Something You Should Know - Skin Care Myths You Need to Know & How to Find Time for What Matters Most

Episode Date: July 15, 2019

Low-fat milk and dairy products are better than whole fat versions of the same thing – right? That is the prevailing wisdom. Yet this episode begins with some compelling evidence that we need to rethink that whole notion that low-fat is better. http://www.prevention.com/weight-loss/foods-to-avoid-8-worst-foods-in-your-fridge Every day you spend time caring for your skin. It is, after all, the largest organ in the body. Yet there are so many myths about the skin and how to best care for it. Here to help bust those myths and offer some rock solid advice is dermatologist Dr. David Leffell. He is an internationally recognized expert in skin health, founder and chief of the Dermatologic Surgery Program at Yale Medicine and author of the book Total Skin: The Definitive Guide to Whole Skin Care for Life (https://amzn.to/30zZvjX). Who couldn’t use a little more space in their home? Listen as I offer some amazingly simple yet clever strategies for getting rid of things you will never miss and open up all kinds of space. http://www.realsimple.com/home-organizing/organizing/declutter-garage Your time is a precious commodity. So shouldn’t you be using it to do the things that matter most? That’s what time management expert John Zeratsky believes and he joins me to offer some ways to help get a handle on your time by eliminating those things that waste time and prevent you from doing things that are important to you. John is author of the book Make Time: How to Focus on What Matters Every Day (https://amzn.to/2jLBYwG). This Week’s Sponsors -Omax Health. For 50% off your first box of Omax Sleep and Stress Remedy with CBD plus free shipping go to www.Omax Health.com and use the promo code: SYSK  -SimpliSafe. For a 60 day risk-free trial and free shipping, go to www.SimpliSafe.com/something -Dashlane. For a 30 day free trial plus 10% off Dashlane Premium go to www.Dashlane.com/SYSK -Stroke of Genius Podcast. Subscribe to Stroke of Genius on Apple Podcasts, at www.ipoef.org, or your favorite podcast platform. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

As a listener to Something You Should Know, I can only assume that you are someone who likes to learn about new and interesting things and bring more knowledge to work for you in your everyday life. I mean, that's kind of what Something You Should Know was all about. And so I want to invite you to listen to another podcast called TED Talks Daily. Now, you know about TED Talks, right? Many of the guests on Something You Should Know have done TED Talks. Well, you see, TED Talks Daily is a podcast that brings you a new TED Talk every weekday in less than 15 minutes. Join host Elise Hu.

She goes beyond the headlines so you can hear about the big ideas shaping our future. Learn about things like sustainable fashion, embracing your entrepreneurial spirit, the future of robotics, and so much more. Like I said, if you like this podcast, Something You Should Know, I'm pretty sure you're going to like TED Talks Daily. And you get TED Talks Daily wherever you get your podcasts. Today on Something You Should Know, if you drink low-fat milk or eat low-fat yogurt, there's something you need to hear. Then, taking care of your skin the right way.

And there are a lot of myths out there. The notion that if you let a wound air out, it'll heal faster is so incredibly wrong in reality if you cut yourself we know that if you keep it moist it'll heal about 50% faster plus a simple strategy to instantly free up a lot of space in your house and how to make time for the things that matter most by eliminating the defaults in life things that we do automatically or the defaults that are in our devices. Our phones check for email automatically and show us a notification when we have a new message.

These defaults really are to blame for a lot of the feelings that we have that we aren't in control of our time. All this today on Something You Should Know. People who listen to Something You Should Know are curious about the world, looking to hear new ideas and perspectives. So I want to tell you about a podcast that is full of new ideas and perspectives, and one I've started listening to called Intelligence Squared. It's the podcast where great minds meet.

Listen in for some great talks on science, tech, politics, creativity, wellness, and a lot more. A couple of recent examples, Mustafa Suleiman, the CEO of Microsoft AI, discussing the future of technology. That's pretty cool. And writer, podcaster, and filmmaker John Ronson discussing the rise of conspiracies and culture wars. Intelligence Squared is the kind of podcast that gets you thinking a little more openly about the important conversations going on today. Being curious, you're probably just the type of person Intelligence Squared is meant for. Check out Intelligence Squared wherever you get your podcasts. Something you should know. Fascinating intel. The world's top experts. And practical advice

you can use in your life. Today, Something You Should Know with Mike Carruthers. Hi, welcome. You probably remember, it wasn't that long ago, that conventional wisdom was, I believe, you probably believe, that the way to keep your weight under control and to eat a healthier diet was to eat low-fat food. But the whole low-fat food movement has pretty much gone out the window. But one of the lasting changes of the low-fat food movement in this country is that many people switched from whole milk to low-fat or skim milk, and the same thing goes for other dairy products like yogurt and cheese.

There is still this idea that low-fat is better than whole in the minds of many. However, research has proven that this just is not true. Scientists at Tufts University published research that found that people who consume full-fat dairy products had as much as a 46% lower risk of developing diabetes over the course of 15 years compared with those who drank skim milk and ate low-fat yogurt and low-fat cheese. And if that doesn't convince you, there's another study, this one of more than 18,000 middle-aged women, all part of the Women's Health Study,

and it found that those who ate more high-fat dairy had an 8% lower chance of becoming obese over time compared to those who ate low-fat dairy. And that is something you should know. You've probably heard it said that your skin is the largest organ of your body. And because it's right there on the outside, it is the organ you're probably most familiar with and the one that you spend a lot of time taking care of. Yet some of the things many of us believe about our skin are wrong.

And today we're going to set that right and talk about how to keep your skin looking and feeling great with dermatologist Dr. David LaFell. He is an internationally recognized expert in skin health. He is founder and chief of the Dermatologic Surgery Program at Yale Medicine and author of the book Total Skin, the definitive guide to whole skin care for life. Hey, doctor. Welcome. Happy to be here. So as a doctor, as a dermatologist, how do you view the skin?

How do you, when you look at a patient, what are you looking at? What is the skin to you? It's true that the skin is the largest organ in the body, but it's a very complex organ, in fact. What's interesting is it's the one organ that we all know the best, right? People know whether their skin is itchy, whether they have a cut, whether they have a rash. They don't necessarily know what condition their kidneys are in. And for that reason, the skin becomes the focus not only of individuals, but also of the physician, the dermatologist, the primary care doctor. The skin, in some ways, is a window into the body because there are conditions that people can develop that find expression in the

skin. And underlying all of that is the complexity of the organ where the immune system plays a primary role, the wound healing cascade, as we call it, plays a primary role, and temperature regulation in the body. Anybody who has ever found themselves sweating understands that. So one could go on and on about the various functions of the skin, but in a nutshell, it's much more complex than we would imagine just looking at our own skin. Because, as you said, our skin is the one organ that we know the best, what are some of the myths that have cropped up that you see as a doctor that people believe when it comes to caring for their own skin? One thing that immediately comes to mind, and we still deal with it, especially

those of us that do surgical dermatology, the notion that if you let a wound air out, it'll heal faster, is so incredibly wrong that it's amazing the myth has persisted for so long. In reality, if you cut yourself, if you have a surgical wound, if you have anything on the skin that needs to heal, we know that if you keep it moist, it'll heal about 50% faster. And when you stop and think about it, all of us started in a moist environment. Cells divide more rapidly in a moist environment. And that is one of the reasons why we always say apply Vaseline or, in some cases, an antibiotic ointment to a wound. And in fact, it'll heal much

faster. So that's a very narrow answer to your question. With respect to general skin health, I think that moisturization continues to be the foundation of good skin care. And it's not that there have been substantial innovations in how to take care of the skin, but rather we live in increasingly artificial environments, forced air heating in the winter, in cold climates, air conditioning at other times, and that tends to alter the ambient moisture which affects your skin. So something I've always wondered is, you know, when you get a cut, the concern is always that it might get infected. Well, but it might not.

And so why do some cuts get infected and some don't? One of the reasons that most scratches and cuts don't get infected in healthy people, regardless of whether they use an antibiotic cream or not, is that there's a natural bacterial population on the skin that competes with the bad bacteria, the ones that would cause an infection if they could. They kind of are there to crowd out the bad bacteria. But whenever there are discoveries or innovations in dermatology, again, going back to my earlier comment about everyone is much more familiar with their skin than they are with their internal organs, it also means that people like to experiment and try

different things on their skin. And this goes back certainly to the earliest of recorded times in ancient Egypt, the use of all sorts of liniments that were used to try to improve the skin and deal with injuries to the skin. But we're still at the stage of doing a lot of research, its role in eczema in children, you know, where the skin barrier has broken down and the kids can get superficial infections. But it's also created, as these type of discoveries often do, a whole world of non-regulated web-based commercial products, skin care products that aim to restore your microbiome. And I think if a listener were to Google it, they'd be amazed at how many products are out there, not a single one of which, as far as I know, has ever been proven to be effective.

