1 00:00:04,280 --> 00:00:06,960 Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics 2 00:00:07,040 --> 00:00:09,360 Speaker 1: used by leading innovators to get so much out of 3 00:00:09,400 --> 00:00:12,799 Speaker 1: their day. I'm your host, doctor Amantha Imba. I'm an 4 00:00:12,880 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: organizational psychologist, the CEO of Inventium, and I'm obsessed with 5 00:00:16,840 --> 00:00:20,720 Speaker 1: finding ways to optimize my work day. Today's show is 6 00:00:20,760 --> 00:00:23,840 Speaker 1: another mini episode, and today I want to talk about 7 00:00:23,960 --> 00:00:26,960 Speaker 1: the bedside table, because I think we've all probably got 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,120 Speaker 1: one now. My bedside table used to be bad news. 9 00:00:31,920 --> 00:00:34,680 Speaker 1: Like many people, I used to charge my phone and 10 00:00:34,840 --> 00:00:37,920 Speaker 1: my watch about half a meter from my head every 11 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:41,000 Speaker 1: single night, and like many people, my phone was my 12 00:00:41,080 --> 00:00:44,400 Speaker 1: alarm clock. So I was basically setting the day up 13 00:00:44,479 --> 00:00:47,760 Speaker 1: to give into one of the worst temptations, checking my 14 00:00:47,880 --> 00:00:51,360 Speaker 1: phone upon waking, and by doing so, starting my day 15 00:00:51,440 --> 00:00:55,400 Speaker 1: with other people's stuff. Other people's staff might mean requests 16 00:00:55,440 --> 00:00:58,480 Speaker 1: that have come in overnight via email, comments on an 17 00:00:58,600 --> 00:01:02,160 Speaker 1: article or a post, or multiple messages from a conversation 18 00:01:02,360 --> 00:01:05,440 Speaker 1: about a meeting location on a WhatsApp group. While other 19 00:01:05,480 --> 00:01:09,800 Speaker 1: people's staff might seem relatively innocuous, they basically determined the 20 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 1: state of mind we get out of bedin I remember 21 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,120 Speaker 1: one morning where I woke up and hopped onto an 22 00:01:15,240 --> 00:01:18,200 Speaker 1: article that I'd published the day before. I wanted to 23 00:01:18,240 --> 00:01:21,040 Speaker 1: see what feedback I'd received in the form of comments 24 00:01:21,120 --> 00:01:25,800 Speaker 1: or tweets. Now, clearly the terms constructive feedback and online 25 00:01:25,840 --> 00:01:29,520 Speaker 1: comments are an oxymoron, but nonetheless I used to find 26 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:33,959 Speaker 1: reading online comments irresistible. Now, this article in question was 27 00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:37,440 Speaker 1: one that I wrote about the problems with mindfulness on Creativity. 28 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:40,759 Speaker 1: I thought it was a clever angle about the darker 29 00:01:40,800 --> 00:01:44,039 Speaker 1: side of mindfulness, an antidote to the endless stream of 30 00:01:44,200 --> 00:01:47,840 Speaker 1: mindfulness advocates, and would perhaps attract a reader like me 31 00:01:48,000 --> 00:01:51,400 Speaker 1: who really struggled to adopt a mindfulness habit. But no, 32 00:01:51,800 --> 00:01:56,320 Speaker 1: clearly the mindfulness supporters read anything with the word mindfulness 33 00:01:56,320 --> 00:01:58,480 Speaker 1: and the title, and had swarmed on this article to 34 00:01:58,560 --> 00:02:02,640 Speaker 1: inform me that I was clearly a resentful mindfulness failure 35 00:02:02,880 --> 00:02:07,360 Speaker 1: and to stop reporting on research that's clearly incorrect. And 36 00:02:08,280 --> 00:02:12,560 Speaker 1: it wasn't incorrect just saying so. Armed with this criticism, 37 00:02:12,600 --> 00:02:15,000 Speaker 1: I think it's fair to say I didn't bounce out 38 00:02:15,000 --> 00:02:19,440 Speaker 1: of bed that morning. No. I rolled out, dragged myself 39 00:02:19,680 --> 00:02:22,800 Speaker 1: into the shower, got ready for work, and inflicted my 40 00:02:22,840 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 1: grumpy mood on pretty much anyone who was in my path. 41 00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:28,840 Speaker 1: I certainly didn't feel in the mood to engage in 42 00:02:28,880 --> 00:02:32,240 Speaker 1: any task that was remotely challenging, and working on my 43 00:02:32,320 --> 00:02:36,720 Speaker 1: latest article after having this one torn apart was seriously 44 00:02:36,840 --> 00:02:40,640 Speaker 1: not going to happen. Imagine though, if I could rewind 45 00:02:40,760 --> 00:02:43,440 Speaker 1: the first sixty seconds of my day to not having 46 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,400 Speaker 1: checked my phone, I could have gone about my merry 47 00:02:46,440 --> 00:02:49,639 Speaker 1: way and almost definitely got a whole lot more done 48 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:54,400 Speaker 1: and avoided inflicting my miserable mood onto my family and teammates. 49 00:02:55,040 --> 00:02:57,680 Speaker 1: So for me, the perfect bedside table has become a 50 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,000 Speaker 1: digital free zone. I haven't a lie arm clock. Yes, 51 00:03:01,080 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: I did feel like I was back in the eighties 52 00:03:03,000 --> 00:03:05,400 Speaker 1: when I bought it, and this alarm clock tells me 53 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 1: the time and it tells me when to wake up 54 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:10,839 Speaker 1: by playing cannon in D and shining a bright light 55 00:03:10,960 --> 00:03:14,720 Speaker 1: all over my bedroom. Next to my alarm clock, I 56 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,640 Speaker 1: have a notepad and pen. This was a late addition 57 00:03:17,680 --> 00:03:20,880 Speaker 1: to the game, but nonetheless a very important one, because 58 00:03:20,880 --> 00:03:23,600 Speaker 1: I realized that after removing my phone from my bedroom 59 00:03:24,360 --> 00:03:27,360 Speaker 1: that I missed having something to write down random ideas 60 00:03:27,400 --> 00:03:30,480 Speaker 1: and to do list notes into, and instead found myself 61 00:03:30,480 --> 00:03:33,840 Speaker 1: playing memory games with myself to try to ensure I 62 00:03:33,880 --> 00:03:36,760 Speaker 1: remembered them in the morning. For example, if I had 63 00:03:36,760 --> 00:03:38,960 Speaker 1: to remember to get arm and milk, Grannie Smith, apples 64 00:03:38,960 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 1: and avocados from the supermarket the next day, I'd make 65 00:03:41,680 --> 00:03:43,400 Speaker 1: up a story about a granny who was making an 66 00:03:43,400 --> 00:03:48,600 Speaker 1: avocado sandwich for her daughter. Almade yep, literally literary genius 67 00:03:48,680 --> 00:03:53,320 Speaker 1: in action. This was not an effective strategy, so instead, 68 00:03:53,400 --> 00:03:56,560 Speaker 1: I now have an old fashioned notebook and pen which 69 00:03:56,680 --> 00:03:59,640 Speaker 1: captures my ideas and gets to do list items out 70 00:03:59,680 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: of my head head. It allows my brain to have 71 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: a good night's sleep rather than trying to memorize things, 72 00:04:05,440 --> 00:04:07,640 Speaker 1: and when I wake up, I can then look at 73 00:04:07,640 --> 00:04:09,520 Speaker 1: what I wrote down and either add them to my 74 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:12,160 Speaker 1: to do list or continue to build on the idea 75 00:04:12,200 --> 00:04:14,640 Speaker 1: that I had late at night. So to get your 76 00:04:14,720 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: day off to the perfect start, simply put a real 77 00:04:17,440 --> 00:04:20,280 Speaker 1: alarm clock, a pen, and a notepad next to your 78 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:24,360 Speaker 1: ben Everything else can be relegated to another room in 79 00:04:24,400 --> 00:04:28,600 Speaker 1: your home. That's it for today's episode. I hope you 80 00:04:28,680 --> 00:04:31,400 Speaker 1: got something useful out of it, and as always, i'd 81 00:04:31,520 --> 00:04:35,200 Speaker 1: love it if you are enjoying this podcast to leave 82 00:04:35,240 --> 00:04:39,080 Speaker 1: a review for it in iTunes, and also if you're 83 00:04:39,080 --> 00:04:41,920 Speaker 1: not a subscriber, but you like this episode, Simply hit 84 00:04:41,960 --> 00:04:44,760 Speaker 1: the subscribe button and you'll be alerted as to when 85 00:04:44,839 --> 00:04:47,680 Speaker 1: new episodes arrive. See you next time.