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Speaker 1: Just put your laptop in one spot, even if you

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Speaker 1: don't have a home office, doing it at a kitchen table,

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Speaker 1: doing it, you know, in one spot in your dining room.

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Speaker 1: It helps your brain with something called state dependent recall,

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Speaker 1: which means every time I go to this spot, the

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Speaker 1: sites sounds, smells I associate with working. So if you're

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Speaker 1: switching spots every day, it's harder for your brain to

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Speaker 1: get into that space of saying.

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Speaker 2: This is where I work.

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Speaker 3: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics

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Speaker 3: used by the world's most successful people to get so

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Speaker 3: much out of their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba.

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Speaker 3: I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium,

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Speaker 3: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my work day.

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Speaker 3: My guest today is Laura may Martin. Laura is the

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Speaker 3: executive Productivity Advisor at Google, and if that is not

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Speaker 3: one of the coolest jobs in the world, then I

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Speaker 3: don't know what is. So basically, Laura is full time

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Speaker 3: at Google and works one on one with executives in

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Speaker 3: the company, helping them be more productive, and also runs

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Speaker 3: the Productivity at Google program for all staff. So I

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Speaker 3: loved talking with Laura. I personally picked up a lot

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Speaker 3: of new strategies that I've now implemented about all sorts

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Speaker 3: of things for managing my inbox to various daily and

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Speaker 3: weekly planning rituals that she has. There's just so much

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Speaker 3: gold in this interview. I think you will love it.

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Speaker 3: And we also hear about how Laura actually got the

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Speaker 3: job of being an executive productivity advisor at Google, which

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Speaker 3: is a.

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Speaker 4: Pretty cool story in itself. So on that note, let's

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Speaker 4: go to Laura to hear about how she works. Laura,

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Speaker 4: welcome to the show.

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Speaker 2: Thank you, thanks so much for having me.

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Speaker 3: Now I got to ask how does one become the

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Speaker 3: executive productivity advise at Google? Because when I saw your

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Speaker 3: job title, I thought, if I wasn't doing what I'm doing, now,

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Speaker 3: that's the job that I want.

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Speaker 4: So how do I get that job?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 5: So I started at Google about ten years ago in

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Speaker 5: a sales role, and I was doing sales but had

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Speaker 5: a project on the side, which we call twenty percent projects,

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Speaker 5: and it was basically just showing people how to set

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Speaker 5: up their email the way that I had it set up.

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Speaker 2: So I started.

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Speaker 1: Teaching like an inbox management class It started with like

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Speaker 1: one person and then it was like five, and you know,

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Speaker 1: it started to get bigger and bigger, and that became

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Speaker 1: my side project, just teaching people how to organize their email.

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Speaker 1: That evolved into more courses on things like time management

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Speaker 1: and effective meetings, and I started working with executives one

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Speaker 1: on one doing like coaching for those topics, and so

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Speaker 1: I obviously left my sales role and became this as

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Speaker 1: a full time from my twenty percent.

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Speaker 4: That is so cool, ow amazing.

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Speaker 3: I would definitely want to delve into some of these

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Speaker 3: email tips a bit later, but something I'm curious about

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Speaker 3: and and to be honest, how I'm starting a lot

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Speaker 3: of my interviews at the moment, just given that we're

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Speaker 3: right in the middle of all the kind of COVID

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Speaker 3: chaos and who knows for how long, And I should

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Speaker 3: probably ask, where are you located in the world right now?

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Speaker 4: What's like, what's your lockdown situation?

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Speaker 1: Yes, so I am on the east coast of the

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Speaker 1: US in North Carolina, and I am working from home

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Speaker 1: like everyone else. I have a husband who's working from home,

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Speaker 1: and I have a nine month old daughter and I'm

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Speaker 1: currently operating without childcare.

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Speaker 2: So that is where I stand right now.

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Speaker 3: Oh my goodness. Okay, all right, we need to delve

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Speaker 3: into that. So look, I want to know what are

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Speaker 3: the biggest changes that you've made to how you work

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Speaker 3: during this time.

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Speaker 2: Yes, so especially with you know, no childcare. I think

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Speaker 2: there's kind of two schools of people. It's people who

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Speaker 2: maybe have more time than usual.

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Speaker 1: They live by themselves or with a roommate, they're not commuting,

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Speaker 1: and they're trying to find a different structure given that

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Speaker 1: they're not going into the office. And then we have

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Speaker 1: people who are at home and maybe their kids are

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Speaker 1: also home from school, and so those those look very different.

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Speaker 1: But some of the strategies that I've used I think

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Speaker 1: can help both, you know, both groups of people. So

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Speaker 1: for me, obviously, now that I'm operating with my daughter home,

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Speaker 1: the biggest thing for me is that instead of having

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Speaker 1: this full work day where you know, from roughly nine

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Speaker 1: or roughly five, I'm I'm working on everything I need

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Speaker 1: to do. I kind of think of myself now as

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Speaker 1: working in sprints, So it's whenever she's napping for a

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Speaker 1: couple hours, I'm working. Whenever my husband takes over for

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Speaker 1: a couple hours, I'm working. When she goes to bed.

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Speaker 1: I'm working, So now I think of my work day

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Speaker 1: as probably like four one to two hour sprints, you know,

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Speaker 1: when I can get the time in versus that life

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Speaker 1: our luxurious day at the office.

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Speaker 3: Yeah wow, what does that like? What does that do

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Speaker 3: to your headspace? Do you think a new productivity levels?

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Speaker 3: I mean, you are a productivity advisors, so I'm expecting

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Speaker 3: that you're normally pretty productive, but having this sprint mentality

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Speaker 3: and I musta I can totally relate to that. What

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Speaker 3: do you find that does to I guess your efficiency

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Speaker 3: but also your prioritization as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so I think that the way I think of

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Speaker 1: it is I just pretend that my manager, my boss

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Speaker 1: came to me and said, hey, I have this new

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Speaker 1: four to five hour a day project that I need

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Speaker 1: you to take on. And for me, that's childcare. So

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Speaker 1: how if I had that project assigned to me in

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Speaker 1: irregular times, how would I prioritize going forward? So maybe

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Speaker 1: I would say, like, Okay, some of these things that

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Speaker 1: are nice to do but not necessary, you know, those

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Speaker 1: are going to fall off a little bit. Some of

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Speaker 1: these things that I like to do but someone else

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Speaker 1: could do on my team things like that.

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Speaker 2: You know, I'm delegating a little bit more.

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Speaker 1: So it's it's kind of just like if that situation

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Speaker 1: happened to you, you start to rearrange and say, like,

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Speaker 1: you know, I like to spend a little more time

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Speaker 1: on this, but I don't have that time.

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Speaker 2: Now what do I really really need to do?

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Speaker 1: So I think in the way of prioritizing, it's it's

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Speaker 1: you know, focusing on the things you absolutely have to do.

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Speaker 1: But then in the way of getting those things done,

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Speaker 1: I think planning ahead is really the key to operating

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Speaker 1: in these sprints. So it's you know, not just hey,

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Speaker 1: I'm going to have an hour and a half starting

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Speaker 1: at nine, That's when I'm going to sit down and

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Speaker 1: start looking through email and decide what to do. You know,

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Speaker 1: that's that's not going to get me very far. So

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Speaker 1: I actually plan the night before. I say, you know,

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Speaker 1: during these sprints, what do I need to get done?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely need to get done? What what sprint am I

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Speaker 1: going to get that done? Based on my you know,

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Speaker 1: typical energy level then? And what does a successful day

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Speaker 1: look like? You know, tomorrow will be successful if I

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Speaker 1: do this one thing or whatever. That is so just

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Speaker 1: planning a little more ahead so that you're not wasting

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Speaker 1: any time deciding what to do when you have those

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Speaker 1: those sprints.

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Speaker 3: And do you have, like said questions or a template

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Speaker 3: that you're completing the night before or is it more

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Speaker 3: organic than that?

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Speaker 4: What does that look like?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a good question.

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Speaker 1: So this is something I've used internally, but given all

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Speaker 1: of the work from home and changes, I actually posted

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Speaker 1: it to the Google blog, so I can send you

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Speaker 1: a link to that. But I call it the daily Plan,

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Speaker 1: and I actually do it the night before. So one

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Speaker 1: thing that I do is I add three actions that

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Speaker 1: I want to do for the next day, so my

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Speaker 1: top three priorities. That's kind of that what does the

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Speaker 1: successful day look like? And underneath the first one thing

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Speaker 1: I need to do, it says until this first task

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Speaker 1: has finished, everything else is a distraction. So that's basically

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Speaker 1: like my one thing I need to get done. Then

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Speaker 1: I take a look at hour by hour, which I

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Speaker 1: think is the most important part. So a lot of

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Speaker 1: productivity tips mention this, but planning out what you plan

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Speaker 1: to do hour by hour beforehand makes a huge difference

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Speaker 1: in whether you actually do it. Even just writing down

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Speaker 1: I plan to work out seven to eight makes you

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Speaker 1: way more likely to do that than to wake up

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Speaker 1: and trust yourself.

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Speaker 2: So I do a rough hour by hour plan.

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Speaker 1: Obviously I don't always know how long naps are going

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Speaker 1: to last, but you know, I do an estimate, and then.

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Speaker 2: I also have a little snack size to do.

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Speaker 1: I call it the bottom corner, and I say, okay,

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Speaker 1: if I end up having fifteen extra minutes, those are

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Speaker 1: all tasks that are fifteen minutes or less.

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Speaker 2: So you know, those aren't necessarily my top three.

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Speaker 1: But if I end up having fifteen minutes that I

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Speaker 1: didn't know I had, a meeting ends early and nap

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Speaker 1: goes long, you know, I need to have a list

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Speaker 1: of things I can quickly do. So make that one

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Speaker 1: phone call, you know, do that one email that I've

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Speaker 1: been needing to do.

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Speaker 2: So I have that.

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Speaker 1: I have also at the very top it says something

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Speaker 1: that I'm grateful for. And I think I had that

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Speaker 1: in a planner once that I bought, like I think

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Speaker 1: in high school or something, and I just thought it

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Speaker 1: was a great way just to kick off.

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Speaker 4: You know, you're starting all these.

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Speaker 1: Things you need to do, maybe feeling stress making this list,

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Speaker 1: but having that at the very top is something you're

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Speaker 1: grateful for, like maybe that you do have the opportunity

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Speaker 1: to work from home. That's always a good perspective.

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Speaker 4: That's cool.

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Speaker 3: I like that process. Do you So that's the daily

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Speaker 3: process or the evening process. Do you have any kind

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Speaker 3: of weekly, monthly, quarterly sort of rhythms as well when

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Speaker 3: it comes to planning prioritizing.

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Speaker 4: What does that look like for you?

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Speaker 2: Yeah? So weekly I do something similar.

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Speaker 1: I do a template that basically says, you know, what

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Speaker 1: are my priorities for the week, and then not just what.

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Speaker 2: Do I need to do, but when do I plan

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Speaker 2: to do it?

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Speaker 1: So if I have if I say, like, you know,

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Speaker 1: I really want to complete that project where people get

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Speaker 1: stuck in productivity I think is just listing everything they

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Speaker 1: want to do but never assigning the right place for it.

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Speaker 1: So I've heard you talk about this in some of

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Speaker 1: your other other episodes, but finding when.

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Speaker 2: That natural rhythm you already know you have.

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Speaker 1: So I know that I, you know, tend to be

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Speaker 1: really high energy on Mondays and I can get a

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Speaker 1: lot done because I've been rested over the weekend. So

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Speaker 1: already knowing that about myself, I can slot things into

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Speaker 1: that Monday time slot that I know Fridays, you know,

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Speaker 1: that's a better day to do things like catching up

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Speaker 1: on articles I wanted to read, or maybe responding to

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Speaker 1: some lower energy emails, creative meetings catchups.

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Speaker 2: So I try to structure.

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Speaker 1: My week and days in kind of like that rhythm

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Speaker 1: where I know when I'm going to be most productive

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Speaker 1: and I slot the things I need to do there.

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Speaker 3: That's really interesting because I do talk and write a

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Speaker 3: lot about daily rhythms and people's chronotypes, you know, whether

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Speaker 3: they're a morning or evening person and so forth. But

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Speaker 3: I think the weekly rhythm things interesting, and I feel

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Speaker 3: like less people sort of talk and think about that,

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Speaker 3: And I wonder, for you, when did you start working

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Speaker 3: to a weekly rhythm, and how do you How does

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Speaker 3: one kind of become more self aware as to what

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Speaker 3: the right weekly rhythm is for them? Well, the most

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Speaker 3: effective weekly rhythm is for them.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So I think that when I talk to executives

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Speaker 1: about this, I say, the simplest way of thinking of

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Speaker 1: it daily.

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Speaker 2: Or weekly is what are you in the mood for then?

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Speaker 1: So you know, if you find yourself and it's just

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Speaker 1: picking maybe one week where you pay attention to already

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Speaker 1: what you have going on. So with one executive, I

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Speaker 1: remember he had like a huge staff meeting every Tuesday

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Speaker 1: for a couple hours with all of his staff, and

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Speaker 1: it was, you know, draining in the sense that there

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Speaker 1: was a lot of information shared, is very everybody was

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Speaker 1: mentally focused. And then he found that he kept canceling

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Speaker 1: his Tuesday afternoon meetings. So, you know, I said, why

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Speaker 1: don't you this Tuesday. When you get out of that meeting,

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Speaker 1: just ask yourself what am I in the mood to

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Speaker 1: do right now, and that will show you maybe what

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Speaker 1: you should start slotting at that time. So for me specifically,

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Speaker 1: I found that when I was in sales, I was

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Speaker 1: having lots of ongoing calls with customers that were part

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Speaker 1: of my portfolio and things like that, and I found

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Speaker 1: that I really needed Monday to kind of catch up

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Speaker 1: and prepare for all of those calls, and I needed

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Speaker 1: Friday to debrief and follow up from all of those calls.

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Speaker 1: So I just decided that I was only going to

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Speaker 1: do customer calls between Tuesday and Thursday. And I found

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Speaker 1: that giving myself that Monday and Friday buffer whenever possible

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Speaker 1: really helped my Tuesday through Thursday go really well. So

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Speaker 1: that's kind of where it started. And then every time

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Speaker 1: I've had a different role, I've just kind of thought about,

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Speaker 1: you know, what am I usually in the mood to

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Speaker 1: do Friday mornings, and how can I structure my schedule

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Speaker 1: around that.

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Speaker 4: I like that, what am I in the mood for?

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Speaker 3: Yes, Interestingly, that sales rhythm that you spoke about, I

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Speaker 3: feel like I've heard that before. I remember I had

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Speaker 3: Dean Swan who heads up drop Box here and here

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Speaker 3: in Apac and he had a very similar rhythm when he.

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Speaker 4: Was in a sales role. So yeah, think that makes

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Speaker 4: a lot of sense.

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Speaker 3: I want to come back to working from home productively. Like,

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Speaker 3: were you working from home much before the pandemic hit?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I do some work from home, so I do

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Speaker 1: a lot of travel, and I do have an office

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Speaker 1: that I go into, but I kind of did a

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Speaker 1: mex so I did have some experience working from home,

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Speaker 1: which I feel like has benefited me kind of adapting

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Speaker 1: to this new situation and providing helpful tips that I've

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Speaker 1: learned over that time to help others work from home.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, so with working from home, I was probably a

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Speaker 3: similar kind of situation to you. Where I would travel

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Speaker 3: a lot, probably once a week or once a fortnite,

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Speaker 3: and then I would work from home a couple of

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Speaker 3: days a week and then be in the office one

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Speaker 3: or two days a week. So I like, so at

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Speaker 3: the beginning, I thought, well, I'm I'm, you know, working

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Speaker 3: from home fit.

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Speaker 4: I know what this is all about.

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Speaker 3: But there's a big difference from like working at home

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Speaker 3: a few times a week to every single day and

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Speaker 3: not having a choice in the matter at all. Personally,

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Speaker 3: I'm loving it and my introverted self is thriving. But

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Speaker 3: I imagine and I I know of a lot of

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Speaker 3: people who are like, no, this is very different. I thought,

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Speaker 3: I knew how to work from home, but this is

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Speaker 3: really hard, and I'm wondering, like, are the changes that

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Speaker 3: you've made to your working day now that you're working

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Speaker 3: from home literally every day, and even changes that you've

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Speaker 3: perhaps advised others that Google to make as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think, like you said, a lot of people thought,

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Speaker 1: you know, maybe this will last a couple of weeks,

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Speaker 1: and they just kind of like pulled up their computer

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Speaker 1: as if it was a Friday that they got to

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Speaker 1: work from home. And then I think people are starting

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Speaker 1: to realize, you know, the longer this goes on, I

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Speaker 1: really need to find that sweet spot of how I

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Speaker 1: become productive from home. So I think, you know, one

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Speaker 1: of the biggest things I talk about is just setting

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Speaker 1: the boundaries for this, so mental and physical. And I

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Speaker 1: did do this, but I think now that it's a

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Speaker 1: permanent change, I've done it even more so. One interesting

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Speaker 1: thing that I always think about is that my dad

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Speaker 1: actually work has worked from home my entire life, so

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Speaker 1: it's kind of rare, but we always had him home

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Speaker 1: and we always noticed that he would go into his

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Speaker 1: office to work and then he would come out and

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Speaker 1: he'd be done, so we knew we were never allowed

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Speaker 1: to bother him when he was in his office. And

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Speaker 1: he told me that was originally because he had Ethernet

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Speaker 1: and a desktop, so he didn't even have a laptop

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Speaker 1: when he first started working from home. So I've kind

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Speaker 1: of advised people to have that balance. Pretend you have

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Speaker 1: an Ethernet connection somewhere, Pretend you have a desktop. Just

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Speaker 1: put your laptop in one spot, even if you don't

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Speaker 1: have a home office, doing it at a kitchen table,

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Speaker 1: doing it, you know, in one spot in your dining room.

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Speaker 1: It helps your brain with something called state dependent recall,

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Speaker 1: which means every time I go to this spot, the sites, sounds,

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Speaker 1: smells I associate with working. So if you're switching spots

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Speaker 1: every day, it's harder for your brain to get into

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Speaker 1: that space of saying this is where I work. And

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Speaker 1: now that it's a longer term thing, I think that

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Speaker 1: can really help people if they're normally just pulling up

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Speaker 1: their laptop on the couch, then here, then here, you know,

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Speaker 1: it makes their brain start over every day. And another

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Speaker 1: piece of that is having the places where you never work,

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Speaker 1: So having the place you always work with obviously the

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Speaker 1: occasional take your laptop outside for a little like you

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Speaker 1: would do at work, but then having places where you

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Speaker 1: never go. And what that does is it helps create

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Speaker 1: mental boundaries. Because you're inviting work into your home. You

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Speaker 1: do want somewhere like your bedroom or even like your

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Speaker 1: kids room or the living room where you never have work.

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Speaker 2: So you could even think of it like a guest

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Speaker 2: in your house.

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Speaker 1: If you had a guest who was staying for a

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Speaker 1: really long time, you wouldn't say, like, hey, just come

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Speaker 1: into my bedroom anytime you want, Like, no, you would

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Speaker 1: give them a separate space.

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Speaker 2: You know, you would have boundaries.

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Speaker 1: You would say I'm going to do this and I'm

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Speaker 1: going to do this alone and then I'll see you

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Speaker 1: and I'm ready to see you. So, you know, setting

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Speaker 1: boundaries I think is the biggest one for this long

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Speaker 1: term situation.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's great, And I'm almost curious around the topic

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Speaker 3: of setting boundaries what you do for the top and

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Speaker 3: tail end the day, because I feel like people can struggle.

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Speaker 3: I know I can struggle with that. It's so easy

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Speaker 3: to just roll out of bed and open up your

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Speaker 3: laptop and start work, and then it's quite easy at

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Speaker 3: the end of the day to kind of finish what

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Speaker 3: you're doing and then have some dinner and the laptop

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Speaker 3: still open and just kind of you know, shuffle on

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Speaker 3: back and maybe try to get to inbox zero, which

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Speaker 3: really happens anyway. So what like do you kind of

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Speaker 3: kind of have like morning and evening rituals. Obviously with

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Speaker 3: a nine month old, I mean, yeah, goodness, like there

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Speaker 3: are all these rituals that go with that, But what

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Speaker 3: does that look like for you?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think to your question, that's definitely more of

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Speaker 1: the you know, maybe you're not operating with childcare and

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Speaker 1: you have more time to work than normal if you're

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Speaker 1: not commuting and things like that. So in that situation,

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Speaker 1: I think you will instead of sprint. You want to

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Speaker 1: think of your day as a marathon. So you don't

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Speaker 1: want to start early and burn yourself out by the

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Speaker 1: middle of the day, and you don't want to end

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Speaker 1: late because you're going to have a really hard time

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Speaker 1: starting the next day.

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Speaker 2: So I think that one thing.

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Speaker 1: And I've talked to one executive and she was telling

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Speaker 1: me how she loved reading on her commute, and you know,

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Speaker 1: she was in California, and I was saying, oh, I've

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Speaker 1: been getting emails from you early. I feel like that

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Speaker 1: you're starting earlier, you know, like I'm seeing emails come

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Speaker 1: in earlier. And she's like, yeah, I'm not reading as

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Speaker 1: much because I used to read on the train. And

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Speaker 1: I advised her, maybe you could wake up, you know,

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Speaker 1: put your phone aside where ten you're getting on the

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Speaker 1: train for the exact amount of time as your commute

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Speaker 1: was read, and then you know, start whatever you would

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Speaker 1: have done when you got to work. And you know,

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Speaker 1: ever since she's been doing that. I talked to her

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Speaker 1: recently and she said that it's helped so much because

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Speaker 1: it's basically like more similar to her routine that she

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Speaker 1: already had. So I do things like I don't look

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Speaker 1: at my phone until the time when I would have

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Speaker 1: gone to work.

