The New Way We Work

There’s a reason why so many successful people are intentional about how they start their day. On the final episode of season 2 of Secrets of the Most Productive People, the cohosts talk to Benjamin Spall–coauthor of My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day Inspired–about what successful people have in common when it comes to how they spend their mornings. What is ideal for one person might not work for another, but the one thing that sets many successful people apart is that they use that time to take control of their day, rather than letting the day control them.

Fast Company deputy editor Kate Davis and assistant editor Anisa Purbasari Horton speaks to Intern Queen CEO and founder Lauren Berger about seeing failure as part of the journey to success.

There are many misconceptions about introverts and extroverts--introverts are shy, extroverts are not. The reality is that shyness has nothing to do with introversion or extraversion. Whether you're one or the other depends on how you draw your energy source. Do you recharge by being alone, or would you prefer to be surrounded with people? This week, Kate Davis and Anisa Purbasari Horton spoke to bestselling author and award-winning speaker Susan Cain about how to determine whether you're one or the other, why a lot of people fall somewhere in-between, and why the workplace is often designed in favor of extroverts.

The creative process is long and messy. When you need to come up with a novel solution to a thorny problem is precisely when your brain seems to shut down. As Anisa Purbasari Horton and Kate Davis found out on this week’s episode of Secrets Of The Most Productive People, often our journey to creativity involves a lot of activity that seems “unproductive.” As psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman said, we need to change how we think about productivity when it comes to creativity—and embrace the non-linear path that comes with it.

We spend most of our lives “in our heads,” processing the world and other people though our own beliefs and biases. Yet, most of us understand very little about how our brains really work, and what they are actually capable of. On this week’s episode of Secrets of the Most Productive People, We spoke to Tara Swart to understand exactly what our brains are capable of and how to build new neuro-pathways in our brain.

Chronic stress and burnout are common occurrences in today’s workplace. About one in five “highly-engaged” U.S. workers reported experiencing some sort of burnout, according to a 2018 study conducted at the Yale Center of Emotional Intelligence. This week, we spoke to former lawyer turned burnout and resilience expert Paula Davis-Laack about why our work and achievement-centric culture might be to blame, what signs we should look out for, and how we can prevent it from taking over our lives.

In today's modern environment, it's impractical to live a completely digital-free life. But as Newport points out, you can keep your smartphone and stay sane at the same time. The key is to practice digital minimalism, and spend your online time "on a small number of carefully selected activities that strongly support things you value, and then happily miss out on everything else."

When it comes to one of productivity's most basic elements, the to-do list, everyone has their own approach. So in this episode of "Secrets of the Most Productive People" we talked to the creator of the popular bullet journal about how to figure out what system works for you.

Shorter workweeks can improve productivity and boost morale. But while a 3-day weekend sounds great, American work culture and expectations aren't there yet. We talk to CEO and founder of FlexJobs, Sara Sutton, about the pros and cons of a 4 day workweek.

So many of us (close to half of all Americans) make New Year's resolutions. The bad news is that just 8% of us will actually keep them all year.

New Episodes of Secrets of the Most Productive People start January 2nd with "How Can You Keep Your New Year's Resolutions?" Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.

Are morning people more productive than night owls? Do successful people have to give up work-life balance? Psychologist Scott Barry Kaufman and time management expert Laura Vanderkam busted some of the biggest productivity myths at the Fast Company Innovation Festival.

In our always-connected universe, achieving work-life balance can seem impossible. In this final episode of season one, Tiffany Dufu insists that to feel at peace, we need to learn to let go of our high expectations, and forgive ourselves from falling short from time to time.

When it comes to making or breaking habits–there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Learn what some habit-building strategies might be, along with why certain personality types don’t do well with accountability partners.

Telling someone you're "busy" is a surefire way to shut down the conversation. This is how you can change the way you look at your time and your life.

Researchers have long debated whether or not our willpower and decision-making capacity is finite. One thing is clear, though–not all decisions are created equal–and some will require more brain juice than others. Decision-making expert Sheena Iyengar joins Kate and Anisa to tell us about how we can train ourselves and structure our lives to to make better decisions.

Some of us are not just that productive in the morning and forcing us to concentrate at a 9 a.m. meeting is a recipe for a wasted day. Fortunately, there are ways to get around this dilemma if you don't have complete control of your schedule.

You probably spend many of your working hours multitasking--whether you realize it or not. Does working with multiple tabs open (guilty) or eating your lunch in front of your screen (guilty again!) really cause your productivity to suffer?

Taking a vacation is not a given in our work culture and if you do, it's likely that you'll check a few work emails here and there. But not taking the time to disconnect can actually make you less productive.

There are two types of people in the world: those who have hundreds or even thousands of unread emails, and those who break out in hives just thinking about that first group.

In this episode, senior editor Kate Davis and editorial assistant Anisa Purbasari Horton talk about their struggles with working in an open-office, and the workarounds that work for them.

In this first episode of Secrets of the Most Productive People, senior editor Kate Davis and Editorial Assistant Anisa Purbasari Horton dive into what's ruining their sleep (anxious mind and toddler, respectively) and then are joined by expert Gary Zammit, Executive Director of the Sleep Disorders Institute who offers some solutions.

Join Fast Company editors Kate Davis and Anisa Purbasari-Horton as they try to figure out how to get it all done. In this bi-weekly podcast they’ll sort out fact from fiction on things like multi-tasking, sleep, and email and get expert advice on how to work smarter instead of harder.