The Essentials: Being Productive

Alice Boyes, a writer and former clinical psychologist, shares the principles and practices that keep her creative and productive, but not busy. She gives Emily and a social worker guidance on where to focus their energy, as well as paring down their (and your) to-dos to what’s feasible? and actually worth doing.

Why is it that we often wake up with big plans — and seemingly enough energy to complete the tasks on our to-do list — and go to bed lamenting all the unfinished work?

A social worker joins Emily to pose questions about productivity to Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist. Alice shares the planning, creativity, and decision making that her success and satisfaction hinges on — and how she manages to ignore everything else. She highlights mental mistakes that prevent people from accomplishing their most meaningful work, and she gives guidance for overcoming them.

Guests:

Alice Boyes, a former clinical psychologist, is the author of two books on mental health, The Anxiety Toolkit and The Healthy Mind Toolkit. She’s writing her third book about productivity.

Kate Troutman is a social worker.

Resources:

“5 Mental Mistakes That Kill Your Productivity,” by Alice Boyes
“Don’t Let Perfection Be the Enemy of Productivity,” by Alice Boyes
Getting Work Done, by Harvard Business Review
HBR Guide to Being More Productive, by Harvard Business Review
HBR Guide to Getting the Right Work Done, by Harvard Business Review
Getting It All Done, by Harvard Business Review

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