1 00:00:00,800 --> 00:00:04,880 Speaker 1: When you strip it down to the bear essentials, productivity 2 00:00:05,200 --> 00:00:07,920 Speaker 1: is really just a matter of getting as much meaningful 3 00:00:07,960 --> 00:00:10,959 Speaker 1: work done as possible in as little time as possible. 4 00:00:12,039 --> 00:00:18,000 Speaker 1: So a truly effective productivity system naturally starts with your calendar. 5 00:00:18,960 --> 00:00:21,520 Speaker 1: But before you flinch at the thought of adding yet 6 00:00:21,600 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 1: another app to your home screen or a new set 7 00:00:24,640 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: of tasks to your to do list, consider this. Whether 8 00:00:28,600 --> 00:00:32,600 Speaker 1: you're doing it consciously or not, you're always choosing how 9 00:00:32,680 --> 00:00:38,440 Speaker 1: to spend your days. Patrick likebody, knows this all too well, 10 00:00:38,960 --> 00:00:43,600 Speaker 1: and after years of wrangling text files and hard copy diaries, 11 00:00:44,000 --> 00:00:49,120 Speaker 1: he decided he needed a better calendar solution, so he 12 00:00:49,200 --> 00:00:55,680 Speaker 1: made one himself. Patrick explains the philosophy behind Reclaim an 13 00:00:55,800 --> 00:00:59,920 Speaker 1: AI calendar assistant, and breaks down the tool's core functions 14 00:01:00,240 --> 00:01:02,640 Speaker 1: so you can apply them to your own calendar and 15 00:01:02,680 --> 00:01:05,720 Speaker 1: start using time a bit more purposefully. 16 00:01:10,760 --> 00:01:12,440 Speaker 2: My name is doctor amanthe Immer. 17 00:01:12,800 --> 00:01:16,280 Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science 18 00:01:16,280 --> 00:01:20,479 Speaker 1: consultancy Inventium, and this is how I work, a show 19 00:01:20,600 --> 00:01:24,000 Speaker 1: about how to help you do your best work. So 20 00:01:24,120 --> 00:01:27,839 Speaker 1: Patrick's life is crazy right now. He's running an early 21 00:01:27,920 --> 00:01:31,399 Speaker 1: stage startup. He has a major construction project on the go. 22 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:34,640 Speaker 1: He's got three young kids, and he has a mother 23 00:01:34,720 --> 00:01:38,520 Speaker 1: in law that he's looking after. So what does Patrick's 24 00:01:38,600 --> 00:01:40,959 Speaker 1: daily schedule look like right now? 25 00:01:42,440 --> 00:01:46,800 Speaker 3: Well, if you're asking literally right now, it involves immediately 26 00:01:46,840 --> 00:01:50,880 Speaker 3: after this podcast, I'm getting in the car and bolting 27 00:01:50,920 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 3: over to soccer practice to take my middle child to 28 00:01:54,760 --> 00:01:59,520 Speaker 3: her new competitive league that she just joined. So that's 29 00:01:59,560 --> 00:02:03,840 Speaker 3: serious stuff that we cannot miss. But more generally that 30 00:02:04,000 --> 00:02:07,000 Speaker 3: my I'd say that's a manifestation of what my typical 31 00:02:07,080 --> 00:02:09,960 Speaker 3: day looks like, which is my afternoons are often more 32 00:02:10,080 --> 00:02:15,079 Speaker 3: family and logistics oriented, and so I shift my schedule. Today. 33 00:02:15,800 --> 00:02:18,600 Speaker 3: I was having a little trouble sleeping, so I got 34 00:02:18,600 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 3: to work around three forty five in the morning. Is 35 00:02:21,760 --> 00:02:25,519 Speaker 3: that typical? That's a little too early, But I'd say 36 00:02:25,520 --> 00:02:28,680 Speaker 3: normally it's like five five thirty. And I don't know. 37 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:31,839 Speaker 3: I think this is somewhat common, maybe for people who 38 00:02:31,880 --> 00:02:34,440 Speaker 3: work from home and have kids. But I have found 39 00:02:34,480 --> 00:02:39,280 Speaker 3: personally that my quiet hours are around five to seven am, 40 00:02:39,600 --> 00:02:42,200 Speaker 3: and I can get eighty percent of my heads down 41 00:02:42,280 --> 00:02:44,600 Speaker 3: work done for the day in those hours if I'm 42 00:02:44,600 --> 00:02:45,320 Speaker 3: really focused. 43 00:02:46,120 --> 00:02:52,160 Speaker 1: Wow, So how do you optimize for those first two hours? 44 00:02:52,560 --> 00:02:56,200 Speaker 3: First step is wake up and have a pot of 45 00:02:56,240 --> 00:03:00,320 Speaker 3: coffee brewed ready to go, set the timer to make 46 00:03:00,360 --> 00:03:02,680 Speaker 3: sure that I've gone to bed early enough that I 47 00:03:02,720 --> 00:03:08,360 Speaker 3: can actually do it and be coherent. Beyond that, I don't. 48 00:03:08,520 --> 00:03:12,840 Speaker 3: I don't take meetings early in the mornings. I basically 49 00:03:12,880 --> 00:03:16,600 Speaker 3: never before nine o'clock local time. There's rare exception when 50 00:03:16,600 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 3: I'm trying to connect with somebody who's on the other 51 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:22,799 Speaker 3: side of the planet and I need to do something there, 52 00:03:22,800 --> 00:03:25,200 Speaker 3: But even then I really try to opt. I do 53 00:03:25,280 --> 00:03:28,000 Speaker 3: those meetings I tried later in the afternoon or evenings, 54 00:03:28,440 --> 00:03:32,919 Speaker 3: just because I value and protect those morning times. I'm 55 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:36,280 Speaker 3: just I've learned over the last twenty years of working, 56 00:03:37,080 --> 00:03:39,560 Speaker 3: and I think everyone kind of finds their sweet spot, 57 00:03:40,280 --> 00:03:42,800 Speaker 3: but I've learned that my mornings are where my brain 58 00:03:42,880 --> 00:03:46,280 Speaker 3: is the sharpest. And apologies because it's four pm in 59 00:03:46,320 --> 00:03:48,520 Speaker 3: the afternoon, but it turns out late afternoons or where 60 00:03:48,560 --> 00:03:52,960 Speaker 3: I'm the softest mentally, so apologies in advanced any listeners, 61 00:03:53,640 --> 00:03:57,520 Speaker 3: But yeah, I really just I ruthlessly protect that time 62 00:03:57,560 --> 00:04:00,760 Speaker 3: and don't, don't, you know, let anyone steal it away 63 00:04:00,760 --> 00:04:02,680 Speaker 3: from me. And I also don't let myself steal it 64 00:04:02,720 --> 00:04:03,920 Speaker 3: away by sleeping in. 65 00:04:04,320 --> 00:04:06,920 Speaker 1: How do you map out what you're going to be 66 00:04:06,960 --> 00:04:08,240 Speaker 1: doing in those two hours? 67 00:04:09,640 --> 00:04:15,000 Speaker 3: To be perfectly honest, these days with a startup, it's 68 00:04:15,040 --> 00:04:18,560 Speaker 3: a lot of tactical work and therefore not a lot 69 00:04:18,600 --> 00:04:23,760 Speaker 3: of forethought into what I'm going to do. It falls 70 00:04:23,760 --> 00:04:27,000 Speaker 3: into the broad buckets of you know, support the customers, 71 00:04:27,360 --> 00:04:31,120 Speaker 3: support the sales, and if I can get through all 72 00:04:31,160 --> 00:04:34,920 Speaker 3: that first which there's not. It's not broken down into 73 00:04:34,920 --> 00:04:37,200 Speaker 3: some deep strategy there. I mean, it's really kind of 74 00:04:37,400 --> 00:04:41,200 Speaker 3: first in, first out, kind of you know, queueing. If 75 00:04:41,240 --> 00:04:43,839 Speaker 3: I get all that done, then we just fall back 76 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:47,159 Speaker 3: to you know, okay, what's what's our strategic comparative for 77 00:04:47,200 --> 00:04:49,960 Speaker 3: the business, what's the roadmap we're trying to do? What 78 00:04:50,000 --> 00:04:52,919 Speaker 3: can I do to you know, to support that work. So, 79 00:04:53,960 --> 00:04:58,120 Speaker 3: you know, it's it's a lot of tactical operational stuff 80 00:04:58,200 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 3: right now. When we are a little further along where 81 00:05:02,920 --> 00:05:08,080 Speaker 3: we've got more support literally doing customer support, it it'll 82 00:05:08,120 --> 00:05:11,320 Speaker 3: fall back to more strategic thinking that you know, goes 83 00:05:11,360 --> 00:05:13,120 Speaker 3: back to the first principles of what are we trying 84 00:05:13,160 --> 00:05:16,600 Speaker 3: to do with our business? And I'd say that's you know, 85 00:05:16,880 --> 00:05:20,520 Speaker 3: that mindset underscoes sort of what we're trying to do 86 00:05:20,560 --> 00:05:24,880 Speaker 3: with Reclaim as a whole, which is get our customers 87 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:29,960 Speaker 3: into the mindset of intentional thinking and intentional planning. For me, 88 00:05:31,400 --> 00:05:34,560 Speaker 3: we've already kind of established what the intentional work is 89 00:05:34,560 --> 00:05:37,480 Speaker 3: in the form of a roadmap. And you know, if 90 00:05:37,520 --> 00:05:39,920 Speaker 3: I'm not doing tactical work and I'm not doing meetings, 91 00:05:40,080 --> 00:05:43,000 Speaker 3: the work I can do to support the strategy of 92 00:05:43,040 --> 00:05:46,080 Speaker 3: the business is quite literally to you know, be coding 93 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:49,080 Speaker 3: features up or writing requirements documents, and I have that 94 00:05:49,560 --> 00:05:50,880 Speaker 3: in the form of our roadmap. 