Scotty Jackson: I'm the type of person
who will think about one thing that
I have to do 10 times and mistakenly
have the impression that I have 10
things to do and then get stressed out.
Jesse: Hey, my name is Jesse J.
Anderson, host of the ADHD Nerds podcast.
The show where we talk about living with
ADHD, and have some fun along the way.
This is episode six.
Today, I'm talking with Scotty Jackson.
Scotty is a self-described
productivityist, a digital
communications manager, and cohost
of the Nested Folders podcast.
Nested Folders is a podcast all
about productivity and the good
and bad of getting things done.
But first.
I'm excited to announce my Refocus Your
ADHD Brain course coming in early August.
This cohort-based course is based
on my upcoming book, Refocus.
And will help you build the
tools and strategies to make
the most of your unique brain.
You'll work alongside a like-minded
community of others with ADHD
to become an ADHD pro and build
your brain strategy playbook.
Sign up now to get the early
bird pricing at adhd.courses.
That's A D H D dot C O U R S E S.
I can't wait to see you there.
Now, let's get to the show.
Scotty, it is great to
have you here today.
Scotty Jackson: Uh, Jesse, it
is great to see you or hear you.
Um, I'll, I'll, uh, in the
audience's shoes, I am hearing
you and it's fantastic to connect.
Jesse: Awesome.
Well, I've been a fan of your podcast,
Nested Folders, for a while now.
And then I reached out to,
or you reach out to me.
I don't remember.
We connected sometime last year
and it's been great to kind of
get to know each other since then.
And, uh, yeah, I'd love to
start though and find out about
your origin story with ADHD.
When did you first start to think maybe
you had it, did you get diagnosed?
What did that all kind
of look like growing up?
Scotty Jackson: I mean, I've probably
told some jokes, like the old
haha my ADHD brain, haha uh, like
throughout, throughout um, my life.
But it didn't occur to me in any kind
of real concrete form until, you know,
I started seeing, a psychologist in
late 2019, because I had like an out
of nowhere sort of, well, I thought
out of nowhere anyway, panic attack.
And it was something I
hadn't experienced before.
You know, even in my first meeting with
her, uh, I sat down and started talking
about all the things that you know, are
going on in my life and you know, all the
things that may have contributed to this.
And then as you know, we're, we're
talking at the end, I said, you know what?
I kind of wouldn't be too surprised
if it turns out I have ADHD.
And she said, well, do you realize
how fast you've been talking?
I said, no, I didn't.
I did, I did not.
Is that fast?
And, and then just sort
of explored it from there.
And then that became, and this
is me and my adulthood, right?
So that's, this is 2019 that's that's um,
what, 10 years ago, so, it feels like.
I'm, I'm now like in this position where
I've got like this sort of Kobayashi
moment, where, where all of a sudden,
like the cup drops and breaks and you
see like this, you look back on all
of the things in your life that have
led to that moment and you replay them
through this whole other lens and you
say, oh boy, like, that's why I was maybe
struggling with depression as a child.
Oh boy, that's why I was hyper focusing
on that project that no one else even
seemed to care about or, oh, that's
why I can't do all of those things.
That's why I can't do that stuff.
Um, and, and it was maybe the first
big time when I thought like, holy
smokes, you mean, you mean, everybody
doesn't think like this and I, and I,
and I, and intuitively, you know, you
know, you know, you're an ADHD too.
Um, that, that clearly my brain
works differently than other peoples.
I th th that kind of
became apparent to me.
But at the same time I was holding this,
paradoxically, I was holding the, um,
the knowledge that I thought differently
than other people, while also having
the belief that other people must surely
be thinking the way that I'm thinking.
Um, and, and that is a very,
stressful and dissonant place to live.
And yet that was what I called home inside
my brain for a very, very long time.
Jesse: Yeah.
Yeah.
I feel like that is totally true.
It's it is such a weird paradox
where you feel like, you, you know,
something's different about your brain?
Like you, you feel like either
you're broken or you're different,
or like there's weird quirks, like
something's going on and you can't
really define it, but you're right.
