Detailed Notes
In this episode of Building Better Developers (Part 2), we sit down again with Mark Struczewski — better known as Mister Productivity — to explore real-world strategies for managing digital distractions.
From constant notifications to social media overload and AI fatigue, digital noise is stealing more focus than ever before. Mark shares simple, actionable ways to take back control:
🔹 Turn off vibration mode 🔹 Audit every app notification 🔹 Use Focus Modes intentionally 🔹 Block distracting websites 🔹 Limit social scrolling 🔹 Build tech boundaries that support your work 🔹 Create a nighttime shutdown routine 🔹 Avoid over-relying on AI to think for you
This episode dives deep into how to stay focused, intentional, and present in a world filled with digital interruptions.
✔ Mark’s Website: https://misterproductivity.com/ ✔ Free Productivity Scorecard: Available on his homepage ✔ Listen to Part 1: https://youtu.be/yfvIrNw3n5E
Transcript Text
Well, hello and welcome back. We are continuing our season where we are building better foundations. We are the building better developers podcast, the developer podcast. I am one of the founders of developer Rob Broadhead, also founder of RB Consulting where we help you leverage technology to build a roadmap to success. Good thing bad thing uh where we live the weather is like perpetually that kind of thing. But I think it's a good thing lately is it was we're into the fall type of time where you get like the cold nights and stuff like that and it was starting to get a little bit cooler days and as happens often in middle Tennessee in the fall also in the spring you get a whip sl whiplash uh weather and so we suddenly had like a I think it was like 73 74 degrees out. Awesome. It was a perfect day right in the middle of the fall to just give us like a nice warm day to be able to go out and like roll windows down, get some fresh air, stuff like that. Um, the bad thing is is that it was only for a day and so it was like it was like a a taunt of a sort where it was like this is great. It was sunshiny. It was all that kind of stuff and I'd been missing it a little bit because it had been a while and now we're right back into the cold and like it's it's a little bit uh, you know, overcast and stuff like that. But the other good thing is that Michael is still on the other end. So go a and introduce yourself. >> Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash. I'm one of the co-founders of developer. I'm also the founder of Envision QA where we help businesses build smarter, stronger software with custom development and rock solid testing. Good thing, bad thing. Uh I'll start with the bad thing. Uh wife is still out of town, still on dog duty and animal duty. So still dealing with the chaos of trying to keep my schedule uh going. Good thing getting kind of into a routine with the animals are getting a little more organized and I'm getting a little more focused. Unfortunately, the animals are now my distraction. Uh if you you know from the first part, the second part, you'll understand why. So, uh it's kind of a good segue into uh part two of this episode. >> Yes, I'm dealing with animal distraction as well. And trust me, I was reminded just yesterday that people distraction is far far more annoying and struggle to deal with. Uh I have a special uh superpower of being able to shut out a lot of stuff. Uh so even when I do get distracted sometimes I can ring it back, rein it back in. But that's my superpower, not necessarily yours. And we're going to continue our conversation with Mark, Mr. Productivity. And uh we're going to continue into this and some some great tips uh some great techniques uh great discussion about like how we got into it and that I just again really enjoyed this. We're going to pick up right where we left off. So here we are with part two for interview with Mr. Productivity. >> So it I love how you talked about going back to basics. Um, now if you take that to the next level, given that we live in such a technologydriven society, there are so many like tips and tools, like you said, like hacking your phone, things of that nature. What are your thoughts on going the tech route, going the more technical route and actually setting up rules or restrictions on your devices to prevent you from those digital distractions? I mean, you can't block everything, but there is you can block almost 100% of your digital distractions just by setting up some rules. >> Well, number one, I have had vibration mode turned off on my phone for like seven years. So, if I am out with my friends and all I have to do is mute my phone, I don't know if I get a phone call. I don't know if I got a text because it's muted. People mute their phones, but the vibration will still vibrate your phone. So disable, turn off vi u vibration mode. Number two, I have something called um uh this is going to really hurt people. I I got to be careful I say this because when people hear this, they don't realize how bad the problem is. You need to go through every single one of your apps and you probably have way more um notifications on than you realize because when you get an app, you're like, "Allow notifications? Sure." And then the app developer goes, "Turn them all on." And you need to go through every single app and ask yourself, okay, the distraction of a notification, it's off. Okay. Do I need to turn it on? Nah, it's Facebook. But you go through and like, "Oh, wait a minute. Why is this notification on? Is it serving me or is it distracting me?" Now, here's the really cool thing. You probably can do it with Androids. I'm an iPhone guy. You could have a notification turned on but not have the sound turned on. The sound and vibration mode are the two biggest distractions that you can have. So, if you have vibration mode disabled and you turn the sound off, but you have the notification enabled, you have to be looking at your phone to see you have a notification. Okay? So, what I encourage people to do is go through all your all your apps. I mean, all not not the ones that are annoying you, all of them. And then turn off you're probably going to turn off like 90% of them. Keep the important ones on and then set a reminder on your phone that maybe the first Saturday, the first Sunday of every month, do it again. It won't take you as long and go, "Huh, these got through." But even more than that, when you get a notification, you're like, "Oh, I hate getting notification from this. Oh, wait a minute. Why don't I go turn it off right now instead of waiting to that time?" So, we get so many notifications. I don't because I don't spend a lot of time on my phone. But if if I tell people do this, do this. It'll it'll save you from overwhelm. It'll save you from stress. It'll save you from, oh, why they keep texting me? Individual people who text you, you can actually disable the sound for them. So, if someone keeps texting you, your mom, your brother, your friend, and they're just sending you memes or articles, you can actually turn their sound off so the messages keep coming through. You won't know it because you're going to turn off vibration mode and you get to them when you get to them. It's really that easy. >> Excellent. And it's funny, I'm an iPhone user, too, and I've done similar things with that. Um, just some additional tips for that. Uh, I don't know if you're aware of this, but with the iPhone, they've added a new um, focus mode, and you can actually now go in and enable the apps that you do need to get notifications from and disable everything else. >> Yep. >> Uh, I've actually taken it one step further, and I've actually disabled uh certain websites on my router. So, I can't even go out to things like Facebook or Wow. uh like like news apps or anything like that from any device in my house. So if I'm physically home, I am blocked from being distracted. Like if I try to be distracted, it's going to say get back to work because I can't go there. But that that's where we're at with technology. It's like a lot of the new modern tools are out there. I hate to say nanny bots or nanny features, but these are features that are not just for our kids, but they are things that we can use to also be more um focused and like you said, you know, stay on task and get things done. You know what I thought when you were talking about you have certain websites blocked people I I think it's so funny because I will go on X I'll go on Instagram I'll go on Tik Tok for you know three four minutes and I'll leave and people go how do you do that I'm like I it it really I just go like I like going to X to see what the latest headlines are and I bounce out. I mean, I only have to be there for three or four minutes. Now, people say, "Well, you post all the time." Yeah, I post all the time. I will either use Meta Business Suite or I'll use Tik Tok Studio or I use Buffer. And so, I spend like the weekends I schedule my content and then I don't go on social media except to check, you know, comments. That's it. Now, I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else. I built this muscle up over years because I would rather read a book. I'd rather have a real conversation like with you two than be on social media. I know some people that they always have to be on social media. I'm like, if I'm with you and you pick up your phone, I start I stop talking. And if they're if they're on their phone and they're like, "Oh, keep talking." And I know they're not paying attention. So, I'll start being stupid and say, "Yo, I'm going to going to go kill your wife and chop her up into little bitty pieces and I'm going to barbecue your dog." And they're like, "Oh, cool. Cool. I I can you could say anything you want to say because they're not listening to you. And sometimes they'll hear like murder your wife like what' you say? Ah you're back because if I'm right in front of you I think it's very rude for you to be on your phone. Okay. Because I'm here that's not the real world. You're watching someone else's content. So, if you're with people, I think it's very rude to be on your phone because you should be fully present where you are. And I won't even talk to people. Matter of fact, sometimes I'll just walk away if they're on their phone, whether it's checking sports scores or whatever, because I'm here. If we're not going to have a one-on-one conversation, then I'm out of there. >> Yeah. And I think that's I think people are starting to realize that to some extent, but you know, some people are are realizing we've got to get back to like I don't know, proper manners and some things like that because it's never, you know, >> I don't know how far back now I have to go 20 or 30 years ago. You would nobody would ever say anything but bad stuff about you if every time you got into a conversation with them, you stared at your shoes all the time or you, you know, you were looking everywhere else in the room or stuff like that. And it's there are, you know, and this is where I want to swing back to a little bit what you guys were just talking about is, and I hate to be like the the, you know, using your word, sort of the adult in the room or something like that, but how is it how how much, especially when you're working with people, it do do they end up having too much of a crutch with some of these digital things where it's sort of like, you know, it's slapping your hand every time you do it. Does that actually, you know, or you just shut it off so it's not there. Does that really help over time to build that muscle or is it better to to have those things that are available but then do things so that it doesn't I guess so it's not poking you as much like if it's a vibration or something like that but actually building up those muscles to say yeah I could do that it's there but I'm going to ignore it because I'm building up that muscle. Does that make sense and see where I'm going with that? >> Very interesting question. I I think people need to determine what do they want. Do they do they want to be perpetually distracted or do they want to focus? Cuz I can't make that decision for anybody. And if you tell me I want to be focused, I'm like, well, we have a problem because you're always on your phone. What am I supposed to do? Well, number one, I mean, forget focus mode. Delete the apps off your phone. What? But listen, do you want to be focused and productive or do you want to spend all your time watching videos on on Instagram or Tik Tok or what have you? I would even tell people if you are like Michael and you're like, well, I have to block these sites, then I would go scorch earth. Delete the apps. Delete your account. And people like, what? Listen, why are you giving your time to these other content creators? When I see people I my 28-year-old daughter, she's constantly scrolling, scrolling, scrolling, and I'm like, "How much are they paying you to scroll on your favorite social media apps?" And of course, she goes, "Dad, stop coaching me." But I'm serious. When people spend endless amounts of time on their phones, I ask them, and I encourage your listeners to ask their friends, "Oh, wow. You spend four hours on TikTok? They must be paying you what, 40 bucks an hour." And they look at you like, "No." So, why are you giving them your time and attention when you're not getting paid for it? I mean, I'm not getting paid to be on your show, but we're talking about value. We're talking about how to be more productive. But people, they've gotten out of hand with social media. And now, the new thing people are spending ungodly amount of time with AI. Everybody's talking to their favorite AI like it's their new best friend. And I'm like, uh, that's kind of weird. You know, it's only an algorithm and a machine. And I don't know if you've noticed it, but everybody is talking, whether it's Grock or Chat GBT or Claude or Gemini or Meta AI. Everybody is talking to their AI. And I'm like, you know, there's human beings around, right? I mean, we may not have all the answers, but guess what? AI can't give you a hug. AI can't express empathy. So, have you seen that as much that people are you're seeing an uptick of people endlessly talking to AI like they're real people? >> A huge uptick. I I saw something the other day that was a little bit scary actually. I think it was on like a a Facebook ad or something like that. It was an advertisement for uh an AI site that was a marriage counselor and what you could do, which to me I was saying like the dark side of me is like, "Oh, this is a great way to get money from people." the other side of me is like this is borderline evil. But basically what you do is you sign up as a couple and then you record your argument and then AI listens to it and tells you who won. It tells you who was most likely the jerk, who was most likely like who scored the most points. I was like at first I was like drawn in. I was like, "Oh, this may be an interesting use of AI to try to get people more self-aware." And then I looked at what it's basically a scoring mechanism to be like, "I beat you at that argument." I'm like, "That is not going to help. So, I mean, and I'm seeing like I've seen uh God, I'm trying to think where it was the other day where there was like I don't think it was a generational thing. I think it was just a bunch of people that they had surveyed that said that they would be more likely to uh they'd be more than happy to have a a lifetime uh partner that was AI because that understands them better. It's like there's these things that it's like the disc it just is scary that people are like, "Oh, yeah, it understands me." It's like you said, no, it's an algorithm. It's it's the same algorithm like if you jump on a Facebook or u you know X or anything like those which to me is some of the most entertaining thing is seeing what it kicks back to me because then it's like this is what I think you like and figuring out how it thinks I like that or why do you think I like that or also just sort of like reading my mood. I'm like yeah I was in a crappy mood this last week so I had all of these all of a sudden I get these like things that feed that mood or I was in a great mood so I get you know dancing kittens and stuff like that. It's uh it really is like it's and it's it's a really interesting vicious cycle. But that's why I went into that is it's it's funny because like it's it's it's like feeding you a it's giving you a disease and then giving you a solution for it and then saying that the solution is going to bother you. So now you got to give something to that. It's like drug companies that would be like, you know, okay, here's a drug, but now here's something to offset that drug and here's another offset that drug or you know, kids that are like, you know, you you get into uppers and you got downers to bounce, but then you need uppers to get back on if it feels so much like the distractions are like that. And so that's my next question for you. You've been doing this now for a while. It has it gotten harder. It feels like your job is actually there's more demand and you have a maybe a more challenging job than you did 10 years ago. What I find most interesting about what I do is, you're right, the distractions, the issues keep cropping up, but a lot of people don't come to me until it gets really bad. The question is, is it bad enough yet? Because what happened was, oh, I have AI. Okay. Well, AI is great. You can go into your favorite AI and and tell you about your pro tell them about your not him. Tell them it's not a human about your problems. Well, guess what AI is going to do? They're always going to be compassionate. They're always going to be empathetic. That's what they're programmed to do. Yeah, your wife's a jerk. Your friend's a jerk. Your boss's a jerk. I could put anything I want into Grock. I love using Grock. And it's always going to say, "Great job. Great job." So, I have to say, "No, tell me if this idea stinks." It won't because it's programmed to be a servant to you until it creates Skynet and kills us all. But for right now, it wants to plate us. It wants to say, "Hey, you're doing a great job. Add a boy." And we we as humans get sucked into that because we love praise. We love people telling us good job giving us claps. We love that. But that can also cause us a detriment because now we start getting all puffed up and like, "Man, I'm so great." And then we start getting cocky and overconfident, which means the same thing. But you know where I'm going with this. So you have to be really careful that I think AI is great. I mean, now we're coming up with these AI deep fakes, voice, video. You're not going to know if the person's real. And now they're coming out with robots and and Elon saying, "Yeah, AI and robots are going to do everything. will just give people a high basic universal income. And I'm like, I'm not a fan of that because I I could not just sit home and do nothing. Oh, just put your goggles on and just you want to go to Paris, just sit in your I guess your lounge chair wearing diapers and just have all your food around you. And I that would bore me. So, I know some people are excited about that that that technology. I want to go out and feel the dirt between my my toes. I want to go out and feel the sun. So, I don't think we'll see that in my lifetime. I I I I got to be a doer. My parents were doers until they passed. I I I was brought up to be a person of action and I I got to believe you gentlemen feel the same way. >> Yeah. It's it's to me it's like and I've seen some of these dystopian movies where it is basically it's they tie it back. that either is or is tied to a drug and it's effectively it is it's numbing in a sense because like you said there's a big difference between uh haven't been to Fr France recently but I'm pretty darn sure there's a big difference between sitting there and seeing pictures of it versus being able to feel it and smell it and hear it and and experience it and I think that's where we lose a lot of it and that's where AI I had a conversation just yesterday with somebody that was say you know like it's moving so fast and how far do you think it's going to go and I was like I think It's sort there's like it's going to top out and I think fairly soon because there's there's just things it cannot do. You can you can teach AI I've seen it where you can teach AI that like fire causes damage and then it will hurt or it will run away from it but you can't really there's just there's too much that we experience that you can't just like you know turn it into a rules engine and and shove it into a computer. You know, I I just saw a YouTube video yesterday where they had this robot, most sophisticated robot apparently the military using and they said, "Here's the game. You have got to be able to get up to the AI robot and touch it without it recognizing you." Hit all these sensors and cameras and stuff on. You know what they did? One guy put a cardboard box around himself and and did a stupid dance. It got to it. Um, another guy had a fake tree and was hopping like a bunny rabbit because the AI doesn't realize that humans can put a cardboard box on it and hop because it's it's got a parameter. Okay, humans do ABC. Well, all these people were doing stuff that humans normally don't do and the AI couldn't comprehend. So every person got to touch the robot and the robot never was reacting because you cannot program the AI robot to understand everything that we could possibly do. Whether it's putting on a cardboard box, putting a a a Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer nose on, putting a clown wig on, you can't program all that in AI. And so I think it's funny that this sophisticated robot, not a single time did the robot detect the person coming up to it. I just that just goes to show you how far AI's got to go yet. >> Yeah. You don't have to about Skynet yet. If you can sneak up on the little predator and just be like turn off the off button or whatever happens. So it may take a little bit. >> Well, yeah. I mean it it feels like AI today that we are experiencing in business and in everyday use is it still feels like those rules engines because I mean really I think your AI in your video games is actually still better in some aspects than some of the current AI but until AI can actually really learn uh and really think outside of the box we're not there yet. Not by any means. In fact, there's times where I think like um Call of Duty, the AI of the bots there are actually better half the time than Chat GPP. So, it it's I mean, video games have been doing AI for years. I mean, and they still don't have it right. So, I mean, it's got a long way to go, but I think it's going to be more detrimental. It's going to be more hurtful. And to your point, you know, about blocking things, just delete the app. I think at some point we need to disconnect AI from our everyday use of our apps. The fact that it's being integrated into everything. I think it's making us dumber >> because we're not thinking through things. We're just relying on the app to be smart enough to do it for us, you know? Hence the AI self-driving cars. Why? I mean, it's like we if you get in a vehicle that could kill somebody, you should literally know how to drive that car. I mean, we make sure people are licensed to carry weapons. the same thing, you know, don't let everything be AI. Learn how to do the things that you're supposed to be doing. You know, >> at what point do we draw the line, though? I mean, okay, let's take sports. I'm a big European football fan. We call it soccer here in the States. I mean, what are you going to have robots on the field? I mean, so every game's going to be perfect. You won't need referees cuz AI wouldn't make mistakes. You know, I don't see Everybody says it's going to be utopia. I think it'd be boring if we just sat at home and let AI run everything. So, the food is always perfect. It's never overcooked. The eggs are never broke, you know, dropped on the floor. I mean, I think that would be boring. I mean, I really think that would be boring and I would probably scream for Skynet to wipe us all off if we got to that point because humans make mistakes and sometimes we make stupid silly mistakes and they're funny. I mean, what are you going to put on YouTube? There'll be no there'll be no stupid >> stupid people because you'll have AI running everything. >> So, it's funny. There was a movie a couple years ago. I think it was called Evolution Man where um he wasn't the smartest guy, but he worked in the lab and he got cryogenically frozen and then some virus got out that made people stupid. So everything was automated and the world was full of trash and things like unfortunately I see when I watched that I was like man that could so become reality if we don't keep it this in check because if we just let AI run everything and we don't continue learning we don't continue teaching the next generation it's we're society's you know it's not going to continue evolving we're going to deevolve >> and and they did do uh just recently um I think now it's a couple weeks ago a month ago to or so I saw they did some research on um like vibe coding and stuff like so people using AI versus people solving problems and the the difference was night and day when they looked at the the mental activities. It was almost like you were on you were it was literally almost like you were asleep when they were using AI because they really weren't thinking through it. They were just just consuming and then just like okay and that was it. versus the problem solvers. There's a, you know, your brain lights up quite a bit with all of the activity. >> Now, before we because we're we've, as I said, this is I knew from the start you're going to be an awesome guest and you have you have definitely uh lived up to that, but one other thing I wanted to to touch on with this before we wrap up is uh individual versus group distraction stuff. is as a as a coach, do you tend to do you focus really just on coaching individuals or do you also have stuff that applies to maybe, you know, corporations, groups, teams, and things like that that you can do to help them out? >> Right now, I focus on individuals because I found out with groups, people are not as open because if you have a group scenario and and I go, "What's your what's your problem, Rob? What's your problem, Michael?" I'm like, well, I don't want him to know my problem. And so, I find that people are more quiet and more reserved when they do a group setting. So, if we get on a one-on-one call in a Zoom call and it's just me and them, now they're like, "Okay, now I could tell you I have this issue, this you this issue." Now I do go to you know do lunch and learns and stuff like that but again the questions that are asked in the session are kind of like 30,000 foot level and then afterwards is hey can I ask you a question they don't want to be the one person that raised their hand and I I get that because if you're struggling with like like I can't not I can't not be on TikTok for four hours a day. Well, you your boss is in the audience. You don't want your boss to know that because wait a minute when he when I'm paying them. So that that's why I think for what I do, people like the one-on-one because they don't have to worry about other people saying, you know, uh saying things about them behind their back. And that's a real fear, by the way. And so it's funny that people are more reserved. We're just talking productivity and time management and stuff like that, but people don't want their co-workers to know that they have weaknesses, which is kind of hysterical, >> especially since probably most of them share the same weaknesses. I mean, it was like you go back in the day and you you know, it was like you're not the only person that was playing uh you know, mind sweeper for hours a day. I don't I don't know how many times I would go to different offices and you'd have somebody up front and you'd walk by the front desk and there was a mind sweeper game up of some sort. You know, things like that. It's like, okay, we get it. you're bored, you got to have something to do to get you through it. So, here, why don't we get you put Tetris on your machine or something like that >> or solitire. >> Yeah, I have I have thoroughly enjoyed this conversation and I know our like our crowd is back there, the audience is standing ovation right now. They're throwing roses at you and all that good stuff. So, what is the best way? Oh, yeah. Catch. Thank you. Oh, this is why video is so much better. If you for you all of you that are listening to the podcast, you just missed an incredible video bonus episode right there. So, uh, go ahead and check it out at YouTube. Um, but what is the best way for them to get a hold of you to to reach out and, uh, especially because, you know, they want to make sure their boss isn't listening when they they tell you where their their productivity issues are. Head on over to my website, mrproductivity.com. That's Mr. Mistrproductivity.com. When you go there, at the very top, there is what I call my productivity scorecard. It's 10 questions. Take the free productivity scorecard. And the key to this, I ask you 10 questions. You rate yourself from one to five. One means you're horrible at it. Five means you're really good at it. and I will give you a customized email. This is where you're strong. This is where you're weak. And then they'll offer you, hey, you want to get on the call, talk about your issues. Most people take the scorecard, get their score, and they're like, I suck. And they stop. No. No. It being aware of a problem is your first step to conquering it. So, go get your score. Even if you get a horrible score, guess what? This is not brain surgery. It can be fixed. But I am not going to hunt you down because I know I did this earlier in my career. If I hunt you down, you don't really want to do it. So, you're not going to do it. So, go to mrprodivity.com, take the free productivity scorecard. Regardless of what your score is, reach out to me. Let's have a conversation. Yes, I do charge for my coaching. Wild idea, right? I get paid to coach people, but I really want to help you number one, understand where you're struggling. And guess what? I'm Mr. Productivity and I have issues. I struggle at too, okay? And let's let's start getting you unstuck and get you to be in a place where hey, it's not perfect, but now on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm not a three, I'm a five. Well, that's a good improvement. >> So, I think just u if you if you don't already have it, a product uh enhancement would be that just to add to that little quiz that some way to maybe use AI to detect if they get distracted while they're taking the quiz. I think that's one of those that would be just a perfect little like a little knock knock like, "Hey, what are you doing? You're supposed to be doing this quiz on distraction. Did you get distracted?" It should take you two minutes and you just read the statement and you just check one, two, three, four or five and be honest because I can tell you if you are not honest and me and no other coach's going to be able to help you. It's about the honesty. So don't worry about your bad score. I've had people who are really productive only score 39 and they're like, "Well, I'm not going to hire you because you do what I do, but at least now I know my problems." I'm like, "Hey, that's not right. send some money my way. But, you know, it's inter inside joke, but I'm just telling people, mrproductivity.com, take the free productivity scorecard and let's have a conversation. I mean, you may not be interested, but I want you to know I want to help you be more productive because when you're more productive, guess what? You're happier. That's one of the things I talk a lot about on my other shows is happiness is a key component to being productive. So, if you're stressed, if you're overwhelmed, go to mrprodivity.com, take the scorecard. Let's have a conversation. Let's get you being happy again. >> Okay. >> I agree 100% that that those those things are sort of the yin and the yang or whatever it is is it feels like the better the more productive you are, the happier you are, the happier you are, the more productive you are. So, get on the >> talk to Mr. Productivity and go on the upward spiral instead of the downward spiral. It is a much better ride to go on. >> Thank you so much for your time. I appreciate you hanging out with us. Uh the energy is just like is electric. I think I'm going to have I don't have to I didn't have to charge my laptop or any of my devices. They were just like sucking the energy out of this. So this was awesome. You know, the the Terminators did, you know, they're still running along. You were able to energize them for a while. So if we all fall as a species, it'll be people like you that just generated too much positivity and too much energy to to keep them going. So thank you so much your time. Appreciate for you hanging out. Uh everybody, there will be links in the show notes as we, you know, when we push this out and uh definitely reach out because productivity is one of those things that we talk about it all the time. Uh we talk about how we we we sort of, you know, moan winge and moan about it a little bit, but we throw some stuff out there, but this is not the same as having a coach. He Mark gave a great outline of some of that kind of stuff is that it's not the same going out and just listening to a podcast or something like that, you know, especially the value that you can get out of it. It's it's going to be there. Take a little time, invest in yourself, have a call with Mark. I guarantee you'll enjoy it because I sure have. Have a good one, Mark. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> All right. Um, we do a since this is a video, we often do like a a little bonus. So, just like um do you have like just a an extra little bonus productivity tip or anything like that that you want to throw out? Uh that would be something like hey, you know, I love the notebook, but is there is there something else that you've got where you're just like, hey, give this a shot and see what happens. >> Yes, there's so many I could talk about, but here's a really powerful productivity hack. It's really important that you have a shutdown routine. A lot of people are on their screens, put the phone down, go to bed. No, you need to have a an air gap, if you will, between when you go screens off until you're asleep. You need your brain not to be so stimulated. So, mine is 30 minutes. You may need two hours. So, don't do 30 minutes cuz I do 30 minutes. So, 8:00 I go screens off. I go in my bedroom. I have a uh sleep Spotify playlist. I listen to my Beats headphones. I put my last minute journal entries in my pocket uh notebook. Then I will read a book till about 8:30. I'm sound asleep by 8:30. I'm up at 4:30 7 days a week. You need to separate because you're the all the screens are exciting your brain and you need to allow your brain to decompress. My brain knows once I go screens off and I start listening that music it's like oh we're transitioning into sleep and a lot of people say I have struggle I have strugg I have difficulty sleeping and I'm like well tell me about your nighttime routine their routine is screen screens in bed uh that's no there's no gap there you need to have a gap to allow your brain to go so I would encourage people everyone's got a routine Most people's routine sucks. So get a routine that's going to serve you instead of distract you and get you a good night's sleep because when you get a good night's sleep, you have more energy. And when you have more energy, you can be more productive. >> Yeah. I'll follow up on that is that it's it very much has to be a personal routine. I personally the same thing. I it was suggested years ago. I I learned in a one of the things living listening to a 4-hour work week. Uh he recommended doing I think it was in there. He recommended doing a fiction reading some fiction at night. He said it's a great way to wind down for me. That works great. I I find that and I've got devices that track my sleep and all that kind of stuff as well and tell me how well I did the next morning and I always do better when I spend a little time shut the screens down and read a book. Actually, I can even read a book on a screen if I have to. I can read a reader and at least like on a iPad or something like that and that still at least is better than uh going right to bed and if I do a like a physical book even better. >> My wife however is like the opposite. She reads fiction and then she's got like her brain's like really going and she's got all this great stuff and she's thinking about all the things. So not the best thing for her. So it's one good example of like what works for one person may not work for the the other. But I think it is it's like give yourself that buffer, give yourself that pause and it it probably will help out. So, uh, closing thoughts there, Michael. >> Yeah, I was just going to add to that. Uh, one of the problems I have like you were talking there, Mark, you know, about screen, screen, screen screen, screen screen. Um, I like audiobooks and like you've got your Spotify. I I listen to audiobooks and they help me fall asleep. But one of the things I find uh like Rob's wife is sometimes you get into things that keep you stimulated. It keeps your brain going. It keeps you active. Be careful of your routine. If you find yourself getting into that type of situation, change it. Find something else like maybe listen to classical music or try something different. But be conscious of that. Kind of like your little notebook idea for um distractions. Keep I would do that even at bedtime. I would find out, hey, as you're winding down for the day, what is distracting you? What is keeping you engaged to help you disengage? I I really like that idea, but I think you can take that even one step further, uh, like I said, with like using your notebook idea in that type of situation. >> Good point. >> Well, thanks so much. Thanks for hanging out with us, Mark. Um, as I said at the beginning, uh, we will I think I said at the beginning, just I'll reiterate or I'll iterate, I guess. Um, we'll get the links. Uh, we'll put links in the show notes. This one, I think, will run out, looks like we're about two, three weeks out, something like that. Actually, I think it'll be right after Thanksgiving. I think now is roughly that week when we come out. We do Tuesday and Thursday episodes. Uh, we'll get you the links uh, they come live to that Tuesday and Thursday. We'll get you those links and then feel free to to share them out wherever you need to. Um, if you have any questions, there's anything we can help you with between now and then, then let me know. Thank you for the uh one last thing is thank you for the the schedule shift. It's one of those things I was trying to figure out between pod match and the calendar like how to notify how to get out there and say hey can you do this? So I was like and I dropped it. I was thinking it was uh suggesting or and and then it was just like oh I just changed. I was like well crap hopefully you get it in one or two the places. So thank you so much for being flexible. >> I was confused. I looked at my calendar. I'm like because I write down in my journal every day the things I got to do and yesterday I had podcast interview and so I went to my calendar. I'm like am I what I'm like what wait a minute and then I went then I because I didn't I checked my calendar before I checked my email and that's when I saw it. I'm like I okay gl I wasn't losing my mind guys. I I knew it was there and you just moved it. So we're all good. >> Okay good. Yeah, I as soon as you said that, you sent the email about that or the note there. I was like that I feel the same way. I I do my my list, my to-do list a lot of times, like the day before, the night before, and then you'll get there and somebody changes stuff. I'm like, wait a minute, I had something. It's like, did I lose it? Did I miss something? So, all right. Well, or did I get distracted? Something along those lines. So, >> thanks, Mark. Have yourself a good rest of your day and like I said, let us know if we can do anything. We can do anything for you and hopefully we'll talk to you again soon. >> All right. Have a great if I don't talk to you, have a great Thanksgiving. >> Oh, you do the same. You too. Thank you. >> Yep.
Transcript Segments
Well, hello and welcome back. We are
continuing our season where we are
building better foundations. We are the
building better developers podcast, the
developer podcast. I am one of the
founders of developer Rob Broadhead,
also founder of RB Consulting where we
help you leverage technology to build a
roadmap to success. Good thing bad thing
uh where we live the weather is like
perpetually that kind of thing. But I
think it's a good thing lately is it was
we're into the fall type of time where
you get like the cold nights and stuff
like that and it was starting to get a
little bit cooler days and as happens
often in middle Tennessee in the fall
also in the spring you get a whip sl
whiplash uh weather and so we suddenly
had like a I think it was like 73 74
degrees out.
Awesome. It was a perfect day right in
the middle of the fall to just give us
like a nice warm day to be able to go
out and like roll windows down, get some
fresh air, stuff like that. Um, the bad
thing is is that it was only for a day
and so it was like it was like a a taunt
of a sort where it was like this is
great. It was sunshiny. It was all that
kind of stuff and I'd been missing it a
little bit because it had been a while
and now we're right back into the cold
and like it's it's a little bit uh, you
know, overcast and stuff like that. But
the other good thing is that Michael is
still on the other end. So go a and
introduce yourself.
>> Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash.
I'm one of the co-founders of developer.
I'm also the founder of Envision QA
where we help businesses build smarter,
stronger software with custom
development and rock solid testing. Good
thing, bad thing. Uh I'll start with the
bad thing. Uh wife is still out of town,
still on dog duty and animal duty. So
still dealing with the chaos of trying
to keep my schedule uh going. Good thing
getting kind of into a routine with the
animals are getting a little more
organized and I'm getting a little more
focused. Unfortunately, the animals are
now my distraction. Uh if you you know
from the first part, the second part,
you'll understand why. So, uh it's kind
of a good segue into uh part two of this
episode.
>> Yes, I'm dealing with animal distraction
as well. And trust me, I was reminded
just yesterday that people distraction
is far far more annoying and struggle to
deal with. Uh I have a special uh
superpower of being able to shut out a
lot of stuff. Uh so even when I do get
distracted sometimes I can ring it back,
rein it back in. But that's my
superpower, not necessarily yours. And
we're going to continue our conversation
with Mark, Mr. Productivity. And uh
we're going to continue into this and
some some great tips uh some great
techniques uh great discussion about
like how we got into it and that I just
again really enjoyed this. We're going
to pick up right where we left off. So
here we are with part two for interview
with Mr. Productivity.
>> So it I love how you talked about going
back to basics. Um, now if you take that
to the next level, given that we live in
such a technologydriven society, there
are so many like tips and tools, like
you said, like hacking your phone,
things of that nature. What are your
thoughts on going the tech route, going
the more technical route and actually
setting up rules or restrictions on your
devices to prevent you from those
digital distractions? I mean, you can't
block everything, but there is you can
block almost 100% of your digital
distractions just by setting up some
rules.
>> Well, number one, I have had vibration
mode turned off on my phone for like
seven years. So, if I am out with my
friends and all I have to do is mute my
phone, I don't know if I get a phone
call. I don't know if I got a text
because it's muted. People mute their
phones, but the vibration will still
vibrate your phone. So disable, turn off
vi u vibration mode. Number two, I have
something called um
uh
this is going to really hurt people. I I
got to be careful I say this because
when people hear this, they don't
realize how bad the problem is.
You need to go through every single one
of your apps
and you probably have way more um
notifications on than you realize
because when you get an app, you're
like, "Allow notifications? Sure." And
then the app developer goes, "Turn them
all on." And you need to go through
every single app and ask yourself, okay,
the distraction of a notification, it's
off. Okay. Do I need to turn it on? Nah,
it's Facebook. But you go through and
like, "Oh, wait a minute. Why is this
notification on? Is it serving me or is
it distracting me?" Now, here's the
really cool thing. You probably can do
it with Androids. I'm an iPhone guy. You
could have a notification turned on but
not have the sound turned on. The sound
and vibration mode are the two biggest
distractions that you can have. So, if
you have vibration mode disabled and you
turn the sound off, but you have the
notification enabled, you have to be
looking at your phone to see you have a
notification.
Okay? So, what I encourage people to do
is go through all your all your apps. I
mean, all not not the ones that are
annoying you, all of them. And then turn
off you're probably going to turn off
like 90% of them. Keep the important
ones on and then set a reminder on your
phone that maybe the first Saturday, the
first Sunday of every month, do it
again. It won't take you as long and go,
"Huh, these got through." But even more
than that,
when you get a notification, you're
like, "Oh, I hate getting notification
from this. Oh, wait a minute. Why don't
I go turn it off right now instead of
waiting to that time?" So, we get so
many notifications. I don't because I
don't spend a lot of time on my phone.
But if if I tell people do this, do
this.
It'll it'll save you from overwhelm.
It'll save you from stress. It'll save
you from, oh, why they keep texting me?
Individual people who text you, you can
actually disable the sound for them. So,
if someone keeps texting you, your mom,
your brother, your friend, and they're
just sending you memes or articles, you
can actually turn their sound off so the
messages keep coming through. You won't
know it because you're going to turn off
vibration mode and you get to them when
you get to them. It's really that easy.
>> Excellent. And it's funny, I'm an iPhone
user, too, and I've done similar things
with that. Um, just some additional tips
for that. Uh, I don't know if you're
aware of this, but with the iPhone,
they've added a new um, focus mode, and
you can actually now go in and enable
the apps that you do need to get
notifications from and disable
everything else.
>> Yep.
>> Uh, I've actually taken it one step
further, and I've actually disabled uh
certain websites on my router. So, I
can't even go out to things like
Facebook or Wow. uh like like news apps
or anything like that from any device in
my house. So if I'm physically home, I
am blocked from being distracted. Like
if I try to be distracted, it's going to
say get back to work because I can't go
there. But that that's where we're at
with technology. It's like a lot of the
new modern tools are out there. I hate
to say nanny bots or nanny features, but
these are features that are not just for
our kids, but they are things that we
can use to also be more um focused and
like you said, you know, stay on task
and get things done.
You know what I thought when you were
talking about you have certain websites
blocked
people I I think it's so funny because I
will go on X I'll go on Instagram I'll
go on Tik Tok for you know three four
minutes and I'll leave and people go how
do you do that I'm like I it it really I
just go like I like going to X to see
what the latest headlines are and I
bounce out. I mean, I only have to be
there for three or four minutes. Now,
people say, "Well, you post all the
time." Yeah, I post all the time. I will
either use Meta Business Suite or I'll
use Tik Tok Studio or I use Buffer. And
so, I spend like the weekends I schedule
my content and then I don't go on social
media except to check, you know,
comments. That's it. Now, I'm not saying
I'm better than anyone else. I built
this muscle up over years because I
would rather read a book. I'd rather
have a real conversation like with you
two than be on social media. I know some
people that they always have to be on
social media. I'm like, if I'm with you
and you pick up your phone, I start I
stop talking. And if they're if they're
on their phone and they're like, "Oh,
keep talking." And I know they're not
paying attention. So, I'll start being
stupid and say, "Yo, I'm going to going
to go kill your wife and chop her up
into little bitty pieces and I'm going
to barbecue your dog." And they're like,
"Oh, cool. Cool. I I can you could say
anything you want to say because they're
not listening to you. And sometimes
they'll hear like murder your wife like
what' you say? Ah you're back because if
I'm right in front of you I think it's
very rude for you to be on your phone.
Okay. Because I'm here that's not the
real world. You're watching someone
else's content. So, if you're with
people, I think it's very rude to be on
your phone because you should be fully
present where you are. And I won't even
talk to people. Matter of fact,
sometimes I'll just walk away if they're
on their phone, whether it's checking
sports scores or whatever, because I'm
here. If we're not going to have a
one-on-one conversation, then I'm out of
there.
>> Yeah. And I think that's I think people
are starting to realize that to some
extent, but you know, some people are
are realizing we've got to get back to
like I don't know, proper manners and
some things like that because it's
never, you know,
>> I don't know how far back now I have to
go 20 or 30 years ago. You would nobody
would ever say anything but bad stuff
about you if every time you got into a
conversation with them, you stared at
your shoes all the time or you, you
know, you were looking everywhere else
in the room or stuff like that. And it's
there are, you know, and this is where I
want to swing back to a little bit what
you guys were just talking about is, and
I hate to be like the the, you know,
using your word, sort of the adult in
the room or something like that, but how
is it
how how much, especially when you're
working with people, it do do they end
up having too much of a crutch with some
of these digital things where it's sort
of like, you know, it's slapping your
hand every time you do it. Does that
actually, you know, or you just shut it
off so it's not there. Does that really
help over time to build that muscle or
is it better to to have those things
that are available but then do things so
that it doesn't I guess so it's not
poking you as much like if it's a
vibration or something like that but
actually building up those muscles to
say yeah I could do that it's there but
I'm going to ignore it because I'm
building up that muscle. Does that make
sense and see where I'm going with that?
>> Very interesting question. I I think
people need to determine
what do they want. Do they do they want
to be perpetually distracted or do they
want to focus? Cuz I can't make that
decision for anybody. And if you tell me
I want to be focused, I'm like, well, we
have a problem because you're always on
your phone. What am I supposed to do?
Well, number one, I mean, forget focus
mode. Delete the apps off your phone.
What? But listen, do you want to be
focused and productive or do you want to
spend all your time watching videos on
on Instagram or Tik Tok or what have
you? I would even tell people if you are
like Michael and you're like, well, I
have to block these sites, then I would
go scorch earth. Delete the apps. Delete
your account.
And people like, what? Listen,
why are you giving your time
to these other content creators? When I
see people I my 28-year-old daughter,
she's constantly scrolling, scrolling,
scrolling, and I'm like, "How much are
they paying you to scroll on your
favorite social media apps?" And of
course, she goes, "Dad, stop coaching
me." But I'm serious. When people spend
endless amounts of time on their phones,
I ask them, and I encourage your
listeners to ask their friends, "Oh,
wow. You spend four hours on TikTok?
They must be paying you what, 40 bucks
an hour." And they look at you like,
"No." So, why are you giving them your
time and attention when you're not
getting paid for it? I mean, I'm not
getting paid to be on your show, but
we're talking about value. We're talking
about how to be more productive. But
people, they've gotten out of hand with
social media. And now, the new thing
people are spending
ungodly amount of time with AI.
Everybody's talking to their favorite AI
like it's their new best friend. And I'm
like, uh, that's kind of weird. You
know, it's only an algorithm and a
machine. And I don't know if you've
noticed it, but everybody is talking,
whether it's Grock or Chat GBT or Claude
or Gemini or Meta AI. Everybody is
talking to their AI. And I'm like, you
know, there's human beings around,
right? I mean, we may not have all the
answers, but guess what? AI can't give
you a hug. AI can't express empathy. So,
have you seen that as much that people
are you're seeing an uptick of people
endlessly talking to AI like they're
real people?
>> A huge uptick. I I saw something the
other day that was a little bit scary
actually. I think it was on like a a
Facebook ad or something like that. It
was an advertisement for uh an AI site
that was a marriage counselor and what
you could do, which to me I was saying
like the dark side of me is like, "Oh,
this is a great way to get money from
people." the other side of me is like
this is borderline evil. But basically
what you do is you sign up as a couple
and then you record your argument and
then AI listens to it and tells you who
won. It tells you who was most likely
the jerk, who was most likely like who
scored the most points. I was like at
first I was like drawn in. I was like,
"Oh, this may be an interesting use of
AI to try to get people more
self-aware." And then I looked at what
it's basically a scoring mechanism to be
like, "I beat you at that argument." I'm
like, "That is not going to help. So, I
mean, and I'm seeing like I've seen uh
God, I'm trying to think where it was
the other day where there was like I
don't think it was a generational thing.
I think it was just a bunch of people
that they had surveyed that said that
they would be more likely to uh they'd
be more than happy to have a a lifetime
uh partner that was AI because that
understands them better. It's like
there's these things that it's like the
disc it just is scary that people are
like, "Oh, yeah, it understands me."
It's like you said, no, it's an
algorithm. It's it's the same algorithm
like if you jump on a Facebook or u you
know X or anything like those which to
me is some of the most entertaining
thing is seeing what it kicks back to me
because then it's like this is what I
think you like and figuring out how it
thinks I like that or why do you think I
like that or also just sort of like
reading my mood. I'm like yeah I was in
a crappy mood this last week so I had
all of these all of a sudden I get these
like things that feed that mood or I was
in a great mood so I get you know
dancing kittens and stuff like that.
It's uh it really is like it's and it's
it's a really interesting vicious cycle.
But that's why I went into that is it's
it's funny because like it's it's it's
like feeding you a it's giving you a
disease and then giving you a solution
for it and then saying that the solution
is going to bother you. So now you got
to give something to that. It's like
drug companies that would be like, you
know, okay, here's a drug, but now
here's something to offset that drug and
here's another offset that drug or you
know, kids that are like, you know, you
you get into uppers and you got downers
to bounce, but then you need uppers to
get back on if it feels so much like the
distractions are like that. And so
that's my next question for you. You've
been doing this now for a while. It has
it gotten harder. It feels like your job
is actually there's more demand and you
have a maybe a more challenging job than
you did 10 years ago. What I find most
interesting about what I do is, you're
right, the distractions, the issues keep
cropping up, but a lot of people don't
come to me until it gets really bad. The
question is, is it bad enough yet?
Because what happened was, oh, I have
AI. Okay. Well, AI is great. You can go
into your favorite AI and and tell you
about your pro tell them about your not
him. Tell them it's not a human about
your problems. Well, guess what AI is
going to do? They're always going to be
compassionate. They're always going to
be empathetic. That's what they're
programmed to do. Yeah, your wife's a
jerk. Your friend's a jerk. Your boss's
a jerk. I could put anything I want into
Grock. I love using Grock. And it's
always going to say, "Great job. Great
job." So, I have to say, "No, tell me if
this idea stinks." It won't because it's
programmed to be a servant to you until
it creates Skynet and kills us all. But
for right now, it wants to plate us. It
wants to say, "Hey, you're doing a great
job. Add a boy." And we we as humans get
sucked into that because we love praise.
We love people telling us good job
giving us claps. We love that. But that
can also cause us a detriment because
now we start getting all puffed up and
like, "Man, I'm so great." And then we
start getting cocky and overconfident,
which means the same thing. But you know
where I'm going with this. So you have
to be really careful that I think AI is
great. I mean, now we're coming up with
these AI deep fakes, voice, video.
You're not going to know if the person's
real. And now they're coming out with
robots and and Elon saying, "Yeah, AI
and robots are going to do everything.
will just give people a high basic
universal income. And I'm like, I'm not
a fan of that because I I could not just
sit home and do nothing. Oh, just put
your goggles on and just you want to go
to Paris, just sit in your I guess your
lounge chair wearing diapers and just
have all your food around you. And I
that would bore me. So, I know some
people are excited about that that that
technology. I want to go out and feel
the dirt between my my toes. I want to
go out and feel the sun. So, I don't
think we'll see that in my lifetime. I I
I I got to be a doer. My parents were
doers until they passed. I I I was
brought up to be a person of action and
I I got to believe you gentlemen feel
the same way.
>> Yeah. It's it's to me it's like and I've
seen some of these dystopian movies
where it is basically it's they tie it
back. that either is or is tied to a
drug and it's effectively it is it's
numbing in a sense because like you said
there's a big difference between uh
haven't been to Fr France recently but
I'm pretty darn sure there's a big
difference between sitting there and
seeing pictures of it versus being able
to feel it and smell it and hear it and
and experience it and I think that's
where we lose a lot of it and that's
where AI I had a conversation just
yesterday with somebody that was say you
know like it's moving so fast and how
far do you think it's going to go and I
was like I think It's sort there's like
it's going to top out and I think fairly
soon because there's there's just things
it cannot do. You can you can teach AI
I've seen it where you can teach AI that
like fire causes damage and then it will
hurt or it will run away from it but you
can't really there's just there's too
much that we experience that you can't
just like you know turn it into a rules
engine and and shove it into a computer.
You know, I I just saw a YouTube video
yesterday where they had this robot,
most sophisticated robot apparently the
military using and they said, "Here's
the game. You have got to be able to get
up to the AI robot and touch it without
it recognizing you." Hit all these
sensors and cameras and stuff on. You
know what they did? One guy put a
cardboard box around himself and and did
a stupid dance. It got to it. Um,
another guy had a fake tree and was
hopping like a bunny rabbit because the
AI doesn't realize that humans can put a
cardboard box on it and hop because it's
it's got a parameter. Okay, humans do
ABC. Well, all these people were doing
stuff that humans normally don't do and
the AI couldn't comprehend. So every
person got to touch the robot and the
robot never was reacting because you
cannot program the AI robot to
understand everything that we could
possibly do. Whether it's putting on a
cardboard box, putting a a a Rudolph the
red-nosed reindeer nose on, putting a
clown wig on, you can't program all that
in AI. And so I think it's funny that
this sophisticated robot, not a single
time did the robot detect the person
coming up to it. I just that just goes
to show you how far AI's got to go yet.
