Lessons

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Introduction & Idea Execution

Morning, everybody all right, so we're on day three who started going over some of the I want to go over some of what we talked about already with past few days how you guys feel day feeling energetic I know it's a a beautiful day here in california. We've got day one I want I want to go over some of the stuff we talked about. This is like the introductory part, right s o focusing on task when we're talking about time management, that was one of the things I really wanted to touch on is that whole element of when you start to focus on the task, you will have a better chance of managing your time, because as we've talked about controlling time, not possible, but managing it bye through managing your tasks and focusing on those that's one way in fact, one of the best ways to be ableto get your head wrapped around the time that you've got because we all on lee have a limited amount of that going beyond your to do list. So instead of just looking at the list that you've got in front of you...

, let's go beyond that I know we brought up some examples of, like, going into projects and thinking about down the road kind of stuff as opposed to just like here's, what I have in front of me right now today and then moving it to tomorrow, which ends up happening two thirds of that list in a lot of case is and then we went to calendar management one o one we started talking about using a calendar is in a different way, not throwing tasks on there or maybe throwing like, specific tasks on there that we're having problems keeping up with, like, working out, right? And I know have style that's what one of things that you're doing in the mornings, right? We're saying, hey, I'm going trying to drag it on and also putting up some of the bigger, bigger projects and theming are months and stuff like that and that's actually going to play a little bit into what we're going to talk about today with idea management day two, which was yesterday we talked about building a workflow that's where we had brooks duncan on from documents snap, and he talked about a little bit about bringing the paper round into the digital world and also we talked to be about marrying those things up, so how we can maybe get paper and digital to talk to each other a little bit nicer and analog not just meeting paper, but also voice stuff you know, things like that we also got into the power of context, which is where things got a little bit heavier, right? You know, like what is a contacts, contexts and context and tags and also talked about folders, notebooks, projects, and but really the power of contexts and how we can add value and meaning to the things that we're trying to do right? And then email management wanna one, which was, again another heavier topic with where we talked about where email is ah loading bay and not necessarily a warehouse as my friend darren barefoot put it's a place where we can have its a communication platform. So how do we get things out of e mail so that we could put them into the place that they need to? I need them to be or better still, how do we just stay out of e mail is as often as possible and get the real work done right? So we got day three now an idea management one oh one so this is some of the higher level stuff we're also talk about finally, finally the power of paper. So we've got we've talked about people quite a bit, but I'm gonna go through some systematic approaches with paper so that way you could maybe for those of you out there and I know everyone here is scribbling things down on paper, how wouldn't take that paper stuff and get it into a digital system or just manage it on paper if that's what we decided we want to keep doing, I know we're using every we've talked about ever knowed a lot, so maybe what's gonna happen is ever know it's going to be the place for your information goes, but for now, your task, you're going to stay on paper, we're gonna talk about how you can make some of that stuff work and then sticking with the system. So we've talked about a ton of chaps we're talking about a ton of different things this week on dh how do we stick with that stuff? How do we not get caught in the trap of? Oh, look at the shiny new object that's over there I'm going to do that should use that shiny new app or that app. Does this one thing really? Really well, yeah, I have this other app that does a bunch of things well, but what about that really cool, shiny thing in front of me that so sticking with the system? Because when you stick with the system, you're gonna be able to get a lot more done because the learning curve and things like that, but I want to get the idea management right off the top okay and that's where a lot of this stuff comes from right? So you know, coming up with ideas of human nature how many of you've had idea yes it's human nature were always exploring what we can and what we you know we want to do right? You know I mean and and the ideas we have we can't really I don't sit back and say okay, here are the ideas I'm having I don't curate them at the time that they come out of my head, right? I don't sit back though that's not practical I mean we were kids, you know and I have two kids at home mean my son's ideas that he wants to be a superhero, right? Of course, because superheroes a cool right and that's an idea that's come out of his head it may not be practical or maybe leave practical a different way we have lots of heroes that aren't necessarily considered the classic superhero models but we have tons of heroes in the world today maybe that's the so it's not too far fetched but we have these ideas and it's human nature to come up with them and it's also human nature to want to explore them so that's easy coming up with ideas there's never really a problem for us right executing ideas though how many were executed all of the ideas that you really want to execute no hands you've executed on some right, and hopefully you're going to execute on some of the ideas that we've talked about the past couple days, but it's not so easy, and the reason it's not so easy, is because what happens is we have these ideas, and then we realise that maybe we can't be that superhero or we can't be that thing, or we're not equipped to do that. And what I'm going to try to do today is offer you some some other tools and some other tactics, some approaches that will like to feel like you're better equipped to handle it. We've talked about the foundation of your system, right? We've talked about having a foundation having a structure. When you have that kind of stuff, then you're gonna have a bit of that foundation, which means you'll feel safer when you're executing things. Um, you know, we talked jennifer, we've talked about balance, and I keep coming back to you when it comes to balance stuff. Uh, balance is very tenuous, right? Like when we say work, life balance, it's, not there's, nothing really solid, you know? I mean, when you're balancing your not holding onto anything right, you're kind of walking that tightrope, and you may be able to stay, and you may not. Or even in the you know, the scale, right tip someone fate one way or another. But when you shift right when you shift, you say I am steadfastly in this place, I am steadfast steadfastly in this place, you know, shifting gears in a car if you try to balance your get between gears and a car, you may be able to move forward a little bit, but only for a little while and probably not as efficiently and definitely not as effectively. And then your car will probably break down. If you continue to try to do that, you're going to burn out the clutch or what have you write? So balancing is is not the goal here. The idea is to shift, and we talked about mindset, right? That was one of the things that you guys were taken away from it uh, some of the other stuff we talked about having different mindsets, you have to shift to be able to do that it's trying to balance then you're not gonna be able to do that. And when you start to shift, you're gonna be able to execute those ideas a little bit more because you're gonna have some concrete nous toe work with this idea belongs here, this idea requires this much energy. This idea belongs in this category. This context, this area of focus, you know, using something like that crucial cube that we talked about. This is my idea. This is so we're gonna get into that. But I want to talk to you about one one idea that was executed in eight days from concept to completion and it's called execute the book by ad drew wilson and josh long, and they set out to write a book together and they did it in eight days, and it was, um and it's it's really good. They shipped it and that was their idea. You can get it, of course. Execute book dot com. Um they set out to build a book on building things on executing and so if you're going, if you're going to do that, then you better be able teo, you know, walk the walk. You gotta talk the talk if these guys can pull that off in it since it's a nice looking book, you know, it's it's, it's it's obviously has got a bit there been a thickness there. Um they pulled it off. They set themselves up, you could see there's a table of contents there, there's some design, they did a lot of that stuff themselves, and they said, hey, we're going to do this now. How did they how did they decide that they wanted to do this? And how do they announce it? They kind of said we're going to do this and we're gonna do this as quickly as possible did that they did that thing where they said, hey, public, I've got this, but we've got this book coming out and it's going to be done in this amount of time, and then they said, this is what this is a value that we hold dear, so we're going to get it out there on a day a day one we talked about counter management and how I've got the new book the now year coming out a practical guide to calendar management, I announced it, I announce it's going to be ready on november fifth? It will be it has to be I announced it so that's one way that you can actually have your ideas, get out there is two and we'll talk about the sharing component in a little while, but that's one thing that you can dio is if you're having problems, executing on ideas, make yourself accountable, and the internet is a great place to make yourself itself accountable, especially if you're doing it on your own platform these guys created a website. They did it right there they owned it, they owned that idea others may have done it before it does may do it again but these guys took it and a they assigned it a context execute right you know what that's about right? You know things like that that's the kind of thing you can do so if you prefer I know we've talked about a bit about the same guy that you've had like you've got some ideas and you're like I just got so many ideas and I can't really put them out that right? Like tell you if you've got a client, you got a photo shoot that you want to get ready for remember we talked about maybe some of those context that you said you're adding meaning to it that this is another thing you khun d'oh create that account you have I'm gonna have your portfolio done by this state, right? And then that becomes the driving force is well right and then deliver so something like this something that you can go, I'm proud of it right? And they obviously had a hole when they put this idea together it wasn't just that here's the idea let's do it they created they made the idea became a project because that's often what happens ideas are rarely tasks they're rarely just tasks I mean the idea to work out that's still not a task because there's other things around it when I am I going to do it I need to build an exercise routine I gotta research how what exercise works for me what doesn't the idea is really just it's ah it's a project in the germination phase really right so the idea of building more clients right the idea of how you're going to do that that's a project right on the project has many steps so when they said hey, we're going to execute this we're gonna put this out there hey that means we have to do this this who's going to do the design I can do that he's going to do this I can do that quick decisions but the reason they had to make these quick decisions is they said internet we're gonna write a book I'm going to get tea and this this amount of days I don't know if I can't remember if they actually said we're going to do it in eight days I think they gave themselves like a little bit of ah ah longer deadline it certainly wasn't thirty days I don't even think it was the amount of time that I that I said I was going to write the book in the now year but so before we move on teo to the next kind of resource that and another great book that actually talks about how you can make ideas happen I want to hear from from the people out here uh when you have an idea so after when you have an idea, what do you do with it like you like you have this this thought this idea that what how do you how do you go from that portion of hey, I have this idea to ok now it's now it's real I'm a big fan of writing it down, you know, like I like to have a talk to just capture it somewhere so the brain is free to think about more creative things rather than be a place where I hold things. So where every note paper on focus where it goes to persepolis if you have an idea to just get it out so I don't have to think I might lose that not think about it again so that's the first step, I think, right and recognizing that it's it's going to be more than just a task, right? Like capture? We talked about capturing on on day one and we've talked about again day to recognizing have that awareness to go, you know, this is bigger than me this is bigger