It's, there's that other feeling of
surely other people are also struggling
with this and somehow they're just
getting over it better than I am, or
they're dealing with it better somehow.
And you realize that there's this
whole, like no other people aren't
dealing with a lot of these,
these issues that we've got going.
And so there's this kind of strange
realization, you know, when you first
discover that, oh, there's like this whole
other class of brain that I didn't know
I had and that other people have too,
but most people don't have, and don't
kind of relate with all of that at all.
Scotty Jackson: And then, and then I
go through this realization, I guess,
that the air quote really, really hard
things for a brain to do are actually
the really, really easy things for me.
And the quote, unquote, easy things to do,
are the really, really hard things for me.
So like, um, yeah, Scotty is very, very
good with complex mathematics, like,
uh, but still has trouble with buttons.
Like my, my preschool report card
is like always going to be my
favorite, like plays well with others.
Still has trouble with buttons.
And I feel like that should
actually kind of be my epitaph.
I want to go out the way I started,
but, but thematically that's,
that's kind of true, right?
Like I can, I can see complex patterns
and I can figure out, weird relationships
and creative connections between
things that other people don't see.
But, oh my god.
Try and get me to like
file my admin report.
Oh, that's going to take me a month of
agony and it's and it's going to hurt.
Inside and out, it is going to truly hurt
because for whatever reason, like filling
in the blanks, I know where the blank
is, I know what has to go into the blank.
But actually getting myself
to do that is incredibly hard.
Jesse: Yeah.
It's torture.
Yeah.
Scotty Jackson: Honestly.
Honestly,
Jesse: Yeah.
I, I recently discovered a, an old
box in, uh, in the attic that had my
name on it and a bunch of old, you
know, old school papers and stuff.
And I found some of my old report
cards in there and oh man, it was,
it was quite, you know, with the
knowledge of my ADHD, like going back
through, it's just like, so obvious.
Like every single one of them
talking about, you know, like he's
not reaching his true potential
and doesn't do his homework.
And this project was amazing that
he did, but then he just didn't
do these other ones at all.
And there there's so much of that.
And then the other stuff like that
is common, the like, yeah, joy to
having class, gets along with others,
really funny, and all those sorts of
things kind of coming along with it.
And just like, somehow they knew there
was that I had this great potential
and I wasn't reaching it, but they
didn't really have any advice for
me how I could actually get there.
Scotty Jackson: See, I, I kind of had
a bit of an inverse problem because I,
um, this is not comparative, but I'm
just using language that I was given
by some other people, which is that
I, I, I, as a child, I was a, a very
high functioning ADHD in school, which
meant that from 8:45 AM until 3:30
PM, I could hold my business together.
And I could be a rock star, straight
A student at school who is a genius.
After 3:30 PM, the wheels kind of fell
off and I was a little bit of a disaster.
So, so if you were to go to any
teacher, whoever taught me probably
until grade, you know, 10 or 11 and
said, you know, Scotty has ADHD.
They would say, uh uh.
No way, no way, um, because I could hide
it, then you get to a point where you
can no longer hide it because, the volume
of activity in my brain is so large.
And the complexity of my life is
now getting bigger and bigger as
you progress through the grades.
Right.
You know, when start to discover, um,
romantic and sexual interests, you
start to, uh, personal, uh, hobbies.
You start to become who you're
going to be a little bit more and
you start taking on, I mean, at
least for me, I was taking on jobs.
I started working when I was, when I was
in, uh, grade 10 and I started working.
Like, uh, you know, uh, a part
to half-time job, and your
life just gets bigger that way.
And then, for me, I came to a couple of
points where yeah, there was a breaking
moment where, you know, you know,
here shalt thou come, but no further.
Like this, this,
Jesse: Right.
Scotty Jackson: This is
the end of the line pal.
You don't get any more
stuff in the shopping cart.
It is full.
And so, so there's, there's that
bit, which is that like, I could, I
could hide it for a period of time
early or manage it or whatever,
whatever you want to call that.
But then in my adulthood, After I got my
diagnosis, you know, I, I started, you
know, I, I started sort of, playtesting
talking about it a little bit more
and more, you know, outside my family.
And I went to an associate of mine
at work, uh, who I'm very close
with and who I admire very much.
Uh, his work is fantastic and
we're, we're really close.
And I said, so I, you know, I need
to tell you, um, you know, I've been
going through this process and I've
been diagnosed with ADHD, pause.
Well, Yeah.
Jesse: Right.
Scotty Jackson: Oh, okay.
Okay.
So that, so that's how it is.
All right.
So, so, um, so which kind of tells me
that, a in, in my adult life, it probably
shines a lot more obviously than,
as, than as a child, but I think that
that's also because in my adult life,
I am probably harnessing it a lot more.
And Using it as my superpower.
Um, but I mean like every force
has a light side and a dark side.
Right.
So, I mean, like you can't, uh, you
can't go all, you know, full tilt
or you run out of, uh, uh, nitrous
at some point, Vin Diesel said that.
Jesse: Right.
Exactly.
Scotty Jackson: So, so to me, what
I was like having a hard time coming
to maybe coming to grips with at
first, um, was seen by those around
me is like perfectly natural and
possibly even patently obvious.
So, and so now I'm the
last person to know.
And thanks a lot, friends, maybe
you shoulda said something.
Jesse: Yeah, I have that kind of
similar experience where once I
knew there was some people that
didn't know at all, but there is
others I talked to and they're yeah.
They were like, well,
yeah, it's seems obvious.
Like, would you, how did you not know?
Scotty Jackson: That's like
everyone's catchphrase, well, yeah.
Jesse: Yeah.
And you talked about like it not
showing up in school, like when you
were a kid and stuff, and I've heard
of others having that experience too,
where they kind of like, they learn
to mask it in certain environments.
So they, they seem like, I don't know.
Some people think like say that high
functioning is kind of a problematic way
to say it, but whatever it is, it's like
where those symptoms aren't showing up.
And you're kind of just disappearing in
the crowd of school and not being, you
know, you're not being that typical,
you know, stereotypical like problem
child that jumps, that's running
all over the place and not doing
anything and getting into trouble.
And that is, you know, that boy's
usually the one that gets that label,
ADHD young, whereas other people that
aren't so obvious and, or hype, outwardly
hyperactive, skate by, and don't get
that don't find out until much later
when the, the edges start to crack
or whatever the metaphor is, and then
you kind of can't contain it anymore.
Scotty Jackson: Right.
Yeah.
Well, yeah, because you see the kid who's
like running all over the classroom.
They're like, do you
have that boy Ritalin.
Um, whereas, whereas I'm not doing that.
I'm, I'm sitting perfectly
still, but I'm doing all of that
sort of activity in my mind.
And many, a pediatrician will also
say, well, if the behavior isn't
exhibited in more than one environment,
then it's probably not ADHD.
Which, you know, like from my own
personal experience, I will, um, reach
for the buzzer and cry baloney because,
because I can attest to the fact that
I can, that I can, that it can be done.
It could absolutely, it can absolutely
be hidden and managed, but then,
but then you run out of gas.
Because that takes a lot of mental
fortitude to be able to do, which
means that you're going to be a
disaster in that other environment.
So it can be, it can be tricky too,
to get that diagnosis, even when
you pursue it, at a young age, uh,
because there's, there's sort of
a preestablished, framework for
what ADHD desirably looks like.
it's just a desirable, uh,
and presentation of this.
Well, that ADHD is a lot more
attractive than this other one.
But that becomes problematic
and it becomes hard to diagnose.
So, I mean, you know, advocacy is, is
key and to keep exploring and keep, keep
mapping and, and, and pursue working with,
you know, whatever medical professionals
around you, you have access to
.
Jesse: Yeah.
Yeah.
I definitely hear that a lot, where
people, again, similar to you, like having
that history as a child where they felt
it, but they covered it up at school and
then having trouble later when they're
seeing their doctor, whoever trying to
get their official diagnosis and not being
able to provide these examples of like.
