SPEAKER_0 [00:00:00]
Dramas, please.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:13]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:20]
This is life
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:21]
with a twist of lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:25]
So is this the week?
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:29]
The week of what?
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:32]
The week of the milkshake.
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:34]
I did have a milkshake. You did?
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:38]
I did. Excellent. We need to talk about Not
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:41]
the milkshake
SPEAKER_1 [00:00:43]
Oh.
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:44]
But a milkshake that I think I've mentioned before. Okay. Well, listen, we need to talk about that. But before we dive in,
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:52]
I promised
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:54]
a certain someone
SPEAKER_0 [00:00:55]
that they could be a special guest, but the stipulation was that they have something valuable to contribute,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:02]
and
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:03]
they happened
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:04]
to have
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:06]
something
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:07]
very relevant.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:08]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:10]
I think without further ado,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:12]
I'm going to introduce
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:14]
my oldest daughter.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:15]
Say hello.
SPEAKER_2 [00:01:17]
Hello.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:18]
Do you know that? Hey. It's Lucy. Yeah. Yeah. It's Lucy. So tell You gave it away by saying your oldest daughter. Otherwise,
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:25]
I Hey.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:27]
So Lucy, is it past your bedtime?
SPEAKER_2 [00:01:30]
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:32]
You're not gonna Mine too, Lucy. Mine too. Not gonna tell your brother and sister, are you?
SPEAKER_2 [00:01:38]
Maybe.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:39]
Alright. Well, then we might have to edit this part out, John.
SPEAKER_0 [00:01:44]
Alright. So so, Lucy, what tell me, what did you do today that you wanted to talk about?
SPEAKER_2 [00:01:50]
I had a milkshake from Chick fil A.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:54]
A Chick fil A milkshake.
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:57]
Now,
SPEAKER_1 [00:01:58]
has your father taught you how we rate milkshakes?
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:02]
No.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:03]
No?
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:04]
So there's a slurpability score.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:07]
So was it easy to drink through a straw or not?
SPEAKER_2 [00:02:10]
It was not.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:13]
It was not easy to drink through the straw.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:15]
And then there's a consistency
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:17]
score.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:18]
So did the milkshake taste the same all the way through, or did you find
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:23]
certain parts that had that had more chocolate or I don't know what kind of milkshake it was. Maybe I should start there. What kind of milkshake was it, Lucy?
SPEAKER_2 [00:02:31]
It was chocolate.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:33]
And was it chocolatey all the way through or were there certain parts that were more chocolatey than others?
SPEAKER_2 [00:02:39]
All the way through.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:41]
Okay. So it has that going for it.
SPEAKER_1 [00:02:44]
What else did you think about the milkshake?
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:48]
Do you remember what you told me at dinner?
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:52]
About the implement?
SPEAKER_0 [00:02:57]
So what did you use to get the milkshake into your mouth?
SPEAKER_2 [00:03:03]
A straw.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:04]
Right. And and what what did you say to me about the straw?
SPEAKER_2 [00:03:08]
It was not the right kind of straw.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:12]
Not the right kind of straw.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:14]
What was not right about it, Lucy?
SPEAKER_2 [00:03:17]
It was too small.
SPEAKER_2 [00:03:18]
The the best straw that I've had is from Wileepalooza.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:24]
Well Wileepalooza.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:26]
Yeah. We'll talk about that after we get to your, your milkshake, John, because I've got one to report on as well. But so did you Lucy, did you have a Wileepalooza
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:35]
milkshake?
SPEAKER_2 [00:03:37]
Well, I gotta try my dad's.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:41]
Are you sure that try is the right word and not stole?
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:49]
You can you can speak up. It's alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:03:53]
Did did you steal from my milkshake, Lucy?
SPEAKER_2 [00:03:56]
Maybe.
SPEAKER_1 [00:03:59]
Alright. Was it worth it?
SPEAKER_2 [00:04:02]
Yes.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:03]
And and we will explore that more, but it is well past your bedtime. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:10]
I, I am so grateful to have had you as a guest on Life With a Twist of Lemon. John, you got a double twist tonight. I know.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:19]
It's really sour in here. Do you, you wanna say goodbye and goodnight to John before, before you head to bed?
SPEAKER_2 [00:04:25]
Yes.
SPEAKER_2 [00:04:27]
Goodbye.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:29]
Bye, Lucy. Thanks for coming on the podcast.
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:33]
Alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:34]
So we're here for Now my
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:37]
we gotta hear from you, John, about your Now we gotta hear from me.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:41]
Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:43]
So I
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:45]
stopped by the almost famous popcorn company.
SPEAKER_1 [00:04:48]
When I brought you popcorn from this popcorn shop, it was called the Great American Popcorn Company. It has since rebranded
SPEAKER_0 [00:04:55]
and got Wait. Wait. Wait. Hold on. I'm trying to remember the flavors I had.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:00]
There was bacon involved, wasn't there? There was a Beer.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:05]
Cheesy
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:06]
there was a spicy jalapeno cheese one,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:09]
and then there was a pretzel ale flavor.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:12]
That's the one. That's the one that that,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:16]
I'm pretty sure that missus Lemon and I finished when you weren't looking.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:21]
When I wasn't looking? All I know is that it was hidden from your children, so they they wouldn't have any. Yeah. Well, fortunately, they won't listen to this part of the podcast, I don't think.
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:33]
Okay. So so you went to go get popcorn,
SPEAKER_0 [00:05:36]
and are you telling me that they do popcorn and milkshakes?
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:40]
Yeah. So originally,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:42]
this this place is the happiest place on Earth, man. It beats Disney World hands down. Woah. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:49]
you walk in and you're greeted by,
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:52]
like, all different kinds of homemade fudge just sitting in the case there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:57]
Maiden shop.
SPEAKER_1 [00:05:59]
To your right,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:01]
you hit all of these, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:04]
glass bottle sodas.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:06]
So there's all different kinds of root beer.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:08]
There's a bunch of weird
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:10]
sodas. So there was one that was, like, radioactive.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:14]
It was called,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:17]
I don't know. Just any random soda and glass bottle that they can find. They they bring it in there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:24]
In between the sodas,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:25]
which kind of serve as bookends
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:28]
to all these different flavors of popcorn.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:31]
So we're talking, like, maybe 25
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:34]
different flavors across
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:36]
stacked
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:37]
three high.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:38]
So it's amazing.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:41]
And then you turn to the left,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:43]
and they have
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:44]
all sorts of ice cream. The ice cream is from Chocolate Shop ice cream, which is based out of Madison, Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:52]
So they have, what,
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:54]
I'd say, probably 16 to 20 flavors of ice cream to choose from.
SPEAKER_1 [00:06:59]
And now they have the milkshake machine.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:02]
They also have Milstream root beer on tap, so you can get a root beer float,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:06]
but that's always been there. But the milkshake machine is new since they rebranded to the almost famous popcorn company.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:14]
So did you I mean, was this like a,
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:18]
crime of opportunity? You were there for popcorn, and you're like, oh, I could get a milkshake.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:24]
So I saw the milkshake machine before. I think this was probably before we started recording. Otherwise, I would have tried it sooner.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:32]
But it was Anna's
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:34]
kind of reward for finishing all of her tests
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:37]
grading on
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:39]
Saturday afternoon.
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:40]
So we went on the popcorn shop, she got some ice cream, bought a bag of popcorn,
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:45]
and I
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:46]
got a milkshake.
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:47]
Okay. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:49]
what kind of milkshake
SPEAKER_0 [00:07:50]
was it?
SPEAKER_1 [00:07:52]
So you can choose from any of those flavors of ice cream. I went with the peanut butter cookie dough ice cream.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:00]
Interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:01]
So out of curiosity,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:03]
their milkshake menu then is reflective of their ice cream selection. That's that's like, you can order any milkshake as long as it's an ice cream flavor they have? Correct.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:13]
Fascinating. So, John, we had very similar experiences.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:18]
Did you did you say who the ice cream is from?
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:21]
It's chocolate shop ice cream.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:25]
They have, like, a cow on their logo.
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:30]
This is fascinating. And you said it was
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:32]
peanut butter cookie dough? Peanut butter cookie dough. So vanilla ice cream and peanut butter cookie dough, not like chocolate chip cookie dough like you would normally see.
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:41]
And then I think there were, like, chocolate
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:44]
bits in it too. So Okay. Out of curiosity,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:48]
do you remember what the other flavors,
SPEAKER_0 [00:08:51]
like, some of the other flavors of ice cream that they had were? So they have
SPEAKER_1 [00:08:56]
brownie cascade and always gets that one. There's, like, a coconut cream.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:01]
There's Superman, Blue Moon.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:05]
What else? I usually get, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:08]
Reese's peanut butter cup flavor.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:12]
Yeah. All sorts of things. Have have you ever seen an ice cream flavor labeled this, and then a bunch of characters just got serious? Yes. They have that one as well. Oh, Johnny boy. You are never gonna believe this.
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:27]
You'd be surprised, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:30]
What what are the odds
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:32]
that states away, we walked into a place that sources their ice cream
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:37]
from the exact same place?
SPEAKER_1 [00:09:40]
Based in Madison, Wisconsin.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:42]
Yeah. Exactly. Alright. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:46]
this is the irony of this is is just too too much. So there's this place, I've told you about this, that we go to as a family pretty regularly called Wileepalooza.
SPEAKER_0 [00:09:54]
It's in Irvington, which is a little neighborhood in Indianapolis. You've heard me talk about this. Right? Yep. Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:00]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:01]
my favorite flavor is this, you know, bunch of characters just got serious.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:06]
And and,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:08]
I there are a number of other, you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:12]
ice cream flavors that I like. I think the one I had
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:16]
this past,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:18]
for the for the milkshake I wanna talk about was, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:21]
loaded French toast or something like that. It was it was, I think, a newish one. But just so they list
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:27]
Wily Palooza on their website lists all the flavors that they have. And so far, everything you've said exists there
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:34]
verbatim,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:35]
which is which is why I had this confidence. Now,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:38]
I,
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:39]
Wily Palooza has this this, they they talk about super premium.
