39. Can Bergs Dunk Yet? And Ben’s New Strategy To Spend Less Time On Social Media
2 Feb 2023 · 23 min
Episode 39 of The Entrepreneurial Playbook (podcast) — a conversational episode between hosts Ben Simpson and Bergs covering personal updates: Ben's experiment to reduce social media use with an app (Opal), impacts on sleep and productivity, meme/meal-of-the-week segments, dating anecdotes about steak doneness, and Bergs' progress and training plan to be able to dunk. The tone is informal, humorous, and self-improvement focused.
Questions this episode answers
Ben Simpson and Bergs
39. Can Bergs Dunk Yet? And Ben’s New Strategy To Spend Less Time On Social Media
February 2, 2023
16 years (if he continues at his current rate)
115 kg
Chapters
This app, what you can do is you can set working times and you can basically block apps from being open. The apps that get. Get me a LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. So what it does is actually locks them out for a certain period of time. You can break it, you can go in and give me break time, but the more times you go in and take a break from not using social media, it increases the time it takes you to be able to unlock the apps. Yeah, so when I went to the toilet, just before I went to open up Instagram, I couldn't open it. Went to take a break, but I had to. I had to wait 15 seconds to take a break. And in that time I was able to go, fuck this. What am I doing? I don't need to go on Instagram. I put the phone away, didn't use Instagram. So this focus, back to what we spoke about, this whole episode is what I'm really focusing on. Plus the gym, plus social media. I'm getting more efficient and more productive on things that matter, which is, for me, the business right now growing my social media. Rather than mindlessly scrolling and consuming, I want to be creating, not consuming.
All right, folks, meme of the week. Let's go. Let's share this screen. Okay, we'll start off with just a nice little LinkedIn. Just little pop up that says, your intro is saved. Displaying your pronouns helps create inclusion and belonging on LinkedIn. And of course, whenever you offer something to someone, there is always going to be some idiot that takes it too far and there's going to be acts of malicious compliance. So normally you'd see, you know, pronouns as he, him, they, them, and it's just how people want to be addressed. Now I got this lad, Jack reigns. So what does he do? He goes along and changes his pronouns to we them boys. Oh, my God, this just cracked me up. This guy, he's an absolute crack up on Twitter. And I could just imagine, like people going to his profile and just go, yeah, we them boys. And then people actually, like trying to address him as we them and boys and how to use those pronouns. Absolutely cracking. Well done. Jackie gave me a good laugh.
Next meme, we've got Baby Yoda. Good old Grogu. He's in a hammock and he's just asleep. And the caption is me after watching 10 minutes of something on Netflix that took me an hour to choose. And this just hit me way too hard, way too hard. I've even got my list set up on. On Netflix. And all the other apps of stuff I want to watch, I go through that. Not on and watch it. And I spent like six hours trying to find something. I'm like, great, this is gonna be awesome. Press play. Bang asleep. That's what Netflix is these days. It's not about watching the thing, it's about getting to sleep.
It's about choosing.
And we got a final one.
Atheist Republic has asked, what's the cruelest thing that's ever been said to you? And Devlin has said, my mother told me I should carry a plant around to replace the oxygen that I wasted. God damn. And under that, it's just got the carved out stones going.
So good. Absolutely destroyed by your own mum. Cannot believe it. There you go. Means of the week. And mate, let's just go straight into meal of the week. All right, I'll. I'll crank mine up first. And mate, these are a couple of porterhouses. Just look at those steaks. And this was my meal of the week because we went to our friend's house and we played some games and then it was like about time to go home and the missus was staying for a while. I'm like, no, I'm going to go home, I've got to cook. So I walked home. It's like a 15 minute walk. Was just beautiful. It was, it was pretty hot, but it was just great. Came home, was feeling great after the walk and just threw these steaks on. This little weather going anywhere. So we got two porterhouses here, here. And mate, just, just look at that, just straight over lump charcoal. Delicious. Look at that burning the fat on them as well. Nice flames coming off it. The smell was just absolutely incredible. There's a steak. You got the, the steak looks great. Token salad on the side, you know, just a bag of salad. Throw it on there. You have to eat it, you have to get it done. And this is just what the steak was like inside. It was just perfect. Medium rare, end to end, absolutely delicious. And I had a, had a rub on there, just salt, pepper, garlic, and it was just incredible. I'm going to give this meal a 10 out of 10, mate. I do not know how I could improve that meal. It was just the whole experience.
I have a question for you. So I went out for steak on Saturday night and I ordered medium and man, this thing was mooing like. It was like it, it was. I didn't think it was medium. I'm not one to take something back or ask for it to be cookable because I was felt rude. But what do you got here? Is this like for our listeners, what's, what's medium? Like, what's the, what's the color? What's the feel?
Sure. So medium is medium well. So that is between medium rare and well done. So what you would expect is. Let's just look at this photo here. Let's say Your steak is 1 cent or 2 centimeters long. 2. An inch thick. An inch thick. You would expect like the first maybe, I don't know, 10 or 20% of it to be gray, then slightly go pink and then a little bit more pink in the middle. That's what medium is. So this one here is perfect medium.
This thing was, this thing was. Mate, it was blue in the middle.
So this is the thing. People, especially at restaurants, what you'll get served is, the thing that you want will be exactly what it is in the middle. If they don't have their processes down, if they cook it fresh from the fridge and they don't let it come to room temperature, it's going to be extra cold in the middle. And when you're going through a steak, you can have it. You can have it raw, which people just don't do. That's only for specific types. You can have it blue, which is room temperature in the middle. And that's, that's pretty up there. My, the way I like to eat my steak is called rare plus, which is probably like just a little bit rarer than this. This is medium rare. And then you get medium well and then you get well done, which is just gray, just cold. And then you can get even more cooked after that, which you just shouldn't do. So if that ever happens to you at a restaurant, that happens to me all the time. Send it back. You're paying a lot of money for a steak. You've ordered it a specific way. If they've not cooked it in that way, be like, this isn't what I've ordered. You know, send it back. So I always order rare plus at a restaurant and it comes out medium rare because for some reason people just overcook steak and that's why I find it very difficult to eat out.
Well, mate, I had a date on Saturday nights. I didn't want to be that. That was sending the steak back on the, on the old first date, mate. So I was like, I just copped it.
No, mate, see, I would have sent it back and be like, look, excuse me, this isn't what I've ordered. And because, you know, I'm not soft.
I do the hard no, you're married.
No, you're married.
Okay? For all that. All those single listeners out there.
No, no, no, no.
You know what? I'm. You know what? You know what I'm talking about.
Let's. Let's. Let's. Let's dig into this. Ben. What. What did you think you would have signaled if you sent that stake back? What were you worried about showing your date?
That I look like a complainer?
A real complainer. This fancy dude that, like, doesn't. Doesn't. Isn't happy with what he's given. Not grateful. This guy's just a wanker who sends a steak back.
Everyone.
And especially if it's, like, if it's still mooing and you ordered it, well, like, it's a difference. If it's overdone, then it's like, okay, but if it's something you specifically don't want to eat or you're uncomfortable with or it's just not right, like, just in, you know. Excuse me. Sorry. This isn't the way I ordered it. Can you please just cook it a bit more for me? Thank you. Like, do you not. Do you think that would signal weakness and awkwardness rather than strength and being assertive?
No. No, it doesn't. It doesn't. Not weakness. It doesn't show weakness. It shows potentially on a first date. You've just met this first person.
First impressions count. Most, it can, I think, come across like you're being wanky, like nothing's good enough. You're not being grateful, like, just eat it. Like. Anyway, listeners, all right, I want to hear. I want to hear single guys and gals out there. If you're on a first date and your date is taking their stake back, what are you thinking? Are you thinking this guy's great, or gals great? Assertive. You like that? Are you going, who the fuck is this Blokes in this date back, I want to know. Shoot us a message on twitter. Tweet@usimpsonau on Twitter, baby Backburg. And all you married ladies and lads out there, maybe you're in the camp of bergs. You guys know each other. You've been here 15 years. Nothing's off the tables. First impressions count. All I'm saying, I do think with.
A head like yours, you do have to be concerned about. About the little things, mate. Every little thing will count to make up for that dome. Look at that scone.
I need everything running in my favor, and setting a stake back is. Is not that now.
I get it, mate. Now I get it. Not only does it have a head like that, he also sent a stake back. Don't worry, I'm with you on this, mate.
And because, and because you care about yourself, your health and your life so much, this is what you've had for your meal of the week.
So for the listeners at home, my meal of the week this week usually is somewhere I've gone out for a meal, but this week it is a frozen strength meals package from Woolworths, a high protein Moroccan chicken, chickpea and pumpkin zapped up in the microwave. That I was living on this for about a week. Bugs. I was about two weeks off from having like a, like a good meal of the week and I was like, mate, let me just show you what I've actually been eating for lunch here. So here it is for all you again. Single lads and lads out, lettuces out there. You know the feels. There's microwave meals up in here. Crypto life, startup life, bachelor chow.
You've got 40 seconds to eat and.
I'm gonna give this a 3.9. It's not that great and usually I'm still hungry afterwards, but it is what it is, mate.
Hey, on your, on your date, did you pay for the. Did you pay for dinner?
Of course, mate. That's a bit chivalrous, isn't it?
Gentlemen?
I am the gentleman. I pay for dinner.
Fantastic. Mate, do you ever get the. No, we'll split it or is it just always cool?
No, I've had that before. I mean, I'm not actively dating so I can't say the, the sort of, the, the data is probably enough for, for a result there, but now more, more often than not, I'm paying. What about you, mate? I mean you're married, but single days, Are you paying?
Oh, yeah.
I mean, yeah.
I mean if I always think like if I asked them out to dinner, I'm gonna pay for dinner. You know, that's, that's just. Yeah, it just makes sense. Yeah.
All good, mate. Let's get into our accountability so we keep ourselves accountable. And Ben, you were like, oh, I don't do these weekly goals. I only do the big boy stuff. It's got to be at least quarterly or yearly, you know, talking it up. I only do big sweeping life changes, mate. And then I don't know why you got an English accent, but you do today. So I believe your accountability was. I'm going to start reading, I'm going to, going to go to the gym. I've got aura ring, I'm Going to fix my sleep. I'm just going to be human optimization. So we need to check in with you, mate. How is all of this going? How are you tracking with your reading, gym and sleep?
And it also was my social media, so that was the big one as well. I wanted to be consistent on social media. So first of all, focus has been a bit of a focus of mine. Playing words there. I don't know this app, but I'm spending too much. Bit of a wordsmith. Beautiful wordsmith. I have been spending a bit too much time on social media since I've been posting on social media. Right. The dopamine is just addictive as all hell. Not gonna lie.
I've certainly been replying at weird hours. So I'll be like up late because I can't sleep. I'll just have a quick flick, tick and flick, mate. And I'll be like, oh, Ben's post something. He's replied, he's liked, he's. I'm like, mate, it's going overboard.
So one of the biggest things about growing social media that I've learned is like really community and I love everyone that's sort of engaging with me. But it's really ramped up the last few weeks so there's. I've been getting like fair bit of commentary and stuff. I like to reply to everyone, this sort of commenting. But it's getting to a point now where it's like I walked out of the elevator the other day at the hotel on the wrong floor and put my key card in the wrong door while trying to tweet.
You sent me a message about that. I'm like, oh my God. I believe my reply was, ben, I think you need a guide dog just to help you out in life, mate. Like, you know, I'm somewhere where I don't know where I am. I was supposed to be over here. I put in the wrong door.
Look, I had to ask housekeeping where my room was because I genuinely didn't know I was on the wrong floor. Anyway, so I downloaded this app called Opal and I. And it connects on your. I don't know if this is on iPhone. It connects with your screen time. And this is. This hit me in the Fieldsbergs. This is what got me to pay for this app. Had to plug in some data and then it came up and told me how many years I will spend on my phone over the course of my life. Oh, mate, that number was 16 years I will spend on my phone. If I keep at the rate I'm going at 16 years of my life on my phone.
