How I Work

Most people who can hire EA’s or personal assistants struggle with the decision - especially if you’ve never had one before, it can feel like a luxury more than a necessity. That is, until you take the plunge, and see how much more you can get done with the right assistant on your team! But what if you’re not in a position to hire someone? Well, it turns out you don’t have to miss out on the produ...

How much deep work do you get done on the average work day? And I mean DEEP work - completely focused, distraction-free work… An hour? Two? Author Eric Barker does five. Yep, five - every single day. But how does he know for sure? Eric uses a simple countdown timer every day to track his most important work: the kind of work that doesn’t allow for a quick email check or a scroll through Instagram....

Stability might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of the priorities of a working actor. But for Ada Nicodemou, she’s sought out and found exactly that in Home & Away.  As a mother, the stereotypically chaotic and categorically un stable life of an actor has never been the right fit for Ada. Thankfully, though, her now two-decade tenure on Home & Away has provided her...

You’ve heard it a million times by now: you need to start meditating. Maybe you’ve tried, like I have, but it just won’t stick. Maybe you can’t sit still for longer than five minutes, or maybe the whole thing feels a bit too woo-woo. If the latter is true, “Morning Pages” might sound like more of the same.  But listening to Brian Koppelman break down his morning rituals, “woo-woo” definitely doesn...

Picture this: you’ve been invited to pop icon Bjork’s Big Day Out afterparty.  You rock up to her trailer and dance music’s pumping. You step inside and everyone’s having a grand old time, including Bjork herself, who’s posted up behind a set of turntables, grooving to the music. You figure you should congratulate her on a great set, but when you get closer, you notice… She’s got black gaff tape a...

What’s the first question you ask yourself or your team when you need to make a big decision? Do you double-check your processes, weigh out the pros and cons? Meetup CEO David Siegel wants you to ask one question before any others when it comes to important decisions: ask yourself, ‘is this a trapdoor decision?’ Trapdoor decisions are irreversible - once you’ve made the call, it can’t be unmade. S...

You know what it’s like when you move house – you’re tripping over boxes for weeks, eating takeout on the floor while you wait for that new dining table to arrive, and lamenting that the rest of the world – including work – doesn’t take a pause while you get your life in order. We’ve all been there, but have you ever used that moment of chaos as the trigger to start writing a book? It sounds insan...

You value your time pretty highly, right? That’s part of why you listen to How I Work - you’re trying to get the most out of what precious time you have, whether it’s a matter of getting more done when you’re in the office, or freeing yourself from distraction when you’re with your family.  So you’d hope others value your time just as much - and therefore, you need to show others how much you valu...

Exercising every single day sounds like playing the game of fitness on the hardest mode, doesn’t it? It sounds like the kind of regime only the ultra-disciplined, shredded-to-the-teeth among us can ever truly achieve. But… what if it was actually the easier option?  Sam Wood, founder of Australia’s number-one home fitness program, 28, exercises every day. But it’s not because he’s some kind of wor...

Whether you’re pitching to your close-knit project team over Zoom, presenting as a keynote speaker to a packed conference hall, or writing an entire book, great stories are at the heart of any effective communication. And no modern non-fiction author spins a better yarn than Dan Pink, the man behind bestsellers like When: The Scientific Secrets of Timing and more recently, The Power of Regret.  Th...

What do you actually want from life?  It seems like a pretty simple question, but if it’s not properly understood, it could lead you and your family down a very complicated path. When parenting expert Justin Coulson asks this question of clients, readers and audiences, he’s always met with the same response.  First, he gets blank faces - most of the time, we’re too busy trying to keep the househol...

We all want to be successful, and as a How I Work listener, you’re actively looking for tools, tips and tricks that’ll get you there. You’re seeking out the best modern minds and trying to understand what’s made them successful.  Good on you! But before you celebrate, you might need to consider the complete opposite approach… Darius Foroux writes books, articles and blog posts for people who want...

If you were anything like me as a kid, you had your fair share of idols, and the majority of them spoke to you through the covers of magazines. If you were a little girl, most of those idols were probably fashion models. Beautiful, immaculately dressed and impossibly cool, we’ve all wished at one point or another that we could be just like those models. Lise Carlaw and Sarah Wills, otherwise known...

In the internet era, there’s an infinite number of opportunities, information, activities and events we could get involved with, which is great… But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and when you say “yes” to anything, you’re also saying “no” to something else. So how do you decide what to say “no” to, and just as crucially, how do you say “no” when it’s really hard? Whether you’re a people-p...

Three men walk into a bar, and see a huge gap in the market - while wine, whiskey and beer were all receiving the craft treatment, gin was largely being ignored. And even better, these three men lived in Australia, and knew the land down under was the perfect place to create not just great gin, but the world’s best gin.  Matt Jones, one of the three co-founders of Four Pillars Gin, is also the Bra...

What makes a great question?  Well, it depends on what you’re trying to figure out. Are you interviewing someone for a job, or on TV? Are you asking someone on a date? Are you trying to learn something?  Whatever it is, you probably have an answer, a solution or a direction in mind when you ask a question. That’s great, but it’s not always the path to the best outcome.  Zoe Chance, author of Influ...

What does it take to make someone give up on their dream? Which straw breaks the camel’s back? For Hugh Van Cuylenburg, a simple but critical mistake in his calendar almost spelt the end of The Resilience Project before it’d truly begun.  But it didn’t. Why not? Where did Hugh find the strength to keep pursuing his goals, even after messing up the best opportunity he’d ever had?  Hugh’s a master s...

Where do you go when you need career guidance? Maybe the right book or video or article can help, but what about when your questions are more specific? What about when you’re in a truly unique situation, and you just can’t figure out the next step - the right direction for you ? Well, maybe it’s time to find a mentor! But before you go cold-emailing all the top thinkers in your industry, you might...

Have you heard praise showered on the concept of being a “lifelong learner”? You might’ve missed it in school, but our kids’ generation are reminded everyday that learning should continue far beyond the classroom. And if you didn’t hear it in school or in parent-teacher conferences, you’ve surely heard it at work by now. But what does it actually mean, and how do you become a lifelong learner your...

Trying to call Jordan Calhoun, Editor in Chief at Lifehacker, isn’t easy. Trust me - I’ve tried! Jordan simply doesn’t take chances when it comes to his attention and his productivity. While it might be slightly tedious to have to pre-organise every phone call ahead of time, it’s more than worth it when it means your attention is entirely under your control.  Jordan shares his step-by-step process...

Would you say no to a million dollars? Imagine if your business was minutes away from securing a huge investment boost, only for the founder to turn it down. What could possibly make her say no to such a big payday?  A nose ring.  Dr Catriona Wallace founded Flamingo AI, which became only the second women-led company to list on the ASX, and she takes money seriously. She explains how some investor...

When you get right down to it, being a leader is ultimately all about being a decision-maker. Everything from hiring a team to devising a business strategy is built on your ability to make all kinds of decisions. So if you’re a leader, and you want to be a better one, you need to learn how to make better decisions.    For Phil Libin, cofounder of Evernote and mmhmm, this process began with introsp...

If you’re a frequent How I Work listener, you’ve probably noticed how frequently I’ve been asking guests for specific advice on tackling big projects, developing focus, and writing. And it’s because writing a book, no matter how many times you do it, is really difficult!  But thanks to this show, I have first-hand access to some of the sharpest minds of our day, and I want to share that access wit...

Collaboration can be a pretty volatile part of work… working alongside great people can make even the most mind-numbingly boring tasks feel like pure play - but when you don’t gel with a particular team, even a passion project can become a drag.  So how do you make sure you’re collaborating with the right people? And collaborating the right way?  Author and coaching expert Michael Bungay Stanier w...

If you know anything about magic, you know a true magician never reveals his secrets. While psychologist and author Richard Wiseman might not share the secrets behind his favourite magic tricks, he’s more than happy to share how magic has made him a better thinker, a better psychologist, and a better public speaker.  Richard also shares how focusing more intently on listening has led to some of hi...