WEBVTT 00:00.730 --> 00:33.110 Imagine you have a jar, and in that jar you have to place some big rocks, some pebbles, sand, and water. The jar represents your life. The big rocks are the most important things in your life. Your family, health, your personal passions. The pebbles are other things that matter, like your job, your house, your car. The sand is everything else, the small stuff and the water is just filler. 00:34.650 --> 00:36.694 If you put sand or water into. 00:36.732 --> 00:39.746 The jar first, there's no room for. 00:39.788 --> 00:41.398 Your rocks or your pebbles. 00:41.494 --> 00:43.114 The most important things. 00:43.312 --> 00:47.450 This is like spending all of your time and energy on the small stuff. 00:47.600 --> 01:02.458 And not having time for what's truly important. But if you put the big rocks in first, then the pebbles, and finally the sand, and then fill everything else with water, the same goes for life. 01:02.644 --> 01:04.980 If you spend time on what's important. 01:05.670 --> 01:07.940 The rest finds its place. 01:08.470 --> 01:11.214 This story illustrates the importance of prioritizing. 01:11.262 --> 01:25.830 The big, meaningful tasks in your life before filling up your schedule with lesser important things. I'm Joe. My pal over there is Kurt, and we are dudes in progress. 01:37.310 --> 01:38.326 Hey, Kurt. 01:38.438 --> 01:40.154 Hey, Joe. Good morning. 01:40.352 --> 01:41.998 What's going on, my friend? 01:42.164 --> 01:48.282 Great analogy story. I know where you got that from, too. I have a sneaky suspicion. 01:48.426 --> 02:07.294 I've probably read it in three or four different books, probably saw a couple videos on it. The video that stands out in my mind is I think it was a science teacher in front of a classroom that was loading up rocks and sand and water and everything else. So I've seen it a couple of different places, but I love the analogy. 02:07.342 --> 02:08.562 And it is so true. 02:08.696 --> 02:09.966 You got to put the big rocks. 02:09.998 --> 02:11.638 In first, because if you try to. 02:11.644 --> 02:12.806 Fill up your life with all the. 02:12.828 --> 02:16.434 Small stuff, there's going to be no room for the big rocks. 02:16.562 --> 02:22.460 Our friend Clay has been talking about this for the last three weeks on our Saturday mornings. That's where I figured it reminded you. 02:22.990 --> 02:24.726 We do talk about how we're spending. 02:24.758 --> 02:26.634 Our time a lot, what we're doing. 02:26.672 --> 02:27.814 With our time and so forth. 02:27.862 --> 02:30.346 So, yeah, I thought this was a. 02:30.368 --> 02:34.606 Good time of year, good time in our life. A good time to talk about time. 02:34.708 --> 02:37.086 And how we manage our time, what. 02:37.108 --> 02:39.470 We do with our time, and how we plan it out. 02:39.540 --> 02:42.154 We always do this kind of planning. 02:42.202 --> 02:43.920 Stuff at the beginning of the year. 02:44.290 --> 02:46.590 I think this is a great topic. 02:46.670 --> 02:47.746 I am excited about this. 02:47.768 --> 02:55.458 It's something I've worked on over the years, and I think I'm pretty good at it. There's times when we are better than. 02:55.624 --> 03:02.066 Other times, and it's a great time to think about because it's been kind of a lull at work during the holidays. 03:02.178 --> 03:10.854 And when you come back into January, everybody wants to get their stuff done. You're part of their plan. Yeah. 03:10.972 --> 03:13.690 You're going to be part of somebody's plan unless you plan it yourself. 03:13.760 --> 03:14.138 Right. 03:14.224 --> 03:22.320 Your life is going to be planned. Your life, your days are going to be planned whether you do it or somebody else does it for you. 03:22.690 --> 03:24.106 I love this topic. 03:24.298 --> 03:27.886 You think you have a pretty good plan and you're good at it. 03:28.068 --> 03:30.240 I'm good at it when I'm good at it. 03:32.530 --> 03:43.314 I have fits and spurts with this kind of stuff. I'm in love with the concept of productivity and time management, and I just love messing with little tools and little. 03:43.352 --> 03:47.094 Hacks and little shortcuts to help me. 03:47.132 --> 03:49.640 Be more efficient and help me manage my time. 03:50.250 --> 03:54.566 But sometimes, many times, that can be. 03:54.588 --> 03:56.262 A time suck itself, right? 03:56.396 --> 03:56.982 Yeah. 03:57.116 --> 04:03.786 Just trying to figure out how to manage your time. You can't get caught up in the. 04:03.808 --> 04:05.514 Mess of that either. 04:05.712 --> 04:13.054 But I do like the idea of time management and getting the most out of your time and your day and. 04:13.092 --> 04:15.886 Your week without killing yourself. 04:16.068 --> 04:26.530 There's some tools that I use and some concepts that I use that we'll definitely talk about, and I'm sure you have some that you'll want to talk about. But off the top of your head, do you have a favorite time management tool? 04:26.680 --> 04:27.874 I wrote down four things. 04:27.912 --> 04:28.958 Can I cheat? 04:29.134 --> 04:29.714 Sure. 04:29.832 --> 04:39.830 All right. I was really inspired by David Allen's book getting things done, subtitled the Art of Stress Free productivity. 04:40.170 --> 04:54.186 I actually had a chance to meet David Allen in person during a conference down in Disney World, one of my several that I went to early in my Disney world career, and he was using some software. That was what I was there for. 04:54.288 --> 04:58.986 The developer and him did a really good speech. But I always say when you read. 04:59.008 --> 05:00.106 A book, if you can get a. 05:00.128 --> 05:09.150 Couple of tips from that book, that's great. And you said, sometimes this is hard to do. I think if you make it really. 05:09.220 --> 05:11.966 Part of your habits and how you. 05:11.988 --> 05:15.890 Operate, the more you do this, the more it works. 05:15.960 --> 05:18.466 But that was really influential to me. 05:18.568 --> 05:25.794 And there's a bunch of particular things in his philosophy. And I think the one that I. 05:25.832 --> 05:39.126 Really did was zero email inbox, and I won't get into that really deeply yet. But the other one we've talked about, Joe and I, Kanban boards, there's an agile, and even David Allen talks about. 05:39.148 --> 05:42.518 Creating lists, prioritizing lists, and Kanban boards. 05:42.534 --> 05:57.534 Is a more formal way of doing that. And I enjoy having this visual board up in front of me where I can look at what my priorities are. And there's a whole philosophy around that. It's something we do at work and I've at times done it at home. I like to coach and teach others. 05:57.572 --> 05:58.640 How to do things. 05:59.650 --> 06:07.038 So I'll write blog articles, I'll present video learning events. I flow questions to electronic discussion boards. 06:07.054 --> 06:11.170 So I default those when I'm being my best self. 06:11.240 --> 06:21.302 That's a book I'm reading right now. I'm deflecting those questions to a place where all the support goes to and then others can answer those questions. 06:21.436 --> 06:25.062 Or we also have weekly meetings, open time. 06:25.116 --> 06:27.622 We have open office hours where we answer questions for people. 06:27.676 --> 06:30.166 So if they don't disrupt me, when. 06:30.188 --> 07:04.834 I'm in the middle of something that's really important, so that's really helpful. I tell people to request my time on my calendar. Those are things I'm used to doing at work especially. And then the other one, the big one that Joe has taught me and the importance of. So Joe sent me a Christmas present. That is an electronic no button, but remind you, yeah, learn what's important to you and then say no. 07:04.872 --> 07:07.880 So those are my four things that came into mind. 07:08.650 --> 07:16.054 Yeah, I like those tools. I'm not yet using some kind of. 07:16.092 --> 07:19.186 Kanban system, but it's something that we've. 07:19.218 --> 07:22.090 Talked about and something I'm going to try to integrate at a very simple. 07:22.160 --> 07:24.700 Level into my life. 07:25.790 --> 07:28.666 I'll just use simple postit notes on a wall. 07:28.768 --> 07:29.178 Right. 07:29.264 --> 07:41.102 And start from there because I like the concept and there's a philosophy behind it and there's a simplicity to it that I just love. But how do you feel about time. 07:41.156 --> 07:45.386 Management generally when you say that? 07:45.428 --> 07:48.578 The way you put that question reminds me of David Allen's book. 07:48.664 --> 07:54.130 I think he, somewhere in that beginning of the book, he's like saying, that. 07:54.200 --> 08:03.766 Sounds like such a dirty word, time management. And that you want this to flow like water. You don't want this to be a. 08:03.788 --> 08:07.670 Chore, you want to be part of your routine. That's the goal. 08:09.070 --> 08:12.170 Time management just sounds horrible. 08:13.710 --> 08:31.838 I can't think of a better name for it. But you're right. Just the word causes me a little bit of anxiety, a little bit of stress. And I love David Allen's book, getting things done. The whole of took it took the productivity world by storm when it first came out. 08:32.004 --> 08:34.690 And when you read it, there is. 08:34.760 --> 08:46.594 Absolutely nothing in there that is groundbreaking. It almost feels like an old school, very simple, duh kind of method. 08:46.642 --> 08:46.998 Right? 08:47.084 --> 09:05.850 Yeah, but the most profound things in life sometimes are the things that we already know and are the simplest. But it takes work. His process takes work. If you really want to go into the GTD method, you have to really design your life with it and around. 09:05.920 --> 09:12.714 It and follow it and make sure that you have your trusted inboxes, those. 09:12.752 --> 09:30.546 Places that you know that you will connect with whatever those might be. And I know that we didn't completely flesh out GTD and we're not going to do it here. But if you check out GTD, getting things done by David Allen, you will definitely know what we're talking about. 09:30.648 --> 09:33.854 I think whatever system you come up with, this is one of his philosophies. 09:33.982 --> 09:35.654 Is you got to learn to trust it. 09:35.772 --> 09:43.766 And people you talk to, anybody most people won't trust zero email inbox. They think they have to have everything. 09:43.948 --> 09:48.746 In that email box right in front. 09:48.768 --> 09:54.794 Of them as if they can actually scan that thing and find what they're looking for. 09:54.992 --> 09:55.740 Right. 09:56.510 --> 10:20.900 They're trusting something that is not trustworthy. And until you work a system and whatever works for you, I've learned to really enjoy this. And he's got, like I said, there's very certain steps that I follow. And of course when I'm being my best self, I'm doing it the best. But yeah, I think it has given me and lessened my anxiety with my email. 10:21.510 --> 10:24.210 The way I manage my email box is pretty simple. 10:24.360 --> 10:27.720 I get to inbox zero every day. 10:28.090 --> 10:30.600 At the beginning, usually early in my day. 10:31.130 --> 10:31.654 That's great. 10:31.692 --> 10:32.918 I didn't know you did that. 10:33.084 --> 10:37.730 Yeah. And how I do it is I have three folders. 10:37.810 --> 10:44.602 I think it's three folders set up that I almost have to look right now to make sure because when I'm looking at them, I understand them. 10:44.736 --> 10:46.954 My three folders that I set up. 10:47.152 --> 10:50.934 In fact, let me just take a peek at these right now to see if I can pull them. 10:50.992 --> 10:55.166 Funny you say that, because I have three folders. I think it is also at work. 10:55.268 --> 11:00.960 That are primary to me moving my email into. 11:01.890 --> 11:04.334 If I look at an email and. 11:04.372 --> 11:05.938 I can respond to it within a. 11:05.944 --> 11:08.660 Minute, I respond to it, right? 11:09.510 --> 11:19.838 I go ahead and respond to it. If I can respond to it in a minute, right. If I can't respond to it within a minute and it's something that I've decided I'm going to respond to, many. 11:19.864 --> 11:21.618 Things I just throw out, well, that's. 11:21.634 --> 11:22.470 The best thing to do. 11:22.540 --> 11:24.210 Here's my philosophy on that, Kurt. 11:24.290 --> 11:26.534 If I got rid of it and. 11:26.572 --> 11:30.246 It was important, and I didn't realize it was important. It'll bubble back up. 11:30.348 --> 11:33.382 That's the trust that you have to learn in this. 11:33.516 --> 11:34.114 Yeah. 11:34.252 --> 11:50.080 And I know we didn't plan on kind of getting into this, but I do like this system that I use. I have my inbox. That's where everything kind of gets dumped at first, right? We have our email inbox. Then I have an archive, an archive inbox. That's where everything gets thrown into. 11:50.610 --> 11:53.280 Once I've decided I'm done with it. 11:53.730 --> 12:19.658 I throw it into that archive inbox. So that way if there is something I need to, that's the beauty of digital, right? If there's something that needs to be referenced later, I can reference later, and then I have an active folder. Those are emails that require some kind of response from me or some kind of activity. What also goes into that email is when I send somebody an email, I automatically copy myself. 12:19.824 --> 12:20.700 All right? 12:21.230 --> 12:22.778 I automatically copy myself. 12:22.864 --> 12:29.542 And then if I'm waiting on a response from that person, I tag that as waiting. 12:29.686 --> 12:30.474 Okay. 12:30.672 --> 12:32.382 And I put a waiting tag on it. 12:32.436 --> 12:41.520 And I put it in my active. My active folder. And then I have a folder marked today and a folder marked now. 12:41.890 --> 12:42.958 Okay. Yeah. 12:43.044 --> 12:44.346 The things that I have to handle. 12:44.378 --> 12:46.434 Today, I throw in today, the things. 12:46.472 --> 12:54.466 That I'm working on at that second, in that millisecond right now, meaning literally right now, I put into the now email box. 12:54.568 --> 12:54.978 Right. 12:55.064 --> 13:00.086 And that just helps me focus on that one single thing. And then in the active folder, all. 13:00.108 --> 13:05.990 The things that I have to take action on. But also in that active folder are. 13:06.140 --> 13:14.298 My emails that I tagged as waiting. So if I'm waiting on a response for somebody, I'm waiting on a report, or I'm waiting on something connected to. 13:14.304 --> 13:19.318 That email, I look at those once a week, every Friday, and we're recording. 13:19.334 --> 13:20.998 This on a Friday morning, and I'll. 13:21.014 --> 13:22.746 Look at it today sometime. 13:22.858 --> 13:34.986 I'll look at that once a week, and I will follow up on all my waiting if necessary, and see what active items still need to stay active. I didn't intend to go that deeply. 13:35.018 --> 13:36.946 Into it, but that process took me. 13:36.968 --> 13:38.002 A little while to kind of figure. 13:38.056 --> 13:40.820 Out and sure what works well for me. 13:41.190 --> 13:42.514 I don't know what to do with. 13:42.552 --> 13:57.490 Time management because I think the first step for me in time management is to set aside time to not manage my time. Here's what I mean by that is. 13:57.660 --> 14:09.690 The biggest rock that I can put into my week is, well, if you come from a christian faith or a christian philosophy or a Judeo christian philosophy. 14:10.130 --> 14:11.982 It's the sabbath, right? 14:12.116 --> 14:16.494 It's the day that you set aside to not do anything or to only. 14:16.532 --> 14:20.400 Do those free kind of things that. 14:21.330 --> 14:28.546 Are not structured or managed by a schedule or time and things like that. Now, I go to church on Sunday, so that's about the only thing that. 14:28.568 --> 14:32.546 I have scheduled on a Sunday. Yeah, right. 