Time and Attention

By Chris BaileyBusiness Education Self-Improvement How To Careers

Time and Attention episodes

April 30, 2024127: Rising Early
On this episode, we chat about whether or not you should wake up early—and how our biology and daily constraints dictate when we should rise. Topics covered include:
Calculating your natural wakeup time;
How our wakeup time drifts;
The “sepia toned” idea we have to wake up early;
Carving out time in the morning to be deliberate;
How biology affects our wakeup time;
How the constraints of our day affect wakeup time;
Having an anchor in your morning routine;
Whether waking up early makes a difference in our daily productivity.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Russell Foster’s great TED Talk, Why Do We Sleep?
Nick Lewis’s video, You’re Organizing Your House Wrong!
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!
The post Podcast: Should you wake up early? appeared first on Chris Bailey.
21 min
April 16, 2024126: All or Something Thinking (Replay)
On this episode, we chat about how to avoid “all or nothing” thinking—also known as the “eff it” effect, or the abstinence violation effect, if you want to get technical about it. Topics covered include:
Not being satisfied by partial success
How the effect plays out across different time scales
The idea of “sunk costs”
How awareness is key to behavioral change
The downfalls of black and white thinking
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!
The post Podcast: All or Something Thinking (Replay) appeared first on Chris Bailey.
17 min
April 02, 2024125: Getting Unstuck
On this episode, we chat about how to stay productive when you don’t feel like it. Ideas covered include:
How to settle into work when you just don’t feel like it;
Not letting your to-do list turn into a list of expectations for how things will go;
The idea of making “only progress”;
Feeling your “pace of productivity”
Understanding the procrastination triggers;
Managing expectations downward;
Connecting with how you feel to analyze how you’re stuck;
Paying yourself ‘time and a half’;
Accommodating your mental resistance to doing a task.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Ardyn’s ChatGPT photo
Timeular
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!
The post Podcast: How to Get Unstuck appeared first on Chris Bailey.
34 min
March 19, 2024124: Home Screens
On this episode, we chat about our phone home screens, debate about whose is better, and talk about whether “focus modes” should drive what’s on our home screen.
Chris’s home screen:
Ardyn’s home screen:
A few links mentioned on the episode:
Locket app: iOS; Android;
Pedometer++ on iOS;
ChatGPT voice assistant;
Kijiji wikipedia page;
Withings Body Scan.
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!
The post Podcast: Our phone home screens appeared first on Chris Bailey.
41 min
March 05, 2024123: Leveraged Productivity
On this episode, we chat about how the nature of productivity is changing, and how AI is making us more productive by making our work tasks higher-leverage. Topics covered include:
The most important tasks in your work;
How our “productivity leverage” increases with time;
How AI makes us more productive by moving us up the “layers of abstraction” in our work;
How we can delegate work to AI;
How AI can save us time;
The most popular AI apps right now.
Links mentioned in this episode:
TinyWow
Canva
DeepL
Github Copilot
Hugging Face
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!
The post Podcast: The highest-leverage tasks in your work appeared first on Chris Bailey.
32 min
February 20, 2024122: The Fake Commute
On this episode, we chat about the perks and benefits of doing a “fake commute” each morning. Topics covered include:
Chris’s experiment to do a “fake morning commute”;
The benefits of morning sun;
Other benefits of a fake morning commute;
How commuting variables affect our happiness level;
Pre- and post-work rituals.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Happy City, by Charles Montgomery (great book!)
Research:
The Positive Utility of the Commute: Modeling Ideal Commute Time and Relative Desired Commute Amount
Commuting and Life Satisfaction Revisited: Evidence on a Non-linear Relationship
Does commuting matter to subjective well-being?
Highway to health? Commute time and well-being among Canadian adults
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!

The post Podcast: The perks of a fake morning commute appeared first on Chris Bailey.
18 min
February 14, 2024 122: The Fake Commute
My new favorite morning ritual.
18 min
February 06, 2024121: How To Get A Book Published
On this episode, we chat about how the book publishing industry works—and how you can publish a book of your own, either the traditional or nontraditional way.
[Here’s the PDF] Lucinda mentioned in the podcast!
Topics covered include:
What Lucinda learned going from being an agent to being an author;
The role of literary agents in getting you a book deal;
The art of the “query letter”;
How to shape a book so it’s distinct and differentiated;
Timely and timeless ideas;
Whether having a platform as a potential author is important;
Your voice, content, and offering as an author;
Whether to self-publish or traditionally publish a book.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Get Signed book
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!

The post Podcast: How to Get a Book Published appeared first on Chris Bailey.
31 min
January 23, 2024120: Chore Points
On this episode, we chat about chore credits, our system for getting more chores done at home. Topics covered include:
How different couples split the chore burden;
Chores and conflict;
The value of keeping on top of chore tracking;
The chore tracking sheet we designed.
Here’s a link to a blank version of the chore tracking template if you want to try it on for size!
Links mentioned in this episode:
Get Signed book
Studies and research mentioned:
The Relationship Between Conflict Topics and Romantic Relationship Dynamics
For American couples, gender gaps in sharing household responsibilities persist amid pandemic
Statistics Canada: National No Housework Day
The Gottman Institute: 4 Typical Solvable Relationship Problems
Gender Inequality in Household Chores and Work-Family Conflict
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!
The post Podcast: Our “chore points” system appeared first on Chris Bailey.
30 min
January 09, 2024119: Books We’re Reading
On this episode, we chat about the best books we’ve recently read and what we’re currently reading. We also rank Chris’s books.
Here are the links mentioned in this episode:
Chris’s books that we chatted about:
How to Calm Your Mind
Hyperfocus
The Productivity Project
Fiction:
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow
We Spread
The Classical School
Snow Crash
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
James and the Giant Peach
Nonfiction:
Stress-Free Productivity
Good Habits Bad Habits
Grit
How to Write a Lot
How Not to Age
Outlive
The Creative Act (and Rick Rubin’s Wikipedia page)
The nerdy productivity pick: New Developments in Goal Setting and Task Performance
You can listen (and subscribe) to the podcast below!

The post Podcast: The Books We’re Loving appeared first on Chris Bailey.
42 min

About Time and Attention

From the publisher's feed

Time and Attention is a podcast that will help you become more intentional and productive. Hosted by Chris Bailey, the author of two productivity books, and Ardyn Nordstrom, a nerdy…