David Sparks and Mike Schmitz are not nearly as productive as they’d like to be. Join these fellow travelers (and a bunch of special guests) as they share the best ways to get focused, and talk through their successes and failures along the way.

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David Sparks

MacSparky.com

Mike Schmitz

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    Latest Episodes

    #161: Stolen Focus, with Jean MacDonald

    September 27th, 2022 · 82 minutes

    Jean MacDonald joins us to talk about social media, the M.E.O.W. system, and reading books.

    #160: Balancing Calendars and Tasks

    September 13th, 2022 · 78 minutes

    David & Mike compare calendars and task lists, the jobs to be done by each, and the resistance that will inevitably appear in your quest to get things done.

    #159: The Art of Note-Taking

    August 30th, 2022 · 67 minutes

    David & Mike consider note-taking and its role in the creative process.

    #158: Humans First, with Rob Krecak

    August 16th, 2022 · 83 minutes

    Rob Krecak joins us to talk about the psychology behind email, the importance of communication norms, and tips from his experiences helping organizations move to a 4-day work week.

    #157: Non-Traditional Measures of Productivity, with Mike Vardy

    August 2nd, 2022 · 89 minutes

    Mike Vardy is back to talk about the rhythm of work and why some people feel "productivity" is becoming a dirty word.

    #156: The State of GTD

    July 19th, 2022 · 87 minutes

    Inspired by a Cal Newport article on Getting Things Done, David & Mike go through an audit of the (in)famous productivity system.

    #155: 12 Favorite Problems

    July 5th, 2022 · 78 minutes

    David & Mike explore the idea of favorite problems and identify a dozen of their own in a quest for self-discovery.

    #154: Building a Second Brain, with Tiago Forte

    June 21st, 2022 · 64 minutes

    Tiago Forte joins us to talk about his new book, building knowledge assets, and flipping the switch from consumer to creator.

    #153: A Wandering Mind, with Kourosh Dini

    June 7th, 2022 · 59 minutes

    Kourosh Dini is back to talk about being with the work and the dark side of flow.

    #152: Mental Models

    May 24th, 2022 · 79 minutes

    David & Mike share some of their favorite mental models and how to use them for better sensemaking.