Welcome everyone, I'm your host, Greg McEwan, and I am here with you on this journey to
learn how to design a life that really matters.
Have you ever felt bombarded by the amount of noise there is in the world today?
I don't mean literal noise, but all of the digital noise, all of the internal mental
noise, all of the noise between people that makes it hard to even understand what somebody
else is thinking.
Well, this is part one of a multi-part series on the relentless elimination of noise.
By the end of this episode, you will have a single practice that you can utilize right
now to push back the noise in your life so that you can see more clearly and discern
the signal in the sound.
Let's get to it.
Reminder that the fastest way to learn what I'm going to share with you today is for you
to share it with somebody else, to be able to put your own spin on it, to be able to
say what stood out for you, what you've done about it, and what you're learning in the process.
Have you ever found yourself rereading the same email multiple times, unable to extract
its core message amidst the chaos of your day?
Have you ever felt drained at the end of the day, not because of the work, but because
of the constant distractions you've navigated?
Imagine if you could silence all the unnecessary noise around you for just an hour.
How much more could you accomplish?
What if you had a way to filter out the noise, to be able to synthesize what's really going
on under the surface?
Recently, I was doing a pre-keynote call with the CEO of Sailpoint Technologies, his name
is Mark McLean, and we were talking about how many of us feel we are drowning in noise
right now, and how it leads many people to just react to the shallow superficial stuff.
We waste thousands of hours and millions of dollars in some situations on peripheral
issues.
Well, there is a skill perfectly equal for a time such as this.
It's this, perspacacity.
Perspacacity is the keen ability to see clearly the issues, especially what's hidden below
the surface.
To be able to have the ability to cut through that noise, get to the heart of the issue,
to pinpoint what's really going on, and it seems to me that given this noise is not
going away any time soon.
The future will belong to people who can master this skill.
It's a skill whose time has come.
I don't know about you, but I'm actually really sensitive to physical, literal sound.
I've never gone through any sort of formal diagnosis, but I think at least at times I suffer
from a kind of hyperaccuses.
Hyperaccuses is, in its full effect, a disorder in loudness perception.
So patients suffering from hyperaccuses may appear overly sensitive to a range of sounds,
finding many noises unbearable and painfully loud.
So for me, if I'm flying as I did just yesterday to go to a keynote and I'm in the airport,
all of that noise pollution is exhausting for me.
Some planes it's the same, especially if there's a particularly loud speaker coming
through.
I find that miserable and it costs me more than perhaps the average person.
I wear earplugs and noise cancelling wherever I can, even sometimes at home, especially
frankly when the children were little.
For anybody listening to this who is on the hyperaccuses continuum, you know just what
I'm talking about.
And while I do think there is evidence that the physical, auditory sound and noise in
our times has increased, what I'm talking about today and in this series is the noise
of the modern world beyond traditional auditory meaning.
It encompasses a whole series of noise, distractions, irrelevant information, interferences
that cloud our judgement, hinder our comprehension, disrupt our focus.
We find ourselves as far as I can tell, submerged, perhaps even drowning in an almost relentless
deluge of noise.
It's not merely the audible kind to the drone of urban machinations or the incessant
hum of our own devices, instead it's an existential bombardment, a ceaseless influx
of social media diatripes, sensationalist, 24 hour news cycles, and the disorienting
din of overlapping opinions in an era where everyone's voice seems equally amplified yet
eerily indistinct, whether it's the unending chirp of notifications or the mental turmoil
of overthinking.
This cacophony isn't just sound, it's the visual overload of videos, of neon billboards,
the mental strain of multitasking, the societal echo of political polarization, constantly
being reinforced in whatever social media we tap into.
This is the noise that I'm talking about, digital and information noise, mental and psychological
noise, or cultural and societal noise.
All of this has a psychological impact on us.
The human brain is a marvel of evolution, capable of complex thought, pattern recognition,
and emotional comprehension is designed to process a vast array of stimuli.
In our evolutionary history we had to be alert to a myriad of sounds, the Russell of
a Predator, the murmur of a stream, the distant clap of thunder, signaling rain, but there's
a stark difference between these survival driven stimuli and the incessant noise of today's
urbanized digital world.
Our brains are not naturally equipped to handle the constant overlapping and often irrelevant
stimuli that modern environments throw at us, it's not unusual for people today to have
five to seven separate overlapping or unrelated projects in play at the same time through
multiple digital channels.
And our brains were simply not designed for this.
Studies show that the brain's amygdala, the region associated with emotional processing,
for example, shows heightened activity in response to unpredictable noises, a left over from
our days as prey needing to be on constant alert.
But that's the problem, is our modern world with all of its noise produces a state of
constant alert, and that is not optimal.
And this would all matter less, but that amid that noise, there is also signal.
In the realm of information theory, the term signal refers to the desired, meaningful information
while noise is the unwanted interference, transposing this concept into our daily lives.
This signal is the crucial work, it's the heartfelt conversation, it's the key insight,
the noise is everything that distracts or detracts from that.
And this constant exposure to noise makes it hard for our brains to filter out the essential
from the non-essential.
When bombarded by too many stimuli, too much noise, the brain struggles to identify and
process the signal.
You know the feeling, you're trying to write a report, and your email notifications keep
pinging, the noise emails into fear with the signal writing the report, affecting the
quality of your decision making and clarity.
And all of this leads to mental fatigue, or cognitive fatigue, when the brain is overused,
similar to how our muscles tire after prolonged exertion, constant noise and distractions
demand the brain to switch tasks frequently.
You know what it's called, context switching.
Each switch uses up cognitive resources, leading to rapid depletion of our mental energy.
So this is why after not even a day, but a few hours with constant interruptions, even
if they're minor, you can feel as exhausted as if you've done intense physical labor.
The fatigue isn't just about the mental effort of the main task, but about the additional
energy expended in managing and shifting between distractions.
And the fatigue has a compounding effect, as you become more tired, your capacity to
differentiate between noise and signal diminishes further, making you even more susceptible
to distractions, which in turn increase fatigue.
So there's a vicious cycle that can severely impact mental well-being.
So understanding this dance between noise, our brain and its implications on our mental
state is essential in today's world.
It empowers us to devise strategies essential in today's world.
One upside is that it motivates us to devise strategies and to cultivate environments that
can foster clarity, that can foster this ability to discern the signal from the noise.
I was thinking recently about Sacha Nadella and how he has reset Microsoft on this extraordinary
journey of growth and increased valuation.
And one of the things he did differently when he became the CEO was he re-evaluated how
he would work with partners.
He opened up Microsoft to be able to work with different partners all over the world.
It was a key in taking that business up to the next level.
I don't think the reset would have been possible without trusted partners.
And that's true with multinational corporations, but it's also true for first time entrepreneurs.
And it might be worth considering whether your commerce platform is scaring away potential
customers instead of converting them into lifelong fans.
And if you think that might be possible, you might consider trying Shopify.
So if you want to take your business to the next level, but without burning out, sign
up for a $1 per month trial period at Shopify.com slash Greg, all lowercase.
Go to Shopify.com slash Greg to take your business to the next level today, but without
burning out Shopify.com slash Greg.
I started my first business when I was 10 years old washing cars and getting other people
to help me to do that and to be able to even scale it a little bit.
So you clearly don't need a degree in order to be an entrepreneur.
To be a successful entrepreneur, I think you need the right mindset, skill set and tool
set.
And there's a podcast specifically designed for that.
It's the millionaire university podcast.
It's just the kind of mentorship I wish I'd had all those years ago.
The hosts Justin and Tara Williams have put in years of hard work to become successful
business owners.
And so they've created the millionaire university podcast to share that knowledge.
Of course, they bring together other mentors to tell their stories and guide aspiring entrepreneurs
in the right direction.
Each episode covers a different topic, but all in the world of business.
They have episodes on how to start and grow a digital marketing agency, specific secrets
to productivity or how to network.
So no matter what type of business you have or where you are in the process, the millionaire
university podcast has lessons to guide you.
You can find the millionaire university on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, of course, wherever
you get your podcasts.
So what are you waiting for?
Now let's come back to this conversation that I was having with Mark McClain.
We were just riffing on everything I've just been riffing on with you.
And he said something to me that just grabbed my attention.
He said that he now consistently in a disciplined way takes the first hour of every day, completely
without access to email, texting or any of those forms of noise.
He uses a 3s formula to think about.
Now he does this for an hour, but my invitation to you is going to be to do it for half that
length, a power half an hour, let's call it.
So we focus on what Mark calls silence stillness and what I would add to that is that we want
to synthesize what's going on with our life in that time so that when we wake up in the
morning instead of just diving headlong straight into that noise, which is right there in
your digital devices, you push it back.
Now I've done this before at times in my life, but when I heard it from him, I realized
I'm not doing a great job at it right now.
And Mark, even as the CEO of a fast, moving, fast growing technology company has got this
discipline down.
The power half an hour of silence stillness and solitude can be a valuable practice for
enhancing perspicacity.
Now that's not a word that you're likely to be familiar with, you may be, but not many
people are.
In fact, in the keynote today, I asked a group of about 200 leaders who was familiar with
the term and nobody put their hand up, but perspicacity is the skill of our time.
During this dedicated time, you can synthesize thoughts, gain clarity, uncover deeper insights
into complex issues.
It allows you to cut through the noise and focus on what truly matters.
This practice can be particularly effective when facing challenging decisions or when seeking
to understand the core of a situation.
In other words, every day of our lives right now, in my power half an hour, I'm trying
to spend 10 minutes reading from inspirational literature.
I'm trying to spend the next 10 minutes at least using the 123 method to design my day
around the things that really matter, to review my schedule and to get myself oriented
for the day.
But there's a lot of things to do with that time, and I'm not suggesting you do all of
the following, but just things to be thinking about.
You might want to reflect on a single question, instead of letting your mind wander, have
a single problem in mind that you want to explore during this time.
It could be a professional challenge, a personal decision, or a philosophical inquiry.
You could use this time to journal, to be able to write in pen and paper your thoughts,
ideas and insights.
You'll remember the six minute free writing exercise that we covered in a previous
podcast episode.
You might use your power half an hour outdoors in nature, because a walk in nature can provide
a change of scenery and fresh perspectives.
I am, as I'm recording this, looking outside at a marvellous view of mountains, of trees
right around Lake Tahoe, where I just finished this event.
Perhaps it's meditation for you, or a gratitude practice.
But whatever it is, it is at minimum disconnecting, disconnecting from email notification, disconnect
from any texting, disconnecting from any news updates, disconnecting from technology,
allows for this deeper introspection.
Mark put it this way, why is people are pulling back?
That is, from the news, from the updates, from the endless continual cacophony of noise.
What is one thing that stood out to you in today's conversation about the relentless
elimination of noise?
What is one thing that you can do differently as a result of this conversation?
And who is one person that you can share this idea with so that you can help them be
accountable and they can help you be accountable?
Thank you, really, thank you for listening.
This podcast is now consistently a top five self-improvement podcast within the United
States and growing.
For all of you that have written reviews on Apple podcasts, thank you.
If you haven't done that already, you have the chance to get free access to the Essentialism
Academy, simply by writing a review, posting it there, and letting us know about it.
Go to gregmacune.com forward slash essential for more details.
Thank you and I'll see you next time.
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