Feb 8, 2021
Unseen Work with Myles Biggs
As a podcaster, marketer, and personal coach he loves helping others uncover their talents and then share them with the world. When he's not creating content, you can find him consuming copious amounts of caffeine, exploring the outdoors, and making memories with his family.
His first book, Unseen Work, recently became available for sale and is based on his TEDx Talk.
Hi I'm Myles Biggs
I take people from frustrated to fired up, from confused to crystal-clear, and from Unseen to Seen.
In 2017, I went searching for more. My day job was no longer scratching my creative itch and I knew that I was meant for more than sitting behind a desk. So, I began work on my first podcast, Relish The Journey.
After interviewing hundreds of people from all over the world, one thing became abundantly clear:
I wasn’t alone
While learning how my guests built and scaled successful companies, became best-selling authors, won reality TV shows, or simply found happiness in a hobby, I learned that most people feel this longing inside, this quest for more. And, while we see others for the successes they achieve, what we do not see is what it took them to get there.
The Unseen Work.
All these years later, this personal realization of mine has blossomed into a TEDx Talk, a book, and a Mastermind community. I’m passionate about helping people actualize their potential and feel the sense of pride and impact that I am grateful to feel today.
Full Transcript Below
www.thebusinessofbusinesspodcast.com
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (00:02):
Hello, and welcome to another episode of the business of business podcast. I'm Roy, we've got an awesome guest. We're going to jump right into tonight. Myles Biggs has joined us and going to be talking to us a little bit. He is an author, a TEDx speaker, and a podcasters just put out his first book on scene work. And when I saw the title, I knew that we had to talk so Myles. Thanks for joining us today. Really appreciate you taking time out of your day to be here.
Myles (00:33):
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (00:34):
So, uh, let's just jump right into it. Unseen work. Um, tell us a little bit about the, you know, what does that mean exactly. And, uh, what kind of got you going down the path to write this?
Myles (00:48):
Sure. So the book is called Unseen Work. The subtitle is why the best past to your goals is not always a straight line. So what it means is, you know, I've noticed in my time as a podcast, or I'm sure you have as well, whenever I'm talking to somebody, that's doing something really, really cool. Say they've published a book or they're running a top top to your business. You get them on the podcast for that thing, that thing that you can see, right. But the greatest stories happen when they start telling you about the stuff you can't see, right? The, on the scene work. So we get really infatuated with the finish line of getting to some thing in the future that'd be, want to be seen for, right. But we learn the most. We grow the most. We can be the happiest while we're actually getting there.
Myles (01:40):
And so my podcast is called relish the journey. It's very similar motif then to the unseen work. And I think they kind of go hand in hand that it's really a challenge to folks to realize that, you know, you need to relish the journey that path towards getting seen. There's a lot of really great things that happen that you can leverage to accelerate that pathway, to be seen if you know what they are. Uh, they being that types of unseen work. If you know, the types of unseen work are when you're aware of them, you can start putting them to work and, uh, speed up that a trip you're on towards that finish line, whatever it is for you.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (02:15):
I think that's such a great message. And I'm going to kind of talk to the younger, the younger audience for men at that, you know, we get so focused on the, the goal, the end thing we forget to enjoy the, the life that we have getting there. Or we're so busy trying to build a business. It's like, well, I'll wait until, uh, you know, I want to wait until I hit this number of revenue before I take a vacation or this or that. And, you know, we can end up putting our life off. Uh, so anyway, I think that's, it's awesome to, to think about all that other stuff that we do and how it enhances our life. Just another quick story. I, um, you know, I talked to another guy, uh, not long ago and, um, same thing. He he's, he, when he was younger, he took some time off, went on a, uh, uh, just a trip around Africa and everybody told him it's going to kill your career. Don't do it. But he said, when he came back, people were more interested in his six months. They took off than they were in his, uh, school or his past work histories that, you know, we'd breeze over all that. And then be like, so tell me about this trip and you know, how was it to her in Africa? So anyway, very important, very important. I think we miss the, a lot of us missed the Mark on that. So, awesome. I'm glad you put this out.
