Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

Optimism isn't a mood you're born with, and it isn't a mindset you can summon on command. It's a set of habits you practice, especially on the hard days. That's the case  Michelle Gielan  makes in her new book,  Resilient Optimism: The Science of Sustaining a Positive Mindset in Tough Times . Michelle is a positive psychology researcher, a former CBS News anchor, and the bestselling...

Focus, sleep, and stress all run on the same 90-minute cycle — and  Dr. Christian Poensgen  argues that's where productivity that lasts actually begins. He's a scientist turned executive coach whose doctoral work was on the relationship between stress and performance, and co-author, with Eric Partaker, of  Ultraproductive: The 90-Minute Method to Optimize Focus, Sleep, and Stress ....

Simplicity and decision fatigue are the focus of this conversation with  Roy Schwartz , co-founder and president of Axios. Roy Schwartz co-founded Axios and Axios HQ after helping build Politico, where he first saw how much of modern work is just noise competing for attention. His dyslexia forced him to compress everything down to the core just to keep up — a coping strategy that became the f...

Marriage communication looks different when both partners are neurodivergent — so  Jackie Kelley  and her husband built their own rules from scratch. Jackie Kelley  is a neurodivergent storyteller, illustrator, wife, and mother based in Gilbert, Arizona. Through her social media content and viral "Marriage Rules" videos, she helps couples build communication rhythms that actually fi...

Work-life balance and boundaries are at the center of this conversation with  Sarah Armstrong , author of  The Art of the Juggling Act . Sarah Armstrong is the head of Global Marketing Operations at Google and the author of  The Art of the Juggling Act: A Bite-Sized Guide for Working Parents . With a career spanning McKinsey, Leo Burnett, and two decades at Coca-Cola, she writes and...

Goal setting, intentional living, and following through are at the center of this conversation with  Chris Bailey , productivity author and co-host of the Intentional AI podcast. Chris Bailey's work traces a decade-long arc — from  The Productivity Project  to  Hyperfocus  to  How to Calm Your Mind . His new book,  Intentional: How to Finish What You Start , pull...

Creativity, play, and intentional living are at the center of this conversation with  Rachael Renae , artist and author of  Prioritize Play . Rachael Renae is an artist, workshop facilitator, and self-described "creativity hype gal" based in Detroit. After more than a decade as an engineer and years running a handmade stationery business, she now helps people reconnect with their creativ...

Self-awareness, mindset, and personal productivity are at the center of this conversation with  Lisa Marker-Robbins , a Master Certified  Birkman Method  coach — one of the roughly 3% of consultants at that level. Lisa has taken more than 4,000 people through the Birkman assessment over 30-plus years. She runs an executive coaching practice for adults and founded Flourish Coaching,...

Self-trust and identity are at the center of this conversation with Lester Clowes, executive coach and author of  Stop Lying to Yourself . Lester Clowes spent a decade running a school system before building a coaching practice around the exact motivational content he used to be hooked on himself. His new book,  Stop Lying to Yourself , examines the quiet lies capable, organized people t...

Burnout, energy management, and decision fatigue are at the center of this conversation with Liane Davey, organizational psychologist and the "teamwork doctor." Liane Davey  is a New York Times bestselling author and CEO advisor with 25+ years researching what makes teams work. Her latest book,  Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work , argues the number we've...

Creativity, rest, and mindset are at the center of this conversation with Natalie Nixon, author of  The Creativity Leap  and  Move, Think, Rest . Natalie Nixon has spent two decades as a creativity strategist advising Fortune 500 companies on innovation strategy — work she calls being a "creative whisperer to the C-Suite." She's the founder of Figure 8 Thinking, and her two books ma...

Energy management, decision making, and knowing when to walk away are at the center of this conversation with Mark Malkoff, author of  Love Johnny Carson . Mark Malkoff is a comedian, filmmaker, and interviewer who spent eight years and nearly 400 interviews building  The Carson Podcast . That work became his first book,  Love Johnny Carson , written with biographer David Ritz and a...

Time management and time abundance are at the center of this conversation with Laura Vanderkam , bestselling author and time-use researcher. Laura Vanderkam has spent over a decade studying how people actually spend their time — tracking her own hours for 11 years and collecting data from thousands of others along the way. Her new book,  Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance , makes the c...

I’m excited to revisit this conversation with Charlie Gilkey on his book,  Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results . Charlie is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a company that helps professional creatives, leaders, and changemakers take meaningful action on work that matters. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on productivity, planning, strategy, and...

I'm excited to revisit this conversation with Claire Diaz-Ortiz discussing her book,  One Minute Mentoring , co-authored with legendary leadership expert Ken Blanchard. Claire is a keynote speaker, author, and former head of social innovation at Twitter who helps individuals and organizations build more intentional, meaningful connections — and this conversation is one of the most practical w...

What happens when you delete every app off your phone for 21 days? In this solo episode, Erik shares what he discovered during a Christmas break internet break — and what the research says about why so many of us feel like we can't put the phone down in the first place. In this episode, Erik covers: How We Got Here Without Deciding To:  The boiled frog drift into five-to-seven hours of daily...

I’m excited to welcome back my good friend Dr. John Drury for part two of our conversation on the rule of life and how ancient practices can help us live and work with more intention. John is a New Testament scholar, professor, and thoughtful guide when it comes to integrating spiritual rhythms into ordinary life. In this continuation, we move from the big-picture ideas we introduced in part one i...

I'm excited to revisit this conversation I had with John Drury to the show to discuss how ancient spiritual practices can reshape the way we approach productivity, rhythm, and life itself. John is a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University's School of Theology and Ministry, holding an M.Div. and Ph. D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a close personal friend of mine for over 25 years. In t...

Welcome to the first episode of 2026! If you’re feeling that “new year, new me” pressure: goals, plans, fresh calendars, the whole thing—this one’s for you. Because when life inevitably punches your perfectly color-coded week in the throat, the issue isn’t your planning… it’s what you thought planning could control. This episode is all about Control vs. Agency—and how to stay productive when outco...

I’m excited to welcome  Mike Vardy  back to  Beyond The To-Do List  for one of our ongoing traditions: Productivity A-Z! This is  Part 2  of a two-part conversation — and we split it across both shows.  Part 1 is over on Mike Vardy’s podcast, A Productive Conversation . You can also watch the whole two part video here . Here on  Beyond The To-Do List , we pi...

I’m excited to revisit this conversation with Annie Duke to the show to talk about her book,  How to Decide: Simple Tools for Making Better Choices . Annie is a former professional poker player turned decision strategist who blends cognitive psychology, high-stakes poker, and practical frameworks to help us make better choices in work and life—even when we don’t have all the information.&nbsp...

In this shortcast episode, Erik Fisher talks with  Tamsen Webster  about the hidden structure behind every message that sticks. Tamsen introduces the  Red Thread —a framework for crafting ideas that feel obvious in hindsight and impossible to ignore. Whether you’re pitching a project, leading a team, or launching a product, this episode will help you connect what you’re saying to wh...

Margaret Andrews is the founder of Mind and Hand Associates, faculty at Harvard Extension School, and author of  Manage Yourself to Lead Others: Why Great Leadership Begins with Self-Understanding . In this episode, she breaks down the MYLO framework—a practical, science-based system built around  Motivation ,  Learning , and  Opportunity —and explains how leaders at any level...

Shawn Lemon is the founder of  The Digital Organizer , where he helps individuals and teams eliminate friction and chaos in their digital workflows. In this episode, we go deep into digital file systems, tool audits, naming conventions, AI clutter, and the underestimated cost of daily digital disorganization. This isn’t about color-coding your folders for fun—it’s about recovering your focus,...

In this episode, I’m joined by  Dr. Harry Cohen , a leadership consultant and author of  Be the Sun, Not the Salt . In this uplifting conversation, Harry unpacks how small moments of positive energy can have massive ripple effects—and how each of us can show up as a force for good in our relationships, teams, and communities. In this episode, we explore: The Heliotropic Effect in Human B...