Welcome back, Uncommon Leaders!
Join us in a conversation brimming with wisdom and impactful strategies, as I welcome Adam Ward - an executive coach with nearly 20 years of experience. Adam offers a fresh perspective on how to manage time, maximize productivity, and create genuine customer value. His insights about evading the pitfalls of overwork and neglecting other crucial aspects of life like health and family are particularly eye-opening.
Throughout this episode, we delve into the art of prioritizing tasks, managing calendars, and harnessing the power of automation and artificial intelligence to boost productivity. For those craving to step up from mediocrity to excellence in business or personal life, this episode is a treasure trove of practical advice.
So, buckle up for a ride packed with insights, tips, and strategies to turbocharge your personal and professional life.
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Did you know that many of the things that I discuss on the Uncommon Leader Podcast are subjects that I coach other leaders and organizations ? If you would be interested in having me discuss 1:1 or group coaching with you, or know someone who is looking to move from Underperforming to Uncommon in their business or life, I would love to chat with you. Click this link to set up a FREE CALL to discuss how coaching might benefit you and your team)
Until next time, Go and Grow Champions!!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey Uncommon Leaders, welcome back.
This is the Uncommon LeaderPodcast and I'm your host, john
Gallagher.
In this episode, I had thehonor of interviewing my friend
and former coworker, adam Ward.
You might remember that Adamwas a guest a couple years back
and his journey since then isreally inspiring.
With almost two decades ofexperience as an executive coach
specializing in corporatetransformations, adam has helped
(00:22):
many businesses and individualstap into their untapped
potential, leading to morefulfilling lives, both
professionally and personally.
Adam's expertise covers a widerange of topics, including how
to create true customer valuenow and how to jumpstart your
innovation today.
But in this episode, we'll bediving deep into a particular
important one to you, thelistener how to immediately add
(00:44):
time back to your calendar.
We all know how valuable timeis, and Adam has some truly
game-changing insights to shareon the subject.
During our conversation, adamwill be sharing some practical
tips and strategies that you canstart implementing right away,
including how he uses AI to gainback time.
Let's get started.
Hey, adam Ward, welcome back tothe Uncommon Leader podcast.
(01:09):
It's great to have you on.
Look, I couldn't believe thatit'd been two years since we
almost to the day since werecorded the last podcast that
we had together, but time wasflying by.
How are you doing, man?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm doing great, John .
Thanks for having me back.
I've been looking at all yourepisodes, the following you
since then, and you've had someamazing people on here.
So to let me back on, I feelprivileged.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, come on, man, Don't be humble.
There'll be no time for beinghumble in the next 30 minutes or
so.
We're gonna get right throughthat.
So you won't get a chance totalk about your childhood story,
because I already did that, sothat's only for my first time.
Yes, but I did want to ask.
When we think about theUncommon Leader podcast and the
goal really is to help leadersgrow it's been two years since
we've had you on what's new foryou and what's been going on in
(01:53):
your personal developmentjourney?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, that's a wow.
That's a great question.
So the biggest thing isprobably COVID killed one of my
businesses and that was reallytough kind of just saying hey,
it's failed, you can't getemployees, whatever the reason,
and that's gone.
And then I was also doing asignificant amount of work of
(02:15):
collaboration and the nonprofitspace and everything that was
related to 2021 and 2022, thedesire to collaborate dropped
off and so I pulled back alittle bit and kind of said,
okay, if I'm gonna focus onstuff, what am I gonna focus on?
And I wanna focus on thingsthat add the highest value to.
(02:36):
So I've doubled down.
Going back to the speakingcircuit, consulting and then
responding to pull when peopleneed help Sounds busy.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, I hope so.
It's kind of one of thosethings and we still are feeling
the effects of that, no doubtabout it in terms of COVID, and
it's probably something we couldspend a lot of time on, but
probably not on this podcast.
Maybe another episode we coulddiscuss that, cause I don't
think we'll see the end of thatin our lifetime in terms of the
impact that it's had ultimatelyin many different fronts.
(03:09):
But you are that's right back onthe speaking circuit and I
wanted to talk to you todayabout one of the specific topics
that you end up talking aboutand how you might share with the
listeners how to get goingthere.
But I'm gonna read you a quotefrom an article that I read from
you and just get your contexton it.
You said your job, familyhobbies would each take up all
24 hours of your day, if you letthem.
(03:31):
That's a quote that I read fromyou.
Can you elaborate on that quoteand what that really means to
you?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So let's go extreme here for a second.
We can think about the typical26 year old kid living at home
in the basement who's on hisXbox all day long or his PS5,
right, and you just think hejust goes out, eats, maybe goes
to bed, maybe doesn't, and justplaying video games.
That is his hobby and isconsuming 24 hours.
And then we know the workcourses on the other end that
(03:59):
put in 18 hours a day of work.
They come home, they sleep,they're opening their email as
soon as their eyes open in themorning.
And then you've got familiesyour spouse, your kids.
In my case, I have agranddaughter, and it's just.
Your family will take up all ofthose chunks of time too.
So you have to be veryjudicious with how you split it
(04:19):
if you want to be effectiveacross all of them.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, 20, so you talk about that family again, you
talk about your hobbies and,ultimately, the work side, and
then that fourth component andyou didn't really sit, because
that's what I was adding withthe 24 hours is oh, by the way,
we'd like you to get some sleepin there.
Yeah Right, I mean, and that'scrazy, and I mean as leaders, we
face that all the time.
I mean a lot of type A's interms of leadership positions.
(04:44):
They have to work, they feellike they need to work, and
they'll neglect some of thosethings.
They'll neglect their healthand what they need to do on
their time.
I'm a perfect example of thatin terms of how I used to be and
how I need to make a changethere.
They neglect family time andthat's why the divorce rate in
this country is as high as it is, unfortunately, in terms of
neglecting and ultimately, allfor the need to succeed in
(05:06):
whatever success is designed as.
So you know, in your experiencein working with the individuals
that you've coached and thatyou've spoken with, you know why
is it that we have that feeling?
Why do we get sucked into thatneed for success in our business
and neglect all those otherthings?
What gets in the way?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh my gosh.
So I mean, john, that's areally deep question there.
I think what I find mostrepetitively is that there's a
pattern they're trying to repeatthat they see, and that pattern
is the pattern that will leadto importance or significance.
(05:44):
And in most cases you sacrificeone or two of those three on
the altar of the other one.
And I don't think a lot ofpeople have someone to talk to
about it.
I don't think they feel, youknow, comfortable talking to
their significant other or theirparents or another colleagues
make them feel vulnerable orthey just don't, they won't like
(06:06):
the way they reprioritize it.
So I think that that makes itreally hard.
And with the number of women inthe work field too, and you
know taking on, you know,additional responsibilities,
then there was different just ahandful of years ago.
You know there's not a lot ofquality mentoring there either.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
But you think about it too.
Even you mentioned COVID at thestart, post COVID.
So you and I are insignificantly different roles
than we were, you know, fouryears ago with a big company and
the actual thought ofdiscussing with our superior,
you know, family balance andlife, work balance and wanting
to have more sleep, or, frankly,if I want to take a 15 minute
(06:47):
nap in the middle of the daybecause science says is much
more healthy for you than justkeeping going over and over and
over again, that's not somethingthat's discussed in the
workplace either.
In terms of what really works.
I make up that.
You know, our workplace doesmake that a little more
difficult and I think, in thespace of being an entrepreneur
now and having some of thatcontrol, I didn't realize four
(07:08):
or five years ago how I wouldfeel, how I would feel that much
better as a result of beingable to do that and at the same
time, not necessarily worry isnot the right word, but I'll use
that word concern maybe aboutthe number of hours that I work,
because it was in a space thatI was really having fun, it's in
a space that I enjoy.
