This week I was excited to connect with Kieran Setiya about his newest book, Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way. Kieran teaches philosophy at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) working mainly in ethics, epistemology, and the philosophy of mind. In addition to his latest book Kieran is the author of Practical Knowledge, Reasons without Rationalism, and Knowing Right From Wrong.In this conversation we discuss the reality that life can be hard and there is no cure for the human condition: But Kieran believes philosophy can help. In this chat he offers us a map for navigating rough terrain, from personal trauma to injustice along with navigating grief and the overall mission of living with one another. This was truly a great conversation about how the pragmatics of productivity share the common goals of philosophy which is living a good life not only for ourselves but alongside others.Connect With Kieran: Website: www.ksetiya.netTwitter: https://twitter.com/KieranSetiyaBook: Life is Hard: How Philosophy Can Help Us Find Our Way:https://amzn.to/3XrHS2X Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome Chris Clews to the show for a more laid back chat and pop cultural conversation about what 80s movies can teach us about leadership, our workplace, and even ourselves. Chris is an author and keynote speaker whose latest book is, Raised on the 80s: 30+ Unexpected Life Lessons from the Movies and Music That Defined Pop Culture's Most Excellent Decade.In this conversation Chris and I discuss such 80s classics as, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, The Breakfast Club, Field of Dreams, and more. Chris brings a fun approach towards learning from these classic films and I really enjoyed both reminiscing about when I first encountered each movie while also hearing Chris discuss some of the more profound life and leadership lessons that are hiding just under the surface of these beloved classics.Follow Chris: Website: chrisclews.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/chris.clewsInstagram: www.instagram.com/chrisclews80s/Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/chrisclews/Twitter: https://twitter.com/80spopcultureBooks: https://chrisclews.com/books Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I’m joined by my friend Jeff Sieh of Social Media News Live to talk through the top productivity books for 2023. With the new year well underway I wanted to take the time to compile and curate a list of my favorite productivity books of the past year and share them with listeners. In this episode Jeff and I break down my list and share some of the many tips and takeaways that these books have given us. In addition Jeff and I discuss some of the highlights from the various authors' appearances on the show while offering up opinions on how each book benefits the different aspects of our productivity. All books in the list below are available for purchase at: BeyondTheToDoList.com/books The Daily Creative: Find Your Inspiration to Spark Creative Energy and Fight Burnout by Todd Henry The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur: 366 Daily Meditations to Feed Your Soul and Grow Your Business by John Jantsch The Power of Writing It Down: A Simple Habit to Unlock Your Brain and Reimagine Your Life by Allison Fallon Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organize Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential by Tiago Forte The Laws of Creativity: Unlock Your Originality and Awaken Your Creative Genius by Joey Cofone Creativity Inc.  The Lazy Genius Way: Embrace What Matters, Ditch What Doesn't, and Get Stuff Done by Kendra Adachi The Lazy Genius Kitchen: Have What You Need, Use What You Have, and Enjoy It Like Never Before by Kendra Adachi Win at Work and Succeed at Life: 5 Principles to Free Yourself from the Cult of Overwork by Michael Hyatt and Meghan Hyatt-Miller Your New Playlist: The Student's Guide to Tapping into the Superpower of Mindset by Jon Acuff The 12 Week Year: Get More Done in 12 Weeks than Others Do in 12 Months by Brian P. Moran Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done - Charlie Gilkey When: The Scientific Secrets of Perfect Timing by Daniel Pink Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most by Greg McKeown How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Presence and Productivity in Anxious Times by Chris Bailey Tranquility by Tuesday: 9 Ways to Calm the Chaos and Make Time for What Matters by Laura Vanderkam Digital Minimalism: Choosing a Focused Life in a Noisy World by Cal Newport Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life by Nir Eyal List of episodes mentioned on this week's show: Todd Henry on the Daily Practice of Creativity John Jantsch on Resilience, Perseverance and Perspective Allison Fallon on the Power of Writing for Clarity, Confidence and Purpose Tiago Forte on Building a Second Brain to Free Our Minds Joey Cofone on Applying the Laws of Creativity to Unlock Your Creative Genius Kendra Adachi on Prioritizing the Things That Matter Megan Hyatt Miller on How To Win at Work & Succeed At Life Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller on Mindset and Controlling the Narrative Jon Acuff on Teaching Teenagers to Remix Their Mindset to Reshape Their Reality Charlie Gilkey on How to Start Finishing Projects in Your Life