SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:22]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:24]
It's been a while, John.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:26]
It has been. Did you hear anybody complaining
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:28]
that we took a week off?
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:31]
No. I can't say that I did. I had two people two people who mentioned it that noticed.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:37]
Both of them related to me, one by blood, one by marriage.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:42]
Okay. So let me guess. Your dad and your wife's dad.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:47]
My wife's dad is one of them. Yes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:49]
Elizabeth?
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:50]
Elizabeth was the other. She's back after we stopped talking about Marvel.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:55]
Okay. Good. Good. Good. Good.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:58]
Yeah. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:59]
we took the week after Thanksgiving off. We actually recorded the week of Thanksgiving
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:04]
before Thanksgiving. So this has been
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:07]
a long break for us.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:10]
For recording, yes. But we only took one week off without an episode.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:14]
And that's because I got back Sunday night. You didn't wanna record.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:18]
I didn't wanna record, and you're leaving for Atlanta on Monday.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:23]
Yeah. I think
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:26]
I don't know. We couldn't get ahead of the scheduling is what it comes down to. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:31]
It starts And your house, but you don't like the audio quality when we do that from the same room. Well, we get there's a lot of echo. There's a lot of echo. So So anyway,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:42]
that sets up our topic for today of the importance of taking a break. Are you coming back regenerized,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:48]
ready
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:48]
to tackle
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:51]
the next a 152 episodes? Before we dive into this, regenerize is the word. Regenarized? You just come up Rejuvenated.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:00]
Regenerized makes makes sense. It's probably a word. Should I look it up? That's the name of the episode right there, Regenerized.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:07]
Well, so I was in Atlanta last week for work,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:11]
which was how so, basically, Monday morning after Thanksgiving, I got on a plane,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:17]
flew out to Atlanta
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:18]
for
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:19]
a rather
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:21]
intensive week of work. So I
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:23]
don't know that I would say I'm regenerized.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:28]
But,
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:30]
yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:32]
I it's fine. I took all of Thanksgiving week off, and that was good. That helped regenerize me a bit. I'm glad that was good, Stan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:39]
Yeah. You were there. I was there the whole time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:41]
Well, we really didn't do anything, John. We didn't. We ate well. We ate a lot.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:47]
And we paired it back from how what we've done in the past.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:52]
But We went through four bags of popcorn.
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:55]
Yeah. That was a bit much. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:57]
you you brought popcorn from the Iowa Cedar Rapids
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:01]
Great American Famous popcorn company formerly known as the Great American Popcorn Company. Yeah. That one. So they make awesome stuff. If you're ever in Cedar Rapids,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:11]
for whatever reason, you should stop by and get some. But I you asked me what
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:15]
what I wanted, and I gave you four
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:19]
kinds of popcorn thinking that you would select two,
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:23]
and instead you bought all four. Not that I'm knocking because they were all delicious. They were all delicious. But they didn't last past your visit.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:31]
No. I'm pretty sure you polished off four bags in four days. Yeah. Now, it was more than just me and you.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:39]
Barely. Your children got some.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:41]
A little bit. Your wife
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:42]
we had to share with your wife. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:45]
Well, on the the sweet one that you had a cheddar
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:50]
caramel
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:51]
Yes. Like, they were So it's like caramel corn
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:53]
coated in cheddar
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:55]
powdery stuff.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:57]
Yeah. That was
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:58]
that's pretty amazing. Missus Lemon
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:00]
unabashedly
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:01]
went after that one. So what do you Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:05]
But but anyway, I brought all four because at the Almost Famous Popcorn Company, it's buy three and the fourth is free.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:13]
Oh, well, now I don't feel so bad about it. See?
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:17]
So so, John, did you get a chance to re set and regenerize
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:22]
while you were on vacation?
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:24]
I did. So this was the first full week of vacation that I have taken in 2019,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:29]
which is terrible, and I don't recommend it. I
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:32]
did log some time while I was at your house against my better judgment,
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:38]
but it needed to happen. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:40]
I think I I made fun of you when you did that, didn't I? You did. Okay. I'm glad it just stopped at making fun of you and, like, cut off a finger or something like that. Well, next next time what I'll do is I'll block you at the router.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:52]
There you go.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:54]
I should I should've just done that, but Then I woulda had the hotspot.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:00]
Anyways, in March, I am going to Aruba
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:03]
for a week, and I don't expect Aruba Internet to be very good.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:08]
Yeah. You should are are you even gonna bring the laptop? No. It just seems like
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:13]
a lot of weight.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:14]
Yeah. I I would customs.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:16]
I would encourage you not to do that. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:19]
my Thanksgiving week, I did not open up my work laptop.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:23]
I did not even open it up the Sunday night before my trip. So when I got to the airport Monday morning,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:30]
that was the first time I went through work email,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:33]
you know, in a week. Now the office was closed for two of those days, so it wasn't like a full week, but it was really nice. It was nice to just get my head out of that space, kinda clear it up a bit.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:45]
I read a lot. I sat in my chair
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:48]
and didn't do much. We smoked some meat.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:51]
There were Not just pipes, unfortunately.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:53]
No. It's not my jam. That would that would kill you. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:56]
But the the point being,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:59]
like, that was a good, at least for me, a good solid break.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:03]
And
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:04]
I was grateful for the company, John. I always am. That's just because I kept your children occupied. I don't know how many games of chess I played, how many games of hearts. It was fun. Yeah. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:15]
Definitely definitely did the hearts and the chess quite a bit. But
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:19]
taking a break's important. You should do it more often, John. I should. If
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:23]
if Josh McNary doesn't listen to this podcast, does he? I doubt it. Okay. Well, Josh,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:29]
if you ever are scrolling through old episodes,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:31]
this is me telling you, give John some time off, make him take it off,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:35]
cut him off, sever him from the internet.
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:38]
He used to make me take time off, Sam. Yeah. It's important. I mean, I think, you know, people don't put enough value in,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:45]
like, literally having a break. Right? And and I think that's one of the important things about
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:51]
not taking the laptop to Aruba,
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:53]
not having your work email on your phone when you're in Aruba
SPEAKER_0 [00:06:57]
or Indianapolis.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:59]
I don't think my phone works in Aruba. Okay. That's that's even better. That's that's better. It's gonna be awesome. When Bring a book.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:06]
Bring my Kindle.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:08]
Sit out on the beach. Get to a crisp.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:12]
Wear a hat and sunscreen, John. Wear sunscreen. That's the way it's supposed to be. Right? I think that's just good for the soul, if you will.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:19]
Now,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:20]
like, it's not like you did nothing the week you took off. Like, you could have just binge watched a lot of Disney plus
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:27]
make it through that catalog.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:29]
But you were, like, writing code for fun, Stan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:32]
Smoking meat,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:34]
hanging out with friends.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:35]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:37]
Yeah. So I like, they're hobbies. Right? I did some house projects too that I genuinely like as well. Yes. You worked on electrical and nobody died. Yeah. Well, hey, what are you gonna do? But those
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:49]
things,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:50]
they're relaxing. They're not my normal, you know, nine to five mental grind and so,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:56]
you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:57]
you need to find those things too, John. Did you read a book over break?
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:01]
I read part of a book over break.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:04]
Still working on that book. I think I read two books over break. You read faster than I do and you read more than I do.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:12]
Just on that note, kind of before I transition here, I read Jim Mattis' book, Call Sign Chaos. He's the former secretary of defense, former four star general.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:22]
The book is
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:23]
half biographical and half about leadership.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:27]
It's divided into three different kinds of leadership.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:30]
It is a fantastic read, John, and I highly recommend it to you.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:34]
I would put it in the
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:36]
the like collection of books that I've recommended that you've actually liked
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:40]
and have been,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:41]
you know, of good quality. So Creative Selection, Creativity Inc, some of those. How to Win Friends and Influence People. Yeah. There you go. Another great one.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:51]
One of these days, I'm gonna sit down. I'm gonna make a list of like the 12 books
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:55]
that
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:56]
everybody
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:58]
who
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:59]
interacts with other human beings and wants to be some kind of a, you know, responsible
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:06]
leader, whatever whatever you wanna call it, should read. And and those four books I just rattled off are probably gonna be in that list.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:12]
And then we can talk about it on the podcast. There you go. I gotta find the other eight books, so that's the problem.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:18]
Yeah. We'll figure it out. Yeah. I'm sure I have I'm sure I've made recommendations. I just need to,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:24]
I don't know, dig them up. Collect them. Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:28]
Cool.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:29]
So we took a break last week.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:32]
Doesn't sound like it had the desired effect on Stan since he was working all week, but, you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:38]
we're back. We're excited. I was I was in Atlanta. Right? And so when
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:43]
I'm on this is just this is me. Right? When I'm on at work,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:48]
I am so physically drained by the end of the day,
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:53]
that even though, you know, I'm I'm traveling, I'm away, you would think, like, I don't have any familial obligations when I'm in Atlanta, that I'd be able to relax a bit, but it it's just the most exhausting thing imaginable for me.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:07]
So I'm always grateful to get home.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:09]
Indeed.
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:10]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:10:11]
that segues into productivity kind of. You're a big proponent of
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:16]
work when you work, and when you're not working, don't work. Yeah. I mean, this goes hand to hands with the whole notion of like, you know, when you take a break, really take a break. And I
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:27]
I don't know. I I just think you have to have boundaries and give yourself guardrails. Otherwise, things seep over.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:33]
And and so in the course of,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:37]
you know, work when you work, play when you play, or home when you're home, whatever,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:41]
I I think it's just creating a boundary. It's saying like, look, I'm not gonna let these things
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:47]
leak into each other because I I don't trust myself enough to
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:51]
to actually like respect the boundaries if you will or know when to say stop. Right? I think that True. At least for me, that's the thing. So I don't know when to say, okay. If I'm if I'm carrying my work phone on me all the time,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:03]
I don't know how to not work. And so,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:06]
you know, that's the Stays on your desk. Yeah. And draw a line in the sand and, you know, that works for me. It doesn't show up for everybody but should,
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:15]
because my way is the right way. Right, John? Always, Stan. I hear that you're giving up your strong opinions for 2020.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:22]
There's a rumor. I don't know if I can I don't know if I can do it?
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:27]
It's something we joked about when you were in town.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:32]
Maybe just strong opinions on food.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:36]
Oh, I don't know if I can do that. Not possible. I don't I don't know, John. Here's your project for 2020, Stan. I'll work on that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:44]
So when you talk about productivity,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:47]
I think there's a couple things that come to mind, right? How
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:51]
you decide what to do and when you decide
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:56]
what to do
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:59]
and then how you deal with all of those things that you're not doing when you're not doing them.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:06]
I think I follow you. Now, for productivity stuff like
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:11]
you could waste a month just trying to learn how to be more productive.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:17]
So my first rule for productivity
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:20]
is stop
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:22]
reading
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:23]
articles
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:24]
that will make you be more productive.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:28]
Unless that's your number one priority. That's how I would respond to that. Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:33]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:34]
I think at least for me personally, and again, everybody's different, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:39]
productivity starts from a list.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:41]
So you have to know what's important. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:44]
And some people can do that in their head and that's fine. Some people do that in a fancy app. That's fine too. Some people do it in a note, like in the notes app or some people do it on a physical piece of paper or they use post it notes, whatever. But you you write everything out that is important. Right? And I think there are two keys to this. One is you have to order it and there can only be one number one priority.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:09]
Right? And so
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:12]
if you cannot decide
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:15]
what that number one priority is, you've already lost the battle. Like, there's there's no coming back from that. You can't decide
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:22]
what to do. Right? Right. And and everything else, right, whether it's figuring out how to focus on just that one thing or, you know, reduce distractions,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:31]
whatever. Like, all of those things just
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:34]
are irrelevant if you can't decide what that number one priority is.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:37]
So so that's that to me has always been my my starting point. Right? And then you and I talked a little bit about this. Is that list? The list is not long.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:46]
Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:47]
Yeah. So, to your first point, I've been reading through Creativity Inc,
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:52]
which is
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:54]
kind of the book about Pixar and their beginnings and how they grew as a company. And I don't remember which director it was, but his whole thing was fail fast.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:03]
And he told this story about, okay. You have
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:07]
two mountains in front of you that you could climb.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:10]
Only one of them is the right one.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:12]
And his big thing was make a decision which one you're gonna start with.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:17]
And as soon as you realize it's not the right one, turn around and go to the other one. But what is not acceptable is running back and forth between the two mountains.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:26]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:27]
It's it the that book has an interesting take on this because this phrase,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:31]
fail fast, is used a lot in my world of software engineering.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:35]
And the way we talk about it is, like, you know, figure out your your minimum viable product or, like Okay. You know, your your basic prototype that you can get into somebody's hands to figure out what's gonna fly, what's not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:47]
And by doing that, right, you
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:50]
you learn a lot. You basically tighten your feedback loop
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:54]
as as as small as possible so that you know whether or not what you're doing is working or not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:01]
And I, you know, I think that's that's great. That works with a lot of
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:05]
a lot of things. I think if you look at the things that I tend to prioritize,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:10]
they are implicitly not long running.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:13]
Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:15]
They
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:17]
they're small, they're concrete,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:19]
and they have a lot of definition to them. And again, I know the priority. Right? And so
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:24]
I I think that allows, at least for me, you know, personally speaking, when I have that kind of clarity,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:31]
I don't necessarily have to worry about failing fast because I've already answered my unknowns and pushed them out to the periphery.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:37]
Right. I
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:39]
both of those things are, I think, valuable. Yeah. So the thing is
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:43]
commit to a priority.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:45]
Don't bounce around between two or three or 12 of them. Yeah. I think the bouncing around means you haven't actually convinced yourself
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:54]
what the number one priority is. Right? Right. And
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:58]
that's
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:59]
it's hard to do. I'm not gonna sit here and, like, pretend like it's easy, but it is so critical unless you intend on continuous continuously
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:07]
getting lost.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:11]
Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:14]
What's what's the number two priority, John?
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:16]
Number two priority is whatever you work on after the
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:20]
number one priority is either blocked
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:24]
by all of your willpower
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:26]
or
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:27]
is complete.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:29]
Yeah. That's a whole different discussion is how do you call something done, but I don't know if that's for today.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:35]
It depends on the task. I think that's a really gray area. But let's just let's just take a step back here. You used to do
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:41]
what was it? The Pomodoro method? Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:44]
And I think
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:46]
I think if you think about, basically, Pomodoro
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:49]
ing
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:51]
sounds weird saying that. Pomodoro ing your
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:53]
priorities,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:54]
That'll help you
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:56]
stay on task. Right? You've so again, it it all starts with what is the number one priority,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:02]
and then basically go heads down until it's done, you know, or you're satisfied. And maybe those two things are not mutually exclusive, but they probably should be.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:14]
So one thing, commit to a priority.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:17]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:18]
what do you do with everything else that's going on while you're focused on those one priority, Sam? Like, right now, you're recording.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:26]
