July 23, 2025 • 22 mins
Erik Fisher, host of Beyond the To-Do List, shares the best tips from 13 years of his show
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode is going to be a longer one part of
the series where I interview fascinating people about how they
take their days from great to awesome and any advice
(00:24):
they have for the rest of us.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So today I.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Am delighted to welcome Eric Fisher to Before Breakfast. Eric
is the host of the long running productivity podcast Beyond
the to Do List. So Eric, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, well, gosh, I've been heavily involved in online marketing
and social media and oblously podcasting, consulting and working in
all of that for a very long time. But the
thing I think most people would know me for is
my podcast that's based on productivity, Beyond the Today List,
which is hitting about six hundred episodes somewhere here, and
(01:04):
I've been doing it for thirteen years, talking with people
like yourself, as well as many other experts in the field,
as well as fringe people that you know you wouldn't
normally think of how to get the most out of
your day, but do it in a I don't know,
non hustle culture kind of a way. I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So, how did you get started in this productivity world?
I don't have a good origin story, but maybe you do.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, well, I think I always needed it. I definitely
have ADHD. I got diagnosed years ago and that was
no surprise to me. Then I actually got rediagnosed recently,
and I'm kind of starting a new journey there in
terms of, you know, reacclimating as an adult with that.
But I was the one who always had a little
(01:47):
you know, notebook, flip open pad of paper and a pencil,
just writing ideas and capturing didn't really think of that
as productivity per se. But once, you know, early two
thousands through two thousand and five, somewhere in there, David
Allen's book Getting Things Done came out, and the Internet
and I was, you know, I was doing a lot
of sitting in a cubicle data entry time, and then
(02:11):
I would get done faster than other people that were
doing the same job. And so I'd surf the web
and I would find podcasts when they came out. But
also just different sites like Merlin Mann and a few
other things, and started just, oh my gosh, I love
this stuff, like this is basically it's self management. It's
you know, it's leadership, but leadership of yourself and of
course others. But that's where I started to realize, oh, so,
(02:35):
the way that I can kind of cope, or I
guess a better term would be manage as well as
even exceed and thrive with ADHD is to have productivity
systems in place. And that's where I started to cobble
together scaffolding and structures and workflows, and then married that
with podcasting. Once I had started getting into that and
(02:56):
doing that and started the show around, I'd been on
other shows and co hosts things. But summer of twenty twelve,
so now it's been thirteen years.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, you have been podcasting for a long time. I
guess people really were podcasting in twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It was early, but again twenty years ago at the
time of this recording. Right now, somewhere in the June
July month was months was when Steve Jobs gets on
stage and announces we've added podcasting to iTunes, and I'm like,
I don't know what that is, and then there's an
update sitting there at that data entry computer, and I'm like,
(03:33):
all right, bio break, coffee, reset, sit down, go to
plug in my headphones and listen to music again and
start typing. And I see this tab over there, and
I'm like podcast, what is that clicked in? And I'm like, oh,
this is like TVO for radio for people that remember
what TVO is. I can pause and unpause these things
that aren't just music. I can be entertained as well
(03:55):
as educated and learn while I'm sitting here. This is
is breaking my brain right now.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's funny to think about the iPod giving its name
to podcasting since we moved on from iPods a while ago. Anyway,
You've interviewed so many people and shared so many tips
on your show over the years. I wonder what some
of your favorite ones are, like, the ones that you
actually use in your daily life.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah. One of the biggest ones for me was just
because it's easy when we're staring at screens all day
and then have other screens nearby, to be distracted constantly.
And one of the cool things was kind of treating
those distractions in an, let's say, meditational kind of approach.
And what I mean by that is having an analog system,
(04:42):
a panter pencil and like a legal pad sitting there
that while I'm sitting and doing and focusing, like I'm
talking to you, and if a thought pops into my head,
slide that over, acknowledge the thought, write it down, and
then slide it away. And notice I'm not saying grab
the phone or grab you know, open another window, or
you know, pick up a tablet. It's analogue to you.
(05:05):
You're shifting it and in in your you know, workfold brain.
It's not adding more digital on top of digital, stacking things.
And what it does is it lets you acknowledge the thought,
kind of like meditation, accept the thought, and then push
it back away. And those of us who've been who
are parents, or have been parents of small children, know
(05:26):
that this is like treating your inner brain like a toddler.
It's it's it's not saying no, it's saying not right now.
And and what happens is is those distractions. And this
is how I've found it to work, is that the
more that I allow myself to acknowledge the thought, instead
of fighting against the thought like you'd say no, no, no,
(05:47):
not now to a toddler instead just say in a
moment or when this time comes, or you know, here's
what you know, so acknowledge, treat it with fairness and
kindness and not necessarily judgment, and then let it go away.
And you know, sometimes you might have great ideas during
that time, but you've dedicated that calendar time to a
(06:10):
certain task. You're on a call, you're in a meeting,
or you're in a meeting with yourself, you're doing a thing.
But then after that, by again having a little calendar break,
definitely not jimmy your calendar so full that you've got
no buffer time in between things. You can use that
buffer time to one take a break, but two take
(06:32):
a look at that notebook triage it is there anything
in here that popped up in my brain panicwise from
during that work session that I need to address now
or where can I park those things later? And just
by addressing that that meditational calm kind of way instead
of oh my gosh, I just remembered, like there's an
emergency thing, Well, you can take care of that in
(06:56):
twenty minutes when you finish the thing, you already can
made a commitment.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
To the later list as then I'll get to it later.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yes, love it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I love that tip. Well, We're going to take a
short ad break and then I will be back with
more from Eric Fisher. Well, I am back talking with
Eric Fisher, host of the Beyond the to do List podcast.
He was just sharing the idea of writing down things
in order to make yourself less distracted. I wonder if
(07:26):
you have some other tips have stuck with you.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
This one is when I'm trying to actually make a
habit right now. It came out of the idea that again,
and it kind of flows with the one I just
talked about, which is, you know, our our perception of
time and our hurried brain that always feels like it's
working off of a sugar high instead of consistent, you know, reasoned,
(07:52):
measured activity. And what I do with this is basically
first thing in the morning. And you can this can
take whatever form you know in cert your form of
what this is for you, But for me, it's first
thing in the morning. The dog wants to walk, well,
they both do, but I only take one because only
one of them likes me. So we go out and
(08:13):
I put no headphones in, I don't put on them.
I leave the phone at home, I don't take anything
with me but the dog and we walk and then
my brain. Yeah, it does kind of the thing where
it's like remembering, oh, what am I doing today? Things
like that, But I try not to think about anything.
I just kind of let my mind wander. In other words,
(08:35):
I'm letting my mind breathe. I'm warming up, not just
my body physically, which does play into the mental and
emotional and everything, but letting my brain acclimate to the day.
I'm waking up and sometimes actually, and honestly, some people
are like, you're crazy. Take coffee with you if you
need to. I don't. I'll do that after I get back.
It's kind of a reward, But it's that allowing of
(08:59):
that time where you're not in I am being very intentional,
but I am not intentionally doing any work. Now that's
not to say that our subconscious is doing stuff and
needs to, but I've just found that that's one great
way to set the tone for the day. First thing,
instead of screw you know, scanning and scrolling for fires
(09:21):
that inevitably most of the time aren't really even there.
Do you remember, I mean we most most mornings were
waking up or like, is there anything that's like calling
to my attention? First thing, it should be what you want,
not what others want. Well, this is a way of
kind of setting that tone for the day. And again,
you're not picking up a device and scrolling over the
(09:43):
never ending buffet that is always there of information that
you could get. There's there's never we're never at a
lack for somebody else who's posted something, news that has
come out, et cetera, et cetera. That's always there. Take
the time time before you even take a look at that.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, we are big fans of morning routines on this show.
Do you have anything else you do as part of
your morning routine beyond walking your dog?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
So after that and after having you know that breathing brain,
breathing time, what I will do is I will go
over the list that I have for myself for the day.
I check the calendar, I check my to do list.
And what I kind of do actually before the day
before is, you know, hand off the baton to my
future self. I will close loops. I will leave loops
(10:33):
in places where it's possible for me to pick. Like
in other words, this is where you start on this project.
Like I will almost be super explicit about saying, this
is where you left off, this is the next thing
you need to do so that next morning me doesn't
need to think about it at all. The baton is
being passed because, I mean, that's one of we know
(10:53):
this from studying racing. One of the biggest things is
that baton toss. You screw that up and you lose
like so much time and the other team passes you.
