If Then Podcast

I've struggled with Impostor Syndrome for nearly my entire life, but what if my brain is actually conjuring up this emotion as a tool for some twisted end?

For the Season 1 Finale, I wrote my own if then statements in real time by conducting my first interview ever. I sat down with Jude Smith to learn how he accumulated his 157K Instagram following for his music after years of pursuing other interests. Jude writes, records, produces, performs, and promotes all of his own music alone. How did he learn to do it, and what can he teach us about writing our own if then statements? Jude Smith's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jude_smith |Airpods Giveaway Details| Because we hit 100 shares on Instagram for the podcast in May, I'm giving away AirPods to one lucky person who shared this month! Follow https://www.instagram.com/ifthenpodcast to find out who the winner is on Tuesday, May 31st. Website: https://www.ifthenpodcast.com Email: contact@ifthenpodcast.com

In this episode, I go into detail about how I overcome burnout in my creative endeavors. I call it the 2:2 Method, inspired by Kobe Bryant's insane work ethic. GIVEAWAY DETAILS: If you want to share the podcast, I've been giving away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. This isn't sponsored by Audible, but because I know most everyone has done their free trial already, I wanted a way for you to get another free audiobook. This is a gift card that will still work even if you already have an account! You'll get a free credit for an audiobook of your choice + 1 month access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner each week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods.  WEBSITE: https://www.ifthenpodcast.com CREDITS: Kobe Bryant Ted Talk: https://youtu.be/9_tYXFbgjZk?t=841 (14:03-15:16) Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book "Personality Isn't Permanent": https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08157LXPY?ref_=cm_sw_r_cp_ud_dp_5MPBJTFKHZNGA9C128YG TRANSCRIPT: My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then Podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we're trying new things, for example if I want to play basketball, then I need to learn to shoot. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code. “It's easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time, then it is to hold to them 98% of the time.” — Clayton Christensen When I was thinking of creating a podcast, I had no time. It was everything I could do to keep up with everything else in my life already: 2 Youtube channels, house renovations, a free range chicken farm, friends and family. Everything was already falling apart as it was, and adding another full time obsession I would inevitably burnout on was, in a sick way, hilarious. How could I write even MORE if then statements in a day when my brain was already burning up from the complicated programs I was currently running. But I felt like I had a good idea for a podcast, and I just had to try to balance everything. I had to find a way. See, even though I always felt busy, like I was working all the time, I never felt like I worked enough, cause I was eternally behind, and so I never felt I deserved to take a true break. The weird thing though and honestly the problem, was that I was taking breaks, lots of them—hundreds of micro breaks a day with every app opened, every notification clicked, oh that's a funny reel, ehh…what's this next one? Time just kept ticking, and projects just kept piling on and on. Now I would get everything done……. mostly, I mean I was playing the Dope Game from episode 2 after all, so I was getting pretty good at focusing doing projects at random times, but I had no structure to my work life and so I would inevitably be on my phone when I knew I should probably be working *notification sound* Oh, by the way I got the Wordle in 3 today, I wonder how people on Twitter faired. I needed to plan my day somehow with the reality that I'm a human being in the 21st century and I'm going to look at my phone 3 hours per day one way or the other. Months ago, during one of these micro breaks, a video popped up. It was of Kobe Bryant giving a TED Talk in Shanghai, talking about his absurd work schedule. He sucked the air out of the room when he said the insane: {Kobe Bryant clip https://youtu.be/9_tYXFbgjZk?t=841  14:03-15:16} Quote “So if your job is to try to be the best basketball player you can be, to do that you have to practice, you have to train, right? You want to train as much as you can, as often as you can. So if you get up at 10 in the morning. Train at 11. 12? Say 12? Train at 12. Train for 2 hours—12 to 2. You have to let your body recover, so you eat, recover, whatever. You get back out. You start training at 6. Train from 6 to 8, right? And now you go home; you shower; you eat dinner; you go to bed; you wake up; you do it again, right? Those are two sessions. Now imagine you wake up at 3:00 you train at 4:00. So 4 to 6. Come home. Breakfast, relax, da da da. Now you're back at it again. 9 to 11. right? Relax and now you're back at it again 2 to 4. Now you're back at it again. 7 to 9. Look how much more training I have done by simply starting at 4? So it makes sense to get up and start your day early because you can get more work in.” Unquote I felt I already woke up pretty early, between 5 and 6, but I definitely didn't start work until later than that. But 4? Like, come on. Initially, I was just intrigued by his idea of how to split a day up between focused work and focused recovery. When I was thinking of starting my podcast, adding another obsession to my plate, his plan for life came back to mind, and this time maybe starting work earlier was what I needed to make this podcast thing work. Maybe that was the key. Maybe 4:00 was doable, at least for weeks I had a heavy work load. I knew my phone use was a weakness of mine, though. So I didn't want to just start work at 4 without a proper plan going in. If, realistically, 3 hours of screen time was inevitable, could I use that to my advantage somehow? I asked myself a question that changed everything: Which is better, deciding to 100% commit to mindlessly scrolling on my phone for an exact 3 hour slot of time and then the rest of the day 100% commit to projects while fasting from my phone, OR an entire day only 2% committed to scrolling on my phone, while always 98% committed to projects—the same 3 hours of screen time is spent but, this time, interspersed throughout the day? In Dr. Benjamin Hardy's book, “Personality Isn't Permanent,” he answered my question by saying quote “When you're only 98% committed to something, then you haven't truly decided. As a result, you're required to continue making decisions in every future situation you're in. Weighing, in every instance, whether this particular situation falls into the 2% of exceptions you've allowed yourself. In every situation you're in, you're not actually sure what the outcome will be in terms of your behavior and decision making. This lack of decision leads to identity confusion and a lack of success. Becoming 100% committed to what you want is how you succeed. Making serious and sometimes hard decisions rather than deferring them for bad situations leads to enhanced confidence and progress.” Unquote 5:35 In other words, a life 98% committed leads to what he calls “decision fatigue,” and maybe this was my problem the entire time. I thought about it, and if I'm only 98% committed to work like I had been, the computer of my brain will bog down quickly with decisions. Every piece of laundry folded, could lead to a decision. Now is it ok to find a new YouTube video to watch? This video seems cool. Wait, what's this other one? Every single time I feel the need for a dopamine hit, another decision needs to be made. Does this time fall into the 2% of exceptions? Is this time ok to get on Instagram? By not deciding to 100% commit to phone time or 100% to work time, I'm leaving my brain having to decide literally every minute if this is the time it's ok to watch some reels. It was like my brain was hacked with windows constantly popping up. (Typing) Every time I would start to get into a rhythm of work—“click here to accept your prize!” Hhh… close. (click) Alright, where was I? (typing) “Don't miss out on your prize!”  Grr… close. (click) (typing) “This is your last chance for the prize!” How could I ever get anything done when half my time was spent closing these annoying pop ups? And then…what happens if I decide to accept the “prize.” What happens then? Welcome to the age of the smart phone. By Kobe Bryant 100% committing to focused work for 2 hours, 4 times a day. And then, 4 times a day, 100% committing to relaxation and recovery, mindlessly scrolling if he wanted to, he became one of the best basketball players in history. We both might be spending the same amount of hours on our phones, but the time's he's not on his, he's 100% focused on the job at hand, and that makes all the difference. So I decided to try it. After all, it seemed kind of fun to be able to guilt-free scroll through my phone for 3 hours if I wanted after working hard. But instead of waking at 3 though, I would wake up between 3:30 to 3:45, and hyper-focus on my podcast for 2 hours starting at 4am and then instead of taking a 3 hour break between sessions like Kobe, I would take a 2 hour break because I wasn't doing anything physically demanding. If I did happen to go over 2 hours though because I was in the middle of something with family, that was allowed. But I would stay on my 2 hour work schedule after that. What I realized is, 2 hours of intensely focused work, with no distractions, pushes you juuuust to the edge of frying your brain without actually ever hitting that point. Anything after 2 hours, however, and that's just plain risky. Your brain starts to short circuit. Things get amplified after that. Small problems you face start to feel like a potential nuclear war—threatening to blow up your entire mental state. Why did I even start this dumb podcast in the first place? Nothing is going to work like I want. I'm terrible at this. Why is it so hard for me? Even right now, writing this script, I have to walk away cause my brain is about to fry as I'm hitting 2 hours. Give me a little bit. Hang on. (Stand up, deep breathing) It's amazing what a strategic 2 hour break can do for a brain. It's the same feeling as when you go to sleep on a problem, and then after waking, you somehow have the solution at the forefront of your mind. Your brain figured it out for you by just resting—like a computer updating to the latest version while in sleep mode. But instead of one time, you're getting that phenomenon 4 times a day. 4 updates fixing bugs. That rest time is critical. You feel it. You're using it to your advantage and there's no guilt at all. Work and rest: it's a beautiful symbiotic relationship. Both equally important, both impossible without the other. I call this work schedule the 2:2 Method, and the cool thing I've realized now, after following it for a few weeks, is that instead of wanting to mindlessly scroll every rest time, I find myself often inspired to actually do things in those 2 hours that I had been putting off, that I felt I had no time for. I found myself painting the trim in the downstairs bedroom I've been meaning to finish, I was prioritizing my family more by going with them to the mall. I took my wife Sara out on a date, and even folded a bunch of laundry. That didn't take as much time as I thought. And one of the biggest things I noticed was that I wasn't burning out on my new passion for podcasting, like I was worried would happen. By forcing myself to slow down and rest, I found I could manage my effort better—instead of passionately sprinting with inspiration as my fuel until I quit from physical and mental exhaustion, I was walking freely, and even resting when I needed in order to make the long journey. And that's why I broke up If Then into seasons, to further manage my effort by resting. I wouldn't suggest waking at 3:30AM and only getting 6 hours of sleep as a longterm lifestyle choice. In my experience, that should be done only when necessary, but when implemented, it works. Season 1 has been the story of me getting uncomfortable and learning how to podcast—next week being the final episode. Season 2, date pending, will be its own complete story, just like this one, and the 2:2 Method will be, again, what makes it possible. In following the 2:2 Method, by 6:00PM I've worked extremely focused for 8 hours without feeling overwhelmed with exhaustion because I had also rested strategically for 6 hours as well. By 6 o'clock I can relax completely with my wife Sara, resting in the fact that I have accomplished so much. By 9PM I'm asleep, and I do it all over again the next day. Like Kobe Bryant, by committing to either 100% focused work or 100% rest, I'm finding I'm able to get more done with peace and ease than I could have ever imagined, and I'm curious how much more I can put on my plate and feel this exact same way. Time, in a way, almost feels limitless instead of limiting. So I'll leave you with this: “It's easier to hold to your principles 100% of the time, then it is to hold to them 98% of the time.” — Clayton Christensen Thank you so much for listening to the third episode of the If Then Podcast. If you have feedback you want to give me or if you have anything you want to say, email me at contact@ifthenpodcast.com. And if you would, leave me a 5 star review if you found this podcast valuable. It really helps the podcast to get seen by other people like yourself. We reached #26 for Education on all of Spotify, and I have you to thank for that. We're almost at 200 reviews on Apple Podcasts and 350 on Spotify. And as an extra bonus, for those of you who help me spread the word, I've been giving away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. Last week, Seth and Tabitha won a free credit for an audiobook of their choice + access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. And if you win this week, don't worry the gift card is available to you even if you already have an Audible account. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. If you shared any of the last episodes, you can also share this one too to be entered to win again. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner this week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods. We're 3/4 of the way there, VERY close, so keep sharing! Thank you so much for listening, my name is Jordan Taylor, and what if/then will you write today?

My whole life, I've struggled with sprinting through and, inevitably, killing my newly found passions, instead of slowing down and embracing the long, slow journey of learning. This episode tells, in story, how the fast, obsessed method of passion-based learning will fry your brain's computer every time. Maybe there's a better strategy to long-term success. This is Part 2 to Episode 1 of the If Then Podcast. Listen to Episode 1 first: https://youtu.be/ryv8BHh_MIc GIVEAWAY DETAILS: If you want to share the podcast, I've been giving away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. This isn't sponsored by Audible, but because I know most everyone has done their free trial already, I wanted a way for you to get another free audiobook. This is a gift card that will still work even if you already have an account! You'll get a free credit for an audiobook of your choice + 1 month access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner each week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods.  WEBSITE: https://www.ifthenpodcast.com CREDITS: Jordan Taylor as the traveler. Matt D'Avella's YouTube video about the journey to the South Pole: https://youtu.be/xY0tJAkukWc?t=375 Transcript: Just a heads up, this is kind of a part 2 to episode 1, so listen to that first if you haven't already. Link in the show notes. My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If Then Podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we're trying new things, for example if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code. “It's not about having the right opportunities. It's about handling the opportunities right.” — Mark Hunter After episode 1 of If Then, we all started to walk. We all embarked on our own personal journeys to find the ocean, with no understanding of where it was or which way to go, but realizing the importance of just choosing a direction, without having any frame of reference, and just moving. Logically, in so doing, we'll ALWAYS eventually hit the ocean, no matter which way we turn. Maybe initially we were a mile from the beach without knowing, and started walking in the opposite direction, all the way through the middle east and asia, only hitting the East China Sea years later. But who cares, I argued in episode 1? At least we got there. We'll always get there if we just start walking. Well, what I realized this week on my journey, is that that's not the full story. There's more to this dangerous adventure than I led on. See on my own personal route to the ocean, I realized that I had a serious, serious problem—a problem that left me withered, injured, cracked… and I was worried it might get even worse. ——— “Alright, do I have everything. Water, backpack, Phone. Check, check, check.” *Phone beeps signifying video recording* “Alright, Day 1 of my journey to the ocean. I'm not sure which way to go, but that's not the point. I'm just gonna start walking, and I'll have to find it. That's the beauty. So I'll pick this way. Here we go.” *Phone beeps again. Recording stops. Phone keyboard typing* “Post…toooo Instagram. And the journey beeegins.” ——— The day I started was a beautiful day, conditions pristine. A mindset recharged. After all, I listened to the first episode of If Then, and I mean it was pretty good. I even gave it a 5 star review AND shared about it on Instagram to maybe win those AirPods at the end of May. I heard listeners already won free audiobooks. That would be cool too. That first day, I walked 35 miles. I wanted to get to the ocean as fast as possible, so I pushed as hard as possible. And I was amazed with how much a new mindset could push me to do something so noteworthy. Something I'd never in my wildest dreams imagine I could do. Well over a marathon in one day. This new mindset I carried with me, it was somethin' special. ——— *Crickets* *Phone record beep* “35 miles in one day. Anything is possible. If I can do it, you can too! Get out there and crush those miles.” *Phone beep* “Aaaand post.” “Alright, set up camp.” *Wood drop* *Fire strike*  *Groans* “My feet are sore…” ——— The next day I woke up, and it was surprisingly scorching for that time of year. And I was even more sore than I thought I'd be after a good nights sleep. I reflected on how I had just walked 35 miles the day before which is pretty insane, I mean, not many people have even tried that. I made so much ground that it was totally acceptable to rest my body up for the next big push the next day. The weather forecast seemed to be favorable then too, which would help with my next big goal. ——— “I wonder if I can go 40 miles tomorrow. *Groans* My leg's still sore, but this isn't supposed to be easy, ehhhh I think I can do it. Gotta keep moving. Get there as fast as I can.” ——— Morning came, perfect conditions as promised. I actually woke up at 5:00 AM to get an early start—I was sure to post about that too, and accomplished my goal: 40 miles—an impressive feat. My achilles started to ache around mile 35 though, but..I mean, I had to get 40. So I rested for a day or two. Alright it was five, but I had made some good progress, and the rain had also settled in, so the timing honestly couldn't be better. ——— *Phone picture takes* *Typing* “75 miles down. Push through the pain and anything can be achieved.” *Beeping sound signifying posting* “Ouch, my feet. I didn't know they could blister like that. *exhales as sits* I'm really gonna have to take a break. Wow… I'll rest up and then try hit it hard again next week.” ——— I was surprised and a little embarrassed with how exhausted and beat down I was when the sun rose, not just physically, but mentally as well after just a week of walking. ——— *Tent rustles as Jordan exits and grunts* “Yeah…not walking today, or most likely tomorrow.” ——— How many more hundreds of weeks will this go on? How many years could potentially go by? I honestly feel… kinda terrible and this is only week 2. Like, what? I found myself resting on the hot days, by a fire on the cold days, and under a tarp on the rainy days. Every step a dull pain, and so I could hardly be blamed for the lull in pace. Very few days were spring like perfection, and so very few days had forward progress. On the perfect days, then, I found myself sprinting, traveling all day all out with an urgency built up from days of idling. ——— *Jordan breathing heavy. Trying to pull it together to film. Phone record beeps* “35 miles again today. Big, big push. Follow your dreams and you can do big things too.” *Phone beep. Then typing. Sound of post goes through while Jordan still breathes heavy* “Where is it? Maybe I got lucky and picked the close route. That's all I can hope. That's all I can hope.” ——— A month went by. And then another. And then another. And then hills formed and flattened. Those were hard enough. And then… are those mountains in the distance? My legs ached more than I thought possible. Mentally, being out in the elements day in and day out with injuries and such little promise of any sign of an ocean was debilitating. And then the mountain. And then it got serious. I sat at base camp for two weeks in the shade of the peaks. The shadows cast matched my darkened spirits. Trying everything to heal and recover my legs, feet, my entire body. I just needed one week of perfect conditions to get over the top. Everyday it rained and I sat, I just had the hope “Tomorrow will be better” as the rain pelted the tarp. Another post to Instagram. I wonder why I only got a few likes on that one. Does no one care I'm out here anymore, doing what they won't even try? Then the morning came, and the mud took over, but it had been too long, and I just had to start no matter what. This was getting ridiculous. I got up and trudged. After a few sinking steps, I paused, my boots slurped from the sticky mud as my feet sank—my backpack shifted. ——— “hhhhh….Tomorrow will be better.” ——— I backtracked. Setup camp. The phone again. Another post. More likes this time. Good. They do care. Another night fell. Another day under the looming mountain. “Tomorrow will be better.” Late morning came. I woke up. ——— “Why does it keep being so cold? It's not even that late in the year, and it's still a little wet. I really don't want to get sick. Like, not now. Tomorrow will be better.” *Phone picture takes* *Typing* “Take some time today for your mental health. Today is dedicated to marshmallows and recovery.” *Beeping sound signifying posting* “Wait, is that Jeremy? We left at the same time, how did he—-how did Jeremy get to the ocean so fast??? What??? No…wait he really did. That makes no sense. I saw his posts, I was waking up earlier, I was pushing harder. Like seriously harder. This is ridiculous. Guh…so st—that's so dumb.” ——— Camp. Another fire. Another post. An Instagram story. Not many views. They don't care. This is probably all just stupid. Then the next day comes. Wait…there's a nice breeze.  The first in weeks. Wow, perfect temperatures. Perfect… everything! Maybe I can do this. I think I can make it over the top. ——— “This is it. This is the day I've wanted. Finally! Here we go.” *Phone record beep as Jordan walks* "Alright, it's the BIG day, starting the big climb. What mountain in your life do you need to climb? We all have one. Send me a message with what yours is and then just star—” *Trips and falls while walking* "OWW!!! owww my ANKLE! THIS IS STUPID!!!! I'M DONE! I CAN'T DO IT ANYMORE! I'm done. I quit.” ——— And I really did. I quit that day. And can you blame me? I broke my ankle. Like I physically couldn't walk. I couldn't take another step even if I tried. It would be smart to go on. After 3 months, and not as many miles as I had hoped, I slunk home. It's understandable, but the hard thing to suggest to someone at that point, is that maybe it was their own fault, and not anything else—not the weather, mud, the fall, just yours. Maybe I should have taken a different approach altogether from the very first day, and then none of that would have mattered or happened. I heard a story last month about the men who raced to the south pole on Matt DUHvella's YouTube video “The problem with most productivity advice.” There were two groups who wanted to be the first humans to ever reach the South Pole. One group's strategy was exactly mine, As Greg Mckeown put it in that video quote “they walked with an insecure overachiever approach…. They would walk all out on the good weather days, and then on the bad weather days be so exhausted they would make no progress at all and felt the psychological burden of not making even an inch of progress forward.” Sometimes they would travel as much as 50 miles in a day. The other group took the exact opposite approach. They did the thing honestly harder to do. They limited themselves. They committed to 15 miles a day every single day no matter the conditions, no matter what the moral, no matter anything. On bad days, 15 miles. But more notably, on good days, they would simply walk 15 miles even if they felt fresh and could go further. They purposefully held a consistent sustainable pace. For the first group, the fastest way, in their mind, was to go all out every single good weather day. They complained and complained about the situation and the weather all while the other team, slow and steady, progressed daily. 15 miles no matter what, they kept that steady pace. In the end, what happened? Well, they got there 30 days ahead of the insecure overachievers and all even safely made the long journey home. Mckeown points out how the biographer miraculously described them: Quote“They progressed every day without particular effort.” Unquote. One of the hardest tasks humans had ever done in history, done “without particular effort.” Meanwhile the other team? They tragically died from their effort. Recently I've come to grips with the fact of why all my hobbies seem to die in the tundra—on the journey. Every single time I get into something new and begin the long process of writing new if then statements in the computer of my brain, I go all out. I get impatient. I overachieve. 24/7 it's all I think about. Literally, it's all I do. I write huge neurological programs in an incredibly short amount of time, like Neo learning kung fu, more code than most people would be willing to write in that span, and I take pride in that. But then predictably… my computer fries from the workload and burns up, and the people I thought I was better then, slowly pass up my programs with more lengthy, advanced, clean pieces of working code in their minds. And I never finish my program. I never reach my ocean while they're all on the sand. I don't want to make the same mistake again. My newest venture is what your listening to. This podcast. And I've been actively working to slow down. To pace myself. To find my 15 miles a day, and slowly chip away. Consistently. Sustainably. And I think I really found something that works incredibly well. Next week I'm excited to share that secret strategy I've been following to get a ton done without burning out all while leading a very tight schedule. So I'll leave you with this: “It's not about having the right opportunities. It's about handling the opportunities right.” — Mark Hunter Thank you so much for listening to the third episode of the If Then Podcast. If you have feedback you want to give me or if you have anything you want to say, email me at contact@ifthenpodcast.com. And if you would, leave me a 5 star review if you found this podcast valuable. It really helps the podcast to get seen by other people like yourself. We reached #26 for Education on all of Spotify, and I have you to thank for that. We're almost at 200 reviews on Apple Podcasts and 300 on Spotify. And as an extra bonus, for those of you who help me spread the word, I've been giving away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. Last week, Tabita and Johnathan won a free credit for an audiobook of their choice + access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. And if you win this week, don't worry the gift card is available to you even if you already have an Audible account. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. If you shared the last episode, you can also share this one too to be entered to win again. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner this week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods. We're over half way there, so keep sharing! Thank you so much for listening, my name is Jordan Taylor, and what if/then will you write today?

I've struggled with phone addiction for years now and finally came up with a way to stop the addiction every time within a few minutes. The fun part about it is that it's a game I play with myself. Listen to the episode to learn how to play "The Dope Game" too. GIVEAWAY DETAILS: If you want to share the podcast, I've been giving away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. This isn't sponsored by Audible, but because I know most everyone has done their free trial already, I wanted a way for you to get another free audiobook. This is a gift card that will still work even if you already have an account! You'll get a free credit for an audiobook of your choice + 1 month access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner each week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods.  WEBSITE: https://www.ifthenpodcast.com CREDITS: Samuel Smith as the realtor: https://www.samuelsmithvoice.com Sara Taylor as herself: https://www.instagram.com/life_as_saylor/ Transcript: My name is Jordan Taylor, and welcome to the If then podcast. Our brains our a conglomerate of if/then statements, like in computer code, and oftentimes new lines of code are hard to write in our mind when we're trying new things. For example, if I want to play piano, then I need to read music. Sitting down and coding that particular if then statement could take years of dedication, but when we do sit down and create new then statements for a complicated if, it feels freaking amazing. This podcast is your weekly motivation, and mine, to get uncomfortable and write some neurological code. “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”—Robert Collier When I got married and immediately bought my first house, I knew nothing. Realtor: “Congratulations kids, here's the keys.” Jordan: “Thank you sir.” Realtor: [Walks to car and gets in] “Oh and don't forget to change the locks.” [Drives off] Jordan: “Oh right…Alright, Sara, so…should we go to Home Depot or something to get those?” See I lived with my parents up until then, and I'm ashamed to say just how little I knew. I saved a lot of money that route which helped me out in the long run, but at the cost of not knowing some basic things. Jordan: “What time is it?” Sara: "Uh... 6:00PM” Jordan: “You've gotta be kidding me. 4 hours?? Why is this taking so long?”  How do you pay an electric bill, or set up your water? Sara: “What's that man doing out front?” Jordan: “I'm not sure. Is that the water meter, dude? Like the meter reader or whatever?” Sara: “It looks like it. He's opening the water meter. Why don't you go talk to him?” Jordan: “Ehhh…alright. Sir? SIR?? Hey, what?….sir??? I don't know, I think he was just reading it.” Sara: “Jordan, the water's off.” Jordan: “Are you serious? We just bought this place today” [BUZZ] "....and there goes the electricity." Before you ask, yes, that was a true story. Other things like, what supplies do you need in your house at all times? What insurance should I get? How do I fix a leaky faucet, replace an entire toilet? This was one of the more frustrating times of my life. All at once, tons of if then statements needed to be formed, and fast. Very fast. My home didn't just depend on it, but my self-image and mental state. I struggled with feelings of inadequacy. I felt like a loser. In a way, I kind of was. Here I was mid-20s, struggling to pay a water bill. To this day, it's hard to admit that. Every single day was a day filled with ifs and no thens. Things that should take 10 minutes took me hours of writing and deleting buggy code in my mind before I got to anything even remotely workable—the code not clean, but hey, at least it ran. For now. Kind of. I'd worry about the rest later. At some point, scrolling the internet was just easier. After all, that was something that was already hardwired in my brain. It gave me immense temporary comfort, but there was a cost. We were living in only one room of our 2,000 square foot house. We were essentially living in a small apartment with unfinished projects piled up in each room of our fixer upper. Sara: “Jordan the faucet's been leaking for weeks now.” Jordan: “I know, I'm gonna do it now, ok?” Getting up off the couch, I knew that that probe was a four hour if/then trudge. It felt nearly impossible to force myself off my computer to do. I was working off of a cedar chest in the living room that my wife's grandfather made. A make-ship desk for the time being—it had been too much time though. It felt like an ultra-marathon through the desert to get from that chest to that bathroom, stepping over piles of half-done things, to pick up the tools I didn't know how to use, to begin to make countless mistakes before the drips stopped—for now at least. The thing I realized, though, was that once I started working on the project, it was never as bad as it was built up in my mind. Yes, it took me a shameful amount of time to do what seemed like screwing in a lightbulb, but it felt rewarding. It was valuable. It made me feel useful and capable. But even though I knew that, it was still nearly impossible to get off my make shift computer chair—a turned around IKEA couch, facing the wall and cedar chest. After years of struggling and a lot of wasted time, I developed a trick, more like a game—something I could do to get myself up off the comfy couch, out from under that warm blanket, off my phone, and into an uncomfortable situation to better myself. I had to convert the pain into a game. I called it The Dope Game. I would start my watch and begin the action of fixing the faucet. As soon as I felt the urge to pick up my phone to get that dopamine rush, I would stop the clock. 5 seconds. And then reset it to 0, and start again. I was amazed with how many times my mind instinctively gravitated to Instagram, the news, youtube. Every time I felt like I “accomplished” something, I would get that urge for the reward of a phone scroll, no matter how pitiful the accomplishment. Get off the couch, urge, clock, 15 seconds. Walk into the bathroom, urge, clock, 12 seconds. Find the right tool, urge, clock, 20 seconds. Assess how to engage tool with faucet, urge, clock—hey, a minute this time. Without fail the clock would extent on a graph up and up, not the smoothest curve mind you, but a curve nonetheless. And by monitoring the addictive behavior, I was able to begin looking at it more objectively. I was able to see, with real numbers, the damage I had programmed into my brain's reward system. All at once, it was very real. I was outside of the program, actively adjusting the code, desperately rewriting it from my proverbial keyboard, the stop watch. I could see progress as the urges's spacing increased more and more: 2 minutes, 5 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour. I could feel my brain calm, peace abounding even as a demanding problem was reached within the engaged project. What size pipes are these? Are there different sizes of copper pipes? Surely there are. How do you solder? Is that even something I should attempt? At some point, my brain would be so engaged that I completely forgot about the clock until I would wonder what time it was, and looking down, see the timer going—and all at once feeling proud that I had forgot. Soon enough, or not so soon enough, the faucet was fixed. The Dope Game has been one of the most valuable concepts I have come up with to get myself uncomfortable and write new neurological code. This small effort, repeated daily if need be, is highly effective for one reason. It rewrites buggy code. It's taught me that before writing new code, new if then statements, I have to first reprogram old, buggy if then statements. If pick up tool, then check phone; if walk down hall, then check phone are terrible pieces of code that I unwittingly wrote along the way. I might have written that same type of code 100 different ways in 100 different scenarios, but The Dope Game is like writing a function within a program that finds all of those faulty if then statements and corrects them automatically without having to individually find each one buried within the brain's folds. It resets the brain and allows for new useful if thens to be written on a fresh slate. So I'll leave you with this, “Success is the sum of small efforts, repeated day in and day out.”—Robert Collier Thank you so much for listening to the second episode of the If Then Podcast. If you have feedback you want to give me or if you have anything you want to say, email me at contact@ifthenpodcast.com. And if you would, leave me a 5 star review if you found this podcast valuable. It really helps the podcast to get seen by other people like yourself. We're almost at 100 on Apple Podcasts and 150 on Spotify. And as an extra bonus, for those of you who help me spread the word, I've been giving away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. Last week, Daniel and Sammy won a free credit for an audiobook of their choice + access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. And if you win this week, don't worry the gift card is available to you even if you already have an Audible account. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. If you shared the last episode, you can also share this one too to be entered to win again. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner this week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods. We're a third of the way there, so keep sharing! Thank you so much for listening, my name is Jordan Taylor, and what if/then will you write today?

“Do you want to know who you are? Don't Ask. Act! Action will delineate and define you.” —Thomas Jefferson This quote inspired me to launch the If Then Podcast. For years I've thought about a podcast, but I never had the bravery to start the long process of figuring it all out. What's an RSS feed anyway? I didn't know either, but now I do. It's been a long 3 months of learning and building, but now I finally have something to show for it--even if it's not perfect. GIVEAWAY DETAILS: If you want to share the podcast, I'm going to give away 2 free 1 month Audible gift cards every week this May. This isn't sponsored by Audible, but because I know most everyone has done their free trial already, I wanted a way for you to get another free audiobook. This is a gift card that will still work even if you already have an account! You'll get a free credit for an audiobook of your choice + 1 month access to their Plus catalog which includes thousands of audiobooks with no credits needed. All you have to do to enter to win is take a screenshot of this podcast and share it on your Instagram while tagging the account @ifthenpodcast in the post or story. And, also, be sure to follow @ifthenpodcast on Instagram to find out if you're the winner each week. If we get 100 shares by the end of the month, each of you will be entered to win a pair of AirPods.  WEBSITE: https://www.ifthenpodcast.com Credits: Abbie Goulet as friend on phone: https://www.abbiegoulet.com

If you somehow find this before the official release date, the first full episode of the If Then Podcast releases on May 2, 2022.