How I Work

Atlassian’s Dom Price is just like anyone else - some days, he just doesn’t want to get out of bed. The difference is: he stays in bed.  After decades of working at breakneck speed, Dom’s learning to listen to the signals his body sends him, and it’s working wonders.  But what about when it’s something beyond a bad day? What about when he’s feeling truly burnt out?  Dom’s theory is that part of what causes burnout is ‘information obesity’, and one of the best ways to overcome it is with action. Dom believes the world can be a “Do-ocracy”, and that means picking one thing to do now, and seeing how it goes.   Connect with Dom on Twitter or LinkedIn You can find the full interview here: Atlassian’s Dom Price wants you to up your communication by designing a “working agreement” *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**BEST OF 2022** For productivity geeks like us, the professional writer can become a bit of a mystic figure. When we fantasise about finally perfecting our morning routines, finally clearing out enough time for a fruitful Deep Work session, setting up the ideal workstation - we’re often thinking about a writer. There’s something idyllic about the idea of being a writer: it’s just you, your thoughts, and the blank page. It’s the platonic ideal of knowledge work! But… it’s not that simple. Take Brian Koppelman, for example. Inarguably one of the most prolific and successful screenwriters working today, you’d think Brian spends most of his life holed up in a cabin in the woods, clacking away on a typewriter, free from any and all distractions. But Brian lives in New York City, the busiest, most distracting place on the planet. Oh, and he’s not just a screenwriter. He’s also a director, producer, and showrunner. Brian’s “average” day looks a lot less like that of a reclusive artist, and much more like that of a busy CEO. So, how does he still manage to produce so much incredible work? Brian shares how meditation, morning pages and music help him focus, and recalls the most powerful lessons he learned on the set of his very first film. Connect with Brian on Twitter *** Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram   If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au    CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Production Support from Deadset Studios Episode Producer: Liam Riordan Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How much is a million-dollar investment worth?  If that feels like a trick question, maybe you haven’t come across ‘bad money’ the way Dr Catriona Wallace has. When she was the CEO of Flamingo AI, Catriona received a million-dollar investment offer, but there was a catch: the investors would only hand over the cash if Cat promised to stop wearing a nose ring in public.  She said no.  Why? Why would you turn down so much money for something seemingly so small? Well, in Cat’s eyes, the money from people so concerned with her physical appearance might not be the kind of money she’s after… Connect with Catriona on Twitter or LinkedIn You can find the full interview here: Dr Catriona Wallace’s million-dollar nose ring and what it taught her about running a business *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**BEST OF 2022** David Siegel’s in his third CEO role, and if all his years of experience as a leader have taught him anything, it’s that most people take too long to make a decision. The clearest example: company strategy. When David joined Meetup, he drafted the new company strategy as quickly as possible. At first, that sounds like a pretty irresponsible treatment of such a huge part of the business… but David’s underlying reasoning reveals why we should all speed up a little bit! David teaches you to make better, faster decisions, and to uncover the blind spots in your own decision-making process. Connect with David on Twitter or LinkedIn, and grab a copy of Decide & Conquer *** Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram   If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Production Support from Deadset Studios Episode Producer: Liam Riordan Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A good presentation can almost feel like alchemy; it requires deep and fascinating subject matter, delivered with confidence and style, and it needs to impart some kind of message. That’s a lot of boxes to check! But therein lies the key: parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson sees just how much audiences need to get out of a keynote, so he puts just as much in.  Justin breaks down how evidence, stories and messages work together to create impactful presentations.  Connect with Justin at the Happy Families website or listen to his podcast You can find the full interview here: Make mornings magic with parenting expert Dr Justin Coulson *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**BEST OF 2022** There’s a moment in the 2013 comedy movie We’re the Millers that points to how pervasive - and misguided - the “no regrets” life motto has become. A character proudly displays a tattoo that reads, “no rAgrets”, and even more proudly proclaims that he really doesn’t have any regrets. Not even one letter.  Bestselling author Dan Pink highlights this scene as a great metaphor for society’s almost comical underappreciation of regret. Dan is an advocate for the transformative power of looking back on your past actions, processes and routines in order to learn from them, and do better next time.  He discusses what’s changed about his working habits since his last appearance on the show, why he was drawn to the concept of regret in the first place, and how compassion changed his whole approach to learning from past mistakes.    Connect with Dan on Twitter, Instagram or LinkedIn Pick up a copy of The Power of Regret *** Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Production Support from Deadset Studios Episode Producer: Liam Riordan Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

