The Productivity Show

Busy or Overcommitted? The Focus Filter Fix

When was the last time you said no to something and felt good about it? For most of us, a packed calendar starts to feel like the price of being responsible. The meetings

The Time Audit: Where Your 40 Hours Actually Go (TPS636)

In this diagnostic episode, we walk through a Time Audit so listeners can see where their 40 hours actually go and create a measurable before and after. We connect the au

From Reactive to Proactive in 10 Minutes a Day

When did you last finish a workday having done what you planned to do, and not just what landed on your desk? Thanh knows the reactive trap well. A few years ago, while A

It’s a Signaling Problem: Garrett Salpeter on Faster Recovery (TPS635)

How did Thanh get his arm from 20 degrees to 90 in a single session, just days after shoulder surgery? His surgeon expected that to take more than a month of physical the

Never Forget Again: 5 Places to Use a Checklist

How many times have you been halfway to the airport when it hits you that you forgot something important? Thanh spent years as a digital nomad, living in places like Bang

Your Q4 Productivity Reset: Plan the Next 12 Weeks Without Burning Out (TPS634)

Q4 is the last clean run at your year, and it’s also the quarter most likely to flatten you. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks walk through a 12-week reset that respects

Q4 Is Shorter Than You Think

How many productive weeks do you really have left this year? Probably fewer than your calendar suggests. After more than a decade of running Asian Efficiency, Thanh has s

How to Buy Back Time: 3 Strategies for Everyday People (TPS633)

How much would you pay to never stand in a grocery line again? It’s a question most of us never think to ask, because we assume outsourcing and executive assistants are o

Grow Where You Work: Designing a Space That Helps You Focus

When did you last look at your desk and ask whether it’s helping you or holding you back? We put a lot of thought into apps and systems. But the space where you spend eig

AI Isn’t Saving You Time Yet: Diagnose the Workflow Blockers First (TPS632)

AI usually fails to save time for one simple reason: the bottleneck is not the model, it is the workflow around it. In this episode, we break down the most common blocker

What a Coffee Shop Walk Taught Me About Focus

How many hours did you work straight through yesterday without once stepping away from your screen? For years, Thanh believed that powering through from morning to evenin

Stop Managing Your Time. Start Managing Your Energy and Attention (TPS631)

In this episode, we break down why clock-based planning often fails and why the real bottlenecks are energy, attention, and cognitive load. We talk about protecting peak

Heck Yeah or No: How to Say No, Even to Your Boss

Did you say yes to something recently and regret it before the calendar invite even arrived? Thanh once turned down an opportunity he was excited about, and it was tied t

The Productivity Rules We Stopped Following (and What We Do Instead) (TPS630)

A lot of popular productivity advice sounds smart until you actually try to live by it. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks share the rules they’ve stopped following, from

Stop Consuming Productivity Tips and Start Using Them

If you’ve ever spent an afternoon reading productivity articles instead of doing actual work, this episode is for you. Thanh breaks down the four signs you’ve fallen into

The Music That Rewires Your Focus w/ Dan Clark from Brain.fm (TPS629)

How would you know if you’d never actually experienced deep focus? Dan Clark, CEO of Brain.fm, says that’s the most common thing people write in to tell him — they though

The Workflow Friction Audit: Find and Remove the Hidden Drains in Your Day (TPS628)

You’re busy all day but still feel like you’re not getting enough done. The culprit isn’t your to-do list — it’s hidden workflow friction. In this episode, Thanh and Broo

Why Your Calendar Breaks by 10 AM (And What to Do Instead)

Rigid time-blocking sounds great in theory, but it falls apart the moment real life shows up. In this episode, Thanh shares five adaptive planning methods that preserve y

The Productivity Content Trap: When Optimizing Becomes Procrastination (TPS627)

You’ve read the books, watched the videos, and tried the apps — but your output hasn’t changed. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks break down why consuming productivity co

The Knowledge Worker’s AI Operating System: From Inbox to Deep Work to Done

Your AI tools keep promising to save you time — so why do you feel more buried than ever? We have a blunt answer: the tools were never the problem. You’ve been bolting AI