simulate something like a poll system,

instead of a push system.

And what I mean by that is

when you keep track of what you're working on,

have the top part of that list,

which is I'm actively working on these things,

and keep that top part of your list

to like two or three things.

Everything else is in the bottom part of the list,

it's to work on next, and it's in an ordered queue.

And so when you finish something that you're working on,

you pull something new to take its slot

from the list below, right?

So, what I'm trying to do with that advice

is reduce all this administrative overhead.

Because now, even if like you can't get away,

you have to say yes to these things

because it's the way like your organization works.

The stuff that's in the waiting to work on queue, you say,

"I don't have meetings about that,

I don't do emails about that.

I wait till I'm actively working on it,

and I only actively work on three things at a time!"

Now, I'm going to finish those things really quickly

because I don't have 15 items worth of meetings

I'm going to every day.

So, things are going to pull up there pretty quickly.

And so, the rate at which I'm accomplishing things will

probably be higher than it was before.

But I only work on three things actively.

You could even make this visible.

It's in a shared document if you want to,

when someone asks you to do something new,

tell them to put it on the end of your queue.

You're like, "Oh, okay."

So like, Andrew is not working on this right now,

he's working on these three things.

And there's seven things here,

and I'm adding something number eight.

So, I know not to expect something for a while.

In fact, I can keep checking this list

until I see Andrew's workin' on it,

so I can see it's making progress.

And then once I know he is workin' on it,

I can start emailing him about it,

and we can do just a normal type of overhead you would have

with projects right?

That alone is going to have a huge difference.

Like now, the amount of distraction your day

is going to plummet.

Because that's generated

from overhead of things you've agreed to do,

and that's going to plummet that down.

All right, so that'd be number one.

Could I just?

Thank you, could I just ask a few questions

about that just to?

Yeah!

Clarify, so for,

I'll use myself as an example selfishly,

but then of course, I don't know

what everyone else out there is pursuing,

but so substitute the specifics I'm about to insert here

for whatever it is that you care about in your life.

So, researching podcasts.

Solo podcasts in particular for me

is my major task in life these days.

With respect to work.

So, that would be top of the list.

And then, there could be two other items on this

top of queue, would daily activities like exercise,

social time with loved ones, et cetera,

would that be included there?

Or, we're talking specifically about work?

Yeah, let's just keep, just work.

Okay, so it would be, podcast prep.

CAL: So, you might have- Podcast prep. [laughing]

You might have the particular topic, though?

Right, right, okay, so pod, right,

I'm working on an episode right now

about skin health.

You could [Andrew's voice drowns]

have two different episode

topics you're prepping- ANDREW: Got it, yeah.

Those could both be up there.

Yep, so it was skin health, allergies, episode,

these are two that I'm spending a lot of time on.

Months, in fact, yeah, okay.

And then, your third might be something

that involves the media company,

something around the business side of it.

Like, okay, we're trying to figure out a plan for whatever.

Right, content for

a brand association- You can do content strategy

or something- Okay, got it.

Great!

So, those three would be top of the list,

and every day until those are done, they could sit

top of the list.

And then there are a number of items

underneath those that fall under whatever.

Yeah, and critically,

when these other items come up, right?

Like, oh, this is like a topic, for example,

I want to do a show on, you have a place to put it!

Where it's not being forgotten!

Or, here's a business idea.

Like, we need to figure out, like whatever, we want to add,

do something with our camera, configure.

Okay, put it on the list, so it's not being forgotten.

Like, it's on there, and you can see where it is.

Not only is it on there,

but like this could be shared among your team.

So, as people had extra information

or things to add to one of these projects,

they can add it to it on the list!

Right, so the information is aggregating.

So if you use a tool like Trello for this.

Trello? Spelled?

T-R-E-L-L-O.

Okay, is it an app?

It's a web-based service,

the metaphor is just index cards in piles.

Got it- Right?

But they're virtual.

But you can flip over the index card digitally,

attach files, write notes,

and so I use Trello for my own organization,

what I'm workin' on.

So now, you have a place where you can gather like, oh,

I just heard about something

that's relevant to this thing I need to work on.

You have a place to put it!

Like, it goes onto the Trello card.

Or, you could do this with shared documents,

it doesn't matter.

You're just like literally typing things

into a Google Doc,

you know- Or a whiteboard.

Or a whiteboard, yeah.

Yeah, you could be,

we're keeping track of these things, right?

I'm going to do this, by the way.

Yeah, well, I mean I'm a big believer in this,

and then everyone can see what you're working on.

And then, but the key thing is if it's not

in your active list, you don't have meetings about it.

And you don't have emails about it, right?

Like if people have ideas or things,

they just add it to the card.

So, when that gets up to the active list,

we can work on all the information there,

we haven't forgotten anything.

And what two word language

do you use to describe this first point?

This method.

I love this.

I called it a poll-based.

poll-based, right.

CAL: Workflow management- What gets pulled up.

You pull into the, so you're fixing in advance,

here's how much concentration I have to give on work.

And you pull stuff into that.

The alternative is push-based,

which is how most organizations run,

which is when I want you to do something,

I just push it onto you, [Andrew chuckling]

and now you have to deal with it.

Got it.

I once heard email described as a public post to-do list.

Yeah.

That made me scared of email in a way

that nothing else had.

It's Newport's poll-based system,

I called it that by the way.

Is this is what in the?

A lot of the advice in

one of the chapters of the new book, is basically,

how do you get away with implementing this?

And when you have a boss.

And there's like all sorts of different,

so you're your own boss, so you can just say,

"This is what we're doing, here's the board,"

but there's a lot of like, subtle ways you can do this.

Right, so that's number one.

That's number one.

Cal Newport's poll-based system.

I'm going to do this, and I'm actually going to report back

on this at some point.

You won't see the post on social media

'cause you're not there, but others will.

All right, so that's one, all right.

Number two would be multi-scale planning.

Okay.

So now, this is planning,

you're planning on three different scales.

Daily, weekly, at least seasonally or quarterly,

however you want to think about it.

So, you have a plan for like the semester,

the season, or the quarter.

Or like, this is what I'm working on,

these are the big objectives I want to hit,

here's the reminders to myself about like what matters.

Like remember, like I'm overhauling my workout routine,

we're trying to like do this with the podcast.

You look at that scale of planning every week

when you build your weekly plan.

And the weekly plan, it gives freeform text.

You don't need anything, any special tools.

Your weekly plan, you're looking at the actual calendar.

Alright, what for my bigger scale plan,

my seasonal quarterly plan, what am I trying

to make sure I can make progress on this week?

And you confront the reality of your week,

you see where it's the empty space,

where there's the busy space.

You also change what's on your plate right here.

If I cancel this thing, that frees up that whole morning,

which means like, I could really make progress on this,

which I really want to make progress on,

so great, I'm going to cancel that thing on Friday.

So, you're looking at the whole week as one unit.

Then, every day, you look at your weekly plan.

Like, okay, so I'm going to use this

when I make my plan for the day,

and when you do your daily plan, you do time blocking.

Now, I'm giving a job to every minute

on my workday, not my day after work,

but every minute on my workday, I'm time blocking.

So, I call it time blocking,

as you're literally drawing blocks around the free time.

Okay, this, I'm workin' on this, I'm workin' on this.

So, you're making a plan for your day

that is informed by the weekly plan.

So, in multi-scale planning, you have like,

the big picture things you care about, trickle their way

all the way down to, okay, what am I going to do

during this hour during the day?

But you don't have to grapple every,

this is what most people do.

Every time, I'm figuring out what to do next.

I'm not grappling with all these scales at the same time,

what are my objectives?

What's my big plan?

What's goin' on this week?

You're dealing with each of these scales

when the time is right.

And so, when it finally gets down to it's now three o'clock,

you're just doing what that block is.

And you figured out that block earlier today