Focused
David Sparks and Mike Schmitz share their experiences and strategies for improving focus and productivity. They discuss successes and failures along the way, often featuring special guests. The podcast aims to help listeners get more done and stay focused.
Episodes
258: Personal Defaults
257: I Go By Vibes, with Stephen Robles
256: Calendar Modes & Transitions Rituals
255: Get Your Machete Out
254: Battling Burnout
253: Finding Focus in the Midst of Chaos, with David Roth
252: Donkey Work
251: Not Throwing Away My Shot, with Joe Casabona
250: Planning Your Week
249: What if This Were Easy? with Ernie Svenson
248: Seriously, A Heroic Journey
247: Getting Intentional, with Chris Bailey
246: A Cleansing Palette of Joy
245: Fashionable & Functional, with Patrick Rhone
244: You're Holding It Wrong
243: The Single Source of Truth is On the Fridge, with Thom Gibson
242: The Case for Analog
241: Less But Better, with Austin L. Church
240: Q4 Planning
239: How to Focus Like a Roman Emperor, with Donald J. Robertson
238: Knitting Our Parachutes
237: Everything is Figureoutable, with Max Roberts
236: Focus Traps
235: Practical Wisdom for Mindful Living, with John Chandler
234: Intentional Friction
233: I Wanna Be Me When I Grow Up, with Kara Monroe
232: Useful Not True, with Derek Sivers
231: Overwhelm, AI, and Life's Balancing Acts
230: Journaling & Intention, with Joe Moyer
229: Workflow Check-In
228: Time Surfing, with Paul Loomans
227: Quarterly Planning
226: The Importance of Review
225: Tiny Experiments, with Anne-Laure Le Cunff
224: Chasing Valuable Rabbits, with Chenell Basilio
223: Solving the Actual Problem, with Ian Byrd
222: The 2025 Productivity Field Guide
221: A Focus on Creativity
220: 2024 Retrospective
219: A Focused Smorgasbord
218: Turning Down the Volume, with Stephen Hackett
217: The Anxious Generation
216: Wholehearted Transformation, with Amy Wicks
215: The Sparky Language Model
214: Solving Gnarly Problems, with Clarke Ching
213: Developing Skills
212: Living the Llama Life, with Marie Ng
211: The Focus MOB
210: Media Strategies for a Focused Life
209: A System for Writing, with Bob Doto
208: Moving the Needle Revisited
207: What Would Sparky Say?
206: Rapt
205: Tasks & Calendars
204: Analog Productivity, with Jeff Sheldon
203: The Little Lies You Tell Yourself, with Jason Snell
202: Slow Productivity
201: What to Do When Things Don't Go Your Way, with Haemin Sunim
200: Favorite Productivity Hacks
199: Repotting & Retirement, with Jim Eager
198: Revisiting Journaling
197: Feel Good Productivity
196: Focus & The Reading Life, with Maryanne Wolf
195: The Productivity Field Guide
194: I'd Like to Take a Mulligan
193: The Problem with Mise en Place, with Justin Khanna
192: Flow State
191: Multi-Scale Planning
190: Overdosing on Gratitude, with Karl Staib
189: Focus & AI
188: Q4 Planning & The PKM Stack
187: Drop Zones & Launch Pads, with Jesse J. Anderson
Jesse J. Anderson is back to talk about troubleshooting productivity systems and his new book for helping adults with ADHD find focus.
186: The Burden of Opportunity, with Shawn Blanc
The Focus Course creator and small business owner Shawn Blanc is back to talk about margin, sabbaticals, and focusing like a boss.
185: How to Be Miserable
David & Mike discuss the satirical self-help book How to Be Miserable by Randy J. Paterson and share the dysfunctional skills they are particularly good at.
184: Solving Problems, with Jay Clouse
Jay Clouse of Creator Science joins us to talk about the sawdust problem, the focus benefits of community, and finding the balance between quality and quantity.
183: Practicing Focus
David & Mike discuss how they inject focus into their workdays & Mike shares about his tiny house retreat experience.
182: Building Focused Flywheels, with Nathan Barry
ConvertKit CEO Nathan Barry joins us to talk about the power of focus and how it helped save his company.
181: Walking Your Own Path, with Justin Moore
Sponsorship coach Justin Moore joins us to talk about his journey from medical devices to Creator Wizard founder, avoiding the comparison trap, and finding your niche.
180: A Focused Hodgepodge
David reflects on 18 months of freedom, Mike reports back from Craft + Commerce, and they both share their best advice for teaching kids how to focus.
179: Ideal Weeks
David & Mike discuss the process of planning (and attempting to live out) their ideal weeks.
