0:01

Hello and happy New Year's blueprint listeners.

0:03

Can you believe it? 2025 is here. Now

0:06

I know that may not be a huge

0:08

deal to you, and I know there's a

0:10

lot of people out there that just go

0:12

to bed like any other night and wake

0:14

up like any other day, but I like

0:17

to take New Year's Day a little bit,

0:19

but I like to take New Year's Day

0:21

a little bit different. For me, New Year's

0:23

Day is both a time for reflection and

0:25

gratitude, as well as taking some time to

0:28

think about what I want to accomplish really

0:30

well for me. and I thought sharing it

0:32

might make for an interesting mini episode to kick

0:34

off the year. So this episode is for those

0:36

career planners, goal-setters, go-getters out there who are on

0:38

a New Year's Day high with that feeling of

0:41

new beginnings and want to come up with a

0:43

way to execute on those big plans for 2025.

0:45

I mentioned in the first episode of season 5

0:47

that I'd be trying some new things on the

0:49

podcast and this will be one of those episodes.

0:51

So here's what we're going to do in this

0:53

special solo New Year's episode. I'd like to talk

0:56

a little bit about some of the books I've

0:58

read and the strategies I've employed to help make

1:00

me a more effective person and give you some

1:02

nuggets of wisdom that you can hopefully take with you

1:04

into the New Year to do the same as well.

1:06

Some of the older listeners may have long ago worked

1:08

out similar systems that work for them, but I imagine

1:10

there's quite a few younger listeners just starting out and

1:12

getting into the workforce that this episode may be a

1:15

huge help for. I know this is one thing that

1:17

could have been really useful to me earlier on in

1:19

my career, so whoever you are and wherever you are

1:21

in your career, I hope this helps you out as

1:23

well. One of the things I've always thought that was

1:25

a superpower of mine is the ability to be very

1:27

intentional about what I spend my time on. And I've

1:29

come up with a system of how I do that.

1:31

And it's a system that's enabled me to prep

1:34

for becoming a SANS instructor, write various courses,

1:36

create content, and learn all sorts of new

1:38

skills along the way. And it's served me

1:40

really well. And what better time to talk

1:42

about that process and mental models associated with

1:44

it than at the start of the year

1:46

when others might be thinking about the same

1:48

thing? When it comes to career success, focus

1:50

is what I think matters most. You have

1:52

to think about a laser versus a light

1:54

bulb, for example. While a light bulb can cast

1:56

a little light everywhere and maybe light up a

1:58

room, that's great. When a light is focused into

2:00

a laser, it can go miles. You can shoot

2:02

it off into space, you can cut metal, you

2:05

can do all sorts of other fantastic things with

2:07

it that a light ball would never be able

2:09

to do. And that is the power of focus,

2:11

right? What we're looking to do here is come

2:13

up with how we can take all that energy

2:15

that we have and direct it in one direction.

2:17

And when you can do that, what you're able

2:19

to achieve is going to surprise even yourself. In

2:21

this episode, I want to discuss my personal system

2:23

for ensuring focus on what really matters. We're going

2:26

to discuss how to choose what to do, how

2:28

to make sure it's going to get you where

2:30

you really want to go, and the actual tactics

2:32

and systems you can apply on a daily basis

2:34

to make sure you can achieve whatever it is

2:36

you're looking to accomplish in 2025. I promise you

2:38

even if you think that there's a task this

2:40

year that you'd like to accomplish that is too

2:42

big, there's actually a really good chance that you

2:44

can get a really good chance that you can

2:47

get it, that you can get it, that you

2:49

can get it done, that you can get it

2:51

done, if you can get it done, if you

2:53

can get it done, if you can get it

2:55

done, if you can get it, if you can

2:57

get it, if you can get it, if you

2:59

can get it, if you can get it, if

3:01

you can get it, if you can get it,

3:03

if you can get it, Step one is setting

3:05

your goal and knowing why it's important to you.

3:07

Now this may sound like a very basic thing,

3:10

but it's not. It's one of the most important

3:12

decisions that you're going to make. Because what you

3:14

choose here drives the entire rest of the process

3:16

and what you're going to be doing throughout the

3:18

year. So you need to choose very, very wisely.

3:20

What do I mean by that? In step one,

3:22

your goal is to consider and ask, what do

3:24

I really want and why do I want it?

3:26

Your initial answer to this question may be either

3:28

a high-level answer, such as I want to get

3:31

a job that I love to take care of

3:33

my family, or maybe a lower level answer, such

3:35

as a specific skill you want to learn. Maybe

3:37

you want to learn malware reverse engineering or something

3:39

else directly related to your job. No matter where

3:41

you start, I encourage you to follow that answer

3:43

by either... going up or down the levels of

3:45

abstraction and asking why do I want that or

3:47

what does that mean? So at this stage, what

3:49

we're trying to think of is something that's a

3:52

fairly big goal that might reasonably take you a

3:54

year or longer to achieve. Let's assume you said

3:56

something more tactical in detail to start with. You

3:58

may want to build a new skill, right? Mal

4:00

reverse engineering, for example. So why do you want

4:02

to learn that skill? that first? Is it because

4:04

it's fun, because it's interesting, because it will get

4:06

you a promotion to maybe a senior analyst position?

4:08

Okay, great. Why is that important to you? Why

4:10

do you want a promotion? Why is it important

4:13

to learn interesting skills? Maybe your answer is

4:15

obvious, right? You'd like to earn more money.

4:18

Well, we all like that, of course, but

4:20

why do we want to earn more money?

4:22

Of course, more money is nice, but is

4:24

there something specific specific behind that need? Would

4:27

you go on more vacations with your family?

4:29

Would you reinvest it in yourself and your

4:31

own learning and use it to double down

4:33

on your career trajectory? The goal here is

4:36

to understand why those things are truly important

4:38

to you and follow it as deep as

4:40

you can possibly go. You should be chasing

4:43

that goal all the way to the point where

4:45

you can connect a specific thing you want to

4:47

your big why. Simon Sinek has a legendary TED

4:49

Talk about this called Start With Why. It's a

4:51

framework that gets into how what you do every

4:54

day on a day-to-day basis needs to align with

4:56

your values and purpose. Now, he's talking about a

4:58

business, but it makes sense as a human as

5:00

well. If you don't know what your values or

5:02

purpose is as a person, then you don't know

5:05

what you're actually doing on a day-to-day basis actually

5:07

aligns with those things or really anything at all.

5:09

And that means it might be hard to stay

5:11

motivated on doing what you're trying to accomplish to

5:13

accomplish. There's an alternative but similar method and

5:16

technique here called the fivefold Y technique that can

5:18

be applied that will help you understand what you

5:20

really want. I'll put both of those things in

5:22

the show notes if you want to check those

5:25

kind of resources out. taking a lower level tactical

5:27

goal and aligning it all the way up the

5:29

chain to trace to your purpose and your values

5:31

and what you really want as a person should

5:33

make it clear why that lower level goal or

5:36

skill is truly important in your life and hopefully

5:38

make it clear and motivating every day as to

5:40

why you are doing that more mechanical task that

5:42

you're doing as part of getting that project done.

5:44

You're getting it done because ultimately you

5:46

want to make your life better for

5:49

your family or something like that, right?

5:51

It's important to have that traceability. Maybe

5:53

when you first thought of something you thought of a

5:55

higher level value and purpose, but don't know exactly how

5:57

to put those values into action in the best way

5:59

for... a new goal for 2025. Maybe have

6:01

a high-level goal that's too vague and it's

6:03

something maybe like I want to be happy

6:06

at work in a job that I love.

6:08

Instead of asking why is that important, which

6:10

helps you go upward, to go lower you

6:12

need to ask what does that mean or

6:14

what does that look like? So for example

6:16

you want to have a job where you're

6:19

happy. Well okay what are the components of

6:21

a job that makes you happy? Is it

6:23

having a new challenge every day? Is it

6:25

having a variety of tasks? Is it learning

6:27

new skills? All of those things could be

6:29

a valid list and many many more. You

6:32

want to make a list and define what

6:34

being happy in this case would actually look

6:36

like to you and a job. And you

6:38

now have a list of being happy in

6:40

this case, what actually look like to you

6:43

in a job. And you now have a

6:45

list of attributes you'd like to see in

6:47

a little bit more concrete. you might want

6:49

to see what makes a team or co-workers

6:51

fun and great to be around. You want

6:53

to gain as much clarity and definition as

6:56

possible here to the point where you can

6:58

say something like If I were to have

7:00

X, Y, and Z, that will get me

7:02

to where I think I want to be,

7:04

and that makes it so that I will

7:06

be achieving this higher level goal if I

7:09

have this set of five lower level things.

7:11

It takes a high level concept, makes it

7:13

more concrete, and it gives you something very

7:15

specific to AMAT. This is just the first

7:17

step, but it's very important, because it gives

7:19

you the longer and near term goals that

7:22

you will be using as a North Star.

7:24

It isn't just a goal floating around in

7:26

a vacuum that you hope aligns to something

7:28

that matters. It's one that you traced all

7:30

the way to the top and ties who

7:33

you are as a human and what you're

7:35

trying to achieve all the way down to

7:37

the bottom to a specific set of tasks

7:39

that you want to get to get to.

7:41

Now that we've seen the goal off in

7:43

the route, to a specific set of tasks

7:46

that you want to get to. Now that

7:48

we've seen the goal off in the distance,

7:50

it's time for step two where we are

7:52

going to take. Step 2 is all about

7:54

translating from long and medium term goals into

7:56

much shorter term tactical and maybe even micro

7:59

goals. This might again seem silly, but here's

8:01

the thing. We've all done this before. You

8:03

start out a new year with a bunch

8:05

of ideas and things you want to do,

8:07

search, you want to get, projects you want

8:09

to undertake, and as you go throughout the

8:12

year, you say, oh yeah, I got an

8:14

entire year ahead of me, right? No problem,

8:16

you say, oh yeah, I got an entire

8:18

year ahead of me, right? No problem, right?

8:20

No. I got an entire year ahead of

8:23

me, right. No. No problem, no. No problem,

8:25

no. No problem, no. No problem, no. No,

8:27

no. No, no. No, no. No, no. No,

8:29

no. No, no. What's the problem here? Well,

8:31

people tend to overestimate what they can do

8:33

in the time scale of a year. And

8:35

so you make a long list of items

8:38

and then you keep pushing when you're going

8:40

to start those items forward because life happens,

8:42

but you realize near the end you're in

8:44

a time crunch and then you don't have

8:46

any time to do any of those things.

8:48

On the flip side, people often also underestimate

8:50

estimate what is possible in the shorter term,

8:52

maybe around the month to weeks long scale.

8:54

Meaning you likely don't realize the power of

8:56

a single focused week or month of time,

8:58

but you need to be able to use

9:01

that week or month of time correctly if

9:03

you want to get those things done.

9:05

I read a book a while back

9:07

called The Twelve Week Year, and the

9:09

idea from that book has changed my

9:11

life. Instead of operating on a what

9:13

can I get done this year mindset,

9:15

which is likely to fail you, Mentally

9:17

bring that time window back to a

9:19

single quarter or even shorter than that

9:21

perhaps. In other words, take that yearly

9:23

goal from step one and break it

9:25

down into one quarter size pieces and

9:27

ask yourself, is this small goal, 25%

9:29

of my big goal, something I can

9:31

actually get done in Q1? you're much more

9:34

likely to know what is going to happen

9:36

in Q1 in terms of your calendar and

9:38

your schedule and as you may have guessed

9:40

from this point the next step is to

9:42

further break down that goal into individual months

9:44

and then ideally weeks and then ultimately daily

9:47

actions you can take on a shorter time

9:49

scale you actually are going to know what's

9:51

going to come up on your calendar and

9:53

so you can be much more realistic about

9:55

what can really happen and then put those

9:58

pieces back together to that bigger long longer

10:00

term goal. And if you realize you

10:02

can't, maybe you've miss set that goal

10:04

and you set yourself up for failure

10:06

in the first place, and in this

10:08

case, you would know ahead of time.

10:10

So again, while this may seem obvious,

10:12

I find that very few people actually

10:14

do this or think this way. Have

10:17

you ever broken down your new years?

10:19

Have you ever broken down your New

10:21

Year's resolution into what you need to

10:23

get done? I'm assuming I'm going to

10:25

get it done. When you break it

10:27

down like this and say, well, here's

10:29

what I need to do this week

10:31

or tomorrow, if I want to get

10:33

toward that goal, reality hits and that

10:35

can be scary, but more importantly, if

10:37

you've done it and you've done it

10:39

right, doing those things also guarantees success.

10:42

And that's what matters, right? I find

10:44

that once I have a long-term goal

10:46

and break it down recursively into smaller

10:48

and smaller pieces, it becomes much more

10:50

easy to actually work on those small

10:52

items and then get myself to that

10:54

big end goal. So your task for

10:56

this step is to do exactly that.

10:58

Take your yearly goal and resolve it

11:00

into quarterly, monthly, weekly chunks of work

11:02

and then see if it still seems

11:05

realistic and something that you can do.

11:07

If it's not, you've likely chosen a

11:09

goal that's too big for the timescale

11:11

and you can adjust and set yourself

11:13

up for success. Another book I like

11:15

a lot that I'll mention here that's

11:17

related is called The One Thing. This

11:19

book helps you think about what steps

11:21

are truly the most important for you

11:23

to work on the daily timescale. In

11:25

short, the core idea of the book

11:27

is to ask yourself every single day,

11:30

what one thing can I do today,

11:32

such that by doing it, everything else,

11:34

will become easier or unnecessary. Those who

11:36

have taken LDR 551, may have recognized

11:38

this quote, and I have it on

11:40

one of the slides in that class.

11:42

And it's called the focusing question. And

11:44

if you ask yourself that on a

11:46

daily basis, the things you do today

11:48

can help remove work from tomorrow or

11:50

make tomorrow easier in a way that's

11:53

very important and will compound over time.

11:55

So check that book out for more

11:57

details if you're interested in that. The

11:59

next part of step two is having

12:01

a system for tracking and writing down.

12:03

the things that you need to do

12:05

to see your progress and not forget

12:07

where you're headed. Here's my advice on

12:09

this. After doing this for almost 10

12:11

years now, keep it simple. It's very

12:13

tempting to go crazy with this using

12:15

notion templates or complex obsidian setups and

12:18

multiple nested levels of tracking and notes

12:20

and data-driven execution. And that's all great

12:22

and it's fun and exciting to set

12:24

up, but don't lose sight of the

12:26

goal. The work here is the work,

12:28

not the meta work to track the

12:30

work. And so I find that using

12:32

something that is simple. is what leads to

12:34

success here. Do not over engineer this. I

12:37

promise you if you're anything like me you're

12:39

going to be tempted to do it. I

12:41

have tried over engineering a solution for this

12:43

multiple times and it never sticks. Here's what

12:45

you need in a system for tracking what

12:47

you need to do. You need a fast

12:50

way to make a to-do list divided into

12:52

sections. You need an area that acts a

12:54

little bit like a calendar to see what

12:56

is coming up in the week and months

12:58

ahead so that you know what is feasible

13:00

to actually do. You need a place to

13:03

put those to-do list items that you have

13:05

separated on your daily calendar area and plan

13:07

what you're actually going to do on a

13:09

day-to-day basis, and you'd like to have access

13:11

to that entire system from any device that

13:14

you have. So laptops, mobile devices, on the

13:16

internet via browsers, whatever you might need. For

13:18

me, the program I've had the most

13:20

success with here is One Note, and

13:22

I'm going to describe in the next

13:24

step how specifically I use it. I

13:26

chose one note because one note is

13:28

free, it's everywhere, it's every platform, and

13:30

it's on mobile, and I make basically

13:32

one page for every week of my

13:34

life, and I fill it with the

13:36

activity that I need to take care

13:38

of that week. Another option for this

13:40

is a tool like Obsidian. In fact,

13:42

in 2024, I did use Obcidian. And

13:44

while it was really good for general

13:46

note taking, I ultimately found as a

13:49

little bit too complex for my planning system,

13:51

and I'm planning on reverting back to one.

13:53

one note if you're more of an obsidian

13:55

user. Whatever it is, ideally it's a piece

13:57

of software that's simple enough to use on

13:59

a day-to-day. that it won't be annoying, but

14:01

flexible enough to let you customize it in

14:03

ways that are going to help it work

14:06

for you. Once you have an application chosen

14:08

for this, you're ready to use it and

14:10

make the magic happen. In short, the way

14:12

you're going to use this is to make

14:15

a to-do list and divide the things on

14:17

that list into both what I'm calling tasks

14:19

and then other things that are important actions

14:22

towards your goals and then schedule those things.

14:24

Now let me differentiate between those two tasks.

14:26

Now let me differentiate between those two tasks

14:28

that you just have to do. As a

14:31

human there's going to be small things that

14:33

nag you day to day, something's broken in

14:35

your house, you've got to run some errands.

