Optimal Work Daily - Career, Productivity and Entrepreneurship

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Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com

Episode 2221:

Cal Newport explains why the popular advice to follow your passion is too simplistic, drawing on Roadtrip Nation interviews with Ira Glass, astrobiologist Andrew Steele, and surfboard shaper Al Merrick. None of them planned their path, and each built skills through years of hard work before finding a niche. The career lesson is to get good first, because passion tends to bloom surprisingly late in the process.

Read along with the original article(s) here: https://calnewport.com/the-pre-med-and-ira-glass-complicated-career-advice-from-compelling-people/

Quotes to ponder:

"The key thing is to force yourself through the work, force the skills to come. That's the hardest phase."
"Amidst this nuance, however, one conclusion is stark: the canonical advice to follow your passion is way too simplistic."
"It is here, it seems, surprisingly late in the process, that passion reaches full bloom."

Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free.

Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home.

Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com

Episode 2220:

Rose Lounsbury explains how to stop treating the email inbox as a to-do list and process it to zero every day. Her system rests on two rules, no cherry picking and the two-minute rule, plus three folders: Action, Awaiting Response, and File. Processing email this way cuts digital clutter and frees up mental energy for more productive work.

Read along with the original article(s) here: https://roselounsbury.com/how-to-proces-email-like-a-ninja/

Quotes to ponder:

"The best way to process email is to start at the top and work your way down, one email at a time."

"This rule states that if a task will take less than 2 minutes, do it now."

"The key to making this system work is processing your inbox to zero, and then checking ACTION and AWAITING RESPONSE."

Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free.

Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home.

Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com

Episode 2219:

Tynan shares what happened when he spent two full days avoiding the most important work on his plate. He traces the stall to a daunting task and a growing fear that his hard-won discipline had slipped, a fear that only deepened the procrastination. The fix was asking himself why he was stuck and what the solution was, then simply starting, which restored his productivity within hours.

Read along with the original article(s) here: https://tynan.com/nowork/

Quotes to ponder:

"So often we search externally for solutions to our problems when the greatest authority on the subject is ourselves."

"We know logically that something won't be so bad, and might even be good, but we work ourselves up and attach all sorts of undeserved meaning to it."

"This simple process of asking yourself why you aren't doing what you want to be doing, and then asking yourself what the solution is, is remarkably effective."

Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free.

Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home.

Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com

Episode 2218:

Nicki Dee explains how a friend's offhand warning about workaholism made her rethink an identity built almost entirely around work. As she starts her first job, she lays out four commitments for a fuller life: knowing her limits, making healthy decisions, fostering the relationships that matter, and remembering that who she is counts for more than what she does. Her conclusion is that work-life balance means making time to play as well as to work.

Read along with the original article(s) here: https://tinybuddha.com/blog/we-are-more-than-what-we-do/

Quotes to ponder:

"When people strive for success in what they do and do not strive for balance, workaholics are created."

"I now know that I don't want to be a shell of a person."

"I now know that I need to make time to not only work, but to play as well."

Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get the 200+ Page Optimal Living Daily Workbook (PDF) - Free.

Want to turn today's episode into an actionable plan? Join the Optimal Living Weekly newsletter and I'll send you our 200-page digital workbook immediately. It's packed with the best takeaways from the show, formatted for easy reading and implementation at home.

Get your free PDF workbook here: https://oldpodcast.eo.page/join

Discover all of the podcasts in our network, search for specific episodes, get the Optimal Living Daily workbook, and learn more at: OLDPodcast.com

Episode 2217:

Carl Pullein shares the practices he uses to stay productive when travel, business trips, or holidays throw him out of his regular routine. He schedules his most important work on his calendar, protects one or two blocks of focused work each day, and parks everything else in his to-do list until he returns. Ending each trip with a free day and a full weekly review puts his time management back in control.

Read along with the original article(s) here: https://www.carlpullein.com/blog/how-to-stay-productive-when-you-get-thrown-out-of-your-routine/24/4/2019

Quotes to ponder:

"These are my core pieces of content I produce each week and they are important to me. Because they are important they get scheduled. No excuses."

"But none of that will happen by accident. I have to schedule deliberate time to get it done."

"An hour or two, scheduled, each day for focused work will give you the time you need to stay up to date."

Optimal Work Daily is a daily career advice podcast where we narrate the best articles on productivity, entrepreneurship, and work-life balance, read to you by a professional narrator so you can grow your career a little more every day.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices