The most played episodes among Podcast App listeners.

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   Number 1: Mindset: Why Fixing Your Habits Won't Fix Your Self-Trust with Lester Clowes

   Self-trust and identity are at the center of this conversation with Lester Clowes, executive coach and author of Stop Lying to Yourself. Lester Clowes spent a decade running a school system before building a coaching practice around the exact motivational content he used to be hooked on himself. His new book, Stop Lying to Yourself, examines the quiet lies capable, organized people tell themselves right up until nothing changes. In this conversation, we cover:Promise debt: How years of small broken commitments to yourself compound into a negative balance — and why that balance, not your system, is usually the real problem.Act as if, not fake it till you make it: The difference between performing someone else's identity and architecting your own, and why one has an off-ramp and the other doesn't.Self-trust vs. self-reputation: Why the feeling and the record are two different things — and why feelings always snap back to match the record, no matter how good the pep talk was.The desert: The unglamorous middle phase between enthusiasm and momentum where most people quit, and why learning to act independent of your feelings is the whole game.Seasons, not sweeping change: How naming what season you're in — and giving it a boundary — restores the agency that an over-engineered system can't.If you've built the system and you're still, four years later, the same person — just better at being busy — this conversation is for you. It pairs well with Erik's solo episode on agency versus the illusion of control if you want the fuller framework behind why control was never really the goal. Connect with Lester:defytheaverage.comConnect with Erik:LinkedInThreadsFacebookBlueskyThis Podcast is Powered By:Brain.fm - 20% off your first monthDescriptDescript 101CastmagicEcammPodpageRodecaster ProGrab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist: http://beyondthetodolist.com/blinkist See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

   August 17, 2026·47min
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   Number 2: Time Management: Trading Time Scarcity for Abundance with Laura Vanderkam

   Time management and time abundance are at the center of this conversation with Laura Vanderkam, bestselling author and time-use researcher. Laura Vanderkam has spent over a decade studying how people actually spend their time — tracking her own hours for 11 years and collecting data from thousands of others along the way. Her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, makes the case that time isn't the scarce resource we assume it is, and that shifting how you see it changes how you live it. In this conversation, we cover:The lottery ticket reframe — why Laura argues we should treat the time we've been given as an unearned windfall to manage, not a resource we're constantly running out of.The "not actually more overworked" argument — what a century of time-use data really shows, and why the story you tell yourself about having no time matters more than the data itself.Complexity isn't the enemy, chaos is — Laura's circus metaphor for running a full, complicated life without it feeling like it's running you.Dream big, plan small — how reading War and Peace one short chapter a day (the same time it takes to brush your teeth) is the model for tackling anything that feels too big to start.Active patience — Laura opens up about a brutal year of chronic pain and the hardest lesson in the book: sometimes the answer isn't a better system, it's time itself doing its work.This one's for anyone who's ever ended a Tuesday feeling like the whole evening just disappeared. Grab Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance wherever books are sold, and find more of Laura's work — including her podcast, Before Breakfast — at lauravanderkam.com. Connect with Erik:LinkedInThreadsFacebookBlueskyThis Podcast is Powered By:Brain.fm - 20% off your first monthDescriptDescript 101CastmagicEcammPodpageRodecaster ProGrab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist: http://beyondthetodolist.com/blinkist See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

   July 06, 2026·46min
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   Number 3: Burnout: Why Thought Load, Not Workload, Is Draining You with Liane Davey