Well, I didn't do that as a kid
in school because I kept it in.
And so I don't have the example that
the doctor's looking for to say,
like, here's another environment
kind of like what you were saying.
and then people struggled to get
that diagnosis because of it.
It's not an easy problem to solve,
but it's definitely a problem.
The diagnosis, it's just so hard to
get diagnosed, especially for people
that are, you know, underprivileged,
Scotty Jackson: There's a lot of
privilege that goes along with being
able to be successfully diagnosed.
I get, I get that.
I'm very grateful for the amount of
medical support that I've been able
to, access because, uh, without it,
I mean, I wouldn't be able to have
this conversation properly at all.
Jesse: Right, right.
Yeah.
So back to like, when you got diagnosed,
which I was just a couple of years ago,
how so you're you have this podcast where
you talk about like Getting Things Done
and that whole methodology, and I know
you're a, you know, an internet old hat.
Like I am like back in the days
of Merlin Mann, 43 folders, and
like back when David Allen's book
Getting Things Done first came out.
And how, so finding out about your ADHD,
how did that affect what it was like kind
of applying those common productivity,
you know, axioms to your life
Scotty Jackson: It made my affection
for GTD make, make so much sense.
So, so first, uh, first, uh, a little
bit of backdrop for those who are new,
getting to the, Getting Things Done,
methodology is essentially a personal
productivity, approach, which says that
you approach your work in five stages.
You capture all the things
that have your attention.
One.
You clarify all of those
things that you have captured.
Two.
In terms of what they mean to you
and what they are and what action
you will take because of them.
Three.
You will organize that, which you
have clarified into some sort of
trusted system so that you have
externalized and organized all of the
commitments and actions that you've got.
Four, you will review that trusted system
into which you have organized your stuff.
And five, you will then engage and do
things based on where you are, what you
have at your disposal in terms of tools
and technology, energy available, and
any other kind of resource constraints.
Jesse: Right, right.
Scotty Jackson: That's GTD and 30 seconds.
Go enjoy your fixed life now, listener.
Jesse: Right.
So I did a, I did a video late last
year that I called toxic productivity.
Uh, and it basically was about how
for so long, I've tried to make,
like, that system work for me and
other kinds of productivity system.
You know, you listen to the productivity
gurus or whatever you want to call them.
And then you hear their advice and like,
that's like you said, that's the solution.
That's going to fix everything for me.
And then you go to try to apply it.
And, uh, for me, like the review in
GTD, like, I, I, I think I've done a
weekly review, like once in the, all the
years that I've tried to make it happen.
It just never really
comes together for me.
So yeah.
What, what parts of GTD
have worked for you?
You know, cause you're, you're
really in it and like what, what's
the stuff that you just sort of like
throw it to the side that doesn't
work with your brain and yeah.
How do you make that, uh,
manage that and make it work?
Scotty Jackson: I mean those thematic
five steps work, but more as like
guiding spiritual themes than
actually like a workable process.
So thematically, so what I really
truly adopt and what I really swear
by is my own kind of implementation
of, of bullet journal method.
If you're not familiar with bullet
journal method, Go check it out.
Uh, it's fantastic work.
Uh, Ryder, Ryder Carroll,
uh, also ADHD, up top, uh.
Jesse: I'll put a link to all that
stuff with the bullet journal.
Scotty Jackson: That's fantastic.
Um, get him on your show.
Can I meet him too?
Um, he sounds like delightful guy.
Uh, that really works for me.
Because what that means
is that I am, capturing.
In in, in GTD parlance,
now I am capturing.
Because everything is just rapid logging.
Right, as it comes up,
a thing is happening.
Oh, here's an idea that
I had write it down.
Here's a, uh, here's an action.
I needed to take, write it down.
Here's a, here's a thing I
need an event I need to think,
think about and write it down.
Cool.
So I've just got like this sort
of thought stream and then,
you know, On a regular basis.
I will go back and clarify.
GTD like, have I written down this action
in a way that when I read it tomorrow,
it's going to make any sense, right?
Like call bill 48.
Cool.
Who's who's Bill, what is the 48?
Um, my favorite sort of touchstone moment
was, was that, um, I wrote down the word
Once on an index card and put it in inbox.
So when you look at that five days later.
It took me so long.
I mean, I'm really glad that I
deciphered what I meant because it
was in reference to the movie Once
that I really wanted to see, because
someone mentioned it somewhere.
Uh, and I thought that it would be
really good and I'm glad I watched
it cause it was really good.
I loved it.
Um, but it, it took an awful
lot of work to decipher.
What on earth Once meant later?
So.
Jesse: I find that I have, I have so
much faith in future Jesse, that's
he, that he's always going to know
exactly what I'm thinking the moment.
Scotty Jackson: That's right.
I care about this so much right now.
Certainly I will always care
about it, um, because why
wouldn't I always care about it?
Um, yeah.
Okay.
So I'm bullet journaling.
That's capturing, I'm going
back and I'm clarifying.
So that there's a sense of future me.
And I'm also because I'm kind of doing
this digitally, using tags uh, that
will help me organize things later.
So that, you know, if there are things
that relate to my boss or a particular
project, whatever I can drop in little,
little tags, that's my organizing.
Reviewing, yeah, I'm basically looking for
anything that doesn't have a check mark
next to it, but that looks like an action.
Um, and then I am doing
based on, based on that.
So I am not using like a GTD inbox
and then picking everything up
and then clarifying it and then
filing it and organizing it.
I am not following that methodology.
In terms of practical work steps,
but I am following it as an internal
process to say, am I capturing things?
Are they clarified enough that I
will understand what they mean?
Have I signified them in some way
that they are, organized, even if it's
like putting an icon next to them.
Like to me, that that's organized
because now I can just look for
everything with that icon, all the
things that I need to look at together,
I can find that's what organized is.
And then, and then, and
then review means, yeah.
Am I looking back at.
And not letting things
fall by the wayside.
Uh, and then, and then I might actually
doing that, which I said I would do.
So, so yes, I follow GTD
as a, as a methodology.
I do not follow it as a practice
or, or process because I can't
keep up and my, my, my brain won't,
let me, however, I will say that.
Um, it was in, in 2005.
I got my very first Mac.
Came preloaded with Omni Outliner on it.
Uh, in 2006, someone gave
me the GTD book as a gift.
and so then it wasn't very long until
I discovered Ethan Schoonover's work.
I sure hope I pronounced
his name correctly.
Uh, who created these
scripts for Omni Outliner
called Kinkless GTD or K GTD for short.
That product was so cool that
Omni basically bought it and
turned it into OmniFocus, from
Omni Outliner into OmniFocus.
And I really liked it,
and then I really didn't.
And I adopted a paper system index cards.
Um, you mentioned a certain Merlin
Mann, who, who, index cards, a a, a
space pen in a, in a, in a binder clip.
That's my life now.
But what I really found was that by
externalizing, My thoughts and just
making lists that did everything.
And, and, and it's funny because, uh, that
was how we planned our wedding, which is
still one of the favorite projects that
I've ever project managed is our wedding
planning, which is in 2006 is, you know,
us going in to see the wedding planner me
with a stack of color-coded index cards.
And that was, that was how we ran this.
So I had a huge pension
encouraged by my wife.
Uh, Scotty, write this
down and make lists.
And the more I did that, the more
relief I felt and the more I felt like
I had a sense of what was actually
going on because I'm the type of person
who will think about one thing that
I have to do 10 times and mistakenly
have the impression that I have 10
things to do and then get stressed out.
So, so by externalizing, I, I
have an actual, now I can look
at it and say, ah, that's weird.
I was very strung out five minutes ago
thinking I had all these things to do.
I actually only have three
and one of them's done.
So, uh, so it was very clear that
internally I was punishing myself
and externalizing was a big tool, uh,
into, you know, giving myself relief.
So.
So GTD in that regard was, was,
you know, like a lifesaver.
I don't think there's anything
that could have gotten me from
2005 to 2019 more so than GTD did.
Uh, and then from 2019 to present, uh,
the diagnosis and the, the clarified sense
of, oh, I am this way because, and which,
which gives me a lot more context for.
Uh, how to solve for special moments
that I endure in, in my life.
Jesse: Yeah.
I find that that whole, externalizing
your brain is so important.
Like I said before, I, my instinct
is to trust future me, or, or
even just to trust my own memory.
I always think my memory is better than
it is even though I've, I've seen the
studies on ADHD that show the deficits
in working memory and stuff like that.
But in the moment I still, like, I
find myself believing, like, I, I know
there's a problem with my memory, but
I'm probably going to remember these
because I think it's really important.
Um, and so, trying to like, get
to that default of maybe I should
just write it down anyway and that
really, yeah, getting it out of
my brain really helps those visual
tools, like whiteboards index cards.
I have, I don't know.
I probably have like 300
index cards on my desk.
They're not super organized, but
I know that they're there and I
Scotty Jackson: But they're
Jesse: things they're there yeah.
I find those external tools
so helpful for, uh, yeah,
making that sort of stuff get done.
Um, Speaking of your diagnosis, you know,
a couple of years ago, did that change
a lot of your like perspective on your
systems and how you were doing things?
Like, did you adapt new things or did it
just sort of give a general understanding
of why you had already made those changes?
Scotty Jackson: More the latter.
I would say, I'd say give a
lot more context as to why.
Uh, it, it, but it really allowed me to
go back and revisit a lot of like, sort
of watershed moments in my life and like,
oh my god, that's what was happening.
Um, so that was, that was really cool.
And you, you know, you and I were
talking a little bit earlier, like,
I mean the symptoms are the symptoms
and the way I am is the way I am.
Diagnosis or not, I still,
the diagnosis changes nothing.
Except that it lets me know where I am
in relation to the rest of the universe.
So I still have all the same symptoms.
That's cool.
But now I have a much better
sense of what I can do with that,
what I shouldn't do with that.
And what I should maybe think
about changing about that.
And, that was really empowering.
Um, I mean, I mean, so was medication.
Jesse: Right.
Scotty Jackson: Big ups to big pharma.
Uh, I, that, that, that changed a lot of
things because, um, I, the, the metaphor
that I used a lot was that I would be
able to generate a million ideas that were
like red balloons with greasy strings.
I could not hang on to a single one.
Jesse: Mmm, right.
Scotty Jackson: And so I can, I could
generate it and I could experience it for
a moment, but I couldn't like stay with
it long enough to carry through with the
work that I would have to do about that.
Or the decisions that I would
have to make about that.
And, and in trying to hang onto one and
letting it go, I'm instantly grabbing
for another one and not, and then all
of a sudden it's like some weird version
of like that old, black and white movie
metropolis and like people running around
manipulating clocks in order to keep time.
And it felt so, uh, everything
just felt kind of futile.
And because, because of sheer volume, like
I can manage my internal ADHD to a point.
But then there's a comedian, I can't
remember I'll have to look this
up, who had four kids and it says,
what is it like to have four kids?
And he says, imagine you're drowning.
And then someone hands you a baby.
It's kind of like that, right?
Like I can manage my thoughts to a
point, but now insert increasingly
complex levels of responsibility at work.
Oh.
And three children who are aging into
different ages and stages of their life.
And how about, and how about some hobbies?
You know, what, start a podcast.
How about some side gigs and
how about like, and then,
Jesse: No need to call me out.
Scotty Jackson: Yeah, no, no, no.
I mean, this, this is
my own lived experience.
Um, you can do you on your monologue show.
But yeah.
And then, and then it's again.
Here shalt thou come, but no further.
So now I, so now I know kind
of what to do about that.
I know what I'm, when I'm getting
close to full, I know how to
manage, so now I can see it coming.
Um, and I've gotten meds that degrease
the, a balloon strings so I can hang on
to it and I can also, you know, choose
which ones I hang on to a little bit more.
Um, and choose which ones I let go of.
So I feel like I have a
lot more internal agency.
Um, and I feel like I have a lot
more external agency as well because,
I know what I'm working with.
Right.
Um, when you know what materials
you have at hand, you know,
what you can and cannot build.
I suppose.
No, but, but truly, I think that
that has been the biggest difference.
Is it didn't, it didn't
change who I am or what I am.
Uh, but it gave me, um, some belts and
braces to help me navigate my own self.
Jesse: Awesome.
So let's talk about some shiny
objects, and this is a time of the
show, just to talk about something
that has grabbed your interest lately,
something you want to share that maybe
other people you think will enjoy.
So, yeah.
What's your shiny object of this week?
Scotty Jackson: I hope so.
I hope so.
I, I'm a Lego enthusiast is what I am.
And Lego has a series of sets
that are called Botanical and I
have the Lego bonsai tree and I
have the Lego birds of paradise.
These are like, they look,
they look kind of like plants.
They look kind of like trees.
They're adorable.
And I, today I just, pre-ordered the Lego
orchid set, and the Lego succulents set.
And, uh, these are like the
perfect things to adorn my desk.
My wife and I have this running
gag of like, you have enough plants
because she never has enough plants.
There are so many plants upstairs, Jesse.
There are so many plants.
But one of our most
favorites, is, our orchids.
She had orchids, uh, part of our deal
at our, at our wedding and she has
a big orchid, uh, tattooed on her
ankle, in, in, in with a nod to that.
So when LEGO showed off a set
of orchids that I'm like, that
needs to be on my desk right now.
So I, I'm very excited to order
that and, and, um, succulents are
sorta like the low maintenance.
We have a whole bunch
of them around upstairs.
So I thought like this is the
perfect way to bring our, some of
our favorite things and some of our
sense of decor to my workspace without
invoking any actual more plants
Jesse: Right.
That, that sounds awesome.
I keep seeing those in Instagram.
I don't know if they're ads
or I think I follow, LEGO so
they must be promoting those.
Scotty Jackson: Probably.
Jesse: And, I haven't, I haven't bought
any yet, but I keep thinking about it.
Cause I, who I like who doesn't love Lego.
Lego is just such a, such
a great, great brand, toy.
Like I I'll be, I'll be 80
years old and still want to
be building something in Lego.
It's just so much fun.
There's some, there's something so
satisfying about it and the way.
Scotty Jackson: Totally.
Jesse: The way they add all.
I think my favorite part is all
the little, like Easter eggs when
you're building like, oh, this thing
that I'm building right here, it's
going to be hidden when I'm done.
You aren't going to be able to
look at the thing and know that the
engine inside this star wars ship
looks this way, but I built it.
And so I know that inside this.
Yeah, I know it's there and I
love, I love those little like
delightful secrets like that.
Um, so for my shiny object, I'm
going to talk about last year,
I got to the Remarkable tablet.
Um, I don't know if you've
seen this before, but it.
Scotty Jackson: Yeah, I, I think you
know that I have like a long standing
envy of your Remarkable tablet.
Jesse: Yeah.
So it's like, it's kind of like
a really big Kindle in a way.
It's super thin, and it it's e-ink so
there's no, it, it doesn't really, it
looks like an iPad, but it's thinner
than an iPad and it doesn't have a real,
like, it doesn't have a digital screen,
so there's no backlight is just ink.
But it feels so nice to write on
like the way that, just the, the
stylus that that looks like a pencil.
It feels, I think about as close as
it could feel to writing on paper, but
because it's a digital device, it's saving
everything and you can sync it online.
And I actually, because it's so thin and
light, I it's my favorite way way to read.
So it doesn't have a Kindle app
so you can't read Kindle books.
But any other books you
have that are like PDF.
I'm transferring PDFs to it all the time,
because it just feels so nice to read.
Like, I feel like I'm in Star
Trek or something with this
really thin device reading and
then highlighting right on there.