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Speaker 2: So I wake up and I, you.

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Speaker 1: Know, I spend time with my daughter, I eat breakfast,

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Speaker 1: and then I grab my computer. So a lot of

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Speaker 1: people are just pulling their computer up the minute they

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Speaker 1: wake up or something like that, and it's hard to

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Speaker 1: start that day and then at the end of the night.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, some people, especially people without childcare,

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Speaker 1: that's the time when you're getting things done. But similar

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Speaker 1: to the ethernet example, if you can say, you know,

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Speaker 1: I'm not going to watch TV and work. If I

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Speaker 1: want to watch TV, I'm going to basically leave my

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Speaker 1: laptop in this location and go watch it, it creates

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Speaker 1: that start stop to make you, you know, blend the

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Speaker 1: activities less.

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Speaker 4: That's very helpful.

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Speaker 3: And yeah, I like the distinction that you make around

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Speaker 3: the sprint versus a marathon, depending on whether you're now

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Speaker 3: a homeschooler or parent, or someone that you know has

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Speaker 3: a different sense of time. I do want to ask

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Speaker 3: more about parenting. I feel like people ask me a

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Speaker 3: lot of questions about this, and I feel like I

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Speaker 3: don't really have much in the way of good answers.

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Speaker 4: And so I've got a six year old at.

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Speaker 3: Home who's in year one, and you know, and I

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Speaker 3: do have a bit of help, but it is wow,

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Speaker 3: so different. So what if, like, aside for I'm working

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Speaker 3: in sprints, what have been the most effective strategies that

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Speaker 3: you've used to help balance that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so that's more of like a hacks question kind of.

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Speaker 1: And I think one thing I've been doing is like,

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Speaker 1: when I know I can take something over a phone

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Speaker 1: call versus video chat, I do it on a walk.

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Speaker 1: So I she's very happy in the stroller, and I

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Speaker 1: say like.

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Speaker 2: Okay, well I'm going to do a walk every day.

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Speaker 1: From eleven to twelve, twelve thirty. And then I start

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Speaker 1: scheduling calls in there because you know, that's something I

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Speaker 1: can do and I know she's going to be content.

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Speaker 2: So I've been doing that.

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Speaker 1: Another thing is my husband and I have tried to

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Speaker 1: do alternating no meeting days. So I tried to wherever

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Speaker 1: possible and not always possible, but try to schedule all

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Speaker 1: of my meetings on Monday and Wednesday. And he's trying

441
00:20:47,520 --> 00:20:50,199
Speaker 1: to do Tuesday and Thursday and that way. You know,

442
00:20:50,280 --> 00:20:52,359
Speaker 1: even if even if there are a couple here and

443
00:20:52,400 --> 00:20:55,119
Speaker 1: there that don't align with that, in general, you know,

444
00:20:55,240 --> 00:20:58,760
Speaker 1: he's the one in charge on Monday and Wednesday, and

445
00:20:58,800 --> 00:21:01,359
Speaker 1: in general I'm the one in on Tuesday Thursday. So

446
00:21:02,160 --> 00:21:04,960
Speaker 1: it just helps instead of like every hour switching off.

447
00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:06,480
Speaker 2: You know, I have a meeting, now you have a meeting,

448
00:21:06,520 --> 00:21:07,200
Speaker 2: now I have a meeting.

449
00:21:07,280 --> 00:21:09,760
Speaker 1: It just you know, he knows the whole day today.

450
00:21:09,840 --> 00:21:12,960
Speaker 1: He's in charge of breakfast, lunch, dinner, that kind of thing.

451
00:21:13,040 --> 00:21:17,440
Speaker 1: So I know people are doing that for morning and evening.

452
00:21:17,680 --> 00:21:19,879
Speaker 1: If you maybe work with a different time zone, you

453
00:21:19,920 --> 00:21:22,879
Speaker 1: could do things like that. But that's been really helpful

454
00:21:23,240 --> 00:21:25,640
Speaker 1: so that it's not just a guess every single day

455
00:21:25,680 --> 00:21:26,520
Speaker 1: of how the day.

456
00:21:26,400 --> 00:21:26,879
Speaker 2: Is going to go.

457
00:21:27,240 --> 00:21:31,440
Speaker 4: Well, like that strategy, the yeah, the how you're.

458
00:21:31,320 --> 00:21:36,000
Speaker 3: Scheduling meetings on different days, that's that's a cool one.

459
00:21:36,320 --> 00:21:37,240
Speaker 3: What is your.

460
00:21:37,119 --> 00:21:38,160
Speaker 4: Approach to matings?

461
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:41,120
Speaker 3: Do you like cat Do you think about productivity within

462
00:21:41,160 --> 00:21:43,239
Speaker 3: the context of a meeting, because often that can be

463
00:21:43,640 --> 00:21:46,560
Speaker 3: people's biggest productivity. I think I've read ones that the

464
00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:50,400
Speaker 3: average executive spends twenty three hours a week in meetings,

465
00:21:50,480 --> 00:21:53,160
Speaker 3: and like, I would hate to think about the number

466
00:21:53,160 --> 00:21:55,840
Speaker 3: of hours that people are in matings now that they

467
00:21:55,880 --> 00:21:57,440
Speaker 3: can't see everyone every day.

468
00:21:58,160 --> 00:22:02,120
Speaker 1: Yes, I think so too, And I normally I had

469
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:04,960
Speaker 1: this friend or I guess he was a coworker, and

470
00:22:05,280 --> 00:22:08,280
Speaker 1: I left his team, and he stopped me in the

471
00:22:08,320 --> 00:22:10,520
Speaker 1: hall about a year later and said, Oh, I've really

472
00:22:10,520 --> 00:22:12,600
Speaker 1: been wanting to catch up with you. I was going

473
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,480
Speaker 1: to add time to your calendar, but I knew you

474
00:22:14,520 --> 00:22:17,040
Speaker 1: would decline it unless I had an agenda written out,

475
00:22:17,080 --> 00:22:19,800
Speaker 1: So I haven't done it yet. So that made me

476
00:22:19,920 --> 00:22:23,199
Speaker 1: laugh because I've definitely built a reputation for myself, like

477
00:22:23,400 --> 00:22:26,199
Speaker 1: I say, no agenda, no attenda, Like I want to

478
00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,199
Speaker 1: know exactly what's going to be talked about, you know,

479
00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:31,800
Speaker 1: how it's going to go, how long. My default is

480
00:22:31,840 --> 00:22:34,080
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes for meetings. I know a lot of people

481
00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:36,680
Speaker 1: start at thirty, but I would rather start at fifteen,

482
00:22:36,720 --> 00:22:39,119
Speaker 1: and then you don't kind of like the you know,

483
00:22:39,119 --> 00:22:42,320
Speaker 1: hot air balloon effect where you're filling the time because

484
00:22:42,320 --> 00:22:45,760
Speaker 1: it's already scheduled. So I'm definitely diligent about meetings. But

485
00:22:45,840 --> 00:22:47,800
Speaker 1: one tip that I've been giving since all of this

486
00:22:47,840 --> 00:22:51,439
Speaker 1: started is that it's okay in this situation to be

487
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:52,360
Speaker 1: a little.

488
00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:53,600
Speaker 2: More relaxed about that.

489
00:22:53,840 --> 00:22:56,480
Speaker 1: So I think that you know, we have this natural

490
00:22:56,680 --> 00:23:00,360
Speaker 1: like water cooler run in, you know, chatting at our

491
00:23:00,400 --> 00:23:02,800
Speaker 1: desk kind of back and forth that's going on in

492
00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,520
Speaker 1: the office, and so being at home, especially for people

493
00:23:05,560 --> 00:23:08,399
Speaker 1: who maybe by themselves this whole time, you know, that

494
00:23:08,440 --> 00:23:11,640
Speaker 1: can be isolating without some of that chit chat, lunches,

495
00:23:11,680 --> 00:23:15,000
Speaker 1: things like that. So a lot of meetings that maybe

496
00:23:15,000 --> 00:23:17,640
Speaker 1: I would have said no to before all this, I'm

497
00:23:18,080 --> 00:23:21,040
Speaker 1: keeping on the calendar, so just check ins, just you know,

498
00:23:21,240 --> 00:23:25,280
Speaker 1: chatting with people. My team has an informal weekly meeting,

499
00:23:25,320 --> 00:23:28,040
Speaker 1: so we don't talk about anything work related, and each

500
00:23:28,080 --> 00:23:31,719
Speaker 1: week we have a different agenda item, which is, you know,

501
00:23:31,840 --> 00:23:35,359
Speaker 1: one last week was share your favorite recipe. This week

502
00:23:35,520 --> 00:23:38,800
Speaker 1: is a TV show that you're watching that you really enjoyed.

503
00:23:39,200 --> 00:23:41,879
Speaker 1: Next week is a hobby that you've started, and then

504
00:23:41,880 --> 00:23:43,879
Speaker 1: we're going to show the progress of the hobby over

505
00:23:44,359 --> 00:23:45,040
Speaker 1: the coming week.

506
00:23:45,119 --> 00:23:48,159
Speaker 2: So you know, we're finding ways to connect.

507
00:23:47,880 --> 00:23:50,919
Speaker 1: And meet, but they don't have to be as rigid

508
00:23:51,080 --> 00:23:54,120
Speaker 1: as you know, maybe.

509
00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:56,280
Speaker 2: The in the office schedule that you're normally following.

510
00:23:57,480 --> 00:24:02,400
Speaker 4: Yeah, that's that's really interesting. Of I found the same thing.

511
00:24:02,960 --> 00:24:05,199
Speaker 3: I want to come back to the fifteen minute default,

512
00:24:05,560 --> 00:24:09,320
Speaker 3: and just on a practical note, because I imagine you

513
00:24:09,440 --> 00:24:12,080
Speaker 3: use Google Calendar as we do it in vent him.

514
00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:15,720
Speaker 4: Is there a default setting that you can use in

515
00:24:16,560 --> 00:24:19,639
Speaker 4: GCL to make the default length fifteen minutes.

516
00:24:19,920 --> 00:24:20,240
Speaker 2: Yeah.

517
00:24:20,280 --> 00:24:23,159
Speaker 1: So if you're in Google Calendar and you go to

518
00:24:23,200 --> 00:24:28,960
Speaker 1: your settings, there is a section called event settings, and

519
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,719
Speaker 1: you can drop down on default duration and change it

520
00:24:32,800 --> 00:24:36,040
Speaker 1: to what your default is. So when you create a meeting,

521
00:24:36,440 --> 00:24:38,320
Speaker 1: it will start at that time, and then you can

522
00:24:38,359 --> 00:24:42,040
Speaker 1: extend it. So I've seen executives who have an hour

523
00:24:42,320 --> 00:24:45,679
Speaker 1: as their default, and you know that it's harder to change,

524
00:24:45,680 --> 00:24:48,280
Speaker 1: and you might say like, oh, I don't really need

525
00:24:48,280 --> 00:24:50,320
Speaker 1: an hour, but it's already on there, so you know

526
00:24:50,359 --> 00:24:52,480
Speaker 1: we'll find something to talk about and that ends up

527
00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:55,560
Speaker 1: being valuable times. So when I work with the executives,

528
00:24:55,560 --> 00:24:58,800
Speaker 1: I do what's called a meeting diet, where I say,

529
00:24:58,840 --> 00:25:00,760
Speaker 1: you know, you don't have to give up all meetings,

530
00:25:00,800 --> 00:25:03,440
Speaker 1: you just want to take them in moderation and think

531
00:25:03,480 --> 00:25:06,679
Speaker 1: smartly about them. And so when they say, like I

532
00:25:06,720 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: have five hour meetings, I say, if you shorten those

533
00:25:09,320 --> 00:25:12,240
Speaker 1: to forty five minutes. You just gained another hour and

534
00:25:12,280 --> 00:25:14,959
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes of your week back. So I think you know,

535
00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:18,560
Speaker 1: having the default be fifteen or forty five can really

536
00:25:18,560 --> 00:25:21,160
Speaker 1: help you gain some of that time back that ends

537
00:25:21,240 --> 00:25:23,320
Speaker 1: up being like dead space and meetings.

538
00:25:23,600 --> 00:25:26,480
Speaker 4: That's awesome. I've literally just changed it now we you'm

539
00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:31,280
Speaker 4: been describing it. There you go, there you go. I was.

540
00:25:31,520 --> 00:25:34,000
Speaker 3: I was on the speedy meeting setting, which I like,

541
00:25:34,760 --> 00:25:37,520
Speaker 3: which defaults everything to twenty five or fifteen minutes for

542
00:25:37,560 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 3: those that are not aware of that setting, which I

543
00:25:40,760 --> 00:25:41,679
Speaker 3: do quite like.

544
00:25:41,760 --> 00:25:43,080
Speaker 4: But yeah, fifteen minutes.

545
00:25:43,160 --> 00:25:47,560
Speaker 3: That's that's great that I can do that fantastic. I

546
00:25:47,600 --> 00:25:50,520
Speaker 3: want to know about email because you mentioned when you

547
00:25:50,560 --> 00:25:53,000
Speaker 3: were doing this as a twenty percent project, and I

548
00:25:53,040 --> 00:25:55,920
Speaker 3: love that your role came out of a twenty percent project.

549
00:25:56,000 --> 00:25:59,360
Speaker 4: That sounds very Google And so email.

550
00:25:59,040 --> 00:26:01,240
Speaker 3: Was the first thing that you're helping people with, and

551
00:26:02,000 --> 00:26:05,560
Speaker 3: I imagine you've probably developed your email management strategies a lot.

552
00:26:05,720 --> 00:26:09,199
Speaker 3: What are the most important things people need to be

553
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,439
Speaker 3: thinking about with email and perhaps other than batching, But

554
00:26:13,440 --> 00:26:15,520
Speaker 3: I would like to know actually what your view is

555
00:26:15,560 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 3: about batching, how that works, and maybe how that works

556
00:26:17,760 --> 00:26:19,000
Speaker 3: in your own life as well.

557
00:26:20,000 --> 00:26:23,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I do. I do promote batching.

558
00:26:23,600 --> 00:26:26,320
Speaker 1: And the way that I explain this when I'm coaching

559
00:26:26,680 --> 00:26:30,240
Speaker 1: or leading my courses, I say, totally forget about email

560
00:26:30,720 --> 00:26:33,960
Speaker 1: and think about your laundry because that's something that everyone

561
00:26:34,080 --> 00:26:34,920
Speaker 1: does or knows.

562
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:35,200
Speaker 2: How to do.

563
00:26:35,800 --> 00:26:39,399
Speaker 1: And so if you pretend that your dryer is your inbox,

564
00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:42,800
Speaker 1: and you imagine how a lot of people are doing

565
00:26:42,840 --> 00:26:43,720
Speaker 1: email right now.

566
00:26:43,800 --> 00:26:47,320
Speaker 2: They go in, they grab one shirt.

567
00:26:47,520 --> 00:26:50,000
Speaker 1: They fold it, and they walk it all the way

568
00:26:50,080 --> 00:26:52,440
Speaker 1: up to their dresser, and then they walk all the

569
00:26:52,480 --> 00:26:55,000
Speaker 1: way back down and then maybe they find a pair

570
00:26:55,040 --> 00:26:58,360
Speaker 1: of pants and it's still wet, and they think, oh,

571
00:26:58,440 --> 00:27:00,719
Speaker 1: I'll just throw it back in there. If all of

572
00:27:00,760 --> 00:27:03,720
Speaker 1: my dry clothes, you know, maybe that's mark is unread

573
00:27:03,880 --> 00:27:05,640
Speaker 1: because you don't want to deal with it right now.

574
00:27:06,280 --> 00:27:08,240
Speaker 1: You know, you find one sock, but you don't know

575
00:27:08,280 --> 00:27:10,760
Speaker 1: where the other sock is, but you put it away anyway,

576
00:27:10,920 --> 00:27:13,080
Speaker 1: knowing you're going to have to go back so and

577
00:27:13,119 --> 00:27:14,760
Speaker 1: then you know, by the end of it, you're like,

578
00:27:14,880 --> 00:27:16,800
Speaker 1: you know, I just I'm just going to start the

579
00:27:16,880 --> 00:27:19,480
Speaker 1: dryer all over and look at it again tomorrow. And

580
00:27:19,520 --> 00:27:22,840
Speaker 1: it's like, how stressful would that be for doing laundry

581
00:27:22,880 --> 00:27:25,080
Speaker 1: because a lot of people are doing their email like that,

582
00:27:25,119 --> 00:27:28,960
Speaker 1: they're picking and choosing. So with your laundry, you're saying, okay,

583
00:27:29,160 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 1: it's my time to empty the dryer. Even if I

584
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:34,760
Speaker 1: can't finish all this out, I'm emptying everything and then

585
00:27:34,960 --> 00:27:37,040
Speaker 1: I'm putting it in piles. These are things I need

586
00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,320
Speaker 1: to fold, These are things I need to hang, these

587
00:27:39,359 --> 00:27:42,720
Speaker 1: are socks I need to match. Then you're fold fold, fold, fold,

588
00:27:42,760 --> 00:27:45,919
Speaker 1: folding five things in a row and walking them all upstairs.

589
00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:47,959
Speaker 1: So even if that's where you have to leave it,

590
00:27:48,440 --> 00:27:50,960
Speaker 1: and you have to come back to hang, hang, hang, hang,

591
00:27:51,000 --> 00:27:53,640
Speaker 1: and take everything to your closet, you're still in such

592
00:27:53,640 --> 00:27:57,800
Speaker 1: a better mental place because you know the dryer is empty,

593
00:27:58,240 --> 00:28:00,960
Speaker 1: so you know, if you're thinking about your inbox. A

594
00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:03,840
Speaker 1: lot of people never empty their inbox in the sense

595
00:28:03,880 --> 00:28:06,359
Speaker 1: that not that they've replied to everything, but that they've

596
00:28:06,760 --> 00:28:08,840
Speaker 1: addressed the next action for everything.

597
00:28:08,920 --> 00:28:10,919
Speaker 2: So in your terms, batched it.

598
00:28:11,480 --> 00:28:14,160
Speaker 1: And it's like if you walked by your dryer every

599
00:28:14,160 --> 00:28:16,359
Speaker 1: single day and the door was open and you just

600
00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:19,920
Speaker 1: kept seeing your clothes in there, you would constantly feel stressed, like, oh,

601
00:28:19,960 --> 00:28:22,320
Speaker 1: I have so many clothes I need to get to

602
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:25,040
Speaker 1: versus oh, I have, you know, five things I know

603
00:28:25,160 --> 00:28:25,919
Speaker 1: need to be folded.

604
00:28:25,960 --> 00:28:27,200
Speaker 2: I know exactly what's in there.

605
00:28:28,000 --> 00:28:32,240
Speaker 1: So I do recommend the inbox zero mentality, meaning that

606
00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,720
Speaker 1: you sort all of your emails as a separate activity,

607
00:28:35,800 --> 00:28:40,520
Speaker 1: get to zero, and then read emails, answer emails all

608
00:28:40,520 --> 00:28:44,120
Speaker 1: as separate activities versus you know, doing them all mixed together,

609
00:28:44,200 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: which is where people lose a lot of energy and

610
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,080
Speaker 1: touch the same email, you know, four to five times.

611
00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:52,640
Speaker 3: So can we get into the minuta or some of that.

612
00:28:52,720 --> 00:28:56,040
Speaker 3: I love that image of comparing it to the clothes dryer.

613
00:28:56,080 --> 00:28:59,200
Speaker 3: I've never heard that before. That's so that's so powerful

614
00:28:59,280 --> 00:29:01,280
Speaker 3: that I regular that's that's going to stick with me.

615
00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:05,280
Speaker 3: How then, like when you're in the inbooks, are you

616
00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:08,800
Speaker 3: doing more of the like the microactivities in terms of sorting?

617
00:29:08,840 --> 00:29:12,160
Speaker 3: What are the categories? What are the functionality that you're using?

618
00:29:12,280 --> 00:29:13,080
Speaker 3: Like what does that look like?

619
00:29:13,720 --> 00:29:18,160
Speaker 1: So I use Gmail obviously, and I use what's called

620
00:29:18,240 --> 00:29:21,800
Speaker 1: multiple inbox, which is under the inbox tab in Gmail.

621
00:29:21,960 --> 00:29:24,520
Speaker 1: So the way I think of it is there's really

622
00:29:24,560 --> 00:29:26,520
Speaker 1: only three actions that.

623
00:29:26,520 --> 00:29:29,880
Speaker 2: Can go with an email, and that is one.

624
00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,320
Speaker 1: It's something you need to do, meaning you plus time

625
00:29:33,720 --> 00:29:36,480
Speaker 1: would complete that activity. So a lot of people muddy

626
00:29:36,560 --> 00:29:39,040
Speaker 1: up to do with things that they you know, they

627
00:29:39,080 --> 00:29:40,960
Speaker 1: can do once they hear from so and so.

628
00:29:41,360 --> 00:29:42,960
Speaker 2: You know that's not what I put in to do.

629
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,000
Speaker 1: It's if I sat down tonight, I'm going to clear

630
00:29:45,040 --> 00:29:48,560
Speaker 1: out my to do so I have to do waiting,

631
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,040
Speaker 1: which is things that I need to follow up on

632
00:29:51,160 --> 00:29:54,239
Speaker 1: but are not directly my action, and then things I

633
00:29:54,320 --> 00:29:58,520
Speaker 1: need to read and so multiple inboxes basically it's called

634
00:29:58,560 --> 00:30:02,480
Speaker 1: multiple inboxes, but it's really multiple views or multiple windows.

635
00:30:02,520 --> 00:30:05,560
Speaker 2: So I base, I have my left side, which is

636
00:30:05,560 --> 00:30:06,120
Speaker 2: my dryer.

637
00:30:06,280 --> 00:30:09,440
Speaker 1: Everything comes into that, and then I use the right

638
00:30:09,480 --> 00:30:13,040
Speaker 1: side inboxes of multiple inboxes, and I say, in my

639
00:30:13,440 --> 00:30:17,320
Speaker 1: first section, show me anything I've labeled to do. In

640
00:30:17,360 --> 00:30:20,080
Speaker 1: my next section, show me anything i've labeled waiting and

641
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: read through.

642
00:30:20,720 --> 00:30:22,320
Speaker 2: So essentially, multiple.

643
00:30:21,960 --> 00:30:26,959
Speaker 1: Inboxes lets you peek into a certain folder or label

644
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:29,600
Speaker 1: without having to open it. So it creates more of

645
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,400
Speaker 1: a dashboard where I can see incoming emails and I

646
00:30:32,400 --> 00:30:35,840
Speaker 1: can see things that I've addressed into my piles.

647
00:30:35,960 --> 00:30:39,200
Speaker 3: Rot and so then on a daily basis, and I

648
00:30:39,200 --> 00:30:42,800
Speaker 3: as see are you checking email at least once a day?

649
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:45,840
Speaker 1: Yes, so I know a lot of people say, and this.

650
00:30:46,080 --> 00:30:48,000
Speaker 1: If you ask me my two rules on email, it

651
00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,080
Speaker 1: would be one, treat it like laundry, and two close

652
00:30:51,200 --> 00:30:52,800
Speaker 1: it one to two times a day.

653
00:30:52,920 --> 00:30:55,000
Speaker 2: So I don't recommend.

654
00:30:54,480 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 1: You know, only look at your email once because a

655
00:30:57,040 --> 00:30:59,640
Speaker 1: lot of people's jobs, the way we communicate, now, that's

656
00:30:59,720 --> 00:31:02,040
Speaker 1: just not realistic. You know you're going to miss something

657
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:04,360
Speaker 1: that is for the next meeting or something like that.

658
00:31:04,480 --> 00:31:06,840
Speaker 1: So I really say, like, it can be open, but

659
00:31:06,880 --> 00:31:09,440
Speaker 1: you really should close it if you've set.

660
00:31:09,240 --> 00:31:11,160
Speaker 2: Time to work.

661
00:31:11,440 --> 00:31:14,400
Speaker 1: So I check my email, you know, throughout the day.

662
00:31:14,920 --> 00:31:18,320
Speaker 1: But the structure of how I'm the workflow, I guess

663
00:31:18,400 --> 00:31:21,800
Speaker 1: is what you're asking. It's basically, I open my inbox

664
00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:24,920
Speaker 1: in the morning. I get to zero, so I go

665
00:31:25,000 --> 00:31:29,400
Speaker 1: through each email in chronological order without popping back to

666
00:31:29,440 --> 00:31:31,960
Speaker 1: the main inbox. So I use something called auto advance.

667
00:31:32,000 --> 00:31:34,680
Speaker 1: It forces me to go to the next email versus

668
00:31:35,520 --> 00:31:37,680
Speaker 1: going back to the dryer and picking out whatever I

669
00:31:37,720 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 1: want that looks shiny. It's like, no, I'm going to

670
00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:43,320
Speaker 1: the next thing I got, and I either archive the

671
00:31:43,360 --> 00:31:47,320
Speaker 1: email or I put it in a folder. So in Gmail,

672
00:31:47,760 --> 00:31:50,280
Speaker 1: you can archive without putting it in a label. So

673
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,520
Speaker 1: I either delete or archive, or I put it in

674
00:31:53,560 --> 00:31:54,720
Speaker 1: one of those three buckets.

675
00:31:54,760 --> 00:31:56,760
Speaker 2: So I go through get to inbox.

676
00:31:56,480 --> 00:32:01,600
Speaker 1: Zero doing that, and then I match my email based

677
00:32:01,640 --> 00:32:04,800
Speaker 1: on my energy. So if I then have two hours

678
00:32:04,880 --> 00:32:08,440
Speaker 1: of uninterrupted time, I know that I really can dive

679
00:32:08,480 --> 00:32:11,320
Speaker 1: into some of those to dos, and so I open

680
00:32:11,400 --> 00:32:13,840
Speaker 1: that folder only I don't look at the rest of

681
00:32:13,840 --> 00:32:15,959
Speaker 1: my inbox. I just turn to the clothes I need

682
00:32:16,000 --> 00:32:19,040
Speaker 1: to fold, and I, you know, go through each one

683
00:32:19,040 --> 00:32:21,720
Speaker 1: of them and fold, fold, fold. But then everyone knows

684
00:32:21,760 --> 00:32:24,760
Speaker 1: how you have that afternoon time where you know, especially

685
00:32:24,760 --> 00:32:27,840
Speaker 1: with if you're one of the early morning chronotypes, and

686
00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:33,520
Speaker 1: you have this like two thirty to three time where

687
00:32:33,800 --> 00:32:36,240
Speaker 1: you're not really going to get that much done. You're

688
00:32:36,240 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 1: not going to respond to those big, big emails because

689
00:32:38,840 --> 00:32:41,400
Speaker 1: you're probably low energy and you only have thirty minutes.

690
00:32:41,760 --> 00:32:44,840
Speaker 2: So that's when I go through my read folder and say, okay, what.

691
00:32:44,800 --> 00:32:47,000
Speaker 1: Are these industry articles I want to read? You know,

692
00:32:47,080 --> 00:32:49,760
Speaker 1: I can quickly pop through them, so I don't waste

693
00:32:50,120 --> 00:32:54,840
Speaker 1: that primo morning productivity time reading articles, and then I

694
00:32:54,960 --> 00:32:56,800
Speaker 1: at the end of the day go through my waiting

695
00:32:57,560 --> 00:32:59,720
Speaker 1: Every day I scan through that and say, is there

696
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:02,200
Speaker 1: any thing that I'm waiting on that I could bump

697
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:04,800
Speaker 1: up right now or anything that's coming up with the deadline,

698
00:33:05,160 --> 00:33:07,840
Speaker 1: I get to inbox zero again before I leave for

699
00:33:07,920 --> 00:33:09,840
Speaker 1: the day at work or before you know, I sign

700
00:33:09,880 --> 00:33:11,520
Speaker 1: off at the end of the night, and then if

701
00:33:11,600 --> 00:33:13,680
Speaker 1: I do pick up my phone or something, I'm seeing

702
00:33:13,840 --> 00:33:16,719
Speaker 1: only new emails that have come in, and I know

703
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:18,520
Speaker 1: they're only the ones that I haven't address.

704
00:33:18,640 --> 00:33:19,680
Speaker 2: So that's kind of.

705
00:33:19,600 --> 00:33:22,560
Speaker 1: My very detailed I don't know how detailed you wanted it,

706
00:33:22,600 --> 00:33:23,720
Speaker 1: but that's.

707
00:33:23,520 --> 00:33:24,640
Speaker 2: Exactly how I do it.

708
00:33:25,400 --> 00:33:26,680
Speaker 4: That was great. That was great.

709
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:30,040
Speaker 3: I feel like that's enough details that I could completely

710
00:33:30,080 --> 00:33:32,840
Speaker 3: change the way that I'm managing white Inbox, which I

711
00:33:32,880 --> 00:33:34,840
Speaker 3: think I shall be doing after this interview. That was

712
00:33:34,880 --> 00:33:35,880
Speaker 3: incredibly helpful.

713
00:33:36,400 --> 00:33:36,840
Speaker 4: I want to know.

714
00:33:36,840 --> 00:33:38,480
Speaker 3: I mean, some people would think about email as a

715
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,480
Speaker 3: digital distraction, and then you know, there's also obviously social media,

716
00:33:42,520 --> 00:33:46,320
Speaker 3: which I feel is probably an even bigger distraction now

717
00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:49,120
Speaker 3: as I news sites with everything going on in the world,

718
00:33:49,240 --> 00:33:53,280
Speaker 3: and I'm curious as to what your approach is to

719
00:33:53,360 --> 00:33:55,080
Speaker 3: managing those digital distractions.

720
00:33:56,280 --> 00:33:59,120
Speaker 1: Yeah, I do think that that's I don't want to

721
00:33:59,120 --> 00:34:02,640
Speaker 1: say downfall, but a lot of times with productivity coaching.

722
00:34:02,720 --> 00:34:05,320
Speaker 1: That's like a big stick in the mud that I

723
00:34:05,360 --> 00:34:07,640
Speaker 1: see that people are saying, Oh, this one thing is

724
00:34:07,720 --> 00:34:11,160
Speaker 1: keeping me from getting things done. So, like you said,

725
00:34:11,280 --> 00:34:14,640
Speaker 1: especially now, I've been sharing internally at Google, not necessarily

726
00:34:14,680 --> 00:34:17,000
Speaker 1: even work related, but I've just been calling them habits

727
00:34:17,040 --> 00:34:18,560
Speaker 1: that help that are little, you.

728
00:34:18,480 --> 00:34:20,560
Speaker 2: Know, things that I've been doing that I feel.

729
00:34:20,320 --> 00:34:23,480
Speaker 1: Like are helping during this time. In addition to tips

730
00:34:23,480 --> 00:34:25,440
Speaker 1: to working from home, and one of them that I

731
00:34:25,480 --> 00:34:28,319
Speaker 1: mentioned right now is just, you know, not looking at

732
00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:31,239
Speaker 1: social media on my phone. So I feel like I'm

733
00:34:31,320 --> 00:34:34,600
Speaker 1: using my phone more to work because I'm you know,

734
00:34:34,719 --> 00:34:36,640
Speaker 1: keeping up with a child and things like that. So

735
00:34:36,719 --> 00:34:38,440
Speaker 1: I kind of want my phone to be a safe

736
00:34:38,520 --> 00:34:41,360
Speaker 1: place where I just can look at work or message

737
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:43,920
Speaker 1: friends and family. So, you know, if you feel like

738
00:34:43,960 --> 00:34:46,920
Speaker 1: you're spending a lot of time on news or social media,

739
00:34:47,280 --> 00:34:49,359
Speaker 1: you know, you could make a simple rule like I

740
00:34:49,400 --> 00:34:51,680
Speaker 1: only look at that when I'm at my computer, which

741
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,239
Speaker 1: it's a little bit harder to do. So the key

742
00:34:54,280 --> 00:34:56,560
Speaker 1: to distractions is that you want to get.

743
00:34:56,360 --> 00:34:57,520
Speaker 2: Out ahead of them.