14:32.728 --> 14:34.626 But other than that, it's just kind. 14:34.648 --> 14:38.102 Of whatever happens, happens, and I need. 14:38.156 --> 14:45.750 A day like that personally. So I make sure I set aside time to not manage my time. 14:45.900 --> 14:51.994 I like that one, and that's a good one to protect. And I think I've been doing that a little bit. 14:52.032 --> 14:53.898 But, yeah, it's been my day to. 14:53.904 --> 14:54.602 Do whatever I want. 14:54.656 --> 14:59.062 Lately, it's been football. Like, I made Sunday football. 14:59.206 --> 15:05.120 I enjoy my fantasy football. And, yeah, I'm not scheduling anything. 15:06.210 --> 15:10.106 Couch potato for Sunday afternoon. 15:10.298 --> 15:10.702 Yeah. 15:10.756 --> 15:14.734 I mean, Sunday afternoon during football season. 15:14.862 --> 15:17.806 You might find me watching football, eating. 15:17.838 --> 15:26.518 A bowl of chili, scrolling on something on my phone and talking to my wife, or if my kids are over all at the same time. 15:26.604 --> 15:27.240 Right. 15:29.210 --> 15:43.930 All the priorities. That's typical for me. And that's what kind of setting that time aside to not manage my time, that segment of time where it's just whatever happens, happens, man. 15:44.000 --> 15:45.526 Just for. Yep. 15:45.718 --> 16:15.950 Many, many years ago, I latched on to a time management philosophy or concept from Stephen Covey. Now, Stephen Covey wrote the book first things first in seven habits of highly effective people. That seven habits of highly effective people is almost like the grandfather of recent productivity books and personal development books. It's meaty. I mean, it takes a bit to kind of latch onto. 16:16.110 --> 16:17.958 He put together this, and I don't. 16:17.964 --> 16:36.218 Know if he put it together, but this is where I learned it, this quadrant thinking when it comes to time management. And imagine four boxes in a quadrant. Okay? So you have four squares. You have one square and separate it by four squares. So you have a four square quadrant, four quadrants in a box. 16:36.304 --> 16:36.794 Right? 16:36.912 --> 16:39.690 So on the top left hand quadrant. 16:40.290 --> 16:48.080 The top left hand box would be quadrant one, which is urgent and important. 16:49.410 --> 16:52.800 An example of quadrant one would be your house is on fire. 16:54.070 --> 16:54.930 Extreme. 16:55.750 --> 17:07.894 Yeah, of course. Use extreme to demonstrate another, deeper concept. But the idea is these are things. 17:07.932 --> 17:12.518 That you have to do. It's both urgent and important. 17:12.684 --> 17:28.362 Your house is on fire. You get a call from your kid that needs your help with something that's important. Just stuff that you can't. These are things that, these are cris that you have to deal with. 17:28.416 --> 17:28.634 Yeah. 17:28.672 --> 17:30.462 Joe does this to me when his. 17:30.596 --> 17:34.362 Daughter'S car dies in the middle of the street. 17:34.426 --> 17:35.662 It's happened a couple of times. 17:35.796 --> 17:49.698 It's happened a couple of times. But also at work, it's just firefighting. It's dealing with crisis. It's something that requires immediate attention. If you're at work and your best customer calls, your best customer calls and. 17:49.704 --> 17:52.722 He says, hey, listen, I have this. 17:52.776 --> 17:55.374 Problem that only you can fix. 17:55.512 --> 17:57.718 Yeah, well, that's your best customer. 17:57.804 --> 18:03.080 It's urgent and important. So that's quadrant one. Those are things that you have to do. 18:03.690 --> 18:07.942 Non negotiable, quadrant one. All right. 18:07.996 --> 18:34.250 Because they're urgent and they're important. They're pressing on you now. That's the top left hand corner. The top right hand corner is not urgent but important. This is the quadrant that is, of all the four quadrants, is the most important quadrant. These are activities that contribute to long term success, missions, goals, value, things like exercise, things like planning. 18:34.410 --> 18:35.998 Not urgent but important. 18:36.164 --> 18:38.014 Nobody's going to make you do these. 18:38.052 --> 18:41.330 Things, but they're very, very important to do. 18:41.400 --> 18:41.634 Right. 18:41.672 --> 18:46.050 Nothing's going to press on you to do these things, but they're very important to do. 18:46.120 --> 18:47.590 I think those are your rocks. 18:47.930 --> 18:50.840 Those are your big rocks that you talked about before. 18:51.850 --> 18:54.294 This is where we struggle to spend. 18:54.332 --> 18:59.178 The most time, but this is where we need to spend the most time, right? 18:59.344 --> 19:00.058 Yeah. 19:00.224 --> 19:01.738 In quadrant three, that would be the. 19:01.744 --> 19:02.822 Bottom left hand corner. 19:02.886 --> 19:05.340 The urgent but not important. 19:06.190 --> 19:12.350 This is stuff that seems important because it presses on you right away. 19:12.420 --> 19:16.960 But if you quickly think about it, it's not important. 19:17.890 --> 19:28.626 It doesn't bring value to your larger purpose or your values or even the task at hand. Right. We can easily get caught up in. 19:28.648 --> 19:31.522 Quadrant three, urgent but not important because. 19:31.656 --> 19:33.506 It allows us to do stuff to. 19:33.528 --> 19:37.110 Feel like we're getting something done and. 19:37.180 --> 19:50.010 We'Re not really doing anything important. These are most emails and phone calls. Quite honestly, somebody stops at your desks and asks for a favor. Right. This is the time to pull out that no button. 19:50.080 --> 19:50.698 Right. 19:50.864 --> 20:02.102 This is the time to say no. So this is urgent but not important. And unfortunately, we can find ourselves spending. 20:02.166 --> 20:04.410 Most of our day in this quadrant. 20:04.490 --> 20:11.886 The urgent but not important. And then finally you have the not urgent, not important. This is no brainer. These are activities that offer little to. 20:11.908 --> 20:15.330 No value, just mindless scrolling on social media. 20:15.480 --> 20:35.046 An hour now, there may, we can't discount the relaxation benefit of watching tv or maybe spending a little bit of time on YouTube and stuff like that. I'm not talking about that, but this is stuff that just does bring it brings no value to you whatsoever. It's not urgent, it's not important. You just need to stay away from. 20:35.068 --> 20:39.158 These elaborate and give some examples. So that third one you talked about. 20:39.244 --> 20:41.254 That'S urgent but not important. 20:41.372 --> 20:52.598 I had an example I was thinking of this past week, and I do that. This happens when I'm again playing my best self in this time management space. Somebody messaged me with something that was. 20:52.624 --> 20:58.542 Important to them, and I could immediately react and get them on a phone. 20:58.596 --> 20:59.486 Call and answer that. 20:59.508 --> 21:01.166 Now, I happened to be into the. 21:01.188 --> 21:05.218 Middle of something really important to me that needed to get done by the end of the day, as far as. 21:05.224 --> 21:07.890 I was concerned, and I was really. 21:08.040 --> 21:14.322 Technical, really needs my concentration, and I'm working on it. I'm doing well. I was able to. 21:14.376 --> 21:30.758 Now I could have. So I deferred her to a session we had scheduled the next day where we take care of open questions. And the funny thing about she says, oh, thank you so much. I didn't expect that. 21:30.844 --> 21:32.246 I thought she might be offended. 21:32.278 --> 21:32.906 Right. 21:33.088 --> 21:34.922 But come to find out the problem. 21:34.976 --> 21:36.780 She had, I couldn't have solved anyway. 21:37.150 --> 21:44.366 Because when she came on the call the next day, one of my engineers that was with me had the ability to. I didn't even have the ability to solve the problem. 21:44.468 --> 21:47.086 He had to get involved, and he was on the call. 21:47.268 --> 21:50.526 So, so many good things about that example. 21:50.628 --> 21:50.942 Right. 21:50.996 --> 21:52.574 But it fits in that quadrant three. 21:52.612 --> 21:53.680 You were talking about. 21:54.130 --> 22:00.162 And we need to plan in advance how to say no and when to say no and what to do with it. 22:00.296 --> 22:13.334 We support this product with a community of five or six people with technical ability to solve the problems. But we share that responsibility and we deflect it to these other resources to get the answer first. So that is our plan. 22:13.532 --> 22:18.014 The issue is those urgent but not important situations. 22:18.162 --> 22:20.298 Satisfies an itch in us, though. 22:20.464 --> 22:21.082 Yes. 22:21.216 --> 22:28.010 It gives us a little boost of dopamine, feeling like, hey, we've helped somebody. I'm important to that person. 22:28.080 --> 22:28.554 Absolutely. 22:28.672 --> 22:37.386 I'm contributing, and I've made their life better, and all these things that we really want to be, and they're honorable things to desire. 22:37.578 --> 22:40.942 But if it's not important to our. 22:40.996 --> 22:50.466 Values and our goals and the most important things that we have to accomplish, we have to set that aside and realize that the other work that we. 22:50.488 --> 22:53.794 Need to concentrate on is more important. 22:53.992 --> 22:59.478 In the software support area that I live in, I don't know if you. 22:59.484 --> 23:02.166 Can relate to this. So in the fourth quadrant that you. 23:02.188 --> 23:09.370 Mentioned, things that are unimportant. This is just like day to day support, like password resets. 23:10.590 --> 23:11.434 Right. 23:11.632 --> 23:16.842 If we're managing our time properly in the work that we do, we are. 23:16.896 --> 23:19.194 Giving that off to another group of people. 23:19.232 --> 23:20.830 That's why you have help desks. 23:21.490 --> 23:24.174 They're the first line of defense to. 23:24.212 --> 23:25.920 Do all that busy work. 23:26.690 --> 23:29.550 It does not move the organization any further along. 23:29.700 --> 23:32.654 If your most talented technical people are. 23:32.692 --> 23:35.406 Spend their time on those tasks. 23:35.598 --> 23:43.746 Those are everyday problems that happen that need to be. A lot of times, there is a how to that. 23:43.768 --> 23:45.960 You just have to give that information out to somebody. 23:46.570 --> 23:47.078 Right. 23:47.164 --> 23:54.134 That's a really good point, because something that may be quadrant four for you. 23:54.332 --> 23:56.982 May indeed be quadrant two for somebody else. 23:57.116 --> 23:58.198 Very true. Yes. 23:58.284 --> 24:00.394 And you have to honor that in a way. Right. 24:00.432 --> 24:01.020 Yeah. 24:01.630 --> 24:09.162 But if it's not quadrant two for you, then you got to figure out a way out of it. 24:09.216 --> 24:13.374 And it's a great learning place for those people that are on the help desk as an example. 24:13.492 --> 24:16.974 It's a great learning opportunity for people. 24:17.012 --> 24:21.454 Who are getting into the industry and they're solving those problems day in and day out. 24:21.492 --> 24:25.380 And, yeah, it's a great tool, but. 24:26.070 --> 24:35.990 If I'm responsible for bringing new technology into the company and training and showing people how to use it, it shouldn't be wasting my time on day to day activities. 24:36.330 --> 24:51.642 Absolutely. So, I love this concept, the quadrant concept, urgent and important, not urgent and important. Urgent, not important and not urgent. Not important. I love that way of thinking. I really do, and it helps me focus. 24:51.776 --> 24:52.460 Yeah. 24:52.990 --> 24:56.726 You do have some tools that you use on a day to day basis. 24:56.838 --> 24:58.554 What's your favorite of those? 24:58.752 --> 25:00.554 Well, I didn't talk a lot about. 25:00.592 --> 25:04.750 It, but I've said this to you again. It is the Kanban board that I use at work. 25:04.820 --> 25:10.894 And really, there's a couple of reasons that I really like that tool, and. 25:10.932 --> 25:21.874 We have software that we do it on. I think it is really good when you're learning this framework, to have it visual. You don't have to complicate these things. Like you said, they can be right. 25:21.912 --> 25:22.882 Up on your board. 25:22.936 --> 25:27.846 Matter of fact, that's one of the principles when you're starting to learn this stuff, do sticky notes on your wall. 25:27.948 --> 25:31.846 Or on a magnetic board or some. 25:31.868 --> 25:34.166 Kind of thing and have columns that do this. 25:34.268 --> 25:42.858 But the biggest thing for me, it reduces stress for me, it visualizes everything that is on our plate that we're working on. 25:43.024 --> 25:45.498 And another philosophy there, you want to. 25:45.504 --> 25:48.586 Limit the work in process, and you. 25:48.608 --> 25:51.066 Have agreements with your team that, for. 25:51.088 --> 25:52.254 Example, we could have. 25:52.292 --> 25:53.566 I think ours is like two or. 25:53.588 --> 25:56.000 Three items we have in process. 25:56.690 --> 26:04.786 You can't move something in process until you move something out of in process. And everybody knows what the priority is. 26:04.808 --> 26:05.758 Everyone's agreed. 26:05.854 --> 26:09.460 These three things that Kurt is working on is what he's working. 26:11.510 --> 26:13.918 Would you, if you were to counsel. 26:14.014 --> 26:22.166 Somebody on their columns of a Kanban board? I know we didn't say we'd go. 26:22.188 --> 26:25.938 Deep into this, but I do want to maybe flesh this out for a minute. 26:26.114 --> 26:29.034 So the Kanban board, you have columns, right? 26:29.232 --> 26:33.846 Columns. And each column has items in that column. 26:34.038 --> 26:38.346 Action items, goals, things that you need. 26:38.368 --> 26:40.154 To do or think about or whatever. 26:40.192 --> 26:41.034 Is that right? 26:41.152 --> 26:42.474 Yes. Right. 26:42.592 --> 26:43.066 Okay. 26:43.168 --> 26:46.478 And here's one of the concepts with this is, and if you want to. 26:46.484 --> 26:48.682 Do this electronically, there's a tool called Trello. 26:48.746 --> 26:50.366 And you can learn all about this. 26:50.388 --> 27:07.910 And use it electronically, but you create your own columns. They'll have some suggestions and templates. But it all depends on what you're doing. And you can build this as something that's just for a project that you're working on, or you can do it for your complete workflow and all the input that you're getting. So the first column would be kind of your inbox. 27:08.250 --> 27:18.342 Thoughts, ideas, emails that came in, phone call, whatever. And it's got to go in that first box. You can't really move it along until. 27:18.396 --> 27:24.378 Everyone'S kind of looked at it. So every Monday we look at all the incoming work and start to look at it. 27:24.464 --> 27:40.846 And I think we have a next one. I'm trying to remember what the column is, but this one's been vetted out. So these are prioritized items that we've vetted out that are going to happen eventually. And then you have your, like you. 27:40.868 --> 27:43.554 Said, like in process what you're working on right now. 27:43.592 --> 27:56.146 You mentioned that in your inbox. These are the ones you're working on right now. And we have a step after it's completed. You could just have a completed one. 27:56.248 --> 27:58.806 As a simple, I think we have. 27:58.828 --> 28:02.866 A step in between where we've completed. 28:02.898 --> 28:06.760 It, but we haven't reviewed it yet. So we actually have a step in between there. 28:08.090 --> 28:10.378 It's completed but not reviewed yet. 28:10.544 --> 28:11.786 So we have a step there, but. 28:11.808 --> 28:13.260 Then eventually it's done. 28:14.430 --> 28:14.794 Yeah. 28:14.832 --> 28:15.978 When it comes to this kind of. 28:15.984 --> 28:19.946 Stuff, especially like a kanban system, the. 28:19.968 --> 28:21.306 Simpler the better, right? 