Myles (03:36):
Thanks. Yeah. And actually that example you gave, um, plays really well into just a brief explanation of the types of unseen work. So in the book, I go over three different types, generational on seeing work active on seeing work and passive on see work. I think you just did is a good example of passive on scene. Work. This guy say you're trying to get a job. And people think this trip to Africa in no way is related to that job, but things passively compound unrelated things. When you look back and play hindsight is 2020, you see how they actually help you towards reaching a goal, right? And so that's one of the example of if you know, what's happening in the moment, you can make better use of these seemingly unrelated things and use them to your advantage. So that's passive active on same work as your typical goal setting.
Myles (04:26):
I want to go from point a to point B and what's my pathway to get there. And then generational on-scene work is the idea that everything that we do that we're able to do is really because of the people that came before us. And I like who I am and the opportunities I have are because of what my parents did because of what their parents did. And so the book starts there because I really believe that before you decide where you're going to go, you have to have a really good understanding of where you came from. And then you get to decide, what do you keep? What do you discard from the generational stuff? Like sometimes it's not great. Sometimes there's stories that your family tells you that isn't true or doesn't align with where you want to go. So you've got to get rid of that stuff, keep the good stuff, and then you get to decide where to go next. So, yeah,
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (05:11):
No, I think that's an awesome point to make because you know, we talk about that. All, I talk about that a lot in business planning and I try to give away my age just a little bit and say, you know, when I was younger, we actually had a paper map that you unfolded and we had to read it before we went on the trip. And so in order, you know, maybe I know I want to drive to Chicago, but if I don't know where I'm starting at, how do you even pick that route out? So I think it's really important to do a little self-reflection personal life career, wherever we are to to think about that for just a minute, you know, really where are we right now? What are our strengths, weaknesses? And just take some stock in us for a minute. Absolutely. You know, we don't, I don't think we tend to do that.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (05:56):
We're trying easily so busy, you know, fighting the fires of the day that we don't really sit down and, you know, think logically and planning about our personal life like we should. And then, uh, so the generational that's the people that came before us. And, um, you know, I think that's another great point to make is that, um, we are shaped, you know, by all those people, I guess your parents, grandparents, we learned so much from them, but we, we do have the choice to pick the good stuff and the bad stuff and decide what we want to use out of that lesson.
Myles (06:32):
Yeah. You don't have to do the exact same thing they did. Right. Or you have to make those own choices. And I talked to so many people that are just trapped by that story they've been told, or now they're telling themselves that kind of have to shake them awake and get them out of it to realize that, you know, it's your life. Nobody else's, you have to own it. Yeah,
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (06:50):
No, it does one of these factor more into, um, the, the equation than one of the others. Are they all pretty equal or is everybody just different?
Myles (07:02):
Yeah, I think everybody's different. And I think every situation is different. It's a very dynamic concept where your unseen work today might be different than it is tomorrow and five years from now. Right. And it's going to change, but it's just being aware of it and knowing when and where to acknowledge it and use it. So depending on who you are and what you're working towards, what you want to be seen for it's, it's gonna it's that's, what's going to dictate the incidental question. Okay. Yeah. But they're all, they're all equally important. I think it's just like a tool, right? Any tool you need a hammer, you need nails, you need a screwdriver, you know, it just depends what job you're doing, which tool you pick up to you. Right.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (07:43):
Yeah. And it, you know, the unseen work too. Um, I think we talked a little bit about this the other day, but the, um, we look at a lot of people as overnight successes and we think, um, wow, that guy just came out of nowhere. We never think about all the unseen work that people put in in order to be very successful. Typically it's not easy. And a lot of people, you know, there's a lot of effort, whether it's sports or business or whatever, there's a lot of effort that goes in that people never really see or understand.
Myles (08:20):
Totally. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (08:21):
And I feel like in our personal life, excuse me, that, you know, that's, uh, it's the same thing. We've got to put that work in on ourself, you know, in order to, to move toward the goal that we, that we're, you know, we want at this time and the other thing too is it's okay to, um, it's okay to change. You know, we may start down that path, but as we do situations change, maybe we've found something we liked better. One more it's okay. To, to redirect as we down that path.
Myles (08:57):
Yeah. A lot of people don't because they feel like now I'm gonna have wasted all this time. Now if I, I was halfway through and now I jumped, right. That's where, that's where I like the different types. Right. So if you're actively pursuing something, you know, an example I've given the book is I used to take flight lessons. So I got about halfway through my pilots license. I soloed an airplane and then I stopped, my son was born. I was exhausted. That's not a good idea to get up in the air and fly playing with no sleep. Right. But then, you know, like that like three years go by and you know, I'd have to basically start all over again. And it just, at that point, I don't have the same need for a pilot's license as I did when I started it. Would've just been for fun.
Myles (09:38):
Yeah. It's I stopped. But, so I was, I was in the middle of active on scene work. Right. People would have seen just the pilots license and they can make any determination they want to about how easy or hard that was to get. Right. But I stopped. But now all that effort I put in to getting my pilot's license is part of my passive. Once he worked for something else, all the skillsets I learned for reading the maps and the charts for understanding the principles of flight and navigation and just the mental toughness that comes with takeoffs and landings. Like I'm not flying a plane anymore, but all of that I use someplace else. And so that's what I try to get through to people in the book in any conversation is like, there is no wasted effort. You just have to make the decision to not waste it. And that, that level of awareness is huge to making sure that you don't just throw it away, that you can bring it forward and everything else that you do.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (10:30):
Yeah. And you know, all those experiences that we gather along the way, and these trials and errors, you never know when it comes full circle. And we were able to do that. And I'll tell you the other part about that is it's a, uh, when you're, especially when you're in sales, but when you network, it's all, all of those things are, um, great conversation starters to try to talk with other people about is those like, uh, similar experiences that we all have. So it's a great point. There's really, that's nothing that's wasted.
Myles (11:03):
Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. So, um,
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (11:06):
What, what, what started you, what made you want to write this book? I mean, what, was there a, was there an event or something that happened or did the light bulb just go off one day?
Myles (11:16):
Yeah, it was, uh, it was a little bit of a light bulb moment. Um, so I, um, I was in a mastermind group, so people don't know what a mastermind group is. This one that I was part of, it was like an online networking group on personal development. And I just said this, I really wish I could remember the topic of conversation, but I remember writing down a note to somebody was saying something and it was like my reflection and I set it back to the group and everybody's like stopped and jaws hit the floor. And I was like, Oh, okay. Wow, that resonated with them. Right. And it was just this one line that I used in the Ted talk in the book. And it was, you have to do the unseen work so that when you are seeing you have something to show for it.
Myles (11:59):
So it started with just that line and then expanded to the talk into the book. And so I just had that line written down for a couple months and I kept thinking about it and I was kind of following me around in my subconscious. I remember that reaction for people. And then in a separate conversation with somebody they threw out randomly. I just, I was approaching a hundred episodes of my podcast at that time. And they said, Hey, have you ever thought of your podcast as market research for a book? And I had not thought of that at all, as you could probably test through, right. You just kind of like focused on one episode on a time and you're not thinking a book, right. One more thing for me to do.
Myles (12:39):
But once they said that, that, that didn't leave me alone either. That was just like punching me in the back of my head every day, just thinking about it. And so I sat down and started really listening to my podcasts. Um, so I started episode one and I had a hundred at that time. And I started going, going forward. I didn't make it to a hundred, but I made it's like episode like 18, I think. And I realized that, um, I was taking notes and just kind of journaling, like what was, I was like, what I was reflecting on and listening to this person and just seeing if there was any theme there. And I started to notice what I said earlier about this person I was interviewing who had done this really cool thing. When I started to ask them how they got there, what advice they would give, like what shaped them as a person that unseen work idea kept coming forward and coming forward and coming forward.
Myles (13:27):
And so I listened to more podcasts, had more ideas, and then eventually they had, I think I ended up with nine total examples in the book of guests from the podcast. And each of them fit into either generational, active or passive on see work. And so I tell the principles of once he works through their stories and then pepper in my own stories. So started as that kernel of like a one-liner. I said that it had a reaction and then that offhanded comment from somebody that when I took the time to actually think about it, I realized I had something. And then once I realized I had something I just wrote, I don't know, at least half an hour, every single day for about four months. Wow. And that's what gave me the manuscript. And then from there it was a bunch of editing and yeah. And here we are. So,
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (14:12):
Well, I think it's kind of an interesting concept because I think you just wrote your own journey. It's kind of, it's kind of, uh, I guess your path, because you don't think about it. I mean, you just look and think, Oh, this guy wrote a book it's on the bookshelf. You know, maybe he took some words and typed them into a keyboard or whatever, but you don't think about, you know, the hours and hours and hours that people have, you know, have the number one, the podcasting, just to get the episodes done. But then also going back, listen to them, you know, taking the time to write the manuscript. I mean, it's, uh, that's a lot of unseen, a lot of unseen work.
Myles (14:53):
Yeah. Yeah. It, it's kind of ironic how I'm writing about this idea that it became very, very prevalent in my life. Especially this year, it was 2020, right? Oh my gosh. It's the year of unseen work for everybody. We're all in quarantine and stuck on our homes and who knows where it's going to end. So the timing was your Seren serendipitous there. But my goal from the start was, you know, I wanted to give the Ted talk first and then publish the book. So I didn't touch too much on that. But at the same time, I started writing a manuscript. I was made aware there was a Ted TEDx event in my area. They were accepting speaker nominations. And so I was like, okay, I had this idea for the manuscript. Let's see if it works. And I'll, I'll, I'll pitch it to the Ted people.
Myles (15:38):
And if they like it, then I know I probably have something because they get a lot of different speakers. Plus they see more of this stuff than I do. So I'll see what they think. And I'll use it as kind of a test. If it, if it hits there, then the book will work was my fault. And so it did, I, I wrote my application, they asked me to do a five minute version of my speech to audition from there. I got it. And I had to write a 15 minute version of my speech and then do that at the Ted event. Oh, wow. Ted event was supposed to be an April, you know? Oh, we all know what happened in March. Right. So I had the book written and edited and ready to publish right after the Ted talk in April and then COVID happened and I just put the brakes on all of it.
Myles (16:19):
And so I went from writing this idea and making the book to then just completely living out the idea because I had it all ready to go, but couldn't do anything with it yet. And so the whole, from April to October, when the event actually took place six months of me just getting ready while no one's watching right. For the conversation you're having right now. So to your point about, I wrote my own journey. I absolutely did. I ended up writing about it and living it and now I published it and I have even more to talk about with it.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (16:48):
So how has that changed you? Um, you know, I know writing the book and getting it out there in the TEDx talk, all that is, you know, it's fabulous for exposure and getting you out there, but you know, I'm sure as you wrote this book, there was probably a lot of that. Uh self-reflection and taking stock of yourself. I mean, is there anything that you came to any other conclusions on during that process?
Myles (17:16):
For sure. Um, the, the biggest thing for me is I realized that I was one of those people that was focused on like super far off in the future. Like one day I'd love to be seen for XYZ. Right. But I never really got those things, you know, was a bucket list guy that I'd say, I'd say stuff like I'm going to write a book. And I write for like four hours one day and be so excited. And then it would just like die. And I never finished the book. I literally have three started books in my Google docs before this one that I never finished until this. So what I learned was, and I think it's an important part of this whole process for me was it's not about the, the macro result that you're looking for. It's those micro efforts. Right? So like I said, I literally wrote this book it half hour a day, sometimes less.
Myles (18:04):
Sometimes it would be like five minutes at the gym on my phone. I'll get an idea. And I type into a notepad on my phone and come back to it. Or I would do a voice dictation on my phone while I'm walking my dog and I'm writing the book that way, but it was just very, very small pieces, but that small, consistent effort over and over and over again, resulted in the book, resulted in a Ted talk. And so I think that's the biggest thing I learned about myself is that I need to break things down into even smaller pieces. Right. And I thought I had small, actionable, measurable, achievable goals before, but I really didn't. They weren't granular enough. I learned that when I break a really big thing down into super, super small pieces, then I'm much more successful at it.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (18:46):
Yeah. Now, did you actually take a pencil and paper and make an outline or, you know, is this more just, uh, thoughts that you kept in your head, you know, for the, for breaking things down to have the smaller bits and pieces?
Myles (19:02):
Yeah. So I, I, I did do pen and paper, but I did, uh, electronically did have an outline that I worked from. And then that helped, um, I got the whole thing out of my head. Right. You put the whole thing on an outline, so you don't forget about it. Right. But then you go back and just focus on that one piece and then you do that one piece and you do the one next piece. And then all of a sudden those pieces become a Ted talk or a book or insert, whatever else whoever's listening to. This is working on. Right. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (19:27):
So along that journey, uh, you know, and, and once you created the outline, you kind of got started, did, uh, you know, and, and I'm like you in the beginning, you know, I've got three or four book titles that I've got and then, you know, maybe got the outline and just, uh, you know, you just find, you kind of run into the wall. I mean, what are some things that you did to kind of help you when you ran into the wall to, to push through or keep going?
Myles (19:55):
Yeah. Yeah. That's a great question because you definitely run into the wall, especially with writing. There are some days where I did not want to write at all. I felt like what I wrote was absolute garbage and it was when I went back and read it. Right. Um, but what I found was if you want to break through that wall, the only thing you can do is to keep running into that wall. Right, right. So it was no matter how motivated I felt I sat down and I wrote for half an hour and sometimes it wasn't even about the book. I would just start writing, like whatever random thoughts came into my brain, talk about the breakfast. I just stayed before I sat down at the computer, you know, like anything to shake the cobwebs off and to keep that exercise going. And some days that was it, that's all I had.
Myles (20:39):
But then other days I'd be 20 minutes into my garbage writing. And I would just enter that flow. And all of a sudden good stuff would be out. But if I just had that expectation, I'd sit down and, you know, magic would flow from my fingertips. From the first second I tied, I do the effort. It's just not the case. So I just feel like we all have this weird notion of like writing a book is going away to some writer's cabin and an emerging through years later with a white beard and, you know, smelling like whiskey. And now you're a novelist and I can work for some people and maybe it did back in the day. It, but you know, I, I have a full-time job. I didn't quit my job to write a book. Um, husband, father, like I fit, I had to fit it around my life. Right. And so I'm on my lunch break, the kids taking a nap, you know, you already sleep in and I'm just getting my thoughts down. And then over time, it's about four lawns doing that every like every day, not just five days a week, seven days a week for months. Yeah. I had a book.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (21:41):
Yeah. Interesting. So what are some other takeaways that, uh, you know, that we can gain out of the book?
Myles (21:49):
So besides the types of unseen work, which really set up for the foundation, I think a lot of things that hold us back from hitting, whatever it is we want to be seen for is our relationship with failure. And so I have some frameworks in the book around failure because failure happens, whether we like it or not. So much of the greatest things in our life start with failure. So that's what we do with that failure, especially when nobody's watching, that's going to dictate how we react to a failure that happens when everybody's watching grass. So those two frameworks are called flip.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (22:25):
I was going to say, before you get into that, I'm gonna tell everybody, get a pen and paper, because you're going to, you're going to want to write this down. I mean, this is awesome. I didn't mean to interrupt you, but yeah,
Myles (22:35):
No, it's fine. It really, it means a lot to me that you liked it. It's fun for me to hear your reaction. When we talked about this off air, I was like, cool. I love those moments. Cause it makes me feel good that, you know, it's not just me that thinks this is cool.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (22:46):
Yeah. And it resonates. I mean, it's not only a good acronym, but it really resonates with the point you're trying to make.
Myles (22:52):
Yeah. So it's flipping flock. Like we started to say, so the F the FH of those is failure. Like I said, everything starts with failure. It's it's you get to decide, are you going to keep going? Or are you going to give up? So flip is fail, learn, improvise, pivot. And so when we can flip a failure in my mind, that's when you turn a weakness into a strength and you, you become the type of person that doesn't really truly fail. It's more of a setback at that point, right? Because you just need to take a step back recalibrate, and then go after it again and try again. So it's learning and it's fine. You learn through failure and iterations. So fail, learn, improvise, pivot. The opposite of that is when you flop. So I love flop just because to me, I visualize face down on the floor flat, like, so flop is fail, a lie, obsess pretend.
Myles (23:49):
And we all flop every day. I mean, you might not call it that, but this is when something's not going your way and you're blaming everybody else. But now, instead of you, you're lying about the fact that you even care about this thing, that didn't go, right. You're obsessing over the fact that didn't go your way, and then you're pretending like it didn't happen. And just moving on to probably make the same mistake again, deprive flop another time. And so I talk a lot in the book about examples of that and how with leveraging the different types of unseen work, you can have less flops and more flips and keep moving forward. And how you, your relationship with that while you're unseen will decide how quickly you get seen for whatever it is you want to be seen for. And then how you can sustain being in that spotlight.
Myles (24:35):
I think common analogy, right? You think of the lottery winner that wins millions of dollars. And he goes bankrupt. It's not the money that made them bankrupt, right? They weren't ready for the money. They weren't prepared. They hadn't put in the work on themselves. They didn't have the frameworks, the systems around themselves for how to deal with large amounts of money. And the same is true for success. If you don't know how to deal with success, if you don't know how to deal with the pressure, if you can't flip things that go wrong, then you flop, right. So that's, that's one of my favorite sections of the book is all the examples from my life and other people's lives that I've shared in the story about the flip flop and how you can use that in your approach towards whatever it is you want to be seen for.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (25:17):
Yeah. And I liked that point that you make about the sustainability, that if you, you know, it's just like building the foundation, we build the foundation with that unseen work. We're more apt to be able to sustain that success that we reach. Then, you know, if we, uh, just throw something out there, it becomes a success. And we really don't know how to follow that up. And sometimes, like you said, just the, the celebrity or, you know, being important for a day or two is enough to just tear you apart.
Myles (25:52):
Right? Absolutely. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (25:54):
You know, in FA I wish I had a graph paper because, you know, there's a good meme goes around. It's like people think, uh, the trajectory for success is, is like that just a straight line from the bottom left to the top. Right. And it's not, I mean, it's just, jagging, uh, some, some days that dips further than others and, you know, some, sometimes we go two or three days down and then we come back up. But I think, again, it's that perseverance. We can, we can either choose to flop or we can choose to flip. Yeah.
Myles (26:26):
Yeah. So funny you say that because that's why, I mean, if you're just listening and not watching right now, you can't see it, but that's why I put this era with the loop on the cover and why I say that the best path, isn't a straight line. It's like what you said, you got to go backwards and down and all around before you can go forward again. Right. And I think once you, once you accept that truly and realize it's going to happen, you're not as frazzled when it does happen. Right. And then you sort of smile to yourself when you're in that, take a step back a moment because you realize the only, the only thing to do now is to loop and go forward. Right. And so, yeah, it's a huge mindset shift. And I think it helps helped me. You asked to take away a big takeaway for me with this was how I process things in my own levels of stress and anxiety. Right. It's been huge for me in all the stuff between my years. Right. And in my head. So I'm excited for it to get in more people's hands and hopefully do the same for them.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (27:23):
Yeah. I mean, it's one of my favorite sands it's came out off of the golf course, but, you know, it's the toughest six inches on a golf course or the one between your ears. And, you know, we have to conquer that before we can conquer everything, you know, whether it's fitness, health, career, business, whatever it is, we have to get over that. And, you know, I had a priest, uh, he was a such an awesome guy that told me one time that, you know, our minds are grinders and they grind all the time, but we get to choose, you know, what they grind. And so if you flip that, pause the negative to a positive, and instead of grinding the negative of what bad has happened this morning, and, you know, we can grind that all day and the rest of our day we'll go that way, or we can turn it around and make a good day of it too.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (28:08):
And, uh, another example is there was a, uh, a guy that can't remember what it was all about, but basic message was that the obstacle is the way we have to, you know, we can't try to go around the obstacle. We have to go to it because that's part of our journey is actually finding a way to remove it. So, you know, it, it helps, I think this is all about mindset. It helps us to view that problems. Aren't catastrophic. It's not going to be the end of it. We just have to be patient enough and find the solution through it. Really.
Myles (28:46):
Yeah, yeah. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (28:48):
So, well, uh, is there anything else that, uh, you'd like people to know about the book before we wind it up,
Myles (28:58):
Did that without giving away the whole book or did teasers
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (29:05):
Well good. Well, so, um, before we let you go, so what is a, um, what is a tool or a habit or something that you use either in your day, in your daily life, whether work or personal that you just couldn't do without, and then the, the, the, a, the B part of that question is, has it changed from prior to riding, you know, starting the research and writing the book to now that you finished it?
Myles (29:31):
Sure. So, um, for me, the, the resource, I use a specific app and, you know, I should probably learn how to pronounce it, but it's either Scribd or scribed it's S C R I B D is the name of this app. And it's an audio book app, you know, it's similar to audible, but instead of paying per book, you pay a flat monthly fees, eight 99 a month, and you get unlimited titles. Okay. So I am a huge audio book guy. I buy listening to books. I actually read about a book a week. Oh, wow. Okay. And so that was, I mean, that was huge for me before, uh COVID-19 before writing a book, but it, you know, it might sound weird to say, you're writing a book. How are you going to be reading books? But I found it helpful. You know, when I was stuck in that wall moment, we talked about how do I say this?
Myles (30:24):
You know, listening, reading all these other people, and how are they saying things and just picking up on styles and word choices and how they structure their book. It was very helpful. Expose myself to all different ways of doing it. Tell me, figure out the way I wanted to do it. Yeah. So I was listening to it before the book, during the book and now after it, so has it hasn't changed, but I love it. Anytime I'm working out or walking my dog, instead of just silence or listening to the radio, or even a podcast, I'm listening to books on business, on personal development on whatever I decide. I want to read that day. Right. It's been cool.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (31:02):
Okay. Awesome. Now, so did that change, were there any habits that changed, like I said, uh, things that you may have done a certain way prior to doing the research and, uh, you know, completing unseen work, not necessarily just the writing of the book, but all the lessons that you learned while you were putting it together.
Myles (31:24):
Um, anything had changed like through that. Yeah.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (31:27):
Yeah. Any of your daily habits. Yeah. Any of your daily habits, things like that.
