The Productivity Hack I Use Everyday (part 1) | E62

i think one of the greatest lessons from. 2020 but also one of my objectives. looking forward into 2021. is that it will make your life more. special more grateful and more precious. oh my [ __ ] god we have to we have no. choice. but. [Music]. we're getting to the time of year where. everybody starts to look back. and where everybody starts to look. forward the long reminiscent. facebook posts and the new year's.

resolutions that. ambitiously set goals for 2021 and on. today's podcast. i'm pretty much going to do exactly that. i'm going to look back at one of the. craziest years that i think we've all. probably ever experienced and look. forward. to a year that i hope will be much. better. what are the lessons i've learned what. are the lessons that we can learn. and how can we make this next year. better than the last. so without further ado i'm stephen. bartlett and this is the diary of a ceo. i hope nobody is listening but if you.

are. then please keep this to yourself. [Music]. 2020 this year has been a year of. increased perspective changed. perspective. i've got friends who have lost loved. ones friends that have lost their. parents i've got. great friends who are still debilitated. by covert symptoms and partial. brain damage six months after they got. the disease and i've got friends that.

have lost their businesses. that have lost their livelihoods and. that have lost their careers and one of. the lessons i've learned this year. is that you know when the sun is shining. and everything is. going our way we don't learn an awful. lot. in those idyllic moments where. everything we thought about the world. seems to be. unfolding exactly how we expected it to. it's like we were right the sky is blue. and the sun is hot and my life. is predictable that's how it feels but. in a year like 2020 the opposite. happens the opposite becomes true we.

have too much to learn too quickly. everything we thought about our lives. and how our lives are supposed to unfold. is thrown into uncertainty and. the very foundation in which we've built. our life upon seems. hard to trust anymore all of this. readjusts our perspective. for better and depending on how you take. it for worse. and we're left with a new perspective. which is less easy to sneak up on us. if that makes sense a perspective that's. less easy to surprise us. one that's less complacent more focused.

more focused on what actually matters. and. who actually matters and less focused on. all the things that don't. if you're under the age of 30 or 35 this. was. probably 2020 the first time you've. experienced what they call. a black swan event at least in your. adult life and if you don't know the. concept of a black swan event it's. it's an event that is unpredictable and. an event that results in severe. widespread and often global consequences.

for example the great depression many. many decades ago. although spanish flew in 1918 or world. war one and world war ii. or more recently the dot-com bubble 20. years ago in 2001. this generation haven't had a moment. like this in their lives and i'll be. honest with you it. really [ __ ] shows the sheer disbelief. by our generation that something like. this could. naturally happen to our cushy. predictable privileged lives is almost.

nauseating i deeply believe this is why. if you go on social media. you'll see all of these wild conspiracy. theories. facebook itself is only what 16 17 years. old we've never had a major. black swan event in the era of mass. social media adoption. and the generation that used social. media haven't collectively lived through. really excruciatingly hard times like. many of our grandparents have. at any point in their adult lives like. this how could this.

possibly be happening they cry it must. be 5g internet. it must be bill gates it must be the. illuminati can you imagine. if a black swan event like this like the. spanish flu in 1918. a pandemic that killed about 15 million. people. which is 30 times more people than covet. 19. a disease that predominantly affected. young healthy people. imagine if we had facebook we know. so much about science now and we still. we still engage in this widespread. stupidity but back then we knew so.

little. we were incredibly superstitious and. deeply religious can you imagine the. nonsense that we would have believed. the nonsense that we would have shared. and tweeted and sent in whatsapp groups. to screenshots. this is a point about perspective this. year we gained a very important new. perspective one that highlights the. fragility of our lives and the society. we live in and that brings. that sort of unavoidable realization to. the fore that we're. that we're mortal that we're not going. to be around forever that we're going to. die.

and that life is riddled with. unpredictable but certain chaos. nothing is guaranteed not our jobs not. our businesses not our dreams not our. loved ones not our health and as i say. this. i understand why you might be tempted to. be consumed by negativity because it. sounds kind of pessimistic. but i want to suggest the opposite i. want to suggest. optimism and i'll explain why for me all. of this has. brought a level of optimism and. excitement and also gratitude into my. life. if none of this stuff is guaranteed if.

all of the things that i've just. described aren't guaranteed if life is. to be as short. as just a bunch of years of which many. of us feel like we've just been robbed. of one then oh my [ __ ] god. we have to we have no choice but to. start living. we have to start living all this. procrastination all of this self-doubt. all of this fear. all of these things suddenly seem like. ideas contrived by. a mind that doesn't understand we're all. up against the clock anyway.

that we're all going to become stardust. that only a few things. really matter our health our happiness. the health and happiness of our friends. and family. and those we love what an absolute shame. that so many of us you know what. including me. haven't given life everything have. allowed my. narrow perspective to lead me astray. many of you have uh if you followed this. podcast for a little while have followed. my life i'm. young i'm quote unquote successful in.

business i'm. happy but even i even i haven't. fully lived my life i've held myself. back in moments through fear. i've not spoken up when i should have. i've. not told people how how much they really. mean to me. while i've had the chance i've let fear. make decisions on my behalf i've. procrastinated i've engaged in pettiness. i've been. consumed by a twitter troll who is. trying to provoke me i've treated good. people badly i've overvalued. superficiality and.

undervalued meaningfulness i've hurt. people who have loved me and. i've avoided responsibility the. perspective. i've gained about the true nature of. life and the. fragility of this thing the world and. the society and this thing called health. which are the foundations which we're. all trying to build our lives upon. has made me realize how dumb all of this. stuff really is how stupid i've been to. hold these grudges to hurt people i love. to. hurt myself and to make decisions based. on what i think. will make society like me more not what.

i think will make me like me more. or win approval of those that actually. matter. one of my best friends in the entire. world someone i've spoken to. more days than not over the last seven. or eight years called me this month and. told me. some very special news he's just found. out that he's having a baby. and i have lots of friends that have. babies but you know even my brother has. a baby. two of them but this guy is a guy that's. especially close to me so. close in fact that it's one of those. moments where like finding out that.

he was having a baby almost made me feel. like. i was having a baby and it was. it was like i was processing the news. yeah did i. that i just found out that i'd gotten. someone pregnant and this is gonna sound. really [ __ ] crazy right but um. it's just one of those perspective. shifting moments on top of what's. already been an. incredibly perspective shifting year and. as i said this is going to sound crazy. but. i was on my way to the gym it was about. 2 am in the morning if you know me you. know that i work out at crazy crazy.

times. um and he'd called me he's on another. time zone in another country so he. called me pretty late. london time and as i was walking towards. the gym listening to my music and. walking through the streets and. i think i've shared with all of you. before the fact that it seems to me that. all of my ideas come either in the. shower or when i'm work. walking or when i'm in the gym i wrote. in my diary. a couple of phrases and i write these. phrases as prompts. so that i can develop these thoughts. later and also so i can remember to tell. you. all about them i wrote hurtling towards. death. okay this is a very think about it your.

friend tells you you're he's pregnant. well he's not pregnant but. his partner's pregnant and you write. these phrases in your diary. hurtling towards death next phrase. receding hairline. next phrase what the [ __ ] is everyone. doing next phrase. why are we half living next phrase how. dare you. our next phrase create these memories so. i'm gonna go through those. phrases just one by one quickly and tell. you why i wrote them so the first one. is hurtling towards death we go through. lives not realizing that we're getting. older.

and we don't realize that time is. passing right we don't see. age happening because we're there every. day looking in the mirror. so and it's so gradual we don't see our. parents getting older until we. leave home and then come back and see. them we don't see tai moving on. and so we don't really feel like raging. and also our friendship group. ages together typically so we don't. really again grant. feel the effects of getting older until. you go have those sort of significant. life moments. and because this is one of my best best. best friends in the world so close to me.