14:37

The other things, though, are the specific steps

14:40

and to-do items that track directly to achieving

14:42

those goals and making progress on things that

14:44

truly matter. In the combination of knowing what

14:47

those things are and where you're going to

14:49

fit them into your schedule is what is

14:51

the real magic of this system. And that

14:53

application should allow you to put those two

14:56

pieces together. This simple change in using this

14:58

system is what really up the game for

15:00

me. Every morning I try to think about

15:02

what I need to do that day, both

15:05

the tasks and the actions toward those goals,

15:07

and I look at my calendar in this

15:09

system that I use in one note, and

15:11

I try to schedule those things, and I

15:14

look at my calendar in this system that

15:16

I use in one note, and I try

15:18

to schedule those things very intentionally. I try

15:21

to schedule those things very much. At this

15:23

point, you should have a... of what you

15:25

want to accomplish all the way from life-aligned

15:27

values and big goals to how you're going

15:30

to get there in the daily actions you

15:32

can take and a place to put and

15:34

track those daily actions. So it's time to

15:36

put this all to work. Step three is

15:39

how to actually execute on a day-to-day basis.

15:41

Now that we're ready to execute. What am

15:43

I actually doing every single day that makes

15:46

all this work? Well first, a quick anecdote.

15:48

One quote I love and I think exemplifies

15:50

this whole system for me is this. For

15:52

those who have taken my SEC 450 Blue

15:55

Team fundamentals class, you know... that I both

15:57

have that quote on the very last slide

15:59

of the class, as well as on the

16:01

back of the challenge coin for the class

16:04

that goes to the team that wins the

16:06

CTF. I put that there because I think

16:08

that's a very useful quote to keep in

16:10

mind. Here's the real story behind why that's

16:13

there, which I don't fully explain in the

16:15

notes in class. When I first agreed to

16:17

write that class, it was the first

16:19

SANS class I wrote in full, and

16:21

I was incredibly excited, but that excitement

16:24

quickly turned to fear and dread as

16:26

I realized I just signed myself up

16:28

for a high-stakes game that required me

16:30

to create nearly 900 slides of content

16:32

and notes, and hundreds of pages of

16:34

lab material with data generation, virtual machines,

16:36

and everything that goes along with it.

16:38

It was a monumental amount of work.

16:40

I was working on building that class

16:42

as my full-time job, and it was

16:44

incredibly difficult. filled with more and more

16:46

PowerPoint, more lab data generation, careful instruction writing,

16:49

testing, and the task seemed overwhelming, especially early

16:51

on when I saw no end in sight.

16:53

One day I was stuck and I went

16:55

to a coffee shop here in Philly to

16:57

change my work environment and get the creative

16:59

juices flowing and the inspiration moving once again.

17:01

And there was a sign on the wall

17:04

that had that quote, The Journey of a

17:06

Thousand Miles begins with a single step. I

17:08

realized that... Well, yes, I did have a

17:10

mountain of work to do. If I looked

17:12

at it in another way, it wasn't really

17:14

a mountain of work. It was really just

17:17

staying committed to taking a single small chunk

17:19

of work and doing that small chunk of

17:21

work every single day over an extended period

17:23

of time. I would eventually arrive at my

17:25

destination if I did that, no matter what.

17:27

And well, ten months later, I did eventually

17:30

get there, and though of course it was

17:32

a very difficult task, I started to look

17:34

at it more... like building a wall, you're

17:36

laying a little brick every day, right? You're

17:38

not building a house, you just have to set

17:40

a few more bricks. And when you look at

17:43

it like that, it's a lot more tolerable when

17:45

you feel overwhelmed with the amount of work you

17:47

might have to do. Well, writing that course, that

17:49

quote bounced around in my head and every day

17:51

I realize no matter how impossible a task or

17:53

a goal seemed, all you really need to do

17:55

is take a single slice each day and figure

17:58

out how to figure out how to get it. The

18:00

manageable daily amount of work over the long

18:02

term adds up to something huge and something

18:04

seemingly unachievable, especially at the start. I learned

18:06

that lesson through writing that class, and I

18:08

end the course with that quote, not only

18:10

because it's meaningful to me, but I hope

18:12

to inspire students to come to the same

18:14

realization. Nothing is impossible if you plan it

18:16

correctly. There's a proverb. How do you eat

18:18

an elephant? One bite at a time. Seems

18:20

silly, but the meaning there is deep. It

18:22

is the same lesson, and it's the lesson

18:25

we need to apply in the execute phase.

18:27

So, back to how we're going to do

18:29

that. In one note, on that page that

18:31

I make for every week is a table

18:33

for each day of the week. I have

18:35

one column for every day of the week.

18:37

I have one column for every day from

18:39

Sunday through Saturday, and that column is broken

18:41

up into multiple different pieces that I have

18:43

sections of the day in, and a task

18:45

list at the task list at the bottom

18:47

list at the bottom, the day section area

18:49

is a bit like a calendar but less

18:51

structured hour by hour and i basically break

18:53

it up into what is before work so

18:56

usually for me that's like five a.m. to

18:58

maybe seven or eight a.m. and the start

19:00

of the work day until lunch lunch until

19:02

the end of the work day and then

19:04

dinner and beyond until i go to sleep

19:06

at night i found those are kind of

19:08

the phases of my day and what is

19:10

meaningful for me when it comes to planning

19:12

yours might be different I also have a

19:14

to-do list below the calendar with a list

19:16

of all the things that I need to

19:18

get done separated into what aligns with my

19:20

real goals and what is a random life

19:22

task. One mental model you can apply at

19:24

this stage is called the Eisenhower matrix. This

19:26

basically suggests you separate urgent from important on

19:29

your to-do list and realize that not all

19:31

urgent things are important. In this system, important

19:33

to me means aligned with one of those

19:35

goals, or maybe that something bad will happen

19:37

if I don't get that task on ASAP.

19:39

Everything else is at task, right? And it

19:41

gets slotted in in in the extra time

19:43

when I actually have time to get around

19:45

to it, because it's not truly important, even

19:47

if it's something that's urgent and someone else

19:49

wants me to get it done. Sometimes you

19:51

have to be ruthless and say, you know

19:53

what, I need to focus on my priorities

19:55

right now. Each week and each day, start

19:57

with a moment, start with a moment, start

20:00

with a moment, start with a moment, Gaze

20:02

at your week and look at each day

20:04

and think about your calendar. Fill in the

20:06

meetings and the other things that you have

20:08

going on so you know what actual amount

20:10

of free time you really have and what

20:12

time is taken. Then look down at your

20:14

to-do list section and start with the important

20:16

tasks and take an important task category item

20:18

and place it somewhere on your day. When

20:20

you get all these things filled in, you're

20:22

going to have some time left over ideally.

20:24

And then in those shorter gaps and times

20:26

where you know you're not going to be

20:28

able to focus, maybe those 30 minutes in

20:31

between meetings, that's where you can

20:33

put those other life to do

20:35

tasks. Because you're never going to

20:37

get into that flow state in

20:39

that time. But you do need

20:41

to get into that flow state

20:43

in that time. But you do

20:45

need to get those tasks on

20:47

eventually. get those goal-aligned things done

20:49

no matter what. In other words,

20:51

schedule taking a bite out of

20:53

that elephant every single day. If

20:55

you don't schedule it, it's probably

20:57

not going to happen. This technique

20:59

forces you to plan when you're going

21:02

to do those things and it gives

21:04

them priority in planning your day. The

21:06

second is I realize once I started

21:08

doing that that life often takes over

21:10

and overrides my plans and that's okay.

21:12

It happens, but how do we compensate

21:14

for that? interrupted time on your day

21:16

to put those priorities so that you

21:18

can guarantee every day we'll have at

21:20

least a little chunk of time for

21:22

them. For me, that was a realization

21:24

that the space I needed was before

21:27

work, where my mind was fresh and

21:29

before I was exhausted by the workday. So

21:31

I started waking up early. And since 2015,

21:33

nearly every day, I've woken up near 5am

21:35

and used that time from 5 until whenever

21:37

the rest of the workday starts. to work

21:40

on those priorities. No one else is awake

21:42

at that time. Ewails are not coming in.

21:44

All I do is wake up, have my

21:46

coffee, and get right to it. Focus like

21:48

a laser directly on those things. Don't even

21:50

pick up your phone. Don't look at your

21:53

email. Everything else can wait. At 5 a.m.

21:55

No one needs your attention. At that point,

21:57

everyone assumes you're sleeping anyway. So you can

21:59

do what. whatever you want, you can tune

22:01

out the news, you can tune out your

22:04

emails, it's great. This will guarantee that you

22:06

hit that first step for the day and

22:08

it will be something that aligns with getting

22:11

to those big goals before your normal date

22:13

even starts. So if anything gets in the

22:15

way and your day gets completely derailed, you

22:17

still made a little bit of progress. This

22:20

is the one thing that I believe has

22:22

most contributed to my success over the past

22:24

decade. It's a guaranteed small amount of progress

22:26

that will happen each day. Now, here are

22:29

some common problems that will probably come up

22:31

along the way. Confusion about what to do

22:33

next. Procrastination. Low energy levels. Life. What if

22:36

you don't know what steps to take next?

