How I Work

Did you ever have a great study buddy? Someone in high school or university who made those long sessions on the books a little less punishing?  What did that person actually do? Were they giving you tips? Or was it enough to just have them… there? I know I work with a whole lot more concentration and energy when my teammates are around.  And Taylor Jacobson does too - he had such a great study bud...

All entrepreneurs get things wrong; it comes with the territory. But great entrepreneurs love getting things wrong, because it means they’re learning. Brian Scudamore, Founder and CEO of O2E (which includes brands such as 1800-GOT-JUNK and Shack Shine), is no different, and as tough as the pandemic was, he still sees it as an invaluable learning opportunity.  One of O2E’s iconic practices is its e...

Think back to something… scary. Intimidating. Something you signed up for and thought was a great idea in the moment, but that grew more and more unnerving as it grew closer.  Maybe it was an athletic endeavour, an overseas adventure, or a serious stretch goal at work. If you asked friends for advice as the big day crept ever closer, they probably asked you the classic question: “What’s the worst...

Taking on a long-term project can be incredibly daunting, and writing Time Wise was no different! Thankfully, I had Izzy Yates by my side every step of the way to make sure my book would not only cross the finish line, but do so in better shape than I could’ve ever expected.  Izzy’s the Head of the Penguin Publishing Lab at Penguin Random House Australia & New Zealand, assessing and overseeing...

If you’re anything like me, networking feels like a necessary evil at best, and an overwhelming nightmare more often than not! But it doesn’t have to be that way.  In an extract from my new book, Time Wise, I share a simple trick I learned from Marissa King that’s helped me return to in-person events with a newfound confidence - even when I don’t know a single other person when I arrive.  Marissa’...

In the final installment of this listeners’ choice series, we go back to one of the toughest challenges facing knowledge workers today: saying no. 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 so...

I’m calling it: the to-do list is the most misunderstood concept in our working lives, and in productivity in general. Of course, they’re super important - in fact, they’re so central to our work today that even if you don’t physically or digitally write one down, you’ve still got some version of a to-do list knocking around your noggin. So what do we all get wrong about them? Well, most of us are...

“If you love your work, you’ll never work a day in your life.” A nice sentiment, but unfortunately, completely false. My source? Me! As someone who loves my work, I can tell you that I’m not skipping through the office with a cheesy grin on my face all day, every day.  So how do you learn to enjoy more of what you do? Whether you’re in a job you love but you have to endure some pretty tedious admi...

Sending an email to a colleague? You’re telling them a story. Talking to your boss during your performance review? You’re crafting a narrative? Pitching to a prospective client? Yep, you’re spinning a yarn.  Whenever you communicate with someone else, you’re telling a story. And given how often we need to communicate with others to do modern knowledge work, we’d all better learn how to be more eng...

Building your own productivity practice can feel like a mammoth effort - so if you’re also trying to do it for your whole family, you need all the help you can get!  Thankfully for How I Work listener Tracey, parenting expert Dr. Justin Coulson has just the trick, and it’s broken up into four rules to follow every single day. = Whether you’re working on making sure you and your little ones are get...

The perfect day starts with the perfect morning routine, right? Or is that too late?  How I Work listener Jason was struggling to juggle his workload as he transitioned from primary to secondary school teaching. A new system, new spaces, and constant COVID-induced interruptions to the status quo were making it all but impossible to always be in the right place at the right time.  That is, until he...

Do you have a cheerleader? Someone who’ll congratulate on the little wins, who’ll remind you that you’re doing well, encourage you to keep going? I hope so! And even if you do… I’ll bet it’s still sometimes not quite enough. After all, we’re usually our own toughest critics, and even the completely legitimate kind words of the people closest to us can’t overpower that little voice in the back of o...

If you’re into productivity, you’ve probably tried to become a “morning person”. Maybe you’ve tried it a couple of times. You set your alarm for 5am and go to sleep dreaming of pre-dawn yoga sessions and meditation, followed by some journaling and a bit of deep work before the office even opens.  And maybe it worked! But maybe it didn’t - no matter how many times you tried. If you’ve tried waking...