95 00:05:51,720 --> 00:05:54,360 Speaker 2: Reclaim is your third startup. 96 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,279 Speaker 1: I'm correct in saying that what were the biggest lessons 97 00:05:58,320 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: that you took from your first two? 98 00:06:00,160 --> 00:06:06,680 Speaker 3: Are applying now, I'd say just rapid iteration. So my 99 00:06:07,920 --> 00:06:14,680 Speaker 3: exposure to entrepreneurialship, i'd say actually started with a company 100 00:06:14,680 --> 00:06:17,679 Speaker 3: I think you know fairly well, at Lassian. I met 101 00:06:17,960 --> 00:06:24,880 Speaker 3: the two founders of Atlasian way early on when we 102 00:06:24,920 --> 00:06:28,240 Speaker 3: all hung out in IRC if your listeners remember what 103 00:06:28,279 --> 00:06:32,400 Speaker 3: that is. It's like before slack chat Internet chat, and 104 00:06:32,440 --> 00:06:35,520 Speaker 3: we all hung out in the Java Internet chat room 105 00:06:36,160 --> 00:06:38,760 Speaker 3: and we're all basically learning Java together in like the 106 00:06:38,839 --> 00:06:41,840 Speaker 3: late nineties and early two thousands, and I watched Mike 107 00:06:41,880 --> 00:06:44,720 Speaker 3: and Scott, the two founders, start this business that was 108 00:06:44,760 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 3: originally had nothing to do with anything Elassian does today. 109 00:06:47,760 --> 00:06:53,560 Speaker 3: It was a services organization designed to help support customers 110 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,799 Speaker 3: of an entirely different product. And the only reason Jira, 111 00:06:56,960 --> 00:06:59,320 Speaker 3: their main product, became what it was is that was 112 00:06:59,360 --> 00:07:01,760 Speaker 3: the tool they were using to support those customers. Is 113 00:07:01,800 --> 00:07:05,240 Speaker 3: like a ticketing desk, and I use that. I used 114 00:07:05,279 --> 00:07:07,279 Speaker 3: the product they were supporting as well. We all we 115 00:07:07,279 --> 00:07:09,840 Speaker 3: thought it was fantastic. It was this wonderful Swedish Swedish 116 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,880 Speaker 3: guy that built it, and I watched this company iterate 117 00:07:12,920 --> 00:07:17,400 Speaker 3: and evolve and just like over many years become obviously 118 00:07:17,440 --> 00:07:20,600 Speaker 3: this huge success story, but it was totally this other 119 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,600 Speaker 3: thing at the beginning, and that was a good reminder 120 00:07:23,680 --> 00:07:26,000 Speaker 3: for me, you know, and it's cliche, you hear this 121 00:07:26,040 --> 00:07:30,280 Speaker 3: a lot in startups, but like seeing in action is 122 00:07:30,600 --> 00:07:33,960 Speaker 3: you know, just because you have an idea doesn't necessarily 123 00:07:33,960 --> 00:07:35,880 Speaker 3: mean the market agrees with it, and you need to 124 00:07:35,920 --> 00:07:39,280 Speaker 3: be responsive to what the market is thinking. Is interesting. 125 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,160 Speaker 3: In their case, they were seeing that people were kind 126 00:07:42,160 --> 00:07:45,160 Speaker 3: of more interested in their little support ticketing portal than 127 00:07:45,200 --> 00:07:48,960 Speaker 3: the actual product they were supporting, and that resonated a lot, 128 00:07:50,200 --> 00:07:53,760 Speaker 3: and I, you know, then spent time after kind of 129 00:07:53,800 --> 00:07:56,840 Speaker 3: working with those guys early early on on the other 130 00:07:56,920 --> 00:07:58,960 Speaker 3: end of the spectrum, where I was at a startup 131 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:03,040 Speaker 3: that was big, basically the other LinkedIn that nobody's ever 132 00:08:03,080 --> 00:08:06,880 Speaker 3: heard of. We were out and ahead of LinkedIn some 133 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:11,760 Speaker 3: at one point, but we were building enterprise on premise 134 00:08:11,840 --> 00:08:15,160 Speaker 3: enterprise software. Our biggest customer was bear Stearns. If you 135 00:08:15,240 --> 00:08:19,680 Speaker 3: remember bear Stearns. Both the company and the client both 136 00:08:19,680 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 3: went away around the same time. And those two kind 137 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:27,320 Speaker 3: of contrasting experiences really were formative for me in that 138 00:08:27,480 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 3: I was watching one company, you know, iterate its way 139 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:32,800 Speaker 3: to success, and then I was at this other startup 140 00:08:32,800 --> 00:08:36,360 Speaker 3: where we basically shipped on premise software once a year, 141 00:08:36,679 --> 00:08:39,520 Speaker 3: and it just was not nimble enough. And so I 142 00:08:39,600 --> 00:08:42,199 Speaker 3: took away from me personally, It's like you need to 143 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,800 Speaker 3: constantly be iterating, and so I've taken that with me, 144 00:08:45,920 --> 00:08:47,720 Speaker 3: and you know, fast forward all the way to today 145 00:08:47,760 --> 00:08:51,640 Speaker 3: on the third startup. You know, Reclaim does a lot 146 00:08:51,679 --> 00:08:55,000 Speaker 3: of things, but the very first version of Reclaim wasn't 147 00:08:55,000 --> 00:08:57,680 Speaker 3: even called Reclaim. It came out in February twenty twenty, 148 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:00,520 Speaker 3: and it was called Life Work Calendar dot com and 149 00:09:00,559 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 3: it did one job. It just synchronized your personal calendar 150 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:05,679 Speaker 3: with your work calendar, and that was It was like 151 00:09:05,720 --> 00:09:08,040 Speaker 3: a mini portal site, and that got us our first 152 00:09:08,040 --> 00:09:10,880 Speaker 3: thousand or so users, and we just kept iterating from there. 153 00:09:11,480 --> 00:09:15,360 Speaker 1: What are your main mechanisms for staying in touch with 154 00:09:15,520 --> 00:09:19,760 Speaker 1: what your customer is thinking, what the pain points are, 155 00:09:20,240 --> 00:09:23,560 Speaker 1: what features are working and which ones are not landing. 156 00:09:24,000 --> 00:09:28,200 Speaker 3: I'm a big believer in the texture that comes from 157 00:09:28,360 --> 00:09:32,559 Speaker 3: conversations more so than the raw data. So we've instrumented 158 00:09:32,600 --> 00:09:36,320 Speaker 3: the hell out of Reclaim in a generic fashion. We 159 00:09:36,320 --> 00:09:39,240 Speaker 3: don't send any personal data to our analytics, but we 160 00:09:39,440 --> 00:09:42,600 Speaker 3: know how many people use feature X today and what 161 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,120 Speaker 3: was the success rate of our number of sign ups 162 00:09:45,200 --> 00:09:47,880 Speaker 3: to how many fully activated and all that kind of stuff, right, 163 00:09:48,120 --> 00:09:52,960 Speaker 3: But it's those are such like cold statistics, and you 164 00:09:53,000 --> 00:09:54,880 Speaker 3: can look at them and you can kind of squint 165 00:09:54,920 --> 00:09:56,920 Speaker 3: and say, okay, this is kind of working for us. 166 00:09:57,200 --> 00:10:00,960 Speaker 3: But ultimately, if you can get an engaged person talking 167 00:10:01,040 --> 00:10:03,960 Speaker 3: to you, you get so much out more out of it. 168 00:10:04,280 --> 00:10:06,640 Speaker 3: And so you know, and that makes sense, right. I mean, 169 00:10:06,679 --> 00:10:10,439 Speaker 3: product managers in big companies and small they're always looking 170 00:10:10,480 --> 00:10:13,360 Speaker 3: for customers to talk to and dig deep into what 171 00:10:13,400 --> 00:10:16,480 Speaker 3: are the real problems you're trying to solve. And we 172 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:18,720 Speaker 3: put a little chat mobble right in the product. And 173 00:10:19,200 --> 00:10:21,080 Speaker 3: a lot of those chat mobiles, if you've used them, 174 00:10:21,200 --> 00:10:23,400 Speaker 3: your listeners have used them, you know, they a lot 175 00:10:23,400 --> 00:10:25,080 Speaker 3: of times they just sort of go off into space 176 00:10:25,280 --> 00:10:28,600 Speaker 3: and never to be heard from again. You know, I 177 00:10:28,679 --> 00:10:31,240 Speaker 3: felt like early on, and to this day, I still 178 00:10:31,320 --> 00:10:33,960 Speaker 3: do it a lot. It is really important to connect 179 00:10:33,960 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 3: with those customers and understand deeply what their problems were, 180 00:10:36,840 --> 00:10:39,760 Speaker 3: and so I would surprise and delight and I still 181 00:10:39,760 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 3: do it this morning. You know, I do it every morning. 182 00:10:41,640 --> 00:10:43,720 Speaker 3: And that's part of what my kind of two hours 183 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 3: of like focused time is is I'll just pop in 184 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 3: when I see someone who's got a question, and I'll 185 00:10:50,240 --> 00:10:52,640 Speaker 3: sort of like hijacket. I'll like answer their question. I'll 186 00:10:52,679 --> 00:10:54,280 Speaker 3: be like, yeah, but what do you think about this thing? 187 00:10:54,360 --> 00:10:56,440 Speaker 3: Or I'll share a mock up with them and paste 188 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,439 Speaker 3: it into the chat window and say like do you 189 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:01,320 Speaker 3: think this would solve your problem? It does two things. 190 00:11:02,000 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 3: It gets us that kind of rich texture feedback that 191 00:11:04,800 --> 00:11:07,160 Speaker 3: we're looking for, but it also actually creates like a 192 00:11:07,200 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 3: brand loyalty that is really hard to create any other way, 193 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:15,440 Speaker 3: because our customers really appreciate they feel like they're part 194 00:11:15,440 --> 00:11:16,400 Speaker 3: of the journey with us. 195 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:21,439 Speaker 1: Now, before you started using reclaim, which you obviously do 196 00:11:21,600 --> 00:11:25,640 Speaker 1: to stay on top of everything, like before I claim, 197 00:11:25,720 --> 00:11:27,800 Speaker 1: how are you managing your day to day? 198 00:11:28,400 --> 00:11:32,440 Speaker 3: A mixture the two main techniques was a mixture of 199 00:11:32,679 --> 00:11:35,600 Speaker 3: some amount of time blocking, and I just call it 200 00:11:35,720 --> 00:11:40,200 Speaker 3: calendar orientation, where you know, even if I wasn't putting 201 00:11:40,320 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 3: blocks of time down on my calendar, I was consulting 202 00:11:43,440 --> 00:11:45,600 Speaker 3: with my calendar a lot. And the key thing here 203 00:11:45,679 --> 00:11:48,520 Speaker 3: is I was looking at it both past and future. 204 00:11:48,960 --> 00:11:54,000 Speaker 3: I wasn't just looking forward, because once you get sufficiently busy, 205 00:11:54,160 --> 00:11:56,160 Speaker 3: you start to forget what the hell you did the 206 00:11:56,240 --> 00:12:00,400 Speaker 3: day before or earlier that day. And I developed lipped 207 00:12:00,720 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 3: a philosophy that you can't possibly tell if you're oriented 208 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,520 Speaker 3: towards what matters to you, if you're not constantly looking 209 00:12:07,600 --> 00:12:11,320 Speaker 3: backwards and kind of say and kind of just giving 210 00:12:11,320 --> 00:12:14,680 Speaker 3: it a reality check, like, okay, these three objectives are 211 00:12:14,720 --> 00:12:17,360 Speaker 3: important in my life or in my work. Am I 212 00:12:17,400 --> 00:12:19,960 Speaker 3: spending time on those things? So there's a little bit 213 00:12:19,960 --> 00:12:22,960 Speaker 3: of calendar orientation, But I didn't have the tooling to 214 00:12:23,120 --> 00:12:25,760 Speaker 3: automate all of that, so that kind of pen and 215 00:12:25,800 --> 00:12:29,440 Speaker 3: paper counterpart to that, so to speak, was just a ritual. 216 00:12:29,480 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 3: And I still do this to a version of this, 217 00:12:31,720 --> 00:12:36,319 Speaker 3: which is like a ritual weekly planning session where hopefully 218 00:12:36,559 --> 00:12:39,320 Speaker 3: it's it's only fifteen or twenty minutes. I hopefully it 219 00:12:39,320 --> 00:12:41,640 Speaker 3: don't have to take longer than that. And it was 220 00:12:41,679 --> 00:12:43,760 Speaker 3: a habit that was actually kind of drilled into my 221 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:47,040 Speaker 3: head early on in my career by one of my 222 00:12:47,280 --> 00:12:49,960 Speaker 3: managers right out of college, and it was just like, 223 00:12:50,280 --> 00:12:54,520 Speaker 3: do the three p's style status report, you know, your plans, 224 00:12:54,559 --> 00:12:58,280 Speaker 3: your progress, your priorities or problems. There's different versions of 225 00:12:58,320 --> 00:13:02,720 Speaker 3: it I did. I always did four piece plans, problems, priorities, 226 00:13:03,720 --> 00:13:08,480 Speaker 3: What am I missing? Plans, progress, priorities, and problems four 227 00:13:08,520 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 3: p's and then some metrics, and they were meant to 228 00:13:11,960 --> 00:13:16,440 Speaker 3: be really lightweight, like key stats, just stuff that could 229 00:13:16,440 --> 00:13:19,800 Speaker 3: ground me. So it might be like customer contacts, you know, 230 00:13:19,800 --> 00:13:22,080 Speaker 3: how many customers did I talk to in the last week, 231 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:25,000 Speaker 3: because if that number is zero three weeks in a row, 232 00:13:25,600 --> 00:13:29,720 Speaker 3: I'm probably losing sight of the market. You know, number 233 00:13:29,720 --> 00:13:33,280 Speaker 3: of sales support calls, you know, if that number zero, 234 00:13:33,320 --> 00:13:36,680 Speaker 3: I'm also probably not helping the business get its deals done. 235 00:13:36,880 --> 00:13:39,160 Speaker 3: But if that number is fifteen each week, I'm also 236 00:13:39,280 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 3: probably you know, over tilting in one direction. So it'd 237 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:45,040 Speaker 3: be some basic stats like that, which often resulted in 238 00:13:45,080 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 3: me looking at the calendar and kind of counting some 239 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:49,080 Speaker 3: of these things up. And then the rest of it 240 00:13:49,160 --> 00:13:51,680 Speaker 3: was plans, what are you going to do this week? 241 00:13:51,720 --> 00:13:54,079 Speaker 3: And I tried a little trick that I learned from 242 00:13:54,080 --> 00:13:56,440 Speaker 3: my manager that I think is really nice is try 243 00:13:56,480 --> 00:13:59,520 Speaker 3: to write it the bullets and one try to keep 244 00:13:59,520 --> 00:14:02,760 Speaker 3: the bullets low. Don't go and do fifteen twenty bullets 245 00:14:02,760 --> 00:14:04,480 Speaker 3: of things you're trying to accomplish, Like what are like 246 00:14:04,520 --> 00:14:07,520 Speaker 3: the three or four big items that if you got 247 00:14:07,559 --> 00:14:10,480 Speaker 3: those three or four things done by the time the 248 00:14:10,480 --> 00:14:12,640 Speaker 3: week is over, you'd be proud of your week. Like 249 00:14:12,679 --> 00:14:14,440 Speaker 3: it doesn't have to be the forever list. You're not 250 00:14:14,480 --> 00:14:16,960 Speaker 3: trying to brag to your coworkers or your boss about 251 00:14:17,000 --> 00:14:19,840 Speaker 3: all the shit you're getting done. But it's like, these 252 00:14:19,840 --> 00:14:22,640 Speaker 3: are the things that matter. And then can you write 253 00:14:22,640 --> 00:14:25,480 Speaker 3: it in a way where you can just change like 254 00:14:25,640 --> 00:14:28,320 Speaker 3: one or two letters to take it from the past 255 00:14:28,520 --> 00:14:31,440 Speaker 3: the future tests to the past tens. Because what's cool 256 00:14:31,440 --> 00:14:33,080 Speaker 3: about that is if you could do that, you can 257 00:14:33,120 --> 00:14:35,760 Speaker 3: take those three bullets, bring them right down into the 258 00:14:35,840 --> 00:14:38,760 Speaker 3: progress for the next week and like delete one vowel 259 00:14:38,960 --> 00:14:41,200 Speaker 3: and like now it's like in the past tests and 260 00:14:41,240 --> 00:14:44,000 Speaker 3: you're like yes, and it starts to just get you 261 00:14:44,040 --> 00:14:47,600 Speaker 3: into this mindset of thinking about the future as if 262 00:14:47,640 --> 00:14:51,040 Speaker 3: it's the past. And so that technique helped a lot 263 00:14:51,680 --> 00:14:53,840 Speaker 3: where I'd kind of, you know, just stage these three 264 00:14:53,920 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 3: or four bullets each week through and then I'd constantly 265 00:14:56,720 --> 00:14:58,960 Speaker 3: go and also compare that against my priorities, like what 266 00:14:59,080 --> 00:15:01,360 Speaker 3: am I broad trying to get done over the next 267 00:15:01,360 --> 00:15:03,920 Speaker 3: few months, and is it you know, are all of 268 00:15:03,920 --> 00:15:08,240 Speaker 3: these bullets aligned with those priorities. So that was kind 269 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 3: of the basic pen and paper system, and what we're 270 00:15:10,840 --> 00:15:13,400 Speaker 3: trying to build with Reclaim is something that is akin 271 00:15:13,520 --> 00:15:16,560 Speaker 3: to that, where it's you know, intentionally helping you get 272 00:15:16,600 --> 00:15:20,840 Speaker 3: ahead of your calendar and we hope where if we 273 00:15:20,880 --> 00:15:22,360 Speaker 3: can get the product to where we want it to 274 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:25,400 Speaker 3: go over the next few years, helps you align your 275 00:15:25,480 --> 00:15:28,360 Speaker 3: time with the things that matter most to you personally 276 00:15:28,360 --> 00:15:29,080 Speaker 3: and professionally. 277 00:15:29,720 --> 00:15:32,960 Speaker 1: So before Reclaim, and I know that some of these 278 00:15:33,000 --> 00:15:36,680 Speaker 1: features are sort of in progress. How then do you 279 00:15:36,840 --> 00:15:40,640 Speaker 1: take that weekly planning ritual or four pace ritual and 280 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,880 Speaker 1: translate that into what is digitally appearing in your calendar 281 00:15:44,880 --> 00:15:45,560 Speaker 1: for the next week. 282 00:15:46,280 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 3: Yeah, so that'd be a case where, you know, if 283 00:15:48,520 --> 00:15:50,560 Speaker 3: I looked backwards and I saw I didn't get any 284 00:15:50,560 --> 00:15:52,480 Speaker 3: of my stuff done that I wanted to get done, 285 00:15:52,600 --> 00:15:56,320 Speaker 3: and I saw that, you know, perhaps my key metrics 286 00:15:56,320 --> 00:15:58,120 Speaker 3: showed that I was like on a whole bunch of 287 00:15:58,120 --> 00:16:02,280 Speaker 3: sales calls and no customer research calls, then that would 288 00:16:02,280 --> 00:16:05,360 Speaker 3: be where I'd look forward and I'd say, oh, okay, 289 00:16:05,920 --> 00:16:08,840 Speaker 3: how many sales calls am I on this week? And 290 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:14,640 Speaker 3: possibly decline or delegate more likely some of them to 291 00:16:14,680 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 3: get it into some sort of reasonable volume. But more importantly, 292 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,760 Speaker 3: also like set the reminder in my brain stops stop 293 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,720 Speaker 3: trying to please everybody, stop saying yes to every sales 294 00:16:24,800 --> 00:16:28,240 Speaker 3: rep that reaches out to you, and be more defensive 295 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:30,680 Speaker 3: of your time. That's one step. Second thing would be 296 00:16:30,800 --> 00:16:32,960 Speaker 3: to do a little bit of time blocking where if 297 00:16:32,960 --> 00:16:35,480 Speaker 3: I saw there was only three or four hours free 298 00:16:35,680 --> 00:16:38,440 Speaker 3: in the given week and one of my top priorities 299 00:16:38,520 --> 00:16:42,360 Speaker 3: was developing next year's strategy, it's time to now you know, 300 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:44,600 Speaker 3: like I can't say yes to any more sales calls, 301 00:16:44,600 --> 00:16:47,240 Speaker 3: I can't say yes to any other meetings. I needed 302 00:16:47,280 --> 00:16:49,880 Speaker 3: to block that time out and make it available for 303 00:16:49,920 --> 00:16:53,160 Speaker 3: that intentional work. And so that's kind of where I'd 304 00:16:53,200 --> 00:16:58,120 Speaker 3: say the manual version of reclaims habits and tasks features 305 00:16:58,200 --> 00:17:01,480 Speaker 3: would come into play. The thing I learn though, that 306 00:17:01,600 --> 00:17:06,600 Speaker 3: made that a difficult scenario is reschedules happen when you're 307 00:17:06,640 --> 00:17:10,399 Speaker 3: doing fifteen to twenty meetings a week, people say hey, 308 00:17:10,480 --> 00:17:12,640 Speaker 3: can you do another time? Or if you're if these 309 00:17:12,640 --> 00:17:15,200 Speaker 3: are internal meetings, then people are just looking and they're 310 00:17:15,280 --> 00:17:17,160 Speaker 3: kind of doing the find a time, And if your 311 00:17:17,200 --> 00:17:21,960 Speaker 3: calendar has no free time, then you know, they don't 312 00:17:22,080 --> 00:17:23,920 Speaker 3: not try to meet with you. Instead they just bug 313 00:17:23,960 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 3: you in different ways and they start slacking you, texting 314 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:28,760 Speaker 3: you and calling you and trying to get something scheduled. 315 00:17:28,840 --> 00:17:32,119 Speaker 3: And so that was where I also learned that that 316 00:17:32,240 --> 00:17:35,159 Speaker 3: time blocking could be rigid, and that was some of 317 00:17:35,200 --> 00:17:38,320 Speaker 3: the inspiration for what went into reclaim is can we 318 00:17:38,359 --> 00:17:41,359 Speaker 3: do time blocking but in a way that's actually like 319 00:17:41,600 --> 00:17:46,720 Speaker 3: better than what mere mortals can do because humans can't 320 00:17:46,720 --> 00:17:49,520 Speaker 3: be on their calendar all the time and be offering 321 00:17:49,600 --> 00:17:52,600 Speaker 3: up availability and then moving it or you know, moving 322 00:17:52,600 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 3: those blocks around as their schedule changes. But a robot's 323 00:17:55,560 --> 00:17:58,879 Speaker 3: pretty good at doing that, and so that was some 324 00:17:58,960 --> 00:18:01,240 Speaker 3: of the early inspiration for that future. 325 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,879 Speaker 1: Now I've been using Reclaim for I think about a 326 00:18:05,960 --> 00:18:09,119 Speaker 1: month now, and I'm loving it. I love that it 327 00:18:09,240 --> 00:18:14,439 Speaker 1: automatically reschedules things like you know, giving you this feedback 328 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:17,400 Speaker 1: before we started recording, like just lunch. For me, it's 329 00:18:17,440 --> 00:18:20,480 Speaker 1: really important that I take a break of thirty to 330 00:18:20,520 --> 00:18:23,320 Speaker 1: sixty minutes for lunch every day, and often that will 331 00:18:23,320 --> 00:18:27,040 Speaker 1: get booked over. And now that I'm using Reclaim, Reclaim 332 00:18:27,160 --> 00:18:30,320 Speaker 1: just reschedules it within a time period. 333 00:18:29,920 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 2: That I have set for the robot that manages this. 334 00:18:34,040 --> 00:18:38,879 Speaker 1: Now for you, what do you find the biggest problems 335 00:18:38,880 --> 00:18:42,280 Speaker 1: and Reclaim we should say plays with Google Calendar, because 336 00:18:42,320 --> 00:18:45,040 Speaker 1: I imagine a lot of listeners use Google Calendar. 337 00:18:45,680 --> 00:18:48,360 Speaker 2: That's certainly the basis for my calendar system. 