Practice Session #6

Thanks for checking out my show notes! I’ll be utilizing this to clarify and elaborate on points that I didn’t convey as well as I would’ve liked to. I’ll also provide links to further information and resources.

I’ll be interspersing all of this with the transcription from the audio, which will be displayed like this:

Intro.

[00:00]

CK: Okay. Here we go.

Heyo! I’m CK and you’re listening to Practice. I’m your functional systems integrator, and this is my podcast where practice is not just the theme of the show, but also the whole purpose behind it. I’m using this platform to practice podcasting and practice speaking, in general, while espousing half-thoughts and providing unsolicited advice.

So every week I’ll be talking about my experience with this process, along with various lifestyle practices and theories and ideas behind the virtue of practice itself. Make sure to check out the detailed show notes for this episode where I’ll follow up on all the things I could’ve done better.

You can find that and more info about this whole project at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice.

And as always, we’re here with my practice partner and partner in life, Pam.

Pam: Hey hey!

I’m in action mode!

[00:54]

CK: So this has been a pretty crazy week for me in terms of all the things that I’ve been doing, I guess. I’ve been super productive. My days are going like clockwork.

And a big part of that is my sleep cycle’s a lot better. I have my circadian rhythm synced up to what I believe to be the natural order. So I’m getting up with the sunrise and going to bed a couple of hours after the sun sets.

And is this something I’ve been generally trying to do for the past few years? And haven’t really been able to until, uh, about two years ago when I went through some, hi- really crazy biohacking methodology called neurofeedback.

And I don’t know if I want to get into that stuff, but I just want to say this past week has been super-productive and now and kind of seeing this whole project with practice in a new light. And I think that has somewhat to do with all the productivity this past week, and also just kind of where I’m at in the process.

The latest on my podcasting practice.

[02:18]

CK: So first of all, our episode last week ran long – almost twice as long as usual. So I want to touch on that, and I want to reiterate the fact that I want to get these episodes at 30 minutes. So half an hour. And last week, I think we ran 50 minutes, maybe over 50 minutes, so almost twice as long.

And just- I had so much stuff to talk about that I wanted to get it out, but what I didn’t realize was that that also makes the whole process of going through the transcript and writing out the show notes almost twice as much longerr. So yeah, so you know, it doubles that part of the post-processing stuff.

And at this point. In the whole project. I don’t really need to do all that. I don’t want to do all that.

Pam: You don’t need to make it more work than it needs to be.

CK: Exactly. Especially since I’m still lagging on getting out these episodes in a timely manner. So I want to stick to the basics, or get back to the basics, and stick to the fundamentals.

And that is, you know, this whole practice of podcasting. So that’s the main fundamental reason that I’m doing all this is to practice podcasting. And something that kind of comes out of that naturally is the act of speaking and talking on the fly. So- and that’s something that I’ve been wanting to work on. So that just goes hand in hand.

Pam: There’d be a pretty bad podcast if no one was talking.

CK: We can just be humming the whole time. Someone should come up with that, that’d make for an interesting podcast.

But anyway, I just want to reiterate that the practice is the process that I’m focused on. And on that note, it’s kind of cool that I’ve turned the process into the product, so just kind of want to pat myself on the back for that.

Pam: Noted.

Practice is progress.

[04:46]

CK: But on that note, the whole idea of this process being a practice and not being fully hashed out and kind of coming out on polished. Is something that I’ve been struggling for the past few weeks. I don’t know if it’s noticeable, I’m sure- uh, I don’t know. But it’s something I’ve been growing more and more comfortable with as of late, and now I’m kind of starting to meet that agile process that I’ve been talking about.

And so this week I want to begin getting on the schedule that I want to with this process. So I know week by week I keep saying that I’m going to get these episodes published in a timely manner, but you know, things keep popping up and I’m not getting paid for this.

This isn’t my job… so this is a hobby right now and I only have a certain amount of time that I can alot to this. So you know, this is all new to me and I’m still working on processes in how I want to do this all strategically and all that stuff. But at the same time, I’m meeting things at the agile end of the spectrum too.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m still kind of playing around and tweaking with stuff and maybe even perfect stuff. But I’m realizing that I have the product that I want to put out, and I mean- Actually, you know, if we think of this process being the product, I have more than the product that I want to put out because I’ve kind of iterated on the process enough that it’s at a point where it’s more than ready to be published and worked on in a weekly basis where we just do these sessions and publish them and put ’em out there like a regular podcast would be doing.

So this week, my goal is to start doing that process. Like right now I’m comfortable with putting stuff out there. Before I’ve been saying, you know, to make sure I have some nice intro and outro music, but, you know, things are taking a little longer on the music production side of things. So I’ve been cutting back on that requirement and adapting on the fly.

You know, I’m keeping things agile and a fully hashed out intro and outro soundtrack isn’t necessary, you know, So I have a beat- uh, just- it’s just a drum beat right now, but I have that, that I can work in and listeners will get to see that part of the process as well. You know, I’m just going to keep iterating on that music. And each week you may hear different intro and outro music, or a different version of it, and you’ll kind of get to hear that process as I go along too.

Pam: I think that’s still much more interesting than just launching with the music. I love the idea of actually getting to hear how it grows and changes. It’s like, it’s like, you know, finding your favorite podcast and then going back and listening to the very first episode and getting to see how much it’s changed.

I think that’s awesome.

CK: Yeah. And I thought that, you know, weeks before too. And I thought, you know, I could do that, but I still was hung up on it, I guess. And there was something there still kind of restricting me from doing that. But I mean, again, it’s all about the process and it’s all about progressing and making incremental progress.

And you know, again, this is new to me and I’m coming at things from a totally different perspective. So I have to realize that I’m growing and learning as I go along. And everything that I do is progression towards the goal. So yeah, I’m kind of in that mind space now where I’m comfortable with where I’m at with the process and I just want to get things going.

And another side of that is that I have all these other projects and ideas that have either spurned from this whole process or that have revitalized- that have become revitalized from this process. So I want to get back to that as well and kind of focus a little more back towards the music production because I started getting back into that this past week.

The part that Pam has saved for quick recall.

[09:50]

CK: And so- so here- this is where I am with this whole process. I’ve published the first three episodes and there’s has been two more since then, plus this one. So this is our sixth session.

And before I designated those first three episodes as warmup episodes, but I’ll- I’ll, you know, I’ll still kind of keep that designation, but in the end, Pam, you’re right.

Like it- it’s all practice, right?

Pam: I don’t- I don’t know if I’ve ever heard you say that before. I’m glad I have it recorded.

CK: Well, I think, I mean, that’s another good thing that’s coming out of this process is that I- along this-along the whole lines of the Stoic philosophy and the self-reflection, I’ve been able to go back and, you know, when I’m going through these transcripts, it’s kind of like going through and reflecting on what I’ve said, and why I said it, and what I could’ve done better, and then… even just our whole interaction and the conversations that I had and some of the points that I may have missed.

Because that’s kind of another aspect that I didn’t think of is that in conversation, while I may be anxious about what I’m going to say, I might’ve overlooked the process of listening. So, you know, you think that you’re listening and you’re hearing everything that’s said, but as I go through these transcripts, I’m like, “Oh man, she totally had that spot on.”

And I think there’s been at least two or three things that I picked up on that I went back and picked up on that I’m incorporating now that I didn’t, you know, really realize and acknowledged at the time.

So, so yeah, thank you for being heere and doing that. And, you know, and not kind of chewing me out for not hearing what you say.

Pam: it’s my pleasure. I think that I joked about this last week, but I’ve been calling it pod- Uh, podcasting is therapy.

The music production part.

[11:58]

CK: Yeah. And it totally is. And I, I mean, on that note, I’m loving this whole process in terms of it being, you know, self-reflective and the therapeutic aspect. And just the discussion even.

Okay. So with that said, this is our sixth session and it’s just going to be episode six. So we’re going to move on with the numbering that way.

Just keep it simple and it’s all part of the process.

And let’s see. So I do- So getting back to the basics, I want to make sure that I talk about podcasting and that process. And so like the goal we said was to get this episode out in a timely manner, and I haven’t gotten the last two episodes out yet either. And I could have done that, but I was still hung up on the intro and outro music.

And you know, I could have released those episodes like a week ago, but I, you know, I just want to get that intro and outro music on it. But I had a basic drum beat for the three warm-up episodes that I released, and I could’ve just put that on the past two. But I wanted to iterate on that and, you know, show some progress on that end.

So, with all- with most of the podcast stuff hashed out, I knew that, you know, I could get the podcast published and that part of it up. So I worked more on the music side of things this past week. And I got pretty deep, and I think that’s one of the reasons that I was so productive was ’cause I got back to something that I really wanted to get back into.

And it’s interesting and it’s fun and there’s just so much information to consume about it out there. And I probably went through two and a half weeks of courses through Berklee online music, uh, via Coursera in like two days. So I did like a week a day. And these courses are awesome – I’ll link to them in the show notes. But in Coursera, they have this full like music specialization that’s con- that consists of like four or five courses depending on the specialization you choose.

And for example, I chose the electronic dance music production, the EDM production specialization, because it just crosses over. I’m not necessarily interested in producing EDM, although there’s a lot of interesting ideas and theories behind it that I’m sure I’ll borrow from, and it just has more crossover with what I want to do and the software that I’m using.

So that’s why I chose that specialization. But they have other types of music and other theory courses and stuff like that, so yeah, Coursera is awesome.

And I just took a course today through the Beat Lab Academy, which was online and it was free – I’ll link to that as well (they offer free admission to some of their classes via Eventbrite). And that also happened to be EDM music production in Ableton, which is the DAW, or shoot, digital audio workstation software that I’m using, or one of them anyway. And, like, the material is so interesting and, like, I almost wasn’t going to sit through the course because I wanted to get these episodes up, but I ended up being so interested and engrossed in the course that I watched all two hours of it.

And so, yeah, I really want to get back into the music side, but in order to- to do that, I need to be- I need to get the part that I want to get done with Practice. I need to get that over with and kind of running, uh, in a routine manner so that I can get back to other things. So, yeah, I mean, I guess all that’s to say I want to get back to the basics and make sure that I talk about the process and state a goal for the week.

And yeah, that’s all I want to say about that. Do you have any input?

Keeping it agile and adapting on the fly.

[16:53]

Pam: Uh, no. I think that as we go on that will, that process of stating the goal and updating won’t take the first half of every episode like it has today. Um, it’ll probably, it will become much more streamlined and quick, um, to show where you’ve gotten, where you’re going and what the goal is for the week ’cause you’ll -you’ll get faster and better at the process.

CK: Right. Definitely. And yeah, these first few episodes, I’m, you know- you may notice that I’m going over a lot of the same type of stuff and kind of moving up and down with my decisions and. Kind of adjusting here and there, like a little bit that way, a little bit this way and coming back that way or whatnot.

So, still getting used to the whole process and figuring out how I want to do things. But I think I’m starting to settle in now and I guess we’ll see how it goes. But, uh, yeah, I want to start getting on a better routine this week. And I also want to begin sharing these episodes and making sure that people know about them so that I can get that feedback that I want to get.

And so that’s another goal, n addition to getting into a better routine and releasing these episodes in a timely manner, is to share them and actually start publicizing and marketing them. And then hopefully that’ll get me into a better rhythm and have you know, the whole process… Yeah, I don’t know what I’m trying to say, but, uh, you know, I guess we’ll figure things out from there, but that’s the intention right now.

Pam: You’re figuring things out as you go and things are gonna change. And uh, when you start making them public, you’ll have more emphasis on- on figuring out that process and making sure that it goes smoothly.

CK: Right, right. And you know, without the feedback, I don’t even know if I’m going in the right direction. So it’ll be interesting. So I, you know, I’ll keep my mind open to what’s going to come from all this. And you know, take it as we go.

The current state of affairs around the world.

[19:20]

CK: Alright, so…

Pam: What’s next?

CK: Let’s see. I guess we’ll go right into what’s going on in the world today with the coronavirus. And you know, we’ve been talking about this for the past couple of weeks, and I kind of didn’t really go into why I think that I have a good perspective to share in this whole pandemic.

So I mentioned last week they say true character is revealed in times of crisis, and I heard on a podcast, I think it was Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks on Ted interview. But he asked some really profound questions, which are: “what does this moment ask of me?” and “what is the best use of my abilities at this time?”

And I might be paraphrasing, but having the perspective of those questions and kind of why I feel compelled to offer my perspective during this time. It makes me think like- well, I mean, okay… So the whole reason that I feel compelled or that I- so my- sorry, this is hard to, for me to kind of put together and articulate…

But some of my friends have been hitting me up and, you know, they’re asking me if everything’s okay and we’re doing okay out here. And I’ve been telling them, yeah, like, everything’s fine for me. Like, I’m built for this.

Like I feel like I’m built for this. I’m totally prepared for what’s going on now. So I want to take that attitude and share with the world and kind of maybe provide some perspective on why I feel this way.

But I mean, one of the main reasons is that I’ve been working from home for the past 15 years, almost, I think. And now, you know, everybody has to work from home or nearly everybody, and they’re kind of navigating the waters with that whole experience. And I’ve had that experience for over the past decade, almost a decade and a half.