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:43]
Right? So what is super premium ice cream? And they talk about the overrun rate, which I I never even knew this was a thing with ice cream. But apparently, in order to be considered
SPEAKER_0 [00:10:52]
super premium, ice cream needs an overrun of less than 50%. And I know what you're thinking. You're like, what is overrun? And I'm gonna completely botch this, but it has to do with, I believe, the amount of air
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:03]
that's allowed
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:05]
in the Tom. Ice cream. So yeah. What's this say? The ice cream served at WileyPLUS is made with a 35% overrun, meaning there is one part air to every three parts cream.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:15]
So so basically,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:16]
less air, more cream. That's that's how I read that.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:19]
Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:20]
Which, you know, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:22]
game on, man. Like, this this is this is exactly what I want. Right? I don't want air in my ice cream,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:28]
but, I I think they've had they've got, like, the best ice cream that I've ever had. And interestingly,
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:33]
I also got a milkshake from there.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:36]
And it looks like they have the same kind of milkshake machine as the pop up Yes. Shop
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:43]
because I sent you I sent you a picture. Alright. So did they I'm I'm assuming they used a metal vessel.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:48]
Yep.
SPEAKER_1 [00:11:49]
Stainless steel cup.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:51]
Did you look to see what kind of milk they used? I did not.
SPEAKER_0 [00:11:55]
So mine mine was whole milk, which You're more practiced at this than I am. Yeah. I mean, I'm I'm like, I'm taking it all in. I was asking the questions.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:04]
I didn't, I didn't show my cards that I have a a podcast where we discuss milkshakes, but that that'll come. You're coming to visit in in a few weeks. We'll we'll, hopefully,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:13]
and we'll,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:14]
we'll we'll go there. But so I had I had this loaded French toast,
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:18]
and it was fantastic. Lucy tried it, and she referenced the straw. The straw I had was huge.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:24]
Yep. And this was a proper
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:26]
slurping
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:27]
straw.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:28]
Did you have a big straw?
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:30]
It was bigger than your normal soda straw that you would get at a restaurant. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:34]
Alright. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:36]
is this the best milkshake
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:38]
that you've had
SPEAKER_0 [00:12:40]
as as long as we've been doing this?
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:43]
I would say no.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:45]
Woah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:47]
The slurpability
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:49]
was weak.
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:51]
Too thick? It was too thick,
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:54]
and I chose poorly on my ice cream
SPEAKER_1 [00:12:57]
because, you know, pieces of cookie dough and chocolate don't break up to be small enough pieces to come through a straw. So you got a picture of the aftermath of that. Yeah. There was some definite debris in the bottom of your cup.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:12]
I could see how that would be frustrating. I
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:15]
I I can't like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:17]
unless unless they were going to
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:20]
so here's the thing. Right? With cookie dough ice cream,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:23]
usually, you want, like, big chunks of cookie dough. Right? Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:28]
I I don't know like, this is where that Five Guys methodology
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:32]
of incorporation,
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:33]
I think, is actually an advantage because they could pull off the cookie dough if they wanted to.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:38]
Whereas by using ice cream, I I just I think the bar is too high.
SPEAKER_1 [00:13:43]
Yeah. So that is a partial error on my part, which means I will have to revisit this milkshake again with a different flavor of ice cream.
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:52]
What what we should consider doing, we should try and coordinate
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:56]
the milkshake since now we know
SPEAKER_0 [00:13:58]
that these places serve the same ice cream. We should try and coordinate our milkshake
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:02]
across state lines here,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:05]
you know, and then we can compare with the actual flavor. So just to come full circle, my favorite ice cream there is this just got serious. It I'm like, I it is so you tell me how you order that when you get it with, you know, children from the ages, what, Lucy's nine to Evelyn's four or five or whatever. Yeah. The the same way I just said it, this just got serious.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:26]
I just completely skipped all of the funny characters, because how do you pronounce an at symbol and a pound sign?
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:32]
But Right. It it it it's fantastic ice cream, and they were out of it. So I didn't get to try that. Otherwise, that would have been my go to. I probably would have had a similar slip ability challenge just because of the I believe it's pieces of pralines.
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:44]
But,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:45]
this this,
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:46]
French toast one had cinnamon, maple syrup, and cream cheese in it. It was so good.
SPEAKER_1 [00:14:54]
Nice. So it wasn't too thick?
SPEAKER_0 [00:14:58]
No. No. The Filipe Milk. Yeah. They they blended it well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:02]
and I mean, everything about it was respectable.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:05]
It's I think it was better
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:08]
than
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:09]
the
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:10]
the first Five Guys one that I had. Not by much.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:15]
It I consider, like, in in my mind now, have two categorizations
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:19]
of
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:20]
milkshake.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:21]
Right? So there's the ice cream milkshake,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:24]
and then there's the
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:26]
I don't know. What what should we call it? Blended milkshake?
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:30]
Blended milkshake. Right? Yeah. Let's let's let's call it that. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:35]
Five Guys has takes the cake on the blended front. This this Wileepalooza,
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:40]
I mean, hands down, no questions asked.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:43]
This this, you know, from the ice cream front, awesome.
SPEAKER_0 [00:15:46]
Now granted, the ice cream front, the only other comparison I think I have is steak and shake, which was the chocolate ice cream, and that was terrible. Right. I bet they I bet they had a really high overrun rate.
SPEAKER_1 [00:15:56]
So,
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:00]
a faithful listener of this podcast who's catching up, I go to church with him, Ben Wise.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:05]
He
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:06]
was inspired by our talk of milkshakes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:09]
So he was
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:12]
at a gas station,
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:14]
and they had one of these, like, vending machine things, you know, like, they have at gas stations. And it was a for real milkshake.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:23]
F apostrophe
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:24]
real
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:26]
milkshake.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:28]
So vending machine for milkshakes.
SPEAKER_1 [00:16:31]
He thought he would give it a go, and I I wish that we had him on to talk about it. But from what I hear, not recommended. Not recommended at all.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:40]
I I can't like, I feel like there would be settling
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:43]
involved.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:45]
I'm looking at the website. This is interesting. It's it's very,
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:49]
colorful.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:50]
Cotton candy carnival.
SPEAKER_0 [00:16:53]
Yeah. I gotta be honest with you. This this doesn't look like something I'm gonna find in a, you know, diner that hasn't been cleaned recently, which is really what I'm going for. Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:06]
So my mom actually takes my nieces and nephews down to the gas station to get a milkshake. Actually, machine might not be there anymore, but it used to be the tradition that they would go get milkshakes and smoothies from one of these machines
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:18]
down at the gas station down the street from my sister's house.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:22]
Wait. Wait. The the f real ones?
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:24]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:25]
That's what I'm gonna call it. F real.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:27]
F real.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:29]
You people can Google that. Alright. Well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:31]
I mean, I don't even know where I would find one of these, but I
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:35]
oh, there's a little there's a little thing on the website. You can locate
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:39]
an F Real.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:41]
Oh my gosh.
SPEAKER_1 [00:17:45]
Let's see. Now now we have to try it, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:49]
Yeah. I'm well, I'm I'm trying to type my address and I'm doing it one hand and I'm trying to do it quietly so you can hear my typing, but
SPEAKER_0 [00:17:57]
I'm, I wonder I wonder if it's in a gas station, I could get one right now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:03]
Oh, there there's they're definitely close, John. Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:09]
There you go. My township. Where is this at?
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:13]
It's only 2.25
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:14]
miles away at the Franklin Quick Shop. You could bike there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:18]
I could. We could bike there together if you come out. Although, it's a little cold right now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:22]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:23]
Alright. So the the journey continues with the milkshake. You still have not made it to the Hamburg Inn. I don't see this segment ending Until I make it to the Hamburg Inn. Yeah. Like, it's it's just it is what it is. This is obviously a long milkshake discussion that I I think, we normally have, but listeners that appreciate milkshakes
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:42]
will appreciate this episode and everybody else probably wasn't listening anyhow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:46]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:47]
I will end on, if you are in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the almost famous popcorn company is the happiest place on earth. You should check it out. Great customer service, great owner,
SPEAKER_1 [00:18:58]
great product.
SPEAKER_0 [00:18:59]
So I I can vouch to the product. I've never been in there in person, but I've had the popcorn, and it is truly respectable.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:05]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:06]
alright. You mentioned,
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:08]
someone from your neck of the woods who apparently listened to the podcast, which that is, I believe The first listener I have. That's not true. My sister really does listen, and I'm pretty sure my parents listen.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:19]
So Yeah. So okay. So so basically,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:23]
there are three listeners,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:25]
that I know of from your corner of the world, and then,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:28]
I I have a colleague,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:30]
Jeff Elrod,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:31]
who,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:32]
asked me to talk about
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:35]
productivity,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:36]
which, of course, we've been highly unproductive for what, roughly half the show now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:42]
So Hey. Milkshake
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:43]
talk is not unproductive talk.
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:47]
Yeah. I think it's it's all it's all a matter of prioritization,
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:49]
right, which is really this is the segue into productivity
SPEAKER_0 [00:19:53]
that I was going for.
SPEAKER_1 [00:19:56]
So At some point at some point, there's gonna be these milkshake shops all over the country who will pay for us to come get a milkshake there just so we talk about it on life with a Twist of Lemon.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:07]
I you know, that's that's a dream that I'm I'm willing to pursue.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:12]
You're gonna have to eat a lot of milkshakes, though.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:16]
Alright. So Productivity. Yeah. Jeff was like, hey. How do you get so much done in a day? And I thought to myself, do I actually get a lot of fun in a day?
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:24]
But
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:25]
I you and I, we talked a little bit about this via via text,
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:29]
and I think you made a good point
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:32]
that we could we'll we'll probably take plenty of episodes in the future to discuss, but I think it's worth with bringing up, which was
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:40]
do you remember?
SPEAKER_1 [00:20:41]
Can you give me some kind of context?
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:43]
Begins with the letter w and ends with ace.
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:49]
Waste? The waste. Yeah. The waste. You said so
SPEAKER_0 [00:20:55]
so, like, the comment you made is is is all about trimming the waste. Right? Or or think I think that's how you say I said this. Are you sure you know I'm talking to somebody else? No. I'm sorry. I'm gonna I'm gonna find it. I'm gonna find the thread. But, basically, I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:08]
you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:09]
the way that I look at my day, which I think is similar to you, you you're like you're right now on a scheduling kick, aren't you?
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:17]
Yeah. Kinda working on setting up an ideal week.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:21]
So explain what you mean because when you the first time you said an ideal week, I thought you were just, like, being descriptive, but you're not.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:28]
Oh, right. Yeah. So literally,
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:30]
you take, like, a spreadsheet that has all of your waking hours
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:35]
there,
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:36]
accounted for,
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:37]
and then you kinda set up and literally
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:40]
block out what your ideal week would look like.
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:44]
So it's really kinda like a budget around the time that you have in a week.
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:49]
I think this is a really interesting concept. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:21:52]
how did like, did you make a list of the things that you were gonna budget for before you started budgeting?
SPEAKER_1 [00:21:58]
Well, I mean, those are kinda in my head anyway.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:01]
So there are certain things that happened every week. So, like,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:05]
I start with the fixed things,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:08]
like church happens on Sunday, and on Wednesday nights, I've been going too.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:14]
So those get those were blocked out first, really. And then it was really thinking,
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:18]
okay. I know
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:20]
that I
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:22]
function at a much higher level if I go to bed and wake up at the same time every single day.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:28]
So that really set the bookends for each day.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:32]
And then How long do you sleep, John?
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:35]
About seven hours. Longer than you. I don't know when you sleep, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:22:41]
You know my secret.
SPEAKER_1 [00:22:43]
Alright. Keep going. Keep going. I want this budget thing is just fascinating to me. And I've always been big into morning and evening routines to kind of book end the day. So morning routine, you probably have one even if it's not formalized anyway. You wake up, you scroll on Facebook, see if you have any new emails,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:00]
go take a shower, maybe grab a protein bar for breakfast, and then go to work. That's a routine. Even if it's not a formal one and maybe not the best one for your situation.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:09]
So I kinda blocked out my morning routines and evening routines next
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:14]
based on a 05:00 wake up time and a 10:00
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:18]
go to sleep time. We'll see if I make that tonight.
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:21]
Probably
SPEAKER_0 [00:23:22]
not. It seems unlikely at the rate we're going. Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:26]
And then,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:28]
work. So I work forty hours a week.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:32]
Hopefully, I can work only forty hours a week. That's ideally.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:36]
So I basically,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:37]
I have the flexibility in my schedule to work kind of flex time, so I shifted
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:43]
the workday up to 7AM,
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:45]
and then with me leaving at four.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:48]
And then it kinda starts an evening routine
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:51]
there with exercise and dinner.
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:54]
And then I have a bunch of unscheduled
SPEAKER_1 [00:23:56]
kind of margin time, which I think is important for you to
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:00]
either do something that comes up, to hang out with friends. I mean, you could block out time to hang out with friends too. I don't have friends where that would happen every week. But the podcast is on there, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:11]
Yes, it is.
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:13]
So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:24:14]
like, do you do you budget down your workday too, or is that just an eight hour block?
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:19]
So yeah. So that's where this really started. My boss, Josh Buenary,
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:23]
ran into this ideal week and these resources
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:27]
from Michael Hyatt,
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:29]
who's like a leadership coach who used to be in the publishing world.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:33]
So he's actually in, like, a business coaching or pursuing a business coaching program
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:39]
with him. So it kinda comes out of that, and it's really because our schedules are crazy.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:45]
We have more to do in a week than we actually have time to do.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:49]
So budgeting
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:50]
out the workday basically
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:53]
gives us
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:55]
this concrete thing that allows us to say no to certain things.
SPEAKER_1 [00:24:59]
So I started by saying,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:01]
alright.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:04]
I know that I need to focus on getting priorities for the week done.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:09]
So whatever's there, and then I'm kind of in charge of, like, three different product lines.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:15]
So by day, I focus on certain other product lines. Like, Tuesdays, I will work on, like, hourly stuff that comes in. Wednesdays focused on longer term project work.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:27]
And then I set
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:29]
aside meetings.
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:31]
So I blocked out time for specifically client meetings and then,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:36]
some time for internal meetings too,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:38]
to hopefully try to schedule all meetings in those time blocks rather than allowing meetings to be,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:45]
kinda overflow throughout the whole day,
SPEAKER_1 [00:25:48]
every day. And then you have all that downtime and time between meetings, and it really messes with your flow to actually get important things done. And meetings can be important, so that's why I schedule time for them to hopefully fit within that block of time.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:04]
Interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:05]
So how
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:07]
with this ideal week thing, how far into it are you?
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:11]
So I'm just still kinda working on the draft of what that looks like.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:16]
We're gonna kinda look at the
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:18]
ideal weeks for everybody on Friday at our Friday afternoon meeting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:23]
How reflective is is what you've budgeted,
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:26]
to what you actually
SPEAKER_0 [00:26:28]
do normally now?
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:34]
I'd say
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:35]
kind of.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:37]
I've been really bad about getting in early and then staying till 05:00.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:42]
So this kinda sets a concrete barrier there to, okay.
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:46]
This is the time block,
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:49]
and I think that will allow me to get more done, be more efficient within that time box,
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:55]
to do things. So if I only have until
SPEAKER_1 [00:26:58]
04:00 and then I'm gonna go home, that means I have to keep pushing through until things are done before 04:00.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:05]
And your workday, like, how much does each day look like the other workday, if that makes sense? So, like, do Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, they all look the same, or is there variance?
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:17]
From a high level, they would look the same.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:22]
It's more
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:24]
what kind what the project load is,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:27]
where
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:28]
where the different work is being focused.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:31]
Because I'd say
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:32]
80 to 90%
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:33]
of my
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:35]
work is doing and supporting
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:38]
billable work for projects and,
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:40]
hourly clients.
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:42]
So so in other words, if you have a block of meetings,
SPEAKER_0 [00:27:45]
that block is the same, like, time slot each day, but it's different meetings. Is that is that kinda what what you're getting at?
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:53]
So my meetings are sporadic.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:55]
I don't meet with people really regularly.
SPEAKER_1 [00:27:58]
I have a couple clients that I meet with once a week.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:02]
So those are standing in usually the same time every week. We have our daily stand up that it's at the same time every day,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:10]
and that isn't reflected in the ideal week. So that's kinda margin there. I could go down to that level of detail,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:18]
but this is more if somebody wants to schedule a meeting with me or if I'm going to schedule a meeting, ideally,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:25]
it would fall in one of these blocks that I've made available
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:28]
so that the other days and other times, I can sit
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:32]
for four hours straight and
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:35]
crank through things.
SPEAKER_0 [00:28:38]
Now for a while, you were doing Pomodoro. Are you still are you still into that?
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:42]
Occasionally,
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:43]
it depends on if it fits with the work, really.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:48]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:50]
my office space, I'm pretty good at managing distractions.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:53]
So the standing rule is if somebody has headphones on, you don't
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:57]
bug them.
SPEAKER_1 [00:28:58]
And I've been good at,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:01]
setting do not disturb on my laptop so no notifications from Slack or messages come through.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:07]
And I've actually been using this app called self control,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:12]
which will go through and block
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:14]
any distracting websites that you tell it to block for a specified amount of time.
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:20]
So I usually set that to two hours or whatever, and then we'll run Pomodoros within that,
SPEAKER_1 [00:29:26]
if I'm working on a specific project task.
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:30]
Interesting. Your your, like, approach to
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:34]
time and productivity is so
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:36]
different than mine. I think the outcome is probably similar, but you
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:40]
you are much more structured,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:42]
and
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:43]
I would say mine is more like a a it's just it's fluid. Right? So I I function
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:49]
off of my to do lists. My to do lists are,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:53]
what drive the schedule, if you will, and I do do, like, with work,
SPEAKER_0 [00:29:58]
I am pretty
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:00]
I am pretty religious about my calendar.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:04]
I have a very meeting heavy world,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:08]
and so I I do front load my week. So so Monday can be like a a marathon,
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:14]
where I I you know, like today, I think my first meeting was at nine, and my last meeting ended at 03:30, and there was literally not a break in between that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:25]
So, you know, I've I've finished a meeting five minutes early to use the restroom, get my lunch, whatever that kind of thing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:30]
But I kinda suffer that penalty
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:33]
to to make the rest of the week a little more
SPEAKER_0 [00:30:36]
smooth, I guess. I don't know. It's it's it's weird. Yeah. See, do that more with energy level.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:43]
I know that I'm gonna be much more have much more energy and focus at the beginning of the week, especially Mondays. Like today, I was first person in the whole building, and there's, like, 300 people who work out of this building.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:55]
And I went all the way till five.
SPEAKER_1 [00:30:58]
So
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:00]
I just am able to maintain a high level of efficiency
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:04]
throughout Monday. Whereas if we get to Friday
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:08]
afternoons,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:09]
then I'm kinda done. My energy is depleted,
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:12]
so I don't wanna work on anything that's gonna take a lot of focus or a
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:17]
lot of creativity.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:18]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:19]
Friday afternoon is a meeting block, which kind of forces me to be productive.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:24]
Interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:25]
Yeah. I I mean
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:27]
so here's another thing that's interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:29]
I Mondays, I think,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:31]
like, my creative juices are at their lowest, so I'm in, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:36]
ingest mode for information,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:38]
which is why it's all meeting heavy. Interesting too, I think I think you probably spend more time working than I do,
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:47]
especially if you were the first person in today and you went till five. I mean, that was more than an eight hour day for sure.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:53]
Yeah. Today was.
SPEAKER_1 [00:31:55]
Yeah. So I don't I am gonna be traveling this week. So
SPEAKER_0 [00:31:59]
Okay. So you're kinda offsetting some of the time, and I and I get that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:03]
So, you know, my day, especially with
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:06]
the kids and their stuff, and then things around the house and,
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:12]
you know, the
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:13]
three organizations that I volunteer with, I I just am constantly adding to dos, and I am very aggressive about scheduling
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:21]
reminder times.
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:23]
And so it's just a queue, right, each day, and I I change the priority based upon what
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:29]
what I need to get done, but that also forces me, like, I my my workday can't go forever. Otherwise, I'll never get anything else. Great. And, I think some of that's just necessity
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:38]
and, know, I I mean, things are busy, but it it works. I just for for me again, it's it's all about list making and,
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:46]
the calendars
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:47]
in that respect are kind of like lists for me,
SPEAKER_0 [00:32:51]
but yeah. Yeah. So
SPEAKER_1 [00:32:55]
basically, this ideal week and blocking of time tells me which list to look at.
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:00]
So let me pull up my
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:03]
task list for tomorrow.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:05]
So this is interesting because my
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:08]
so I I did you ever use Omnifocus?
SPEAKER_1 [00:33:11]
I haven't. No. Because I was cheap.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:14]
So
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:16]
for a while, I used the first, version of Omnifocus,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:19]
and at the time,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:21]
it it it had this concept of context, and it didn't make a lot of sense to me. But now the way that I work, it it it really is it's reflective of the way I do things. So context would be like, you're at home or you're at the office or, you know, you're something like that. Right? And so you could switch your context. You get the grocery store would be a context.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:38]
And that context would spread across multiple projects.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:42]
And that's kind of how I work
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:44]
now,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:45]
because I have like, I've got a work context.
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:48]
Right? And then I have really what amounts to,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:52]
like, an iPad context and a laptop context and, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:57]
you know,
SPEAKER_0 [00:33:59]
out shopping context.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:01]
And so so for me, it's not like I have this block of time to go through,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:05]
you know, my,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:07]
Indiana district treasurer list. Like, that's that's not how it works. It's more like this is the time that I'm gonna sit down on my laptop, my personal laptop, and I'm gonna go through the things that I can only do from that location.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:20]
And then, you know, I switch to the next one.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:22]
Interesting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:24]
Yeah. It because so again, I'll just give you an example. Right? Like, I've got these two
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:28]
treasurer and financial secretary things I do.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:31]
And so when I sit down
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:33]
to do, like, bank reconciliation
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:35]
or,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:38]
you know, processing stuff in a spreadsheet,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:41]
that
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:42]
it has to happen on my laptop. Like, my iPad doesn't give me the the real flexibility I need to to do that work. So that stuff gets bunched together across,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:51]
across, you know, activity.
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:53]
And then if I'm doing email and I know it's not, like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:34:57]
it's not email that requires something weird, I just sit on the couch with my iPad
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:02]
and I'll burn through, you know, email for for all my volunteer stuff, my personal things, all of that.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:08]
Yeah.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:09]
So I do pretty much everything
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:10]
on my MacBook,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:13]
whether it's for things at chapel, whether it's for work,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:17]
whether it's for home finance stuff,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:20]
this task course that I'm on pretty much all lives on my laptop.
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:25]
I use my iPad occasionally, but it's usually for
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:29]
unproductive time, I would call it,
SPEAKER_1 [00:35:32]
consumption or entertainment.
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:35]
Yeah. So I use I use the iPad for entertainment as well, but it's pretty much
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:40]
books at this point. I'm not
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:43]
I'm not watching much of any TV
SPEAKER_0 [00:35:45]
minus a football game on Sunday. And I say a football game because literally it's it's the Steelers and that's about all I watch now. I did catch part of other games yesterday in between things, but, you know, it's just not as as much of a priority. I really I really have cut a lot of,
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:05]
I don't know, nonessential things from my,
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:08]
like, my my my realm, if you will. I I used to spend
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:12]
more time, you know, fiddling around on Twitter or or doing, you know, Netflix shows or whatever. And I'm not I'm not knocking people do those. I just I have I've kinda in the bubble sort of life. Right? I I prioritize
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:25]
a few other things over those, and I will eventually,
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:29]
like, find enough buffer
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:32]
that I'll sign up for Netflix and I'll burn through a couple shows or whatever, and then I'll let it lapse and something else will get prioritized.
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:38]
But again, that kinda goes back to that list mentality that I have,
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:41]
which is really like it's it's just the way that I function. I've got I've got a list of all the things that are important to me right now. And even like, I get to a day like today, right, where I didn't actually have a lot going on in the evening, I went back to the master list
SPEAKER_0 [00:36:55]
of priorities. It's like, did did I have anything for church? Did I have anything for Indiana district? Did have anything for child advocates? It's just kinda work down through the list and I didn't. And so then I got to a point where it's like, gotta free some free time. What could I do? We hung some shelves that we've had for a while. Right? Because that was that was the next thing on the priority list.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:11]
Yeah. See, you're kinda hardwired like that where I am not.
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:16]
If I can just go waste time, I will. So maybe that's where the difference in how we go about things is.
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:23]
Yeah. It could be. It's interesting. So,
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:26]
and and maybe that dovetails a little into, like, the morning routine stuff, because you've you've got everything on on your ideal week. You've got everything, like, broken out, don't you?
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:35]
More or less. Yeah.
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:37]
See, for for me, I mean,
SPEAKER_1 [00:37:40]
I don't know. Yeah. You just kinda wake up and eat breakfast and do whatever.
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:45]
Yeah. I I get going. Like, the only thing that is definitive is whatever that first meeting is, which I check the night before when I go to bed
SPEAKER_0 [00:37:54]
so that I know because I don't I don't have my I don't have my work calendar, like, sitting next to my nightstand.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:01]
I I know that, you know, the first meeting starts at nine, and so I need to be up by a certain time. Or Mondays when I go into the office, I know that I need to be up and out the door by a certain time. But typically, like, I mean, there's there's an hour hour and a half range that I might actually wake up and get going.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:16]
And and that that's that's fine. I just again, I get up and I've got the list that I I burn through real quick. And then, you know, even even like taking a shower, sometimes if if I'm up earlier, then I take a little longer shower. If not, you know, it's no big deal and and turn on to the next thing.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:31]
I do have and I don't I don't know I don't know if you do this. I I feel like we've talked about this. There's a lot of apps out there that do, like, habits lists
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:40]
or or they're they're habit oriented. And I actually just use I just use the iOS reminders app for this. But I have my habits, right, which is, like, things such as,
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:51]
take my morning vitamin
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:53]
or read a book.
SPEAKER_0 [00:38:55]
They're recurring events that happen every day, and I have them set for different times to pop up and alert me if I haven't done them, But that also then folds into my master
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:06]
to do list that's scheduled by date or by due date. And Right. I see those and I check those off. And those do not happen at the same time every day,
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:16]
which I I think that also is a little different from
SPEAKER_0 [00:39:19]
kinda the way that that you're framing it with the ideal week. Right? Because you would have you would have, like, a Yeah. Somewhat.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:26]
Yeah. Okay. So for things that were priority, so say, I know I wanna read every day, so I would put make sure there's
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:34]
thirty minutes or an hour somewhere on that day to read.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:39]
That time could be flexible depending on what's going on.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:43]
So, like, on Wednesdays, I'm not gonna be reading in the evening because I don't get home till 09:15, and then I'm gonna be ready for bed.
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:50]
So there's that sort of thing. I do have a similar,
SPEAKER_1 [00:39:53]
I call it the daily routine checklist, and that has things like breakfast, reading, workout,
SPEAKER_1 [00:40:00]
and write, which I haven't done, but I would like to get back into the habit of just writing something every day. And I guess I do as far as emails and stuff are concerned. But That doesn't count. Totally doesn't count. Right. I I I so this is interesting. We could probably do a podcast on this. Right? Reading and writing is part of,
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:18]
like like, things that you do every day because
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:22]
they they reinforce other things. Right? Or they help you in other ways. I I'm a I'm a big believer both in the reading and writing every day. Those are actually on
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:32]
my daily reminders. It's something that I
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:35]
mostly hit on the mark every day.
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:41]
Yeah. And
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:43]
and I I don't know. I I feel like they help in terms of just your overall communication and listening abilities
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:50]
Because if you can if you can read and digest, then you can listen and digest, and that's critical in the workplace. And same same with writing. Right? Like,
SPEAKER_0 [00:40:57]
people people just they have to be able to write. I I'm curious. When you say write every day though, do you just mean words, or do you actually mean write, like, with a
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:06]
hand and a pen?
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:09]
I mean words because most of the time, I can't read my own handwriting.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:15]
So I I do this I do the same thing
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:19]
in terms of, like, the thing I have to write, it is usually typed.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:23]
But I, I have been I have been lately trying to take notes by hand. I've gone through this phase a couple of times where I'm like, you know, I I don't write much.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:33]
And there is there's there's something important I think about being able to write, and so I will take meeting notes by hand and then later on type up an abbreviated version usually of them for later consumption.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:45]
If you wanna be Stan Lemon's new pen pal,
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:49]
message us on Twitter.
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:50]
Yeah. Interestingly, I I wrote my aunt a while back, and I I typed it up. So I don't, when I when I have written a letter,
SPEAKER_0 [00:41:57]
it's still still typed.
SPEAKER_1 [00:41:59]
I want I wrote a letter to
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:02]
your son
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:03]
probably about a year ago now.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:05]
Is that the last time you wrote a letter?
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:08]
I
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:09]
don't think so.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:11]
Okay. But I definitely don't write letters as often as I used to.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:16]
Hannah got me a fountain pen one year, and I was on a letter writing kick.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:20]
I never got a letter.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:22]
That's because I talk to you every day, Stan. Whenever I would write to you, you already know. I would tell you before the letter got there.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:29]
Surely,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:29]
there's gotta be a surprise somewhere, John.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:32]
I don't know. I'm not that interesting.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:34]
Well,
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:37]
so I think our
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:40]
productivity chat here has
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:43]
grossly contorted the runtime of this episode.
SPEAKER_0 [00:42:47]
Wonder if all four of our listeners will notice.
SPEAKER_1 [00:42:51]
Yeah. If they've made it past the milkshake segment, then this conversation might have actually been worth something. Yeah. And and if they if not, they can always take it to Reddit.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:01]
Right.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:05]
On the subreddit for the, the greatest podcast you're probably not listening to.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:10]
Right? Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:11]
I think we should dig deeper into this at some point, Stan.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:15]
Yeah, man. Well, I mean, we there's we've just barely, I think, scraped the surface of productivity. Because one other thing that we could talk about is just tracking work. Again, we'll save that for we'll save that for the next Save it for another time. I feel like we've got a house episode coming up soon though, don't we? Right.
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:31]
Hopefully.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:33]
Hopefully. Knock on wood.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:34]
So before I forget, we should remind everyone that they can find us on Facebook,
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:39]
on Twitter.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:40]
We're not on Instagram. Right? We are not on Instagram. Okay. And what's the website?
SPEAKER_1 [00:43:46]
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:49]
Alright.
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:50]
And last but certainly not least, you should get on to iTunes and you should rate our podcast
SPEAKER_0 [00:43:56]
and give us five stars. If you do not want to give us five stars, please don't rate us. We would we would rather have a,
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:03]
a lie and a full five stars
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:06]
than an honest four star review.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:09]
So there I see Yep.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:11]
If you use overcast, hit the star.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:14]
Is there anything in Spotify,
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:16]
John? So we aren't on Spotify because Spotify is slow on actually accepting
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:22]
podcasts.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:23]
Alright. Well, then you you you're probably not listening to us on Spotify, so it doesn't matter to to rate us. But on that note, until next time when Until next time. Yeah. We'll have to see if if we'll get another guest
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:36]
because I think I think there's another child chomping at the bitch. Alright,
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:41]
Stan.
SPEAKER_1 [00:44:42]
Time to cut it off. See you later.
SPEAKER_0 [00:44:45]
You.