28:21.408 --> 28:21.866 Yeah. 28:21.968 --> 28:35.466 Simplify, simplify, simplify. Because we could have a dozen different columns and if then we were going to do this and then all that other stuff. And don't muddy up the process keep it as simple as possible. Do you think that's good advice? 28:35.658 --> 28:51.510 Yeah. And you want these to be things that you can get done in a reasonable amount of time, and you determine these rules. For instance, if something comes in and it's bigger, it's going to take multiple tasks to get this done. 28:51.580 --> 28:53.910 You want to break it down also. 28:54.060 --> 29:01.082 So that you can see the progress. You can feel yourself making progress. And so you don't want to put. 29:01.136 --> 29:07.354 This monstrous, boil the ocean task in your to do list. 29:07.392 --> 29:10.842 You want to see a flow of things. Now, it could be under a heading. 29:10.906 --> 29:14.720 Of what we call an epic that you're working towards. 29:16.050 --> 29:20.202 There's a sense of accomplishment as you're doing this, a sense of priority. 29:20.266 --> 29:31.540 There's openness, and everyone can see what's happening. Transparency is the word. It's very transparent what's happening. 29:32.230 --> 29:48.940 I think as we move along, this Kanban system is probably worthy of a whole episode to really flesh it out. So let's be intentional about that. I can talk to you about the tools in my life that I use. 29:49.870 --> 29:51.542 And they're ever changing. 29:51.686 --> 29:56.538 But if I'm most productive, as I look back at the moments that I. 29:56.544 --> 30:06.474 Was most productive, these are the tools that I'm using. All right, first of all is a personal journal. The personal journal. 30:06.522 --> 30:31.398 When I'm journaling every day, it just helps me flesh out what's most important in life, helps me identify those big rocks, helps me think through things and have a conversation with myself. And that's a part of journaling that I don't do enough of. I can be very technical in my journaling instead of having an open conversation with myself. 30:31.564 --> 30:31.942 Right. 30:31.996 --> 31:14.290 So journaling really helps me flesh out what's important in my life. And then I've recently gone back to a wall calendar, a year at a glance wall calendar, where I can look at all twelve months, and I can say, okay, what does my year look like? What does January through December look like? And what am I doing? How does my time look? When am I taking vacation? When am I just taking time off? What are some important deadlines? And the space is small to write in. Small enough that I'm forced to just put a couple of notes that I can't completely flesh it out because these are big rocks, right? 31:14.360 --> 31:14.980 Yeah. 31:15.690 --> 31:22.262 Something like have a business plan, business plan, due date, something like that. 31:22.396 --> 31:22.838 Right. 31:22.924 --> 31:23.560 Right. 31:23.930 --> 32:19.094 So a year at a glance wall calendar, and I have my 2024 year at a glance wall calendar all ready to go and ready to hang. I just came from Amazon and I just now. Got it. I can't believe it took so long. So a year to glance wall calendar. So I have my journal, my year to glance wall calendar, and then some kind of daily planner. Physical daily planner. Now, if we're not careful, these daily planners can lean towards hyper structured and utilitarian. And that kind of stuff locks me up, man. I need a little more free flowing system. In the past, I've used daytimers and Franklin Covey. I know that our pal clay is big on Michael Hyatt's full focus planner. Those are the type of planners that if they work for you, then they work for you. But what works best for me is. 32:19.212 --> 32:23.910 Just to start with a college ruled composition notebook. 32:24.070 --> 32:24.682 Yeah. 32:24.816 --> 32:35.760 You know what I'm talking about. The kind that has that weird black and white design on the front of. I can. I can show you in the video here. 32:36.450 --> 32:43.006 I went to Walmart this week and picked up a couple of notebooks and I saw that one. 32:43.108 --> 32:44.400 I've used that one. 32:47.330 --> 32:48.466 When if I. 32:48.488 --> 32:51.426 Start off my day, and again, this. 32:51.448 --> 32:54.786 Is what works for me. If I start off my day and I write down the three things that. 32:54.808 --> 32:56.500 I want to accomplish that day. 32:58.230 --> 32:58.546 And. 32:58.568 --> 33:07.362 Then I highlight or I circle the single most important thing that I need to accomplish. That's the non negotiable. I got to get that done. It's almost like if I'm at work. 33:07.516 --> 33:09.690 If I don't get that done, I'm getting fired. 33:11.790 --> 33:21.530 It may not be that bad, but you know what I mean. Eventually, actually, that would smack against my quadrant thinking, right? 33:21.600 --> 33:22.074 Yeah. 33:22.192 --> 33:39.874 Because that would be urgent and important and I need to spend time and not urgent and important. Generally, I think about what's the most important thing I have to get done today. Right. That moves things forward. So I write down three things and I highlight or I circle the one thing, and then I write in my. 33:39.912 --> 33:41.714 Planner time by time. 33:41.752 --> 33:52.354 And I use a timer. It's called the Pomodoro method. And I've talked about it here, and you and I have talked about it a lot. In fact, my little timer here is something that I've used as a resource. 33:52.402 --> 33:57.494 Or a tip or a hack. And what I'll do is I will. 33:57.532 --> 34:14.254 Set this timer and I block out my time, and I segment my time into 50 minutes blocks with a ten minute break, and I write down what I want to do in the next 50 minutes. And I work for 49 minutes of time focused work. And 49 minutes is important to say. 34:14.372 --> 34:19.246 Of time focused work. It's a shorter period of time if. 34:19.268 --> 34:30.226 I'm feeling unfocused or tired or frustrated about something. Sometimes that can be a 20 minutes. I'm just going to work for 20 minutes, and then the alarm goes off at 49 minutes. 34:30.408 --> 34:31.746 And when that alarm goes off at. 34:31.768 --> 34:35.726 49 minutes, I stop and I write down, what do I want to accomplish. 34:35.758 --> 34:43.606 In the next time block? And then I get up and I take a walk, and I'll walk around. I may go get a snack, I. 34:43.628 --> 34:49.126 Might go bother other people. But whatever it is, I just take. 34:49.148 --> 34:51.880 A break from that work and I start over. 34:53.310 --> 34:55.462 When I time segment like that, Kurt. 34:55.526 --> 34:59.514 With a timer, those are my most productive days. 34:59.712 --> 35:04.080 And those are not only productive, but those are days that I really get important stuff. 35:05.970 --> 35:08.400 You know, I was thinking, I did this this morning. 35:09.490 --> 35:14.990 I didn't write down everything, but I think capturing everything definitely is one of these skills. 35:15.330 --> 35:17.034 And I like the notebook. 35:17.082 --> 35:19.918 I went out, like I said, I went out to Walmart. I bought a couple of books. 35:20.014 --> 35:24.610 I have a purpose for each one. I bought two books for two different purposes. 35:25.030 --> 35:29.874 But I had some very specific things this morning I wanted to get done before you and I met one of them. 35:29.912 --> 35:31.618 Prepare for this session. 35:31.794 --> 35:37.590 But I got them all done, and I was quite proud of myself, and I did what you said, but I wasn't as formal with the clock. 35:38.810 --> 35:41.370 If I'm doing it 80% of the time, I'm winning. 35:42.190 --> 35:47.110 Sometimes I flake out and I start my day without. Without any plan whatsoever. 35:47.270 --> 35:52.566 You sit down and you just start rolling into what's not urgent and what's. 35:52.598 --> 35:55.886 Not important and what's urgent and not important and all that other stuff. 35:55.988 --> 36:01.226 I know, but you take a step back, be mindful of it, be conscious. 36:01.258 --> 36:11.700 That you've wandered off and pull yourself back in. But I love the idea of time management, and I think it's important. 36:13.190 --> 36:16.162 As long as we're not so hyper. 36:16.226 --> 36:18.422 Structured and utilitarian about it. 36:18.556 --> 36:19.240 Yeah. 36:21.530 --> 36:23.160 Mistakes are going to happen. 36:24.330 --> 36:25.640 Life happens. 36:27.550 --> 36:33.530 And don't beat yourself up. Right in everything. Offer yourself some grace. 36:35.710 --> 36:39.194 Our management team and our team, we. 36:39.232 --> 36:44.142 Recognize when things are getting chaotic and we sit down together and go, okay. 36:44.196 --> 36:50.366 Guys, this is going to be a chaotic time, and we're going to have. 36:50.388 --> 36:55.826 To manage our time really well. Now we're going to have to say no to this and that, and just. 36:55.848 --> 36:58.610 Tell people, we've got this project that's. 36:58.950 --> 37:00.722 Front and center, and it has to be done. 37:00.776 --> 37:01.700 And that happens. 37:03.430 --> 37:07.270 I haven't had this, but I've seen organization. You'll have a security breach. 37:08.410 --> 37:10.934 Everybody's got to stop what they're doing. 37:10.972 --> 37:11.734 And focus on that. 37:11.772 --> 37:12.966 That's urgent and important. 37:13.068 --> 37:13.382 Right. 37:13.436 --> 37:18.860 Yeah. So there's times when you're out of. 37:19.230 --> 37:21.020 You've got to take care of the fire. 37:21.950 --> 37:25.066 Absolutely. Yeah. Love it. 37:25.088 --> 38:24.846 So these are the things that, when I'm most productive in my life, this is how I do it. But one thing I'm going to add to my system, for lack of a better way of putting it, is some kind of kanban system, some kind of physical process. In fact, I've already bought my postit notes and I've already cleared a space on my wall because we've talked about this in the past, some kind of physical process. And that's something else that I found, is we all want to go digital, right? We want to use Trello whatever in digital programs and todoist and evernote and all those things. What I'm finding is I love those digital resources, but I need a combination. I need a hybrid system. I need some kind of physical process. I need a physical timer. I need to lay something physically out on the wall to just help me think and look at it. And if it's in my computer somewhere, it just gets lost in the shuffle sometimes. 38:24.948 --> 38:31.246 Well, that is the recommended way to go, if you can. The problem is if you have teams and people you're working with that are. 38:31.268 --> 38:34.526 Remote, you could still do it if. 38:34.548 --> 38:37.250 You put a camera on it, and. 38:37.320 --> 38:40.290 They'Ll tell you that's even the best thing to do. 38:40.440 --> 38:42.066 Still have a physical board, but have. 38:42.088 --> 38:44.882 A camera on it and people move. 38:44.936 --> 38:46.854 Yeah, that's actually not a bad idea. 38:46.972 --> 38:49.238 Yeah, that's not a bad idea. 38:49.324 --> 38:52.630 I'll tell you the one. I've wanted to implement this with my wife. 38:56.410 --> 38:58.554 You know she's going to listen to this episode, right? 38:58.592 --> 39:03.034 And I tease because I would love. 39:03.072 --> 39:04.906 To have all the priorities that are. 39:04.928 --> 39:19.326 In her head, out on the refrigerator or the living room or somewhere on a board, before I get another honeydew that we have in an agreement, a. 39:19.348 --> 39:22.080 New one doesn't come in until I finish this one. 39:22.530 --> 39:23.280 Right. 39:25.650 --> 39:28.240 That's a dream. But we haven't gotten there yet. 39:31.650 --> 39:33.134 Time management is important. 39:33.252 --> 39:37.094 You just can't. Don't. Don't let yourself get crazy. 39:37.212 --> 39:39.878 Offer yourself some grace, but definitely have a plan. 39:40.044 --> 39:41.480 Definitely have a plan. 39:42.490 --> 39:44.150 Good session, Joe. 39:46.010 --> 39:47.800 Kurt, do you have a win for the week? 39:49.710 --> 39:54.042 One of the things I want to do was get back into social media. 39:54.096 --> 39:58.006 With my podcast and promotion and posts. 39:58.198 --> 39:59.466 And I started one. 39:59.568 --> 40:02.170 And here's the thing. You've mentioned this, Joe. 40:02.670 --> 40:06.574 My overall goal is to grow my podcast, let's say. 40:06.612 --> 40:08.186 And that can be overwhelming. 40:08.378 --> 40:09.486 One thing I wanted to say while. 40:09.508 --> 40:14.350 You were going through this time management was break these things down. Like, what could you get started? 40:14.500 --> 40:14.910 Simple. 40:14.980 --> 40:16.174 Just to get some momentum. 40:16.222 --> 40:19.554 So I started doing. I had this thought. 40:19.592 --> 40:20.754 I don't remember where I came from. 40:20.792 --> 40:27.410 But Disney has a quick service dining plan that's coming out this year, and. 40:27.480 --> 40:32.566 I saw some conversations about people. Is it worth it? Is it really worth it for the. 40:32.588 --> 40:40.938 Cost that you pay? If you would just pay out of pocket, maybe you could keep the cost down. And so I'm challenging that, and I. 40:40.944 --> 40:42.234 Have a little challenge going on in. 40:42.272 --> 40:46.266 My group, and I'm analyzing the cost. 40:46.448 --> 40:51.194 And I'm putting out samples of menus I'm going to do. And it's been really fun and getting. 40:51.232 --> 40:54.170 Lots of engagement, and I'm really excited. 40:54.250 --> 41:01.920 So this is going to continue from planning this through what my actual results are into after my trip to Disney, which is at the end of the. 41:02.610 --> 41:03.214 Awesome. 41:03.332 --> 41:09.134 Yeah, awesome. So where are you posting Facebook, Twitter, x or. 41:09.252 --> 41:09.774 Right. 41:09.892 --> 41:11.554 And that was important to try to figure. 41:11.592 --> 41:14.994 So I have a private Facebook group I'm kicking it off in. 41:15.032 --> 41:35.994 I also have a Facebook page, which I've not used in a long time, so I'm looking to build the Facebook page, and then I'm also doing Instagram. So I'm adding Instagram. I've had an Instagram account, but that seems to get some eyes on it. So I'm putting it out in three places. It's hard to do it in more than that, I'm trying to figure out the time management part of this, too. 41:36.032 --> 41:38.780 Can I do this every day? 41:39.870 --> 41:47.726 It's funny you bring up Instagram because Instagram is something that I don't know how to navigate. In fact, the times that I've tried. 41:47.748 --> 41:52.954 To use Instagram, I've gotten frustrated and I just quit. 41:53.002 --> 41:53.262 Okay. 41:53.316 --> 41:56.094 I need to pull in one of my kids to teach me how to use Instagram. 41:56.142 --> 41:57.940 And that's a little prideful for me. 41:59.030 --> 42:03.090 Because I like to consider myself somewhat technologically astute. 42:04.230 --> 42:08.194 But Instagram just locks me up, so. 42:08.232 --> 42:09.750 Yeah, good stuff, man. 42:09.820 --> 42:10.006 Yeah. 42:10.028 --> 42:13.154 Your social media challenges are moving you in the right direction. 42:13.282 --> 42:13.846 I like it. 42:13.868 --> 42:15.494 I like the conversations that are coming. 42:15.532 --> 42:19.510 Out of it, and it's creating some engagement in my group. 42:19.660 --> 42:21.770 And perfect so far. 42:21.840 --> 42:32.446 It's doing what I wanted to do, so I'm enjoying that. And I've kept it fairly simple and productive. I'm learning different skills in doing that. 42:32.468 --> 42:35.920 Like you said, I don't know Instagram that well either. Awesome. 42:36.370 --> 42:38.320 My win for the week is interesting. 42:39.170 --> 42:44.410 I didn't go to church this past Sunday. I guess I'm going to hell. 42:44.580 --> 42:46.494 I didn't go to church this past Sunday. 42:46.542 --> 42:52.306 In fact, my wife and I kind of slept in. We slept in, stayed in bed for. 42:52.328 --> 42:55.926 A while, talked and chatted, and it. 42:55.948 --> 43:03.842 Was really a nice, very slow, pleasant, low key day on Sunday. 43:03.906 --> 43:04.470 Nice. 43:04.620 --> 43:11.666 I always get up before my wife every single day. I'm talking hours before my wife. 43:11.778 --> 43:12.210 Yeah. 43:12.300 --> 43:13.194 And that's okay. 43:13.312 --> 43:13.994 I like that. 43:14.032 --> 43:17.210 I like that quiet time by myself. This was nice, too. 43:17.280 --> 43:19.260 Just stay in bed. 43:20.030 --> 43:22.166 I was definitely awake before she was. 43:22.288 --> 43:24.542 But stayed in bed, slept in a bit. 43:24.596 --> 43:27.886 In fact, I dozed off one or two times while I was still in. 43:27.908 --> 43:31.614 Bed, talked while we were in there. 43:31.732 --> 43:35.938 Still in bed, and just talked about the day and what's going on and things like that. 43:36.024 --> 43:40.340 And it was just a nice, like I said, pleasant, low key day. 43:41.270 --> 43:42.770 Was it intentional? 43:43.750 --> 43:45.378 Did I know Saturday night when I. 43:45.384 --> 43:47.220 Went to bed that I was going to do that? 43:47.990 --> 43:48.690 No. 43:48.840 --> 43:50.414 But when I woke up Sunday morning. 43:50.472 --> 43:52.342 I thought, I'm just going to stay in bed. 43:52.476 --> 43:54.038 You say it wasn't intentional, but I. 43:54.044 --> 44:04.554 Wonder some of the things we write in our journal or we say we're going to do. I think our subconscious reminds us of those things when it's time to know and remember those things. 44:04.592 --> 44:05.180 Absolutely. 44:06.670 --> 44:07.420 Awesome. 44:07.950 --> 44:11.370 All right, cool. What do you have for a resource for us, Kurt? 44:11.870 --> 44:13.450 Well, this won't be any surprise. 44:13.530 --> 44:17.290 It's the book getting things done by David Allen. 44:17.450 --> 44:19.726 That book came out, boy, that has. 44:19.748 --> 44:21.520 To be like 20 years old or more. 44:22.210 --> 44:23.966 It's been around for a while, but. 44:23.988 --> 44:25.534 I spent plenty of time talking about. 44:25.572 --> 44:27.330 It in the concepts there. 44:27.480 --> 44:28.898 Check it out again. 44:28.984 --> 44:46.118 My recommendation is take what you can and try to incorporate those things into your time saving ideas and hacks and processes. And I think if you can get. 44:46.124 --> 44:47.706 A couple of things implemented, that would. 44:47.728 --> 44:49.820 Be worth its while. 44:50.750 --> 44:52.634 So when I first read getting things. 44:52.672 --> 45:04.350 Done by David Allen, he was 100% analog. Physical folders, physical processes, a physical inbox, 100%. 45:04.420 --> 45:06.206 I don't think he mentioned anything in. 45:06.228 --> 45:08.110 His book about digital. 45:08.770 --> 45:15.006 I'd be curious to look at his newest version of getting things done because I think he did an updated version. 45:15.038 --> 45:17.074 Just a couple of years ago to. 45:17.112 --> 45:27.062 See if there's any digital resources that he recommends and digital processes that he recommends. Because I went all in for a long time with the whole getting things. 45:27.116 --> 45:38.450 Done process, and while it worked generally, it was too overwhelming for me. In the moment. 45:38.620 --> 45:39.242 In the moment. 45:39.296 --> 45:42.314 But like you said, kurt, if you. 45:42.352 --> 45:45.066 Get just a handful of tips from. 45:45.088 --> 45:48.186 This book, it's a really good book. 45:48.288 --> 45:51.530 To help reset your mind on how you get things done. 45:51.600 --> 46:05.906 That was funny you say that, because the conference I went to, they were promoting the software that he built with his developer to do it all digitally. Yeah, that was 20 years ago. So the book's got to be really. It's got to be from the. 46:06.088 --> 46:11.554 Yeah, I mean, it was a long time ago that I read the book. 46:11.752 --> 46:13.186 Now, he may have been working on. 46:13.208 --> 46:15.906 Something, but in his book, I don't. 46:15.928 --> 46:17.726 Remember any mention of digital. 46:17.838 --> 46:18.662 I think you're right. 46:18.716 --> 46:19.222 Yeah, definitely. 46:19.276 --> 46:20.626 It was all about the paper hitting. 46:20.658 --> 46:24.742 Your desk and where you put it in the folder drawer, right? Yeah. 46:24.796 --> 46:37.706 Right. And putting the other projects. I love his idea that if anything requires more than two steps, it's a project or two steps or more, it's a project, and you need to treat it as a project and work on it as a project. 46:37.888 --> 46:38.330 Right. 46:38.400 --> 46:40.586 Yeah. Takes away the stress, and I think. 46:40.608 --> 46:42.026 That'S where I got from his book. 46:42.048 --> 46:46.062 That's where I got the idea of handling something. 46:46.196 --> 46:47.770 If it can be handled in a minute. 46:47.850 --> 46:48.142 Yes. 46:48.196 --> 46:49.038 Handle it now. 46:49.124 --> 46:50.366 Yes. Or delete it. 46:50.388 --> 46:52.554 Yeah. Best thing to do is delete it. 46:52.692 --> 46:57.794 Absolutely right. The beauty of digital is you can. 46:57.832 --> 46:59.586 Have the satisfaction of getting rid of. 46:59.608 --> 47:03.060 Something, deleting something, and it's never really gone. 47:05.670 --> 47:08.086 The other thing is like that. 47:08.268 --> 47:09.974 I do like that I'll get a. 47:10.012 --> 47:16.838 Recommendation or a training or something that I want to read later. And honest, if I'm honest with myself. 47:16.924 --> 47:19.274 Do I ever read it later? 47:19.312 --> 47:22.410 So that goes into a folder of resources. 47:22.750 --> 47:23.500 Yeah. 47:24.830 --> 47:33.470 I have a read folder or information folder in my inbox, and it's my least accessed folder. 47:34.850 --> 47:37.146 Someday, somehow. 47:37.338 --> 47:38.080 Yeah. 47:38.450 --> 47:52.740 So my resource is interesting. I've brought up Android Auto before as a resource. I don't think I brought up this feature of Android auto that I think I just discovered. I'm pretty sure I just discovered it myself. 47:53.510 --> 47:55.506 Of course I didn't discover it. 47:55.528 --> 47:59.640 I mean, it was put into Android Auto as a feature. I just discovered that it's there. 48:00.970 --> 48:01.826 Android Auto. 48:01.858 --> 48:09.574 And I'm sure Apple Play has Apple car or what is it? I don't know what the Apple version is, but if you have a newer. 48:09.622 --> 48:12.902 Car, let's say 2016 or newer. 48:12.966 --> 48:42.586 All right, you very likely have either Apple CarPlay or Android Auto. I have Android Auto in my car, and that's where Google Maps shows up on your screen, and it connects with your phone. And you can make a phone call through your phone, and you can access. I access my podcast app a lot, and it's just kind of a general command station, right? Using your Android phone. Well, what I discovered is I can press a little button on my steering. 48:42.618 --> 48:51.954 Wheel and say, take a note, and it'll prompt me with a little beep, and I'll start talking about a note. 48:52.002 --> 48:54.758 And it saves it into my Android note app. 48:54.844 --> 48:56.310 Oh, yeah, nice. 48:56.380 --> 49:00.410 It saves it right there. And I can say, make a reminder. 49:00.750 --> 49:02.246 And I can say, make a reminder. 49:02.278 --> 49:13.434 For tomorrow and spit out the reminder and it'll save it right to my phone. And this is just a beautiful thing. 49:13.472 --> 49:23.600 For me because how many ideas do we have or thoughts that we have or reminders come into our head as we're driving home from work or driving to work or whatever it might be. 49:24.210 --> 49:27.266 And this little resource, man, this little. 49:27.368 --> 49:36.558 Feature in Android Auto, take a note and make a reminder, is right there. And it's probably been there the whole time, and it will definitely make my life easier. 49:36.654 --> 49:39.414 Yeah, I love this one. I know you have like a 45. 