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Productivity for Artists & Creatives (with Adrian Shepherd) · The Daily Writer

0:00
SPEAKER_00: One of the key questions we ask ourselves as artists is how can I be more productive?
0:05
SPEAKER_00: We all want the ability to produce more writing, music, art, or other kinds of creative work.
0:11
SPEAKER_00: But how do we actually get it done?
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Are there systems that we can implement to help us be more productive?
0:16
SPEAKER_00: What is the mindset required to produce more creative work?
0:20
SPEAKER_00: Well, we're in luck because our guest today addresses all these issues and much more, and the answers may just surprise you.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: So stay tuned.
0:38
SPEAKER_00: Hey friends, welcome to the Born to Create podcast.
0:41
SPEAKER_00: My name is Kent Sanders, and I'm an author, professor, and creative coach.
0:45
SPEAKER_00: This is the show where we explore the mindset, habits, principles to help you make a bigger impact in your life and creative work.
0:53
SPEAKER_00: I'm excited today to bring you my conversation with Adrian Shepherd.
0:57
SPEAKER_00: He started his career as an ESL teacher in Japan, but today focuses on consulting with individuals and companies on productivity.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: His background and education helped him to develop the OneBite Time Management System, which is a revolutionary new system based entirely around simplicity, and it focuses on small bites that people can digest easily.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Adrian is based in Osaka, Japan.
1:21
SPEAKER_00: On this episode, you'll learn all about the importance of habits, mindset, and routines in becoming a more productive artist and creative.
1:28
SPEAKER_00: Adrian shares about the importance of breathing and sleep, the dangers of too much caffeine, the value of taking small bites and building momentum, and also how martial arts can help you be more disciplined.
1:40
SPEAKER_00: So this episode is packed with a ton of tips that you can start putting into practice immediately to help you become more productive in your creative work.
1:49
SPEAKER_00: I hope that you enjoyed this conversation as much as I did.
1:52
SPEAKER_00: And if you want to take a deeper dive after the episode's over, be sure to check out the show notes at Kent Sanders.net slash productivity.
2:00
SPEAKER_00: So let's get right into the interview.
2:14
SPEAKER_00: So we're here to talk about productivity specifically for creative entrepreneurs and artists and people who are doing any type of creative work really.
2:23
SPEAKER_00: Can you share with me a little bit of your story of how you got really interested in productivity and especially when you first realized that you wanted to help people in this regard, because I know you spend a lot of your days thinking about productivity.
2:36
SPEAKER_00: How did this come to be such an important factor in your life?
2:41
SPEAKER_01: I guess it started back when I was just an English teacher.
2:45
SPEAKER_01: I noticed that my students could be broken down into three basic groups, and it kind of came off like a standard deviation curve.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: You had high achievers on one end, and you had the people who almost didn't really want to be there.
2:58
SPEAKER_01: And those those two groups, uh, well, with the high achievers, you don't really need to worry about them.
3:03
SPEAKER_01: All they need is guidance.
3:04
SPEAKER_01: They'll take it and run with it.
3:06
SPEAKER_00: Right.
3:06
SPEAKER_01: And the people who didn't really want to be there, well, there's not much you can do.
3:10
SPEAKER_01: You just try and hope that you can bring them into the other groups if possible.
3:13
SPEAKER_00: I understand what you mean.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: All right.
3:15
SPEAKER_01: Uh but the big area, of course, in the middle is you've got the in-betweeners.
3:19
SPEAKER_01: And um I found that many of them wanted me to just kind of wave my magic wand and turn them into English speakers.
3:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh what work they did was kind of all over the place.
3:30
SPEAKER_01: They'd invest their time doing all the wrong things, to be honest.
3:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh they were reading the wrong material, asking the silliest questions, and it just took a long, long, long time for me to get through to them.
3:41
SPEAKER_01: Um, it was around that time uh I started noticing that it wasn't just with my students, but with my friends, other teachers and bosses that it was the same case.
3:50
SPEAKER_01: I often scratch my head and wonder, well, why were people spending so much time on things that really didn't need that much time spent on?
4:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh you see, for me, I've always been about finding the fastest, most effective way of getting things done.
4:07
SPEAKER_01: Um, a big believer in asking the one simple question, is there a better way of doing this?
4:12
SPEAKER_00: Great question.
4:13
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
4:14
SPEAKER_01: And most of the time there is.
4:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh we just need to find it.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: Um most of the people and companies that I I've worked with and and talked to over the years, I I found that people like to stick with what works, you know, the tried and true.
4:28
SPEAKER_01: And I do agree that for most cases that's a great strategy.
4:30
SPEAKER_01: In fact, for the average person, I think that's a perfectly great way of doing things.
4:34
SPEAKER_01: However, when you have talented people, what you really want to do is just give them a task and kind of get out of the way.
4:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh if they can find a better, more effective way, then you know, hallelujah.
4:46
SPEAKER_01: Make that the status quo, then.
4:48
SPEAKER_01: Uh sadly, I found that it's just not the way that most companies deal with new ideas.
4:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, too often people get reprimanded for doing something new or innovative, which leads talented people to feel frustrated.
5:00
SPEAKER_01: And I found in my life that time management or time itself is the one thing that we we have a limit.
5:08
SPEAKER_01: Everybody struggles uh with their limitations.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: And so I noticed that, hey, my students need guidance on how to use their time better.
5:20
SPEAKER_01: I need to know how to use my time better.
5:23
SPEAKER_01: And so that's where it really all got started for me.
5:25
SPEAKER_01: And it kind of snowballed.
5:26
SPEAKER_01: I I wrote a self-development book called I Succeed, and one of the chapters in that book was time management.
5:33
SPEAKER_01: But I didn't at the time it wasn't my focus.
5:35
SPEAKER_01: It was just one chapter in personal development.
5:39
SPEAKER_01: But the more I went down the rabbit hole, the more I realized how important productivity is and how much people struggle with it, despite it being not really that difficult.
5:49
SPEAKER_00: See, all this is really fascinating to me.
5:51
SPEAKER_00: I've been studying a lot about uh I've always loved psychology.
5:55
SPEAKER_00: I'm not, you know, I don't have a degree in that field or anything like that, but as a college teacher, as an artist myself, as a musician and writer and all those things, you know, people's psychology and their mindset and their emotions play a huge part in this.
6:08
SPEAKER_00: How much would you say that plays into productivity in our lives?
6:12
SPEAKER_00: Having the right type of mindset, being in the right emotional state, that type of thing.
6:18
SPEAKER_01: I would say 100% almost.
6:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean that's where it all begins.
6:23
SPEAKER_01: I have this thing called the productivity pyramid.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: I came up with it recently, and basically the base, the foundation of the pyramid is the internal.
6:31
SPEAKER_01: That's where it all begins.
6:33
SPEAKER_01: You can have all the strategies in the world and all the ideas and techniques and tips and whatever, but if you don't have the right mindset going into it, you'll never get the full impact of those strategies.
6:43
SPEAKER_01: You'll always have something pulling you back.
6:45
SPEAKER_01: It's like when you have a great coach, you've just got to trust them and go with it.
6:50
SPEAKER_01: If you're always fighting them, then the coach is never going to be able to get full impact, you know?
6:56
SPEAKER_01: So uh this is the thing.
6:58
SPEAKER_01: You know, it all starts from it's a mental game, really, to begin with.
7:01
SPEAKER_01: And then it's just adding on little bits of uh things here and there to complement that.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: Now when you talk about mindset specifically, how does somebody go about changing their mindset?
7:12
SPEAKER_00: And I guess that's really the million-dollar question, you know, because it's it's really the basis of everything that we do in a sense.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: But you take somebody maybe who's kind of stuck in their ways, who who doesn't have a lot of creative ideas, and who maybe isn't isn't even interested in exploring that.
7:27
SPEAKER_00: How do you take somebody who's who's that way and help them to change their mindset?
7:32
SPEAKER_01: That's a tough question.
7:34
SPEAKER_01: I mean I studied psychology back in college, and I've always been interested in human nature.
7:40
SPEAKER_01: And in dealing with students, uh whether they were English students or uh my uh personal development clients or my time management clients, that is the million-dollar question, is because you've got to find something that breaks through their armor.
7:55
SPEAKER_01: The people that are, as I said, the high achievers, they're easy to get through to because they want to be there.
8:01
SPEAKER_01: But the other people, you're you're fighting a battle constantly.
8:05
SPEAKER_01: And so you've got to find ways to get through their armor.
8:08
SPEAKER_01: And sometimes it's just finding the right way to phrase something or put it in a different way, giving a different example.
8:16
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes linking to their hobbies or their interests or their desires is one of the fastest ways to get through it.
8:22
SPEAKER_01: The other way is linking it to pain, that their habits or their decisions are taking them away from what they really want to do.
8:29
SPEAKER_01: It's really a bit of a hit and miss.
8:31
SPEAKER_01: And it's just you know, through years of experience that you kind of find ways to reach different people.
8:36
SPEAKER_01: You know, there's little clues that people give you in the way that they speak and the way that they act, but uh some people are a little mysterious, so you just gotta keep at it.
8:46
SPEAKER_00: So in in your work with you know, as a teacher, working with businesses, companies, individuals, and so forth, I can imagine that you spend a lot of time sort of decoding people's body language, their you know, unspoken signals, they're sending the vibes.
9:03
SPEAKER_00: And I've actually heard it said that you know, don't pay attention, and this is kind of to the extreme, but the idea of don't pay attention to what people say, pay attention to what they do in their body language and nonverbal signals, because sometimes our words are a way to actually distract people from what we really think or really feel.
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Have you found that to be true in any sense in your work?
9:21
SPEAKER_01: I think you hit the nail on the head there.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, people like to put up barricades and barriers and they don't want to let them down.
9:28
SPEAKER_01: People are afraid to be vulnerable and afraid to admit when they're wrong.
9:32
SPEAKER_01: It's like the person who's struggling with money.
9:35
SPEAKER_01: They like to put up a front and they like to borrow money and show off to everyone that, hey, I've got money when really the truth is quite different.
9:42
SPEAKER_01: People who are struggling in their relationships put up a front and say, hey, everything's going great with my relationship, yeah, everything's fine, until things just fall apart right at the end.
9:51
SPEAKER_01: And it's just unfortunate that people don't open up sooner or don't admit that they have a problem.
9:57
SPEAKER_01: You know, I always think back to the concept of uh AA, uh Alcoholics Anonymous, and how the first step, and there's 12 steps, right?
10:06
SPEAKER_01: The first step is just admitting you have a problem.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:08
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
10:09
SPEAKER_01: You know, and that that's where it all begins.
10:11
SPEAKER_01: If people are gonna put up you know barriers to prevent you, and sometimes they put up really good barriers and people just can't see through it, it's really hard sometimes.
10:20
SPEAKER_01: And people will lie.
10:21
SPEAKER_01: I hate to say it.
10:22
SPEAKER_01: People do.
10:23
SPEAKER_01: I I like I like the show A House, um, and he says everyone lies.
10:28
SPEAKER_01: Well, uh, in my experience, it's quite it's pretty close to the truth.
10:31
SPEAKER_01: I mean, people maybe not always lie, but they definitely exaggerate or underestimate or overestimate things.
10:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, here's a good example of that.
10:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh when people know that they shouldn't be doing something and they're asked, well, how long did you spend on it?
10:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's say they shouldn't have been watching TV or playing video games.
10:51
SPEAKER_01: And so you ask them, well, how long have you been doing it?
10:54
SPEAKER_01: Let's say they did an hour and a half.
10:55
SPEAKER_01: They'll say an hour.
10:57
SPEAKER_01: Okay, so they know they they can't say they did nothing, but they don't want to admit it's an hour and a half.
11:02
SPEAKER_01: So they say, well, it's an hour.
11:04
SPEAKER_01: They round down to make it sound less painful.
11:07
SPEAKER_01: And and their mind accepts it unfortunately as well.
11:10
SPEAKER_01: They say, hey, I only spent an hour, but they know deep down it's not true.
11:14
SPEAKER_01: But by saying it many times over, it makes it real in their mind.
11:18
SPEAKER_01: And on the other, on the other side of the spectrum, when they're they're doing things that they should be doing, let's say they've only spent 30 minutes on, or 30 or 40 minutes doing something that they should have been doing, they'll round up to an hour to make themselves feel better.
11:31
SPEAKER_01: So it's these little things, they add up over time.
11:34
SPEAKER_01: And that that's the thing.
11:35
SPEAKER_01: You know, we've only got a certain amount of time, and if you're not honest with yourself where you're spending your time, you're really going to trip yourself up over time.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: So if we're trying to be more productive, let's assume that we're we're being honest with ourselves, we're being authentic, and and we sort of recognize that we are the problem, because it seems like that's where we have to start, is I am my own worst enemy, you know, that type of thing.
11:57
SPEAKER_00: If we're in that space, what are some of the mistakes that you see people making who are really trying to make an effort, they're trying to make a genuine effort to be more productive, to be honest, to be a hard worker.
12:08
SPEAKER_00: What are some of the mistakes that we that we tend to make, as particularly creative people, when it comes to using our time well?
12:16
SPEAKER_01: The first mistake, which is r rather simplistic, but it's important to state, is that a lot of people don't truly understand how valuable their time is.
12:26
SPEAKER_01: Now, if you talk to elderly people, people in their 80s, they get it.
12:30
SPEAKER_01: Their time is running out, and they appreciate it that much more.
12:34
SPEAKER_01: But young people, on the other hand, they think that they'll never get old.
12:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh they're almost like kids, that they can't even imagine what it's like to be an adult.
12:42
SPEAKER_01: Well, young people in their 20s and 30s sometimes can't imagine what it would be like to be 70 or 80, and they they sometimes think that, hey, I can perform at this level forever.
12:51
SPEAKER_01: And that's a mistake because our body, unless we take care of it, uh, will not be able to produce as well into our 70s and 80s naturally.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: Very true.
13:00
SPEAKER_01: All right, so that's the second mistake is that they neglect their body.
13:04
SPEAKER_01: And when I'm talking about the body, I'm talking about a diet and it both for your stomach as well as for your mind.
13:09
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people live off of junk food for both areas.
13:13
SPEAKER_01: Uh what I mean by that is like say gossip columns or uh, I don't know, just YouTube rabbit videos or cat videos or whatever.
13:21
SPEAKER_01: That's that's junk for your mind.
13:23
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, that's a downfall.
13:26
SPEAKER_01: A little bit's okay.
13:27
SPEAKER_01: There's no problem.
13:28
SPEAKER_01: I mean, our body can handle a little bit, but you don't want to feed it constantly that kind of stuff.
13:33
SPEAKER_01: Same thing with your stomach.
13:34
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to be feeding it a lot of fast food, a lot of high carbs, uh sugars, heavy proteins and stuff like that.
13:41
SPEAKER_01: We we need balance, and we need balance for both parts.
13:44
SPEAKER_01: I have I don't I'm not saying to give up all those things that we maybe love and chocolate or ice cream or whatever, but we've got to just limit it and we've got to, you know, I think I look at life as like decades.
13:54
SPEAKER_01: Every decade you've got to kind of readjust the way you live your life.
13:58
SPEAKER_01: So from 0 to 10, that's the first stage of your life, and that's where you're growing the fastest.
14:03
SPEAKER_01: And then 10 to 20, you're building strength, you know, and muscle and power, and 20 to 30, 30 to 40, 40 to 50.
14:12
SPEAKER_01: And it goes along with pain and uh injuries as well.
14:14
SPEAKER_01: I found that every decade my body seems to kind of take a step down if I'm not careful.
14:20
SPEAKER_01: So we've got to work harder as we get older to prevent that from happening, adding things such as yoga or martial arts or dedicating ourselves to more of a routine rather than a haphazard exercise system that we have when we're younger.
14:37
SPEAKER_01: So those are two of the two biggest mistakes I find.
14:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh most people they just overlook the simple things.
14:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's really what it comes down to.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: You've got to fix those things first.
14:49
SPEAKER_01: If you're not fixing those, all the other things will be somewhat cosmetic.
14:56
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
14:58
SPEAKER_00: And I remember, oh, this has been a few weeks ago, I think.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: So I've been following your post on LinkedIn for a while, and we were talking just a couple minutes before I hit record on this.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: And I remember one of the things that you posted about was martial arts.
15:10
SPEAKER_00: And I believe, and I'm I'm so sorry, I don't remember the specific thing, but you posted about your son doing something with martial arts.
15:17
SPEAKER_00: Am I remembering that correct?
15:19
SPEAKER_01: Oh, absolutely, yes.
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
15:21
SPEAKER_00: Could you talk a little bit about what martial arts has done for you and uh how that can help us be more uh creative, more disciplined, and the kind of things that that specific discipline can add to somebody's life?
15:33
SPEAKER_01: Well, I think martial arts are a fabulous way to add discipline to anyone's life, whether you're a child or an adult.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: I got my son into martial arts when he was a kid because I wanted him to be able to protect himself, quite simply.
15:46
SPEAKER_01: I thought he might have trouble in school because he's uh he's got a Japanese mother, and and me as a father, I thought he might have run into some trouble from time to time.
15:55
SPEAKER_01: So I thought it'd be a good uh way to prepare for life by being able to protect himself.
16:01
SPEAKER_01: And we started early, uh so he was four, and I was 38, that's when I got started, 30 years young.
16:08
SPEAKER_01: Um and my belief was that I'm a father first above everything.
16:13
SPEAKER_01: And I think if you do things as a family, the chance for it to stick for children is so much higher.
16:20
SPEAKER_01: Uh you you some children are motivated, but most kids, their focus is all over the place.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: They do things for two weeks and then move on to something else.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
16:29
SPEAKER_01: So I was like, okay, we're gonna do this as a family.
16:31
SPEAKER_01: So my wife also joined, and it's it's regimented.
16:36
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you s it's a two-hour um practice once or twice a week, and you have to bow, you have to show respect.
16:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's all these little things that are intricate.
16:49
SPEAKER_01: And my son uh recently uh earned his black belt.
16:53
SPEAKER_01: It's been six years and a lot of hard work, but he's earned, I guess, 16 or 17 trophies over that time.
17:01
SPEAKER_01: Uh but he made he earned them, I guess, earned them.
17:04
SPEAKER_01: I guess he he got them when he was in before the age of seven, I guess, because after that he actually shifted over to swimming.
17:11
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's now his big focus.
17:13
SPEAKER_01: And the swimming, the his success in swimming has come from the dedication he had or the discipline he got from karate.
17:22
SPEAKER_01: And that's really great.
17:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I think that it not just trains your body physically, uh, but it also trains your mind to focus and also understand what it takes to succeed and how to improve.
17:35
SPEAKER_01: It's great that they have belts for kids, or even adults sometimes.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Uh, here in Japan, some dojos don't do that for adults, but uh the concept that they get like progress, they can feel that they're moving up, they have a test.
17:47
SPEAKER_01: Nowadays, for kids, there's a lot of new age thinking that oh, we shouldn't test people and we gotta have participation trophies and things like that.
17:57
SPEAKER_01: I'm not a huge fan of that belief.
18:00
SPEAKER_01: I think that we have to earn things in life, and I think that's what martial arts really does teach you is that if you work hard, just if you put in the time, eventually you will be rewarded.
18:09
SPEAKER_01: You don't have to be amazing, but it it really teaches you the concept of the compound effect.
18:14
SPEAKER_00: Yes.
18:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh which Einstein talks about as the fourth most powerful uh force in the universe, compound interest, that's what he says.
18:20
unknown: Sorry.
18:21
SPEAKER_01: And at first it feels like you're really doing nothing.
18:24
SPEAKER_01: It's just you know, a few little punches here and there, and your muscles really don't feel any different.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: And you're moving up the ranks, but really you can't really do much.
18:33
SPEAKER_01: And then suddenly, when you hit brown belt, suddenly you start getting a lot more whip, a lot more power, a lot more strength.
18:41
SPEAKER_01: And you know, it all comes together slowly over time, and I think that's a great lesson for anyone who wants to achieve it, succeed at anything, is that if you just put in the time consistently over time, the results will start to come.
18:55
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that is so true.
18:56
SPEAKER_00: I I come from a musical background, and I've taught guitar for probably twenty or twenty-five years.
19:03
SPEAKER_00: And I see that with music students, particularly.
19:06
SPEAKER_00: You know, when you're when you're starting to play guitar, it's hard.
19:09
SPEAKER_00: You know, you're you've got calluses on your fingers, your rhythm may not be so good, and you're you're fighting against the guitar the whole time, and a lot of people just give up because it's not fun right away.
19:19
SPEAKER_00: But then if you stick with it, you know, and there is a sense in which you have to have at least some portion of natural musical gifting to be able to really play it well and and for that to work.
19:30
SPEAKER_00: But boy, it's a lot more hard work than anything.
19:32
SPEAKER_00: It's not just natural talent.
19:33
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, that I think that principle applies to so many different things, including productivity, of course.
19:39
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely, yeah.
19:40
SPEAKER_01: Uh and I mean a guitar is a great example.
19:43
SPEAKER_01: I think musical instrument is as well.
19:45
SPEAKER_01: It takes discipline and time.
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's I've and I've taught you know adults and kids over the years, and it's so fun to teach kids because they're not inhibited like adults are.
19:54
SPEAKER_00: Many times adults will come in and they're sort of embarrassed and they're afraid to put themselves out there.
19:58
SPEAKER_00: But boy kids are just they just aren't afraid to learn and to fall down and make a mistake, and it's so fun to teach them.
20:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, um speaking of embarrassing, when I was 38, I said I started karate with my son, and I was the first um adult in the dojo, and we created kind of a trend after that.
20:19
SPEAKER_01: But uh I remember my first test, everybody in the dojo, I went to another dojo to take the test, and everybody else in the dojo was under the age of twelve.
20:29
SPEAKER_00: Wow.
20:31
SPEAKER_01: I felt like I was Kramer from Seinfeld.
20:33
SPEAKER_01: I don't know if you remember that episode, but oh that's funny.
20:37
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so that was me.
20:38
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully you didn't have hair that was quite as tall as Kramer.
20:41
SPEAKER_01: No, no, no, no.
20:43
SPEAKER_00: That would be hard to beat.
20:44
SPEAKER_00: It's hard to beat the tallness of his hair.
20:47
SPEAKER_00: So something else, and I want to dive into this for just a minute, if we can.
20:50
SPEAKER_00: Something else that you posted on LinkedIn just a couple days ago, as of when we're recording this, is you mentioned the importance of sleep and breathing in a short LinkedIn video that you did, and I was super intrigued by that.
21:01
SPEAKER_00: And I'm wondering if you can expound, you know, as we're talking about sort of the physicality and uh and all that of of productivity and discipline.
21:08
SPEAKER_00: Why are sleep and breathing so important to our productivity?
21:13
SPEAKER_01: Okay, well, let me start off by saying that there are two things in life that we're really not taught how to do, but what we do every day.
21:22
SPEAKER_01: And those things are breathing and listening.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: Any baby can do those things.
21:27
SPEAKER_01: It's 24 hours a day, they're just absorbing things and they're breathing in and out.
21:32
SPEAKER_01: And so because of that, we never give them a second thought.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: We're never taught how to really listen, and we're never taught how to breathe.
21:41
SPEAKER_01: But I learned from Tony Robbins way back when, and I think it was get uh for I forgot what program it was.
21:50
SPEAKER_01: I apologize.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: I shouldn't know.
21:52
SPEAKER_01: Um anyway, he talked about how you could implement a different form of breathing, and I thought, what's he on about?
21:59
unknown: But
22:00
SPEAKER_01: I gave it a shot and I was like, wow, that really gave me like that that really had some impact.
22:06
SPEAKER_01: I really felt energized.
22:07
SPEAKER_01: And more recently, I've heard Brendan Breshard talk about it.
22:10
SPEAKER_01: Of course, now you've got all these apps, uh, breathing exercises.
22:14
SPEAKER_01: If you've got yoga that's taken off all over the world, and that has a lot to do with breathing.
22:18
SPEAKER_01: Karate has breathing in it.
22:20
SPEAKER_01: There's we we breathe naturally, yes, but there's another form of breathing where we can energize ourselves, where we can relax ourselves.
22:29
SPEAKER_01: And so one is about uh slowing our pace down, taking deeper breaths and holding it and releasing it, and the other one is speeding our breathing up.
22:38
SPEAKER_01: Not hyperventilating, but I believe Brendan Bichard calls it breath scales.
22:43
SPEAKER_01: And if you probably research that, you can find it.
22:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh there's a great book uh written by a guy who did a TED talk.
22:50
SPEAKER_01: I'm sorry you'd have to reckon his name.
22:52
SPEAKER_01: I can't think of it off offhand.
22:54
SPEAKER_01: But that goes into the concept of breathing, and um yeah, uh it's surprising how effective it is at changing your state just quickly, and it can give you a boost or it can give you a little bit of relaxation.
23:07
SPEAKER_01: So highly recommend you check that out.
23:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh the other aspect oh, sorry, go ahead.
23:11
SPEAKER_00: Oh, I was just gonna say that yeah, I remember Tony Robbins talking about that.
23:15
SPEAKER_00: I uh maybe it was an article or a video of his I saw somewhere, probably on YouTube.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: You know, we're talking about YouTube.
23:22
SPEAKER_00: But I remember him talking about this routine that he goes through every morning, and I hope I'm not getting the details of this mixed up, I probably am.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: But it was, I think, three sets of ten deep breaths.
23:32
SPEAKER_00: I don't remember if it was nose breathing or some other type of thing, but I do remember him talking about that.
23:36
SPEAKER_00: And so I'll have to go back and see what that was all about because it was really fascinating.
23:41
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, there's a few different ways to do it.
23:43
SPEAKER_01: I mean, different people have different suggestions, but you know, find what works for you and uh just give it a shot.
23:49
SPEAKER_01: I definitely think it's something people should look at least look into if they're serious about taking control of their uh mind and body and trying to be more productive.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh the other aspect uh I talked about is sleeping, and it's something that a lot of people overlook.
24:04
SPEAKER_01: Too many people try and shortchange themselves by cutting back on their sleep.
24:08
SPEAKER_01: Uh now, when you're in your 20s, yeah, you might be able to get away with it somewhat, but as we get older, we're gonna struggle.
24:16
SPEAKER_01: Uh most of us can't do it.
24:17
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, sure, there are some people who have an amazing ability to just sleep on, to be very productive on four hours of sleep.
24:24
SPEAKER_01: That's not me, and I don't think that's most people.
24:26
SPEAKER_01: The average person, right?
24:28
SPEAKER_01: You're gonna need seven to eight hours a night.
24:31
SPEAKER_01: That's really what our body demands.
24:34
SPEAKER_01: I found that we can get away with it for so long, but eventually our body will suffer.
24:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh, your body will send out warning signals and alarms, such as back pain or neck pain, and it's maybe your body saying, Hey, I need a little bit more rest here, and yet we think, hey, I just, oh man, I've just got a stiff neck or something like that.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: No, maybe you're just punishing your body.
24:58
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people put their body through so much you know, constant rigors of daily life, uh slouching and just pushing their body to the edge, and they're not rewarding their body enough.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: One of the things I love here in Japan is that nearly everybody has a bath in their house, and they have the system where it's automatically all set up so that you can just set the temperature that you want and it will keep the same temperature for as long as you want it to.
25:24
SPEAKER_01: And it's a way of me rewarding my body each and every day.
25:28
SPEAKER_01: And I love to take a bath before I go to sleep, and it just helps me sleep that much deeper.
25:33
SPEAKER_01: And uh I think a lot of people need to take a look at uh their sleeping habits and really evaluate are they able to perform at a high level?
25:45
SPEAKER_01: And I I think most of people will honestly say no.
25:49
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and if they get more sleep, I think they'll find that that's a chain, that that will change.
25:53
SPEAKER_00: So, what is it like there in Japan with with caffeine?
25:57
SPEAKER_00: You know, of course in America people are addicted to caffeine, and you know, particularly with energy drinks and you know, coffee, and you can have you know 12 shots of espresso in your Starbucks drink.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: And I actually heard my my niece works at Starbucks, and I asked her one time what was the craziest amount of espresso shots a customer had had in their drink, and she said, I think she said 12, which to me is insane.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: But in Japan, is it is it that same kind of cultural sort of obsession with caffeine, or is it not quite the same?
26:28
SPEAKER_01: Nowhere near the same.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: Okay.
26:29
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
26:30
SPEAKER_01: That's good.
26:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh I mean we they love their Starbucks, of course.
26:33
SPEAKER_01: Uh people do like coffee.
26:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh it's kind of an after-lunch drink or during work drink, uh, like everywhere else in the world, pretty much.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: But Japan, Japanese people drink a lot of Japanese tea.
26:45
SPEAKER_01: They drink a lot of Udon tea, they drink a lot of water.
26:48
SPEAKER_01: It's a much healthier environment.
26:50
SPEAKER_01: I mean, just going to Costco here versus Costco in American, you can see the difference of sugar.
26:55
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I remember when I went to Costco two years ago in the States, I was amazed because the first eight rows were dedicated to sweets and junk food, and then another four rows were dedicated to soda as well.
27:09
SPEAKER_01: So that's 12 rows basically that consisted of a lot of sugar.
27:13
SPEAKER_01: I mean 80 to 90% of sugar.
27:15
SPEAKER_01: Whereas in Japan, when I went to Costco, you get maybe three rows.
27:19
SPEAKER_01: So that's you know, one one-fourth.
27:21
SPEAKER_01: That's I think uh a good way of looking at it.
27:25
SPEAKER_00: So in this show, we have a lot of people who are in creative industries, a lot of artistic types listening to this.
27:32
SPEAKER_00: Something that I hear many times from and I'm just gonna put the term creative types out there, even though that's kind of a derogatory term a little bit, and that's not what I mean, but that's the best term I can think of at the moment.
27:43
SPEAKER_00: A lot of times creative types you know hear things like this and they feel they have this response that is, I don't want to be constrained by schedules, by all these sort of rules, and living with all this discipline.
27:54
SPEAKER_00: I want to have freedom in my life.
27:56
SPEAKER_00: But you're saying that actually that's the opposite, where if you want freedom, you've got to abide by the rules.
28:02
SPEAKER_00: So what would you say to all the people listening to this who they don't want to be constrained or pinned down by all these kind of rules about how to live and you know time management and productivity?
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Um anything that you would say to them?
28:16
SPEAKER_01: Well, I've heard this a lot over the years, and being a creative myself, I understand not wanting to get tied down.
28:21
SPEAKER_01: But here's the thing: I mean, you've got to find a system that works for you.
28:26
SPEAKER_01: Uh there are a lot of different systems out there, and a lot of them won't work for you, I get it, but you've got to find one that that appeals to your needs and works for your lifestyle.
28:38
SPEAKER_01: My system was designed with the average person in mind, and more specifically, I guess, the creative person in mind.
28:44
SPEAKER_01: I called it the one-byte time management system because I didn't want people to have to eat the whole thing in one go to be able to get value from it.
28:53
SPEAKER_01: A lot of programs I find out there ask people to dedicate one month of their life learning all these techniques and strategies and implementing all these big changes in their lives.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: Well, humans are almost, especially adults, are kind of predisposed to not wanting to change.
29:11
SPEAKER_01: They like the way their life is.
29:13
SPEAKER_01: They just want to find ways to make their life effective as is.
29:18
SPEAKER_01: That's what they struggle with.
29:19
SPEAKER_01: They they think they want to keep what they've got, but they just want to find the little ways to make it as productive as possible.
29:25
SPEAKER_01: So very few people are willing to put in all the time and energy to make the huge changes that a lot of programs ask them to do.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh, one of my friends, he bought a program that was, I think,$500 or$1,000, I forget which.
29:39
SPEAKER_01: And he started it and he quit after a day.
29:43
SPEAKER_01: And the reason was the amount of time involved that he that he would have to invest in it.
29:47
SPEAKER_01: So he wanted to become good at time, wanted to control his time, wanted to get better at maximizing what time he had, but the amount of time that this program asked of him was just too much of a commitment.
29:58
SPEAKER_00: That's kind of ironic.
29:59
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, a huge irony there.
30:02
SPEAKER_01: And there's a lot of programs out there that demand people really uh change a lot of their scheduling and this and that.
30:09
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people just don't really want to do that.
30:12
SPEAKER_01: It's just especially creative types, they they don't really want all that, they don't want to get locked down.
30:19
SPEAKER_01: And so I I I think of it like this uh I don't want to have people get indigestion from eating everything.
30:28
SPEAKER_01: If you eat a big meal, you're gonna feel sick and whatever.
30:30
SPEAKER_01: I want people to take small little bites that have good results and that get them some energy quickly.
30:37
SPEAKER_01: Um, you see, once you start getting momentum, and I think that's the real key in nearly anything in life, is once you get the momentum going, it's easy to then make other changes, but you've got to get start small.
30:47
SPEAKER_01: People don't they they they resist change on a big scale, but small changes they're willing to start with.
30:53
SPEAKER_01: And so that was that was my thinking going in.
30:56
SPEAKER_01: And so I in my system, I think I have 57 different strategies, tips, and quote unquote secrets to taking control of their life and be more productive.
31:07
SPEAKER_01: But you have by no means need to implement them all, and you don't even need to do them in order.
31:11
SPEAKER_01: Just pick one that seems to appeal to you or that you think is appropriate for your lifestyle and just give it a shot.
31:19
SPEAKER_01: If it works, great, stick with it.
31:20
SPEAKER_01: If it doesn't, throw it out and just pick another one.
31:23
SPEAKER_01: But that's the way I view it.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: I think that if you work with my system, for example, to begin with, then later on they might be able to go to some of these other programs and also implement that those ideas as well.
31:35
SPEAKER_01: Uh but you know they might not need to do that because they'll already have enough extra time on their hands.
31:40
SPEAKER_00: See, I love that that approach that you're taking of something small, something that is doable.
31:46
SPEAKER_00: And boy, I couldn't tell you, and maybe you've done this too, and I know many people who who have as well, where you buy a program, you buy a course or a system or something, you do a little bit of it, you know, as you mentioned with your friend, and then you kind of abandon it because it's too much change of wants.
32:01
SPEAKER_00: So I love this idea of I'm just gonna do one small thing, sort of conquer that, then conquer the next thing and the next thing, and so forth.
32:08
SPEAKER_00: That's genius.
32:10
SPEAKER_01: Well, as I said, it all goes back to my time teaching in English uh to students here in Japan, and I thought if people could just master this one little section and it's really not that difficult, then we can move on.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: But they want to learn the next step or the next stage, and then they haven't mastered the fundamentals yet, so they're not gonna get very far because they're gonna have to come back to it later and they'll be more frustrated.
32:33
SPEAKER_01: So yeah.
32:34
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, start small, keep it small, keep it simple.
32:37
SPEAKER_00: So if you had to pick one one single habit that has really changed your life over the past few years and is perhaps changing your life now, is there one thing that you could identify that, man, this this and of course it's not going to be one single thing I realize, but is there one single thing that you feel like right now in your life has really made a big difference?
32:58
SPEAKER_01: Well, I learned something uh early on in my life.
33:01
SPEAKER_01: It was taught to me by my mentor, and we were talking about uh his business and it was growing, and he said, Adrian, you know, people are really lazy.
33:13
SPEAKER_01: Now, I mean, I got that when I was in school, in high school, you know, we're we're all a little bit lazy, we're you know, master procrastinators, but I thought that once people got into the real world, once they started working, that people would take things seriously.
33:26
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it's their life, it's their future, it's their dreams, their goals, their hopes.
33:30
SPEAKER_01: But he said, no, no, no, Adrian, he goes, people are really lazy.
33:33
SPEAKER_01: And I was really young at the time, so I just was like, huh.
33:38
SPEAKER_01: But it stuck with me.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: I could never forget it.
33:40
SPEAKER_01: Because he told me this story, and he said that back in the 90s, he said to people, if they needed his help, he said, sure, I'm happy to help, just send me a fax.
33:48
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Adrian, 90% of people won't even bother to send a fax.
33:53
SPEAKER_01: I mean, it was troublesome for them.
33:55
SPEAKER_01: So they would actually do it on their own.
33:58
SPEAKER_01: So that stuck with me.
33:59
SPEAKER_01: And uh later on, uh, I started implementing my email rule, which was when any time somebody asked me to do something for them, uh, whether it was on a phone call or a quick text, they said, you know, Adrian, I need your help.
34:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm like, sure, what do you need?
34:14
SPEAKER_01: And they said, I I I need you to just do this.
34:16
SPEAKER_01: And they often use words like just.
34:18
SPEAKER_01: Can you just do this?
34:20
SPEAKER_00: Just yeah.
34:22
SPEAKER_01: Um, and I would say, sure, I'm happy to help.
34:26
SPEAKER_01: Could you just send me an email and explain exactly what you need me to do?
34:31
SPEAKER_01: And again, they would come back with, Oh, Adrian, it's not that big a deal, it's really simple.
34:35
SPEAKER_01: I can tell you right now.
34:38
SPEAKER_01: Um but right now I'm doing something, so just to be sure, uh, could you just send me an email and I'll get to it a little bit later.
34:45
SPEAKER_01: I'm happy to help, I'm happy to do it, just send me an email.
34:48
SPEAKER_01: And I was amazed because as my mentor said, 90% of people couldn't be bothered.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
34:56
SPEAKER_00: That's really amazing.
34:58
SPEAKER_01: And I think it's to do with this concept, first of all, they know it's not just something.
35:03
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, they know it's much more intricate or detailed or complicated, and it's gonna take a lot more time.
35:10
SPEAKER_01: And by having to write it down, people are gonna say no.
35:14
SPEAKER_01: That's the first thing.
35:15
SPEAKER_01: And the other thing is by putting it down on uh or on paper per se, you know, email, whatever, it's in black and white.
35:22
SPEAKER_01: So that way, if I go ahead and do the task that they asked me to do, and they say, hey, that's not what I wanted, it's that hey, that's what you sent me.
35:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, yeah.
35:30
SPEAKER_01: And it's like, hey, I can I've got now proof that that is not what you told me to do, and you were not you did not clarify that.
35:38
SPEAKER_01: So how can I be blamed for that?
35:40
SPEAKER_01: So it gives me a way out, and I think it it also prevents them from having to ask because they know that they're gonna have to explain a lot in detail what they really want, and yeah.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: Um, so that has been that was a life changer for me.
35:54
SPEAKER_01: I've used it ever since.
35:55
SPEAKER_01: So I mean, if anybody ever contacts me and I always say, hey, just uh send me an email.
36:00
SPEAKER_01: And guess what?
36:01
SPEAKER_01: Those emails don't come.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: That is a genius idea.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna start using that.
36:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm totally gonna steal that.
36:07
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, please do.
36:09
SPEAKER_01: It's it it sounds really bad to say that.
36:11
SPEAKER_01: That I said earlier that all people are lying to a certain extent and people are lazy 90% of the time.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: But unfortunately, it's just it's just part of human nature, I guess.
36:20
SPEAKER_01: You know, we want the easy things and uh we're not willing to admit sometimes the truth.
36:26
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that is so true.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: But it's funny because that one little act of putting something in an email that may take five minutes or so, that that one thing really gives you an indication of in a way the whole person, because if they're not willing to do that one tiny thing that could that you know, that that tiny lever could move mountains potentially.
36:49
SPEAKER_00: If they're not willing to do that, then that that's a form of laziness, really.
36:53
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
36:54
SPEAKER_01: And as you said, it it takes just five minutes.
36:56
SPEAKER_01: That's all it takes, but they're not willing to do it.
36:59
SPEAKER_01: And if they're not willing to do that, I mean can you imagine what else they're not willing to do?
37:03
SPEAKER_01: It it's it's quite shocking.
37:05
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it really is.
37:06
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, it it it just it just allows you to control your time better.
37:11
SPEAKER_01: I I like to say yes, I like to help people, that's my thing.
37:14
SPEAKER_01: I I love sharing my ideas and helping kids and helping adults alike.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I don't I just like seeing people progress and to it achieve.
37:24
SPEAKER_01: It's just so exciting for me, but I just don't want my time to be wasted.
37:29
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, you know, I've noticed something interesting.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Um I talk with a lot of friends about writing, and uh.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: Most of the people s who are sort of in my circle in my everyday life know that I love writing and I love to help writers and so forth.
37:41
SPEAKER_00: And it's been really interesting because I've noticed the past uh six months, six or twelve months that many times somebody will come to me for advice on, hey, how do I get started writing my first book?
37:51
SPEAKER_00: How do I do self-publishing?
37:52
SPEAKER_00: How do I set up a blog or whatever it is?
37:54
SPEAKER_00: And I'll say, hey, okay, here's the steps you need to do.
37:57
SPEAKER_00: Uh I would love to help you because I that brings me a lot of joy to help people with that.
38:02
SPEAKER_00: But here's the first thing you need to do.
38:04
SPEAKER_00: And it's funny because most people don't ever do what I told them to do.
38:07
SPEAKER_00: And it could be something very simple.
38:09
SPEAKER_00: But in my mind, it you know, just like you said, it separates the people who are serious from the people who thought it would be easier than it actually is.
38:17
SPEAKER_00: And um, that's that's a great lesson for all of us.
38:20
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, well, I hope you you test it out.
38:22
SPEAKER_01: I mean, I think you'll find uh quite an amazing uh change in your life or shift.
38:27
SPEAKER_00: Well, as we start to wind this down, let me ask you uh a couple more super quick questions.
38:32
SPEAKER_00: If you had to give someone just two or three things that they could start implementing immediately in their life, or even just one specific thing perhaps, that could increase their productivity, what would those super practical things be?
38:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think the the first one is the Ivy Lee secret, which I think everybody's familiar with, uh, although they might not know who Ivy Lee is.
38:52
SPEAKER_01: He's basically a man who went to see, I think it was uh Andrew Carnegie uh back in the early 1900s.
38:58
SPEAKER_01: I could be wrong about that.
38:59
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it's not Carnegie, but anyway, uh a famous person uh back in the day, and he said, uh I've got this technique and I'm gonna give it to you for free, and if you find value in it, uh could you pay me what you think it was worth?
39:12
SPEAKER_01: And a few weeks later he was given a check for$25,000.
39:16
SPEAKER_01: That's how valuable it was.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: And this isn't in early 1900s, so that's quite valuable.
39:21
SPEAKER_00: That's a lot more today.
39:22
SPEAKER_01: Right, right.
39:23
SPEAKER_01: The secret is this, it's just work from a list.
39:25
SPEAKER_01: And I'm talking a physical list that you actually write down.
39:28
SPEAKER_01: If it's better than just putting it in your iPhone.
39:30
SPEAKER_01: Now, it's still okay, but a lot of people don't even do that.
39:33
SPEAKER_01: They don't even bother putting it on their iPhone, and so they work from their memory.
39:37
SPEAKER_01: It's like me going to the supermarket with when my wife asks me to pick something up for her.
39:42
SPEAKER_01: I uh she tells me what she wants, and I'm like, okay, sure, sure, sure.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: I get there.
39:46
SPEAKER_01: It's two items, I've forgotten one.
39:48
SPEAKER_01: Two, two items.
39:50
SPEAKER_01: You know, our brain is constantly bombarded with information.
39:55
SPEAKER_01: We can't keep it all up in our heads.
39:58
SPEAKER_01: What we've got to do is we've got to get it on paper and and stick with it.
40:04
SPEAKER_01: Um, Ivy Lee's secret is you write down everything that you need to get done the next day.
40:09
SPEAKER_01: This isn't a nutshell.
40:10
SPEAKER_01: Uh uh basically organize it in order of importance and then focus on the top three things.
40:16
SPEAKER_01: In fact, start with the first thing and work through it until you get it done, and then start on number two.
40:21
SPEAKER_01: A lot of people just jump around from number one to number ten to number you know, XYZ that they didn't have on the list.
40:30
SPEAKER_01: And so they get pulled, they let actually the winds of change, emails and telephone calls, dictate their lives rather than working from their goals of the day.
40:42
SPEAKER_01: And a lot of people like to play hero, they like to be the guy that solves all the tr all the problems.
40:49
SPEAKER_01: But for anybody who's a high-level executive, for example, uh, that's not gonna fly.
40:54
SPEAKER_01: I mean, they've got their tasks at hand that they really need to do, and unless it's an absolute emergency, they they really need to focus on what they have at hand.
41:01
SPEAKER_01: And I think everyone needs to do that.
41:03
SPEAKER_01: So that's the first thing.
41:05
SPEAKER_01: Uh and the other thing I would say is start saying no a whole lot more.
41:09
SPEAKER_01: Uh just start saying no to hanging out with friends.
41:12
SPEAKER_01: I'm not saying completely ignore them, I'm saying just reduce it.
41:17
SPEAKER_01: Uh if you want to find some free time, uh stop going out partying or drinking or hanging out.
41:24
SPEAKER_01: Just you know, reduce it by one time a week, maybe.
41:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh let's say you go out to lunch with your friends six times a week, for example, you reduce it by one, five times.
41:33
SPEAKER_01: And that that one extra time, use it for something else, something productive.
41:37
SPEAKER_01: Uh say no to, I don't know, uh, what else?
41:41
SPEAKER_01: Uh let's say you play video games instead of you do it every day, again, six days a week instead of seven.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: You start by saying no just a little bit here and there, uh, to people, to actions, to events, and just focus more on the things that you really want to do, and then give yourself a little bit more open space that allows you to use that time more wisely.
42:04
SPEAKER_00: It's almost like you have to switch your default answer in life from yes to no.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
42:09
SPEAKER_01: And I mean, it's pretty hard because we've been taught to say yes a whole lot uh growing up.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: You know, no is is looked down upon.
42:17
SPEAKER_01: I mean, one client uh contacted me and said, Um, hey Adrian, I'd like to introduce you to a friend of mine.
42:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh, why don't we have dinner sometime?
42:25
SPEAKER_01: And I said, uh, oh, okay, let's see if we can work it out.
42:28
SPEAKER_01: And he said, Well, why why don't we do it?
42:30
SPEAKER_01: I said, Well, okay, well, let's see.
42:32
SPEAKER_01: Uh, I I can't promise right now.
42:33
SPEAKER_01: And they said, why not?
42:35
SPEAKER_01: I was like, what do you mean, why not?
42:37
SPEAKER_01: It's because I don't want to say yes and commit myself to something that I don't really know what it's about yet.
42:44
SPEAKER_01: I don't know who this person is.
42:46
SPEAKER_01: And I I have other things on my plate.
42:48
SPEAKER_01: And by saying yes to you, I have to take one of those things on my plate off.
42:52
SPEAKER_01: So I don't want to overcommit myself right up front.
42:55
SPEAKER_01: What I want to do is say potential yes, maybe let's see, and then I I put them all on let's say a whiteboard or a piece of paper and look at what I've got coming up and go, okay, well, I'd like to do this, but that can conflicts with this, which is a more important priority.
43:12
SPEAKER_01: But if I've already said yes, then I'm stuck.
43:16
SPEAKER_01: It's hard to weasel out.
43:18
SPEAKER_01: So that's you've really got to say, yeah, if things work out, I'm happy to do it.
43:23
SPEAKER_01: Uh just I have to just check something first.
43:25
SPEAKER_01: I need to confirm.
43:26
SPEAKER_01: And then you just give yourself a little leeway uh without you know letting your mouth uh you know overload your your your back, really.
43:35
SPEAKER_00: Boy, that is true.
43:36
SPEAKER_00: And it's so hard to say no right there in the moment when you're in that conversation, and it's almost like that's a that's a huge test of your mettle of just you know, do we have the courage to say no to somebody right there in the conversation?
43:50
SPEAKER_00: That's one of those little tests, I guess.
43:53
SPEAKER_01: It is.
43:54
SPEAKER_01: And I think that uh all these things we've been talking about today, uh taking care of your body, taking care of your mind, I mean, these are all little tests.
44:00
SPEAKER_01: I think that we're given constant tests over our lives and we either pass or fail.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: And in time we'll find out.
44:08
SPEAKER_00: Well, Adrian, thanks so much for being on the show today.
44:11
SPEAKER_00: You have given me a lot of stuff to think about.
44:13
SPEAKER_00: And you know, every time I record an interview, I of course go back and edit it and I listen to it uh again a time or two.
44:20
SPEAKER_00: This is one of those that I'm gonna have to listen to several times to to get all of the nuggets out of it because wow, this is this is great stuff.
44:28
SPEAKER_00: I really appreciate you taking time to do this.
44:30
SPEAKER_01: Oh, it's been my pleasure, Kent.
44:32
SPEAKER_01: I really appreciate you taking the time out of your schedule to let me be on your podcast.
44:35
SPEAKER_01: So thank you.
44:36
SPEAKER_00: How can our listeners connect with you and your work?
44:39
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think the two best ways nowadays are to just either find me on LinkedIn.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: Uh I think it's uh on LinkedIn I succeed book.
44:49
SPEAKER_01: It's my company page, and that's where I post uh my videos and uh things.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: I I'm focusing more over there than on Facebook these days.
44:56
SPEAKER_01: Facebook is just more casual.
44:58
SPEAKER_01: Um however, you can add me on Facebook, it's Adrian Shepherd.
45:02
SPEAKER_01: Uh that's S-H-E-P-H-E-R-D Japan.
45:06
SPEAKER_01: Uh so Facebook.com slash Adrian Shepherd Japan.
45:10
SPEAKER_01: And um and if you reach out to me, I'm pretty easy to get in touch with.
45:15
SPEAKER_01: Oh, and of course my website, which is www.adrianshepherd.com.
45:19
SPEAKER_01: Uh you can also check out my older website that I don't really focus on these days, but it's still up there.
45:25
SPEAKER_01: And it's got a lot of great articles, older articles that you could check out, which is www.isucceedbook.com.
45:31
SPEAKER_01: Uh so either way, uh, you can find out my contact information through there.
45:36
SPEAKER_01: And uh, I'm always happy to talk to or uh interact with people if they reach out to me.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: So I hope they do.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: Very good.
45:44
SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks again for doing this.
45:45
SPEAKER_00: You've added a ton of value to our listeners, and uh I'm looking forward to connecting again in the future.
45:50
SPEAKER_01: Sounds good, Ken.
45:51
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: Hey, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Adrian Shepherd.
46:00
SPEAKER_00: If you listen to if you've listened to, hey, I hope you enjoyed my conversation with Adrian Shepherd.
46:05
SPEAKER_00: If you've listened to any of these interviews before, you know that I always share three takeaways at the end of the interview.
46:10
SPEAKER_00: And today's no exception.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: These are three things that I'm going to start implementing immediately and that you can implement as well.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: So let's dive in.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: Key takeaway number one is understand how valuable your time is.
46:23
SPEAKER_00: I really loved Adrian's observation that younger people tend to undervalue their time while older people realize the great value of their time, obviously because they have less of it.
46:33
SPEAKER_00: This was a really powerful reminder that our time on Earth is limited.
46:37
SPEAKER_00: And for you and for me and for any other humans, you know, all throughout history and any humans that will come after us, our time will come to an end.
46:46
SPEAKER_00: We have a limited amount of it.
46:47
SPEAKER_00: So we've got to understand how valuable that time is.
46:51
SPEAKER_00: And for me, this isn't just a productivity issue or an issue of just getting more stuff done.
46:55
SPEAKER_00: It's also a spiritual issue.
46:58
SPEAKER_00: I believe that we are stewards of the time and of the creative gifts that God has given to us.
47:03
SPEAKER_00: Our lives are not just about us, they're also about the families we're supposed to be leading, the people we're supposed to be serving, and ultimately, you know, and not to be grandiose or dramatic about it, but it's about the whole human race because we are one person, you know, among billions of people.
47:20
SPEAKER_00: So it's not just about me, it's not just about you, it's also about everybody else who we're supposed to be serving, leading, and creating art for.
47:27
SPEAKER_00: So number one is understand how valuable your time is.
47:30
SPEAKER_00: Number two, implement Adrian's email rule.
47:34
SPEAKER_00: Now Adrian mentioned this really cool principle that he uses, and I thought this was genius, and I think I mentioned in the interview that I'm going to start stealing this immediately, and I hope he doesn't mind.
47:43
SPEAKER_00: But Adrian mentioned that when somebody asks him to do something, he simply requests that they send him an email to put their request in writing.
47:51
SPEAKER_00: And surprisingly, not everybody does that.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: Why?
47:55
SPEAKER_00: It's because many people simply don't want to go through the extra effort of sending a simple email to put their request in writing.
48:01
SPEAKER_00: And that shows that they are either number one, disorganized, or number two, not really as serious about their requests.
48:08
SPEAKER_00: I really love this idea and I'm going to start using this immediately.
48:11
SPEAKER_00: So if you ask me to do something, you can believe that I'm probably going to ask you to put it in writing and shoot me an email.
48:19
SPEAKER_00: Number three is use the Ivy Lee secret to get more done.
48:23
SPEAKER_00: So the Ivy Lee secret goes something like this write down everything you need to get done the next day, organize it in order of importance, and get each item done before you move on to the next item.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: So that sounds really, really simple, almost too simple, but yet it's so simple that it actually works.
48:41
SPEAKER_00: This comes down to simply being intentional with our time.
48:44
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know how you operate, you know, as far as your mindset when you're interacting with other people, maybe in an office or people that you're working with in a group or something like that, but I know that my tendency is to want to be the hero.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: Whenever somebody asks me to do something, you know, hey Ken, can you do this or can you fix this problem or I have this issue or whatever, there's a part of me that wants to rush in and to be the hero so that I can get that little emotional boost of feeling like I rescue the day or something like that.
49:12
SPEAKER_00: And I don't know if that's your tendency too, but I have the tendency to want to just put out the fire and you know get that boost from solving something immediately.
49:21
SPEAKER_00: However, instead of just being reactive to everybody else's problems and situations, we should be more intentional and purposeful in our use of time.
49:30
SPEAKER_00: And the most successful and productive people work from a written list of priorities and they focus on those tasks and projects until they are done.
49:38
SPEAKER_00: In other words, they don't just react and respond to everybody else.
49:41
SPEAKER_00: They're intentional about their use of time.
49:43
SPEAKER_00: Now that doesn't mean that we shouldn't help people out when they have a crisis or a need.
49:48
SPEAKER_00: It just means that we've got to be more intentional and thoughtful and purposeful with how we're using our time.
49:53
SPEAKER_00: And with this point, especially, I'm pretty much preaching to myself.
49:56
SPEAKER_00: Now I've got a bonus tip for you because Adrian shared lots and lots of good things, and it was really hard to boil it down to just three things, so I threw this one in there as well.
50:05
SPEAKER_00: The bonus tip is to say no more often.
50:09
SPEAKER_00: So this little two-letter word, no, is extremely powerful, yet so often we're afraid to use it.
50:16
SPEAKER_00: And that's simply because we don't want to disappoint others.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: Maybe we're afraid of conflict, maybe we just want to be liked by everybody.
50:23
SPEAKER_00: So instead of saying no to somebody, we let everybody else determine our priorities.
50:28
SPEAKER_00: We say yes to everything, we end up overextended, overcommitted, frustrated, or maybe even burned out, and we don't get to the things that are important to us.
50:36
SPEAKER_00: And all those things don't help us to actually exercise our creative gifts or be more productive.
50:42
SPEAKER_00: So instead of saying yes to everything, instead switch your default answer to no.
50:47
SPEAKER_00: That's a radical change in mindset, but I've been practicing that more the last couple of years, and it's it's really kind of a powerful principle.
50:55
SPEAKER_00: Just to just assume that your answer to everything and everybody is going to be no, and then you can switch it to yes when you need to, but if your default answer is always no, it just makes it a lot easier.
51:05
SPEAKER_00: So be bold, be purposeful, be intentional with your time, and say no more often.
51:11
SPEAKER_00: Again, this is something I am trying to practice more in my life.
51:14
SPEAKER_00: It's not easy, but I encourage all of us who want to be more productive and creative to think about these things.
51:20
SPEAKER_00: Well, hey friends, that wraps up this episode of the Born to Create Podcast.
51:23
SPEAKER_00: I really want to thank Adrian for taking the time out of his very busy schedule to share this amazing conversation.
51:29
SPEAKER_00: You can find the show notes at KentSanders.net slash productivity.
51:34
SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave a rating and a review on Apple Podcasts.
51:39
SPEAKER_00: It only takes a couple seconds and it helps other people to discover the show.
51:43
SPEAKER_00: You can do that by going to KentSanders.net slash Apple.
51:47
SPEAKER_00: And finally, if you enjoyed this episode, please think about sharing it with a friend or family member who you think would enjoy it as well.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: You can find lots of more resources to help you unlock your creative potential at KentSanders.net.
52:00
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, remember that you were born to create and designed to make a difference.
52:05
SPEAKER_00: Now go create something awesome.