   Burnout, energy management, and decision fatigue are at the center of this conversation with Liane Davey, organizational psychologist and the "teamwork doctor." Liane Davey is a New York Times bestselling author and CEO advisor with 25+ years researching what makes teams work. Her latest book, Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work, argues the number we've been tracking wrong all along isn't workload — it's the mental and emotional weight underneath it. She previously joined the show to talk conflict; this time she's back with the framework underneath the exhaustion itself. In this conversation, we cover:The Thought Load Equation: cognitive demands plus emotional burden, divided by your energy reserves — and why managers can see your workload but not this.AI and the Hidden Cost: why offloading tasks to AI hasn't lightened the load — it's shifted the hard part to judgment and discernment, and added new anxieties of its own.Output vs. Outcomes: the trap of chasing productivity (did I produce?) instead of effectiveness (did I move the needle?) — and why AI makes this trap worse, not better.Three To-Do Lists, Not One: Liane's system for separating your quest, helping others, and side quests — and matching each to the right hours of your day.Emotions Aren't the Problem, the Story Is: the "dragon and treasure" framework for catching an emotional spiral before it becomes a 2 a.m. spiral, plus why rest alone doesn't cure burnout.This one's for anyone who's done everything the productivity playbook told them to do and still feels like they're drowning. Liane's central point lands right at this show's: winning back your thinking time and energy isn't the finish line — it's what lets you show up for the rest of your life. Get the book and take the free thought load assessment at thoughtload.com. Related episode: Ep 261 — Conflict: Productive Conflict and How to Make Disagreement Work for You — Liane's first appearance on the show, on fighting well at work. Connect with Liane Davey:LinkedInWebsiteThoughtload AssessmentThis Podcast is Powered By:Brain.fm - 20% off your first monthDescriptDescript 101CastmagicEcammPodpageRodecaster Pro See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

   August 06, 2026·53min
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   Number 4: Creativity: How Rest, Wonder, and AI Redefine Productivity with Natalie Nixon

   Creativity, rest, and mindset are at the center of this conversation with Natalie Nixon, author of The Creativity Leap and Move, Think, Rest. Natalie Nixon has spent two decades as a creativity strategist advising Fortune 500 companies on innovation strategy — work she calls being a "creative whisperer to the C-Suite." She's the founder of Figure 8 Thinking, and her two books make one connected argument: creativity means toggling between wonder and rigor, and rest isn't procrastination — it's fuel for better thinking. In this conversation, we cover:Rest that looks like nothing: Why Natalie assumed her best thinking — staring out the window, taking a slow walk — was procrastination, and what finally convinced her it wasn't.Wonder and rigor, not "creative types": The real definition of creativity as a toggle everyone already uses, and why "I'm not a creative person" misses the point entirely.The 90-second daydream break: The neuroscience of the default mode network, and how a short, timed pause can unstick a problem that's had you stuck for hours.What her father taught her about rest: A weekly Saturday ritual that was equal parts self-care and discipline — and why the work still got done anyway.Flourishing over productive: Why the right question about AI isn't "how does this make us more productive," but "how does this help us flourish." If your calendar rewards constant output and treats stillness like a red flag, this one's for you. Connect with Natalie:Figure 8 Thinking Connect with Erik:LinkedInThreadsFacebookBluesky This Podcast is Powered By:Brain.fm - 20% off your first monthDescriptDescript 101CastmagicEcammPodpageRodecaster Pro Grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist: http://beyondthetodolist.com/blinkist See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

   August 03, 2026·54min
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   Number 5: Rule of Life: How Ancient Practices Can Transform Your Productivity and Rest with John Drury

   I'm excited to revisit this conversation I had with John Drury to the show to discuss how ancient spiritual practices can reshape the way we approach productivity, rhythm, and life itself. John is a professor at Indiana Wesleyan University's School of Theology and Ministry, holding an M.Div. and Ph.D. from Princeton Theological Seminary, and a close personal friend of mine for over 25 years. In this conversation, we cover:Rethinking the Rule of Life: John introduces the concept of regula vitae — the rule of life — and explains why the question isn't whether you have one, but what's currently ruling yours.The Pandemic as a Mirror: We reflect on how COVID-19 disrupted our routines and created an unexpected opportunity for radical understimulation — and what we can learn from the people who actually took it.Life vs. Work-Life Balance: John challenges the very language of "work-life balance," arguing that life is your time — and work is just one part of it — never the other way around.Orienting Values and Stabilizing Practices: He walks through his hands-on framework for building a rule of life, including five orienting values and five stabilizing practices across daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual rhythms.The Sabbath as Productivity Practice: John shares how a 24-hour weekly Sabbath transformed his Fridays, redirected his procrastination, and deepened his connection with family — without a hint of legalism. If you've ever felt like your schedule is running you instead of the other way around, this conversation will give you the framework — and the permission — to start living with more intention. Learn more about John and his work at Indiana Wesleyan University, and stay tuned for part two of this conversation coming next week. Connect with Erik:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This Podcast is Powered By:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript 101⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Castmagic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ecamm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podpage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rodecaster Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Top Productivity Books List⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of a podcast where you get the core takeaways. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

   April 15, 2026·44min
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