you've probably heard it said a million times before we all have 24 hours in our day no matter how powerful or how much resources you have no matter who you know no matter how healthy you are no matter what job you have you have the same amount of time in your day as anyone else the people you admire and the people that you've never even met or heard of and so with this time we have to make decisions in today's episode i want to talk about you the difference between the people who continue to grow throughout the rest of their lives the way that they spend their time the kinds of actions the classifications of actions that they're taking versus the kinds of people who are not unfortunately growing through the rest of their lives and classifying their actions and their decisions my name is jonathan cutrell you're listening to developer t my goal on this show is to help driven developers like you find clarity perspective and purpose in their careers so when you think about time it's easy to imagine that the way that we spend our time is transactional we spend five minutes or an hour and we get something that is in equal value return And it's even more tempting to, if you were to kind of put a spin on this, someone who is kind of one level above that thinking, they think that they can either spend their time wisely or they can waste it. And so this binary concept kind of slips in. The idea that you are either spending your time in a way that is wasteful or you are spending it in a way that isn't and therefore is wise. Now this is problematic because it's hard, first of all, to determine when you are actually wasting your time. But perhaps the more interesting problem with this false binary belief. Is that the upper bound on whether you are using your time wisely has so much more to be explored. The way you use your time is dynamic. And the choices that you make loop back. Or I guess they loop forward is a better way to think about it. So that your future time becomes more valuable. Think about it like this. If you were to start putting money into your retirement account investing. That retirement account is going to grow with some interest. Of course, there's some risk involved. But generally speaking, you can expect that retirement account to grow better than if you were to just take that same money and put it into a savings account. Hopefully this is not revolutionary information for you. But the power of compound interest. Is very important. When we spend our time. We need to be thinking. Along the same lines. We need to think about things. That compound. That become more valuable. Over time. Thinking about our time as. A resource that we invest. Into higher growth. Things. If all we're doing is. Putting our time into linear. Return. Then all we're going to get back out. Is linear. Return. We're going to take a quick break. A quick sponsor break. And then we're going to come back and talk about some different classifications. Of ways. That you can spend your time. That come back to you. In exponential gains. Today's episode is sponsored by. Elastic. Elastic enables the world's leading organizations. To put their data to work. Using the power of search. Whether it's connecting people and teams. With content that matters. Keeping applications and infrastructure online. Or protecting entire digital ecosystems. Elastic's search platform. Is able to surface relevant results. With speed. And at scale. Learn how you can get started with Elastic's search platform. For free. At elastic.co. Slash FAO. That's elastic.co. Slash FAO. Thanks again to Elastic. For sponsoring today's episode of Developer Team. We should say up front. That classifying your decisions. Classifying your actions. This can be. Difficult to do. In fact. Really. You are the only person. That can do this. Because. So many decisions that we make. Are heavily dependent on context. And on the simple fact that. No matter what we do. We are still human. It might make sense for you. Personally. To take a little extra time off. To relax and rest. Than the average person. No one can tell you. What is or isn't. A waste of your time. And what does or doesn't. Provide you. Leaps and bounds of. Additional value. Because value is ultimately. Determined by you. So that's the major disclaimer. That I want to. Kind of throw. Out before we go into this. Classification process. Giving you some signals. For what kinds of decisions. What kinds of actions. Are going to provide. This exponential gain. This high leverage. So that your 24 hour day. Is used as wisely as possible. Now we say the word wisely here. But remember. This isn't about being serious. All the time. Hopefully that's already come across. This is about choosing. Your actions. Choosing your decisions. And choosing pathways. Intelligently. Towards the kind of goals. That you have. So we're going to classify. Some of these. And I'll give you kind of. The classified version. When I say classified. I don't mean secret. I mean the kind that might provide. Additional leverage. That might provide exponential gain. And then I'm going to give you. Kind of the non. Exponential version. Of that kind of. Decision. We're going to start with a topic. That I covered on the show before. That is the learning stacking. This is. Particularly relevant. If you're building your skill sets. A lot of people want to know. What should I learn next? Well if there is something. That you can learn. That will make your existing skills. More valuable. Especially if it's significantly more valuable. Or if your existing skills. Make this new skill. More valuable. Then that's likely a better option. Than learning something totally different. Now there's a caveat here. If learning that something. Totally different. Is going to open up new doors. Or new ways of thinking. That are vastly superior. To your existing knowledge. Then in a way. You're getting a better learning stacking. Effect from that. Than you would be if you were to go. With the thing that just kind of. Interacts with those existing skills. So think about your learning. In terms of. Kind of a portfolio of skills. Rather than individual skills. That you're adding on top of each other. They interact with each other. So one skill might make another skill. More valuable. The next classification. I want to bring up is called. Multi-effect habits. Let's call that. Because that's what I'm calling it. I don't really know. What this would be. Technically called. But developing habits. That have more than one. Beneficial outcome. More than one. Beneficial outcome. To these habits. An easy example of this. That we've talked about many times on the show before. Is exercise. And even better. Than just. Walking on a treadmill. Is if you can pair that exercise. With getting outside. There are plenty of. Studies that show the benefits. Of both of these habits. But this has a very clear. Multi-effect. Benefit. Right. There's multiple things. That are going to improve. If you are. Taking the time to exercise. Particularly if you can get