1 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:07,080 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,160 --> 00:00:09,560 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,600 --> 00:00:12,719 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amata Inba. I'm an 4 00:00:12,760 --> 00:00:16,759 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,680 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my work day. This episode is 6 00:00:20,720 --> 00:00:25,680 Speaker 1: another my favorite Tip episode. The title's probably pretty self explanatory. 7 00:00:26,079 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 1: It's about my favorite tip from each of the interviews 8 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:32,880 Speaker 1: I conduct. I use this format because I sometimes feel 9 00:00:32,920 --> 00:00:35,320 Speaker 1: myself as a podcast listener that I just want to 10 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,840 Speaker 1: get in, get the most amount of value from an episode, 11 00:00:38,880 --> 00:00:41,600 Speaker 1: and then get out, So in this format, I try 12 00:00:41,640 --> 00:00:44,839 Speaker 1: to do just that. My guest on today is my 13 00:00:44,920 --> 00:00:48,720 Speaker 1: favorite Tip episode is Pamela Meyer. You might know Pamela 14 00:00:48,800 --> 00:00:51,760 Speaker 1: from her very famous TED talk about how to Spot 15 00:00:51,800 --> 00:00:55,040 Speaker 1: a Liar, which has been viewed by twenty million people. 16 00:00:55,560 --> 00:00:58,680 Speaker 1: She also wrote the best selling book Live Spotting, Proven 17 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:03,520 Speaker 1: Techniques to Detect. Pamela is the founder and CEO of Calibrate, 18 00:01:03,600 --> 00:01:07,319 Speaker 1: a leading training company that teaches people how to spot lies. 19 00:01:08,160 --> 00:01:13,880 Speaker 1: And in this excerpt, we talk about one of Pamela's 20 00:01:14,040 --> 00:01:17,400 Speaker 1: I guess time management systems. So Pamela is someone who's 21 00:01:17,400 --> 00:01:20,640 Speaker 1: thought a lot about how she organizes her time, and 22 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:24,600 Speaker 1: in this excerpt we talk about a planning ritual that 23 00:01:24,680 --> 00:01:29,440 Speaker 1: she does literally every day. So on that note, over 24 00:01:29,520 --> 00:01:30,360 Speaker 1: to Pamela. 25 00:01:30,560 --> 00:01:34,679 Speaker 2: You know, one of the things that that I find 26 00:01:35,000 --> 00:01:38,760 Speaker 2: really helps is I'm usually I prepare my day the 27 00:01:38,840 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 2: night before, so when I approach the day, I usually 28 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,680 Speaker 2: have like a little index card where I know exactly 29 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 2: what I'm going to be doing, what the priorities are, 30 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:52,080 Speaker 2: and schedule. And I try really hard to you know, 31 00:01:52,320 --> 00:01:54,080 Speaker 2: I sleep better at night when I know the day 32 00:01:54,120 --> 00:01:57,200 Speaker 2: ahead of me is planned well, and so I try 33 00:01:57,240 --> 00:01:59,360 Speaker 2: really hard at the end of the day to think 34 00:01:59,400 --> 00:02:01,120 Speaker 2: about what the next day is going to look like. 35 00:02:01,200 --> 00:02:03,960 Speaker 2: And I was trained in, you know, time management years 36 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:06,680 Speaker 2: ago when I was a producer at Electronic Arts. They 37 00:02:07,120 --> 00:02:09,240 Speaker 2: put us all through time management training as part of 38 00:02:09,280 --> 00:02:12,920 Speaker 2: the kind of corporate benefits. And I still do this 39 00:02:13,000 --> 00:02:14,959 Speaker 2: day use a lot of those techniques that I was 40 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:16,560 Speaker 2: trained then. And one of the things they were emphatic 41 00:02:16,560 --> 00:02:18,200 Speaker 2: about was, you know, you have to plan your day 42 00:02:18,200 --> 00:02:20,760 Speaker 2: the night the night before so that you can attack 43 00:02:21,360 --> 00:02:24,160 Speaker 2: the day. And the combination of that, plus my mother 44 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,560 Speaker 2: growing up always had me put my clothes out even 45 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,040 Speaker 2: as a little girl, I had to put my clothes 46 00:02:28,040 --> 00:02:31,880 Speaker 2: out the night before. So between you know, menu planning 47 00:02:31,919 --> 00:02:36,000 Speaker 2: for the family and clothing planning and then planning your day, 48 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:40,359 Speaker 2: I'm pretty ready for attack by the time I hit morning. 49 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,960 Speaker 2: Not always, not always, but as much as possible. 50 00:02:44,200 --> 00:02:46,640 Speaker 1: That's awesome. And so when you're writing the plan for 51 00:02:46,720 --> 00:02:51,120 Speaker 1: the next day, is that something like when does that happen? 52 00:02:51,440 --> 00:02:55,800 Speaker 1: And what does that look like? Like you're writing on like, 53 00:02:55,919 --> 00:02:58,040 Speaker 1: is is it a big like to do list, for example, 54 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:00,840 Speaker 1: or is it a schedule to tell me, like, you 55 00:03:00,840 --> 00:03:03,040 Speaker 1: know exactly what time of the day are you writing this, 56 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:05,360 Speaker 1: and you know, how does that work? 57 00:03:06,200 --> 00:03:08,440 Speaker 2: I love pencil and paper, So I don't do this 58 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 2: online or on my I don't make use of you know, 59 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:14,799 Speaker 2: on my iPhone or whatever. I don't make use of 60 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:18,000 Speaker 2: the programs there for time management or for planning or 61 00:03:18,040 --> 00:03:20,120 Speaker 2: schedule or anything. This is all like pencil and paper 62 00:03:20,240 --> 00:03:23,520 Speaker 2: kind of stuff. But I have a running to do list. 63 00:03:24,840 --> 00:03:27,600 Speaker 2: It's several columns, you know, there's a column for personal, 64 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:31,960 Speaker 2: column for kind of family stuff, and then multiple columns 65 00:03:31,960 --> 00:03:37,240 Speaker 2: for the different projects I'm doing at work. And that 66 00:03:37,280 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 2: to do list gets updated over the weekend. And then 67 00:03:41,440 --> 00:03:43,360 Speaker 2: from that to do list, which is on a big 68 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:48,000 Speaker 2: yellow pad, I extract in I have an index card 69 00:03:48,000 --> 00:03:51,160 Speaker 2: and I make the priorities for the next day from 70 00:03:51,160 --> 00:03:53,080 Speaker 2: that list. So the list is sort of a weekly 71 00:03:53,200 --> 00:03:54,960 Speaker 2: list that I carry around with me, and it's kind 72 00:03:54,960 --> 00:03:56,440 Speaker 2: of like my base list of everything I have to 73 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:58,320 Speaker 2: get done in the world. And it's a yellow pad 74 00:03:58,360 --> 00:04:01,120 Speaker 2: because there's a lot of notes behind it. And then 75 00:04:01,360 --> 00:04:04,200 Speaker 2: the index card, I just create the equivalent of something 76 00:04:04,200 --> 00:04:05,960 Speaker 2: I can put in my pocket and carry around with 77 00:04:06,000 --> 00:04:08,720 Speaker 2: me so that you know, as I'm going from meeting 78 00:04:08,800 --> 00:04:11,200 Speaker 2: to meeting, I know I can remember what I need 79 00:04:11,240 --> 00:04:13,360 Speaker 2: to do, and I add things to that index card. 80 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:15,640 Speaker 2: It's kind of like my little my little card that 81 00:04:15,680 --> 00:04:18,400 Speaker 2: I kind of write additional to dos as they come 82 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:19,120 Speaker 2: up with on. 83 00:04:19,520 --> 00:04:21,760 Speaker 1: And are you then crossing off to dos on that index. 84 00:04:21,880 --> 00:04:22,800 Speaker 1: Caddle through the day as. 85 00:04:22,760 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 2: Well, trying. 86 00:04:27,120 --> 00:04:28,120 Speaker 1: Excellent, and I. 87 00:04:28,080 --> 00:04:30,840 Speaker 2: Mean i'm traveling, the index card is totally different. The 88 00:04:30,880 --> 00:04:34,320 Speaker 2: index card is like a typed schedule because you know, 89 00:04:34,400 --> 00:04:37,279 Speaker 2: when I'm traveling and I have multiple meetings and agendas 90 00:04:37,320 --> 00:04:41,280 Speaker 2: and itinerary and flights, it all goes. You know, I 91 00:04:41,320 --> 00:04:44,000 Speaker 2: have my office. We put together a whole schedule so 92 00:04:44,000 --> 00:04:49,039 Speaker 2: that I don't you know, get lost in meetings that 93 00:04:49,240 --> 00:04:50,839 Speaker 2: take all day when I need to be somewhere the 94 00:04:50,839 --> 00:04:53,800 Speaker 2: next hour, and so I will still write notes all 95 00:04:53,839 --> 00:04:56,479 Speaker 2: over that, but I keep a more formalized schedule that time. 96 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:00,200 Speaker 1: Hello there me again. Now, what are the things I 97 00:05:00,279 --> 00:05:04,599 Speaker 1: like most about? What Pamelas said is choosing your outfit 98 00:05:04,640 --> 00:05:07,600 Speaker 1: the day before. Now I know on this podcast, I've 99 00:05:07,640 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 1: spoken about decision fatigue, and this is the notion that 100 00:05:11,680 --> 00:05:14,280 Speaker 1: with every decision we make over the course of the day, 101 00:05:14,520 --> 00:05:17,240 Speaker 1: the worse the quality of our decisions become. So this 102 00:05:17,320 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: is a huge body of research in cognitive psychology, and 103 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:25,359 Speaker 1: so what these researchers suggest is that any chance you 104 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,680 Speaker 1: have to minimize decision making, particularly in the mornings, is 105 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,839 Speaker 1: super important. Like It's one of the reasons why when 106 00:05:32,880 --> 00:05:36,159 Speaker 1: Obama was in office, he only owned two types of suits, 107 00:05:36,440 --> 00:05:39,200 Speaker 1: navy suits and dark gray suits. And he did this, 108 00:05:39,760 --> 00:05:42,400 Speaker 1: he said, so he didn't have to spend precious mental 109 00:05:42,520 --> 00:05:46,040 Speaker 1: energy deciding what to wear every day. So I know, 110 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,680 Speaker 1: for me, on a good day, I will definitely map 111 00:05:49,720 --> 00:05:53,680 Speaker 1: out my outfit the night before. Not that a whole 112 00:05:53,680 --> 00:05:55,720 Speaker 1: lot of thought goes into what I wear, but some 113 00:05:55,800 --> 00:05:59,840 Speaker 1: certainly does, and so I wonder for you, what decision 114 00:06:00,560 --> 00:06:03,640 Speaker 1: could you eliminate from your morning by doing more planning 115 00:06:03,680 --> 00:06:06,360 Speaker 1: the evening before. I'd love to hear your feedback, and 116 00:06:06,400 --> 00:06:09,760 Speaker 1: my email address is always in the show notes. So 117 00:06:10,520 --> 00:06:13,679 Speaker 1: that is it for today's show. If you like this excerpt, 118 00:06:13,680 --> 00:06:15,880 Speaker 1: you might want to listen to my full chat with Pamela, 119 00:06:15,920 --> 00:06:18,400 Speaker 1: which I'll link to in the show notes. And if 120 00:06:18,440 --> 00:06:20,600 Speaker 1: you're enjoying how I work, I love it if you 121 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:23,200 Speaker 1: could take five seconds to leave a review in Apple 122 00:06:23,240 --> 00:06:27,159 Speaker 1: Podcasts or wherever you listen to this show. I do 123 00:06:27,279 --> 00:06:30,839 Speaker 1: read every review and they really do make my day. 124 00:06:30,880 --> 00:06:35,200 Speaker 1: It's so lovely getting feedback from listeners, so thank you 125 00:06:35,240 --> 00:06:37,880 Speaker 1: to those that have left reviews. So that is it 126 00:06:37,920 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: for today and I'll see you next time.