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The Moonshots Podcast goes behind the scenes of the world's greatest superstars, thinkers and entrepreneurs to discover the secrets to their success. We deconstruct their success from mindset to daily habits so that we can apply it to our lives. Join us as we 'learn out loud' from Elon Musk, Brene Brown to emerging talents like David Goggins.
hello and welcome to the moonshots
podcast it's episode
266 I'm your co-host Mike Parsons and as
always I'm joined by the man himself Mr
Mark Pearson Freeland good morning Mark
hey good morning Mike and good morning
members listeners viewers subscribers
everybody who's out there leaning in
today into learning out loud with us
here on the moonshots podcast it's um
crazy to think that we're episode
266 and we've only managed to get
ourselves to a book that came out a
decade ago which is an absolute
Powerhouse and I would say Mark if you
liked Cal newport's deep work then this
this show takes it to another
level yeah I think you're totally right
Mike and how we've got through
266 shows and this book is so essential
I am uh just amazed that we've probably
covered a lot of these topics but
finally we're having the joy of being
able to lean into it and actually dig
into some of the work from Greg macau's
essentialism the disciplined pursuit of
less now Mike we're gonna obviously lean
in to a lot of the themes in this book I
think it's fair to say that for you this
has been a book that's always maintained
a sort of topof the pile um reference
book if you want to call it that where
you can lean in and really find find out
some of those tips that Greg breaks down
and obviously today we're going to lean
into how Greg has a lesson for all of us
with regards to
prioritization uh eliminating those
non-essential distractions boy what a
great uh call to action that would be
but also maximizing the productivity as
well as satisfaction that I think a lot
of us can get from the tasks and the
jobs that we have each day to do so I
mean I think it's about time that we
managed to get into this book right it
is about time it's taken us a decade
since it was published but um I believe
this even has like a a Netflix show on
essentialism there's certainly been
feels like there's been a whole movement
around this idea um Greg may not be the
original author but I think he's
definitely created one of the go-to
sources in his book and this book and
this show is for anybody who's made the
decision they want to pour themselves
and their energy into a calling be it a
project be it their community be it
their business their product or any
other creative athletic Endeavor and the
thing is when you give all of this
energy you have to direct it and what I
find is that this book is goto if you
want to harness your energy and
understand that by working on a fewer
things by simplifying and making the
essential choices in your personal
private life in your relationships in
your house Mark I'm going to even go
this far go to your wardrobe this show
will help you choose the color of your
underpants is it's all about taking this
Spirit of cot's deep work or Mari
condo's ideas and applying it to
everything in life so the net effect
is that whatever you're working on gets
most of your attention so if that's you
get ready because Mark is about to
unleash the clipse oh well hot off the
press following that I've got to say
we're gonna kick off with a Powerhouse
of a clip Mike we're going to hear from
Greg mcau himself he's going to
introduce us to the concept that he
covers in essentialism and he's going to
help us understand this concept of a
discipline pursuit of less so let's hear
now from Greg to help us understand and
decide what is essential and how less is
better I've spent the last 15 years
pretty obsessed by a single question
which is what is it that holds capable
driven people from breaking through to
the next
level and the answer to that question to
my great surprise is
success I first observed this working
with executive teams in Silicon Valley
where I noticed that when they were
focused on a few things it led to
success but success breeded so many
opportunities and options that that
diffused the very Focus that led to
success in the first place and so
exaggerating the point in order to make
it I found that success becomes a
catalyst for
failure because it leads to what Jim
Collins called the undisciplined pursuit
of
more the antidote to that problem is the
disciplined Pursuit of less but better
that means
exploring the very critical things you
want to pursue and being willing to then
number two eliminate the rest and number
three build a platform for effortless
execution so that doing what is
essential becomes the default position
not just the rare
[Music]
occasion my position is that when people
really get a chance to think and have
the space that can quite easily discern
between the things that are essential to
them important to them and those things
that are not the problem is not our
ability to discern it's that we don't
have the space to take the time to
discern once we have that perspective we
can think through it so my position is
that we need to develop a routine that
enables that space to think in a world
where we have so much
information we need more time to think
and process it not less and so you know
one CEO that I interviewed for the book
has two hours on his calendar every day
uh broken up into half hour segments so
that he has this space to stop to turn
everything off to think to see the
bigger picture I think we could all do
something similar to
that you know that's so interesting
because I think what Greg captures there
Mark is this war that I talk about this
war for our attention it's a fight for
our energy and where it goes and it's
crazy because a geriatric like me
remembers a life without internet I
remember turning up in my 20s in to be
actually specific 20 years of age and I
used to send faxes to my clients for the
first few hours every
morning now I can do that same
distribution of information in about 5
minutes to the entire universe rather
than just 20 clients right wow so here's
the thing you have no idea if you're
under the age of 40 and you've grown up
mostly with the internet in a
professional City you have no idea how
much our attention is stolen right and
that's you know that hour on Instagram
is an hour that didn't go into reading
that book or working on that idea or
contributing to your local community
that's the trade-off and we're going to
talk a lot about trade-offs but once you
say to yourself I'm going to give all of
myself to something what you have to
Almost Do Mark is see the world is doing
everything it can to distract you from
achieving that
goal and it might sound a little
ruthless but I think if this thing means
something to you if it means enough to
you you will trade off you'll say no you
will focus on what truly matters you
will focus on less things and do them
better
so Mark when you clear the decks and get
focused tell me what is the greatest
enemy that you face when trying to focus
on fewer things when you're like I've
got some things that matter to me maybe
it's running Marathon working on a
project what's the hardest
thing about working on less but better
where does it manifest in the day for
you yeah that's a good one I think
there's a lot of work that we can talk
about today with regards to focus
prioritization for me when I've got a
lot um on my plate and when I want to
really focus on those things that really
matter you know going back to our Master
Series with C Newport the idea of having
a a daily weekly quarterly plan that
will Define I think those priorities
that I want to get done but you're right
it's very very easy to say yes to so
many things because opportunities at
least for a lot of us we were grown up
with the Insight that you should say yes
to as many opportunities as you can
because you don't know how often they'll
come around right and obviously there's
a lot of financial implications that a
lot of us have there's the uh default
position to just absorb whatever people
hand to you because that's sort of the
workplace mentality when it comes to me
Mike it is saying no saying no is the
real challenge because even though I
might know in the heart of hearts that
if I take on this extra project that's
going to be an extra two hours a day
that means two hours less doing the work
that I was kind of excited by or the
work that I think will actually have an
impact on tomorrow and next month and
next year and it just re prioritizes and
de prioritizes a lot of the work and the
passion that I would want to put into
something so really understanding and
having an objective an objective look at
what I've got going on and being able to
cherry-pick the items that I know really
matter to me and being able to actually
as we're going to find out in today's
show start to say no to some of that
stuff is such a huge aha moment isn't it
yeah so my where it comes to to me is I
often say yes and the mistake is The
Wishful
Thinking okay it won't be as bad it'll
be easier than I think oh that sounds
really
exciting and then you're like oh boy for
example um let's say somebody comes
along and says hey Mike we know you're
really into rugby and you're certified
rugby coach can you come and
our
team what I always do is go oh what a
great team what a great
program but then I start doing it and
then I realized oh I have to leave home
an hour before I need to be there but I
need to be there early to help set up
for training and then I need to work
with one of the players after training
to refine something oh that's four to 5
hours oh oh my gosh I didn't realize I
was saying yes to 5 hours so I find
myself victim to wishful thinking like
oh it'll be easy oh no problem like I'm
I'm so wishful and so optimistic about
how I perceive my actual time
allocation that I I I you know that's
where I'm Breaking All the Rules of
essentialism and so what I try to do is
a number of things that we're going to
talk about in this show to avoid saying
yes and then regretting it you
know yeah and you know to build on that
I think the reason why a lot of us say
yes is because of genuine enthusiasm or
curiosity yeah you know when I've been
approached with you know tasks or jobs
or even hobbies that do not align with
the work that I might be doing or the
focuses that I'm trying to put into my
life I'll often say yeah of course I can
pick up this new habit why not learn
Mandarin and if I'm objective about it
and that's a true story I learned
Mandarin for a couple of years but if
I'm objective about it and I look back
at that I didn't need to because I I was
working with a lot of clients in China
but we all spoke English a lot right so
with hindsight if I look back at the
time and that was about four five hours
a week I could have utilized that time
in more productive ways right in order
to facilitate maybe the work the actual
work we were doing rather than the kind
of hobby approach thinking hey this is
I'm kind of curious about this this
could be fun yeah having that objective
look is something that now I I can
appreciate through the work of of Greg
essentialism as well as a lot of the
other authors that we've been leaning
into including Cal well so so here's the
interesting thing we really do need to
buy into this idea of less but better it
reminds me of the uh the Ein Stone show
that we did and we identified this this
great quote from Ein
where and I'm paraphrasing here he like
look I'm no not really any smarter than
anybody
else but his secret was and he goes on
to say I just spent more time thinking
about one problem than anybody else and
mark That's
essentialism yeah if you truly by the
idea of less but
better you have a smaller house
so there's less to maintain less
mortgage to pay you have a
simpler monochromatic wardrobe says less
to think about in the
morning you have a set of atomic habits
that you never change so you get
yourself in a great start to the day you
do that so that you have an unfair
amount of energy left in the batteries
to apply to whatever
really
matters when you have made a lot of
complexity you just have to divide your
time by more variables so you cannot do
what Einstein
celebrated
Focus less solving less things but
solving them better that to me is the
power of this idea but the the funny
thing that we'll get to in a second is
it leads to a whole Catch 22 once you
start doing this but I'd tell you if
there are any practitioners in this
world Mark who are focused on being
better it's our members look Mike you
couldn't say it I couldn't say it better
myself you're totally right in this
world of understanding new tips and
finding out those uh unfair advantages
if you want to call them that those
penny drop moments that each of us find
every week as we lean into the moonshot
show and all these amazing authors I
know that behind the scenes there are a
family of people that are just as
excited as you and I and are picking up
these insights and activating them in
their lives every single week so without
further Ado bring out the trumpet and
welcome in Bob Niles itrip dietar Maran
Connor Lisa and Sid Mr bonju Paul ber
and cman Joe Christian samuela and
Barbara Deborah lass Steve Craig Ravi
evet R and niikada Ingram Durk venata
Marco jet Roger Stefan raw niman Diana
Kristoff and Denise Laura Smitty Corey
and Daniela Mike Antonio Zachary and
Austin Fred Ola Andy Diana Margie Ron
jasp and Fabian gong and Edward guys
thank you so much for joining us and
being part of the moonshots family as
well as learning out loud with us every
single week month after month leaning
into habits and tricks that really help
us have an unfair advantage and be the
best version of ourselves yes they are
the the few
who have really paid it for it and and
we deeply appreciate the contribution
and we hope that this next clip will
really talk to those members because
what happens is if you become very
focused on being
essential you will see the magic of
compound interest you'll start getting
results and when you're getting results
people want to talk to you meet you
maybe collaborate with you do a project
with you hire you marry you who knows
yeah maybe it's those monochromatic
Underpants I don't know but here's the
thing if you're not careful this success
can become a trap in and of itself so
Mark why don't you unleash this next
clip this big Insight is going to pay
dividends to all of us who are in that
type of situation where we take on a lot
of things thinking that it's going to
improve maybe even benefit us in the
long run but as Greg's going to help
help us understand and break down a
little bit further in this next clip
like you say success can sometimes be a
bit of a catalyst to failure if we
choose to let it if you don't prioritize
your life someone else
will and out of that grew a
question uh I mean I mean let me just
put it to you really quickly right I
mean I mean that's what I learned right
but what about you I want to do a quick
PA I want you to snap if any of these
are true for you right snap we're going
to a quick PA have you you ever found
yourself stretched too thin at work or
at home snap for that I've got some
people dancing at the back to this um
have you ever found yourself busy but
not productive s for that all right have
you ever found yourself saying yes just
to please or to appease or just to avoid
trouble right the question is why right
that's a non-trivial question why do
otherwise successful people find them
self stretched too thin at work or at
home why I spent years I quit my job
that was probably a good idea wasn't
it quit my job started a new company and
pursued this question with uh with with
with serious passion why is it that this
happens and what and this is what I
found an answer hidden in plain sight
the reason that otherwise successful
people find themselves stretched to thin
at work or at home is Success yes I
what's the pattern here's the pattern
you get focused right few things right
time put a lot of energy in generates
tremendous momentum leads to success
good what comes with success new options
and
opportunities that's it that's what we
want that sounds like the right problem
to have but it does in fact turn out to
be a problem if it leads to what Jim
Collins has called the undisciplined
pursuit of
more the undisciplined pursuit of more
if you fall into that problem and I'm
exaggerating the point in order to make
it but success can become a catalyst for
failure like uh Bill Gates said success
is a very poor
teacher right okay so I'm not anti
suuccess that' be the wrong place to
have such a message
perhaps but here's what I've learned
I've learned that you have to become
successful at success and it's a
different kind of discipline in fact the
antidote to the undisciplined pursuit of
more is the disciplined pursuit of less
but
better less but better or becoming
successful at managing success yeah so I
think he nailed it it's this um dopamine
hit of more more more right I think that
is truly where it's at because we
think we we're growing
and achieving because people want to
speak to us I
remember one time and I had read the
book and a couple of years ago somebody
reached out to me and asked me to be on
a blockchain
podcast and uh I knew this person
professionally and I just merely
answered their request with hey it
sounds like you're doing a cool show
but I'm not sure what I can add as I'm
not a blockchain
specialist and you know I only know a
little bit about it um tell me like what
what do you think we would discuss
together because I'm just not sure how I
could um serve your audience and guess
what they didn't even answer my email
oh now let's imagine then let's let's
let's follow this up a bit because I
think there's something really big in
here if they had really wanted me and
let's just say for whatever reason my
email didn't go through they would have
followed up
correct if they were really busy they
would have got to it the following
week but what does it tell
you when they didn't even answer my
clarification request
I think it's very
interesting that I
heard absolutely nothing
back do you
think yeah do you think
Mark that they really really wanted me
on the podcast or was it just hey we
know Mike he's got a he's got a big
popular show maybe we can get some of
his let's ask
him I think it was it I mean look I'm
not going to play down your
skills across any areas Mike but you're
right you know based on that followup
Behavior it seems as though they just
wanted to to tap into you know maybe the
spread that we have but also your
knowledge and when you then push back
and say hey help me understand why you
know go a little bit further provide me
some details it sounds as though they
didn't really didn't really have that
prioritized did they so think about
this if a host of a podcast can't even
tell me like answer the question how do
we provide value to the
listeners well if I had spent two or
three
hours in that
commitment and I wasn't working on
something meaningful for myself I would
have been a victim of more more more
more and of course it's very flattering
if someone says hey can you speak at
this event could you be on this podcast
could you attend this or that but by
just merely asking the question hm not
sure what value we could create together
tell me more yeah and get nothing back I
I feel like I saved
myself half a day so I think the the
insight there is getting curious about
the opportunity isn't it so it's almost
it's it's part and parcel of I think
what we're learning today which is being
objective at accepting requests so
whether that's a new project in your day
job maybe that's picking up a new hobby
or maybe it's an opportunity that comes
along quite out of the blue by getting
curious and asking the question before
you say oh yeah definitely I'll do that
without knowing what you're getting
yourself into you could potentially open
up a can of worms so to speak that then
is a real time sap you know I remember
Mike having a project that I picked up
or inherited to a certain extent when I
was working with a fintech business
business a few years ago in
Australia there was a task that needed
to happen it wasn't connected to what I
do in my in my job at the time but
instead I could see that nobody else was
really doing it and I thought okay well
maybe I'll pick this up because this
would be really really handy to do and
I'm curious so why not give it a go with
hindsight I did not appreciate how much
leg work there would be how much
requirement there would be to create
additional documentation that then I
would have to pitch in to um leaders and
so on in order to get it over the line
because I wasn't curious prior to saying
yes to it instead I jumped in feet first
without checking the depth yes so this
is I think from in terms of a mindset
and a paradigm when you say and truly
buy into less but better you start to
question things that you might otherwise
automatically accept and commit to right
and and this is so powerful because then
you can go do the Deep work then you can
go and master something then you can go
and spend more time than anybody else
solving that problem and that's where
the real value gets created so I'm very
excited about these next two clips
because now that we've established hey
it's not more but better it's less but
better now we've made that case Mark I
think it's time for us to dig into the
question of how do we practice less but
better what do you got yes this is the
part of the show that you and I as well
as I know all of our members and
listeners really lean into we've
understood and been introduced by Greg
with regards to the reasons why you want
to be curious and why you should
consider saying less to and or know to
more things what we're now going to hear
from productivity game are some really
actionable tips Mike they're going to
help you and I really understand how we
might be able to install this window
reflection and this ability to say no to
more things in our daily life so let's
hear now from productivity game who has
got Mike I promise you some tips that
are going to get you and I really
excited and probably our uh moonshots
listeners and fan favorites are going to
recognize some of these tips and think
huh this is definitely something I need
to install into my life so let's hear
from productivity game with regards to
some essential tips Greg's helped me
adopt new habits that prevent the
non-essential things from creeping into
my life
first I learned to be more diligent
about keeping a journal now it sounds
pretty basic and it doesn't sound like I
can do much but having the ability to
set aside time to take that bigger view
to be a journalist of your life allows
you to identify patterns of what really
is essential what really matters to you
day after day because we are easily
disillusioned by the media by our
environment we need to really check in
with ourselves and make sure that we are
on track and journaling is one of the
best tools to do this to Journal often
simply leave your journal on your bed or
on the couch or on the kitchen table
some place where you're always going to
run into it where you can just jot down
a few words a few ideas that you can
then reflect on the second habit of the
essentialist is learning the art of the
awkward pause if you're about to
instinctively say yes to a request just
pause for a little bit longer 3 to 4
seconds what that does is let the person
know that you're seriously considering
it it also gives you time to think of
the tradeoffs that you're going to make
by saying yes if you say yes to that
what are you saying no to lastly to
ensure that our priorities remain our
priorities we need to make space in our
day to strengthen our ability to be
selective and recognize the trade-offs
first we need to reserve time to think
we need space in our day to allow us to
differentiate between the options that
we have protecting your thinking time
could involve reserving 15-minute blocks
throughout the day between meetings and
before key events it's a time where you
think strategically how you're
approaching your life you consider what
you're currently saying no to and what
you should be saying no to the second
thing we need to protect is Play Time a
study of over 6,000 people concluded
that play leads to brain plasticity
adaptability and creativity nothing
fires up the brain like play Greg says
it helps us to see possibilities we
otherwise wouldn't have seen and make
connections we would otherwise not have
made it opens our minds and broadens our
perspective it helps us challenge old
assumptions and makes us more receptive
to untested ideas so play during
conversations with friends and family
play by picking up a new sport or
activity play by making up and engaging
in games a third essential thing we need
to protect is sleep time Bill Clinton
was quoted as saying every major mistake
that I've made has happened as a result
of sleep deprivation sleep effects are
judgment and our awareness the less
sleep we get the more non-essential
things are able to creep into our life
if you're willing to take the challenge
of carving out time to make sure you
have a good sleep you'll see that your
awareness of choice dramatically goes up
and you have the ability to identify the
trade-offs and make tough decisions
throughout the day Greg leaves us with a
basic value proposition of essentialism
only once you give yourself permission
to stop trying to do it all to stop
saying yes to everyone can you make your
highest contribution towards the things
that really
matter oh boy
in one clip Mark I think uh that summary
of
Greg it's like almost
like somewhere between Cal Newport deep
work James Clear Atomic habits but taken
to even another level like this is the
Playbook because if you've decided to
really have a go at life and be the best
you can be you'll invariably need to do
each and every one of those things
because you be
exercising you'll be stretching in the
mornings maybe meditating in the
evenings you'll be journaling you'll be
active with friends and family you'll be
having some creative time and by the way
you have to work and sleep you know so
you do the math out of the 24 hours it
sounds like that's 44 hours worth of
work that's a big so you got to make
these choices and you've got to develop
these habits and I think think
that what we are seeing now is a crazy
situation we have done a whole series on
journaling where you can ask yourself
the question am I being essential and if
there was one thing that out listeners
our viewers and our members could take
from this show is challenging yourself
in the safety of your own journal will
be the best way to live a more essential
life wouldn't you agree
I I do this actually a little bit Mike
you know if there's one space that we
can be truly honest apart from you and I
sharing our
insights in addition to that being able
to actually um challenge yourself so in
my case I'll sit there with my journal
and I will put the things that are
making me really uncomfortable maybe
it's some hard truths maybe it's some
paranoia or or regret what whatever it
might be something that I really don't
want to scratch it's the itch that you
don't want to scratch yeah the scab that
you don't really want to peek at y by
really writing it down and
contextualizing how you're feeling about
something let's say it is a discomfort
or or regret or whatever it might be
while I'm writing it down I feel
cathartic and what I mean by that is it
is a weight that's then released and
what I notice once I take this tip from
Greg and obviously the series that we've
done Journal
I will then feel lighter and I'll be
able to move on from it yeah so I think
it's probably the same similar benefit
that people have from talk therapy from
counseling and so on it's the same
effect maybe with sharing it with a
loved one or a friend but the act of
actually getting it out and putting a
name to it naming the Beast is then
cathartic in the sense that you can
understand next time that that action
that behavior that thought process how
it felt and what I've noticed through
the act of journaling and reflecting is
that sometimes when I start to feel a
little bit anxious or a little bit
nervous or edgy or whatever it might be
I'll think back to that time when I felt
it before and I can't tell you Mike and
I know you probably experienced it too
how useful that is because then I know
and can keep myself in check with
regards to how I behave around others so
I'm more productive I'm probably a
better version of myself to others
because I'm able to check myself it's so
impossibly helpful isn't it yeah so I I
remember that my wife said to me uh the
observation um this was
preco right so she said to me when I was
coaching uh professional men's football
rugby
side she was like we hardly ever have a
family meal around the table during the
week because you've got a lot of calls
then you have rugby
practice and she made this comment
relative to our teenage
son and I really thought about that and
I was like
oh I could see a choice that I made to
participate in coaching in sports was
taking me away from the family and I had
the space to think about and con
consider this and I stopped
coaching um in part because of the time
commitment I realized I had said yes to
too many things and I wasn't doing my
job as a dad so I think the reality is
we get these little tips tricks feedback
signals from our family and friends and
colleagues all the
time but you got to have a way to have
space like you could be like oh my
colleague said something to me the other
day and you know what we can just wave
it off cuz we're too busy yeah yeah but
if you pause and go oh hang on maybe I
should reflect on that what were the is
there something could have done
better then you need time for that you
need journaling to clear your head out
otherwise it just gets dusty and I think
this this idea of adopting these
practices I mean justly you know the
list that he gave us so that we're kind
of know where we're going we got like
there's trade-offs Clarity of purpose
bound rest in place saying no escaping
the busyness reflection there's all
sorts of things that just came up as the
habits of an
essentialist but here's the real
thing if I don't have
time to at
least answer this question in my journal
every day how do I feel right now if I
can't put one word word down that is
like warning warning signal like mic too
busy not enough space right yeah maybe
I'm I'm forgiving if I have a very early
call and I skip it one
day but I would never allow that second
or third day for that pattern to
continue yeah big time and it's one of
the SE one of the key questions that
comes up when you're meditating as well
doesn't it if you're following something
like headspace one of the tasks will
always be to scan through your body and
just notice how you feel and the
challenge or the the output I suppose is
the same isn't it you're reflecting on
yourself you're understanding and
noticing how you might be feeling and
only then can you actually objectively
look at what's going on and why you
might be feeling like that maybe I'm
feeling a little bit tired or a little
bit dejected okay well now let's get
curious what is it what have I changed
recently oh I took on that extra
responsibility
H you know what I don't think I actually
have time to do that Justice anymore it
doesn't give me time to see my family it
doesn't give me time to stay healthy or
prioritize my own
well-being only when you get curious and
you can be really objective about that
can you then go on to what we're hearing
from Greg which is learning how to say
no how to prioritize because think about
it if I hadn't reflected on my wife's
comment or you hadn't reflected on this
additional project you picked up at the
fintech then the chances are we'd make
the same mistakes again of course it's
natural right you know so where it comes
to is this looking at where this book by
by Greg really fuses with so much of the
best practices we've learned in this
show by the way if anyone is interested
in the Cal Newport Show Master Series um
deep work and plenty of other topics or
Atomic Habits by James Clear just go to
Moon shots. all the back catalog is
there but back to what I was
saying if we are not introducing some
reflection we will continually make
these mistakes and then have this
feeling at the end of the month or the
year
going no I'm I'm a little bit off track
and the thing is the worst thing about
that is you will not have the
reflection to go oh and the problem is
this then the solution is that you'll
just be like in a funk you'll just be
like uh it doesn't feel great so maybe
you're like maybe you go out a little
too much maybe have an extra too many
beers at the bar kind of situation
because you're bothered by something but
you're not creating any space to reflect
and really if you are feeling that being
essential stripping things back to only
the truly the things that matter less
but better less but better if you don't
do that you'll always feel this little
Funk like I'm not really on track and
the power punch that we can learn Mark
The Knockout Punch here is saying no
isn't it yeah it really really is you
know that tip that we heard in that last
clip give yourself the breathing space
to really consider what people are
asking you I think that's such an easy
practical tip take a pause three to four
seconds and the reason for that is it
gives you the opportunity to reflect and
possibly say no so Mike good news in the
spirit of productivity tips and habits
and acts that we can pick up every
single day we do have one more clip
today in Greg mccowan's essentialism so
we're GNA hear from productivity game
again he's going to help us with a
couple of case studies that I know for a
fact are moon shots listeners and
viewers are going to love so we're going
to hear from productivity game now break
down this idea of saying no the idea of
prioritization the idea of knowing your
limits by helping us understand the
benefits of actually sitting down and
saying no we are presented with hundreds
of options a day an essentialist looks
at those options by asking him or
herself what trade-offs am I willing to
make I know I can't have it all so what
problem do I want to solve Greg explains
two examples of some of the best
strategic choosers of our day true
essentialists Warren Buffett and Herb
kellerer of Southwest Airlines Greg
relays a quote from the tow of Warren
Buffett Warren decided early in his
career it would be impossible for him to
make hundreds of right investment
decisions so he decided that he would
invest only in the businesses that he
was absolutely sure of and then bet
heavily on them he owes 90% of his
wealth to just 10
Investments sometimes what you don't do
is just as important as what you do Greg
summarizes this as saying he makes big
bets on the essential few investment
opportunities and says no to the many
merely good ones on a scale of 1 to 10
there are many things that come in at a
seven or eight they're good
opportunities and we hate to let them
pass but we need to adopt what Derek
civer says a hell yes or a no approach
either this is an amazing opportunity
hell yeah or no sorry I don't do that
Greg says we need to learn The Art of
Letting Go of sevens and eights to only
do nines and tens Warren Buffett once
said that for every 100 great
opportunities that are brought to me I
say no to 99 of them to be one of the
best investors of all time you need to
be selective you need to hone and be
proud of your ability to say no herb
kellerer of Southwest Airlines treated
every no as a yes for his company when
he would say no he would considered a
strategic trade-off saying no to one
thing enabled him to say yes to
something else to say yes to his company
culture to say yes to standing out
amongst the other airlines herb said you
have to look at every opportunity and
say well no I'm sorry we're not going to
do a thousand different things that
really won't contribute much to the end
result that we're trying to achieve herb
made Southwest the dominant Airline
because he said no to destinations that
weren't pointto point he said no to
serving meals and he said no to First
Class those NOS were made deliberately
and they made all the difference Greg
says quote at first Southwest was
lambasted by critics naysayers and other
non- essentialists who couldn't believe
that his approach could possibly be
successful first they mocked him then
they copied
him you know the great irony is that
they all copied him really badly
so when the airlines copied they only
did it partially so they didn't follow
all the rules because they couldn't be
essentialist great case study to to to
look into by the way yeah so um look
this is the hard thing if something's a
one it's easy to know if something's a
10 it's an easy yet but it's all in the
middle isn't it Mark how do you know how
do you know when something is a
dangerous
seven yeah yeah it's It's Tricky and
that's one of the big big insights here
isn't it knowing your limits and
understanding where these opportunities
lie I think obviously we've already made
the case for journaling being one of
those key methods to really scrutinize
opportunities I think also sharing with
other people is something that benefits
me you know I will voice a particular
direction or opportunity that's come up
with um you know trusted allies so to
speak maybe past colleagues mentors
Partners friends just to sense check it
you know sometimes the act of just
saying something out loud and almost
pitching the idea hey Mike you know I'm
thinking about becoming a children's
author that's enough to then uh opport
opportunistically diagnose whether this
is going to be something that's going to
be a bit of a Time sap and actually is a
bit of a distraction you know we have
already made the case in previous
episodes that distractions are often
down to things that we want to um run
away from y you know you're look for
distractions because maybe your work is
actually a little bit too hard so in
which case and I've done it too I'll
lean into something that maybe is
pointless because I'll just be looking
to do something different imagine this
imagine this if every single thing that
came your way your first thing was I'll
take a breath and then give it a score
one to 10 even even just doing that
you'd start be like now here's my build
if something is like a seven it's really
dangerous because it sounds pretty good
right it's sort of like yeah yeah yeah
but there's a little butt there what I
would always do is play Devil's Advocate
exactly like you talked about with
somebody else look I've been offered
this it's really good but here's the
catch what do you think and I think that
conversation might yield like oh it
really is a
seven yeah it's no it's not quite there
and I think that it's about developing
that evaluation as opposed to what I'm
terrible at is wishful thinking I'm like
every oh that sounds amazing and I don't
think oh I've got to spend all this time
traveling and I don't have that kind of
time and it's like all of a sudden I've
overcommitted oh my gosh the wife's
saying I'm not spending any time with
the family this could be this
yeah I I I admit I've got lot to learn
here Mark big question for you as we
quickly wrap up what are you going to
take home as your uh homework what are
you going to work on now that you've
entered the essential Zone I I like that
final clip I think that's the real uh
meat that I'm going to take away today
which is having a sort of internal score
card of opportunities as they arise
where do they sit on the scale not only
of zero to seven but more importantly as
you point out the seven to 10 range yeah
which are the ones that are good but not
great because those are the ones that
are potentially bit distracting which
one for you Mike is going to be your
homework
I might be it does I I might be agreeing
with you I tell you why is I have such a
yeah let's do it um mode default mode I
just have to keep checking myself so I'm
not like yeah and then a month later I'm
like why did I say
yes I say enthusiasm can get in the way
oh I think if we can say no uh we can be
Off to the Races and that's certainly
what we've done today on this show we've
said no to the waste but we have said
yes to being better and to essentialism
the book by Greg McOwen here on show
266 and boy what a journey it's been it
started with the idea the fundamental
thing that less but better not more
that's number one now what's crazy if we
do this for long enough we have success
but then success can lead to failure
because we end up yes to everything so
watch out for that so how do we get over
it make space for those essential Atomic
level habits to reflect to challenge
yourself and be better every day to
continue the essential journey and as
you do that your number one weapon is
being Allah Warren Buffett and saying no
99 times out of a 100 because when you
say yes you will be becoming the best
version of yourself and that's what we
are all about here on the moon shots
podcast that's a wrap