come up to them at the end and go, 473 00:26:10,600 --> 00:26:15,359 Speaker 2: you were great, you were amazing, you were fantastic. But 474 00:26:15,440 --> 00:26:17,080 Speaker 2: this magician is like, I don't want that. 475 00:26:17,640 --> 00:26:20,960 Speaker 1: I want to create an experience so people, And so 476 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 1: I actually designed a performance thinking that I want people 477 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:26,359 Speaker 1: to come up to me at the end and say 478 00:26:26,400 --> 00:26:29,199 Speaker 1: thank you, like thank you for what you've given me 479 00:26:30,560 --> 00:26:33,439 Speaker 1: and for me like now that you know, I've been 480 00:26:33,480 --> 00:26:36,040 Speaker 1: working on designing this keynote off the back of the 481 00:26:36,080 --> 00:26:40,000 Speaker 1: time Wise book. I use that as my starting point, 482 00:26:40,040 --> 00:26:42,520 Speaker 1: and I found that really helpful. Thinking what do I 483 00:26:42,560 --> 00:26:46,840 Speaker 1: want people to say to me at the end and 484 00:26:46,920 --> 00:26:50,400 Speaker 1: knowing where I want to get to in such specific 485 00:26:50,520 --> 00:26:53,800 Speaker 1: terms helped make it a lot easier to design. And 486 00:26:53,880 --> 00:26:56,080 Speaker 1: I think, I mean you can use that for micro 487 00:26:56,200 --> 00:26:59,000 Speaker 1: things like a meeting, like what do you want people 488 00:26:59,040 --> 00:27:00,439 Speaker 1: to say at the end of a meet or at 489 00:27:00,440 --> 00:27:03,159 Speaker 1: the end of a workshop that you're designing, or you know, 490 00:27:03,359 --> 00:27:05,679 Speaker 1: most people give presentations as part of their job, what 491 00:27:05,720 --> 00:27:07,159 Speaker 1: do you want people to say at the end of 492 00:27:07,160 --> 00:27:07,919 Speaker 1: that presentation. 493 00:27:09,760 --> 00:27:12,000 Speaker 2: I just I love that tip so much. It really resonated. 494 00:27:16,160 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 1: We will be back soon talking about how to work 495 00:27:20,240 --> 00:27:24,880 Speaker 1: out what your priorities at work should be. If you're 496 00:27:24,960 --> 00:27:27,760 Speaker 1: looking for more tips to improve the way that you work, 497 00:27:28,200 --> 00:27:31,520 Speaker 1: I write a short fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool 498 00:27:31,680 --> 00:27:34,840 Speaker 1: things that I've discovered that helped me work better, ranging 499 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:38,480 Speaker 1: from software and gadgets that I'm loving through to interesting 500 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:42,040 Speaker 1: research findings. You can sign up for that at Howiwork 501 00:27:42,119 --> 00:27:44,359 Speaker 1: dot code. That's how I Work dot co. 502 00:27:46,320 --> 00:27:51,520 Speaker 3: How often should we take breaks for optimal productivity? 503 00:27:51,560 --> 00:27:53,800 Speaker 2: Well, we should take breaks. 504 00:27:53,880 --> 00:27:57,159 Speaker 1: According to one research study from the University of Colorado, 505 00:27:57,320 --> 00:28:00,840 Speaker 1: they looked at people taking one thirty minute break where 506 00:28:00,840 --> 00:28:04,160 Speaker 1: they went on a walk, versus six five minute breaks 507 00:28:04,240 --> 00:28:06,760 Speaker 1: where they went on short walks, and they found that 508 00:28:07,400 --> 00:28:11,840 Speaker 1: the group that went on the fairly regular but shorter 509 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:14,720 Speaker 1: walk so six five minute walks spread throughout the day 510 00:28:15,400 --> 00:28:18,840 Speaker 1: felt significantly better in the afternoon in terms of more energy, 511 00:28:18,960 --> 00:28:23,720 Speaker 1: more resilience. And so look, according to that study, take 512 00:28:23,880 --> 00:28:27,119 Speaker 1: regular breaks and try to move during your break, and 513 00:28:27,200 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 1: also schedule lunch. 514 00:28:28,840 --> 00:28:29,600 Speaker 2: In your diary. 515 00:28:29,720 --> 00:28:33,960 Speaker 1: I just think that's really important. I tried to do 516 00:28:34,000 --> 00:28:36,119 Speaker 1: that myself, or make sure that there's at least a 517 00:28:36,160 --> 00:28:38,960 Speaker 1: half hour block where I can do that. But something 518 00:28:39,000 --> 00:28:41,200 Speaker 1: I've also started doing is I used to be a 519 00:28:41,240 --> 00:28:44,120 Speaker 1: first thing in the morning exerciser, and now I found 520 00:28:44,160 --> 00:28:46,960 Speaker 1: that late morning my performance is a bit better and 521 00:28:47,000 --> 00:28:50,360 Speaker 1: it's also a nice break. So I'll typically take quite 522 00:28:50,400 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: a significant break an hour late morning, like typically at 523 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:58,240 Speaker 1: around eleven am, and that breaks up my day and 524 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:00,200 Speaker 1: I find gives me quite a lot of energy for 525 00:29:00,240 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: the next few hours, whereas a lot of people struggle 526 00:29:03,160 --> 00:29:07,000 Speaker 1: with energy in that sort of one to three pm phase. 527 00:29:07,080 --> 00:29:10,040 Speaker 1: So that's that's my vice on breaks. 528 00:29:10,520 --> 00:29:12,840 Speaker 3: I think it's important because that's the whole point of 529 00:29:12,880 --> 00:29:15,320 Speaker 3: taking a break, right is to boost your energy after 530 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:17,680 Speaker 3: you take the break, and so often we get so 531 00:29:17,800 --> 00:29:20,240 Speaker 3: caught up in you know, you're in flow, you're doing 532 00:29:20,280 --> 00:29:21,880 Speaker 3: really great work, and see like I'm just gonna keep 533 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:24,880 Speaker 3: going and to push through and so just remembering actually, no, 534 00:29:24,960 --> 00:29:26,840 Speaker 3: it's better off you just take a you know, just 535 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:28,920 Speaker 3: a short five minute break and then get back into it. 536 00:29:28,920 --> 00:29:31,560 Speaker 3: It's going to help you later today, like the afternoon 537 00:29:31,600 --> 00:29:36,440 Speaker 3: as well. Okay, so what about prioritization? How do you 538 00:29:36,480 --> 00:29:40,800 Speaker 3: prioritize when everything is urgent? And how do you prioritize 539 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:45,680 Speaker 3: projects in a role that also requires almost instantaneous responses 540 00:29:45,720 --> 00:29:46,520 Speaker 3: to queries? 541 00:29:47,520 --> 00:29:47,840 Speaker 2: Hmmm? 542 00:29:48,680 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 1: So yeah, how do you prioritize when everything is urgent? 543 00:29:52,440 --> 00:29:56,880 Speaker 1: I feel like that's one where you sort of you 544 00:29:56,960 --> 00:30:00,560 Speaker 1: need to get to the root cause, which I suspect 545 00:30:01,000 --> 00:30:06,880 Speaker 1: is what your individual goals are in your organization, because 546 00:30:06,920 --> 00:30:10,760 Speaker 1: if everything feels urgent, it probably means that you don't 547 00:30:10,840 --> 00:30:15,080 Speaker 1: have clear goals and a clear priority of those goals. So, 548 00:30:15,200 --> 00:30:20,720 Speaker 1: for example, at Inventium, we use okayrs objectives and key Results, 549 00:30:21,320 --> 00:30:25,200 Speaker 1: which was made famous by Google and Intel, and read 550 00:30:25,280 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 1: measure what Matters by John Dora. 551 00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,040 Speaker 2: If you want to learn more about. 552 00:30:28,840 --> 00:30:35,360 Speaker 1: That, so we've all got very specific goals like typically 553 00:30:36,240 --> 00:30:39,760 Speaker 1: sort of three to five kind of focus areas, if 554 00:30:39,800 --> 00:30:46,480 Speaker 1: you like, per per six to twelve months. So you know, 555 00:30:46,720 --> 00:30:50,120 Speaker 1: I will often and like I'll often look at mine 556 00:30:50,560 --> 00:30:54,040 Speaker 1: and kind of look at the week and go, what 557 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:58,720 Speaker 1: am I doing this week that is not really moving 558 00:30:58,880 --> 00:31:00,400 Speaker 1: me closer. 559 00:31:01,600 --> 00:31:04,480 Speaker 2: Or kind of getting thanks Gabs for linking. 560 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:10,080 Speaker 1: To that book, or yeah, like what's what is not 561 00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:13,520 Speaker 1: going to be a good return on my time investment? 562 00:31:14,080 --> 00:31:18,520 Speaker 1: And so I feel like I'm not overly scared of 563 00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: canceling things, whereas I feel like other people will just 564 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:25,719 Speaker 1: sort of say yes, and once they've said yes, they 565 00:31:25,760 --> 00:31:28,560 Speaker 1: feel like they can't say no and undo that. Yes, 566 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,760 Speaker 1: obviously that's not my ideal of just say no in 567 00:31:30,800 --> 00:31:35,120 Speaker 1: the first place, but yeah, I think it probably comes 568 00:31:35,160 --> 00:31:37,840 Speaker 1: back to looking at what are your goals, and if 569 00:31:37,880 --> 00:31:40,760 Speaker 1: you've got too many goals and too many goals that 570 00:31:40,840 --> 00:31:43,720 Speaker 1: compete with each other, then I said, it's a conversation 571 00:31:43,840 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: with your manager, I reckon. But I know you've thought 572 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 1: heaps about prioritization Shart, Like, what advice do you find 573 00:31:53,760 --> 00:31:56,720 Speaker 1: resonates most when you've run workshops on. 574 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 3: This, well, even when you were just saying the whole 575 00:32:00,280 --> 00:32:02,720 Speaker 3: you know, saying no things. I think something that's really 576 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:06,280 Speaker 3: resonated with me is that whole like to don't list 577 00:32:06,600 --> 00:32:08,520 Speaker 3: or you know, would you be happy to if it 578 00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,040 Speaker 3: was next Tuesday, for example, Like we say yes to 579 00:32:11,080 --> 00:32:13,640 Speaker 3: all these things because we're like, oh that's future self 580 00:32:13,800 --> 00:32:16,640 Speaker 3: like and that'll be fine in the future, and something, 581 00:32:17,240 --> 00:32:19,280 Speaker 3: you know, we we do the four day week, and 582 00:32:20,480 --> 00:32:23,120 Speaker 3: I do coaching on Fridays, and I've found that I've 583 00:32:23,160 --> 00:32:24,640 Speaker 3: kind of reached that point where I'm like, I know 584 00:32:25,280 --> 00:32:28,480 Speaker 3: now the level at which I can't do more coaching. 585 00:32:28,600 --> 00:32:33,280 Speaker 3: Like I really I wrote down in my diary this week, 586 00:32:33,360 --> 00:32:36,720 Speaker 3: I don't do more than four coaching sessions on Fridays 587 00:32:37,160 --> 00:32:39,560 Speaker 3: because I realized I was saying yesterday's people who would 588 00:32:39,560 --> 00:32:41,000 Speaker 3: then email me and be like, oh, can I book 589 00:32:41,040 --> 00:32:42,520 Speaker 3: you in this Friday, And I'd be like, oh, yes, 590 00:32:42,560 --> 00:32:44,880 Speaker 3: of course, because you know, I want to help. But 591 00:32:44,920 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 3: then I'd get to Friday and I'd have like six 592 00:32:47,040 --> 00:32:50,760 Speaker 3: sessions and I just felt like exhausted at the end, 593 00:32:50,920 --> 00:32:52,440 Speaker 3: or I felt like I was going into those coaching 594 00:32:52,480 --> 00:32:55,920 Speaker 3: sessions in the best mindset. So just even saying like 595 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:58,400 Speaker 3: I don't do that or I created this kind of 596 00:32:58,440 --> 00:33:00,720 Speaker 3: thing in my diary of that's something that I'm just 597 00:33:00,760 --> 00:33:04,080 Speaker 3: going to say no to in advance. Kind of helped 598 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,880 Speaker 3: me get really clear on like my priorities for Fridays. 599 00:33:09,680 --> 00:33:11,520 Speaker 3: And that's also a strategy in the book as well, 600 00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:13,640 Speaker 3: is to create a to don't list, Isn't. 601 00:33:13,480 --> 00:33:16,440 Speaker 2: It it is? It is, yeah, from Rachel Batsman, and 602 00:33:16,440 --> 00:33:17,200 Speaker 2: it reminds me. 603 00:33:17,360 --> 00:33:19,800 Speaker 1: I heard this other strategy that is not in the 604 00:33:19,800 --> 00:33:23,680 Speaker 1: book that I do love from Katie Milkman, who's a 605 00:33:23,840 --> 00:33:25,920 Speaker 1: Wharton professor and wrote How to Change, which is a 606 00:33:25,960 --> 00:33:29,320 Speaker 1: book that we both love, How to Change, and she 607 00:33:31,200 --> 00:33:35,480 Speaker 1: she was reading research by Linda Babcock from Kinnegie Mellon 608 00:33:35,600 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 1: University that had found that women are more likely to 609 00:33:38,720 --> 00:33:42,240 Speaker 1: say yes to non promotable tasks. And so non promotable 610 00:33:42,280 --> 00:33:45,200 Speaker 1: tasks are things that you do because they're good citizenship, 611 00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:47,920 Speaker 1: but they're not really that. They're not likely to get 612 00:33:47,920 --> 00:33:51,000 Speaker 1: your promotion or progress you in your career, like you know, 613 00:33:51,080 --> 00:33:53,800 Speaker 1: taking minutes at a meeting or sitting on a volunteer 614 00:33:53,800 --> 00:33:57,080 Speaker 1: committee or organizing the office Christmas party or something like that. 615 00:33:57,600 --> 00:34:00,880 Speaker 1: And then Katie learned that Linda. 616 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:04,320 Speaker 2: Had started a no club with a couple of other 617 00:34:04,920 --> 00:34:08,160 Speaker 2: women at business schools, and so whenever they get an 618 00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,319 Speaker 2: opportunity that they're like, oh, should I say yes or no, 619 00:34:11,800 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 2: they will run it by their no club and for a. 620 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,920 Speaker 1: More objective point of view. And then Katie started her 621 00:34:19,960 --> 00:34:22,279 Speaker 1: own no club. So I really like that, Like, if 622 00:34:22,320 --> 00:34:24,400 Speaker 1: you are someone and you don't just have to be 623 00:34:24,440 --> 00:34:26,120 Speaker 1: a woman to use this strategy, but if. 624 00:34:26,040 --> 00:34:28,880 Speaker 2: You're someone that does struggle to say no. 625 00:34:30,480 --> 00:34:33,200 Speaker 1: And maybe you've got a bit of people pleaser in you, 626 00:34:33,680 --> 00:34:36,040 Speaker 1: I feel like a no club could be a really 627 00:34:36,239 --> 00:34:38,879 Speaker 1: practical thing to start with a couple of peers. 628 00:34:39,960 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 3: And ultimately you're I mean, if you bring this back 629 00:34:42,000 --> 00:34:44,680 Speaker 3: to the work context, your manager, your leader, they are 630 00:34:44,719 --> 00:34:49,279 Speaker 3: responsible for kind of clarifying your priorities, and ultimately your 631 00:34:49,280 --> 00:34:52,040 Speaker 3: priorities should flow from the top down. So even thinking 632 00:34:52,080 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 3: about could you have this conversation with your manager your 633 00:34:54,120 --> 00:34:56,680 Speaker 3: leader where you're like, hey, can we have these regular 634 00:34:56,680 --> 00:34:59,360 Speaker 3: conversations about what I'm taking on and can you be 635 00:34:59,480 --> 00:35:02,600 Speaker 3: my closically can you help me work out what I 636 00:35:02,640 --> 00:35:05,520 Speaker 3: should be saying no to? That's certainly I mean, we 637 00:35:05,560 --> 00:35:07,480 Speaker 3: don't have bosses that invented, but that's certainly how I 638 00:35:07,600 --> 00:35:11,120 Speaker 3: use mish our ceo going to me like is this 639 00:35:11,160 --> 00:35:13,680 Speaker 3: actually something that I should be spending my time on 640 00:35:13,719 --> 00:35:17,319 Speaker 3: and coming back to our goals and okay ours all 641 00:35:17,400 --> 00:35:19,200 Speaker 3: right everyone, I do want to turn to the chat 642 00:35:19,200 --> 00:35:21,319 Speaker 3: box because I've only got like ten minutes left, so 643 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 3: I need to make sure I get to the group 644 00:35:23,160 --> 00:35:26,000 Speaker 3: that I hear, and so please do open up the 645 00:35:26,040 --> 00:35:28,239 Speaker 3: chat box and send through any questions you have for 646 00:35:28,280 --> 00:35:31,880 Speaker 3: a member. It can be about the podcast, about the book, 647 00:35:31,960 --> 00:35:37,279 Speaker 3: about anything productivity related. Kim already submitted a question and 648 00:35:37,320 --> 00:35:40,160 Speaker 3: that was what is your favorite podcast? 649 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:42,560 Speaker 2: My favorite podcast? 650 00:35:43,680 --> 00:35:49,680 Speaker 1: My favorite one, which I think I I shared on 651 00:35:49,719 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: the episode I did this, I love Mama Mia out Loud. 652 00:35:53,160 --> 00:35:57,200 Speaker 1: Like for me podcasts, if I only listen to podcasts 653 00:35:57,320 --> 00:36:02,279 Speaker 1: that were like of the self development learning business kind 654 00:36:02,320 --> 00:36:06,759 Speaker 1: of genre, I I'd probably go insane. For me podcasts, 655 00:36:06,880 --> 00:36:12,680 Speaker 1: I would say the primary purpose is to kind of 656 00:36:12,800 --> 00:36:16,000 Speaker 1: just like pure bliss and enjoyment. I guess kind of 657 00:36:16,000 --> 00:36:19,319 Speaker 1: in the way that people watch TV. Maybe I use 658 00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:22,040 Speaker 1: podcasts for that purpose also learning, but that's probably only 659 00:36:22,160 --> 00:36:25,080 Speaker 1: sort of a third of my podcast airtime. 660 00:36:25,200 --> 00:36:27,200 Speaker 2: So I love Mama Mea out Loud. 661 00:36:27,480 --> 00:36:31,840 Speaker 1: I recently got to interview Mia Jesse and Holly and 662 00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,439 Speaker 1: that was quite a highlight. But look, if we're talking 663 00:36:34,440 --> 00:36:39,320 Speaker 1: about work focus things, it's hard to go past Work. 664 00:36:39,080 --> 00:36:41,600 Speaker 2: Life by Adam Grant. I do love it. It's so 665 00:36:41,760 --> 00:36:42,719 Speaker 2: well researched. 666 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:45,840 Speaker 1: I mean, like, the amount of hours that go into 667 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:49,640 Speaker 1: producing like a forty minute episode of work Life is 668 00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:51,320 Speaker 1: quite substantial. 669 00:36:51,640 --> 00:36:54,239 Speaker 2: You can just tell. It's such a well produced, well 670 00:36:54,320 --> 00:36:58,000 Speaker 2: researched podcast, and I deeply appreciate it. 671 00:36:58,960 --> 00:37:02,040 Speaker 3: I love it as well. Sentimental in the City as well. 672 00:37:02,600 --> 00:37:05,359 Speaker 2: Oh my god, don't get me sounded so good. 673 00:37:05,520 --> 00:37:10,040 Speaker 3: So many of you are not familiar. It's a podcast 674 00:37:10,040 --> 00:37:12,600 Speaker 3: that kind of goes through the seasons of sex and 675 00:37:12,719 --> 00:37:18,280 Speaker 3: City with this like social cultural commentary from very intelligent women. 676 00:37:18,760 --> 00:37:22,239 Speaker 3: Now Natalie has asked, Amantha, do you use any outlining 677 00:37:22,360 --> 00:37:25,880 Speaker 3: software tools for organizing your thoughts for and book writing? 678 00:37:26,680 --> 00:37:27,960 Speaker 2: I do Scrivener. 679 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:32,240 Speaker 1: Scrivener is software that I would say the vast majority 680 00:37:32,239 --> 00:37:33,239 Speaker 1: of writers use. 681 00:37:33,560 --> 00:37:35,920 Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely nonfiction, but even. 682 00:37:37,840 --> 00:37:40,920 Speaker 1: Like Sally Hepworth, for example, I know that she uses 683 00:37:40,920 --> 00:37:44,000 Speaker 1: it as well, and she writes fiction, so yeah, awesome. 684 00:37:44,360 --> 00:37:47,120 Speaker 3: What about most effective way to manage a to do list? 685 00:37:49,080 --> 00:37:54,400 Speaker 1: I love Motion for this, So I think usemotion dot 686 00:37:54,480 --> 00:37:57,520 Speaker 1: Io is the correct link, because there are. 687 00:37:57,440 --> 00:37:59,800 Speaker 2: Two calendar software things called motion. 688 00:38:00,400 --> 00:38:03,480 Speaker 1: How motion works is you've got your calendar view on 689 00:38:03,480 --> 00:38:06,719 Speaker 1: one side like you would see in traditional calendar software, 690 00:38:06,920 --> 00:38:10,160 Speaker 1: and then you've got a task list in like the 691 00:38:10,239 --> 00:38:12,920 Speaker 1: left hand column. Because I've got a high self for 692 00:38:12,920 --> 00:38:15,200 Speaker 1: you on I don't know whether I'm doing the things 693 00:38:15,200 --> 00:38:17,400 Speaker 1: in the right way because I've got like mirror view anyway, whatever. 694 00:38:17,680 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: So you have it combined to your task list and 695 00:38:20,840 --> 00:38:23,879 Speaker 1: your calendar, and with your tasks, you can allocate how 696 00:38:23,880 --> 00:38:25,520 Speaker 1: long you think the task will take, and then you 697 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:28,520 Speaker 1: can sort of drag and drop it into your calendar. 698 00:38:28,320 --> 00:38:30,560 Speaker 2: So then it appears as a meeting with yourself. And 699 00:38:30,600 --> 00:38:33,319 Speaker 2: so I use time blocking where I book meetings with 700 00:38:33,400 --> 00:38:37,440 Speaker 2: myself to do deep work. I find it it was 701 00:38:37,480 --> 00:38:39,000 Speaker 2: a game changer for me. 702 00:38:39,120 --> 00:38:41,799 Speaker 1: So that's like my to do list for work. I 703 00:38:41,920 --> 00:38:45,200 Speaker 1: use things for my personal to do list. But yeah, 704 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,160 Speaker 1: that in combining the calendar game changer. 705 00:38:49,840 --> 00:38:52,520 Speaker 3: What about your favorite productivity app? 706 00:38:53,800 --> 00:38:56,239 Speaker 1: I love Superhuman that would be the one that I 707 00:38:56,360 --> 00:38:57,200 Speaker 1: used most often. 708 00:38:57,239 --> 00:38:58,720 Speaker 2: Superhuman for my email. 709 00:38:59,280 --> 00:39:02,359 Speaker 1: I do love for calendar, and I think email and 710 00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:06,000 Speaker 1: calendar are the two things that we use most often, 711 00:39:06,160 --> 00:39:08,640 Speaker 1: so they would be my two go to and look 712 00:39:08,680 --> 00:39:13,160 Speaker 1: I do for podcast editing and if you're editing any 713 00:39:13,239 --> 00:39:16,000 Speaker 1: kind of sound or video file, if you have to 714 00:39:16,040 --> 00:39:19,520 Speaker 1: do that in your work, or maybe you want to descript. 715 00:39:20,280 --> 00:39:25,520 Speaker 1: Descript is amazing software where it transcribes the recording and 716 00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:28,160 Speaker 1: it's like you're editing a word document to edit a 717 00:39:28,200 --> 00:39:31,640 Speaker 1: sound file or video file. So like if you want 718 00:39:31,640 --> 00:39:36,040 Speaker 1: to delete a phrase, like let's just say I've said 719 00:39:36,200 --> 00:39:39,680 Speaker 1: um a lot, and then I put this audio file 720 00:39:39,719 --> 00:39:42,840 Speaker 1: or video file into descript, I can then just highlight 721 00:39:42,880 --> 00:39:46,239 Speaker 1: those words and delete them I think command X, and 722 00:39:46,280 --> 00:39:49,040 Speaker 1: then they're gone from the video and audio. 723 00:39:49,120 --> 00:39:50,839 Speaker 2: It's quite magical. So I do love that. 724 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:53,560 Speaker 3: I love that. I mean, I'm not an editor, but 725 00:39:53,600 --> 00:39:55,520 Speaker 3: I can in my mind. I'm always like you would 726 00:39:55,560 --> 00:39:57,040 Speaker 3: have to be listening to it and then have to 727 00:39:57,120 --> 00:40:01,760 Speaker 3: kind of take out the spot your word. That sounds amazing. 728 00:40:02,880 --> 00:40:05,520 Speaker 3: Carolyn's question, what is a good approach to take if 729 00:40:05,520 --> 00:40:09,359 Speaker 3: you're working on good tools for your own personal productivity, 730 00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:14,400 Speaker 3: but working in a context constrained by traditional work approaches. 731 00:40:14,320 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 2: It is really challenging. 732 00:40:16,120 --> 00:40:19,520 Speaker 1: I think when you're working in an organization that doesn't 733 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:25,480 Speaker 1: want to try to challenge work habits and processes that 734 00:40:25,520 --> 00:40:26,680 Speaker 1: are not serving you. 735 00:40:27,560 --> 00:40:29,040 Speaker 2: It can be really, really hard. 736 00:40:29,280 --> 00:40:31,680 Speaker 1: I think awareness is the first step, like bringing that 737 00:40:31,880 --> 00:40:35,919 Speaker 1: to maybe your boss's awareness, to go, hey, we're doing this, 738 00:40:36,520 --> 00:40:38,960 Speaker 1: but it's causing this and maybe we. 739 00:40:38,920 --> 00:40:40,560 Speaker 2: Should therefore rethink this. 740 00:40:41,960 --> 00:40:45,160 Speaker 1: We're always happy to come in to have a chat 741 00:40:45,360 --> 00:40:47,680 Speaker 1: because some people just don't know that there is another 742 00:40:47,719 --> 00:40:50,480 Speaker 1: way of doing things when they've been stuck doing things 743 00:40:50,520 --> 00:40:52,280 Speaker 1: the same way for a very long time. 744 00:40:53,080 --> 00:40:55,880 Speaker 2: But I would say probably awareness is a good place 745 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:56,600 Speaker 2: to start. 746 00:40:56,880 --> 00:40:59,400 Speaker 3: I want to ask you one final question, Amantha, and 747 00:40:59,440 --> 00:41:02,239 Speaker 3: this comes back back to what you've already shared from 748 00:41:02,400 --> 00:41:07,560 Speaker 3: Richard Wiseman, the psychology professor and magician. So what do 749 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:11,799 Speaker 3: you want people to say to you after reading the 750 00:41:11,800 --> 00:41:15,320 Speaker 3: book reading time Wise? What would you ideally like people 751 00:41:15,320 --> 00:41:15,799 Speaker 3: to say to you. 752 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:20,640 Speaker 1: I would love them to say, thank you. You've really 753 00:41:21,040 --> 00:41:24,839 Speaker 1: helped me learn ways to use my time on this 754 00:41:24,880 --> 00:41:25,960 Speaker 1: planet more wisely. 755 00:41:26,600 --> 00:41:29,520 Speaker 2: That's what I would love. So there you have it. 756 00:41:30,120 --> 00:41:32,520 Speaker 4: I hope that that gave you a bit of insight 757 00:41:32,560 --> 00:41:35,640 Speaker 4: into the process that I went through for writing time Wise, 758 00:41:36,080 --> 00:41:40,720 Speaker 4: and some of my personal favorite strategies at the moment now. 759 00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:43,759 Speaker 1: If you haven't got a copy of time Wise, you 760 00:41:43,840 --> 00:41:47,640 Speaker 1: can get your hands on one where all good books 761 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:52,440 Speaker 1: are sold. And thank you to everybody who has posted 762 00:41:52,480 --> 00:41:56,920 Speaker 1: about their copy of time Wise on social media and given. 763 00:41:56,640 --> 00:41:59,200 Speaker 2: The book a review wherever you bought it from. I 764 00:41:59,239 --> 00:42:01,320 Speaker 2: am deeply, deeply grateful. 765 00:42:02,400 --> 00:42:05,600 Speaker 1: How I Work is produced by Inventium with production support 766 00:42:05,640 --> 00:42:06,920 Speaker 1: from Dead Set Studios. 767 00:42:07,239 --> 00:42:09,640 Speaker 2: The producer for this episode was Liam Riordan. 768 00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:12,360 Speaker 1: And thank you to mat Nimba who does the audio 769 00:42:12,400 --> 00:42:15,399 Speaker 1: mix for every episode and makes everything sound so much 770 00:42:15,400 --> 00:42:17,040 Speaker 1: better than it would have otherwise. 771 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:18,439 Speaker 2: See you next time.