Priority
65 episodes - English - Latest episode: almost 8 years ago - ★★★★★ - 2 ratingsA weekly conversation about the modern world of work and life, hosted by Caitie Leibman and her brother Max Leibman. Deal with limitation, make better choices, and get cool stuff done. Or at least have fun listening.
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Episodes
15: Emergency Novel
May 15, 2015 13:00 - 56 minutes - 51.8 MBAfter a week off from Priority’s usual topics, Caitie and Max return, ready to cover new ground. Naturally, they revisit a previous topic instead: audience. Caitie recounts how Marco Arment’s article “Apple Has Lost the Functional High Ground” unexpectedly garnered massive media coverage (and controversy). We all want our work and our words to reflect on our best intentions. That’s why we polish them, and risk public scrutiny. But what happens when our work reaches an audience we weren't thin...
14: But Females Are Strong as Hell
May 08, 2015 13:00 - 1 hourAfter twelve more or less serious episodes, Caitie and Max take a break to talk about the Netflix Original Series, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt. Having surviving fifteen years of captivity in the underground bunker of a crazy preacher, Kimmy Schmidt moves to New York to make a fresh start. All she wants to do is to to pass as a normal person, but her experiences—and the fact that she’s basically a time-capsule of 1990s culture—get in her way at every turn. But as the Priority team breaks down th...
13: Half of Eight Jobs
May 01, 2015 16:00 - 46 minutes - 42.6 MBAre you still doing exactly—and only—what you were hired to do? Caitie and Max doubt that you are. This week, they explore job creep (the concept of gradually expanding job duties, not the mustachioed weirdo at the job fair). Max opens with a definition of terms, including the related concepts of scope creep and mission creep. Caitie approaches the topic with a degree of balance: young professionals don’t want to be pigeonholed, after all. But who wants to volunteer a good idea in a meeting...
12: Maybe I'm Not a Horrible Person
April 24, 2015 16:00 - 1 hour - 55.6 MBYou want to know what this week’s episode about? Well, thanks for asking! From social science studies to New Thought garbage like The Magic, plenty of sources suggest gratitude makes a difference in our lives. The Priority team appreciates the importance of this topic and gives it most of the seriousness it deserves. Caitie is concerned about the importance of sincerity and the practical outcomes of praise and appreciation. Meanwhile, Max is cranky about how poorly we respond to each other’...
11: I am a Time Traveler
April 17, 2015 16:00 - 53 minutes - 48.6 MBCaitie and Max go on a time-hopping adventure back to a 1980 boardroom and ahead to a birthday party in 2053. Along the way, they ask all of the important questions—except, perhaps, “Why don’t they time travel to more interesting times and places?” How do you imagine your future? Is it worth thinking more than a few moves ahead? Is it even possible? Inspired by the work of organizational theorist Karl E. Weick, Caitie posits that the best way to think about the future may be, ironically, retr...
10: Still No Real Beths
April 10, 2015 16:00 - 1 hour - 61.4 MBInspired by “Titles are Toxic” by Michael Lopp, aka Rands, the Priority team explores myriad ways that job titles are misleading, exploitive, and—yes—toxic. Caitie shares her frustration with labels that fail to reflect all of the professional hats we wear. Max laments the fake growth suggested by arbitrary job titles, as he progresses from Title Complainer I to Title Complainer II. But don’t throw out the Assistant Baby with the Senior Bathwater Administrator. Our roles can inspire us, and s...
9: A Duck in the Face
April 03, 2015 16:00 - 57 minutes - 53 MBThe Priority team talks mantras, models, and motivation! Caitie shares some phrases she uses to gain perspective and clarity about her role. Meanwhile, Max prefers the term “theme” over “mantra.” Then again, he also confuses Mary Engelbreit and Madeleine L’Engle, so maybe he’s not the best authority. What is your mantra? Whether it’s “What would Jesus do?” or “What’s the Next Action?” the words we choose to focus our attention on matter. As usual, there isn’t a single answer for everyone. Wor...
8: My Flow Is Over Here
March 27, 2015 16:00 - 54 minutes - 50 MBYou’ve been surprised with twenty free minutes. Do you have something you can do? Or do you need time to warm up and get into the “flow?” Does a single meeting ruin a whole day for you? (It does for Max, but that could just be his pathological introversion.) Inspired by Paul Graham’s essay “Maker’s Schedule, Manager’s Schedule” and Joan Bolker’s Writing Your Dissertation in 15 Minutes a Day, Caitie and Max consider how long it takes to get real work done. Even if you’re an engineer or a creat...
7: I Kool-Aid-Manned My Way In
March 20, 2015 16:00 - 52 minutes - 48.3 MBThis week, Caitie and Max discuss how your audience informs—or should inform—your work. Won’t you join us in a game of Priority Podcast Bingo? The team talks about writing (again), Max references David Allen’s Getting Things Done (again), and Caitie groans as he claims yet another specious job title. If you enjoyed Episode No. 4’s discussion if Inbox Zero, you’re in luck, as Max spends way too much time discussing email etiquette. But, fear not. All of this propels a lively conversation about...
6: Thanks, Al Gore!
March 13, 2015 16:00 - 43 minutes - 39.8 MBCaitie and Max continue to explore preparation and practice while discussing “Presenting Without a Net” by Rachel Toor. (If you asked, “Why would I need a net to present in the first place?” you have already made a better joke than Max did.) Caitie feels under the weather, so the Priority team keeps it short and sweet. Fewer things are misattributed to Abraham Lincoln, but Max makes up for it by continuously forgetting Rachel Toor’s name. Nameless or not, her work inspires a lively discussion...
5: Schrödinger's Listicle
March 06, 2015 17:00 - 1 hour - 74.1 MBHow do you get to Carnegie Hall? As Abraham Lincoln put it, "Practice, practice, practice." Well, maybe it wasn't Lincoln, but you wouldn't know that listening to Caitie and Max. In the funniest episode since last week, the Priority team talks preparation and practice, in domains as diverse as writing, camping, public speaking, and . . . sportsball? The best athletes in the world spend more time training than playing, and the worst speakers surely spend too little. How much is enough? How muc...
4: Jelly Bean Zero
February 27, 2015 17:00 - 1 hour - 55.1 MBCaitie and Max talk Inbox Zero—and explore whether it is method, myth, or just something to yell when the inbox is empty at 4:59 PM. They take us back to first principles: Merlin Mann’s original "Inbox Zero" articles and talks. Along the way, they raise questions about social media, relationships, agency and attention. Can email be important enough to keep unread for months, but not important enough to make a decision about what it means? Is Facebook a choice? Does anybody really know what L...
3: Screwing Up Is Part of the Program
February 20, 2015 19:08 - 46 minutes - 42.5 MBMax (not an educator) almost starts a humanities-versus-science fight, but manages to swerve just in time. He asserts that learning is done best in pursuit of passions and within the context of projects, and Caitie (who is an educator) agrees. They discuss how education is highly personal and—again—requires a lot of verbs.
2: [verb] the One You're With
February 13, 2015 18:42 - 1 hour - 65.4 MBCaitie and Max set out this week to discuss Sheena Iyengar's The Art of Choosing, but the conversation goes off the rails as Max brings up no fewer than six other books. If they can't be on-topic, they are at least timely: a day ahead of Valentine's Day, the conversation turns to romantic relationships. Before the proceedings become bogged down in mushiness, Caitie shares her experience helping students decide what to do next in their career or education. These big decisions seem even bigger ...
1: A Montage of Montages
February 06, 2015 03:17 - 1 hour - 81.7 MBHow do you launch a podcast that's theoretically about productivity? Caitie and Max didn't know either. So, in honor of the major(?) holiday earlier this week, they spent Episode 1 discussing the movie Groundhog Day.