outside. And exercise at the same time. And there are a lot of good examples. Of multi-effect decisions. Multi-effect beneficial decisions. Another easy one. Is reading. This is a very good habit. That produces a lot of positive effects. And what I want you to pay attention to. Is that this doesn't just apply. To you personally. It also applies to teams. To organizations. To basically. Any kind of cultural grouping of people. Can benefit from. Multi-effect. Beneficial decision making. So when you're considering. Two decisions. Or let's say for example. A regular meeting on your schedule. It's very unlikely. That you should. Keep that meeting. And do it regularly. Let's say it's a weekly meeting. Or even a daily meeting. Unless there is more than one beneficial outcome. If there's only one. Beneficial outcome to a meeting. If there's only one thing. That you're trying to do. It's likely. That that thing could be accomplished. In a much. Lower investment way. Now this is where we start getting into. The idea of. Using your time. In a way that is highest leverage. This is how. If you use your time. Wisely. And again. We use that term very loosely on this episode. If you use your time properly. Towards your goals. It's likely that. Most of the things that you do. Most of your decisions. Are going to naturally gravitate. Towards. Multi-effect. Beneficial decisions. Most of your decisions. Will kind of naturally gravitate towards that. And you'll start to notice. If you ask this question. What are the effects. Of this thing. What are the positive effects of this thing. Why is this on my calendar. Why is this habit. Something that I'm doing every day. What am I getting out. Of doing this habit. Or can this be offloaded. To something that is more. Automated. Maybe it's more asynchronous. For example. Something that I'm not necessarily spending. A lot of time. And other people's time. To accomplish. Is there a way. That I can invest less. And get the same positive. Output from this. Anything that is taking your synchronous time. You should be optimizing towards. Multi-effect. Beneficial outcomes. Finally. I want to classify. A kind of decision making. And there's multiple ways. To talk about this. There's other existing mental models. One that you can look up. That's worth reading about. Is Jeff Bezos' type 1 and type 2 decisions. Other versions of this. Are fast and slow thinking. And there's a lot of other ways. To approach similar conversations. But I want to kind of take a bird's eye view. And talk about this decision making process. When do you want to make a quick. Kind of heuristic based decision. And when do you want to slow down. And make a more intentional decision. The most critical things to remember. About this. Kind of juxtaposition of types of decisions. Is number one. It doesn't necessarily have to be. A small decision. To go with the heuristic approach. This is something a lot of people forget. It doesn't have to be a small decision. Some people can get hung up. On over analyzing. Very large decisions. When they have let's say. Two or three options on the table. They can get hung up over analyzing them. When really. Any of those two or three options. May actually be sufficient. When it takes a long time. To parse. Kind of parse the differences. Between two or three options. If you're having to do a lot of calculation. It's likely. That any of them is going to suffice. And the extra time that you spend. Deliberating between those options. Is actually. More valuable spent doing something different. So choosing one of those options quickly. Even when it's a large. Kind of a very impactful decision. Is probably an okay route. So the importance here. Is to think about the time. That you're spending deliberating. As the investment. You're not just thinking about the transaction. Or the time that you're spending. Actually following through. As the investment. That's not the only. Investment. The time you're spending deliberating. And then. The next piece. That most people often forget. When it comes to making these efficient decisions. Is which of these decisions. Is going to allow me. For better optionality in the future. Or is going to kind of strap me. Into. A lot more time. That I have to invest in the future. Which of these is going to give me. An easy out for example. Is there a way to get out of this decision. So that if it does turn out to be. You know going in a poor direction. Or if I find myself investing more time. In places that I don't want to invest in. That I have good options. To leave that decision behind. To kind of effectively reverse that decision. Again this is kind of referencing. The type one. Or type one and type two decisions. From Jeff Bezos. So the important thing. When you're talking about. Kind of classifying these decision. Differences between. The fast. The quick decision. And the slow decision. Is to recognize. What is the difference. What is the possible difference. If I am wrong. About this decision. What is the downside. To being wrong. If the downside is small. Then choosing fast. Is likely a better option. If we zoom out. And think about. The decisions the actions. That you're taking. To most wisely. Spend your time. So that you're. Maximizing that 24 hours. I want you to keep in mind. That none of this really matters. If your goals. Have been determined. By someone other than you. If you're following. Kind of blindly following. The industry standard. Or if you're following in the footsteps of. Let's say your parents. Or a friend. Or someone you admire. Take the time. To determine what you. Are trying to do. With your life. With your career. If you are on a rocket ship. But you're headed towards the wrong destination. It just doesn't matter. How fast you're getting there. It doesn't matter how efficiently. You're spending your time. If that efficiency is pointing you. Somewhere that you don't care about going. So take the time. And even. Choose to do it slowly. If you need to. Take the time. To set your direction properly. Because none of this matters. Unless you're headed. In the direction that you want to go. Thank you so much for listening. To today's episode of Developer T. Thank you again to Elastic. For sponsoring today's episode. Head over to elastic.co. Slash FAO. Of course that link. Can be found in the show notes. For today's episode. If you enjoyed this episode. Then you're almost certainly going to enjoy. Future episodes as well. We produce. Usually around three episodes a week. It depends on just how crazy. My life has gotten that week. But the goal. Is to produce three episodes. At the very least we're doing two episodes a week. And sometimes we get a Friday refill. If you're enjoying these episodes. And you haven't yet subscribed. I encourage you to subscribe. But the big thing that you can do. To help us continue doing the show. And reach more engineers like you. Who are looking to level up in their careers. And find clarity perspective and purpose. 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