Focused cover art

All Episodes

Focused — 261 episodes

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Title
1

265: How to Try Again, with Steve Kamb

2

263: Removing the Roadblocks, with Cat Mulvihill

3

262: The Strategic Deployment of Friction

4

261: Metrics of Success

5

257: I Go By Vibes, with Stephen Robles

6

256: Calendar Modes & Transitions Rituals

7

255: Get Your Machete Out

8

254: Battling Burnout

9

253: Finding Focus in the Midst of Chaos, with David Roth

10

252: Donkey Work

11

251: Not Throwing Away My Shot, with Joe Casabona

12

250: Planning Your Week

13

249: What if This Were Easy? with Ernie Svenson

14

248: Seriously, A Heroic Journey

15

247: Getting Intentional, with Chris Bailey

16

246: A Cleansing Palette of Joy

17

245: Fashionable & Functional, with Patrick Rhone

18

244: You're Holding It Wrong

19

243: The Single Source of Truth is On the Fridge, with Thom Gibson

20

242: The Case for Analog

21

241: Less But Better, with Austin L. Church

22

240: Q4 Planning

23

239: How to Focus Like a Roman Emperor, with Donald J. Robertson

24

238: Knitting Our Parachutes

25

237: Everything is Figureoutable, with Max Roberts

26

236: Focus Traps

27

235: Practical Wisdom for Mindful Living, with John Chandler

28

234: Intentional Friction

29

233: I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up, with Kara Monroe

30

232: Useful Not True, with Derek Sivers

31

231: Overwhelm, AI, and Life's Balancing Acts

32

230: Journaling & Intention, with Joe Moyer

33

229: Workflow Check-In

34

228: Time Surfing, with Paul Loomans

35

227: Quarterly Planning

36

226: The Importance of Review

37

225: Tiny Experiments, with Anne-Laure Le Cunff

38

224: Chasing Valuable Rabbits, with Chenell Basilio

39

223: Solving the Actual Problem, with Ian Byrd

40

222: The 2025 Productivity Field Guide

41

221: A Focus on Creativity

42

220: 2024 Retrospective

43

219: A Focused Smorgasbord

44

218: Turning Down the Volume, with Stephen Hackett

45

217: The Anxious Generation

46

216: Wholehearted Transformation, with Amy Wicks

47

215: The Sparky Language Model

48

214: Solving Gnarly Problems, with Clarke Ching

49

213: Developing Skills

50

212: Living the Llama Life, with Marie Ng

51

211: The Focus MOB

52

210: Media Strategies for a Focused Life

53

209: A System for Writing, with Bob Doto

54

208: Moving the Needle Revisited

55

207: What Would Sparky Say?

56

206: Rapt

57

205: Tasks & Calendars

58

204: Analog Productivity, with Jeff Sheldon

59

203: The Little Lies You Tell Yourself, with Jason Snell

60

202: Slow Productivity

61

201: What to Do When Things Don't Go Your Way, with Haemin Sunim

62

200: Favorite Productivity Hacks

63

199: Repotting & Retirement, with Jim Eager

64

198: Revisiting Journaling

65

197: Feel Good Productivity

66

196: Focus & The Reading Life, with Maryanne Wolf

67

195: The Productivity Field Guide

68

194: I'd Like to Take a Mulligan

69

193: The Problem with Mise en Place, with Justin Khanna

70

192: Flow State

71

191: Multi-Scale Planning

72

190: Overdosing on Gratitude, with Karl Staib

73

189: Focus & AI

74

188: Q4 Planning & The PKM Stack

75

187: Drop Zones & Launch Pads, with Jesse J. Anderson

76

186: The Burden of Opportunity, with Shawn Blanc

77

185: How to Be Miserable

78

184: Solving Problems, with Jay Clouse

79

183: Practicing Focus

80

182: Building Focused Flywheels, with Nathan Barry

81

181: Walking Your Own Path, with Justin Moore

82

180: A Focused Hodgepodge

83

179: Ideal Weeks

84

178: Mike's Big Adventure

85

177: The Care and Feeding of Technology, with Mike Rohde

86

176: Doing Less

87

175: The To-Don't List

88

174: Deep Work, with Cal Newport

89

173: Life Has Lifed You, with Mark Metzger

90

172: Journaling & Focus

91

171: Communication & Focus

92

170: Holistic Productivity, with Tim Stringer

93

169: How to Calm Your Mind, with Chris Bailey

94

168: 2023 Focus Resolutions

95

167: 2022 Year in Review

96

166: The Social Dilemma

97

165: On the River, with Chris Upchurch

98

164: Mind Mapping

99

163: The Laws of Creativity, with Joey Cofone

100

162: Perfectionism

101

161: Stolen Focus, with Jean MacDonald

102

160: Balancing Calendars and Tasks

103

159: The Art of Note-Taking

104

158: Humans First, with Rob Krecak

105

157: Non-Traditional Measures of Productivity, with Mike Vardy

106

156: The State of GTD

107

155: 12 Favorite Problems

108

154: Building a Second Brain, with Tiago Forte

109

153: A Wandering Mind, with Kourosh Dini

110

152: Mental Models

111

151: The Bento Method, with Francesco D'Alessio

112

150: Optimize for Intentionality

113

149: Asking Questions, with Marc Champagne

114

148: Savoring the Moment, with Chris Bailey

115

147: Task Management & Focus

116

146: The Extended Mind, with Annie Murphy Paul

117

145: Focus & Your Environment

118

144: Enough, with Patrick Rhone

119

143: Thinking Annually

120

142: Sparky Gets Focused

121

141: You Never Arrive

122

140: Your Brain is Not a Computer with Cory Hixson

123

139: Soundtracks & Self-Talk

124

138: Hyper-Scheduling Revisited

125

137: Managing Busy

126

136: Social Focus, with Taylor Jacobson

127

135: Don't Eat the Frog, with Jesse J. Anderson

128

134: Finding Space with Sean McCabe

129

133: Success & Failure

130

132: Willpower and Your Environment

131

131: Liminal Thinking

132

130: Toxic Productivity

133

129: No One Wants to Work With a Jerk, with Colleen Wainwright

134

128: Communication

135

127: Focusing a Team, with Ken Case

136

126: Productivity vs. Grinding

137

125: Professional Nerd, with Rosemary Orchard

138

124: Reading and Learning

139

123: A Focus on Time

140

122: Linking Your Thinking with Nick Milo

141

121: Analog Focus, with Jeff Sheldon

142

120: Caveday with Jake Kahana

143

119: Productivity & Meditation, with Chris Bailey

144

118: Tasks and Habits

145

117: Roles & Goals

146

116: The Big Reset

147

115: Solving Interesting Problems, with Ernie Svenson

148

114: Inputs and PKM Stacks

149

113: ADHD and Cognitive Science, with Brittany Smith

150

112: Productivity & Creativity

151

111: Environmental Focus, with Erik Fisher

152

110: Focus with Michael Hyatt

153

109: Email Workflows

154

108: Pruning with Ian Byrd

155

107: The Bullet Journal Method, with Ryder Carroll

156

106: Home Offices with Laura Vanderkam

157

105: Living the Multipotentialite Life, with Jay Miller

158

104: Sleep and Sabbaticals

159

103: Systems & Challenges

160

102: Analog Productivity with Brad Dowdy

161

101: Taking a Sabbatical, with Sean McCabe

162

100: Staying Focused with Episode 100

163

99: Working From Home, with Dave Caolo

164

98: Floating with Dave Hamilton

165

97: Emotional Overload

166

96: Working from Home

167

95: Five Years of Freedom

168

94: Journaling with Matt Ragland

169

93: Attention Overload

170

92: Getting Focused Kourosh Dini

171

91: Information Overload

172

90: Habits > Goals

173

89: The Magic of Mind Mapping, with Harald Eckmüller

174

88: Annual Check-Ins

175

87: Nerds Like Us, with Myke Hurley

176

86: Rest is a Weapon

177

85: The Depth of Our Madness

178

84: Focus is a Super Power

179

83: Ideas Over Art, with Mike Rohde

180

82: The Hustle

181

81: Breaking the Twitch, with Anthony Ongaro

182

80: The Power of "No"

183

79: Reclaiming Margin, with Shawn Blanc

184

78: Changing Defaults with John Zeratsky

185

77: You Can't Hack the System

186

76: A Failure Across the Board

187

75: Intentional Constraints

188

74: Moving the Needle

189

73: Productivity and Art with Bob Reynolds

190

72: Heart-Centered Productivity, with Jocelyn K. Glei

191

71: Hyper-Scheduling

192

70: Digital Decluttering, with Shahid Kamal Ahmad

193

69: The Intentional Life

194

68: Getting Productive with an Unproductive Boss

195

67: Staying Motivated with Laura McClellan

196

66: Putting Email in its Place

197

65: Hyperfocused with Chris Bailey

198

64: The Power of Habits

199

63: Lessons Learned

200

62: The Year End Audit

201

61: The Morning Routine

202

60: Be Strategic About It, with Mike Vardy

203

59: Kaizen

204

58: A Better Path, with Joe Buhlig

205

57: Chef = Boss

206

56: Iterate in Public, with Sean McCabe

207

55: The Math Works

208

54: I Have to Try It, with Casey Liss

209

53: The Value of Your Time

210

52: You Can't Be What You Can't See with Ann Shen

211

51: Freedom Frogs

212

50: Bet on Yourself

213

49: Panting to the Finish Line

214

48: Lousy With the Stink of Freedom, with Merlin Mann

215

47: Personal Floating Holiday

216

46: Being Comfortable Is Not an Option, with Jaimee Newberry

217

45: Like Going Back to High School

218

44: Maybe You'll Get a Real Job, with David Wain

219

43: Don’t Ask Us Permission

220

42: Learning Your Creative Rhythms, with Shawn Blanc

221

41: A Walk on the Beach

222

40: Like Being in a Boat, with Kourosh Dini

223

39: Quality Time with a Sledgehammer

224

38: Knit Your Parachute on the Way Down, with Thom Zahler

225

37: The Twelve-Week Year

226

36: My App Story, with John Voorhees

227

35: I Guess I'm Felix Unger

228

34: I Think I Just Got Fired, with Marco Arment

229

33: When You Say Yes to Everything

230

32: It's Scary, Dude! with Kathy Campbell

231

31: Being Selective About Clients, with Aleen Simms

232

30: Tito Needs to Pay the Rent

233

29: The Spreadsheet

234

28: David's Origin Story

235

27: Bird in the Bush

236

26: A Batphone to My Heart

237

25: Breadcrumb of My Life, with Stephen Hackett

238

24: Take Care of Yourself

239

23: It's Hard To Get on a Different Train

240

22: Staying Agile

241

21: The Second Feedback Episode

242

20: Jason's Origin Story

243

19: Nobody Grades You on the Scaffolding

244

18: A Series of Logical Decisions, with Greg Pierce

245

17: Stop Digging

246

16: R2-D2 on My Desk

247

15: Put on the Business Hat

248

14: Putting Numbers in Boxes, with Andrew Carroll

249

13: Promotion Can Feel Gross

250

12: Right Now It's Only Me, with Katie Floyd

251

11: Balancing Dollars and Delight

252

10: Indie Vacation

253

9: The Feedback Episode

254

8: Email Is Not Your Job

255

7: Be Like a Duck

256

6: The Shawshank Redemption, with Shahid Kamal Ahmad

257

5: Envision a Bonfire

258

4: Location, Location, Location

259

3: My Curse and My Reward, with Myke Hurley

260

2: Booked Up With Myself

261

1: The Temptation of Yes