Now this is a you know, a competition with yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
But still you've mentioned that one of your big ideas
these days is peaceful productivity.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
What is that? Yeah, it really means having a I
mean again, we all want to have plans. We want
to execute on those plans. For me, uh, And this
is even you know I would I would relate this
to uh. Something that you know, the walk kind of
makes me think of is that time where you know,
we have these we have our best thoughts in the shower.
(11:31):
Is the saying kind of goes It's it's allowing those
times to exist in your schedule where no one can
reach you and you're not needing to be reached like
you you know, okay, nobody should need me. I'm going
to go do that like in other words, I mean
go back to parenting, Like the rare times you could
get a shower in because the kids are around, it's like, okay,
(11:53):
they're all set up, nothing's going to happen, no emergencies.
Now I'm going to enter into me time. It's hygiene whatever,
but it's not that. In other words, it's work, and
so allowing those times to be in place. The other
thing is I just try not to stack the day
filled with stuff back to back to back to back.
(12:16):
I love to have buffer time in between the things
I do have, and to have those things be as
important as possible. The big picture stuff. Now we know
there's lots of little picture or admin type things, but
I will group those together. Those are some of the
things that always pop up when I do the legal
pad trick that I was talking about a moment ago.
(12:38):
Those are the things that then, oh, yeah, you're right me,
I need to do that. Tell you what. I'll give
you a time and a place for that in this
calendar block called admin on such and such a day,
And it's like a good you know, it's a half hour,
no more, no less, And I'll group all those two
minute activities right in there. That's where it goes. And
(12:59):
so then and you actually gain more trust in your
system and in yourself by doing that.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
So you've shared a lot of great tips from the show.
But I'm wondering and talking with so many people over
the years, is there anything that you've heard a lot
but you don't do because it just doesn't work for you.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah. I think that one of the things for me.
We've all heard that multitasking is bad, and I think
it's that our perception of what that is is bad.
You can set up multiple things to go and be
automated and do their thing, and then you can switch
between those softwares like I mean, I speak especially to
(13:37):
AI as our thing that we've been using now for
almost two years. You can set up workflows for that
and have it run and then I can switch back.
I will often do this. I will answer emails and
then flip back into AI and type something else and
further it along in the process or dialogue, and then
flip back to email, and that kind of breaks it up.
(13:59):
That's actually a healthy thing for me. With ADHD, you'd think, oh, no,
stay on focus, it's focused time you need to do
you know no. Actually, by jumping back and forth, it
does give me a little bit or enough, i should say,
of a variety of switching tasks. That so when we
say multitasking worse, I mean I'm doing two things at once,
(14:21):
but I'm not. I'm switching tasks. And again, if I
were to add a third or fourth thing in there,
that's where we get into trouble, and it's like which
thing what? Whoop? Uh no, and then I move none
of them forward as fast. But if I can switch
like two things, and it's going to kind of be
the right things. But play with that a little bit,
figure out what are some of those things that like
(14:42):
maybe you do something, you do two things that you
don't want to do at the same time, and then
because you're switching back and forth, you feel that perception
of time moving faster and that momentum, and you're getting
two things done and then you check them off.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So we have to do the right form of multitasking.
Got it. Well, We're going to take one more quick
ad break and then I will be back with more
from Eric Fisher. So I am back talking with Eric Fisher,
host of the long running podcast Beyond the to Do List,
(15:16):
I know podcasting has gone through a lot of changes
in the last few years. I mean, what do you
see as the future of podcasting.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I think it continues to grow, that's for sure. More
and more people know about it, know what it is,
and are consuming it in some form or fashion, whether
that's audio or video, or audio on a video platform
like YouTube. All these different platforms are starting to offer this,
like Spotify and YouTube. I have to assume because video
(15:43):
podcasting is not new. I used to watch video podcasts
back in that five oh seven oh nine time, and
they would download automatically through my Apple devices and I
would watch them certain ones. So it's not like it's
a new thing. But more and more people have access
to it, and more and more people are aware of it,
and so it's you know, and I think the other
(16:05):
key pieces I love that there's now shows or there
has been all along, but there's now shows that are
shorter like yours are except for this one, this episode,
I should say, But having that as like little pockets
of information that you can say, Okay, what's that one thing,
that one takeaway, what's that one experiment if you will,
that I can try from that episode? I think I
(16:27):
think there's definitely still more room to grow. I mean again,
twenty plus years now, but a lot of people didn't
know about it for the last ten or for the
first ten, and some have just even found it in
the last five. So it continues to grow and I'm
loving it.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Well, here's hoping we get to keep growing. Eric I
always ask my guests this question, what is something you
have done recently to take a day from great to awesome?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, I would say again that I'm gonna lean on
my ADHD brain and one of the things that I've
found is doing something spontaneous and surprising. So for me,
it's hey, there's that new coffee shop that I've never tried.
Let's go there, let's sit there, let's soak in the atmosphere,
try something new, and it gives you a new environment
(17:17):
and a new you know, site, sound, smells, all the
sensory stuff, and that really can open you up in
your imagination, your creativity and all of that. And again,
it doesn't have to be just something that's consuming or consumable.
It can be going to a different place, it can
be even listening to different type of music, or it
(17:39):
can be but I stress that it's usually something sensory
for me that really makes things different. The one other
thing make it maybe relational. Call up that person that
you haven't talked to. I mean it's been six months
since we'd like talked, you know. Yes, people you still
use phones and have voice calls? Do that have that?
(18:02):
Two weeks ago I saw a friend I hadn't seen
in a year, and he happened to be in town,
and me and some other friends we all met up
and it was like, yeah, this so doing some of
those things that reinforce surprise and joy and creativity and
just fun, because I mean, what's the point of productivity
if we're not like enjoying our life because of it?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
We definitely should enjoy life. Do you ever find it
challenging to come up with so many ideas?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I think that's not the problem. I think I have
more ideas than I can do anything with. I think
one of the sayings that you know, I think I
said this first, I don't know I've never heard anyone
else say it, is that good ideas come from many ideas.
So the many can mean a lot of them are crap.
But some of those crap ones put together with other
(18:49):
crap ones start to come into Oh that's a good idea,
but what's the great idea? And then oh, there's a
good idea and two crap ideas put together, so now
it's a great idea. So again, this is another one
of those reasons why we have like the legal pad
trick I talked about earlier capturing things, but also having
that kind of back burner simmering in some sort of
(19:12):
maybe uh digital brain where those ideas are captured. And
when you're looking for stuff that you know, you know,
I don't quite have it yet, but maybe I've got
something stored in my not in my real brain, not
in my physical brain, but my digital brain, and you
start to search for something topically related and it comes up.
And this is actually where some of the AI stuff
(19:33):
comes in. If you give it access to some of
that digital brain stuff and say, hey, I'm looking for
an idea I had that was about such and such
and da da da, and they well looks like, you know,
two months ago you had this brief snippet of something
is that you know, is that related in your mind?
And oh yes, there you go. So treating you know,
AI like an intern that can track your stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yes, Ai can be our interns, I guess before we
get to the point where AI becomes all of our bosses. Eric,
what are you looking forward to these days?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I'm I'm really looking forward to just some of the
things I've got on the horizon. A couple of different
things with like a group of nonprofits that I'm speaking
with in October that's going to be really cool, all
about podcasting and how they can use that. Really looking
forward to seeing kind of the questions they throw at me,
because they've a lot of them are interested in using
(20:24):
it but haven't used it yet, So that's one. Got
some other speaking things coming on coming up in the future,
and honestly just kind of growing and expanding and working
with some of the stuff like I have a partnership
with Blinkist that app where we put short versions of
my show in there, making more of those coming up.
(20:46):
Lots of cool stuff like that, and just just you know,
enjoying the life of productivity instead of the doing of
the productivity.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
That sounds good. Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The best way is to go to beyond the to
do list dot com. There's a contact form there as
well as some of the links to socials that'll take
you to my LinkedIn or other things like that where
you can reach out.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, please check out beyond the to do list. It's
a great show. Eric, Thank you so much for joining us,
and thank you to everyone for listening. If you have
feedback about this or any other episode, you can always
reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
(21:40):
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(22:02):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of iHeartRadio. Good Morning,
This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast. Today's
episode is going to be a longer one part of
the series where I interview fascinating people about how they
take their days from great to awesome and any advice
(00:24):
they have for the rest of us.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
So today I.
Speaker 1 (00:27):
Am delighted to welcome Eric Fisher to Before Breakfast. Eric
is the host of the long running productivity podcast Beyond
the to Do List. So Eric, welcome to the show.
Speaker 2 (00:37):
Thanks for having me. I'm glad to be here.
Speaker 1 (00:39):
Why don't you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Yeah, well, gosh, I've been heavily involved in online marketing
and social media and oblously podcasting, consulting and working in
all of that for a very long time. But the
thing I think most people would know me for is
my podcast that's based on productivity, Beyond the Today List,
which is hitting about six hundred episodes somewhere here, and
(01:04):
I've been doing it for thirteen years, talking with people
like yourself, as well as many other experts in the field,
as well as fringe people that you know you wouldn't
normally think of how to get the most out of
your day, but do it in a I don't know,
non hustle culture kind of a way. I guess.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
So, how did you get started in this productivity world?
I don't have a good origin story, but maybe you do.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Yeah, well, I think I always needed it. I definitely
have ADHD. I got diagnosed years ago and that was
no surprise to me. Then I actually got rediagnosed recently,
and I'm kind of starting a new journey there in
terms of, you know, reacclimating as an adult with that.
But I was the one who always had a little
(01:47):
you know, notebook, flip open pad of paper and a pencil,
just writing ideas and capturing didn't really think of that
as productivity per se. But once, you know, early two
thousands through two thousand and five, somewhere in there, David
Allen's book Getting Things Done came out, and the Internet
and I was, you know, I was doing a lot
of sitting in a cubicle data entry time, and then
(02:11):
I would get done faster than other people that were
doing the same job. And so I'd surf the web
and I would find podcasts when they came out. But
also just different sites like Merlin Mann and a few
other things, and started just, oh my gosh, I love
this stuff, like this is basically it's self management. It's
you know, it's leadership, but leadership of yourself and of
course others. But that's where I started to realize, oh, so,
(02:35):
the way that I can kind of cope, or I
guess a better term would be manage as well as
even exceed and thrive with ADHD is to have productivity
systems in place. And that's where I started to cobble
together scaffolding and structures and workflows, and then married that
with podcasting. Once I had started getting into that and
(02:56):
doing that and started the show around, I'd been on
other shows and co hosts things. But summer of twenty twelve,
so now it's been thirteen years.
Speaker 1 (03:05):
Yeah, you have been podcasting for a long time. I
guess people really were podcasting in twenty twelve.
Speaker 2 (03:10):
It was early, but again twenty years ago at the
time of this recording. Right now, somewhere in the June
July month was months was when Steve Jobs gets on
stage and announces we've added podcasting to iTunes, and I'm like,
I don't know what that is, and then there's an
update sitting there at that data entry computer, and I'm like,
(03:33):
all right, bio break, coffee, reset, sit down, go to
plug in my headphones and listen to music again and
start typing. And I see this tab over there, and
I'm like podcast, what is that clicked in? And I'm like, oh,
this is like TVO for radio for people that remember
what TVO is. I can pause and unpause these things
that aren't just music. I can be entertained as well
(03:55):
as educated and learn while I'm sitting here. This is
is breaking my brain right now.
Speaker 1 (04:02):
It's funny to think about the iPod giving its name
to podcasting since we moved on from iPods a while ago. Anyway,
You've interviewed so many people and shared so many tips
on your show over the years. I wonder what some
of your favorite ones are, like, the ones that you
actually use in your daily life.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Yeah. One of the biggest ones for me was just
because it's easy when we're staring at screens all day
and then have other screens nearby, to be distracted constantly.
And one of the cool things was kind of treating
those distractions in an, let's say, meditational kind of approach.
And what I mean by that is having an analog system,
(04:42):
a panter pencil and like a legal pad sitting there
that while I'm sitting and doing and focusing, like I'm
talking to you, and if a thought pops into my head,
slide that over, acknowledge the thought, write it down, and
then slide it away. And notice I'm not saying grab
the phone or grab you know, open another window, or
you know, pick up a tablet. It's analogue to you.
(05:05):
You're shifting it and in in your you know, workfold brain.
It's not adding more digital on top of digital, stacking things.
And what it does is it lets you acknowledge the thought,
kind of like meditation, accept the thought, and then push
it back away. And those of us who've been who
are parents, or have been parents of small children, know
(05:26):
that this is like treating your inner brain like a toddler.
It's it's it's not saying no, it's saying not right now.
And and what happens is is those distractions. And this
is how I've found it to work, is that the
more that I allow myself to acknowledge the thought, instead
of fighting against the thought like you'd say no, no, no,
(05:47):
not now to a toddler instead just say in a
moment or when this time comes, or you know, here's
what you know, so acknowledge, treat it with fairness and
kindness and not necessarily judgment, and then let it go away.
And you know, sometimes you might have great ideas during
that time, but you've dedicated that calendar time to a
(06:10):
certain task. You're on a call, you're in a meeting,
or you're in a meeting with yourself, you're doing a thing.
But then after that, by again having a little calendar break,
definitely not jimmy your calendar so full that you've got
no buffer time in between things. You can use that
buffer time to one take a break, but two take
(06:32):
a look at that notebook triage it is there anything
in here that popped up in my brain panicwise from
during that work session that I need to address now
or where can I park those things later? And just
by addressing that that meditational calm kind of way instead
of oh my gosh, I just remembered, like there's an
emergency thing, Well, you can take care of that in
(06:56):
twenty minutes when you finish the thing, you already can
made a commitment.
Speaker 1 (06:59):
To the later list as then I'll get to it later.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Yes, love it.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
I love that tip. Well, We're going to take a
short ad break and then I will be back with
more from Eric Fisher. Well, I am back talking with
Eric Fisher, host of the Beyond the to do List podcast.
He was just sharing the idea of writing down things
in order to make yourself less distracted. I wonder if
(07:26):
you have some other tips have stuck with you.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
This one is when I'm trying to actually make a
habit right now. It came out of the idea that again,
and it kind of flows with the one I just
talked about, which is, you know, our our perception of
time and our hurried brain that always feels like it's
working off of a sugar high instead of consistent, you know, reasoned,
(07:52):
measured activity. And what I do with this is basically
first thing in the morning. And you can this can
take whatever form you know in cert your form of
what this is for you, But for me, it's first
thing in the morning. The dog wants to walk, well,
they both do, but I only take one because only
one of them likes me. So we go out and
(08:13):
I put no headphones in, I don't put on them.
I leave the phone at home, I don't take anything
with me but the dog and we walk and then
my brain. Yeah, it does kind of the thing where
it's like remembering, oh, what am I doing today? Things
like that, But I try not to think about anything.
I just kind of let my mind wander. In other words,
(08:35):
I'm letting my mind breathe. I'm warming up, not just
my body physically, which does play into the mental and
emotional and everything, but letting my brain acclimate to the day.
I'm waking up and sometimes actually, and honestly, some people
are like, you're crazy. Take coffee with you if you
need to. I don't. I'll do that after I get back.
It's kind of a reward, But it's that allowing of
(08:59):
that time where you're not in I am being very intentional,
but I am not intentionally doing any work. Now that's
not to say that our subconscious is doing stuff and
needs to, but I've just found that that's one great
way to set the tone for the day. First thing,
instead of screw you know, scanning and scrolling for fires
(09:21):
that inevitably most of the time aren't really even there.
Do you remember, I mean we most most mornings were
waking up or like, is there anything that's like calling
to my attention? First thing, it should be what you want,
not what others want. Well, this is a way of
kind of setting that tone for the day. And again,
you're not picking up a device and scrolling over the
(09:43):
never ending buffet that is always there of information that
you could get. There's there's never we're never at a
lack for somebody else who's posted something, news that has
come out, et cetera, et cetera. That's always there. Take
the time time before you even take a look at that.
Speaker 1 (10:02):
Yeah, we are big fans of morning routines on this show.
Do you have anything else you do as part of
your morning routine beyond walking your dog?
Speaker 2 (10:09):
So after that and after having you know that breathing brain,
breathing time, what I will do is I will go
over the list that I have for myself for the day.
I check the calendar, I check my to do list.
And what I kind of do actually before the day
before is, you know, hand off the baton to my
future self. I will close loops. I will leave loops
(10:33):
in places where it's possible for me to pick. Like
in other words, this is where you start on this project.
Like I will almost be super explicit about saying, this
is where you left off, this is the next thing
you need to do so that next morning me doesn't
need to think about it at all. The baton is
being passed because, I mean, that's one of we know
(10:53):
this from studying racing. One of the biggest things is
that baton toss. You screw that up and you lose
like so much time and the other team passes you.
Now this is a you know, a competition with yourself.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
But still you've mentioned that one of your big ideas
these days is peaceful productivity.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
What is that? Yeah, it really means having a I
mean again, we all want to have plans. We want
to execute on those plans. For me, uh, And this
is even you know I would I would relate this
to uh. Something that you know, the walk kind of
makes me think of is that time where you know,
we have these we have our best thoughts in the shower.
(11:31):
Is the saying kind of goes It's it's allowing those
times to exist in your schedule where no one can
reach you and you're not needing to be reached like
you you know, okay, nobody should need me. I'm going
to go do that like in other words, I mean
go back to parenting, Like the rare times you could
get a shower in because the kids are around, it's like, okay,
(11:53):
they're all set up, nothing's going to happen, no emergencies.
Now I'm going to enter into me time. It's hygiene whatever,
but it's not that. In other words, it's work, and
so allowing those times to be in place. The other
thing is I just try not to stack the day
filled with stuff back to back to back to back.
(12:16):
I love to have buffer time in between the things
I do have, and to have those things be as
important as possible. The big picture stuff. Now we know
there's lots of little picture or admin type things, but
I will group those together. Those are some of the
things that always pop up when I do the legal
pad trick that I was talking about a moment ago.
(12:38):
Those are the things that then, oh, yeah, you're right me,
I need to do that. Tell you what. I'll give
you a time and a place for that in this
calendar block called admin on such and such a day,
And it's like a good you know, it's a half hour,
no more, no less, And I'll group all those two
minute activities right in there. That's where it goes. And
(12:59):
so then and you actually gain more trust in your
system and in yourself by doing that.
Speaker 1 (13:06):
So you've shared a lot of great tips from the show.
But I'm wondering and talking with so many people over
the years, is there anything that you've heard a lot
but you don't do because it just doesn't work for you.
Speaker 2 (13:16):
Yeah. I think that one of the things for me.
We've all heard that multitasking is bad, and I think
it's that our perception of what that is is bad.
You can set up multiple things to go and be
automated and do their thing, and then you can switch
between those softwares like I mean, I speak especially to
(13:37):
AI as our thing that we've been using now for
almost two years. You can set up workflows for that
and have it run and then I can switch back.
I will often do this. I will answer emails and
then flip back into AI and type something else and
further it along in the process or dialogue, and then
flip back to email, and that kind of breaks it up.
(13:59):
That's actually a healthy thing for me. With ADHD, you'd think, oh, no,
stay on focus, it's focused time you need to do
you know no. Actually, by jumping back and forth, it
does give me a little bit or enough, i should say,
of a variety of switching tasks. That so when we
say multitasking worse, I mean I'm doing two things at once,
(14:21):
but I'm not. I'm switching tasks. And again, if I
were to add a third or fourth thing in there,
that's where we get into trouble, and it's like which
thing what? Whoop? Uh no, and then I move none
of them forward as fast. But if I can switch
like two things, and it's going to kind of be
the right things. But play with that a little bit,
figure out what are some of those things that like
(14:42):
maybe you do something, you do two things that you
don't want to do at the same time, and then
because you're switching back and forth, you feel that perception
of time moving faster and that momentum, and you're getting
two things done and then you check them off.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So we have to do the right form of multitasking.
Got it. Well, We're going to take one more quick
ad break and then I will be back with more
from Eric Fisher. So I am back talking with Eric Fisher,
host of the long running podcast Beyond the to Do List,
(15:16):
I know podcasting has gone through a lot of changes
in the last few years. I mean, what do you
see as the future of podcasting.
Speaker 2 (15:23):
I think it continues to grow, that's for sure. More
and more people know about it, know what it is,
and are consuming it in some form or fashion, whether
that's audio or video, or audio on a video platform
like YouTube. All these different platforms are starting to offer this,
like Spotify and YouTube. I have to assume because video
(15:43):
podcasting is not new. I used to watch video podcasts
back in that five oh seven oh nine time, and
they would download automatically through my Apple devices and I
would watch them certain ones. So it's not like it's
a new thing. But more and more people have access
to it, and more and more people are aware of it,
and so it's you know, and I think the other
(16:05):
key pieces I love that there's now shows or there
has been all along, but there's now shows that are
shorter like yours are except for this one, this episode,
I should say, But having that as like little pockets
of information that you can say, Okay, what's that one thing,
that one takeaway, what's that one experiment if you will,
that I can try from that episode? I think I
(16:27):
think there's definitely still more room to grow. I mean again,
twenty plus years now, but a lot of people didn't
know about it for the last ten or for the
first ten, and some have just even found it in
the last five. So it continues to grow and I'm
loving it.
Speaker 1 (16:43):
Well, here's hoping we get to keep growing. Eric I
always ask my guests this question, what is something you
have done recently to take a day from great to awesome?
Speaker 2 (16:53):
Yeah, I would say again that I'm gonna lean on
my ADHD brain and one of the things that I've
found is doing something spontaneous and surprising. So for me,
it's hey, there's that new coffee shop that I've never tried.
Let's go there, let's sit there, let's soak in the atmosphere,
try something new, and it gives you a new environment
(17:17):
and a new you know, site, sound, smells, all the
sensory stuff, and that really can open you up in
your imagination, your creativity and all of that. And again,
it doesn't have to be just something that's consuming or consumable.
It can be going to a different place, it can
be even listening to different type of music, or it
(17:39):
can be but I stress that it's usually something sensory
for me that really makes things different. The one other
thing make it maybe relational. Call up that person that
you haven't talked to. I mean it's been six months
since we'd like talked, you know. Yes, people you still
use phones and have voice calls? Do that have that?
(18:02):
Two weeks ago I saw a friend I hadn't seen
in a year, and he happened to be in town,
and me and some other friends we all met up
and it was like, yeah, this so doing some of
those things that reinforce surprise and joy and creativity and
just fun, because I mean, what's the point of productivity
if we're not like enjoying our life because of it?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
We definitely should enjoy life. Do you ever find it
challenging to come up with so many ideas?
Speaker 2 (18:29):
I think that's not the problem. I think I have
more ideas than I can do anything with. I think
one of the sayings that you know, I think I
said this first, I don't know I've never heard anyone
else say it, is that good ideas come from many ideas.
So the many can mean a lot of them are crap.
But some of those crap ones put together with other
(18:49):
crap ones start to come into Oh that's a good idea,
but what's the great idea? And then oh, there's a
good idea and two crap ideas put together, so now
it's a great idea. So again, this is another one
of those reasons why we have like the legal pad
trick I talked about earlier capturing things, but also having
that kind of back burner simmering in some sort of
(19:12):
maybe uh digital brain where those ideas are captured. And
when you're looking for stuff that you know, you know,
I don't quite have it yet, but maybe I've got
something stored in my not in my real brain, not
in my physical brain, but my digital brain, and you
start to search for something topically related and it comes up.
And this is actually where some of the AI stuff
(19:33):
comes in. If you give it access to some of
that digital brain stuff and say, hey, I'm looking for
an idea I had that was about such and such
and da da da, and they well looks like, you know,
two months ago you had this brief snippet of something
is that you know, is that related in your mind?
And oh yes, there you go. So treating you know,
AI like an intern that can track your stuff.
Speaker 1 (19:55):
Yes, Ai can be our interns, I guess before we
get to the point where AI becomes all of our bosses. Eric,
what are you looking forward to these days?
Speaker 2 (20:02):
I'm I'm really looking forward to just some of the
things I've got on the horizon. A couple of different
things with like a group of nonprofits that I'm speaking
with in October that's going to be really cool, all
about podcasting and how they can use that. Really looking
forward to seeing kind of the questions they throw at me,
because they've a lot of them are interested in using
(20:24):
it but haven't used it yet, So that's one. Got
some other speaking things coming on coming up in the future,
and honestly just kind of growing and expanding and working
with some of the stuff like I have a partnership
with Blinkist that app where we put short versions of
my show in there, making more of those coming up.
(20:46):
Lots of cool stuff like that, and just just you know,
enjoying the life of productivity instead of the doing of
the productivity.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
That sounds good. Where can people find you?
Speaker 2 (20:59):
The best way is to go to beyond the to
do list dot com. There's a contact form there as
well as some of the links to socials that'll take
you to my LinkedIn or other things like that where
you can reach out.
Speaker 1 (21:10):
Yes, please check out beyond the to do list. It's
a great show. Eric, Thank you so much for joining us,
and thank you to everyone for listening. If you have
feedback about this or any other episode, you can always
reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com. In
the meantime, this is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's
to making the most of our time. Thanks for listening
(21:40):
to Before Breakfast. If you've got questions, ideas, or feedback,
you can reach me at Laura at Laura vandercam dot com.
Before Breakfast is a production of iHeartMedia. For more podcasts
from iHeartMedia, please visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or
(22:02):
wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Before Breakfast News
Host
Laura Vanderkam
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