Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Caleb Agee (00:00):
When you have to
remember the 100 tasks on your
list, you have no space in yourbrain for thinking of anything
else.
If you could allow yourselfjust to think about today, the
time block you've set up, andfocus on those things, you will
have so much more processingpower to solve problems and be
creative, rather than thinkingabout the things you got to do
for the next three weeks.
Welcome to the Maven MarketingPodcast.
(00:26):
Today is Maven Monday.
I'm your host today, caleb Agee, and I am in the wrong seat,
but hopefully you enjoy what'sgoing on.
Today I'm joined with KyleDeVries.
You know, I was just tellinghim for the longest time.
I was just telling him for thelongest time.
You spell it it's a big D,little E, capital V, right
(00:46):
R-I-E-S, and I had your namewrong in my head.
You know how you read a bookand you mispronounce their name
for a long time and then you seethe movie and you're like ooh,
missed it.
Kyle DeVries (00:57):
Yeah well, it's
hard to pronounce and a lot of
people say DeVries which isunderstandable.
That's what it looks like, so Iforgive you.
Caleb Agee (01:04):
Yeah, I appreciate
that.
Well, this is the place wherewe help you eliminate waste in
advertising, grow your businessand achieve the big dream, kyle.
What are we talking about today?
Kyle DeVries (01:14):
Caleb, marketers
and entrepreneurs have a lot on
their plate.
Did you know that?
Caleb Agee (01:18):
I am at least one of
those things and, yes, I have a
lot on my plate.
Kyle DeVries (01:21):
We're busy people
and there's a lot to keep track
of.
And we've got tasks and we'remanaging people and we're trying
to just make it in the worldand go about our daily lives and
be there for our families andour friends and all that stuff.
And so we want to help you kindof rein it all in figure out
how do I be more productive withmy day.
(01:43):
So, we're going to give youthree tips and we're going to
talk through them, but thosethree tips are time blocking, a
four minute feedback and use asecond brain.
Okay, sounds exciting.
Caleb Agee (01:54):
Sounds so exciting.
All right, time blocking.
Now this is we have.
For the history of Frank andMaven, we've always made daily
lists, which I think which wasvery valuable.
I have notebooks from more than10 years ago where I was making
my list for the day, and I thinkit's really good to declare
(02:20):
what you're going to do each day.
But we found a limitation withthat in that, especially in
creative work, you can spend aninfinite amount of time on
something creative because youcan never stop being done, right
, and so, um, sometimes we findthat tasks that should be really
quick take longer, and tasksthat we thought were fast are
supposed to take longer, right,and so, um, we started doing
(02:42):
what we call time blocking.
Um, because we can.
We can structure our day aroundhow long things should take, or
we hope for them to take.
So one of the most dangerousthings for us to do um with our
day is just to make a listwithout understanding what that
list takes, and so each andeverything on our day not only
(03:03):
has has an assignment, but italso I know when I'm going to do
those things, and that's kindof how we build out our time
blocking each day.
So tell us how we build that.
Kyle DeVries (03:14):
Yeah, so I'm a
little bit old school and in the
past, before I came to Frankand Maven, I would do like
sticky notes and stuff like that, which I still do a little bit.
I kind of like to do that, buthave a physical cross off the
list moment.
But I also would like just keepeverything in my mind and I feel
like I would trust myself alittle bit more than I probably
could be able to trust myself.
(03:34):
So after coming to FrankenMavenI've learned the art of time
blocking.
I've learned the benefits ofreally getting your day down on
paper and kind of learning howto plan those things out.
So to me time blocking is alittle bit of like a cross
between a to-do list and acalendar and kind of an
organizational tool for your day.
So the first thing you should dowhenever you're making your
(03:54):
time block is kind of like findthose things that like you,
those things that already demandyour time in that day that
might be like a meeting orsomething that you're already
feeling like you have to do thatday and kind of build it around
those and then after thatyou're going to gather your
tasks that you need to completeto make progress for that day
and then you're going to assigna realistic amount of time to
those tasks and meetings.
(04:16):
You'll schedule out your tasksby blocking your time throughout
the day and then leaving smallgaps, like where you need them,
if you're going to take a breakor take a lunch or whatever.
Yeah, yeah leaving small gaps,like where you need them if
you're going to take a break ortake a lunch or whatever.
Caleb Agee (04:31):
Yeah, um, yeah, and
then a bonus tip is to share
your list, uh, to yourco-workers or your colleagues
and kind of keep yourselfaccountable that way.
Yeah, we, everybody in ouroffice, should, um, do this and
it's not some weird uh.
I think it sounds reallymicromanaging actually.
Uh, you, you can ask anybodyaround here.
We're very much the opposite ofthat.
We have a lot of we havetalented, you know, hardworking
people that we don't.
(04:51):
We don't like watch whateverybody does, but everybody
shares their list every day Now,with time blocks, so at about
8.30, you'll start seeing them.
We have a channel in Slack andeverybody starts trickling them
in.
You'll see it from 8.30 to nine.
I'm going to do this from nineto 10.
I'm going to do this from 10 to11.
I'm doing this and it's reallyimportant, because giving
(05:12):
yourself like a timeframe for aspecific task will force you to
acknowledge how long it shouldtake to complete.
And so there are differentpersonality types.
Some people are naturally goingto just mark it off, get it
done, mark it off, get it done.
Other personality types and I'mnot throwing any shade at
either one of these will wanderin the task for a while and just
(05:36):
enjoy being creative inside ofthat.
And so instead of getting stuckwandering for two hours, you say
I'm going to spend one hourwriting this thing or designing
this piece or working on thisproject or whatever it is, and
then I'll get as far as I cantoday Hopefully it's not due
today and you've planned yourtime out well enough, but I'm
(05:57):
going to get as far as I cantoday and I'm going to cut
myself off and tomorrow I'llpick it up again.
But that forces you to kind ofhave this crunch time.
That puts the urgency and itputs the pressure on it in a
good way and it makes you workhard.
Kyle DeVries (06:10):
Yeah, and it's not
always going to be like
perfectly to the minute, everysingle time but it is kind of an
art form and you kind of learnwhat normally you should be,
what amount of time you shouldbe spending here or there, and I
always kind of like come backto it throughout the day.
Like sometimes I'll kind offinish up a task or I'll get to
the end of that time block andI'm like I don't even remember
what I was supposed to do next.
(06:31):
And so that just tells me, if Ihadn't time block, I'd be, I'd
be lost.
So, referencing my list backthroughout the day.
I'm at it retroactively.
There are a lot of tasks we do.
Caleb Agee (06:48):
Obviously, not
everything's exactly the same,
but very repeatable tasks thathappen every week or something
like that.
So you could acknowledge like,ooh, I budgeted 30 minutes but
that only took me 15.
Or I budgeted 30 and it reallyneeds to take an hour.
So next time you're going togive yourself an hour, you know,
and so, um, it just helps youunderstand what time takes.
(07:09):
Um, even from a business level,that's important, uh, for
pricing things and setting upyour resources and making sure
that you don't over-promise, uh,your time more than you
actually have, and so that'sreally helpful.
A couple of extra thoughts Berealistic about how long your
(07:30):
meetings will actually last.
So I will say there's a lot ofone hour calendar things on my
calendar that last more than onehour.
And so me looking ahead andsaying that says one hour, says
it's going to end at two, but isit really going to?
It's, I'm going to.
I'm going to mark my next thingto start at two, 30, because I
know that one's going to trailover and that's great, that's
(07:52):
fine, Um, yeah and so, uh.
also, it's easy to get caughtbetween things and kind of uh
meander.
Instead.
Now, because you've made yourlist, just like you said, I know
exactly what I'm going to donext.
So super pro level.
If you want to be crazy, putthose in like event blocks on
(08:14):
your calendar and then mycalendar set to notify me at 10
minutes before each event, so Iget a 10 minute warning.
I don't do this every day.
I'm.
I'm not going to pretend like Iam at the pro level but
sometimes I do, and when I do, Iget these notifications.
It's like, hey, in 10 minutesyou're going to go to this
meeting, or in 10 minutes youneed to switch to this other
(08:35):
task.
And that gives me that.
Okay, I'm about done with this,I need to be putting a bow on
it.
