Love Your Work

The most popular question (and answer) from my Quora session was "What tips or hacks have saved you the most time and/or energy in your life?" This answer had more than 24,000 views, and was featured in Inc.com. Inc also has tweeted it a couple of times to their 1.6 million followers. What ended up coming out was a somewhat cohesive philosophy for full output I've devised over the years, and some of the most effective ways of redesigning ones life to fit within that framework. If you're interested in seeing this answer, as well as other answers from my session, go to http://kadavy.net/quora Sponsor: ($50 off Pavlok) http://kadavy.net/pavlok Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-24-save-time-mental-energy-with-mind-management-and-perpetual-productivity/

Jodi Ettenberg used to be a lawyer. She took a year off to travel 8 years ago, and never went back. Her blog, Legal Nomads, won a Lowell Thomas Award for best travel blog and has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC Travel, CNN, and more. Legal Nomads is full of tips on packing, planning, and budgeting for travel, as well as beautiful hand-drawn typographic food maps and t-shirts, and guides and translation cards for eating gluten-free while traveling. Jodi has written a book called The Food Traveler's Handbook, which shows you how to find cheap, safe & delicious food anywhere in the world. This interview is full of wisdom on the benefits and challenges that come with a life of travel. Jodi is really insightful when it comes to recognizing how travel relates to all of human experience. If you're someone who has ever thought about making a big change Jodi did, or if you've ever struggled to be more minimal and have less stuff, you'll find this conversation especially inspiring and enlightening. You may notice that there are a TON of book recommendations in this interview. There are links in the show notes for all of the books Jodi mentions. Remember, if you buy through those links, you'll be supporting the show. Sponsors $50 off Pavlok http://kadavy.net/pavlok Free install of SumoMe http://kadavy.net/sumome Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jodi-ettenberg-2/

The economics favor digital distraction, but we have everything we need to make humanity great. We have the behavioral science knowledge, and with increasingly ubiquitous technology touchpoints such Apple Watch and The Internet of Things at large, we have a growing opportunity to shape behavior with technology. The big question is: will this power be used for "good" or "evil?" Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-21-the-behavioral-revolution-not-the-information-revolution/

Nir Eyal is the author of Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products. So he is really manufacturing the drug. Fortunately, he's also concerned about the implications of digital distraction, so he agreed to have a discussion with me about it on the podcast. In this discussion, we cover our views on the potential effects of distraction. Is it making people less creative? Is it as addictive and harmful as smoking? Do we have the agency to free ourselves from technology? And, of course, is it making us vulnerable to a potential robot apocalypse? Join the discussion in the show notes at http://kadavy.net/podcast Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/is-silicon-valley-leading-us-into-the-robot-apocalypse-love-your-work-episode-21-w-nir-eyal/

Sometimes, the things you feel like you should do create so much cognitive burden you can hardly get anything done. When I feel that way, I know it's time for me to have a "Week of Want." I give myself a whole week where I can work on whatever project I want, without having to think about what goal I'm trying to achieve. This has brought me great results many times, including writing a blog post, which connected me with Timeful, which later sold to Google. I talked about the Week of Want a little in my interview with neuroscientist John Kounios, but in this mini-episode, I explain the technique in-depth. Sponsor: Get 50% off my White Hot Course when you use WHITEHOTLOVE at http://designforhackers.com/whitehotcourse before April 16, 2016. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-20-kill-your-todo-list-sell-your-ideas-to-google/

Andrew's famous "Relax" app has been a key ritual for me for a couple of years now. Andrew has a whole empire of apps with guided recordings that help people not only relax, but Quit Smoking, reduce anxiety, lose weight, or build confidence, amongst many other things. His apps have been downloaded more than 10 million times. I have literally found Andrew's apps to be life-changing for me, but I've also been fascinated by these apps as a business. They seem so simple. But, behind Andrew's apps is more than 20 years as a hypnotherapist, and in this interview I'll be digging into how he got into such an unusual career, what are some misunderstandings about hypnosis, and how did he create his own luck to have the best-selling "self-help" recordings on the Apple and Android app stores. We'll also find out why he lights a candle to do his work. Andrew's Relax app: http://kadavy.net/relax Treehouse Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-19-relax-andrew-johnson-on-building-an-app-empire/

READ ME! Lots of people beat themselves up for not being able to meditate. I think they're too hard on themselves. If you can simply make a habit of meditating 2 minutes a day, you can begin to enjoy meditation to the point where you're ready to do longer sessions. I have little formal meditation training, but this 2-minute meditation is roughly how I do my sessions. Part of it is rooted in what I know of mindfulness meditation, and, from what I've heard of Vipassana meditation, may have some influences from that as well. I started meditating about 10 years ago, off and on, and have "practiced" regularly for about 5 years. Progress has been very slow, but grew more profound as I grew more disciplined about doing it regularly. Meditation has helped me eliminate anxiety, and think more deeply and clearly about whatever I face in work in life. I now relish sessions that are sometimes longer than 90 minutes! There's one BIG limitation about presenting a guided meditation as a podcast: It makes you likely to meditate using a device that is also full of distractions. If you have a device on which to play this file that isn't going to distract you with a notification – either while meditating, or while glancing at the screen afterward – I highly recommend that. It might be an iPod, or I use my iPad, because I don't allow notifications on it. If you don't have anything like this ready to go, don't let that prevent you from trying it out! Try putting your device in airplane mode, instead. This 2-minute format is inspired by my "10-Minute Hack." The idea being that, by setting an absurdly simple goal for yourself, you can "trick" yourself into doing more than you originally set out to do. You can learn more about this trick here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-10-minute-hack/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/2-minute-meditation/

A 10-year-old kadavy.net classic, this "mini-episode" (or is it just an "episode?") distills eight rules of living that make me feel like I really have an edge on the world. The original post is here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/life-hacks/ Below is the content of the post: I've noticed in my short existence that I tend to do many things differently from most people. Some of those things probably work just as well, whereas others make me wonder "why doesn't everyone do this?" Here are eight things that may make you feel like you're cheating the system, too (in no particular order): Walk – No, I'm not saying "go for a walk," I'm saying design your life so that you walk more. Live close enough that you can walk/bike/razor scooter to something that you frequent whether that's work, a grocery store, a friend's house, a bar, or preferably – all of them. Why spend 15 minutes driving to a gym to spend half an hour on a treadmill? If you're fortunate enough to have legs that work – use them. Thomas Jefferson on Walking. Smile – All of the time. Even when the cashier gives you the wrong change. People's intentions are usually good, especially when they're dealing with someone who isn't being a dick. Drink Water – Or I could say "don't drink soda orcoffee." It's a waste of money, health, and teeth. Save your caffeine tolerance for when you really need it. Buy Used – I've already told you about my philosophy as this applies to music. Buying my clothes at a thrift store yields items that are not-so-watered-down versions of what I would get at my other favorite clothing store, and that are a fraction of the price. This strategy transfers well to books and furniture. When you buy used you get the adventure of discovery, and avoid the flat artistic experience that comes with only consuming the contemporary. Underorganize – There are a number things you can apply this to, but I can't give a better example than my "inbox/outbox" method of doing laundry. Should you keep all of your financial documents etc. in a filing cabinet? Probably, but recognize when your organizing reaches the point of diminishing returns. Live Small – What's that, you can't afford a three-bedroom, three bath house with a huge yard and garage in a neighborhood where #1 is possible? Good. Then you won't buy so much crap. You'll save money in the long run, and you'll be happier, too. Remember How Adaptable You Are – How long could you live if you were transported to the middle of a forest? You would probably surprise yourself, so don't be afraid of perceived "big" changes in life. It's a part of human nature to do what is necessary to reach at least previous levels of happiness, but risks succeeded will get you there and then some. Don't Make Lists of Rules – or Follow Them (They All End This Way) – Such things are only made by bloggers hoping to get lots of del.icio.us bookmarks. The world is too complex to be condensed into a list of rules. How do you cheat the system? What are your Eight Life Hacks? Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-17-eight-life-hacks-for-health-wealth-and-happiness/

This is a mini-episode based upon a previous post here on kadavy.net. The original post is over here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/earnit/ Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-15-earn-it/

Paul Bennett (@contextpaul) ran his business while sailing around the world with his whole family. He's CEO and co-founder of Context Travel. Context Travel organizes high-quality tours around the world, given by historians, authors, and PhDs. I took a Context tour myself when I was at The Acropolis in Athens a few months back, and it was orders of magnitude better than any large group tour I've been on. I met Paul through a friend recently, and instantly felt he was exactly the type of person I'd want to have on my podcast, were I to ever have one. In this conversations, you'll find lots of lessons about overcoming your fears, and turning nebulous dreams into actionable steps. Chances are there are some dreams you have that aren't nearly as crazy as sailing around the world while running a business, and you may find some parallels there. We also wax about some of the benefits of travel (corollaries to this can be find in the "mini lives" mini episode that I did awhile back.) Sponsors: http://kadavy.net/wpengine Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-15-sail-around-the-world-while-running-a-business-with-three-kids-w-paul-bennett-of-context-travel/

I'm a pretty dedicated "solopreneur" – an entrepreneur who goes it on their own: no cofounders and no investors. This is a mini-episode in which I introduce the tenets that distill the power of solopreneurship, and which help me remain confident as I move forward as a solopreneur. The content of this episode is also in this blog post: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/the-solopreneurs-manifesto/ Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-14-the-solopreneurs-manifesto/

Maneesh Sethi (@maneesh), is the founder of Pavlok. Pavlok is a wrist band that gives you an electric shock that helps you break bad habits. It's a crazy idea, so it's definitely gotten a lot of attention. Pavlok has been featured on Good Morning America, The Colbert Report, and Jimmy Fallon. In our discussion we talk about how I used Pavlok to break my bad Facebook habit, and I can tell you, it's extremely effective. Maneesh is a great example of someone who has taken what he used to consider his weakness, and turned it into his superpower. He has always struggled with focusing, but he's found ways to cope with that, and harness the creativity that is a product of that lack of focus. You'll find relatable things in this conversation if there's anything you've felt was your weakness. Maneesh has learned to surround himself with people who fill in his gaps, and Pavlok is an obvious product of his struggle with his attention. Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-13-your-weakness-is-your-superpower-w-maneesh-sethi/

Have you ever been really excited about a book you were reading, only to realize – as you tried to describe it to someone – that you had NO IDEA what it was actually about? This happened to me all of the time, until I realized I was reading the wrong way. This is a mini-episode in which I introduce the "layered" reading approach that changed the way I read books. Now I read more books than ever, while retaining more of what I read. This is a reading of my Observer article Reading for Scatterbrained People With Neither Patience Nor Respect for Authority. Article: http://observer.com/2015/04/reading-for-scatterbrained-people-with-neither-patience-nor-respect-for-authority/ Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-12-stop-reading-books-straight-through-start-reading-in-layers/

Nick Gray (@nickgraynews) is the founder of Museum Hack. Museum Hack makes super fun museum tours such as the "Un-Highlights Tour," the "Badass Bitches Tour," and the "Big Gay Met." You've heard in previous episodes such as "Transform Stuff into Things" that I think the world moves forward when someone explores the hidden sources of value that are out there, & gives them form. I've always found Nick to be great at doing just that, not only with Museum Hack, but also with everyday things like sharing an inventive Facebook birthday greeting, or throwing a very rapid but worthwhile cocktail party. We explore this tendency for extracting hidden value in our conversation, in the context of upgrading your social life, using virtual assistants to take care of email while going for a walk, or getting yourself to read more books. This will also be a useful discussion for anyone who has struggled with whether to turn a hobby into a business, or anyone who has felt the discomfort of charging money for something they enjoy doing. Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-11-hack-hidden-value-w-nick-gray-of-museum-hack/

Many people think their productivity struggle is one of managing their time. In reality, it's more a struggle of managing their mind. In this mini-episode, I introduce my framework for Mind Management: using knowledge from behavioral science, psychology, and neuroscience to work with the subtle fluctuations of your mind. Check out the article here: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/mind-management-intro/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-10-stop-managing-your-time-start-managing-your-mind/

Laura Roeder is the founder of Edgar, which is (or maybe I should say "who is") a social media automation tool (no offense, Edgar, but you are a tool). Edgar helps you create a library of social media updates that you can schedule to repeat. Laura has been honored at the White House, and spoke at the White House for being in the Empact 100, which is a list of the top young entrepreneurs in the US. I've personally known Laura for about 8 years now, and I've always admired her decisiveness. I've never seen her really agonize over a big decision. In this interview I try to dig into the source of that decisiveness, and the philosophy that drives it. One note in here is that I ended up abandoning a story about how it is – as Laura puts it – I'm responsible for her meeting her husband and CTO. First of all, she's giving me more credit than I deserve, but secondly, wait until later on in the interview, and we do eventually pick that story back up. So be patient. Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-9-be-decisive-laura-roeder-of-edgar/

Can neuroscience make you creative on command? Dr. John Kounios is the Director of the PhD Program in Applied Cognitive & Brain Sciences at Drexel University. He's also co-author of the book The Eureka Factor: Aha Moments, Creative Insight, and the Brain. Dr. John Kounios, studies the neuroscience of insightful thinking. It turns out that insightful or creative thinking is, in fact, a different type of thinking than analytical thinking, and there are conditions that will encourage insightful thinking. In this lengthy discussion, Dr. Kounios unpacks what is unique about insight, and what conditions will encourage insight. We also share specific techniques that each of us uses to get ourselves into an insightful state, including sleep, nutritional supplements, and sensory deprivation. Sponsors http://kadavy.net/treehouse http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-8-creating-aha-moments-with-neuroscientist-dr-john-kounios/

One of the keys to creating something original and remarkable is being able to see how all of the "stuff" in the world can be created into "things." This is a must-understand for any entrepreneur. Original article: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/stuff-and-things/ Get a 14-day free trial from our sponsor, Treehouse: http://kadavy.net/treehouse Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-7-transform-stuff-into-things/

Adrian Holovaty (@adrianholovaty) has learned the hard way that he wants to retain control of his business. After selling Everyblock, Adrian watched in horror as it was later shut down without warning. Adrian's new business is SoundSlice (incredible interactive music notation, for music teachers and students), and he's resolved to retain control of his business. In this episode, Adrian shares some lessons learned from watching his "'baby' get slaughtered." He shares some useful perspectives for anyone who is on the fence on deciding whether to bootstrap or take funding. Sponsor: http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-6-dont-let-your-baby-get-slaughtered-adrian-holovaty-of-soundslice-django-and-everyblock/

"Traveling" by its traditional definition is like licking a filet mignon. You get a taste, but you don't get the nourishment. This is why I stopped traveling, and started living "Mini Lives." Original article: http://observer.com/2014/02/a-month-at-a-time-why-i-quit-travelling-and-started-living-mini-lives/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-5-stop-traveling-start-living-mini-lives/

After getting fired from her job, Saya Hillman (@sayahillman) made a list of things she wanted to get paid to do. 11 years later, she's made all of those things a reality. She gets paid to play board games, do improv, or scrapbook, for example. Her company, Mac & Cheese Productions runs events that help people face their fears, and connect with others. She shares insights on living a "life of 'yes,'" and finding your superpowers, as well as some productivity tips for running a business while wearing multiple hats. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/podcast Claim your free Audible Audiobook: http://kadavy.net/audible Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/saya-hillman/

Jonathan Wegener (@jwegener) spent 3 months traveling to every subway station in the NYC area, meticulously documenting the fastest way to get out of each station. The app he made with the data supported him for two years, until he built Timehop. Timehop is an app that compiles your memories and sends them back to you, and Jonathan built it in a weekend hackathon with his cofounder. Since then, he's raised over $14 million, and hired a great team. He shares insights on hiring great people, creating remarkable products, and getting press that makes things go viral. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-3-making-something-remarkable-hiring-getting-press-jonathan-wegener-of-timehop/ Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-3-making-something-remarkable-hiring-getting-press-jonathan-wegener-of-timehop/