that it actually feels like i'm now. a dad or expecting um. it made me realize that i'm getting old. and that i'm moving into a different. phase of my life. and that i'm aging and that. i don't have forever left. sounds like a weird thing to say but as. i've said in this podcast before i. genuinely believe. that 99.9 of us make our decisions as if. we're going to live forever. the next point i wrote was about. receding hairline listen my barber had. given me a bit of a dodgy shape up that.

week. and he'd cut back my my uh. my hairline and i was looking in the. mirror and i was thinking i don't know. whether this the barb has done this or. i'm just getting old and it was another. thing i was thinking about that week i. was thinking i'm getting older. and as someone that has always. considered himself to be young and a. teenager. i'm also on my path to approaching being. 30 years old. and all of these little things start to. make you think ahead this is probably. why people have these like mid-life. crisis. right and then the next thing i wrote. which was.

upon the conclusion that i'm getting. older is what the [ __ ] is everyone doing. and this is maybe the most important. point of all of them because. when you realize when you have those. moments where you realize that time is. ticking. and that age is a real thing and that. we're not here forever. all of these stupid decisions to waste. time and waste time on p. and the wrong people in jobs we hate. doing things we hate. becoming incredibly stupid and i was. walking through the streets of london.

and i was looking over at a guy. slumped in this bus stop wearing this. hi-vis jacket. and i was just thinking bro you're. getting old. what the [ __ ] are you doing and i know. that's a really naive thing to say. because it it assumes that that person. has choice and that they're making the. wrong choice and. life isn't always as simple as that but. it was just this moment of realization. that like. if everybody were to realize that their. their life was. actually on a clock and this is why i'm.

holding the sand timer right now if. you're watching this on youtube. and why i have this sand timer in my. house and i had one in social chain. was because it's just the reminder that. sometimes i need. that time is real and that i'm getting. older. and to instill a sense of urgency into. my life the next thing i wrote. is why the hell is everybody half living. which is kind of linked to that point. which is if you understand your own. mortality if you really believe in it. if you really believe that you're not. going to be here forever which is a. lesson that this year's taught us and.

that baby news teaches us and the. receding hairline might teach you. you make your decisions through a. different a different paradigm a. different perspective. and the next thing i wrote was how dare. you because after. really starting to realize that life is. finite and really having a moment where. this news and covid and my receding. hairline had made me start to embrace. the fact that time was so fleeting and. so special and so precious. i felt almost offended by myself but. also the action of others that we're not.

doing more to respect the time we have. and then the last thing which was a more. positive conclusion was create these. memories and. lockdown and this year have robbed us of. the ability to create the memories that. i think we'd all hope. to and as i've gotten older. and you know i i think i shared on. linkedin and instagram a graph. showing that in our later years we spend. less time with friends and less time. with. external family and secondary family and. we spend more time on our own.

i've realized the importance of memories. and seems to have hit. my friendship group all at the same time. we're all about we're all i think the. youngest is. 28 in my friendship group and the oldest. is 33. and we're at that stage where we're. starting to realize that the most. important thing that we can do. spend our money on is have memories. great memories with great people. that we'll never forget and my. conclusive point was you know. i'm potentially gonna lose one of my. friends a little bit as well right so. this friend who's having a baby is now. gonna have greater commitments which.

means it's going to be a little bit. harder potentially. maybe this is an excuse to create. memories with that person we're not. going to be able to travel away to. different countries. on a whim like we could over the last. couple of years. and um it just made the the desire. and the value of the memories we have. but also as i say the desire to create. more memories even greater. and it's funny we all have these buckets. in front of us in life. and these buckets have a bunch of. different labels on them one of the. labels. and buckets might be called career.

success or family or friends or. meaningful relationships and then some. of these buckets are. rusty and dirty and they have stains on. the edges and they have a label on the. front of them that says. toxic right and and those buckets those. ugly buckets. are material things and social media. validation and meaningless relationships. and fear. and we spend our lives trying to figure. out which. buckets we're supposed to be pouring. ourselves into when i was young and i.