744
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:01,719
Speaker 1: So once once you get that, you know, pop up

745
00:35:01,840 --> 00:35:04,840
Speaker 1: about social media, there's basically no way that you're not

746
00:35:05,040 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 1: going to follow it, So you have to make it

747
00:35:08,120 --> 00:35:14,120
Speaker 1: almost harder to participate in the distraction than too sorry,

748
00:35:14,200 --> 00:35:17,080
Speaker 1: harder to not so if you are trying to read.

749
00:35:17,160 --> 00:35:18,719
Speaker 2: So I'm doing this reading challenge, and.

750
00:35:18,680 --> 00:35:20,600
Speaker 1: I say, like, you actually have to put your phone

751
00:35:20,719 --> 00:35:23,799
Speaker 1: far enough away where it's annoying to you to have

752
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:26,120
Speaker 1: to get up and go get it, and that will

753
00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:28,919
Speaker 1: keep you from, you know, looking at your phone while

754
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,440
Speaker 1: you're reading. So things like chat pop ups, you know,

755
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:35,640
Speaker 1: news pop ups, you can't just expect that when they

756
00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:37,520
Speaker 1: come you're not going to look at them. You actually

757
00:35:37,560 --> 00:35:39,960
Speaker 1: have to say, you know, before that happens, I'm just

758
00:35:40,000 --> 00:35:43,600
Speaker 1: going to turn them off and see how much mentally

759
00:35:43,719 --> 00:35:44,920
Speaker 1: more focused I feel.

760
00:35:45,600 --> 00:35:47,920
Speaker 4: That's great. I like it reminds me.

761
00:35:48,760 --> 00:35:52,600
Speaker 3: I've had Check Nap and John Taratsky on the podcast,

762
00:35:52,640 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 3: who obviously both ex Google is and they like in

763
00:35:56,239 --> 00:35:59,840
Speaker 3: the book Mike Time, they talk about creating a distraction

764
00:36:00,239 --> 00:36:04,880
Speaker 3: free phone, where they're essentially saying, delete all apps that

765
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:09,920
Speaker 3: have an infinity pool or you know, infinity scrolling where

766
00:36:10,080 --> 00:36:13,359
Speaker 3: the scrolling never ends, Like what does what does your

767
00:36:13,719 --> 00:36:16,719
Speaker 3: phone look like? Because I imagine it's it's probably a

768
00:36:16,760 --> 00:36:19,960
Speaker 3: balance between that but also the reality of having a

769
00:36:20,040 --> 00:36:22,080
Speaker 3: nine month old is that you can actually get work

770
00:36:22,120 --> 00:36:26,280
Speaker 3: done on the phone when they're like, you know, sleeping

771
00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,640
Speaker 3: in the carrier on your chest and that kind of thing.

772
00:36:28,719 --> 00:36:31,000
Speaker 3: So like, what does your phone? What does your phone

773
00:36:31,000 --> 00:36:31,400
Speaker 3: look like?

774
00:36:31,719 --> 00:36:35,840
Speaker 1: Yeah, so one thing I do is I do have notifications,

775
00:36:35,920 --> 00:36:38,799
Speaker 1: but I make them really specific, so in you know,

776
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,920
Speaker 1: in an Android phone, you can say within Gmail only

777
00:36:43,520 --> 00:36:47,160
Speaker 1: that only pop up if it's from this certain group

778
00:36:47,200 --> 00:36:49,400
Speaker 1: of people or if it has a certain label. So,

779
00:36:49,840 --> 00:36:52,920
Speaker 1: you know, I do that so that I'm getting notifications

780
00:36:52,920 --> 00:36:55,799
Speaker 1: for important things on my phone for work, but I'm

781
00:36:55,800 --> 00:36:59,120
Speaker 1: not getting every single email that's sent because I don't

782
00:36:59,160 --> 00:36:59,920
Speaker 1: need to go.

783
00:36:59,800 --> 00:37:01,840
Speaker 2: To those emails, you know, right away.

784
00:37:02,400 --> 00:37:06,440
Speaker 1: And then I do have you know, some apps like

785
00:37:06,560 --> 00:37:10,400
Speaker 1: photos and things like that, but I don't have social media.

786
00:37:10,120 --> 00:37:11,080
Speaker 2: Apps on my phone.

787
00:37:11,120 --> 00:37:14,360
Speaker 1: So I do look at social media on the computer

788
00:37:14,880 --> 00:37:17,840
Speaker 1: and that's pretty much it. And one thing that helped

789
00:37:17,880 --> 00:37:21,520
Speaker 1: me come to that is just looking at which many

790
00:37:21,560 --> 00:37:25,120
Speaker 1: phones have now is my you know settings for.

791
00:37:25,080 --> 00:37:27,320
Speaker 2: How long I was spending in each of those apps.

792
00:37:27,320 --> 00:37:30,480
Speaker 1: And when I was trying to do my reading challenge

793
00:37:30,520 --> 00:37:32,560
Speaker 1: and find like an extra hour a day for reading,

794
00:37:32,600 --> 00:37:35,600
Speaker 1: and I realized I was spending about that on social media,

795
00:37:36,160 --> 00:37:38,239
Speaker 1: it helped me stay like, you know, even just a

796
00:37:38,239 --> 00:37:40,160
Speaker 1: few minutes here, a few minutes here, a few minutes here,

797
00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:42,880
Speaker 1: really adds up and pulls you away from your you know,

798
00:37:42,960 --> 00:37:45,960
Speaker 1: mental space. So I think that that's kind of what

799
00:37:46,080 --> 00:37:47,480
Speaker 1: convinced me to remove that.

800
00:37:47,640 --> 00:37:50,680
Speaker 2: So I have notifications in moderation.

801
00:37:50,880 --> 00:37:55,560
Speaker 3: I would say that's an interesting approach instead of just

802
00:37:55,600 --> 00:38:00,520
Speaker 3: going blanket no notifications. It's very interesting. I want to

803
00:38:00,600 --> 00:38:04,640
Speaker 3: know in terms of apps that you find helpful for

804
00:38:04,840 --> 00:38:08,800
Speaker 3: productivity or staying focused or time management, those general areas,

805
00:38:09,239 --> 00:38:13,920
Speaker 3: are there any favorite apps that you have for the

806
00:38:13,960 --> 00:38:16,719
Speaker 3: phone or for the computer that you find really help

807
00:38:16,760 --> 00:38:17,560
Speaker 3: you during the day.

808
00:38:18,680 --> 00:38:21,919
Speaker 1: So I would say that the number one app that

809
00:38:22,200 --> 00:38:26,719
Speaker 1: increases my productivity, especially right now is Google Keep. And

810
00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:30,479
Speaker 1: the reason is is because of the idea of what's

811
00:38:30,520 --> 00:38:34,239
Speaker 1: called capture in productivity. So when I talk to executives

812
00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:36,400
Speaker 1: and I say, you know, when do you come up

813
00:38:36,440 --> 00:38:39,800
Speaker 1: with your best ideas? They never say when I'm sitting

814
00:38:39,840 --> 00:38:41,799
Speaker 1: at my desk. They never say when I'm looking at

815
00:38:41,840 --> 00:38:43,560
Speaker 1: my computer. They never say, you.

816
00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,880
Speaker 2: Know, in a meeting. They say in the shower.

817
00:38:46,760 --> 00:38:49,800
Speaker 1: Or in my commute or you know, when I don't

818
00:38:49,800 --> 00:38:52,160
Speaker 1: have anything. I'm just on a walk something like that.

819
00:38:52,280 --> 00:38:55,320
Speaker 1: So the point is when you're kind of like walking

820
00:38:55,360 --> 00:38:58,000
Speaker 1: around and maybe it's for me, I'm with the stroller

821
00:38:58,560 --> 00:39:01,319
Speaker 1: or I'm cooking or something like that, that's actually when

822
00:39:01,480 --> 00:39:03,439
Speaker 1: a lot of my ideas come to me, or things

823
00:39:03,480 --> 00:39:04,839
Speaker 1: that I want to do, or things that I want

824
00:39:04,880 --> 00:39:09,399
Speaker 1: to remember. And so a lot of productivity is how

825
00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 1: do you get those down and action them. So everyone

826
00:39:12,960 --> 00:39:15,760
Speaker 1: has those ideas when they have that clear mental space,

827
00:39:15,800 --> 00:39:18,520
Speaker 1: but I think the difference between quote.

828
00:39:18,239 --> 00:39:22,440
Speaker 2: A productive person and unproductive is who does a good

829
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:23,919
Speaker 2: job of getting those down.

830
00:39:24,000 --> 00:39:28,640
Speaker 1: So Google Keep has a feature where you can just

831
00:39:28,760 --> 00:39:32,439
Speaker 1: say okay, Google. If you're using like a Google Home

832
00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:36,799
Speaker 1: device or an Android phone, you can say add this

833
00:39:36,920 --> 00:39:39,800
Speaker 1: to my grocery list, add this to my to do list.

834
00:39:40,200 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 1: You can take an audio note of yourself talking, so

835
00:39:43,320 --> 00:39:45,600
Speaker 1: if you don't have the ability to type out what

836
00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:47,400
Speaker 1: you want to say, but it's a really good idea,

837
00:39:47,840 --> 00:39:51,080
Speaker 1: you just speak to the app and it both takes

838
00:39:51,120 --> 00:39:53,759
Speaker 1: the text out of what you're saying and also includes

839
00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:56,960
Speaker 1: an actual snippet of the recording, So it's almost like

840
00:39:57,000 --> 00:39:59,680
Speaker 1: a post it note program. So you have your notes.

841
00:39:59,719 --> 00:40:03,200
Speaker 1: You can categorize them. So that's that's how I work,

842
00:40:03,239 --> 00:40:05,839
Speaker 1: and that's probably the number one app I use on

843
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:08,239
Speaker 1: my phone is just any idea I have, whether it's

844
00:40:08,320 --> 00:40:11,759
Speaker 1: grocery lists, something to do, something to say in.

845
00:40:11,800 --> 00:40:14,439
Speaker 2: My next meeting, whatever that is, I capture it down.

846
00:40:15,239 --> 00:40:19,360
Speaker 3: And are there any other apps that you find useful

847
00:40:19,480 --> 00:40:24,000
Speaker 3: in helping with productivity or time management or anything like

848
00:40:24,040 --> 00:40:24,760
Speaker 3: that in general?

849
00:40:25,239 --> 00:40:27,400
Speaker 1: So I don't think this is an app, but a

850
00:40:27,440 --> 00:40:32,400
Speaker 1: lot of phones have the innate ability now to track

851
00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:35,239
Speaker 1: what you're doing with your time. So I do think

852
00:40:35,280 --> 00:40:37,160
Speaker 1: there are apps out there that do that, but I

853
00:40:37,200 --> 00:40:40,200
Speaker 1: think a lot of platforms have integrated that as part

854
00:40:40,239 --> 00:40:43,480
Speaker 1: of digital wellbeing efforts. So I think, just like I

855
00:40:43,520 --> 00:40:46,960
Speaker 1: said about the social media, looking at you know, actually

856
00:40:47,000 --> 00:40:49,560
Speaker 1: taking into account that data on a weekly basis and

857
00:40:49,600 --> 00:40:51,360
Speaker 1: say what is it that I'm spending a lot of

858
00:40:51,400 --> 00:40:55,000
Speaker 1: time on? What is it that I could be doing

859
00:40:55,040 --> 00:40:57,759
Speaker 1: with that time? If I'm complaining about not having enough time,

860
00:40:57,920 --> 00:41:01,680
Speaker 1: you know, where's that time going? And you can see

861
00:41:01,680 --> 00:41:04,200
Speaker 1: that in your app. I think my husband even changed

862
00:41:04,239 --> 00:41:06,520
Speaker 1: his phone so that it's black and white now, so

863
00:41:06,560 --> 00:41:10,120
Speaker 1: if he goes to open social media or ESPN, it's

864
00:41:10,200 --> 00:41:12,680
Speaker 1: kind of boring because you can only look at so

865
00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:16,680
Speaker 1: many white and black photos. So I just think it's

866
00:41:16,719 --> 00:41:19,520
Speaker 1: not an app, but those type of settings to see

867
00:41:19,520 --> 00:41:23,920
Speaker 1: what you're doing can really change how you're being productive.

868
00:41:24,400 --> 00:41:26,600
Speaker 4: Yeah, I love the grayscale trick.

869
00:41:27,000 --> 00:41:30,879
Speaker 3: I do oscillate between having my phone in grayscale where

870
00:41:30,880 --> 00:41:35,080
Speaker 3: everything just looks utterly boring and a little bit hideous,

871
00:41:35,640 --> 00:41:36,960
Speaker 3: to go back to color.

872
00:41:37,080 --> 00:41:39,560
Speaker 4: So yeah, I think that's a really interesting trick.

873
00:41:40,280 --> 00:41:42,520
Speaker 3: I want to come back to something that you said

874
00:41:42,560 --> 00:41:46,239
Speaker 3: about meetings and how you kind of sort of relaxed

875
00:41:46,320 --> 00:41:49,560
Speaker 3: things a little bit there just for that social connectedness,

876
00:41:49,600 --> 00:41:51,080
Speaker 3: and I want to know. I feel like there are

877
00:41:51,160 --> 00:41:54,719
Speaker 3: so many people struggling with the lack of connectedness with

878
00:41:54,840 --> 00:41:58,360
Speaker 3: coworkers right now, and I want to know what what

879
00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:02,720
Speaker 3: are you and other people at Google doing differently during

880
00:42:02,960 --> 00:42:05,680
Speaker 3: this time to to feel connected.

881
00:42:06,560 --> 00:42:07,960
Speaker 2: I think a lot of people.

882
00:42:08,560 --> 00:42:11,000
Speaker 1: I think what I saw first is people they have

883
00:42:11,200 --> 00:42:13,920
Speaker 1: that ability or that they have that need.

884
00:42:13,600 --> 00:42:15,400
Speaker 2: To want to be connecting.

885
00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:18,520
Speaker 1: So they schedule just like a chat and it's like,

886
00:42:18,600 --> 00:42:21,280
Speaker 1: you know, a team chat. But as we've all seen,

887
00:42:21,320 --> 00:42:24,200
Speaker 1: you know, working digitally is different. It's a little harder

888
00:42:24,280 --> 00:42:28,320
Speaker 1: to just have those natural conversations and maybe you're talking

889
00:42:28,360 --> 00:42:30,839
Speaker 1: over someone and it's not it's not as natural as

890
00:42:30,840 --> 00:42:33,680
Speaker 1: being in person. So I know that that was like

891
00:42:33,719 --> 00:42:37,240
Speaker 1: a learning curve when we first started this whole situation.

892
00:42:37,440 --> 00:42:40,440
Speaker 1: But I think what I've seen really well across Google

893
00:42:40,760 --> 00:42:45,160
Speaker 1: is people are creating informal chats, but they have some

894
00:42:45,200 --> 00:42:49,360
Speaker 1: sort of purpose or underlying, you know, reason for dialing

895
00:42:49,400 --> 00:42:51,959
Speaker 1: into the call. So, like I mentioned about my team,

896
00:42:52,040 --> 00:42:55,560
Speaker 1: even having those silly weekly agendas of bring a recipe,

897
00:42:55,600 --> 00:42:58,080
Speaker 1: it's still something that you know, we kind of have

898
00:42:58,320 --> 00:43:02,360
Speaker 1: structure to talk about. Or I've seen teams do virtual

899
00:43:02,400 --> 00:43:05,040
Speaker 1: happy hours where everyone brings their own drink and dials

900
00:43:05,040 --> 00:43:06,960
Speaker 1: in from five to five thirty and then you share

901
00:43:07,000 --> 00:43:11,160
Speaker 1: a cocktail that you created or mocktail or whatever that is.

902
00:43:11,880 --> 00:43:16,360
Speaker 1: I've seen people do virtual bingo or categories. So I

903
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:19,960
Speaker 1: think it's just getting creative and saying, you know, maybe

904
00:43:20,000 --> 00:43:22,839
Speaker 1: you add an element of the meeting that has a

905
00:43:22,840 --> 00:43:26,680
Speaker 1: social connection, maybe you meet a little more often. So

906
00:43:26,960 --> 00:43:29,360
Speaker 1: some of my bi weekly meetings have now gone to

907
00:43:29,400 --> 00:43:32,360
Speaker 1: weekly since we're not seeing each other in the hallways anymore.

908
00:43:32,440 --> 00:43:35,880
Speaker 1: So I think it's just getting creative with what makes

909
00:43:35,920 --> 00:43:37,960
Speaker 1: you feel like when you get off the call the

910
00:43:38,000 --> 00:43:39,920
Speaker 1: same way you felt at the end of a workday,

911
00:43:39,960 --> 00:43:42,320
Speaker 1: like Wow, I really know what's going on with those people,

912
00:43:42,400 --> 00:43:45,719
Speaker 1: or I really got a good idea or felt connected.

913
00:43:46,600 --> 00:43:49,920
Speaker 3: I like the idea of It's almost like having an

914
00:43:49,920 --> 00:43:52,839
Speaker 3: agenda to get connected, Like I like that your team

915
00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:57,040
Speaker 3: meetings have those themes or activities, so to speak, rather

916
00:43:57,080 --> 00:44:00,759
Speaker 3: than it just being a kind of loose hour, which

917
00:44:01,080 --> 00:44:02,480
Speaker 3: I imagine that a.

918
00:44:02,440 --> 00:44:04,520
Speaker 4: Lot of teams are now doing around the world.

919
00:44:05,120 --> 00:44:07,399
Speaker 3: Yeah, are they ready out the strategies that you've been

920
00:44:07,440 --> 00:44:11,319
Speaker 3: experimenting with or that you're hearing from from other Googlers

921
00:44:11,360 --> 00:44:15,160
Speaker 3: that are working really well to improve that connectedness.

922
00:44:16,360 --> 00:44:18,719
Speaker 1: I think I've just been hearing, you know, from a

923
00:44:18,760 --> 00:44:22,040
Speaker 1: lot of managers and anyone who any really anyone. I

924
00:44:22,080 --> 00:44:26,680
Speaker 1: think an important thing to remember is not just covering business,

925
00:44:26,680 --> 00:44:28,799
Speaker 1: so really thinking about the fact that maybe one of

926
00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:33,120
Speaker 1: your coworkers is at home by themselves, maybe one of

927
00:44:33,160 --> 00:44:36,120
Speaker 1: them is at home with their kids. So just thinking

928
00:44:36,160 --> 00:44:38,759
Speaker 1: about people as people, which you know we should be

929
00:44:38,840 --> 00:44:42,600
Speaker 1: doing all the time in business, but especially right now,

930
00:44:42,680 --> 00:44:45,520
Speaker 1: just kind of connecting with people where they are and

931
00:44:45,800 --> 00:44:49,799
Speaker 1: instead of talking about, you know, whatever the business need

932
00:44:49,920 --> 00:44:52,400
Speaker 1: is at hand, you can get to that, but maybe saying,

933
00:44:52,440 --> 00:44:55,080
Speaker 1: you know, how's it been going with your daughter's homeschooling,

934
00:44:55,280 --> 00:44:59,080
Speaker 1: you know, finding that human connection, checking in with people,

935
00:44:59,400 --> 00:45:01,440
Speaker 1: seeing how they are, you know, on a week to

936
00:45:01,520 --> 00:45:04,120
Speaker 1: week basis. I think that that's been something that I've

937
00:45:04,160 --> 00:45:07,680
Speaker 1: really seen across Google and can be you know, really

938
00:45:07,760 --> 00:45:10,520
Speaker 1: helpful for those people who feel like they're not maybe

939
00:45:11,000 --> 00:45:13,720
Speaker 1: the work chat is the only social connection that they're getting,

940
00:45:13,719 --> 00:45:15,960
Speaker 1: So you really want to check in with people and

941
00:45:16,440 --> 00:45:17,320
Speaker 1: see how they're doing.

942
00:45:18,120 --> 00:45:18,480
Speaker 4: Awesome.

943
00:45:18,560 --> 00:45:21,920
Speaker 3: Yeah, I like that, And I have one final question

944
00:45:21,960 --> 00:45:24,920
Speaker 3: for you, like if you could, And it's partly motivated

945
00:45:24,920 --> 00:45:26,600
Speaker 3: by the fact that I feel like there are seventy

946
00:45:26,640 --> 00:45:29,400
Speaker 3: great strategies that you're using and things that I'm personally

947
00:45:29,400 --> 00:45:31,120
Speaker 3: going to take out of this interview.

948
00:45:30,680 --> 00:45:33,680
Speaker 4: And I want to know, you know, if you could

949
00:45:33,920 --> 00:45:35,200
Speaker 4: just hang on.

950
00:45:35,360 --> 00:45:38,719
Speaker 3: To two or three or four of the ways that

951
00:45:38,760 --> 00:45:42,600
Speaker 3: you manage your time and be productive, Like, what would

952
00:45:42,640 --> 00:45:46,080
Speaker 3: those top things be that you just absolutely cannot let

953
00:45:46,120 --> 00:45:48,799
Speaker 3: go of that have really been quite transformative for you?

954
00:45:50,480 --> 00:45:52,680
Speaker 2: So the very first one, and I would say the

955
00:45:52,680 --> 00:45:53,520
Speaker 2: most important one.

956
00:45:53,560 --> 00:45:55,879
Speaker 1: It's probably going to surprise you and we haven't talked

957
00:45:55,920 --> 00:45:59,399
Speaker 1: about it, but that would be to meditate. So if

958
00:45:59,440 --> 00:46:02,160
Speaker 1: I tell people that there's one thing to make them

959
00:46:02,160 --> 00:46:05,000
Speaker 1: more productive, I jokingly say, it's to do nothing for

960
00:46:05,080 --> 00:46:08,080
Speaker 1: fifteen minutes of the day. So, you know, that is

961
00:46:08,080 --> 00:46:10,640
Speaker 1: something that I feel like all these things that we're

962
00:46:10,680 --> 00:46:15,080
Speaker 1: talking about, you know, not not focusing on distractions, really

963
00:46:15,280 --> 00:46:17,239
Speaker 1: taking the time to dive in your email when you

964
00:46:17,280 --> 00:46:19,320
Speaker 1: do have the time, All of those things are helped

965
00:46:19,360 --> 00:46:24,399
Speaker 1: by having that mental sharpness that comes from working out

966
00:46:24,480 --> 00:46:27,719
Speaker 1: your brain, which is essentially what meditation is. So that

967
00:46:27,760 --> 00:46:29,480
Speaker 1: would be you know, if someone stopped me on the

968
00:46:29,480 --> 00:46:31,799
Speaker 1: street and said, what one thing can I do to

969
00:46:31,880 --> 00:46:32,759
Speaker 1: be more productive?

970
00:46:32,840 --> 00:46:36,799
Speaker 2: That's definitely what I would tell them. So that would be.

971
00:46:36,800 --> 00:46:40,839
Speaker 1: My first, my second, and that this is obviously more

972
00:46:41,000 --> 00:46:44,840
Speaker 1: in the non working from home time, but anytime really

973
00:46:44,960 --> 00:46:48,840
Speaker 1: is just to be really diligent about meeting. So anytime

974
00:46:48,920 --> 00:46:52,960
Speaker 1: you're taking meeting time, thinking what would I be doing

975
00:46:53,120 --> 00:46:57,080
Speaker 1: with this time otherwise, and then you know, making sure

976
00:46:57,120 --> 00:47:00,920
Speaker 1: that you have a better you know, that is a

977
00:47:00,920 --> 00:47:04,160
Speaker 1: better use of your time. So meetings are important and

978
00:47:04,400 --> 00:47:07,480
Speaker 1: they need to happen, but really thinking about what is

979
00:47:07,520 --> 00:47:10,760
Speaker 1: the trade off for what I'm doing instead of this meeting,

980
00:47:11,120 --> 00:47:14,360
Speaker 1: you know and making it worth your time. The third

981
00:47:14,440 --> 00:47:18,600
Speaker 1: I would definitely say is wrangling in email. So you know,

982
00:47:18,760 --> 00:47:20,719
Speaker 1: that seems to be and I guess you could lump

983
00:47:20,760 --> 00:47:23,879
Speaker 1: that in with other distractions, but I think that it's

984
00:47:23,880 --> 00:47:26,120
Speaker 1: funny because I work with people on their email and

985
00:47:26,160 --> 00:47:28,840
Speaker 1: then they come back to me saying like, oh my gosh,

986
00:47:28,880 --> 00:47:32,600
Speaker 1: I'm so much happier, I'm spending more time with my kids,

987
00:47:32,600 --> 00:47:34,359
Speaker 1: like things like that, and I'm like, what, it's an

988
00:47:34,360 --> 00:47:37,080
Speaker 1: email training, but it really is, like your email is

989
00:47:37,120 --> 00:47:40,360
Speaker 1: taking up so much mental space. So if you find

990
00:47:40,360 --> 00:47:43,640
Speaker 1: a way to know exactly what you have going on

991
00:47:43,680 --> 00:47:45,960
Speaker 1: in your inbox, whether you've answered it or not, you know,

992
00:47:46,080 --> 00:47:49,120
Speaker 1: even knowing what you're not doing is as important as

993
00:47:49,200 --> 00:47:51,640
Speaker 1: knowing what you are doing. It creates that piece to

994
00:47:51,719 --> 00:47:54,040
Speaker 1: say like, yes, I'll get to that. So I would

995
00:47:54,080 --> 00:47:56,520
Speaker 1: say wrangling your email as the third.

996
00:47:57,200 --> 00:47:58,560
Speaker 2: And then I think.

997
00:47:59,080 --> 00:48:03,200
Speaker 1: The fourth thing is just understanding that you do need

998
00:48:03,239 --> 00:48:08,080
Speaker 1: to make priorities, and that means saying no to really

999
00:48:08,120 --> 00:48:11,440
Speaker 1: really good things. So you're saying yes to great things

1000
00:48:12,160 --> 00:48:14,880
Speaker 1: and you're saying no to things that are almost great.

1001
00:48:14,920 --> 00:48:17,759
Speaker 1: So I think when people think prioritize, they think make

1002
00:48:17,800 --> 00:48:19,680
Speaker 1: a list of the twenty five things I need to

1003
00:48:19,719 --> 00:48:21,960
Speaker 1: do in order that I want to do them. But

1004
00:48:22,040 --> 00:48:24,680
Speaker 1: really what it comes down to is, you know, make

1005
00:48:24,719 --> 00:48:26,719
Speaker 1: a list of twenty five things I should do and

1006
00:48:26,800 --> 00:48:29,640
Speaker 1: narrow it down to five and do those things really, really,

1007
00:48:29,680 --> 00:48:33,480
Speaker 1: really well. Because when you slam your schedule with meetings

1008
00:48:33,560 --> 00:48:35,880
Speaker 1: or to do's and all these actions and actions, you

1009
00:48:36,040 --> 00:48:39,680
Speaker 1: leave little space what I call white space in your

1010
00:48:39,719 --> 00:48:42,680
Speaker 1: schedule to come up with amazing ideas for.

1011
00:48:42,680 --> 00:48:44,160
Speaker 2: One of those top five things.

1012
00:48:44,200 --> 00:48:47,480
Speaker 1: So really figuring out and maybe you know one of

1013
00:48:47,520 --> 00:48:49,759
Speaker 1: my tips is that this time is kind of an

1014
00:48:49,800 --> 00:48:52,759
Speaker 1: interesting time to do that. So you have this ability

1015
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:55,480
Speaker 1: to kind of like pull back. I think a productivity

1016
00:48:55,480 --> 00:48:57,319
Speaker 1: like a rubber band. You know, you have to pull

1017
00:48:57,400 --> 00:49:00,160
Speaker 1: back to really launch forward. So this is for some

1018
00:49:00,239 --> 00:49:02,719
Speaker 1: people a time to pull back and say, you know,

1019
00:49:02,920 --> 00:49:04,799
Speaker 1: what am I working on that could be better? What

1020
00:49:04,920 --> 00:49:06,840
Speaker 1: are new opportunities going to look like?

1021
00:49:06,880 --> 00:49:07,160
Speaker 4: For me?

1022
00:49:07,320 --> 00:49:10,680
Speaker 1: So finding those things that are really really important and

1023
00:49:10,719 --> 00:49:13,280
Speaker 1: then you know, cutting the rest.

1024
00:49:13,080 --> 00:49:13,640
Speaker 2: Of them off.

1025
00:49:14,080 --> 00:49:16,600
Speaker 4: Ah, that's awesome. I love those pieces of advice.

1026
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:19,719
Speaker 3: Well, Laura, if people have listened to this and they're like,

1027
00:49:19,800 --> 00:49:23,160
Speaker 3: how can I connect with this productivity? Gury, Like what

1028
00:49:23,239 --> 00:49:25,520
Speaker 3: is the best way for people to do that and

1029
00:49:25,680 --> 00:49:28,080
Speaker 3: you know, rate some of the things that you're writing about.

1030
00:49:28,280 --> 00:49:30,800
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think LinkedIn's probably the best place.

1031
00:49:30,840 --> 00:49:33,400
Speaker 1: So I write a lot of articles on the Google

1032
00:49:33,440 --> 00:49:35,799
Speaker 1: blog and things like that, and I always share them

1033
00:49:35,840 --> 00:49:39,560
Speaker 1: on my LinkedIn feed. I also have a series on

1034
00:49:39,880 --> 00:49:44,040
Speaker 1: the YouTube channel for g suite our suite of products,

1035
00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:47,640
Speaker 1: which is Gmail Calendar Keep, So I do a weekly

1036
00:49:47,719 --> 00:49:50,120
Speaker 1: tip there, so I give a little hack kind of

1037
00:49:50,160 --> 00:49:53,439
Speaker 1: like the calendar speed default meeting that we just talked about.

1038
00:49:53,480 --> 00:49:55,960
Speaker 1: That's exactly one of my one of mine that's on there,

1039
00:49:56,000 --> 00:49:58,760
Speaker 1: But that's on YouTube. You can search for the Suite

1040
00:49:58,840 --> 00:50:01,120
Speaker 1: Life and those are tips on how to make the

1041
00:50:01,160 --> 00:50:01,880
Speaker 1: products better.

1042
00:50:02,000 --> 00:50:04,400
Speaker 4: So those two places fantastic.

1043
00:50:04,480 --> 00:50:07,520
Speaker 3: I will link to those things in the show notes. Laura,

1044
00:50:07,640 --> 00:50:11,480
Speaker 3: thank you so much for your precious time. And yeah,

1045
00:50:11,520 --> 00:50:13,960
Speaker 3: I've just I've learned so much and I'm so going

1046
00:50:14,040 --> 00:50:16,560
Speaker 3: to experiment with some of the strategies that we've talked about.

1047
00:50:16,600 --> 00:50:17,279
Speaker 4: So thank you.

1048
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:19,879
Speaker 2: Great, Thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

1049
00:50:20,960 --> 00:50:24,399
Speaker 4: Hello there, That is it for today's show. If you know.

1050
00:50:24,480 --> 00:50:27,279
Speaker 3: Someone that you think could benefit from this episode, why

1051
00:50:27,320 --> 00:50:29,920
Speaker 3: not share it with them? Just click on the little

1052
00:50:29,960 --> 00:50:34,640
Speaker 3: share icon in wherever you listen to this podcast and

1053
00:50:35,320 --> 00:50:36,719
Speaker 3: easy you can share it with them.

1054
00:50:36,960 --> 00:50:38,480
Speaker 4: And if you're enjoying how.

1055
00:50:38,360 --> 00:50:42,719
Speaker 3: I work, why not leave a review. I know that

1056
00:50:42,760 --> 00:50:44,600
Speaker 3: you're probably thinking, ah, but I got to get on

1057
00:50:44,640 --> 00:50:47,880
Speaker 3: with my day, but hey, it only takes five or

1058
00:50:47,920 --> 00:50:52,319
Speaker 3: ten seconds. And I'm just so appreciative of everyone. It's

1059
00:50:52,320 --> 00:50:55,840
Speaker 3: been hundreds of reviews left now and I just appreciate everyone,

1060
00:50:55,920 --> 00:50:57,520
Speaker 3: so thank you if you've already.

1061
00:50:57,320 --> 00:51:00,120
Speaker 4: Done that, and if you haven't, why not do that?

1062
00:51:00,239 --> 00:51:01,000
Speaker 4: That would be lovely.

1063
00:51:01,200 --> 00:51:03,160
Speaker 3: So that's it for today's show and I will see

1064
00:51:03,200 --> 00:51:04,280
Speaker 3: you next time