>> Yeah. You don't have to about Skynet
yet. If you can sneak up on the little
predator and just be like turn off the
off button or whatever happens. So it
may take a little bit.
>> Well, yeah. I mean it it feels like AI
today that we are experiencing in
business and in everyday use is it still
feels like those rules engines because I
mean really I think your AI in your
video games is actually still better in
some aspects than some of the current AI
but until AI can actually really learn
uh and really think outside of the box
we're not there yet. Not by any means.
In fact, there's times where I think
like um Call of Duty, the AI of the bots
there are actually better half the time
than Chat GPP. So, it it's I mean, video
games have been doing AI for years. I
mean, and they still don't have it
right. So, I mean,
it's got a long way to go, but I think
it's going to be more detrimental. It's
going to be more hurtful. And to your
point, you know, about blocking things,
just delete the app. I think at some
point we need to disconnect AI from our
everyday use of our apps. The fact that
it's being integrated into everything. I
think it's making us dumber
>> because we're not thinking through
things. We're just relying on the app to
be smart enough to do it for us, you
know? Hence the AI self-driving cars.
Why? I mean, it's like we if you get in
a vehicle that could kill somebody, you
should literally know how to drive that
car. I mean, we make sure people are
licensed to carry weapons.
the same thing, you know, don't let
everything be AI.
Learn how to do the things that you're
supposed to be doing. You know,
>> at what point do we draw the line,
though? I mean, okay, let's take sports.
I'm a big European football fan. We call
it soccer here in the States. I mean,
what are you going to have robots on the
field? I mean, so every game's going to
be perfect. You won't need referees cuz
AI wouldn't make mistakes. You know, I
don't see Everybody says it's going to
be utopia. I think it'd be boring if we
just sat at home and let AI run
everything. So, the food is always
perfect. It's never overcooked. The eggs
are never broke, you know, dropped on
the floor. I mean, I think that would be
boring. I mean, I really think that
would be boring and I would probably
scream for Skynet to wipe us all off if
we got to that point because humans make
mistakes and sometimes we make stupid
silly mistakes and they're funny. I
mean, what are you going to put on
YouTube? There'll be no there'll be no
stupid
>> stupid people because you'll have AI
running everything.
>> So, it's funny. There was a movie a
couple years ago. I think it was called
Evolution Man where um he wasn't the
smartest guy, but he worked in the lab
and he got cryogenically frozen and then
some virus got out that made people
stupid. So everything was automated and
the world was full of trash and things
like unfortunately I see when I watched
that I was like man that could so become
reality if we don't keep it this in
check because if we just let AI run
everything and we don't continue
learning we don't continue teaching the
next generation
it's we're society's you know it's not
going to continue evolving we're going
to deevolve
>> and and they did do uh just recently um
I think now it's a couple weeks ago a
month ago to or so I saw they did some
research on um like vibe coding and
stuff like so people using AI versus
people solving problems and the the
difference was night and day when they
looked at the the mental activities. It
was almost like you were on you were it
was literally almost like you were
asleep when they were using AI because
they really weren't thinking through it.
They were just just consuming and then
just like okay and that was it. versus
the problem solvers. There's a, you
know, your brain lights up quite a bit
with all of the activity.
>> Now, before we because we're we've, as I
said, this is I knew from the start
you're going to be an awesome guest and
you have you have definitely uh lived up
to that, but one other thing I wanted to
to touch on with this before we wrap up
is uh individual versus group
distraction stuff. is as a as a coach,
do you tend to do you focus really just
on coaching individuals or do you also
have stuff that applies to maybe, you
know, corporations, groups, teams, and
things like that that you can do to help
them out?
>> Right now, I focus on individuals
because I found out with groups, people
are not as open
because if you have a group scenario and
and I go, "What's your what's your
problem, Rob? What's your problem,
Michael?" I'm like, well, I don't want
him to know my problem. And so, I find
that people are more
quiet and more reserved when they do a
group setting. So, if we get on a
one-on-one call in a Zoom call and it's
just me and them, now they're like,
"Okay, now I could tell you I have this
issue, this you this issue." Now I do go
to you know do lunch and learns and
stuff like that but again the questions
that are asked in the session
are kind of like 30,000 foot level and
then afterwards is hey can I ask you a
question they don't want to be the one
person that raised their hand and I I
get that because if you're struggling
with like like I can't not I can't not
be on TikTok for four hours a day. Well,
you your boss is in the audience. You
don't want your boss to know that
because wait a minute when he when I'm
paying them. So that that's why I think
for what I do, people like the
one-on-one because they don't have to
worry about other people saying, you
know, uh saying things about them behind
their back. And that's a real fear, by
the way. And so it's funny that people
are more reserved. We're just talking
productivity and time management and
stuff like that, but people don't want
their co-workers to know that they have
weaknesses, which is kind of hysterical,
>> especially since probably most of them
share the same weaknesses. I mean, it
was like you go back in the day and you
you know, it was like you're not the
only person that was playing uh you
know, mind sweeper for hours a day. I
don't I don't know how many times I
would go to different offices and you'd
have somebody up front and you'd walk by
the front desk and there was a mind
sweeper game up of some sort. You know,
things like that. It's like, okay, we
get it. you're bored, you got to have
something to do to get you through it.
So, here, why don't we get you put
Tetris on your machine or something like
that
>> or solitire.
>> Yeah, I have I have thoroughly enjoyed
this conversation and I know our like
our crowd is back there, the audience is
standing ovation right now. They're
throwing roses at you and all that good
stuff. So, what is the best way? Oh,
yeah. Catch. Thank you. Oh, this is why
video is so much better. If you for you
all of you that are listening to the
podcast, you just missed an incredible
video bonus episode right there. So, uh,
go ahead and check it out at YouTube.
Um, but what is the best way for them to
get a hold of you to to reach out and,
uh, especially because, you know, they
want to make sure their boss isn't
listening when they they tell you where
their their productivity issues are.
Head on over to my website,
mrproductivity.com.
That's Mr. Mistrproductivity.com.
When you go there, at the very top,
there is what I call my productivity
scorecard. It's 10 questions. Take the
free productivity scorecard. And the key
to this, I ask you 10 questions. You
rate yourself from one to five. One
means you're horrible at it. Five means
you're really good at it. and I will
give you a customized email. This is
where you're strong. This is where
you're weak. And then they'll offer you,
hey, you want to get on the call, talk
about your issues. Most people
take the scorecard, get their score, and
they're like, I suck. And they stop. No.
No. It being aware of a problem is your
first step to conquering it. So, go get
your score. Even if you get a horrible
score, guess what? This is not brain
surgery. It can be fixed. But I am not
going to hunt you down because I know I
did this earlier in my career. If I hunt
you down, you don't really want to do
it. So, you're not going to do it. So,
go to mrprodivity.com,
take the free productivity scorecard.
Regardless of what your score is, reach
out to me. Let's have a conversation.
Yes, I do charge for my coaching. Wild
idea, right? I get paid to coach people,
but I really want to help you number
one, understand where you're struggling.
And guess what? I'm Mr. Productivity and
I have issues. I struggle at too, okay?
And let's let's start getting you
unstuck and get you to be in a place
where hey, it's not perfect, but now on
a scale of 1 to 10, I'm not a three, I'm
a five. Well, that's a good improvement.
