How I Work

My guest today is...me! We had hundreds of questions come in for this Ask Me Anything, which is based around how to work from home efficiently and productively. With the help of organisational psychologist Charlotte Rush, we answer your questions around workplace creativity, innovation, energy, productivity, wellbeing, motivation and more.

This is especially relevant to lockdown or work from home setups, which many people are still adapting to. You’ll walk away from today with a few tips of things you might be able to do differently, or pass on to people in your life who might be struggling.

In this chat, we cover:

• The three key ingredients of staying motivated
• The best way to set goals
• Building relationships and team connections while working remotely
• How to recreate those random workplace moments that lead to amazing opportunities
• Maintaining your professionalism away from the office
• Why joining work meetings from your bedroom is OK
• How to manage difficult conversations virtually
• Casual team catch-ups from a distance
• Why lowering expectations is important
• My favourite book for handling stress
• Handling increased email traffic while working remotely
• The best way to take a work break to stay energised
• My top tip to help you stop procrastinating
• And more

You can connect with my co-pilot in this chat, Charlotte Rush, on LinkedIn.

Subscribe to my new podcast How To Date in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with Michelle Poler was on the key question she asks herself to conquer her fears.

You can find the full interview here.

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Introducing my latest podcast, How To Date!

How to Date is a show about to master the messy, complex, and downright bizarre world of dating, when you really didn't think you'd be back here again. Your hosts Dr Amantha Imber and Monique Robin speak to psychologists, dating coaches, professors, data crunchers at Bumble, and even sex workers to learn how to get better at dating.

You’ll learn about how to improve your chances of finding love online, how to date during a pandemic, and the latest science on how to attract a great mate. If you’re keen to improve your odds on the dating front and get some practical advice on how to get better at it, subscribe to How To Date wherever you listen to your podcasts. 

Subscribe to How To Date in Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Alison Watkins. Alison joined Coca-Cola Amatil as Group Managing Director in March 2014. Prior to joining Coca-Cola Amatil Alison was the CEO of agribusiness GrainCorp and of Berri, the market leader in Australian juice, and she was also the Managing Director of Regional Banking at ANZ.  Alison also spent 10 years at McKinsey & Company and became a partner of the firm before moving to ANZ as Group General Manager Strategy.  Alison has been a non-executive director of ANZ, Woolworths and the Just Group.

We cover:

• How the way she works has changed dramatically since COVID
• Her strategy for delivering bad news
• The best and worst career advice she has been given
• Deciding when to take on board negative feedback, and when not to
• Alison’s approach to influencing others - and why doing good work isn’t enough to get ahead in your career
• And much more.

Connect with Alison on LinkedIn.

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This episode looks at why you need to stop asking for feedback, and instead, ask for advice.

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guest today is Darren Murph who is GitLab’s Head of Remote. If you have never heard of GitLab, it's the world’s largest all-remote company, with over 1,300 team members in 67+ countries with no company-owned offices. Darren has spent his career leading remote teams and charting remote transformations and authored GitLab’s Remote Playbook. Darren also holds a Guinness World Record as the planet's most prolific professional blogger, having published 10 million words.

In this chat, we cover:

• How crisis-induced remote work is different from true remote work
• Darren’s favourite tips from Gitlab’s Remote Working handbook
• Why companies need to change their default to asynchronous communication
• How to create a corporate culture in a remote working environment
• The importance that values play in company culture
• How to recruit for people who are suited to remote work
• The key software that you need to make remote work, work
• How to design for serendipitous moments when everyone works remote
• How to replace water cooler conversations in the remote environment
• How to have effective meetings - and more importantly - deciding when NOT to meet
• Darren’s one page operating manual
• Darren’s favourite gadgets
• Companies that he looks to for remote working inspiration.

Connect with Darren on Linkedin and Twitter. Check out Darren’s personal operating manual, GitLab’s remote playbook, and Darren’s book Living the Remote Dream.  

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor Laura May Martin was on how she manages her inbox.

You can find the full interview here.

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My guests on today’s show are Michelle Andrews and Zara McDonald. Michelle and Zara are Melbourne-based journalists and broadcasters, aged 26. They met working as writers for Mama Mia, and in March 2018 launched Australia’s top pop-culture podcast Shameless, ‘for smart women who like dumb stuff.’ They now run Shameless Media and are the producers of three other highly popular podcasts.

Shameless has been downloaded over 10 million times and was crowned Australia’s Most Popular Podcast of 2019 at the Australian Podcast Awards. Michelle and Zara and their podcast have been written about in The New York Times, The Guardian, The Age and Marie Claire. 

In this chat, we cover:

• What goes on behind the scenes of making the Shameless podcast
• Where they get their inspiration for content from
• Their process for preparing for interviews
• How they keep their podcast banter feeling fresh
• How Michelle and Zara decide how much personal information to share with listeners - and what not to disclose
• How they manage their time on social media
• Why they deleted their 40,000+ member Facebook group
• How they decide which projects to say Yes versus No to
• Michelle and Zara’s guiding principle for key business decisions
• How they deal with negative feedback 
• Their favourite podcasts
• And much more.

Grab your copy of Michelle and Zara’s book The Space Between, follow Shameless on Instagram, join the Shameless Book Club, and listen to the Shameless podcast on Apple Podcasts.

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip from my chat with Finder.com co-founder Fred Schebesta was on how he identifies top talent.

You can find the full interview here.

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In today's BEST OF episode, my guest is Dan Heath. Dan is the co-author, along with his brother Chip, of four New York Times bestsellers: Decisive, Switch, Made to Stick, and The Power of Moments. The Heath Brothers’ books have sold over 3 million copies worldwide and been translated into 33 languages.

Dan is a Senior Fellow at Duke University’s CASE center, which supports social entrepreneurs. 

I am a HUGE fan of Dan's work and we cover a lot of ground in this interview, including:

• The importance of trying to solve problems before they happen - and why this is so hard to do
• How Dan thinks about coming up with titles for his books
• Why he saw the title of his new book, Upstream, as incredibly risky
• The value in focusing on recurring irritants to focus upstream thinking
• Why Dan tracks his time, and the changes this lead to in his life
• How tunneling gets in the way of solving problems
• How Dan overcame his procrastination tendencies
• The importance of momentum in writing
• The pros and cons of not working with his brother Heath for writing Upstream
• Dan’s approach to soliciting feedback and the ideal time to seek it
• Where Dan’s book ideas come from
• What makes a great business book
• How Dan develops the frameworks for his books
• The strategies Dan has written about that have had the biggest impact on his own life.

Find out more about Dan at Heathbrothers.com and grab a copy of Upstream here.

Visit https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at [email protected]

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that 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

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.