338 00:18:48,720 --> 00:18:50,919 Speaker 1: What are the biggest problems that you were having to 339 00:18:50,960 --> 00:18:52,359 Speaker 1: find workarounds for? 340 00:18:53,160 --> 00:18:57,160 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean the availability is a big one. Availability 341 00:18:57,320 --> 00:19:01,920 Speaker 3: in calendar platforms is quite literally binary. You are free 342 00:19:02,240 --> 00:19:05,080 Speaker 3: or you are available, you know or sorry, you are 343 00:19:05,119 --> 00:19:10,119 Speaker 3: free or you are busy, and that just isn't the 344 00:19:10,160 --> 00:19:16,440 Speaker 3: real world. It's not you know, with rare exception, there's 345 00:19:16,480 --> 00:19:19,200 Speaker 3: always something that could be higher priority than the thing 346 00:19:19,240 --> 00:19:23,040 Speaker 3: that's on your calendar. You know, if you know, it 347 00:19:23,280 --> 00:19:27,199 Speaker 3: tends to be less rigid or less flexible, more rigid 348 00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:31,560 Speaker 3: when it's an external meeting. So for example, this recording, 349 00:19:31,840 --> 00:19:34,000 Speaker 3: you know, it probably takes a lot for me to 350 00:19:34,119 --> 00:19:35,920 Speaker 3: have said, I'm sorry, we have to reschedule, and it 351 00:19:35,960 --> 00:19:37,639 Speaker 3: probably would have taken a lot for you to do that. 352 00:19:37,920 --> 00:19:40,120 Speaker 3: But there are some things I'm guessing we both would 353 00:19:40,119 --> 00:19:43,640 Speaker 3: have rescheduled for for the right you know, the right circumstances. 354 00:19:43,800 --> 00:19:47,840 Speaker 3: Internal meetings, the bar goes much lower. Right when it's 355 00:19:47,880 --> 00:19:51,439 Speaker 3: a colleague. You know, sometimes you feel bad saying this, 356 00:19:51,680 --> 00:19:54,919 Speaker 3: but everyone kind of understands that, Like, yeah, that that 357 00:19:54,960 --> 00:19:57,679 Speaker 3: one on one meeting we were going to have this morning, 358 00:19:57,800 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 3: can we push that back thirty minutes so that I 359 00:19:59,480 --> 00:20:03,720 Speaker 3: can support customer. That's a reasonable thing that generally everybody 360 00:20:03,800 --> 00:20:10,760 Speaker 3: understands and appreciates. And so for us, that very binary, 361 00:20:10,920 --> 00:20:14,359 Speaker 3: free busy model that the calendar platforms both Google and 362 00:20:14,440 --> 00:20:17,879 Speaker 3: Microsoft are built on just didn't reflect the reality. So 363 00:20:17,920 --> 00:20:20,680 Speaker 3: the question for us was how do we introduce some 364 00:20:21,280 --> 00:20:27,200 Speaker 3: gray scale into that concept, and without you know, building 365 00:20:27,240 --> 00:20:31,760 Speaker 3: our own calendaring platform, which presents its own tremendous bootstrapping problems. 366 00:20:32,720 --> 00:20:34,520 Speaker 3: You know, the next best thing is, well, can we 367 00:20:34,600 --> 00:20:37,840 Speaker 3: work with the platforms that exist here get to market 368 00:20:37,880 --> 00:20:42,200 Speaker 3: but still have some of that flexibility. And so I'd 369 00:20:42,240 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 3: say that was probably our biggest innovation that people appreciate. 370 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:48,359 Speaker 3: And it's funny because they don't always even know we're 371 00:20:48,359 --> 00:20:51,560 Speaker 3: doing this job for them. So for example, we might 372 00:20:51,680 --> 00:20:55,399 Speaker 3: tentatively block out lunch from you know, twelve o'clock to 373 00:20:55,480 --> 00:21:00,240 Speaker 3: one pm, but we won't necessarily market as busy in us. 374 00:21:00,359 --> 00:21:03,200 Speaker 3: The middle of your day starts getting busy with other meetings, 375 00:21:03,280 --> 00:21:06,320 Speaker 3: and then we market as busy. Not everyone even knows 376 00:21:06,359 --> 00:21:09,440 Speaker 3: that at first, but they write us in and they 377 00:21:09,440 --> 00:21:12,560 Speaker 3: say things like I'm getting a lunch break way more 378 00:21:12,600 --> 00:21:15,720 Speaker 3: often than I used to. You know, I'm not sure 379 00:21:15,720 --> 00:21:18,359 Speaker 3: what happened. I know reclaim got into the mix, but 380 00:21:18,520 --> 00:21:22,000 Speaker 3: it's saving my bacon. And the reason that it's working 381 00:21:22,080 --> 00:21:26,360 Speaker 3: for them is that they're coworkers or even their external 382 00:21:26,359 --> 00:21:29,200 Speaker 3: customers that they're supporting that it booked a meeting viac 383 00:21:29,240 --> 00:21:35,639 Speaker 3: calendly or other scheduling tools. They're benefiting from us managing 384 00:21:35,640 --> 00:21:38,960 Speaker 3: that free busy time, you know, within seconds of their 385 00:21:39,000 --> 00:21:41,360 Speaker 3: calendar changing. So I'd say that was the biggest work 386 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 3: around as we took what was a binary system in 387 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:46,400 Speaker 3: the platform and made it up here as something that's 388 00:21:46,440 --> 00:21:48,240 Speaker 3: a lot more fluid and dynamic. 389 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:56,080 Speaker 1: We will be back with Patrick soon talking about why 390 00:21:56,160 --> 00:21:59,960 Speaker 1: he built a morning and afternoon catchup meeting with oneself 391 00:22:00,680 --> 00:22:03,760 Speaker 1: as a default feature in Reclaim. 392 00:22:04,080 --> 00:22:05,240 Speaker 2: If you're looking. 393 00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,399 Speaker 1: For more tips to improve the way that you work, 394 00:22:07,840 --> 00:22:11,200 Speaker 1: I write a short fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool 395 00:22:11,320 --> 00:22:14,480 Speaker 1: things that I've discovered that helped me work better, ranging 396 00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,120 Speaker 1: from software and gadgets that I'm loving through to interesting 397 00:22:18,160 --> 00:22:21,680 Speaker 1: research findings. You can sign up for that at Howiwork 398 00:22:21,760 --> 00:22:24,080 Speaker 1: dot code. That's how I work dot co. 399 00:22:25,880 --> 00:22:26,320 Speaker 2: Now. 400 00:22:26,800 --> 00:22:31,600 Speaker 1: One feature that is built into Reclaim is blocking out 401 00:22:31,640 --> 00:22:36,080 Speaker 1: a morning and afternoon catch up I think is what 402 00:22:36,160 --> 00:22:39,200 Speaker 1: it's called, Like, why do you feel that's important enough 403 00:22:39,240 --> 00:22:40,359 Speaker 1: to put as a default? 404 00:22:40,840 --> 00:22:43,879 Speaker 3: Yeah. When people sign up for Reclaim, there's always this 405 00:22:43,960 --> 00:22:45,679 Speaker 3: question of any new product, you know, what do you 406 00:22:45,720 --> 00:22:48,919 Speaker 3: introduce them to? What's the onboarding versus the features that 407 00:22:48,960 --> 00:22:52,040 Speaker 3: they can go and spend time discovering on their own. 408 00:22:52,359 --> 00:22:56,520 Speaker 3: And we decided that the three most important things were 409 00:22:57,440 --> 00:22:59,959 Speaker 3: do you want lunch? Do you want some time to 410 00:23:00,119 --> 00:23:02,480 Speaker 3: kind of what we call ketch up on your day? 411 00:23:02,840 --> 00:23:05,840 Speaker 3: And do you want us to block out time for 412 00:23:05,960 --> 00:23:09,080 Speaker 3: your personal commit the personal commitments on your personal calendar 413 00:23:09,359 --> 00:23:12,399 Speaker 3: onto your work calendar. To some degree, this might be 414 00:23:12,400 --> 00:23:14,920 Speaker 3: a little egotistical, but to some degree, I was projecting 415 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,400 Speaker 3: my own life. You know, I've got this crazy personal life, 416 00:23:18,560 --> 00:23:22,159 Speaker 3: and so that was the personal calendar. Sink lunch was 417 00:23:22,359 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 3: literally I was finding myself. You know. Throughout my career, 418 00:23:25,560 --> 00:23:28,080 Speaker 3: I found myself sitting at my desk, you know, just 419 00:23:28,400 --> 00:23:31,520 Speaker 3: doing one more thing and not getting that important nudge 420 00:23:31,560 --> 00:23:35,720 Speaker 3: to get up, stretch, get some nutrition into the body. 421 00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:38,359 Speaker 3: The ketchup one, honestly, is a little more like in 422 00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:43,080 Speaker 3: some ways personal. The motivation wasn't some like big productivity 423 00:23:43,520 --> 00:23:46,640 Speaker 3: guru hack or anything like that. It was like, actually 424 00:23:46,720 --> 00:23:48,639 Speaker 3: kind of a little bit of sadness. There was a 425 00:23:48,880 --> 00:23:52,680 Speaker 3: period of time in my career where I found myself, 426 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:55,679 Speaker 3: for more often than I'd care to admit, sitting on 427 00:23:55,720 --> 00:23:59,560 Speaker 3: the couch next to my wife. The kids were all 428 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,800 Speaker 3: in bed, the dishes were done. We're all tired, and 429 00:24:03,280 --> 00:24:06,119 Speaker 3: she's watching TV and I'm on the laptop catching up 430 00:24:06,160 --> 00:24:08,000 Speaker 3: on my inbox, and we're not interacting. 431 00:24:08,320 --> 00:24:08,480 Speaker 1: You know. 432 00:24:08,600 --> 00:24:10,160 Speaker 3: I think that's a thing that a lot of working 433 00:24:10,160 --> 00:24:13,560 Speaker 3: professionals and whether they have, you know, kids or not, 434 00:24:13,800 --> 00:24:17,080 Speaker 3: can relate to that work can suck you in, and 435 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:20,960 Speaker 3: work can steal away from these relationships that matter a lot. 436 00:24:21,080 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 3: And the thing about email and slack is there's always 437 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:25,760 Speaker 3: one more thing, you know. I mean, you can do 438 00:24:25,880 --> 00:24:28,359 Speaker 3: inbox zero, but you're going to wake up tomorrow and 439 00:24:28,400 --> 00:24:32,400 Speaker 3: it's not zero. And so I really felt like there's 440 00:24:32,400 --> 00:24:36,480 Speaker 3: a journey of managing your time intentionally as an individual, 441 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:39,920 Speaker 3: and there's also a journey of a company being intentional 442 00:24:39,920 --> 00:24:43,159 Speaker 3: about how it spends its time and allocates its people 443 00:24:43,320 --> 00:24:46,720 Speaker 3: and resources and money. And in that journey, you know, 444 00:24:46,760 --> 00:24:50,879 Speaker 3: you have to start somewhere, and to us, starting with 445 00:24:51,000 --> 00:24:54,159 Speaker 3: something as simple as lunch for your personal well being, 446 00:24:54,400 --> 00:24:56,880 Speaker 3: and something as simple as whatever you wanted to find 447 00:24:56,880 --> 00:24:59,320 Speaker 3: it as, whether it's your inbox or your slack messages 448 00:24:59,680 --> 00:25:03,520 Speaker 3: or just like literally catching up on the news. You know, 449 00:25:03,800 --> 00:25:07,800 Speaker 3: whatever catch up is to you. Professionally, it's important to 450 00:25:07,840 --> 00:25:11,200 Speaker 3: bookend your day with that so that you can start 451 00:25:11,440 --> 00:25:13,880 Speaker 3: with a clear mind, and that you can close off 452 00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,080 Speaker 3: the day and transition to your personal life and kind 453 00:25:18,080 --> 00:25:21,200 Speaker 3: of manage your day in a way that it doesn't 454 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:23,840 Speaker 3: burn you out long term. 455 00:25:23,880 --> 00:25:24,879 Speaker 2: I love that philosophy. 456 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,720 Speaker 1: Now, I know you've thought a lot about Google Calendar, 457 00:25:28,080 --> 00:25:32,320 Speaker 1: and on the Reclaim blog there's some great posts there, 458 00:25:32,359 --> 00:25:36,520 Speaker 1: and there's some really cool ones about different Google calendar hacks. 459 00:25:36,600 --> 00:25:40,080 Speaker 2: I'd love to know what what are some. 460 00:25:40,040 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: Things that people might not know that Google Calendar does 461 00:25:44,119 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: do that can be quite helpful. 462 00:25:45,760 --> 00:25:48,159 Speaker 3: Well, one is the free busy time. You know, I 463 00:25:48,200 --> 00:25:50,320 Speaker 3: mentioned that it's binary, but a lot of people don't 464 00:25:50,320 --> 00:25:53,199 Speaker 3: even know about that. And so if you didn't know, 465 00:25:53,400 --> 00:25:56,359 Speaker 3: there's a little setting at the bottom of your events 466 00:25:56,400 --> 00:25:58,120 Speaker 3: when you make them, and you can mark something as 467 00:25:58,119 --> 00:25:59,879 Speaker 3: for your busy and so if you want something to 468 00:26:00,080 --> 00:26:03,960 Speaker 3: peer on your calendar but not necessarily block your availability, 469 00:26:04,080 --> 00:26:06,920 Speaker 3: market is free. That's one that we've discovered very few 470 00:26:06,920 --> 00:26:09,080 Speaker 3: people know about, which is partly why they also don't 471 00:26:09,080 --> 00:26:12,000 Speaker 3: know where Claim's doing the job of changing that value 472 00:26:12,040 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 3: around at times. But that's probably the least known one. 473 00:26:17,040 --> 00:26:21,119 Speaker 3: Another is color coding. I'd say most people know they 474 00:26:21,119 --> 00:26:23,920 Speaker 3: can change the color of their calendar. Not as many 475 00:26:23,960 --> 00:26:26,160 Speaker 3: people know they can change the color of their events. 476 00:26:27,119 --> 00:26:29,800 Speaker 3: And it's a little weird because once you start getting 477 00:26:29,840 --> 00:26:31,960 Speaker 3: into that, you'll actually have two colors on every event, 478 00:26:32,000 --> 00:26:34,800 Speaker 3: this funny little stripe on the left side that represents 479 00:26:34,800 --> 00:26:37,520 Speaker 3: your calendar color and then the main event color. And 480 00:26:37,600 --> 00:26:41,119 Speaker 3: oddly Google has decided you can have eleven colors for 481 00:26:41,200 --> 00:26:44,119 Speaker 3: your event, but infinity colors for your calendar. Talk to 482 00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:49,240 Speaker 3: them about that limitation. But color coding your events can 483 00:26:49,280 --> 00:26:51,879 Speaker 3: be really handy because it can help you be a 484 00:26:51,920 --> 00:26:55,640 Speaker 3: little more intentional with how you spend your time by 485 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:59,399 Speaker 3: category for example. Or I jokingly have referred to it 486 00:26:59,440 --> 00:27:02,959 Speaker 3: after I viewed one customer, I need to wear pants 487 00:27:03,480 --> 00:27:07,359 Speaker 3: color code because I literally once I was talking to 488 00:27:07,359 --> 00:27:10,760 Speaker 3: a customers like, why do you care about your external 489 00:27:10,800 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 3: meetings with customers? Why should those be colored differently? I'm 490 00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:16,520 Speaker 3: assuming it's because you know, you need to be prepared 491 00:27:16,560 --> 00:27:18,399 Speaker 3: for the customer call and you got to do your 492 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:20,320 Speaker 3: research so you show up the best poss away. And 493 00:27:20,359 --> 00:27:22,640 Speaker 3: he told me, he said, honestly, it's that I need 494 00:27:22,680 --> 00:27:24,800 Speaker 3: to shave and wear a nice shirt and have pants 495 00:27:24,840 --> 00:27:27,520 Speaker 3: on because you know, if it's just an internal call. 496 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,119 Speaker 3: I'm going to wear sweatpants and not worry about that 497 00:27:30,160 --> 00:27:32,280 Speaker 3: as much. So I was like, oh, right, that makes sense. 498 00:27:33,000 --> 00:27:35,600 Speaker 3: So just you know, color coding, you can write click 499 00:27:35,680 --> 00:27:38,159 Speaker 3: write in Google Calendar if you're on a desktop and 500 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,359 Speaker 3: kind of start labeling some of your stuff. And just 501 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:44,199 Speaker 3: recently Google has allowed you to put a label like 502 00:27:44,280 --> 00:27:46,160 Speaker 3: words that go with the color, and then that gives 503 00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:49,359 Speaker 3: you some nice analytics about where you're spending your time. 504 00:27:49,840 --> 00:27:52,080 Speaker 3: So it seems like they're leaning into that even more so. 505 00:27:52,880 --> 00:27:54,679 Speaker 1: Now you've kind of touched on this in some of 506 00:27:54,680 --> 00:27:57,119 Speaker 1: the tips, But can you tell me what a calendar 507 00:27:57,200 --> 00:27:59,880 Speaker 1: audit is and how to do one? 508 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:03,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, it's kind of I mean, it's a little bit 509 00:28:03,040 --> 00:28:05,479 Speaker 3: of that ritual I was describing that weekly ritual though 510 00:28:05,520 --> 00:28:07,720 Speaker 3: I did like a mini version of it. But you know, 511 00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:12,800 Speaker 3: calendar audits are this basic idea of reflecting on where 512 00:28:12,840 --> 00:28:16,960 Speaker 3: you've spent your time, summing up the different categories of time. 513 00:28:17,440 --> 00:28:19,359 Speaker 3: The simple way to do it is by type, and 514 00:28:19,440 --> 00:28:21,879 Speaker 3: so that could be these are internal meetings, these are 515 00:28:21,920 --> 00:28:24,679 Speaker 3: external meetings. I would encourage you, if you're going to 516 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:26,919 Speaker 3: do a calendar audit to go a little deeper and 517 00:28:27,000 --> 00:28:31,320 Speaker 3: try to tie it back to like thematic priorities or 518 00:28:32,240 --> 00:28:35,320 Speaker 3: you know some sort of some sort of priority or 519 00:28:35,600 --> 00:28:39,560 Speaker 3: ok are or you know, guiding principle, whatever system you're using. 