The Podcast

Today, we discuss ideas from The 4 Disciplines of Execution — a book describing a system for achieving goals among the whirlwind of everyday life. Also: celebrating our 50th episode, Radek is going to WWDC, and basketball and rocket corners!

This is such an important idea. We all know this, but few of us actually internalize this truth: The competition for our time and attention is a zero sum game. No matter how hard you try, a day is 24 hours long. We have to be brutal in refusing to do useful things so we can do the most important things. No matter how hard this is, there's no other way to be successful.

Michael reviews The Third Wave (two homonymous books by Alvin Toffler and Steve Case). And Radek is going to San Francisco for Apple's WWDC conference. Nozbe: Works on Mars™ (or money back guaranteed). Your move, Elon Musk.

Your day is 24 hours long, and there's nothing you can do to change that. Which means, competition for your time and attention is a zero sum game. Doing one thing means you're not doing another. And some things are more valuable than others. It's not enough to be merely valuable. To achieve the most, you must cut down on things that are merely nice, and reinvest time in things that are essential....

We live very distracted lives and most of our working days are filled with shallow tasks and interruptions. In this age when more and more jobs are being automated, we can get a competitive edge if we get good at performing deep work — important work at high levels of attention.

More discussion about books! Remember: books are not a source of raw information, they are education and persuasion devices. The most compact forms of books are rarely those that make the most impact.

Michael and Radek have been to Warsaw on two awesome conferences last week. This episode, we're sharing some stories from that and celebrating the human touch in everyday interactions.

A story about our relationship with books. Truly, reading a lot has been a great investment and made us smarter, but it wasn't always easy for us. We had to change our approach to be able to read 20-30 books a year.

The value of focus is hard to measure. But why spend your time doing something on your own just because you can, when you can get it off the shelf and focus on what makes your company unique? Perhaps this is obvious, but we continue to catch ourselves thinking the overly frugal way.

You don't need an office, or presence in Silicon Valley, or big VC money to start and sustain a company. To create something interesting, to make a dent in your customers' lives. And when did "lifestyle business" become an insult, anyway? This week, we gossip a bit about our competition ;)

Being a small company is great. Everyone knows everyone, there's just one team, no secrets, and it all makes for a pleasant environment to work in. But to be a small company and still achieve great things, you have to be efficient and brutally selective about what you say "yes" to.

This one is special. We're recording live from a hotel room on the semi-annual Nozbe Reunion. With live audience, the marketing team Periscoping us, and Michael finally got a proper mic! This week, we're talking about improving ourselves and our company, about feedback loops, about honest feedback, and about re-learning constraints so we can focus our work on things that actually matter.

Third month into the year, it's time to look back on the progress we've made on our yearly goals. Hint: only a fool keeps doing the same thing over and over expecting different results. It's not just about pushing yourself harder — when you don't succeed with your goals, change the approach.

Most communication in companies should happen asynchronously. How can anyone get anything done when everyone is constantly distracted? That, and: 1) Batching related or small tasks 2) Mark your most important tasks as Frogs and filter based on that 3) Finding focus when working on a larger project 4) And more pro tips ;)

Wearing more than one hat makes planning work across the week (and from week to week) hard. Here's how we try to do it, and keep often conflicting priorities balanced and in check.

Radek made people angry on the internet and Michael tried to be funny. The insights you gain by reading lots of books. More stuff about nutrition. (Why isn't there consensus about this?) Michael's successes with his morning routine. Weekly weigh-in. Milk. iTunes reviews. 10 seconds of space corner. Follow-up and a grab bag of small topics.​

Some things are bad, but provide instant gratification. Some things are good, but don't. If you want to create better habits, you have to create an environment where doing the right thing is as effortless as possible. You have to optimize and work around your monkey brain's weaknesses. (Why Radek signed up for a gym, strategies for making this stick, social running, weekly review as a habit, and m...

Radek read "Why We Get Fat" and now his 20kg weight loss makes a whole lot more sense to him. Michael just nods along.

9th birthday of Nozbe = version 3.0 + new logo + new design + tears of joy. That topic that was going to be today? Well, it will have to wait another week.

SpaceX corner, and a bunch of follow-up on making, reviewing, and achieving goals. (And journaling, and weight loss...) Plus a sneak peak into Nozbe 3.0.

2015 in review and how NOT to make New Year's resolutions.

Radek signed up for a gym. And he doesn't like gifts. And USB causes radio interference. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!

Why you should be doing Weekly Review, a scheduled meeting with yourself. (It's like flossing!) Also: ergonomics follow-up, RF corner, and the first edition of Hosts' Picks.

Micheal bought a Tesla! Well, one unit of TSLA stock. Still! Continuing our conversation on workspace ergonomics (chairs, desks, and working while standing). Some philosophizing on buying only the best. And what we've learned after half a year of podcasting!