All Episodes
Focused — 255 episodes
Focused 255: Get Your Machete Out
254: Battling Burnout
253: Finding Focus in the Midst of Chaos, with David Roth
252: Donkey Work
251: Not Throwing Away My Shot, with Joe Casabona
250: Planning Your Week
249: What if This Were Easy? with Ernie Svenson
248: Seriously, A Heroic Journey
247: Getting Intentional, with Chris Bailey
246: A Cleansing Palette of Joy
245: Fashionable & Functional, with Patrick Rhone
244: You're Holding It Wrong
243: The Single Source of Truth is On the Fridge, with Thom Gibson
242: The Case for Analog
241: Less But Better, with Austin L. Church
240: Q4 Planning
239: How to Focus Like a Roman Emperor, with Donald J. Robertson
238: Knitting Our Parachutes
237: Everything is Figureoutable, with Max Roberts
236: Focus Traps
235: Practical Wisdom for Mindful Living, with John Chandler
234: Intentional Friction
233: I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up, with Kara Monroe
232: Useful Not True, with Derek Sivers
231: Overwhelm, AI, and Life's Balancing Acts
230: Journaling & Intention, with Joe Moyer
229: Workflow Check-In
228: Time Surfing, with Paul Loomans
227: Quarterly Planning
226: The Importance of Review
225: Tiny Experiments, with Anne-Laure Le Cunff
224: Chasing Valuable Rabbits, with Chenell Basilio
223: Solving the Actual Problem, with Ian Byrd
222: The 2025 Productivity Field Guide
221: A Focus on Creativity
220: 2024 Retrospective
219: A Focused Smorgasbord
218: Turning Down the Volume, with Stephen Hackett
217: The Anxious Generation
216: Wholehearted Transformation, with Amy Wicks
215: The Sparky Language Model
214: Solving Gnarly Problems, with Clarke Ching
213: Developing Skills
212: Living the Llama Life, with Marie Ng
211: The Focus MOB
210: Media Strategies for a Focused Life
209: A System for Writing, with Bob Doto
208: Moving the Needle Revisited
207: What Would Sparky Say?
206: Rapt
205: Tasks & Calendars
204: Analog Productivity, with Jeff Sheldon
203: The Little Lies You Tell Yourself, with Jason Snell
202: Slow Productivity
201: What to Do When Things Don't Go Your Way, with Haemin Sunim
200: Favorite Productivity Hacks
199: Repotting & Retirement, with Jim Eager
198: Revisiting Journaling
197: Feel Good Productivity
196: Focus & The Reading Life, with Maryanne Wolf
195: The Productivity Field Guide
194: I'd Like to Take a Mulligan
193: The Problem with Mise en Place, with Justin Khanna
192: Flow State
191: Multi-Scale Planning
190: Overdosing on Gratitude, with Karl Staib
189: Focus & AI
188: Q4 Planning & The PKM Stack
187: Drop Zones & Launch Pads, with Jesse J. Anderson
186: The Burden of Opportunity, with Shawn Blanc
185: How to Be Miserable
184: Solving Problems, with Jay Clouse
183: Practicing Focus
182: Building Focused Flywheels, with Nathan Barry
181: Walking Your Own Path, with Justin Moore
180: A Focused Hodgepodge
179: Ideal Weeks
178: Mike's Big Adventure
177: The Care and Feeding of Technology, with Mike Rohde
176: Doing Less
175: The To-Don't List
174: Deep Work, with Cal Newport
173: Life Has Lifed You, with Mark Metzger
172: Journaling & Focus
171: Communication & Focus
170: Holistic Productivity, with Tim Stringer
169: How to Calm Your Mind, with Chris Bailey
168: 2023 Focus Resolutions
167: 2022 Year in Review
166: The Social Dilemma
165: On the River, with Chris Upchurch
164: Mind Mapping
163: The Laws of Creativity, with Joey Cofone
162: Perfectionism
161: Stolen Focus, with Jean MacDonald
160: Balancing Calendars and Tasks
159: The Art of Note-Taking
158: Humans First, with Rob Krecak
157: Non-Traditional Measures of Productivity, with Mike Vardy
156: The State of GTD
155: 12 Favorite Problems
154: Building a Second Brain, with Tiago Forte
153: A Wandering Mind, with Kourosh Dini
152: Mental Models
151: The Bento Method, with Francesco D'Alessio
150: Optimize for Intentionality
149: Asking Questions, with Marc Champagne
148: Savoring the Moment, with Chris Bailey
147: Task Management & Focus
146: The Extended Mind, with Annie Murphy Paul
145: Focus & Your Environment
144: Enough, with Patrick Rhone
143: Thinking Annually
142: Sparky Gets Focused
141: You Never Arrive
140: Your Brain is Not a Computer with Cory Hixson
139: Soundtracks & Self-Talk
138: Hyper-Scheduling Revisited
137: Managing Busy
136: Social Focus, with Taylor Jacobson
135: Don't Eat the Frog, with Jesse J. Anderson
134: Finding Space with Sean McCabe
133: Success & Failure
132: Willpower and Your Environment
131: Liminal Thinking
130: Toxic Productivity
129: No One Wants to Work With a Jerk, with Colleen Wainwright
128: Communication
127: Focusing a Team, with Ken Case
126: Productivity vs. Grinding
125: Professional Nerd, with Rosemary Orchard
124: Reading and Learning
123: A Focus on Time
122: Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo
121: Analog Focus, with Jeff Sheldon
120: Caveday with Jake Kahana
119: Productivity & Meditation, with Chris Bailey
118: Tasks and Habits
117: Roles & Goals
116: The Big Reset
115: Solving Interesting Problems, with Ernie Svenson
114: Inputs and PKM Stacks
113: ADHD and Cognitive Science, with Brittany Smith
112: Productivity & Creativity
111: Environmental Focus, with Erik Fisher
110: Focus with Michael Hyatt
109: Email Workflows
108: Pruning with Ian Byrd
107: The Bullet Journal Method, with Ryder Carroll
106: Home Offices with Laura Vanderkam
105: Living the Multipotentialite Life, with Jay Miller
104: Sleep and Sabbaticals
103: Systems & Challenges
102: Analog Productivity with Brad Dowdy
101: Taking a Sabbatical, with Sean McCabe
100: Staying Focused with Episode 100
99: Working From Home, with Dave Caolo
98: Floating with Dave Hamilton
97: Emotional Overload
96: Working from Home
95: Five Years of Freedom
94: Journaling with Matt Ragland
93: Attention Overload
92: Getting Focused Kourosh Dini
91: Information Overload
90: Habits > Goals
89: The Magic of Mind Mapping, with Harald Eckmüller
88: Annual Check-Ins
87: Nerds Like Us, with Myke Hurley
86: Rest is a Weapon
85: The Depth of Our Madness
84: Focus is a Super Power
83: Ideas Over Art, with Mike Rohde
82: The Hustle
81: Breaking the Twitch, with Anthony Ongaro
80: The Power of "No"
79: Reclaiming Margin, with Shawn Blanc
78: Changing Defaults with John Zeratsky
77: You Can't Hack the System
76: A Failure Across the Board
75: Intentional Constraints
74: Moving the Needle
73: Productivity and Art with Bob Reynolds
72: Heart-Centered Productivity, with Jocelyn K. Glei
71: Hyper-Scheduling
70: Digital Decluttering, with Shahid Kamal Ahmad
69: The Intentional Life
68: Getting Productive with an Unproductive Boss
67: Staying Motivated with Laura McClellan
66: Putting Email in its Place
65: Hyperfocused with Chris Bailey
64: The Power of Habits
63: Lessons Learned
62: The Year End Audit
61: The Morning Routine
60: Be Strategic About It, with Mike Vardy
59: Kaizen
58: A Better Path, with Joe Buhlig
57: Chef = Boss
56: Iterate in Public, with Sean McCabe
55: The Math Works
54: I Have to Try It, with Casey Liss
53: The Value of Your Time
52: You Can't Be What You Can't See with Ann Shen
51: Freedom Frogs
50: Bet on Yourself
49: Panting to the Finish Line
48: Lousy With the Stink of Freedom, with Merlin Mann
47: Personal Floating Holiday
46: Being Comfortable Is Not an Option, with Jaimee Newberry
45: Like Going Back to High School
44: Maybe You'll Get a Real Job, with David Wain
43: Don’t Ask Us Permission
42: Learning Your Creative Rhythms, with Shawn Blanc
41: A Walk on the Beach
40: Like Being in a Boat, with Kourosh Dini
39: Quality Time with a Sledgehammer
38: Knit Your Parachute on the Way Down, with Thom Zahler
37: The Twelve-Week Year
36: My App Story, with John Voorhees
35: I Guess I'm Felix Unger
34: I Think I Just Got Fired, with Marco Arment
33: When You Say Yes to Everything
32: It's Scary, Dude! with Kathy Campbell
31: Being Selective About Clients, with Aleen Simms
30: Tito Needs to Pay the Rent
29: The Spreadsheet
28: David's Origin Story
27: Bird in the Bush
26: A Batphone to My Heart
25: Breadcrumb of My Life, with Stephen Hackett
24: Take Care of Yourself
23: It's Hard To Get on a Different Train
22: Staying Agile
21: The Second Feedback Episode
20: Jason's Origin Story
19: Nobody Grades You on the Scaffolding
18: A Series of Logical Decisions, with Greg Pierce
17: Stop Digging
16: R2-D2 on My Desk
15: Put on the Business Hat
14: Putting Numbers in Boxes, with Andrew Carroll
13: Promotion Can Feel Gross
12: Right Now It's Only Me, with Katie Floyd
11: Balancing Dollars and Delight
10: Indie Vacation
9: The Feedback Episode
8: Email Is Not Your Job
7: Be Like a Duck
6: The Shawshank Redemption, with Shahid Kamal Ahmad
5: Envision a Bonfire
4: Location, Location, Location
3: My Curse and My Reward, with Myke Hurley
2: Booked Up With Myself
1: The Temptation of Yes