#productivity
65 episodes
#2753: ADHD-Friendly Systems for Overwhelmed Parents
Paper checklists, plain text files, and context-specific triggers—building a user manual for life when executive function is maxed out.
#2752: Water Flossers vs String Floss: The Evidence
Water flossers beat string floss in clinical studies. Here’s what to buy and why.
#2726: Radio Listening vs Podcast Guilt
Why does podcast listening feel different from radio? A deep dive into attention, multitasking, and the psychology of audio.
#2721: What Square Meterage Do You Actually Need?
Real numbers for singles, couples, roommates, families, and remote workers — not just vibes.
#2720: Does More Money Actually Make You Happier?
The $75K happiness threshold is outdated. New research shows the real relationship between income and well-being is more nuanced.
#2718: Small Apartment Storage Without Going Minimalist
How to organize a small apartment without throwing everything out — using vertical space, zone storage, and the container concept.
#2675: Docs That Win Clients: A Consultant’s Guide
The key documents every consultant needs—and how AI makes them effortless to create and maintain.
#2669: Low-Touch Lead Qualification for Solo Consultants
Stop wasting hours on calls with unqualified leads. Learn low-touch vetting that filters bad fits without sounding hostile.
#2647: Async Communication: Tools, Norms, and AI Mediation
How to choose the right async tool, set boundaries with clients, and where AI fits in.
#2644: Crafting Agendas That Actually Work (With AI)
Stop writing table-of-contents agendas. Learn the diplomat’s method for crafting meetings that actually achieve their goals.
#2632: How to Start a Meetup Without Burning Out
Practical steps for launching a local community around any interest — without it taking over your life.
#2607: Life Coaching vs Therapy: How to Choose
Life coaching, therapy, or something else? A practical framework for navigating the confusing world of helping professions.
#2585: The Hidden Superpower of F13-F24 Keys
How unused keyboard keys, custom firmware, and layered macros can transform your workflow.
#2581: Did Ancient Jews Have Leisure?
Did ancient Jews ever relax, or was every moment supposed to be Torah study? The surprising history of leisure in Jewish tradition.
#2538: 7 Tiny Software Businesses Making a Fortune
One-person teams quietly generating hundreds of thousands in revenue from unsexy problems like PDF generation and ranch management.
#2521: Are We Really Worse Off Than Our Ancestors?
A look at 700 years of wages, housing costs, and what "purchasing power" actually means today.
#2498: Build Your First Python Program in 7 Lines
We coach a complete beginner through building a working Python game using only voice—no screenshare, no diagrams.
#2480: Wartime Checklists for Daily Life
How checklists born in wartime shelters can fix everyday chaos — from keys to chores.
#2453: Desire-Based Hiring: Fixing the Job Market
What if job matching was built on desire, not desperation? How one signal outperforms 100 applications.
#2449: Budgeting Without the Stick: Tools for Organization, Not Discipline
Can budgeting software feel like intelligence instead of judgment? A look at tools for people who hate being told what to do with their money.
#2439: Airtable Traps & Front-End Choices for Small Teams
Why Airtable fails for multi-user tools, and how AI builders are changing the framework decision for small businesses.
#2427: The Art of the Non-Productive Day: A Sloth's Guide
A deliberate, hour-by-hour template for guilt-free laziness, backed by neuroscience and sloth wisdom.
#2401: Building Tools That Fit: Small Biz Tech DIY
Why 60% of small businesses hate off-the-shelf SaaS—and how to build tools that actually fit your workflow.
#2356: How Fast Apply Models Revolutionize AI Code Edits
Discover how specialized fast apply models streamline AI-powered code edits, cutting costs and latency while maintaining precision.
#2329: The Notification Trap: Escaping Communication Overload
How do you manage messages across ten apps without losing focus? We explore the chaos of modern communication and tools to tame it.
#2328: Navigating Virtual AI Hackathons: A Practical Guide
Discover how to identify worthwhile AI hackathons, build meaningful connections, and maximize your impact in virtual communities.
#2285: The Salaryman's Bargain: Work, Drink, Repeat
How East Asia's extreme work-drink rituals enforce hierarchy—and why younger generations are lying flat instead.
#2267: The 50-Year Reign of Nine-to-Five
The nine-to-five workday feels eternal, but its dominance as the default for office workers is a surprisingly brief historical blip. We trace its f...
#2255: Typst vs. LaTeX: The AI-Ready Document Engine
Can Typst succeed LaTeX as the go-to tool for programmatic typesetting, especially for AI agents? We compare the two and explore what makes a docum...
#2241: When More Frameworks Make Worse Decisions
Benjamin Franklin's 250-year-old pro/con list still dominates how we decide—but research shows it's riddled with bias. We map five frameworks that ...
#2219: Spec-Driven Life: How AI Planning Beats Project Paralysis
What makes AI agents reliably productive? A structured spec that externalizes memory and chunks work into manageable pieces. Can the same framework...
#2100: Stop Running to the Pharmacy
Stop making multiple pharmacy trips. Learn how to sync your meds, track inventory, and ditch the amateur pharmacist role for good.
#2094: The Accidental Trillion-Dollar Loophole: 401k
Discover how a 1980s tax loophole accidentally replaced pensions and shifted retirement risk to workers.
#2091: Solving Problems That Don't Exist
From a $400 juicer that can't run without Wi-Fi to a toaster with more computing power than Apollo 11, we explore absurd gadgets.
