The Fresh Start Effect

Jono Hey:

You want to do this thing, like press ups, and you reward yourself with chocolate, or vice versa.

 

Tom Pellereau:

You want to eat the chocolate.

 

Jono Hey:

In that case, yeah, you want to eat the chocolate, and you force yourself to do the press ups.

 

Tom Pellereau:

To make you and I a different Jono.

 

Jono Hey:

I do repost this one around January the 1st every year.

 

Just, it's the ultimate fresh start.

 

Rob Bell:

Well, I'll have dinner, and then it's definitely evening.

 

So when the evening starts, I'll start this in the evening.

 

Jono Hey:

No point in starting it tonight.

 

This week, it's Saturday, I'll start next week.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Pretty much one of the only really good things about The Apprentice was that every task you were starting completely afresh.

 

Jono Hey:

You're a living proof of that, aren't you?

 

Clean slate every time.

 

You can lose, lose, lose, lose, lose.

 

Doesn't matter.

 

There's things that you want to do, and there's things that you do do, and there's often a gap between them.

 

And challenge accepted.

 

He's gonna go for it.

 

I don't know what he's gonna do, but he's gonna do something good.

 

Rob Bell:

Feeling like you wanna start a new exercise regime?

 

Maybe it's a new job you're looking for.

 

Sometimes we all need a bit of a kick up the backside to get started on something.

 

And often that kick comes freshly wrapped.

 

Hello and welcome to Sketchplanations, The Podcast.

 

Now, when Eve was tempted by the serpent to eat the forbidden fruit, God made Adam choose between him and Eden or Eve.

 

Adam chose Eve and ate the fruit.

 

And as a consequence, they were banned from the Garden of Eden, banished into the wilderness with only a couple of figleys with which to cover up their modesty.

 

Well, this podcast is very much the modern day fig leaf, helping to cover up the embarrassing, distasteful state of the world with half an hour of earnest frivolity.

 

You, the listener, are our gods, deciding whether we succeed or fail through ratings, likes and subscribes.

 

Our all too tempting forbidden fruit is the plethora of thoughts and ideas seductively presented through the medium of sketches at sketchplanations.com.

 

I am Adam.

 

In fact, that's my middle name.

 

Otherwise, it's Rob Bell, engineer and broadcaster.

 

The tree of knowledge whose ripe, juicy fruit we all want to feast on is Jono Hey, creator of Sketchplanations.

 

But hang on, what's that rustling coming from the bushes over there?

 

Oh, here he comes, our very own slithering sinister serpent.

 

It's Tom Pellereau.

 

Evening, boys.

 

Jono Hey:

Rob Bell.

 

Or should I say Adam?

 

Rob Bell:

How are we doing all right?

 

Jono Hey:

Very good, very good.

 

It's not what I expected to get started.

 

Tom Pellereau:

How long did it take you to write that?

 

Rob Bell:

Just make a start and things happen.

 

Firstly, I'd just like to say a massive thank you to all our listeners who've tuned in, downloaded and listened to the series so far.

 

It's just brilliant.

 

And thank you also for all of your comments and for sharing with us examples of when some of the things we've talked about in our episodes have touched your lives.

 

It's brilliant.

 

We love hearing from you.

 

So please do keep leaving us messages and comments, et cetera.

 

And as always, we'll go through a few of those at the end of this episode.

 

But first up, it's Tommy Tentenet time.

 

And as always, I've enjoyed scouring the many pages of the World Wide Web that feature you.

 

And this week, I decided I'd focus on photos and I ended up on Getty Images.

 

I found some press shots of you at what I presume must have been a photo call with Lord Sugar in 2013, where you and he are both holding up large framed photos of what I guess are yourselves as babies.

 

But then in the next photo, Suge's has got a large pair of novelty scissors, which he's about to cut a big ribbon with, but you, do you know what you're holding?

 

Tom Pellereau:

I think I'm holding a baby.

 

Rob Bell:

You're holding a child, but I know your kids.

 

I know your kids and it's neither of them.

 

Where'd you get this one from?

 

Tom Pellereau:

That was a friend's child because my Jack was only two weeks old that day.

 

Rob Bell:

Fair enough.

 

Tom Pellereau:

He was not sitting still enough for the photo shoot with the big pair of scissors, understandably.

 

Rob Bell:

So you borrowed a kid.

 

What was that?

 

What was going on?

 

What were you launching?

 

Tom Pellereau:

Launching the baby nipper clipper, the safety spy hole nail clippers, and we should have done really, really well.

 

I remember it was a great day.