I'm assuming your kids are already asleep, so they aren't necessarily a distraction.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:30]
But
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:31]
They're not asleep yet. They're they're actually
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:34]
winding down and getting ready.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:36]
So as far as distractions go,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:39]
I think you have to learn how to ignore them. Right? So there's a signal and noise problem here. Right? Where in in our
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:46]
generationally,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:48]
we have a lot of signal or a lot of noise coming in rather.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:53]
And
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:54]
you have to be able to like, this is part of that bubble sort on the the prioritization bit. Something else comes in. Is it more important than the number one priority that I'm working on right now? No. Okay. Push it to the side. Is it more important? Oh, okay. Now my number one priority is number two,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:10]
and everything else changes. Right? Everything shifts
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:14]
because of that. That's a that's a big deal. Right? So Yep. When you reprioritize,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:18]
there should be some ceremony to it. There should be
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:21]
some acknowledgment that you're throwing away
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:24]
your previous prioritization list. Maybe everything's just getting bumped down by one, but you're still throwing away that list
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:30]
and starting over. I think there's I I read I don't remember whoever this
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:36]
who who wrote what I read, but basically saying that your prioritization list, right, should be short enough that you can write it down,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:44]
you know, within a reasonable amount of time, a minute or two. And you should actually write it down. You should write it down in ink so that when you decide to reprioritize
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:51]
your list, rather than just add something to the bottom and scratch out the the one you've completed,
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:57]
is it's an it's an actual, like, thing that stops what you're doing. You have to focus on the pen and the paper and the ink and, like, commit. Right? You're signing a contract that this is Yep. This is what's important to me. So maybe, John, if we, if we ever write a book or something about productivity, that's what we'll do. It'll be the 10 things I wrote in ink.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:18]
There you go.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:21]
Alright. So we talked about
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:24]
setting a priority. Do you have any advice on
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:27]
how to set what is priority?
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:29]
Or, like, this is vague and it can we have a bunch of different listeners from
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:36]
software developers to clergy members.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:39]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:40]
Yeah. I mean,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:42]
this is how I do it in my life. Right? I
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:45]
start with date oriented things, so things have due dates. Right? And
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:51]
I know that,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:53]
I have to,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:55]
you know, send an email out to the board of directors by Friday,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:59]
that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:01]
And and that obviously is going to be
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:04]
sorted or prioritized, if you will, but with the other date oriented things.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:10]
From
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:12]
there, I also have just a set of things that I am
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:18]
looking at and evaluating on. Do they
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:21]
do they block other people,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:24]
other things?
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:25]
Do they block my family, my kids?
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:28]
Are there consequences
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:29]
if I don't do these things? Right? Like, if I as an example, these are all automated and yours should be too. But if you pay a bill, like an electrical bill,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:39]
and you
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:41]
like, if you don't get it in, right, you're gonna lose power,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:44]
that's a pretty high priority thing. The consequence of that is pretty adverse.
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:47]
Which is why ours are automated. Right. Yeah. But,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:51]
you know, you'll encounter things like that too. So medical bills. Right? Like, I don't I don't necessarily pay everything as soon as it comes in. Sometimes I stack it up, and then I go through kind of a little ceremony. Right? I go through my my stack of bills that have come in through the mail, and I work my way through them. And so,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:09]
you know, you just I think you learn to evaluate
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:13]
impact and consequences
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:15]
and and just prioritize.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:16]
It's a bubble sort. Right? Like, you were you're literally gonna take two things. Is this one higher or lower? Okay. Next one. Is this higher or lower? Okay. I moved that one up. Now I gotta do you know, reevaluate with the one that's above it. Right? So every time you move something up, you gotta evaluate with the one above And and eventually,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:33]
you'll get to the point where you're at the bottom of your list.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:36]
And, you know, the more you do that, the more you'll you'll get you'll get better at it, and it won't be such a big deal. But that's that's at least the way that I think about it, and I do it enough that it's it's, I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:47]
pretty seamless at this point. At least, I hope it is. Alright. Yeah. I mean, once you get a certain number of
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:54]
things or tasks,
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:56]
you
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:57]
kinda have the sense of, okay, what's the actual priority?
