Summary In the inaugural episode of the Priority Lane podcast, host Nigel and guest Nirmala Rathansuriya explore the concept of prioritising what truly matters in life and work. They discuss Nirmala's journey from Sri Lanka to Dubai, the importance of personal relationships over metrics in leadership, and practical strategies for enhancing productivity, such as mindful eating and writing things down. The episode also touches on the historical significance of the World Wide Web and how it has transformed communication and connection in the modern world.
In the inaugural episode of the Priority Lane podcast, host Nigel and guest Nirmala Rathansuriya explore the concept of prioritising what truly matters in life and work. They discuss Nirmala's journey from Sri Lanka to Dubai, the importance of personal relationships over metrics in leadership, and practical strategies for enhancing productivity, such as mindful eating and writing things down. The episode also touches on the historical significance of the World Wide Web and how it has transformed communication and connection in the modern world.
Takeaways
True success comes from what you choose to ignore.
The importance of focusing on what matters.
Building relationships is key to effective leadership.
Personal growth is a continuous journey.
Mindful eating can improve productivity.
Writing things down helps prioritise tasks.
Taking time to think is essential for creativity.
Switching off from work is a necessary skill.
Technology can amplify impact when used wisely.
Prioritising people leads to better results.
Chapters
00:00 Welcome to the Priority Lane Podcast
02:07 Nimala's Journey: From Sri Lanka to Dubai
04:06 The Concept of the Priority Lane
07:32 Historical Insights: The Birth of the World Wide Web
11:42 Personal Productivity: Habits That Matter
14:58 The Importance of Time Management
19:50 Technology's Role in Amplifying Impact
22:15 Prioritising People Over Metrics
27:45 The Art of Taking Time to Think
Nigel (00:02.537)
Hello and welcome to the, let me start this. Welcome to the Priority Lane podcast, the show where we explore the power of doing less, but doing it better. In a world overflowing with noise, notifications and never ending to do less. True success comes from what you choose to ignore. Each episode, I'll sit down with leaders, creators and top performing professionals to uncover how they filter out the noise, focus on what matters and design lives built on clarity, not chaos.
We dive into the habits and decisions that shape their priorities, the technologies that help them think smarter, not faster. The leadership mindsets that put people, not KPIs, at the heart of every choice. And even delve into the bizarre or unusual achievements in history that remind us just how far focus, discipline, and a bit of human curiosity can take us. From the discipline of saying no,
to the systems that amplify focus, to the simple practices, carving out time to give your brain a rest. This podcast is your invitation to slow down, zoom out and operate with intention. If you're ready to step out of reaction mode and into your priority line, you're in the right place. Now I'm pleased to introduce our first guest on the podcast, a guy I've known for well over 12 months now, Nirmala Rathansuriya.
Nimzy (01:23.484)
Thank
Nigel (01:25.416)
A guy I'm honored to be joining us today as he exemplifies what life in the priority is all about. Having started life in Sri Lanka and establishing himself as the first guy invited to any party worth having, Nirmala has since moved around the world gaining work and life experiences and spreading his take on the fusion of folk singing, electronica and Morris dancing. Hi, Nirmala, how are you today?
Nimzy (01:53.307)
wow, what an introduction that was. Thank you, thank you so much for having me.
Nigel (01:57.704)
No problems at all. Now, you're sitting in Dubai as we speak.
Nimzy (02:02.864)
Yes, am at the moment I'm in Dubai.
Nigel (02:06.524)
Okay, and do you just want to give our listeners a bit of an overview of where your journey has taken you?
Nimzy (02:12.868)
Yeah, yeah, of course. Yeah. As you said, I started in Sri Lanka like 12 years back and I was working in wealth management industry. And then I was lucky enough to start somewhere that I was able to learn a lot and gain a lot of experience uh in the first job that I had. And then from there, I moved to the UK for a while in the same industry, of course.
I've been working in the UK for a while and then I moved to Dubai and now I'm based in Dubai and yeah that's pretty much it. I work in the financial services industry, in wealth management and I'm glad to be here and talk to you guys about what's good in Priority Lane.