Myles (31:32):
Yeah. So some of the stuff, um, I don't know if it's so much changed would be the word I'd use, but I think just got clearer. Like I did. There are some things that I just I've stopped doing, and now things I like I'm religious about doing right. So I think it gave me some clarity on, um, getting very specific with my time. Right. And it's like, I'm doing this thing. What am I getting for this thing? Right. Like I only have so many hours of the day we all do. So getting, I had to get very, um, conscious about how I was spending them. Right. And focusing on what was going to get me towards my goal that I wanted to be seen for getting the book out. Right. So watched a lot less TV as an example, right. Doing, doing this at night instead of sleeping right now.
Myles (32:20):
Right. So it's, I've learned how to kind of tweak my day to know I can live with six hours of sleep. And so I wake up at this time, so I have a day job from eight to five. So that gives me these hours in between, right. What am I going to do? And, um, and break those down into those small pieces like I did in the writing exercise. And that's how, you know, it sounds arrogant when I say this, but a lot of people ask me, how do I do all these things? Then you start rattling it off. And it's like, wow, how's your great day job, Ted talk book podcast, right. It, to me, it's the thing is right. I didn't start with all those things. Right. I didn't wake up one day and just do all those things. I got very good at the podcast and got good at that. Then I added a Ted talk, then I added the book. Right. So having those habits then helps you build that momentum and add more without adding the same amount of effort as you did for that first thing. If that makes sense.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (33:20):
Yeah, no, it does. I think that clarity on, you know, where we're going and what are the things that are going to get us closer to that faster. And for those that are just listening and aren't looking at us on YouTube, you have a sign over your right shoulder that says, remember why you started. And I think, you know, to me, that is, uh, that says a lot of it that, you know, the reason I do this and I'm like, you, I, you know, I have a day job and a lot of other things, but I do this for the people that I meet and, you know, being able to, um, let listeners or viewers, uh, find these gyms, you know, like your book on scene work. And, um, so when I get tired or think about, you know, lining up that next guest, those are the things that I think about is like, it's fun. And once you get on here and get rolling, you know, it kinda, everything else kind of goes away. You kind of find that groove. So, uh, it's very important, but again, taking stock of who, where we're at, where we want to go, making everything, uh, uh, very pointed to get to that journey. It's very important. Um, get to that end goal is very important. Yeah. But enjoy the journey. All right. Well, uh, if you wouldn't mind tell everybody how they can get unseen work, uh, how they can reach out and contact you or, um,
Myles (34:44):
Yeah. So the people watching it again, you get to see the pretty COVID here. So it looks like this when you look forward online. So how do you get it is right now, it's for sale on Amazon. I'm working on getting other places, but we just launched this week. So it's just on Amazon right now. So if you go to Amazon and you type in Unseen Work, it'll pop up bonus points. If you type in Unseen Work Myles Biggs, it'll really pop up. Spell my name with a Y it's M Y L E S B I G G S. So you can find the books there it's available in paperback and ebook, working on the audio book, uh, get that out soon with all the podcast color and, uh, other ways to find me I'm in the process of putting up a new website at Myles biggs.com. That's M Y L E S B I G G s.com. So you can check that out. And then, uh, that's what I'll find email, social media channels. That stuff will be on mylesbiggs.com. That's the best place to send you
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (35:41):
Again. Thanks for tank. Thanks for taking time out of your busy schedule to talk with us. It's been awesome. Uh, you know, there's so many takeaways from this. I'm just gonna tell everybody to go get the book, read through it yourself. I mean, it it'll be, it's very helpful. So thank you. And until next time, and you know, if anything we can do to help you in between, please don't hesitate to reach out.
Myles (36:02):
All right. You bet.
Roy - The Business of Business Podcast (36:05):
All right, well, that's going to do it for this episode of the business of business podcast. Again, you can find us on iTunes, Stitcher, Google, play, and Spotify. We're on all the social media networks. You can go to www dot the business of business podcasts. There's a player on there. Please share with your friends, um, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and then now YouTube, you can go there and watch the episode taped again. This is Roy until next time, take care.
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