Fewer Things Better

We'd love to hear from you! We humans love a good reward. What isn’t sexy is the doing – the daily grind. The monotony of routine without right-now results. Growth occurs in spurts - and it's the grind that gets you there. Oftentimes your brain needs a boost to get past the blahs, a little encouragement to keep going. This episode offers a few tips (and a little rah rah). 

We'd love to hear from you! There is a lot of research from the biological, neurological, and psychological camps about different elements that can boost or drain your day. This episode focuses on how you spend the first 30 minutes of your day and outlines four quick actions that can have big returns on your energy and focus the rest of the day. 

We'd love to hear from you! This episode is celebrating progress over perfection. It explores our conditioning of why we are challenged to accept good and burn harder to try to achieve great.  We can be so busy preparing, perfecting, and polishing that we miss the here-and-now. The messy parts of us are important parts of us. We’re not supposed to sand it all away. If we do, we miss the opport...

We'd love to hear from you! Any previous time, money, or effort that has already been expended is known in financial principles as a Sunk Cost . It is an investment that has already occurred and cannot be recouped. This episode explores how our brains assign value to actions already taken, investments already made, and where we sometimes continue to ask give more without even being asked.  It...

We'd love to hear from you! This episode explores the Rule of 100, which says you can dramatically improve a skill through 100 hours of learning or practicing. That amount of time gets you past the plateaus and frustration points as you gain skill proficiency. 100 hours over the course of a year comes out to 18 minutes a day. Learn more about this concept and how big things can come from small...

We'd love to hear from you! A goal without a plan is just a wish. A habit without momentum is just a goal. This episode leans into the wisdom of the power of 5 good minutes, as mentioned in a conversation between habit authors Tim Ferriss and James Clear, based on Ferriss' January 6, 2023 podcast interview with Clear (see link below). Learn three tips to try to power 5 good minutes throug...

We'd love to hear from you! We make thousands of decisions every day. Some are conscious, clear choices and others are subconscious routines. There are also the Yes and No answers that are obvious and immediate. Other times, we find ourselves stuck between the Yes and the No and grapple with how to decide and then how to share that decision. This episode looks at the root of that resistance, h...

We'd love to hear from you! This roundup episode offers quick clips from six previous podcast conversations. Listen to a collection of brain snacks that includes how the attention economy affects our daily lives, the people we allow to make deposits (or withdrawals) from our energy, the science and psychology of decision making, what happens when we take too many productivity shortcuts, three...

We'd love to hear from you! We don't have to buy, buy, buy in order to give. This episode highlights 10 ideas on how to give from the heart (and the brain) versus from the wallet. See if any kickstart ideas for the people in your life or inspire ideas on future gifts you'd like to get. 

We'd love to hear from you! Imagine you got an extra hour added to your day today. How would you spend those bonus minutes?  How we spend our time reveals how we value our time. This episode explores two tips to try if you find yourself with found time and how to make the most of minutes in your everydays. 

We'd love to hear from you! In a world that is always on, there is a tangible benefit to making time to turn the brain off. Chronic fatigue is more than just a sleep issue. It ties back into the brain. This episode looks at mood and energy benefits that come when the brain has a little extra space + three tips to try in your daily life. 

We'd love to hear from you! This episode explores the concept of the Ridiculously Small Step (RSS) and how a lot can be done by doing just a little. RSS is more than a methodology; it’s tied into the science of subtle shifts between the conscious and subconscious brain. Learn how consistent quick action can kickstart ongoing progress.

We'd love to hear from you! There is a crushing consumerism to buy in order to give. This short episode explores how the act of giving thanks returns a gift back to your body and brain. Gratitude is a multiplier. The more that you actively give thanks, the more the brain is programmed to look for positive experiences in your daily life. It's also a gift with purchase as each effort extend...

We'd love to hear from you! We all have places and spaces that have too much stuff, either physically or digitally. A recent experience led me to explore the scientific and psychological impact of more space. This episode also offers three simple tactics to help your brain shift to action vs. indecision to make room for space. 

We'd love to hear from you! As we get back to more people-y activities, there are a few quick tools you can try to turn an interaction into a connection.  From extending a quick compliment to posing a curious (but easy) question, never underestimate the big importance of small things. This episode shares some of the psychology and brain science behind making conversations memorable. 

We'd love to hear from you! Sleep is one of the most overlooked and underrated productivity hacks that we can take in our daily lives. It’s also the thing we often trade in our pursuit of productivity. A recent study showed that two consecutive days of getting less sleep can affect you for up to six days. This conversation looks at how you can power up your productivity by improving how you po...

We'd love to hear from you! Your brain processes 70,000 thoughts each day.  These thoughts create patterns that get encoded in our brain. How much of what is encoded is outdated and/or negative information? Like any software system, it's possible to update our cognitive code in a way that better serves us. 

We'd love to hear from you! The average adult gets interrupted about every 6 minutes. Each distraction comes with a cost – some that we willingly pay and others that cost more than we initially realize. This conversation looks at the quantity & quality of the costs of when our attention is scattered, and how to make investments in our attention bank along the way. 

We'd love to hear from you! Our brain can process 100 pieces of information every second. It does so by scanning the daily horizon and honing in on patterns and preferences that are most relevant to us. It’s like doing an online search and then hitting the filter button that says: Makes The Most Sense to Me. This episode explores the part of our brain that filters information, the odds of prob...

We'd love to hear from you! Chinese philosopher Confucius one said: Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.  That shows up in science and in habits as we tend to trust something that appears more complex than a simple solution. As we write our own adventure story, we can make it as complex or as simple as we want.  We may not be in control of every event, but we can choo...

We'd love to hear from you! The brain, just like the day, is full of activity.  Some research has indicated that the average person makes more than 35,000 decisions a day.  This episode focuses on the decisions you are not making, and how that can be a signal of what you are avoiding. 

We'd love to hear from you! Odds are you’re more likely to keep promises to others before you keep one to yourself. And that’s from research, not just popular psychology. There is a neural component to promise keeping and promise breaking. When looking at promises related to productivity principles, there is both art and actual science behind what motivates some actions over others. Consistenc...

We'd love to hear from you! Giving yourself permission to explore new & big ideas is an important brain exercise. Flexing this mental muscle tips the brain into actively looking for ways to turn dreams into potential possibilities. This episode highlights three simple steps to try when you give your mind permission to play. 

We'd love to hear from you! In this noisy world, technology seems to be knocking on our brain at all hours of the day. This episode explores the idea of a tech sabbath - a set period of time for a digital detox.  There are tangible benefits to your brain and body even after a matter of minutes. Learn a few ways where you can be a little less connected for a little while. Your brain will thank...

We'd love to hear from you! Progress, and productivity, require energy - and that energy has a cognitive and physiological cost. Our brain is one of the hungriest parts of your body. It consumes approximately 20% of all of the energy each day. All of our thinking and doing draws down on the cognitive and physical reserves. But energy can be counterbalanced by exploring where you are using your...