How I Work

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**How I Work**

You know those annoyingly successful people who seem to have it all figured out? Time to steal their playbook. Organisational psychologist Dr Amantha Imber gets world‑class achievers to spill their secrets – the daily strategies behind their success through to life hacks and productivity hacks they’d rather keep to themselves. We’re talking practical tips for boosting your output (including clever AI tools and shortcuts that’ll make you look like a genius), managing overwhelm without losing your mind, and optimising both work and wellbeing. No motivational fluff. Just battle‑tested tactics from people who’ve cracked the code.

Latest Episodes:

Microproductivity - how leaders can make small changes to create huge leaps in performance Feb 11, 2019

Show notes

This episode looks at three simple changes managers can make to help their team’s productivity skyrocket.

Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

If you are looking for more tips to improve the way you work, I write a short monthly newsletter that contains three cool things that I have discovered that help me work better, which range from interesting research findings through to gadgets I am loving. You can sign up for that at http://howiwork.co

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Jake Knapp on having a distraction-free phone for six years Feb 06, 2019

Show notes

My guest today is Jake Knapp. Jake spent the last 10 years at Google and Google Ventures where he created the Design Sprint, which is a method for building and testing a prototype in five days. He then went on and wrote a book about the process, called Sprint, which was a New York Times bestseller. He recently wrote another book called Make Time, which I mentioned on a previous episode. I personally loved Make Time, which is all about strategies to help make time for doing your most important work and really getting the most out of each day.

I was so excited to have Jake on the show, as I’ve followed his work for several years. What I particularly loved about this chat was how practical Jake is in his strategies and how he applied them during his time at Google. Now I should warn you that this chat somehow ended up starting with a story about a near-death experience - but don’t worry, it gets more upbeat from there!

We cover a whole lot of things, including:

How a near death experience lead to Jake becoming a self-confessed “time dork"
Jake’s number one tip for creating a great day
Why Jake hates the traditional to-do list
How Jake created a distraction free phone - and how it changed his life
The importance of boredom
How to take back control of your calendar
How Jake managed his calendar at Google Ventures
How Jake approaches his email
Being productive versus being purposeful
Why you need to be prepared to let little bad things happen in the pursuit of using time well

Find out more about Jake at https://jakeknapp.com/ and get a copy of Make Time here. You can also listen to Jake’s awesome podcast, the Product Breakfast Club.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode, go to: https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

My favourite tip: Atlassian's Dom Price on how he dramatically reduced the number of meetings in his diary Feb 05, 2019

Show notes

My favourite tip from my chat with Dom Price was the strategy he used to eliminate a tonne of meetings from his diary.

You can find the full interview here: https://www.amanthaimber.com/blog/atlassian-s-dom-price-on-how-he-uses-imposter-syndrome-to-his-advantage

Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Why you need to change your "out of office" auto-responder immediately Feb 03, 2019

Show notes

This mini-episode will help you re-think the seemingly innocuous "out of office" auto-responder and make yours be impactful and memorable.

Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Eddie Perfect - behind the scenes of writing two broadway musicals at the same time Jan 30, 2019

Show notes

My guest today is Eddie Perfect. Eddie is a singer-songwriter, an actor, a comedian, and currently has not one, but two shows on Broadway - King Kong and Beetlejuice. Australian listeners might know Eddie from playing Mick Holland in Offspring, and theatre-goers might be familiar with some of Eddie’s work such as Shane Warne the Musical and Vivid White.

When Eddie and I spoke, King Kong had literally just launched on Broadway and he was deep in re-writes for Beetlejuice. This interview really deep dives into what goes on behind the scenes in writing a musical, which for a musical theatre boffin such as myself, was delightful.

And here are some other things we cover during the chat:

How Eddie came to be working on not one, but TWO Broadway musicals at the same time
How he wrote Beetlejuice’s introduction song for Beetlejuice The Musical
His process for coming up with titles for songs
Where Eddie does his best writing
Why Eddie aims to complete with himself, and not with others
How Eddie deals with criticism and bad reviews
The role social media plays in Eddie’s life

You can find Eddie on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook. And you can learn more about Beetlejuice the musical here and King Kong on Broadway here.

For comprehensive show notes on this episode, go to: https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The quickest way to boost your mood and productivity at work Jan 28, 2019

Show notes

In the first mini-episode for 2019, I talk about the absolute quickest way to boost your mood and productivity at work (it will only take you 40 seconds!)

Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes from all episodes.

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BEST OF: Carolyn Creswell's annual self-reflection ritual, her favourite productivity hacks, and why she never eats lunch at her desk. Jan 23, 2019

Show notes

How I Work: Summer Series

My guest today is Carolyn Creswell. As Australian listeners probably know, Carolyn is the founder of Carman’s muesli, which is in pretty much every supermarket in Australia and is exported to 32 countries around the world. Over the last 25 years, Carolyn has built Carman’s into a $100 million dollar business.

But there is so much more to Carolyn that just delicious tasting muesli. She has given so much thought to the way she works and this interview is full of really practical gems. We talk about:

Her morning routine
Why she doesn’t do coffee meetings - and what she does instead
Her trick to making new year’s resolutions stick
Her annual self-reflection ritual
The role self-discipline plays in her life
Why Carolyn doesn’t listen to the news
Carolyn’s happy place
How she plans her year in advance
Why she books all her hair appointments for the whole year in January
How she protects family time
Why Carolyn never eats lunch at her desk
Her favourite productivity apps
Carolyn’s novel way of using to-do list software
Why you will never catch Carolyn in a lie
Carolyn’s approach to giving feedback

You can find more about Carolyn and Carman’s at https://www.carmanskitchen.com.au/

Visit amanthaimber.com/podcast for full show notes.

Get in touch at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BEST OF: Rachel Botsman's tips for saying no, making a productive start to the day, and her one-minute mindfulness routine. Jan 16, 2019

Show notes

How I Work: Summer Series

Rachel Botsman is a world renowned expert on technology and trust, and the author of bestselling books “Who Can You Trust?” and “What’s Mine Is Yours”.

Rachel is a lecturer at Oxford University and has been recognised as one of the “Most Creative People in Business” by Fast Company and as one of the 50 most influential management thinkers in the world.

We cover a lot of ground in this conversation, including:

Why Rachel never sleeps near her phone
“Big stride days” and how to have one
How the weather effects her productivity
Her unusual but very awesome way of crafting presentations
How Rachel hit a ridiculously tight book deadline
Why she finishes her day midway through writing a paragraph
Her one minute mindfulness routine
Rachel’s “tips” to make it easier to say no

And a whole lot more.

You can find Rachel on Twitter and Linkedin at @Rachelbotsman and via her website https://rachelbotsman.com/

For comprehensive show notes on this episode, go to: https://www.amanthaimber.com/podcast

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

BEST OF: Mia Freedman on how she overcomes procrastination, her daily rituals for keeping mentally fit, and why her productivity peaks after 9pm Jan 09, 2019

Show notes

How I Work: Summer Series

Mia Freedman is the co-founder and creative director of the Mamamia Women’s Network, Australia’s largest digital women’s media company. They reach 4 million women per month and also have the world’s largest women’s podcast network, with eight shows that reach millions of women.

As many Australian listeners would know, Mia was the youngest editor of Australian Cosmo at 24 years old back in the mid 90s. And because I was one of many loyal Cosmo readers as a teenager, I feel like I grew up with Mia. I’ve also lapped all of her books and I just love how she speaks so honestly and is such a raw way about her life.

I found it fascinating to sit down with Mia and learn more about how she structures her days and the routines that she has. I particularly loved hearing about her methods for overcoming procrastination, which I think every listener can benefit from.

We covered a whole range of topics in our chat, including:

How Mia carves out time to write books
Why Mia hates long deadlines
Mia’s daily rituals to stay on top of her mental health
Why Mia has stopped reaching for her phone first thing in the morning
Mia’s favourite podcasts
Why Mia’s productivity peaks after 9pm
Why Mia is spending less time on Facebook
How Mia is rethinking her inbox
How Mia reduces the amount of decisions she needs to make
Mia’s top parenting hacks
How Mia re-energises herself during the workday

And a whole lot more.

If you want to learn more about Mia, you can find her at www.miafreedman.com or via www.ladystartup.com.au which is her brand new project that includes an Online Bootcamp will help you activate your business idea in just 6 weeks.

Full show notes and a transcript of this episode can be found at www.amanthaimber.com/podcast

Want to get in touch? Reach out at amantha@inventium.com.au

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Adam Grant on how to turbo-charge productivity and motivation Jan 02, 2019

Show notes

How I Work: Summer Series

On today’s show, I speak to organizational psychologist, best-selling author and Wharton’s highest-rated professor, Adam Grant.

His books Give and Take, Originals, and Option B have sold over one million copies and have been translated into 35 languages. Adam has been recognized as one of the world's 10 most influential management thinkers, was named one of Fortune’s 40 under 40, and he also happens to be the host of one of my favourite podcasts, WorkLife which is a TED original podcast.

In this conversation, we cover a whole bunch of topics such as: