The Productivity Show

How many times have you been halfway to the airport when it hits you that you forgot something important? Thanh spent years as a digital nomad, living in places like Bangkok, Budapest and Ho Chi Minh City. Even as a seasoned traveler he kept leaving things behind, until he started using a tool so simple that most of us overlook it.

In this encore episode, Thanh shows why the humble checklist does a lot more than help you pack. He covers what airline pilots know about it, why your brain is the wrong place to store things, and five places where a checklist can save you time and headaches right away. It’s a quick listen, and you’ll probably have one checklist written before it ends.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Learn more about how Notion can support your business at notion.com/tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

Q4 is the last clean run at your year, and it’s also the quarter most likely to flatten you. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks walk through a 12-week reset that respects both: how to cut your list down to the one goal that matters, how to pick leading measures you can actually move this week, and how to plan the recovery alongside the work so December doesn’t arrive with nothing left in the tank.

Masterclass.com/TPS for at least 15% off any annual membership.

Learn more about how Notion can support your business at notion.com/tps.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

How many productive weeks do you really have left this year? Probably fewer than your calendar suggests. After more than a decade of running Asian Efficiency, Thanh has seen the same pattern every year, in his own business and with his clients: the last stretch of the year quietly disappears long before December 31st.

In this encore episode, Thanh shares the simple way he reframes the final quarter so it doesn’t slip away. It takes under 10 minutes, and you’ll come away with one clear step you can take today.

Get 20% off your first order: dripdrop.com and use promo code tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

How much would you pay to never stand in a grocery line again? It’s a question most of us never think to ask, because we assume outsourcing and executive assistants are only for CEOs and millionaires. But when time is the one thing you can’t make more of, using a little money to get some of it back might be one of the smartest trades you can make.

In this encore episode, we share three practical ways to buy back your time, from small tech fixes to delegating things you never thought you could hand off. You’ll hear why letting go is often hardest for tasks you’re good at, a simple budget trick that makes delegation work for everyday people, and a restaurant reservation hack you’ll want to try this weekend.

Get 20% off your first order: dripdrop.com and use promo code tps.

See what ElevenAgents can do for your specific workflows. Start with a demo at elevenlabs.io/tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

When did you last look at your desk and ask whether it’s helping you or holding you back? We put a lot of thought into apps and systems. But the space where you spend eight hours a day might be doing more to your focus and energy than any tool you use.

In this encore episode, we use a surprising comparison to explain why your surroundings matter so much. We also share simple, budget-friendly tweaks that make work feel a little easier. You don’t need to remodel your office. You need about ten minutes and one small change you can make today.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Try Gusto today at gusto.com/TPS, and get 3 months free when you run your first payroll.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

AI usually fails to save time for one simple reason: the bottleneck is not the model, it is the workflow around it. In this episode, we break down the most common blockers, like unclear prompts, messy source material, too many tools, review overhead, trust issues, and missing definitions of done. We also show you how to diagnose the friction point, redesign the workflow, and measure real time savings on repeatable work.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Try Gusto today at gusto.com/TPS, and get 3 months free when you run your first payroll.

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free.

See what ElevenAgents can do for your specific workflows. Start with a demo at elevenlabs.io/tps

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

How many hours did you work straight through yesterday without once stepping away from your screen? For years, Thanh believed that powering through from morning to evening was the secret to getting more done. Then, while coworking with a friend at an Austin coffee shop, he got an unexpected invitation: a 10-minute walk, right in the middle of a focused work session. That short stroll sparked a habit he’s kept for nearly five years.

In this encore episode, Thanh explains why more hours don’t equal more productivity and how strategic breaks sharpen focus, creativity, and decision-making. It’s under 10 minutes, and it just might change how you spend the next hour of your day.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Learn more about how Notion can support your business at notion.com/tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

In this episode, we break down why clock-based planning often fails and why the real bottlenecks are energy, attention, and cognitive load. We talk about protecting peak hours, matching the right task to the right mental state, reducing attention residue, and planning recovery on purpose. We also share practical ways to notice how sleep, stress, meetings, and device distraction affect output far more than calendar math.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Masterclass.com/TPS for at least 15% off any annual membership.

Visit Upwork.com right now and post your job for free.

Learn more about how Notion can support your business at notion.com/tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

Did you say yes to something recently and regret it before the calendar invite even arrived? Thanh once turned down an opportunity he was excited about, and it was tied to something he loves. Find out why he said no, and why it turned out to be one of his better decisions.

When the request comes from your boss, saying no gets a lot harder. Thanh shares the simple test that makes most of these decisions for him and the words he’d use to say no to his boss without hurting his reputation. It all takes less than 10 minutes.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Get 20% off your first order: dripdrop.com and use promo code tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!

A lot of popular productivity advice sounds smart until you actually try to live by it. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks share the rules they’ve stopped following, from inbox zero and rigid morning routines to building elaborate note systems and optimizing every minute. More importantly, they explain what replaced them: flexible systems, useful constraints, and practices that work in real life instead of just looking impressive on the internet.

Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics.

Make the switch! MINTMOBILE.com/PRODUCTIVITY.

Get 20% off your first order: dripdrop.com and use promo code tps.

Learn more about how Notion can support your business at notion.com/tps.

Listen to this episode (MP3)

If you enjoyed this episode, follow the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast, Pocket Casts or your favorite podcast player. It’s easy, you’ll get new episodes automatically, and it also helps the show. You can also leave a review!