033 Everyday Carry, Productivity Edition – ProductivityCast

Voiceover Artist 0:00
Are you ready to manage your work and personal world better to live a fulfilling, productive life, then you’ve come to the right place productivity cast, the weekly show about all things. productivity, here are your hosts, Ray Sidney-Smith and Augusto Pinaud with Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 0:22
productivity cast Episode 33. I’m Ray Sidney-Smith and I’m joined here today with Augusto Pinaud, Francis Wade and Art Gelwicks, we are going to do something, I think rather interesting today, something that has become sort of an internet sensation. In a way, it’s the idea of what’s called an everyday carry. And we’re putting a little bit of a twist on it today. But I wanted to explain a little bit what the everyday carry is. And I think art might be able to explain this a little better than me. So I’m going to try and then I’m going to turn it over to you art and you can give a little more. And then what we’re going to do is actually talk about it from a productivity perspective. So the everyday carry in my understanding is basically the things that you carry on your person, or maybe carrying a laptop bag and or suitcase, a briefcase or something like that backpack to work and what those things are that you carry every day. And, you know, just to sort of get through the day. And obviously, that can include a wallet and keys and those kinds of things. But more from our perspective, what’s going to help you be more productive art to like, catch the essence of it? Can you explain a little bit more sincere, much more

Art Gelwicks 1:23
familiar with this than I am? Yeah, the I basically live out of my backpack. So my everyday carry is on my back. But if you think about it, as it’s the stuff in your pockets, it’s the stuff within immediate perimeter to you that you really wouldn’t leave the house without, you feel unprepared. Without and expanded into the digital space. I like to think about it. Like if you get a new device. Let’s say you buy a new iPhone or you buy a new Android phone, what are the productivity apps, you immediately load? What are the first ones that you put on there that you know that if you don’t have those, you’re just not ready for what’s going on that to me. That’s what every day carry is the things that make you feel not only successful and make you successful, but they make you feel comfortable in your daily activities.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 2:11
Thank you for that. I think I think this is going to be a really fun and interesting episode for us all to kind of talk about the various things that we use so I am going to turn it over to a goose to to start us off a gusto Would you like to cover your everyday carry, and then all of us are just going to inject and ask oddball questions about why you carry those things. So a goose Joe, take it away. Good morning, everybody.

Augusto Pinaud 2:39
So I shoot a star. In my case, with a little bit of history in the sense that I might everyday carrier has been strength and significantly since around 2006, 2006.

I was traveling around 250,000 miles a year. And basically my bag was an hour, 60 pound bag was two laptops, printers, Kenner an incredible amount of useful things that people may call junk in 2011, when the iPad came, I wouldn’t quickly and saw the possibilities of reduced that 60 pound bag to an iPad with a keyboard. No, it was not as romantic as it just sounded took a little bit longer. But since 2012, I mean mostly I but only and that has changed my carry bags, even to the point that I now carry instead of a big bag, a small one that basically feed the iPad on a couple more things. And if I need for any reason to carry a laptop, or or an extra additional gear, I go and get a second pack. And what that allows me to do is to keep my everyday carry super alive.

The other change that has happened in my everyday carry was the introduction of the iPad Pro with the Apple Pencil I had try every stylus that has come out to see if I could do any kind of handwriting more specifically to see if I can live in a paper that I carry for no other reason that paper is heavy. I need Watson on till the Apple Pencil that I was finally being able to get something that I can do my awful handwriting on and then I can revisit eliminating really the need for me to having to carry a piece of paper that make my everyday carrier a lot heavier. My everyday carrier has an iPad Pro a pencil and on top of that I carry some Advil

Raymond Sidney-Smith 4:56
that’s it. I think it’s really interesting how the program of going from quite a lot of stuff being carried to being less stuff that you carry because of the fact that life circumstances have changed, right. So your productivity system the lesson here is that your productivity system needs to be adaptive and flexible to the changing nature of life and work he is but he but if you think about it, there is also an evolution of where the technology has come you know I still I still have

Augusto Pinaud 5:29
you know a possibility with the scanner I can now sign documents on the iPad they were although things that were impossible you know years ago I I remember being traveling and then needed to print in a hotel room and that’s part of the reason I carry a printer sign a document is Kenneth bikes and you can email that then Okay, that he was really challenging I at the time there was really not an easy way to do that on a piece See, and even when I moved to the mag later on, it wasn’t easy to do that. So you needed to print to sign to rescan now you can do all that directly on the iPad or if you get the paper document just take the images and go on so also technology has has evolved you know the things that I can do on on my iPad today I didn’t even dream that were some of them possible in in 2012 so I’m on as we discussed on a previous episode when I said the eye but that’s because that the device I use but doesn’t matter if you go for for an Android tablet is exactly the same thing you know you will be able to do things that simply five eight years ago were you were not even a possibility that makes all those devices a lot more powerful and a lot more accessible when we discuss the I the iPhone vs Android Apple iOS versus Android you know my when it when we did the research for that episode My advice for people when when people come and ask me about tablets has changed to the point that I now ask what is your boys you use was your mobile device and that he said always you should get on your tablet so if your phone is ons or make sure you get an Android tablet on if it’s an iPhone to get an iPad but don’t mix and match because it makes them mad it’s going to make you less efficient but I think they everyday carrier form for must be bull has come a lot lighter just because the technology has evolved in an incredibly way that simply was impossible before Francis tell us a little bit about your everyday carry for productivity purposes.

Francis Wade 8:01
I think I had a similar evolution to the one that was to described I used to carry on one of those I’m sort of carry on with wheels that’s made for like a mini office so you could put a laptop in there a bunch of files and it has a sort of a low profile but along Hatton handle I don’t know what that’s called anymore because I don’t see too much of them but I had everything in it that I had my laptop I had files and I had all sorts of other do does that I thought were really important and it wasn’t quite 60 pounds but it was it was heavy you know it was something I didn’t want to have to live too often put an overhead compartment but that’s about it no when I travel I I carry a very small backpack and it keeps my laptop and I think I carry just about the basics I carry a charger.

Of course I have my smartphone but I use a belt clip for my smartphone so I have a charger for my smartphone I always have jumped drives and then I’m usually I usually carry backup stuff just in case the master present something so I have a recording device to record what I say if I do present I carry a presenter in one of those clickable presented deals that move the screen from one to the one slide to the next has an infrared pointer built into it so I’m always prepared to present for some reason I guess because I’ve been asked to present something and then on the road and then been caught without having itself always have my presentation stuff with me

but other than that that have always have spirit batter is headache medicine sometimes just like he has and other kind of small things Silas medicine

man it’s about it. I try to keep it light and I you know I’m always looking to to to not carry things our own I because I travel so much across boundaries. I always have passport with me and you never know that’s just in case something happens that I have to leave.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 10:07
It’s like your mini bug out bag.

Francis Wade 10:15
I just need to put like $10,000 in Bitcoin. So you

Unknown 10:19
can put it in, put it in your coin base wallet. And that way your your

Unknown 10:24
you know, borderless borderless cash,

Unknown 10:28
right. haven’t gotten quite there yet, but maybe I get the Manics you yeah i think i think you might need to diversify among the different types of cryptocurrency you use just in case one of them goes belly up. But um.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 10:41
Yeah. Oh, well. Well, thank you very much, Francis. I think I think that’s very, very helpful to kind of know, for people, especially who are international and who are crossing borders. That’s really helpful to know and being almost minimalistic about what you you carry is important. I think that’s really the gist of what I get from both of your stories being very similar in that sense. And quite honestly, I I used to have a Kensington rolling suitcase like you, Francis and because because my I was I was having back pain from carrying my prior laptop bag. My orthopedist and other doctor basically said, You do realize you’re carrying a ginormous laptop bag on one shoulder every day. And that’s what’s causing the pain in your back and in your feet. And I was like Oh really, you know duh.

And lo and behold I got the rolling suitcase and it was actually really nice It was a curved so that it you know, if you were holding it, it actually wrapped around you a little bit so you didn’t feel that feel like it was like this one

Unknown 11:48
one big brick

Unknown 11:49
you know, sitting against you

Augusto Pinaud 11:51
my story with similar I was starting to have awful back pain. So I went to the doctor with the dead body that’s I used to call you know, with a lot of love my back and I said the doctor waiting for you know, we and the doctor looked at me and say, Well, what happened so I explained him can handle the back pain. And he looked at me and say, Can I wait your bag? Yes, you can. And he put the back in the you know the sin and that’s how I know my bag was over 60 pounds because he told me that’s exactly what you have go out of here by a roller case. And that’s that will fix your back problems in five days. And I get out of the doctor office so mad

and say cannot be but start looking for rollers. And I settle for breaks and Riley. And the reason I said for the brakes on Riley because at the time I don’t know if that’s true or not anymore breaks. And Riley was the only bad company who produce a roller hood, you can put two bags inside of that. So when you get in destination, you could leave the roller into the hotel room. And then just carry a smaller version of the roller on your shoulder given after I find a love of the roller and all that I never carried inside bags. But it was a really cool concept. Regardless.

Unknown 13:28
Very cool, very cool art.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 13:31
What is your everyday carry for productivity

Art Gelwicks 13:34
I could go through and like dissect my bag. It’s interesting hearing you guys talking about, you know, back pain and things like that. I’ve never actually had an issue with that with my bags and off just.

But I look at it slightly differently. Because I’ve always looked at it from a backpacking mindset. I’ve done a lot of backpacking over the years where you do multiple days, you’re carrying everything with you. And you realize that every ounce adds up. 60 pound bag, you’re carrying a toddler around with you all the time. I mean, that’s just throw a toddler on your back and walk around all day. That’s just I can’t imagine being able to handle that myself. So when I look at my everyday carry at a minimum, if I’m going to be leaving without my bag, I’ve got my phone. And I think that pretty much becomes the staple for almost anybody anymore, is their primary productivity device becomes their phone. I will almost always have a pen and probably a field notes notebook, which is a little thin notebook in my pocket. I’ll have my wallet. And then I have a multi tool, a Leatherman multi tool that I keep with me. And that’s, that’s the absolute minimum that how does that fit into productivity? Well, one item backs the others up, for example, with the phone if I should be out long enough, and the phone should die. Or I should be able to say you will or something else, I still have a notebook and a pen, I can count on him. I can capture things, I can process things, I can still be productive, maybe not to my normal degree, but I still have access to them. If I think about my virtual everyday carry, I use that to define the tools that I might I’m working with. So one of my favorite

task list tools is to do it,

Unknown 15:18
use it constantly,

Unknown 15:20
not only because it works well.

Art Gelwicks 15:22
But because it’s available to me. I can get to it, whether it’s on the phone on anybody’s computer. If I can get to a browser with an internet connection, I can get to my task list. I can figure out what’s going on. I can get to it through Amazon. I can get to it through Google Assistant.

That accessibility to me is like virtually carrying it with me. It’s available to me. I know I can count on it. But if I look at my larger bag if I’m going somewhere. And it’s a good example. Because literally right now I’m not at home. I’m not in my office. I’m on the road right now. If I were to go through my bag. I live off of it Chromebook because I have a Chromebook that I absolutely love. And everything gets done through there. My lap my phone itself, I have a regular reporter style notebook, one of my favorite pins and a bunch of modules for my phone. And I try to keep it down to that minimum level. But when you’re thinking about your everyday carry, think very carefully about what is going to go with you. Because everything if it’s a single Tasker, there’s a chef Alton Brown, fantastic. I love his stuff. Very science oriented chef. But he talks about these things called single taskers like the little pan that’s designed only to cook eggs. And that’s all it does, it’s just clutter in the kitchen. Well, it’s the same thing here. When we think about our productivity systems. If we have things that are only designed to do one thing, unless that is a massively mission critical thing to us,

Unknown 16:55
we have to balance is it worth

Art Gelwicks 16:57
the burden that that item puts on us. So recording podcast, I use a headset microphone system, I do not carry that with me every day. Why? Because I don’t need it every day, I don’t have a purpose for it constantly, those instances where I might need it, I just need to plan ahead to make sure it’s available to me. So when I think about my everyday carry stuff, it’s the things that I can say with a high deal, high idea of certainty. These are things that I’m going to use at some point today. And like I said, pen, paper,

Unknown 17:33
my phone.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 17:35
And on a larger scale, my Chromebook, thank you art. I think that’s really helpful for people to get a sort of an understanding of why you’re carrying the things around that you do. And I will tell you what I carry now. And it’s actually pretty similar to everyone else, I have a couple of additional items that I think are useful for those who are urban dwellers like I am and so I’ll I’ll cover the as well. So first and foremost is of course my phone. I have a Google Pixel two XL and it has a very slim TP style case on it. So its impact resistant with tempered glass shield and and and this is really my workhorse I’m on my phone all the time just answering email or phone calls, what have you. And the various things like managing my task management many times I’m either on my tablet or on my phone looking at those things. But from from an everyday carry perspective, it’s the phone since the Google Pixel two XL does not have a a headphone jack, I actually carry the little adapter that plugs into the USB C port to turn it into one just in case so it’s just a little tiny dongle that I carry carry with me, I always carry a have a leather pen holder that carries to two pens, usually one ballpoint one fountain pen. But recently I’ve been carrying two fountain pens, actually one’s a pilot Metropolitan and the other one’s a Parker daughter. And you know, I don’t carry around my good pens because I really don’t want I lose things because of my travel schedule. I’m put things through TSA and you know things happen. So I really, really believe in having good products that work and that are resilient, but I will not put a $200 or $300 pen on my person when I’m out traveling. So I don’t I don’t carry those around. So So I have my little leather pen holder with my my two pens I carry around the adapter, which is this little tiny thing. And again, I’ll put links to all of these things in the show notes.

But it’s a little tiny micro USB two USB adapter because everywhere I go I could pretty much find a micro USB you know, charging cord, you know whether that be really anywhere everybody has wasn’t hanging around somewhere in a drawer in some office if I’m on client site, but not many people have USB see chargers. So that little adapter allows me to carry very minimal stuff, but still be able to plug it in and then charge my phone if needed. I’m not needing it as much. These days. I actually carry around a small micro USB cord as well. It’s a little mini one, but those little tiny cords die. So I always want to have the adapter just in case actually carry around to a small credit card sized battery backup and maybe has 1000 milliamp per hour battery kind of size. And, and, and I’ve I’ve carried that around for several years. And it was because my prior phone you know, I just needed it, you know, the battery would would run down if I’m on on my phone on the road all day. And so I would I would charge from that I still carry it. But I’m finding that my new phone can last an entire day without me having to recharge it at all these in the really tough days where I’m you know, really powering with the phone around. So I may not be carrying it for very much longer until the battery you know degrades to a point where I need it. I haven’t really needed it. The next thing I carry is a set of supermini in ear bluetooth headset. And so this again is really it’s it’s multi use for me, which is one I am sound sensitive. So the most minor sounds can be really caustic to me. And if you’re in a city environment frequently like I am, whether it be New York or DC or anywhere else, subways, you know loud car traffic, even just the din of walking around a city with a bunch of people talking can be, you know, just really, really distracting and harmful to me in general. So if I’m trying to focus on something, especially my own thoughts, while I’m getting from point A to point B, or even in a taxi, you know, going up or downtown I, I like to have these. So these specific ones are little tiny black headphones, and they just fit right into your ear. And so they go, they they slide into your ear, and they make sort of a waterproof suction cup into your ear. They come inside a little tiny case that is itself a battery to recharge very similar to the Apple air pods. And but these were much less expensive. I don’t care if I lose them. And they last but you know,

many hours. I don’t know how many hours I haven’t really been tracking. But they’ve been sufficient for me for what I’ve needed. They also do a lot of sound buffering. So they’re almost like your plugs, although that’s my next item. So I actually carry a little tiny case with a set of foam earplugs that I change usually on, you know, every three weeks, every four weeks, I toss out the old ones and put a new set into my into my little case here. But these are really helpful if I’m on a subway or on a plane. And I need to focus and read or write the earplugs are a godsend. I mean, especially if you are sound sensitive as I am. And I came across this recently. And this is

why one of three more items that I carry. So the This one is something called the Lizzie wipe. They’re biodegradable multipurpose wipes.

Unknown 23:29
But they are not

Raymond Sidney-Smith 23:30
really what you would think they’re actually a little tiny pill. They’re like a little tablet. And it’s completely dry. And and I happened to be a bit of a neat freak. So this all you do is add water. And it turns it into this

Unknown 23:45
fairly good sized

Unknown 23:47
multipurpose wet wipe.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 23:50
And you have no idea. And now that I’ve started carrying this like pill around it has come into handy is come in handy. So often it’s unbelief. Like it’s really, really super helpful. So yeah, so I always carry one or two of those around. Because you never know when you know,

Unknown 24:06
you’re going to end up, you know,

Raymond Sidney-Smith 24:08
behind a desk, pulling out wires and, you know, doing whatever or you go and meet a whole bunch of people. You shake hands. And then you’re like, oh, now that I’ve shaken all these people’s hands, I don’t know what kind of contaminant I’ve picked up.

And so the wet wipe is just you know, you find a faucet, you throw a little water on it and it just balloons and expands into a wipe that you can then wipe your hands. All right, I carry around a small mole skin notebook. And it depends on the day and how much I’m carrying as to which one I will carry. But it I carry one as small as the little tiny one that’s the size of kind of a bill fold wallet and it’s super slim and can literally fit in my pocket with my wallet and no questions asked. don’t even feel it. And so, you know, with my my pen holder, usually a single pen I have a really really super slim tiny pen that I sometimes carry. If I want to go slim, you know, sort of low low key and so I won’t carry my regular pens, all the way up to full size. Moleskine notebooks. I’m currently carrying a non Moleskine notebook only because I got it for free. So I’m carrying around that larger style notebook all the way down to the small ones. And then like art, if I’m going to be on client site doing any kind of training or whatnot, I will carry around my mini Leatherman I have a small multifunction tool that you know, opens up into a set of pliers, and then it has multiple screwdriver headsets, heads on them, so that, you know, just in case something is not working, I can, I can deal with it. And it has come in handy very, very frequently, like Francis, If, for

Unknown 25:56
some reason I am on the road,

Raymond Sidney-Smith 25:58
I always have my presenter remote, it is just a handy thing to have. Because you never know when someone else will need to present or someone’s going to ask you to present on the fly. And since all of my presentations and slides are in Google Drive, I have access to them within Google Slides. So I’ve never without my, you know, slide decks, because they’re always in the cloud. So I can always access them there. one more item, I carry a small sim tool. So a sim tool is the is a little tiny, you know, device that’s a little bit of aluminum, I think it is, and it just has the pin so that you can pop out your SIM card. And again, because I work with a lot of people in technology, frequently, people will have problems with their phones, and all kinds of other things. And for some reason, this little sim tool has come in handy. So so often from you know, I was just recently with family and needed the same tool, you know, week before that I was somewhere else and someone couldn’t figure things out, you know, come weeks prior to that I was in Europe, and I needed to get my mail, my SIM card popped out to put in the other SIM card, I’m always using it. So I don’t know why maybe you won’t be useful to you. But it has been eight intensely useful to me,

I’m curious from from all of you, what different things

Unknown 27:22
you would carry

Raymond Sidney-Smith 27:25
under different circumstances to be more productive,

and what you think you would carry, if you could

Unknown 27:32
to be more productive, if it were more practical, you know,

Raymond Sidney-Smith 27:36
I’m just curious about all of these various things that people would, could, should carry, but don’t, and the reasons

why they don’t like I, I swap out different laptops, and I carry different laptops, depending upon what I’m going to be doing in a particular day or week, you know, from on, on travel. And to be quite honest, you know, I would carry all of my laptops, if all of my laptops and all of my devices, you know, if I could, but it’s just impractical, so I’ve chosen to slim down to the very few, so that really just for weight purposes, it’s just impractical to carry all the chargers and all the peripherals and and so and so forth, for the purposes of of computing, because I really only need usually only need one computer in front of me in order to be productive. I’ve actually

Art Gelwicks 28:23
gotten recently a I upgraded my phone, and I purchased the Motorola

Moto Z force to, which is like a really big awkward name. But it’s a really cool Android phone. And the reason why is because it uses a thing called Moto Mods, which are magnetic attached accessories that allow you to expand the capability of the phone without having to have the functionality built into the phone. And when I think about my everyday carry, I’ve expanded that into some these items. So for example, one of the mods that goes on this device now is a QR charging battery pack. So it adds to it wireless charging and

an external battery magnetically attached to the back of the phone doesn’t really increase the weight very much doesn’t increase the size very much. But it expands the capability. And that’s one of the things that I’ve started to look at with my everyday carry things is

can I get devices and technology into the mix that serves multiple purposes. So you were talking about your USB two USB C, or your micro USB USB C mini connector there, which I love the idea just went on my amazon shopping list, I’ve been meaning to get one, I just went ahead and ordered it so purchase me.