and Go From 'Idea' to Done! Daniel Pink on Optimizing Your Day, Optimal Timing for Tasks and Maximizing Breaks Greg Mckeown on Making Essential Activities Easy Chris Bailey on How a Calm Mind Increases Productivity Laura Vanderkam on Making Time for What Matters Cal Newport on Digital Minimalism Nir Eyal on Overcoming Internal and External Distractions Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome back to the show, Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt-Miller.Michael Hyatt is the founder and chairman of Full Focus. He has scaled multiple companies, including a $250M publishing company with over 750 employees and his own award-winning goal achievement and coaching company, Full Focus. Through his coaching program for small business owners, BusinessAccelerator®, and the bestselling Full Focus Planner, Michael has helped hundreds of thousands of achievers reach their biggest goals. He is also the author of several New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and USA Today bestselling books, including Platform, Living Forward, Your Best Year Ever, Free to Focus, The Vision Driven Leader, and Win at Work & Succeed at Life. Michael enjoys The Double Win with his wife of 40+ years, five daughters, and ten grandchildren.Megan Hyatt Miller is the President and Chief Executive Officer at Full Focus and the co-host of the popular Business Accelerator® podcast. As the chief executive of Full Focus, Megan has developed BusinessAccelerator® into the premier coaching program for small business owners, and has grown the Full Focus Planner to sell over 1 million copies. Megan is also Michael's oldest daughter.In their highly anticipated book, Mind Your Mindset: The Science That Shows Success Starts with Your Thinking (Baker Books, January 2023), New York Times bestselling author Michael Hyatt and Megan Hyatt Miller teach readers how to save themselves needless frustration and headache from trying to solve problems with strategies that no longer work. "Rather than thinking about what we're doing," they say, "we need to think about our thinking."Mind Your Mindset draws upon the latest Insights in performance psychology, neuroscience, and cognitive science, as well as case studies from Michael and Megan's own clients. Michael and Megan explore the power of our stories--stories about the problems we face-and how those narratives determine our strategy and, with it, our resultsThey show how these stories are anchored in assumptions about the past, form our predictions of the future, and stem from the way our brain makes sense of the wild array of information it encounters every day.Rather than take those stories at face value, readers can change their stories, rewire their brain for better thinking, and develop new and better strategies. Mind Your Mindset offers three simple, proven steps to do just that and attain extraordinary results:1. Identify the problem and the story surrounding it2. Interrogate the story3. Imagine something that works betterThese practices help readers cut through the fog of false narratives and offer clear, creative solutions for achieving their goals"Mind Your Mindset is your invitation to step boldly into a new and better way of thinking and living," write Michael and Megan. "Unsettling as it may be, uncertainty is not the enemy; it points not to chaos but to possibility. To have the confidence to engage the world and reshape our stories as needed is a far more valuable and reassuring asset than is certainty."Book Link: Mindyourmindsetbook.com/beyond Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I'm excited to share my conversation with Chris Bailey. Chris has been a guest on the show a number of times, and in this episode he unpacks the origins, research, and results of his new book, How to Calm Your Mind: Finding Presence and Productivity in Anxious Times. This was a really timely conversation for me and I suspect it will be for you as well. Chris and I discuss the events that led up to him writing this book while exploring a number of techniques, and tips for finding presence and calm that he developed and practiced along that journey. We discuss digital fasting, the advantages of analog items for productivity, and how slowing down your lifestyle can often lead to speeding up your efficiency!Chris Bailey is a productivity expert, and the bestselling author of two books about productivity: Hyperfocus https://amzn.to/3iGCsCF, and The Productivity Project https://amzn.to/3CP2dHT. Chris writes about productivity at https://chrisbailey.com, and speaks to organizations around the globe on how they can become more productive, without hating the process. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome my old friend Matt McWilliams to the show to discuss his new book, Turn Your Passions into Profits: The Proven Path for Building a Rewarding Online Business. Matt is a successful entrepreneur and in-demand online business coach who specializes in helping entrepreneurs gain clarity on the exact steps it takes to start, grow, and monetize their online platform. So many entrepreneurs either run a profitable business but hate their work or run a business they love, with a message they’re proud of, without making any money. There’s a better way to build a business, one that helps you wake up every day excited and full of purpose and make a profit.In this conversation Matt outlines the details on how to find and attract your audience, build a following, and ultimately how to monetize your venture quickly and sustainably. Matt shares a variety of stories from clients and entrepreneurs he has worked with through the years while illustrating how to build up the confidence necessary to share your message with the world while acquiring the tools and strategies needed to succeed with an online business and compete against established platforms.Book Link: passionsintoprofitsbook.com/erik Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I'm excited to re-share an episode I recorded almost two years ago with Ryan McRae. Ryan has had ADHD all of his life, but he wasn’t going to let it slow him down. He has worked hard to figure out how to take all the benefits and cancel out all the drawbacks of this condition that many people only associate with young people yet affects millions of adults as well. Ryan has been on the show previously to talk about ADHD, but in this conversation he and Erik talk about Setting resolutions and sticking to them.With the new year upon us many people are either setting or recommitting to resolutions for 2023. Though this practice is by no means unhealthy or unproductive, the act of setting resolutions can at times be demoralizing, resulting in more harm than good. In this hour Ryan and Erik talk about the power of setting realistic resolutions and how having grace and patience with yourself along the road of resolutions can result in more long-term and sustainable practices that will go far beyond 2023. Ryan’s Guide to ADHD: https://medium.com/the-adhd-nerd/the-ultimate-adhd-guide-to-time-management-232c9af94a3e Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode I'm excited to re-release a conversation I had with Greg Mckeown. Greg is the author of the New York Times Bestseller, 'Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less'. His latest book is 'Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most'. In addition to writing Greg is also the host of the 'What's Essential Podcast'.In this conversation, Greg talks about what essentialism is and making the most essential activities the easiest ones, so you can achieve the results you want, without burning out. We talk about turning tedious tasks into enjoyable rituals, setting a sustainable pace instead of having to power through and easy setting up of one time choices that eliminate many future decisions, simplifying processes, removing unnecessary steps, making relationships easier to maintain and manage. This is all under that umbrella of effortless making things that matter most easier to do and this is a great conversation and a great book to kick start that process in your life.In addition to discussing Essentialism, we talk about Greg’s follow up to that book, Effortless: Make It Easier to Do What Matters Most. This was such a powerful and timely conversation that centers on figuring out what matters most and then making it easier. As we head into 2023, I cannot imagine a more relevant productivity goal than that!  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I’m thrilled to re-release this episode with Allison Fallon. Allison is an award winning author, sought after public speaker, and nationally recognized writing coach. She has coached hundreds of thousands of writers - from NYT Bestselling authors to total beginners to help them finally get their books written and on shelves.Her most recent book The Power of Writing Things Down walks anyone - even those who swear they aren't "real" writers - through a simple daily practice they can use to reduce anxiety, curb depression, improve their confidence and gain clarity in their life. Grab the first chapter free here.I wanted to bring this episode back out and top of mind moving forward into the new year because even though I don’t particularly subscribe to the idea of doing New Years Resolutions, I do believe in making progress and have been thinking about goals I want to push forward next year.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week I was excited to welcome Dr. Cassie Holmes to the show to discuss her new book,Happier Hour: How to Beat Distraction, Expand Your Time, and Focus on What Matters Most.Cassie is a professor of marketing and behavioral decision making at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and is a renowned expert in the field of time and its correlation to happiness. In this conversation Cassie guides listeners through a variety of insights and exercises she’s shared with MBA students in her wildly popular UCLA course. Dr. Holmes unpacks concepts such as time poverty, what it is, why it’s damaging, how it’s subjective, and ways you can quickly increase your time affluence. We discuss how the use of time tracking can easily and quickly guide those suffering from time poverty to a more fruitful, fulfilling and happier pace of life.In addition to sharing techniques and research that she has discovered while writing the book, Cassie also reveals some of the psychology and behavioral science that can lead to the sometimes overwhelming feelings of time poverty and the power of embracing quality time over mundane time-costs such as excess social media, and pseudo-work. Follow Cassie’s Work:https://www.cassiemholmes.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices