The Three Month Vacation Podcast
Sean D'Souza
Sean D'Souza made two vows when he started up Psychotactics back in 2002. The first was that he'd always get paid in advance and the second was that work wouldn't control his life. He decided to take three months off every year. But how do you take three months off, without affecting your business and profits? Do you buy into the myth of "outsourcing everything and working just a few hours a week?" Not really. Instead, you structure your business in a way that enables you to work hard and then take three months off every single year. And Sean walks his talk. Since 2004, he's taken three months off every year (except in 2005, when there was a medical emergency). This podcast isn't about the easy life. It's not some magic trick about working less. Instead with this podcast you learn how to really enjoy your work, enjoy your vacation time and yes, get paid in advance.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 9, 2020 • 9min
Why Optimists Die of a Broken Heart: The Stockdale Paradox
Imagine you are a prisoner of war. You're thrown into an isolation space, not just for a week, or month, but for an entire year. All the while you're being tortured and despair seems to be around you. Should you continue to stay optimistic? James Stockdale thought otherwise. The optimists don't do well at all. What does well, you may ask and how you keep going if you don't have optimism? Find out the paradox that made Stockdale survive and thrive.
May 2, 2020 • 28min
Three Hearthwarming Travel Stories Just for you
Travel can be good, bad or even ugly. But in our travels through India in Feb 2020, we ran into a sense of warmth that needs to be shared. Get yourself a coffee or tea as you settle in for some really heartwarming stories.
Apr 25, 2020 • 27min
What I learned in 2019 (and have to keep reminding myself all year)
We all get into argumentative situations. Yet, these situations almost always leave us worse off than before. How can we learn to negotiate instead of creating confrontation, and end up even better off than before? That's one of the three things I learned last year. To find out more, you know what you have to do. Listen to the podcast!
Apr 18, 2020 • 10min
Why Creating "Rubbish—Lots of Rubbish" is the key to outstanding work
Many times when we are asked to show our work, we're quite reluctant. There's a reason for this reluctance. It's more than likely that the work is quite shoddy. And yet, what if we changed our perspective and had a goal to create a ton of "rubbish". If the concept sounds bizarre, it's not! In this short piece, you'll hear how top professionals encourage the steps to great work—by creating a fair bit of rubbish along the way.
Apr 11, 2020 • 19min
Scientific Advertising Part 2: Why a hundred year old book matters more today than ever before
Does a 100 year old book on advertising still apply today? In part two we explore the second of Hopkins' principles: tell your full story. If you ever tire of the slightly ridiculous drone of "hustle, hustle and hustle", you might want to step into the past over a cup of coffee and cake. And read the wisdom of yesteryear as the world hurries by.
Apr 3, 2020 • 30min
Scientific Advertising Part 1: Why a hundred year old book matters more today than ever before
Does a 100 year old book on advertising still apply today? In this two-part series we delve into concepts that are not just relevant, but crucial in marketing. Find out the principles that have lasted almost a whole century and how they can be useful to you, today. And tomorrow too. Probably the next decade or two as well.
Mar 27, 2020 • 18min
How to use simple stories to pre-sell your products and services
Pre-sell is notoriously difficult for most entrepreneurs. It feels greasy and icky at times. And that lack of enthusiasm dooms the sale from the very start. But what if there were a way to sell without selling. Instead, all you'd need is a story. A simple story with tiny little details could easily achieve the goal of selling a product or service in advance. But how do you go about it? Let's find out.
Mar 20, 2020 • 20min
Why the Psychotactics Planning Starts with "Beer"
Most of us are more than likely to get going by having a to-do list. Yet, we at Psychotactics do things a little differently. We start with the breaks, to begin with (and there's even a "Julia story" that explains why). Plus we also include a stop-doing list. To find out how and why this weird planning system may work for you, listen to this episode.
Mar 13, 2020 • 29min
How to wring the curiosity out of the first-line of your article
The first line of an article drives most of us insane. And as if that were not enough, we are called upon to write an interesting first line. How do you nail that first line every single time? Here are three—not four—just three methods that will excite and surprise you.
Mar 6, 2020 • 23min
3 ½ Nifty Tips We've Learned On Our Travels
How do you find the most authentic food in a foreign city, minutes after you've landed? How do you find seats on a plane where people won't bump into you while you're sleeping? These and some other nifty tricks are what you're about to learn about in this episode.
