Time and Attention

Pulitzer Prize-winning author Michael Moss explores how processed food companies manipulate flavor compounds to hook us on their products. He reveals the intricate world of synthetic flavors, the addictive nature of highly-processed foods, and the deceptive tactics used by the food industry to exploit consumer habits. Moss highlights the importance of awareness and education in making healthier food choices.

Explore the power of novelty in shaping our perception of time and life's meaningfulness, especially during the pandemic. Learn how novelty serves as memory markers, triggers dopamine, and enhances personal growth. Discover tips on making days more exciting and how surprises can combat monotony in daily routines.

On this episode, I chat with Cal Newport about his fantastic new book, A World Without Email. We chat about: How the cost of email is higher than we realize The differences between “asynchronous” and “synchronous” ways of communicating, and why they matter Cal’s idea of the “hyperactive hive mind” How email scrambles our thoughts and makes us anxious How to identify the parts of our work we can move outside of email How Cal manages his own email Key mindset shifts to make with email Overcoming the guilt of not checking email How to automate email scheduling How to set up “email office hours” Links mentioned in this episode: Cal’s new book: A World Without Email Cal’s book Deep Work Cal’s New Yorker article, Was E-Mail a Mistake? Trello boards Neal Stephenson’s essay, Why I Am a Bad Correspondent Meeting schedulers ScheduleOnce X.ai Calendly You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below! The post Podcast: A World Without Email appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Explore productivity experiments you can try at home, including waking up early, resetting caffeine tolerance, replacing TV with books, and new workout regimens. Learn about the impact of wake-up times, the downsides of caffeine, borrowing energy from tomorrow, and the years spent watching TV. Discover the enemy of focus and the importance of keystone habits for positive change. Check out links to TED Talks, articles, books, and fitness apps mentioned in the podcast.

Avoiding 'all or nothing' thinking, dissatisfaction with partial success, the effect across different time scales, sunk costs, awareness for behavioral change, downfalls of black and white thinking

Some problems require logical thinking, while others need creativity. Mind wandering can help solve the latter. When our mind wanders, it visits different destinations and generates new ideas. Research shows that a wandering mind enhances creative thinking. The podcast discusses different strategies for generating ideas and emphasizes the importance of capturing thoughts instead of keeping them in our minds. It also explores the breakdown of our thoughts between the future, present, and past, and the benefits of mind wandering.

