Work Less, Produce More

The number one performance enhancer in the world is sleep. Whether you measure error rate, reaction time, mood, decision making, emotional intelligence - we simply aren't performing up to our capabilities if we don't sleep. And yet, we cannot think ourselves to sleep, believe me I have tried. In this week's podcast we speak to Dr. Jonathan Charest, the director of Athlete Sleep Services at the University of Calgary, on how to improve our performance with sleep.

When we talk about working less and producing more, this conversation changes when the success metrics change, for example when you work in sales. In this episode we talk to Lyndsay Dowd, CEO of Heart Beat for Hire and veteran sales executive, on how we can both push for key sales metrics, and create sustainable work.

We are seeing discussions about the 4 day work week happen across the world for large corporations but what about for entrepreneurs? While entrepreneurs often have the most autonomy about their work it often translates to working all the time, everywhere. In this week's episode we speak with Jason Duncan about how to manage time and energy to work less, produce more as an entrepreneur.

What does communication have to do with working less, and producing more? Well, everything. Our ability to communicate effectively can make or break our ability to do our job, and nobody understands that better than this week's guest, Richard Newman - CEO of BodyTalk - a company that teaches the science of communicating.

If I book in breaks during my day, I end up doing errands or something I HAVE to do. Today's guest talks about adding back recess - a time in your day, even if only for a few minutes that you play or do something you enjoy. Something often lost after grade school.

Every time I have a question about the workplace, I will run it by today's guest, Dr. Benjamin Granger and it seems he is already doing some research on exactly the topic I am interested in. This time I ask about the 4 day work week, is it the answer? Are there other ways to think about flexible work? And most importantly, what would he do with the extra day off.

In this episode, I talk to Dr. Greg Wells who is personally and professionally obsessed with health and performance, particularly under extreme conditions. As a scientist and physiologist, he has dedicated his career to making the science of human limits understandable and actionable.

So what does he think are the skills that we need to work less and produce more?

p.s. It isn’t laundry.

The way we are working is not working. Work from anywhere, at any time has turned into work from everywhere, all the time. How can we leverage the science on how to be more productive, creative and get more done in less time, but also how do we strategically and effectively take time off? This episode is an introduction to this season where we take a deep dive into these questions.

Mental health at work is a current topic of interest, especially since the beginning of the pandemic. While we have seen a slide in mental wellbeing across populations, there are some clear gender differences that have become apparent. In this episode we speak to Jake Stika, the executive director of Next Gen Men, a non profit focused on health and wellbeing of men in our communities and gender equity in the workplace, on some of the key differences for men's mental health and what we can do to better support them at work.

The act of gratitude has received a lot more attention lately, as we all navigate periods of stress and uncertainty. Gratitude may seem like a simple tool but the depth of gratitude can have on your psychological well-being, the person you are expressing gratitude to and the people who observe expressions of gratitude. Gratitude has extensive positive consequences in the workplace as leaders and team members. This tool is free, has benefits to you and those around you but also can be one of the most challenging things to remember to do when you are in survival mode. This week's episode, we dive into all of this with the founder of Gratitude at Work, Steve Foran.