Just those 10 seconds to respond to someone shows them that you're willing to dedicate that time to them. It shows them that you care. There is always this essence of caring, this essence of kindness. Right? Hello and welcome to the Pibytes podcast, where we talk about python career and mindset. We're your hosts. I'm Julian Sequeira. And I am Bob Baldebos. If you're looking to improve your python, your career, and learn the mindset for success, this is the podcast for you. Let's get started. Welcome back, everybody, to the Pyewytes podcast. This is Bob, and I'm here with Julian. How's it going, man? Hey, man, you're back finally. Last week was lonely. Yeah. Now you know how it feels when. Like when you went off to the. The motherland. Oh, yeah. You pay back. I should have been gone this week as well, but, no, I didn't. I didn't allow him. Folks stayed stay just for you. No, we were out of piebaites for holiday days. Yeah, sort of. No, I wish it was for a holiday. No, I was away last week on a work thing. Went to Thailand, of all places. That was a win for me. First time I've been there. A beautiful country. Absolutely loved it. Such a wonderful people there, and just had such a great time. So it was good. Nice escape from the freezing cold Sydney weather, and nice, balmy 30 degree days. Lots of rain, but it was. It was really good. What a contrast. Yeah. And heading to winter there. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And as a nice bit of karma for leaving the family behind in the cold, I got back and got COVID. Oh, man. I know. It sucks. So that's why I'm home this week. I should have been on another trip this week, but I'm currently isolating everyone. I'm isolating for a week, and I've got a couple more days to go, but it just means more time for pie bites. Exactly. That's what it means. Yeah. It's not that much different from a coder locking himself up in this dungeon and coding all day. Right. Apart from those symptoms. Yeah. Aside from feeling like rubbish. Yeah. No, it's going crazy. Relatively well. Right? Yeah. Yeah. Look, I don't have those outward symptoms that, you know, with a runny nose and all that stuff. We've just got a tiny bit of a cough and just feeling very lethargic and tired a lot, so I can't complain. People definitely worse than me. That's true. Like, the first day and we spoke that you were way worse than now, actually. Yeah, yeah, I had that. Everyone talks about that brain fog thing that you can get, and I definitely felt foggy. I was slower at responding, slower at comprehending what, you know, the kids and the missus were saying and stuff. So it was. And you as well, recording you messages. I'm like, whoa, what was I saying again? I noticed it. I found it pretty scary, actually. Yeah. Well, I'm back. Unless this podcast is moving really slow and I don't realize it. Yeah, you can always play the podcast at 1.5 and you get the normal. Speed it up. So from here on in, everyone listen to the two times speed, please. No. All right, so that was my win. Is getting COVID out of the way, being okay during COVID and going to Thailand. What about you? What do you have? Coding? No, that's kind of general. No, but I can expand. No, just daily coding. We have now four tools we maintain. So the platform, the reading list, that's not that active. But we have two new tools, right? CMS and organic, constantly pushing new features, making it better, more functional. Doing live coding on our weekly code clinics with PDM got over that hump fear. That's going great. And, yeah, it's also like, because, you know, you're coaching people and they come to the table with a lot of new things and you just have to stay current and. Yeah, so I'm pretty happy about that. Nice. And, you know, the back on those tools, like I was saying before, just before we started recording, even though you and I are just getting on the call to chat now for the first time today with those tools and operating in sync with those tools, it's like we've been working together for the past four or 5 hours, which is really good. So this is amazing. I'm so stoked about that because otherwise we would probably sit here the first half hour just going over things. And now it's just all in the tools. And even, like, the posting, right, you approved it. I just copy pasted the post I had prepared since yesterday. And it actually, I stayed in deep work like I was posting on LinkedIn, but it was just copy paste because that was all done beforehand and I just kept coding like, yeah, it's such a better flow. So very productive. Yeah. So you build. Build your own tools if you can. There's a. It's a mission, but it can really pay off in the long run. And now we realize that we had those pain points that we had more to solve than we thought. So, yeah, we often just are very comfortable with the tools we're using. But, yeah, you can actually make a lot of gains there productivity wise, so. Yeah, exactly. Beautiful. All right, well, let's jump into the episode. What did we want to talk about today? The gift of time. Oh, the gift of time. How do you gift someone time? Any ideas? Yeah, gift them time. Spend the time, you wrap it up and you give it to them at Christmas. What do you. Obviously, I'm not that well versed in mindset, so I'll let you kick it off. No. So the purpose of this episode for all our beautiful listeners is we're just talking. We just want to talk about and reflect on the concept of gifting time. So, as we all know, your time that you have is finite, and it's the one thing you can't get back. So we are very strong supporters of being particular and selective of where we spend our time. Right. And