What is the 20-minute mindset, and what's the message, and what do you hope to achieve here?

Yeah.

So the 20-minute mindset is really about questioning how much time something truly deserves.

So does that meeting really need to be an hour? Probably not.

Or can it be 20 minutes? Or an email.

Or maybe an email.

Or does that project need to be six months? Because when we give ourselves less time, we get more clear about what's important and we can let go of all of the extra stuff.

So maximizing that time.

But everything else, half-ass is just

fine.

Half-ass is great.

Like, it's perfect, actually.

And also, the other thing that I want to say, Nicole, because I think this is important, is there are so many books that have been written about perfectionism.

There are so many books that have been written about people-pleasing.

It was really important for me as I was exploring these behaviors, these patterns, that everything in the book is about how those patterns relate to time.

What are they and how or what do they have to teach us about our relationship with time?

So start by talking about Bedford Books, what you said yes to, what you said no to, and how that really exemplifies some of the things that you want everybody to know.

Yeah, I think the opening of the bookstore is actually the perfect example of this 20-minute mindset because we did open it...

We opened it in eight weeks, and it typically takes, like, six to nine months to, to open a bookstore.

And because we had a more constrained timeline, it really forced clarity around, like, what we were going to do and not going to do.

You know, we, we didn't have any time to, like, perfect things or procrastinate or, you know, fill it with unnecessary tasks because when you give yourself too much time, that's what ends up happening, right? You end up filling that time with unnecessary tasks.

So, you know, with the bookstore, it became really clear to me that, you know, I was not going to launch with e-commerce.

Um, I was really gonna focus on brick-and-mortar.

Like t- talk to me about email.

Like, oh, this will take as long as I have.

That's it.

You give yourself a meeting, or an hour for the meeting, you're gonna take the hour.

Maybe it could've been an email or a phone call, or it could've been a much shorter meeting.

Really, like, being relentless about how much time are you allocating to things.

Does it really make sense? Do you really need that much time? The whole padding thing is really...

It's so critical, and it's a big part of that, like, week-ahead planning that I do.

Let's talk about that, 'cause people pleasing means a million things to a million people, so how do you define people pleasing?

So how did you navigate that?

Yeah.

You know, it's so interesting.

Like when I think about the beginning of my career, the way that I define success looks so different than the way that I define it today.

You know, I think back then it really was about achievement and it was about like getting to the corner office and getting those promotions.

Yes.

And I'm so happy today.

And, you know, there's just so many, some about email etiquette, some about meeting and boardroom etiquette, but I think it'll just really

With

no breaks in between.

And so this is why, you know, I think this is actually another reason when we talk about like freeing up space and pockets of time on our calendar, if we're padding things.

So there's too much time that's blocked out on the calendar when we're padding.

So I really believe in keeping things open as much as possible.

One of my favorite parts of the book is actually the last chapter when I talk about And this idea that there's like kind of three natural rhythms throughout the day with respect to how we work with time and how understanding those rhythms for yourself are really important.

And the three rhythms are peak performance.

So if you could give your 31 year old self one piece of advice, what would that be?

But I'd love you to share another time that felt messy to you and what came from that.

Let me see.

Another time that felt messy was probably when I left corporate, when I left Time Inc.

This was probably 15 years ago, maybe 14 years ago now, and went off on my own and And that's really when I started my startup investing phase.

And that's when I then had the bandwidth to start writing my books and I launched a speaking practice.

So it was really going from corporate to portfolio career.

I think the messiest part of that for me was I had always been attached to these incredible brands, whether it was People Magazine.

I was like,

Oh, my gosh.

Perfect.

So the 20-minute mindset is really all about acknowledging that you can make meaningful progress in a short amount of time.

You know, it's like acknowledging that I don't really need an hour for that meeting.

We could probably get it done in 20 minutes, right? Yeah.

I don't need six months for that project.

It's questioning those time defaults, you know, like just because we've always done it that way, we're going to continue to do it that way.

So they're just inefficient and ineffective.

What inspired this idea? And why did you feel like it was important enough to build an entire book around it?

Yeah, so my first book, The Myth of the Nice Girl, came out in 2018.

And one of the best things about that book for me has been just the ability to meet so many amazing women all around the country.

And really hear like what they're struggling with.

And the topic that just comes up over and over and over and over is time and not having enough time, you know, not having enough time to invest in their career, to build their network, you know, to advocate for themselves, like to do all of the things that we as career experts encourage them to do.

And so this topic kept coming up.

It's also something that I've struggled with over the course of my own career when I think about my own relationship with time.

What's something that your own calendar taught you most about yourself?

What inspired this idea? And why did you feel like it was important enough to build an entire book around it?

Yeah, so my first book, The Myth of the Nice Girl, came out in 2018.

And one of the best things about that book for me has been just the ability to meet so many amazing women all around the country.

And really hear like what they're struggling with.

And the topic that just comes up over and over and over and over is time and not having enough time, you know, not having enough time to invest in their career, to build their network, you know, to advocate for themselves, like to do all of the things that we as career experts encourage them to do.

And so this topic kept coming up.

It's also something that I've struggled with over the course of my own career when I think about my own relationship with time.

And then which one do you think kind of controls the lives the most of ambitious women?