Well, one of the things I wanted to ask you is, people have heard for a long time now about skin cancer and sunscreen and all of that, and the advice to put on sunscreen whenever you're outside. And there have been other people who said, but we don't know that sunscreen really does much. And in fact, if you chart on a graph, sunscreen sales as they go up, you also see skin cancer going up. And so what's your take on that? Is sunscreen really what people say it is? And if so, why is skin cancer rates going up when so do sunscreen sales? The fact of the matter is that the best solutions for medical and health problems are based on an understanding of the science behind it. And with respect to skin cancer,

which includes non-melanoma skin cancer, such as basal cell cancer, the most common cancer in humans, and squamous cell cancer of the skin, as well as melanoma, are all impacted, all are caused by the sun and by ultraviolet radiation, specifically from the sun. There's no question that a program of sun protection reduces the risk of skin cancer. That's been well validated scientifically. Sunscreen use is one component of skin cancer prevention. There's no question that it works in that context. All one has to do is see what happens when you're out in the sun and you haven't used sunscreen and you develop a sunburn, sunburn is closely related to the development of skin cancer later in life.

I'm speaking with dermatologist Dr. David LaFell. He is author of the book, Total Skin, The Definitive Guide to Whole Skin Care for Life. Contained herein are the heresies of Redolph Buntwine, erstwhile monk turned traveling medical investigator. Join me as I study the secrets of the divine plagues and uncover the blasphemous truth that ours is not a loving God and we are not its favored children. The heresies of Redolf Bantwine, wherever podcasts are available. Since I host a podcast, it's pretty common for me to be asked to recommend a podcast. And I tell people, if you like something you should know, you're going to like The Jordan Harbinger Show. Every episode is a conversation with a fascinating guest.

Of course, a lot of podcasts are conversations with guests, but Jordan does it better than most. Recently, he had a fascinating conversation with a British woman who was recruited and radicalized by ISIS and went to prison for three years. She now works to raise awareness on this issue. It's a great conversation. And he spoke with Dr. Sarah Hill about how taking birth control not only prevents pregnancy, it can influence a woman's partner preferences, career choices, and overall behavior due to the hormonal changes it causes. Apple named the Jordan Harbinger Show one of the best podcasts a few years back,

and in a nutshell, the show is aimed at making you a better, more informed critical thinker. Check out The Jordan Harbinger Show. There's so much for you in this podcast. The Jordan Harbinger Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. So, Doctor, I know it sounds cliche to say that the human body is so amazing, but when you think about it, it really is in the way the skin heals itself. I mean, when you get a cut, your skin heals back to the way it was, and that's pretty amazing. So how does that work?

There's a whole cascade of things that happen when you cut yourself. The cells in your blood are released and they produce compounds that stimulate the growth of scar tissue and then allow the epidermis, the top layer of the skin, to heal over. And that healing process, whether it's in the skin or the gut or the heart, is very similar. And it highlights the fact that nature has endowed, I think, pretty much all organisms with the ability to repair themselves. As a practicing physician, what are some of the other myths that you come across? And there must be others that people cling to about their skin and how to take care of it? Well, just staying on the issue of wound healing for a moment, one of my favorite myths is the idea that applying vitamin E to a wound will help it heal.

Not only is there no evidence for that scientifically, but it's been remarkable to me that there's actually no entity that will profit from selling vitamin E. So it really has become part of the folklore. Vitamin E does nothing for wound healing. Others? What about hydrogen peroxide? People love to put that on cuts and things because it bubbles up and so it must be doing something. Yes, very dramatic bubbling. It actually, ironically, probably does the opposite of what you're hoping it'll do. Hydrogen peroxide out of the bottle over the counter is a relatively weak solution and it actually will inhibit the growth of epidermal cells. So when we have a wound that's healing naturally and we want to slow it down so that it heals nicely,

we use hydrogen peroxide to slow down the healing. It serves no purpose with respect to infection in skin wounds. Does diet affect your skin in any significant way? You know, that's a question that opens up a very broad discussion, which I'll try to keep focused. There are certain foods that may have an impact in certain populations on acne, for example. But in general, the notion that you are what you eat, it's probably true in a general sense.