 

That was back in the day where you would do big launches and events, it was in Neil's Yard.

 

You know, that sort of stuff has changed a lot now, but that was a great pop-up shop.

 

Jono Hey:

Excellent product now, wasn't it?

 

Rob Bell:

Yeah, good product.

 

Jono Hey:

We used it for years.

 

Rob Bell:

Do you know how much, if you wanted to buy that photo from Getty Images, the one with Shug's and the scissors, and you and someone else's kid, do you know how much that would take you back?

 

Tom Pellereau:

99p.

 

Rob Bell:

Seriously.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Well, I'm full honored, Robert.

 

You'd spend that much on me.

 

Thank you.

 

Rob Bell:

I mean, scrap the nipperclippers.

 

Just start selling photos.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Just start selling photos of myself with other people's children.

 

Rob Bell:

It's nuts.

 

Jono, anyway, actually flipping it around, you've got some photos up on photo sharing sites, haven't you?

 

Jono Hey:

I do.

 

I don't do very much anymore, but it's nice.

 

I think it's a bit like sharing Sketchplanations.

 

It's sharing photos.

 

You never know what people will find it for.

 

I remember we posted, I put some up from, like a safari we did in Kenya way back.

 

And I got an email from a teacher, a primary school teacher saying, I loved all your photos of the animals.

 

And I printed them all out and stuck them all around the room for the kids.

 

And I'm like, well, that was amazing, wasn't it?

 

That's just what happens when you put stuff online.

 

You just never know.

 

I mean, who knows what's happened with that photo of you and the baby, Tom?

 

Rob Bell:

It could be up on many people's walls.

 

Well, anyway, listen, before we get stuck into this week's podcast, Jono, I wanted to ask you about suggestions you must get from people all the time for new sketches.

 

I know I've sent a couple to you over the years, and I know that I've had people send them to me to send on to you as well.

 

I mean, is it annoying?

 

Is it helpful?

 

What do you do with all the suggestions that you get?

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, I actively encourage suggestions and submissions of like, hey, you should do one for this, because it's so handy.

 

Like I said, I've got a big list of things, but sometimes people pick great topics.

 

Sometimes it's something that I've heard of and it was on my list, but I've not got around to it.

 

Other times, it's just people have taught me some really interesting things, and they really vary.

 

Probably my best sketch was one from a suggestion, which is this one called the curb cut effect about designing for disabilities and how it makes it better for everyone.

 

Rob Bell:

Lovely.

 

Jono Hey:

That was a suggestion from somebody, which is excellent.

 

But the other ones, they really vary.

 

Somebody sent me one about, he said, I always use a sock to clean between my toes on the beach.

 

For Sam and I, some special word for that or something random like that, which is quite fun, a nice little technique.

 

And sometimes people actually have their own model or chart that they've produced and they're like, would this make a great sketch?

 

Could you do something with this?

 

But I actively encourage it.

 

I've learned all sorts of cool stuff from people's suggestions.

 

Send them in.

 

Rob Bell:

You may just have opened the floodgates.

 

Jono Hey:

I hope so.

 

Rob Bell:

We'll wait and see.

 

Tommy, do you get suggestions for new products from people you speak to in the cosmetics and beauty industries?

 

Tom Pellereau:

I do indeed.

 

It's one of the most important things of my role.

 

The nipper clip we talked about earlier was actually pretty much inspired by Jono's wife Maria, who I think I had to go to hospital because Lewis had a really sharp nail when he was young, rolled over and caught her cornea.

 

And actually like really, really hurt and you guys ended up in hospital with that.

 

And she was like, Tommy, you have no idea how sharp baby nails are.

 

And I didn't really just discover this until Jack was born, but they're razor sharp when babies are small and they're really difficult to cut.

 

So the nipper clipper was required.

 

Jono Hey:

No way, that's amazing.

 

I do remember that it was like 2 a.m.

 

It was middle of the night.

 

I think we were in bed because he'd woken up.

 

And then Maria sort of nudged me and said, Lewis has just scratched my eye that I can feel liquid running down my face.

 

You never know.

 

So that's what you've saved so many people from.

 

It wasn't blood in the end.

 

It was just like tears or something.

 

But yeah, isn't that amazing?

 

Yeah.

 

Yeah, super product.

 

Keep the suggestions coming.

 

Rob Bell:

Well, I get suggestions quite a bit as well for ideas for TV series.

 

Sometimes they are brilliant.

 

You go, oh, there's something there.

 

There's definitely something there.

 

Let's have a play with that.

 

Yeah.

 

Right, well, before we upset our listeners, the gods of podcast, let's get on to this week's episode in earnest.

 

This week, we've picked the Sketchplanation that covers the Fresh Start effect, which states that we're more likely to tackle good, or big, or important things at the start of the day, or at the start of the week, or the month, or the year.

 

You can find this sketch either through the links in the podcast episode description, or if you look at the screen of whatever you're listening to this on right now, you should also be able to see it.

 

Right then, Jono, when you published this one, was it per chance at the start of the year?

 

Jono Hey:

I think it was.

 

Rob Bell:

Oh, nice.

 

Jono Hey:

I think it was.

 

I think I saved it up.

 

And actually, I do repost this one around January the 1st every year.

 

It's the ultimate fresh start and it's on the sketch as well.

 

Rob Bell:

So describe the sketch, Jono.

 

Jono Hey:

I mean, there's not much to this one.

 

It's just a little person with the classic challenge accepted face alongside a calendar with the 1st of January and not only that, it's Monday as well.

 

So it's everything's lining up for a proper fresh start.

 

So challenge accepted, he's going to go for it.

 

I don't know what he's going to do, but he's going to do something good.

 

Rob Bell:

So where did this realization of the fresh start effect?

 

Where did that come from?

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, so I mean, absolutely, like most of the sketches, it's not mine.

 

So I learned about it from research from Katie Milman, who is a professor at Wharton.

 

And she was she essentially studies willpower and the classic thing that means it's a problem for everybody.

 

But it was a problem for her too.

 

She says, you know, there's things that you want to do.

 

And there's things that you do do.

 

And there's often there's often a gap between them.

 

And so her research is all about looking into how do you close that gap of actually doing the things that you want to do and not just the things that you end up doing.

 

So Fresh Start Effect is one of the things that came from her research, I believe.

 

Like there's obviously at the beginning of a year, you know, people make New Year's resolutions.

 

That's a well established sort of social thing.

 

But I think she was given a talk about willpower.

 

And somebody asked about, oh, we've got some new things that we're going to do.

 

When is the best time for us to introduce them?

 

And that was what made her go in to start looking into this.

 

Well, actually, when is the best time to if you want people on your office to start something new, if you want your families, if you want to start something new, when is the best time?

 

And so she started looking at that.

 

So that's where it came from originally.

 

Rob Bell:

Tommy, how does that make you feel seeing that sketch of the fresh start effect?

 

Tom Pellereau:

It's very much isn't it?

 

Every January, we all have our new things that we're going to try, new things that we're going to do.

 

For me, this year, it was doing press ups whenever I ate chocolate.

 

That was from the beginning of the year, because it was I love chocolate.

 

I was like, is there a way to try and kind of combine it with something that I also should be doing?

 

So every time I have chocolate, I have to do five press ups.

 

And I've managed to keep that up all the way through January and February.

 

And when Lent started, I increased it to 20, because I normally give up chocolate for Lent.

 

Lent is also something for me.

 

I always give up something that I feel I'm most addicted to.

 

So it's a sort of fresh start thing, I suppose, in Lent.

 

But January is always, you know, it's always a very difficult month as well.

 

It's sort of a ridiculous time to try and start doing difficult, really difficult stuff in nice months of August or something.

 

Jono Hey:

It's interesting you're doing that with the chocolate and the press ups, because that was what her original research was about something called, she calls it temptation bundling, which is where you want to do this thing like press ups and you reward yourself with chocolate or vice versa.

 

In that case, you want to eat the chocolate and you force yourself to do the press ups.

 

Tom Pellereau:

You and I are different Jono, I don't want to do press ups.

 

Jono Hey:

I have done the press ups.

 

Tom Pellereau:

The weirdest thing though, often I would find I do the five press ups and I go, I don't really want chocolate.

 

It was sort of, it just got the sort of thing going.

 

And there was quite a few times at the beginning, it was like, no, actually, I think I'll have that later.

 

Jono Hey:

Just do the press ups.

 

Rob Bell:

Would you chalk those up on the wall as credit?

 

Tom Pellereau:

And I've now kind of got the, because 20 is a bit of a push.

 

And also 20, like you have chocolate like in the office just after lunch.

 

I don't really like people in the office seeing me do a lot of the press ups, because sort of it's a bit weird in some respects, isn't it?

 

Like, I obviously work with everyone that works for me and it sort of feels like I'm doing the, you know, the gun show on the newsreel, so I try to make sure I sort of go somewhere where people can't see me.

