Productivity

On this episode, we chat about the science behind meetings—and how to get more value out of them. Topics covered include: The four helpful roles meetings have; Questioning your recurring meetings; Considering relationship dynamics in meetings; Becoming a good steward of other peoples time; Designating a meeting leader; Not attending meetings without an agenda; “Modalities”

Takeaway: If time blocking hasn’t stuck for you, become less rigid with it. Trying jotting down how many hours you’ll want to have worked on tasks by day’s end to take a looser approach to time blocking. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 39s. I’ve never been a big fan of time blocking—defining ahead of time

On this episode, we chat about what the research shows about news consumption—and what to do about it. Some topics covered include: Our “surface area of concern”; Tactics for deliberate news consumption; How the news affects our mind; What our own consumption patters (currently!) look like. You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!

Takeaway: We often try to live in accordance with “common sense” without considering how making changes will affect our daily lives. To make a change more likely to stick, anticipate the daily impact—not just the general impact. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes, 49s. A lot of the best advice out there is common sense. For

On this episode, we chat about busyness—including how feeling busy is different from actually being busy. Some topics covered include: How we often wear busyness as a badge of honor; How we can’t be busy and focused at the same time; Busyness and busywork; “Parkinson’s Law”; How we tend to overestimate how long we work

Takeaway: Engaging in a lot of busywork can be a sign that you can take on more than you currently are. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minutes, 59s. “Parkinson’s law” is a common idea mentioned in productivity circles. The basic idea behind it is that our work tends to expand to fit the time available for its

Written by Chris Bailey Chris Bailey has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity and is the author of three books: How to Calm Your Mind, Hyperfocus, and The Productivity Project. His books have been published in more than 40 languages. Chris writes about productivity on this site and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they

Takeaway: Material purchases that scream “look at me” are usually a waste of money and don’t make you any happier. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 12s. As a total nerd, one of the things I love reading each year is Warren Buffet’s annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. In 2022’s letter (PDF), he

On this episode, we chat about strategies for time blocking your day—including the ones we use. Topics covered include: The benefits of time blocking; The “rolling” time blocking method; How long our blocks are; How autonomy interacts with time blocking; Making time blocking sustainable. You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!

Takeaway: To add “seasonality” to your work, try temporarily adopting “quiet quitting”—defining stronger boundaries around your work—so you can recharge and find time to slow down and become more deliberate. This can lead you to become more productive while improving your work-life balance. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 12s. Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting