How I Work

Picture this: you’ve been invited to pop icon Bjork’s Big Day Out afterparty. 

You rock up to her trailer and dance music’s pumping. You step inside and everyone’s having a grand old time, including Bjork herself, who’s posted up behind a set of turntables, grooving to the music. You figure you should congratulate her on a great set, but when you get closer, you notice… She’s got black gaff tape across her mouth?

It’s a bit weird, sure, but according to one of Australia’s most successful music exports, Eddie Perfect, it’s also genius. When Eddie heard this story from his manager, he knew Bjork was onto something. 

The discipline required to properly care for and rest your voice is what separates the amateurs from the professionals in the world of performance, and Eddie’s a more seasoned professional than almost anyone else. 

He shares the industry’s most effective tips for caring for the instrument inside you, including a surprisingly simple trick for recovering quickly after you’ve completely lost your voice. 

Eddie also details the chaotic but incredibly efficient “29-Hour Read” process responsible for many of Broadway’s most beloved shows, as well as his own process for placing and writing songs for the stage. 

Connect with Eddie on Instagram or find his performer page on the 9 to 5 The Musical website

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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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Production Support from Deadset Studios

Episode Producer: Liam Riordan

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What’s the first question you ask yourself or your team when you need to make a big decision? Do you double-check your processes, weigh out the pros and cons? Meetup CEO David Siegel wants you to ask one question before any others when it comes to important decisions: ask yourself, ‘is this a trapdoor decision?’

Trapdoor decisions are irreversible - once you’ve made the call, it can’t be unmade. Scary stuff! But David believes trapdoor decisions are far, far less common than most of us realise. He also believes most of us vastly overestimate how irreversible certain decisions are, while massively underestimating how reversible they actually are. Usually, he says, anything can be pivoted, altered, undone or redone… It might just require a bit of time. 

So how does David then make those decisions? Well, first - he delegates. David explains how getting your hiring process right will end up eliminating 98% of your decision-making down the line. 

Connect with David on Twitter or LinkedIn, or grab a copy of Decide & Conquer

You can find the full interview here: Meetup CEO David Siegel teaches you to make better, faster, more purposeful decisions

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You know what it’s like when you move house – you’re tripping over boxes for weeks, eating takeout on the floor while you wait for that new dining table to arrive, and lamenting that the rest of the world – including work – doesn’t take a pause while you get your life in order. We’ve all been there, but have you ever used that moment of chaos as the trigger to start writing a book?

It sounds insane – and as someone who’s been working on a new book for some time now, I feel certified to call it that – but for economist and Wharton professor Katy Milkman, it made perfect sense.

Katy’s learned to take advantage of “fresh starts,” which can be anything from New Year’s Day to a relocation – or even just any old Monday.

She breaks down the most effective ways to change your behaviour for the better, whether that’s to break bad habits or form new ones. And it’s all backed by science.

Connect with Katy on Twitter or Linkedin

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Production Support from Deadset Studios

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

You value your time pretty highly, right? That’s part of why you listen to How I Work - you’re trying to get the most out of what precious time you have, whether it’s a matter of getting more done when you’re in the office, or freeing yourself from distraction when you’re with your family. 

So you’d hope others value your time just as much - and therefore, you need to show others how much you value their time, especially if you’re hoping to use some of it. 

This is the underlying principle in all of Janice Lintz’s cold reachouts: whether she’s writing a letter to the queen or trying to sort out her phone bill, Janice knows people want to protect their time. 

Janice Lintz is a hearing loss consultant and accessibility advocate, so when she wants to speak with someone, it’s pretty damn important. But she recognises that if she’s going to ask for someone else’s time, she needs to demonstrate that it’s worth her time, too. 

Enter the rule of fours. When the late, legendary activist Vernon Jordan finally answered Janice’s phone call on the fourth attempt, he told her he only answered because she called so many times!

Janice shares why this rule of four is so powerful, and explains how to apply the methodology to other parts of your work. 

Connect with Janice on Twitter or LinkedIn 

You can find the full interview here: Janice Lintz teaches you how to be heard by people who don’t want to listen

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Exercising every single day sounds like playing the game of fitness on the hardest mode, doesn’t it? It sounds like the kind of regime only the ultra-disciplined, shredded-to-the-teeth among us can ever truly achieve. But… what if it was actually the easier option? 

Sam Wood, founder of Australia’s number-one home fitness program, 28, exercises every day. But it’s not because he’s some kind of workout robot - it’s because it’s the simple approach: it’s the decision that eliminates a thousand decisions. If your routine is to move every day, there’s no room for the endless internal battles that come up when you’re free to shuffle your rest days around. 

As a business owner, podcast host, husband, and father to young kids, Sam knows all to well just how hard it can be to fit exercise into a busy schedule, but he also knows a healthy body is key to a healthy mind, a healthy soul, and a healthy level of productivity!

Connect with Sam on Instagram or at the 28 by Sam Wood website

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Production Support from Deadset Studios

Episode Producer: Liam Riordan

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Whether you’re pitching to your close-knit project team over Zoom, presenting as a keynote speaker to a packed conference hall, or writing an entire book, great stories are at the heart of any effective communication. And no modern non-fiction author spins a better yarn than Dan Pink, the man behind bestsellers like When: The Scientific Secrets of Timing and more recently, The Power of Regret. 

The psychology of regret and its many incarnations might sound like dense reading, but Dan proves it doesn’t have to be. Some of the first-person case studies in The Power of Regret are as affecting and thought-provoking as any great fiction tale, which makes the underlying science much, much easier to remember and understand. 

And therein lies one of the keys to Dan’s fantastic storytelling: sometimes, you’re not the one who should be telling the story! In preparation for his latest book, Dan ran a number of huge surveys and interviewed countless people to better understand the impact certain moments had on their lives. This made it far easier for Dan to test the strength of the stories he wanted to include in his book - if he found his interviewees fascinating, he figured his readers would too. 

Dan also shares his biggest grievance with the non-fiction market, and how he avoids it in his own work. 

Connect with Dan on Twitter or at his website

You can find the full interview here: Dan Pink on how the “no regrets” life philosophy misses the point

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What do you actually want from life? 

It seems like a pretty simple question, but if it’s not properly understood, it could lead you and your family down a very complicated path. When parenting expert Justin Coulson asks this question of clients, readers and audiences, he’s always met with the same response. 

First, he gets blank faces - most of the time, we’re too busy trying to keep the household afloat to sit and ponder our ideals. But when Justin frames the question around parenting specifically, he’s usually met with the same answer: everyone wants their kids to fulfil their potential. 

Sounds nice, right? Sure, but… Have YOU reached your potential? 

Justin’s follow-up question is one of many ways he encourages us to think more deeply about what it means to be a parent, a professional, and a person. He knows the value of this kind of thinking because it was a key part of his decision to leave behind a successful career in radio to pursue higher education and an entirely new field. 

Justin shares how he applies his expertise to all different formats, including the new season of his successful Channel 9 show, Parental Guidance. 

Connect with Justin on the Happy Families website or listen to his and his wife’s parenting podcast 

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Production Support from Deadset Studios

Episode Producer: Liam Riordan

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We all want to be successful, and as a How I Work listener, you’re actively looking for tools, tips and tricks that’ll get you there. You’re seeking out the best modern minds and trying to understand what’s made them successful. 

Good on you! But before you celebrate, you might need to consider the complete opposite approach…

Darius Foroux writes books, articles and blog posts for people who want to keep growing wiser and wealthier - so he’s spent a lot of time thinking, reading and writing about the art of investing. 

The most powerful tool he’s come across in his years of research - sourced from the investing giants Charlie Munger and Warren Buffet - is a very simple thought experiment: invert the question. 

“How do I become successful?” is a well-intentioned question, but it welcomes far too many possible answers. Instead, Darius finds clarity by asking what would make him unsuccessful…

Connect with Darius on Twitter or at his website

You can find the full interview here: Darius Foroux on writing, investing and living like a Stoic

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

If you were anything like me as a kid, you had your fair share of idols, and the majority of them spoke to you through the covers of magazines. If you were a little girl, most of those idols were probably fashion models. Beautiful, immaculately dressed and impossibly cool, we’ve all wished at one point or another that we could be just like those models.

Lise Carlaw and Sarah Wills, otherwise known as Those Two Girls, or the hosts of the Forty podcast, lived that dream. The only thing is… it wasn’t the dream they were sold. 

Selling your image means turning how you look into a commodity, and while it might be nice to pay the bills with some photos on a beach in Greece, it also makes it really, really hard not to value yourself solely on your appearance. 

The pursuit for a more holistic sense of identity kicked into overdrive for Lise and Sarah as they neared the big four-zero, and it spawned a media empire catering to women who wanted more from their fifth decade than to simply wind down and step out of the limelight. 

Lise and Sarah share the most transformative lessons they’ve learned through the podcast, and through writing their new book, Forty Favours the Brave.

Connect with Lise on Instagram

Connect with Sarah on Instagram

Grab a copy of Forty Favours the Brave

***

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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Production Support from Deadset Studios

Episode Producer: Liam Riordan

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the internet era, there’s an infinite number of opportunities, information, activities and events we could get involved with, which is great… But there’s no such thing as a free lunch, and when you say “yes” to anything, you’re also saying “no” to something else.

So how do you decide what to say “no” to, and just as crucially, how do you say “no” when it’s really hard? Whether you’re a people-pleaser or you just want to do a bit of everything, turning down an opportunity - even when you know you should - can be really tough.

Bestselling author, psychologist and Wharton professor Katy Milkman struggles saying “no” herself, but she doesn’t have to go it alone - she’s gathered a group of trusted peers who know what she wants from her life and her career, and they’re always on hand to offer Katy advice when she’s not sure if she should say yes or no.

Connect with Katy on Twitter or LinkedIn

You can find the full interview here: Fresh starts, commitment devices and collaboration - changing for the better with Katy Milkman

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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 [email protected]

CREDITS

Produced by Inventium

Host: Amantha Imber

Production Support from Deadset Studios

Sound Engineer: Martin Imber

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.