Synchronizing calendars and creating focus blocks for productive work

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#686: Dustin Moskovitz, Co-Founder of Asana and Facebook — Energy Management, Coaching for Endurance, No Meeting Wednesdays, Understanding the Real Risks of AI, Embracing Frictionless Work with AI, The Value of Holding Stories Loosely, and More

The Tim Ferriss Show

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Synchronizing calendars and creating focus blocks for productive work

A new meeting hack involves synchronizing calendars to free up Wednesdays for uninterrupted work./nSome individuals go beyond Wednesdays and add additional blocks in their calendars for focused work./nRespecting the focus blocks is important, although there may be exceptions such as customer meetings./nHaving longer periods of uninterrupted work allows for deep thinking and reflection./nShort periods of time may be more suitable for small, tactical tasks rather than deep thinking work./nThe "maker's schedule manager's schedule" article by Paul Graham and the "top idea in your mind" are recommended resources.

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Brought to you by ROKA Eyewear high-quality sunglasses and glasses, Wealthfront high-yield savings account, and Shopify global commerce platform providing tools to start, grow, market, and manage a retail business.

Dustin Moskovitz (@moskov) is co-founder and CEO at Asana, a leading work-management platform for teams. Asana’s mission is to help humanity thrive by enabling all teams to work together effortlessly. Prior to Asana, he co-founded Facebook and was a key leader within the technical staff, first in the position of CTO and then later as VP of Engineering. Dustin attended Harvard University as an economics major for two years before moving to Palo Alto, California, to work full time at Facebook.

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[08:17] The Back Buddy.

[12:38] A user’s guide to Dustin.

[15:49] Coaching for endurance.

[18:43] Making quicker decisions.

[20:45] Avoiding paradox of choice.

[23:20] Difficult but desirable delegation.

[25:08] The time-saving spreadsheet.

[29:12] No Meeting Wednesdays.

[33:34] Weekly architecture.

[35:33] Why Dustin prefers in-person meetings.

[36:55] The 15 Commitments to Conscious Leadership.

[40:55] Working with Diana Chapman.