The Simple Daily Habit That Unlocks Your Productivity

Hi everyone, my name is Patrick Akil and joining me today he's senior product manager and Co founder Joseph Hill. Time is finite. What you spend you can never get back. And today's episode is all about personal productivity and self management. Joseph shares how to be intentional with your time and he shares means that will help you throughout your career.

So enjoy, I got a new laptop recently and for me new laptop means fresh start and one of the things that I always disliked is how I take notes and kind of knowledge management and I've always read about settle custom. So I decided I'm going to set up my system and like start doing that. This was 2 days ago. So far I'm enjoying that, but is

there anything you use for knowledge management with regards to note taking? I use Obsidian, so kind of it goes in that you can use it for that as well, right? So basically I have a, a log each each day and I bullet point everything I'm doing and even meetings is a bullet point. And I just write notes like that, like short notes.

It enables me then to look back on the day as well and say, OK, I did a lot because that often you have the feeling, you know, where you've been in a lot of meetings and stuff and then suddenly you're like, I don't feel like I've done much today. And then you open this log file and basically, oh wow, I did a lot, you know, and I think that really helps the mind with that. So using Obsidian, I actually do, you know the book Getting Things Done. I've been meaning to read it.

So I read probably 20 pages in and I got so excited I've never read it again. And that basically was my journey of like task management and stuff. So I'm always trying new tools out, new processes because I also find it's like switching to a new tool. I then manually move stuff over that helps me get rid of stuff. You know that like, why do I have this task there? Like, OK, throw it out. And it helps you to audit like

your life as you go along. So I'm always happy to jump on new tools, see what's going on there. I think it really helps also to freshen the mind with that so. I am the polar opposite. I do not want to stick with, yeah, like I, I like being very effective in my tools, know my hot keys and like how to move around. And then I don't really want to do that for a new tool again.

Yeah, Yeah. What is like the latest tool that you've adopted that you're really happy about? Yeah. I mean, I've gone back to To Do List actually. So I use To Do List for like my private life. I use Trello for projects I have with other people. And basically then at work I have my own JIRA project at work where I basically manage my work

at JIRA work on Jira like that. And I also like for work using the tool that the company uses because it also gets me more familiar with it, gets me used to some of the tooling. And I think it helps them to like teach people or show people how they can organize themselves with that tool. And it helps like as a team, you're most likely using Jira for your sprints or Kanban process.

And if you're using it for yourself as well, you really get fluent with it and it becomes less of a like admin task, but more of AI can see where this is going and how to improve that. So I think it's really cool to like do that. So last company I used Asana. I brought Asana into the company and I was also using that. I liked it a lot. The last company that I worked with was like Azure DevOps and for some reason it had a bad reputation and everyone hated it

and it was very particular. And then I was like, OK, every time I thought it must be a better way, there usually was. It's just you have to kind of dig deep and like, figure it out. And then I showed people some stuff that we could do, and they're like, wow, I've never seen that before. It's actually quite nice. I had that recently with in Slack. You can have lists and instead of like in a meeting, making an

agenda. So we have certain rounds where people come and then you kind of build an agenda what should talk about and stuff. And I started using Slack lists to do that asynchronously, you know, so people can asynchronously put stuff in there. And they're more used to using Slack as a conversational tool.

So there's certain stuff you can get off the list before the meeting because there's already a conversation going on and clarified it. And it was really cool to try that out because I didn't see that before.

I thought, let's try it and see. And I'm all for experiments, right? So you should just try it, see, does it work? Great, let's continue. If it doesn't, then move on. That's like for me what agile is, right? It's like that's how we should be moving and moving forward. I like that.

It's just, I feel like a lot of people are hesitant with regards to experimenting, not just because just gathering people around you and making people excited about something and then kind of dropping it and then going on to the next might be perceived as you being flaky. So it's like, OK, what do you experiment with and what do you actually need to be searching? You have. To be intentional. Right. I mean, if you keep flipping tools to tools, yeah, maybe there's a commitment problem

there, right? But I think we shouldn't also get too relaxed because I think when you get too relaxed with a certain tool set or a method, it becomes numb. Maybe it doesn't have that same appeal or same energy gathering moment, right? I think sometimes shaking it up a bit enables people to go, ah, OK, the way we were working was actually the better way. And only by experimenting. Do you know that, right? You know, we all get used to these things, right? And it all goes to the back of

the mind and be autonomous. And then we don't challenge why, why do we do that? You know, like, why do we do it that sort of way? Oh, we've always done it that way. Like, OK, why don't we change it? Let's, you know, people change teams change the time, change projects change, right? So why not try something? I think people have that fear, right? I mean, I think it's about a human nature when it comes to that, right?

So I heard an interesting thing that decide homicide and suicide, all of these sides is ending something. That's why people struggle with like deciding because it's ending something. You're killing an opportunity if you decide one way or the other, right? I think we've experiment and it kind of helps people go in a direction but not fully commit, right?

Because you say, OK, let's try this for two weeks or a month and then let's reflect on it. And I think that enables people to try things out because they know it's not permanent. You know, I think people have that fear. We don't like change. We're humans, right? We're comfortable with the situation. Any change makes us unnervy. And I think that's really what's interesting by approaching it also with the terminology, right? Let's just try this for a week,

see how it goes. I've seen people be way more relaxed when we call things an experiment rather than OK this is a change because then they're like, OK, I have to fully analyse this because this is exactly going to happen. Yeah, exactly. It's the same if you're like, let's push this feature live, they'll be black people. Oh, we can't do that. What, what, what, what, what, what? But if you say let's experiment, let's try this out, people more relaxed then, right, because it

minimises like the impact area. I think you can approach that at work in your private life as well, right.

So try to shake things up and challenge the way you're doing things. I think that's something that we all struggle with. That's just human nature, I'd say. Yeah, For me, I'm wondering is there a right time and kind of right place to challenge processes or kind of ways of working or how things used to be and start experimenting? I mean, I would say like my team, what the how they work this week is different from last week and will be different from next week.

You know, I think it's always about right now, like documenting is a topic. We do like how to document and we currently experiment, OK, how can we reduce this like burden of documentation but still be effective with it, right? So then we try to experiment. Let's try it this way on this topic and see, I think it's a constant moving target, so to speak with that. There's never an end point,

right? I think because you may find how you're working now is the right way, but Fast forward six months, you might need to reflect again. It might not work or it might not be efficient, or you've got a new team member changes it, or the company's priorities change or you have some other pressures there. And I think that's you should always be challenging. Why? You know why? Why am I in this meeting, for example, right? I see a lot of people that are in meetings and just sit there

and don't really do much. They just sit there because they feel like they need to be there, right? But OK. But is that a good use of your time in that regard? So I think you should always challenge, OK, why? Why do you want me in this meeting? What value can I bring? Or can I just get the meeting notes afterwards? You know, I think that's a struggle a lot of people have. You know, for me, being in a meeting is not working.

You know, it's usually you're talking around a topic, you may decide or move in a direction, but the real work happens after the meeting, right? So, and I think that's something we should be wary of, right? So being 8 hours a day in the meetings, are you really, what are you doing right? And I think that also hurts you mentally because you're like, then it's a struggle of like, how do we move these things forward? Where's the time?

And the only way you can, you know, 8 hours is finite, right? There's only so much you can do. And so you need to be aware of, OK, how do we bring more time into the day, less meetings? OK, how do I do that challenge? What is there? I think that's something that you should always be

challenging. Can everyone do that? I I have a few friends in especially in big tech but also due to them being early in career that they feel hesitant right? It's either their manager or or they get a meeting invite which is very last minute which overlaps with a few other things and they make they move like heaven and earth to make it happen.

Basically because they have this perception that they cannot say no. Yeah, I think again, this goes bound to this decide this kind of fear of missing out, right. I would say you can you can ask what do you think the value I would bring to this meeting is? It's not saying no, right. I mean, and it helps them put the other person who is inviting you to think about, OK, what do I want you there for? You know what, what is the reason?

What is the value? And they might say, actually, no, it's OK, you we can just give you the recap afterwards. Or they might say, actually, we want you there because your opinion on X is important. And then you're like, OK, I understand. And you can come in prepared, right? Instead of just sat there like consuming everything that's going on and then go after it going, OK, that was a waste of an hour. You know, how do I move forward? Right? So of course, it's always a struggle, right?

Different topics are more important. So if the company is really in a stressful situation, maybe you need to be in that meeting, right? But I think you can always challenge. I think especially early in your career, if you want to move into a more senior role, you need to get into that mindset of challenging, asking why, what value can I bring, you know? And again, it's not saying no, it's just challenging the

perception now. It's interesting that you ask the question to the other person because I feel like, especially early in career, I felt like I needed to answer that question. Why should I be in this meeting? What value do I bring? But you put that in the other person. 'S how would you know you're early in your career? Right. Just do my best, yeah? Yeah, I mean, that's, that's the conception, right?

If if you feel that if you have to ask, maybe you're not the right, you feel uncomfortable with the role you're in then, right. But isn't that a part of what we, you know, when we talk about seniority, we talk about that, we talk about challenging, we talk about, you know, making

that awareness there. So when you get comfortable with that earlier on in your career, I think it makes it like brings a superpower later on because you can really challenge the status quo then because a lot of companies get numb with the processes and rituals they have, right? But if you come in fresh and challenge those things, things can move forward in a better way, right? And I think that's a fear you need to get over quickly, I would say. But I understand that.

I totally get. I also was the same when I started, you know, So it was only later on I realized, OK, I should have asked why? What value? Because it affected my work then because when I was in such a meeting, I couldn't produce what I wanted to do in that day, right? Then that's a knock domino effect, which earlier on in your career, at least for me, I did overtime then like unpaid over time because I was like, oh, I

need to get this done. And that's not healthy because then that affects your private life and not going to affect

that, right? So. It's interesting that the only person that can get you out of that, and I recognise what you're saying, if I have a lot of stuff to do and then all of a sudden there's a meeting and there's a bunch of them, that stuff still needs to be done. So then you push it forward and you still have to do it. The only person that can get you out of that is is kind of yourself, by managing expectations and managing your

own calendar. Your boss or your manager is not like in charge of your day and how you're working, right? We don't want to be micromanaged, right? Where your boss says, OK, from this time, from this time, you're working on this, from this time. You know, we don't want that. We want empowerment. We want self-control. So only you have that capability to bring that forward, right? And I think again, it's this reluctance, you know, formal is also a thing, right?

So we want to be in that meeting, we want to know the outcome. And I think it's we need to get more comfortable with, OK, it's OK missing out because less information means like less cognitive load and maybe means I can focus more on the topics that interest me or the topics that are important right now. What I recently saw and I, I haven't experimented much with it, is you can now get, I think if you're in the Microsoft stack view of Microsoft team and our

meeting is recorded. You get this transcription and then also an AI summary on exactly the topics that have been discussed, any follow-ups and who is going to take action, which I think is very. Cool.

Definitely. I think that's always, I mean, at least for me, like meeting notes, like who takes the meeting notes, It determines what is in the meeting notes. You cannot really make a transcript, right? No one can write everything that's going on there. And I think that's what AI does, right. It's like it augments an aspect of our life. So meeting notes is perfect because it's listening to

everything. It writes it all down and then no one has to then be omnipresent in the meeting because usually the person making the notes can't really participate in the meeting because they are have to be aware of everything when they're talking. They're not also making notes of what they're talking about, right? I think that's where the power of AI comes into it, right? It augments part of what we need to do and freezes up some of the burden there to enable us to

have more time to do something. I think I totally agree. I think that's something which will bring a lot of value because then, you know, there's going to be meeting notes and it's going to be clearly defined what's there, what's the outcome, what decisions are there. And you could also use the AI to challenge what's still missing there, right? You know, if there is no outcome, it could come up and say, hey, you talked for an hour, but it's useless. There was no outcome, right?

So because a lot of meetings also don't have agendas, I think that's also a struggle, right? So if you come to a meeting with no agenda, you don't know, you're not prepared because you don't know what's going on there, right? So, and I think that's also part of the side effect there, right? People just set meetings up because fast-paced culture, but people also should be present when setting up a meeting. What do I want? What's the outcome? What's the direction here? You know?

And I think that's sometimes what's missing that leads to conversations with no outcome. And then after an hour and a half, you leave the meeting and go, OK, where, where we're going? What's the direction there

right? Yeah. I'm not sure if kind of this remote culture that happened during COVID contributed towards this because I feel like especially if you don't see your colleagues, if you don't have a physical office space, if everyone's remote, those conversations are very valuable in kind of building relationships. And then that's fine as a goal. Like, let's come in as a call. In a call, let's have a conversation on status quo, what we're happy with, what we're not

happy with. And maybe there's an outcome and maybe there's not. But we know kind of more where everyone stands. I think that's fine. But indeed, if you have a goal and you want to have a meeting as means to an end, an agenda definitely helps. A purpose, yeah. And again, that's like you mentioned the remote culture now, right, where a lot of remote eating meetings is easier, right, to organize.

We're often in more meetings now, I think, in the remote world than we were previously, right? Because we have no room restrictions anymore. It's easier. And that brings up mental loading, right? So I remember when I started a new job during COVID, I was an agile coach and basically back-to-back to back meetings because everything could be packed next to each other, right? And you're exhausted at the end of it. I think that's also something we should be more aware of.

Like, does it make sense to have a meeting of this or is async something better? You can make decisions asynchronously, right? So, and I think that's if you're aware of it. OK. Is this thing really critical right now? Do we need a synchronous meeting?

It's expensive, you know, I'm stopping everyone doing what they should be doing, like bring them in. Is it meaningful, this topic or can we distribute it asynchronously, you know, and have people on their own time, like when they have the capacity, when they have the right mindset to work on that topic. You know, there's no like right or wrong. It's always hard to predict. And it also depends on the

people. But I think asynchronous can solve a lot of these problems when it comes to meetings, right? Like status updates as well, right? You can also do that asynchronously a lot of the times. Yeah, I was. I was actually reading an article and that was a person that left recently open AI and he was kind of putting down his thoughts on culture and ways of working and everything. And one of the things you mentioned is that there's barely any e-mail culture.

So everything happens on Slack. All communication when it comes to asynchronous communication is there. So it can also be overwhelming. If you follow all channels and you want to have no messages on unread, you're going to overwhelm yourself with the rest of everything. But I do like that I've, I mean, I've been in different assignments, emails always there.

There's stuff on confidence, SharePoint, There's so many channels of information that I also have to familiarize myself, know exactly what is where and for what purpose. I do like this idea of most of the communication just happens in one place and that's it. Yeah, that's the thing I think you need to define like how we work. I call it HWW, you know, like what is the, what is Slack used for? What is it not used for? What is e-mail use for? What is it not use for, Right.

And I think that's the thing. There's so much noise, there's so much going on because there's no friction. It's easy, right? And we're always, especially in the product world, right, we go, we want to make things frictionless, but some friction sometimes brings benefit, right? If it's harder to do something, we're more reluctant to do it, you know, like the same with meetings, right? It's so easy to do now we just do it. But we if there's a bit of friction there, you know, then

that changes it a bit. And I think that's, I think as companies need to define like the communication strategy there because it can be overwhelmed. I know people that have like free monitors on their screen, Slack on one, e-mail on another and like the IDE or something there and they just every time there's a blink, they just change their focus. Right. You know, and they're like, OK, how can you do that? It's like, again, it's this formal, right? It's like, I need to be aware of

that. And I'm always saying like, turn Slack off. Like maybe you say from 12:00 to this time you have Slack open or e-mail open, and then you work on it because if there's something really important, people will find a way to get to you, right? But of course, there's that fear. Then, you know, a lot of company policies also say you need to be available on Slack. But I think it's OK to turn it off from time to time to really focus, right?

And like switching context all the time is also not good. You know, especially as engineers, you know, I work a lot with engineers, the context switching, different services, different tooling, they have to get back into the topic, which reduces like the efficiency there, right? So how can you do that with your own like communication stack? How can you figure that out? Do you challenge people if you work with engineers from a product sense?

Because I I've done that and sometimes it made me feel uncomfortable. But then I also feel like I have a certain perspective because I've done engineering for so long that I do feel a little bit more comfortable challenging like switching focus and like also challenging if they need to

be in a meeting specifically. So like for example, we use JIRA, we use components for all the different services and tools, and we're constantly keeping a track of how many different components we are active on. And we try to keep it below a certain amount. You know, because sometimes you cannot help it, right? There's an issue, you need to switch context, but being aware of it enables you to challenge. How do we work on that?

So I also try to plan that the team is focused on bigger topics so they can just focus on a singular like context in that regard. But I don't think it's common that way. You often see it's like switching focus and I couldn't do it. Like that's a lot new than OK, I need to get into this service, this system, how does it work again? OK, I need to look over the code of documentation that time. It has wasted in some regards, right?

So if you can batch these things up and again, it goes down to this urgency and importance topic, right? OK, is this topic important to do now? OK, can we batch it up so that we have many of these smaller topics for this context that we should do later on, right? I think that's a way we have to start approaching some of these things. I think with seniority, some people attribute more focus to personal productivity, team productivity, organizational productivity.

And in the end, because I have this sense of responsibility, I feel like it's my responsibility, my productiveness, and to a certain degree also the team as well as the organization. But in the end, do you agree with that? Are people responsible for their own productivity or are people also there to then challenge and kind of increase productivity overall? I think you have some ownership there, right?

So yes, you could get a like a task or a thing we need to do this, but I think you can challenge that, you know, you could say, hey, how about we do this next week because there's these other topics. I think everyone is in charge of their own destiny, like they're in charge of their own time and they're in focus and they can say, OK, this doesn't make

sense. Now I challenge that, you know, because a lot of times these tasks come from different angles, whether the they don't have that perspective of your workload, You know, that leads to overwhelm, that leads to burnouts as well, right though you just have all of these topics coming in from different angles. And This is why I always kind of preach sounds too harsh of a word, but you should have one place where you collect all these things because then you see it.

You know, if again, I use Jira, so any slack message comes in with task or e-mail or coffee chat or a meeting, I throw it into Jira and then I can clearly see. And I said to myself, OK, my to do pile has a WIP limit. And I have to consciously say, OK, if I need to work on this now, what do I drop? And that enables me to have a conversation with people like my boss, for example, where I can show, look, this is what's going on now, what do we need to reduce to be able to work on this topic?

Or what is more important? It's about empowering them to have that overview. And only you have that capability, right? You know, if you don't do that, no one else will see that because how can they, You know, there's so much going on. Yeah. So I definitely think you have the ownership there on that.

I agree. I've I've also had this conversation, especially with again, people in big tech and they're they don't want to give their boss kind of a voice in that because they feel like they own priorities. They own a lot of work and a lot of work usually means I'm good. I should be good. I should be working towards getting a promotion and a lot of work means I'm on that path and I deserve it because I do a lot of work.

It's like, oh, in my head, usually from my perspective is like a lot output driven rather than outcome driven. I feel like the conversation you have with regards to the people that kind of guide you are responsible for a hire over road map helps with regards to that conversation. What is the most important, not just from a personal perspective, but also from a company overview? And I feel like that's missing sometimes. Yeah, that's, and that's the thing, right?

Again, no one has that perspective but you. And again, being busy is great, but does it bring value right now, right. Is also, is there a topic which you really enjoy that brings you energy? Because we also shouldn't forget that, right? You know, if there's something you want to refactor this area or you see something that's really brings value, you should champion that, right And figure out, OK, I could say we reduced this thing or we delayed this week if I can do this, right?

And I think that's the conversation we need to have with our leaders as well, right? And again, it's about bringing that seniority into it, challenging it and not just accepting it because at the end of the day, the To Do List should never be empty. No one has an empty To Do List, right? It's always fun. And so how do you manage that? And I think that's what really helps them bring that to the table surfacing up.

I feel like we talked about FOMO and I feel like for tasks like these, especially if I like a lot of things, I have a lot of FOMO and then dropping things is very hard. That's like me personally, if I have many things and I enjoy all of them, I by virtue of time being finite, I will not be able to work on all of them. So then I learn about my own priorities and me saying something is different than how

I act, right? If I really like this thing and I want to do this, but then in practice I prioritize everything else, that means for me it's the lower priority and that reality. Sometimes it's hard. And then making decisions on what to do and what to drop, I've always found that difficult. Yeah, I mean, that's, I would say that's life, right? It's really hard to do that. You know, you can extract it out from work to your private life,

right? You probably want to spend more time at sport, but that means OK, what needs to be sacrificed for that? You know, I, for me, I struggle getting into a reading routine because I I find gaming more interesting, right? But it's about, OK, I need to be more aware of that, right? And I think it's about being intentional, being aware of what's going on there and also understanding that you should formal is something we can control. You know, I had this with like

Game of Thrones back then. Everyone was watching it. And it's like, OK, do I really want to invest this time to watch this now? Because everyone's talking about it and stuff. And in the end, I decided, OK, no, I'd rather do something else. I'd rather focus on something else. And of course, you again, making a decision, you lose out on some aspect. But I think that's something we all need to understand. That's OK.

You know, it's OK to not be in that cool group to talk about that topic or it's OK to miss out on a certain topic because we cannot do everything right. And that's something we need to be more comfortable with, more aware of, and that's always the

struggle. Yeah, I feel like it's also hard kind of giving yourself grace because I know I, I mean, I did this unemy course on Seto custom because personal knowledge management and everything there and there the advice was also think of what you consume throughout the day because time is finite. If you want to read an article consumed with regards to then capturing that knowledge and managing that through this method. But also think of what you do on a daily basis.

Do you game? Do you watch? For me, it's like anime, manga, gaming, also sports. And I feel like I could be this superhuman version of myself because I can cut out all the fluff that's not going to give me value in my career. And I see other people do that and I'm like, I, I don't know, I cannot do that. Like I, I know I can. It requires a lot of discipline, but do I want to? I feel like I don't, but then it's valuable and it's useful. So should I be doing that, that

grace? I have to give that to myself

and also be like, yeah, it's fine to do other things as well. Yeah, and I think that's OK. I mean, you know, know the rule, be the rule and break the rule. I think it's OK to sit down and doom scroll from time to time or to not be productive. I think it's OK. Our bodies need that. Our minds need that, right? And I think that's, again, it's about being aware of your own energy levels and realizing, OK, does this make sense now? And for me, it's all about

intentionality, right? If I pick up my phone and let's say I open Instagram, I try to ask myself, does this make sense right now? Do I, do I think I'll get value from this? Or am I just wasting time? Could I be just doing something better? And I think when you kind of get into that flow of intentionality and being aware of what's going on and that helps you kind of structure it and focus on that because it's so easy.

You know, we have a huge billion dollar industry that's looking for our engagement, our focus, right? That's hard to kind of beat. So again, it's about being aware of that. OK, does this make sense right now? And sometimes things don't make sense but make sense, if that makes sense. You know, like, I don't know, I always use this analogy that my wife got a coupon for, for a free watering can at IKEA. Let's go and do it. The watering can is worth €1.00.

Takes us 4 hours to get there. Like is that worth it? You know, is that 4 hours worth the €1.00? You know, maybe they'd experience of going together to IKEA is that's the value, right? But when you look at it, frame it like that, it enables you to challenge it a bit more, right? OK. Is my time worth so little? I think that's what we also struggle as humans.

We don't value our time so much. Only when we're older, when we realize there's not much time left. It's when we realize, oh, we need to be more valuable with our time. And that's something, it sounds a bit morbid, but again, you mentioned it earlier, like time is finite. I think it's being aware of that, challenging that and asking yourself, OK, is this the right time for this thing? Could I be doing this thing which brings me more value? What can I do right now?

Yeah, I feel like it's very difficult. Like I, I just turned 30 and I'm like, well, if I want to do these things, it's going to take me a few years to become like an expert or a level where I'm comfortable at, which means I'm behind. Like I feel like I'm behind on so many topics that I would want to do and then again, the signing is very hard. Where to spend your time on or taking control of the time that you have by not picking up your

phone and scrolling endlessly. I'd like that reasoning of being intentional with that. Yeah, and I think it's all about, you know, augmenting our time. You know, for example, I don't like vacuuming. OK, so how do I solve that? I get vacuuming robots. They're not fully like they don't do the best job, but it means I can reduce my vacuuming time by like 80%, you know, and

that brings me more time. So I think if you look at your life in that way and OK, using your money or your resources to augment some of that, like attributes or delegating, especially when it comes to work, can I delegate this topic? Is there a junior in the team which would get benefit working on this hard problem, right? Looking at like that and augmenting because that's the only way we can make time, so to

speak, right? Yeah, in this topic of kind of self management and productivity, I think we covered and we started with time management with regards to meetings and challenging do I need to be in there? We also talked about priorities and focus. Is there anything you still want to share that we didn't highlight yet? What makes you productive on a

day-to-day basis? Is it the structure that you have? Is it the way you manage time? Is it the priority you bring in focus? For me, it's about the awareness. Like I said, I have this log right where I have a bullet point for all the topics and every time I change focus or intentionality, I open that log and just write like a few words like OK, I'm doing this now, I'm washing, or I'm going to this

meeting and open. That brings the context of the day and enables me to look at it and say, OK, I don't know, we're 3:00 PM. I still have a lot to do. Does it make sense for the me to do this now? That really helps me like focus on how do I move forward with this? What, what topics do I want to do now? It's all about my energy levels as well, right? So for me, I'm a morning person. I can get a lot of stuff done in the morning. So it's like, OK, how can I optimize that?

I do all of the stuff which requires a lot of energy in the morning and the stuff which doesn't so much in the afternoons. So that's why a lot of meetings are in the afternoon for me because it's, it's not the same energy level as like working on something or working on a concept. So it's being aware of that and kind of optimizing on that. So this like log for me is the central point that I can open see where I am today, what I'm doing right now and challenges what I should be doing.

Interesting, because I've been trying to get into journaling, and I usually do it at the end of the day. And I say usually, but I barely started. And it's also because, yeah, at the end of the day, I'm exhausted. I just want to go to bed. And then I don't do it for that day specifically. Yeah. So it's been very difficult. You do it throughout the day. Exactly. Interesting. So I just have like a text file

with bullet points there. And basically every morning I do a gratitude journal and I also look back then of the previous day, you know, because I have the energy in the morning and it gives me like, what can I optimize today, which yesterday I didn't optimize for or that overview there because I also struggled with the journaling at the same thing. Like at the end of the day, you just going to bed. OK, I need to write something now. And also you can't remember everything, right?

You're like, your brain is going, what did I do today? And then you realize you can't sleep because your brain is then. You're on. Exactly. And then it takes you longer to get to sleep and then again, Domino effect of that, right? So I find that for me, it really helps bring that intentionality, bring that awareness and it's a tool for reflection, right? So I can look back, let's say last week on Wednesday, what happened, what went on there? And it really helps me bring

that focus. How long have you been doing it? That method for just over a year, as soon as I switched to Obcidian, I kind of tried it like that. So I'm always testing something out and moving around, but that's really worked really good so far. Yeah, I, I really, because this this intentionality that you speak of as well as kind of this reflecting of the day, not just the day, but also last week and kind of checking in with yourself. I feel like I don't do that

often enough. I go really hard and I achieve things and then it's like on to the next, next milestones like always go, go, go. And then only in conversations where someone is has the role of like a mentor or a coach, am I more reflective or I really have to take myself out of it. Also, when asking for feedback, that's when I'm reflective. But if nothing triggers me, if there's no incentive, then I don't do that. I just keep going.

I feel like journaling could be a really good means to an end, to be more intentional with my time and to also be reflective. And you probably do retrospectives in your job, right? Where you reflect back on topic

or anything. I do that every week on a Sunday. I basically get a coffee, sit there and look over like the logs of the week and just see what, OK, what did I enjoy? What didn't I enjoy? And I do a weekly wrap wrap up. And every week I set like a micro goal, like, OK, this week I want to do more sport and kind of then I have that intentionality this week I want to do this. So I find that's also easier to do on smaller chunks and say, OK, this year I want to lose 10

kilos. That's harder to grasp. But if you're doing on a week by week, you're breaking it down a little bit more. So this weekly reflection enables me then to look over the logs and since it's all bullet pointed it's quite easy. Easy just to run through and see and then go, OK, what do I need to change? What's important for me this week? Do you still do bigger goal setting in terms of years or months, or for your own career or for your own personal life?

Yeah, I kind of try and set like a vision statement in some regards. So not something not like I want to be like having my own company by this time, but it's more like I want, I envision this freedom, this kind of thing. And that's what I then try to then on a weekly basis work towards that. Because I find if you set a big goal and then you like then figure out how can I get there, It's quite intimidating. And I think that's then stops us

from doing something. And usually it's like, it's always this problem, like after the new year, people go to the gym, right? And after a few weeks they stop. I would say it's the same kind of approach that right? Whereas if you're doing it and checking in on a more regular basis, you can like reflect on it and just challenge yourself, OK, is this what I set out to do, really what I want to do? Or was it just a impulse because someone I know is doing it or I

was inspired? I think again, it's about being aware of that. Yeah, I feel like big goals have this any positive effect that I break it down and there's a path to that. And I can see that it's just with varied interests and also with time changing my interests change and then that goal might be obsolete. And then I have to do that for another goal. And it's like I feel like I also anchor myself to then not want to change a goal because I've set that goal for myself and

that was the focus back then. So it, it kind of reduces how agile I am with what I want to do. So therefore I don't do it. But then these micro goals on a weekly basis, I've, I've started trying to do them on a day-to-day basis, not even on a week basis, but just give me a few things that I need to get done today and do those. And that gives me a lot of fulfillment. Even just checking them off physically or like a check box in Obsidian somewhere. I really enjoy doing that and it

gives me focus. Yeah, I mean, certainly I my gratitude journal that I do every morning, I always define what one thing that I will do today will bring me joy and energy. One thing simple and it's not like this overreaching goal that I'm going to get a huge pay rise or promotion. It's like today, what do I want to do? Like today is the podcast, for example, you know, that's the one thing that will give me joy

and energy today. I think it, it helps them make us more aware and be present in the moment, right? Because it's about today. You know, I have control of today. I don't have control of tomorrow or the next week, right? Things can change and it really helps. You have a positive mindset, then you know you're because you're always achieving, you're always bringing things forward and always reflecting on that. How big is your daily log or your daily journal?

Because I feel like it's so personal that no one shares actually how much they put in there, if it's a whole paragraph or if it's just a few sentences. I would say it's like 30 to 50 bullet points and a bullet point is maybe one or two sentences Max. I really use keywords or something that maybe triggers that mindset on there or a link to something which you know, has more details there. So it's like meeting with the team about X and then just bullet points. We decided X or we need this

information. Just quick bullet points just for myself and how to work on that. Yeah. And do you then separate because this is what I'm, I've, I've tried to do this 10th custom and where I struggle with it's a, it's a tool to organise knowledge, like a knowledge management system. But then if I have a meeting with regards to domain experts and stuff that we need to do, there's deadlines, there's context, there's a lot of stuff. And I feel like how do I have

that? And then also this knowledge management system, do I combine them? Do I keep them separate? And also you're saying there's this daily log. Do you put that in there? And then how do you get that information back if it's needed again? Yeah. I mean, I tried to keep the deeper context like separated between work and private. So my, let's say personal

knowledge system is only for like my private life and side projects I'm working on and businesses, that sort of thing. My professional thing I keep within the tools within the business. So I, I really, because I don't want to be at home on a Saturday and searching for something and then a work topic pops up. You know, I try to keep that clear boundary. And of course that brings extra

friction, right? Because it's not one source of truth then, but that's when I link into my log, OK, here's a confidence link or here's a Jira book that or ticket that relates to that. That's why I try and keep it just to the minimal. So it doesn't replace like taking meeting notes or anything, but it's more about for your own opinion of how the meeting went or what your thoughts are in a meeting. So it shouldn't replace meeting notes or anything like that. But it's just like, how did you

feel at the meeting? You know, was it positive or negative, right? Because then you can reflect on that as well. How interesting. So that's how you keep them separate. I'm going to experiment with this because I feel like it's something that I do see having value. What? What has journaling brought to you now that you've done it for a year? Do you see yourself different than like a couple years back in how you are intentional with your time or how you feel in

general? Yeah. I mean, one thing it's bring up positivity for is that I actually do a lot. That's something that I always struggled. Like at the end of the day, I really struggled to realize, OK, what did I do today? And this really helped me bring awareness that I'm doing a lot and also enabled me to bring new processes into how to reduce a lot of the topics because I realized, OK, there's a lot of

context which is there, so how? And this has really helped me bring awareness to that and kind of challenge that as well. And I've been journaling for, I don't know, eight years and really like gratitude journaling, really realize it helps my positivity and my energy, you know? Yeah. Do you still read back the journals of like years ago or are they like archive and like? Not yet, not yet. Maybe that's a, a weekend activity with like some whiskey or something like this.

But yeah, I mean, it would be interesting to look back like, I don't know, one year ago, like what was, what did the week look like then or a few years ago, right, to see how you're progressing. But our lives are so fluid. It changes so much, right? And our priorities change. And I think that's always interesting to be aware of that and realise, like you said, your interests change as well, which is perfectly fine. You know, like AI is the big

thing now. Who would have thought like 10 years ago that it's part of our daily business? Like that wouldn't have been a part of your goal maybe to go deep on that. But nowadays it's like, OK, how do we focus more time on that? And that's, I think that's being aware it's OK to change. It's OK to stop something if you don't enjoy it. Don't do it just because you feel like you have to. But you know, work on that. Yeah, Yeah. Interesting.

It's very interesting that you can take this perspective of kind of analysing what you do on a day-to-day and be in control of that, even though you're both in the driver as well as the person that analysis to improve your own life.

You can take both roles because normally if you go, for example, to therapy, there's two people in there and one helps the other kind of get their own thoughts in order and realize things that they otherwise wouldn't have. And you can do this yourself as well. I think that's fascinating. Yeah, I mean, you need to like step back from yourself. You know, I think that's sounds easy, but it's, it's quite difficult to reflect on that. I'm being critical of what

you're doing. And I think such tooling enables you then to sit with someone. Like I could sit with you and we go through it and you can give me your thoughts and perspective. And every thought and perspective, of course, is your own. There's no right or wrong. I think that system enables you to have that conversation as well, right? So I think it's also good to get some outside perspective because again, we don't see ourselves from the outside, right?

So someone might say, hey, you're super organized, but actually inside your chaos, you know, and I think it's also a good tool to enable you to sit down with someone, reflect on it and get feedback. And then it's like a knock on effect because then the people are like, actually, how do I do

it? Then like this, you know, and it leads to that conversation about that I've had all the time, especially around like meeting chaos that people have, you know, and you show them, OK, this is how I've done it. And they're like, ah, OK, I get I should think about doing that. It goes back to this whole impact apartment, right? You are in charge of your time and destiny in that regard. Don't get lost in the day-to-day.

It's so easy to do that. But step back from time to time and look, is this the direction I want to go in? Just this makes sense. Does this have the outcome I want to achieve? And you have the power to change that. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Have you tried that, getting feedback from an outside perspective on like your your notes or your system? Because I think if I would show you my journal, I'd be embarrassed a little bit. Maybe that's like my ego thing.

Even when people say, OK, who took meetings and can everyone kind of centralized their meetings, their meeting notes, I'm like, man, I have to make these more organised because otherwise it looks embarrassing. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think because of the log is quite short and simple. There's not too much emotion in there, right. So it's not like I'm really going into the feelings or emotional side of things. And I think that's, that's the area where we need to be more sensitive, right?

Because it's like opening, opening up the door to my inner self. And that's quite intimidating, right? I think that's when like journaling becomes usually it's a private thing that you don't share with people. It's people are very secretive of that, right? But with how I do the log, it's more pragmatic and more straightforward. And I think that's OK to share. And I might say this meeting was not good or didn't bring me any value. And I think that's OK to share that.

Again, it's not super negative, it's just my perspective of a topic. So I think it's totally fine and it enables then you to grow and to also help the person who's looking at it also gain more value. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming on, Joseph. This was a real fun conversation, self management, productivity, It really made me think and it really made me want to experiment with some of the tools that you shared. Thanks so much for coming on. Our pleasure. Cool.

Then we'll round it off. If you're still here listening, let me know in the comments section what you thought of this episode. Leave a like. Likes are free, you don't have to pay for them and otherwise we'll see you on the next one.