But the direct measurable impact on skin, in my experience, is not something that you can really pin down. So I think the best advice is to eat healthy and protect your skin from things that we know are harmful to it. What about your fingernails? They're part of dermatology, but are they the same thing as skin, or what are they? They're a form of keratin, the same compound that makes up hair. So hair and nails are very much a part of the specialty of dermatology. The nail grows out of the nail matrix, which you get a sense of when you look at your nail and you see the little white lunula, like half moon, we call it. And that's the area,

it's almost like a pasta maker. Those are tissues that are producing the nail at some regular rate. And over time, nails change, of course, with the aging process. But they serve an important purpose in terms of dexterity, being able to function. And one of the biggest complaints, of course, is brittle nails. And there are various approaches to try to improve that. And hair, it's the same thing as nails, but it sure doesn't look the same. Yeah, it's a different type of keratin. There are many different classes in that, just like there are many different types of Toyotas. There are many different types of keratin. And the type of hair, the color of hair, the curliness of hair,

all of the features of hair that vary from person to person and contribute to our individual identity are related to genetic factors, including, by the way, the loss of hair in certain people as they get older. Something, I don't know, I've always wondered about is, you look at people, say, on the beach where they're, you know, not wearing a lot of clothes, you will see pretty much everybody has some imperfections on their skin, a mole here, a mole there, freckles, whatever they are. And I've often wondered, well, why? Why is that there? Why is that there and not two inches to the left? What are those things and where do they come from?

So as to why things grow where they grow, I think one might ask the same question about why do two different people have different shaped noses? There are probably genetic factors that are beyond our ability to discriminate using genetic analysis at this point. But we suspect there's genetic factors in most things, and certain conditions run in families. Skin type, as we call it, type 1 skin, the people that are so fair they burn, never tan, all the way down the list to people with very darkly pigmented skin who never burn. These are all determined by genetic factors. But if you look at those people on the beach, older people have more of those marks on their skin than a baby does. So time must play a role in that.

Absolutely. And statistically, most of the lesions you're looking at are something called seborrheic keratoses, which I refer to as barnacles of life. These are these rough, raised, brown, tan, sometimes black, velvety bumps, very often on the back. And they are benign, completely benign. And one of their main advantages is because they can look worrisome to individuals, they are often what bring the patient in to see the dermatologist and provide an opportunity for a proper full skin exam. And lastly, just your general advice to the person who doesn't have any specific problem, but just general skin care advice is to do what?

Have a daily routine that involves a non-soap cleanser. Soap, per se, strips the skin of its necessary oils. Moisturize with a quality moisturizer that has some sun protection factor in it. If you're going to be active while outdoors, use sunscreen, wear a brimmed hat, as difficult as that is for some people, and follow all the guidelines about avoiding sunburn. My philosophy is you have to enjoy life, so don't lock yourself in a room. But if you're the type of person that has fair skin, a family history of skin cancer, use common sense and avoid the harmful effects of the sun, certainly during the peak hours. But there is the recommendation, and we've quoted on this podcast some pretty reliable sources,

that say you do need the sun, that you have to have some sun, that it is good for you, for your mood, for vitamin D, and all of that? I think that the public is pretty knowledgeable about the harmful effects of the sun, but there's also a lot of misconception about the role of vitamin D, for example, and there's information out there that you have to get X amount of sun in order to get normal vitamin D levels, and if you don't, you'll increase your chance of cancer and other diseases. There's really not a lot of evidence for that. Vitamin D is easily obtained through nutritional supplementation, and actually, for a relatively fair-skinned individual, the amount of sun exposure you need if you decide you want

to get some vitamin D the so-called natural way is really very limited. So to use vitamin D as an excuse to go and lie out on the beach is probably not a great strategy. Yes, but I sometimes think people might take that advice too far. I mean, you know, human beings have been walking the planet out in the sun, you know, forever and not using sunscreen. And somehow we've managed to get this far and that, you know, the sun is not necessarily the enemy. You just have to do it in moderation. Yeah. In fact, that's why I say don't lock yourself in a room. You have to enjoy life, and you just have to be aware in your particular situation about what your risk is and modify your lifestyle according to that. I think that the harm of not enjoying the outdoors has to be balanced against the harm of whatever the risk is in an individual

for developing skin cancer. One other thing I wanted to ask you about it, because I've heard someone else talk about this. You know how some actresses will say, you know, well, I drink 85 cups of water a day and that's why my skin glows the way it does. And I've heard that that's probably nonsense. Yeah so the only thing I would disagree with and what you're saying is the word probably. It's definitely nonsense. Tom Brady came out with a book what a year ago claiming that his water intake is what made his skin so great.

Obviously, the reason you stay hydrated at all times is because it's healthy to be hydrated. And there are people who are extremely dehydrated where a physician or even a layman can identify changes in their skin, wrinkling, but that's a far cry from normal. And I think if you drink more than needed, you'll be avoiding sun because you'll be in the restroom a lot. It's always good to separate the fact from the fiction and get the real expert advice when it comes to something so important as your skin. My guest has been dermatologist Dr. David LaFell. He is an internationally recognized expert in skin health.

He's founder and chief of the Dermatology Surgery Program at Yale Medicine and author of the book Total Skin, the Definitive Guide to Whole Skin Care for Life. You'll find a link to that book in the show notes. Thank you, Doctor. Thanks for being a guest. Okay, you're very welcome. Do you love Disney? Then you are going to love our hit podcast, Disney Countdown.

I'm Megan, the Magical Millennial. And I'm the Dapper Danielle. On every episode of our fun and family-friendly show, we count down our top 10 lists of all things Disney. There is nothing we don't cover. We are famous for rabbit holes, Disney-themed games, and fun facts you didn't know you needed, but you definitely need in your life.

So if you're looking for a healthy dose of Disney magic, check out Disney Countdown wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone. Join me, Megan Rinks. And me, Melissa Demonts, for Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? Each week, we deliver four fun-filled shows. In Don't Blame Me, we tackle our listeners' dilemmas with hilariously honest advice. Then we have But Am I Wrong?, which is for the listeners that didn't take our advice. Plus, we share our hot takes on current events.

Then tune in to see you next Tuesday for our Lister poll results from But Am I Wrong? And finally, wrap up your week with Fisting Friday, where we catch up and talk all things pop culture. Listen to Don't Blame Me, But Am I Wrong? on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. New episodes every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. get done in two or three days. I know people like that. And then there are others of us who struggle to get everything done and to be on time. And we feel like we're just treading water trying to keep up with the demands on our time. And for us, I'd like you to meet John Zeratsky. He is what you would call a true time management guru and co-author of the book Make Time, how to focus on what matters every Day. Hey, John, welcome. Thank you very much for having me. So this idea that we

need to focus on the things that matter implies that maybe that's not what we're doing. So why aren't we doing it? Why wouldn't we be focusing on what matters? I think a lot of people have this feeling that they're busier than they want to be, that they're more distracted than they want to be. I certainly feel that way. I felt that way for a long time. I worked in big companies. I worked in the tech industry at Google and YouTube. And in those environments, back-to-back meetings and non-stop email was kind of the norm. That was the default that we all turn to at work. And I think that this idea of defaults, things that we do sort of automatically at the office, for example, or the defaults that are in our devices. You know, by default, our phones check for email automatically and show us a notification when we have a new message.

These defaults really are to blame for a lot of the feelings that we have that we aren't in control of our time. So why do we feel that way? Why aren't we in control of our time? Even with distractions, you would think that people have the things that they want to do, that they need to get done, and that those are the things that will get done. And yes, there may be some distractions, but why are we so swayed by distractions? For many people, there is essentially an infinite number of things that we could do, right? You know, we're never going to finish everything that we need to do or want to do. But the idea that we might, the idea of productivity, of trying to get everything done, be really

efficient, be really optimized, squeeze it all in, is very tempting. And, you know, to a certain extent, I think it's very important. I mean, we don't want to be doing anything less than making the most of our time. But I think that we are fooled by cultural expectations into thinking that if we just worked a little bit harder, if we're just a little bit smarter, we might be able to do it all. But I think that's not a realistic outcome for most of us. Yeah. And I think you just hit on a really important point that there's an infinite number of things we can do. And it seems that you can never catch the end of that because the more things you cram into, there's always going to be more things to do. So if your goal is to just

cram more things into less time, that still doesn't get everything done and just stresses you out even more. Yeah, that's right. And the things that make us feel distracted and scattered, like our email and social media, the news, the stock market, every time we look at these things, our time becomes fragmented. We have less time for the things that we, you know, when we really sit back and look at the big picture, we have less time for the things that we wish we were doing. But checking those things actually kind of makes the feeling worse in a couple of ways