Do you know people on average spend eight hours on a screen a day? So if you spend eight hours sleeping, you've got 16 hours remaining. That's 50% of your waking life. So for those listening in, you can go on your phone now and you can go to digital well being or screen time and it'll show you in your phone how long you spent on there per day, like a seven day or 30 day chart and what apps you're using. So, and a lot of people would be surprised where of that. Let's say you're spending eight hours on there a day. And one of my mates was very surprised, three hours of it was Instagram.
Right.
Which is just incredible. So he's literally spending 30% or just under 30 of his life on Instagram.
Oh, that's insane. So it's crazy. This app, what you can do is you can set working times and you can basically block apps from being open. So if you look for those at home, the apps that get, get me a LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram. So what it does is actually locks them out for a certain period of time. You can break it, you can go in and give me break time, but the more times you go in and take a break from not using social media, it increases the time it takes you to be able to unlock the apps. Yeah. So when I went to the toilet just before I went to open up Instagram, I couldn't open it, went to take a break, but I had to, I had to wait 15 seconds to take a break. And in that time I was able to go, fuck this, what am I doing? I don't need to go on Instagram. I put the phone away, didn't use Instagram. So this focus back to what we spoke about, this whole episode is what I'm really focusing on. Plus the gym, plus social media, I'm getting more efficient and more productive on things that matter, which is for me, the business right now growing my social media rather than mindlessly scrolling and consuming, I want to be creating, not consuming. That's what I'm working on and it's going well.
That's so interesting where you wanted to focus on your social media, but it's also fueled your social media habit by replying, yes, but at least it's slightly productive. But it's affecting areas of your life and even you just go into the toilet now. That was a short break, right? And it was like, it's like very quick, like two minutes and you still pulled out your phone to go on Instagram. Like that compulsion is still there.
I would. I would bring up Twitter every time I go to the bathroom, I reckon, or the kitchen or anywhere.
Yeah, it is crazy. How's your sleep going, mate? And you're reading?
Has, but has been rough actually, since I. Because I was at home for a couple of months and now back on the road, like, first couple of nights was actually pretty. I was watching TV and just having a sleep. But last night, mate, it was good. Phone was away for two hours before bed. Red. Slept. Slept, you know, bloody good. So I just need to get back in the. You know, when I'm moving and traveling, I lose that routine. I need to get. I need to not lose a routine and get back in faster. So something to work on. But getting there, mate.
Fantastic, man.
All right, what do you got for me? How's your dunking going, mate?
All right, let me tell you a story. Long before your time. No, no, that's From Under One Roof. It's a classic show. It's amazing. Singaporean show. All right, Dunk update. So, first of all, I've been training like an absolute madman. So I've been lifting heavy, been getting out on the bike. I need to do more jump training, but I've been getting amongst that as well. It's tough on the knees, mate, I tell you. So every day I'm just exhausted. I'm doing something every single day. Even the other day, I was up at like, oh, it would have been like 8 or 9pm and I was knackered. Look, look, I was. And I'm just like, nah, I've had it. And I'm like, no, you know what? I was listening to David Goggins and he's like, you know your feelings. Fuck your feelings, motherfucker. And I'm like, you know what? Fuck my feelings. So I tell them this. I'm like, yeah, I'm going to go work out in half an hour. By this point, it's like 9:30. She's like, you got no chance. We talking about. And then it was literally 10 o' clock and I'm like, fuck that reverse car. Go into my garage and did one of the best lifting sessions I've ever done. And it was super late at night, I was on Zero Energy and I still managed to punch it out and it was amazing. And my latest thing is, I used to listen to music all the time. Nice catch there, mate. Ben just dropped his microphone.
Very unstable flat desk.
Hey, Goggins was saying he's like, he's like running down the road, he's like, people ask me why don't I listen to music? And I'm like, when the tires get hard, the music ain't gonna be there. He's so funny, mate. You gotta listen to this guy to get amped up. And then he was in the gym, he's like, hear this music pumping. This is some bullshit. And I was like, actually, like every time I do I work out, I either listen to a podcast or listen to music. And it does affect my mood is sometimes I'll wait for a song or I'll change a song or be like, oh, just to the end of this, stop doing that completely. So it's just silent. It's just me and my thoughts. And now my workouts are at least 30% faster. I'm not distracted and I'm just working out heaps better. So I'm at my all time high, deadlifting for sets as well, which is 115 kilos. I've lifted heavier like one time, like max, and I've got a lot left in the tank, but I'm just taking it slowly. Two and a half kilos per session and I'm feeling amazing. I can feel my habits changing. Like I've got this weirdness where I know I need to go and work out, otherwise I just don't feel right. Like it's like almost like pulling me away to the garage to go and work out. And the workouts just have more intensity and just working out without music or a podcast is like a cheat code. It is so, so good. That is amazing for me. All right, so dunking now I've got this little formula. Ben, I've crashed the numbers, man. I've got a formula. So dunking, there's a lot of areas you have to look at. Speed, technique, power, weight, how fat you are, right? And even just technique. Like I was trying to dunk the other day and I realized like when I kind of like go down and do the technique that, you know, I've looked up, it's like, no, like the muscles you have to tense and the order in which you do it and how fast you spring out of that all matters so much. And even just doing this whole thing, working out is not a linear path. So over Christmas, like I could touch the ring before Christmas, Christmas came in, start eating some ham, started eating too much dessert, started drinking a bit, was just a bit off the rails and my everything went downhill. But I was consistent with my workouts, put on Some kilos got a bit slower and even now I'm not working out at breakneck speed. I'm trying to avoid injury, getting it slightly better each workout and I will achieve my goal. And it's the military saying where slow, smooth and smooth is fast. So I was slightly off touching the ring and now I went back yesterday I went for a ride, stopped at the basketball court, had a couple of goes and now I can touch the ring and I'm almost getting my fingers over the ring. And I'm also convinced I'm actually gonna go to like a proper like, you know, indoor court where it's measured. The one I go to is one of these like ghetto rings in a park where you know you're gonna get.
Stabbed, where it's just like the chain net.
It doesn't even have a net, mate. What are you talking about? Oh, and it's not even a round ring. It's like, like a flat like kind of one. And you know it's got one of those just this square pavement thing that's not even a three point line. Like it wouldn't even make it that far. So God knows how, how tall this thing is. I reckon it's way above like, you know, the, the three meter thing. I'm literally going to take a measuring tape and measure it. But I'm going to start like training properly, going to basketball courts and I will achieve this goal. It may take longer than I think. I originally set the Feb. End of Feb. Goal. The bet I have with my mate JB was for three months after that. So fair to end of June or May. April. May. June. Yeah, June.
Mate. I'm getting there, I can feel it. And I'm actually considering like a lifting or jumping coach. So I'm going on that path now. But I'm going to hit a plateau and I reckon at some point I will need to get a coach to get me over the edge and get that technique going.
What up, mate? I, I remember when I wanted to try and dunk when I was like 14 playing basketball and I saw these jump programs like this, literal programs to maybe like to actually help you dunk. So good on you, man.
Well, we'll.
I do want to see the video evidence at some point when you, when you achieve it, have to mate. Otherwise.
Mario. Well, we'll wrap it up there. Thanks everyone for listening. This was the entrepreneurials playbook and scaling up what it takes to win the lessons from Founders. Plus our normal weekly personal update. I hope you've enjoyed, if you like these episodes, we'd love for you to share it with a friend. A couple of cracker episodes we've done recently you have to check out is how to build wealth tax free, work remotely, and travel the world with Reese Skillin. That was a cracker episode. Nearly at our all time high. Actually, it would be our all time high downloaded across podcast and YouTube now, so check that out. And also the how I spent 52,000 advisors in 2022 and also the how we use AI and ChatGPT in our business. Well, that was a cracker episode as well. So there's some new episodes. If you haven't checked those, go do that. We'd always love your feedback. Please tweet at us @benSimpsonau, on Twitter and at Babyback. Berg and Bergs will see everyone next week.
Thanks for listening everyone.
Thanks guys.