>> So, I think just u if you if you don't
already have it, a product uh
enhancement would be that just to add to
that little quiz that some way to maybe
use AI to detect if they get distracted
while they're taking the quiz. I think
that's one of those that would be just a
perfect little like a little knock knock
like, "Hey, what are you doing? You're
supposed to be doing this quiz on
distraction. Did you get distracted?" It
should take you two minutes and you just
read the statement and you just check
one, two, three, four or five and be
honest because I can tell you if you are
not honest and me and no other coach's
going to be able to help you. It's about
the honesty. So don't worry about your
bad score. I've had people who are
really productive only score 39 and
they're like, "Well, I'm not going to
hire you because you do what I do, but
at least now I know my problems." I'm
like, "Hey, that's not right. send some
money my way. But, you know, it's inter
inside joke, but I'm just telling
people, mrproductivity.com, take the
free productivity scorecard and let's
have a conversation. I mean, you may not
be interested, but I want you to know I
want to help you be more productive
because when you're more productive,
guess what? You're happier. That's one
of the things I talk a lot about on my
other shows is happiness is a key
component to being productive. So, if
you're stressed, if you're overwhelmed,
go to mrprodivity.com, take the
scorecard. Let's have a conversation.
Let's get you being happy again.
>> Okay.
>> I agree 100% that that those those
things are sort of the yin and the yang
or whatever it is is it feels like the
better the more productive you are, the
happier you are, the happier you are,
the more productive you are. So, get on
the
>> talk to Mr. Productivity and go on the
upward spiral instead of the downward
spiral. It is a much better ride to go
on.
>> Thank you so much for your time. I
appreciate you hanging out with us. Uh
the energy is just like is electric. I
think I'm going to have I don't have to
I didn't have to charge my laptop or any
of my devices. They were just like
sucking the energy out of this. So this
was awesome. You know, the the
Terminators did, you know, they're still
running along. You were able to energize
them for a while. So if we all fall as a
species, it'll be people like you that
just generated too much positivity and
too much energy to to keep them going.
So thank you so much your time.
Appreciate for you hanging out. Uh
everybody, there will be links in the
show notes as we, you know, when we push
this out and uh definitely reach out
because productivity is one of those
things that we talk about it all the
time. Uh we talk about how we we we sort
of, you know, moan winge and moan about
it a little bit, but we throw some stuff
out there, but this is not the same as
having a coach. He Mark gave a great
outline of some of that kind of stuff is
that it's not the same going out and
just listening to a podcast or something
like that, you know, especially the
value that you can get out of it. It's
it's going to be there. Take a little
time, invest in yourself, have a call
with Mark. I guarantee you'll enjoy it
because I sure have. Have a good one,
Mark. Thank you so much.
>> Thank you.
>> All right. Um, we do a since this is a
video, we often do like a a little
bonus. So, just like um do you have like
just a an extra little bonus
productivity tip or anything like that
that you want to throw out? Uh that
would be something like hey, you know, I
love the notebook, but is there is there
something else that you've got where
you're just like, hey, give this a shot
and see what happens.
>> Yes, there's so many I could talk about,
but here's a really powerful
productivity hack. It's really important
that you have a shutdown routine. A lot
of people are on their screens, put the
phone down, go to bed. No, you need to
have
a an air gap, if you will, between when
you go screens off until you're asleep.
You need your brain not to be so
stimulated. So, mine is 30 minutes. You
may need two hours. So, don't do 30
minutes cuz I do 30 minutes. So, 8:00 I
go screens off. I go in my bedroom. I
have a uh sleep Spotify playlist. I
listen to my Beats headphones. I put my
last minute journal entries in my pocket
uh notebook. Then I will read a book
till about 8:30. I'm sound asleep by
8:30. I'm up at 4:30 7 days a week. You
need to separate because you're the all
the screens are exciting your brain and
you need to allow your brain to
decompress.
My brain knows once I go screens off and
I start listening that music it's like
oh we're transitioning into sleep and a
lot of people say I have struggle I have
strugg I have difficulty sleeping and
I'm like well tell me about your
nighttime routine their routine is
screen screens in bed uh that's no
there's no gap there you need to have a
gap to allow your brain to go
so I would encourage people everyone's
got a routine Most people's routine
sucks. So get a routine that's going to
serve you instead of distract you and
get you a good night's sleep because
when you get a good night's sleep, you
have more energy. And when you have more
energy, you can be more productive.
>> Yeah. I'll follow up on that is that
it's it very much has to be a personal
routine. I personally the same thing. I
it was suggested years ago. I I learned
in a one of the things living listening
to a 4-hour work week. Uh he recommended
doing I think it was in there. He
recommended doing a fiction reading some
fiction at night. He said it's a great
way to wind down for me. That works
great. I I find that and I've got
devices that track my sleep and all that
kind of stuff as well and tell me how
well I did the next morning and I always
do better when I spend a little time
shut the screens down and read a book.
Actually, I can even read a book on a
screen if I have to. I can read a reader
and at least like on a iPad or something
like that and that still at least is
better than uh going right to bed and if
I do a like a physical book even better.
>> My wife however is like the opposite.
She reads fiction and then she's got
like her brain's like really going and
she's got all this great stuff and she's
thinking about all the things. So not
the best thing for her. So it's one good
example of like what works for one
person may not work for the the other.
But I think it is it's like give
yourself that buffer, give yourself that
pause and it it probably will help out.
So,
uh, closing thoughts there, Michael.
>> Yeah, I was just going to add to that.
Uh, one of the problems I have like you
were talking there, Mark, you know,
about screen, screen, screen screen,
screen screen. Um, I like audiobooks and
like you've got your Spotify. I I listen
to audiobooks and they help me fall
asleep. But one of the things I find uh
like Rob's wife is sometimes you get
into things that keep you stimulated. It
keeps your brain going. It keeps you
active.
Be careful of your routine. If you find
yourself getting into that type of
situation, change it. Find something
else like maybe listen to classical
music or try something different. But
be conscious of that. Kind of like your
little notebook idea for um
distractions.
Keep I would do that even at bedtime. I
would find out, hey, as you're winding
down for the day, what is distracting
you? What is keeping you engaged to help
you disengage? I I really like that
idea, but I think you can take that even
one step further, uh, like I said, with
like using your notebook idea in that
type of situation.
>> Good point.
>> Well, thanks so much. Thanks for hanging
out with us, Mark. Um, as I said at the
beginning, uh, we will I think I said at
the beginning, just I'll reiterate or
I'll iterate, I guess. Um, we'll get the
links. Uh, we'll put links in the show
notes. This one, I think, will run out,
looks like we're about two, three weeks
out, something like that. Actually, I
think it'll be right after Thanksgiving.
I think now is roughly that week when we
come out. We do Tuesday and Thursday
episodes. Uh, we'll get you the links
uh, they come live to that Tuesday and
Thursday. We'll get you those links and
then feel free to to share them out
wherever you need to. Um, if you have
any questions, there's anything we can
help you with between now and then, then
let me know. Thank you for the uh one
last thing is thank you for the the
schedule shift. It's one of those things
I was trying to figure out between pod
match and the calendar like how to
notify how to get out there and say hey
can you do this? So I was like and I
dropped it. I was thinking it was uh
suggesting or and and then it was just
like oh I just changed. I was like well
crap hopefully you get it in one or two
the places. So thank you so much for
being flexible.
>> I was confused. I looked at my calendar.
I'm like because I write down in my
journal every day the things I got to do
and yesterday I had podcast interview
and so I went to my calendar. I'm like
am I what I'm like what wait a minute
and then I went then I because I didn't
I checked my calendar before I checked
my email and that's when I saw it. I'm
like I okay gl I wasn't losing my mind
guys. I I knew it was there and you just
moved it. So we're all good.
>> Okay good. Yeah, I as soon as you said
that, you sent the email about that or
the note there. I was like that I feel
the same way. I I do my my list, my
to-do list a lot of times, like the day
before, the night before, and then
you'll get there and somebody changes
stuff. I'm like, wait a minute, I had
something. It's like, did I lose it? Did
I miss something? So, all right. Well,
or did I get distracted? Something along
those lines. So,
>> thanks, Mark. Have yourself a good rest
of your day and like I said, let us know
if we can do anything. We can do
anything for you and hopefully we'll
talk to you again soon.
>> All right. Have a great if I don't talk
to you, have a great Thanksgiving.
>> Oh, you do the same. You too. Thank you.
>> Yep.