WEBVTT - The Subtraction Method: how Sabri Suby protects his time and focus (Part 1) 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.840 The way that you focus is through subtraction. It's not 0:00:02.880 --> 0:00:05.640 by addition. You don't add more things. Anything that is 0:00:05.720 --> 0:00:08.039 not doing the thing isn't focused work. 0:00:10.119 --> 0:00:14.480 That was Sawbury Subi, founder of King Kong, one of 0:00:14.600 --> 0:00:18.200 Australia's fastest growing digital agencies, and a shark on the 0:00:18.200 --> 0:00:22.400 most recent season of Shark Tank Australia. Now, when most 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:27.040 people think about productivity, it's additive a new app, a 0:00:27.040 --> 0:00:31.280 new system, a new habit stack. But Sabury does the opposite. 0:00:31.680 --> 0:00:37.680 He subtracts. He has built an entire philosophy around removing 0:00:37.760 --> 0:00:40.920 things from his calendar, his home, his to do list, 0:00:41.200 --> 0:00:45.040 so that what's left is only the work that actually 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:49.720 moves the needle. In this episode, Sawbury takes me inside 0:00:49.800 --> 0:00:54.480 his full system, his King's audit process, whey he only 0:00:54.520 --> 0:00:57.680 takes meetings on Mondays and Fridays, how he trained his 0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:00.800 fixer to defend his time like a ouncer at the door, 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:04.280 and the dream day exercise that keeps him from chasing 0:01:04.440 --> 0:01:16.080 shiny new objects. Welcome to How I Work, a show 0:01:16.200 --> 0:01:18.960 about habits, rituals and strategies. 0:01:18.440 --> 0:01:24.040 For optimizing your day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba. 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:29.240 I want to start by talking about your King's audit, 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:31.960 can you tell me what on earth this is. 0:01:32.280 --> 0:01:35.759 It's all about measuring every unit of time that you have. 0:01:36.080 --> 0:01:38.520 You know, I was always been fascinated by like the 0:01:38.560 --> 0:01:41.800 people that build these enormous businesses have huge, huge teams, 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:44.360 and we all have the same twenty four hours in 0:01:44.400 --> 0:01:46.960 a day. And when I was building my business, I 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:49.880 wore all the hats. I did everything from you know, 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:54.240 being the account manager, doing accounts and changing the toilet 0:01:54.280 --> 0:01:57.240 paper rolls. Everything I've done every position in my company. 0:01:57.600 --> 0:02:00.640 And then you realize very very quickly, as you keep 0:02:00.640 --> 0:02:03.760 on building your business that your time is the most 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.400 valuable resource that you've got. And everyone's heard of that. 0:02:06.480 --> 0:02:09.880 It's a very cliche thing, but the people that say 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:12.640 it and then they don't treat their resource like it 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:14.760 is the most precious thing. So the King's Audit is 0:02:14.800 --> 0:02:18.240 all about finding exactly where your time is going. You 0:02:18.320 --> 0:02:20.600 run a full week with measuring every hour in that week, 0:02:20.639 --> 0:02:22.280 and then when you get to the end of the week, 0:02:22.320 --> 0:02:25.800 you look at it all and you basically identify which 0:02:25.840 --> 0:02:28.680 of the tasks that you did that move the money needle. 0:02:29.240 --> 0:02:31.679 And everybody knows how much money that they make in 0:02:31.720 --> 0:02:33.560 a year, or they should if they run a business 0:02:33.600 --> 0:02:35.200 and they can figure out, okay, this is how much 0:02:35.200 --> 0:02:38.200 profit my business makes. Then you just divide that by 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:41.000 the number of hours that you're working and you find 0:02:41.040 --> 0:02:43.400 out how much a unit is time is worth to you. 