Myth Buster1:13:30
Ali is less 'productive' than his team expected
“if I have an extra 7 minutes I won't check my email I will grab the guitar and stop playing and singing along”
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26 December 2023
How To Make 2024 Your Most Productive Year Yet
8Frameworks
13Insights
Frameworks in this episode
Peak Performance6 steps
CALM Recharge
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Productivity6 steps
Feel-Good Productivity (Energize, Unblock, Sustain)
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Self-Mastery6 steps
Gravestone Test and the Five Buckets Audit
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Productivity6 steps
NICE Goals
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Peak Performance5 steps
The Alter Ego (Batman Effect)
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Mindset6 steps
The Spirit of Play: Side Quests, Challenge and Play Personality
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Peak Performance6 steps
The Three Types of Burnout
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Self-Mastery7 steps
The Unblock Method for Procrastination
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Insights & moments
The myth-busts, hot takes, explainers, and tools worth keeping.
Myth Buster· 1
Hot Take· 2
Hot Take15:00
Why the word 'success' barely appears in the book
“we almost never use the word success in the book because I don't really like the word the word success because for a lot of…”
“the journey is actually more important than the destination”
Hot Take1:24:30
Six years of weekly videos without much discipline or willpower
“I don't have a lot of discipline and a lot of willpower but I've managed to make videos every week for six years because I…”
Explainer· 1
Explainer57:30
The amygdala hijack: why judgment feels like a survival threat
“the amigdala hijack is kind of what research researchers call it when um we when our igdal is overactive in social situations today that are…”
“the voice of fear stops so many people from going after their dreams”
Story· 6
Story04:30
Why a doctor with no free time started rethinking productivity
“all of a sudden like 10 to 12 hours of every single day were just being blocked up by work and I was trying to…”
“I didn't really want to be in a position”
Story07:30
The happy senior doctors who proved stress was a choice
“I did also make a concerted effort in my day job to enjoy the day-to-day a little bit more”
“even when it's just like like life and death is in the balance it can still be a beautiful day to save lives you can…”
Story17:00
Writing the book: a marathon, and forgetting his own advice
“I think it was sort of like a marathon in the sense of it's not like pure joy every step of the way but like…”
“we can approach it with sincerity rather than seriousness”
Story21:00
Six chapters in six days at the Wales team retreat
“over the course of like six days I wrote six chapters and it was just like the only thing I had to do that that…”
“it's going to be bad it's going to be wrong but that's fine it's it's just a first draft”
Story44:00
The gravestone answer that turned a doctor into a teacher
“I don't really think of myself as a YouTuber or as a writer or as a whatever entrepreneur I think of myself more as a…”
“I realized I'd rather be a medical educator than a medical practitioner”
Story1:35:00
Turning getting a child dressed into a game
“we do a game where you I kind of like throw each item of clothing at him and then he has to like get it…”
Tool· 1
Tool1:25:30
The Write-Off Principle: choosing the day off instead of drifting
“sometimes Molly would be like Ali why don't you just write uh write the rest of the day off”
“I think rather than I'm just being lazy it's like I'm actively choosing to to write the day off”
Takeaway· 2
Takeaway1:16:30
The most productive workers took 17 minutes of break an hour
“43 minutes of work to 17 minutes of break was the most productive worker”
Takeaway1:39:00
Effusive greetings and the helper's high: micro-moves with huge ROI
“if you just set a rule for yourself that every time you greet someone you're going to do it with warmth and effusiveness”
“one of the things we talk about in chapter 3 which is about people is the helpers high that you get when you feel as…”