00:00:00
before we get to the questions though i
00:00:02
want to do a deep dive
00:00:04
the big question i want to address in
00:00:07
today's deep fly deep dive is the
00:00:09
following
00:00:11
how does cal
00:00:13
organize his life i've talked about this
00:00:17
before but i'm going to get granular
00:00:18
today and let me tell you why
00:00:21
because of a recent experience i had
00:00:22
just a couple days
00:00:24
before recording this episode
00:00:28
i got very stressed slash anxious to the
00:00:32
point where i actually lost a lot of
00:00:34
sleep so yesterday i was very tired i
00:00:36
was having a hard time sleeping because
00:00:38
once my mind got fired up i had a hard
00:00:40
time falling asleep here was the thing
00:00:42
that was making me stressed and anxious
00:00:44
the fall semester is beginning
00:00:47
i usually go a little bit lax we'll talk
00:00:50
about this i go a little bit lax on my
00:00:51
systems in the summer i'm a professor
00:00:53
slash writer so in the summer i have
00:00:54
very little to do but right and i lean
00:00:56
into that
00:00:57
i take the foot off the gas pedal a
00:00:59
little bit of my organizational systems
00:01:01
and then i have to get things locked
00:01:02
back in for the fall because things get
00:01:04
more busy well in the summer i had
00:01:07
accreted
00:01:08
all of these ancillary new or
00:01:10
miscellaneous
00:01:12
disciplines and systems and ideas and
00:01:14
projects that i wanted to tackle and i
00:01:16
had these notes about all these
00:01:17
different things i was working on spread
00:01:19
out over many different digital media
00:01:21
and many different notebooks and a
00:01:23
couple days ago i was like okay i have
00:01:24
to actually get this stuff all wrangled
00:01:27
and get my systems all ready for the
00:01:28
fall and i couldn't make it work
00:01:32
some of them were redundant with other
00:01:34
things some things didn't quite make
00:01:36
sense some things seemed like it was
00:01:37
just too much i was asking myself
00:01:38
there's too many initiatives i was
00:01:40
trying to get going and it really
00:01:41
stressed me out to the point where i had
00:01:42
a hard time sleeping
00:01:44
then yesterday morning
00:01:46
i had an epiphany
00:01:48
and i'm going to put quotation marks
00:01:50
around the epiphany here because it is
00:01:52
the exact same epiphany i have
00:01:55
every single fall
00:01:58
which is that the planning system that i
00:02:00
have been perfecting over a decade i
00:02:02
have been using this for a decade
00:02:05
is what works for me
00:02:07
and every time i try to reinvent the
00:02:09
wheel
00:02:10
or add new components onto this i get
00:02:12
stressed out and so you know i need to
00:02:14
do forget this like i do every fall
00:02:17
go back to my standard planning system
00:02:19
get all of the pieces of that standard
00:02:21
system up and running and i feel much
00:02:23
better
00:02:24
i feel much better this happens to me
00:02:26
every summer
00:02:27
i think i'm going to come up with some
00:02:28
new exciting thing that's going to
00:02:30
really jumpstart some sort of ambition
00:02:33
of mine and i always go back to my same
00:02:35
old tried and true
00:02:37
three-part planning system
00:02:39
that has
00:02:40
performed everything i have done as a
00:02:43
professional in the last decade which is
00:02:44
most of my books most my academic work
00:02:48
happens because of this planning system
00:02:49
so in honor of it and in honor of it
00:02:51
being the fall and back to school
00:02:53
and work ramping up again for a lot of
00:02:55
people i thought i would go through
00:02:58
briefly but clearly
00:03:00
through the planning system i do to
00:03:02
organize the stuff in my life
00:03:04
and figure out what to do
00:03:06
with my time
00:03:08
so
00:03:09
i have a document
00:03:11
i call the root document of the core
00:03:13
document
00:03:14
where i just describe the system
00:03:16
this i think is an important place to
00:03:18
start i call this rooted productivity
00:03:20
where you have somewhere a core document
00:03:22
from which everything you do actually
00:03:24
comes out of it because to me it's
00:03:25
important that everything is written
00:03:26
down you know where to find it so i like
00:03:28
to have one core document that just
00:03:30
summarizes here's the pieces of your
00:03:32
system so i just have that somewhere
00:03:33
it's not floating in my head so the
00:03:35
start i actually i actually had jesse
00:03:37
load up here
00:03:39
the actual document i use this is the
00:03:41
actual document i use that just
00:03:43
summarizes the high level my planning
00:03:44
system the exact wording i use you'll
00:03:46
notice as we go through this here it's
00:03:48
not perfectly written
00:03:50
it's not perfectly clear it's for me
00:03:53
but i will go through it
00:03:55
alright so let's start with this all
00:03:56
right for those of you who are watching
00:03:57
on the youtube channel you can see this
00:03:59
for those who are listening i'll narrate
00:04:00
it at the top of this document
00:04:03
is a title core systems here's what i
00:04:05
say
00:04:06
below are summaries of the three main
00:04:09
categories
00:04:10
that contain the elements of my course
00:04:12
systems core documents productivity and
00:04:14
discipline
00:04:16
so i've broken this document into those
00:04:18
three
00:04:19
sections everything related to my my
00:04:21
core planning system
00:04:23
falls uh under one of those three
00:04:24
categories
00:04:26
all right so we start with category
00:04:27
number one core documents
00:04:29
there's two
00:04:32
two types of core documents i maintain
00:04:33
for my system one is values a document
00:04:36
that as i say here
00:04:38
uh describes my roles and values by
00:04:39
which i try to live
00:04:44
and you'll see like if you're looking
00:04:45
this online it's important the wording
00:04:47
is kind of weird because again it's for
00:04:48
me
00:04:49
it's not like an essay on publishing
00:04:51
it's not polished doesn't have to be
00:04:52
polished i know what it means all right
00:04:53
the other type of documents i keep are
00:04:55
my career
00:04:56
and personal strategic plans
00:04:58
i this is me reading the words here i
00:05:01
have one plan for each of these two
00:05:02
parts of my life that lays out my
00:05:03
current thoughts experimental systems
00:05:04
and plans for living
00:05:06
uh true to my values so what i'm trying
00:05:08
to say though again because the writing
00:05:09
is not perfect here is like just what's
00:05:11
my plan for pursuing those parts of my
00:05:12
life in a way that is true to my values
00:05:14
i then have a note that says sometimes
00:05:16
i'll have extended plans that i'll link
00:05:18
to from those documents so if there's a
00:05:19
particular big project or initiative i'm
00:05:21
working on i might describe that in its
00:05:24
own document and link to it from let's
00:05:26
say
00:05:27
the professional strategic plan
00:05:29
all right so those are the three
00:05:30
documents at the core of my system my
00:05:32
values
00:05:33
here are my values the roles of my life
00:05:35
the values by which i live those roles
00:05:36
and then my career
00:05:38
and non-career strategic plans
00:05:41
i have this subcategory here called
00:05:43
maintenance
00:05:45
and it talks about how i update these
00:05:47
documents
00:05:48
and there's three things here and i'll
00:05:49
just summarize the high level once a
00:05:51
week i look at my values and create what
00:05:53
i call a values plan this is where i
00:05:57
emphasize particular values i maybe need
00:05:59
to be focusing on where i've fallen off
00:06:01
of them sometimes i'll have some habits
00:06:03
in mind to help emphasize a particular
00:06:05
value community connection is important
00:06:07
maybe i need to
00:06:08
try for this week calling someone every
00:06:10
day that type of thing
00:06:12
so i put this into a kind of a separate
00:06:14
what i call a value plan so it's sort of
00:06:16
clarifying and calling out what's
00:06:17
important to my values for that week
00:06:19
i've noted on here that i also include
00:06:21
in my value plan best practices for
00:06:23
mental health
00:06:25
so what am i doing
00:06:27
to help
00:06:28
keep my mind sharp and healthy and away
00:06:31
from anxiety i like to think through my
00:06:32
practices have those written down so i
00:06:34
try to about once a week to
00:06:36
update this values plan
00:06:38
all right for my strategic plans how do
00:06:40
i maintain those
00:06:42
well uh
00:06:44
once a week i review them
00:06:46
we'll get in that more and then i say
00:06:48
here i can tweak them or change them at
00:06:50
any time but i want to make sure at the
00:06:52
very least at the beginning of each new
00:06:53
semester
00:06:54
uh i overhaul it so they're they're
00:06:56
written for a semester at a time but i
00:06:58
can tweak them at any time i feel like i
00:06:59
should and finally i talk about my idea
00:07:01
notebook or digital idea storage system
00:07:04
so i use obsidian as well as a moleskin
00:07:07
and uh i keep ideas in there and at the
00:07:09
very least when i do my semester plans
00:07:11
or the updates to the strategic plans
00:07:13
i'll go through and check those ideas
00:07:14
and see if i need to act on any of them
00:07:18
all right so that is
00:07:20
the core documents and how i maintain
00:07:21
them so a quick summary of a document of
00:07:23
my values i have a career and personal
00:07:25
strategic plan
00:07:27
i look at the values once a week and
00:07:28
pull out this values plan to just to
00:07:30
help keep that at the center of my life
00:07:32
and i update those strategic plans
00:07:34
usually about once a semester
00:07:37
all right the next category for my
00:07:39
course systems is productivity
00:07:42
so how do i actually organize
00:07:45
my time in a way where i am happy with
00:07:47
what i'm producing
00:07:49
i break this down into
00:07:51
weekly and daily planning
00:07:54
so weekly each week
00:07:57
i build a weekly plan
00:07:59
based on a review of my strategic plans
00:08:01
my calendar my task list and my value
00:08:02
plan so i do a weekly plan you've heard
00:08:04
me talk about this i don't get into
00:08:05
detail here about what goes into the
00:08:06
weekly plan because i play it by ear i'm
00:08:09
flexible a very complicated week in the
00:08:11
middle of an academic semester might
00:08:14
have an intricate jenga game of how i'm
00:08:15
going to make the whole week work
00:08:18
a week in july in the middle of the
00:08:19
summer
00:08:20
might say right
00:08:22
exclamation point exclamation point and
00:08:24
that's it
00:08:25
so i don't have a set format for that
00:08:27
but it's the it's how i make sense of
00:08:29
what am i working on this week what do i
00:08:31
need to keep in mind are there any
00:08:32
habits or heuristics i want to have on
00:08:34
top of mine is there any particular
00:08:36
things i need to get done this week i
00:08:37
need to remember to get it done
00:08:39
how am i even just attacking this week
00:08:41
all that's in the weekly plan
00:08:44
all right then each day
00:08:46
i review my weekly plan i review my
00:08:48
value plan i look at my calendar and if
00:08:50
it's a weekday i make a time block plan
00:08:54
so my weekly plan i check it every day
00:08:57
the calendar i check every day look at
00:08:58
my value plan i got to remember what am
00:09:00
i focusing on what's important in my
00:09:01
values and then i make my time block
00:09:03
plan for the day if it's not a weekday
00:09:05
then i do something looser i don't time
00:09:06
block plan weekends but you might
00:09:09
sketch a quick plan
00:09:10
what am i working on today what do i
00:09:11
need to remember
00:09:13
that's how my planning works so you see
00:09:15
how these things start to connect
00:09:16
together
00:09:18
the strategic plan influences the weekly
00:09:21
plan you look at that weekly plan when
00:09:22
you're making your daily plan your daily
00:09:24
plan figures out what you're doing right
00:09:25
now so what you're doing right now in
00:09:28
this particular system is influenced by
00:09:29
your big picture strategic plans but you
00:09:32
don't have to think about your big
00:09:33
picture strategic plans right now it
00:09:35
comes down to these different levels
00:09:38
all right two other pieces to my
00:09:39
productivity system
00:09:41
clear work shutdowns with a shutdown
00:09:43
complete ritual so you gotta have a
00:09:45
clear separation between work and
00:09:46
non-work
00:09:48
make a rough but intentional plan for
00:09:50
what you want to do with the rest of
00:09:51
your day when you shut down that's my
00:09:52
shutdown routine
00:09:54
and then full capture
00:09:56
david allen right here
00:09:58
full capture of task make sure at the
00:10:00
very least at the shutdown each day you
00:10:02
process all the tasks that you've
00:10:04
captured into the appropriate
00:10:06
systems
00:10:08
again this is all about for me
00:10:10
stress management i don't want open
00:10:12
loops i want to trust if i write
00:10:13
something down it will get seen it will
00:10:16
get processed it'll get put on the
00:10:17
calendar if it's an appointment or
00:10:19
reminder it'll get put in my task list
00:10:21
if it's a task it will update my weekly
00:10:23
plan if it's a thought about what i need
00:10:25
to change for my plan and there it will
00:10:27
be seen the next day it'll be seen in
00:10:29
when i look at my weekly plan it'll get
00:10:30
reflected in my time block plan it'll be
00:10:32
seen when i look at the calendar to make
00:10:33
the plan on the relevant day the whole
00:10:36
game here is trusting
00:10:37
i don't have to keep track of things in
00:10:39
my mind
00:10:41
i can have this ambitious schema for how
00:10:43
i'm trying to advance these big picture
00:10:45
goals that have all these moving parts
00:10:47
that are rapidly changing in the moment
00:10:48
i don't want to worry about any of it
00:10:50
except for what i'm doing in the moment
00:10:51
and if it's in the evening then i should
00:10:53
just be worried about
00:10:54
whatever relaxing thing that i'm trying
00:10:56
to do
00:10:58
all right the third category here is
00:10:59
discipline
00:11:02
so i'm maintaining my strategic plans an
00:11:04
evolving list of core
00:11:06
disciplines
00:11:08
this might be things about like exercise
00:11:10
it might be things about the number of
00:11:12
deep work hours you're going to do each
00:11:13
day it might be something if you're in
00:11:14
sales about the number of calls you make
00:11:16
every day whatever but the point is
00:11:18
they're disciplines that i try to
00:11:19
strictly follow to lay a foundation for
00:11:21
a deep life so i think it's important to
00:11:23
have hard disciplines i do this i do
00:11:25
that
00:11:26
and i do this other thing and i always
00:11:28
do those things these these hard
00:11:30
boundaries that you follow
00:11:33
to help establish a foundation of a
00:11:36
deeper life
00:11:37
and so that's the third part of my
00:11:39
system is having this evolving list of
00:11:40
disciplines i talk about here is i often
00:11:43
track these with metrics sometimes i
00:11:45
don't
00:11:46
so typically
00:11:48
if it's during an academic semester i'll
00:11:51
have a metric code for each of my
00:11:53
disciplines where i can keep track of my
00:11:54
time block planner in the metric
00:11:55
planning space did i do this today did i
00:11:57
do this today i'd like to actually see
00:11:58
it
00:12:00
other times i take a break from it like
00:12:02
in the summer for example or over a
00:12:03
break i might
00:12:05
there are periods where i'll take a
00:12:06
break for it so that is there but i'm
00:12:07
typically collecting these metrics
00:12:10
that's it that's the system that system
00:12:12
can support
00:12:14
massively complicated ambitions
00:12:17
that system can
00:12:18
support
00:12:20
an incredibly complicated fast moving
00:12:22
professional environment where it's very
00:12:24
difficult the to keep track of all the
00:12:26
different things that have to fit
00:12:27
together this system will support that
00:12:29
this system will support
00:12:32
a life outside of work
00:12:34
that you can be present and intentional
00:12:36
and interesting and pursue things that
00:12:38
are interesting to you and develop
00:12:39
yourself and develop your mind develop
00:12:40
your relationships not get lost in work
00:12:42
and not get
00:12:43
completely overwhelmed with anxiety and
00:12:45
stress the system will support
00:12:48
your pursuit of living truer to your
00:12:50
values living a good life trying to
00:12:52
actually practice and implement the
00:12:54
things that make a good life good all of
00:12:55
these things are important this simple
00:12:57
system that i described in these three
00:12:59
categories of notes in this one document
00:13:02
handles everything
00:13:04
and it has in my life for over a decade
00:13:06
so all this extra type of stuff i was
00:13:08
trying to do in the last few weeks i
00:13:09
realized that all fits in here
00:13:12
i know this i trust this it's not
00:13:13
perfect some of this stuff is redundant
00:13:15
not all of it makes perfect sense why is
00:13:17
the value plan a separate thing
00:13:18
shouldn't that be part of the weekly
00:13:20
planning there's all these little
00:13:22
legacy
00:13:23
inquiries i say that right jesse
00:13:26
incongruities
00:13:28
yeah he said right incongruities
00:13:31
let me write that down my disciplines
00:13:33
say words correctly
00:13:36
but it all it all can be captured here
00:13:38
and it's a system that can flex
00:13:41
when you're doing complicated things
00:13:43
these documents can get big your
00:13:44
strategic plans get big your task lists
00:13:46
get really big your calendar is full you
00:13:50
have extended plans that you're linking
00:13:51
to from your strategic plans your weekly
00:13:53
plans look like epic essays and other
00:13:55
periods it can you know you're burnt out
00:13:58
you're going through a hard time the
00:13:59
system can contract really just down to
00:14:02
the basics here's my values got to get
00:14:04
this core things done in my life
00:14:07
a lot of like trying to get out of the
00:14:09
despair get out of the depths the system
00:14:11
contracts to that as well so it's really
00:14:12
a flexible system so this is my my
00:14:15
public apology to my system
00:14:17
sorry for
00:14:18
thinking i could do a little better
00:14:20
you've always been what i need in my
00:14:22
life
00:14:23
this then is my call to you out there in
00:14:25
my audience if you don't already have a
00:14:27
pretty effective system that captures
00:14:29
all the parts of your life the things
00:14:31
that matter to you professional
00:14:32
non-professional
00:14:34
and goes from captures those for
00:14:36
everything from those big thoughts
00:14:38
all the way down to what you're doing
00:14:40
today what you're doing tomorrow if you
00:14:42
don't have a system like that try this
00:14:43
one
00:14:45
try this one for a month i don't know
00:14:47
why it works so well but it does these
00:14:49
parts in the way they mingle and the
00:14:51
daily weekly and the flexibility it's a
00:14:54
decades worth of
00:14:56
experimentation it does work
00:14:58
give it a try at first it feels like a
00:15:01
lot of moving pieces you get in the
00:15:02
rhythm and it actually makes you feel
00:15:03
freer
00:15:05
and actually makes you feel more relaxed
00:15:07
hey trust it the system's got me and in
00:15:09
the end it does produce stuff that
00:15:10
matters so
00:15:14
that's how i do it i don't know just
00:15:15
you've heard me talk about this system
00:15:16
before yeah it's not too complicated
00:15:19
right i mean i'm used to it because i've
00:15:21
done it for a decade it's like muscle
00:15:22
memory for me but i don't know when i
00:15:24
read it from scratch i'm like do these
00:15:25
pieces
00:15:27
click
00:15:28
i think for people who hear it for the
00:15:30
first couple times they just gotta you
00:15:31
know watch this video and then
00:15:34
hear you say it a couple times because
00:15:35
it does make a lot of sense after and
00:15:37
i've been doing it for like even you
00:15:39
know a couple years since you started
00:15:40
your
00:15:41
podcast yeah it's worked for you right
00:15:43
yeah it's great and then
00:15:46
in terms of the discipline stuff i was
00:15:47
thinking about your buddy ryan is
00:15:49
writing a new book called this one have
00:15:50
you already read it
00:15:52
not yet discipline is uh
00:15:55
something
00:15:56
yeah i forgot the word is yeah so
00:15:58
because ryan's doing a book on each of
00:15:59
the four cardinal yeah yeah
00:16:02
uh yeah he has a whole book i'm excited
00:16:03
for it i don't know if he gave you like
00:16:05
an advanced copy or something he will i
00:16:07
mean we we share an editor yeah we we
00:16:10
tend to see each other's work
00:16:12
i talk to him quite a bit um
00:16:14
that was the last thing by the way that
00:16:15
was added to my if you look at a decade
00:16:18
the last thing that was added to my
00:16:19
system
00:16:20
was being explicit about what are the
00:16:23
disciplines what are the i do these
00:16:24
seven things and just being clear about
00:16:26
that i was kind of
00:16:27
informally doing things like exercise or
00:16:29
whatever but for me if it's not written
00:16:31
down other people don't have this issue
00:16:33
but for me if it's not written down i
00:16:34
don't fully trust it and then i get
00:16:35
anxious
00:16:37
so everything i have to have it written
00:16:38
down and it all has to connect back
00:16:41
uh
00:16:42
it also connect back to this root
00:16:44
document so
00:16:46
there we go i was listening to a um an
00:16:50
interview with sisson and rogan
00:16:53
and
00:16:54
he um they were it was actually from
00:16:56
2021 i listened to that one yeah i just
00:16:59
listened to it like yesterday i just
00:17:01
stumbled across it but he was talking
00:17:02
about they were talking about discipline
00:17:04
and rogan was talking about his
00:17:06
15 like his 25 minute session in the
00:17:08
sauna and then 15 minutes like the last
00:17:10
10 minutes he
00:17:12
he's got this breathing routine if he
00:17:13
thinks about anything else he adds like
00:17:15
an extra breath
00:17:16
but you got have you ever heard have you
00:17:18
ever heard joe rogan
00:17:20
talk to laird hamilton
00:17:22
i know he was on the show a couple years
00:17:23
ago you know laird hamilton yeah cleared
00:17:25
hamilton fan and rogan i guess was
00:17:27
talking about his like i did this like
00:17:28
hardcore sauna thing and laird was like
00:17:30
hold my beer
00:17:32
laird is like insane that guy is so
00:17:34
interesting
00:17:35
he swims with like dumbbells so with
00:17:37
dumbbells he has a giant sauna in which
00:17:39
so rogan's like man i stay in my sauna
00:17:42
for like 15 minutes 25 minutes 25
00:17:44
minutes yeah laird hamilton brings an
00:17:47
assault bike into the sauna which for
00:17:49
people who don't know is like the
00:17:50
hardest single piece of
00:17:52
right exercise equipment it's like the
00:17:54
you know your arms and your legs and
00:17:55
resistance you're like mountain climbing
00:17:57
i don't know it's impossible right it's
00:17:58
like one of the hardest uh single
00:18:01
exercises you can do he brings one of
00:18:02
those into a giant barrel and does
00:18:05
does it and then then gets into an ice
00:18:07
bath
00:18:09
so
00:18:10
you know
00:18:11
his disciplined document is more
00:18:13
impressive than mine
