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0:59

This is the 5am

1:01

Miracle, episode number 487.

1:03

The four apps you need

1:05

to manage any project or achieve

1:08

any goal. Good

1:12

morning and welcome to the 5am

1:14

Miracle. I am Jeff Sanders, and

1:16

this is the podcast dedicated to

1:19

dominating your day before breakfast. My

1:21

goal is to help you bounce

1:23

out of bed with enthusiasm, create

1:25

powerful lifelong habits, and tackle

1:27

your grandest goals with extraordinary

1:29

energy. In the episode this

1:31

week, I'll break down the

1:34

core fundamentals of what it

1:36

takes to complete any project,

1:38

why your current system is

1:40

possibly distracting you more than it's

1:42

helping you, and what major

1:45

changes I have made to my

1:47

own productivity system that has

1:49

basically revolutionized how I get things

1:51

done. Let's get to it. You

2:02

probably can't hear it in my

2:04

voice, but I am at the

2:06

tail end of a pretty brutal

2:08

science infection. So I'm going to

2:10

do my best to keep myself

2:12

fully focused in the episode this

2:14

week. My wife is also battling

2:16

her second bout with COVID. My

2:19

second daughter has a science infection

2:21

as well. And my first daughter

2:23

is somehow avoiding all of this.

2:25

I don't know how. Needless to

2:27

say, our family is struggling in

2:29

a number of ways, and our

2:31

spring weather, though beautiful on the

2:33

outside, is kind of stormy here on

2:35

the inside of our house here

2:37

in Nashville. So bear with me this

2:39

week. I will do my best

2:41

to help you as much as I

2:44

can while also taking frequent breaks

2:46

to blow my nose a million

2:48

times in a

2:50

row. Okay, back

2:52

to... Oh, gosh. Ow.

2:56

Did you hear that one? I just

2:58

did. I'm

3:01

probably going to cut that

3:03

out because that's disgusting, but

3:05

that's brutal. Okay,

3:07

back to the show. The

3:10

process to do anything

3:12

is basically the same

3:14

thing. If you master

3:16

the core fundamentals to achieve

3:18

one goal, you can literally

3:20

achieve any goal. Productivity,

3:23

ambitious achievement, and wild

3:25

success. Well, they're all

3:27

built on the backbone of the

3:29

same core principles. And in our

3:31

world of smart gadgets, basically the

3:33

same apps as well. So

3:36

on the podcast this week, I'm

3:38

going to go in depth into

3:40

productivity systems, why your system is

3:42

most likely failing you, at least

3:44

in part, and how you can

3:46

bolster your system based on these

3:48

fundamentals, the tools, and the apps

3:51

that ultimately get the job done

3:53

with additional clarity, simplicity. and

3:55

hopefully efficiency. So

3:57

let's dig in and begin

3:59

with these, I'll call them problems

4:01

with your current system. These things

4:03

that likely are holding you back.

4:05

They could be bottlenecks, they could

4:07

be issues with your system you're just totally

4:10

unaware of, or maybe you actually do

4:12

know your system is broken and is struggling,

4:14

and you're just trying to figure out

4:16

how to fix it. So there

4:18

are three main problems that I

4:20

see that relate directly to the content

4:22

I'm going to dig into this

4:24

week, especially as it relates to what

4:27

I'm going to reveal at the

4:29

end, which is my new productivity or

4:31

at least project management system. That

4:34

is a tweak on my previous one.

4:36

If you want to get more

4:38

of a backstory on the episode this

4:40

week, the show notes page has

4:42

links to a few additional episodes that

4:44

I've done. The first about Evernote,

4:47

the second about my switch from Evernote

4:49

to DevonThink, and then now this

4:51

episode, the switch from DevonThink to

4:53

my new system to be revealed very

4:55

soon. In about 20 minutes. So

4:58

if you want to go to

5:00

jeffsanders.com slash 487, that's the show notes

5:02

page for the episode this week,

5:04

and you'll see links to those previous

5:07

episodes, as well as some resources

5:09

that I'll be sharing here on the

5:11

show right now. So

5:13

let's get to these

5:15

problems I just alluded to

5:17

with your system. The

5:20

first potential problem is you

5:22

don't have a system to begin with, or

5:24

at least you're not clear. on

5:26

exactly what your system is,

5:28

even if you subconsciously do the

5:30

same things for every project

5:32

every time. What I

5:34

have noticed over the years, especially when

5:37

it comes to the approach to something

5:39

that you've done before, is

5:41

that you typically have a system. Even if

5:43

you've never written it down and documented

5:45

it and you have a checklist to follow,

5:47

even if those things aren't true at

5:49

all, you still have a system. There's

5:51

a habit. There's a way of doing things

5:53

that you tend to do these things. which

5:56

is a good thing. Habits are very helpful,

5:58

especially when they're good habits. However,

6:00

when it comes to

6:02

important goals, important projects, meaningful,

6:04

significant things you're going

6:07

to spend your time working

6:09

on and working towards,

6:11

I think it's extremely valuable. To

6:13

not only have a system, but to

6:16

document it, to write it down, to

6:18

be very clear on exactly what you

6:20

do and why you do it and

6:22

how you're going to repeat that process

6:24

over time, because then you have the chance

6:26

to actually improve upon that system and do

6:28

it better. in the future. There's

6:30

a great book, although the name is escaping me,

6:32

that has to do with building amazing systems.

6:34

I'll figure it out and put it the show

6:37

notes as well. But there's a book that

6:39

I read a long time ago about building systems

6:41

that I think is fundamental

6:43

to how a lot of us

6:45

approach doing the same things over and

6:47

over. Now, this is going to be most

6:49

applicable to your business and career and

6:51

work you might do at the office. You

6:54

can definitely apply these strategies to your

6:56

home life as well. I have checklists for

6:58

how I do my household chores. Like

7:00

it's completely possible. You could be checklist crazy

7:02

and have these things for everything. Systems

7:05

are amazing. And I'm totally on board with

7:07

systems for all the things in your

7:09

life that have significance to you. But

7:11

that means you have to acknowledge the fact that

7:13

there's a need for a system and you go

7:16

build one. If you don't currently have

7:18

one, I recommend at least thinking

7:20

through a few core areas of your

7:22

life where you tend to wing it. You

7:24

tend to just do things on the

7:26

fly, and man, wouldn't it be easier if

7:28

you had a most basic of checklists

7:30

to say, here are the core things I

7:33

want to do for this current season

7:35

and the next one as well. Problem

7:38

number two is that your

7:40

system is more distracting to you

7:42

than it is helpful to

7:44

you. What I tend to

7:47

see, and this is completely a flaw

7:49

when it comes to the way I approach

7:51

everything, is I'm just too much. I'm

7:53

too much with all the things I do.

7:55

I have too many tools, too many

7:57

ideas, too many people involved, too many opportunities

7:59

to pursue, too many tasks to complete,

8:01

possibly even too much time to

8:03

do something. So I end up wasting

8:06

time to accomplish a goal to

8:08

begin with. Too

8:10

much is typically too much.

8:12

It is more than it needs

8:14

to be. And most often what

8:16

is the case is that too

8:18

much means distraction. Having

8:20

things that overwhelm your attention and

8:22

your time and your energy

8:24

take away from your ability to

8:26

focus on the few things, very

8:29

few things that actually make the

8:31

significant difference you're looking for, which

8:34

I'm going to get to as well with my

8:36

new system. Because one thing that I've done recently is

8:38

pare down what I do. I have fewer

8:40

tools, fewer opportunities to pursue, fewer

8:42

tasks to complete. And the less

8:44

that's there that's, you know. could

8:47

grab my attention, the more

8:49

likely I am to do the few things

8:51

that are there, which ultimately

8:53

results in more productivity,

8:55

more accomplishment, more momentum,

8:57

and more of the things you want getting

8:59

done and less of your time being

9:01

spent on things that don't matter. Problem

9:05

number three, your system may not

9:07

be built for the way

9:09

that you work. I just

9:11

alluded to the idea that I did

9:13

an episode of the podcast about

9:15

Evernote. Well, if you don't know the

9:18

history of me with Evernote, I

9:20

spent years on this podcast promoting Evernote,

9:22

being so graciously, wonderfully, just me

9:24

being generous with my time saying how

9:26

awesome Evernote used to be. until

9:29

it died on me and I decided to

9:31

hate it for the rest of my life,

9:33

which is why I have an episode of the

9:35

podcast where I just tear it to pieces.

9:37

If you currently use Evernote, you definitely want to

9:39

hear that episode. So for

9:41

me, Evernote was built

9:44

for the way that I worked. Then

9:46

the system changed and it no longer

9:48

became in alignment with where I

9:50

was. And so I then moved to

9:53

a new system that was more

9:55

aligned to how I work. And

9:57

now my new update is yet even

9:59

more aligned. That's what you

10:01

want. Alignment with your strengths

10:03

and especially your natural habits

10:05

and tendencies. That way the

10:07

tools that you use actually mean

10:09

something to you because they fit who

10:11

you are and how you tend

10:13

to work every day. If the tool

10:15

you're using feels awkward or clunky

10:17

or unnatural or distracting, there's too many

10:19

buttons to click and too much

10:22

to do. odds are it's

10:24

going to be a major bottleneck for

10:26

your success. And so think about that

10:28

when you think about the kinds of

10:30

tools you want to use, systems you

10:32

want to build, checklists you want to

10:34

create. All of these are

10:36

based on the idea of not just

10:38

simplicity, but also customization, that they fit

10:40

who you are and how you want

10:42

to work. Having

10:45

just kind of delved through these major

10:47

problem areas of not having systems

10:49

or them being distracting or not being

10:51

customized for you, Let's kind

10:53

of shift into those fundamentals

10:55

I alluded to earlier, the core

10:57

fundamentals of what should exist for

10:59

any great project or goal for

11:01

you to be able to make

11:03

this massive achievement you're looking for. Now,

11:06

one thing I do in this show is

11:08

refer to my listeners, that includes you,

11:10

as high achievers. That's how I viewed myself

11:12

for many years, and it's how I

11:14

think that people like us tend to operate,

11:17

which is we want to achieve things

11:19

in a big and significant way. And

11:21

if that's true, it means

11:23

you have goals and projects to work on,

11:25

things you're trying to actively get done,

11:27

but you want to be able to approach

11:29

the next project or the current one

11:31

you're working on with more clarity, with

11:34

more confidence, and more

11:36

of an ability to say, I know

11:38

what this thing is, I know what

11:40

is happening, and I'm ready to go tackle

11:43

it because I've got a really clear

11:45

sense of what it means to accomplish any

11:47

goal, let alone the one you're currently

11:49

working on. So there are

11:51

five core fundamentals to any

11:53

project or goal. Number

11:56

one is a clear finish line.

11:58

So you know exactly what

12:00

you're trying to accomplish and

12:02

why. The what and the

12:04

why are the very first two things

12:06

that should be in place before you do

12:08

anything. So if you're considering a project,

12:10

you're debating which one to go and pursue,

12:12

well, ask and answer those

12:15

two questions. What is the

12:17

exact finish line, the exact specific

12:19

end goal you want, and why

12:21

does that matter to you? Why

12:23

is it important? Why is it necessary? Beyond

12:26

just my boss told me to do it,

12:28

it's like, that's fine. In that case, yes, do

12:30

it. But if it's a voluntary project, the

12:32

kind of thing where you're debating pros and cons

12:34

and want to make that decision and be

12:36

very clear on how your time will be spent.

12:39

Well, then knowing exactly what the

12:41

finish line looks like and why it

12:43

matters to you will then make every

12:45

other step a lot easier. The

12:48

second fundamental is to get very

12:50

clear on all of the steps,

12:52

A to Z. So ask

12:54

yourself, how are you going to get from

12:56

where you are to where you want to

12:58

be with as much clarity as you can

13:00

possibly have? Whenever I write

13:02

my books, I tend to have, I

13:04

don't know, more than half of my

13:06

writing time devoted to outlining. And

13:09

brainstorming and being really creative on

13:11

what the table of contents for

13:13

the book looks like. Because that's

13:15

the book. That's the whole project.

13:17

To outline the book from A to

13:19

Z in a table of contents will

13:21

give me extraordinary clarity on what to

13:23

write when it comes time to write

13:25

the book. The same thing

13:27

is true if you're going to build a business

13:29

or start some new major venture you want

13:31

to get into. When you outline that

13:34

process from A to Z with a

13:36

really clear sense of where it starts,

13:38

where you are now, all the way

13:40

to what a really great end goal

13:42

would look like, and all the milestones

13:44

in between, well, that level

13:46

of clarity is just incredible. And now

13:48

that kind of a fundamental is

13:50

necessary for any major project you're going

13:52

to pursue. The

13:54

third fundamental is to get clear

13:56

on the location. And by location,

13:58

I mean where the work actually

14:00

gets done. Your location

14:03

or environment is the

14:05

number one factor. This is

14:07

very important. Number one

14:09

factor that determines your focus

14:11

and potential success of all

14:13

the things you could possibly do

14:15

to guarantee success for any project.

14:17

It is choose the environment where

14:19

the work actually gets done. I

14:22

have read on this podcast in

14:24

the past about working out. And

14:26

being sure you go to the gym to

14:28

exercise because that's where exercise takes place.

14:30

If you want to read and study, you

14:32

go to the library. If you want

14:34

to build your business or pursue some magical

14:36

personal goal, whatever it is you're doing,

14:38

I don't care what it is, choose

14:41

the location where the actual

14:43

tangible stuff is being

14:45

accomplished. When you can pick

14:47

that environment, choose it wisely, minimize

14:50

distractions, optimize resources,

14:52

optimize focus. you've

14:54

basically guaranteed your success. And that's going

14:56

to be the best possible outcome for

14:58

you is to, of course, number one,

15:00

we know what we're doing and why

15:02

we're doing it, all the steps to

15:04

do the actual project, but where the

15:07

steps take place will actually determine

15:09

whether those things get done

15:11

or they don't. Whether they

15:13

get done or they're postponed

15:15

and delayed and procrastination wins out.

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19:12

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19:14

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19:17

dates and times and recurring dates and

19:19

times will basically guarantee that on

19:21

the calendar, this is going to happen

19:23

and you will build your life

19:25

around these guaranteed blocks of time. This

19:28

as a fundamental makes complete sense. In

19:31

theory, on paper. But

19:34

when real life kicks in, this is

19:36

when things get incredibly messy. And I'll

19:38

use this week as a great example.

19:40

I just mentioned I have this wicked

19:42

sinus infection and my life is, you

19:44

know, I'm struggling. I'm crawling through the

19:46

muck this week. That's a

19:48

great example of saying when the week

19:50

started, I had an awesome calendar

19:53

in place. All the things I wanted,

19:55

the fundamentals were definitely there. But

19:57

the execution has not been because

19:59

I got. thrown off the bus,

20:01

right? I kicked off my own calendar

20:03

and I'm trying to figure out how

20:05

to get back on and make things

20:07

work. So from that perspective, this is

20:09

why a flexible calendar will make sense. Guaranteeing

20:12

success is the goal. That's the theory.

20:14

I use that phrase quite a bit,

20:16

right? Guarantee your success. The

20:18

word guarantee is flexible, which is

20:20

so unfortunate. Such an ironic and

20:22

terrible use of language, but it's

20:24

the truth, right? We can't

20:26

guarantee everything. What we

20:28

can is guarantee the theory of

20:31

everything. We could put things down on

20:33

paper and say, at the very

20:35

least, I have a plan that makes

20:37

sense on paper. When real

20:39

life kicks in, I'll do my very

20:41

best to stay as close as possible

20:43

to this ideal, knowing full well that

20:45

life is messy and unpredictable and completely

20:47

insane. And welcome to the

20:50

real world. That's what these things are. And

20:52

I'm completely fine with saying that

20:54

as someone who values productivity, I

20:56

also value reality. And I value and

20:58

respect the fact that people have

21:00

challenges that they can't see coming.

21:03

That's been my life for a

21:05

long time, and I'm sure it's

21:07

yours as well and a variety

21:09

of different possibilities as well. So

21:11

clarity on the calendar is necessary,

21:13

but flexibility is just as important.

21:17

Finally, fundamental number five is

21:19

to get clarity on your resources.

21:21

So do you have what you need

21:23

at your disposal to start the

21:25

project? I'm going to

21:27

emphasize the word start here because

21:29

resources for a project, they're not necessary

21:31

to have all of them up

21:33

front guaranteed at the start. You don't

21:35

need everything right away. What

21:37

you need is enough to

21:40

begin. You need just enough to start

21:42

where you are because anything that ever

21:44

got done by anyone. started

21:46

somewhere. That person, that

21:48

group, that company, they started with

21:50

what they had and they worked from

21:52

there. So you may believe that your

21:54

ambitious goal is too ambitious, that

21:56

it requires too much money, too much

21:58

time, too many resources that you currently

22:00

don't have. That's fine.

22:03

You don't need all of it

22:05

now. What you need is enough to

22:07

begin now, enough to start on

22:09

day one. That's it. So the

22:11

fundamental here for any project or any

22:13

goal is to acknowledge the fact that

22:15

you do need some resources to start

22:17

and do step one, but you

22:19

already have them. You don't have

22:21

to go get them because they're already at

22:23

your disposal because you begin exactly where

22:26

you are with what you have or do

22:28

not have. And then you

22:30

acquire more at future iterations

22:32

of the project. That's

22:34

how this works. Start now with what you

22:36

have. Even if it's nothing, that's

22:38

where it begins and you go

22:40

from there. So

22:42

now that we've outlined why your

22:44

current system is struggling, we've

22:46

outlined the fundamentals for any great

22:48

project. Let's now get to

22:51

those four apps I promised you to

22:53

manage any project or achieve any

22:55

goal. And I've already mentioned almost all

22:57

of them so far. So this

22:59

would be a nice test of your

23:01

productivity knowledge. If you know the

23:03

four I'm going to refer to, this

23:05

is not a surprise pop quiz

23:07

here. This is obvious stuff. Number

23:09

one, the app that everyone needs

23:12

to manage their projects, achieve their

23:14

goals is a calendar. The thing

23:16

I just mentioned, which is time -based

23:18

task management. And I

23:20

want to emphasize that because time -based

23:22

is different than task -based. Years

23:25

ago, when I first built out my

23:27

own kind of first drafts of my

23:29

own productivity systems, I was asking myself

23:31

those kinds of questions of what tools

23:33

do I use and what service, what

23:35

role do they play for my goals?

23:38

And what I was trying and testing

23:40

for a long time was, can I

23:42

just use a calendar? Or later

23:44

on, years later, Could I just

23:46

use a task manager? Could I just

23:48

use a post -it note, right? Could

23:50

I just simply rely on my brain

23:52

to remember my whole life? These

23:54

kinds of questions are important. And one thing

23:57

you realize very quickly is the busier

23:59

you are, the more that's going on, the

24:01

more that these tools matter. And

24:03

using them for how they're built

24:05

is extremely valuable. So

24:08

a calendar, being a time -based task

24:10

manager, very clearly means that things

24:12

that are on the calendar are

24:14

things you have committed to. Things

24:16

that occur at a specific date,

24:18

at a specific time, at a

24:20

specific location. These are things

24:22

you have said yes to, and this

24:25

is more of the guaranteed I

24:27

will be there no matter what

24:29

scenario. Your calendar is

24:31

sacred space. This is a very important

24:33

life lesson I didn't catch on

24:35

to for a long time, and I

24:37

was really just kind of willy -nilly

24:39

with my calendar. I would throw

24:41

things on there, move them around. It

24:43

was constantly in flux in a

24:45

really just haphazard way. But

24:47

I've now shifted to a

24:49

calendar that is essentially more of

24:51

the guaranteed success methodology I mentioned earlier,

24:53

which is that I want to

24:55

be sure that I treat my calendar

24:57

with respect. And so when you

24:59

think about your calendar, View it from

25:02

that perspective. It is time -based task

25:04

management, but more from that perspective

25:06

of these are the things I have

25:08

definitely said yes to. Now,

25:10

obviously, if you can cancel things,

25:12

postpone things, free up time for

25:14

more important things, be more strategic,

25:16

that's going to be awesome. But

25:18

start on day one with this

25:21

idea that your calendar represents your

25:23

actual life. Because it does. And

25:25

your time and how it's used. That's

25:27

the entire foundation for how you

25:30

will produce results and get the goals

25:32

accomplished you're after. This is your

25:34

whole life. Your calendar is a representation

25:36

of who you are, what you

25:38

value, and what you're all about. So

25:40

take your calendar seriously. The

25:44

second app you need to manage

25:46

any project or achieve any

25:48

goal is your project and or

25:50

task manager. Technically, these

25:52

can be separated between multiple apps,

25:54

but the category is essentially the

25:56

same. which is task organization, prioritization,

26:00

delegation, and or schedulization.

26:02

It's not a word, but

26:04

I kind of like it. Essentially,

26:06

your project and task managers

26:09

are going to group your tasks

26:11

together into projects that are

26:13

organized by priority. Oftentimes, they're

26:15

assigned to a specific person and then

26:17

can then be scheduled for a

26:19

future task to be completed. In

26:22

other words, you have these amazing

26:24

abilities to organize things digitally

26:26

that previously only existed through usually

26:28

a paper notebook. There are

26:30

people who still use paper only.

26:33

I think they're kind of crazy,

26:35

but that still does happen. In my

26:37

world, 98%, let's say, of my

26:39

life is digital, and a few things

26:41

are still paper and pen. Not

26:43

very many. It's very few now. But

26:46

essentially... all of these tools are

26:48

digital, the question then becomes,

26:50

how do you use the best

26:52

digital tools you can to

26:55

group your life and your projects

26:57

together, to organize those projects

26:59

and the individual tasks by priority,

27:01

to delegate if you need

27:03

to, to schedule those individual tasks

27:05

on your calendar, and essentially

27:07

asking the question, what is your

27:09

core system to get stuff

27:11

done specifically when it comes to... the

27:13

goal, and here's the A to Z

27:16

list we mentioned earlier, and here's

27:18

the tool that's going to allow us

27:20

to visually see that, move around

27:22

the puzzle pieces, and make it happen.

27:25

I view my project and task

27:27

manager system as probably the most

27:29

vital part of this entire process.

27:31

You know, the calendar is a

27:33

reflection of these projects and tasks.

27:35

It's a reflection of your values

27:37

and your goals, but the project

27:40

and task manager category is kind

27:42

of the core of saying, I'm

27:44

working on this stuff right now.

27:46

This is what my life means to

27:48

me right now. My work means to me

27:50

right now. And here's my approach to get

27:52

those things done. Now,

27:55

the third app you're going to need to

27:57

manage your projects will be your file manager. This

28:00

is the pretty obvious stuff of

28:02

things like Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud, Dropbox,

28:04

your cloud -based file and data storage

28:06

system. Essentially, it's information you need

28:08

to readily access from any device you're

28:10

on at any given time. Once

28:13

again, assuming this is all digital and

28:15

cloud -based, which of course is not

28:17

just the future of technology. It's

28:19

been that way for a while. Also,

28:21

if you're not in a cloud -based

28:23

system. Please do that now. Cloud

28:25

is the way to go. Now,

28:27

from that perspective, the question really is, which

28:30

one works best for you? Which one

28:32

can you build your life around? They're all

28:34

fairly similar. I'll get to which one

28:36

I use here in a second. But

28:38

the file manager is, of course, kind of

28:40

the very practical, kind of boring,

28:42

you know, files and folders to have

28:44

your stuff together. As boring as

28:46

it is, I find that stuff extremely

28:48

exciting because it. really does kind of

28:50

reflect my system of organization. Do

28:52

I know what matters? Am I distracted

28:54

by old stuff? Do I have a

28:57

system to filter through it? Can

28:59

I search it? All of these

29:01

questions are very important because

29:03

they will essentially guarantee that you're

29:05

going to move through something efficiently

29:07

and fluidly or whether you have

29:09

those bottlenecks and those hangups because

29:11

there's just too much stuff. And

29:14

this goes back to the TV

29:16

show of hoarders where people have

29:19

too much physical stuff in their

29:21

homes. Well, that hoarder mentality plays

29:23

out for literally everybody I've ever

29:25

met in the digital space. Most

29:27

people do not have a good

29:29

file management system. They view the

29:31

cloud as a massive, infinite dumping

29:33

ground of junk. Don't

29:35

do it that way. There is possibly

29:37

a theory to do it that way

29:39

on purpose because you can search for

29:42

everything. But I think the absolute best

29:44

thing to do is to be intentional,

29:46

have a clear system of folders and

29:48

hierarchies and periodically go through and review

29:50

that system and ditch whatever you can. That's

29:53

going to be a really core fundamental

29:55

for you is to not just

29:57

have a good file management system, but

29:59

one that is well kept, one that

30:01

is clean and organized and clear

30:03

for you and everyone else as well.

30:07

And the fourth app you're going

30:09

to need in your system, I

30:11

say need here, this is kind

30:13

of an optional category, but one

30:15

that I view as very important,

30:17

is your notebook slash journal slash

30:19

digital whiteboard. Essentially, this is a

30:21

category for brainstorming new thoughts and

30:23

ideas and having an inbox for

30:25

all those ideas to show up

30:28

so you can then process those

30:30

things and include them into your

30:32

current project management system. To

30:34

say that another way. I use

30:36

a task manager. I also use a

30:39

digital notebook. I also have a physical

30:41

whiteboard in my office. I also have

30:43

paper and pen. We have ways

30:45

to record ideas in a

30:47

thousand places. Odds are you can

30:49

record lots of ideas in

30:51

lots of ways all day, every

30:53

day. And then because of that,

30:55

this is the key here. You're

30:57

going to get lost in your own massive

30:59

number of possible ideas, especially if you're

31:01

an idea person. If you read a lot,

31:03

if you are ambitious and you pursue

31:05

a lot of cool things, you're going

31:07

to get ideas for everything. Now, you

31:09

may not record those ideas and get them

31:12

out of your head onto paper, but I think

31:14

you should. And not just you

31:16

should do it, but you should do it

31:18

in an organized way or in a

31:20

way that filters all of that stuff down

31:22

to one key location. In

31:25

this sense, it's a digital

31:27

notebook, which could then transfer

31:29

the best ideas from there

31:31

into your task manager, project

31:33

manager, calendar, etc. So

31:36

from that perspective, you're asking the question,

31:38

do I have a location in

31:40

my personal life and my professional life

31:42

to write things down? and not

31:44

forget them and not lose them. A

31:46

place where I can feel free

31:48

to be unrestricted and have new possibilities

31:50

and new ideas. And then I

31:52

will filter those ideas later, pick out

31:54

the best ones, ditch the rest. That's

31:56

essentially what this category is all

31:59

about. It's writing down, recording your

32:01

best ideas, and then using them for

32:03

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33:37

one more time on these four apps,

33:39

number one was your calendar, number

33:41

two, your project and or task manager,

33:43

number three, your file manager, and

33:45

number four is your digital notebook. Having

33:49

just discussed those, let's go through the major

33:51

changes that I have made to my

33:53

own system, and then I'll share with you

33:55

all the apps I use every single

33:57

day to basically get all of my stuff

33:59

done. So

34:01

if you go back to those episodes

34:03

of the podcast I discussed earlier about

34:05

ditching Evernote for a program called DevonThink, well,

34:08

just recently, and by recently I mean

34:10

literally this week while I was

34:13

sick, I decided to ditch DevonThink and

34:15

move to a new set of

34:17

tools to organize my life. So

34:19

the major changes that I made

34:21

was to revamp my digital notebook,

34:23

my project manager, and my file

34:26

manager in a way that's more

34:28

synchronized. more simplistic, and a lot

34:30

easier to work with. For

34:32

the notebook aspect of things, I left

34:34

Devin think for Apple Notes. Apple

34:37

Notes is an extremely simplistic note -taking app

34:39

that's on the iPhone, on the Mac,

34:41

on the iPad. It's everywhere. It's

34:44

easy. It synchronizes with iCloud, so

34:46

it's a very nice cloud -based

34:48

note -taking system to capture ideas, do

34:50

brainstorming sessions, and have lots of

34:52

data available. So if you're looking

34:54

for a very, very simple, clean

34:57

notebook solution, Apple Notes is fantastic.

