0:00

It's just living in this world of

0:02

constant urgency shuffling things around without actually

0:04

getting any work done because I think

0:06

so many people have lost even the

0:08

definition of what work means. What does

0:11

it mean to actually do work? Hey

0:13

there, I'm Matt Diavella and welcome to

0:15

my short form podcast, Three Rules. Each

0:17

episode I ask a guest to share

0:19

three rules that help them find success

0:22

and happiness. Today I'm joined by Sam

0:24

Korkos, CEO and co-founder of Levels, a

0:26

company helping people better understand their metabolic

0:28

health through real-time data. Sam takes a

0:31

counterintuitive approach to both work and

0:33

life, rejecting the always busy CEO

0:35

stereotype. He schedules his days for

0:37

deep focus, while also being very

0:39

intentional about his media diet. Whether

0:41

you're an entrepreneur or not, I

0:43

think you're going to find a

0:45

lot of value from Sam's rules.

0:47

Let's start off with rule number

0:49

one for you. Rule number one

0:51

is don't let urgency determine priority.

0:53

It's a useful way to think

0:55

about problems. And what I found is

0:58

that certainly in my past and a

1:00

lot of people that I know are

1:02

basically trapped in the

1:04

urgent category. Sometimes urgent

1:06

importance, sometimes urgent, not

1:09

important. Where something feels

1:11

urgent, it just by default will

1:13

override. anything that you are doing

1:15

because it has to be done

1:17

with a deadline. A very specific

1:20

recent example for us. I had

1:22

a reporter reach out to us

1:24

for a quote related to our

1:26

space and glucose monitoring and

1:28

said, I need you to respond

1:30

to this within 24 hours. And I

1:32

said, no, thank you. Because, you know, it's

1:35

a large publication, but media

1:37

is not part of our

1:39

strategy. So while there's this artificial

1:41

constraint of... Hey, you need to

1:43

do this within 24 hours. I

1:46

don't actually have to. So I'm

1:48

gonna focus on what's important. Media

1:50

was part of our strategy a

1:52

few years ago. It's not right now.

1:54

So it's better to just not

1:56

respond and focus on what's actually

1:58

important. So. One of the

2:01

practices that I have for

2:03

this, which I found really

2:05

helpful, every quarter, I try to do

2:07

a think week, where I stole this from

2:09

Bill Gates, where I spend

2:12

one week per quarter not

2:14

plugged into communications, just thinking

2:16

and writing. He mostly does

2:18

reading, but I do a lot more writing

2:21

in mine. A lot of my best work,

2:23

a lot of the strategy documents that

2:25

have led... our path on

2:27

this company have come from

2:29

those think weeks. It's oftentimes

2:32

I found it's not until

2:34

day three or four of

2:36

being disconnected from the day to

2:38

day of the hyperactive hive mine

2:40

that I'm actually able to come

2:42

up with new ideas and think

2:45

more clearly about where we're heading.

2:47

Otherwise you just get fixated

2:49

on what is immediately in front

2:51

of you. So yeah. Not letting

2:54

urgency or whatever is the thing

2:56

that's recent and directly in front

2:58

of you determine what you pay

3:01

attention to is really a critical

3:03

one. I imagine there are blanket

3:05

nose that you have where you're

3:07

just like, doesn't matter what it

3:10

is, and it doesn't matter

3:12

how urgent it seems, your automatic

3:14

response is no. I think

3:16

some of it is not

3:18

necessarily even a blanket no, but

3:20

I do add friction. One thing

3:22

that I have found really helpful

3:25

is when somebody reaches out

3:27

and they say, hey, I'm working on

3:30

this new thing, I'd love to

3:32

get your feedback on it. And

3:34

I'll respond with something like,

3:36

hey, I'm happy to help. I'm really

3:38

constrained on my time right

3:40

now for calls. So if it's okay

3:43

with you, I'm happy to trade

3:45

notes by email to start. And

3:48

about 90% of people don't even

3:50

bother following up with an email.

3:52

Which saves me a lot of time. If

3:54

you're not even willing to put in

3:57

the five minutes of effort that it

3:59

would take. to like write down what

4:01

you're hoping to get out of the

4:03

conversation in an email, it was almost

4:05

certainly going to be a waste of time

4:07

in a phone call. So creating that

4:10

friction and verifying that the other

4:12

person is actually willing to put in

4:14

the effort, I think helps a lot.

4:16

That cuts down the noise. But I'm

4:18

willing to help people in a lot

4:21

of these circumstances. So it's not a

4:23

blanket, no. I'm so glad that you

4:25

gave this advice. It's very relevant right

4:27

now because I have an email in

4:29

my inbox where somebody wanted to get

4:32

on a call. And I really felt

4:34

like we didn't need the call. Like

4:36

we could just, yeah, exchange notes via

4:38

email, but it is the, I think it's

4:40

the, I think it's the, I think it's

4:42

the people pleaser in us that wants to,

4:44

they say get on a call, so you're

4:47

like, all right, yeah, let me find time

4:49

to hop on a call. But I'm to

4:51

hop on a call. really want to get

4:53

on a call, they make it seem

4:55

really urgent, make it seem really important,

4:57

but there are ways to tactfully create

4:59

a response that will kind of push

5:01

that off your plate. It's just the

5:03

living in this world of constant

5:06

urgency, constant just shuffling

5:08

things around without actually getting

5:10

any work done, because I think so

5:12

many people have lost even the definition

5:14

of what work means. What does it

5:17

mean to actually do work? So

5:19

that's so different in knowledge work, because...

5:21

when you're a Mason, when you're doing

5:23

masonry, like you know what the output

5:25

of your work is when you're building

5:28

a house, you expect to have a house

5:30

at the end of it in knowledge work,

5:32

it can just be vapor-ware and

5:34

nobody knows any different. Let's move on

5:36

to rule number two. Rule two, you

5:39

don't need to know everything. This is

5:41

an interesting one because I think so

5:43

much of people's attention is pulled in

5:46

directions that are outside of their control.

5:48

I think many people live their lives.

5:50

as the passengers, not as the

5:52

drivers. I do my best to

5:55

ensure that other people are not

5:57

able to impose upon my attention.

5:59

But I am the owner of

6:02

my own attention and that I

6:04

choose what I put that attention

6:06

on. What are some ways that

6:08

you remain intentionally

6:10

ignorant? I think the

6:12

simplest one because this is

6:15

where most people get their

6:17

information is news. I've been

6:19

news sober for 11 years

6:21

and the news is where

6:23

most people get information

6:25

where they feel like

6:27

they are staying informed.

6:29

And the reality is most

6:31

of that information has no

6:34

connection at all to your day-to-day

6:36

life. You also have no ability

6:38

to influence it, and it changes

6:40

their perception of the world in

6:42

a way that is really unhealthy. So

6:44

there's only so much time and attention.

6:47

There are only so many things that

6:49

we can learn. Our time is finite.

6:51

This is a constant, my wife hates

6:53

it when I say this, but she

6:56

always says I don't have time. And

6:58

I say, you have the same

7:00

amount of time as everyone else.

7:02

You just choose not to prioritize

7:04

it, which is okay. But let's not

7:06

pretend that like there just isn't

7:09

time. People do things. We all

7:11

have the same amount of time.

7:13

We just choose what we want

7:15

to do or not. What media

7:17

do you prioritize? Like what are

7:19

those, whether it's books or TV

7:21

or news? What are the staples

7:23

when it comes to your media

7:25

diet? It's almost entirely books. I

7:27

think when I consider my consumption

7:29

of information from outside sources, I

7:31

do my best to read two

7:34

books a week. I think I've

7:36

averaged about 100 books a year

7:38

for the last 11 years ever

7:40

since giving up the news. The

7:42

books that I pick are typically

7:44

books that were recommended by friends.

7:46

So I have, whenever somebody

7:49

recommends a book, I will add it

7:51

to my audible wish list. I do

7:53

most of them as audio books now.

7:55

And I just found it such a

7:57

convenient way when I'm when I'm in

7:59

the middle of a workday and I

8:01

have like an hour between meetings.

8:04

In the previous world I

8:06

would have just sat around

8:08

and done nothing, maybe watched

8:10

the news, checked some website,

8:12

checked the New York Times

8:14

or something, and now I put on

8:17

an audio book and I go for a

8:19

walk and it's lovely. And I've

8:21

actually been reading books on

8:24

audio books for so long that

8:26

I can... My default reading speed

8:28

is at 3.5x. No, it's not. Are

8:30

you joking? That's insane. It sounds totally

8:32

normal to me at this point, because

8:34

I've done so many of these. But

8:36

to other people it just sounds like

8:39

chipmunks fighting. Yeah, like does having this

8:41

regular speed conversation, just like it's impossible

8:43

for you to like slow down this

8:45

much? I will say that there have

8:47

definitely been times when I've been in

8:49

meetings live and I'm like looking for

8:52

the button to make it go faster.

8:54

And I'm like, oh, I'm in this

8:56

meeting. Never mind. I have to like

8:58

calm down. Yeah, for sure. I was

9:00

going to say, because that brings up

9:02

another question that I was going to

9:05

have. So you're consuming a lot of

9:07

media through audio books. One of the

9:09

challenges that I've had is that it

9:11

tends not to be as sticky for

9:13

me. So what are the things that

9:15

you do? If you're trying to take

9:17

notes, implement some of the things that

9:20

you've learned from audio books, how do

9:22

you make sure that you don't lose

9:24

track of those insights as they're

9:26

flying by 3.5 times speed? That's

9:28

the simplest answer. When

9:30

there's a book, this happens

9:33

with maybe five-ish percent of the

9:35

books that I read. If there's

9:37

a book that I read, it's

9:39

just like, wow, that one had

9:41

so much content in it

9:44

that I need to turn that into

9:46

actions in my life. I'll buy the

9:48

physical copy after reading the

9:50

audio book. I accept that

9:53

maybe my comprehension is 80

9:55

or 90 percent. of what it would

9:57

be if I did the physical book, but I've done

9:59

this experiment. And my actual, the amount

10:01

of content that I'm able to

10:03

ingest is at least five times

10:05

greater with the audio books, just

10:08

because I can do it when

10:10

I'm driving. I can do it

10:12

when I'm on a walk. It's

10:14

just those, those flex times when

10:16

I can, I can consume it

10:18

and I can listen to it

10:20

on an airplane, whatever it is.

10:22

It's just so much easier to

10:24

get that information in. So I,

10:27

my comprehension is probably marginally less

10:29

by doing audio books, but. When

10:31

I have a really good one,

10:33

I'll buy the physical copy and

10:35

I'll mark it up. I'm going

10:37

to be back with the third

10:39

and final rule in a moment,

10:41

but first, one of the ways

10:43

I'm supporting this podcast is through

10:45

Patreon. By becoming a patron, you

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get access to the full unedited

10:50

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10:52

of people have forgotten what it

10:54

actually means to do work, especially

10:56

younger people who legitimately believe they

10:58

wouldn't be able to articulate this.

11:00

But they actually believe that their

11:02

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11:04

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11:07

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11:09

you'll also get additional unused footage

11:11

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And really, what other incentive do

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11:28

Diavella. There's a link down in

11:30

the description below. Thanks for considering.

11:32

Let's move on to rule number

11:34

three. So rule number three is

11:36

similar, which is only give your

11:38

attention to things you can control.

11:40

So much of my life, I

11:42

was worried about things that I

11:44

had no control over. I would

11:47

focus my attention on trying to

11:49

network with people who I didn't

11:51

know, but who I thought would

11:53

be good people to know. I

11:55

spend all this time on... things

11:57

that were outside and not focusing

11:59

enough inside on the things that

12:01

are immediately in front of me

12:03

that I can actually influence. And

12:06

ever since I changed to focusing

12:08

on that, my life has been

12:10

a lot better. My friendships are

12:12

a lot deeper. I think stress,

12:14

broadly speaking, goes down when you

12:16

just let go of things that

12:18

you have no control over. Whatever's

12:20

going on, this is another fascinating

12:22

thing that almost nobody can name

12:25

their local representative in government. almost

12:27

nobody and that person has way

12:29

more of an effect on your

12:31

life than whoever the president is

12:33

and yet people don't seem to

12:35

know or care we're focused on

12:37

we're focused on national things like

12:39

it's a like it's a team

12:41

sport like we're watching football or

12:43

something but the things that actually

12:46

impact us are local and people

12:48

spend very little time thinking about

12:50

that. What are the big things

12:52

in your life? that you found

12:54

you can control to help improve

12:56

your life? If you only have

12:58

24 hours in a day and

13:00

you want to sleep, which means

13:02

you have about 16 hours a

13:05

day of attention, which is actually

13:07

not very much, and if you

13:09

want to spend two or three

13:11

hours of that getting angry about

13:13

things that are happening elsewhere that

13:15

you can't control, or you can

13:17

spend three hours a day with

13:19

your wife and child building a

13:21

happy marriage. It's pretty obvious which

13:24

one you should choose, but empirically

13:26

most people choose the wrong one.

13:28

So it just feels like, but

13:30

you have to be a responsible

13:32

citizen, so you have to do

13:34

those things. You actually don't. I

13:36

think people take these things as

13:38

assumptions, like you have to do

13:40

them, but you actually have agency

13:43

here. There was a moment when

13:45

I was in my late 20s,

13:47

early 30s, when I had this

13:49

vivid recognition that I was not

13:51

driving my own life. I was

13:53

the passenger. I was just letting

13:55

events take me. Whatever was directly

13:57

in front of me, that's the

13:59

way that I would go. I

14:01

had to take a pause, I

14:04

took a year off work and

14:06

thought a lot about what do

14:08

I want to do with my

14:10

time. And that helped a lot.

14:12

It's certainly a privilege to be

14:14

able to take time off a

14:16

year in particular to think about

14:18

these things, but it helped orient

14:20

the way that I think about

14:23

the world and focusing on things

14:25

that I can actually influence that

14:27

I want to make the change

14:29

in the world. I think it's

14:31

anyone who can do it, I

14:33

think it's really really beneficial to

14:35

take that time to think about

14:37

it. It sounds like reflection is

14:39

just a really important thing that

14:42

you've found in your life, whether

14:44

it's for one year or if

14:46

it's for a weekend retreat where

14:48

you go away by yourself and

14:50

just right, it seems like constantly

14:52

kind of coming back to basic

14:54

principles and trying to understand. in

14:56

the business of life of what

14:58

is important now, because things often

15:00

change. Our lives change a lot.

15:03

You become parents, you change jobs,

15:05

and constantly reflecting seems to help.

15:07

Oh Sam, thank you so much

15:09

for joining me today. It was

15:11

a real pleasure. If people want

15:13

to learn more about your work,

15:15

your company, and what you do,

15:17

where should we send them? I'm

15:19

just on X at Sam Corcos.

15:22

Thanks so much. Thanks for tuning

15:24

in to tuning in to Three

15:26

Rules. For my weekly, bite-size, self-development

15:28

emails where I share insightful lessons,

15:30

practical tips, and personal experiments, sign

15:32

up at mattevala.com/newsletter. And if you

15:34

want to learn more about today's

15:36

guest, check out the description for

15:38

this episode. See you next time.