we always talk about spending your time wisely, with coding, with having meetings with, you know, whatever it is you do in the day to day. But if you do decide to gift someone time, it is something special. Now, I don't just mean a group meeting with your team. I'm talking about getting on a call with someone, one to one, talking about choosing to spend your lunch hour with someone. I'm talking about someone coming to you with a problem. And this is where it relates with career and everything like that. But someone coming to you with a problem and you making that choice. Okay, I'm going to listen. I'm going to listen intentionally and then making the second choice to actually help them. So we always say, you know, protect your time, don't take on too much work, all that sort of stuff. Now, this is the other side of that. This is the side of, okay, you've made the choice to help. Now, that is a gift to actually have that conversation. So walking down the hallway, you can go straight to your desk, or you can spend five minutes with someone, and there are a bunch of benefits to doing this. Bob, did you want to jump in? Did you have any, any thoughts on that? Yes. I think it comes down to relationships. Everything is relationships if you think about it, right? Like, it's not only friends, but also, like, contacts in the workplace or in your career in general. If I can mention one example, back in Holland when I had my first job, I might have done that actually, well, in the sense that I built up some relationships by deliberately checking in and spending time. And a few years later, I wanted to go to Spain, migrate and move, like, permanently. And that one contact from three years prior. That became the link in the same company, but in Spain. And, yeah, that was just a contact I nourished, I kept. And yeah, it can be. You never know where the next opportunity comes from. Right. So there's definitely a strategic element to it, but more from an personal and emotional level as well. Every time you, you spend quality time with context, you just improve. Right. They highlight things you don't know, you couldn't see. So you just become a better human. Right. So. And that comes with focused quality time. So no multitasking, you know, really listening and contributing to the discussion. Yeah. So there's that aspect of networking in what you're saying. That's a super important piece of it, right. That's the career, that's tactical. That. And not to say that every interaction has to be super intentional, that you are expecting something to come out of it in three years or whatever, but that's just a benefit, right? That's just something that comes from it eventually. But, but the core part there is actually giving that time to someone. And it's not about being extroverted. It's not about, okay, I'm going to choose to go out for work drinks today instead of going home to be by myself. That's not always it that can play a piece because you would dedicate time to that. And, you know, for example, last week in Thailand, I made that effort to be there to network with people and connect with people, right. And that was a time sacrifice, you know, and it was exhausting. But the, the other side that I'm talking about here is, you know, dedicating meaningful time to people. So again, back to that point of where people come to you with questions, when people come to you with, you know, requests for support. So maybe a problem, like a coding problem or an automation problem. Hey, I'm doing this. It takes forever. What do you think? Now you could shoo them away because you're busy, or you could gift them that time and say, okay, let's walk it through, let's storyboard it, let's talk it out, and then get to a point of where you might have to say, look, I can't give you the time to solve this problem and actually code you a solution. Um, but at least you've drawn it out for them and that they know something's possible. And if you want to go that extra leg and you have the time to give, you can go and create something for them, you know, and code for them. So there's so many different avenues with this but, uh, one thing you, you mentioned, Bob, that is a huge piece of this is the relationship side. And I'm a firm believer that, um, when you reach your deathbed one day, if you're fortunate enough to reach your deathbed and be aware of what's going on, when that comes, the one thing you will never, ever, ever, ever regret, and I can't imagine a single person ever regretting this, is their relationships with people. Like, actually committing time to spending time, spending it with people. Right? So I would never regret saying, I took an hour on Fridays to spend time with my parents, you know, and imagine, you can imagine on your deathbed, I wish I hadn't done that. I wish I'd gone to the pub instead or I wish I'd watched a movie instead. Of course not. You know, that's never going to happen. So your relationships really are your core focus. They are, they are the root to base, the foundation of everything that includes with your family. If you, if you have a family with your pets, even if you, if you really, you know, have pets and you're one of those kinds of people that love said dog or cat or something, that quality time with the people around you, that's what really matters. And that's where you're most successful. That's where the greatest success in life comes from. Those relationships now could be what you were talking about, Bob, with, hey, you just connect with people and eventually good things come your way because you dedicated time to keeping in touch. Or it could be in the form of, hey, I spent every afternoon with my kids. I dedicated that time. Instead of seeing there on my phone or watching a movie and kicking them off to another room, I sat there with them and I read with them and I played with them. And that's just an amazing gift of time, right? They become well rounded people and they become, you know, they come to appreciate that. So there's all sorts of things there with this. And my pick here is, from the career perspective, is that, as you were saying, bob, you never know how this can change someone else's life. So, yes, in your case, it changed your life. You know, you connected with that person. And I've had many things like that. And the perfect example sitting right in front of me on the screen, you, over the years, how much time have we gifted each other? Would you say? That's actually an excellent example? Because it's just funny how that all started, because that was the most unlikely friendship, really, you know, being on opposite sides of the planet. But there, and that's the thing, right. I was booking overbooking your lab and you could just have been just the police officer and that. Right, like, stop booking and go away. Go away. Don't, you know, because it was kind of annoying, I guess. But no, you actually. And I have to give you that credit. Right? Like, you reached out and you became interested in what I was doing. Hence I kind of opened up and shared the project and told you about it and then that, you know, became a whole conversation. And then later, friendship was very easy for you just to not do that. Right? Or just police me around and even be annoyed about it and done. Right. But, yeah, I like what Derek Sivers says. I think he said, like, to be interesting, become interested. Right. And you became interested in what I was doing. Hence to me you became interested because, hey, it's not often that people take very, you know, relatively deep interest in your work. So that was really cool. Hence I entered that conversation, you know. Yeah. And the fact that you did as well. Right. I mean, there's. How many times have we all dealt with people where we show interest and you just get a brick wall of like, yeah, look, it's too complicated for you or. Don't worry about it. Right, over. I don't have time to talk about it. So. But you took that time as well. So the. Yeah, I learned where Australia was on the map. Just kidding. But you can see, right? I mean, when. When and when people reciprocate like that and you both gift each other time. That's when the magic happens. Right. And the time as well. Just a slight segue here from a personal perspective, doesn't need to be like an hour or an hour and a half. It can literally be 10 seconds. Right. And how many times do you receive a text message or a WhatsApp message or something and you go, I'll reply later. And then later never comes. Just those 10 seconds to respond to someone shows them that you. That you're willing to dedicate that time to them. It shows them that you care. There is always this essence of caring, this essence of kindness. Right. And. And like today, it's one of my mates birthdays, you know, happy birthday, Frank. Not that he's ever going to listen to this, but it's his birthday today. And, you know, I just gave him a call. It was around 830 this morning. Didn't inspect, expect him to pick up. I picked out the phone, gave him a call and he went to voicemail. He was clearly busy. And I just left him a voicemail. Just say, hey, happy birthday. It took me a whole 35 seconds because, but you know, that little gift of time will mean something to him that, hey, here's a friend of mine who picked up the phone to call me on my birthday. He's thinking of me. He remembered, you know, so little things like that go a long way and that's how, you know. So with you, Bob, we've been friends since what, 2006 or something? No, I think nine or so, but yeah, a long time. Yeah, a long, too long. Um, and, and Frank, you know, for the purpose of the conversation, you know, I met him in 2010. So it's, you know, these are long relationships that have formed because of those little mini gifts of time that obviously now flourish into you and I spending what, 3 hours a day together. Yeah, but I like what you said about the little things, right? Like Jim Brown is saying, like the little things that are easy to do but also easy not to do. And yeah, most often they fall in the, in the not to do bucket because you forget or you know, you get busy. Yeah, 35 seconds, man. Voicemail guy will light up. Right. He will, he will love that. And it took you 35 seconds, right. So it doesn't take much time or effort, right. But it can have significant impact and even bring it back to the career. Right. If a colleague asks her for help, it might just take you five or ten minutes, but make, can make all the difference if the person is seriously stuck and you get them unstuck. Right, exactly. Person will remember that. Right. So it just genuinely feels good as well. Yeah. So, but here's the thing now, and here is the balance to all of this based on our history, productivity, right, you, you, the choice now is based around your own productivity. So for example, people coming to you asking for help, all that sort of stuff, saying yes, it doesnt need to be on the spot. So when people come to me and ask for support with their python or see if I can help them code a solution to this or come up with a can this be automated, that sort of stuff. When those conversations happen, when people ping me, I dont respond straight away. So im respecting my time here and im setting that expectation that hey, I will gift you my time, but it needs to suit us both. Needs to be win win and then ill book a call with them and well sit there for half an hour and then well do it. But it, at a time that suits us both. It's not instantaneously, it's not ruining my flow and my deep work. Same with, you know, picking up the phone to call Frank. That was this morning at 830 before I got into any deep work. And it was, you know, I wouldn't just pick up the call in the middle of writing an article or a blog post or an, or an email or something like that, you know, not when I'm in that zone. So gift the time, but do it wisely. It is something that there is this balance here to it that is very difficult to do, but it just comes with practice, just comes with being intentional about it. So theres my slight balance to it. Thats a good point because it can be very easy to forget to respond at all or how many emails did you never get a reply to? Right. But then the tip here is to just give a quick heads up, takes you 10 seconds, and then just get it on the task list to book a call or whatever at a later date. So you still are responsive, but you're also being productive. So you're saying these can coexist, right? Yeah, definitely. And if you set those expectations right, like, especially with slack, people know that I will not respond straight away on slack. I've set that expectation with everyone. A time zone difference is the biggest thing. But it's also, I've turned off slack notifications everywhere so I don't get pop ups. I have to get to my intentional time where I jump in a slack and that's it. So yeah, yeah, that's all. Another discussion. But yeah, you can't manage that. Yeah, I muted you on WhatsApp and now I cannot get it back. But I live with it. It's actually comfortable. I just pull when I want to hear you, man. Shit. No, no. It's like a technical issue. I want a notification. Oh, but you. Yeah, right. Broken. Anyway. All right, so we wrap it up. So thank you all for listening. Bob, before we end it, any books you're reading? Yeah, I finished. Made to stick my chip. Oh, well, it's on the reading list. It's kind of a marketing book, copywriting, but it's also very generic in the sense that we all write. Right, be it emails. And this is about how to make your writing more engaging, using more stories. Very practical, very inspiring book. And on the technical front, finished Harry Percival's Django TDD book, which is really good. Really good. So I already recommended this other book, the design panners one, but this one is as good. Yeah. If not better. Yes, it's within a Django setting, but man, it goes into TDD and a lot of software best practices. It's a really good book, so you don't necessarily have to know a lot of Django. You can just read it for the software that side as well. Yeah. Nice. I almost thought you said a book by Harry Potter, not Harry Percival. No. That's awesome. And we'll have those links in the show notes of the episode August on the reading list we have now. Yeah, yeah, that's right. We'll link to that. I'm not reading anything, so I'm just. I took a book on the trip. I was reading that. Creating a workplace of culture or whatever that book was called, but yeah, since getting COVID, man, haven't been able to focus, I sat here and tried to read the books and what was it, the crypto book that I was up to that we discussed the other time, and I couldn't do it. I just couldn't do it. So, yeah, I'm. I'm guilt free watching the new season of Stranger Things, so I finished the first episode of that today and. Feels good. Nice. Well, you got your weekly mindset call as well. Yeah, sure. Yeah. Gotta get. Get all over that this week. Um, hey, before we wrap it up, anything interesting happening in PDM that people should know about? Well, the code clinics are amazing, if you don't say so yourself. No, no, I've just. Just. I already shared it as a win a little bit. Right. But just. Just the insight yesterday, just by live coding and having people chiming in and, you know, it's almost like a pair programming session that you drive and people were pulling in path lip and it's a really nice win win situation. Yeah. So. And they're building all kinds of cool stuff. Right. So it's just a joy to help our Pdmers and see those applications coming out of the ground. And above all, beating tutorial paralysis. Yeah, that's right. I mean, everyone who joins jumps in with some level of tutorial paralysis and imposter syndrome and seeing them overcome it is just one of my favorite things to do. I love it. Um, yeah, sorry, I just thought I'd share with everyone listening. Just a little sneak peek. I put Bob on the spot for that. He didn't know I was going to ask that question. Oh, unscripted here. All unscripted. It's all unscripted. Yeah, I'm standing here in my pajamas. It's totally unscripted. All right, well, look, thank you, everyone, as usual, for listening. We appreciate your company on these podcasts. It's wonderful to have you here and listening every week. So, as usual, if there's anything you would love to hear us talk about, please send us an email info at pybytes or message us on slack. Do we have a dedicated podcast channel on our slack? I think we do. Pretty sure we do. You can also hop in there. There you go. And let us know your preferences. So thanks for listening, and we'll be back next week. We hope you enjoyed this episode. To hear more from us, go to Pibyte friends, that is Pibit es friends, and receive a free gift just for being a friend of the show and to join our thriving slack community of python programmers, go to Pibytes community. That's Pibit es forward slash community. We hope to see you there and catch you in the next episode.