0:00

I use my task manager more

0:02

than my calendar. I

0:04

rely on my task manager more than

0:07

literally every other piece of technology in

0:09

my daily life. There

0:11

is no replacement for my task manager

0:13

and no other app has ever come

0:15

close to this one. This

0:18

is the 5am miracle episode number 533.

0:22

The best getting things done task

0:24

manager and how I use it

0:26

every day. Good

0:31

morning and welcome to the 5am

0:33

miracle. I am Jeff Sanders and

0:35

this is the podcast dedicated to

0:37

dominating your day before breakfast. My

0:40

goal is to help you bounce

0:42

out of bed with enthusiasm, create

0:44

powerful, lifelong habits and tackle your

0:47

grandest goals with extraordinary energy. In

0:50

the episode this week, I'll break down

0:52

the nuts and bolts of my all

0:54

time favorite task manager, how

0:56

I use this task manager to keep me

0:58

organized and going forward every day and

1:01

why you should consider adopting a

1:03

similar system even if your favorite

1:05

tools are different than mine. Let's

1:08

dig in. My

1:14

wife Tessa and I have been married now for

1:17

just under 15 years. One

1:20

thing that has been true for

1:22

the vast majority of our marriage

1:24

has been the integration of

1:27

Nozbe, my all time favorite

1:29

task manager. You could argue

1:31

that I am as married to Nozbe as I

1:33

am to Tessa. Nozbe

1:41

is a task manager that is designed

1:43

and built by an amazing guy named

1:46

Michael Slawinski and his team in Poland

1:48

and their amazing work to create a

1:50

task manager that is based on David

1:53

Allen's Getting Things Done system. I'll

1:55

break down more of those details here in just a

1:57

minute. Is

2:00

worth noting. Hits him worth telling.

2:02

the story of is how I

2:04

have integrated knows be into my

2:06

marriage. And. This is gonna sound

2:08

odd at first but just follow the

2:10

story of if you know me you

2:12

know that I am very good Again

2:14

things done that literally Why I do

2:16

this podcast is why Teach productivity. It

2:18

is one of my greatest skills is

2:21

seen a task and I can execute

2:23

on that task. Get it done, organize

2:25

it, filter it, feel really good. Wish

2:27

were belongs at I just love the

2:29

checkbox since the start of who I

2:31

am and what ideal. Know

2:33

for a long time I did so

2:35

in a haphazard way. I had various

2:37

systems of calendars and notebooks and to

2:40

do less and not typical approaches to

2:42

productivity that during my college years worked

2:44

fine. but I was testing a variety

2:46

of them and many of them just

2:48

weren't that great. and I knew it.

2:50

But I did the job, Got that

2:52

you've got a degree. I moved on.

2:55

A wasn't until I discovered knows be

2:57

that I realize what I was missing.

3:00

And. What I was missing was a

3:02

system that's thought the way that I

3:04

did. a system that said hey, Here's.

3:06

A way for the your brain works

3:08

and functions and gets things done and

3:11

you could just poor your brain through

3:13

the software and organize what matters and

3:15

get those things done and and I

3:17

can execute a very high level. And

3:20

so here's a marriage. Part six him. For

3:23

years Tessa and I have worked in

3:25

a variety of things together as a

3:27

couple, whether that buying a home or

3:29

just buying groceries once a week or

3:32

now we have two kids and so

3:34

organizing schedules and daycare drop off and

3:36

all kinds of today and it keeps

3:38

actually been Young parents are pairs of

3:40

young kids or same in in that

3:42

process. One thing has been very obvious

3:44

to both of us. Which. Is

3:46

that we don't work the same way? As

3:49

much as I love knows be in my task manager

3:51

at all my systems I teach your on this show.

3:54

Tessa. Doesn't do hardly

3:56

any of them a seat as

3:58

her own system, the own ways

4:00

of operation that just don't overlap

4:03

with mine very often. We.

4:05

Do think alike in a lot of

4:07

ways for it comes to our daily

4:09

productivity. We have vastly different approaches, both

4:12

of them highly effective. Both of them

4:14

get the job done. They're. Just

4:16

difference. And so one thing that

4:18

I have been out of reminding

4:20

Tessa of for a long time.

4:22

Is how I work as it is a

4:25

huge part about communication and any or relationship

4:27

where you are to make sure that each

4:29

of us on the same page or at

4:32

least the you understand the other person enough

4:34

to give them what they need and so

4:36

part of that reality for me when it

4:38

comes to task management since the execution of

4:41

these various meal projects. Is

4:43

that if Tessa. Who. Has access

4:45

to my nose be accounts. If.

4:47

She were to add a task onto

4:50

my task list to get basically delegate

4:52

one to me through the system. I.

4:55

Can guarantee it gets done. I

4:57

call this my Gf. Sanders knows be guarantee

4:59

and it's something that I have been working

5:01

with south on for a long time which

5:03

is the reminder part comes in where I

5:05

say you know what Tessa does this thing

5:08

the you want me to get done. And

5:10

that's awesome. If you tell me this

5:13

thing, Of. Audibly the verbal he us

5:15

like we have a conversation about it. I.

5:18

Can't guarantee it gets done. Even

5:20

if I say yes during the

5:22

conversation, even if we have a

5:25

full in deaths discussion about something,

5:27

if there's an action for me

5:29

at the end of this conversation,

5:32

I don't know what it is if it

5:34

just stops there. However is

5:36

that action winds up in my

5:38

task manager and it's in the

5:41

system off game over which is

5:43

t the entire conversation now because

5:45

I will guarantee gets done. And.

5:49

This is interesting reality for me because

5:51

you might say will Jeff maybe she

5:53

just be better have listen to sit

5:55

through this conversation better your marriage. But

5:57

as that aside point seven or. Other

6:00

episode The Point I'm trying to make

6:02

here. As the I know

6:04

me and I know certain ways that

6:06

I operate and the systems the I

6:08

rely on that work really well, I

6:10

want to make sure that both Tessa

6:12

and I are in alignments with those

6:14

great solutions and the same thing is

6:16

true for her as well. but I

6:18

give her what she needs using her

6:21

systems of choice that makes sure that

6:23

both of us get the end result

6:25

were going for. And. So.

6:27

With. Our marriage. when we have a common

6:29

tasker project or you're working on some daycare

6:32

schedule, he was the case may be. If

6:35

see takes a task and added to my

6:37

nose be accounts. I. Will guarantee a

6:39

gets done. Why?

6:42

Was. A really interesting question with a

6:44

very simple answer. I can guarantee that

6:46

any task that see puts into knows

6:49

be for me will get done. Because.

6:51

Knows Be is deeply integrated

6:53

into how I view my

6:55

daily tasks. My task manager.

6:58

In this case, the software's knows me,

7:00

but my task manager plays a central

7:03

role in how I get things done

7:05

every single day. And

7:07

I'll break down the whole Gtd

7:09

says i'm a second but just

7:11

know for now that would use

7:13

have a single app, a single

7:15

strategy, a single source for your

7:18

solution for health things gets filtered

7:20

through your brain every day. You

7:22

can guarantee your system is built wealth new

7:25

kids here and see that a lot of

7:27

gonna get done because it's going to the

7:29

system the you built on purpose. Is

7:31

to my point previously about the example of

7:33

tests and I have a conversation about something

7:36

and I can't guarantee gets done. Bull.

7:38

Driven wide stance is the was. I'll

7:40

probably forget about whatever it is and

7:42

that's a huge part of this deal

7:44

is that I went to make sure

7:46

that whatever matters is in a system

7:48

where I'm not gonna have to use

7:50

my brain to remember it's or the

7:53

like opponents. here. Bullets is kind of

7:55

get the core of the kind seven

7:57

episode going. Now I want to discuss

7:59

exactly what. Was be as and any

8:01

good task manager specifically one designed for

8:03

the Gtd or getting things Done model

8:06

by David Allen and then of course

8:08

a full breakdown of how I use

8:10

this every day to guarantee that my

8:12

tasks that are on this list will

8:15

get done to you. Could have that

8:17

same sense of power and control over

8:19

your day and your time and your

8:22

goal achievement and possibly even your relationships

8:24

or marriages. Maybe he'll be able to

8:26

make those better. Because. You have

8:28

a common system that works for everyone

8:31

involved. Okay, So

8:33

let's begin this conversation by getting a

8:35

little more specific about why A task

8:37

manager What is it, what role as

8:40

a place and them will dig into

8:42

exactly where knows be said? Sen as

8:44

well as David Allen Gtd system. So.

8:47

First and foremost, in my world

8:49

productivity. I view task management and

8:51

project management and the event management

8:53

all through the lens of your

8:55

very common apps. You're familiar with

8:58

things like a calendar or to

9:00

do list a project manager or

9:02

a task manager. So. A

9:04

calendar is going to include events that

9:06

are time and location based and so

9:08

anything that is the happen on a

9:10

certain date, at a certain time at

9:12

a certain place generally you're going to

9:14

schedule it on a calendar. See you

9:16

know where to be and when. With.

9:19

Is separate from the entire world of project

9:21

and task management, which is generally a list

9:23

of a variety of things to get done

9:26

and we're They get down and when they

9:28

get done could vary quite a bit. And.

9:31

So most of us tend to use

9:33

systems that fall into one of these

9:35

categories. and so the Task Manager is

9:37

essentially a glorified to do list. It's

9:39

a posted note times a hundred or

9:42

thousand or incidence because you could literally

9:44

have as much data as you. What's

9:46

so any kind of cloud based software

9:48

tool task manager the falls this category

9:50

or saunas a good example of that.

9:53

or Trillo as a bunch that are

9:55

out there knows be as my Apple

9:57

choice, But there's a lot of apps

9:59

here. That could fit the bill for what to

10:01

discussing. Now from my

10:03

perspective, a task manager that's built well

10:05

isn't a give you a lot of

10:08

flexibility to organize all your various to

10:10

do list and projects in a variety

10:12

of ways. They may or may not

10:14

include calendar functionality, but really the core

10:17

and the goal of this is the

10:19

have a bunch of different lists that

10:21

could organize these various tasks I did.

10:23

He can schedule them and have reminders.

10:26

That. Kind of the nuts and bolts of

10:28

have a high level task made it. system

10:30

is built well. For

10:33

now gets you the more specific about

10:35

exactly why I chose Knows Be and

10:37

if you want to do a test

10:39

of that systemic compare it to other

10:41

or to do less or apps are

10:43

out there you definitely can have. If

10:45

you want to learn more about knows

10:47

the right now you know just sanders.com/get

10:50

Knows Be Now I have discussed know

10:52

is be a lot on this podcast

10:54

in the past if you're familiar with

10:56

it's we already have used this of

10:58

ahmed go through more specific than the

11:00

have in the past. morbid deep dive.

11:03

Into this up. Because. I

11:05

love it so much because I rely on

11:07

at literally every day for so many bags

11:09

and you're gonna see why it's just

11:11

a second. So. There's

11:14

the question, why knows be. Reason

11:16

number one is that is

11:18

technologically available everywhere. A

11:21

Pc or Mac your I phone. I've

11:23

had a device, web browsers, apple watch.

11:25

it is on every device you could

11:27

possibly imagine. So if you are tech

11:29

savvy new own a lot of gadgets

11:31

knows be as on all of them

11:34

I almost wasn't scared to you. It

11:36

is everywhere. Now. Do when

11:38

a pause here to acknowledge that

11:40

I'm discussing digital solutions here. Not

11:42

pen and paper? Not sure. analog

11:44

solution to the know, but I

11:46

notepad I don't use paper. i'll

11:49

discuss more that a minute but i'd

11:51

this is all digital for recent the

11:53

kinds of technology involved here for the

11:56

reminder systems and scheduling organization you're just

11:58

knock of your the get with a

12:00

paper solution. So if you want that, I'm

12:02

sorry, that's not how I operate, that's not what

12:04

I teach. I don't think it's very effective. That's

12:07

that, okay. Reason

12:10

number two why Nozbe is so

12:12

fantastic is it is

12:14

based on David Allen's Getting Things Done

12:16

methodology. If you have not read the

12:18

very famous book, Getting Things Done by

12:20

David Allen, you should definitely do so.

12:22

Stop this podcast right now and go

12:24

read that book. It is

12:26

foundational for anyone who cares about productivity

12:29

at a high level because it sets

12:31

the tone for these core philosophies

12:33

and systems and strategies that

12:35

so many things are built

12:38

on today, including software like

12:40

Nozbe. As well as

12:42

many other strategies that you probably already

12:44

use anyway without realizing it's getting too

12:46

deep. This podcast

12:48

is all about

12:51

productivity. And

12:59

one area of my life that has

13:01

always needed a few extra strategies is

13:04

wrapped up in the world of finance. Now

13:07

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13:09

is even more important than other areas.

13:12

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13:19

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13:21

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13:23

looking at yahufinance.com right now and

13:26

I can see the stocks I'm following.

13:28

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even securely connect other brokerage accounts

13:33

that I have. It

13:35

was fascinating for me to see that

13:37

the number one brand behind every great

13:39

investor is Yahoo Finance. Now

13:41

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shopify.com slash tech. Okay,

15:49

let's break down what GTD includes.

15:51

There are five major areas of

15:54

what that system includes. There are lots of

15:56

others as well, but five core ones and

15:58

Nozbe allows you to integrate. with these as

16:00

well. The first is

16:02

the ability to capture new ideas, to

16:05

easily dump ideas into an inbox

16:07

and then filter those ideas later.

16:10

And Nozbeats literally called the inbox. Lots

16:13

of apps will have that as well.

16:15

But first and foremost, you have to

16:17

have a place to capture what is

16:20

popping up, right? Any new idea, any

16:22

new thought, anything that has to be

16:24

written down, recorded, and not forgotten is

16:27

captured in the system. Second

16:30

key area is to clarify or

16:32

add extra detail to fully flesh

16:34

out the idea. Of course, in

16:36

Nozbeats have that ability as well with lots of different

16:38

comments and links, which I'll break down in a second.

16:41

The third area is to organize the results.

16:44

GTD is very list-based. There are

16:46

lots of lists. I

16:48

know people who do not like this system because

16:50

they feel that they're lost in too many lists

16:53

and too many notes and too many ideas. It's

16:55

just too much. And I

16:57

get it. I get that that's part

16:59

of the system and to organize what

17:01

shows up can be a daunting task.

17:04

However, the alternative is to not write

17:06

it down and then therefore

17:08

possibly forget it or not have a

17:11

system that would have a database

17:13

to access that information. There's

17:16

some problems with it as well. So what

17:18

you wanna make sure you do is choose

17:20

a system that once again works with your

17:22

brain that allows you to do your best

17:25

work in the way that you think, which

17:27

may not be these solutions I'm discussing. That's

17:30

possible. All right,

17:32

the fourth area GTD is to reflect

17:34

or to easily review possibly a weekly

17:37

basis, your system to keep it up

17:39

to date. I've discussed a

17:41

weekly review for a long time in

17:43

this podcast and yes, that's a GTD

17:45

strategy. And that's a really important part

17:48

of this process. And Nozbe, you're capturing

17:50

these ideas, gives you the chance to

17:52

review what has already taken place. The

17:54

completed tasks are also readily available so

17:56

you can review what took place in

17:59

the past. And

18:01

then finally the fifth area of

18:03

David Allen system is to engage

18:05

with what's next in other words

18:07

asking the question What's my next

18:09

action? What am I doing now?

18:12

And this is the priority tab that's right

18:14

up front and knows be to help keep

18:17

you focused on your next action We're just

18:19

extremely valuable So in

18:21

a nutshell, that's why David Allen system

18:23

is kind of why it's so important

18:25

and also how it's built into nose

18:27

be itself Now

18:29

the third reason why I love nose

18:32

be ultimately is its simplicity and

18:34

I'll use a counter example of this You

18:36

probably are familiar with which is the app

18:38

notion. I could also include ever

18:40

note in this but notions the biggie Notions

18:43

are very popular right now and

18:45

has been last couple of years and I

18:47

find notion to be Obnoxious. Is

18:50

that where I can say here? I can it

18:52

is I don't like it I've

18:55

never liked notion and I've never liked

18:57

it because it's got way too much

18:59

going on You

19:01

don't want to be confused in your own

19:03

system. You don't want to be lost in

19:05

your own data If

19:07

you don't have simplicity, you're not

19:09

going to do the thing Confusion

19:11

leads to opting out if

19:14

you are confused by your own system

19:16

your system is going to fail you

19:18

and So nose be is awesome

19:21

because it keeps things very straightforward Now

19:23

you still have to do the work to organize what's

19:26

there and it's your life through your projects or your

19:28

tasks But the core layout of

19:30

the app is easy to follow It's

19:32

also very fast to learn you could literally start

19:34

using it today and Understand the basic principles and

19:37

about an hour or two and be up and

19:39

running have your whole life added to it It

19:41

doesn't take a long time and then

19:43

once you're in now, you're good to go Now

19:46

let's break down the key sections of nose

19:49

be these are the things you'll see in

19:51

the app listed in the left hand side

19:53

So you can see the basic core functions

19:55

of this app. The very first thing

19:57

is the priority list. What's due right

19:59

now? These are starred items in

20:01

the app. These are things you can

20:03

star from any given project at any

20:05

given time And so these are a

20:07

cross project list right no matter where

20:10

these things are listed if it's starred

20:12

it Lines up in this

20:14

list and you can see what to do

20:16

right now My goal

20:18

in any given day is to work

20:20

through this list. This is

20:23

where I live every day I'm

20:25

looking at this priority list and

20:27

doing those items if

20:29

it's not due today I will reschedule it

20:31

if it was a bad idea. I delete

20:33

it if it's a good idea I act

20:35

on it immediately. This is

20:38

the list where everything gets filtered

20:40

where everything is processed Second

20:43

key area is the inbox itself

20:45

the dumping ground for new ideas

20:48

And so technically things that land in the

20:50

inbox are not due today They might be

20:52

and maybe you will star that item to

20:54

make sure it gets done that day but

20:57

for the most part an inbox is going to be a

20:59

place where you just have a bunch

21:01

of new ideas that then need to

21:03

be filtered and processed and reorganized for

21:05

later The third

21:07

area would be your list of projects this

21:10

is your chance to have an organizational structure

21:12

to the key areas of your life and

21:14

work and Basically organized tasks

21:16

and similar batched items very

21:18

standard project list that keeps

21:20

these items Altogether where they

21:23

belong now. I will say

21:25

this is not a folder based system This is

21:27

not like a Google Drive or a computer hardware

21:29

system This is just what the

21:31

software will say Here's a project name

21:33

and a variety of tasks that are

21:35

all related to that same category But

21:38

speaking of the next area is called

21:41

categories, which technically categories

21:43

are different from projects Because

21:45

the categories allow things to

21:47

be in different projects at

21:50

the same time And

21:52

you can therefore clarify a lot of

21:54

different kind of overlapping Capacities

21:56

here like a Venn diagram these

21:58

circles are overlapping The categories

22:00

give you the chance to clarify things

22:03

with a lot of flexibility. Because

22:06

you get to decide whatever categories you

22:08

want. There are none by default. You

22:10

build them and then you can organize

22:12

things if you want to. I

22:15

will say that for years I never touched

22:17

the categories area. Didn't use it. Didn't

22:19

care about it. Didn't matter to me. Recently

22:22

I have used a lot of it and

22:24

it's fantastic. But you don't have to. A

22:27

huge part of this is the flexibility to

22:29

opt into the pieces that you understand, that

22:31

you like, that you get value from and

22:33

ignore the rest. So if you want to

22:35

ignore categories for now, go right ahead. If

22:37

you want to get really detailed, you also

22:39

have that chance. The

22:42

next area is the calendar. Now

22:44

the calendar in Nozbe has a

22:46

limited functionality for a reason. It's

22:48

not designed to replace your standard

22:50

calendar. It is designed for you to

22:52

get a high level view of the tasks that

22:54

you have in Nozbe and that's it. So

22:57

it's not event based. It's not time based.

22:59

It's just a way for you to see

23:01

on a given date coming up what

23:03

kinds of tasks do I have set aside

23:05

for that date. Including the ones

23:07

that are recurring. The reminders that

23:09

you'll get on a daily basis. Those will

23:12

also be listed there. So you get a

23:14

really good sense of the things you have

23:16

scheduled for yourself task wise

23:18

in the calendar in Nozbe. The

23:21

next area are your comments. This

23:23

is your chance to leave notes

23:25

for yourself or to dig deep

23:27

into a task and provide lots

23:29

of additional detail. This could include

23:31

links, YouTube videos, file attachments from

23:33

your computer. Of course

23:35

Dropbox, Google Drive, OneDrive file

23:37

links, additional checklists. Lots of

23:40

options here for your comments to include

23:42

whatever you want to drop in and

23:44

remind yourself of and have more detail

23:46

of. You can put all of that

23:48

right there in the comments area for

23:51

any given task you have for yourself. Honestly

23:54

most of the detail that I have all

23:56

lives here. A lot of my

23:59

clarifications for myself. lives here

24:01

and then I can decide from there what

24:03

to do about the task because of what I

24:05

leave in my comments. The

24:08

next area are the templates and

24:10

this is something I have spent very little time

24:12

with. I don't personally have a need for it

24:14

but you might with the work that you do.

24:16

In the templates area, you can create projects that

24:19

are pre-populated with tasks,

24:21

which is really great for

24:23

recurring projects. So for example,

24:25

let's say you have a health and

24:27

wellness project like train for a marathon.

24:29

And you've built a template to do

24:31

so. Well, you might have a template

24:33

there so the next time that you run

24:35

a marathon, you just copy and paste that

24:37

template for that project and makes a new

24:40

one and you start from scratch yet again

24:42

and go through your list. So it's

24:44

a great way to clone different things

24:46

or copy different projects and have a

24:49

pre-populated template that's ready to go. And

24:52

the final area is your search category,

24:54

which I use all the time. With

24:56

the search area, you can find any

24:58

task in your system based on the

25:00

keyword you're looking for. So I frequently

25:02

forget what I have written down for

25:04

myself and I use the search area

25:06

to find my tasks right away, which

25:08

is very very handy. So

25:11

that's the high-level overview of what the app

25:13

provides. Now the fourth

25:15

and final reason why I love Nozbe, I

25:18

believe you should too, is that

25:20

there are two different versions of Nozbe. Oh

25:22

yeah, one of them is the

25:25

kind of old-school version that I have

25:27

used since day one, which is now

25:29

called Nozbe Personal. It is designed for

25:31

individuals, people like me who tend

25:33

to work alone and organize yourself in your

25:35

own little bubble. The

25:38

comparison is their newer product called Nozbe

25:40

Teams, which of course is built for

25:42

teams and it's especially great for

25:44

delegating tasks. So if you work on a

25:46

small team or even possibly a larger team

25:48

and you want to have the ability to

25:51

have organization among you and all

25:53

of your colleagues, you can delegate

25:55

tasks to various people and all

25:57

use these same systems, both even...

26:00

more bells and whistles. What

26:02

I've discussed today in this episode is

26:04

knows be personal for individuals. This

26:07

is not a deep dive into the

26:09

team's functionality. It's a whole separate thing

26:11

we can get to later. But just

26:13

know that if you wanna use this

26:15

same kind of philosophical getting things done

26:17

component here, you can do all of

26:19

that by yourself or with your

26:21

team. Okay,

26:24

now let's get to what I think

26:26

is probably the best part of this

26:28

entire conversation, which is how I use

26:30

knows be every day, the real nuts

26:33

and bolts of getting things done, but

26:35

with a real world example, which

26:37

is me in this case. So

26:39

the very first key thing about this

26:41

I mentioned earlier is that

26:43

this is a digital system. So number

26:45

one is that paperless is really important

26:47

here. There is only one

26:50

thing in my life that uses

26:52

paper on a daily basis, which

26:54

is Tessa and I's shared grocery

26:56

shopping list. It's the only

26:58

thing we have not digitized. We've tried various

27:01

apps for it, but we just keep coming

27:03

back to the paper solution, which is fine.

27:05

It gets the job done for us and

27:07

we have no problem with it. But literally

27:09

that's the only thing in my life I

27:11

use pen and paper for anymore. Everything

27:13

else is digital, always digital.

27:16

And so for me, knows be is everywhere I

27:18

go. It's on my iPhone, it's on

27:20

both of my Macs, it's on all the web

27:23

browsers I could log into anywhere I go. So

27:26

for me, the accessibility of

27:28

knows be is essential and

27:30

the paperless components is

27:32

just how I live my life. Everything

27:34

is digital. So that's what I go

27:36

to. The

27:38

second key thing for me using knows be

27:40

every day is this core

27:43

GTD philosophy of MC in

27:45

your brain of capturing new

27:47

ideas. I cannot

27:49

express how important this is. If

27:52

you were to pull out one component for

27:54

this episode this week that matters, it is

27:56

this one. You need

27:58

a solution where you can. dump new

28:00

ideas and never lose them. You

28:04

need a capturing system for all

28:06

of your new ideas. And

28:08

when you have that, and then

28:10

you have a follow-up solution to

28:12

process those ideas and guarantee they

28:15

wind up where they're supposed to

28:17

go, well then every single new

28:19

idea you get has the potential to

28:21

not be forgotten. Now you

28:23

may say, well Jeff, I get way too many ideas and

28:25

most of them are stupid. Okay, fine.