How would you feel if we were in the middle of a conversation and I suddenly started talking to someone else from across the room?  Well, that’s exactly what we’re doing whenever we let our phones or laptops drag us down the multi-tasking rabbit hole.  Leadership experts Frances Frei and Anne Morriss are hyper-vigilant of their device usage. This makes sense for two people who are devoted to productivity, but that’s not the end of the story. Frances and Anne are also devoted to connections. They write constantly about the importance of trust and empathy, and neither of those things can flourish if we (or the people we’re talking to) are distracted.  Frances and Anne share how they manage their technology for both productivity and empathy, and how they work around the day-to-day logistics of not being connected all the time.  Connect with Frances and Anne on LinkedIn You can find the full interview here: Trust, leadership and taking a break from technology with Frances Frei and Anne Morriss *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

**BEST OF 2022** If your job title is “Executive Productivity Advisor for Google,” you probably need a pretty refined definition of productivity, right? And Laura Mae Martin certainly does. But she says it’s equally important that every individual has their own, unique definition of productivity. It’s all too easy to fall into “busy language”, she says. Back-to-back meetings and a three-page to-do-list might make you feel productive, but if you’re not making time for your most important work (and for rest), you might just be running in circles. So how do we see through the guise of busy-ness and get the real work done? For Laura, and the suite of Google execs she coaches, everything starts with the calendar. Whether you’re in too many meetings or spending too much time in your inbox, poor calendar hygiene is probably the root cause. Laura teaches you how to implement “zero-based calendaring”, calendaring for focus, calendaring for connection, and much more. Connect with Laura on her YouTube channel or at the Google Keywords blog *** Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram   If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Production Support from Deadset Studios Episode Producer: Liam Riordan Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whatever happened to that huge, game-changing project you started working on last year? Or the idea you had a couple of months ago?  If you’ve got an ever-lengthening list of unfinished and abandoned pursuits, it’s probably because you’re not prioritising the correct ‘time horizons’, as Atlassian’s Dom Price calls them. The first horizon is the short-term: answering emails, making sales calls, delivering final products - anything that gives you a sense of immediate gratification.  And while wins in this first horizon are crucial, they’re also a bit of a trap. After all, when immediate gratification’s available, it’s hard to resist. But if anything truly special’s going to happen, it’s going to take the disciplined pursuit of longer-term goals.  Dom also highlights why simply setting long-term goals isn’t enough, and details his system for nurturing these seeds over multiple months, or even years.  Connect with Dom on Twitter or LinkedIn You can find the full interview here: Atlassian’s Dom Price wants you to up your communication by designing a “working agreement” *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melissa Doyle is a picture of professionalism. She’s adamant that even when she had young children, and felt like she hadn’t slept for weeks on end, she never had good cause to complain about her 4am call times as a news presenter. After all, she’d dreamed of being on the news since she was a little girl, and now it was a reality. Plus, she was working with a fiercely focused purpose. Melissa shares how this purpose-drive philosophy helped her through tougher moments in her presenting career, like her award-winning reporting on the Lindt cafe siege. And she highlights some of the astounding stories of courage and resilience that make up her latest book, 15 Seconds of Brave. Connect with Melissa on LinkedIn or Twitter *** My new book Time Wise is out now. You can grab a copy here.   Connect with me on the socials: Linkedin Twitter Instagram    If you’re looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a fortnightly newsletter that contains three cool things I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co   Visit https://www.amantha.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes. Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au   CREDITS Produced by Inventium Host: Amantha Imber Production Support from Deadset Studios Episode Producer: Liam Riordan Sound Engineer: Martin ImberSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.