49:39.452 --> 49:41.000 Minutes commute, don't you? 49:41.610 --> 49:42.726 It can be, yeah. 49:42.828 --> 49:44.646 So you're in the car for a. 49:44.668 --> 49:46.198 Good amount of the time, and of. 49:46.204 --> 49:51.546 Course you don't want to text while you drive, but yeah, not just that. 49:51.648 --> 50:05.598 Just basically using that speech to text on my phone. I need to do more of that. I did a little bit that with you this week when you were texting me, I was on my way out. 50:05.604 --> 50:08.026 The door, and instead of even stopping. 50:08.058 --> 50:10.766 The text, hit the little microphone and talk. 50:10.868 --> 50:20.514 It does such a great job. And that's all about capturing those thoughts. In journaling, it's a little bit of journaling, like you said. 50:20.712 --> 50:22.594 Sure, you get a lot of those. 50:22.792 --> 50:28.134 Just, they come popping in your head while you're walking, doing a walk or driving along. 50:28.332 --> 50:47.206 And David Allen talks about that in the book, too. Is capturing those thoughts and having a process, a trusted process for reviewing and capturing those thoughts. So this will be a part of my trusted process for capturing and reviewing and processing those thoughts. 50:47.238 --> 50:54.826 It's funny because both of our interactions were voice prompts. I was driving in the car, texting. 50:54.858 --> 51:16.946 You through Android Auto and speaking the text. And in fact, there was a couple of things, there was something that I said that I thought I didn't say right, so I had to go back and correct it. Yeah, I do like this technology. This is where technology really helps. So my resource is the take a note and make a reminder for feature of Android Auto and I'm sure Apple. 51:16.978 --> 51:20.920 CarPlay has it as well. Do you have a quote for us? 51:21.770 --> 51:24.230 Most people feel best about their work. 51:24.300 --> 51:26.866 The week before their vacation, but it's. 51:26.898 --> 51:28.700 Not because of the vacation itself. 51:29.710 --> 51:37.354 What do you do the last week before you leave on a big trip? You clean up, close up, clarify, and. 51:37.392 --> 51:40.640 Renegotiate all your agreements with yourself and others. 51:41.010 --> 51:44.538 I just suggest that you do this weekly instead of yearly. 51:44.714 --> 51:49.370 David Allen, we know we can be productive, right, Kurt? 51:49.530 --> 51:54.482 We know we can get stuff. Know, we know we can do it. 51:54.616 --> 51:56.354 Because we do it the week before. 51:56.392 --> 51:57.486 We leave for vacation. 51:57.598 --> 52:07.522 Suddenly we become this productivity animal, right? And we get all this stuff done and it's crazy. 52:07.576 --> 52:09.622 And we button it up Friday so we can. 52:09.676 --> 52:11.462 Because what do we want? 52:11.596 --> 52:14.070 We want peace when we leave for vacation, right? 52:14.140 --> 52:15.894 Right. Yeah. 52:16.092 --> 52:17.910 That's a huge goal of mine. 52:18.410 --> 52:18.822 Yeah. 52:18.876 --> 52:19.978 I don't want to leave a lot. 52:19.984 --> 52:21.898 Of dangling things when I'm off a. 52:21.904 --> 52:23.660 Vacation as much as possible. 52:24.190 --> 52:25.338 I'm the same way. 52:25.424 --> 52:26.426 I'm the same way. 52:26.528 --> 52:42.926 I love that. And today is Friday as we're recording this. And this needs to be part of my Friday, right? Yeah, this needs to be part of our Friday. So we can go into the weekend or whatever period of time that we're taking a break. We can go into that period of. 52:42.948 --> 52:48.286 Time with just peace and clarity and. 52:48.308 --> 52:53.346 Where we know that Monday is coming and we've taken care of what needs to be taken care of. 52:53.448 --> 52:53.858 Right? 52:53.944 --> 52:55.298 Yeah, good point. 52:55.384 --> 52:56.018 Love it. 52:56.104 --> 53:29.520 Good stuff. Man. I like David. I need to go revisit that book because I get the sense that it's time, right, for me to just re engage some of this stuff. Well, my quote comes from none other than Abraham Lincoln, and I don't know if this is Abraham Lincoln or it's attributed to Abraham Lincoln or if it's kind of lore, right? But, boy, it sure sounds a lot like Abraham Lincoln. And I love this quote because this is a core part of being productive and getting things done. 53:30.210 --> 53:44.626 Abraham Lincoln said, give me 6 hours to chop down a tree, and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe. That's beautiful, isn't it? I love it. 53:44.808 --> 53:47.006 Why do you love that so much, Joe? 53:47.118 --> 53:50.294 I love it because I'm the type. 53:50.332 --> 53:52.930 Of guy that will take a spoon. 53:53.010 --> 53:55.286 And try to just chop down that. 53:55.308 --> 53:57.240 Tree because I just want to get it done. 53:58.010 --> 53:59.434 I want to go into it like. 53:59.472 --> 54:04.954 Some crazy maniac and just take action. Take action. Take action. Take action. And that's good. 54:05.072 --> 54:09.866 You got to take action. But, man, if I would spend the. 54:09.888 --> 54:14.960 First period of time, just sharpening that axe, making sure it's got a good, clean cut. 54:16.130 --> 54:17.582 I'll get it done in no time. 54:17.636 --> 54:24.066 I'll take 12 hours to do something that it should have taken me six to do because I didn't start off. 54:24.088 --> 54:25.150 With a sharp axe. 54:25.230 --> 54:33.074 Wow, this really fits my bathroom renovation project so well because I could go. 54:33.112 --> 54:35.286 Down a path of thinking I know. 54:35.308 --> 54:36.360 How to do something. 54:37.450 --> 54:44.646 Not really because I'm not that experienced making mistakes, but if I spend time talking to friends, talking to you guys. 54:44.748 --> 54:53.578 On Saturdays, and my trusted source, YouTube source, and getting some ideas, and it. 54:53.584 --> 54:56.714 Can take a while to get the right resource before you hit that one. 54:56.752 --> 55:06.798 That's really what you do if you make a mistake and got to rip something out or cause a lot of damage. Yeah. 55:06.884 --> 55:09.614 It's so much better to sharpen that saw first. 55:09.812 --> 55:12.400 It's all part of sharpening that axe, right? 55:13.890 --> 55:14.946 Do you mean I got to read. 55:14.968 --> 55:17.140 The instructions before I build something? 55:18.070 --> 55:19.300 Who does that? 55:19.750 --> 55:20.414 Good luck. 55:20.462 --> 55:21.982 That's weakness, Joe. 55:22.126 --> 55:26.786 I consider that the learning process, right? If I read the instructions, I'm not. 55:26.808 --> 55:30.310 Going to learn a thing. That's what I told my wife. 55:31.210 --> 55:36.086 How can I learn to do this by reading the instructions? You got to do it to learn it. 55:36.188 --> 55:38.374 That's for wimps only. 55:38.412 --> 55:38.754 Wimps. 55:38.802 --> 55:39.930 Read the instructions. 55:40.350 --> 56:23.830 If you guys have a productivity tip or a time management tool that you use, we would love to hear from you. Send us an email. Dudes@dudesandprogress.com. Dudes@dudesinprogress.com. And our website is just that, dudesinprogress.com. There you'll find our podcast, links to our podcast and how to get in contact with us. And if you want to support us via Patreon, you can go to dudesandprogress.com slash support. If you want to check out our Facebook group, it's dudesinprogress.com slash Facebook. It'll all take you right there. Just remember, dudesinprogress.com. We'll get you there, and we'll get you taken care of. 56:23.980 --> 56:26.390 Curtis, we wrap up, man. 56:26.540 --> 56:39.754 We do want to manage our time, right? We do want to do a good job of planning our days and planning our weeks and planning our years and planning our activity. But as long as we're moving in the right direction, that's the most important thing. 56:39.872 --> 56:40.758 Progress. 56:40.934 --> 56:51.600 Progress is better than perfection. We can't do this perfectly, but we can certainly do it better. So let's make progress. Progress is better than perfection. So we got to keep moving forward. 56:52.130 --> 57:00.014 Where I'm being my best self. Joe, I am doing these things we talked about today. So I'm going to try to do this better next week. 57:00.212 --> 57:02.640 We all will talk to you soon, my friend.