than this right now I need to put this into something like ever known, so if you've got your evernote inbox and you're like, okay, I've got this big idea that's the notebook right that's the notebook it's like execute the book it's a notebook now all these other things fall inside of it right right wait on dh also when you write it down the first one of the first things I'll do when I get an idea like that is all capture it but then when I write it down I'll start doing that mind mapping thing that outlining that where does thing where do things go? Do you guys mind map you guys when you guys have some big idea but you guys sit down it's okay? How how what do we need to do to make this happen? You guys try mind mapping with that jennifer I try to schedule things like depending on what the idea is, but if it's an exercise routine outright I like schedule when I'll actually do it you are? Or if it's like research something, then look up the books to read okay, so you get really specific, right? Yeah. Yeah that's to me that's something that you do a little bit like you want to have a bit of that freeing the hat idea idea ideation time so that for me what I do and what I what I think is a good way to start is to yes, you know those elements air their capture those but when it comes to the idea like how like give yourself a bit more freedom, right? Be a bit more flexible with it exercise routine is going to be a little bit different cause there are some but if you have a big idea about like hey there's this client that I want it I want to build this new you know, uh when you do talk talk is a great example, right? Okay, yeah, I'll usually come up with some kind of outline. Okay, I'll start like coming up with like a it's like a brainstorm like what resource of sources will I need and when could I do this and what topics could be covered just so depending on the idea because like, a workout program goes quickly from idea to project right really quickly where something like that is more like, ok, it's not quite a project yet I need to put into these need to add some more value to it by adding these, you know, different elements to it before really becomes an idea. Um, I know what I was doing screen writing in uh, victoria and not not very successful way, but I mean, I'm not alone in that regard I went to a pitch fast in vancouver and I had this great idea for a script when I was working for costco, I came up with this great idea for a script uh they did just make a movie about that with dane cook at the time so that was probably one of the reasons why I didn't fly so well but the other reason is when I pitched it the guy said oh this is a great idea do you have a script like no because I can't sell an idea I need something I need something more michael I have the log line that's that's not that's not enough you need to actually have more than that so when I what did I do what what was the first thing I did when I got back to my hotel room I I started to flesh it out idea isn't enough without having a little bit more behind it right? You can't sell an idea you can't act upon an idea in that state you need to build out from that um and the way one of the ways that you can do that is again instantly by adding value to it I wanted to be a screenwriter that's what I wanted to do at that time I wanted to make have a screen pip player you know made or in a development or whatever so that was my okay I need to push this into something else. So I think when we talked about you know those tasks that you said yesterday that you know I have a hard time getting to I clean my desk first five times and then I think then I go into the okay, I'm gonna add it now that's the same kind of thing that you can apply here that whole what what this idea that I've had, why do I want to execute it? Not how how you'll figure out the reason you've had this idea in a lot of cases is because it's related to something else you're already doing, you know, I have in the hotel room, they dropped off this card that had this quote on it, it was from loud, loud see? And it said, govern a nation like you would a small fish or like a fish don't don't over like you would cook a fish don't overdo it, right? And I'm like instantly, I'm like, how do I apply that to productivity? Like, how do I fly that time? Management and there is a way I found the connection I haven't done anything with that yet other than just, you know, use it in this in this in this context, but I mean, by and large that's how my brain works and your brain's going toe workin in a in a way where you're going to look at something go, this is where this idea fits right, or this is where this khun turn into a project for this right that that kind of thing can happen so so in that that that would be some place where even so, adding that value to the ideas actually can turn them into projects faster, which makes them executed. Okay, do we have any anybody in the chat room that's asking about like some of the do they have ideas and how maybe how they how they're getting to the execution figures on how they're getting let's? Give them some time, tio sure pull through and we'll we'll come back to them. People are still sharing some of their ideas from the email signature last good. Good. We're gonna get to some of the other tools you can use with ideas and sharing is definitely one of them. So this book is a if you this book is fantastic on a number of levels when it comes to ideas and even task management. It's called making ideas happen as by scott belsky on dh he is the co founder he's with b handsy ninety nine you dot com it's a fantastic website very creative thie action method is a platform it's ah it's, an online it's no longer open tio to outside members, but it was it's, a great online tool for task, man, but you could buy their their notebooks and such at the creative outfitter, so they're really into this ideation and execution kind of stuff. S o scott belski, this book talks about like, how you can really make idea it happened, and not just from the phase of from the germination face and within a team environment, but also you can take him to the next level of, you know how they can relate to what you're doing when an idea is worth pursuing versus when it isn't that kind of thing. So if you're looking for another resource on kind of get something you can really sink your teeth into over a longer period of time on it notice I'm showing the paper version of the book here. I think, for these kind of books, having a digital version is all well and good, but there is something we talk about the power paper in a little while, but having a paper version of it, you can kind of get a sense of, you know, it's it's, tangible, something you could touch and that in a lot of cases, for a lot of people, especially your visual people, you can you actually move things a little bit forward, and they actually resonate a bit more