 

Rob Bell:

Jono, something you said there when introducing that struck with me, because I've been thinking very much about my personal experience with the Fresh Start effect, whereas you mentioned that, in addition to that, it could be about when is a good time for other people to start things, which I had not really thought about it like that before.

 

Jono Hey:

Well, it turns out, one of the first things that she said she did when she started looking into this was look at Google searches for things that people normally want to do but have struggled to stay with.

 

So the classic ones are like going on a diet or like joining a gym.

 

And it's absolutely simple.

 

You just look at the volumes of Google searches and when they hit and there's peaks at the beginning of the year, there's peaks at the beginning of every month and there's peaks at the beginning of every week even.

 

And so those are all your little fresh starts.

 

And there are some other ones around, just after the holidays, for example, sort of feels a bit like a fresh start, like a new chapter.

 

So people go, right, I'm going to do this thing now.

 

Rob Bell:

But that could also be really useful to businesses looking to market themselves, right, or their services or their products or whatever it is, knowing that a fresh start, if you feel that your service, your products, whatever your business can offer, might be something that people start looking for in that, right, I need to start doing, I need to bridge this gap between things I want to do and things I'm doing.

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, yeah.

 

I mean, I think people, I think businesses know it, right.

 

And it's the same, they might even be things like your birthday.

 

So people, people go, right, I've just had a birthday.

 

This new year is going to be different from the last year.

 

That's my fresh start.

 

So maybe that's a great time to send somebody an offer.

 

Rob Bell:

Yeah, because obviously there's new year and there's, you know, the beginning of the week or the month, you know, the day even, I think we've talked about.

 

But there are things like birthdays or getting a new job or moving into a new home, I guess, that could also be catalysts for a fresh start of something.

 

Jono Hey:

For me, I think some of the most significant fresh starts have been when I went to when I moved to California to go do a PhD.

 

And you just have this, this mega fresh start.

 

And actually, it's a funny, it's a funny feeling in a way, it's very liberating somehow, it's like you left any, you know, connection that you had with other people and with you can, I remember feeling like I can decide to be whoever I want, which is a weird thing, because obviously, I can do that at any point.

 

But you really can, you know, you turn up in a room, you can act however you want.

 

And so it's quite interesting, I think it's those are the times I've actually, and going to university the first time we I wanted to join all these clubs, I'm like, right, I'm going to be a hot air balloonist.

 

Brilliant.

 

Never done that before.

 

But now's the time.

 

But you know, you could have done that anytime.

 

But as soon as you get to start university, brilliant.

 

That's what I'm going to do.

 

Rob Bell:

But it could be anything, can't it, like that, the thing that you're starting, I mean, it could be a fresh attitude towards something that you choose to adopt, you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be, you know, a new physical exercise regime could be an attitude.

 

It could be, I don't know, a new skill or a new relationship, could be a new relationship.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Relationship as in boyfriend, girlfriend kind of relationship or child relationship or be a parent or work colleagues.

 

You know, I think I've had a couple of words like, okay, let's just, let's just start again.

 

I think let's, let's try if something hasn't worked with a business colleague kind of thing, you're like, right, let's, let's talk about this, but let's try and reset.

 

Let's try not to bring things from the past.

 

Rob Bell:

In that example, Tommy, what might be that fresh start?

 

What might be the timing of that fresh start?

 

Could it be the beginning of the week or the beginning of a month or, I don't know, beginning of an assessment period?

 

Tom Pellereau:

Well, that was probably after sort of some kind of coming together or something.

 

And actually, when I tried to bring in new initiatives to work, I was like, let's do this at the beginning of the month or after the final, the new financial year, which for us is the 1st of July, so those are always good dates when you're a leader, like we're going to do this from then.

 

It's weird in the UK that our financial year is the 5th of April.

 

Rob Bell:

It does kind of show that the timing of a fresh start can be as arbitrary as we like, really.

 

But where there are set start times, like the week or the month or the year, that is quite easy to hook something on to, isn't it?

 

Jono Hey:

I think some things are different, but yeah, I think anything in a way, you can use it as a fresh start, can't you?

 

I think even every morning, every morning you can be like, it doesn't matter what happened yesterday, it's a fresh start.

 

Kids are brilliant at that, actually.

 

Kids are amazing.

 

You can be screaming at each other, I don't scream at my children, but you can be angry with each other the night before, and then in the morning, in the morning, it's like it never happened.

 

It's a completely fresh start, isn't it?

 

You go to sleep and boom.

 

Tom Pellereau:

A minute later, they can be completely like different parts as well.

 

Jono Hey:

We should all do that, so much better.