So, um, and then sometimes Ilike to challenge myself.
Put a little extra on the onthe day, like one extra task.
See how many things you can fit.
Can I get to 110% of a perfectday?
You know what I'm saying.
(08:55):
So yeah, any further thoughtson that.
Kyle DeVries (08:56):
Yeah, I mean, I
think that I think that's a good
point, and even if you, if youput a couple of extra things on
there or whatever and maybe youdon't get to them because who
knows what can come up in themiddle of the day, yes, it's
always like a great place tostart for the next day, like
here's.
You know one or two things thatI didn't get done yesterday.
That's kind of maybe where I'llfirst thing I'll start the next
day, or something like that.
Caleb Agee (09:13):
Yeah, and don't get
anxious.
When you put this in writing,you're like I have to switch at
11.
Like, no, that you were just.
You know, you were just settingit up, you're?
You have a budget of time.
It's an outline, but thingscome up and you have to be
(09:35):
flexible and be willing to do it.
You know who does really goodwith this time blocking.
Kyle DeVries (09:39):
Nate, the camera
guy, oh yeah.
Caleb Agee (09:40):
He rocks it.
Kyle DeVries (09:41):
What can't Nate do
?
Caleb Agee (09:45):
I haven't found a
thing yet.
So we're going to try him outat juggling after this and see
if he can pull it off.
So oh, he's giving us thumbs up.
He can do it already.
All right, the next tip we havefor you is four minute feedback
.
I think Carter was talkingabout Gary Vee, as a quote says
that there is such a thing as aseven minute meeting.
(10:06):
We're proposing there's such athing as four minute feedback.
So we have we make a lot ofcreative products.
If you're in, if you'rein-house marketing or you're at
an agency, or you're just anentrepreneur and you're working
on things an entrepreneur andyou're working on things the
reality is, everything you makeshould cross somebody else's
(10:28):
desk before it goes out,especially if it's advertising,
if it's written, if it's goingto be seen by more than one
other person.
I would propose that you shouldget some other eyes on it and
collaborate.
Every song you ever hear, everybook you ever read, has been
touched by probably five to 10people every single time.
And that's what makes it great,because we know that alone we
(10:50):
can go really far, but togetherwe can go even further.
And so, um, what we've found isthat when you do have something
finished and you say, hey, youstudent email or you send a
message, hey, can you take alook at this?
When you get a chance, you'regoing to get crickets.
That will happen every singletime.
Nobody's going to get a chance.
So what we do is we call a fourminute review meeting.
(11:14):
Um, nate the camera guys, onceagain great at this.
Let's say, we just made a TV TVcommercial.
Um, so 30 second ad is astandard TV commercial.
Maybe we've got two of them.
We've got a minute of screentime.
Um, he calls everybody involvedin that account to the room,
put it up on the screen and wewatch it together and reviews it
(11:37):
.
So it's, it's been.
That's been really, reallypowerful.
Kyle DeVries (11:44):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think that's a really greatway to kind of get everybody in
the same room and just kind ofspout off some things that you
see right off the bat orwhatever.
Sometimes they're already awareof what you're going to say,
but it's still good to just getit out there so that
collaboration get in the sameroom, watch it all at the same
time and get back to your day.
Another way we do that and sowe use Slack as kind of our
(12:04):
organizational system.
You might use Microsoft Teamsor Discord or something like
that, but we use Slack and sosometimes we'll call a Slack
attack.
If we need some quick feedbackon, maybe, a website we're
editing or some copy we'rewriting, like that, so we'll
call a Slack attack.
Everybody that is availablewill like stop what they're
doing and just everybody willjust look at it.
At the same time and so again,it's kind of that collaboration
(12:28):
of everybody just kind ofspewing out some thoughts and
just kind of moving forwardtogether.
In that way, it's kind of a funthing to do.
Caleb Agee (12:34):
Yeah For printed
pieces I love.
In that way it's kind of a funthing to do.
Yeah For printed pieces I love.
We don't do, obviously, as muchprint these days as we used to
in the olden days, but I'llprint it off on our crappy
printer here in the office.