In the first episode of this new mini-series, How I Work listener Ruth writes in to share what she’s learned from bestselling author and computer science professor, Cal Newport.  Cal’s “To Discuss” List is his method of saving countless hours of unnecessary, unscheduled back-and-forth emailing. While it might feel easier to quickly dash off an email when you need something from a colleague, Cal im...

We’re often told not to take advice blindly, and this is especially true for productivity advice. The rise-and-grind schedule might work for a Lark, but it’s a recipe for a disaster if you’re a Night Owl. Sourcing ideas from people you admire is a great start, but you need to run your own experiments to figure out which ideas actually work for you. That is, unless your partner is a chronic experim...

Most guests on How I Work will tell you to turn off your phone if you want to get work done. They’ll probably tell you to leave it out of the bedroom when it’s time to sleep, and to keep it out of reach when you’re meant to be spending quality time with friends and family.  It’s easy to forget sometimes just how useful that little super computer in your pocket can be - and that applies to life adm...

**Pre-order your copy of Time Wise at amantha.com ** If your job title is “Executive Productivity Advisor for Google,” you probably need a pretty refined definition of productivity, right? And Laura Mae Martin certainly does. But she says it’s equally important that every individual has their own, unique definition of productivity.  It’s all too easy to fall into “busy language”, she says. Back-to...

You might not be surprised to find out Lisa Leong has a colour-coded calendar. She’s the host of hit ABC podcast This Working Life, after all. But what might surprise you is how her attention to diaristic detail helps her when she’s not at work. Her ABC work is orange, and the sessions working on her new book were red. But she also blocks out her e-bike commutes and social activities. Why?  For on...

**Pre-order your copy of Time Wise at amantha.com ** It’s 5am, and Linktree co-founder Anthony Zaccaria’s already up. But this isn’t some productivity-robot morning routine he’s lifted from another tech leader’s biography. He’s up because he’s got twin toddlers, and when they’re up, he’s up.  Linktree’s a global company, so any number of emails, messages and project updates have probably come thro...

Do you even lift? Oh, you do? Great! But do you train for endurance too? Your heart health is super important. Oh, you do that too, amazing! How long can you stand on one leg?  Yep, you should really test how long you can stand on one leg - it’s an important measure of your fitness, which in turn is an important indicator of your health more broadly.  Author, television journalist and former docto...

If a mystical wizard with very specific powers and a very strange agenda cast a spell on me, dictating that I could only listen to one podcast for the rest of my life - that podcast would be Mamamia Out Loud. And based on the Apple Podcast homepage charts, I wouldn’t be alone. Mamamia Out Loud is one of Australia’s most popular podcasts, and it’s just one of many incredible woman-led shows in the...

The modern office dress code is a pretty nebulous thing nowadays. Most industries have been slowly moving away from strict “business attire” for decades now. The full suit and tie gave way to the business shirt, before modern tech entrepreneurs popularised the image of a t-shirt and jeans as the uniform of the workaholic disruptor.  And that’s all before we started working from our couches!  But C...

**Pre-order your copy of Time Wise at amantha.com ** It’s the greatest productivity debate of our time: how do we achieve work-life balance? Or maybe the real debate should be: is work-life balance even possible?  Eric Barker, the author of Barking Up the Wrong Tree and now Plays Well With Others, doesn’t think work-life balance is truly achievable. At least, not if you want the best possible resu...

David had it pretty good. He was working in a great university. His students loved him. His peers loved him. He had plenty of friends who loved him. And then he became a successful playwright. Life couldn’t get any better! Except reaching the dizzying heights David reached in the theatre world didn’t come cheap. For most of his life, he was like anyone else. You might have the occasional tiff with...

**Pre-order your copy of Time Wise at amantha.com** For productivity geeks like us, the professional writer can become a bit of a mystic figure. When we fantasise about finally perfecting our morning routines, finally clearing out enough time for a fruitful Deep Work session, setting up the ideal workstation - we’re often thinking about a writer.  There’s something idyllic about the idea of being...