34:59

There are lots of competitors to

35:01

that out in the world, but

35:03

if you want to just start

35:05

with the basics on a Mac,

35:07

that's the answer. If

35:10

you're on a PC, I don't have an

35:12

answer for you because I don't use a PC,

35:14

but I'm sure there is a great notepad app available

35:16

you could use there. The

35:18

second area is the project

35:20

manager. So in this case,

35:22

I was using DevonThink on

35:24

the Mac for that particular

35:27

set of management of my

35:29

ideas, but it was too clunky. I

35:31

had the same problem with DevonThink that I

35:34

had years ago with Evernote to a degree.

35:36

Now, I still love DevonThink. I

35:38

think it's way better than Evernote. However,

35:40

What I was looking for was

35:42

a system that'd be more clear, more

35:44

synchronized, and would flow better for

35:47

how I currently do most of my

35:49

work, which means I left

35:51

Devin Think for Google Docs.

35:54

That's going to sound kind of weird

35:56

because Google Docs is not a project management

35:58

system at all. It's just

36:00

like a Word document. It's just

36:02

like a blank page. It's honestly

36:04

no different than a digital notebook.

36:06

So why would I do this?

36:08

It's a great question. I

36:10

essentially did this to manage my

36:13

projects, the complete list of

36:15

all the steps A to Z

36:17

with all the tasks included

36:19

in a system that I'm comfortable

36:21

with. And by comfortable, I

36:23

mean formatting. I'm talking like

36:25

bolding things and lists and

36:28

using checkboxes and color

36:30

coding and font sizes. Really

36:33

basic word

36:35

formatting. Word document formatting,

36:37

like it's weird how attached

36:39

I am to that level

36:41

of detail when it comes

36:43

to writing things down, updating

36:46

those things and using them for later. When

36:48

I think about how I personally,

36:50

me, Jeff Sanders, want to

36:52

record an idea and then organize

36:54

a bunch of ideas, my

36:57

brain jumps to essentially what I learned

36:59

when I was probably eight years old. which

37:02

is how to use a Word document.

37:04

And Google Docs is kind of the

37:06

new cloud -based, better version of that, at

37:08

least from my perspective. And it has

37:10

a format that I am just like

37:12

inherently, deeply comfortable with.

37:15

If you grew up in a post -Microsoft

37:17

Word world and there's an app that you

37:19

love more or a format that fits you

37:21

better, I don't know, if you're 20 years

37:23

younger than me and there's a better system

37:25

for you today, then use

37:27

that instead. The key

37:29

here is comfortable. familiar, natural,

37:32

don't swim upstream kind

37:34

of thing. So

37:36

the issue that I had years ago with Evernote

37:38

and then what I ran into with Deaf

37:41

and Think was that it wasn't me anymore.

37:43

It wasn't how I do

37:45

things. It wasn't comfortable anymore.

37:48

And one thing that I can

37:50

tell you that is absolutely true about

37:52

productivity is that if you

37:54

inherently build in distracting, obstacle,

37:58

nonsense, Like

38:00

bottlenecks in every direction. If

38:02

everything feels clunky, just like that

38:04

last sentence was, if it's

38:06

that clunky, it's not going to be fluid. You're

38:08

not going to flow. You're not going to get things

38:10

done. It's going to be awkward and ugh. So

38:13

to avoid all of that, you want to

38:15

build your life, if you can, if you

38:17

have control over this, build your life

38:19

and your systems around things that fit

38:21

you for who you are. Now

38:24

to get a little more detail here on the tech. Because

38:26

I use Google Docs as a

38:28

way to have my individual projects mapped

38:30

out, well, Google Docs are linkable.

38:32

It's literally a hyperlink you can then

38:34

save for yourself to access from

38:36

anywhere. So I can now actually bookmark

38:38

my project list. I can link

38:40

to them from any app that I

38:42

happen to be in, like my

38:44

task manager or any future on email

38:46

that I may write to someone.

38:48

I can link directly to these documents,

38:50

send them anywhere, share them as

38:52

much as I want. The tech

38:54

is inherently baked in to

38:56

be accessible from any device, searchable

38:58

from anywhere. It

39:01

literally is everywhere I want it to

39:03

be. So it's accessible. It's

39:05

formatted well. It's easy to

39:07

understand. The only awkward

39:09

thing, like I just mentioned earlier,

39:11

is that it's not, not a

39:13

project management system. It's just

39:15

a blank document. So what

39:17

do you do with that? And

39:20

the answer is what I do, what I've

39:22

always done, what fits me really well,

39:24

the way my brain has learned to think.

39:26

This is just, this is true here.

39:28

I have learned to think in a linear

39:30

fashion from the top to the

39:32

bottom, from step one, all the way down.