Even if it's supposed to be apostcard on like cardstock, I
still print it off, trim it downto size and like staple you
know, staple front and backtogether line it up and then
(12:57):
I'll drop it on Kyle's desk andbe like, hey, how's that feel?
You just got that in the mail.
What do you see?
And he'll be like oh well, Inoticed this first and then I
noticed this and I get livefeedback and I get to hear
exactly his first impression ofit, which is beautiful.
So find those ways to get thatlive feedback as quickly as
(13:17):
possible.
If you have a new idea, get acouple of people in the room,
throw it out, see if it sticks.
If it doesn't, okay, that'sfine, but you got to make sure.
The cool thing about this isyou get to see their faces most
of the time, which is really,really helpful.
Maybe not in the Slack attackversion, um so, and you usually
(13:38):
don't just get critical feedback.
It's like oh, I like this yeah,here we go um well, we found the
dark side of maybe the slackattack or just a digital review
is all you get is the critiqueand none of the validation right
and so it's just kind of likeall you just get a bunch of
darts thrown at it instead oflike a hey, this is really good.
But yeah and sometimes you needto hear the.
(13:59):
This is really good.
Kyle DeVries (14:00):
Right, no, that's
true, I think that's.
I think that's one of the mostimportant parts of the feedback
is being able to like kind ofread body language or like see
their eyes, see their, theirfacial expressions, like
whenever they're presented withan idea or a concept or a video.
And I think that if you're inmarketing, you can use this when
you're presenting something toa client too.
I think it's really, you know,really important to see their
(14:22):
very first reaction, where maybethey're not even aware of, like
, the feelings that they'reputting out, and you're being
able to just perceive thatexactly as it's happening.
And I think that there's a lotof people out there that are
maybe afraid to give their likefull thoughts if they're like,
if they're a little bit negative.
I think you can kind of likesee those reactions and kind of
(14:44):
pry a little bit like okay, Ikind of perceived yeah that you
know this and this.
At that part, like can you, youknow, elaborate, and so just
getting those, those firstreactions and emotions can be
really key for feedback.
Caleb Agee (14:56):
Yeah, and you'll
pick up on those nonverbal cues,
which is really powerful.
So what you're going to do, youneed to.
Next time you have somethingyou need some people to look
over, you're not going to justsend an email, you're not going
to.
Or if you have a client thatneeds to look over something,
you're not going to just send anemail, you're going to call a
(15:18):
four minute meeting and you'regoing to tell them hey, we're
going to spend four minutes,we're going to look at this.
I want your feedback as quick aspossible, cause I know you're
busy.
We're going to get right backto it, show it to them, get the
feedback, ask any more questions.
It might last a little bit morethan four minutes, but that's
okay.
But, um, if let's say worstcase scenario, you're way off
the mark, like you just totallymissed it and you're going to
(15:42):
definitely need to go back tozero.
Call an actual meeting notright then, because that's not
the time they had allotted forit, because they're time
blocking too.
Right, right, call a meetingfor tomorrow or the next day and
circle back up and figure outwhat you needed to get to make
it right.
Kyle DeVries (15:58):
So yeah, and I'll.
I'll add in one more thing, andthat I have to always remind
myself too is don't get offended.
I think we all want the samething, like whether it's the
marketer and the client or thewhoever it's involved, whether
it's just your coworkers, like,we all want to get to the same
place.
We want to make somethingthat's great and it's not going
to be, it's not gonna be perfectthe first time you do it so
(16:18):
don't get offended, just take itin stride and keep moving.
Caleb Agee (16:21):
Hopefully, you're
asking for feedback because you
genuinely want it and you wantthe thing to be better than it
was just when it was in yourhands, and so make sure you, if
you're the one who calls thatmeeting, you set it up in a way
like hey guys, this I've I'veworked hard on this, but I know
it can be better.
I know there are probablythings that I'm not seeing cause
I've stared at it for an hour.
Help me see it.
And, uh, hopefully that youhave this culture of like, kind
(16:46):
and clear and strong feedbackand then, um, just have thick
skin If it gets a little, alittle dicey if, if you're way
off, yeah, it can hurt a littlebit your heart's in that product
.
Kyle DeVries (16:57):
Yeah, so, and at
the very, very bare, like bare
minimum, like if you want toeven try to avoid further edits
even more, like just read it outloud before you send it, like
I'll catch so many mistakes, andan email or a copy or whatever
before I send it off to reviewby just reading it out loud and
something maybe like Whoa.
That sounded kind of dumb whenI read it out loud or whatever
(17:17):
you know you can.
you can fix so many problemsbefore you even get to the point
where you're sending it off.
So just another, just a littletip in there, yeah.
Caleb Agee (17:23):
All right, so that's
the four minute feedback
meeting.
Now, third thing we're going totalk about today is using a
second brain.
Now, this doesn't necessarilymean another human.
Actually, that's not what we'retalking about at all.
It's not me using Kyle's brain.
Uh, although I do use itsometimes, I don't know that's
risky.
We are using it right now.
(17:44):
So, um, fun fact for the day um, your brain, there's a.
There's a principle called theforgetting curve, which says
that your brain loses newinformation at a rate of 50% per
day.
So, not learned information orrepeated information, but you
(18:04):
heard it one time there's noreally recall.
Your brain is losing that, uh,at a rate of 50% per day, each
day, 50%, and then 50% of that50%, and then 50% of that 50%,
and it just goes down.
I feel that I'm sure you'veseen it.
Um, so the the thing about asecond brain is that we want to
(18:29):
make sure we're taking what welearned, that short-term
information that really we don'tneed for long, long, long-term
recall, and we get it out of ourhuman brain and into a digital
brain of some sort as quickly aspossible.
So Tiago Forte that's a greatname coined the term using a
(18:50):
second brain, which is reallythe goal, is to create an
extension of your own memory soyou can free up your mind to
focus on creativity and problemsolving instead of remembering
details, and that is such abeautiful thing, and if you're
in, if you're a marketer, youhave to have that, because there
are a million details.
But there are a lot of momentsthat you need to be very
(19:12):
creative and you need to be veryin a strategic and
problem-solving mind and whenyou're bogged down with like you
know how, you have those dayswhere you're like I have a
thousand little paper cut tasksthat are going to kill me today
and those detail tasks are justcrushing your spirit.
You could never create anythingof value creatively.
(19:33):
I feel like on that day you know, what I'm saying, because it's
all stuck inside of you and sowe're going to quickly try to
get that out and capturedsomewhere else so that we have
the freedom.
So yeah, tell us how we do thathere.
Kyle DeVries (19:48):
Yeah, I think
we're in meetings all the time
and there's so much informationthat's changing hands and all
this stuff and things that a lotof people need to know, and so
as soon as I receive somethingto do or I receive some
information, I'm putting itsomewhere else.
Whether that's like we useAsana kind of a project
management tool, or just even ina Word document, or like a
Google Doc or something likethat, I'm getting it somewhere
(20:12):
else because we've alreadytalked about the fallacies of
trying to remember everythingthat your brain's going to start
playing tricks on you If you'restarting to try to just
remember all these random facts.
it's going to slow down yourprocessing power and all that
stuff.
So get it out somewhere elsewhere you know exactly what that
information was when youreceived it.
And if it's a task for someoneelse, get it out of your brain
(20:34):
and into that shared brain forthem as well.
Caleb Agee (20:37):
Yeah.
So there are tons of tools forthis.
You could use Google Docs andWord Docs I don't really care
what it is.
You could just use the Notesapp on your phone.
It doesn't really matter whatexactly it is.
I think if you're in an officeenvironment something like Asana
or Monday or or something likethat where you can, um, create
these tasks and have themorganized, we're not getting
(20:58):
into the weeds of how toorganize all those Um.
Trello is another one that I'vethought of.
Um, what you want to make sureis that you've given yourself
essentially the permission toforget about that task.
Not that you're forgettingabout it, but you know there's a
mechanism that will.
Not that you're forgettingabout it, but you know there's a
mechanism that will remind methat this is due on Thursday and
(21:20):
therefore I don't have to worryabout it until I need to be
working on it.
And so when you have toremember the 100 tasks on your
list, you have no space in yourbrain for thinking of anything
else, just working on thosetasks.
Kyle DeVries (21:35):
Yeah.
Caleb Agee (21:36):
But if you could
allow yourself just to think
about today, the time blockyou've set up, and focus on
those things, you will have somuch more processing power to
solve problems and be creative,rather than thinking about the
things you got to do for thenext three weeks.
Kyle DeVries (21:50):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I think this has helped merealize I need to let go of some
of those random sports factsthat are up in my brain.
I can probably, you know,forget Mark McGuire's batting
average from 1999, or somethinglike that, I can move on from
all those sports facts so I canhave some processing power come
back to my brain.
Caleb Agee (22:04):
What was his batting
average?
I don't know, that was just arandom thing, but I thought you
were.
I shouldn't have what was hishome run count in 99?
I don't know.
Kyle DeVries (22:11):
But a lot of home
runs, probably in the sixties.
Caleb Agee (22:14):
Yeah, uh, that was,
that was a good, good time 98,
99.
Everybody's taking steroids andjust hitting home runs over and
over again Good day to be abaseball fan.
Yeah, All right.
So, um, what's beautiful aboutusing that tool like Asana is
that you can come back to it.
Um, when you're building yourtime blocking, these kind of
(22:34):
this comes full circle whenyou're building your time
blocking.
That helps you.
Um, you look at the calendar,you look at, we look at Asana
what's been assigned to me bymyself or somebody else, and
then we build our day aroundthose things.
And it's really, really powerfulto see, um, what you have on
your plate today.
So, um, three things.
Here's what you're going to do.
(22:54):
You're going to start timeblocking.
You're going to tell your timewhere to go.
That looks like a structuredday, a budget for your day, I
think it's.
Dave Ramsey says tell your moneywhere to go, so you don't
wonder where it went.
Tell your time where to go, soyou don't wonder where it went.
We're going to you're going tocall four minute feedback
meetings.
You can.
(23:18):
You can make a meeting happen.
Maybe if you're reviewing afive minute video, it might not
be a four minute feedbackmeeting, but make them quick,
make it clear that it's going tobe quick and get everybody out
of there as quick as you can.
Um, and you're going to use asecond brain.
Release the details of, uh, allthe little minute details and
the deadlines and all thosethings.
Release those to your secondbrain.
Make sure you catch everythingyou need in there and then allow
(23:39):
yourself to focus on what youreally have on your plate today.
So I hope that helps you bemore productive this week and
next week and the next week.
If you can't jump onto all threeof these things all at once.
Take one and and work on it anduh love it.
If you leave us a comment, letus know, um how, how that's
(24:01):
working for you, which of theseprinciples you're going to apply
.
Um, that always helps us.
Kyle DeVries (24:06):
And make sure you
like, like and subscribe to the
maven uh marketing podcastabsolutely, and if you need help
or if you have any businessrelated questions, you can email
us at mavenmonday, atfrankenmavencom.
We'd love to answer anyquestions and maybe even feature
your business on a futureepisode.
Caleb Agee (24:24):
Yeah, we've alluded
to it a lot and it is coming.
We've been building thisactually for years, but
especially in the last fewmonths, we've been building the
Maven Marketing Mastermind andthis is something we've actually
been talking about a lot today.
We're super excited about it.
It will be a way to join,essentially, a community of
(24:45):
marketers and small businessowners who want to help see
their marketing problems solved.
We'll have regular calls withFrank and Maven team members and
we'll have a community ofpeople who can help you sharpen
your marketing skills and growand solve those problems that
you see every day.
So we're going to be releasingdetails on that.
(25:08):
There's going to be some specialdeals for founding members of
of that mastermind, so keep youreyes out.
Um, if you aren't alreadysubscribed, go to our website,
frankandmavencom.
Um, there should be asubscription to our newsletter.
You'll get Maven Monday sent toyou and, frankly, fridays, but
then also, as we launched thismastermind, it'll be the way to
(25:29):
keep.
Keep in touch there so youdon't miss a chance to get an
early entry discount and getaccess to what I think will be
the best bang for your buck forsome marketing training.
Yeah, it's gonna be awesome,it's gonna be really good.
So we'll be here every singleMonday answering your real life
marketing questions.
(25:50):
Because marketers who can'tteach you why Just a fancy lie,
thanks guys.