That's something I'm reallygood at, and a lot of folks are
(07:31):
doing that nine to five and timethat they hate, or tired.
When they get done, they gethome they still have to cook
dinner, make it for the family,get their kids in bed or
grandchildren in bed.
As we go forward in terms ofsome of that changes and it's
hard, I mean it's reallydifficult and so you talk about
your coaching.
You talk about really that ifwe take a few simple steps, that
(07:55):
we should be able to get backat least five hours a week
without necessarily giving upanything.
Now that's quite a change,that's quite a productivity
improvement.
In terms of getting that backwithout sacrificing anything,
what are some of themethodologies that you discuss,
then, or the ideas that you havethat will help us do that?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, gosh, I mean five hours, john.
I think a lot of people wouldsay, hey, I'll take five hours
and I'll reuse that.
And if I go back to mycorporate days and look, I'm not
advocating for people to beentrepreneurs, it's a tough road
.
You've got ups and downs on itas well, but certainly this
works in the corporate arenawhen you've got your head down.
If you own your own business, Iused it then.
(08:36):
So I think the very first thingI ask is what is important to
you and prioritizing that shortlist of three to five things,
and then how to actually divideyour time, just being honest
with yourself, to saying, hey,my job is most important, or my
family is most important, or myhobbies are most important and
(08:59):
under hobbies I would putanything that you spend free
time on, so that could beexercise.
You know, that could be justdoing something fun.
I could be hanging out, couldbe watching Netflix, but I've
looked at too many people'scalendars, audited too many
times, to say, hey, we've gotsome, we've got some, we have
some similar opportunity here tobe able to help you out.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Did you know that many of the things that I
discuss on the Uncommon Leaderpodcast are subjects that I
coach other leaders andorganizations on?
If you would be interested inhaving me discuss one-on-one or
group coaching with you, or knowsomeone who is looking to move
from underperforming to uncommonin their business or life, I
would love to chat with you.
Click the link in the shownotes to set up a free call to
discuss how coaching mightbenefit you and your team.
(09:48):
Now back to the show.
When you think about the mostunique, maybe let's not talk
about the biggest problem thatyou've observed on the calendar,
but let's talk about a win withsome of your coaching style.
Maybe what's one of the successstories you've had with a
client that shows some of thetechniques that you use have
(10:09):
been very helpful for them?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
This first one is just so obvious and it's the
elimination of meetings.
I tell you, covid absolutelyexploded the number of meetings
that were required to attend.
They did it virtual.
We got back-to-back Zoommeetings or back-to-back Teams
meetings.
We don't even have bio breaksin between.
We're running late from one tothe other.
There is no travel time.
The travel time is justclicking on another link and
(10:34):
we're still late and we're notpresent.
We're alt-tabbing betweenWindows, we're responding to
emails.
A lot of these meetings don'trequire our decision-making to
go on.
One of the things that I liketo challenge leaders the most,
and this doesn't necessarilywork if you're the front line,
but if you have any type ofleadership role, if there's a
(10:57):
meeting that you're attendingwhere you're not required to
make a decision, if someone else, take it off, just get rid of
it right off the bat.
Some leaders are control freaksand they think that no one else
is going to be able to handleit.
If that's you, that's a wholeseparate podcast, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
FOMO fear of missing out.
Yeah, it is, they don't want tomiss anything, right.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Right or miss that decision.
I can't tell you how many timesI look at a calendar and easily
pulled hours and hours offbecause of meetings people were
attending, especially post-COVID, that they just don't need to
attend anymore.
Some of the meetings areduplicate meetings.
I'd say, hey, take a nice hardlook at this.
Maybe get a peer from anotherbusiness say what is that
(11:43):
meeting really doing?
Is it really adding value?
Is there someone that I canhave attended in my place that
can make the decision andescalate it to me if I need to?
That seems too easy, but whenyou look at the double, triple,
quadruple booked calendars thatI see a lot of people have these
days, you got to get them offand block them and don't let
(12:05):
people fill them up.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I like that.
In terms of time blocking, it'ssomething that obviously I
would teach out as well, andeven blocking time for nothing,
for nothing.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I block tons of time for nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Now that nothing we end up putting the influence.
There is never nothing, but itis reflection, it's an
opportunity to rest, it's anopportunity to read, it's an
opportunity to catch up on theemails.
We never get that.
The only time we get to dothose emails you talked about
the start we have thoseback-to-back double book
meetings.
Is it night or early in themorning?
So when they collect thoseother things to catch up on
emails that could have been done, I love that as an idea in
(12:39):
terms of eliminating especiallythose duplicate meetings.
You say this in your notes isto be ruthless.
It's really a process of let'smake sure that it adds value
Meetings.
We could spend 45 minutestalking about that.
Do you start them on time?
Why does it have to be 60minutes?
You're doing it 15 minutes.
There are so many differentways to go through that.
(13:00):
Eliminating meetings right offthe bat.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
John.
For the really aggressive onesI would say wipe the calendar
clean, Build a new one.
I like that.
Don't start from 100 and workit down.
Start from zero and add thecritical few, Then see which
ones.
Let a week go by and see whichones you're missing out on.
That'd be a far more effectiveway to see which meetings are
going forward.
That's a ruthless way too.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
No doubt about it.
That's a dramatic breakthroughthat you would see.
Do I really need all thesemeetings that are there, that go
forward?
Let's talk about a couple ofthings.
One of the things you said andagain, while you say you're not
advocating being an entrepreneur, you're also one of the tips
you talk about is to get a jobor role that maximizes your
natural capabilities, yourskills.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Okay, I know there's a lot of debate online now about
personality tests Enneagramdon't force me into a box or
Myers-Briggs, one of binarysolutions that you think I am.
Honestly, I think the biggestthing is people are afraid to
(14:05):
know what they're actually goodat and what they're bad at,
because some of our roles if wewere bad at that, they wouldn't
want us in it.
We're faking it and that effortis taking more effort to do our
work than it is otherwise.
If you take a personality testand I love them, I love them all
(14:25):
.
I take all of them, but I don'tlet that define me.
I just let it guide me on whereI'm going to spend my time.
There's always examples ofthings in there that say, hey,
these are different roles andthese are why you would be good
at them, and so I think in whenyou're doing something fun, it
(14:46):
doesn't feel like work, andwe've heard that if you love
what you're doing, it's neverwork.
I mean, it is work, it's stillwork, but it's much more
enjoyable.
And I think that a lot of peoplethey need to do a disc or a
true colors or something andjust say, just be honest and say
, look, this is what I'm good at.
I'm not good at administrativework, I'm not good at project
(15:08):
management I'm not good at, butI'm great at creativity.
I'm great at ideation.
I think Patrick Lenshione's gota great thing with the working
genius.
If you're doing any type ofdeveloping with his widget model
, I just say, hey, this is thepart of projects that I should
be a part of and not these otherparts of it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So many different tools that you can use.
One of the things that I talkabout is really three pieces.
If you've got a passion for it,if you've got a strength in it
and there's a market that youcan be paid for it, you're
really gonna be working to yourpoint and not feel like you're
working because you'repassionate about it and again
being paid Anytime.
You end up with something thatyou might not be good at but
you're passionate about.
(15:47):
I mean, it could be a spacethat you wanna work in but
you're just not good at it.
You're gonna be frustrated allthe time and it's gonna be in
your head.
It's gonna be something that'sgonna be in your head.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And with this gig economy, john, we can find
fillers for the stuff we're badat, and that's another one of
the points I have is that youcan find a filler If you're not
using a virtual assistant.