Takeaway:Capturing ideas helps us log what’s on our mind and think more clearly throughout the day. What you capture can be super broad, from tasks, to follow-up reminders, to actual insights. The ways of logging those ideas are equally diverse, and include digital and physical notepads, task managers, and messaging tools. Estimated Reading Time:3 minutes, 40s. Podcast Length: 25 minutes, 56s (link to play podcast at the bottom of post). A couple of years ago, I chatted with productivity author David Allen on the podcast. One of the nuggets of wisdom he shared during our conversation was that our heads are for having ideas, not holding them.  David was talking about our limited mental bandwidth. The more it’s cluttered with reminders and things to follow-up on, the less attentional space we have to focus on our most meaningful work. It takes a surprising amount of time and energy to remember all these disparate thoughts, and it’s never worthwhile forgetting them only to remember them again later.   The more ideas you can get out of your head, capture, and organize, the better.   There are all sorts of ideas to keep tabs on. Some involve strokes of brilliance, others are the laundry list of tasks you need to get done or a reminder that may tug on your attention throughout the day.   There are countless things you might want to get out of your head:  Stuff you’re waiting on. These are items you’re waiting for from other people—things you need to check up on later. I’ve scheduled a recurring weekly task in my calendar so I remember to check this list a few times a week and follow up with people accordingly.  Ideas you want to look into more deeply. You encounter so much information in a day, and chances are you’ll want to explore more on these topics—just not when you’re in the middle of some other task. Log them and leave them for later.  Distractions and reminders. If you’re anything like me, your mind is an ongoing to-do list of reminders and distractions. Capturing and organizing these mental tidbits helps set them aside in the moment.  Actual ideas and insights. If you don’t capture an idea, you can’t act on it. With so many of us doing knowledge work for a living, the insights we generate are worth their weight in gold. If your job involves a lot of juggling tasks, connecting with people, and generating new ideas, capturing what’s on your mind becomes a way to do better work.   There’s no shortage of tools you can use to capture these ideas. And like most productivity tactics, there’s no one right answer for everyone. But what is typically consistent is that whether it’s in the shower, out for a long walk, or jolted awake from a night’s sleep, we’re rarely in a convenient place when an idea pops into mind.   Some idea-capturing tools:  AquaNotes. Research has found that ideas commonly come to us when our mind wanders or we’re doing something routine. AquaNotes are water-proof notepads you can hang in the shower. They’re one of my favorite productivity products, period.   Notes app on your device. Most devices come with a notepad app. I personally use Simplenote, so my ideas sync across every device I own. These apps are a great way to make sure you’re tracking all your ideas and have them at your fingertips when it’s time to action them.  Physical notepad. Kick it old school! I always keep a physical notepad on my desk so I can scribble down thoughts and distractions, and get back to work.   Task manager. Task managers are basically repositories to keep your thoughts organized. My favorite task manager is Things, though it’s only available for Apple devices.  Voice recorder app. Sometimes ideas flow more freely when we speak them versus writing them down. Most devices come with a built-in voice recorder tool.  Email or message an idea to yourself. This is another option if you’re close to your device. If you prefer not having your primary email account on your phone, try creating a dedicated inbox for sending these messages.  I’ve found it’s helpful to ritualize the act of both capturing and organizing my ideas. I do this all at once every Sunday night when I’m planning out my week—but what works for you might be different. This one’s a real choose your own adventure, and it’s all about experimenting until you find what’s right for you. Happy idea capturing!  P.S. – there are also lots of productivity benefits to meditation. That’s the topic of my latest project: an Audible Original book called How to Train Your Mind. It’s free with an Audible subscription in the US. Check it out!  The post The Productivity Benefits of Capturing Ideas appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Takeaway:: Make a list of everything you’re worrying about, and divide it into what you do and don’t have control over. Then, deal with the items on your list accordingly. Estimated Reading Time:: 1 minutes, 35s. Podcast Length: 22 minutes, 42s (link to play podcast at the bottom of post). Believe it or not, it’s possible to worry more productively. On this week’s podcast, Ardyn and I dig into one of my favorite productivity tactics for crazy times like these: the worry list. The name pretty much says it all: a worry list is just a list of what you’re worrying about; problems in your life or the world that are causing you anxiety. Making the list is straightforward: 1. Capture all of the things that worry you over the span of a day. Just get it all of your head and onto a sheet of paper (or into some digital document, if that’s your preference). 2. Categorize all of your worries into two groups: what you have control over, and what you don’t. After you’ve captured it all, make a plan to deal with what you have control over. If you can, you can also delegate items on the list—this instantly frees up mental bandwidth for more important things. You can also eliminate worries, by eliminating the underlying commitments or habits that cause them. (One example: if a lot of your worries are fed by constantly checking the news, subscribe to a physical newspaper instead, to get a daily update, instead of an hourly one.) However you can, just make a plan to deal with every worry that’s controllable. With what’s outside of your control, keep in mind that your mind is predisposed to pay attention to, and worry about anything you perceive to be a threat—throughout the day, recognize when you’re worrying about something, while understanding that some worrying happens subconsciously. Schedule time to worry about these things if you feel the need to, so that they don’t bleed into the rest of your day. Right now, there’s a lot on our minds to worry about. If you’re anything like me, creating a worry list will help. Especially in overanxious times like these, thought patterns of worry only ever obscure what’s important. The post The Worry List appeared first on Chris Bailey.

Behavioral scientist and Harvard Business School professor Ashley Whillans discusses the relationship between time, money, and happiness in her book 'Time Smart'. She highlights the importance of making time-first choices for greater happiness, offering strategies to save time and buy time back. The podcast delves into societal preferences for money, the benefits of prioritizing time, and strategies for reclaiming time to enhance overall well-being.

Explore unique ways to give yourself non-material gifts this holiday season by disconnecting from the digital world, rediscovering reading, and reflecting on personal growth. Embrace boredom, prioritize self-care, and make the most of the holidays for inner peace and well-being. Disconnect, reflect, and rejuvenate during this unusual holiday season.