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:01]
And you, if your list is short enough, you kinda know it all and can write it down. So it's easier to judge,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:10]
which is of higher value at that point in time. That that is the hope anyhow. Yes. Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:17]
Yeah. So I, you know, I I've not John, I've not read
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:21]
a book that I think describes the way I prioritize.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:24]
I I
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:25]
I'm sure there's one like, I I don't pretend to be
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:29]
original here. But True. I I I just I think it in its most simplest form,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:35]
you got a list. You recognize there's not more than one
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:38]
top priority.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:40]
And then you just gotta learn how to ignore
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:43]
all of the other incoming junk
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:45]
and and work your way down the list. And and I think
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:49]
I don't know. Maybe this is harder for us now where
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:53]
we've got push notifications,
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:54]
you know, every couple seconds and emails
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:57]
are instantaneous and, you know, people text rather than commit to a phone call and things of this nature. May maybe it's just harder for us, but I I think some of those things that we were almost implicitly forced into
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:10]
before we had, you know, these super powered computers
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:13]
in our pockets.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:15]
There there's something good in them that we can, you know, leverage now too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:20]
Sure.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:22]
Yeah. On a higher sort of level, so I went through a semi formal
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:27]
defining of my personal core values.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:31]
So those kind of dictate
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:33]
higher level priorities for me. Like, does this
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:36]
fall in line with what I value? Does it help push those things forward?
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:41]
And then things kinda stemmed down from that. So you have those written somewhere?
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:46]
I do. They're in a blog post.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:48]
Okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:49]
You don't keep, like, a printed copy out in front of you? I do not because you taught me to be a minimalist and clean off my desk. I
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:58]
think something like that would be worth having, you know, in your face, assuming that you can't recall. My my memory
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:04]
my my, like, for that kind of thing is just not great.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:08]
I think core values are are an important thing to think about. I had a
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:12]
I had a friend who recommended,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:16]
like
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:18]
it's the same thing, but essentially, he's like, write down what's the most meaningful things in your life. Right? So my family,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:25]
you know, church having a house, some of those things. And then, basically, again, you know, you do your little bubble sort, and what you have is our set of of things that are important to you. Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:36]
Oddly enough,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:37]
kind of like a prioritization list.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:41]
So it might be something to that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:44]
There you go, Stan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:46]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:48]
this would be a bad time to recommend to you a book about productivity, John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:52]
You said that was your big pet peeve. You can.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:55]
I'm not sure I would prioritize reading it though. There you might though.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:00]
What is it what is it that frustrates you about productivity books? I I have not this is not a category book I've read a lot of. Right. So the books aren't as bad as, like, if you just look at the Internet or I get a bunch of my emails sometimes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:14]
Basically, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:16]
10 things to
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:17]
be more productive now.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:19]
And you can spend hours
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:21]
reading through these things,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:23]
and you could have been spending those hours
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:26]
just doing the thing that you need to do.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:30]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:31]
I'm with you. I think sometimes people
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:35]
need a, like, a flashlight on a dark room. Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:38]
You know, kind of a of a I don't wanna say guiding light, but at least something to
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:44]
point them in the right direction. Sometimes some of these books can be helpful there. I think what happens though, a lot of times, at least this is what I've what I've seen, is people then just don't stop reading those kinds of books.
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:57]
Right?
SPEAKER_0 [00:25:58]
And they they drown themselves
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:00]
in that kind of material, and I don't think that's helpful at all. Right? So you gotta know when to stop.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:07]
I was just thinking, I think the last big book I read like that was
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:13]
the the Ferris book,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:15]
which is forever ago.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:17]
The four hour work week or whatever. Oh, yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:20]
So I don't know. You ever read that one? I don't. I have a copy of it, though. Okay. Well, there you go.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:26]
It's It's really not priority. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:30]
Well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:31]
John,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:32]
my priorities right now, at least as of late, involve,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:36]
watching Netflix because I have my my Netflix subscription active for one month out of the year. Right. And you need that's time bound because you gotta cancel before that one month is up. Yeah. So, basically, I'm doing the bubble sort. Right? Like, do I watch do I watch on CBS All Access because I have that right now too, or do I watch on Netflix? Well, I'm gonna have CBS All Access next month because there's still gonna be football, and Picard is coming. So oh, okay. Yes. Better better switch to
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:02]
my
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:03]
And you definitely don't wanna pay another $16 for another month of Netflix. Oh, Lord have mercy. Hey, I I texted you about this, but you you know what you know what crushed my soul about the time that I
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:15]
canceled my Hulu
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:17]
subscription, which it ended,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:20]
actually, just yesterday from the day we're recording this. Yeah. They at the at the November,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:25]
they dropped Home Improvement.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:27]
Ah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:28]
Yeah, man. Like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:29]
it's just like a knife to the to the throat on that one. They apparently, they
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:35]
had some kind of big lawsuit,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:37]
and nobody knows if it's coming back to Disney plus or or what the deal is, but it's gone.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:43]
Interesting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:44]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:45]
do you still have a disc player of any sort?