It's almost silly right nowbecause they're so cheap.
I mean, you can get one in theUS for $40 or $50 an hour.
You can get it offshore forfive or 10 bucks an hour.
(16:14):
They'll do anything that youneed them to do and maybe just
need it for an itch.
You're like I'm bad atscheduling, I'm bad at following
up with customers.
You know I'm bad at gettinggifts I'm bad at.
I hate doing my travelarrangements.
You don't need it.
You don't need a secretary, youdon't need an admin.
You can just go get a VA andthat will cut your work down
(16:35):
significantly and that's stuffthat you hate doing.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I love that.
Once you find out, too, whatyour kind of hourly rate is for
the work that you do and youstart to throw that five to 10
bucks an hour, even sometimesthat 40 bucks an hour for a
US-based VA, it pays for itselfreally quickly.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And you don't-.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
If you can replace it with a revenue generating task,
yeah exactly and you're notusing them 40 hours a week.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I mean you can build up to that, but I mean most of
them they'll start.
You have five hours a week andif you can keep them busy, yeah,
generating revenue.
Some of them will do BD closingfollow-ups and research for you
.
There's a lot of options outthere.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I started to hear this as a new concept and I know
it's not new.
It's new to me in terms ofhearing this is 1080, 10.
Now you take care of the 10%.
That's the most important.
Set the scope, set the goalsand then delegate to 80.
Most of the work that's goingon to the VA, this planning type
activity that's going on, andthen you finish the last 10%.
That's 10%.
That's important.
Tweak, make those thingschanges and things like that.
(17:33):
And I'll say that this isanother one of your tips as well
is AI is becoming something foryou in terms of being able to
use that as a resource.
So that's one of my questions,the zinger question like to help
you be more productive, adam.
So you've had to live this tomake some of this, to be able to
teach it.
What's the last thing you'veused chat GPT for to help you be
(17:53):
more productive?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So the irony is, years ago when I wrote my book,
I used speech to text.
I did the entire book speech totext.
Now that's a really nascent AItype programming and but now
you've got so many things chatGPT.
I use Google Bard, which isvery similar to chat GPT, but
there's just so many things fromcomposing emails to writing
(18:18):
speeches, to blog posts, there'sjust a bunch of things.
And that 108010 applies in AIas well.
So you like back.
I remember back in 98, 99, whenGoogle was first coming on the
market, you had to learn how tosearch with Google to get the
results you wanted.
You couldn't just spit somenonsense in and give good
(18:39):
results, so they did better thanthe ones that were out there.
Just, AI is the same thing.
You need to learn how to feedit and it will create something.
And then, once it createssomething, you can go in, modify
it and tweak it and make ithuman again, Because there's
still it's still really clunkythat some of the stuff that it
responds, but it gives you thegreat opportunity.
(19:00):
I love that 108010.
Yeah, you 10%.
Set the AI up, let AI run andthen tweak the 10%.
I mean it'll do.
There's new tools every singleday apps that are downloading.
Some of them are going out ofbusiness, some of them are
coming up, but at least get chat, GPT or Google Bard or some of
this stuff and just have it.
Anything that you need written,just stick it in there.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's crazy what it'll do for you.
I mean, I've used it.
Like you said, help me writeemails or help me with my old
English.
That doesn't work very welleither.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I'm sure I don't embarrass myself to make that
happen, I will probably, john,write one of my very next
speeches just on AI.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I would like to.
I would like to again see theproduct and see you do that,
because I think it's gonna becool Again.
Set aside the debate aboutwhether it's bad or that's not
what this is about.
Any thing that exists has thepotential to be bad or evil in
terms of how it's used, but whenyou can use it effectively,
(19:59):
it's a.
I believe it's a phenomenaltool from a productivity
standpoint, from a contentdevelopment standpoint and from
creating those types of so Igive you a real practical
example.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I wrote a couple of blogs and my SEO guy was like,
hey, I need you to write I don'tknow, it's like five blogs.
And so I wrote the first twoand they took, I don't know,
maybe 30 or 40 minutes each, 800to 1200 words, somewhere in
that range.
And I was really putting mythought into it.
I'm like I'm never gonna getthrough this, all of these blogs
.
So the next three, I did the1080, 10 with Google Bard built
(20:33):
each paragraph and I think I didthose three and maybe 20
minutes.
So you know, going from an hourand a half down to 20 minutes,
that's, you know, you're gettinga lot of time to check.
That's huge.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's huge.
If you're trying to do againone or two or three blog posts a
week, that's really big.
That's a big number in terms ofgoing through.
And I've had to at least learn,because one of the goals I set
with some of those activitiesagain blog posts that's content.
Development is very important,as you know leaders who care
about developing other leaderswe want to share the content, we
want to share the skills andthe resources that we have, but
(21:07):
it takes time to do that.
Yeah, we've got to get moreefficient at that.
I set a goal this year to reducemy time by 50% to write a blog
post.
I'm not there yet, but I amusing AEI to help me get better
at it.
So that's something I'm reallydoing Now.
One of the other things andwhile AEI doesn't necessarily do
that, it frees time up forother space that five plus hours
you're talking about Inside ofour 24 hours a day.
(21:32):
Oftentimes we approach leadersand say when do you do your
personal development?
Do you read any leadershipbooks?
Do you read any?
I don't have time to do thatpersonal development stuff.
So what's?
I know you're focused onleadership development.
What's a unique habit ordiscipline?
You have to ensure that it fitsinto your 24 hours to get your
personal development.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I don't read books anymore, ever.
I don't never crack open a book.
I've read hundreds and hundredsof them.
I just don't do that anymore.
If it's not an audio book, I'mnot going to read it and I'll do
the audio book at 2X.
I'll listen to that.
I do the base of my learningthrough podcasts Again at 1.5 or
(22:11):
2X and then if it's somethinginteresting I'll go back.
But and then if the podcastreally goes on about a specific
book, that I'll go get the audiobook and I'll rifle through it.
But yeah, if it's not audio I'mnot sitting down.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
So I love that.
So I love that, both audio only.
I like that 1.5 to 2X.
I got two different paths Iwant to ask about.
One is like when do you listento the audio?
Like when do you listen to yourbooks?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, anytime that I can't interact with something
else.
So if I'm waiting in a line atan airport, if I'm in my car, if
I'm riding my bike, you knowtimes where my you know it's
just not possible for me to behaving a conversation or
interacting with a device.
I mean, sure you can use yourphone in a car, but and you
don't need a ton, I mean you can.
(23:00):
You know, you can have yourlisten at 2X.
You get, you know, an hour donein 30 minutes or you get 30
minutes done in 15.
It's just very easy.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
No, I love that.
And then the actual stacking ofthe habits.
James Clear, we'll talk aboutan atomic habit.
He would say stacking thosehabits together.
So your exercise and you'redoing your personal development
at the same time by listening toa podcast or driving, and
you're not feeling like you'restacking it.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
It's just your, it's less energy on it.
You know, you.
You don't have to focus on yourpain, your body's in, when
you're cycling or liftingweights or whatever, and then at
the same time you're put, youknow, fill in your mind with
some good stuff to consider thatnight or the next day or
whatever.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So you can see up here I'm a book guy, though I'm
a hard like the touch.
I like to write in like thehighlight, like the dog.
You're the pages.
Part of that is to be able togo back and reference what I
heard and what I'd like to goback to it.
How do you do that in the audiospace?
How do you get a regulation orsummary of what you want?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, so I mean that's tough.
So usually what I do in anaudio book is I'll throw a
bookmark in there and it'll saveall those bookmarks on the
content.
But more often than not I'llend up just looking up a PDF of
that book summary and then youknow it, just just enough to jog
my memory on what that topicwas, cause I, I mean, I've got
highlighters, you know all inthere.
(24:16):
But with you know, with thesearch engine capability power
now and some of the summarystuff, it's, you know if you can
just bookmark it or I'll speakspeech to text it in my in my
phone.
You know that that does somethings that I do.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, the print screens of the podcast are ones
that I like to do at certaintimes, and I'll make a quick
note on it.
But I like the audio, the textnote as well.
That could be done there.
That's pretty cool and I likethat.
That.
You again, you don'tnecessarily have that specific
time per se, You're doing thatwhen you've got some other
activity, when you have downtimeand you can be able to do that
on a regular basis.
(24:52):
Yep, adam, you got quite amethodology that goes through
that in terms of understandingthe tips that you need to do.
Let me ask you this oddquestion in terms of about that
process what have I not askedyou that you want to make sure
that the listeners hear aboutthis process again in this time
back and be more productivegetting the time back?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
For hardworking professionals, the most
neglected is usually your family.
No-transcript.
We can want to do it and one ofmy favorite leaders, andy
Stanley, wrote a book years agoabout, you know, reprioritizing
family over.
I don't remember.
I don't know what the latesttitle is, but it used to be
(25:30):
called choosing the cheat, whichit's not that anymore.
But it's when work and familycollide and you know, the family
could take 24 hours to up yourtime if you give them.
But the thing that changed minewith my life, with my wife and
my kids, was Gary Chapman's fivelove languages and just
(25:51):
understanding what each of theirlove languages.
And if it's not quality time,then quality time's not helping
them.
And you've got you know, ifyou've got five different ones
to pick from, you've got accessservice and you've got gifts and
you've got physical touch, andyou know, you've got these five
that you can say, hey, my wifeis this with a side of this, my
kid is this with a side of that.
(26:12):
And then what I would do is Iwould set up time with them and
then I would just invest inthose love languages and their
tank would be full and itwouldn't take hours and hours
and hours.
Now one of my, my wife's, isquality time, so that makes it
hard.
So you know, I just I never putit, ever put a ton of overtime
into my work.
If the job requires it.
(26:34):
I'm either not interested oryou know they can find someone
else.
It's.
I'm just not going toprioritize that.
But doing the five lovelanguages and it actually works
for employers and employees too.
But really at home you can makea significant advancement when
how your family feels about youby employing those techniques.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Love that.
Thanks for sharing that, and Ido think I don't know why it is
easiest to neglect the familyside in terms of what we do it
really is, I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You supposedly love the most right.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, right, exactly.
And so those are the ones.
Since you love them most, theylove you the most.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You feel, right or wrongly, that you can take that
for granted, and yeah, well, Ithink there's so much pressure
for us to perform at work.
We most of us, you know gainour identity when they're like
what do you do we that wedescribe our job first.
You know we don't describe that.
We're a husband or a wife or amom, and a lot of people too,
the big Adam, what do you mean?
You didn't work overtime.
It's like well, I decided yearsago I'm not going to waste my
(27:37):
time on overtime, but I'm goingto manage my boss.
And so if you're managing yourboss and knowing exactly what he
or she wants and some of thosebosses can be really difficult
and you can spend way less timeworking and getting stuff done
and still looking good andgetting promoted than and then
(27:59):
just cranking out a bunch ofhours.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
How do you do that?
How do you manage your boss?
Well, your boss, right.
I want to see what you used todo to me.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, John was my boss for all.
He just let me go and one ofthese rules is not going to
apply because I absolutely madehim look bad all the time.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But you know.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
One of the things is your boss never wants to get
yelled at right For somethingstupid that you did, so you need
to at least tell him what youdid dumb right, which I think
John told you pretty much allthe time when I did something
that they weren't going to likeand but if they're armed with
the data, then they can sidewith you.
The second thing is bossesalways want to look good, so if
(28:39):
you can give them let them takefull credit for everything you
do then you're going to get sojust, you're going to get
advanced.
It's just when promotion timecomes they're going to push you
and you be closer to your bossthan all of your peers, cause if
your peers are doing hallwaysmack talk and you haven't
updated your boss, he's going toside with the person that's the
closest.
So those are a couple of likesimple things that you can do,
(29:02):
especially for introverts whoaren't oozing cares.
You know charisma.
It's like if you can take thesesteps, you can cut your
overtime.
And trust me, I've done it, gotpromoted.
It works, it's easy and you'restill doing a great job.
It's just you're not doing that.
What they expected rate is.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Well, I think it's so important to understand.
You say, manage your best isunder under, certainly important
to understand the results thatthey want and how they want them
delivered.
That makes it easy for them toagain communicate it.
You don't have to do any rework, so that can be really powerful
.
And you're right, we used tospend a good deal of time.
I don't know how I used to, howI used to refer to it exactly,
but I would try to.
(29:41):
I mean, adam, you were theinnovation guy and of all the
folks in our organization thatwere there, because of Adam's
innovation background, becauseof his creativity, because of
the tools that he understood,and many of the employees and
organizations did not understandthat it was oftentimes his
approach was questioned, and soit was my job to you know, in
(30:02):
essence, make sure that,regardless of that, adam was
still allowed to use the processthat he had designed, and then
it would work if we allowed himto do that.
So that was really part of howwe worked together, and I think
we worked together pretty well.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
We did, and we had tremendous success at clients as
a result of that.
It was just not the way somepeople liked it, which is fine.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Absolutely so, adam, here's kind of the finished
question I appreciate yousharing about immediately adding
time to your calendar.
Really, two more questions.
The first one is looking aheadon your journey.
So we sit down again two yearsfrom now and we're going to be
on another podcast talking aboutwhat Adam Ortt has going on.
What is it that is going to bebetter for Adam Ortt in the next
(30:46):
couple of years?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, I think the next two years are going to be a
hyper focus of where I actuallywant to spend my time and being
able to choose the companiesthat I work with, the people I
work with, and being reallypicky about the ones that want
to improve, the ones that wantto get better and that will just
(31:09):
perform, be curious, be humble,listen.
That's probably one of thebiggest things.
The second thing say hey, watchout.
Is that I don't know what twoyears from now is going to look
like, but I guarantee that I'mgoing to put whatever I'm doing
as a focus and I'll follow wherethat leads, and so whatever I'm
(31:32):
good at, I'm going to push andthen we'll see where the path
goes.
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Well, Adam, I appreciate you sharing time with
the listeners again of theUncommon Leader podcast.
How can folks get in touch withyou if they want to hear more
about this or the other thingsyou have going on?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Oh yeah, well, they can go to adammwordcom.
That's adamm, that's 2M wardcom, and you can contact me on that
page.
There's a contact form if theywant to check that out.
I'm on LinkedIn too, underInnovation, adam.
Ok, I'll type that in.
I'll pop in.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Pop up on the results Adammmwordcom.
I'll put the link to that inyour LinkedIn profile in the
show notes.
And once again, adam, it wasgreat to invest some time with
you, to share and learn from you, and I wish you the best in the
future.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Man John, always a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well, that's all for today's episode of the Uncommon
Leader podcast.
Thanks for listening in.
Please take just a minute toshare this podcast with that
someone you know that youthought of when you heard this
episode.
One of the most valuable thingsyou can do is to rate the
podcast and leave a review.
You can do that on ApplePodcasts or you can rate the
podcast on Spotify or any otherplatform you listen.
Until next time, go and growchampions.
Hey Uncommon Leaders, welcome back.
This is the Uncommon LeaderPodcast and I'm your host, john
Gallagher.
In this episode, I had thehonor of interviewing my friend
and former coworker, adam Ward.
You might remember that Adamwas a guest a couple years back
and his journey since then isreally inspiring.
With almost two decades ofexperience as an executive coach
specializing in corporatetransformations, adam has helped
(00:22):
many businesses and individualstap into their untapped
potential, leading to morefulfilling lives, both
professionally and personally.
Adam's expertise covers a widerange of topics, including how
to create true customer valuenow and how to jumpstart your
innovation today.
But in this episode, we'll bediving deep into a particular
important one to you, thelistener how to immediately add
(00:44):
time back to your calendar.
We all know how valuable timeis, and Adam has some truly
game-changing insights to shareon the subject.
During our conversation, adamwill be sharing some practical
tips and strategies that you canstart implementing right away,
including how he uses AI to gainback time.
Let's get started.
Hey, adam Ward, welcome back tothe Uncommon Leader podcast.
(01:09):
It's great to have you on.
Look, I couldn't believe thatit'd been two years since we
almost to the day since werecorded the last podcast that
we had together, but time wasflying by.
How are you doing, man?
Speaker 2 (01:21):
I'm doing great, John .
Thanks for having me back.
I've been looking at all yourepisodes, the following you
since then, and you've had someamazing people on here.
So to let me back on, I feelprivileged.
Speaker 1 (01:31):
Oh, come on, man, Don't be humble.
There'll be no time for beinghumble in the next 30 minutes or
so.
We're gonna get right throughthat.
So you won't get a chance totalk about your childhood story,
because I already did that, sothat's only for my first time.
Yes, but I did want to ask.
When we think about theUncommon Leader podcast and the
goal really is to help leadersgrow it's been two years since
we've had you on what's new foryou and what's been going on in
(01:53):
your personal developmentjourney?
Speaker 2 (01:54):
Yeah, that's a wow.
That's a great question.
So the biggest thing isprobably COVID killed one of my
businesses and that was reallytough kind of just saying hey,
it's failed, you can't getemployees, whatever the reason,
and that's gone.
And then I was also doing asignificant amount of work of
(02:15):
collaboration and the nonprofitspace and everything that was
related to 2021 and 2022, thedesire to collaborate dropped
off and so I pulled back alittle bit and kind of said,
okay, if I'm gonna focus onstuff, what am I gonna focus on?
And I wanna focus on thingsthat add the highest value to.
(02:36):
So I've doubled down.
Going back to the speakingcircuit, consulting and then
responding to pull when peopleneed help Sounds busy.
Speaker 1 (02:47):
Yeah, I hope so.
It's kind of one of thosethings and we still are feeling
the effects of that, no doubtabout it in terms of COVID, and
it's probably something we couldspend a lot of time on, but
probably not on this podcast.
Maybe another episode we coulddiscuss that, cause I don't
think we'll see the end of thatin our lifetime in terms of the
impact that it's had ultimatelyin many different fronts.
(03:09):
But you are that's right back onthe speaking circuit and I
wanted to talk to you todayabout one of the specific topics
that you end up talking aboutand how you might share with the
listeners how to get goingthere.
But I'm gonna read you a quotefrom an article that I read from
you and just get your contexton it.
You said your job, familyhobbies would each take up all
24 hours of your day, if you letthem.
(03:31):
That's a quote that I read fromyou.
Can you elaborate on that quoteand what that really means to
you?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
So let's go extreme here for a second.
We can think about the typical26 year old kid living at home
in the basement who's on hisXbox all day long or his PS5,
right, and you just think hejust goes out, eats, maybe goes
to bed, maybe doesn't, and justplaying video games.
That is his hobby and isconsuming 24 hours.
And then we know the workcourses on the other end that
(03:59):
put in 18 hours a day of work.
They come home, they sleep,they're opening their email as
soon as their eyes open in themorning.
And then you've got familiesyour spouse, your kids.
In my case, I have agranddaughter, and it's just.
Your family will take up all ofthose chunks of time too.
So you have to be veryjudicious with how you split it
(04:19):
if you want to be effectiveacross all of them.
Speaker 1 (04:22):
Well, 20, so you talk about that family again, you
talk about your hobbies and,ultimately, the work side, and
then that fourth component andyou didn't really sit, because
that's what I was adding withthe 24 hours is oh, by the way,
we'd like you to get some sleepin there.
Yeah Right, I mean, and that'scrazy, and I mean as leaders, we
face that all the time.
I mean a lot of type A's interms of leadership positions.
(04:44):
They have to work, they feellike they need to work, and
they'll neglect some of thosethings.
They'll neglect their healthand what they need to do on
their time.
I'm a perfect example of thatin terms of how I used to be and
how I need to make a changethere.
They neglect family time andthat's why the divorce rate in
this country is as high as it is, unfortunately, in terms of
neglecting and ultimately, allfor the need to succeed in
(05:06):
whatever success is designed as.
So you know, in your experiencein working with the individuals
that you've coached and thatyou've spoken with, you know why
is it that we have that feeling?
Why do we get sucked into thatneed for success in our business
and neglect all those otherthings?
What gets in the way?
Speaker 2 (05:22):
Oh my gosh.
So I mean, john, that's areally deep question there.
I think what I find mostrepetitively is that there's a
pattern they're trying to repeatthat they see, and that pattern
is the pattern that will leadto importance or significance.
(05:44):
And in most cases you sacrificeone or two of those three on
the altar of the other one.
And I don't think a lot ofpeople have someone to talk to
about it.
I don't think they feel, youknow, comfortable talking to
their significant other or theirparents or another colleagues
make them feel vulnerable orthey just don't, they won't like
(06:06):
the way they reprioritize it.
So I think that that makes itreally hard.
And with the number of women inthe work field too, and you
know taking on, you know,additional responsibilities,
then there was different just ahandful of years ago.
You know there's not a lot ofquality mentoring there either.
Speaker 1 (06:24):
But you think about it too.
Even you mentioned COVID at thestart, post COVID.
So you and I are insignificantly different roles
than we were, you know, fouryears ago with a big company and
the actual thought ofdiscussing with our superior,
you know, family balance andlife, work balance and wanting
to have more sleep, or, frankly,if I want to take a 15 minute
(06:47):
nap in the middle of the daybecause science says is much
more healthy for you than justkeeping going over and over and
over again, that's not somethingthat's discussed in the
workplace either.
In terms of what really works.
I make up that.
You know, our workplace doesmake that a little more
difficult and I think, in thespace of being an entrepreneur
now and having some of thatcontrol, I didn't realize four
(07:08):
or five years ago how I wouldfeel, how I would feel that much
better as a result of beingable to do that and at the same
time, not necessarily worry isnot the right word, but I'll use
that word concern maybe aboutthe number of hours that I work,
because it was in a space thatI was really having fun, it's in
a space that I enjoy.
That's something I'm reallygood at, and a lot of folks are
(07:31):
doing that nine to five and timethat they hate, or tired.
When they get done, they gethome they still have to cook
dinner, make it for the family,get their kids in bed or
grandchildren in bed.
As we go forward in terms ofsome of that changes and it's
hard, I mean it's reallydifficult and so you talk about
your coaching.
You talk about really that ifwe take a few simple steps, that
(07:55):
we should be able to get backat least five hours a week
without necessarily giving upanything.
Now that's quite a change,that's quite a productivity
improvement.
In terms of getting that backwithout sacrificing anything,
what are some of themethodologies that you discuss,
then, or the ideas that you havethat will help us do that?
Speaker 2 (08:15):
Yeah, gosh, I mean five hours, john.
I think a lot of people wouldsay, hey, I'll take five hours
and I'll reuse that.
And if I go back to mycorporate days and look, I'm not
advocating for people to beentrepreneurs, it's a tough road
.
You've got ups and downs on itas well, but certainly this
works in the corporate arenawhen you've got your head down.
If you own your own business, Iused it then.
(08:36):
So I think the very first thingI ask is what is important to
you and prioritizing that shortlist of three to five things,
and then how to actually divideyour time, just being honest
with yourself, to saying, hey,my job is most important, or my
family is most important, or myhobbies are most important and
(08:59):
under hobbies I would putanything that you spend free
time on, so that could beexercise.
You know, that could be justdoing something fun.
I could be hanging out, couldbe watching Netflix, but I've
looked at too many people'scalendars, audited too many
times, to say, hey, we've gotsome, we've got some, we have
some similar opportunity here tobe able to help you out.
Speaker 1 (09:27):
Did you know that many of the things that I
discuss on the Uncommon Leaderpodcast are subjects that I
coach other leaders andorganizations on?
If you would be interested inhaving me discuss one-on-one or
group coaching with you, or knowsomeone who is looking to move
from underperforming to uncommonin their business or life, I
would love to chat with you.
Click the link in the shownotes to set up a free call to
discuss how coaching mightbenefit you and your team.
(09:48):
Now back to the show.
When you think about the mostunique, maybe let's not talk
about the biggest problem thatyou've observed on the calendar,
but let's talk about a win withsome of your coaching style.
Maybe what's one of the successstories you've had with a
client that shows some of thetechniques that you use have
(10:09):
been very helpful for them?
Speaker 2 (10:11):
This first one is just so obvious and it's the
elimination of meetings.
I tell you, covid absolutelyexploded the number of meetings
that were required to attend.
They did it virtual.
We got back-to-back Zoommeetings or back-to-back Teams
meetings.
We don't even have bio breaksin between.
We're running late from one tothe other.
There is no travel time.
The travel time is justclicking on another link and
(10:34):
we're still late and we're notpresent.
We're alt-tabbing betweenWindows, we're responding to
emails.
A lot of these meetings don'trequire our decision-making to
go on.
One of the things that I liketo challenge leaders the most,
and this doesn't necessarilywork if you're the front line,
but if you have any type ofleadership role, if there's a
(10:57):
meeting that you're attendingwhere you're not required to
make a decision, if someone else, take it off, just get rid of
it right off the bat.
Some leaders are control freaksand they think that no one else
is going to be able to handleit.
If that's you, that's a wholeseparate podcast, exactly.
Speaker 1 (11:16):
FOMO fear of missing out.
Yeah, it is, they don't want tomiss anything, right.
Speaker 2 (11:21):
Right or miss that decision.
I can't tell you how many timesI look at a calendar and easily
pulled hours and hours offbecause of meetings people were
attending, especially post-COVID, that they just don't need to
attend anymore.
Some of the meetings areduplicate meetings.
I'd say, hey, take a nice hardlook at this.
Maybe get a peer from anotherbusiness say what is that
(11:43):
meeting really doing?
Is it really adding value?
Is there someone that I canhave attended in my place that
can make the decision andescalate it to me if I need to?
That seems too easy, but whenyou look at the double, triple,
quadruple booked calendars thatI see a lot of people have these
days, you got to get them offand block them and don't let
(12:05):
people fill them up.
Speaker 1 (12:07):
I like that.
In terms of time blocking, it'ssomething that obviously I
would teach out as well, andeven blocking time for nothing,
for nothing.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
I block tons of time for nothing.
Speaker 1 (12:16):
Now that nothing we end up putting the influence.
There is never nothing, but itis reflection, it's an
opportunity to rest, it's anopportunity to read, it's an
opportunity to catch up on theemails.
We never get that.
The only time we get to dothose emails you talked about
the start we have thoseback-to-back double book
meetings.
Is it night or early in themorning?
So when they collect thoseother things to catch up on
emails that could have been done, I love that as an idea in
(12:39):
terms of eliminating especiallythose duplicate meetings.
You say this in your notes isto be ruthless.
It's really a process of let'smake sure that it adds value
Meetings.
We could spend 45 minutestalking about that.
Do you start them on time?
Why does it have to be 60minutes?
You're doing it 15 minutes.
There are so many differentways to go through that.
(13:00):
Eliminating meetings right offthe bat.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
John.
For the really aggressive onesI would say wipe the calendar
clean, Build a new one.
I like that.
Don't start from 100 and workit down.
Start from zero and add thecritical few, Then see which
ones.
Let a week go by and see whichones you're missing out on.
That'd be a far more effectiveway to see which meetings are
going forward.
That's a ruthless way too.
Speaker 1 (13:23):
No doubt about it.
That's a dramatic breakthroughthat you would see.
Do I really need all thesemeetings that are there, that go
forward?
Let's talk about a couple ofthings.
One of the things you said andagain, while you say you're not
advocating being an entrepreneur, you're also one of the tips
you talk about is to get a jobor role that maximizes your
natural capabilities, yourskills.
Tell me a little bit about that.
Speaker 2 (13:44):
Okay, I know there's a lot of debate online now about
personality tests Enneagramdon't force me into a box or
Myers-Briggs, one of binarysolutions that you think I am.
Honestly, I think the biggestthing is people are afraid to
(14:05):
know what they're actually goodat and what they're bad at,
because some of our roles if wewere bad at that, they wouldn't
want us in it.
We're faking it and that effortis taking more effort to do our
work than it is otherwise.
If you take a personality testand I love them, I love them all
(14:25):
.
I take all of them, but I don'tlet that define me.
I just let it guide me on whereI'm going to spend my time.
There's always examples ofthings in there that say, hey,
these are different roles andthese are why you would be good
at them, and so I think in whenyou're doing something fun, it
(14:46):
doesn't feel like work, andwe've heard that if you love
what you're doing, it's neverwork.
I mean, it is work, it's stillwork, but it's much more
enjoyable.
And I think that a lot of peoplethey need to do a disc or a
true colors or something andjust say, just be honest and say
, look, this is what I'm good at.
I'm not good at administrativework, I'm not good at project
(15:08):
management I'm not good at, butI'm great at creativity.
I'm great at ideation.
I think Patrick Lenshione's gota great thing with the working
genius.
If you're doing any type ofdeveloping with his widget model
, I just say, hey, this is thepart of projects that I should
be a part of and not these otherparts of it.
Speaker 1 (15:27):
So many different tools that you can use.
One of the things that I talkabout is really three pieces.
If you've got a passion for it,if you've got a strength in it
and there's a market that youcan be paid for it, you're
really gonna be working to yourpoint and not feel like you're
working because you'repassionate about it and again
being paid Anytime.
You end up with something thatyou might not be good at but
you're passionate about.
(15:47):
I mean, it could be a spacethat you wanna work in but
you're just not good at it.
You're gonna be frustrated allthe time and it's gonna be in
your head.
It's gonna be something that'sgonna be in your head.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
And with this gig economy, john, we can find
fillers for the stuff we're badat, and that's another one of
the points I have is that youcan find a filler If you're not
using a virtual assistant.
It's almost silly right nowbecause they're so cheap.
I mean, you can get one in theUS for $40 or $50 an hour.
You can get it offshore forfive or 10 bucks an hour.
(16:14):
They'll do anything that youneed them to do and maybe just
need it for an itch.
You're like I'm bad atscheduling, I'm bad at following
up with customers.
You know I'm bad at gettinggifts I'm bad at.
I hate doing my travelarrangements.
You don't need it.
You don't need a secretary, youdon't need an admin.
You can just go get a VA andthat will cut your work down
(16:35):
significantly and that's stuffthat you hate doing.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
I love that.
Once you find out, too, whatyour kind of hourly rate is for
the work that you do and youstart to throw that five to 10
bucks an hour, even sometimesthat 40 bucks an hour for a
US-based VA, it pays for itselfreally quickly.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
And you don't-.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
If you can replace it with a revenue generating task,
yeah exactly and you're notusing them 40 hours a week.
Speaker 2 (16:57):
I mean you can build up to that, but I mean most of
them they'll start.
You have five hours a week andif you can keep them busy, yeah,
generating revenue.
Some of them will do BD closingfollow-ups and research for you
.
There's a lot of options outthere.
Speaker 1 (17:11):
I started to hear this as a new concept and I know
it's not new.
It's new to me in terms ofhearing this is 1080, 10.
Now you take care of the 10%.
That's the most important.
Set the scope, set the goalsand then delegate to 80.
Most of the work that's goingon to the VA, this planning type
activity that's going on, andthen you finish the last 10%.
That's 10%.
That's important.
Tweak, make those thingschanges and things like that.
(17:33):
And I'll say that this isanother one of your tips as well
is AI is becoming something foryou in terms of being able to
use that as a resource.
So that's one of my questions,the zinger question like to help
you be more productive, adam.
So you've had to live this tomake some of this, to be able to
teach it.
What's the last thing you'veused chat GPT for to help you be
(17:53):
more productive?
Speaker 2 (17:56):
So the irony is, years ago when I wrote my book,
I used speech to text.
I did the entire book speech totext.
Now that's a really nascent AItype programming and but now
you've got so many things chatGPT.
I use Google Bard, which isvery similar to chat GPT, but
there's just so many things fromcomposing emails to writing
(18:18):
speeches, to blog posts, there'sjust a bunch of things.
And that 108010 applies in AIas well.
So you like back.
I remember back in 98, 99, whenGoogle was first coming on the
market, you had to learn how tosearch with Google to get the
results you wanted.
You couldn't just spit somenonsense in and give good
(18:39):
results, so they did better thanthe ones that were out there.
Just, AI is the same thing.
You need to learn how to feedit and it will create something.
And then, once it createssomething, you can go in, modify
it and tweak it and make ithuman again, Because there's
still it's still really clunkythat some of the stuff that it
responds, but it gives you thegreat opportunity.
(19:00):
I love that 108010.
Yeah, you 10%.
Set the AI up, let AI run andthen tweak the 10%.
I mean it'll do.
There's new tools every singleday apps that are downloading.
Some of them are going out ofbusiness, some of them are
coming up, but at least get chat, GPT or Google Bard or some of
this stuff and just have it.
Anything that you need written,just stick it in there.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
That's crazy what it'll do for you.
I mean, I've used it.
Like you said, help me writeemails or help me with my old
English.
That doesn't work very welleither.
Speaker 2 (19:30):
I'm sure I don't embarrass myself to make that
happen, I will probably, john,write one of my very next
speeches just on AI.
Speaker 1 (19:39):
I would like to.
I would like to again see theproduct and see you do that,
because I think it's gonna becool Again.
Set aside the debate aboutwhether it's bad or that's not
what this is about.
Any thing that exists has thepotential to be bad or evil in
terms of how it's used, but whenyou can use it effectively,
(19:59):
it's a.
I believe it's a phenomenaltool from a productivity
standpoint, from a contentdevelopment standpoint and from
creating those types of so Igive you a real practical
example.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
I wrote a couple of blogs and my SEO guy was like,
hey, I need you to write I don'tknow, it's like five blogs.
And so I wrote the first twoand they took, I don't know,
maybe 30 or 40 minutes each, 800to 1200 words, somewhere in
that range.
And I was really putting mythought into it.
I'm like I'm never gonna getthrough this, all of these blogs
.
So the next three, I did the1080, 10 with Google Bard built
(20:33):
each paragraph and I think I didthose three and maybe 20
minutes.
So you know, going from an hourand a half down to 20 minutes,
that's, you know, you're gettinga lot of time to check.
That's huge.
Speaker 1 (20:45):
That's huge.
If you're trying to do againone or two or three blog posts a
week, that's really big.
That's a big number in terms ofgoing through.
And I've had to at least learn,because one of the goals I set
with some of those activitiesagain blog posts that's content.
Development is very important,as you know leaders who care
about developing other leaderswe want to share the content, we
want to share the skills andthe resources that we have, but
(21:07):
it takes time to do that.
Yeah, we've got to get moreefficient at that.
I set a goal this year to reducemy time by 50% to write a blog
post.
I'm not there yet, but I amusing AEI to help me get better
at it.
So that's something I'm reallydoing Now.
One of the other things andwhile AEI doesn't necessarily do
that, it frees time up forother space that five plus hours
you're talking about Inside ofour 24 hours a day.
(21:32):
Oftentimes we approach leadersand say when do you do your
personal development?
Do you read any leadershipbooks?
Do you read any?
I don't have time to do thatpersonal development stuff.
So what's?
I know you're focused onleadership development.
What's a unique habit ordiscipline?
You have to ensure that it fitsinto your 24 hours to get your
personal development.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I don't read books anymore, ever.
I don't never crack open a book.
I've read hundreds and hundredsof them.
I just don't do that anymore.
If it's not an audio book, I'mnot going to read it and I'll do
the audio book at 2X.
I'll listen to that.
I do the base of my learningthrough podcasts Again at 1.5 or
(22:11):
2X and then if it's somethinginteresting I'll go back.
But and then if the podcastreally goes on about a specific
book, that I'll go get the audiobook and I'll rifle through it.
But yeah, if it's not audio I'mnot sitting down.
Speaker 1 (22:27):
So I love that.
So I love that, both audio only.
I like that 1.5 to 2X.
I got two different paths Iwant to ask about.
One is like when do you listento the audio?
Like when do you listen to yourbooks?
Speaker 2 (22:38):
Yeah, anytime that I can't interact with something
else.
So if I'm waiting in a line atan airport, if I'm in my car, if
I'm riding my bike, you knowtimes where my you know it's
just not possible for me to behaving a conversation or
interacting with a device.
I mean, sure you can use yourphone in a car, but and you
don't need a ton, I mean you can.
(23:00):
You know, you can have yourlisten at 2X.
You get, you know, an hour donein 30 minutes or you get 30
minutes done in 15.
It's just very easy.
Speaker 1 (23:08):
No, I love that.
And then the actual stacking ofthe habits.
James Clear, we'll talk aboutan atomic habit.
He would say stacking thosehabits together.
So your exercise and you'redoing your personal development
at the same time by listening toa podcast or driving, and
you're not feeling like you'restacking it.
Speaker 2 (23:24):
It's just your, it's less energy on it.
You know, you.
You don't have to focus on yourpain, your body's in, when
you're cycling or liftingweights or whatever, and then at
the same time you're put, youknow, fill in your mind with
some good stuff to consider thatnight or the next day or
whatever.
Speaker 1 (23:39):
So you can see up here I'm a book guy, though I'm
a hard like the touch.
I like to write in like thehighlight, like the dog.
You're the pages.
Part of that is to be able togo back and reference what I
heard and what I'd like to goback to it.
How do you do that in the audiospace?
How do you get a regulation orsummary of what you want?
Speaker 2 (23:55):
Yeah, so I mean that's tough.
So usually what I do in anaudio book is I'll throw a
bookmark in there and it'll saveall those bookmarks on the
content.
But more often than not I'llend up just looking up a PDF of
that book summary and then youknow it, just just enough to jog
my memory on what that topicwas, cause I, I mean, I've got
highlighters, you know all inthere.
(24:16):
But with you know, with thesearch engine capability power
now and some of the summarystuff, it's, you know if you can
just bookmark it or I'll speakspeech to text it in my in my
phone.