 

Rob Bell:

The flip side of it being a real catalyst for positivity is I can sometimes use it for procrastination.

 

So if there's something that I need to get done, but I can't really be bothered to do it at the time, I'll be like, I'll tell you what, the afternoon.

 

When the afternoon starts, that's when I'll do it.

 

And then, and then maybe that doesn't happen, you go, right, well, I'll have dinner and then it's definitely evening.

 

So when the evening starts, I'll start this in the evening.

 

Good, fresh start, evening, here we go.

 

So I think I can also use it as a tool for procrastination.

 

Jono Hey:

You sort of round up all your time, don't you?

 

Like, there's no point in starting it now.

 

No point in starting it tonight.

 

This week, it's Saturday, I'll start next week.

 

It's near the end of the month.

 

I'll start in February next year.

 

Tom Pellereau:

So pretty much one of the only really good things about The Apprentice was that every task you were starting completely afresh.

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, right.

 

Tom Pellereau:

It didn't matter how the other task had gone really, as long as you survived, as long as you weren't fired and you were through to the next task, it was kind of all afresh.

 

Jono Hey:

You're living proof of that, aren't you?

 

Tom Pellereau:

And you weren't having you both like, yes, it's true.

 

Jono Hey:

Clean slate every time.

 

If you lose, it doesn't matter.

 

Rob Bell:

Thank goodness.

 

Something you said earlier, Jono, about when you moved to California being a big change, and so an opportunity for loads of fresh starts, whatever you wanted that to be.

 

I think it might be slightly different with you because I don't know if that time for you was finite or not, the amount of time you were gonna spend in California.

 

But for me, I was thinking about this, as well as it being a fresh start, in my placement year, when I moved to a place called Annesy in the French Alps with you, Jono, in fact, I was there for a finite time.

 

I was there for a year.

 

And so once I kind of got myself settled in that environment and realized just how many cool things that I could be getting on with, the fact that I only had a finite amount of time and that that was gonna come to an end was a real catalyst for me to get out and do stuff as much as I possibly could.

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, the scarcity of the fact that this will come to an end, so you need to make the most of it all the way through.

 

I love that, actually.

 

Rob Bell:

I find it really helpful.

 

It's really helpful for me.

 

Jono Hey:

It stops you sort of just wandering through life, doesn't it, when you have a...

 

I actually think that there's always a lovely period if you leave a job and you don't start the next job, but the next job is lined up, then you can do whatever you want for that time.

 

It's this magic, magic time, but you know there's only like a certain amount of time before it starts again.

 

So you're like, okay, right, I'm gonna make the most of this wonderful time.

 

Rob Bell:

You've got to get it in.

 

Tom Pellereau:

It's very much the same when people come to visit you from America or something, you live in London, they come and visit.

 

And so every day they're like a big bed at Westminster Palace, they're off to Bath for a day, off of Bristol for a day, and you're like, oh, geez, I haven't done all that, and I've lived here for five years.

 

Some of them might come over for a week and do more than you would do in a lifetime.

 

When we went to Brazil, we went to São Paulo, Brasília, we went all the way down to the waterfall.

 

You did these huge great travels that you wouldn't normally do if you were there for a huge amount of time, but you're only there for weeks.

 

Rob Bell:

Was that a holiday?

 

Tom Pellereau:

Yeah.

 

Jono Hey:

I think holidays are known as a great time where we also are open to try new things.

 

And was it Graham Bell when he first did telephones, he actually started in hotels because it's a great time, great place where you will actually try something new whenever, you know, if you're on holiday or you stay in a hotel, you're like, life's a bit different right now.

 

Sure.

 

I'll give it a go.

 

Rob Bell:

Oh, right.

 

So I, I'm a freelancer, so I work on my own.

 

Um, and so every January I do do a kind of review of where I'm at professionally with my career and what's been going on with work.

 

And I really enjoy that process.

 

I really enjoy kind of looking at what things I want to change, what things I might want to do differently.

 

People I want to work with.

 

I really enjoy that process.

 

It gives me a lot of energy and motivation and, but I only ever do it in January.

 

But to the, to the point that, you know, from January, January is great.

 

Then February, it's still kind of happening, but March, April, May, I've forgotten about it all.

 

So why wouldn't I just do that twice a year or three times a year?

 

Why wouldn't I pop that in at different points to do that, that review?

 

Jono Hey:

You tell us, Robbie, why wouldn't you?

 

Rob Bell:

I don't know.

 

Jono Hey:

Go on.

 

Rob Bell:

I don't know.

 

Maybe, maybe I will.