Are you holding yourself back from starting something because you're afraid you're not going to be good at it? You have to give yourself Permission to Suck. This is something that the best entrepreneurs and creators learn over time. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/love-your-work-episode-2-permission-to-suck/

Jason Fried (@jasonfried) of Basecamp (formerly 37 Signals) shares his wisdom on cutting through the noise to find your own voice. There are some great nuggets in here about design, and how to be a contrarian thinker. This will be a great episode for entrepreneurs, whether they're experienced, or relatively new. Also, this is the FIRST EPISODE of Love Your Work! Please subscribe, and leave us a review to help us get featured in the iTunes "New and Noteworthy" section. Show notes: http://kadavy.net/podcast Show notes: http://kadavy.net/blog/posts/jason-fried-basecamp/ Transcript: [music] David Kadavy 00:11 This is Love Your Work. On this show we meet people who have carved out success by their own definition. I'm David Kadavy, best-selling author and entrepreneur. This is the first episode of the show, so if you're not familiar with me, I wrote a book called Design for Hackers, which is a bestseller. It debuted in the Top 20 on all of Amazon. Before that, I was the lead designer for a couple of startups in Silicon Valley, and I freelanced as well. I blog at kadavy.net. That's K-A-D as in David, A-V as in Victor, Y, and you can tell how many times I've repeated that in my life. You can follow me on Twitter at @kadavy, or you can join 60,000 others and take my free design course at designforhackers.com. One thing that's really important to me is helping people build a business and a lifestyle that suits them. It's something that I've managed to do, and I want more people to experience it, and that's kind of the idea behind the show. With this show, I want to introduce you to people who have created businesses and lifestyles that are all their own. They've achieved success by their own definition and built a life according to their own values. They're not necessarily going to be millionaires, but they will be happy people. As the name of the show would imply, they love their work, and also, I love their work. Now, to help us get the show off to a great start, can I ask you a favor? David Kadavy 01:26 In this first few weeks of the show we have the opportunity to be featured in the iTunes store in their new and noteworthy section, and this show is a bit of an experiment. I'm launching with a few episodes and I'm going to see how it goes, but this first few weeks is absolutely critical. This is the one chance in the lifetime of this show to really bring in more listeners, and more listeners means I can put more of my energy into bringing you great guests with wisdom to share. But in order for that to happen we need reviews on iTunes. Lots of them. They also have to be positive reviews, but that's, of course, up to you and the actual quality the show. So can you please review this show on the iTunes store? If you loved it and want to hear more, please give it five stars. [music] David Kadavy 02:14 I'm very grateful to bring you this first guest. He is one of my biggest heroes, and he's the perfect example of someone who has built a business and a life according to his own values. Jason Fried - yes, the Jason Fried - hardly needs an introduction. He is the CEO of Basecamp and a New York Times best selling author. Jason co-founded Basecamp way back in 1999. It was originally a web design shop, but they built a little project management app called Basecamp, and now that's the focus of the company. In the process of building Basecamp the company also created Ruby on Rails, which is an open-source web framework that powers thousands of sites. And the thing I admire most about Jason is his contrarion thinking. Whatever the prevailing wisdom is, Jason seems to speak up and explain why that wisdom is wrong. He intentionally has setup his company small. His employees can live and work wherever they want, and they get a three day week during the summer months. The company is almost totally bootstrap. I say "almost" because they did take a little bit of investment from the one and only Jeff Bezos of Amazon, primarily just to be able to give him a call once in a while. David Kadavy 03:23 Jason has co-authored three books, one of which is the New York Times best selling Rework, in which he and his co-founder, David Heinemeier Hansson, share their rules for running a simple business. This interview is about one hour long, and there is so much more that I wanted to ask Jason. It could've been several hours easily. We talk about Basecamp in the beginning, which you may already be intimately familiar with, but stick it out and we soon start digging into the source of Jason's famously contrarion thinking. I'm really fascinated by where it comes from, because I'm someone who tends to be a bit contrarion myself, but these thoughts, they usually come after I have this deep internal conflict, and it seems like it just comes so naturally to Jason. So that's something that I try to unpack in the interview, and you're going to find some good tips for listening to that mischievous voice in your head. If you aren't already familiar with Jas