Nigel (03:04.884)
Okay, great, great. So when you were growing up, did you have a passion for travel? Did you always want to explore the world?
Nimzy (03:14.224)
Yes, yes, that's one of those things that I really wanted to do actually. When I was small, I really didn't think I'll get into any kind of, you know, in the area of finance, to be honest with you. I was more of a artsy kind of guy. I like music, as you said, of course, there's no party happening without me. And I was thinking about, you know, travelling the world, meeting new people, cultures, things like this kind of motivated me quite a lot.
Yeah, that's something that I was always wanting to do, but everything else just fell into place when you are kind of working towards what you want to work towards.
Nigel (03:55.092)
Yeah, that is so true. Have you ever read the Alchemist?
Nimzy (03:59.634)
I I I have read it. I mean, that's kind of like the first thing that you need to read, right? Like, I mean, this is one of those books that if you haven't read the alchemist, you kind of can't tell that you have travelled... the world.
Nigel (04:12.086)
That's it. That's it. And look, and that's the main, the main theme of that is when you work towards what you're meant to be doing, the language of the world supports you and drags you along.
Nimzy (04:22.108)
Yes. Yeah, yeah, I think so. think so. That's kind of like the first place you find manifestation, the themes of manifestation, I feel like.
Nigel (04:31.572)
Yeah, and when you're doing that, you're putting yourself in the priority line and advancing yourself to where you want to go. Now, with the priority line, I just thought I'd give my take on it. Since it's our first episode, I thought I'll give my take on where I see the priority line and the importance of it and what it means to me. So I think about it as leaders, people that who
Nimzy (04:39.59)
Brilliant, yeah.
Nigel (05:00.998)
that attract respect and thereby their actions are prioritized. So for example if you received an email say from Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates or Donald Trump it's going to get your attention regardless of your preconceived ideas of these people you are going to treat their communication as a priority. It's in your priority lane. Now imagine your life in the priority lane. If everything you did and said was treated as a priority by others
how much easier would life be, whether it be in business or personal life. If your requests or desires were treated by priority by those who matter, whether it be business or personal, you're gonna get ahead in life. And by that, by doing that, you get in the priority lane and your life accelerates. So whether that could be revolutionizing your business or getting a plumber to fix the hot water service on the weekend,
If you're treated as a priority, life is a lot better. So that's sort of my take on the priority lane and what it means. What are your views on it Nirmala
Nimzy (06:10.923)
I think that's a great way of putting it out. Taking the same example you took, So somebody like Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates send you a message, you instantly know who that person is because there's so much behind that person, what they have done in the world and you are aware of it and the connections that they have made and the way that they helped built the world as well. So in the same way, I think it's something that you have to work on yourself plus you make your work
whatever you do, doesn't matter whether it's work or whether you are personal life, regardless, if you do it with a conscious mind, if you're just, you know, always conscious about it and you know we are going towards a goal and if you do it efficiently, I feel like you are going to make better connections with people. And as a result, you will build this road, this thing called the priority lane, you will build this.
brick by brick, but it's going to come with time. But as long as you are doing it with intention, at one point you are going to get there. I think that journey is, I feel like is also one of the ways that you can explain what priority lane is and how you can get there. Ultimately, when you have certain disciplines, when you have certain tools in your toolbox, when you have certain people around the right kind of relationships around you. That makes sense.
Nigel (07:32.091)
Yeah, no, no. And I think the point you made there about brick by brick, it doesn't have to happen and it won't happen overnight. But if aspect by aspect of your life, you move into the priority lane, you're going to get a bit faster, your life is going to accelerate a bit more.
Nimzy (07:40.145)
Yeah.
Nigel (07:50.262)
That's like having a car with eight cylinders. If only one of those cylinders is functioning efficiently, you're not going to be going too far in a hurry. But bit by bit you can get that second cylinder working, then the third, then the fourth, and so on. Sooner later, you'll be a well-oiled functioning machine.
Nimzy (08:10.672)
Yeah, of course. And you have to have that foundation as well, right? You have to understand to have the right foundation.
