Takeaway: To gain greater enjoyment from your experiences, try practicing anticipation and reminiscence. Both are forms of savoring—ways to convert positive experiences into positive emotions. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute, 2s. In my most recent book, I write about the science of savoring—the process of converting positive experiences into positive emotions. The more we savor an experience, the more enjoyment we derive from it. There are countless ways to savor something—including by luxuriating in it, marveling at it, and feeling grateful for it. But we can also savor an experience befor ..read more

Takeaway: The digital world adds value in three ways: by saving us time, by adding features to our lives, and by connecting us with others. Estimated Reading Time: 1 minute, 50s. My latest experiment to switch from a smartphone to a flip phone for a month has made me think a lot about the time I spend in the digital world. In my newest book, I break down the vastly different ways in which analog and digital worlds affect our productivity and state of mind. While the digital world is full of distraction, it’s also full of utility. To make the most of it, I have a simple heuristic that I’ve in ..read more

On this episode, we chat about how to get into a state of flow, where we’re totally immersed in what we’re doing. Topics covered include: What a “flow state” is; The characteristics of a flow state; Shortcuts to help us get into a state of flow; How flow helps us perform better with creative tasks; When a flow state isn’t helpful; The “flow channel”; Why we shouldn’t always evaluate how we’re doing as we work; The steps for focusing on something, and how these can help us enter a flow state. Links mentioned in this episode: Book: Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience Book: How to Calm ..read more

Takeaway: The nicer the smartphone, the more time I want to spend on it—and this isn’t something I want. Any device we consider “great” should make us feel better, not worse, about the time we spend on it. Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 45s. When I started my most recent experiment to use only a flip phone for a month, my wife almost immediately said something I didn’t expect: “I don’t think you dislike smartphones, I just think you don’t like your newest iPhone.” (She echoed this same sentiment on our podcast the other week.) As usual, she’s right. I can’t stand my newest phone, Apple’s ..read more

On this episode, we chat about Chris’s latest experiment, to switch to a flip phone from a smartphone for a period of a month (to start). Topics covered include: How great the flip phone era was; How Ardyn feels about this experiment; The 6 reasons Chris is giving up his smartphone; The downsides to large screen phones; Whether smartphones are a net good in our lives; How personal the technology in our life has become; The “jobs” we “hire” our devices to do for us. Links mentioned in this episode: Article: Here’s why I’m trading in my smartphone for a flip phone this month Article: Clay Ch ..read more

Takeaway: A calm state of mind makes you more focused, engaged, and deliberate. Here’s why. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 10s. In my most recent book, I contend that the calmer our mind, the more productive we become. Let me explain. When it comes to knowledge work—tasks we do with our minds and not with our hands—speed and efficiency matter. So does working hard. As lazy as I am, I still think we need to hunker down to make the largest possible contribution. But what increasingly matters more than how fast or how hard we work is how deliberately we work. The more complex our work, the m ..read more

Takeaway: My latest experiment for the month: trading out my brand new iPhone for a flip phone. Follow along here (and join me, if you want!). Estimated Reading Time: 2 minutes, 46s.   Today I stowed away my shiny new iPhone 14 Pro and transferred its SIM card into a flip feature phone. I’ve grown a bit tired of the smartphone as both a product category and as a general concept. The reason is manyfold: When I look back, most of what I do on my smartphone doesn’t matter. In particular, the device doesn’t bring much productivity or meaning to my life—two important currencies to me. I ..read more

On this episode, we welcome Laura Vanderkam back on the podcast to chat about her new book, Tranquility by Tuesday. Topics covered include: The three categories to use to plan your days and your life; Why we should plan our weeks on Friday afternoon; Laura’s daily planner of choice; How doing something three times a week makes it a habit; How carving out more white space can make us more productive; How to get more out of our leisure time; How to introduce more novelty into our days to slow down the passage of time. Links mentioned in this episode: Book: Tranquility by Tuesday The planner ..read more

Takeaway: There are two kinds of productivity advice: advice that helps you work smarter, and that which helps build your capacity for getting things done in the first place. Both are critical. Estimated Reading Time: 3 minutes, 13s. In exploring the research about calm and productivity while writing How to Calm Your Mind, I realized there are two kinds of productivity advice. To start, there’s the traditional productivity advice that focuses on how we can get more done every day. This guidance is critical (and sexy!) so it’s no wonder so many articles and books focus on the topic. But there ..read more

On this episode, we chat about how we like to go “novelty hunting,” especially in the digital world. Topics covered include: What “novelty hunting” is; The connection between novelty and dopamine; The three dopamine factors; The “novelty bias”; How novelty hunting is more stressful than we give it credit for; Superstimuli; How novelty changes our perception of time; Awareness of our novelty hunting; How novelty hunting used to look a lot different before the internet; What to do about it! Links mentioned in this episode: Book: How to Calm Your Mind You can listen (and subscribe) to the po ..read more