Hi, Jeff. Hey, Michael,
how's it going? Hey, it's been quite a while. Like we've talked like many, many
years ago. And we just, you know, on the backstage, we just talked that, you know,
before you had kids, right? That's right. And now your kids are ages. Six and
three. Exactly. Yeah, because "Yeah, 'cause we done like seven, eight years ago."
Exactly, so I remember watching on Instagram like your kids show up, so it was so
great. So congratulations, and also to your lovely wife, Tessa. I'm so happy that
you got to be a dad and you get to be a dad, so how has it been with,
but you still kept podcasting. The Five AM, so Jeff is the host of
How is, yeah, how is the podcast for a miracle and how is waking up at 5 a .m.
So the podcast is alive and well. I've done that every week for 11 years. And so
that has not stopped, which I've had, that's been the, like the real drum beat for
me is to keep doing the show no matter what that I've really enjoyed that part of
it. As far as waking up at 5 a .m. that has shifted a little bit only because if
I it up too early, it wakes up my kids and then my wife gets upset and then
everything is off. So I shift, I adjust my schedule to match the family,
which works out pretty well for most people. It's just, there's always a give and
take on all of that stuff to figure it out, but it's worked out pretty well. Yeah,
exactly. Because this is really important that, you know, some routines that have
helped you, that have, you know, that have been good for you later, they have to
be adjusted because you know, you have to accommodate the family and everybody else,
especially that you still work from your home, right? But you still have your home
studio, right? Yes. This is my home studio here where I work every day. And so
whatever my kids are up to in my house affects what I do for my job and my life.
So it's, it's all connected in a very strong way. Exactly. Exactly. And apart from
that, I mean, from the podcast, You've published two books, "Five Miracle," and the
other one was "The Freetime Formula," as far as I remember. Yes, I got both. So
apart from that, who would have even been up to, apart from the podcast and
speaking, right? - Yeah, public speaking has been my bigger shift in the last,
probably year and a half. And so that's been kind of the main driver for me now
is moving in that direction. I've really enjoyed podcasting as the was the primary
thing mostly during the pandemic. That was a, you know, working virtually that helped
a lot. But I've been trying the last couple of years to get out of the house
more, go see people again, face to face. And that part of it has been really
fantastic. I just, I really enjoy being in front of crowds and interacting with
people. And so the, you know, the chance to share whatever I discuss, face to face,
you get a response that I don't get from a podcast. Talking to my wall doesn't do
me any good most of the time. - Yes, that's true. - So, you know. - That's true.
But it still holds true to something that I remember we talked about like many,
many years ago, is that now because I am still listening, not every show, but like
I'm still listening to your podcast and so I'm hearing you quite regularly. So it's
like your voice is still And for it to be, it's like, you know, I started
speaking, I like, yeah, yeah, I know this guy. Yeah. And then same, I followed you
online for years as well. So it's not as if we don't know each other. I think we
still do. Exactly. Exactly. So, um, and as a,
you know, as a one person, because so you're basically one, just still a
solopreneur, a one person shop, right? Yeah, I am. Yeah. And do you have like a, a
set up of some like assistants or some, assistance or some things like some people
who are subcontracted or help you out or you're just basically doing everything
alone. So yes and no, I have used people in the past with that, but mostly what I
do now is I use agencies to do certain sales aspects of things I work with,
whether it's podcast ads, speaking gigs. So I will leverage other teams kind of on
an as needed basis, mostly. So I do my best to make sure that I'm doing the
primary work, but if I can get assistance from someone else, I will kind of pick
and choose when that happens, but there's no full -time staff in that sense. Perfect.
Okay, so Jeff, as solopreneur, as I remember him and as successful as can be,
so fantastic. Jeff, so tell me, then what are the parts of the business that you
think you should be focusing on more and then you're wasting time on? Like, Is
there anything that, you know, like, how is productivity in that sense? What are you
like susceptible to, you know, procrastinating or maybe wasting time on? Like, what
are these things? - I have a lot of them. So as a guy who I value productivity,
I value your checking boxes and getting things done. And that's been my focus for
years, but that also lends me to wanting to do everything that I see. And so as a
solopreneur, I kind of embodied that too much to where if something needs to get
done, I feel the need to do it myself and do it all the time. And so I'll end
up spending hours and hours on website, tinkering, HTML, coding for no reason.