So I feel like I have some qualifications to talk about, you know, how to work from home or how to be home all the time. I mean, we both do. Eh- we’ve been working from home together for almost the past 15 years. So, you know, all these people are trying to figure out how to live…

Pam: how to be around their spouses that much.

CK: Yeah, exactly.

Pam: All those people that used to ask me how we’re together 24/7 without killing each other, now have to do that. Not to kill each other, to be together.

CK: So, yeah, I mean, that’s one reason. And another reason is I’ve been into, you know, health and fitness and performance for so long, and I’ve been really hitting the research and the studies for the past decade and all that stuff. So knowing all that stuff combined with working from home and the stuff that I’ve incorporated to be healthy and fit while working from home and being home all the time is another qualification that I think is good, you know, for me to offer perspective on.

And so, you know, I just think people are kind of looking for how to do things or looking for advice and stuff like that. So I feel like, you know, I want to share my perspective because I’ve experienced most of this.

And- And so I kind of feel compelled, I guess, to offer advice

Pam: So that’s what this moment asks of you, is to share your expertise.

CK: Yeah, I guess so. Ahhhggggg- I feel anxious with that expertise term, but…

Pam: I think working from home for over a decade makes you an expert in working from home.

CK: Yeah, I guess you could say that. What’s that like the 10,000 hour rule with Malcolm Gladwell, I have enough of that covered. But yeah, so that’s kind of what’s compelling me to do this and put myself out there.

And so, let’s see. I also want to talk about like this whole pandemic and people’s perspective on it. And why people might be acting the way they are, or more specifically, why people aren’t staying home and doing the physical distancing and, you know, trying to… what’s the- slow, the spread… flatten the curve.

Pam:Flatten the curve.

CK: Yeah. And you know, I think a lot of it has to do with complex systems again. So you probably know by now, I love talking about complex systems and I think a lot of people don’t have that mindset or the perspective of complex systems in order to realize exactly how this pandemic is affecting everything.

You know, it’s easy to carry like an individually- individualistic view of things and be egocentric ’cause, I mean, you experienced what you experience. And we’re kind of tuned to think of ourselves and you know, our own survival, of course.

But you know, with how different things kind of hijack our minds from the natural processes, whether it’s marketing or technology or, you know, other companies manipulating us to doing things that they want us to do basically. We kind of fall into a mode of thinking where we aren’t actively thinking, we’re just kind of passively thinking and having others doing the thinking for us.

And I think that lack of critical thinking kind of pushes us toward a more individualistic level. And maybe, I mean, maybe not directly, but just the whole process of critical thinking, or the lack thereof, is not allowing us to think of the system, the whole system.

So it’s not just us. It’s not just you. You know? It’s not just me. It’s the whole system that we’re a part of that we have to think about. So, I mean, even if you’re just thinking of yourself and taking all the proper precautions in terms of shielding yourself from the virus.

You know, you also don’t know if you have it. So you have to think about the system and think about spreading the virus across the system. So, you know, it’s not just about getting it, it’s also about having it. And the other thing about this virus is that you’re asymptomatic, you know, for the first two weeks you have it or something like that. So…

Pam:You could be.

CK: Right. So the symptoms don’t even show up. Like you could have the virus but be asymptomatic so you don’t know that you have it. So you don’t know if you could be spreading it or not, and therefore you don’t know who you could be spreading it to.

And then that’s the other point where, because of this lack of critical thinking or this individualistic view, we tend to have a linear view of things. Whereas this, the spread of this virus is exponential. So, you know, it’s not about whether you’re passing it to one person or not, and you’re effecting them, or whoever you’re around- happen to be around at the time.

It’s also who they could potentially spread it to. So, you know, I believe that they’re saying this virus has an infection rate of between like two and three.

Pam: Yeah.

CK: Like they call it the “R naught,” or the R sub zero (R₀), and the R₀ is three. I’ve heard between two and three. But that means one person spreads it to two to three people.

And so let’s say you spread it to two people. Each of those people- each of those persons. What is the grammar here? Each of them will spread. It to two people, and so that’s four people. So you know, that’s just across two levels. You’ve doubled it and-

Here’s where I ruined thought exercises.

[28:43]

CK: Oh, so it kind of reminds me like, let’s do a thought exercise.

A common exercise to illustrate exponential growth is the lily pad growth in a pond. So let’s say- let’s say lily pads grow twice as fast or like grow two times per day.

Pam: They double each day?

CK: Exactly. Thank you. This is why I need to practice talking.

So yeah, let’s say there’s one lily pad in a pond and they double in number each day, and by the 50th day, the pond will be full.

So when is the pond half-full?

Pam: I’m not even going to try and answer that. Isn’t it like by the fifth day or something crazy like that?

CK: Well, no. So, I mean…

Pam: Oh, it’s half full at the end. So really close to the end…

CK: Right. So like people, so people would think that, you know, it fills in 50 days, it’ll be half full in 25 days, right? But that’s wrong, I mean, that would be if you thought linearly. But if the pond doubles every day- if the lily pads double every day and the pond fills in 50 days, it’d be half-full on the 49th day.

‘Cause then on the 50th day- When it’s half full, on the 50th day, that doubles, so it’s full. And so that kind of shows you in one day how much something can spread exponentially.

Pam: Well, it shows you how it creeps up. Like you’re watching the lily pads and you’re like, “Oh, okay. There’s some in the lake, there’s some in the lake, there’s a few more in the lake.” And then all of a sudden you’re like, “Holy s🤬, it’s the entire lake.”

CK: Right. So like, it’d be like 10% full, like, on the 45th day or something like that. And then 100%- well- 10%- Er, we’ll have to- I’ll put the exact figure…

Pam: Math is hard.

CK: Yeah, I’ll put the exact figure in the show notes. But let’s say it be like 10% full like on the 45th day, and then 50% full on the 49th day, 100% on the 50th day.

So that’s a total exponential growth. I think there’s better ways to visualize this, so I’ll find some links and put them in the show notes.

[31:10]

CK: But the whole point is that it’s not, you know, it’s not just, you. It’s the system and it grows- growth compounds the deeper it goes into the system. And so you have to think about the whole system and how you’re affecting that because it’s more than just you and it’s more than just the people that you happen to see.

Because it’s the people that they see, and then those people, and then those people that they see and so on on the line. So I don’t know if I articulated that well, but I’ll put some more examples in the show notes.

Some more resources in light of the pandemic.

[32:06]

CK: So yeah- Holy cow! That time passed really fast. So yeah, I’ll start wrapping up here. I just want to leave a few more resources. Last week we talked about the course on Coursera, on COVID-19, as well as Dr. Peter Attia. And then also the citizen science reporting site CovidNearYou.org where you can enter your symptoms and help, uh, accumulate more data so that we can hopefully track this pandemic a little better.

And to add on to that, I just wanted to mention the TED interview. So I already mentioned the one with Rabbi Jonathan- Lord Jonathan Sacks. And it’s- I love Ted. I listen to TED Talks pretty much every day. And this whole Ted interview is in kind of another subset of it. And they’ve been interviewing doctors and also philosophers and scientists on a whole bunch of different things, whether it’s on the science behind the pandemic or just mindset and like stress reduction and stuff like that.

So I really like the TED Interview for that. (Their new initiative for this pandemic is actually called TED Connects where they stream the interviews live, but they have been cross-posting the recordings to the TED Interview channel, as well.)

And I also just wanted to mention Radiolab. They’ve been doing some COVID-19-specific episodes (labeled “Dispatches”) and Radiolab’s just an awesome podcast.

Pam: They had a really good story on there that, um, demonstrated exponential growth as well. (Dispatches 1: Numbers)

CK: Oh, perfect! Maybe that’s where I got some of this…

Pam: No… It was pennies. It related to pennies. Okay.

Okay, let’s start wrapping it up.

[33:30]

CK: Okay. So yeah, I’ll definitely link to that and they’ll probably do a better job of explaining it than I did. So, let’s see. Do you have anything else to say, Pam?

Pam: Oh, you just put me on the spot there… I wasn’t ready. Um, no, I think that…

CK: Just wrapping up.

Pam: Yeah. No, I think that’s good. Um… Oh, on the, uh, on the CovidNearYou.org site, um, you can also go there if you’re not having symptoms. They want people who are symptomatic and not [symptomatic] to actually record every single day, so they can see if there’s any trends.

CK: right. Yeah. Thanks for clearing that up.

Outro.

[34:02]

CK: So I guess that’s it for now. Thanks for joining me on this adventure of positive reflection, agile podcasting and functional lifestyle optimization. Pam, do you want to leave your contact info or somewhere people can hit you up?

Pam: Yeah, you can find me on Twitter. I’m @Pamela_Lund.

CK: And you can hit me up on Twitter @cKdisco and make sure to check out the detailed show notes for this episode at ForcesOfEqual.com/Practice and that’s all for now. So I hope you come back next week and keep on practicing!

Too-da-loo! ✌️

Pam: I can’t believe we’re still doing that.

CK: It’s awesome. It’s a thing.