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:48]
I do.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:49]
Does your library carry seasons of old TV shows?
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:54]
I
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:55]
don't know. That's actually a really great question, because that would be worth getting that way. There you go.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:02]
Although I'm here to solve your problems, Stan. Yeah. I wonder what the quality of that would be like.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:06]
Well, it would probably be DVD quality if you're talking home improvement. I don't think they released home improvement in April.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:14]
Yeah. Even ten eighty p would be great. But, hey, what are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:18]
So on that note, John, Netflix, do you want you want the quick rundown of the priorities? Yep. Let's go. Okay. First and foremost, the whole reason that I signed up when I did, The Crown.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:29]
I'm two episodes in. It is as enjoyable
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:32]
as I thought it was the the the last,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:35]
you know, two seasons.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:38]
Next up, probably gonna be Marvel's Agents of Shield because the most recent season is out and available there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:45]
Gotham,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:46]
the final season,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:47]
is on
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:48]
Netflix. And, yes,
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:50]
I will watch
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:52]
all three of these shows.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:54]
On Christmas Day, Lost in Space season
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:57]
two comes out, and I'm looking forward to that because I enjoy Is that only gonna be 10 episodes?
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:02]
I believe so. Yeah. Then I think you can make it. Actually, I think all of these are 10 episode runs because both Gotham and Ages of S. L. D. Were short.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:09]
But if
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:11]
and I don't expect this to happen. If there is any time to spare I did realize the other day, I never saw the most recent season of Jessica Jones, so I might watch that. Did I watch the most recent season?
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:22]
I don't know. I was I was not a big You haven't liked any Yeah. Of the
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:27]
I don't know. I didn't care for the writing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:30]
What are you gonna do?
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:32]
But that was the last season to drop before the Marvel apocalypse on Netflix.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:37]
Marvel apocalypse.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:39]
Yeah. You're not wrong. It's really a shame. Remember when we watched Punisher in three days?
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:44]
Those were a good three days.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:46]
It was a lot of TV, a lot of I can't remember. Was that a ten or 12 episode run?
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:52]
I don't remember. I think it was a 12 episode run. Yeah. Because we watched, like, three or four episodes a night. We're basically We
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:59]
were the guys that
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:01]
establish you know, the whole, like, binge notion
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:03]
is based off of statistics
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:05]
from actual
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:06]
Netflix subscribers. And we we are the the folks for all of you that only do one episode at a time, we're the folks that throw it out of whack that give it that, like, 2.3 episode per sitting,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:18]
average. That's that's what we did. So Missus Loan was there too. I paid for that Netflix subscription before I canceled.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:26]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:27]
are are you gonna re sign up anytime soon? Because I know you like Lost in Space. I like Lost in Space. I would like to see Agents of Shield.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:35]
And I think there's another episode of Peaky Blinders on there too, which you haven't watched, but I really enjoyed Peaky Blinders.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:42]
It's kinda like The Godfather,
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:44]
but in
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:46]
an Irish
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:49]
UK gangs from the twenties or something like that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:52]
I would enjoy that. Missus Lemon just couldn't didn't wanna watch this. She didn't like some actor. Right? Yeah. I think the main one or whatever.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:59]
But Anyhow, John. Until
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:02]
next time, my friend. Go watch me. Yeah. I hope enjoy watching The Crown. See you. See you.