You know that that does somethings that I do.
Speaker 1 (24:31):
Yeah, the print screens of the podcast are ones
that I like to do at certaintimes, and I'll make a quick
note on it.
But I like the audio, the textnote as well.
That could be done there.
That's pretty cool and I likethat.
That.
You again, you don'tnecessarily have that specific
time per se, You're doing thatwhen you've got some other
activity, when you have downtimeand you can be able to do that
on a regular basis.
(24:52):
Yep, adam, you got quite amethodology that goes through
that in terms of understandingthe tips that you need to do.
Let me ask you this oddquestion in terms of about that
process what have I not askedyou that you want to make sure
that the listeners hear aboutthis process again in this time
back and be more productivegetting the time back?
Speaker 2 (25:10):
For hardworking professionals, the most
neglected is usually your family.
No-transcript.
We can want to do it and one ofmy favorite leaders, andy
Stanley, wrote a book years agoabout, you know, reprioritizing
family over.
I don't remember.
I don't know what the latesttitle is, but it used to be
(25:30):
called choosing the cheat, whichit's not that anymore.
But it's when work and familycollide and you know, the family
could take 24 hours to up yourtime if you give them.
But the thing that changed minewith my life, with my wife and
my kids, was Gary Chapman's fivelove languages and just
(25:51):
understanding what each of theirlove languages.
And if it's not quality time,then quality time's not helping
them.
And you've got you know, ifyou've got five different ones
to pick from, you've got accessservice and you've got gifts and
you've got physical touch, andyou know, you've got these five
that you can say, hey, my wifeis this with a side of this, my
kid is this with a side of that.
(26:12):
And then what I would do is Iwould set up time with them and
then I would just invest inthose love languages and their
tank would be full and itwouldn't take hours and hours
and hours.
Now one of my, my wife's, isquality time, so that makes it
hard.
So you know, I just I never putit, ever put a ton of overtime
into my work.
If the job requires it.
(26:34):
I'm either not interested oryou know they can find someone
else.
It's.
I'm just not going toprioritize that.
But doing the five lovelanguages and it actually works
for employers and employees too.
But really at home you can makea significant advancement when
how your family feels about youby employing those techniques.
Speaker 1 (26:57):
Love that.
Thanks for sharing that, and Ido think I don't know why it is
easiest to neglect the familyside in terms of what we do it
really is, I mean.
Speaker 2 (27:10):
You supposedly love the most right.
Speaker 1 (27:12):
Yeah, right, exactly.
And so those are the ones.
Since you love them most, theylove you the most.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
You feel, right or wrongly, that you can take that
for granted, and yeah, well, Ithink there's so much pressure
for us to perform at work.
We most of us, you know gainour identity when they're like
what do you do we that wedescribe our job first.
You know we don't describe that.
We're a husband or a wife or amom, and a lot of people too,
the big Adam, what do you mean?
You didn't work overtime.
It's like well, I decided yearsago I'm not going to waste my
(27:37):
time on overtime, but I'm goingto manage my boss.
And so if you're managing yourboss and knowing exactly what he
or she wants and some of thosebosses can be really difficult
and you can spend way less timeworking and getting stuff done
and still looking good andgetting promoted than and then
(27:59):
just cranking out a bunch ofhours.
Speaker 1 (28:01):
How do you do that?
How do you manage your boss?
Well, your boss, right.
I want to see what you used todo to me.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Yeah, John was my boss for all.
He just let me go and one ofthese rules is not going to
apply because I absolutely madehim look bad all the time.
Speaker 1 (28:15):
But you know.
Speaker 2 (28:17):
One of the things is your boss never wants to get
yelled at right For somethingstupid that you did, so you need
to at least tell him what youdid dumb right, which I think
John told you pretty much allthe time when I did something
that they weren't going to likeand but if they're armed with
the data, then they can sidewith you.
The second thing is bossesalways want to look good, so if
(28:39):
you can give them let them takefull credit for everything you
do then you're going to get sojust, you're going to get
advanced.
It's just when promotion timecomes they're going to push you
and you be closer to your bossthan all of your peers, cause if
your peers are doing hallwaysmack talk and you haven't
updated your boss, he's going toside with the person that's the
closest.
So those are a couple of likesimple things that you can do,
(29:02):
especially for introverts whoaren't oozing cares.
You know charisma.
It's like if you can take thesesteps, you can cut your
overtime.
And trust me, I've done it, gotpromoted.
It works, it's easy and you'restill doing a great job.
It's just you're not doing that.
What they expected rate is.
Speaker 1 (29:19):
Well, I think it's so important to understand.
You say, manage your best isunder under, certainly important
to understand the results thatthey want and how they want them
delivered.
That makes it easy for them toagain communicate it.
You don't have to do any rework, so that can be really powerful
.
And you're right, we used tospend a good deal of time.
I don't know how I used to, howI used to refer to it exactly,
but I would try to.
(29:41):
I mean, adam, you were theinnovation guy and of all the
folks in our organization thatwere there, because of Adam's
innovation background, becauseof his creativity, because of
the tools that he understood,and many of the employees and
organizations did not understandthat it was oftentimes his
approach was questioned, and soit was my job to you know, in
(30:02):
essence, make sure that,regardless of that, adam was
still allowed to use the processthat he had designed, and then
it would work if we allowed himto do that.
So that was really part of howwe worked together, and I think
we worked together pretty well.
Speaker 2 (30:16):
We did, and we had tremendous success at clients as
a result of that.
It was just not the way somepeople liked it, which is fine.
Speaker 1 (30:25):
Absolutely so, adam, here's kind of the finished
question I appreciate yousharing about immediately adding
time to your calendar.
Really, two more questions.
The first one is looking aheadon your journey.
So we sit down again two yearsfrom now and we're going to be
on another podcast talking aboutwhat Adam Ortt has going on.
What is it that is going to bebetter for Adam Ortt in the next
(30:46):
couple of years?
Speaker 2 (30:48):
Yeah, I think the next two years are going to be a
hyper focus of where I actuallywant to spend my time and being
able to choose the companiesthat I work with, the people I
work with, and being reallypicky about the ones that want
to improve, the ones that wantto get better and that will just
(31:09):
perform, be curious, be humble,listen.
That's probably one of thebiggest things.
The second thing say hey, watchout.
Is that I don't know what twoyears from now is going to look
like, but I guarantee that I'mgoing to put whatever I'm doing
as a focus and I'll follow wherethat leads, and so whatever I'm
(31:32):
good at, I'm going to push andthen we'll see where the path
goes.
Very cool.
Speaker 1 (31:37):
Well, Adam, I appreciate you sharing time with
the listeners again of theUncommon Leader podcast.
How can folks get in touch withyou if they want to hear more
about this or the other thingsyou have going on?
Speaker 2 (31:45):
Oh yeah, well, they can go to adammwordcom.
That's adamm, that's 2M wardcom, and you can contact me on that
page.
There's a contact form if theywant to check that out.
I'm on LinkedIn too, underInnovation, adam.
Ok, I'll type that in.
I'll pop in.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
Pop up on the results Adammmwordcom.
I'll put the link to that inyour LinkedIn profile in the
show notes.
And once again, adam, it wasgreat to invest some time with
you, to share and learn from you, and I wish you the best in the
future.
Speaker 2 (32:16):
Man John, always a pleasure.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (32:26):
Well, that's all for today's episode of the Uncommon
Leader podcast.
Thanks for listening in.
Please take just a minute toshare this podcast with that
someone you know that youthought of when you heard this
episode.
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You can do that on ApplePodcasts or you can rate the
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Until next time, go and growchampions.
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