22:38

What if you don't feel like taking those

22:40

steps? I have two quick thoughts on that

22:42

that hopefully can help you push through these

22:45

common challenges. Look at someone who has already

22:47

achieved that goal, accomplished a similar project, or

22:49

done something similar to whatever it is you're

22:51

trying to do. As they say, success leaves

22:54

clues. So use your hacker brain and reverse

22:56

engineer how someone else has done a similar

22:58

thing, and then use their methods for creative

23:01

or direct inspiration and guidance on how you

23:03

can do it as well. Literally deconstruct the

23:05

pieces of work that they've done and say

23:07

how did they do? Peace A, Peace B,

23:10

PC, what resources do I need, and then

23:12

go out and find those things and get

23:14

it done. You don't need to reinvent the

23:17

wheel to do things. You don't have to

23:19

figure things out to do things. You don't

23:21

have to figure things out from scratch. There

23:23

are guides out there. It's a simple Google

23:26

away or some clever reversing of what you

23:28

need to do or learn next. A great

23:30

book. for this mindset is called steal like

23:32

an artist from an author named Austin Cleum.

23:35

Second thing is what if you don't feel

23:37

like getting things done? You all have those

23:39

slow days or tired low energy days and

23:42

sometimes you have to take what I would

23:44

call the next smallest action in order to

23:46

make progress. And I often find that progress

23:48

leads to motivation to keep going once you

23:51

start, even if the action you took was

23:53

very very small. So for example, say you

23:55

have to figure out. to do next and

23:58

it's something you've never done before. I've realized

24:00

that a blank screen or an undefined task

24:02

is one of the things that will absolutely

24:04

halt me in my tracks and I realize

24:07

if I don't know what I need to

24:09

do or how to do it or what

24:11

I'm even needing to do, that's the moment

24:13

where I just sit there and freeze up

24:16

and I assume most people are similar. So

24:18

in these moments, you have to break that

24:20

problem down and say, well, how can I

24:23

further define what this task actually is, and

24:25

then break it into maybe even a silly-sized,

24:27

tiny chunk of work, right? This can include

24:29

as simple. of things as just simply

24:31

open your browser. Search YouTube for people

24:33

who have already done that thing. Make

24:35

a list of tools that might help

24:38

you. Make a list of single features

24:40

in those tools and then try them

24:42

out. Whatever it is, break it down

24:44

into a just absurdly ridiculously small step.

24:46

And if you can take that step,

24:48

then you can often take the very

24:50

next tiniest step, even if it's just

24:52

logging into a website, looking at some

24:54

data. Whatever it is, that progress will

24:56

be forward progress and it will lead

24:58

you in the right direction and often

25:00

leads to further motivation. Let's say it's writing.

25:02

You're facing a blank page. Someone says, here,

25:04

write an article on this. You're like, I

25:06

don't even know where to start. This is

25:08

a terrible place to be and I hate

25:10

it. But what I've found is if I

25:13

can break down that article on my head

25:15

and use a top-down process to understand what

25:17

I should put in the article in the

25:19

article no longer as a. What would a

25:21

good article about that topic and tale? What

25:23

might be some main points that need to

25:25

be in this article? What are some core

25:27

concerns? Start with the headings, make an outline,

25:29

before you actually write any sentences. Fill in

25:32

points, fill in sub points, and then write

25:34

the actual text. Starting from a blank cursor

25:36

feels nearly impossible. But when you then put

25:38

on the words, intro, conclusion, body, and then

25:40

you say, well, what needs to be in

25:42

the body? Point 1.2.3. Well, what would those

25:44

be? Let me go find one of the

25:46

most important things. The second most important things.

25:48

You fill those in. What are the core

25:51

pieces of those three main points you want

25:53

to make? Once you have those headings in

25:55

there, you can often figure out how to

25:57

make progress on it and turn that blank

25:59

page fear. into an actually written article. Finally,

26:01

to wrap this whole system up, at the

26:03

end of each week, month, and quarter, be

26:06

sure to look back at your system of

26:08

record and think about what did you accomplish

26:10

and get feedback on how much you actually

26:13

can do in a given time frame and

26:15

adjust for the future if it was wrong,

26:17

and adjust for the future if it was

26:19

wrong, and also celebrate those wins. One of

26:22

the really useful things about this system is

26:24

it also creates a done list from all

26:26

the finished many steps that you've taken over.

26:28

did get done as opposed to the opposite

26:31

way, staring at a to-do list and reminding

26:33

yourself of all the things you could do.

26:35

The done list reminds you of all the

26:38

things that you've already done and you can

26:40

feel good about yourself instead of the other

26:42

direction. Finally and most importantly remember that you

26:44

are a finite human and that no one

26:47

can do everything on the to-do list, especially

26:49

the task-related stuff that isn't really truly important

26:51

anyway. There's actually a freedom and power in

26:54

admitting that you are limited in what you

26:56

can. Once you realize it's literally impossible to

26:58

do everything you want to do, you can

27:00

stop feeling bad about not having it all

27:03

done. It could never have been done anyway

27:05

in the first place. This is a mindset

27:07

that I've taken from one of the books

27:09

I've recently read that I would encourage anyone

27:12

with a productivity leaning mine to read as

27:14

a serious and important reality check. The book

27:16

is called Four Thousand Weeks, Time Management for

27:19

Mortals, and in a way it's an anti-product

27:21

productivity book that is a balance to where

27:23

a system like this can take you if

27:25

you go too far with it. I realize

27:28

that some of you may think that all

27:30

of this is totally insane and I get

27:32

that. I often think that I'm crazy for

27:34

it as well, but for me it returns

27:36

results, which I can't argue with. I have

27:39

to balance that though with the reality of

27:41

I can't possibly do everything and it's okay.

27:43

So let me be clear on this episode

27:45

as we wrap it up here. I'm not

27:47

saying burn yourself out going crazy setting and

27:50

obsessively tracking and hitting goals. Well that can

27:52

work fine in a short term and you

27:54

might be able to pull off some heroics.

27:56

What I've said here needs to be done

27:58

in a manageable way that is sustainable over

28:00

the years. And that's why I mentioned feedback

28:03

and checking what is realistic several times along

28:05

the way. We're not trying to overload ourselves,

28:07

we're just trying to be intentional about what

28:09

we are doing and what we're spending our

28:11

time on. So I'm not saying make a

28:14

mountain of work for yourself, I'm saying make

28:16

sure that the time you do use is

28:18

put towards what will truly make you happy

28:20

and move the needle in your career and

28:22

in your life. That book is a great

28:24

reality check on doing that in a sustainable

28:27

way and a great counterbalance to what I've

28:29

said here. No matter who you are, Infosek

28:31

is a crazy fast-paced industry and the book

28:33

is something that I think every single person

28:35

could benefit from. So if you take nothing

28:38

else from, if you take nothing else from

28:40

this. So if you take nothing else from

28:42

this episode, this might be the one resource

28:44

you want to look at as it provides

28:46

a fresh perspective on the realities of being

28:48

a single limited human. And it's something I've

28:51

never seen. So that's basically the system. Think

28:53

about very carefully what you want to do

28:55

and why you want to do it and

28:57

how that aligns with your highest level goals.

28:59

And then take those things and then back

29:02

them all the way down into very very

29:04

small individual bite-sized actions and then back them

29:06

all the way down into very very small

29:08

individual bite-sized actions and then have a system

29:10

to make sure you can actually get those

29:12

actions done on a day-to-day basis. Really if

29:15

I was going to be able to be

29:17

able to... figure it out. Any Infosike project,

29:19

any career goal, you can break it down

29:21

in the micro-step. So once you figure out

29:23

how to do that and put those things

29:26

on your schedule and make sure they get

29:28

done, you will be on the path to

29:30

success. And so that's it. This episode was

29:32

certainly a departure from anything else. And so

29:34

that's it. This episode was certainly a departure

29:36

from anything else I've ever done here before.

29:39

And I'd like to know if you enjoyed

29:41

or post feedback on security operations topics. that

29:43

we also talk about. With that, I'd like

29:45

to wish all of you a happy and

29:47

productive new year and hope that you all

29:50

had a restful holiday break with friends and

29:52

family. Thank you for listening and I'll be

29:54

back again soon with another new episode of

29:56

Blueprint.