Nigel (08:17.142)
Yep, yep. Now what we're going to do each podcast is delve into the history of the month we're in. So we're in November and just discuss a little tidbit from history of what happened. So the first one we've got happened November 1991. Any ideas what this could be Nirmala?
Nimzy (08:37.014)
November 1991 so that's just after my third birthday. No, kidding. No, what happened on November 1991?
Nigel (08:48.214)
Okay, well CERN in Switzerland opened the world's first webpage making the world wide web accessible and setting the stage for the digital age. example of... Sorry, I wasn't meant to read that bit. In November 1991, inside the labs of CERN in Switzerland, the world quietly shifted into a new era when the very first webpage went live. Created by British computer scientist, Jim Berners-Lee.
The page wasn't flashy or colorful, just simple text explaining a radical new idea, a worldwide web of documents connected by hyperlinks. It outlined how anyone could create a web page, link information together, and access it instantly from anywhere. At the time, it was meant as a tool to help physicists share resources more efficiently, but its potential was far bigger than anyone imagined. What makes this moment so extraordinary is how small and unassuming it seemed.
There was no fanfare, no global announcement, just a single next computer running as the world's first web server, sitting quietly in a Geneva office. Yet from that one page grew the digital universe we now live in. Social media, online shopping, streaming, global communication, and the entire modern internet ecosystem. The first web page wasn't just a technical milestone. It was a spark that transformed how humanity learns, works, connects, and creates.
So can you, I was going to ask you, but I guess you can't remember what daily life was like and work was like before the internet.
Nimzy (10:20.538)
I know this is very fascinating what you just said because I've heard that Tim Bernsley is the father of World Wide Web. He's like the guy who invented it. That's what I've heard. But I never knew that it started in CERN. That is like the biggest scientific research center in the world, isn't it? I mean, what an invention. Just imagine, it's almost like inventing bread or inventing
Nigel (10:22.698)
What?
Nigel (10:39.744)
Well, yeah.
Nimzy (10:47.698)
the wheel, right? That's kind of a huge leap that has happened, the ripple effect of worldwide web. I can remember the time before, briefly I can remember the time before internet, which I cherish quite a lot because it was really, really good. You have more human connections in ways that we can't quite understand, most people can't understand nowadays. But it's never going to be, you are never going to, like in another 10 years, 15 years time,
Nigel (10:47.766)
Okay.
Nimzy (11:17.54)
Nobody would ever know what it would be like without the world, without internet, right? It's going to be something that you can't fathom almost. It's crazy. I always thought that what if this guy patent this invention? You know what I mean?
Nigel (11:31.806)
Yes, yes, yes. It's like I remember, Shomaichi, before ATMs were around. I'm just, they came out while I was at school, and then by the time I got to work, they were everywhere. And I'm just thinking, wow, how did people exist before ATMs? You'd have to organize to go to the bake Friday afternoon to...
Nimzy (11:42.354)
Mm.
Nigel (12:00.47)
to make sure you had enough cash to see you through the weekend and what happens if you didn't have enough cash? What do you do? It just revolutionized everything. the first internet webpage going live, that put everybody in the priority lane.
Nimzy (12:06.052)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nimzy (12:18.662)
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, if you think about something singular that maybe most people into the priority and that's probably it. I think you got it the right month. The first podcast is the right month, I feel like.
Nigel (12:33.674)
Well, we wouldn't be doing this podcast without it.
Nimzy (12:35.954)
Yeah, of course not. Yeah, we'll be doing a podcast with smoke signals, aren't we?
Nigel (12:41.59)
Okay, now I've got a series of questions I was gonna ask the guests. Will we keep going? Would you wanna do these questions or have we done enough to sort of test it and stuff? Okay, you're ready? Cause I'm gonna be asking you. You're ready to come up with some answers? Okay, right here. Okay, Nimma, now what's something?
Nimzy (12:55.002)
Let's do a couple of questions. Let's do a couple. Yeah.
Nimzy (13:02.586)
Yeah, yeah, go for it.
Nigel (13:09.95)
You've intentionally stopped doing that made the biggest difference in your productivity or wellbeing.
Nimzy (13:17.333)
that's a great one. Let me think about it for a second. Yeah, something that I intentionally stopped doing or something that I started doing.
Nigel (13:27.574)
Look, can be either. When you started something, did that replace another thing?
Nimzy (13:30.352)
Yeah, so something that I... Yeah, yeah, so...
The Priority Lane (13:34.048)
Thank you
Nimzy (13:37.382)
Yeah, so something that I stopped doing entirely was, I mean, this might sound strange, but this kind of affected my productivity quite a lot. So I stopped having my dinner late in the night, which is something that I used to do quite a lot, right? So I'll have dinner early in the night. So then, you know, I will have a better sleep and better rest while I'm sleeping. I have better brain cycle. So when I wake up early morning,
I'm fresh and this helps for you to start a better day. I know it's not directly, you know, helps your productivity, but it does massively over time. Like as we discussed earlier, just like the priority lane, it's a process, right? So this helped me quite a lot to just have a better day every day. And once you make it a habit, it kind of, can see clearly the difference between the times that you, you know, you had a meal and then you sleep then at the end, then you
The Priority Lane (14:09.216)
I'm
Nimzy (14:36.306)
You take like an hour or two hours rest and then you go to bed and then you have better rest and you wake up refreshed in the morning. And something that I started is writing things down. When I finish my day, I would write things down on paper, not on my phone or the laptop, nothing like that. I need to write it down with words on a sheet of paper. What I thought I would be, I did, I wanted to do during the day.
Nigel (14:49.525)
Okay.
Nimzy (15:06.41)
and what I couldn't do if I had something pending and what I want to do the next day. I will write this down and I prioritize it according to the urgency or whatever the project that I'm working on. I'll list those things down and then I go through that next day in the morning. So by writing things down, I feel like it's more in your memory. It's more in your head. It's running there. So you are aware of it and you don't necessarily lose. When you have a lot of work, when you have a lot of things to do,
sometimes you lose one or two things you might forget, right? But when you write things down, you tend to remember that at least for me it worked out very well. So that is something that I continuously do for coming two years and years. I don't think I'll ever stop doing that because that helped me massively to prioritize my work plus anything. Literally, it's just the entire day. It's not just about work as well. It's about whatever that I need to do during the day. I think those two things fundamentally helped me quite a lot.
The Priority Lane (15:42.08)
Yeah.
Nigel (16:05.11)
Okay, okay, it's interesting. So how far before bedtime do you now eat? And how did you come up with that time?
Nimzy (16:15.09)
So if I have a game, I mean, I'm to be totally honest with you, right? If I have a game to watch, I'll have dinner around 10 o'clock because I'll be sleeping at two o'clock in the morning. I don't advise this, but if it's a normal day. So I'll eat around like, you know, I'll have my dinner around 8, 8.30. So I get to bed around 11.30, 12 max. So I have like two hours, two and a half hours in between.
Nigel (16:26.24)
Right, I guess.
Nimzy (16:43.0)
mean scientifically, know, your digestion process works for like an hour or two after you have a meal. So you just want to finish that off before you get to sleep and then you have better REM cycle sleep.
Nigel (16:55.734)
Okay. And what you mentioned about writing things down, I do sort of something similar. go for, I try to go for a walk every evening, weather permitting. So what I do before I go for a walk is I think about a problem or something that needs addressing. I do kind of like a mental audit of what needs to be solved, what tools or resources I have available to call on to do that. What type of solution I would like.
Nimzy (17:10.866)
Yeah.
Nigel (17:25.526)
or outcome I would like. And then I select the music I'm going to listen to, whether it be a podcast or music or whatever, then I just go for a walk and I don't think about it. And it's amazing how the brain works that you've got that information in there. And subconsciously, it's processing all that data. And it won't happen every time, but maybe 10 % of the time I'll be halfway through the walk and think, oh, there we go. And the solution just comes to you. You don't even have to work at it.
Nimzy (17:49.49)
Yeah.
Nigel (17:52.372)
You just preprogram your brain and let it go.
Nimzy (17:52.572)
Yeah.
Nimzy (17:56.145)
Yeah, yeah, that's brilliant. I understand what you're saying. It's amazing sometimes you get surprised what your brain can do without you knowing. You know what I mean? Like you don't know it's doing it. It's like, all right, yeah, thank you. Thank you for that. Well done. You have other side of that as well. You are like, don't do that. You know, sometimes. But yeah, that's brilliant. I also had this thing. I used to do this. very similar to what you just said. You know, Fredrik Chopin, right? Like the pianist, the composer.
Nigel (18:03.956)
Wait, wait, wait.
Nigel (18:12.702)
Yeah.
Nimzy (18:24.434)
It's one of my favorites. I used to, when I want to do something that is, I would say, structural, something not necessarily creative, but something that, you know, mundane, but you have to finish it off. Something like editing something, you know, take some time. want to do it in, let's say it usually takes two, three hours. I want to finish up in like 45 minutes. I would put one of his sonatas or one of his compositions because it's really calming and it'll go on background.
then I'll start working. Because there's music going on and there's no lyrics or nothing crazy, you don't get distracted. But at the same time, there's something going on for you to keep interested because you are doing something mundane. And that kind of helped me to productively, efficiently finish whatever task that I have in my hand in a very short time period. That is something by experience that I have worked. I don't know how, but it had worked for me. Maybe something that you can also try out.
Nigel (19:23.102)
Yeah, no, I used to do that when I was studying, because I heard that when we're, we only use a very small portion of our brain. So if you've got a task to do, and you're sitting there studying or having to complete a task, you need something on the back, on in the background, for your brain to grab hold of and occupy itself with that. Otherwise, your mind starts to wander.
So I always did that. couldn't listen to the radio because then if people start talking, you you get distracted. So I'd put on a CD or something and I'd listen to that. Then I remember one day I was out driving and this song came on the radio and I go, no, yeah, I know this and I think about what is it? And I knew every single lyric. I was singing along and I had no idea what the song was.
Nimzy (19:55.346)
Talking, yeah.
Nimzy (20:17.468)
Yeah. Yeah.
Nigel (20:19.57)
And I think, where do I know this from? And it was a long song, was Guns N' Roses is Strange, it goes for, I don't know, almost 10 minutes or something, it's ridiculous. And I knew every single lyric, and it was really frustrating, because I had no idea why I knew it. Then I realized that it was the CD I was playing when I was studying, and it was just on in the background, and I learnt it without even trying.
Nimzy (20:29.906)
Yep.
Nimzy (20:39.324)
Yeah, it was that.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's how it works. That's how certain things, this is why certain practices, certain disciplines and certain tools that we have to actually integrate with our life. Like, you I think that goes along with the theme that we have today with the podcast as well. You need things. You can't just do things on your own. You need to figure out these things that make you efficient. You need to figure out these things that make you better and the people around you better. And it can come in different forms. It can come in a tool, as we explained earlier, like
digital tools, are many, and in this day and age there's a lot. It can be mental tools, can be emotional tools, there's a lot, there's a lot actually you can use to make yourself better. Like tomorrow, if you put certain things in place, just in a day's time, things will be better in some level, so yeah.
Nigel (21:32.596)
Yeah, Well, just on that. So what's one piece of technology that truly amplifies your impact rather than just adding noise? Because as you said, there's a lot of tools. So you can't have all of them and it just gets cluttered. What's one that has really helped you?
Nimzy (21:53.424)
It's hard to tell one because I use quite a lot. But I think because we were talking about, you know, Tim Bansley as well earlier, I think one of those things that helped me a lot are extensions, online extensions and applications. So let's talk about mobile application. One of the things that I feel like right now because we have everything in the palm of our hand, right? We have everything in our phone. So
I think notifications that we get, depending on what kind of things that you are interested in, mobile notifications is one of the things that I feel like that helps me quite a lot. Because a while back, if we were to know what's going say as news, it could be news or it could be about a client that I'm working with, or it could be about even some kind of sports or some game result or something like that.
So you'll have to go online and search for it and then check things out or you have to log into your email address and check for it and you'll have to just Google it or whatever. But now, as long as you have organized that, you have that on the palm of your hand. Whatever that is, get it then and there as a notification. I think that is one of those things that I feel like that have helped me quite a lot.
Nigel (23:14.106)
Right, OK. So app notifications. So you've invited these companies onto your phone. You've invited them into your life as such. So you prioritize those notifications.
Nimzy (23:22.599)
Yeah.
Nimzy (23:29.98)
I do, I do, because that keeps me close to my clients or the people that I work with. It makes that relationship easier. One thing is I know that they are not going to, that whatever that they want or whatever that I put out, that they are looking at it as well, or else that I know what I'm supposed to do then and there without wasting time. I don't have to just wait for an email and wait for two, three days to reply. I can just check the notification then and there and then make the connection.
Nigel (23:40.566)
Thank
Nigel (24:00.948)
Yeah, look, that's good one. So I know when I'm at home, you hear your phone ding and you think, okay, who's that? And then it's just some marketing email. And you think, why do I bother checking? And there's more and more of that going on. People's inboxes aren't their own space anymore. They're bombarded with everything.
Nimzy (24:21.647)
yeah, yeah. I have like thousand unread emails in my inbox. That's crazy.
Nigel (24:28.662)
Yeah, I don't have that many. But, actually, if you combine all the different inboxes, I may. Yeah, no, that's good. Okay, okay, great. And can you share a moment where prioritizing people over metrics has paid off for you in the long run?
Nimzy (24:29.522)
I'm
Nimzy (24:36.081)
Yeah.
Nimzy (24:48.522)
I can give you many moments like that. if I look back, I had a team of like 100, maybe seven teams of like 100 researchers a while back. I was one of those people who were kind of, I wouldn't call it, you well, I used to be one of those people who just, you know, have a relationship with each and every one of them.
Nigel (25:03.638)
Mm-hmm.
Nimzy (25:15.174)
What I mean by that is I talk to each and one of them and then I ask what problems they have, whether it's related to necessarily to work or not. So sometimes when I find people who are not producing or putting out exactly what we require or the targets, let's say, most of the time it's not a skill issue. It's most of the time it's a motivational issue or it's an issue of them not feeling it in the day or in the week that they have. They are going through something which, course, personal.
Nigel (25:34.646)
Yeah. Yes.
Nimzy (25:45.008)
But because I have that kind of relationship with people, they tend to open up to me and then I tend to help them out with whatever going on. mean, it's just a matter of having a chat for 15 minutes with somebody. I mean, you can't tell that you're that busy to have five minutes with another person if it's something important. And I would have the chat and we might discuss about a specific problem or we might not, but just by having that conversation.
Nigel (26:03.862)
you You
Nimzy (26:14.086)
They feel welcome and they feel appreciated. And that in turn converts to a better, you know, better results. I mean, I have seen this many times, honestly. It is something that I still believe and I will believe like, know, throughout, whenever I have teams, whenever I work with people, having that non-work relationship in a sense, right, is extremely helpful.
Nigel (26:37.708)
Yes.
Nimzy (26:39.986)
It's motivating, feels like you're welcome and that gives you results. yeah, so I mean, even though if I don't explain to you specifically, that kind of scenario has happened so many times in the past and it had worked out well. And because of that, when I had that team, our company was having the same kind of teams for around six years and we broke the targets that they had by 100%. So maybe 2X.
Nigel (27:07.158)
No.
Nimzy (27:08.976)
in the very first week. So that's crazy. So that's nothing to do with the fact that, we recruited the best skilled people. No, that wasn't the case. The case was that we had a better team who understood each other. So we wanted to work towards the same goal. We wanted to be better on a daily basis. And that happened because of that personal touch that we had with people.
Nigel (27:11.127)
wow.
Nigel (27:31.508)
Yeah, no, thank you for that. And look, I agree completely. Just when you were speaking, I was thinking of my own experiences. And when I started the business, I was operating it by myself. I was doing everything, running around. And I just had to do everything. I had to make decisions on whether it be major things or the most trivial thing, because no one else was here to make the decision. Then I started employing people. And for the first part,
I guess I'm not the only one that feels this. Delegating to new people is a big thing. It really is. I had troubles letting go. just was kind of like, well, I was so used to being in control of everything, I wanted to know what was going on. And yeah, that obviously wasn't ideal. Otherwise then I get frustrated. Why am I paying these people if they're not doing anything? So then I started delegating, giving up responsibilities and
Nimzy (28:07.187)
Yeah.
Nimzy (28:25.277)
Yeah.
Nigel (28:30.71)
and saw how things were operating better. And the big thing was it freed up my time. And I really started to enjoy coming to work because I'm thinking, well, if I want, I can just sit here and things will still function. And then it became addictive that I'm thinking, yeah, I'll just outsource everything. And it's funny how it works, how people respond to that. Some people still want everything to be run past me, although that's getting better.
Other people took the concept and run away with it and really took ownership on things. It got to the point where I actually had to go and just check the company registers and stuff to make sure I still owned the company because they were actually the people who their business, which was great. And then when you think about it, when you do that, when you employ someone to look after a part of your business, it is really putting that business, saying that part of the business is important.
Nimzy (29:13.125)
Yeah.
Nigel (29:29.322)
that I'm gonna put somebody there and it's their priority to look after this business. So you're taking that part of the business and you are putting it in a priority line. You're saying you're getting this resource, this person to look after this. It's no good me just having an eye on it. A dedicated person is going to be there to manage that part of the business. And once you do that, once you get the right people in place, which is what you're saying, get the right people in place and you'll wait. So yeah, I don't.
Nimzy (29:40.179)
Yeah.
Nigel (29:58.366)
I don't really run on metrics. I love analytics. I love going around analytics and everything. Yeah, yeah. It basically gamifies the business. It's how do I go today? How do we perform here? How do we perform there? And it's great, but it's all lag stuff. It's all stuff that has occurred. So you can see how you're performing as opposed to, well, okay, the data says this, so we're going to do that. You just got to trust your people.
Nimzy (30:02.631)
Yeah, it's important. Yeah, it's important as well. Yeah.
Nimzy (30:24.637)
Yeah.
Nigel (30:27.574)
And then the more you trust them, the more they grow and yeah, and the business takes off.
Nimzy (30:32.595)
Yeah, yeah, that's 100 % right You're there staying. I mean, I can't remember the exact same, but it goes along like if you are a good manager, if you don't have free time, you are a bad manager. You know what I mean? Yeah, you need to have free time. If you have too much work every day, you don't have time to think. You should have time to think because you are the brain behind it. You need to be able to strategize things and you need to be able to plan things out. And in order for you to do that effectively, you need to have time. You can't do that in 15-minute break always.
I mean, there are times you will, but not always. So yeah, you're right. You have to put the trust in people. It's not always metrics, but metrics comes in hand. It's a resource, I would say. It's definitely a resource that you should use and then see how it goes.
Nigel (31:19.178)
Yes, yes. Yeah, we're back again. Yeah, so I disappeared as well. Yeah, don't know what happened there. Yeah, just on that, on taking time out to think or taking time out, how do you manage that? How do you carve out time just to think or time to
Nimzy (31:19.643)
Yeah, what happened to me? Okay, there you. I thought, thought you got bored and you were like, okay, Nirmala, go away.
Yeah.
Nigel (31:47.562)
protect your brain so it doesn't overload. So getting away from your task, what do you do to take time out?
Nimzy (31:56.807)
Yeah, I think it's also one of those things people don't realize it. think switching on and off from work to your life and personal life and stuff like that is also a skill that you develop throughout your career. It's not something that you can do. It's definitely something, a skill that you develop. So I think you need to be focused about it. You need to actually think about the fact that you have to switch off your brain. When I say switch off, you can't always take your work home.
It's not healthy. It's not healthy for your work or it's not healthy for your personal life. Both. It doesn't help any part of your day. One of the things that have helped me, I usually do 10, 15 minutes, sometimes five minute meditation. So that kind of helps me. Like just focus on your breathing and then just focus on the then and there now. And that kind of clears my mind to move into the next part of the day.
Nigel (32:50.038)
Mm-hmm.
Nimzy (32:54.995)
whether it's in the morning, whether it's in the evening. Like if it's before starting work, would do the same so then I can get in the frame of mind that I want to, so then I can start work. And after work also, I do sometimes the same thing, so then I can get in the frame of mind to do whatever I have to do in the evening time. So this helped. Of course, other than, I mean, of course there are things like taking breaks and going on vacations and stuff like that, but I felt like this is more unique to me.
Nigel (33:20.113)
routine coffee.
Nimzy (33:21.393)
Yeah, yeah, unique to me and routine, something that actually works for me. So I thought that that'd be good.
Nigel (33:27.678)
Okay, yeah, look, I do. I mentioned before I go for regular walks in the evening or during the day if I can.
Nimzy (33:33.553)
Yeah. that's brilliant one as well. Having a walk, having going for a walk is a brilliant way to like, you know, switch back and forth as well. Yeah.
Nigel (33:42.642)
Yeah, yeah, because it started, it wasn't a set strategy. It started about three years ago, I think it was in the third year. I set a target for myself that in the first year the target kept moving because I didn't really know what a good target was. But it's three million steps. So I do three million steps a year. Now, yeah, with the weather in Melbourne, there's quite a few months of the year in the middle of the year where
Nimzy (33:58.758)
Okay.
about.
Nigel (34:08.086)
It's just not conducive for going out for a walk. It's too cold, raining, it gets dark early. So basically start of the year, summer, I have to load up and do a lot there to carry me through the winter months. And now that we're getting, it was November, I've got to sort of catch up for those winter months. But that's all you need to get out and to basically, yeah, switch off. As I said, it wasn't a...
Nimzy (34:23.837)
Yeah.
Nigel (34:34.782)
a set strategy is just something that I thought, okay, I'll do, but it's turned into a good way of getting out of the office if it's a nice day during the day and I've got time or after dinner going out for a walk in the nicer weather. So it, and I heard somewhere, read somewhere about with leaders, it's, well, a strategy adopted by leaders is really taking time out to switch your brain off to really
Give it the rest. As you alluded to before, that's where your brain is so crucial to come up with the ideas, to come up with the strategies, to think of things. You need the time to recover and rest so we can generate these ideas that you need when you need them.
Nimzy (35:11.762)
Yeah.
Nimzy (35:16.307)
Yeah, yeah, yeah, of course. mean, without that, are not, you are going to be stagnated in one place. You are not going to come up with anything creative, anything better for the next phase of your career or life. Yeah, 100 % Niagel
Nigel (35:32.788)
Yeah, yeah, exactly. So not just putting your business in the priority line, it's putting yourself in the priority line as well.
Nimzy (35:39.527)
Yeah? Yeah.
Nigel (35:41.014)
Okay, Nimela, look, that wraps it up. Look, thank you very much for your time. I really appreciate it. No problems at all. Did you have any thoughts or questions or something that you'd like to lead our listeners with?
Nimzy (35:46.577)
Yeah, thank you for having me.
Nimzy (35:56.057)
Yeah, I think I love what you guys are doing. Thank you for inviting me for the first episode. And I hope that, you know, you guys the things that you are talking here are going to be immensely important for anybody. I feel like it's something that definitely people need to listen to. because you you have a lot of podcasts and stuff like that talking about specific things about business, know, finance or markets or trends and, you know, different aspect of
you know, stuff that you have in the industry. But this is something that most of the people don't talk about. This is the day to day, right? They're talking about things that actually matter and actually that's going to help you to become better personally and professionally. So I think I wish you good luck. And I think people should actually tune in and see what they can get out of. It's going to be immensely valuable.
Nigel (36:46.816)
Well, thank you very much. Thank you very much and thank you for being our first guest.
Nimzy (36:51.859)
Awesome. I'm happy to help.
Nigel (36:52.918)
Thank you. And that's all we have time for today. We'll look forward to seeing you in our next podcast. For now, goodbye.
Nimzy (37:00.677)
goodbye. Alrighty.
The Priority Lane (37:02.612)
Bye.