Time and Attention

On this episode, we chat about ideas from Chris’s new book, How to Calm Your Mind ! Topics covered include: How a calm mind can make us significantly more productive; How anxiety shrinks our cognitive performance; What calm actually is; How anxiety is a spectrum; How presence is the key to productivity, and how to find it; The “accomplishment mindset”; The various drafts of How to Calm Your Mind ;...

On this episode, we chat about our favorite rituals to ring in the new year. Topics covered include: Whether we make New Year’s resolutions; The importance of reflection at New Year’s; How to think back to past accomplishments; Simple rituals to set goals for the year ahead; The productivity benefits of gratitude. Links mentioned in this episode: Article: Give these 3 new year’s rituals a try You...

This episode was originally published on May 7, 2019. In this episode, I chat with David Allen, the author of Getting Things Done , about his book—and how we can carve out more space for having ideas. You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post Podcast: My interview with David Allen, author of Getting Things Done appeared first on Chris Bailey .

On this episode, we chat about what burnout is and how to overcome it., Topics covered include: Our own experiences with burnout; The three characteristics of burnout; The stepping stones to burnout; The two types of stress we face throughout the day; Whether burnout is a primarily workplace phenomenon; The six factors of our work that contribute to burnout. Links mentioned in this episode: Book:...

On this episode, we chat about our GTD-inspired weekly reviews—and what we include in them. Topics covered include: What a “weekly review” is; The steps to doing a weekly review; How flexible to be with your review; What we each review every week; Including an “accomplishments list” in the review; Working reflections into the weekly review; The weird way Chris manages his daily schedule; The confi...

On this episode, we chat about our favorite writing tips—including the ones we use every day. Topics covered include: How writing triggers procrastination; Giving yourself permission to not write well; How to track writing progress throughout long projects; The power of outlining (including when you don’t want to); Where “writer’s block” comes from; How great writing can be contagious (and how to...

On this episode, we briefly chat about Chris’s new book and then dig into the main topic: self-talk. Topics covered include: Chris’s next book, How to Calm Your Mind ; The proportion of our internal monologue that’s negative; How self-talk can get in the way of productivity; How universal having negative thought patterns is; How meditation helps tame negative self-talk; How to not zero in on negat...

On this episode, we chat about why we take certain habits for granted, including the ones that actively provide us with dividends. Topics covered include: A brief recap on “focus modes” and “focus filters” on iOS; Why habits become invisible; Habits that are actively providing us with dividends; The great habits we each have that we regularly check up on; Why some habits can work too well; How to...

This episode was originally published on December 3, 2019. On this episode, I chat with James Clear, the author of Atomic Habits , about his book—and how we can build and develop better habits. You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!   The post Podcast: My interview with James Clear, author of Atomic Habits appeared first on Chris Bailey .

On this episode, we chat about tactics for becoming a more productive student. Topics covered include: The importance of practice problems; Sitting with problems; The importance to curiosity driving learning; The value of planning on a semester-level;⁃A few apps for managing your schedule; The power of co-op and internships; Taking good breaks; Watching movies instead of binge-watching TV; Reading...

On this episode, we chat about how to measure our daily productivity. Topics covered include: Why we’re so bad at measuring how much we get done; The default metrics we fall back on for determining whether we’re productive; How the number of hours we work matters less than we think; What productivity is for; Minding intention and accomplishment; The accomplishments list and other strategies for me...

On this episode, we chat about task switching—how to get better at it, and the costs of switching tasks too often. Topics covered include: Why multitasking is so fun; How often we switch between tasks as we work; Attentional residue—what it is and how to minimize it; How task switching affects our working memory; How meditation clears our working memory; Our brain’s “novelty bias”; The multiple le...

On this episode, we chat about a few favorite books we’ve read recently, and how we plan our weeks. Topics covered include: Balancing the “macro” and “micro” parts of your week; Bunching weekly obligations; “Maker” vs “Manager” schedules; The “switching costs” you incur throughout the week Attentional residue; What to consider at the start of your week. Links mentioned in this episode: Book: The O...

On this episode, we chat about how the best productivity advice helps us live in a way that’s more true to what we value. Topics covered include: The assumptions embedded within traditional productivity advice; Values-based productivity; The ickyness of hustle culture; The addictive nature of achievement; The difficulty of determining our primary values; The 10 primary values; How to reflect on wh...

On this episode, we chat about the best sources of caffeine—the ones that provide the longest lasting energy. Topics covered include: How caffeine produces a stress response; How our body adjusts to our caffeine “baseline”; The countless sources of caffeine that are out there; The magic of L-theanine; Avoiding the post-lunch caffeine crash You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The p...

On this episode, we chat about work breaks—including how long they should be, how often to take them, and what to do during them! Topics covered include: The two “levels” of work breaks How our energy fluctuates in 90-minute rhythms How our productivity and creativity fluctuate all day long How alcohol and sleepiness affect creativity How long we should break for to optimize our energy levels What...

On this episode, we chat about motivation, and how to find more of it. Topics covered include: The different theories of motivation Approach vs. avoidance-based motivation The need for achievement, and incentives for success Keeping a “resistance list” Discovering the opposite of procrastination Finding motivation through what we value Links mentioned in this episode: Finish , by Jon Acuff Self-de...

On this episode, we review a couple of pieces of productivity tech that we’ve recently been trying out: the Timeular time tracker and the reMarkable 2 paper tablet. I’ll also have a review of the reMarkable up on the website in the coming weeks! Hope you enjoy the conversation—we loved both of the devices in different ways, even if they’re not for everyone. You can listen (and subscribe) to the po...

On this episode, we dig deep into the power of time blocking. Topics covered include: What “time blocking” is; The “working spheres” we occupy; The importance of time blocking when you have a lot of work; Why we should time block; How time blocking helps us work with greater intention; How we time block time off; How strict to be with time blocking; The confidence and calm time blocking can give y...

On this episode, we chat about how to work with greater intention throughout the day. Topics covered include: How intention lets us align our actions to what’s important and meaningful; The “Eisenhower Matrix” of importance and urgency; Revising the “Rule of 3” The hourly awareness chime; How to realign your focus to your intentions throughout the day; Setting stronger, more specific intentions. Y...

On this episode, we chat about how to define productivity—and how what productivity means has changed over time, especially with the advent of knowledge work. Topics covered include: The misconceptions we have about productivity; How time management is less important than it used to be; How the productivity landscape has shifted; How most productivity advice falls into three categories: time, atte...

On this episode, we chat about how to embrace—and even enjoy!—change. Topics covered include: How expectations influence our relationship with change; The relationship between catastrophizing and change; How change affects the “learning loop” in our mind; The relationship between dopamine and change; Developing strategically low expectations; Focusing on what we can control (and giving up control)...

On this episode, we chat about how to use simple economic principles to become more productive and intentional. Topics covered include: What economics even is; What an “economic tradeoff” is; The “opportunity cost” of our time; The costs associated with our decisions; Recognizing our “sunk costs”; How to “think along the margins.” Links mentioned in this episode: “ Bakeonomics ” blog Thinking on t...

On this episode, we chat about the “Rule of 3”—my all-time favorite prioritization strategy. Topics covered include: What the “rule of 3” is; How our brain is wired to think in threes; How to prioritize what you have going on in an agile way; The benefits and drawbacks to daily prioritization; The importance of awareness when prioritizing; The power of “implementation intentions.” Links mentioned...

On this episode, I chat with John List about his new book, The Voltage Effect . Topics we talk about include: What “scale” and “voltage” are; How he discovered the “silver bullets” of scaling up an idea; The five hurdles we need to overcome when scaling something; How scale is a “weakest link” problem; How to discover which of our ideas have a chance; The three reasons we don’t quit soon enough (a...