because not only do we have less time, but we have more ideas for things we could do, right? If we check our email and we see an email from somebody who wants our help with something, then that's another thing that we do. And we say, well, I'll put it on the to-do list. And that to-do list grows more quickly than we can ever possibly check the items off. Well, there is this theory I've heard other time management people mention, and I'd like to get your comment on it, because I subscribe to

this idea that by definition, you do what's important because you've chosen to do them over other things which must be less important, or you'd be doing those things. So what we do is important. It may not be what we want to do, but it is important enough to do. Yeah, that's, I don't know if I agree with that. I think that that might be like the economist's myth that humans are rational economic actors. You know, that we always make the choice with our money to maximize utility. I do think that we are at a subconscious level. We are sort of deciding what's important to us. But I also think that we are creatures who evolved in a very different world from the one that we live in today. Humans evolved to be distractible and to really care about gossip and the stories of others. And we

evolved to value random rewards. This is the same principle that makes slot machines addictive, that makes Twitter addictive, that if we were hunting and gathering for food, keeps us going out on another hunt, even when sometimes we return empty-handed. So I do think that we are sometimes not as much in control of our decisions as we think we are. Well, the fact that you disagreed with me, which I like, let me come at this another way and see if you, maybe I can make my point better, that sometimes we think we know what's important, like, you know, we're going to write that great American novel, but somehow we never quite get around to doing it. All of a sudden the closet has to be cleaned or the dishes have to be done. That we say we

know what's important, but we never get to them. So maybe they're really not that important. Yeah, I see what you're getting at. And I think that this starts to get into the idea of goals. Well, I'll tell you just a little story from my own background. I started my career working as a designer at a tech startup, and I went on to work at bigger companies. I worked at Google for about 10 years and worked at Google Ventures, which is a VC firm funded by Google. Always as a designer and then later focused more on writing. And early on, when I worked at that tech startup, I had this goal that I wanted to have my own tech startup one day.

And that was something that I, you know, it very much fit what you're describing as the, you know, the equivalent of writing that great American novel someday. It was this thing that if you had asked me, what do you want to do with your life? What's important to you? I would have said, yeah, it's to start my own company, my own tech startup. But very much as you're saying, I found myself making decisions that were not taking me in that direction. And I had to examine why that was. Was it because I was bad at life?

Was it because I was bad at making the right decisions and spending my time on the right things? Or was it because that goal had actually changed for me? Had I been too focused on that abstract idea in the long term to the extent that I was not focused on what I was doing day to day or what was really important to me in those moments? And I decided that it actually was the latter, that that goal had changed. Or maybe as I learned more about the goal, it was no longer a goal. So that was one of the experiences that really led me to think a lot more about how to make each day feel really meaningful and really important, rather than being sort of

overly obsessed with these big, grand, lofty dreams. You know what else fascinates me about time? And it relates to what we were just talking about, about what people choose to do and not do and what their goals and priorities are. And the best example of this is Christmas, when people will say, oh my God, there's so much to do, I'll never get it all done. And come Christmas morning, it's all done.

Somehow people manage to get it done. And people who are chronically late, and they'll tell you, it's just who I am, I just run late, I don't know. But when they have to catch a plane, and they know the plane isn't going to wait for them, somehow they manage to get to the airport on time. It is amazing to me how people do what they have to do or what they think they have to do. When you have a deadline like that, and this happens with work and it happens,

as you're saying, with stuff at home, we do have this incredible ability to shed all the unimportant things to really, you know, to spend less time in those mindless, automatic ways and more time on the thing that we need to do the thing that's really pressing. One of the things we write about in this book is about kind of doing that exercise intentionally every day. So rather than waiting for some external deadline or freak out moment where it's like, oh my God, I have to, like Christmas is tomorrow. There's a million things I have to do. I have to get them done to, you know, hopefully much less stressful way to every day, try to be honest with yourself about the one thing that you want to make time for. Not the big long-term goal, but the thing that you want to look back on the day and say, yeah, I'm happy that I did that. I'm glad that I made time

for that. And use a little bit of that sort of motivation that comes from recognizing what's important short-term to try to structure our days around the things that day after day really are going to bring joy to our lives. So talk about your approach, your philosophy, and maybe more importantly, your strategy handling time. Four steps, sort of a core framework of four simple daily steps. And it actually starts with choosing a daily highlight, something that you want to prioritize and protect in your day. And this can be something at work, it could be something at home, it could be something that has to get done or something that you just want to do. We usually find that sort of a 60 to 90 minute activity is kind of the sweet spot for