#2030: Making Productivity Apps Work for the ADHD Brain
That folder of unused apps? It’s not a personal failure—it’s a design problem. Here’s why complex tools backfire for ADHD brains.
#2013: Non-Coders Are Hijacking the Terminal
Why finance analysts and researchers are ditching GUIs for command-line AI tools like Claude Code.
#2003: The Velocity Paradox: Why Faster Code Means Slower Ships
Agentic coding tools let you build features in minutes, but they also make it easy to build the wrong thing.
#2001: Stop Writing "It Feels Slow" Tickets
The "Golden Trio" of bug reports, why Jira is a tax, and how AI capture tools are changing the game.
#1965: Where Do We Go When We Say "We Have to Go"?
A listener asked where we go after the mics cut. The answer is a masterclass in low-burn living.
#1912: GDP: The Giant Receipt for the Whole Country
We break down what GDP actually measures and why the economy can "grow" while your wallet feels poorer.
#1895: Why QVC Thrives in the Age of Amazon
Forget the death of TV shopping. QVC and catalogs are a $12B powerhouse. Discover why seniors and millennials are choosing phone calls over clicks.
#1862: Hacker News: The Orange Site That Runs Silicon Valley
It loads in milliseconds, has no ads, and looks like a spreadsheet from 1995. Here’s why Hacker News still dictates what the tech elite thinks ever...
#1842: Building a Business on Spreadsheets? Here’s the Escape Plan
Ditch the messy spreadsheets and manual invoices. Here's how to automate your workflow using Google Workspace, Apps Script, and AI.
#1841: Async Work: Freedom or Digital Surveillance?
Is async work the key to productivity or a trap for total surveillance? We break down the promises and perils of the modern workday.
#1793: Can a Haiku Save Civilization?
A 45-minute impromptu haiku session sparks a fiery debate: is this poetic renaissance a creative breakthrough or a linguistic collapse?
#1781: Writing Tests Before Code Is Insane (Until You Try It)
Why testing feels like a tax, how it actually speeds you up, and the simple three-step method to start today.
#1774: DevRel: The Heat Shield Between Code and Community
DevRel isn't just swag and conferences—it's the critical feedback loop keeping developers loyal in an AI-driven world.
#1757: The Art of the Never-Ending Story
From Reacher's elbow to SVU's 42-minute blocks, we explore why great series become content factories.
#1756: The Ferrari in the Mud: Prestige Flops
We count down the five worst serious movies of the last five years, starting with a sci-fi disaster that wasted $80 million.
#1657: Solo Devs: When to Dockerize (and When Not To)
Is Docker worth it for solo devs? We compare raw Python, Docker, and dev containers with real setup times and tradeoffs.
#1380: The Invisible War Tax: How Conflict Erodes Productivity
Beyond physical destruction lies an invisible "war tax" on the mind. Discover how instability drains the cognitive capital of the self-employed.
#1311: Beyond the Reel: Mastering Long-Form Documentary
Move beyond 60-second edits. Learn how to manage the technical debt and narrative weight of creating your first feature-length documentary.
#1300: Why Your Best Work Happens When You Stop Trying
Forget the "always-on" grind. From Einstein’s sailing to Feynman’s bongos, discover why doing "nothing" is the secret to brilliance.
#1240: Why Germany Works Less and Earns More Than You
Is the 40-hour week obsolete? Explore why the world’s most productive nations work the fewest hours and the rise of the four-day work week.
#1160: Reclaiming the Nap: Biology, Productivity, and Power Pods
Is the afternoon slump a sign of laziness or hardwired biology? Discover why a 26-minute nap might be the ultimate productivity hack.
#1158: Why Your Code is Clean but Your Desk is a Disaster
Why can someone master digital architecture but live in physical chaos? Explore the neuroscience behind the "organization paradox."
#1105: The Great Dish Debate: An Apology and a Plan
After a heated clash over dirty dishes, Corn returns to apologize and share the new "Poppleberry Way" of keeping the peace.
#805: Mastering B-L-U-F: The Military Secret to Better Emails
Stop burying the lead. Learn how the military’s B-L-U-F framework can save you hours a week and cut through digital noise.
#698: The Guilt-Free No: Breaking the Cycle of People Pleasing
Stop saying yes when you mean no. Discover how to set firm boundaries and overcome the shame of "fawning" in your relationships.
#603: Beyond Standing: The Science of the Perfect Desk Height
Is your desk hurting your neck? Herman and Corn break down the physics of height-adjustable desks and why your setup might need a major upgrade.
#587: The Command Center: Mastering Triple Monitor Ergonomics
Upgrade your workspace from "desk sag" to NASA-level precision with the science of gas-spring monitor arms and ergonomic alignment.
#462: Beyond the Resume: Fixing the Broken Recruiting Loop
Stop the "spray and pray" application cycle. Learn how agentic workflows and narrative profiling are redefining the remote job market.
#145: The War on the Screen: Voice Control and AI Agents
Tired of being tethered to your screen? Herman and Corn explore the future of voice-first productivity and the rise of autonomous AI agents.
#119: The 1% Rule: Mastering Kaizen for Lasting Improvement
Stop the rush and start the spiral. Discover how the 1% rule and the philosophy of Kaizen can transform your productivity and quality in 2026.
#57: From Lawyers in Limousines to Developers in Their PJs: The Voice Tech Revolution
From limo-riding lawyers to pajama-clad coders, voice tech is booming. Discover how AI is making it a force for good.