But with this in mind. One of the things that I did when I upgraded my Chromebook is I got a Chromebook with USB. See why because now my phone charges off a USB C. And my Chromebook can charge off a USB See, which means I only have to carry one charger. I’ve reduced my weight by half when it comes to chargers. So when we think about being productive part of the productivity is not having to spend time keeping track of all the things we need to be productive. If we can reduce the quantities of things we’re in good shape. But to go back to the the phone device. One of the capabilities of the phone is there is a projector mod that you can attach to the bottom of it. And it’s an LCD projector that will show up to a 70 inch projection on a wall screen. So when you talk about being able to do presentations, I have my PowerPoint presentations stored on my phone. And if I think I’m going to be going somewhere where I’m I could potentially have to show something I throw this little projector mod in my bag. It’s not much bigger than the phone itself. But then I have that capability available to me if I need it is in every Hey Carrie. Now I would say probably not. But it is a need based carry. And it’s one of those planning things that I think we need to consider with this. Now

Unknown 31:11
what would I carry all the time I’ll admit

Art Gelwicks 31:13
I constantly look at like a bags for example. And look at all the different cool bags they have out there and configurations. I would love to carry all kinds of different things. But there is one thing I did not mention that I do carry all the time. And I don’t think I mentioned it because I carry it so much. I don’t even think about it. I have what’s called the travelers notebook, a Missouri travelers notebook. And if you search for that online, you’ll find that there’s a huge rabid community that enjoys these notebooks. It’s basically just a leather portfolio with interchangeable notebook inserts that go inside. But the reason why I carry it all the time is that is my portable office. I keep in their checkbook stamps, post it notes, I keep in multiple notebooks that organized different reference pieces of information. It is truly a catch all all the time thing for me. And that’s the one thing if I’m going somewhere and I have to be absolutely minimal

Unknown 32:09
I stress over

Unknown 32:11
Am I not going to be able to take that with me.

Art Gelwicks 32:13
Because not having that there it

almost becomes a safety blanket.

Augusto Pinaud 32:18
That is interesting because when Ray was talking about his guess I also carry my airports that I may not be as cheap as a raise. But I really love them

when I can see their Lord What if I’m, you know, when I need to go out if I’m not going to take the

the iPad with me or not. And there are moments that they may be carrying the iPad is not appropriate and I need to leave it behind. And it takes a lot of

control conscious effort. Even that I know my iPhone with allow me to cover probably 90% of what I may do on the iPad. I like the iPad and

I probably carry the iPad a lot more than what other people will even that’s part of the reason I have that super super small bag that basically carried the iPad because of that. But the other thing I carry that I forgot to mention is I got this on a trade show on a really like it’s a cable that probably is

five or six inches long. And it’s a USB on one side. And on the other side it has an apple connector USB micro on meanie.

So it has four four connectors on the other side. And I USB on the other side. So I can carry that on the bag. And I forgot completely forgot about it. That was on my day. Every day carry for similar reason. Spray has said I can go almost anywhere. If I run out of battery and say Did you have a USB plug in a 90% I don’t think I have ever heard the word now. So I can get dad and I can plug anything that I need. So my iPad

dependent, I can carry the I Apple keyword and also need a battery. Or I have also another keyboard for when I want to to ride longer. And that other key more charge was a mini USB. So I can charge that I can charge basically anything with one cable that is basically five inches or less that it’s been a fantastic toy.

Francis Wade 34:44
I think I have a slightly different take based on

the discussion we’ve had on what I wish someone would invent or come up with.

And it has to do with regret.

Unknown 34:57
And what comes to mind is some of the things

Francis Wade 35:01
sorry, some of the things industrial engineering some invented to

make things sort of foolproof for people who are trying to assemble a spare car, for example, or maybe a subset like a wheel. So they make sure to sort of present all of the pieces that you need to put into the final assembly in a particular way. So that it’s impossible to have you leave out for example, a bowl or a screw or something, and I wish them or something like that for my my everyday carry. So that when I’m leaving the house,

I there was something they could create that would help me

Unknown 35:43
Never

Francis Wade 35:45
forget something that I would need to carry. So I’ve tried checklists, but they’re kind of cumbersome. I’ve tried memory. And you guys probably know how well that works as as you’re chasing all the door.

But it there were all a way or a system or a philosophy or more like a practice

that would help me make sure that I’m not leaving anything behind.

That would be awesome. Because sort of the philosophy I have is how can I How can I get away with

not leaving anything behind and not regretting it. So for example, one of the big one of the big

benefits, or one of the things that I really love about cloud computing is the fact that my entire laptop and my smartphone are completely covered or backed up by the cloud somewhere. And if I were to lose both of them in a hurricane, or earthquake, or, or theft or loss, or something, actually wouldn’t lose the data. That’s where I am today. So this is, you know, one of the benefits of the latest technology is that everything exists somewhere else. So I don’t have a that feeling of regret if I were to lose one of those two devices or either one. But I do have that feeling of regret when I leave the house. And the same thing happens if I’m on a plane. So I’ve left a couple of things on planes I’m sure you guys have. And it’s the worst feeling when you get to get to the next step or past the checkpoint. And you realize that you left I left a journal paper, a book that had all my deep inner thoughts, a diary written in interfaith on in the backseat of a plane. And after that, I said, I never use people for that purpose ever again after that happened. So I swore never again. But But, but it can still happen that I get somewhere and I’m doing some work. And it could be for me in a different country, I take out some device like my digital voice recorder, I leave it behind that I’m on a plane. And I realize that’s gone on for me living in Jamaica, so many things are difficult to replace, because I can’t just pop over to Office Max or wherever and pick up pick it up. But the decent cost it takes time to get it to the different decent cost that takes effort and shipping and all the rest of it.

Unknown 38:14
So if there were a way to

Francis Wade 38:17
keep track of all of my everyday carry items,

when I’m on the road, or when I’m away from the home or away from the office, is there a way to ensure that my set were complete at all these different points when I’m leaving the house when I’m at the plant when I’m leaving the client, but am I bought the board an airplane when I’m leaving the aircraft, when I’m doing all these transitions, if there were a way to ensure that may set were complete and I were covered the same. We are covered by may may have in cloud computing available for my laptop, I’d be really happy because I wouldn’t have to rely on combination of fear and memory to make sure that I always have everything with me

Unknown 39:01
wish list.

Augusto Pinaud 39:04
You know, that’s easy to solve. Just start carrying everyday 65 pounds of junk. And you’re never going to forget anything. Forget about it.

Unknown 39:23
That that or you can get a nanny

Unknown 39:25
and adult nanny.

Unknown 39:28
I was a Sherpa. Yeah, you go to somebody, somebody who just walks around behind you and cleans up and make sure you don’t forget things. And,

Unknown 39:36
you know, whoa, wait, that’s that’s mom.

Unknown 39:41
You know,

Art Gelwicks 39:41
it’s it’s funny, I say that. But that’s the thing. That’s the thought that keeps coming back to me as we have this entire conversation. Think about the mom purse, you know, as we were all growing up, and you’d leave the house mom would grab her mom always had whatever you needed in her purse somewhere. You know, it’s like that her mighty bag of holding that, you know, she could, you know, pull a small elephant out of there if you happen to need it. But it’s that level of being prepared. That’s just taken to a different different scale than what we’re talking about here. But it’s that same mindset. And Francis your your thing about how do you make sure that you have everything I have always had that issue of making sure I get out the door with what I need. And the only habit I’ve ever gotten into that helps me at least mitigate that to some degree is prep in advance, set everything up, package it all up. Make sure it’s all packed and ready to go. So that when I get ready to go out the door, all I have to do is pick up the bag. If I’m having to go through and pack and load as I’m trying to get out the door.

Unknown 40:46
In evidently I will forget something you keep a backpack just in case you get an emergency call Well,

Art Gelwicks 40:53
well, I do for for certain things. But just for example, when I get ready to go to work in the morning, the night before I make sure that the bag I’m going to be taken to work. My backpack has the gear in it that I need for the next day. I don’t want to have to run around and make sure that I have like power connectors and things The next morning, charging cables, headphones, anything like that everything should be in there. Because again, like I said, I’ll get to work and realize that you know what,

Unknown 41:18
I left my charging cable sitting at home.

Unknown 41:20
And then at that point, it may not even be

Art Gelwicks 41:24
a major thing. But it’s enough to set up set the psychological dynamics off kilter that it just messes with the whole morning and the whole day. Because that’s the only thing you then think about. Is that thing that you forgot

that why did I forget that I’m supposed to be good at this productivity stuff? Why did I leave it behind.

Unknown 41:44
And that’s

Art Gelwicks 41:46
that kind of prep in advance, it does require a little bit more effort,

but you’re ready to execute them.

Unknown 41:52
That’s the only thing that I

Art Gelwicks 41:53
try to do consistently. I stress try, but it’s one of those things I think we could all tackle a little bit is thinking about that initial prep just to make our life a little easier when we have to go into action.