that highlight. And obviously, it's not the only thing you're going to do that day, but it's kind of the motivation. It provides the clarity. It's the thing that you look forward to. And then you can back that up with the next step, which we call laser, which is all about taking control of your attention so that you're not wasting time on checking email and Twitter and Instagram and the news more often than you'd like to be. own ways. But they do have a tendency to kind of suck our time away. So create barriers to this type of distraction to make it more easy to stay focused on that highlight. So how do you recommend people do that? I think that one of the tricks to sort of reclaiming your attention is actually to add that friction back in to make it more difficult. So, for example, one of the most powerful things that I've done, this was an idea that was inspired by my co-author, Jake Knapp, that I wrote Make Time With, is to remove

all of the distracting apps from my phone. So we call it the distraction-free phone. And the idea is that any app that has an endless supply of interesting and replenishing content, we call those infinity pool apps, to remove those from the phone. So my phone doesn't have email on it, doesn't have Twitter, doesn't have Instagram, doesn't have the news. And I still do all of those things. I just don't have that constant temptation of the phone in my pocket or in my hand to, you know, do a quick check of something that turns into a not so quick check. Another tactic that's in the book that I use every single day is to log out of those distracting websites on the computer. So I've actually changed my password for, say, Twitter to something that's a kind of a random string of characters that I can't possibly remember, stored it in a password manager app, and then logged out of that site. So if I sort of subconsciously type in Twitter.com, which I do a few times a day without really thinking about it, then instead of the feed full of interesting content, I see the login screen.

And I think, oh, yeah, that's right. I need to pause and I need to think about why I'm doing this right now. And if this is actually how I want to be spending my time. It seems that so much of the talk about time management and productivity and all this is all about work and getting more stuff done that you have to get done, chores, projects, and all that. But don't you think it's also important that you've got to build in the fun stuff too? Otherwise, it gets pretty dull. I think it's super important. I think that this idea of a highlight, it can be something that feels very productive.

It can be something that you need to get done or you want to get done at work. But it can also be something that's just fun, something that you want to do. For example, I'm in San Francisco right now, but I live in Wisconsin. And the night before I flew out to San Francisco, my wife and I were planning to go to a baseball game, see the Milwaukee Brewers. And I had a bunch of work to do that day. But my highlight for that day was actually the baseball game at the end of the day. And that helped me kind of keep everything in perspective. It helped me make sure that I had finished my work in time, that I had packed for the trip the next day so that I could really enjoy that game.

I could really enjoy going there with my wife and her family, and I could really enjoy that highlight rather than trying to squeeze it in at the end of a long day. Well, I know it's cliche to say, you know, all we have is time. But it's true. All we have is time. And it's good to get some ideas on how to better use it, how to get control of it, how to get a rope around it so you can use your time better. My guest has been John Zeratsky. He

is a time management expert and co-author of the book, Make Time, How to Focus on What Matters Every Day. There's a link to the book in the show notes. Thanks for being here, John. All right, cool. If you have 30 minutes, there are a bunch of things you can find in your closets and garage that you can toss right now with no regrets and miraculously have a ton more storage space. For example, newspapers, catalogs, and magazines. If you've kept them, you will never read them. You really won't, so throw them out. Cast off clothes and shoes. If you have clothes that have migrated to the garage, come on, they're done.

Throw them away. Also, check the far ends in the closet. Clothes that have made it to the far end of the rod in the closet probably never get worn and could be tossed out. Old electronics, like computers, printers, and fax machines, VCRs. Even if you could fix them, you won't fix them because there would be no purpose in fixing them. Broken or duplicate tools. You really don't need four hammers, and a broken pair of pliers has no function. Old paint cans. Unopened paint lasts 10 years. Once opened, it lasts five years maximum. If it's

older than that, it has no purpose and you can throw it out. And that is the podcast today. I'm Mike Carruthers. Thanks for listening to Something You Should Know. Welcome to the small town of Chinook, where faith runs deep and secrets run deeper. In this new thriller, religion and crime collide when a gruesome murder rocks the isolated Montana community. Everyone is quick to point their fingers at a drug-addicted teenager, but local deputy Ruth Vogel isn't convinced. She suspects connections to a powerful religious group.

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