00:00before we get to the questions though i
00:02want to do a deep dive
00:04the big question i want to address in
00:07today's deep fly deep dive is the
00:13organize his life i've talked about this
00:17before but i'm going to get granular
00:18today and let me tell you why
00:21because of a recent experience i had
00:24before recording this episode
00:28i got very stressed slash anxious to the
00:32point where i actually lost a lot of
00:34sleep so yesterday i was very tired i
00:36was having a hard time sleeping because
00:38once my mind got fired up i had a hard
00:40time falling asleep here was the thing
00:42that was making me stressed and anxious
00:44the fall semester is beginning
00:47i usually go a little bit lax we'll talk
00:50about this i go a little bit lax on my
00:51systems in the summer i'm a professor
00:53slash writer so in the summer i have
00:54very little to do but right and i lean
00:57i take the foot off the gas pedal a
00:59little bit of my organizational systems
01:01and then i have to get things locked
01:02back in for the fall because things get
01:04more busy well in the summer i had
01:08all of these ancillary new or
01:12disciplines and systems and ideas and
01:14projects that i wanted to tackle and i
01:16had these notes about all these
01:17different things i was working on spread
01:19out over many different digital media
01:21and many different notebooks and a
01:23couple days ago i was like okay i have
01:24to actually get this stuff all wrangled
01:27and get my systems all ready for the
01:28fall and i couldn't make it work
01:32some of them were redundant with other
01:34things some things didn't quite make
01:36sense some things seemed like it was
01:37just too much i was asking myself
01:38there's too many initiatives i was
01:40trying to get going and it really
01:41stressed me out to the point where i had
01:42a hard time sleeping
01:44then yesterday morning
01:48and i'm going to put quotation marks
01:50around the epiphany here because it is
01:52the exact same epiphany i have
01:58which is that the planning system that i
02:00have been perfecting over a decade i
02:02have been using this for a decade
02:05is what works for me
02:07and every time i try to reinvent the
02:10or add new components onto this i get
02:12stressed out and so you know i need to
02:14do forget this like i do every fall
02:17go back to my standard planning system
02:19get all of the pieces of that standard
02:21system up and running and i feel much
02:24i feel much better this happens to me
02:27i think i'm going to come up with some
02:28new exciting thing that's going to
02:30really jumpstart some sort of ambition
02:33of mine and i always go back to my same
02:37three-part planning system
02:40performed everything i have done as a
02:43professional in the last decade which is
02:44most of my books most my academic work
02:48happens because of this planning system
02:49so in honor of it and in honor of it
02:51being the fall and back to school
02:53and work ramping up again for a lot of
02:55people i thought i would go through
03:00through the planning system i do to
03:02organize the stuff in my life
03:04and figure out what to do
03:11i call the root document of the core
03:14where i just describe the system
03:16this i think is an important place to
03:18start i call this rooted productivity
03:20where you have somewhere a core document
03:22from which everything you do actually
03:24comes out of it because to me it's
03:25important that everything is written
03:26down you know where to find it so i like
03:28to have one core document that just
03:30summarizes here's the pieces of your
03:32system so i just have that somewhere
03:33it's not floating in my head so the
03:35start i actually i actually had jesse
03:39the actual document i use this is the
03:41actual document i use that just
03:43summarizes the high level my planning
03:44system the exact wording i use you'll
03:46notice as we go through this here it's
03:48not perfectly written
03:50it's not perfectly clear it's for me
03:53but i will go through it
03:55alright so let's start with this all
03:56right for those of you who are watching
03:57on the youtube channel you can see this
03:59for those who are listening i'll narrate
04:00it at the top of this document
04:03is a title core systems here's what i
04:06below are summaries of the three main
04:10that contain the elements of my course
04:12systems core documents productivity and
04:16so i've broken this document into those
04:19sections everything related to my my
04:21core planning system
04:23falls uh under one of those three
04:26all right so we start with category
04:27number one core documents
04:32two types of core documents i maintain
04:33for my system one is values a document
04:38uh describes my roles and values by
04:44and you'll see like if you're looking
04:45this online it's important the wording
04:47is kind of weird because again it's for
04:49it's not like an essay on publishing
04:51it's not polished doesn't have to be
04:52polished i know what it means all right
04:53the other type of documents i keep are
04:56and personal strategic plans
04:58i this is me reading the words here i
05:01have one plan for each of these two
05:02parts of my life that lays out my
05:03current thoughts experimental systems
05:04and plans for living
05:06uh true to my values so what i'm trying
05:08to say though again because the writing
05:09is not perfect here is like just what's
05:11my plan for pursuing those parts of my
05:12life in a way that is true to my values
05:14i then have a note that says sometimes
05:16i'll have extended plans that i'll link
05:18to from those documents so if there's a
05:19particular big project or initiative i'm
05:21working on i might describe that in its
05:24own document and link to it from let's
05:27the professional strategic plan
05:29all right so those are the three
05:30documents at the core of my system my
05:33here are my values the roles of my life
05:35the values by which i live those roles
05:38and non-career strategic plans
05:41i have this subcategory here called
05:45and it talks about how i update these
05:48and there's three things here and i'll
05:49just summarize the high level once a
05:51week i look at my values and create what
05:53i call a values plan this is where i
05:57emphasize particular values i maybe need
05:59to be focusing on where i've fallen off
06:01of them sometimes i'll have some habits
06:03in mind to help emphasize a particular
06:05value community connection is important
06:08try for this week calling someone every
06:10day that type of thing
06:12so i put this into a kind of a separate
06:14what i call a value plan so it's sort of
06:16clarifying and calling out what's
06:17important to my values for that week
06:19i've noted on here that i also include
06:21in my value plan best practices for
06:28keep my mind sharp and healthy and away
06:31from anxiety i like to think through my
06:32practices have those written down so i
06:34try to about once a week to
06:36update this values plan
06:38all right for my strategic plans how do
06:44once a week i review them
06:46we'll get in that more and then i say
06:48here i can tweak them or change them at
06:50any time but i want to make sure at the
06:52very least at the beginning of each new
06:54uh i overhaul it so they're they're
06:56written for a semester at a time but i
06:58can tweak them at any time i feel like i
06:59should and finally i talk about my idea
07:01notebook or digital idea storage system
07:04so i use obsidian as well as a moleskin
07:07and uh i keep ideas in there and at the
07:09very least when i do my semester plans
07:11or the updates to the strategic plans
07:13i'll go through and check those ideas
07:14and see if i need to act on any of them
07:18all right so that is
07:20the core documents and how i maintain
07:21them so a quick summary of a document of
07:23my values i have a career and personal
07:27i look at the values once a week and
07:28pull out this values plan to just to
07:30help keep that at the center of my life
07:32and i update those strategic plans
07:34usually about once a semester
07:37all right the next category for my
07:39course systems is productivity
07:42so how do i actually organize
07:45my time in a way where i am happy with
07:49i break this down into
07:51weekly and daily planning
07:57i build a weekly plan
07:59based on a review of my strategic plans
08:01my calendar my task list and my value
08:02plan so i do a weekly plan you've heard
08:04me talk about this i don't get into
08:05detail here about what goes into the
08:06weekly plan because i play it by ear i'm
08:09flexible a very complicated week in the
08:11middle of an academic semester might
08:14have an intricate jenga game of how i'm
08:15going to make the whole week work
08:18a week in july in the middle of the
08:22exclamation point exclamation point and
08:25so i don't have a set format for that
08:27but it's the it's how i make sense of
08:29what am i working on this week what do i
08:31need to keep in mind are there any
08:32habits or heuristics i want to have on
08:34top of mine is there any particular
08:36things i need to get done this week i
08:37need to remember to get it done
08:39how am i even just attacking this week
08:41all that's in the weekly plan
08:44all right then each day
08:46i review my weekly plan i review my
08:48value plan i look at my calendar and if
08:50it's a weekday i make a time block plan
08:54so my weekly plan i check it every day
08:57the calendar i check every day look at
08:58my value plan i got to remember what am
09:00i focusing on what's important in my
09:01values and then i make my time block
09:03plan for the day if it's not a weekday
09:05then i do something looser i don't time
09:06block plan weekends but you might
09:10what am i working on today what do i
09:13that's how my planning works so you see
09:15how these things start to connect
09:18the strategic plan influences the weekly
09:21plan you look at that weekly plan when
09:22you're making your daily plan your daily
09:24plan figures out what you're doing right
09:25now so what you're doing right now in
09:28this particular system is influenced by
09:29your big picture strategic plans but you
09:32don't have to think about your big
09:33picture strategic plans right now it
09:35comes down to these different levels
09:38all right two other pieces to my
09:41clear work shutdowns with a shutdown
09:43complete ritual so you gotta have a
09:45clear separation between work and
09:48make a rough but intentional plan for
09:50what you want to do with the rest of
09:51your day when you shut down that's my
09:54and then full capture
09:56david allen right here
09:58full capture of task make sure at the
10:00very least at the shutdown each day you
10:02process all the tasks that you've
10:04captured into the appropriate
10:08again this is all about for me
10:10stress management i don't want open
10:12loops i want to trust if i write
10:13something down it will get seen it will
10:16get processed it'll get put on the
10:17calendar if it's an appointment or
10:19reminder it'll get put in my task list
10:21if it's a task it will update my weekly
10:23plan if it's a thought about what i need
10:25to change for my plan and there it will
10:27be seen the next day it'll be seen in
10:29when i look at my weekly plan it'll get
10:30reflected in my time block plan it'll be
10:32seen when i look at the calendar to make
10:33the plan on the relevant day the whole
10:36game here is trusting
10:37i don't have to keep track of things in
10:41i can have this ambitious schema for how
10:43i'm trying to advance these big picture
10:45goals that have all these moving parts
10:47that are rapidly changing in the moment
10:48i don't want to worry about any of it
10:50except for what i'm doing in the moment
10:51and if it's in the evening then i should
10:53just be worried about
10:54whatever relaxing thing that i'm trying
10:58all right the third category here is
11:02so i'm maintaining my strategic plans an
11:04evolving list of core
11:08this might be things about like exercise
11:10it might be things about the number of
11:12deep work hours you're going to do each
11:13day it might be something if you're in
11:14sales about the number of calls you make
11:16every day whatever but the point is
11:18they're disciplines that i try to
11:19strictly follow to lay a foundation for
11:21a deep life so i think it's important to
11:23have hard disciplines i do this i do
11:26and i do this other thing and i always
11:28do those things these these hard
11:30boundaries that you follow
11:33to help establish a foundation of a
11:37and so that's the third part of my
11:39system is having this evolving list of
11:40disciplines i talk about here is i often
11:43track these with metrics sometimes i
11:48if it's during an academic semester i'll
11:51have a metric code for each of my
11:53disciplines where i can keep track of my
11:54time block planner in the metric
11:55planning space did i do this today did i
11:57do this today i'd like to actually see
12:00other times i take a break from it like
12:02in the summer for example or over a
12:05there are periods where i'll take a
12:06break for it so that is there but i'm
12:07typically collecting these metrics
12:10that's it that's the system that system
12:14massively complicated ambitions
12:20an incredibly complicated fast moving
12:22professional environment where it's very
12:24difficult the to keep track of all the
12:26different things that have to fit
12:27together this system will support that
12:29this system will support
12:32a life outside of work
12:34that you can be present and intentional
12:36and interesting and pursue things that
12:38are interesting to you and develop
12:39yourself and develop your mind develop
12:40your relationships not get lost in work
12:43completely overwhelmed with anxiety and
12:45stress the system will support
12:48your pursuit of living truer to your
12:50values living a good life trying to
12:52actually practice and implement the
12:54things that make a good life good all of
12:55these things are important this simple
12:57system that i described in these three
12:59categories of notes in this one document
13:04and it has in my life for over a decade
13:06so all this extra type of stuff i was
13:08trying to do in the last few weeks i
13:09realized that all fits in here
13:12i know this i trust this it's not
13:13perfect some of this stuff is redundant
13:15not all of it makes perfect sense why is
13:17the value plan a separate thing
13:18shouldn't that be part of the weekly
13:20planning there's all these little
13:23inquiries i say that right jesse
13:28yeah he said right incongruities
13:31let me write that down my disciplines
13:36but it all it all can be captured here
13:38and it's a system that can flex
13:41when you're doing complicated things
13:43these documents can get big your
13:44strategic plans get big your task lists
13:46get really big your calendar is full you
13:50have extended plans that you're linking
13:51to from your strategic plans your weekly
13:53plans look like epic essays and other
13:55periods it can you know you're burnt out
13:58you're going through a hard time the
13:59system can contract really just down to
14:02the basics here's my values got to get
14:04this core things done in my life
14:07a lot of like trying to get out of the
14:09despair get out of the depths the system
14:11contracts to that as well so it's really
14:12a flexible system so this is my my
14:15public apology to my system
14:18thinking i could do a little better
14:20you've always been what i need in my
14:23this then is my call to you out there in
14:25my audience if you don't already have a
14:27pretty effective system that captures
14:29all the parts of your life the things
14:31that matter to you professional
14:34and goes from captures those for
14:36everything from those big thoughts
14:38all the way down to what you're doing
14:40today what you're doing tomorrow if you
14:42don't have a system like that try this
14:45try this one for a month i don't know
14:47why it works so well but it does these
14:49parts in the way they mingle and the
14:51daily weekly and the flexibility it's a
14:56experimentation it does work
14:58give it a try at first it feels like a
15:01lot of moving pieces you get in the
15:02rhythm and it actually makes you feel
15:05and actually makes you feel more relaxed
15:07hey trust it the system's got me and in
15:09the end it does produce stuff that
15:14that's how i do it i don't know just
15:15you've heard me talk about this system
15:16before yeah it's not too complicated
15:19right i mean i'm used to it because i've
15:21done it for a decade it's like muscle
15:22memory for me but i don't know when i
15:24read it from scratch i'm like do these
15:28i think for people who hear it for the
15:30first couple times they just gotta you
15:31know watch this video and then
15:34hear you say it a couple times because
15:35it does make a lot of sense after and
15:37i've been doing it for like even you
15:39know a couple years since you started
15:41podcast yeah it's worked for you right
15:43yeah it's great and then
15:46in terms of the discipline stuff i was
15:47thinking about your buddy ryan is
15:49writing a new book called this one have
15:52not yet discipline is uh
15:56yeah i forgot the word is yeah so
15:58because ryan's doing a book on each of
15:59the four cardinal yeah yeah
16:02uh yeah he has a whole book i'm excited
16:03for it i don't know if he gave you like
16:05an advanced copy or something he will i
16:07mean we we share an editor yeah we we
16:10tend to see each other's work
16:12i talk to him quite a bit um
16:14that was the last thing by the way that
16:15was added to my if you look at a decade
16:18the last thing that was added to my
16:20was being explicit about what are the
16:23disciplines what are the i do these
16:24seven things and just being clear about
16:27informally doing things like exercise or
16:29whatever but for me if it's not written
16:31down other people don't have this issue
16:33but for me if it's not written down i
16:34don't fully trust it and then i get
16:37so everything i have to have it written
16:38down and it all has to connect back
16:42it also connect back to this root
16:46there we go i was listening to a um an
16:50interview with sisson and rogan
16:54he um they were it was actually from
16:562021 i listened to that one yeah i just
16:59listened to it like yesterday i just
17:01stumbled across it but he was talking
17:02about they were talking about discipline
17:04and rogan was talking about his
17:0615 like his 25 minute session in the
17:08sauna and then 15 minutes like the last
17:12he's got this breathing routine if he
17:13thinks about anything else he adds like
17:16but you got have you ever heard have you
17:18ever heard joe rogan
17:20talk to laird hamilton
17:22i know he was on the show a couple years
17:23ago you know laird hamilton yeah cleared
17:25hamilton fan and rogan i guess was
17:27talking about his like i did this like
17:28hardcore sauna thing and laird was like
17:32laird is like insane that guy is so
17:35he swims with like dumbbells so with
17:37dumbbells he has a giant sauna in which
17:39so rogan's like man i stay in my sauna
17:42for like 15 minutes 25 minutes 25
17:44minutes yeah laird hamilton brings an
17:47assault bike into the sauna which for
17:49people who don't know is like the
17:50hardest single piece of
17:52right exercise equipment it's like the
17:54you know your arms and your legs and
17:55resistance you're like mountain climbing
17:57i don't know it's impossible right it's
17:58like one of the hardest uh single
18:01exercises you can do he brings one of
18:02those into a giant barrel and does
18:05does it and then then gets into an ice
18:11his disciplined document is more
18:13impressive than mine