Raymond Sidney-Smith 42:06
I wanted to add here just a couple things that I forgot that I carry.

Unknown 42:11
And again, it goes back to what I was saying, you know, I you just carry it all the time. So you don’t even think and I kind

Raymond Sidney-Smith 42:16
of referenced it, which is my, my, my wallet and and it’s a credit card holder

and I don’t particularly carry cash on me. So I don’t need a large bill fold for carrying those kinds of things. Although I used to have a winter wallet and a summer wallet, you know, sort of a spring summer winter fall wallet because then I had a coat to put my wallet in and I really wanted something compact

Unknown 42:38
but over the years I’ve just basically slim

Raymond Sidney-Smith 42:40
down and I’ve decided that I I’m not going to carry all of my credit cards I’m not gonna carry all my loyalty cards and all that other stuff and technology has helped mitigate a lot of that with the advent of smart cards that allow you to be able to put multiple cards on a single device I have a current one that I’m not going to mention because it’s defunct but it’s still works so I continue to use this smart credit card even though the company has now gone out of business and and and i’m not particularly sure smart credit cards or smart cards are going to be something of the future since all the companies that seem to be you know having started to develop them have now all pretty much failed in some way shape or form so I carry that but I put my sim tool inside my my

my little credit card holder it’s a little Cole Haan you know was that six card holder and it has a center piece I put a few business cards actually into where you would normally put bills along with my SIM card tool and it’s it’s perfect for holding just those few cards ID and you know the SIM card tool and that I also always carry ballistics I have I’m a I’m a big fan of the ballistics medicated mint balm and and it’s because I I talk all day I can I get chapped lips you you know all kinds of things happen. And so in order to just sort of buffer me from that I actually do carry always carry this this little plus tax I

was taking things out of my pocket thinking what do I carry

and, and a wishlist item would be I wish I could always carry this but I don’t because I have the Kindle app on my on my phone and on my tablet but I really wish if I could always carry my actual Kindle

because I love reading and the Kindle reading experience is very nice for me and I like I like having the single function single focused device right

and and but I don’t always carry that when I’m when I’m just walking out the door. You know if I just have to go someplace and

Unknown 44:49
you know I put my you know

Raymond Sidney-Smith 44:51
wallet keys if I need them and my phone ballistics are all there you know by the door and those all just go right in my pockets when I walk out the door. I really wish that the Kindle was in some way shape or form you know able to be smaller or more you know capable of always carrying with me I’m it’s pretty small and make it fit in the back pocket of my jeans. So all right

Augusto Pinaud 45:21
it is it is interesting it is interesting you mentioned that I have I give my old Kindle to my daughter last May but I have always dreamed of our device of the size of my iPhone with the Kindle screen so basically a Kindle six inches Kindle instead of a much larger version of that because I agree with you when you are going to read for more than a couple of hours the Kindle screen it’s beads any other screen that I at least have

Unknown 45:58
been

Augusto Pinaud 46:00
I would like to have something a smaller than then it will be easy for me

that I will not care to carry even that I need to admit that the Kindle slight enough that it will be okay on my bag.

Francis Wade 46:14
But it will be really nice to have one the size of

of my iPhone. Well

Raymond Sidney-Smith 46:19
this has been a lot of fun. I really enjoyed hearing I’ve I’m thinking about modifying my system in so many different ways after having heard what you all carry, and why you don’t or why you do carry some of these things. So I really appreciated it and I hope our listeners did as well. Any final thoughts before we close out

Art Gelwicks 46:40
the only thing I suggest is make sure you have a purpose for everything you carry.

Don’t carry it just because

Raymond Sidney-Smith 46:46
you as my grandmother would always say everything in its place. And everything has a place and everything has a place and everything in its place. That’s what she’s saying. And you know, I think that’s true of not only your home but also have your person what you carry on you. And I think that’s that’s that’s what helps us be truly productive in any given moment. So thank you all for joining me here

Voiceover Artist 47:08
for another episode of productivity cast the weekly show about all things personal productivity, I’m Ray Sydney Smith and I’m joined here today by a goose to pronounce Francis weight and our galaxy here’s to productive life. And that’s it for this productivity. Cast the weekly show about all things productivity with your host race any Smith and a goose open out with Francis Wade and art gallery six