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SPEAKER_11
 Bring a little optimism into your life with The Bright Side, a new kind of daily podcast from Hello Sunshine, hosted by me, Danielle Robay.
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SPEAKER_11
And me, Simone Boyce.
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Every weekday, we're bringing you conversations about culture, the latest trends, inspiration, and so much more.
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I am so excited about this podcast, The Bright Side.
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SPEAKER_01
You guys are giving people a chance to shine a light on their lives, shine a light on a little advice that they want to share.
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SPEAKER_05
 Listen to The Bright Side on America's number one podcast network, iHeart.
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SPEAKER_05
Open your free iHeart app and search The Bright Side.
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This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol.
0
SPEAKER_09
The joy they brought to the nation.
0
SPEAKER_04
You're free completely.
0
SPEAKER_04
No one is there to destroy you.
0
SPEAKER_09
The danger they endured.
0
SPEAKER_00
They said my head should be cut off.
0
SPEAKER_09
 I'm John Legend.
0
SPEAKER_09
Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0
SPEAKER_10
 Discover a new educational and interactive podcast, Stories for Kids by Lingokids.
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SPEAKER_10
Our episodes are packed with fun activities.
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SPEAKER_10
Right, Elliot?
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SPEAKER_10
Oh, yes.
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SPEAKER_10
We went shape hunting around the block, and we found spheres and cubes on the street.
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That was great fun.
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SPEAKER_10
Join Stories for Kids, the Lingokids podcast, inspiring you to learn while having fun.
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Listen to Stories for Kids on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0
SPEAKER_06
 Hey everyone, welcome back to On Purpose, the number one health podcast in the world.
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SPEAKER_06
Thanks to each and every single one of you for coming back every week to listen, learn, and to grow.
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SPEAKER_06
And I know that you want to grow your minds in ways that you haven't even understood yet, right?
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SPEAKER_06
 It's all about expanding, extending, asking questions that we've never thought of, being introduced and exposed to people that we've never, ever heard of.
0
SPEAKER_06
But today's a guest that I think you may have seen his book.
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You may even have read it.
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And if you haven't, you are going to want to read it straight after this interview.
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He's the author of the New York Times bestseller, Essentialism.
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 the disciplined pursuit of less, and the founder of McEwen Inc., a company with a mission to teach essentialism to millions of people around the world.
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Their clients include Adobe, Apple, Airbnb, Cisco, Google, Facebook, Pixar, Salesforce, Twitter,
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 and Yahoo.
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Now, McEwen is an accomplished public speaker and has spoken to hundreds of audiences around the world, including Australia, Bulgaria, Canada, China, and highlights include speaking at South by Southwest, interviewing Al Gore at the annual conference of the World Economic Forum.
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 Greg's writing has appeared and been covered by Fast Company, Fortune, HuffPost, and Inc.
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Magazine, and Harvard Business Review.
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And he's also been interviewed on numerous TV and radio shows, including NPR and NBC.
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In 2012, he was named a Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.
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And today, I'm excited to talk to him because I was just saying to them before we started the interview,
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 I loved his book the moment I was exposed to it and experienced it.
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And I've had so many leaders, whether it's been leaders of small community centers through to corporate executives that have loved his work and spoken highly of it.
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I'm so excited to share with you today Greg's insight and wisdom.
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Greg, thank you for being here.
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It's so great to be with you.
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Thanks, Jay.
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And we've been bonding behind the scenes.
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Just so everyone knows, before we started this interview, we were bonding over our Britishness.
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 And we were both happy to learn that we actually grew up or were born not so far away from each other.
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And so you may see some British references being thrown in now and again, or some other.
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But Greg, I want to start off by talking a bit about you and learning a bit about you, learning more about you, because I think that the person behind the perspective is always more fascinating.
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 and perspective that you have is fascinating anyway.
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And I'm obviously drawn to it because of essentialism and less and living as a monk for three years.
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And I love playing around with the thought of essentialism and the pursuit of less.
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But I wanted to start by asking you, what do you believe that you have continuously pursued less of in your life since the beginning?
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 Yeah, okay.
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Less, what have I pursued the less of?
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I mean, I want to become more and more of who I really am, less and less of who I really am not.
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And particularly around like my sense of mission in life.
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So, I mean, this journey, you can, I mean, every journey starts
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 different places when you're talking about your life, but one place it started for me was 20 years ago where I was staring at a piece of paper in my hands with all these scribbles, all these answers to a question.
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The question was, what would you do if you could do anything?
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And as I was looking at my answers, I suddenly realized not what I'd written down on the list, but what I hadn't written down on the list.
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I noticed law school isn't on my list, which was inconvenient because I was at the time at law school.
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 you know, in the UK.
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And, well, what do you do in this moment?
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And, you know, part of you wants to just carry on doing what you've done before, you know, put the idea back.
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But for me, there was no really putting it back in the original packaging.
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The thought of being able to just do what I really wanted, which was to teach and to write, it was so,
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 liberating, felt so naming that the idea of trying to force it.
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But then I thought, well, I still need to call my parents.
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So I call the 15-digit number back to England, and my mother answers, fortunately.
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She listens for a while, and she says, I think you better talk to dad.
0
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 Now, he comes on the phone.
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Now, what do you say after all this time, all this money, all this effort to get you on this journey, and now I'm calling, I was in the United States at the time, so I'm calling from halfway around the world with this harebrained idea, I'm going to quit law school.
0
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 He listened, which was not entirely like him.
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But then he said this, he said, actually, he pulled the line straight out of Hamlet.
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He said, son, what we've always told you, he says, to thine own self be true.
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 That's amazing.
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Yeah.
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He never said that to me in his whole life.
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He just claimed that he had in this moment.
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I'll tell you what he said my whole life.
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He said, go to law school.
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I mean, I wasn't there by accident.
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I mean, so he said the right thing at the right time.
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And he added this.
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He said, look,
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 He said, choose what is right, let the consequences follow.
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There's a children's hymn that phrase.
0
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And that was, I mean, what he might as well have said is, look, choose what is essential, let the consequences follow.
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Because in that little story is sort of the seed of everything that's gone on since in my life.
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And really from that point on, it was about be careful not to let non-essential pursuits, even good pursuits,
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 keep you from what it is you're really here to do.
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There's such a pathetically short period of time left for all of us, and you don't have time for doing what other people are doing just because they're doing it, or just following opportunities just because they're good or before you, instead trying to find that particular message, that particular path that I'm supposed to be on.
0
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 Yeah, absolutely.
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I love that.
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Tell me what you think would have happened had your parents had a different response.
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And like you said, like most parents, your parents had almost paved out a particular path for you.
0
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 And I've always joked about that in my own life too, where, you know, I could either grow up to be a doctor or a lawyer or a failure.
0
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And those are my three options.
0
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And that's, you know, that's because that's what I was exposed to.
0
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And I didn't even know there was another career that existed, if I'm completely honest.
0
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And it sounds crazy, but I literally mean it.
0
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There were like finite boxes and options in my mind.
0
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So you had that too, like a lot of people listening or watching this will also feel the same way.
0
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And they'll be like, Jay, Greg, I get it.
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That's, that's how I feel.
0
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 But what if you'd called your parents and you think your parents had a different view?
0
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Let's say your parents were, not that they were encouraging, but that they were discouraging.
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Not that they quoted Hamlet or gave you the perfect advice they'd never given you.
0
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But let's say they just said, well,
0
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 you're going to fail or whatever it was, how do you think that would have affected you?
0
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And I know it's a completely hypothetical situation, but how do you think that would have affected you?
0
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And knowing what you know now, how would you guide people to
0
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 pursue this pursuit, despite having a positive or negative reaction from Paris?
0
SPEAKER_03
Yeah, I think that's really valid.
0
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I think what would have happened is probably what I was already doing, which was a bit of a straddled strategy.
0
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All day, I'm there going to my
0
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 classes, trying to do well at those.
0
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But my real passion is this other kind of teaching and writing in leadership and development.
0
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And so I'm sort of spending all night doing that.
0
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And so what you get if you do that is you're not really making ideal progress in either path.
0
SPEAKER_03
 And so you just keep on straddling it and going along.
0
SPEAKER_03
I think if they had come down hard on, look, just get back here, get back, study, and then let's talk about it, maybe they would have been able to shift that back to a position of straddle.
0
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I don't think it was very sustainable for me to be able to just maintain that
0
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 that duality for too long.
0
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It's too uncomfortable for me.
0
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But I think for other people listening to this, watching this, it's about trying to discern the difference between the path you're supposed to be on and the parallel path you're on right now.
0
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 If people are completely misaligned, I think they can feel that.
0
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But sometimes they can be conned a little bit more by, well, it's good.
0
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What I'm doing is good.
0
SPEAKER_03
I've got a job.
0
SPEAKER_03
And in these times, I'm just grateful for that.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I'm not suggesting that people just as bluntly and boldly maybe as I did to quit law school and go off.
0
SPEAKER_03
 at least to become aware of the two paths, to recognize that the path you're on, even if it's a good one, a parallel path never meets the essential path.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so it's really to create enough space that you can feel that clarity of voice inside saying, this is the way, not the one you're on, this is the way, walk in this path.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I think if you get enough internal clarity,
0
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 It actually, I mean, first of all, it allows you to have a conversation.
0
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Without that internal clarity, I couldn't even call my parents, right?
0
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And then hopefully that clarity can build to the point that you have a lot of courage.
0
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You know, Essentialism, the book I ended up writing and the work that I sort of focus on now,
0
SPEAKER_03
 isn't about just saying no, it's about saying yes to what matters most.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so it's getting enough clarity around what matters most to you that you have strength to be able to say no to other things, to be able to, at first, just have a conversation, maybe a negotiation, if necessary, perhaps a disagreement, where you just go, OK, look, you want this, but I can tell this is the right path, so I'm going to do it.
0
SPEAKER_03
I mean, you must have had that in choosing
0
SPEAKER_03
 this completely different life that you've had.
0
SPEAKER_02
 When you find that bright spot to help you get through your day, it's powerful.
0
SPEAKER_11
That's where The Bright Side comes in.
0
SPEAKER_11
A new daily podcast from Hello Sunshine that's bringing you a daily dose of joy.
0
SPEAKER_11
I'm Danielle Robay.
0
SPEAKER_11
And I'm Simone Boyce.
0
SPEAKER_02
Listen, both Danielle and I are reporters.
0
SPEAKER_02
We've covered the news and we know the world can feel heavy, but The Bright Side podcast is a space to have a little fun, to learn something new and get into some friendly debates.
0
SPEAKER_11
 That's right.
0
SPEAKER_11
Join us five days a week to see how life can look from the bright side.
0
SPEAKER_11
We'll hear from celebrities, authors, experts and listeners like you.
0
SPEAKER_02
Whether it's relationships, friend advice or figuring out how to navigate life's transitions, we'll talk through it all together.
0
SPEAKER_11
Listen to The Bright Side from Hello Sunshine every weekday on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts.
0
SPEAKER_09
 When the Taliban banned music in Afghanistan, millions were plunged into silence.
0
SPEAKER_09
Radios were smashed.
0
SPEAKER_09
Cassettes burned.
0
SPEAKER_09
You could be beaten or jailed or killed for breaking the rules.
0
SPEAKER_09
And yet, Afghans did it anyway.
0
SPEAKER_09
This is the story of how a group of people brought music back to Afghanistan by creating their own version of American Idol.
0
SPEAKER_09
 The danger they endured.
0
SPEAKER_00
They said my head should be cut off.
0
SPEAKER_09
The joy they brought to the nation.
0
SPEAKER_04
You're free completely.
0
SPEAKER_04
No one is there to destroy you.
0
SPEAKER_09
I'm John Legend.
0
SPEAKER_09
Listen to Afghan Star on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
0
SPEAKER_08
 Guess what, Bango?
0
SPEAKER_08
What's up, Will?
0
SPEAKER_08
So iHeart is giving us a whole minute to promote our podcast, Part-Time Genius.
0
SPEAKER_07
 I know, that's why I spent my whole week composing a haiku for the occasion.
0
SPEAKER_07
It's about my emotional journey in podcasting over the last seven years, and it's called Earthquake House.
0
SPEAKER_08
Mango, I'm going to cut you off right there.
0
SPEAKER_07
Why don't we just tell people about our show instead?
0
SPEAKER_07
Yeah, that's a better idea.
0
SPEAKER_07
So every week on Part-Time Genius, we feed our curiosity by answering the world's most important questions.
0
SPEAKER_07
Things like, when did America start dialing 911?
0
SPEAKER_07
Is William Shatner's best acting work in Esperanto?
0
SPEAKER_07
Also, what happened to Esperanto?
0
SPEAKER_08
 Plus we cover questions like how Chinese is your Chinese food?
0
SPEAKER_08
How do dollar stores stay in business?
0
SPEAKER_08
And of course, is there an Illuminati of cheese?
0
SPEAKER_07
There absolutely is.
0
SPEAKER_07
And we are risking our lives by talking about it.
0
SPEAKER_07
But if you love mind-blowing facts, incredible history, and really bad jokes, make your brains happy and tune in to Part-Time Genius.
0
SPEAKER_08
Listen to Part-Time Genius on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts.
0
SPEAKER_06
 I mean, listening to you, it's really self-affirming because I feel like so much of what you're saying is what I feel I've had to do too.
0
SPEAKER_06
So I'm totally on board with everything you're saying because I think that everyone in their own way goes through that or comes to that point of feeling like
0
SPEAKER_06
 you know, this isn't the path for me and this isn't what matters most to me.
0
SPEAKER_06
Tell me what you think that made the difference, because like you said, and I appreciate you saying this, not everyone has to drop out and jump straight into something.
0
SPEAKER_06
And at the same time, people may straddle for a bit longer, which seems like a good, sensible thing to do until you feel ready.
0
SPEAKER_06
What are the, and I know there's no way of putting a number on this, but if you had to say there are three things that you've done since quitting,
0
SPEAKER_06
 that you think have led to you building such a successful company, doing what you love to do and what matters to you?
0
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What are three things that you've done differently?
0
SPEAKER_06
Because there are so many people that either fear taking the step,
0
SPEAKER_06
 or they've taken the step and now they're in that no man's land and that uncertainty is just scary and I'm sure you felt that and I have too.
0
SPEAKER_06
But what are the three things that you've done right that you think people can learn from that if they're about to make the jump like you did or they're inconveniently in that space because they've lost their job due to circumstances or they're there anyway, what are three things that you think you got right?
0
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 I think the first thing that really made a difference was seeking out the people who had been really successful, highly successful in this.
0
SPEAKER_03
So I made a very deliberate point to try and knock on the doors, to call up people.
0
SPEAKER_03
I mean, this is all pre the internet, but I was definitely, you know, I mean, semi-stalking people, right?
0
SPEAKER_03
Going, okay, where are they?
0
SPEAKER_03
How can I get their number?
0
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Let people know this is what I'm trying to do now.
0
SPEAKER_03
I just started.
0
SPEAKER_03
So that was like one.
0
SPEAKER_03
 Two, which was so closely connected to it, I don't know how I would differentiate them in some ways, but I just said, okay, writers write.
0
SPEAKER_03
If I want to write and teach, I need to start writing right now.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I didn't have the way to publish at that point, but I started writing immediately.
0
SPEAKER_03
I mean, I literally never went back to study law.
0
SPEAKER_03
I never went back onto the campus.
0
SPEAKER_03
I went back to England, but I just was immediately reading and writing.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so I realized, well, anyone can,
0
SPEAKER_03
 write a book, you can say, hey, I'm writing a book.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I would say that to people, hey, I'm writing this book, and I would love to interview you.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so that was one of the ways I got access to many bestselling authors and people.
0
SPEAKER_03
I was reading their books, fascinated by them, and then getting to hear the story behind the story and learn how did they do it, how did they get their start.
0
SPEAKER_03
So I wasn't trying to do this on my own by any means.
0
SPEAKER_03
This is definitely a stand on the shoulders of giants strategy.
0
SPEAKER_03
 And so I think if I was to divide those two, it's one, it's really the interviewing of the experts, you know, learning, figuring out the best of what others already have figured out.
0
SPEAKER_03
And the second is to start immediately doing the thing you want to do.
0
SPEAKER_03
One of the principles I love the most, I didn't have words for it back then, but is just the courage to be rubbish.
0
SPEAKER_03
 Every single writer, the first thing they write is rubbish.
0
SPEAKER_03
And it doesn't matter even if they're quite talented writer, at this point they're going to start and what they first write will not be the end
0
SPEAKER_03
 the result.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so you just have to, a principle I love is to write two rubbish pages a day.
0
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And still now, I'm working on a new book right now, a deadline pressing upon me.
0
SPEAKER_03
And even today, it's just, write your next two rubbish pages.
0
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That's what you can do.
0
SPEAKER_03
And it will get less rubbish over time.
0
SPEAKER_03
And if you're willing to do it iteratively, eventually it's
0
SPEAKER_03
 not bad, and then hopefully it becomes good.
0
SPEAKER_03
If you're patient, it can become decent and then great.
0
SPEAKER_03
You just got to keep going, improving, improving.
0
SPEAKER_03
I don't know.
0
SPEAKER_03
I don't think that's three, but I'll give you those are the couple of things that I feel like made a difference.
0
SPEAKER_06
Yeah, no, they're great.
0
SPEAKER_06
I actually think there's some really great insight in them, especially that one around
0
SPEAKER_06
 start doing the thing you actually want to do.
0
SPEAKER_06
I think that's the one that the others are important and completely great too.
0
SPEAKER_06
And I think I would probably repeat some of them even when I share mine, but that specific one really hits a nerve because I think we're always waiting for someone to give us
0
SPEAKER_06
 the official permission to do the thing we actually want to do, whether it's a publisher or a agent or a boss or an executive or whatever it may be.
0
SPEAKER_06
I feel like we have this, I guess it comes from school of always having to ask permission and we almost get it entwined in our head that we can't start doing it until someone says we can.
0
SPEAKER_03
 I think that's totally true.
0
SPEAKER_03
And that's, I mean, for me, with the law school, particularly the quitting moment, logically, I'd always known you don't have to do this.
0
SPEAKER_03
But emotionally, it didn't feel possible until I'm 5,000 miles away and somebody says in passing, oh, if you do decide to stay in America, you should
0
SPEAKER_03
 do whatever.
0
SPEAKER_03
And their assumption that was possible, plus with the space and distance, plus I suppose the blue sky above helps too, right?
0
SPEAKER_03
That you're going, well, this could be a good life.
0
SPEAKER_03
Suddenly it went from being just a logical peripheral thing to like something that you go, no, this is it.
0
SPEAKER_03
This is for real.
0
SPEAKER_03
You can do this different thing.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so I completely agree that a lot of people just think it's not realistic.
0
SPEAKER_03
I can't, I'm not the sort of person
0
SPEAKER_03
 who's a writer.
0
SPEAKER_03
I'm not the sort of person who's an entrepreneur.
0
SPEAKER_03
I'm not the sort of person, whatever the thing is that people want really inside to do.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I'll tell you another thing about this is that I think people often, because that deeper, clearer yes for them is so familiar,
0
SPEAKER_03
 It's like they don't know they have a unique thing going on.
0
SPEAKER_03
They've always just thought about that type of work.
0
SPEAKER_03
I had always, always thought about teaching and writing since I was like five years old, literally.
0
SPEAKER_03
But it was just with you, it took years until I was like, oh, that
0
SPEAKER_03
 But not everybody has that.
0
SPEAKER_03
Not everybody wants that all the time.
0
SPEAKER_03
They want something completely different.
0
SPEAKER_03
And now that I have children, it's been like a real priority is trying to help them to look and discover the things they already are naturally curious about, naturally pulled to, interested in, and saying, look, I'll say it often to them.
0
SPEAKER_03
Do you know, when you fix that, one of my sons, well, my son.
0
SPEAKER_03
I have four children, but one son.
0
SPEAKER_03
 He can fix almost anything.
0
SPEAKER_03
He's only 14 now.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I always point out to him, your natural curiosity for that is so much greater than mine.
0
SPEAKER_03
Like, I don't care about it like you do.
0
SPEAKER_03
You're fascinated.
0
SPEAKER_03
This is a strength for you.
0
SPEAKER_03
This is something.
0
SPEAKER_03
Just pay attention to it.
0
SPEAKER_03
And this grew into his language.
0
SPEAKER_03
I want to be an engineer.
0
SPEAKER_03
Or this grew into now he wants to be a biotech engineer focused in medical devices.
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SPEAKER_03
Well, my point in sharing that is that he's 14.
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SPEAKER_03
 And he has that kind of level of clarity.
0
SPEAKER_03
And the reason is just because it's sort of been helpfully pointed out a little along the way, that what's in you is unique.
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SPEAKER_03
To trust that uniqueness, that other people don't actually have the same inclinations that you do.
0
SPEAKER_06
Yeah, I love that.
0
SPEAKER_06
 excited to see how children, given that early on, blossom and reach.
0
SPEAKER_06
I'm really excited to see where that goes.
0
SPEAKER_06
The fact that you're getting to share that with your kids must be so rewarding.
0
SPEAKER_06
Let's dive into the day because you spoke about it there.
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SPEAKER_06
I feel like so many people want to do so much in their day, and they want to get so much achieved in a day.
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SPEAKER_06
 How do you go about guiding leaders and thinkers and even yourself into creating a productive day and setting yourself up for a great day?
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SPEAKER_06
Because it's almost like what you said, you have to have the courage to write two rubbish pages, start doing what you're doing.
0
SPEAKER_06
And I find whether someone's working at a company or an entrepreneur or wherever they are,
0
SPEAKER_06
 I feel like mastering your day is such a big part of mastering life and all the rest of it.
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SPEAKER_06
Sometimes we win or lose on the day.
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SPEAKER_06
Give us some insight as to how we can go about thinking, making our days the best we possibly can.
0
SPEAKER_03
I think the first thing is to recognize this.
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SPEAKER_03
I'm not the first to say it, but
0
SPEAKER_03
 People overestimate what they can do in a day and underestimate what they can do in a decade, right?
0
SPEAKER_03
So when I wake up in the morning, I do tend to feel there's way too much I can do.
0
SPEAKER_03
I've got too much.
0
SPEAKER_03
And so even after years of working as an essentialist, I still feel that when I wake up in the morning.
0
SPEAKER_03
There's just way too many things to do today.
0
SPEAKER_03
Of course there is.
0
SPEAKER_03
I mean, it'd be really, really odd if there wasn't.
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SPEAKER_03
 No, I don't have more than I can fit into one day, even though I've got hopefully decades left to live.
0
SPEAKER_03
Of course, there's more than you can do today, vastly more.
0
SPEAKER_03
You can do one of two things at that point.
0
SPEAKER_03
You can say, well, I'll just sort of
0
SPEAKER_03
 jump into the day reactively, pick up the phone that's sitting right there.
0
SPEAKER_03
I did a thing with Steve Harvey a while ago, and he had me work with someone in his audience.
0
SPEAKER_03
And we went to her house.
