Caitie reaches a milestone, receiving her first set of professionally-printed business cards. This inspires a lively discussion about the parameters and purposes of business cards, and the culture of capital "n" Networking. Our hosts contemplate the place of these scraps of paper in our digital age. Caitie reflects on a past experience in which a card received helped a brief encounter at a conference grow into a meaningful exchange of ideas. Max, meanwhile, recommends only accepting a business card if you know why you want it—either to support a clear, short-term engagement, or to add its subject to a well-maintained system of contacts (which he keeps calling a “Rolodex,” despite that fact that even he isn’t old enough to have ever used one). Here’s our card—let’s do lunch sometime! Or, better still: just listen to the episode.

Elon Musk. Jack Dorsey. Marissa Mayer. How do these high-flying tech CEOs get so much done? Media profiles tally their super-clever strategies for making it work, but the Priority team asks a more basic question: are they even getting that much done? The research paints a bleak picture. Each hour over 40 provides diminishing returns, each hour over 65 provides no additional return, and at 80 hours, even highly-trained medical residents make crazy errors. Max observes that successful CEOs have something at their disposal that most of us mere mortals lack—namely, gobs of money. But among the trite (non-wealth-related) advice on offer, Jack Dorsey provides a clue about how a two-company CEO—or Max, or Caitie, or YOU—can make it all work. And what is that? Don’t fret, our hosts promise they’ll get to it before hour 40.

Hakuna matata! Priority starts its second year with a trip to Orlando, Florida! In the tradition that stretches back to Episode No. 1, the Priority team takes a quarterly break from work and productivity issues to discuss a cultural artifact. This time, though, they’ve picked a doozy: the Walt Disney World resort, in Orlando, FL. It’s not all dark rides and roller coasters, though—between losing track of which Little Mermaid-themed attraction is which and waxing nostalgic about their childhood visits, our intrepid hosts manage to shoehorn in a few weightier topics. What role do fantasy and illusion play in our lives? What lessons can the mother of all theme parks teach us mere mortals about our work? And, perhaps most importantly, which is better—a Mickey Mouse-shaped ice cream bar, or a Mickey Mouse-shape Rice Krispie treat?

What would you do if a great opportunity fell into your lap today? If you’re Max, you might grab a towel and some club soda, and hope it doesn’t stain your pants. He points out that we often fail to recognize opportunities when they appear. Meanwhile, Caitie would take that opportunity and run with it. While her co-host worries over the limits of our ability to seize opportunities, she is actively taking advantage of one. She recounts the changes she has made to her schedule and infrastructure in order to take it on. One thing our hosts agree upon: like the weekly “once in a lifetime!” sale at the furniture store, opportunities don’t last forever (and unlike that sale, they won’t always come around again). But you know what they say: “When opportunity knocks, God opens a window.”

You wouldn’t know it from the release schedule, but Priority went on a six-week recording hiatus. Caitie traveled the Gulf Coast. Max did, well, whatever he does—until last week, when our intrepid hosts met up with other family in Orlando for a belated Christmas. This week, the Priority team resumes work and school (and podcasting), and lead us on a guided tour of their reentry. There will always be friction when we return to our jobs or projects after a long break, but the amount of friction has more to do with how well we leave our work than what we do when we’re away. Moreover, any time away from “real life” also offers us an opportunity to reflect. And that’s a lesson anyone can learn and apply, even without an expensive plane ticket and a mojito.

This week, Priority hits the road! Caitie likes to devote the proper time and space to travel. Just getting from point A to point B is plenty for one day, even without the TSA patting down one’s hair for explosives. Max agrees, and shares his favorite way to take control of travel days: packing lightly. He may not He may not have the freedom of, say, Jack Reacher (who packs only a wallet and toothbrush), but he feels liberated flying with nothing but a single backpack. The Priority team muses on the broader implications of this kind of lightness—could packing lightly, and the affordances of a clean hotel suite, suggest patterns applicable to the rest of life and work? If not, Caitie and Max can at least agree they are both happy when they manage to avoid packing more than they can chew. Wait…

How awesome are you? How awesome do you think you are? And how much does the difference matter? This week, Priority turns its attention to confidence. Max feels secure enough to point out that confidence is born of success, which in turn is often born of luck. But he’s not self-assured enough to discount such mere feelings of confidence. The confident, after all, are the ones who will have the courage to say “Yes!” when opportunity rings the doorbell. Meanwhile, Caitie boldly asserts that this kind of hope is valuable, whether grounded in our true abilities or not. She also shares some physiological hacks that can increase your feelings of confidence. Whether you feel brave or meek today, the Priority team is confident that this episode can help!

Priority gets a case of the Mondays! In Max's mind, Mondays couldn't be much worse. Caitie points out that Mondays can help set the pace for the week (for better or for worse, as we sometimes spend rest of the week overcoming Monday). But if a week is a useful unit of time for planning and thinking about our work, Mondays are surely due some consideration. Want better Mondays? The Priority team may not have all the answers, but they start the week bright and early to working on the questions.

Productivity nerds and laypeople alike hold deep skepticism towards New Year's Resolutions. They feel a little arbitrary, a little corny. What’s so special about January 1st? Maybe December 31st isn’t the moment to reimagine your entire life. You’re still going to be you the next morning (or, perhaps, you’ll turn into you-with-a-hangover). But if there is a little motivational magic to be had, why not go for it? This week, Caitie recounts silly goals of New Years past. Meanwhile, Max suggests that reflecting on the year just past might be the most valuable part of resolution-making—both to celebrate, and ground your future plans in reality. As usual, a focus on why we’re doing anything—including naming our goals each New Year’s Eve—may help keep us on track. If nothing else, resolve this year to keep listening to Priority.

If you've ever caught yourself planning your next remark while you should be listening to someone else . . . you might be a human. This week, listen deeply as our hosts explore a skill we often take for granted. Caitie suggests that emotional and physiological barriers can keep us from listening well. Max berates so-called active listening and critiques the state of the art in listening advice. But whatever the quality or quantity of our training in listening skills, the Priority team can’t escape the conclusion that hearing each other out matters. Because, well . . . we all want to be understood, right?