28:28

But believe me, I know what that means. I

28:30

use that as an example because that's how I feel a

28:32

lot. But what I do

28:34

is I write down the good ideas and

28:36

I put them into Nozbe and then I

28:38

just filter them later. And if the idea

28:41

is still not worth keeping, then I delete

28:43

it. But if it is

28:45

worth keeping, then I have a few options. The

28:47

first is that I could act on an idea right

28:49

away, get it done, check it off the list, move

28:51

on. The second possibility

28:53

is I could schedule that good idea

28:55

in Nozbe as a future task. This

28:58

is the most common thing I do. So I

29:00

get an idea, it lands in the inbox. I

29:02

then process the inbox and I'll take a task

29:05

and say, okay, I like

29:07

the idea, I'm going to do it next

29:09

Tuesday. So I'll schedule it in Nozbe for

29:11

next Tuesday, I'll add a category to it,

29:14

I'll put a reminder on it, I'll add

29:16

some comments to it. I beef out the

29:18

idea with a little more detail. And

29:20

then I schedule it and I move on to the next one.

29:24

That's the most common thing I do

29:26

every day is take a new idea,

29:28

put it in the inbox and then

29:30

process that information to guarantee I didn't

29:32

forget it and it's scheduled in the

29:34

appropriate event. This

29:44

podcast is all about productivity.

29:47

And one area of my life that

29:49

has always needed a few extra strategies

29:52

is wrapped up in the world of finance.

29:55

Now you could argue that being financially

29:57

productive is even more important than other

29:59

areas. areas. And with

30:01

my sponsor, Yahoo Finance, you can

30:04

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30:18

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30:22

have. It was fascinating for

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me to see that the number one brand

30:26

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32:31

How to convert a calendar event to a

32:33

calendar event Now

32:36

the next option you have with a new idea

32:38

that pops up is you could convert the idea

32:40

to a calendar event. So you may say, well

32:42

the idea that I have is actually it

32:45

should live on my calendar, not in Nozbe

32:47

at all. Okay great! Then we convert that

32:49

idea to the calendar and delete it then

32:51

from Nozbe. Because it belongs in

32:53

that one location, not both. Which

32:56

of course is the same concept then if

32:58

the idea you got belongs on a project

33:01

list in a different app. You transfer it

33:03

to the right place and then delete it

33:05

from Nozbe. The point here is

33:07

to capture the idea somewhere. And

33:10

then once the idea is processed, the idea

33:12

is gone. Because it's been put where

33:14

it belongs. This core

33:16

concept is what productivity looks like in

33:18

the real world. This is

33:20

the best example of here's a new

33:23

thought. It gets captured. It's

33:25

never forgotten. It's in the cloud. It's

33:27

saved forever. I process

33:29

that concept. I then put it where

33:31

it belongs and then I can

33:33

forget about it. My brain is

33:36

now empty. I don't need to remember

33:38

it. I don't need to think about

33:40

it. It's just scheduled and now my

33:42

brain is free for creative thought. This

33:45

is it. This concept I just

33:47

described is the basis of how

33:50

my brain operates every day. How

33:52

the best kind of productivity gets

33:54

done is this exact process.

33:56

Especially when it comes to new

33:58

information and new ideas. ideas. New

34:01

things come in, they get processed, and

34:03

then they're gone. If

34:05

you get really good at this, the skill

34:07

here is critical. If you get really good

34:09

at this, you are going to be so

34:11

good at getting things done. So

34:14

good. Alright, the

34:16

third area for how I use Nozbe every

34:18

day is I actually work out of this

34:21

app, out of the Nozbe app, between

34:23

my calendar events. So

34:26

if you think of your day as the

34:28

calendar kind of dictates where you are and

34:30

for how long, well then when

34:32

you get to a certain event on your calendar,

34:34

you're gonna do whatever that thing is. Maybe

34:36

it's a meeting, maybe it's going to the gym,

34:39

and then between those events on your

34:41

calendar, that's when you execute on the

34:43

tasks that are in your task manager.

34:46

So generally speaking, the tasks in

34:48

Nozbe for me are very small,

34:52

and then my scheduled time-based events

34:54

on my calendar are very large.

34:57

And there tends to be no

34:59

overlap whatsoever between these two areas.

35:01

So if you look at my calendar right

35:04

now, for this week for example, and then

35:06

look at my tasks in Nozbe, they're all

35:08

different. They're not the same thing

35:10

duplicated in two different places. Which

35:13

means that for every new idea

35:15

you get about productivity, it

35:17

belongs somewhere in a discrete location.

35:20

It's either a calendar event, or

35:22

a task to complete, or an

35:25

idea for later. That's basically

35:27

it. There really are very few other

35:29

possibilities, and so because of that, it

35:31

gives you the chance to discreetly filter

35:34

where things go. And in

35:36

the name of productivity, an organization

35:38

and simplicity and clarity and peace

35:40

of mind with your to-do list,

35:43

putting something where it goes is

35:46

90% of the battle. It's

35:48

just, it's so, so important. It's why

35:50

I keep harping on this. Because

35:53

this is it. This is the core of all of

35:55

it. Now the

35:57

fourth area for how I use Nozbe every

35:59

day, is reminders.

36:02

I love reminders. I've just talked a

36:04

lot about not wanting to remember certain

36:06

tasks and being able to forget about

36:08

those things and use my brain for

36:10

creativity. Well the core of

36:12

that, the underlying assumption there, is that

36:15

my system will remind me of what

36:17

matters when the time is right. And

36:20

I will tell you this firsthand, the

36:22

largest value I get from Nozbe are

36:25

the reminders. The largest value

36:27

I get is that when next Thursday

36:29

shows up and I wake up, I go

36:32

see my computer, I look at my phone,

36:34

what's the task for today? Well Nozbe

36:37

on the priority list will show me

36:39

the things I had scheduled for that

36:41

day. They pop right up and they

36:44

get starred automatically for any items that

36:46

were scheduled for today. Which

36:48

means I get reminders for things that are due

36:50

today every morning I

36:53

wake up. It's right there. So I

36:55

can't forget about them unless I literally

36:57

never look at the app. And

36:59

let me pause here for a second and acknowledge

37:02

that one. I

37:04

gave a speech many years ago to

37:06

a crowd where I was talking about

37:08

this concept of task managers and to-do

37:10

lists and various apps. And

37:12

one person had a question that I thought was

37:14

so so true about so

37:16

many of us. Which is that she had

37:18

a to-do list app that she rarely looked

37:20

at. She used it on

37:22

occasion but it wasn't important enough to look at

37:25

every day. It wasn't baked into

37:27

her system, it wasn't part of her

37:29

routine, it wasn't so valuable that she

37:31

had to look at it. And so

37:34

what happened? Well the ideas are written down

37:36

and then forgotten about, never acted

37:38

on, nothing happened. It just

37:40

sat there for years in some cases.

37:43

And so the key to all of this is

37:45

that whatever app you choose, whether it's Nozbe, Asana,

37:47

whatever the case is, whatever app you

37:50

choose, commit to that app.

37:52

Dig in. Like put your heels

37:55

into it. This is what you're going to reference

37:57

every day. I just said it, you

37:59

know, what I'll... and get out of bed at 5 a.m. And

38:01

what do I do right away? I look at

38:03

my task list for the day. What am I

38:05

doing today? Which means the very first thing I

38:07

do is I look at my calendar and I

38:10

look at Nozbe. Because that tells me

38:12

what the day is going to look like. And

38:14

so you wanna choose apps that are your

38:16

go-to solutions. Like this is it, I have

38:19

chosen it, this is where everything lives, all

38:21

my projects, all my tasks, my whole life.

38:24

And because of it, because it's so important,

38:27

you just do it. You're not gonna

38:29

forget about it. You're not gonna not use it. Because

38:32

then you would never do anything. This is

38:34

your life, it's been put here for

38:36

a reason. So use it, leverage it,

38:38

and get all the value you can

38:40

from it. All

38:43

right, the fifth way I use Nozbe

38:45

every day is the combination of Nozbe

38:47

with my Google Doc system. So

38:50

years ago in this podcast, I raved

38:52

what Evernote, and then Evernote made me

38:54

mad, and I quit using Evernote. And

38:57

I switched a while to Devonthink, which was

38:59

good, but not great for me. I

39:02

then recently, about a year and a

39:04

half ago, made the switch to Google

39:06

as my primary solution for all of

39:09

my file management and project management. So

39:11

all of the Google Docs, Google Sheets,

39:13

all of those important documents for me,

39:16

they live in the Google Drive system to

39:18

organize them. And then I

39:20

have a basically a companion solution

39:23

between Google Docs and Nozbe. And

39:26

what that means is, is that let's say I

39:28

have a reminder in Nozbe to work on a

39:30

certain document. Well, then I'll just

39:32

link to that document from Google Docs in

39:34

the Nozbe task itself, which

39:36

means when that day pops up, I

39:39

need to work on that document, the

39:41

reminder from Nozbe is right there with

39:43

the link I need to that exact

39:45

document. So as long as

39:47

I built an intelligent reminder, what I

39:49

need is available right there, right in

39:51

front of me. Like I

39:53

have, there's no work for me to do

39:55

besides to execute on the task. The reminder

39:58

is set, the link is there. the

40:00

Google Doc is already there or

40:02

whatever else I attach to that task

40:05

a PDF file a video on YouTube,

40:07

whatever it is. It's right there So

40:10

this you know this integration from

40:12

your task manager to your other systems is

40:15

going to be very Helpful to smooth out

40:17

those potential obstacles that may happen when you're

40:19

trying to use a variety of tools that

40:22

don't play well together Well

40:24

a system like Google Docs, for example We

40:26

have a link to something is

40:28

very handy in a digital solution

40:30

like NoSpy All right,

40:33

the sixth and final way that I use

40:35

NoSpy every day. Let's go back to that

40:37

categories discussion I said before that for years

40:39

I didn't use categories very often and now

40:42

use them all the time Well,

40:44

my categories that I created about

40:46

two or three years ago have

40:48

three areas red orange

40:51

and blue Red are

40:53

things that are due today orange

40:55

are things that are important and they're

40:57

due soon but not today and

40:59

then blue is my Quadrant two or

41:02

q2 items that are not due

41:04

ever or maybe a long time from

41:06

now In other

41:08

words the categories are a way to

41:10

organize the urgency and importance of a

41:12

given task So let's

41:15

go back to that priority list, which is

41:17

the starred list the thing you're working out

41:19

of a NoSpy every day the reminders They're

41:21

all right there. Well, I

41:23

have color-coded those items So

41:25

let's say I have ten things to do today

41:28

a few of those will have a red Circle

41:31

next to it a red category Identifier

41:34

so I know right away those

41:36

red items are absolutely due today

41:38

and I must get them done

41:41

I'll have some that are orange which means I

41:43

really want to work on those today But

41:46

technically I could procrastinate if I had to

41:48

but I don't want to and

41:50

the third are the blue items Which are definitely

41:52

forgettable if I get to them tomorrow or next

41:54

week or next month. It's totally fine And

41:57

so the color-coding of the categories

41:59

allows me to very quickly see

42:01

what matters, what doesn't, and why.

42:04

Which then gives me the clarity of what

42:06

to do first, and second, and third, and

42:09

fourth. I just know. And

42:11

so I look at the list, I might reorganize it

42:13

a few times to get it just right for the

42:15

day, and then off I go. And

42:17

I'm knocking out tasks one by one. And

42:20

that's how I live every single day. It's how

42:22

I get stuff done. Is I see this priority

42:24

list that's color coded, that's got what I need

42:26

that day, with the right links, with the right

42:28

reminders, and bam, I get it done. That's

42:32

my life in a nutshell. If you want to know how I get things

42:34

done every day, this is what

42:36

it looks like. This is the nuts and bolts

42:38

of me on a daily basis. There's

42:41

probably more questions that I've not answered

42:43

that you might have. So if you

42:46

want to email me, jeff at jeffsanders.com,

42:48

I'd be happy to give you a

42:50

little more context via email, or I

42:52

can discuss more of these details further

42:54

on the podcast to break down more

42:57

about how my system actually works. But

42:59

at a high level, what I really want

43:01

to focus on here is that the

43:04

detail of this episode this week

43:06

doesn't matter. The detail

43:08

is just negotiable. These things change over

43:11

time, what things are called and how

43:13

they integrate. Those things change constantly. The

43:16

important part is that you make a

43:18

decision about how you want to operate.

43:21

You choose the tools that align to the way

43:23

you think, and you double down

43:25

on those tools. And you get the most

43:27

value you can from them because they are

43:29

who you are. They are how you think.

43:32

And maybe your marriage is going to be based on

43:34

these tools. I don't know. But I

43:36

can tell you right now that if Tessa sends me a

43:38

task in Nozbe, I'm going to act on it. I'm

43:41

going to get it done. It happened yesterday. It'll

43:43

happen again soon. I guarantee it. It's

43:45

just part of how we operate now because

43:48

we have tools we trust. We

43:50

have solutions that matter. So find

43:52

your tools, double down on

43:54

them, and get some stuff done. And

44:04

for the action step this week. Yes,

44:07

go all in on your preferred

44:09

task manager. Of course, you do

44:11

not have to use the same tools that I do,

44:13

but it's in your best interest to go deep with

44:15

the tools you commit to long term. There

44:18

is very little value in using a task manager

44:20

if you're not going to give it the chance

44:22

to flex its muscles. So put

44:25

every task and every project in your

44:27

system. Use it every day. And

44:30

see how it changes just about everything about

44:32

how you get things done. You

44:35

can sign up for

44:37

Nozbe for individuals or

44:39

teams at jeffsanders.com/Get Nozbe.

44:43

Of course, subscribe to this podcast

44:45

and your favorite podcast app or

44:47

become a VIP member at 5ammiraclepremium.com.

44:51

And that's all I've got for you here

44:53

on the 5am Miracle Podcast this week. Until

44:55

next time, you have the power to change

44:58

your life and the fun begins bright and

45:00

early. New

45:25

York Times bestsellers, effortless and

45:28

essentialism. His mission is

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to help you advocate and negotiate your

45:32

way to remarkable results. Every

45:34

Tuesday, Greg discusses one key topic

45:37

he finds interesting and valuable through

45:39

the lens of the essentialist. Every

45:42

Thursday, he invites thought leaders,

45:44

entrepreneurs, celebrities and people like

45:46

you for inspired weekly conversations

45:48

focused on learning how to do

45:50

what matters first and do less

45:52

but better. This content

45:55

will stir your thoughts and spark

45:57

inspiration and action. And as

45:59

British accents... Well, that's just a cherry on

46:01

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46:03

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