39:34

This is why I left checklists. This is

39:36

why I do this podcast. This is why

39:38

the 5A miracle exists is because this is

39:40

how my brain works. And it

39:42

works that way. I honestly believe in large

39:45

part because I was taught this way

39:47

at such a young age and I just

39:49

gravitated towards this way of thinking. So

39:51

if I were to get a hold of

39:53

apps that are more kind of that

39:55

are nonlinear, they're more spatial, they're more open,

39:57

that are more just like, you know,

39:59

free form connect the dots and whatever, you

40:01

know, 3D space you want to be

40:03

in. All that to me

40:05

just sounds like noise. I'm confused instantly when

40:07

I hear those kinds of things. I

40:10

think linearly. So if I have

40:12

a system like a blank Word document or

40:14

a blank Google Doc in this case, I

40:16

can just start at the top, check my items

40:18

1 through 10 or whatever the number is,

40:21

and go from there. So once

40:23

again, lean on what you're great at,

40:25

lean on what you feel good with,

40:27

and let that be your best system.

40:30

The third area that I changed

40:32

was to dig into my file

40:34

manager in a more consolidated way. So

40:37

Google Drive, speaking of Google Docs,

40:39

Google Drive has always been my system

40:41

to organize all of my stuff. And

40:44

Google Docs live in Google Drive,

40:46

right? They're files that live in

40:48

this file management system. So for

40:50

years now, I've had Google Drive

40:52

as a way to organize all

40:54

the files, the PDFs, the documents. But

40:57

now it also organizes. everything

40:59

that I do. But

41:01

all of it is there, which

41:03

allows me to then see everything in

41:05

one place. And that simplicity of

41:08

organization means I'm not going to miss

41:10

anything. It's all in one

41:12

place. It's all right there.

41:14

So duplications are removed. Awesomeness and

41:16

execution and clarity is right

41:18

there. It's all built in. Now,

41:21

of course, you could have that with

41:23

any cloud -based system. I just happen

41:25

to use what is called now

41:27

Google Workspace. It used to be the

41:29

G Suite system from Google. Google

41:31

Workspace is a business service that allows

41:33

you to have email, Google

41:35

Docs, Google Drive, lots of cloud -based

41:37

services. I've used that now for

41:39

years, and that's essentially what most

41:41

of my life and business is

41:43

based on, are all those Google

41:45

tools that come from that Google

41:47

Workspace system. This

41:49

comes back to the core of the

41:52

fundamentals for any great project or any

41:54

great system is you choose a

41:56

few things you love and

41:58

you just go all in. You just dive

42:00

in, you consolidate, you simplify, and you

42:02

use all the best that those

42:04

tools have to offer. And when

42:06

that happens, you're going to avoid

42:08

what is so common, which is

42:10

that you've said yes to so many apps

42:12

for so many reasons. You can't find

42:14

any of your stuff. It's all over the

42:16

place. I've seen this so many times. And

42:19

it's amazing to me people actually get

42:21

anything done because their stuff is

42:23

so sloppy. For lack of a

42:25

better word, it's just sloppy. And whenever

42:27

you have the opportunity to not have

42:30

your system look like that and feel

42:32

like that emotionally, when you have that

42:34

clear visual sense of, here it

42:36

is. And just a few folders,

42:38

a few files, a few ideas, they're right

42:40

in front of me. Here we go. Oh,

42:43

man, it's great. It's just so

42:45

wonderful to have that sense

42:47

of refreshing simplicity and clarity. Speaking

42:50

of that, me go back to that

42:52

Google Docs example I said about my

42:55

own project manager. Well, I'm currently

42:57

working on one particular business

42:59

project that's now outlined on

43:01

one Google Doc. That single

43:03

Google Doc is bookmarked in Chrome,

43:05

my browser of choice, and it's right

43:07

at the top, easily accessible. I

43:09

can click on it at any given

43:11

time and work on that project. I

43:14

say that because what is pretty

43:17

common, especially when your life is

43:19

busy or your business is complicated,

43:21

is you have too many options, too many

43:23

bookmarks, too many projects, too many things to

43:25

look through. Well, what if

43:27

it was just one? What

43:29

if it was just a single Google

43:31

Doc? It's a few pages long

43:33

at max. And everything is

43:35

really right there. And all

43:38

the rest of the noise is just

43:40

not there anymore. It's been simplified.

43:42

It's been archived. It's been deleted.

43:44

It's been postponed. What

43:47

I'm talking about here

43:49

is a project management

43:51

productivity lifestyle and system -based

43:53

way of existing that is

43:55

based on this ultra

43:58

simplicity of one focus. You

44:00

do one thing, you do it really well, and

44:02

then you move on to the next one

44:04

thing. And if that's all this is,

44:06

and all of your tools and all your

44:09

systems and all your devices, They all point in

44:11

the same direction. They're all consolidated,

44:13

going to the same place at the

44:15

same time for the same reasons. That's

44:18

when productivity shows up. That's

44:20

when creativity shows up. Because

44:23

all the things you need are right there. And you

44:25

just do the one thing. And then you move

44:27

on. That's it.

44:30

You know, overwhelm and stress and

44:32

complication and all those feelings we

44:34

get when life feels like it's

44:36

just too much. Well, that's because

44:38

it literally is too much. You're literally

44:40

overwhelmed. The sense of being overwhelmed literally

44:42

means you're trying to do too many

44:44

things in a short time frame. Well,

44:47

imagine if you weren't trying to do

44:50

85 things at once. If

44:52

you're just trying to do one thing and

44:54

the amount of time available fits that

44:56

one thing, you're not stressed.

44:58

You can't feel stress about

45:00

it because it's just

45:02

so easy. And the

45:04

effortlessness of that. is

45:06

beautiful. And that's when success is

45:08

just so readily available. That's when all

45:11

of these benefits that I've been alluding

45:13

to will show up in a beautiful

45:15

way. Okay,

45:17

I think you get the point of making it

45:19

here in a pretty clear way, that one sense

45:22

of clarity. So let me wrap this up by

45:24

discussing the few apps that I use every day.

45:26

Speaking of simplicity, these are the

45:28

tools I use and rely on. I

45:30

have discussed all of these at length

45:32

on this show before, but just at

45:34

a high level. The calendar

45:36

that I use each and every day

45:38

is the very basic Apple calendar

45:40

that comes on the Mac. It's not

45:42

fancy. It's very simple. It is

45:44

color coded, but it's probably as simple

45:46

as you could possibly imagine. And

45:48

that's it. Number two,

45:51

the task manager that I

45:53

use is Nozbe, N -O -Z. You

45:56

can learn a lot more

45:58

at jeffsanders.com slash Nozbe. But that

46:00

task manager for me has been my

46:02

go -to for probably a decade now.

46:04

It's a very simple tool that

46:06

I use for my smaller, individual, tiny

46:08

tasks that I then focus on

46:11

every day. These are not time -bound,

46:13

by the way. A task manager for

46:15

me are things that are basically

46:17

just open to do whenever, as opposed

46:19

to the calendar, which, once again, is

46:21

time -based. My project manager

46:23

of choice, like I just discussed,

46:25

is a very simple Google Doc

46:27

where I organize everything myself in

46:29

a linear fashion in a variety

46:31

of individual documents. Number

46:34

four, my file manager, once again,

46:36

is Google Drive. So all

46:38

my files and folders and documents

46:40

are all organized there. I

46:42

do happen to use Dropbox on

46:44

occasion specifically for sharing files. system.

46:52

So just me in my company, I

46:54

have access to it. When I

46:56

share things externally for somebody

46:59

else, I will copy that stuff

47:01

to Dropbox and then share

47:03

from there. So all of my

47:05

shareables are in one login

47:07

system, which is very easy to organize. I know

47:09

what I've shared, why I've shared it. And then

47:11

on occasion, I'll delete those things. So if you

47:13

want to try it as a strategy, I think

47:15

it works pretty well. Number

47:18

five, the notebook that I use once again

47:20

is the Apple Notes app. It comes

47:22

on the Mac only. It's extremely simplistic. There

47:24

are a thousand digital notebooks to choose

47:26

from in the world. All of them are

47:28

great, except Evernote. All of them are

47:30

great, so just pick the one you love

47:33

the most and dig in. And

47:35

finally, the email app of

47:37

choice that I love and

47:39

rely on all the time

47:41

is called MimeStream. That's M -I

47:43

-M -E -S -T -R -E -A -M. MimeStream.

47:46

A very weird word, but

47:48

a really awesome app. It is

47:50

specifically designed for Gmail users

47:53

on the Mac. So if you

47:55

don't use Google and you

47:57

don't use a Mac, you don't

47:59

use both, it's not going to work for you at

48:01

all. But if you do use

48:03

a Gmail account on a Mac,

48:05

it is amazing. This is the

48:07

fastest possible email service I've ever seen

48:09

right there. It's beautiful. Now, once again,

48:11

I'll have links for all of those

48:14

at jeffsanders.com slash 487 on the show

48:16

notes page this week. And thank you

48:18

so much for sticking with me this

48:20

week. It's always fun to record a

48:22

podcast about tech and things that I

48:24

love and use. It's also fun to

48:26

hear about the tools that you use.

48:31

that I said this week struck a chord with you.

48:33

Whether it's a new way to frame

48:35

how you visualize project management or the

48:37

tools that you actually want to use

48:40

every day, whether it's personally or professionally

48:42

or for your team, I think there's

48:44

a lot to be said about the

48:46

tools that we choose to use, how

48:48

we use them, and whether that serves

48:50

us and helps us achieve our goals

48:52

in a more effective way, or whether

48:54

it stands in our way and literally

48:56

becomes an obstacle so we can't move

48:58

forward. Both things can be true. And

49:01

for me, I'm always working on

49:03

trying to be more efficient to

49:05

get my stuff done in a

49:07

more efficient manner, not just because

49:09

I like efficiency and productivity, but

49:12

because I value the things I'm

49:14

working on. And that's, I think,

49:16

a big differential between a tech

49:18

nerd versus someone who is an

49:20

achievement -focused nerd. I would much rather

49:22

spend my time. running a marathon,

49:24

for example, as opposed to organizing

49:26

my plan to run a marathon,

49:28

right? That's a big difference between

49:30

procrastination that comes from messing with

49:32

your tech versus execution of doing

49:34

the thing you set out to

49:37

do. So if you have an

49:39

awesome system or you have some

49:41

ideas or questions for me, email

49:43

me. Jeff at jeffsanders.com. I would

49:45

love to hear from you. And

49:47

thank you once again. I apologize

49:49

if my goofy illness, ranting, babbling

49:51

got in the way of the

49:53

content this week. I'll do my

49:55

best to be healthy next week.

50:05

And for the action step

50:07

this week, I would like you

50:09

to consolidate your tools to

50:11

help you amplify your output. The

50:14

fewer tools you use, the

50:16

more you can get done. When

50:18

everything you need exists in

50:20

fewer places, you can eliminate duplication,

50:22

you can streamline your workflow,

50:24

and you can get to what

50:26

matters faster. It sounds simple

50:28

enough, but it takes practice to

50:30

execute at a high level.

50:32

So start today with one less

50:34

app in your arsenal. Do

50:36

more with less. Once

50:38

again, jeffsanders.com slash 487 is the

50:40

place to go for episode notes. And

50:43

of course, subscribe to and or

50:45

follow this podcast at Apple Podcasts or

50:47

Spotify or any app you're choosing

50:49

to use for podcasts. That's all I've

50:51

got for you here on the

50:53

5 a .m. Miracle Podcast this week.

50:55

Until next time, you have the power

50:57

to change your life and the

51:00

fun begins bright and early.