The Great Work Podcast
37 episodes
Read yourself to a better working life
The vacation test: a sign that something needs to change
Tough Work + Parenting ... How?!
How do people do tough, meaningful work—and even thrive doing it—alongside caring for being a parent or caring for family members? I've unearthed a few strategies!WHAT'S YOUR ADVICE ABOUT THIS?I need your input on this one—as do other Great Work listeners. Join the Great Work chat (https://open.substack.com/chat/posts/dd23f6ab-5185-4da6-921f-d5b616b9d2d3), comment on the written version (https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/caring-responsibilities), or email me at [email protected] YOU GETTING THE EMAILS?Great Work's an email as well as a podcast, with podcast embedded in the emails, so you can choose to read or listen. Sign up (free, easy to unsubscribe) here: https://www.adamsandell.com/newsletter.FEEDBACKIf you’re willing—you can answer just two questions and it helps me improve this! https://www.adamsandell.com/surveySTUFF REFERRED TO IN THIS EPISODE• New research on sex differences in occupational distress: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2840686• Exhaustion: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/tired-exhausted-burned-out• Imposter syndrome: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/remember-everyone-else-is-an-imposter• Worrying you've screwed something up: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/remember-everyone-else-is-an-imposter• Middle school teacher article/podcast: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/work-life-lessons-from-a-teacherIN CASE YOU MISSED ITSwanning through the tough week: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/tough-week This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Three ways overwork warps your perspective
Are you fine? Is your job fine? Or are you too tired to tell? Three ways exhaustion warps your perspective—and how to fix it.Stuff referred to in this episode:* The importance of rest: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/prioritize-rest* It's often the reaction, not the stuff: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/its-the-reaction-not-the-stuff-f74* Imposter syndrome: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/imposter* When to leaver a job: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/leaving-job* Tired, exhausted, or burned out? https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/tired-exhausted-burned-outAre you getting the emails? Great Work's an email as well as a podcast, with podcast embedded in the emails, so you can choose to read or listen. Sign up (free, easy to unsubscribe) here: https://www.adamsandell.com/newsletter.Feedback If you’re willing—you can answer just two questions and it helps me improve this! https://www.adamsandell.com/survey This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
The Kind–Businesslike Matrix, or: Why So Many Teams of Good People Struggle
Happy, high-functioning teams need to be both kind and businesslike—yet few are. What this means and how to get there.Are you getting the emails?The podcast’s embedded in the emails, which you can read, if you prefer. Sign up (free, easy to unsubscribe) here: https://www.adamsandell.com/newsletter.FeedbackIf you’re willing—you can answer just two questions and it helps me improve this! https://www.adamsandell.com/surveyStuff referred to in this episodeAlmost nothing is a crisis: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/almost-nothing-is-a-crisis-94dThe “once this difficult period is over”/“now’s not the time” fallacy: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/nows-not-the-time-fallacyConsider your options: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/leaving-jobSMART criteria: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SMART_criteriaHave effective meetings: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/good-meetings-existHave difficult conversations: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/difficult-conversationsConnect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adamsandell This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Ep 31You’ll be happier, and achieve more, if you’re kinder to yourself
How you really can be happier, and achieve more, if you’re kinder to yourselfIf you haven’t already done so, please consider signing up for the email version of this, which has the podcast embedded in it: https://www.adamsandell.com/newsletterAll the links and references are in the email version of this episode. That’s available here: https://letter.adamsandell.com/go-easierWould you do me a one-minute favor and help me involve these podcasts by answering two questions—what you like about Great Work, and how it could be better? https://forms.gle/dK2xsEMY9fgGf12B7Oliver Burkeman’s email, The Imperfectionist: https://www.oliverburkeman.com/the-imperfectionistBook recommendations:Alex Soojung-Kim Pang. Rest: Why You Get More Done When You Work Less (Basic Books, 2016).Joseph Jebelli. The Brain at Rest: How the Art and Science of Doing Nothing Can Improve Your Life (Random House, 2025).Other stuff:PAMELA talk sign-up: https://forms.gle/zVx66EUqLDAsUtrV8 (Friday 16 January 2026, 1pm UK time)Interested in me speaking at your event/to your team? https://www.adamsandell.com/speaking This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
The Startling Benefits of Taking Some #&@?*%! Responsibility
The Startling Benefits of Taking Some #&@*?%! ResponsibilityOr: Things Go Dramatically Better When You Tend to ThemThe second Great Work principle.Links:Work should be one of the great things in your life: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/core-ideas-1Growth mindset: https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/basics/growth-mindsetOften, it's the reaction, not the stuff: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/its-the-reaction-not-the-stuff-f74Saying no: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/saying-noKnown what you want to do, and what you really don't: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/know-what-you-want-to-doLeaving a job: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/leaving-jobDifficult conversations: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/difficult-conversationsBeing kind and businesslike: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/be-kind-be-businesslikeBeing kind and businesslike (video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSGx_g47nS4&t=911sIt's not a crisis: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/almost-nothing-is-a-crisis-94dLooking after yourself: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/tough-week This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Seven Core Ideas for Great Working Lives (and here's the first one)
Seven core ideas form the foundation of Great Work, and this episode considers the first of those, that work’s a huge part of life, and it should therefore be a part of what makes your life fulfilling and fun. For references and links, see the email version at letter.adamsandell.com/core-ideas-1. If you haven't already signed up for the email newsletter (which contains the podcast version too), you can do so at www.adamsandell.com/newsletter. Thanks so much for listening. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
When to leave a job because it's wrong for you
When to leave a job because it's wrong with you, why you should think twice about that, and why it's right for some people to reinvent themselves every few years.Links from this episode:• Surviving winter working life• The eleven lives comic• It's the reaction, not the stuff• Know thy working self• Catcher in the Rye syndrome• The importance of working relationships• Getting through the tough weekThanks so much for listening. If you'd like to sign up for the email version, or want to share the podcast or emails with anyone, here's the link: www.adamsandell.com/newsletter.Do use LinkedIn? I’d love to connect there. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Surviving Winter Working Life
Surviving Winter Working Life—and how to get through the cold, dark, wet months for those who, like me, become a grumpy git when the clocks go back.Also: a reader comment on my last article • a podcast on AI and work • and an update about my own work and the Great Work book I’m writing.Books I refer to in this episode: Kari Leibowitz, How to Winter: Harness Your Mindset to Thrive on Cold, Dark, or Difficult Days*. New York: Penguin, 2024. David Robson, The Expectation Effect: How Your Mindset Can Change Your World*. New York: Henry Hold, 2022.MY ROBOT BOSS podcast:* Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/my-robot-boss/id1831832043* Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/74csYO02Y6HcIn1tITZwmh?si=3e1b15568d3c4bbb* Devon Forster McConnell (LinkedIn): https://www.linkedin.com/in/devonmcconnell/Links:* Light therapy (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light_therapy* Light therapy/seasonal major depressive disorder (research): https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165032724000399* Light therapy/milder symptoms (research): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/12167524/* Kari Leibowitz’s research: https://internationaljournalofwellbeing.org/index.php/ijow/article/view/935/977* Hygge (Wikipedia): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hygge* Previous episode—“It’s the reaction, not the stuff”: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/its-the-reaction-not-the-stuff-f74* Reader comment on time-boxing: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/time-boxing* Comment on time-boxing piece: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/time-boxing/comment/160768193* Evidence on harms of task-switching: Robert D. Rogers and Stephen Monsell, “Costs of a Predictible [sic] Switch between Simple Cognitive Tasks,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: General 124, no. 2 (1995): 207–31, https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-3445.124.2.207; Renata F. I. Meuter and Alan Allport, “Bilingual Language Switching in Naming: Asymmetrical Costs of Language Selection,” Journal of Memory and Language 40, no. 1 (January 1, 1999): 25–40, https://doi.org/10.1006/jmla.1998.2602; Joshua S. Rubinstein, David E. Meyer, and Jeffrey E. Evans, “Executive Control of Cognitive Processes in Task Switching,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Human Perception and Performance 27, no. 4 (2001): 763–97, https://doi.org/10.1037/0096-1523.27.4.763; Ulrich Mayr and Reinhold Kliegl, “Task-Set Switching and Long-Term Memory Retrieval,” Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition 26, no. 5 (2000): 1124–40, https://doi.org/10.1037/0278-7393.26.5.1124.* Multi-tasking and gender (research): https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0220150* I need a break: https://letter.adamsandell.com/p/tired-exhausted-burned-out This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Overwhelmed by All You Need to Get Done?
Time-boxing—perhaps the most effective way of getting more done while looking after yourself and being realistic about how much you truly can get done.And a book review: Mark Zao-Sanders's new book Timeboxing: The Power of Doing One Thing at a Time.Links:* Parkinson's law* The necessity of rest for being more productive* Budget and schedule your Internet time* Pomodoro techniqueI've started making short videos about Great Work topics. If you're interested, follow me on any of these:* TikTok* Instagram* LinkedIn* YouTube ShortsShare Great Work, or sign up for the email version of this (which comes with the podcast embedded), here: www.adamsandell.com/newsletter.Thank you to Bren Russell for editing the podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Lessons about Work from Middle-School Teacher
More ideas about how to manage a tough working life, this time from middle school teacher and Great Work reader Sarah Wendel. Imposter symptoms, boundaries, and difficult conversations. And for the first time it's professionally edited, with music, and Sarah's voice, and everything!Links from the podcast:* Imposter symptoms and CBT* Imposter symptoms: not just in your head* The importance of working relationships* Having difficult conversationsShare Great Work with this link: www.adamsandell.com/newsletter.Thanks to Sarah Wendel for the great conversation, and to Bren Russell for editing the podcast. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Tired, exhausted, burned out—which are you?
Tired, exhausted, or burned out? Which are you? And how to avoid all three. There are multiple links in this episode: to see them, click here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Taking Work Relationships Seriously (snack-sized)
Taking Work Relationships SeriouslyGood relationships with everyone you deal with at work are central to your well-being and ability to get things done. There’s almost always an approach that addresses whatever’s mattering to you while strengthening relationships. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
You Need Two Things to Say "No" Well
Why saying "no" is often the most responsible thing to do—and how to do it confidently and well. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
What makes work good? Not what you might think
The six factors that make the biggest difference to how good your job is. And they're not high pay or low pressure. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Worried you're not so sharp any more?
Worried you're not mentally quite as sharp as you used to be? You're probably functioning at a higher level than you were back then. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
The Imposter Phenomenon: Not Just In Your Head
A new perspective on the imposter phenomenon—and an answer from feminism, cognitive psychology, and David Hume. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
One Little Thing to Make Your Next Week Better
One small thing you can do to make your next week better, more productive, and more enjoyable. Also: a TV show recommendation. And: introducing the Great Work chat on Substack. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Five Minutes to Revitalize Your Team
How's everyone doing? A five-minute habit to revitalise your team. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Great Work / Introverts and Extroverts at Work
On being an introvert or an extrovert at work, and switching off email notifications. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Remember, everyone else is an imposter, too
On the imposter phenomenon, and how not to care. (Originally a written article — catching up with audio versions.) This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Great Work / Are you the person no one wants to give feedback to?
Do you make it easy for people to give you feedback? If you don't, you're missing out on a precious gift for improving your working life from the people who are probably best placed to help with that. In this episode I consider how we unintentionally signal we don't want feedback — and how to change that. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Swanning through the tough week
Strategies for getting through a tough week at work This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Great Work / Worrying you've screwed something up
Worrying you've screwed something up — and what to do about it. Also: work less hard and get more done (a summary of a previous podcast); Work B******t Corner; and a book recommendation. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
🦫 The mistake of many a struggling team
The mistake of many a struggling team — if it's not the right time to make changes to how you work, the right time may never come. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Budget and schedule your internet time
On spending as much time on the internet as you want—and not more. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Know what you want to do ...
How not to be diverted from spending your working life doing what you really want to be doing. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Have difficult conversations
Difficult conversations: we all avoid them, but that usually makes things worse. There are some simple rules for making them successful: and here they are. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Beware Catcher in the Rye syndrome
You can't be everything to everyone and you'll do better if you stop trying. From The Great Work Podcast, about serenity and success doing work that matters. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
It's the reaction, not the stuff
It's the reaction, not the stuff: a perspective change that transforms your life. From The Great Work Podcast, about serenity and success doing work that matters to you and to the world. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
We can all be a bit crap at management
Why we can all be a bit crap at management, and all organizations can be, too. Accept this and your working life will be better, and you'll become a better manager, too. From the Great Work Podcast, about serenity and success for people doing work that matters. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Almost nothing is a crisis
Almost nothing is a crisis (even if it sometimes feels that way). This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Get more done, and do better work, by working less hard.
Get more done, and do better work, by working less hard. This week's podcast tells you how—and why. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Know thy working self
Why understanding what makes you tick and what presses your buttons makes work and life so much easier. Looking for the written version? Click here. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Know thy working self
Know thy working self: why understanding what makes you tick makes work, and life, so much easier This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com
Work that matters
The first episode of the podcast of the weekly email! This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit letter.adamsandell.com