Productivity

On this episode, we chat about the science behind meetings—and how to get more value out of them. Topics covered include: The four helpful roles meetings have; Questioning your recurring meetings; Considering relationship dynamics in meetings; Becoming a good steward of other peoples time; Designating a meeting leader; Not attending meetings without an agenda; “Modalities”

Written by Chris Bailey Chris Bailey has written hundreds of articles on the subject of productivity and is the author of three books: How to Calm Your Mind, Hyperfocus, and The Productivity Project. His books have been published in more than 40 languages. Chris writes about productivity on this site and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they

Takeaway: Material purchases that scream “look at me” are usually a waste of money and don’t make you any happier. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 12s. As a total nerd, one of the things I love reading each year is Warren Buffet’s annual letter to the shareholders of Berkshire Hathaway. In 2022’s letter (PDF), he

On this episode, we chat about strategies for time blocking your day—including the ones we use. Topics covered include: The benefits of time blocking; The “rolling” time blocking method; How long our blocks are; How autonomy interacts with time blocking; Making time blocking sustainable. You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!

Takeaway: To add “seasonality” to your work, try temporarily adopting “quiet quitting”—defining stronger boundaries around your work—so you can recharge and find time to slow down and become more deliberate. This can lead you to become more productive while improving your work-life balance. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 12s. Recently, I had the pleasure of hosting

Plan in-person meetings. Decide on consistent team members. Avoid having too many people on any one team. When it comes to team success, you’ve probably heard these tried-and-true recommendations. But that conventional wisdom is wrong—or at least outdated. New research from i4cp research analysts Rob Cross (who wrote the HBR cover story Collaborative Overload) and

On this episode, Cal Newport hops back on the show to talk about his great new book, Slow Productivity. It’s a great, fascinating new book (and interview!), both full of actionable insights on how to slow down in order to become more productive. Topics covered include: How “slow productivity” came into being; The three ingredients

Ah, Microsoft. What do you think of first when you hear that name? Word? Powerpoint? Bill Gates? Well, let us make the case for why your first thought ought to be ‘productivity’. Many of us knowledge workers have been using Microsoft for so long that all of the new applications and features added to the

Takeaway: Artificial intelligence will let us accomplish significantly more with our time. To best take advantage of these tools,  identify the highest-leverage ways you could spend your time and carefully navigate how to “abstract” your work. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 52s. What artificial intelligence will do to our productivity For each minute you spend

On this episode, we chat about how we use and think about social media. We cover what the problem is with social media (if there even is one), how the “novelty bias” hijacks our attention as we use it, and tactics to use to keep social media contained. Topics covered include: The books we’re reading

Takeaway: Can’t explain why you act the way you do? Your values may be at play. There are 10 human values that we hold most dear, explained below. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 22s. When I was a teenager, I ran a marathon. Well, sort of. Following the instructions from a great book (my memory

On this episode, we chat about whether or not you should wake up early—and how our biology and daily constraints dictate when we should rise. Topics covered include: Calculating your natural wakeup time; How our wakeup time drifts; The “sepia toned” idea we have to wake up early; Carving out time in the morning to

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued its final ruling on non-compete clauses in employment contracts—a 570-page document detailing its decision—this week. The upshot of the Commission’s ruling is that non-compete clauses are an unjust method of competition and therefore violate Section 5 of the FTC Act, which covers unfair or deceptive acts or practices. The

Every year, i4cp surveys its community of senior HR executives to identify what they believe leaders should be prepared for in the coming year. For 2024, the four most important topics on the minds of these leaders were: High-performance organizations stepping up HR’s involvement in AI strategy; Forward-looking organizations creating future-of-work leadership roles; Culture measures—both

On this episode, we chat about how to avoid “all or nothing” thinking—also known as the “eff it” effect, or the abstinence violation effect, if you want to get technical about it. Topics covered include: Not being satisfied by partial success How the effect plays out across different time scales The idea of “sunk costs”

Takeaway: If you’re not careful, your to-do list can make your work less enjoyable, while leading you to feel less in control of your time. When finishing tasks, reflect on the next most important project to work on—and treat your to-do list as a series of suggestions, not obligations. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 26s. One