Like I'll just mess with graphics. I'll make a new artwork. I just, there's no
reason for me to spend time on these kind of tiny details and then miss the bigger
picture, like doing sales and getting clients and the big work that really moves the
needle. And so my biggest challenge is not distracting myself with all of these kind
of shiny objects that I spend time on. In part 'cause I'm good at them or I enjoy
them, but that doesn't mean they're effective or necessary or even like need to ever
happen. And so a big part, my second book, the free time formula, I talk about
this concept of nonsense that I just, I define as anything that never has to to
get done. And I am, it's for me. It's a message for me to hear because I am so
susceptible to that. And I don't want to spend my time on things, you know, 10
years from now, looking back at today, I don't want to see like, well, I spent a
lot of time doing nonsense all day. It's like, no, I need to build my business and
help customers and move things forward. So it's, it's what, the big rocks. I need
to really make sure that's my driver. Yeah, completely. I mean, I can so much
relate, like my main computer for work is an iPad, I'm hashtag only,
and many people know me for that. And one of my guilty pleasures is just keep
tinkering with my iOS shortcuts. I guess I can still improve the shortcut a little
bit and move this later. And like, of course, it's good to improve your shortcuts,
which you do, like which you, you use every day, but a tinker like for like four
hours straight. It's not really, it doesn't bring me new notes with customers. Right,
right. I mean, even just recently we had some work done in our house and after
these guys left with the construction, I saw some needs like to paint a few things.
And then painting a few things led to me now painting my entire house. I have
repainted every single room in the last two months and I'm still going. And like
it's just, that's my tendency is to lean into something and lean in hardcore and do
nothing but that, which is fantastic if it's the right thing to do. And it's
terrible, it's the wrong thing. And so that's my, you know, my worst enemy is
there. Yeah, exactly. So, you know, speaking of, you know,
of business, you know, especially solopreneur, like usually solopreneurs think that
they only earn money when they work. If they don't work, like, no money comes in.
In your case, I think you have managed to kind of, you know, leverage that, like,
to make sure that you're not only working when you're working, right? Right. And a
big part of that for me in the beginning, my first full -time of my business was
to have digital products. Anything you can create once and then sell forever is
fantastic. And so having some digital courses in the beginning, I then later on
launched a membership site with my Productivity Academy, and then later on then I
launched the premium model of my podcast subscription so you can actually get my
podcast ad -free and that's an ongoing membership. So anything like that where I can
offer up something that I build once in most cases and then I get paid recurringly
for that, that ends up allowing me to make money without having to work dollar for
hour kind of of things. So I still like the bigger work like a speaking engagement
will be a one -time payment for a one -time deal in most cases. But I do have a
diversification of, you know, income streams when it comes to how the business makes
money in total. There's a variety of ways it comes in. And I think what I like
right now as a podcast, not only producer but podcast listener, what I like is,
I think, the subscription model for podcasts. I have seen over the years that there
was like the ads for podcasts were offered like very expensive ads.
So just with ads, podcasts could function. But then there were just crowds of not
having advertisements, not having customers for that. And I subscription,
you know, to support like a premium subscription of podcasts, when you have a
podcaster that you listen to every week, and you're really like to you, and you
want to keep listening. Uh, I have like this, this with other podcasts as well. I'm
a subscriber also to ATP, like to do several podcasts where I just want them to
continue, you know, and then, and, and, and I think this is a great model. Yeah.
I mean, it's definitely one of those where if you have your favorite shows, it's
fantastic to get those, to support those podcasters, but then also you get the
benefits of, you know, ad -free listening and extra bonuses or whatever comes with
it. And it's just, I think it's a really great model when you have that strong
relationship, you know, to the podcasters you're working with. Yeah, exactly. And,
and, and I think for, for solopreneurs, also, this is a good idea, just, just like
you, you, you mentioned that to find where you can do subscriptions where there is
like a win -win. So you get the recurring revenue, but of course, people who pay it
get the recurring, you know, boaters are recurring, you know, something. - Because,
you know, it's like in our application, not be like it's recurring every month or
every year. And it was like, it's a very, you know, straight model. But I find
that in many businesses now, you can really find ways to find these subscriptions.
And these subscriptions can help you sustain through these months that nothing is
selling or people are just otherwise engaged. - Yeah, and there's definitely a need
for kind of that consistency of that revenue. It's like having the paycheck that
comes in, like clockwork every Friday. It's like you like that part of it. I think
for a lot of entrepreneurs is that's their, the holy grail is that consistent
revenue. And when that's there, you can sleep better at night and not panic all the
time about like, well, I make payroll next month or whatever the case is, because
that can be very stress inducing. And to minimize that as a big deal. Yeah.
And, of course, like in, you know, in your case, like when you have the podcast,
I, as I was recently listening, you see, well, I hear that you're also consulting
with, you know, some additional people, not making all decisions yourself, like your
wife, and how is that? I mean, how is she involved in your business? So on paper,
she is the co -owner of my business, we change her job title every week for fun,
but basically, she is the number one person I go to for any big decision, and it's
one of those where I'll come to her, like, really excited about something, and
she'll look at me and say, "No, It's very clear that she can see things I can't.
And you need someone like that who's able to see you when you can't see yourself.
And that's extremely helpful. I make a lot of decisions based on impulse or emotion
or, you know, what I think would be fantastic, but you need someone else to bring
in a new perspective. And my wife, you know, Tessa is fantastic for that. I have
other entrepreneur friends as well, mostly here in Nashville where I live. I also
ask them the bigger questions too, because they know me well enough to know if it's
a dumb move or not. And that's what you're looking to avoid. So that's really the
whole goal there. Yeah, I think this kind of also group of fellow entrepreneurs is
fun. I also belong to a mastermind group and it's really fun because then you have
people who support you and don't have any, basically they're not involved in your
business. So what happens is that, you know, that they have no stake. So they can
tell you exactly straight what they think about an idea or about what you're saying.
But but but you know that they are cheering you on. So they are actually supporting
you. So I think it's good to find people like that. So I understand you have that
in there in Australia. Well, I mean, you need someone who's not just going to be a
yes man is not just going to agree with you all the time. Because I mean, I agree
with myself, which is But that's not useful like I really need someone else to
argue with me on purpose. And that's, that's a great thing.
Exactly. Yeah, it's also, you know, so we talked about it that,
you know, we're, we're getting a bit younger, I mean older. And what happens is,
for example, I also started to realize how, how a coaching relationship,
A business coach relationship is also kind of useful. Have you tried any business
coaching or anything like that? - I've done a little bit of that in the past.
Honestly, I should probably go back to doing more of it. I think it's one of those
where if you can find the right person, it's kind of like having a really great
spouse or a great best friend. If you find the right person, you can get advice
that's spot on. If I'm the wrong person, you can veer off in the wrong direction.
And I've had both of those happen, which is why I stopped doing it because I got
some bad advice and then I got burned and those that could really be a difficult
thing to overcome because the trust factor is everything and if you trust someone it
it could really be fantastic and if you don't it can just burn bridges and tear
apart your business really fast and so I think for me it's always that challenge to
find the best people the best agencies the best customers like you want to work
with the best because the worst We'll take up all your time, all your money, all
your energy. And it just, it doesn't work. Yeah. I mean, uh, my business coach,
she pitched herself, uh, to me, uh, by, by saying Michael, I'm not going to give
you any advice. I'm just going to ask you really, really stupid questions, which
you're not, uh, which you are afraid to ask yourself.
And it was really smart. I was like, yeah, I kind of need that. Cause you know,
you know, we are very intelligent people. We can really, as you said, you listen to
your own advice very, very happily, but the thing is, over the course of our
relationship as a business coachee and I realized that with her,
I found that person that I can say things and she's listening to me and she's
paying attention to what I'm saying and she asks me questions, which kind of I'm
afraid to ask. And she asks me them. So basically she doesn't really, she really
extracts the advice from myself, but through asking really good questions. - I mean,
that is the, I think the mark of a really smart person, a great coach or great
therapist, a great confidant. Someone is gonna be able to kind of draw that out of
you. 'Cause I think the reality of most of us is that we know what we need to
do, we're just not doing it. Like most of the time the answer is right there but
we're afraid to just admit it and take that step and I feel like that's what the
best people can do is they can see that and just pull it out of you right away
and that's that's a fantastic thing to have. Yeah completely and um and especially
whenever we are afraid to do something you know and and and I was uh I recently
called her Yoda because she was like I sense much fear in you.
Fear is the path to the dark side.
So yeah, that's also something that we can find as helpful.
In our case, we are productivity nuts. Like you and me, we like productivity,
we are optimizing things or whatever. So tell me, how are things on your end about,
you know, how do you automate some things? How do you like, because many, I hear
many people are kind of afraid to automate things. They are, I mean, they really
want to do things themselves, like really with their own, you know, hands. How do
you, like, how does automation and all that stuff, you know, work for you and help
you get stuff done? I mean, a lot of my automations, at least technologically, my
website's part of that. My podcast systems have a lot of that, where there were
things I used to do kind of manually or by hand, and I found whether it's website
plugins or hosting companies or services that would do the things for me or automate
them in a way where I'm very hands off with it now. I mean, the point before
about how I used to do like HTML coding the website, I have, I rebuilt my entire
website during COVID and I did so on purpose because I wanted to stop messing with
it. And so the system that I built is one where I look, I can log in once a
week and just check on it. Like, okay, it's great. And move on. Whereas I used to
spend hours a day tinkering. And so automation for me is really about removing those
bottlenecks of those issues where it was a time suck. It was a money problem. It
was just, there was a lot of junk in the way. And the more I'm able to streamline
those systems, I have a lot more free time to do the things that matter more. And
so to me, automation technologically at least comes from like what are the big
bottlenecks that I can really make smooth as possible. So my podcast systems,
I have checklists for everything. One massive shift I made is I have a checklist
for every single thing personally, professionally, they're everywhere because it makes
everything so much easier. And then I use would be to remind myself to do the
checklist and then have those things there. And it's just the more of that kind of
automation that's built in, the less I have to think or wonder what matters today,
I'll just know. The answer pops right up and there I go.
- All right, so the checklist manifesto, this is so important because also I think
the power of people that don't understand it, the power of checklists is also the
fact that they help you stay on the course. Because if you're,
again, because if you're on your own, like there's nobody else motivating you,
you're just, you know, you are one person business. The checklist keeps you grounded.
You have to just follow the checklist to, you know, to get stuff done. Whereas, you
know, you will be, yeah, "How do I do that?" So I have to record, "Ah, okay." But
you can really write.
So which kind of checklists are the most powerful for you? Like, are the most
important for you? - I have morning routine checklists. I follow every single day,
evening routine checklists, podcast production checklists, weekly review checklists. I
just recently painted my house. I've got one for how to drywall, repair, patch my
house. I've got checklists for every single thing that pops up that I might want to
do again. I make a checklist for and have a reminder how to access it. So my most
important ones, tend to be the ones I use every day and every week. So those are
the ones I'm optimizing, but also have monthly checklist, quarterly, annual, I mean,
you name it, there's a checklist for everything that I know needs to happen again.
And I don't want to have to remember what those things are, and to be able to
easily update those lists as I go. So that's been a massive shift for me, is to
make checklists, not just a thing that I do, but like the thing that I do, because
it is so powerful when it's done well.
You can't get better advice in that, like especially, well,
for example, in Nozbe we have comments, right? And people are like, "Yeah, I'm using
Nozbe on my own. I don't need the comments." Yes, you do, because you're
communicating with your other person or the person who's going to, like, you're
writing, like, now a comment for yourself, like, in a year and a half a year,
like, and I think this is this, you know, great advice, like, once you do something
once and you know you're going to do it at some point, you're going to repeat
doing that, it's worth these five additional minutes to write out the checklist to
do that, right? And that's where the whole point is that, I mean, to your point
about the comment to yourself, I'll read a checklist now that I wrote a year ago
and go, oh, that's a really smart comment. Who thought of that? Oh, that was me a
year ago. Like, I'm so grateful that I took the time then to remind me now, 'cause
I need it now and I will need it in the future. And so the time it takes, the
five, 10 minutes to write down a few notes or links or whatever the case is, then
you have it and it's there now. And it's just, it takes away all that stress,
fear, confusion, whatever would happen in the future. It just, here's the answer.
Just do the list. Exactly. Especially for tasks that are recurring, but like, you
know, every, you know, five, every six months, every three months, every year,
because you completely forget, like it's, it's like you're, you're blank out. So if,
if the comment is not there, the checklist is not there, like you, you're basically
redoing the whole thing from scratch. - Well, the other thing about, you know, in
David Allen's system and getting things done, his entire focus of getting things out
of your head and onto paper, as well as big messages. And I've taken that so far
that I don't have anything in my brain anymore. I'm just like, I write it down and
it's gone. I will forget it forever. And so the checklists are my digital brain. I
desperately need those systems to work well, and they do, and then I've got what I
need. and my brain is then available to do creative thought or other work, but I
don't remember things anymore. I used to have lists in my head all the time, but
they're not there. I put them somewhere else and I walk away. Exactly. Yeah, I'm
exactly the same. I mean, the best part is like when my wife asks me about
something and she's like, so what about this and this? I don't know. Let me check.
I pull up the phone and check in NOSB.
I really don't know. - Well, I mean, to that point, it's like when my wife will
have a task for me to do, she'll ask me, did you do, you know, whatever it was?
Like, well, did you put it in noseby? Did you tell me where to put it? If you
didn't put it on a list, I'm not doing it. I will forget, but you put it on the
list, I could guarantee it'll get done. And for me, that's the big difference, is
that I know that if it's on the list, I'll do it. Like I will, I'll schedule it,
I'll prioritize it, I'll make it happen. But if I don't put don't run the list, I
have too many things on my list that will distract me from a random thought in my
head. - Completely, completely.
One of the podcasts, a few podcasts ago, I was talking, you know, celebrating 18
years of NOSPI and I was talking about all these, you know, immature business
decisions I made, like, you know, like all these decisions that people told me, no,
no, no, you must never do that. But I did it and it actually worked. Do Do you
have an example, you know, in your business, what were the things that you like you
said you do? You did something what was like against the common, you know, knowledge
or common, you know, thing and still work for you? - When I launched my productivity
academy, I kind of over promised what I wanted to deliver to my customers. So I
basically said like, you know, you joined the academy, you're gonna get a monthly
webinar, you'll get coaching calls, you'll get all these extra things. And after
about six to nine months of doing that, I was burning myself out fast. Like it was
a lot of work. And so I kind of had to pull the rug out and say, sorry, those
things are not part of it anymore. My customers were not happy. This was a big
shift, but it was desperately necessary for me to do because I needed the time. I
needed to restructure what it was. So for me, it was one of those, when you build
something in the beginning, what I now do is imagine, what's the exit plan? What's
the end result of this so that I'm not going to get myself into something I can't
easily get out of and make sure that that is upfront decided on what that's gonna
look like. And if that's clear and I know how I can have an exit, well then it's
easy for me to enter into something new and test it and see how it works. As
opposed to what I did before, which is basically just like, I don't know, I've got
time. Let's just offer all these things and just see what happens which like then
people have to get the thing I told them they would get and that became a real
issue after a while so yeah there's a lot of lessons learned when you kind of when
you launch anything big you know with a book of course a membership site you want
these things to go well and you want to provide value but there is a limit to how
much time and energy I have and I have to make sure those things are all balanced
out. Yeah completely I mean I mean, but this is a really great piece of advice
that you still can renegotiate this. Like you can still tell your customers, like
I'm burning out, I have to figure it out a long term. Because in the long term,
people still want you to deliver things to them. They sign up for you and for the
value that you provide. So you have to take, just you and in a sense always say
you have to protect the asset and if you don't protect your asset you know and to
us you know it means and not only you know not burning out but also you know
being truthful to our wives and our children because you know we still have to you
know but that's that so so great great advice that you know you still can
renegotiate this. Well man basically everything that We do on the internet, especially
the digital world, everything can change on a dime. Like you can pivot things
overnight, you can make new things, take away old things. There's a lot of
flexibility. Like it's not a brick and mortar building that has to stay put. Like
we live in a world where things can flex a lot. And so part of that means flexing
how your time is spent, what things you're creating, who they're for. And that kind
of realization that I can be fluid with this is a good thing. That's it helps me
to then stay in the line with what's best now, as opposed to what I'm gonna stick
to, 'cause I said I would do it for the next 10 years. It's like, well, if it's
not relevant anymore, I need to pivot and do that now. - Completely, completely.
Well, there is one thing that you are still sticking, you know, sticking with and
then you're still using Nozbe. So I'm so happy and I'm So like,
I was like, I was like, no, I really, it's like, you know, I've been running this
18 years and whenever there are people who are using, you know, my application
almost as long as I am, I've been running it. I'm always so happy that it still
provides them value. So tell me, like, so you, like, how is, how is still your
usage of Nozbe? How you use Nozbe now? Well, actually, before our talk, I looked it
up that I signed up for Nozbe 12 years ago. So I've had this for a lot longer
than I even thought that had had it. Originally, Michael Hyatt had talked about it
on his podcast. And I tested it thinking like, okay, I trust Michael. Let me test
this new system. Because the word "nosebee" just sounded so foreign and weird. And I
was like, what is this? Like, it's a strange thing. And immediately I was like, oh,
this is David Allen's system. This is getting things done. This is checklist. This
is productivity. This is how my brain works. And the reason why I've stuck with it
for 12 plus years and probably will forever is because that's, my brain is just
like, that's how I think now. Like I have trained myself to just really stay there.
So it works for me in the sense of it is a daily system. I work out of nosebee
all day, every day, all the time. Like all my checklists, reminders, everything ends
up in the system in some way to, the best thing about it for me is the recurring
reminders, right? The things that pop up every single day, every week, or the
bizarre schedule that I can customize. And the new knows we have the customizations
for reminders. That is fantastic. Cause I have weird random schedule sometimes and
reminders can just pop up when they need to pop up. So once again, my brain can
shut down. I trust the system. It works. I let it go. And that to me has been a
game changer for, I mean, literally for years now, now, but it's been even better
recently. I'm so happy about that. It's really, really cool. Yeah,
and how was the switch for you from NOSB Classic, from the old NOSB to the new
NOSB? Was the learning curve like a long one, or how was it? Not a long one.
I think I got the whole thing up and running a couple of days to really figure
out the old and new system. It's much more beautiful, like the colors, and it's
very modern. It's definitely the kind of system that I think Nozbi was growing into.
It really feels like a natural fit. So, yeah, it wasn't that long to really get
used to some of the new different ways things are configured, but yeah, I've been
using it now, I think, for a year on the new system, and it's been working really
well. Yeah, we have really some new core features planned out like this year.
it's going to be big for us, you know, in terms of, there will be some redesigned
things, some modernization of some things and some simplification and some further
customization. So you can adapt Nozbe to more to your needs. But what are so far
your favorite, so your favorite feature is the recurring feature. Anything else that
pops up? - I like the new one. It seems more like more color options,
emojis I've got everywhere, it feels much more like a, like I can make it visually
what I want it to be, which sounds like weird, but I think when I look at others,
I've compared lots of other systems over the years, thinking like, maybe I'll leave
Nozbe for somebody else. And then I look at someone else and I'm like, nope, not
going there. It's a very obvious that what I really like about it is the ability
to make it my system in so many different ways. And so whenever I have more custom
control, I stay with something forever because I, I get really picky for no recent
sometimes and I have that opportunity to do that. It makes, I'm, I'm really the
like bought into that system. So it knows me for me if it's in that way, really
well.
Perfect. Um, so, um, one of the things, for example, I want to push more, uh,
uh, with non -speed is also the, the, you know, the collaboration and especially
collaboration, like, like, like in your is where you have to have one -off work with
somebody, or as you mentioned, you have to one -off with some agents, with some
additional, with some people, some contractors or whatever. And we are right now,
we just launched the way that you can delegate a task to someone via email. And
this is, we'll be improving on this feature because it's been already very cool.
And is that, that for example, you know, you and me, we both use NOSPY, but you
have your own account, I have my account, but we can still work together just on
one task. - Which is what we did for this interview. Yeah, you had pitched me
through there, so I thought it was really cool, 'cause I've never seen that before.
And I tested it, it's built into my system, it's right in my accounts, even though
it's not part of my account, which was fantastic. - Exactly, and I catch myself now,
And as we mentioned on this show, that once you start working some way,
you get rewired and you cannot work the other way anymore. So for me, instead of,
'cause I hate email, so when I don't have to write an email, I choose not to.
So recently, when I discovered with you and with some other people who use Nozbi,
I just create create fast for them. It's just more natural for me. And this is how
I reach out to you. Instead of writing you an email, I was like, "I have Jeff's
email. Jeff is using Raspberry. Let's just create fast for Jeff." It was very simple
and logical to use as well. As a new user for that type of system, I didn't know
exactly at first how to do it. and I saw it is built right in. Here's the
comment, add a new one, and bam, we're having a conversation. And it just, it was
very efficient. I really liked that one. - Yeah, the cool thing about this feature
was that it was one task in our podcast preparation project.
So even though the task was between us two, Mark that I could jump in and send
you some comments because she has access to this task because she is in that
project. So it's, so it's really, really useful when, when, when this happens. Yeah.
I mean, anytime you can kind of delegate a task to someone and it goes into their
system natively, like that's the most efficient thing in the world. Cause typically
what I do, if I get a new idea, if I see an article online, if someone, you
know, sends me something via email, I have to convert whatever it is into a noseby
task. And that's to somehow get into the system for me to than be able to process
it and schedule it and use it. And so if something can already natively be there,
that's just even faster for me to do my work. Exactly. And this feature that you
mentioned, the emailing things to NOSP, this has been also like, it's a killer
feature for many people, for many of our clients, because this is like the best way
to just forward things to NOSP, and you can forward to projects, to a section in a
project, to a task, if you want to, you can forward to any part of Nozbe. And we
know people love it because when we had like a five or 10 minute slowdown of our
email gateway provider, and we got flooded by emails, "Hey,
our tasks are not showing up in Nozbe, what's going on?" So we We know we will
have the good thing about email. So just how I'm going to put it on record, the
good thing about emails, once you send an email to our NOSB, it's queued on the
internet. So even if the gateway doesn't work at some point or just stops working,
it just waits in the queue. So the moment the thing, you know, got unblocked,
everything came in. So it's like, so it doesn't get lost. Like it's like, you don't
have to send, you know, the email, the email five or, you know, 10 times. But
right. So I mean, for years, I've used the kind of the hands free using Siri. I'll
tell Siri to email noseby a task. I'm driving the car this morning. I use this
actually. And I told Siri to email me, you know, this reminder, and then I came
home and it was in my account right there waiting for me. And like, I use that
literally every day, like the ability to remind myself in a different way,
not just type it into my phone or my computer, but to be able to have, you know,
tasks come into the system is just adds to that level of efficiency that otherwise
I wouldn't have.
Well, I don't know if you checked, but I made a very good, speaking of my guilty
pleasures, I made a very cool iOS shortcut for, for to add tasks to Nozbe. Yeah,
I think I tested that before. I need to go back and do that again. But yes, I've
seen that. Yeah, you should check it out Because it also like attaches things, you
know, if you wanted to also the cool thing about it is you can, for example, put
several tasks at once and it just adds them at once. So yeah, anyway, as I
mentioned, I actually actually working on this shortcut was good for business.
But maybe other shortcuts, not so much. Yeah, cool.
So, In the meantime, when we met and then we spoke years ago,
now you become father, you have two kids. Yeah, how is the impact of the kids on
the business and on your business decisions?
Tell me, like any... - So there is such a monumental shift from not having kids to
having kids. I think the biggest shift for me was that in the past, I viewed my
time as I have 24 hours in the day. I can work whenever I want. I can work at
the library, work at home, I can go travel. I had this flexibility I didn't realize
I had. With kids, you are locked into schedules. Like, they go to bed at certain
times, they go to school at certain times, and so my life revolves around their
schedules. So for me, productivity is very time bound Now to the degree of if I'm
going to schedule something it has to fit with their schedules has to fit with you
know My priorities and they all have to come together in this little puzzle of my
calendar And so that level of intention intentionality is a very different shift for
me But it's what I've been doing now for the last you know six years I guess with
my oldest daughter and so it's very comfortable now But it took a big you know
learning curve of getting used to that model But it's one where it forces you to
make a decision on what matters today. Like I'm not just going to, to our point
earlier, I'm not gonna tinker on things for 12 hours straight. I'm gonna choose here
today's top three goals. I'm gonna get those things done 'cause I have to because
the clock is ticking and I've got to work day ends and then I'm done. And so it
is a very kind of tight focused, get things done, make it happen, move on with
your life scenario that Because in the end, way better for prioritization,
way better for execution, and it prevents me from wasting time on things that I
otherwise would have definitely spent time on. So that's been a big deal. Yeah,
I think this is the big shift. I think as a parent, you kind of become an
essentialist at some point because you see the constraints.
Like, you have to go at five o 'clock, for example, drive your girl to some
gymnastics practice. It has to happen. So you know that up to five,
you can work, but then it's done. It's like, right? Yeah. I mean,
my youngest daughter is the one that I actually take to daycare and back every day,
and my wife takes her other daughter. And so my youngest daughter's schedule for is
a very short day. Like she's there at 8 .30 in the morning, drop off at a 3 .30
pickup. So my work hours are like, I have like six hours in the day and that
includes my lunch break. And so I've got to get in, make things happen and get
out. And I can do some work afterwards in the evenings, but I'm not good at
focusing when I've got kids running around and there's messy stuff. Like I'm very
good at doing things when there are no distractions and I'm very bad when there are
distractions. And so I have to pick and choose to be to that degree, like I'll
schedule, you know, doing laundry or exercise or things that don't require my brain
to be fully operational. I can do those things when things are messy. But if it
requires focus and concentration, I have to be very intentional with when that
happens. Now, that's so true. I mean, I know that very,
very well and especially like this day, Wednesdays, I always have to also like pick
up to my daughter earlier and then have to try to die for somewhere. So I also
have to time perfectly so that I can get, you know, for example, to record this
podcast. And like, there's just so many nuances that, and, and also like you become
a better planner and, you know, it's, I think, I mean, you have to,
it forces you into that box of saying that I'm going I'll learn how to do this
because if I don't, everything's gonna fall apart. - Exactly, exactly, exactly. All
right, so Jeff, thank you so much. One more question, yeah. How is running?
Do you still run? - Not as much as I used to. That is definitely a big shift. For
the last probably four or five years, I have taken my daughter to, or pick her
from school and the two of us together have gone to the gym. It's the easiest
shift in terms of my schedule to say, 'cause they have daycare at the gym. So I
can go there, she gets some time there, I get to exercise. And so I've done a lot
more weightlifting and a lot less running in the last few years, but I'm dying to
get back on the trail and doing more running again. So that is gonna be a big
shift for me soon. It's just a question of timing and priorities, but that's, yeah,
I still love it. Still wanna do more of it. - So I can
And the cool thing about, you know, growing kids is that you get to do more and
more things with them. And one of my favorite part about this is that, you know,
that some suddenly they like, for example, bike riding and they want to cycle with
me. And now my middle daughter, she said that she actually likes jogging.
So we jog every once a week. And this is so much fun that, you know, that we get
to run together you know as a father and you know father and daughter so it's
you'll see that and it's amazing once they you know grow and grow you see you see
that there are so many activities that you can do with them and that's why we have
to still stay fit for that. Oh that is what going to the gym and lifting weights
I realized like gyms need to have a section where you just pick up children and
just like hoist them in the air because that's all I do anyway. It's like I need
to have those muscles specifically have to be working because that's all I do.
- Completely, completely. Yeah, yeah. Just the other day, my daughter was my youngest,
she was asking me, how is it that she fell asleep in her living room and then she
ended up in bed? Well, somebody carried you there, darling.
(laughing) So anyway, Jeff, it was Great, having you back on the show.
Thanks for still your enthusiasm for your podcast, for motivating me to wake up,
to crush the morning, and especially to keep developing Nasbi. So tell me at the
end, tell everyone at the end where they can find you and learn more about you.
- Sure, jeffsanders .com is the website with all the home base for everything I do.
The podcast, The 5 a .m. miracle is available everywhere those two places you can
connect to all the things that I do The show I have a new episode every Monday
morning. So if you want to hear new content fresh, it's there right there So yeah,
the 5 a miracle podcast, of course, I've got a couple of books and courses and
other things as well But uh, yeah, it's all there perfect perfect, um and As as
always we will finish the the show with the you know you know, with the bonus for
the listeners, people who haven't, who have listened to this show and maybe only
today believe us, I mean, you and me, that they should be using Nozbi. So we have
a gift for our listeners and I'm gonna play it right about now.
- Thank you for being an amazing listener of the NoOffice podcast. Every other
Wednesday, we meet to talk about productivity and hybrid lifestyle, because we believe
that work is not a place to go. It's a thing to do. A special gift only to no
-office podcast listeners. When you sign up for Nozbe using this link, nozbe .com
/podcast, you'll get 30 bucks of credits, which you can use to upgrade to Nozbe
Premium. Nozbe helps thousands of smart business owners and their teams get their
professional and private life organized in a single app in a simple way. And Nozbe
is free for up to three active projects and three people on your team. So start
today and claim your free bonus credits, which you will later need to upgrade to
unlimited projects. Once again, thank you for being an amazing listener. Thanks for
your support and for spreading the word about our No Office podcast and Nozbe. See
you and hear you in the next episode and in the meantime, claim your bonus credits
here.