The Productivity Show

If your calendar is full but your output still feels weak, the problem may not be time. In this episode, I talk about energy, attention, and cognitive load, and how small shifts like protecting peak hours, planning recovery, and reducing distractions can help you do better work without adding more hours.

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

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In this episode, we break down a practical meeting diet you can use to cut 20 to 30 percent of your meeting hours without getting fired or damaging trust. We walk through how to audit your calendar by time cost, use the meeting autopsy question, apply the three filters for recurring invites, and replace the right meetings with async updates, Looms, and shared docs. I also share scripts for saying no gracefully and how to protect the meetings that actually matter.

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

Start with a free trial at shopify.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!

When was the last time you said no to something and felt good about it? For most of us, a packed calendar starts to feel like the price of being responsible. The meetings, the dinners and the favours keep coming, and one day you notice that the things you care about most are the ones getting squeezed out.

In this encore episode, Thanh shares the story of a London executive who hit that wall and found his way back using a simple tool called the Focus Filter. In under 10 minutes you’ll hear why “busy” might be the wrong word for what you’re feeling, and get one small, slightly uncomfortable action you can take today to start reclaiming your time.

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!

In this diagnostic episode, we walk through a Time Audit so listeners can see where their 40 hours actually go and create a measurable before and after. We connect the audit to our broader productivity philosophy, show how data and numbers can reveal hidden patterns, and explain why the best improvements are the ones you can actually implement right away.

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

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

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

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 finish a workday having done what you planned to do, and not just what landed on your desk?

Thanh knows the reactive trap well. A few years ago, while Asian Efficiency was growing fast, he spent his days fighting fires, until he noticed something unsettling about the business. In this encore episode, he tells the story of the small daily habit that turned things around. He also shares two simple practices you can start tomorrow morning to take back control of your day, and it all takes less than 10 minutes.

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!

How did Thanh get his arm from 20 degrees to 90 in a single session, just days after shoulder surgery? His surgeon expected that to take more than a month of physical therapy. The answer has less to do with the shoulder than you might think.

In this encore episode, Thanh sits down with Garrett Salpeter, founder of NeuFit, to talk about why the body sometimes gets in the way of its own healing, and what it takes to get it unstuck. Whether you’re coming back from an injury, trying to get more out of your workouts, or just can’t afford to be sidelined for months, this conversation might change how you think about recovery.

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

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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.

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 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!