Beyond the To-Do List - Productivity for Work and Life

Burnout, energy management, and decision fatigue are at the center of this conversation with Liane Davey, organizational psychologist and the "teamwork doctor."
Liane Davey is a New York Times bestselling author and CEO advisor with 25+ years researching what makes teams work. Her latest book, Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work, argues the number we've been tracking wrong all along isn't workload — it's the mental and emotional weight underneath it. She previously joined the show to talk conflict; this time she's back with the framework underneath the exhaustion itself.
In this conversation, we cover:
The Thought Load Equation: cognitive demands plus emotional burden, divided by your energy reserves — and why managers can see your workload but not this.
AI and the Hidden Cost: why offloading tasks to AI hasn't lightened the load — it's shifted the hard part to judgment and discernment, and added new anxieties of its own.
Output vs. Outcomes: the trap of chasing productivity (did I produce?) instead of effectiveness (did I move the needle?) — and why AI makes this trap worse, not better.
Three To-Do Lists, Not One: Liane's system for separating your quest, helping others, and side quests — and matching each to the right hours of your day.
Emotions Aren't the Problem, the Story Is: the "dragon and treasure" framework for catching an emotional spiral before it becomes a 2 a.m. spiral, plus why rest alone doesn't cure burnout.
This one's for anyone who's done everything the productivity playbook told them to do and still feels like they're drowning. Liane's central point lands right at this show's: winning back your thinking time and energy isn't the finish line — it's what lets you show up for the rest of your life. Get the book and take the free thought load assessment at thoughtload.com.
Related episode: Ep 261 — Conflict: Productive Conflict and How to Make Disagreement Work for You — Liane's first appearance on the show, on fighting well at work.
Connect with Liane Davey:
LinkedIn
Website
Thoughtload Assessment
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Creativity, rest, and mindset are at the center of this conversation with Natalie Nixon, author of The Creativity Leap and Move, Think, Rest.
Natalie Nixon has spent two decades as a creativity strategist advising Fortune 500 companies on innovation strategy — work she calls being a "creative whisperer to the C-Suite." She's the founder of Figure 8 Thinking, and her two books make one connected argument: creativity means toggling between wonder and rigor, and rest isn't procrastination — it's fuel for better thinking.
In this conversation, we cover:
Rest that looks like nothing: Why Natalie assumed her best thinking — staring out the window, taking a slow walk — was procrastination, and what finally convinced her it wasn't.
Wonder and rigor, not "creative types": The real definition of creativity as a toggle everyone already uses, and why "I'm not a creative person" misses the point entirely.
The 90-second daydream break: The neuroscience of the default mode network, and how a short, timed pause can unstick a problem that's had you stuck for hours.
What her father taught her about rest: A weekly Saturday ritual that was equal parts self-care and discipline — and why the work still got done anyway.
Flourishing over productive: Why the right question about AI isn't "how does this make us more productive," but "how does this help us flourish."

If your calendar rewards constant output and treats stillness like a red flag, this one's for you.
Connect with Natalie:
Figure 8 Thinking

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LinkedIn
Threads
Facebook
Bluesky