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:47.480 And basically, you shouldn't do any tasks that are less 0:02:47.480 --> 0:02:50.160 than you're making per hour. Right, It's a simple thing, 0:02:50.600 --> 0:02:53.720 and then you start delegating and outsourcing all the other 0:02:53.800 --> 0:02:56.480 things that aren't that thing, because basically the game as 0:02:56.480 --> 0:03:00.800 an entrepreneur is to keep on increasing how much value 0:03:00.800 --> 0:03:02.800 that you get for each unit of time, and the 0:03:02.840 --> 0:03:04.720 only way to do that is to keep on working 0:03:04.760 --> 0:03:07.480 on the higher value things, and you can't do that 0:03:07.520 --> 0:03:09.239 if you're stuck in the day to day operations of 0:03:09.280 --> 0:03:13.360 the business. Most people are kind of they'll identify with that, 0:03:13.520 --> 0:03:15.400 and that will resonate to them on some level and 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:17.000 they'll be like, yeah, I get it, like I need 0:03:17.000 --> 0:03:19.680 a high a receptionist or someone to do bookkeeping, and 0:03:19.760 --> 0:03:22.880 they easily let go of the things that they don't 0:03:22.960 --> 0:03:25.560 enjoy doing. Where it gets hard is when you have 0:03:25.639 --> 0:03:27.360 to actually start giving up the things that you do 0:03:27.400 --> 0:03:30.519 really enjoy doing, or when you have to start automating 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:35.000 your personal life as well and delegating things that you 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.080 might have stigmas attached to, like I need to change 0:03:38.120 --> 0:03:40.280 my bed sheets, I need to clean the house. When 0:03:40.320 --> 0:03:43.080 you actually do the King's audit, and let's just say that, 0:03:43.200 --> 0:03:45.240 you know, you make two hundred dollars an hour, and 0:03:45.280 --> 0:03:47.560 then you realize that you could have somebody, for instance, 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:51.440 come and clean for fifty or one hundred dollars an hour. 0:03:51.480 --> 0:03:54.040 You realize, hey, this is actually costing me one hundred 0:03:54.120 --> 0:03:57.440 dollars an hour to clean my own house, and you 0:03:57.520 --> 0:03:59.000 start to value time differently. 0:03:59.080 --> 0:04:00.800 I imagine this is an ex the size that you've 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:04.640 done many times because new insights are always going to arise. 0:04:04.920 --> 0:04:07.240 What are two or three of the biggest insights that 0:04:07.280 --> 0:04:10.680 you've gained from this process and the changes that you made. 0:04:10.880 --> 0:04:14.400 I do this audit every year basically because as a 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:16.880 business owned you just get dragged into things and then 0:04:16.960 --> 0:04:19.880 all of a sudden your plate is full, because you know, 0:04:19.920 --> 0:04:22.080 it's like an upside down pyramid where you get all 0:04:22.080 --> 0:04:24.920 the hardest problems to solve. Typically, when you're a business 0:04:24.920 --> 0:04:29.920 owner and you collect all these things, all these tasks 0:04:29.960 --> 0:04:32.240 that you're the person that does so I go through 0:04:32.240 --> 0:04:34.080 it every year and I go, Okay, what is it 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.320 that I need to get rid of to basically get 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:39.640 to the next level. There's always things that even though 0:04:39.640 --> 0:04:43.560 I'm so ruthless with my time management, things that creep in. 0:04:44.240 --> 0:04:46.080 I have outsourced a lot of the things that I 0:04:46.120 --> 0:04:48.640 don't like doing. But then there's things that I really 0:04:48.760 --> 0:04:51.840 like doing, and so I have to make the hard 0:04:51.880 --> 0:04:55.360 decisions of looking at it being very pragmatic and removing 0:04:55.400 --> 0:04:57.600 my emotions from it and even going okay, even though 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:01.280 I love meeting with these teams, or I love doing 0:05:01.360 --> 0:05:04.680 last round interviews, or I love doing these one on ones, 0:05:05.640 --> 0:05:08.479 is that the thing that's going to move the company 0:05:08.520 --> 0:05:10.760 forward at this stage? Or is it just something that 0:05:10.760 --> 0:05:12.640 you like to do. It's habitual, so you do it. 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.440 That's the big realizations that I have, is like a 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:17.760 lot of the things that I'm emotionally attached to it, 0:05:18.000 --> 0:05:21.440 or I have some of my identity attached to I 0:05:21.720 --> 0:05:24.560 must do this because I am the business owner, I 0:05:24.600 --> 0:05:28.400 am the CEO XYZ. But then you realize that these 0:05:28.440 --> 0:05:31.240 are not necessary things. As they say, new levels have 0:05:31.320 --> 0:05:33.560 new devils, and a lot of the times that if 0:05:33.600 --> 0:05:35.320 you want to get to that new level. It's like 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:37.599 you're going to have to give away something that you 0:05:37.680 --> 0:05:39.120 really really love in order to get there. 0:05:39.200 --> 0:05:41.679 I would love to note in your personal life how 0:05:41.800 --> 0:05:45.279 you've applied this, because it's something that I've done for myself. 0:05:45.320 --> 0:05:47.160 There have been numerous times over the last few years 0:05:47.160 --> 0:05:50.559 where I've I've tracked my time and for listeners going 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:55.479 that sounds incredibly tedious. It is mind numbingly boring, but 0:05:55.520 --> 0:05:57.960 it's very much worth it, and there are ways to 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.920 make it easier and automated time tracking software out there. 0:06:01.440 --> 0:06:04.240 One thing that I did many years ago, and I 0:06:04.240 --> 0:06:09.440 haven't actually replicated it, but I realized that every Sunday morning, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:11.279 my family and I used to have a little ritual 0:06:11.320 --> 0:06:13.479 where we'd go to the South Melbourne Market. We would 0:06:13.480 --> 0:06:15.400 stock up on all the fruit and bedge for the week, 0:06:15.680 --> 0:06:20.039 and then I would spend two or three hours washing 0:06:20.400 --> 0:06:24.200 and cutting and prepping fruit and vedge, and like, my 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:27.720 happy place is not in the kitchen. I hated doing 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.120 all the cutting and I probably injured myself lots of 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:32.960 times because I don't have good nice skills. And I 0:06:33.040 --> 0:06:37.520 then thought maybe I could find someone to do this, 0:06:37.680 --> 0:06:40.400 like surely there would be a university student that is 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:43.720 working in a cafe doing food prep, and maybe they 0:06:43.760 --> 0:06:46.159 would like to come to my house and do this 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:48.159 for me and I can pay them and that is 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.000 going to be less than my hourly rate. And so 0:06:51.400 --> 0:06:53.200 for about a year I did that and it was 0:06:53.200 --> 0:06:56.360 so wonderful And I don't do it anymore because my 0:06:56.480 --> 0:07:00.560 husband actually loves kitchen stuff and so we don't outsource 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.880 cutting of vegetables anymore anymore, which has very very privileged. 0:07:04.960 --> 0:07:07.039 But yes, it did work out to save me time. 0:07:07.120 --> 0:07:08.800 It was like it was time that I'm like, well, 0:07:08.839 --> 0:07:11.000 I could be spending that with my daughter and being 0:07:11.000 --> 0:07:13.880 really present rather than in a kitchen and just consumed 0:07:13.880 --> 0:07:15.360 by carrots and pumpkin. Yeah. 0:07:15.360 --> 0:07:18.400 I've gone through that intimately, what you're saying, right, It 0:07:18.440 --> 0:07:20.400 was always difficult for me because I was raised by 0:07:20.400 --> 0:07:23.800 a single parent mother and I had like this broke 0:07:23.920 --> 0:07:26.520 mindset that I had to like deprogram in my mind 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:28.480 where it's just like I watched my mum hold down 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.640 three jobs, do absolutely everything, So why do you think 0:07:31.680 --> 0:07:34.000 that you don't need to do this right? And again 0:07:34.280 --> 0:07:38.160 that's just like a scarcity mindset. So I have automated 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:40.160 all of those things so it's like, yes, I have 0:07:40.200 --> 0:07:42.760 a cook that comes in does the food prep. You know, 0:07:42.960 --> 0:07:45.440 I kind of count my calories and macros, so I 0:07:45.480 --> 0:07:47.080 know I have one hundred and fifty grams of like 0:07:47.160 --> 0:07:49.960 chicken breast, and all of my lunches are like prepacked 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.880 in the fridge ready to go. Then in addition to that, yes, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.240 I have cleaners that come in, I have you know, 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:58.160 other helps that come around the house. And a lot 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:00.280 of people see that and they're like, oh, but what 0:08:00.320 --> 0:08:02.720 if you love cooking, Well, someone like you that you 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.640 don't love doing food prep, right, And so a lot 0:08:05.640 --> 0:08:08.040 of the time that people that hate against this is 0:08:08.080 --> 0:08:10.800 because they feel attacked by the decisions that you're making. 0:08:11.200 --> 0:08:12.960 And so the way that I look at it is like, 0:08:13.640 --> 0:08:16.680 I want to free up as much of the minutia 0:08:17.200 --> 0:08:19.800 that doesn't need to be done, but it must be 0:08:19.800 --> 0:08:22.760 done to keep the household running. The changing of bed sheets, 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:25.600 the washing of towels, the laundry, the cleaning of the house, 0:08:25.680 --> 0:08:28.320 the chopping of food, all of those things. So that 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:30.760 I have three daughters under the age of nine, and 0:08:30.840 --> 0:08:32.679 I want to make sure that the time that I 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:35.240 have with them is the best quality time. I don't 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.559 want my wife to be stressed about having to do 0:08:37.600 --> 0:08:39.560 these things, or for me to be stressed about having 0:08:39.559 --> 0:08:41.959 to do them. I leave the house at five am 0:08:42.000 --> 0:08:44.480 in the morning when all of my girls are asleep, 0:08:44.960 --> 0:08:47.480 and then I get home and I get an hour 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:49.520 and a half with them in the evening, and I 0:08:49.559 --> 0:08:51.439 want that hour and a half to be like really 0:08:51.559 --> 0:08:54.000 high quality time. I don't want to be like I'm 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:56.640 frustrated because I'm going and cleaning up the play room 0:08:56.760 --> 0:08:59.439 or doing any of these things. So any of those 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.080 things I can automate, I do so that looks like 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:06.440 a cook, a cleaner, nanny's to help with the dropping 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:11.079 to certain extracurricular activities that the kids do. Landscapers come 0:09:11.080 --> 0:09:13.319 in and do all the lawnmowing, the pool guy comes 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.599 in and does the pool naturally. Then if I have 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:19.640 any annoying tasks that are like husband tasks that need 0:09:19.679 --> 0:09:21.720 to be done, like screws need to be tightened in 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:25.200 draws or anything like that, I use air Tasker. So 0:09:25.320 --> 0:09:27.480 just take a photo, upload it on air Tasker and 0:09:27.520 --> 0:09:29.960 I can have someone there in like an hour. I 0:09:30.040 --> 0:09:32.280 don't engage in those things. I'm not going to be 0:09:32.360 --> 0:09:34.760 like trying to figure out how to fix the AC unit, 0:09:34.840 --> 0:09:37.439 Like that's going to cost me thousands of dollars if 0:09:37.480 --> 0:09:41.679 I try to entertain those little things. So I always 0:09:41.679 --> 0:09:45.240 look for what I call like wastage of things. I like, 0:09:45.640 --> 0:09:47.640 I wouldn't choose to do this, and it doesn't add 0:09:47.679 --> 0:09:50.280 any value to my life, but it does add value 0:09:50.320 --> 0:09:52.199 being able to free myself up and take my girl's 0:09:52.200 --> 0:09:54.280 horse riding, or take them on a nature walk, or 0:09:54.679 --> 0:09:57.120 do some painting with them and spend that quality time. 0:09:57.520 --> 0:09:59.839 And I try to remove all the stuff that isn't that. 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.680 I have read that you only do meetings on Mondays 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:07.439 and Fridays and in fifteen minute increments. Can you confirm 0:10:07.480 --> 0:10:08.800 if this is still correct? 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:12.480 Yeah, because otherwise basically what happens is you have these 0:10:12.520 --> 0:10:14.680 got a minute meetings, right do you got a minute? 0:10:14.720 --> 0:10:16.080 Do you got a minute? And for me, I don't 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:18.920 have any more minutes? Right, Like my whole week is 0:10:18.960 --> 0:10:22.120 planned out in advance. There's so many things that I 0:10:22.160 --> 0:10:24.160 need to do. So I found that it was very 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:26.920 difficult to build my business and to jump in between 0:10:27.000 --> 0:10:30.400 problem solving in a meeting, dealing with a HR issue, 0:10:30.760 --> 0:10:34.240 trying to hire somebody, sorting out anything that needs to 0:10:34.240 --> 0:10:37.080 be done international payroll, and then trying to jump in 0:10:37.120 --> 0:10:40.520 and do creative deep work, and so all of that 0:10:40.600 --> 0:10:43.400 work is like shallow work, and the deep work is 0:10:43.440 --> 0:10:45.199 the work that's actually going to propel and grow the 0:10:45.240 --> 0:10:48.320 company forward. And these are things that must get done, 0:10:48.360 --> 0:10:50.640 Like I must meet with my senior managers. I must 0:10:50.679 --> 0:10:53.360 meet with my leaders. I must meet with my operations manager. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.800 But I compartmentalize it to those two days, so I 0:10:56.880 --> 0:10:58.560 just write those days off. Like so I'm like, this 0:10:58.600 --> 0:11:00.360 is a necessity. I need to do this, I need 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:02.960 to do interviews, and I hammer them all out in 0:11:03.080 --> 0:11:07.080 terms of confining it to fifteen minute increments. Most people 0:11:07.160 --> 0:11:09.200 don't know how to run a meeting. You just get 0:11:09.200 --> 0:11:12.839 in there, there's some loose agenda, there's nothing really like 0:11:13.120 --> 0:11:15.720 this is like people are talking and it's not necessary. 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.320 So I first of all try to eliminate the meetings 0:11:19.600 --> 0:11:23.040 by using like Loom videos and like just like hey, 0:11:23.080 --> 0:11:25.280 send me a Loom video that just walks me through it. 0:11:25.000 --> 0:11:27.680 It forces someone to think about what they're going to say. 0:11:28.080 --> 0:11:31.560 It's very constructive, it's short, and I can just basically 0:11:31.600 --> 0:11:33.920 answer it on the go through a voice note. And 0:11:34.000 --> 0:11:36.680 so if someone's like, hey, let's have a meeting. I'll 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:38.600 be like, okay, Also, we've got fifteen minutes to have 0:11:38.640 --> 0:11:41.319 the meeting, and you'll find that they'll compress all of that. 0:11:41.320 --> 0:11:43.880 That doesn't mean that all of my meetings are fifteen minutes, right. 0:11:43.880 --> 0:11:46.480 I have more senior leadership meetings that might go for 0:11:46.520 --> 0:11:48.719 an hour. I have a quarterly off site that might 0:11:48.720 --> 0:11:51.280 go for half a day. But if it's like you 0:11:51.400 --> 0:11:54.400 need something for me, my fixer, so I don't call 0:11:54.520 --> 0:11:56.760 my assistant an assistant, they're a fixer that they're to 0:11:56.800 --> 0:12:00.680 fix problems. She will basically be like, Okay, what's ther agenda? 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:02.720 What do you need and make sure that it's an 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.480 absolute must. And a lot of those meetings, when their 0:12:05.520 --> 0:12:07.640 requests to have a meetings, they don't even end up 0:12:07.720 --> 0:12:09.920 as a meeting because once they go through my fixer, 0:12:10.040 --> 0:12:12.040 they're eliminated in a meeting as it him needed. 