📺 Develpreneur YouTube Episode

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Staying Focused: Productivity Secrets with Mister Productivity (Mark Struczewski)

2025-12-02 •Youtube

Detailed Notes

Today we’re talking with Mark Struczewski (Mister Productivity) about what it really takes to stay focused in a world full of distractions.

From his powerful Distraction Detox method to simple mindset shifts that stop overwhelm before it starts, Mark shares practical, real-world strategies you can use today to improve your focus, routines, and daily productivity.

If you’ve ever struggled with: 🔹 digital distractions 🔹 wandering attention 🔹 overloaded to-do lists 🔹 procrastination or overwhelm …this conversation is for you.

Mark breaks down the basics of staying focused into simple, repeatable habits that actually work—no gimmicks, no overcomplicated systems.

👉 Watch the full interview now and start building better focus habits: https://develpreneur.com/staying-focused-mr-productivity-interview-part-1/

⸻

#StayingFocused #ProductivityTips #MisterProductivity #DistractionDetox #BuildingBetterDevelopers #FocusHabits #EntrepreneurLife #DevLife #MindsetShift

Transcript Text
Greetings.
Assuming you guys can hear me. Okay.
>> Yeah. Uh, who am I talking to?
>> Uh, this is Rob. I'm sorry. Just get my
camera turned on here. Hey, I'm Rob and
uh actually I guess over this side is
Michael depending on how it's laid out
on your uh your Zooms.
>> Okay, I have mine is whoever speaking is
on the full screen.
>> Oh, okay. Excellent. That makes it work
well. Uh let's see.
>> Is that Are both of you on the on the
show?
>> Yes, sir.
>> Oh, okay. just just so you know. Um I
don't know who it is, but you're coming
in really tiny. And that's why I don't
uh I use this as a microphone instead of
the AirPods because I mean for my
podcast, I mean it's your show. You
could do whatever you want to do, but
for my show um I like using this
microphone. It makes it sound clear. So
>> yeah. Is that me?
>> Yeah.
>> You have an external microphone? Uh, I'm
actually, yeah, I'm unfortunately I'm on
the road today and so normally I've got
one. I don't I don't know how well How's
this working for you, Michael? Is this
going to be Michael's
>> usually doing the techn technical side
of the uh the audio so is this good for
you? You going to be able to work with
this?
>> Yeah, I think uh it'll be able to remove
most of the tiny.
>> Okay. And I'll just mute when I can so I
won't have too much in the background.
Uh let's see. How long do you uh I
refresh my memory. How long does this
podcast usually go for?
>> Uh that was what I was about to jump
into. We typically do it about an hour.
Uh we talked uh it's very we keep it
conversational. We you know we sort of
have a a rough direction we go and then
let it go there. It's always been uh
always had some great conversations. Uh
very organic. Uh we do split it we split
it into two. It ends up being two
episodes how we do it. So, we find a as
best we can a logical spot to sort of,
you know, pause it for for episode one
and then we come back for episode two.
>> Okay.
>> We'll we'll dive into the intro here or
we'll dive into it here in a minute. Uh
what we'll do is I'll introduce I'll
introduce the podcast basically
introduce myself, introduce Michael, and
then have you introduce yourself and
then uh we will start start into it. So,
any questions?
Uh yeah. What's your credit card number?
Especially uh I want a credit card
that's got like a $10,000 limit on it.
So can you
>> Yeah. 4242 42 42 42 442.
Doesn't matter what the expiration date
is. Give it any code. You can do
whatever you want until it says nope.
That's only a test card. But hey, that
is un that is sky's the limit.
>> All right. Love it. Love it. Okay. I'll
be right back.
>> Drinking this. This is gonna be a fun
one. Well, hello and welcome back. We
are continuing our season on building
better foundations. We are building
better developers, the developer
podcast. I am Rob Broadhead, one of the
founders of developer, also the founder
of RB Consulting, where we help you
leverage technology, build it a road map
for a better future, good things, bad
things. Uh good thing is is that modern
technology allows us to go wherever the
heck we want to go. I can actually be
working just about anywhere. Uh, I've
talked about some of my toys in the past
that have like I can have multiple
screens. I can have all that good stuff.
The bad thing is that there is still a
level of like degradation. If you really
have a good office and you got really
good tools, then sometimes it's
difficult to take them along. But I'm
still working on those. I'm not working
on replacing my co-host. So, Michael, go
ahead and introduce yourself.
>> Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash.
I'm one of the founders of Developer.
I'm also the founder of Envision QA
where we help businesses build reliable
custom software by combining smart
development with thorough testing so you
can grow with confidence. Uh good thing
bad things. Uh good thing it's uh we're
recording on a Friday. The weather may
be a little bit cloudy in that, but it's
actually feeling like a nice fall day
and I'm looking forward to getting out
with the dogs this afternoon and running
around and enjoying the weather. uh bad
thing. Uh wife is out of town, so I have
basically animal duty for the next week
and a half, which is eating into my time
tremendously.
>> Uh yes, I have a uh a grand dog
basically that one of my children took
from other children that didn't raise
them properly, and I'm having a real fun
time trying to work with that. Luckily,
my wife is like a dog whisperer type
level expert, so she can like she's
figuring it out. and it's a smart dog.
So, we'll see how he's also a jerk. So,
we'll see how this works out. Uh, I am
really looking forward to this
conversation. We were back to an
interview episode. Uh, and I'm going to
dive right into the introduction side of
it. I'm going to just start with your
name, your first name, because I'm sure
I will butcher the last name. Uh, go
ahead and introduce yourself, Mark.
>> Well, my name is Mark Stuchesky, but
because nobody is going to understand
true what I'm go by Mr. productivity on
the interwebs. It's Mr. All spelled out
M I S T E R. My passion in life, my
dream, my goal, what drives me every
morning when I wake up is to help people
get unstuck. Whether that's with time
management, goal setting, clarity,
focus, prioritization, whatever. So many
people are stuck these days, and I love
helping people get unstuck.
Well, we have the right uh the right
audience for that. We talk about this a
lot because developers do this. We end
up uh I think a lot of times we end up
overwhelming ourselves. We put too much
on our plate. We promise too much. We we
underestimate what it's going to take.
And honestly, development world is full
of like just gotchas where you think
something's going to take you five
seconds and it takes you five hours
chasing that thing down. So, uh with
somebody with a title of Mr.
productivity is exactly what we all
need. And I think I want to dive right
into um one of the things that you you
mentioned is that you've got a practical
tool called distraction detox framework.
Distractions are the bane of our
existence and I would really like to
just I think that's going to be right
away like a very high return on
investment there. So why don't you talk
a little bit about that?
Well, the distraction detox starts with
a very painful and horrifying exercise.
I encourage people to carry a little
notebook with them or you can use an app
on your phone. Don't go looking for a
special notebook or a special app. Just
whatever you have laying around or on
your phone and every time you are
distracted,
every time you are distracted, write it
down. Could be the FedEx driver showing
up at your house. It could be a
helicopter flying overhead. It could be
the neighbor's dog barking. All I want
you to do is write all these down. Most
people, a matter of fact, I don't think
anyone's ever made it an hour because
after like 10, 15 minutes, you look at
everything is that is on your list and
you're like, "Holy macaroni, I am really
distracted." And here's the thing about
distractions. Some distractions you're
like, "Oh, that's distraction." But
sometimes you may not be paying
attention to it, but your subconscious
mind is. And so you think you're fully
focused on the task at hand, but your
subconscious mind's going, "What's that?
Oh, the the FedEx driver is at the
neighbor's house. Wonder what they're
getting at. How can they afford that?"
And so you start distracting yourself.
So distractions breed other
distractions. So the first step is to
identify your distractions. I'm not
saying you're going to be able to solve
all these, but it's to bring awareness
that you are this distracted. Now, once
you get past that horrifying stage, that
that uh horror flick stage, then you're
going to sit there and ask yourself, how
can I begin to mitigate some of these
distractions? Now, there's two types of
distractions. There are distractions
that are not within your control. You
really can't go to your neighbor and
say, "Hey, can you bring the dog in the
house?" I mean, we're recording this
right now. Next door, we have a neighbor
who has a couple dogs. When they bring
their kids home, sometimes they let the
dog out for a few minutes, sometimes a
little bit. I cannot tell them, I'm
going to record a podcast episode, keep
your dog in the house. So, that is a
distraction that's out of my control. I
certainly can't tell Amazon, the FedEx
driver, the UPS driver, don't come down
my street because I'm going to be on Rob
and Michael's podcast. What about in my
house, my dogs? Well, what can I do? I
can make sure they've already gone
outside. I can make sure the blinds are
shut so that they don't see squirrels or
other dogs outside. So, what can you
control? Do your best to mitigate those
distractions and everything else. Well,
if your city is going to jackhammer your
street today or this week or next week,
probably not a good time to do podcast
interviews because you can't control
that. But what you can do, you can
mitigate it by moving it to another
time. So that's what the detox is all
about. It's controlling what you can,
mitigating what you can't.
>> Um, God, that that really speaks to me
because I was I sat there the other day
and one of the things I do is uh often
go into I have a pomodoro technique
where I'll go in and I'll have a focus
period of, you know, 25 or or sometimes
45 minutes, 60 minutes, something like
that where I'm like, "All right." and
I'll have the, you know, the background
music on to just like the, you know,
just focus, focus, focus. And literally,
I guess yesterday or the day before, I
was sitting there and I was working on
this problem. And the next thing I know,
I was sitting there looking at an email
and I was like, what the heck am I
doing? How did I even get over to email
was not up? How did I get myself over
here to looking at this email right now?
And it's exactly what you said is it's
that distraction of and this is where I
think it like like I said I think this
is where uh developers I think part is
because we're in our head so much when
we're working it's easy to have
something in your head you have this
thought and you're like oh I got to go
look at that and then next thing you
know you're distracted and you move on
and maybe it's partially just more me
with like a ADHD kind of a you know
nature that I have.
>> I got a perfect solution for you though
Rob.
>> What you do I don't have a prop. I
apologize not having a problem. You keep
a little notepad next to you. When that
thought pops into your head, no matter
what it is, it could be, "Oh, I wonder
why the sky is blue." Well, don't go to
your favorite AI. Write it down. And
then later on when you're out of focus
mode, then you go look it up. What
people do, they're working and all of a
thought all of a sudden Denzel
Washington pops in their head. Well, let
me see what his latest movie is. No.
Write down Denzel Washington movie
question mark on your notepad. That way
when you're done with your focus time,
you could pick it up and go, why did I
write Denzel Washington movie on here?
Because it wasn't that important.
>> Yeah, that's that's to me that's
probably the scariest thing about
distractions is that you find out too
often. Like that was totally
unnecessary.
Um yeah, I did it. You know, phones are
the are the biggest distraction. And uh
I want to talk about those here in a
second. But that was like that was one
of the things is that I I did several
things on my phone to just to turn it to
get it out of my way to get away from it
to shut off all the notifications,
change it to black and white, do
whatever I can to just make it like, you
know, a dumb brick that I don't need
deal with that often uh as much as I can
outside of my work. Now with that, so I
love the the simplicity of just not even
a like special pretty notebook and just
get something and and keep it simple
like that. So how do you like I guess
it's then it's the next step. So now I
know I've got these distractions. My
favorite would be like you know you got
a watch, you've got a phone or something
like that. Is what is that next step? Do
you feel like it and do you see it more
as an approach of a like a holistic
approach of trying to or more like try
to you know uh precision like well why
don't you get rid of this distraction or
that distraction
>> I think that there is something to be
said about resting and let me explain
that you have done the right thing and
you've written down 17 things that
popped into your head while you're
working on this focus mode
but don't get done with the focus mode
and pick up the notebook go for a walk
outside go read a Go watch some YouTube
or Tik Tok or Instagram. Give yourself a
buffer because you want to separate as
much as you can in terms of time. How
long since you created the list and when
you look at it cuz now you're going to
look at it totally different. You've
gone out, got a drink of water, taken a
walk around the block, and then you look
at that list and like, "Oh, scratch that
one off. Scratch that one off. Scratch
that one off." What people actually do
is the worst thing you can do is, okay,
I write down the thing on my notebook.
Then they're getting back to focus and
they keep looking at that list.
They keep, well, well, no, maybe you
have to turn the list upside down or
whatever. You need to have the list
there, but when you're in focus mode,
you capture the thoughts that are on
your head, but you're not supposed to go
look at that list and everything you've
written down it until focus mode is over
and you've taken a break. Now, the break
could be 5 minutes, it could be 15
minutes. I don't talk about absolute
numbers. Then look at that list. And
even more so, I encourage you look at
that list someplace different, not where
you made the list. Maybe you go out on
your front porch, get a cup of coffee,
your favorite beverage, then look at the
list. And if you're still not sure,
maybe you go to your significant other
and say, "I wrote these things down. Do
you do any of these jump things jump off
the page to you?" And they may give you
some voices of reason and go, "Why did
you write these things down?" A lot of
people just jump in like they're jumping
in a pool in a summer vacation when
maybe they should go, "Is there any
sharks or piranhas in this pool?" Now,
we just jump in there and then what
happens? We go down this road and then
an hour, two hours, three hours later,
we're like, "Wait a minute. What am I
doing?" Like the Denzel Washington
example. Now you're watching Now you're
looking at all the movies he's done and
you're like, "Oh, wow. You know what? We
have Netflix and he has movies on and
you and you're so far away from your
focus mode." Does that make sense?
>> That totally makes sense. Uh it sounds
very much like that thing. We'll coin it
right here because nobody's ever said
those before. But the idea of doom
scrolling where you just like, you know,
that's what those are. That was my first
introduction to that kind of deal was
actually Pinterest back when it first
started. I was like, why are these
people talking about this Pinterest
thing and that people will spend hours
on? I was like, nobody could that's that
doesn't make any sense to me. And then I
sat down and exactly that it's just
rabbit hole after rabbit hole after
rabbit hole and the next thing you know
you burned up an hour and I what you
said really speaks to me is the idea of
I was thinking of like when you were a
kid and you're taking tests in school
and it's like pencils down like okay I
took my note pencils down. I was
thinking right as you were saying I was
like I'm gonna have to flip that thing
over and do something because if it's
there then it's like if it's in my site
I may come back to it. But I I really
like the idea and I think it's it feels
like it's more of a habit than like
you're going to have to work on it kind
of thing of put it down and not jump
back and just keep that one of those
things that you're not going to touch
right now that you're going to come back
and gosh giving it a rest beforehand I I
know for myself that will stop me from a
lot of things because I'll just be like
okay this is no longer an issue and it's
it's the reverse of where we're going
because we always have like a phone
you've got searches you've got AI so you
can like you said you and ask AI right
away, what was that last movie Denzel
Washington was in? And then you're
you're sitting there 20 minutes later
going, why am I doing this? It really
didn't matter that much. Our whole life
is trivia is basically what we've come
down to. Mhm.
>> So
now how did you how did you get into how
did you get because you you obviously
have a passion for productivity and for
you know getting rid of distractions and
being able to to me I'm going to coin
this maybe this is what you use but sort
of be the best you you can be. How did
you stumble into this or or how did you
get into this?
>> I love this question by the way this is
a video podcast as well right? Okay. So,
I just want people to know if you see me
wiping the sweat off the for my head.
I'm in Houston, Texas. It's hot. I do
have my AC and the fan going. So, I just
want people I'm not sick. It's just say
it's hot in here. I probably shouldn't
have put such a thick shirt on. But
anyways, back to your question. I used
to tell this. There's two versions of
the story. Version number one, I was
fired from my job in 2005 and I decided
I wasn't going back to the corporate
world. Done. And I'm like, "Okay, now
what?" I said, "What is that word
entra?"
Entrepreneur.
What is that? So I said, 'I want to be
an entrepreneur. Didn't know what it
was. Just sounded cool. And my first my
first dive into the entrepreneurial pool
was something called wedding and
portrait photography, which bombed. I
mean, blew up the joint.
I had two clients, and I'm surprised
they paid me. But one thing came out of
that was my love for speaking and
teaching and coaching. Well, you have to
understand that all through high school
and all through college,
I would never give any kind of oral or
oral report unless there was nobody in
the room. Now, I'm a podcaster. I'm a
professional speaker. I'm a coach. So,
what happened was I went to one of our
friends in our Bible study class who was
a professional speaker and I don't know
what in the world possessed me to go ask
this lady,"Hey, you're a professional
speaker. How can I, an introvert who
hates speaking in front of anybody, be a
professional speaker?" She gave me some
guidelines. I fell in love with it. But
then I had a problem. I didn't want to
speak about photography. So, I didn't
know what to do. So, I went out and
hired my first coach. Up until this
point, I thought coaches were football
coaches and hockey coaches and
basketball coaches. I had no idea a co a
coach for me, but they saw something in
me. And we were on one call. I identify
as Tiger for Winnie the Pooh. I was born
in 1965, so I grew up with Winnie the
Pooh. And I was having on one call an
Eeyore moment. I'm normally Tiger. And
he says, "What's going on?" I said,
"Well, I really love speaking." Because
I was going out and speaking to groups
and telling them how to take better
pictures, if they're realtors, how to
take better pictures of property and
stuff like that, but I I don't want to
speak about photography, but I don't
know what I should speak on. He goes,
"Well, why don't you speak on
productivity?" I'm like, "That's weird.
Where'd that come from? I no idea where
that why'd you say that?" And he goes,
"I know a lot of people and you are one
of the most naturally productive people
I know and you should share that gift
with the world." I'm like, "The first
thing I said is, isn't everybody this
productive?" And after he stopped
laughing for 10 minutes, he goes, "No,
you need to share that gift with the
world." So that's how I actually went in
the productivity business, hung my
shingle out in 2011. But the more people
asked me about it, I started thinking. I
was raised in the late 60s and early 70s
by parents who were from old school. You
do chores, you do them correctly. You do
them on time. You don't go out and play
and then do your chores. You do your
chores and then you go outside and play.
And I think my mom and dad, who has
since passed away, didn't know it that I
was eventually going to be something
called Mr. productivity many years
later. And so my parents thankfully laid
that foundation for me.
>> So
it really sounds like it's kind of funny
some of the things you mentioned there,
you know, about teaching and that
because uh when I was going through
college and that I didn't I was like
done with school like all those public
speakings and things like that, I hated
it. And of course, six months after
college, I became an instructor teaching
uh Java. So, it was like one of those
where I'm never going back to school and
I end up teaching. It's interesting how
you kind of got into this because I
think so many entrepreneurs kind of go
through similar things. they leave uh
corporate or they leave their jobs and
they want to start something else but
one of the biggest problems they have is
either the lack of focus or the lack of
motivation or just maybe it's not the
right topic uh through your experience
which how you became Mr. productivity.
What are some of the things that uh you
could recommend for uh you know young
entrepreneurs or just people getting
into their own business to use
productivity to help drive them to help
their businesses thrive.
>> Rule number one, make sure you're
following somebody who is doing what you
want to do. So, if you want to be
productive, go search for the productive
productivity people on the interwebs. I
would highly recommend you start with
Mr. Productivity, but there's a lot of
them out there. Go listen to their
podcast like the Mr. Productivity
podcast and everybody else's. Go get
their books. I don't have a book, but go
follow them in social media because if
you want to go from A to B, well, don't
you want to follow and learn from
someone who's already at B? Which is
really important because what happens
when people come to me as clients?
They're like, wow, I never knew this.
I'm like, that's why you invested in me
because I do know this and I can give
you shortcuts. All coaches and books and
podcasts are are shortcuts. But here's
the thing, you just it's not magic
hiring a coach. It's not magic reading a
book. It's not magic listening to a
podcast. You have to listen and then go
implement. So that's number one, you
need to follow people who are where you
want to go. Number two, I'm a huge fan
of simplicity. Okay? Complexity is the
gateway to procrastination.
So, we seem to live in the world where
people like making things complex. And I
like making things simple because the
more complex something is, the more the
less likely you are to do it. So, I
always tell people, here's a crazy idea.
Let's break this down so it's really
really simple. Because if I told your
listeners, "Hey, here are 37 things that
if you do all these things, you're going
to be the most productive version of
yourself ever." They're going to go,
"I'm out." But if I tell them, and we'll
probably get to this later, I mean, we
already give them a solid several solid
tips. I'll you you pick one that
resonates with you. So listener, if I've
already said something that resonates
with you, I encourage you to write that
down and maybe go do it. Don't try to do
three, four, five, six, seven, 10 things
because then you're like, "Okay, did I
do one? Now I got to do four. What's
next?" Then you get confused. Then you
get overwhelmed and then you go to Tik
Tok or Instagram and YouTube and
endlessly scroll.
Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that
because it reminds me of uh some
marketing material I read recently. I
can't remember which book it was in, but
it was kind of the concept of focus and
for sales. It's like if you want to sell
if you're a watch seller, um a lot of
the uh like watch brands want to promote
all their watches. Well, really you if
you give them one or two watches in an
ad, they're going to be able to pick one
or the other. If you give them six or
seven, it's too busy. It's too many.
They'll just move on to the next uh
advertisement or just miss your ad
completely.
I love the idea of simplicity.
Kind of going back to your idea of
writing down your distractions on, you
know, in a notebook. I love the idea of
analog. Too many times I find digital
gets bloated. It makes it complex. Uh it
gets over complicated. you go down that
rabbit hole. It's like, oh, it's here.
You're you end up focusing on that
versus what you're working on.
Interestingly enough, especially in the
new um with like the chat bots and all
these wonderful like Trellos and things
like that where you can put them in.
What it I guess the trick here is how do
you always know that you're distracted?
So, some of the times it's obvious and
and you can write it down, but some of
the things you said like, you know, um
FedEx, you know, yeah, okay, I can see
that. But sometimes there's those little
nuances you get where you don't realize
you're distracted or you're going down
that rabbit hole. It could be like
you're looking up the problem for some
software you're working on, but you end
up going down a rabbit hole trying to
solve that problem, but you end up, you
know, going way off topic. What are some
tips to kind of catch yourself before
you go down those paths or at least
catch yourself that hey you are
distracted when you really don't think
you are?
>> That's a great question and what I
encourage people to do is every once in
a while and I'm again I'm not going to
give you an absolute number. Every once
in a while, just stop. Literally stop
what you're doing and just ask yourself,
could be out loud or in your head, is
this what I'm supposed to be doing right
now? If you would just take three
seconds to ask their ask yourself that
question, you may go, oh my gosh, no.
Why am I in my email?
Why am I this is this is a project for
tomorrow. Why am I doing it now? But
what happens is we we go down, we go
down the road, we turn left. we should
have gone right and we just keep going
instead of going wait a minute wait I'm
I'm not this doesn't look familiar so
just ask yourself that question in three
seconds just it it's not going to stop
you from what you're doing it just
allows your brain to catch up because
sometimes either our brain is really far
ahead or it's still behind trying to
catch up and if you stop for 3 seconds
and go is this what I'm supposed to be
working on and you're like whoa no then
you can stop yourself before you go all
the way down the road and realize you're
20 miles off course. So, just ask
yourself that question. And if it is the
answer is yes, okay, keep on going. If
it's no, then you can do what you have
to do.
>> So,
>> nice. Well, go ahead, R.
>> I was just so with this um now I'm
thinking, you know, as I'm I'm almost
getting a little distracted with that,
but the idea so now you're trying to
figure out your distractions. you're
trying to and and doing this and some of
it
>> you alluded earlier to that there's some
of these things are easier to do for
people than others.
>> Now you've worked with a bunch of
people. So are there
>> um as opposed to necessary even specific
are there sort of like we'll call them
like families or classes of changes that
people can do that tend to be more uh
accessible in the kinds of like sort of
like I guess entry level versus like
more advanced u you know distraction
removal techniques and things of that
nature. There are certain things like if
somebody's sitting there like, gosh, I
don't know if I can do this. Are there
some that are easier than others that
you say this works for most people or
most people are going to be uh better
suitable to to pick this up? Well, I
like to talk about something that's very
controversial and it gets people on
edge, but probably people listening to
your show are adults and there's this
thing called adulting. So I am not a fan
of blaming social media apps or
technology. Oh, it's because of
Facebook. No, it's because you are not
disciplined. So let let me just put that
out there. You need to practice
adulting. Stop making excuses. Stop
blaming other people. So that's number
one. Number two, I think one of my most
popular and most powerful productivity
tips is to just get up and walk around
for a couple minutes because again,
you're working, your eyes are seeing
stuff, your brain's processing, and you
keep doing 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 120
minutes, 180 minutes. You haven't gotten
up, the blood's not flowing. This is
stuff that everybody can do. I mean,
you're probably not landing a plane in
the war zone. So, get up and give
yourself a break. If you work from home,
just walk to the kitchen. If you are in
a corporate environment, walk to the
break room. But this is so simple
because what happens is people want all
these give me these five things I can do
that is really simple that's going to
make me more productive. And I'm like,
let's start with the easy stuff. When's
the last time you got up and walked
around for a couple minutes? When's the
last time you went outside and took some
deep breaths of air? When's the last
time you closed your eyes? Go outside,
put your bare feet on the ground, close
your eyes, and meditate for a minute. I
mean, these are really simple things,
but they're proven to improve your
productivity. Everybody wants the the
hacks like, "How do I hack my phone so
I'm not distracted by it?" Or, "How do I
do this?"
Let's let's start with a let's build a
strong foundation like how do we become
more productive? When you build a house,
you have to build the foundation first,
right? Probably the same thing with your
developers. You got to build the
foundation. You can't put on, you know,
the f the the the the finishing touches
in the beginning. You got to start with
the foundation. So, I encourage people
to go back to the basics. every sports
league in the world. It doesn't matter
how great of a player you are, you go
back to the basics. Tom Brady when he
played, what do he do? He went to
training camp and threw footballs.
Why? Because
that's what you do when training camp.
And I think what happens when we go from
year one to year two, year three, we're
like, I don't have to go back to the
beginning. The greats always go back to
the basics. How's my foundation? Is
everything working? What do I need to
learn? Because guess what? I hope I hate
to be a spoiler for your listeners.
Everybody has stuff to learn. Everybody.
>> And that is where we're going to pause
our conversation with Mark. Uh the
energy is going to keep on flowing.
Trust me. This this is one of those that
we could have gone on and made this like
I don't know a whole season of stuff. We
could have definitely cranked out a
couple episodes. uh the energy brings
obviously is is great uh the brilliant
mind on these kinds of things and uh
also some just really good simple
solutions. So keep your notebook handy.
Don't get distracted and uh be ready for
part two when we come back in the next
episode. As always, thank you for not so
much for hanging out with us. Uh check
us out in all the different places you
can check us out. Let us know any
feedback that you have. go out there and
have yourself a great day, a great week,
and we will talk to you next time.
Transcript Segments
28.24

Greetings.

29.92

Assuming you guys can hear me. Okay.

32.96

>> Yeah. Uh, who am I talking to?

35.6

>> Uh, this is Rob. I'm sorry. Just get my

39.2

camera turned on here. Hey, I'm Rob and

42.8

uh actually I guess over this side is

44.8

Michael depending on how it's laid out

46.48

on your uh your Zooms.

48.879

>> Okay, I have mine is whoever speaking is

51.44

on the full screen.

53.039

>> Oh, okay. Excellent. That makes it work

56.16

well. Uh let's see.

58.48

>> Is that Are both of you on the on the

60.399

show?

61.359

>> Yes, sir.

62.399

>> Oh, okay. just just so you know. Um I

65.519

don't know who it is, but you're coming

67.28

in really tiny. And that's why I don't

70.08

uh I use this as a microphone instead of

72.4

the AirPods because I mean for my

74.24

podcast, I mean it's your show. You

75.6

could do whatever you want to do, but

76.88

for my show um I like using this

79.52

microphone. It makes it sound clear. So

82.96

>> yeah. Is that me?

84.88

>> Yeah.

86.4

>> You have an external microphone? Uh, I'm

89.04

actually, yeah, I'm unfortunately I'm on

90.64

the road today and so normally I've got

92.96

one. I don't I don't know how well How's

95.119

this working for you, Michael? Is this

96.479

going to be Michael's

97.84

>> usually doing the techn technical side

99.759

of the uh the audio so is this good for

102.079

you? You going to be able to work with

103.119

this?

103.92

>> Yeah, I think uh it'll be able to remove

106.72

most of the tiny.

109.84

>> Okay. And I'll just mute when I can so I

112.079

won't have too much in the background.

114.64

Uh let's see. How long do you uh I

117.36

refresh my memory. How long does this

118.56

podcast usually go for?

120.399

>> Uh that was what I was about to jump

121.52

into. We typically do it about an hour.

123.439

Uh we talked uh it's very we keep it

125.68

conversational. We you know we sort of

127.439

have a a rough direction we go and then

129.679

let it go there. It's always been uh

131.68

always had some great conversations. Uh

133.52

very organic. Uh we do split it we split

137.12

it into two. It ends up being two

138.959

episodes how we do it. So, we find a as

142.239

best we can a logical spot to sort of,

144.8

you know, pause it for for episode one

146.879

and then we come back for episode two.

149.04

>> Okay.

149.599

>> We'll we'll dive into the intro here or

151.92

we'll dive into it here in a minute. Uh

153.92

what we'll do is I'll introduce I'll

156

introduce the podcast basically

157.519

introduce myself, introduce Michael, and

159.92

then have you introduce yourself and

162.16

then uh we will start start into it. So,

165.599

any questions?

167.36

Uh yeah. What's your credit card number?

169.12

Especially uh I want a credit card

170.8

that's got like a $10,000 limit on it.

172.8

So can you

174.16

>> Yeah. 4242 42 42 42 442.

179.12

Doesn't matter what the expiration date

180.64

is. Give it any code. You can do

183.44

whatever you want until it says nope.

185.519

That's only a test card. But hey, that

186.959

is un that is sky's the limit.

189.599

>> All right. Love it. Love it. Okay. I'll

191.2

be right back.

194.08

>> Drinking this. This is gonna be a fun

196.08

one. Well, hello and welcome back. We

200

are continuing our season on building

201.84

better foundations. We are building

203.44

better developers, the developer

204.879

podcast. I am Rob Broadhead, one of the

207.2

founders of developer, also the founder

209.04

of RB Consulting, where we help you

210.56

leverage technology, build it a road map

213.12

for a better future, good things, bad

216.319

things. Uh good thing is is that modern

218.959

technology allows us to go wherever the

221.04

heck we want to go. I can actually be

222.56

working just about anywhere. Uh, I've

224.959

talked about some of my toys in the past

226.48

that have like I can have multiple

227.92

screens. I can have all that good stuff.

229.68

The bad thing is that there is still a

232.239

level of like degradation. If you really

234.48

have a good office and you got really

236

good tools, then sometimes it's

237.84

difficult to take them along. But I'm

239.519

still working on those. I'm not working

241.28

on replacing my co-host. So, Michael, go

243.28

ahead and introduce yourself.

244.799

>> Hey everyone, my name is Michael Malash.

246.4

I'm one of the founders of Developer.

247.92

I'm also the founder of Envision QA

249.76

where we help businesses build reliable

251.76

custom software by combining smart

253.439

development with thorough testing so you

255.519

can grow with confidence. Uh good thing

257.919

bad things. Uh good thing it's uh we're

260.799

recording on a Friday. The weather may

263.04

be a little bit cloudy in that, but it's

264.56

actually feeling like a nice fall day

265.84

and I'm looking forward to getting out

266.96

with the dogs this afternoon and running

268.56

around and enjoying the weather. uh bad

270.88

thing. Uh wife is out of town, so I have

274.08

basically animal duty for the next week

275.84

and a half, which is eating into my time

278.4

tremendously.

280.56

>> Uh yes, I have a uh a grand dog

283.28

basically that one of my children took

285.199

from other children that didn't raise

286.72

them properly, and I'm having a real fun

288.4

time trying to work with that. Luckily,

290.96

my wife is like a dog whisperer type

293.28

level expert, so she can like she's

295.919

figuring it out. and it's a smart dog.

297.52

So, we'll see how he's also a jerk. So,

299.36

we'll see how this works out. Uh, I am

302.639

really looking forward to this

303.84

conversation. We were back to an

305.199

interview episode. Uh, and I'm going to

307.68

dive right into the introduction side of

310

it. I'm going to just start with your

311.44

name, your first name, because I'm sure

313.12

I will butcher the last name. Uh, go

315.44

ahead and introduce yourself, Mark.

317.44

>> Well, my name is Mark Stuchesky, but

319.44

because nobody is going to understand

322

true what I'm go by Mr. productivity on

325.6

the interwebs. It's Mr. All spelled out

328.24

M I S T E R. My passion in life, my

332.479

dream, my goal, what drives me every

335.28

morning when I wake up is to help people

338

get unstuck. Whether that's with time

341.28

management, goal setting, clarity,

343.039

focus, prioritization, whatever. So many

346.56

people are stuck these days, and I love

350.4

helping people get unstuck.

353.44

Well, we have the right uh the right

355.68

audience for that. We talk about this a

357.44

lot because developers do this. We end

359.68

up uh I think a lot of times we end up

361.52

overwhelming ourselves. We put too much

363.199

on our plate. We promise too much. We we

365.919

underestimate what it's going to take.

367.6

And honestly, development world is full

370.56

of like just gotchas where you think

372.4

something's going to take you five

373.52

seconds and it takes you five hours

375.12

chasing that thing down. So, uh with

378.72

somebody with a title of Mr.

380.08

productivity is exactly what we all

382.4

need. And I think I want to dive right

384.88

into um one of the things that you you

388.08

mentioned is that you've got a practical

389.28

tool called distraction detox framework.

392.479

Distractions are the bane of our

395.039

existence and I would really like to

397.199

just I think that's going to be right

398.56

away like a very high return on

400.72

investment there. So why don't you talk

402.56

a little bit about that?

404.56

Well, the distraction detox starts with

407.36

a very painful and horrifying exercise.

411.28

I encourage people to carry a little

413.44

notebook with them or you can use an app

415.44

on your phone. Don't go looking for a

417.919

special notebook or a special app. Just

420.56

whatever you have laying around or on

422.16

your phone and every time you are

424.8

distracted,

426.4

every time you are distracted, write it

428.639

down. Could be the FedEx driver showing

430.88

up at your house. It could be a

432.4

helicopter flying overhead. It could be

434.639

the neighbor's dog barking. All I want

436.96

you to do is write all these down. Most

440.479

people, a matter of fact, I don't think

442.4

anyone's ever made it an hour because

444.16

after like 10, 15 minutes, you look at

446.8

everything is that is on your list and

449.12

you're like, "Holy macaroni, I am really

451.919

distracted." And here's the thing about

453.759

distractions. Some distractions you're

456.16

like, "Oh, that's distraction." But

458.08

sometimes you may not be paying

459.68

attention to it, but your subconscious

462.319

mind is. And so you think you're fully

464.639

focused on the task at hand, but your

467.039

subconscious mind's going, "What's that?

468.96

Oh, the the FedEx driver is at the

470.56

neighbor's house. Wonder what they're

471.759

getting at. How can they afford that?"

473.199

And so you start distracting yourself.

475.12

So distractions breed other

477.44

distractions. So the first step is to

480.16

identify your distractions. I'm not

482.16

saying you're going to be able to solve

483.199

all these, but it's to bring awareness

485.919

that you are this distracted. Now, once

489.919

you get past that horrifying stage, that

492.479

that uh horror flick stage, then you're

495.68

going to sit there and ask yourself, how

498.24

can I begin to mitigate some of these

500.4

distractions? Now, there's two types of

502.479

distractions. There are distractions

504.479

that are not within your control. You

506.879

really can't go to your neighbor and

508.16

say, "Hey, can you bring the dog in the

509.52

house?" I mean, we're recording this

511.36

right now. Next door, we have a neighbor

514.159

who has a couple dogs. When they bring

516

their kids home, sometimes they let the

517.76

dog out for a few minutes, sometimes a

519.68

little bit. I cannot tell them, I'm

523.36

going to record a podcast episode, keep

525.6

your dog in the house. So, that is a

527.36

distraction that's out of my control. I

529.36

certainly can't tell Amazon, the FedEx

532

driver, the UPS driver, don't come down

534.16

my street because I'm going to be on Rob

536.399

and Michael's podcast. What about in my

539.839

house, my dogs? Well, what can I do? I

542.64

can make sure they've already gone

543.839

outside. I can make sure the blinds are

545.76

shut so that they don't see squirrels or

548.24

other dogs outside. So, what can you

550.959

control? Do your best to mitigate those

553.519

distractions and everything else. Well,

556.56

if your city is going to jackhammer your

559.519

street today or this week or next week,

563.04

probably not a good time to do podcast

565.2

interviews because you can't control

566.959

that. But what you can do, you can

568.48

mitigate it by moving it to another

570.32

time. So that's what the detox is all

572.399

about. It's controlling what you can,

574.959

mitigating what you can't.

578.56

>> Um, God, that that really speaks to me

580.8

because I was I sat there the other day

582.64

and one of the things I do is uh often

584.959

go into I have a pomodoro technique

586.72

where I'll go in and I'll have a focus

588.48

period of, you know, 25 or or sometimes

590.88

45 minutes, 60 minutes, something like

592.24

that where I'm like, "All right." and

593.519

I'll have the, you know, the background

595.519

music on to just like the, you know,

598

just focus, focus, focus. And literally,

600.399

I guess yesterday or the day before, I

602.24

was sitting there and I was working on

603.6

this problem. And the next thing I know,

605.839

I was sitting there looking at an email

607.519

and I was like, what the heck am I

609.04

doing? How did I even get over to email

611.68

was not up? How did I get myself over

614.56

here to looking at this email right now?

616.16

And it's exactly what you said is it's

617.76

that distraction of and this is where I

620.48

think it like like I said I think this

621.839

is where uh developers I think part is

624.48

because we're in our head so much when

626.48

we're working it's easy to have

629.04

something in your head you have this

630.24

thought and you're like oh I got to go

631.92

look at that and then next thing you

633.2

know you're distracted and you move on

635.36

and maybe it's partially just more me

637.279

with like a ADHD kind of a you know

640

nature that I have.

641.6

>> I got a perfect solution for you though

643.279

Rob.

644.24

>> What you do I don't have a prop. I

645.92

apologize not having a problem. You keep

647.839

a little notepad next to you. When that

649.92

thought pops into your head, no matter

652

what it is, it could be, "Oh, I wonder

653.76

why the sky is blue." Well, don't go to

657.36

your favorite AI. Write it down. And

659.6

then later on when you're out of focus

662.32

mode, then you go look it up. What

664.48

people do, they're working and all of a

666.959

thought all of a sudden Denzel

668.88

Washington pops in their head. Well, let

670.48

me see what his latest movie is. No.

672.32

Write down Denzel Washington movie

674.399

question mark on your notepad. That way

677.519

when you're done with your focus time,

679.2

you could pick it up and go, why did I

680.72

write Denzel Washington movie on here?

682.399

Because it wasn't that important.

685.04

>> Yeah, that's that's to me that's

686.72

probably the scariest thing about

687.68

distractions is that you find out too

689.36

often. Like that was totally

691.2

unnecessary.

692.8

Um yeah, I did it. You know, phones are

695.04

the are the biggest distraction. And uh

697.839

I want to talk about those here in a

699.12

second. But that was like that was one

700.32

of the things is that I I did several

702

things on my phone to just to turn it to

704.56

get it out of my way to get away from it

706.32

to shut off all the notifications,

708.399

change it to black and white, do

709.76

whatever I can to just make it like, you

711.76

know, a dumb brick that I don't need

713.6

deal with that often uh as much as I can

716.32

outside of my work. Now with that, so I

719.44

love the the simplicity of just not even

722.32

a like special pretty notebook and just

724.24

get something and and keep it simple

726.399

like that. So how do you like I guess

730.16

it's then it's the next step. So now I

731.76

know I've got these distractions. My

733.68

favorite would be like you know you got

734.72

a watch, you've got a phone or something

736.399

like that. Is what is that next step? Do

739.44

you feel like it and do you see it more

741.76

as an approach of a like a holistic

744.16

approach of trying to or more like try

746.399

to you know uh precision like well why

748.8

don't you get rid of this distraction or

750.16

that distraction

752.079

>> I think that there is something to be

755.92

said about resting and let me explain

758.72

that you have done the right thing and

761.68

you've written down 17 things that

764.32

popped into your head while you're

766.32

working on this focus mode

769.36

but don't get done with the focus mode

771.6

and pick up the notebook go for a walk

774.88

outside go read a Go watch some YouTube

778.56

or Tik Tok or Instagram. Give yourself a

781.279

buffer because you want to separate as

784.56

much as you can in terms of time. How

787.6

long since you created the list and when

790

you look at it cuz now you're going to

792

look at it totally different. You've

793.44

gone out, got a drink of water, taken a

795.839

walk around the block, and then you look

797.6

at that list and like, "Oh, scratch that

799.68

one off. Scratch that one off. Scratch

801.04

that one off." What people actually do

803.2

is the worst thing you can do is, okay,

806.399

I write down the thing on my notebook.

809.12

Then they're getting back to focus and

811.279

they keep looking at that list.

813.839

They keep, well, well, no, maybe you

817.92

have to turn the list upside down or

820.399

whatever. You need to have the list

821.839

there, but when you're in focus mode,

825.279

you capture the thoughts that are on

826.88

your head, but you're not supposed to go

829.2

look at that list and everything you've

830.88

written down it until focus mode is over

833.76

and you've taken a break. Now, the break

835.68

could be 5 minutes, it could be 15

837.44

minutes. I don't talk about absolute

839.68

numbers. Then look at that list. And

842.24

even more so, I encourage you look at

844.399

that list someplace different, not where

847.519

you made the list. Maybe you go out on

849.279

your front porch, get a cup of coffee,

851.6

your favorite beverage, then look at the

853.519

list. And if you're still not sure,

856.16

maybe you go to your significant other

858.24

and say, "I wrote these things down. Do

860.56

you do any of these jump things jump off

862.48

the page to you?" And they may give you

865.44

some voices of reason and go, "Why did

868.079

you write these things down?" A lot of

869.92

people just jump in like they're jumping

871.76

in a pool in a summer vacation when

874.16

maybe they should go, "Is there any

876.32

sharks or piranhas in this pool?" Now,

878.32

we just jump in there and then what

880

happens? We go down this road and then

882.72

an hour, two hours, three hours later,

884.72

we're like, "Wait a minute. What am I

886.959

doing?" Like the Denzel Washington

889.04

example. Now you're watching Now you're

891.36

looking at all the movies he's done and

893.04

you're like, "Oh, wow. You know what? We

894.959

have Netflix and he has movies on and

896.8

you and you're so far away from your

899.839

focus mode." Does that make sense?

903.519

>> That totally makes sense. Uh it sounds

905.839

very much like that thing. We'll coin it

908.24

right here because nobody's ever said

909.44

those before. But the idea of doom

910.88

scrolling where you just like, you know,

912.8

that's what those are. That was my first

915.279

introduction to that kind of deal was

917.279

actually Pinterest back when it first

918.88

started. I was like, why are these

920.16

people talking about this Pinterest

921.519

thing and that people will spend hours

923.199

on? I was like, nobody could that's that

925.12

doesn't make any sense to me. And then I

927.04

sat down and exactly that it's just

929.44

rabbit hole after rabbit hole after

930.959

rabbit hole and the next thing you know

932.56

you burned up an hour and I what you

936

said really speaks to me is the idea of

938.8

I was thinking of like when you were a

939.92

kid and you're taking tests in school

941.76

and it's like pencils down like okay I

943.519

took my note pencils down. I was

945.76

thinking right as you were saying I was

946.88

like I'm gonna have to flip that thing

948.24

over and do something because if it's

949.519

there then it's like if it's in my site

952

I may come back to it. But I I really

954.16

like the idea and I think it's it feels

956.56

like it's more of a habit than like

958.32

you're going to have to work on it kind

959.6

of thing of put it down and not jump

962

back and just keep that one of those

963.759

things that you're not going to touch

964.8

right now that you're going to come back

966.639

and gosh giving it a rest beforehand I I

970.16

know for myself that will stop me from a

972.88

lot of things because I'll just be like

974.24

okay this is no longer an issue and it's

977.04

it's the reverse of where we're going

978.72

because we always have like a phone

980.16

you've got searches you've got AI so you

982

can like you said you and ask AI right

984.16

away, what was that last movie Denzel

985.759

Washington was in? And then you're

987.199

you're sitting there 20 minutes later

988.8

going, why am I doing this? It really

990.88

didn't matter that much. Our whole life

992.639

is trivia is basically what we've come

995.279

down to. Mhm.

996.88

>> So

998.48

now how did you how did you get into how

1001.04

did you get because you you obviously

1002.72

have a passion for productivity and for

1006.16

you know getting rid of distractions and

1008

being able to to me I'm going to coin

1010.079

this maybe this is what you use but sort

1011.519

of be the best you you can be. How did

1013.759

you stumble into this or or how did you

1015.92

get into this?

1017.6

>> I love this question by the way this is

1019.519

a video podcast as well right? Okay. So,

1022.56

I just want people to know if you see me

1024.079

wiping the sweat off the for my head.

1026.079

I'm in Houston, Texas. It's hot. I do

1027.919

have my AC and the fan going. So, I just

1030

want people I'm not sick. It's just say

1031.839

it's hot in here. I probably shouldn't

1033.6

have put such a thick shirt on. But

1035.039

anyways, back to your question. I used

1037.28

to tell this. There's two versions of

1038.88

the story. Version number one, I was

1041.76

fired from my job in 2005 and I decided

1045.76

I wasn't going back to the corporate

1047.6

world. Done. And I'm like, "Okay, now

1051.039

what?" I said, "What is that word

1053.52

entra?"

1055.52

Entrepreneur.

1057.12

What is that? So I said, 'I want to be

1058.72

an entrepreneur. Didn't know what it

1060.32

was. Just sounded cool. And my first my

1063.2

first dive into the entrepreneurial pool

1066.32

was something called wedding and

1068

portrait photography, which bombed. I

1071.2

mean, blew up the joint.

1074.16

I had two clients, and I'm surprised

1076.48

they paid me. But one thing came out of

1079.039

that was my love for speaking and

1082.24

teaching and coaching. Well, you have to

1085.44

understand that all through high school

1087.039

and all through college,

1089.36

I would never give any kind of oral or

1092.16

oral report unless there was nobody in

1094.559

the room. Now, I'm a podcaster. I'm a

1097.919

professional speaker. I'm a coach. So,

1100.64

what happened was I went to one of our

1102.4

friends in our Bible study class who was

1103.919

a professional speaker and I don't know

1105.52

what in the world possessed me to go ask

1108.88

this lady,"Hey, you're a professional

1111.28

speaker. How can I, an introvert who

1114.88

hates speaking in front of anybody, be a

1117.039

professional speaker?" She gave me some

1118.88

guidelines. I fell in love with it. But

1121.2

then I had a problem. I didn't want to

1123.76

speak about photography. So, I didn't

1126.64

know what to do. So, I went out and

1128.88

hired my first coach. Up until this

1130.72

point, I thought coaches were football

1133.76

coaches and hockey coaches and

1136.64

basketball coaches. I had no idea a co a

1139.039

coach for me, but they saw something in

1141.76

me. And we were on one call. I identify

1145.039

as Tiger for Winnie the Pooh. I was born

1146.72

in 1965, so I grew up with Winnie the

1149.28

Pooh. And I was having on one call an

1152.32

Eeyore moment. I'm normally Tiger. And

1155.76

he says, "What's going on?" I said,

1157.039

"Well, I really love speaking." Because

1159.679

I was going out and speaking to groups

1162.08

and telling them how to take better

1163.6

pictures, if they're realtors, how to

1165.52

take better pictures of property and

1166.799

stuff like that, but I I don't want to

1168.799

speak about photography, but I don't

1170.96

know what I should speak on. He goes,

1172

"Well, why don't you speak on

1173.12

productivity?" I'm like, "That's weird.

1177.919

Where'd that come from? I no idea where

1179.919

that why'd you say that?" And he goes,

1181.6

"I know a lot of people and you are one

1183.52

of the most naturally productive people

1185.6

I know and you should share that gift

1188.24

with the world." I'm like, "The first

1190.799

thing I said is, isn't everybody this

1193.52

productive?" And after he stopped

1194.72

laughing for 10 minutes, he goes, "No,

1196.72

you need to share that gift with the

1198

world." So that's how I actually went in

1200.64

the productivity business, hung my

1202.559

shingle out in 2011. But the more people

1205.2

asked me about it, I started thinking. I

1208.16

was raised in the late 60s and early 70s

1210.559

by parents who were from old school. You

1215.84

do chores, you do them correctly. You do

1219.12

them on time. You don't go out and play

1221.44

and then do your chores. You do your

1223.039

chores and then you go outside and play.

1225.44

And I think my mom and dad, who has

1227.44

since passed away, didn't know it that I

1229.919

was eventually going to be something

1231.2

called Mr. productivity many years

1233.84

later. And so my parents thankfully laid

1237.84

that foundation for me.

1241.039

>> So

1243.28

it really sounds like it's kind of funny

1246

some of the things you mentioned there,

1247.679

you know, about teaching and that

1250.159

because uh when I was going through

1251.84

college and that I didn't I was like

1254.08

done with school like all those public

1255.6

speakings and things like that, I hated

1257.039

it. And of course, six months after

1258.88

college, I became an instructor teaching

1261.28

uh Java. So, it was like one of those

1263.52

where I'm never going back to school and

1264.799

I end up teaching. It's interesting how

1267.919

you kind of got into this because I

1270

think so many entrepreneurs kind of go

1271.679

through similar things. they leave uh

1275.44

corporate or they leave their jobs and

1277.12

they want to start something else but

1279.28

one of the biggest problems they have is

1281.679

either the lack of focus or the lack of

1283.84

motivation or just maybe it's not the

1286.48

right topic uh through your experience

1289.6

which how you became Mr. productivity.

1291.919

What are some of the things that uh you

1293.84

could recommend for uh you know young

1297.6

entrepreneurs or just people getting

1299.28

into their own business to use

1301.919

productivity to help drive them to help

1303.919

their businesses thrive.

1306.72

>> Rule number one, make sure you're

1309.76

following somebody who is doing what you

1312.96

want to do. So, if you want to be

1314.96

productive, go search for the productive

1319.2

productivity people on the interwebs. I

1321.679

would highly recommend you start with

1323.28

Mr. Productivity, but there's a lot of

1325.2

them out there. Go listen to their

1327.2

podcast like the Mr. Productivity

1328.96

podcast and everybody else's. Go get

1330.799

their books. I don't have a book, but go

1332.96

follow them in social media because if

1335.76

you want to go from A to B, well, don't

1339.2

you want to follow and learn from

1340.72

someone who's already at B? Which is

1342.96

really important because what happens

1344.48

when people come to me as clients?

1346.799

They're like, wow, I never knew this.

1348.48

I'm like, that's why you invested in me

1351.12

because I do know this and I can give

1353.039

you shortcuts. All coaches and books and

1356.88

podcasts are are shortcuts. But here's

1360

the thing, you just it's not magic

1362.48

hiring a coach. It's not magic reading a

1365.44

book. It's not magic listening to a

1367.36

podcast. You have to listen and then go

1370

implement. So that's number one, you

1372

need to follow people who are where you

1373.6

want to go. Number two, I'm a huge fan

1376.799

of simplicity. Okay? Complexity is the

1380.96

gateway to procrastination.

1383.84

So, we seem to live in the world where

1387.039

people like making things complex. And I

1390.4

like making things simple because the

1392.799

more complex something is, the more the

1395.52

less likely you are to do it. So, I

1398.4

always tell people, here's a crazy idea.

1401.28

Let's break this down so it's really

1403.919

really simple. Because if I told your

1407.679

listeners, "Hey, here are 37 things that

1411.52

if you do all these things, you're going

1414

to be the most productive version of

1415.76

yourself ever." They're going to go,

1417.84

"I'm out." But if I tell them, and we'll

1420.96

probably get to this later, I mean, we

1422.159

already give them a solid several solid

1423.919

tips. I'll you you pick one that

1427.039

resonates with you. So listener, if I've

1429.6

already said something that resonates

1431.12

with you, I encourage you to write that

1434.08

down and maybe go do it. Don't try to do

1436.64

three, four, five, six, seven, 10 things

1438.559

because then you're like, "Okay, did I

1440.799

do one? Now I got to do four. What's

1442.24

next?" Then you get confused. Then you

1444.799

get overwhelmed and then you go to Tik

1447.039

Tok or Instagram and YouTube and

1448.48

endlessly scroll.

1452.08

Yeah, it's funny you mentioned that

1453.52

because it reminds me of uh some

1456.559

marketing material I read recently. I

1459.44

can't remember which book it was in, but

1461.279

it was kind of the concept of focus and

1464.08

for sales. It's like if you want to sell

1466.48

if you're a watch seller, um a lot of

1469.12

the uh like watch brands want to promote

1472.159

all their watches. Well, really you if

1474.559

you give them one or two watches in an

1476.4

ad, they're going to be able to pick one

1477.919

or the other. If you give them six or

1479.44

seven, it's too busy. It's too many.

1481.36

They'll just move on to the next uh

1484

advertisement or just miss your ad

1486.08

completely.

1487.679

I love the idea of simplicity.

1490.799

Kind of going back to your idea of

1492.64

writing down your distractions on, you

1496.24

know, in a notebook. I love the idea of

1498.559

analog. Too many times I find digital

1501.919

gets bloated. It makes it complex. Uh it

1505.12

gets over complicated. you go down that

1507.919

rabbit hole. It's like, oh, it's here.

1509.679

You're you end up focusing on that

1511.44

versus what you're working on.

1514.24

Interestingly enough, especially in the

1516.4

new um with like the chat bots and all

1519.279

these wonderful like Trellos and things

1521.279

like that where you can put them in.

1524

What it I guess the trick here is how do

1528.96

you always know that you're distracted?

1531.84

So, some of the times it's obvious and

1533.84

and you can write it down, but some of

1535.84

the things you said like, you know, um

1538.88

FedEx, you know, yeah, okay, I can see

1541.039

that. But sometimes there's those little

1542.64

nuances you get where you don't realize

1545.679

you're distracted or you're going down

1547.52

that rabbit hole. It could be like

1549.36

you're looking up the problem for some

1551.919

software you're working on, but you end

1553.6

up going down a rabbit hole trying to

1555.039

solve that problem, but you end up, you

1557.2

know, going way off topic. What are some

1561.12

tips to kind of catch yourself before

1564.08

you go down those paths or at least

1565.679

catch yourself that hey you are

1567.2

distracted when you really don't think

1568.799

you are?

1570.64

>> That's a great question and what I

1572.799

encourage people to do is every once in

1575.919

a while and I'm again I'm not going to

1578

give you an absolute number. Every once

1579.919

in a while, just stop. Literally stop

1582.32

what you're doing and just ask yourself,

1584.88

could be out loud or in your head, is

1588.08

this what I'm supposed to be doing right

1589.279

now? If you would just take three

1591.919

seconds to ask their ask yourself that

1594

question, you may go, oh my gosh, no.

1596.96

Why am I in my email?

1599.6

Why am I this is this is a project for

1602.32

tomorrow. Why am I doing it now? But

1604.08

what happens is we we go down, we go

1606.159

down the road, we turn left. we should

1608

have gone right and we just keep going

1609.84

instead of going wait a minute wait I'm

1612.64

I'm not this doesn't look familiar so

1614.72

just ask yourself that question in three

1616.799

seconds just it it's not going to stop

1619.84

you from what you're doing it just

1621.679

allows your brain to catch up because

1623.2

sometimes either our brain is really far

1625.6

ahead or it's still behind trying to

1627.6

catch up and if you stop for 3 seconds

1629.84

and go is this what I'm supposed to be

1631.76

working on and you're like whoa no then

1634.72

you can stop yourself before you go all

1637.12

the way down the road and realize you're

1639.279

20 miles off course. So, just ask

1641.679

yourself that question. And if it is the

1644.08

answer is yes, okay, keep on going. If

1646.96

it's no, then you can do what you have

1649.12

to do.

1651.52

>> So,

1652

>> nice. Well, go ahead, R.

1653.84

>> I was just so with this um now I'm

1656.72

thinking, you know, as I'm I'm almost

1658.4

getting a little distracted with that,

1660

but the idea so now you're trying to

1662

figure out your distractions. you're

1663.279

trying to and and doing this and some of

1665.44

it

1666.24

>> you alluded earlier to that there's some

1667.679

of these things are easier to do for

1669.039

people than others.

1670.48

>> Now you've worked with a bunch of

1671.6

people. So are there

1673.76

>> um as opposed to necessary even specific

1675.84

are there sort of like we'll call them

1677.52

like families or classes of changes that

1680.32

people can do that tend to be more uh

1683.6

accessible in the kinds of like sort of

1685.12

like I guess entry level versus like

1687.2

more advanced u you know distraction

1689.44

removal techniques and things of that

1691.039

nature. There are certain things like if

1692.159

somebody's sitting there like, gosh, I

1693.679

don't know if I can do this. Are there

1695.36

some that are easier than others that

1696.88

you say this works for most people or

1698.559

most people are going to be uh better

1700.64

suitable to to pick this up? Well, I

1703.84

like to talk about something that's very

1706

controversial and it gets people on

1709.44

edge, but probably people listening to

1712.399

your show are adults and there's this

1714.72

thing called adulting. So I am not a fan

1718.159

of blaming social media apps or

1721.52

technology. Oh, it's because of

1723.76

Facebook. No, it's because you are not

1726.08

disciplined. So let let me just put that

1728.32

out there. You need to practice

1729.919

adulting. Stop making excuses. Stop

1732.72

blaming other people. So that's number

1734.399

one. Number two, I think one of my most

1738.72

popular and most powerful productivity

1741.919

tips is to just get up and walk around

1745.12

for a couple minutes because again,

1747.679

you're working, your eyes are seeing

1749.44

stuff, your brain's processing, and you

1751.679

keep doing 30 minutes, 60 minutes, 120

1754.96

minutes, 180 minutes. You haven't gotten

1756.799

up, the blood's not flowing. This is

1758.96

stuff that everybody can do. I mean,

1761.12

you're probably not landing a plane in

1762.96

the war zone. So, get up and give

1765.279

yourself a break. If you work from home,

1767.2

just walk to the kitchen. If you are in

1769.12

a corporate environment, walk to the

1770.96

break room. But this is so simple

1773.36

because what happens is people want all

1775.84

these give me these five things I can do

1778.08

that is really simple that's going to

1780.159

make me more productive. And I'm like,

1782.08

let's start with the easy stuff. When's

1784.72

the last time you got up and walked

1786.559

around for a couple minutes? When's the

1788.399

last time you went outside and took some

1790.96

deep breaths of air? When's the last

1792.559

time you closed your eyes? Go outside,

1795.039

put your bare feet on the ground, close

1796.96

your eyes, and meditate for a minute. I

1798.96

mean, these are really simple things,

1800.48

but they're proven to improve your

1802.72

productivity. Everybody wants the the

1804.88

hacks like, "How do I hack my phone so

1806.96

I'm not distracted by it?" Or, "How do I

1809.36

do this?"

1810.559

Let's let's start with a let's build a

1813.44

strong foundation like how do we become

1817.2

more productive? When you build a house,

1819.2

you have to build the foundation first,

1821.279

right? Probably the same thing with your

1823.2

developers. You got to build the

1824.48

foundation. You can't put on, you know,

1826.799

the f the the the the finishing touches

1830.08

in the beginning. You got to start with

1831.84

the foundation. So, I encourage people

1834.48

to go back to the basics. every sports

1836.96

league in the world. It doesn't matter

1839.52

how great of a player you are, you go

1842.48

back to the basics. Tom Brady when he

1844.559

played, what do he do? He went to

1846.399

training camp and threw footballs.

1849.52

Why? Because

1852.08

that's what you do when training camp.

1854

And I think what happens when we go from

1857.039

year one to year two, year three, we're

1859.12

like, I don't have to go back to the

1860.32

beginning. The greats always go back to

1863.12

the basics. How's my foundation? Is

1866

everything working? What do I need to

1867.84

learn? Because guess what? I hope I hate

1870.08

to be a spoiler for your listeners.

1872.799

Everybody has stuff to learn. Everybody.

1877.6

>> And that is where we're going to pause

1879.039

our conversation with Mark. Uh the

1881.919

energy is going to keep on flowing.

1883.279

Trust me. This this is one of those that

1885.2

we could have gone on and made this like

1887.52

I don't know a whole season of stuff. We

1889.2

could have definitely cranked out a

1890.32

couple episodes. uh the energy brings

1893.12

obviously is is great uh the brilliant

1896.64

mind on these kinds of things and uh

1898.799

also some just really good simple

1900.559

solutions. So keep your notebook handy.

1903.679

Don't get distracted and uh be ready for

1906.399

part two when we come back in the next

1908.24

episode. As always, thank you for not so

1911.44

much for hanging out with us. Uh check

1913.44

us out in all the different places you

1914.96

can check us out. Let us know any

1916.32

feedback that you have. go out there and

1918.32

have yourself a great day, a great week,

1920.08

and we will talk to you next time.