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Energy management, decision making, and knowing when to walk away are at the center of this conversation with Mark Malkoff, author of Love Johnny Carson.
Mark Malkoff is a comedian, filmmaker, and interviewer who spent eight years and nearly 400 interviews building The Carson Podcast. That work became his first book, Love Johnny Carson, written with biographer David Ritz and a USA Today bestseller. He's back on the show fourteen years after his first appearance — back when he was the guy making viral creative stunt videos.
In this conversation, we cover:
Guarding your energy: Why Carson stayed alone all day and showed up minutes before showtime — treating energy as the one thing worth protecting — and what that means for anyone who has to perform without burning out.
Saying no to protect the work: He turned down film roles and refused to chase trends, because staying number one meant declining almost everything that wasn't the show.
Making other people look good: Carson's rule was that the guest gets the laugh, and the same instinct drove how fiercely he protected and publicly thanked his staff.
The cost nobody edits out: An honest look at the reviews he couldn't let go of, the drinking, and four marriages — and why Mark won't hold Carson up as a life to copy wholesale.
Walking away, and the power of asking: Why Carson left at the top to go actually live, plus Mark's own craft — the long game, the homework, and the curiosity behind nearly 400 impossible interviews.
If you make things — if you write, record, build, or perform — this one's for you. Carson is that rare figure who's both a model and a cautionary tale, and the line Mark keeps returning to is the one worth carrying out the door: follow the curiosity, and don't mistake the work for the point of the work. Grab Love Johnny Carson wherever you buy books, and start on The Carson Podcast for the interviews underneath it.
Connect with Mark:
Website
The Carson Podcast
Connect with Erik:
LinkedIn
Threads
Facebook
Bluesky
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Grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist:
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Time management and time abundance are at the center of this conversation with Laura Vanderkam, bestselling author and time-use researcher.
Laura Vanderkam has spent over a decade studying how people actually spend their time — tracking her own hours for 11 years and collecting data from thousands of others along the way. Her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, makes the case that time isn't the scarce resource we assume it is, and that shifting how you see it changes how you live it.
In this conversation, we cover:
The lottery ticket reframe — why Laura argues we should treat the time we've been given as an unearned windfall to manage, not a resource we're constantly running out of.
The "not actually more overworked" argument — what a century of time-use data really shows, and why the story you tell yourself about having no time matters more than the data itself.
Complexity isn't the enemy, chaos is — Laura's circus metaphor for running a full, complicated life without it feeling like it's running you.
Dream big, plan small — how reading War and Peace one short chapter a day (the same time it takes to brush your teeth) is the model for tackling anything that feels too big to start.
Active patience — Laura opens up about a brutal year of chronic pain and the hardest lesson in the book: sometimes the answer isn't a better system, it's time itself doing its work.
This one's for anyone who's ever ended a Tuesday feeling like the whole evening just disappeared. Grab Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance wherever books are sold, and find more of Laura's work — including her podcast, Before Breakfast — at lauravanderkam.com.
Connect with Erik:
LinkedIn
Threads
Facebook
Bluesky
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I’m excited to revisit this conversation with Charlie Gilkey on his book, Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. Charlie is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a company that helps professional creatives, leaders, and changemakers take meaningful action on work that matters. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on productivity, planning, strategy, and leadership, and is also the author of Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done and The Small Business Life Cycle. Charlie is also an Army veteran and near-PhD in philosophy.
In this conversation, we cover:
The Power of Team Habits: Charlie explains why great teams aren’t built by simply adding talented people, but by developing intentional habits and systems that shape how people work together.
Small Problems, Big Consequences: We discuss how seemingly minor issues inside a team can compound over time, affecting morale, communication, trust, and the overall health of the workplace.
Improving Systems Instead of Blaming People: Charlie shares why leaders should focus on changing broken team dynamics and processes rather than trying to “fix” individual team members.
Better Communication and Collaboration: We explore practical ways teams can improve meetings, expectations, feedback, and everyday interactions to create more productive and enjoyable work environments.
Creating Humane High-Performing Teams: Charlie discusses how teams can balance excellence and accountability with empathy, understanding, and respect for the people doing the work.
Charlie’s insights offer a practical roadmap for anyone looking to create healthier, more effective teams. Whether you lead a team, work within one, or are trying to improve how people collaborate around meaningful work, this conversation is packed with strategies for building better habits that lead to better outcomes. Learn more about Charlie and his work at ProductiveFlourishing.com, and check out Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results wherever books are sold.
Connect with Charlie:
Better Team Habits
Productive Flourishing
Connect with Erik:
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠LinkedIn⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠Threads⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Facebook⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
This Podcast is Powered By:
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⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Descript 101⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Castmagic⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Ecamm⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Podpage⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Rodecaster Pro⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠
Make sure to grab Shortcasts from Beyond The To-Do List by Blinkist. A Shortcast is a 7-10 min version of a podcast where you get the core takeaways.

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