A Vision for Learning

Jethro Jones: Welcome
to Avision for Learning.

I am Jethro Jones, your host.

Thank you so much for being here today.

I'm gonna talk about the phone fast that I
did yesterday and what that was all about.

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I so much appreciate it.

Let's get on with the show.

Yesterday I did a phone fast and part
of that was in preparation for getting

the Apple Vision Pro this weekend.

I am very much aware that
getting a new device I.

Is going to take a lot of time.

Doing a podcast about a new device
is going to take a lot of time,

probably more than I want to admit.

I'll be honest, it always takes
longer than I think it will.

So I did a phone fast yesterday to
give myself a break mentally and

physically from these devices that
I seem to be using all the time.

First and foremost, I feel like I've just
been using my phone a lot lately and I

keep saying I'm using it for productive
purposes and that's all well and good.

Am I just saying that or is that
really what I'm using it for?

I think it's important to
acknowledge that upfront.

Maybe I'm using it for too much and to put
some limits on myself to say maybe I don't

actually need to use it for that much.

I had a couple of realizations that
I wanted to share with you today.

Number one, I've already started to
put some other things in place to lock

myself in, as it were, and I'm gonna
talk about this more in a minute.

So one of the things is creating
different focus modes on my iPhone that I.

Make different apps on the home screen
when I'm doing different things.

Like I have a whole work focus,
I have a exercise focus, I have a

morning routine focus, and those
apps change throughout the day.

Notifications change, who can get
through to me, that kind of stuff,

and that has been really helpful
for me to find some focus and

prioritization of what I want to do.

Here are a couple things that I
found that I didn't really like.

I've been thinking way too much about
the people I associate with online and

what they think or how they feel about
something, and I've just been putting too

much of an emphasis on that in my mind.

I need to be better, so
I don't want to do that.

i's one thing, number two.

I noticed over the past couple weeks
that I've been using my phone when

my kids are around a lot more and
have not been as present with them.

And so I wanted to make
some changes there as well.

and one other thing that I have
been thinking about is that the

phone is on me all the time.

It's pretty much always accessible
and I need to have some.

Things in place to keep me
honest about what I'm doing.

so that's one of those things.

So let's talk about this lock-in piece.

My daughter, as she gets ready for
basketball games or cross country

races or whatever else she's doing,
she'll often say things like, I

can't right now, I'm locked in.

She is locked in and focused on that
thing that she is doing and preparing for.

And over the past several weeks, as
I have been locked in and focused,

I've lessened my time on social media.

I've lessened my time interacting
with different communities online and

overall, I've found that to be a overly
positive move in the right direction.

So that's been really good.

A second thing about that is part
of the thing that I think is gonna

make the Apple Vision Pro compelling.

I.

For me as a productivity device is the
ability to lock in and say, when I put

this thing on my head, I am in work mode.

Now let me just share what I mean by
that, because you could conceivably

get that and that makes sense.

But what I've been doing for last few
weeks is I've been tracking my time using

an app called Time and Time has this
little device that is an eight sided.

Dice basically that you set with a
certain side pointing up and you can

then see this is what I'm working on.

And so I have different categories
put in there of whether I'm thinking

or selling or delivering or doing a
podcast or whatever the case may be.

And by having that physical
device sitting there.

Pointing up saying, this is
what Jethro's working on.

It makes it a lot easier to be focused
on that thing and to stay locked in

because I see a visual representation, a
physical representation saying, this is

what I'm spending my time doing right now.

Now, do I have to have that?

I don't know.

Is it helping me?

Yeah, it really is.

And so when I think about the Vision Pro
as a productivity device, I have one other

comment about that before I get to it.

And this is, as I've been writing
my books, I have a playlist.

That I use whenever I'm writing my books
and it's called my Awesome writing music.

And when I hear those songs, it
gets me in the mood to write.

So headphones on over the ear
headphones, preferably not in ear

headphones or AirPods or whatever.

But when I hear those songs,
they're not normal songs.

They're instrumental, they're, by artists
that I wouldn't typically listen to.

When I hear those songs, I know it's
time for me to write and I can be

focused and focus for longer because
I know that I'm in that mode and

that I think is really important.

So now let's talk about the Vision Pro.

When I put that thing on
and I get into work mode.

If that's what I'm using it for, it's
gonna be a very clear indication to

me and to people around me that I'm
getting into work mode if that's

what I'm using it for right now.

When I first got a smartphone and
I was able to do all these things

on it, I was able to do that.

I was able to use it for work and
use it in a productive manner.

And I still use my phone a
ton in my day-to-Day work.

I'm curious how this is going to be
with the Apple Vision Pro, if it is

going to really help me lock in like
my playlist does, like this Ular

device does, or is it going to be a
short-lived gimmick type of experience?

And I just need better discipline now.

I'm not arguing that I
need better discipline.

I am sure that I do.

But I've grown a lot in that regard over
the last year as I've lost 70 pounds and

create a lot of new daily habits that I
just never thought I had time for before.

And turns out I do have time for
the things that matter to me.

So doing this phone fast was
an intentional opportunity.

To see, can I be disconnected
and will I survive?

Of course, I know that I'll survive,
but it helped me think about things

in a little bit different way.

One of those things that it helped me
with is that there's a lot of wisdom

in budgeting our time, our money,
attention, our relationships, and

it gives us permission to do those
things that we are budgeting for.

I know that budgeting can be a frustrating
thing and a difficult thing to do, but

there is real power in intentionally
budgeting for specific things.

So one of the ways that I'm looking
forward to this is that during the day,

at least during my workday, as I define
it, because I get to choose when I work.

I am going to use my Vision Pro
as a work device and be focused

and intentional about that.

I'm gonna use it to lock
in and do specific things.

I don't know what exactly yet.

I.

But maybe it's more writing, maybe
it's more podcast production.

Maybe it's podcast editing.

Maybe that will turn out to be a
really amazing experience on it.

Who knows?

That's part of what I'm excited to see and
experience when it comes to this device.

What is that really going to look like?

What does locking in really look like?

One of the things that I'm also curious
about, I know that there are apps that

are only designed for the Vision Pro,
but I also know that there are apps

that already work on your other devices,
and I'm curious about how they're

going to load on the Apple Vision Pro.

This is something I haven't
seen anything about just yet.

But I'm interested in that and
wonder what that will look like.

Do I have to individually
identify what I want to have?

Am I only gonna go to the app store
in the Apple Vision Pro, or will it

be like my watch where I can load
those things on my phone and then

they automatically go to my watch?

I'm not sure what's gonna happen there,
but I'm looking forward to finding out.

So here we are, just a couple days
out from getting the Apple Vision

Pro and seeing what it's like.

These are my current thoughts.

I'd love to hear your
thoughts about it as well.

Feel free to reach out to me with
any thoughts or questions, a vision

for learning.com, and thanks for
listening to a Vision for Learning.