The Productivity Show
Asian Efficiency is the leading website on time management and productivity. This podcast teaches listeners how to be efficient, get things done (GTD), and stay motivated. It offers practical tips and strategies for improving personal and professional productivity.
Episodes
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 to something he loves. Find out why he said no, and why it turned out to be one of his better decisions. When the request […]
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 inbox zero and rigid morning routines to building elaborate note systems and optimizing every minute. More importantly, they explain what replaced them: flexible systems, useful constraints, […]
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 productivity content trap, shares a simple audit to catch yourself in the act, and gives you one rule that turns any tip into real behavior change. […]
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 thought they knew what concentration felt like, right up until they didn’t. In this encore episode, Dan breaks down the science behind functional music: how […]
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 Brooks walk you through a practical Workflow Friction Audit: how to spot the invisible drains like context switching, setup overhead, unclear handoffs, and rework — and […]
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 your intentions without making you feel behind before lunch. You will learn flexible focus blocks, rolling Top 3 priorities, time theming, buffer blocks, and energy-based planning. Visit www.asianefficiency.com […]
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 content can become its own form of procrastination. They cover optimization theater, endless tool switching, note hoarding, and planning as avoidance — and give you a simple […]
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 onto a system that was already broken, like turbocharging a car with a flat tire. This Wisdom Wednesday, we lay out […]
Why Productivity Systems Don’t Work for You (And How to Build One That Fits) (TPS626)
Most productivity systems fail not because you lack discipline — but because you borrowed someone else’s constraints. In this episode, we break down why copying another person’s tool stack or workflow is a recipe for frustration, and walk you through a better build process: starting with your workload reality, energy patterns, and review cadence. You’ll […]
AI Fluency Is the Real Advantage
Why do 65% of employees say AI makes them more productive, but only one in ten say it actually changed how they work? That gap comes down to a single skill—and the people who have it are quietly reclaiming 15 to 20 hours a week. This Wisdom Wednesday, we break down the three levels of […]
Time-Blocking Is Broken: 5 Adaptive Planning Methods That Work Better (TPS625)
Rigid time-blocking sounds great in theory—until your 10 AM deep work block gets hijacked by an urgent meeting and you feel behind before lunch. In this episode, Thanh and Brooks break down why traditional time-blocking fails and share 5 adaptive planning methods that actually survive real life: flexible focus blocks, rolling daily Top 3, time […]
The Goal Was Never the Point
What are you actually building when you chase a goal that takes years to reach? Most of us measure progress by whether we got the thing — the promotion, the number, the car in the driveway. But that scorecard misses the part that compounds. This encore episode gives you a better way to read your […]
The Knowledge Worker’s AI Operating System: From Inbox to Deep Work to Done (TPS624)
Inbox zero is not the win. You can hit inbox zero every single day and still feel like you’re drowning—because the real problem isn’t the inbox. It’s that most people are bolting AI tools onto a broken system. Today we’re going to fix that. We’re going to show you how to think about AI not […]
Your 10-Minute Habit That Ends the Chaos
Does your to-do list go off the rails before lunch? For fast-moving professionals in high-growth environments, the plan you make at 8am can be obsolete by 9. New clients, broken systems, back-to-back meetings — the day hijacks your priorities, and by 5pm you’re taking the laptop home just to catch up on the work you […]
AI Is Boosting Productivity, But Only for the Fluent (TPS623)
Most people think the gap is between those who use AI and those who don’t. It’s not. The real gap is between people who are AI-curious and people who are AI-fluent. In this episode, we break down the three levels of AI fluency—from casual assistance to workflows to autonomous agents—and show you exactly why access […]
You Are Drowning in Micro-Decisions
Decision fatigue is not about mental collapse. It is about subtle quality decay. The more choices your day demands, the more likely you are to procrastinate, default, or choose what is easy instead of what matters. Here are three rules to stop it. Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics. Use promo code TPS […]
Break These Productivity Rules (If They’re Not Working) (TPS622)
Should you really eat that frog first thing every morning? We aren’t so sure, and in this encore episode, we’re throwing out four pieces of productivity advice so widely repeated that most people follow them without ever asking whether they actually work. From the classics to the modern assumptions, we make the case that some […]
AI Meeting Assistants: Stop Transcribing and Start Saving Time
Most AI meeting assistants create transcripts, but few actually save time. We rank the top tools like Otter, Fireflies, and Fathom based on ruthless practicality. Learn how to automate your follow-up, reclaim 10 to 20 hours a week, and close deals faster by eliminating post-meeting admin work. Visit www.asianefficiency.com for more productivity tips and tactics. […]
Rethinking Email, Focus & Doing Less w/ Ari Meisel (TPS621)
How many good decisions do you actually have in you each day? Ari Meisel says the answer is about two dozen — which means your inbox, with its thousands of tiny choices, is quietly bankrupting you before lunch. In this encore conversation, the founder of Less Doing joins us to reframe email as a decision-making […]
Focus Isn’t the Problem You Think It Is
Why did reading twenty books a year suddenly become impossible? Thanh used to fly through books and podcasts without a second thought — until his ability to concentrate quietly started slipping away, and no amount of blocking notifications or silencing his phone fixed it. The distraction wasn’t coming from his devices. It was coming from […]
The Subtraction Strategy: Why Removing Friction Beats Adding Goals Every Time (TPS620)
Most productivity advice tells you to add: more goals, more apps, more habits, more trackers, more systems. But what if the fastest path to better results isn’t adding anything at all—it’s subtraction? In this episode, Thanh and Brooks explore why removing friction beats adding motivation, and how a subtraction audit can transform your productivity faster […]
One Wish vs. a Thousand: A Lesson on Health and Happiness
When was the last time you actually counted how many wishes you have? In this episode, Thanh unpacks a line that’s stuck with him for years: when we’re sick, we only want one thing back, but when we’re healthy, we have a thousand wishes. That idea comes from one of the most-gifted books in his […]
Decision Fatigue: Why Every Choice Drains You (And the 3 Rules to Stop It) (TPS619)
Ever find yourself staring at your to-do list at 3 PM, unable to decide what to do next? Or ordering the same lunch every day because choosing feels impossible? You are not bad at follow-through. You are drowning in micro-decisions. Decision fatigue isn’t a dramatic mental collapse. It’s a subtle quality decay that creeps in […]
Summer Reset Framework: How To Be Productive in June-Aug With 3 Tips
If your brain feels weird in summer, it is not a character flaw. It is a systems mismatch. Learn why your brain works differently in June than January and how to use the Summer Reset framework to simplify goals, anchor routines, and move lower-brain tasks to the hottest parts of the day. Visit www.asianefficiency.com for […]
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