was that insecure kid. that wanted to be white and wanted to be. rich and wanted to be loved because. i guess i didn't feel any of those. things i was so focused. and so compelled to pour myself into all. of the grotty toxic buckets and as i got. older. and more recently as the pandemic struck. i think we all started to realize that. when [ __ ] really hits the fan when our. perspective is. forced to learn 2020 style lessons. there are only really a few buckets that. are worthy of us that are worthy of our.

time. and that are worthy of our investment. and. caring about something is a really. really expensive commitment. if you want to have a better life right. you have to care about less. things and you have to invest all of the. care that you save. into the things that you care about the. most. and that prioritization is a lesson that. i hope will stay with me forever. if there was a silver lining to this. year it was it's that it's the. understanding what i should be caring. about and.

i think it's essential for you to. remember that. um that quote from i think it's marcus. aqualius where he says. um the attention you give to any action. should be in due. proportion to its worth for then you. won't. tire or give up if you aren't busying. yourself with lesser things beyond what. you what you should what should be. allowed i think that's the quote and. there's the other quote by marcus. aurelius where he says stop letting. yourself be distracted. that is not allowed instead as if you.

were dying right now. live your life and those two quotes. again the stoic. philosophical assertions but they're two. quotes that i've. scribbled in my diary this week 2020. showed us how precious life is. so next year do not. do not let fear win you have to be. spontaneous. you have to book that flight you have to. apply for that opportunity you have to. learn to say i love you more even when. your ego gets in the way as it often.

does for me. right you have to read those books you. have to start that business you have to. find the urgency to stop procrastinating. you have to block that. [ __ ] from your past that's dragging. you backwards. you have to learn that new skill that. language that passion. you have to take that risk because if. 2020 has taught us anything. it's that we all have to learn to live. while we can. and the next point my diary is about. productivity and one of the biggest. productivity revelations i've had this. year while working at home.

um i've been trying to juggle a million. things as we all have and i haven't had. the structure that has guided me over. the last five years of. i'm used to having an incredibly busy. travel schedule and i'm used to waking. up every morning. and just seeing my diary completely full. of. meetings and appointments and i just. kind of follow the the. my diary as if it's like simon telling. me to do something right. um but i haven't had that this year and. so it's meant that things have been. a bit more less structured bit more. unstructured.

and so one of the the productivity hacks. that's really changed the game for me. is i've started working directly from. my personal calendar and not from. my to-do list i work for my to-do list. for a long long time and it felt great. it feels good to tick that thing off in. my little to-do list goes ping. which is some kind of psychological. reinforcement my mouth maybe salivates. or something which means that i've done. something well right. but i've been well aware for a long time. that i still waste a tremendous amount. of. time a task will take the amount of time.

that you. that you give to it and to-do lists. don't have that time constraint so they. lack. that sense of urgency that sense of. priority and accountability and quite. honestly. a sense of consequence and if you know. if i don't do. the thing on my to-do list right now. nothing really happens so i can. spend my time off on youtube and doing. other things and. i i we all tend to do the the task. right before there is a chance of a. negative consequence of not doing it. and to-do lists i have to be honest they. still have a place.

right if you need to write something. down to get it out your head or because. you might you know forget it. then by all means do so i i'm still. using my to-do list it still has a place. but once they're down on that list what. i would recommend. and the thing that's really had a. massive multiplying impact on my. productivity. is you then plug it into your calendar. um a little bit of a secret here which a. lot of people don't know a couple of my. friends know because they're all using. the same app. i actually built an app this year um. when i started having this problem of.

not having a structured life. it's called time block and it's not yet. in the app store. but me and my friends use time block. it's an app that i built with a. developer. and it's basically a to-do list with a. calendar on top in essence it just does. exactly what i wanted to do and you. actually see. every time you block a task in you see. it like. fit the block filling up and it's quite. a cool little app that i've used but you. can just still use google calendar or. whatever app you use. um and so i put the the task the to do. onto my calendar and it gives me an idea.

of how much time i have to do that. particular task it creates that sense of. urgency. and it's been genuinely a game changer. for me this year because the year has. been so unstructured and because there's. no. start and finish to our days and i think. i think i think people refer to this as. time blocking i think it's a fairly. well-known concept it's funny. because i've noticed that when i'm busy. i don't time block doesn't cross my mind. i'm too busy i'm being dragged by my. calendar. but in moments where i lack structure. like the weekend or when we're all.

working remotely during a pandemic. i i have to time block if there's a. probability. that i could get very little done. because of distraction like on the. weekend. where there's less structure but more. chance of distraction. then i literally have to put all of my. tasks that day against my calendar. so saturday and sunday typically i block. out all of the time because there's a. high probability i'll just lay in bed. watching youtube videos or on my emails. or scrolling social media we're all. guilty of it. i literally put everything in my. calendar on saturday and sunday i put in.

go to the gym and i put in two hours to. do that then i put 30 minutes in to eat. lunch. to walk my dog everything because. because without that. i won't be productive as i possibly. could be. if you do this already great you'll know. exactly what i'm talking about if you. don't. here's a little word of warning you have. to be. kind to yourself you have to be. empathetic or you will fail. here's what i did the first time and. here's why i failed i started my day at. 7 00 am in my little calendar i said. right at seven am i'm gonna.

wake up and do this and then i'm gonna. work all the way right through till. midnight. right the person in charge of putting. that in my calendar. was me right now in this moment. the person that actually has to do it is. future steve. right and so in order to be successful. you have to appreciate. the person who will be responsible for. following the calendar which is future. you. so i literally now i'm empathetic about. future steve i'll say okay future steve. you can have a break here where you just. literally do nothing.

i literally put in nothing you can have. a break here where you can literally. just scroll the internet and go on. social media and. watch manchester united play um and. that's been so. so important i have to be empathetic. towards future steve. or i'm not being realistic and if i'm. not being realistic that i'm setting. myself up to fail. and um i wanted to share that with you. because this year's been so unstructured. and. we don't quite yet know what 2021 looks. like but one of the biggest productivity. hacks and one that will stay with me for. the rest of my life is this idea of time. blocking.

give it a try huel has been probably the. biggest factor in the reason why i'm in. the best shape of my life. and i've been healthier in my body and. in my mind than at any time. ever before because the convenience of. pure the nutritional completeness of. fuel. getting all of my sort of vitamins and. minerals in one place. in literally 10 seconds with the berry. flavor which tastes like. heaven to me um has been an absolute. game changer to me. and it's isn't it great that i get to. promote. a product like huel at a time when i'm.

in the best shape of my life where i'm. drinking. every single day and where i would. absolutely swear by it. and i thank them so much for 2020 and. being the sponsor of this podcast you've. seen we've been able to step it up. and that's because of julian at huell. that's because of huel. themselves they've been so kind to me. they never tell me what to say in these. podcasts they don't. message me after and say you [ __ ] up. plug this plug that whatever. they've given me total freedom to talk. about this product and fortunately it's. one that i can talk about for hours. and with total authenticity and belief.

so if you haven't tried huel yet. just give it a shot if you're someone. that sometimes skips meals and your diet. sometimes can flake off. please give it a shot i'm actually gonna. say something um in part two. of this podcast about a friend of mine. um which is actually quite personal to. me so. i'll uh i'll pick pick up on huel in. part two as well. the next point in my diary is about. creating a greater sense of urgency i've. mentioned the word urgency. a few times in the previous point but i. want to really double down on it because. i think it's um. it's a huge revelation that i've had off.

the back of 2020. but also as a consequence of running the. business i have for the last three years. with everything i've said i think one of. the greatest lessons from 2020 but also. one of my. objectives looking forward into 2021 is. to try and create a greater sense of. urgency in my life and you. some of you may be familiar with that. concept they call parkinson's law. which is that old adage that our work. expands to fill the amount of time that. we allocate to it.

put simply if you have two weeks to. write a paper for school it will take. you. two weeks if you block out all sunday to. clean your house. it will take you all sunday if you give. something unlimited time it will risk. taking forever but when you're pressed. by deadline. we don't procrastinate and creating. urgency in your life whether it's in. your business because you're a business. owner of a global business or you're a. 16 year old that's just trying to have a. better life is incredibly important and. by the way when i talk about this. concept of urgency it's very easy.

to misunderstand what i'm saying uh. being more urgent isn't about being. busier or. about being more stressed or about being. more intense in your life or about. burning yourself out it's it's a. completely different concept. being more urgent is about demanding. from yourself that your most important. goals. are attained and achieved as soon as. possible because they are your. priorities. and by doing this you'll naturally. prioritize what matters and remove all. of the tempting distractions fear. excuses that absolutely don't. you know i saw this phenomena in my.

business over the last 10 years. time and time again i witnessed on many. occasions on one particular occasion. where i'm thinking about one project. that our team wanted to launch. it took 18 months because there wasn't a. deadline. and on some occasions projects were just. never materialized i remember. a few years ago i had an idea which i. brought to the team and i put. i think like 15 or 20 people on an email. chain and i told them this like really. interesting i thought it was interesting. um hypothesis i've had which would. result in us building.

a very innovative tool um that would in. my opinion. really shake up our industry and as a. consequence make us a ton of money. um i explained why i thought it was so. important and i i gave it to this this. this group of people to. to create and three months later i go. back to that email thread. and the group of people there are still. discussing it they're passing it around. they're waiting for someone somewhere to. return from. annual leave tom is waiting for ben and. ben is waiting for that guy. et cetera et cetera the idea had made.

absolutely no progress and. to be completely honest i was pissed off. at that point i was fighting this war. that a lot of. sort of ceos or company owners will. fight when your company scales. and you start to lose sort of certain. philosophical values which. made you agile and are very much the. reason why you got there in the first. place. and my company had gotten big and i had. to start to trust people even more and. more to get things done and to maintain. those cultural values.

and for whatever reason at that time i. clearly hadn't created the sense of. urgency that our teams needed. to achieve truly great things and i i. look back at that email thread. as i i observed um that good idea. going to waste because of a lack of. urgency and a lack of accountability. and i made the decision that i was going. to just do it my [ __ ] self. and i was going to do it myself. immediately so that weekend i went into. the office alone. and i went on fiverr which is a website. i've used over the last couple of years.

to build. projects um remotely or with you know. external freelance support. and i asked a guy who was based abroad. to work with me that weekend to build. this tour 48 hours later. i was completely done the tour was built. and i took that. tool that i built back to the email. thread where those 15 or 20 people were. still discussing it. and quite honestly people were blown. away absolutely blown away because the. hypothesis. i'd had had been proven to be true and. it worked.

um but it gets even deeper um a week. later i made a video. announcing this tool to the world which. we called. likewise and you can actually go and. check out at like hyphenwise.com. i think it's still there or just type in. social chain likewise. on google um and we posted it to the. world. that you know we tested our hypothesis. we built this tool. and we received thousands and thousands. and thousands. of inquiries and not just for a week not. just for a day.

but for years we we two years later. we were still getting an inquiry pretty. much every single day because of this. one tool and i'm going to be honest. that tool genuinely made us millions. millions and millions and millions. it changed the game for us and it. changed the game for us for at least two. years. it taught my team a lesson and it taught. me a lesson. and from that point on i set up a. whatsapp group called. um move fast and make things and i put. six people in that group. and the only rule i set of that group.

was that everything we did. in that group every project we tackled. we only had. two weeks to complete it so no matter. what what the project was no matter how. grand the ambition was that went into. that that group we only had. two weeks and i'm telling you this is. when parkinson's law which i mentioned. earlier in the previous point really. proved itself to me because we managed. to achieve. remarkable things in no time at all we. managed to. think of an idea and launch it within. two weeks including the video that we'd. made. including building whatever the idea was.

including building the technology. in two weeks just because of that. urgency. it made us the six people in that group. break down walls that we. that typically we we all often create. that aren't really there it forced us. to reject excuses and it made us. it gave us no choice but to find a way. to make something happen. and if you think about that in the. context of your own life. if you think about all the ideas you've. had all the goals ambitions passions. dreams imagine. just imagine for a sec how many of them.

could have changed your life. if only you had applied that same sense. of unapologetic. urgency and sort of accountability to it. if you'd said. do you know what this really really. really matters and it matters more than. pretty much everything else right now. and i'm going to start. now and complete it in a fraction. of the time that i think is possible. imagine how much you could have. accomplished. we can really use parkinson's law to our. advantage.

because i've i've got this sort of. renewed perspective of the back of 2020. i've started thinking more and more. about urgency and more and more about. how. urgency isn't a way to to burn people. out or to. um to to to force. something through it's really a way of. of. acknowledging to yourself what matters. more than anything right now. and decluttering all of the stuff that. risks getting in the way the. distractions i talked about the fear the. excuses the. well we can't because or the pessimistic.

attitude that some people. sometimes bring to you when you tell. them your idea in your personal life or. when you say it in an office they'll say. oh and it's not possible because of x. right. it dismantles all of that and it leaves. you with no choice but to attack. um the stoics who i study a lot the. stoic people the stoic philosophers had. a. had an expression which kind of links to. the first point that i made in this in. this podcast today which is. memento mori which is a reflection. on their own mortality and that was.

their reminder um. it was their reminder that they are. mortal it was their reminder that. they should always be pressed by a. deadline and that that precious. deadline was the shortness of life we. all have a deadline. but as i said in the first point we tend. to live without one and therefore we. don't get much done and we we have. regret. and unfulfilled dreams and those things. that's the same urgency i'm talking. about. and the stoics used to say marcus. aurelius used to say that you can leave. life right now so let that determine.

what you do. and say and think and they didn't say. that to create. panic or to create a sense of like. negativity or. fear of death it was to create priority. it was to create urgency it was to. create gratitude. as wonderful as it you know it would be. to if there was no such thing as death. no i'm going to take that back i don't. think it would be a wonderful thing if. there was no such thing as death. um but we can use death as a tool. i even when i start talking about death. in this podcast i realize that there's a. bunch of people at home that are.

literally squirming at the thought. even the word because a lot of people. fear death right and i remember. once upon a time specifically when i was. religious up until the age of 18. i feared death too because i didn't know. where the [ __ ] i was gonna go. right and when you're brought up in a. religious home there's a higher. probability you're either going to burn. in hell. which is what you know you spend a lot. of your time thinking about or that. you're going to go to this place called. heaven that doesn't sound that fun. anyway because everyone's a bit too nice. right so i didn't really know where i. was going to go and it was it was in. fact when i stopped. when i lost my religion and i became i.

guess agnostic. um because i don't think there's any. such thing as an atheist really that's. also. too much certainty for me um when i. became agnostic. that i no longer feared death i became. really really comfortable with it. but i think you can use death as a. positive thing to spur. you forward and i as a reminder as i. said in the first part of this podcast. of what's truly important. and how to therefore use your time. accordingly and if anything 2020 has. taught us it's. it's been lost it's been it's been a.

year that's been full of death we i. think we've lost about 1.6 million. people. and everybody knows someone that's lost. someone we've been reminded about our. own mortality so in. in 2021 next year. be urgent urgency might just be one of. the greatest acknowledgments that you. know how precious. fleeting and special your life and time. is. and in turn paradoxically it will make. your life more special more grateful and. more precious.

because it will fill your life with more. things that actually matter. and declutter of all the things that. don't. be more urgent that's one of my goals. for 2021 is to be. a little bit more urgent and people that. know me think i'm already urgent so. [ __ ] me okay so today i'm gonna close my. diary there if you're not already. subscribing. hit the subscribe button if you're on. youtube hit the like button leave a. comment leave a review it means the. world to me and i read every single. review. and i always look through it the names. that i've just subscribed on the back. end of the youtube channel.

at the start of january i'm going to. publish part two of this conversation. and we'll continue to look back at 2020. and look forward at 20. 21 tune in next week for that episode. [Music].