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:17.040 Coming up next, Savory takes me inside his deep work routine, 0:12:17.559 --> 0:12:20.600 the music hack, how he thinks about nutrition to enable 0:12:20.640 --> 0:12:23.520 better focus, and how he plans his next day at 0:12:23.520 --> 0:12:26.360 four pm so he never wakes up wondering what to 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:29.440 work on. We also talk about how he handles the 0:12:29.480 --> 0:12:33.280 gray zone opportunities that aren't a clear yes or no. 0:12:36.960 --> 0:12:39.600 If you're looking for more tips to improve the way 0:12:39.720 --> 0:12:42.880 you work can live. I write a short weekly newsletter 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:46.120 that contains tactics I've discovered that have helped me personally. 0:12:46.559 --> 0:12:49.560 You can sign up for that at Amantha dot com. 0:12:49.800 --> 0:12:55.760 That's Amantha dot com. 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.840 Yeah sure. So I work from the office on Mondays, 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:02.320 Wednesdays and Fridays, and then Tuesdays and Thursdays, I'll work 0:13:02.320 --> 0:13:04.960 from home. My days that I work from home, the 0:13:05.040 --> 0:13:08.280 routine is I wake up, I go for a walk 0:13:08.320 --> 0:13:10.120 to get outside because I mean, you know, sleeping for 0:13:10.160 --> 0:13:12.520 seven or eight hours before I head out, I turn 0:13:12.559 --> 0:13:15.480 on my coffee machine, come back, it's rearing to go. 0:13:15.760 --> 0:13:19.240 I pull myself a double shot, and then I sit 0:13:19.320 --> 0:13:23.240 down and I just unload. So basically, I plan my 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.120 day the day before at four pm every day, so 0:13:26.200 --> 0:13:27.880 I don't wake up and go what am I working 0:13:27.920 --> 0:13:30.040 on today? I know what I'm working on. I've got 0:13:30.040 --> 0:13:32.640 three things that I need to knock down, and then 0:13:33.000 --> 0:13:36.960 typically I'm going into my office. I'll have some song 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:40.440 that I play constantly on replay while I work, and 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.640 it depends on what the task is but there's always 0:13:42.720 --> 0:13:46.240 typically some form of music playing and it's repetitive, so 0:13:46.280 --> 0:13:47.680 I don't need to think about doing I don't like 0:13:47.679 --> 0:13:49.160 this song, let me skip it or anything like that. 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:50.360 It's just like, this is a song I feel like 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:53.760 listening to and it's just one repeat, and I pretty 0:13:53.840 --> 0:13:57.480 much work for as long as I can uninterrupted until 0:13:57.520 --> 0:13:58.920 I need to take a break. And then when I 0:13:58.920 --> 0:14:00.480 need to take a break, I'll go have something to 0:14:00.520 --> 0:14:03.120 eat or have a shake or whatnot. On my deep 0:14:03.120 --> 0:14:06.520 work days, I don't have like any calves until the 0:14:06.600 --> 0:14:09.480 evening because I find if I eat calves, I crash 0:14:09.520 --> 0:14:12.280 and then I'm no longer effective. So let's just say 0:14:12.280 --> 0:14:14.800 that I sit down to work at the computer between 0:14:15.040 --> 0:14:18.240 five and six am in the morning, and then I'll 0:14:18.280 --> 0:14:21.520 try to sprint until like eleven thirty or so, with 0:14:21.600 --> 0:14:23.760 one break in between there, and then I'll go for 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:28.000 like an hour walk into nature. I'll then do any email, 0:14:28.120 --> 0:14:30.760 send any voice modes or anything that's not deep work, 0:14:30.800 --> 0:14:32.240 and then I come back and I do the second 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:35.400 shift for the day, and so I try to eliminate 0:14:35.480 --> 0:14:38.360 everything that is not work. Most people, they're like have 0:14:38.480 --> 0:14:42.120 some like secret productivity ritual that they do or they 0:14:42.240 --> 0:14:46.480 use some crazy software to track everything that's not the thing. 0:14:46.880 --> 0:14:49.840 The thing is the thing, So I just focus on 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.120 doing the thing. And what I mean by that is 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.320 the way that you focus is through subtraction. It's not 0:14:55.360 --> 0:14:57.680 by addition. You don't add more things. You don't add 0:14:57.680 --> 0:15:02.040 some special Pomeodoro clock or time tracking technique. It's just 0:15:02.160 --> 0:15:06.080 like anything that is not doing the thing isn't focused work. 0:15:06.440 --> 0:15:10.080 So I try to eliminate all communication phones on aeroplane mode, 0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:13.640 everything's away from me, and all I'm trying to do 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:16.480 is extend the amount of time that I can work 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:18.080 on something without being interrupted. 0:15:18.280 --> 0:15:21.760 I'm intrigued about the no low cabs during the day. 0:15:22.000 --> 0:15:23.040 That is such a great idea. 0:15:23.160 --> 0:15:25.560 I just monitor how I feel right, and I know 0:15:25.680 --> 0:15:29.320 that like I want something to fuel myself that doesn't 0:15:29.360 --> 0:15:31.480 weigh me down. And I always go for a walk 0:15:31.520 --> 0:15:34.320 after I eat as well, so then like you walk, 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:36.240 it helps with the digestion. And then it's like I 0:15:36.280 --> 0:15:39.800 feel like I'm like on a continuous, like level playing 0:15:39.840 --> 0:15:42.440 field of energy and I don't have these big spikes 0:15:42.480 --> 0:15:45.680 and whatnot. And then I just backload the cabs for 0:15:46.040 --> 0:15:47.400 the end of the day when I know that I 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:48.600 don't need to be productive. 0:15:48.880 --> 0:15:49.920 Yeah, super interesting. 0:15:50.560 --> 0:15:52.960 Tell me about prioritization. 0:15:53.280 --> 0:15:56.640 So you're like four o'clock the day before you're deciding 0:15:56.760 --> 0:15:59.560 what am I going to do for my deep work sprints? 0:16:00.080 --> 0:16:02.240 How do you make decisions about what is the most 0:16:02.280 --> 0:16:05.080 important use of your time the following day? 0:16:05.280 --> 0:16:07.440 It all begins for me like at the end of 0:16:07.480 --> 0:16:10.880 the year, where I basically think about, Okay, I take 0:16:10.880 --> 0:16:13.160 a stock and do an audit on the last year 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.040 and see, Okay, how did I go against my goals? 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:18.240 And then when I start to think about, Okay, what's 0:16:18.280 --> 0:16:20.040 the goal for twenty twenty six, what is it that 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.680 I want to achieve? And I used to have like 0:16:22.840 --> 0:16:25.480 these like long lists of all of these things that 0:16:25.480 --> 0:16:30.120 I wanted to achieve, And as I keep going, I 0:16:30.240 --> 0:16:33.280 realize that I just try to put it down to 0:16:33.360 --> 0:16:37.200 like maximum of two things, and I ask myself, out 0:16:37.240 --> 0:16:38.880 of all this list, so I still write the full 0:16:38.960 --> 0:16:41.920 list of goals, and then I say, what one goal 0:16:42.120 --> 0:16:44.680 if you hit on this list would make everything else irrelevant? 0:16:45.040 --> 0:16:48.000 And then I'm like, that's the thing I need to prioritize. 0:16:48.360 --> 0:16:50.920 And so then once I find out what that one 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:55.200 thing is, then I say, Okay, what actions would I 0:16:55.240 --> 0:16:57.960 need to take to make it unreasonable for me not 0:16:58.000 --> 0:17:00.520 to hit that goal? Like what would be unrech reasonable 0:17:00.880 --> 0:17:03.120 amount of work, amount of inputs that you had to 0:17:03.120 --> 0:17:06.480 put in where it's like that would be almost impossible 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:08.159 for you not to hit your goals. And then I 0:17:08.560 --> 0:17:10.960 start with that, and I use that to back into 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:13.240 the year, so then I'll be like, Okay, if that's 0:17:13.280 --> 0:17:15.479 what it is, that's the level of activity that's going 0:17:15.520 --> 0:17:18.960 to be unreasonable for you not to win. Then I go, okay, 0:17:18.960 --> 0:17:20.959 what does that look like broken down to a quarter 0:17:21.200 --> 0:17:23.120 to a month, to a week and to a day. 0:17:23.440 --> 0:17:26.920 And so I hold myself accountable quarterly on like, hey, 0:17:27.000 --> 0:17:29.040 this is you need to directionally be moving in this 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.640 way in order for this quarter to be a success. 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:34.800 Because there's no universe that exists where you're going to 0:17:34.840 --> 0:17:37.080 finish this first quarter not be on track and then 0:17:37.080 --> 0:17:40.120 you're just going to magically hit your goals. You obviously 0:17:40.119 --> 0:17:44.800 need to use your prioritization and really understanding what are 0:17:44.840 --> 0:17:47.080 the inputs that are really going to drive it. And 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:50.680 as you go through the year, it's like constant experimenting. 0:17:50.720 --> 0:17:52.520 It's like, oh, I thought this was going to get 0:17:52.560 --> 0:17:55.240 me closer, but it turns out that that's not really 0:17:55.280 --> 0:17:57.960 doing it, So I need to test a new hypothesis, 0:17:58.160 --> 0:18:00.000 and so you get a chance to do that every week. 0:18:00.119 --> 0:18:03.480 Like I'm thinking about that process for my own life, 0:18:03.480 --> 0:18:07.639 and I'm thinking about my own businesses goals, and i 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:11.280 feel like that sounds good in theory, but where is 0:18:11.400 --> 0:18:16.800 the room for serendipity or like things just taking off 0:18:16.800 --> 0:18:20.240 where you didn't expect it. And like an example in 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.359 my consultancy inventium, about like eighteen months ago, we were 0:18:23.400 --> 0:18:27.000 running some experiments doing some AI training and we thought, 0:18:27.040 --> 0:18:29.199 you know, maybe this is like a thing on the 0:18:29.320 --> 0:18:32.280 side that we can supplement the main programs that we 0:18:32.320 --> 0:18:36.119 do around productivity and innovation and high performance. And it 0:18:36.200 --> 0:18:38.800 just completely exploded And now it's about two thirds of 0:18:38.840 --> 0:18:41.879 the business if I look at revenue, and that was 0:18:41.920 --> 0:18:46.600 completely unplanned and kind of following that and prioritizing what 0:18:46.680 --> 0:18:49.480 was going on with those experiments then became the main thing, 0:18:49.520 --> 0:18:51.399 but it certainly wasn't the main thing at the time. 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:55.280 So I'm sure that this happens a lot in your world, 0:18:55.359 --> 0:18:59.119 where just unpredictable things good and bad happen. How do 0:18:59.200 --> 0:19:02.399 you account for that when you're thinking about what is 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.760 the thing that I'm focusing on, what are my goals 0:19:04.760 --> 0:19:06.760 for the year, the quarter of the day, and so on. 0:19:06.880 --> 0:19:09.000 There's so many things that you can focus on as 0:19:09.040 --> 0:19:11.760 an entrepreneur, and there's so many things that are changing right, 0:19:12.160 --> 0:19:13.880 And we're living in a day and age right now 0:19:13.920 --> 0:19:16.280 where it's like you wake up and every day something 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:19.280 has changed. Like with all AI and where everything is headed. 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:21.200 It used to be that you woke up every five 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.119 to ten years and there'd be like a big shift. 0:19:23.440 --> 0:19:26.680 Now it's every day that it's happening. So I really 0:19:26.720 --> 0:19:29.760 focus on the things that aren't going to change. So 0:19:30.359 --> 0:19:33.320 in business and with what we do, like ultimately we're 0:19:33.359 --> 0:19:35.280 all compensated by the amount of value that it is 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:38.359 that we create and the way that we can do that. 0:19:39.119 --> 0:19:41.800