0
SPEAKER_03
I asked her, well, where do you put your phone?
0
SPEAKER_03
And we're walking around her home.
0
SPEAKER_03
And she said, oh, yeah, I just keep it there.
0
SPEAKER_03
And she pointed under her pillow.
0
SPEAKER_03
And I'm like, what?
0
SPEAKER_03
Literally, you sleep with it under your pillow?
0
SPEAKER_03
And she said, yeah.
0
SPEAKER_03
So she wakes up every time someone texts or emails her all night.
0
SPEAKER_03
 wakes up, responds, puts it under a pillow again.
0
SPEAKER_03
And when I've shared that story with a few people, normally there is an audible thing in the room, like, wow, that's crazy.
0
SPEAKER_03
And then slowly I realized that that's a bit self-righteous of us all, because for a lot of people, yeah, they don't have it under their pillow, but they just only have it 12 inches from their
0
SPEAKER_03
 from their ears.
0
SPEAKER_03
So it's not really that different.
0
SPEAKER_03
But so for me, the question is, what do you do with that feeling?
0
SPEAKER_03
Do you just react to that feeling and get to the phone and get into the inbox and all of that distraction?
0
SPEAKER_03
Or do you do something else?
0
SPEAKER_03
 And it's got to be a choice you make every day.
0
SPEAKER_03
It becomes a habit, so you don't have to think about it.
0
SPEAKER_03
But it's definitely a routine.
0
SPEAKER_03
But one of the things for me is I definitely want to be reading wisdom literature, for me, scriptures, before I'm checking any email, before I'm doing any of that stuff.
0
SPEAKER_03
So I want to try and get
0
SPEAKER_03
 at least a bit centered.
0
SPEAKER_03
I mean, I want to try and give us a sense of perfection about this, but at least a bit so that I'm not just a function of all those other reactive voices and even the reactive voices inside of me.
0
SPEAKER_03
The second thing for me is that I do have long-term goals and I break those down, weekly projects.
0
SPEAKER_03
Okay, here are the projects I feel really excited about doing.
0
SPEAKER_03
So one of them is the book, as I've already mentioned for me.
0
SPEAKER_03
Second is the podcast.
0
SPEAKER_03
 And so there's not much more beyond that.
0
SPEAKER_03
There's not much more time professionally for me beyond that.
0
SPEAKER_03
So it's about getting the first work cycles done on those first.
0
SPEAKER_03
I try and do them in, I mean, it's nothing religious, but 90-minute cycles, try and take a break in between.
0
SPEAKER_03
You get maybe three good work cycles in the morning.
0
SPEAKER_03
And if I can really use those well, then I feel like I'm going to make some good progress on the projects that matter.
0
SPEAKER_03
 push other things to the afternoon.
0
SPEAKER_03
On one of the breaks, I'll go on a walk with my wife, Anna.
0
SPEAKER_03
Five o'clock at night, I have an absolute for real
0
SPEAKER_03
 really do it, leave the office, deadline.
0
SPEAKER_03
That is like religious, so to speak.
0
SPEAKER_03
And the way I do it, it helps, is that I announce it like a town crier to the family.
0
SPEAKER_03
So I walk out and I'll say, it is
0
SPEAKER_03
 $4.59.
0
SPEAKER_03
I'll do it loud so everybody can hear.
0
SPEAKER_03
$5.01 today.
0
SPEAKER_03
And it makes it fun, and it's silly, but it means I'm accountable immediately to that time.
0
SPEAKER_03
Otherwise, it's $5.30, it's $6.00.
0
SPEAKER_03
And if it's $6.00, why not $7.00?
0
SPEAKER_03
If it's $7.00, why not $8.00?
0
SPEAKER_03
And on it goes.
0
SPEAKER_03
People just work, especially in COVID times.
0
SPEAKER_03
There's no natural boundaries.
0
SPEAKER_03
So work can just consume everything.
0
SPEAKER_10
 Parents ready to discover a new world.