 

Maybe, maybe I should do that.

 

Jono Hey:

It's a Tuesday tomorrow, perfect day, perfect day for it, fresh start.

 

Tuesday and March.

 

Rob Bell:

April.

 

I will do it.

 

And that means, no, that's too, that's too often.

 

I can't be reviewing.

 

Three times a year.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Quarterly.

 

You can do quarterly.

 

Rob Bell:

No, I think that's too much.

 

I'm going to do three times.

 

So that would be what?

 

May.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Thirdly.

 

Rob Bell:

Yeah, thirdly.

 

Jono Hey:

It's counting on his fingers.

 

Can I give them an alternative to that?

 

It reminds me of that scarcity.

 

Like when you're at, when you're at a place just for a limited amount of time, there's another, it's another sketch I like, which is one of my favorites, actually, it's called Nine Enders.

 

Do you remember this one?

 

So there's a term called Nine Enders, which is basically, as you reach the end of a decade in your life, your age, you're more likely to do extreme things, basically.

 

So as as you reach your, you're like, I'm about to turn 30, or I'm about to turn 40.

 

You're like, okay, what haven't I done?

 

Why haven't I done this?

 

I'm going to go sign up, run a marathon, I'm going to go skydiving, I'm going to go do some, you know, incredible holiday across the world.

 

And it's, I don't know, it's not quite the fresh start.

 

It's obviously the opposite, isn't it?

 

It's like you ran out of time and you're like, I need to, why don't I fit this in now?

 

Let's do it.

 

But I mean, it's arbitrary, right?

 

Like, it's just, I don't know, Monday to Tuesday, right?

 

I think that is it though, right?

 

That's the magic, really, if you get down to it, the fresh start effect, right?

 

Living your life properly, the magic is realising that every moment can be a fresh start.

 

Rob Bell:

Oh, there it is.

 

Jono Hey:

But it's hard, it's hard.

 

It's so easy to wait till tomorrow.

 

We'll wait till next year before I start.

 

Rob Bell:

Oh Jono, that was beautiful.

 

Jono Hey:

But now, all we have is right now.

 

Rob Bell:

You're right, what are we doing?

 

What are we doing with it?

 

We're recording a podcast.

 

Is the effect of other people taking up the opportunity that a Fresh Start offers, can that be a catalyst for you?

 

So especially around the beginning of the year, you see a lot of stuff on social media about what people are starting to do.

 

Jono Hey:

I really like that it wasn't this year, but I think the London Marathon is normally in April.

 

And it is just such a classic thing, right?

 

That as you approach Christmas, it's just Christmas, people are busy.

 

And then all of a sudden everybody's running in January and they're doing it all through January and February and March and they're training for the marathon.

 

I find it quite inspiring.

 

And because it's this dark, cold part of the year, and there's all these people, thousands of people out running at 6.30 in the morning in January 20th or something, because they're signed up for the marathon.

 

And that makes me go, I don't know, maybe it doesn't do it for everybody, but it inspires me.

 

Rob Bell:

No, it doesn't.

 

I know what you mean.

 

It's that second hand fresh start effect.

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, surround yourself with people doing exciting new good things.

 

It'll probably rub off.

 

Tom Pellereau:

29 year olds, 39 year olds, 49 year olds.

 

Jono Hey:

Just hang out with nine ends all the time.

 

Tom Pellereau:

It's a useful thing.

 

It's a very powerful motivation, but actually it's a lot of rubbish.

 

You can do it whenever you want to.

 

If you've got an idea of something you want to do, just do it now.

 

I had a really, really good teacher at school whose thing was always just do it.

 

He was my design teacher.

 

And we'd sort of come up with an idea.

 

He's like, well, let's just do it now.

 

Right, what do we need?

 

Just go and get there.

 

I'll phone so-and-so.

 

And I was like, wow, this guy's awesome.

 

And it really rubbed off for me forever.

 

Just do it now.

 

Jono Hey:

You live by that, Tommy, great example of it.

 

It's definitely rubbed off on you.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Thank you.

 

Jono Hey:

It's very refreshing, isn't it?

 

It's like, let's not talk about it.

 

Let's just do it.

 

Why don't we just do it now?

 

Rob Bell:

Every moment is a fresh start.

 

That's basically what we're saying.

 

Is that right?

 

Jono Hey:

Yeah, it's Tommy's teacher knew it years ago.

 

Rob Bell:

But as someone who is a king of procrastination, I find fresh starts very, very useful.

 

But you're right.

 

You guys are absolutely right.

 

There's no reason why you wouldn't make a fresh start of every moment.

 

Jono Hey:

I'm going to stay up all night doing something new.

 

What have you been doing?

 

Why have you been digging up the garden?

 

Well, if not now, when?

 

Rob Bell:

I'm not going to wait till I'm 50 before I start digging up the garden.

 

Tom Pellereau:

On that note, on the procrastination, I don't know if it's linked, but I've read a brilliant thing where someone was saying to get herself to do something.

 

If she knows she's really going to do it, she just sits there and she goes, okay, I'm going to start it on one.

 

She goes, five, four, three, two, and just start it.

 

And it's actually amazing sometimes, because you know something, Robbie, you've got to start that script or something like that.

 

You're like, oh, I'll just go for a pee, and then I'll just get a coffee, and then you get to send the text message, and you're like, and you start over there, and then you're like, oh, the whole morning's gone.

 

Whereas rather than getting on to a good little pee, you just go, right, okay, five, four, three, two, and then just start over.

 

Rob Bell:

Oh, I've wet myself.

 

You're right.

 

Do you know what?

 

Do you not find that sometimes the countdown could just be even more anxiety building?

 

I did that this morning in bed with Sally, where we know we need to get up, and oh, we've hit snooze at least twice, if not three times now.

 

Right, five, four times, and no, stop, stop, stop, that makes it even worse.

 

You get up and then I'll feel guilty, and then I'll get up.

 

That was easier for me.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Was it?

 

You got hurt to get up first.

 

Rob Bell:

Once I'm feeling guilty, then I can get up.

 

Tom Pellereau:

And then you just roll back in.

 

Jono Hey:

I'll count myself out of the showers.

 

Rob Bell:

Yeah, okay.

 

Jono Hey:

Just 10 more seconds.

 

Nine, oh, I forgot, just do 10 again.

 

Rob Bell:

I'm sure that must relate to the fresh start effect somehow.

 

It's related somehow.

 

But yeah, the countdown is definitely a thing.

 

Anyway, listeners, let us know through Instagram and Twitter if you've had any fresh starts that you know were influenced by it being the beginning of something.

 

Having talked throughout this episode about new beginnings, it's time I introduce a new end, the fresh start effect.

 

That was it.

 

This is the end.

 

At the time of recording this, we don't actually know if anyone's listening or not, but we very much enjoy and feed off the idea that you might be.

 

And on a completely unrelated note, next week we'll be talking about optimism bias.

 

But for now, from me, Adam, from the wise tree of knowledge, and from that sneaky, slippery serpent, stay well, go well.

 

Cheers.

 

Tom Pellereau:

Cheers.

 

Rob Bell:

All music on this podcast series is sourced from the very talented Frank Cianelli.

 

And you can find loads more tracks at.

 

Frankcianelli.com I say we're back, it's just me going through a few of listener comments this week, because Jono and Tommy are both away on holiday with their families.

 

So isn't that nice?

 

I never gave them permission to do that, they just did it.

 

But there you go, that's how it is.

 

So yeah, you just stuck with me.

 

And I'm thinking back to, so this is about, predominantly we're talking about the episode last week, episode four, entitled Don't Feel the Silence about Jono's sketch, Don't Feel the Silence.

 

And I have to tell you, so each week, we probably do about an hour and a quarter of chat, which I then edit down to roughly half an hour, as you're probably noticing, which I think is about the right length, testing your patience long enough.

 

But that one, that episode, I mean, I don't know what was wrong with those guys.

 

The fact that we were talking about not feeling the silences just influenced, I guess me as well, to an extent, but not as much as those two.

 

They just left these massive pauses, these huge silences between questions being asked and coming in with some kind of comment or answer with them.

 

And it did take me a lot of editing.

 

I don't know, maybe at some point, we'll get out full episodes for people to enjoy in full, but that one, if we do do that, I'd maybe avoid it.

 

There's so many silences in there.

 

And I kept berating them.

 

I kept a few of those, of my discipline for the podcast.

 

I kept a few examples of that in.

 

But let's have a look at what you guys have been saying about that episode last week.

 

So you bear with me whilst I just click through.

 

Okay, so what have we got?

 

Okay, Susan on Twitter says, sometimes silence is more informative than chatter.

 

Yeah, okay, so, well, maybe that's if you've asked somebody a question or there's a break in conversation and whoever it is you're talking to doesn't have anything to say, that can tell you more about what they're thinking than if they were to answer.

 

I'm not sure, I'm not sure about that.

 

I think maybe if somebody changes the subject or moves the subject or avoids the subject, perhaps, that might tell you a bit about what they're thinking, the fact they don't really want to answer the question that you've asked.

 

What else have we got here?

 

A number of people on Instagram and Twitter have said this applies to user interviews, which I'm assuming is maybe something to do with software and software development, perhaps, that process of software development where you're putting your products out, maybe not just software, products generally.

 

You're putting your products out for user testing or for users to experience it and then you're getting their feedback.

 

It's very much along, if that is what you're saying, it's very much along the lines of what Jono was talking about in the podcast itself.

 

You know, asking open-ended questions and biting your tongue not to add any more to that so that you can really get valuable user feedback.

 

Thank you for those.

 

This was a comment that was left on the sketch originally when Jono put it up.

 

This one was on Instagram.

 

It was from a visual leadership coach saying that, this is the most beautiful aspect of coaching, the power of silence and pause.

 

Yeah, I totally agree.

 

And again, I touched on this in the podcast itself about coaching and counselling perhaps was where I'd experienced that long, that really powerful tool of asking a question and then just leaving it there.

 

Which I'd definitely be better at dealing with now than I was at the time.

 

But yeah, that's a massive thing in coaching as well.

 

In fact, I remember when I had a boss when I worked in an office, he was a very good boss.

 

Shout out to Andrew.

 

He'd been on a coaching course.

 

And I then subsequently went on that coaching course to help me manage the people in my team, which was a subset of his team.

 

And I went up and asked him a question and some advice one day on how I might go about something.

 

And he started coaching me on it in a very kind of surreptitious kind of way.

 

And after about five seconds, I realized that, hang on, are you trying to coach me?

 

I know what you're doing.

 

Because he'd asked that open question and left it silenced.

 

Well, what do you think you should do on this?

 

I just remember that when the penny dropped what he was doing to me.

 

Yeah, so I totally agree.

 

A beautiful aspect of coaching, the power of silence and pause.

 

Elisa on Instagram was saying, yeah, a bit of both.

 

Sometimes she wants to fill in the silence, especially on the phone.

 

But other times she quite enjoys the silence, i.e.

 

on car journeys with others.

 

She prefers looking out the window or if driving enjoying the serenity rather than chatting.

 

Yeah, I guess what we talked about in the podcast a lot was about asking open-ended questions.

 

So in a conversation enjoying and using the silence as a tool.

 

But yeah, there's another thing here about just being comfortable in other people's company when you don't feel that you do have to say anything.

 

I think, well, hopefully a lot of successful partnerships have that, couples.

 

In the car especially, I'm fine with a bit of silence.

 

It's lovely if I'm in there with other people, whether I'm driving or in the passenger seat.

 

The car is a lovely place to have a bit of silence, isn't it?

 

Cars and train journeys.

 

I never really feel like I need to do loads of talking when I'm moving around like that.

 

I guess it's that constant stimulation looking out the windows, perhaps, for me anyway.

 

Beautiful outdoors that's passing, zipping by on a constant refresh.

 

Maybe there's something there.

 

Carol from Instagram says, she's the same as me in that she likes to have an external monologue on while trying to answer questions.

 

Only after she's finished talking, she thinks to herself that she's wasted the last 500 words waffling.

 

I mean, 500 words is a lot, Carol.

 

You're probably looking at around, I can't remember what I said.

 

Was it 100 to 200 words per minute?

 

Yeah, I think that's what I said.

 

So 500 words, that's roughly, let's say four or five minutes.

 

That's a lot of waffling.

 

I appreciate that's what I'm doing now.

 

Oh, the irony.

 

Right, I'll move on.

 

Margaret on Instagram says, silence is a great peacemaker.

 

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

 

And there's something here that Jono brought up in our little WhatsApp group chat after we'd recorded the episode.

 

He's very good at doing that.

 

And it's another Will Rogers quote who we quoted from a couple of weeks ago.

 

What was that about?

 

Was that about type two fun?

 

It's like everything's funny as long as it's happening to somebody else.

 

So this was another real Will Rogers quote.

 

It says, never miss a good chance to shut up.

 

So I'm going to take Will Rogers' advice now.

 

But actually just on that, that is something Tommy just talked about in the podcast as well, in the boardroom and The Apprentice.

 

But I'm going to take Will Rogers' advice now and I'm going to shut up.

 

Thank you all very much for listening.

 

Keep your comments and your stories and experiences of some of the stuff that we talk about in the podcast.

 

Keep them coming in to us either via social media or on the email hello at sketchplanations.com.

 

Thanks so much for listening.

 

See you soon.

 

Bye bye.