520 00:28:39,720 --> 00:28:41,480 Speaker 3: That's a little tougher because it means you actually have 521 00:28:41,520 --> 00:28:44,560 Speaker 3: to inspect the content of the meeting and and and 522 00:28:44,600 --> 00:28:47,120 Speaker 3: so you know, it requires a little more brain power. 523 00:28:47,320 --> 00:28:50,200 Speaker 3: I would definitely set a little time if you haven't 524 00:28:50,200 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 3: done this ever before, like give yourself a couple hours. 525 00:28:53,160 --> 00:28:55,840 Speaker 3: It's really taxing because it starts stressing you out because 526 00:28:55,880 --> 00:28:59,000 Speaker 3: you start seeing how far out of whack. I mean, 527 00:28:59,400 --> 00:29:02,200 Speaker 3: maybe you won't maybe you're amazing at time management, but 528 00:29:02,240 --> 00:29:04,640 Speaker 3: if you're like most mere mortals like us, I think 529 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:06,760 Speaker 3: you'll find that a ton of your time is not 530 00:29:06,840 --> 00:29:08,640 Speaker 3: being spent on the things you wished you were spending 531 00:29:08,680 --> 00:29:12,640 Speaker 3: your time on, and that can be emotionally draining. But yeah, ultimately, 532 00:29:12,960 --> 00:29:16,719 Speaker 3: you know you can use tools, and I'd say overtime 533 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:18,960 Speaker 3: orclaim will help more and more with some of the stuff. 534 00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,840 Speaker 3: We do mini versions of this with like weekly reports 535 00:29:21,840 --> 00:29:23,520 Speaker 3: and whatnot. But the best way to get start is 536 00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,120 Speaker 3: just open up a little spreadsheet, write down the things 537 00:29:26,120 --> 00:29:28,360 Speaker 3: that matter to you the most, and then you know, 538 00:29:28,400 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 3: maybe a column for every week and go back a 539 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:32,960 Speaker 3: few weeks. Don't go crazy with it, but go back 540 00:29:32,960 --> 00:29:35,480 Speaker 3: a few weeks and you know, count up the number 541 00:29:35,520 --> 00:29:37,440 Speaker 3: of meetings or hours if you want to get a 542 00:29:37,440 --> 00:29:41,080 Speaker 3: little more precise, that are in service to those priorities. 543 00:29:41,120 --> 00:29:44,240 Speaker 3: And then have another bucket. And almost certainly you will 544 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:46,360 Speaker 3: find the first time you did this your other bucket 545 00:29:46,400 --> 00:29:49,600 Speaker 3: is like fifty percent of your time and that's okay, 546 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:51,680 Speaker 3: don't feel bad about it. The first step was just 547 00:29:52,120 --> 00:29:54,880 Speaker 3: acknowledgment and awareness of it. So yeah, I mean, I'd 548 00:29:54,880 --> 00:29:57,480 Speaker 3: say that's the best place to start. But that naturally 549 00:29:57,640 --> 00:29:59,560 Speaker 3: leads to the second step, which is a lot of 550 00:29:59,560 --> 00:30:01,400 Speaker 3: people have a lot of blank space on their calendar. 551 00:30:01,600 --> 00:30:03,880 Speaker 3: You know, it's like, well, I treat my calendars where 552 00:30:03,880 --> 00:30:06,080 Speaker 3: my meetings are. That's not where I do my work. 553 00:30:06,760 --> 00:30:09,760 Speaker 3: And that's understandable. The challenges how do you know what 554 00:30:09,800 --> 00:30:12,200 Speaker 3: you did last week? Some people you know might be 555 00:30:12,280 --> 00:30:17,400 Speaker 3: in their task list. But if you're really focused on 556 00:30:17,840 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 3: trying to manage your you know, forty some odd hours 557 00:30:21,040 --> 00:30:23,800 Speaker 3: that you're spending every week in your day job, then 558 00:30:24,040 --> 00:30:27,040 Speaker 3: it can help a lot by actually recording what you did, 559 00:30:27,240 --> 00:30:29,400 Speaker 3: and so you don't need to use your claim to 560 00:30:29,440 --> 00:30:31,920 Speaker 3: do this. You can also just make it a habit 561 00:30:32,000 --> 00:30:34,560 Speaker 3: to say, okay, let me just do rough blocks of time, 562 00:30:35,080 --> 00:30:37,280 Speaker 3: you know, twice a day, check in and put a 563 00:30:37,320 --> 00:30:39,560 Speaker 3: little block down that just says worked on blah blah blah, 564 00:30:39,720 --> 00:30:43,400 Speaker 3: you know, and that fills all that space in Personally, 565 00:30:43,440 --> 00:30:46,000 Speaker 3: I find it it was valuable I did this before 566 00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:49,120 Speaker 3: Reclaim to also put down the personal stuff, you know, 567 00:30:49,240 --> 00:30:51,960 Speaker 3: took a break to go run an errand just because 568 00:30:51,960 --> 00:30:55,000 Speaker 3: it helped me remember what was going on in these 569 00:30:55,040 --> 00:30:57,400 Speaker 3: crazy days. And then that makes the audit a heck 570 00:30:57,400 --> 00:31:00,200 Speaker 3: of a lot easier. And it really starts to you know, 571 00:31:00,240 --> 00:31:02,840 Speaker 3: I think bend you towards that intentional planning. 572 00:31:03,400 --> 00:31:05,920 Speaker 1: I'd love to know with Reclaim, you've mentioned a few 573 00:31:05,960 --> 00:31:09,440 Speaker 1: things that you're you know, aiming to work on over. 574 00:31:09,320 --> 00:31:10,360 Speaker 2: The next few years. 575 00:31:10,640 --> 00:31:14,320 Speaker 1: How do you decide which are the biggest sort of 576 00:31:14,480 --> 00:31:19,320 Speaker 1: problems or frustrations that people have with the calendar that 577 00:31:19,920 --> 00:31:21,880 Speaker 1: should be your next priority to solve. 578 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:28,920 Speaker 3: Boy, that's the million dollar question or the multimillion dollar question. Yeah, 579 00:31:28,960 --> 00:31:34,080 Speaker 3: there's a tension where from the very start, Henry and 580 00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:39,640 Speaker 3: I decided and got very passionate about this idea that 581 00:31:39,800 --> 00:31:44,160 Speaker 3: businesses could be run better than they're currently being run today. 582 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:46,520 Speaker 3: I mean, frankly, I think a lot of business leaders, 583 00:31:46,520 --> 00:31:49,720 Speaker 3: and I've been guilty of it myself, lead with bravado 584 00:31:50,000 --> 00:31:52,560 Speaker 3: more than they lead with any sort of like deep 585 00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 3: knowledge or awareness or empathy. You know, often in business today, 586 00:31:56,960 --> 00:31:59,600 Speaker 3: the person who speaks the loudest in a meeting or 587 00:31:59,680 --> 00:32:02,000 Speaker 3: pound their hand on the table the loudest can be 588 00:32:02,080 --> 00:32:05,560 Speaker 3: the most influential and can climb the corporate ladders. And 589 00:32:06,480 --> 00:32:10,040 Speaker 3: yet the people who are working in service to those 590 00:32:10,120 --> 00:32:13,000 Speaker 3: leaders often find those are like the worst organizations to 591 00:32:13,080 --> 00:32:16,720 Speaker 3: work for. It's demoralizing, it's not necessarily aligned to the 592 00:32:16,760 --> 00:32:20,400 Speaker 3: problems that the customers need solved or the market opportunities. 593 00:32:20,640 --> 00:32:22,640 Speaker 3: And so, you know, we claim's not going to solve 594 00:32:22,920 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 3: politics by any means. But we do think that most 595 00:32:26,920 --> 00:32:30,320 Speaker 3: people actually want to do a better job at their job, 596 00:32:30,520 --> 00:32:34,320 Speaker 3: even the pointy haired bosses that you know, you know, 597 00:32:34,400 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 3: we all like to sneer at and say, like, what 598 00:32:36,400 --> 00:32:38,560 Speaker 3: do they know? I think everybody wants to do a 599 00:32:38,560 --> 00:32:42,040 Speaker 3: better job at their job. And the question is how 600 00:32:42,040 --> 00:32:46,080 Speaker 3: do we equip business leaders with the right context. There 601 00:32:46,080 --> 00:32:49,640 Speaker 3: are management practices, ok, ours are the most you know, 602 00:32:49,720 --> 00:32:54,720 Speaker 3: recent InVogue, you know approach where you you know, figure 603 00:32:54,720 --> 00:32:57,640 Speaker 3: out your objectives and you cascade them down through the organization. 604 00:32:58,240 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 3: And if you talk to any Coon Valley board member 605 00:33:01,920 --> 00:33:04,560 Speaker 3: or investor, they'll tell you like, that's the you know, 606 00:33:04,760 --> 00:33:07,640 Speaker 3: that's the way to go. The problem with that model 607 00:33:08,120 --> 00:33:12,280 Speaker 3: is that there is a fog of this top down 608 00:33:12,480 --> 00:33:16,080 Speaker 3: kind of cascading and at some point between the CEO 609 00:33:16,280 --> 00:33:19,840 Speaker 3: and the frontline engineer, and it varies by organization. There's 610 00:33:19,840 --> 00:33:22,280 Speaker 3: a lot of different factors, but at some point people 611 00:33:22,440 --> 00:33:26,200 Speaker 3: stop changing the work that they're doing to map to 612 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:30,960 Speaker 3: the objectives and instead start justifying the work they're already 613 00:33:31,000 --> 00:33:33,680 Speaker 3: doing and tying it to the new objectives and say, 614 00:33:33,720 --> 00:33:36,000 Speaker 3: oh yeah, this this does that. And it's not because 615 00:33:36,000 --> 00:33:38,680 Speaker 3: they're dishonest people who don't want to do a good job. 616 00:33:38,920 --> 00:33:41,160 Speaker 3: It's because there's lots of demands to get that work 617 00:33:41,240 --> 00:33:44,280 Speaker 3: done right. I mean, there's there was in flight work. 618 00:33:44,320 --> 00:33:47,160 Speaker 3: People wanted it for a reason, and so you're naturally 619 00:33:47,320 --> 00:33:50,320 Speaker 3: in this momentum where you know, it's really hard to 620 00:33:50,440 --> 00:33:53,840 Speaker 3: change those patterns, and so the system starts breaking down. 621 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:55,520 Speaker 3: And so all that's to say is Henry and I 622 00:33:55,520 --> 00:33:57,840 Speaker 3: felt like it was really important that we build a 623 00:33:57,880 --> 00:34:02,880 Speaker 3: product that aligns the interests of everybody, that the individual 624 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,120 Speaker 3: managers that are out there, you know, on the front 625 00:34:06,160 --> 00:34:10,000 Speaker 3: line of the business use a platform that helps them 626 00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:12,640 Speaker 3: personally that they have a reason to invest in it, 627 00:34:12,920 --> 00:34:16,360 Speaker 3: and that that information kind of cascades upward to the 628 00:34:16,440 --> 00:34:21,360 Speaker 3: leadership and connects back to those objectives. So for us, 629 00:34:22,239 --> 00:34:26,200 Speaker 3: it's constantly this question of are we building enough that 630 00:34:26,600 --> 00:34:29,800 Speaker 3: people feel like Reclaim is their friend and their ally 631 00:34:30,200 --> 00:34:32,600 Speaker 3: and that they can literally invest their time in to 632 00:34:32,800 --> 00:34:35,320 Speaker 3: write down their priorities and say what they want to 633 00:34:35,360 --> 00:34:38,040 Speaker 3: get done. And for us, we've spent the last couple 634 00:34:38,080 --> 00:34:42,000 Speaker 3: of years really focused on helping the individual and you know, 635 00:34:42,160 --> 00:34:45,239 Speaker 3: quite literally with things like lunch and blocking out time 636 00:34:45,280 --> 00:34:48,760 Speaker 3: for your personal appointments. Now we're kind of shifting the strategy. 637 00:34:48,800 --> 00:34:51,080 Speaker 3: It's all part of our kind of master plan. But 638 00:34:51,160 --> 00:34:54,040 Speaker 3: now the strategy is like, well, how can we kind 639 00:34:54,040 --> 00:34:56,759 Speaker 3: of help them be more intentional with there in the 640 00:34:56,800 --> 00:35:00,879 Speaker 3: work and tie it to those of ject actives that 641 00:35:01,040 --> 00:35:04,360 Speaker 3: the corporation is interested in or that the next level 642 00:35:04,360 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 3: of leadership is interested in. And what we're finding from 643 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,440 Speaker 3: our customers is they're very aligned with that. They're very 644 00:35:09,440 --> 00:35:12,799 Speaker 3: excited about that because we've built the trust up with 645 00:35:12,920 --> 00:35:15,359 Speaker 3: them that we've got their back and that we're looking 646 00:35:15,400 --> 00:35:18,360 Speaker 3: out for them first and then helping connect those dots 647 00:35:18,360 --> 00:35:20,880 Speaker 3: as opposed to some sort of top down system. 648 00:35:21,239 --> 00:35:25,520 Speaker 1: Patrick, it's been so great at chatting with you. It's 649 00:35:25,560 --> 00:35:28,399 Speaker 1: always I always get such joy from when I've been 650 00:35:28,719 --> 00:35:31,200 Speaker 1: using a product myself and loving it, and then I 651 00:35:31,200 --> 00:35:34,480 Speaker 1: get the chance to chat in depth to the person 652 00:35:34,800 --> 00:35:37,719 Speaker 1: behind this great thing that is improving my life. So 653 00:35:38,000 --> 00:35:42,160 Speaker 1: thank you for creating Reclaim. For people that are interested 654 00:35:42,160 --> 00:35:45,080 Speaker 1: to connect with you, maybe try out Reclaim. What is 655 00:35:45,120 --> 00:35:46,480 Speaker 1: the best way for people to do that? 656 00:35:47,160 --> 00:35:50,319 Speaker 3: Just literally go to reclaim dot ai and log in 657 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,760 Speaker 3: with your Google account, and you know there's a pretty 658 00:35:53,760 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 3: good chance if you pop into the support chat you 659 00:35:55,719 --> 00:35:58,239 Speaker 3: may also find me or Henry on the other side. 660 00:35:59,080 --> 00:36:01,879 Speaker 1: Patrick, thank you so much for scheduling this in your 661 00:36:01,920 --> 00:36:05,080 Speaker 1: calendar and not deprioritizing it. 662 00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:05,839 Speaker 2: So thank you. 663 00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:09,719 Speaker 1: I hope this chat got you thinking perhaps a bit 664 00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,440 Speaker 1: more deliberately about the calendar software that you use, and 665 00:36:13,520 --> 00:36:15,800 Speaker 1: I wonder if you might be feeling a bit inspired 666 00:36:15,840 --> 00:36:19,640 Speaker 1: to make an improvement to how you're currently using whatever 667 00:36:19,960 --> 00:36:23,520 Speaker 1: calendar software you're on. I know that for me, color 668 00:36:23,560 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: coding things was a game changer. I have different colors 669 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:31,440 Speaker 1: for things like keynote, speaking, podcast interviews, deep work, exercise, 670 00:36:31,480 --> 00:36:34,440 Speaker 1: family activities, and a few other categories. And what this 671 00:36:34,600 --> 00:36:37,040 Speaker 1: means is that I can glance at my diary and 672 00:36:37,160 --> 00:36:40,520 Speaker 1: very quickly see how my energy is being spread over 673 00:36:40,600 --> 00:36:43,239 Speaker 1: a week, and make any changes if I need to. 674 00:36:44,640 --> 00:36:47,840 Speaker 1: How I work is produced by Inventing with production support 675 00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:49,160 Speaker 1: from dead Set Studios. 676 00:36:49,480 --> 00:36:50,239 Speaker 2: The producer for. 677 00:36:50,200 --> 00:36:53,239 Speaker 1: This episode was Liam Riordan, and thank you to mat 678 00:36:53,320 --> 00:36:56,200 Speaker 1: Nimba who does the audio mix for every episode and 679 00:36:56,280 --> 00:36:59,280 Speaker 1: makes everything sound so much better than it would have otherwise. 680 00:36:59,760 --> 00:37:00,640 Speaker 2: See you next time.