Oh, it's, it's great.
It's it's way too
expensive for what it is.
It's definitely like an indulgence.
Yeah, it's
Scotty Jackson: It's beautiful.
I like, I have been
eyeing them for awhile.
Like even pre Remarkable 2 which
like it's Remarkable 2 right?
Uh, I've been eyeing them for a while.
I just thought, I like if one of
those fell from the sky and landed
on my I know that I would use the
heck out of that and I would probably
get a ton of value out of it.
I can, I can't, I can't bring
myself to do just, it's, that's
a, that's a, that's a wonderful,
that's a wonderful gift to self.
I'm glad, I'm glad you're
able to get over the hump.
I went through that with
my headphones though.
It says the guy sitting
here wearing AirPods Max.
Right?
Like I, I, I agonized
over that for so long.
Cause they're so expensive.
It's so dumb, but I, but in trying
to find, to find a headphone that I
would be like super happy with that
did noise canceling and transparency
and all those sorts of things.
I like the amount of research
and like comparing I was doing.
I'm like, you know what?
You know, just forget it.
I don't want to think about it anymore.
I'm buying my way out of having
to think about it anymore.
And.
So that like a second, sorry, shiny
thing that I spend all day on these
because I, I, I, um, telecommute, I
am in, I'm in, you know, a webcam and,
and, uh, audio meetings all day long.
Uh, and I love them and
they're comfortable.
And I have like left the house and gotten
into the car, still wearing them because
I, because I forget and they're comfy and
the transparency mode is just that good.
Um,
Jesse: I'm that's I I'm jealous of those.
I've I've added them to my cart a
couple of times, and then remembered
that the conversation I'd have to
have with my wife when that showed up.
And so I ha I haven't pulled the trigger.
Um, thankfully for my marriage,
but it's something definitely
considered several times.
Cause yeah, I'm jealous of those as well.
I do have, I do have the little
AirPods and the, yeah, the transparency
mode is great that, those as well.
So I really love being able to
kind of listen to stuff, but
still, you know, hear the kids or
whatever is going on around me.
And so I don't, I don't miss stuff.
Um, but yeah, and then I can
turn, turn them off with the
silence mode, uh, which is great.
Scotty Jackson: I actually used
them to find my kid one time.
because in, in accessibility settings,
on my iPhone, I didn't know this
until I liked did a little search
while I was at the park and I
completely lost sight of where he was.
Um, in accessibility settings you
can like turn up the volume and use
them as like quasi hearing aids.
So I like, cause like there
was like no one in the park.
So I just like cranked the volume and I
was able to like find them were like a
hundred meters away, which in American
is like 300 feet, uh, away, like in
like in a, in a little grove of trees.
Um, and, and thanks to like the
over listening, um, feature.
I was able to like locate him and
quickly turned down the volume so
that he'd no one accidentally like
screamed and blew my eardrums apart.
Jesse: Right, right.
Wow.
That's awesome.
Cool.
Well, thank you so much
for being on the show.
It was a great to great
to chat with you today.
Where can people go to follow
the things that you're doing.
Scotty Jackson: Uh, the things that we've
mentioned, the Nested Folders podcast, you
can find that at nestedfolderspodcast.com.
That's uh, co-hosted hosted by
myself and Rosemary Orchard,
who is absolutely delightful.
Uh, and then you can find me at
heyscottyj.com on the internet or by
the same name @heyscottyj on Twitter,
which is where I'm more reliably found.
Jesse: Awesome.
And we'll have links to all
those in the show notes.
This was awesome.
Thank you so much for being here.
Scotty Jackson: Thanks so
much for having me, Jesse.
It's a, it's a delight as always.
Jesse: That's our show.
Thank you so much for listening.
I especially want to thank our
VIP patrons, Erich Tompkins,
Luce Carter, Richard Stephens,
Todd Barnett, and Dan Ott.
It helps me do this show and
the other work I do, so thank
you so much for the support.
If you want to support the show,
you can go to patreon.com/jessej
that's J E S S E J.
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