Editing The Pen Addict 468/transcript (section)

== Vacations and Work-Life Balance ==


'''Brad:''' It's weird. Like, vacations have become a weird thing now. Like, when I work for myself, you have to plan way ahead, and then you have to, like, catch up when you get home when you can. And I feel like I did a pretty good job. Like, I was able to enjoy my vacation, which is key. Like, anytime anyone goes on vacation, you want to be able to escape, and I did a good job. But it got me thinking when I got back, as I normally do, I think weird things about stationary. That's why we're here.

'''Myke:''' I found an image, August 2017, of me editing the show, sitting on a bed with two microphones that were also on a bed. We recorded the DC Pen show sitting on beds opposite each other.

'''Brad:''' We should have bet something, because I would have gladly taken the L on that. I was pretty sure it was Atlanta. Yeah, good job. How did you find those pictures? I don't have that type of management or efficiency.

'''Myke:''' August 2017, and it came up.

'''Brad:''' Seems like you're a computer guy who does these things for a living. A nerd. Mm-hmm. Big nerd. So, I'm a nerd about stationary, and being the way that I am, I overpacked for a time period and a use case where I wouldn't use a fraction of what I brought, right? I think we're probably all guilty of that from a stationary perspective. Especially, a lot of people going to pen shows tend to bring more stuff to pen shows than they really think they would use at the time of the pen show. And that's what happened on this vacation. So, you know, I probably had a dozen pens and pencils and several notebooks. You know, part of it was because I wanted to show my sister and my niece, who are really into this stuff, some of the things that I'm into. And, like, you know, some of the spoke stuff that they haven't gotten to see in person and things like that. So, I overpacked. But I didn't really use anything while I was on the trip, right? When I journal, I don't tend to do, you know, vacation day one. It was a beautiful day at the lake. And I got bit by a mosquito, and the fish were jumping. And, you know, that kind of stuff, right? I don't, that's not my journaling style. So, I didn't really use anything. But when I got back, it's just like I wanted to do, like, Scrooge McDuck jumping into the gold pile of all of the stationary stuff I had laying on my desk. I'm like, oh, yeah, here's this notebook. And, oh, look at this pen. And I'm grabbing all this. Oh, I haven't used this one in a couple weeks. Yeah, I'm in. It was this weird, weird feeling. And it was a good feeling. Like, I was like, gosh, it is just weird that I, like, I spent probably more time thinking about what I was packing stationary-wise for this trip than actually using stationary during the trip. And then when I got back, I was like, give me all the pens and give me all the pencils and check out this paper. And, oh, I haven't used this pen in a couple weeks. Let's see if it was still right. I was excited. So, that was cool. Like, I really, really like that. So, any other trip, aside from this one where I'm actually packing things to show other people, I would pack very, very little stationary. Like, singular notebook and then probably no more than three pens. Like, a Sinclair full of goods, right? Which is not CoSinclair. It's a three-pen slot and, like, a notebook slot, which can hold, like, a pocket-sized notebook and index cards. That's it. I am good because I don't need my journal. I don't need my planner. All of these things. But when I got home, all that stuff was here. And I just, I started just tearing it up, man. I was into, like, let me get this planner going. Let me get this journal going. All these things. So, it was a weird, weird feeling. So, and I guess it was good in retrospect that, like, you know, I just took a break from that stuff that made me, you know, enjoy it more when I came back. So, it was fun.

'''Myke:''' I do. I greatly appreciate, though, how much you continue to love this stuff. Like, I think at a certain point, like, I know some people that are like this. Like, you end up building part of your personality around a certain thing. And then, over time, you kind of might be a little bit stuck in that thing. And then, you don't come to resent it, but you just don't love it the same, you know? That's definitely not the case for you. It doesn't feel like that anyway. Like, I can imagine it being very easy for you to just be like, I'm the pen guy, so let me try out the pen stuff. Right? But you're not like that. And I just, I really look up to that and try and maintain that for myself, you know? Like, if I ever feel like I'm getting fatigued on something in the various spheres in which I'm interested in, then I try and find something new within it to get excited about or, like, try and change my state of mind. Like, this happened to me big time a couple of years ago where I was getting, like, increasingly frustrated with decisions Apple was making and the products that they were making. And was just finding myself just spiraling into negativity all the time. So, I made, like, a concerted effort to not do that. And it really helped me. So, yeah, I just, I find it fascinating. It's one of the reasons I enjoy working with you.

'''Brad:''' Yeah, yeah. I appreciate that. And it's not fake or phony. Like, it comes naturally to me. Like, I feel like I'm just built for doing this. Like, this is what I do. And I don't, yeah, obviously I wouldn't be, if I wasn't doing it, I wouldn't be doing all of this, right? But I would still just be totally knee-deep in stationary. And I've said it before. Like, I can't not do this. Like, it, every little thing excites me still. So, now, the things that get me down and, like, you know, made me, don't ever make me rethink it. But it's, like, the actual, like, oh, the administrative part of this. Like, that's, like, that's a job. Like, you know, that stuff is, like, oh, gosh.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, that's the unfun part, right?

'''Brad:''' Yeah, yeah, yeah.

'''Myke:''' It's the thing people don't think about or talk about when it comes to, like, working for yourself. It's, like, well, if you work for yourself, then you've got to do everything. Yeah. There's going to be stuff in there you're not going to like.

'''Brad:''' Yeah. But, like, the little, you know, the literal product stuff is just, I've said it a thousand times. Like, you give me a $1 pencil or a $1,000 pen and I will be able to talk as well about both of those products as, you know, as if they were the same price or had the same function or do the same things. Like, that's just what I, that's how I think about these types of things. And I love it. So, yeah, that kind of leads into this little next tidbit since you said that. I put a big circle in my weekly planner this week because I'm actually switching planner layouts on July 1st. And I'm, like, stupidly excited about this. Right? It's, like, you know, on the outside, it's, like, hey, I'm going to schedule my day more. And that seems kind of boring and lame and it makes you feel like work. But at the same time, the layout that I'm using right now doesn't work for me anymore. Like, I'm figuring things out as we go. So, can we talk about this for a second? Like, how I do my plannering?

'''Myke:''' Yeah.

'''Brad:''' So, we've talked about for years kind of how different products we've used. Like, I've tried and failed at, like, the Hobonichi Techo, right? It's, like, the single page per day but just, like, an open page, right? Like, you know, July 30th blank page go, right? Like, eh, that doesn't work for me, right? I can't just, like, okay, I don't know what to do here. And now there's also a rule that, like, every day there's a page for this and I don't know what to do here. So, I found years ago that Midori slash Now Travelers had this layout where they took a single page and broke it into seven days. I was like, oh, okay. Like, you mean I can take this singular page, have seven days on it, and I can jot down the tasks that need to get done on these days. Cool. Like, that's a layout for me. And then I went into the William Hannah Plannerdom and have that layout, same layout, seven days on the left-hand side of the page, blank page on the right-hand side of the page.

'''Myke:''' Yeah, and the seven days are, like, broken down into, like, horizontal rows. So, you have each day and it's got, I don't know, say, five centimeters or something. I don't know, maybe a bit less.