The Podcast about Productivity for Work and Life
Erik Fisher sits down with experts, authors, and creatives — guests like David Allen, James Clear, Cal Newport, and Gretchen Rubin — to explore time management, habits, focus, mindset, and what it actually means to live and work well. The premise is simple: productivity isn't the point. It's the means to a whole life.
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602
Aug. 16, 2026
Mindset: Why Fixing Your Habits Won't Fix Your Self-Trust with Lester Clowes
Self-trust and identity are at the center of this conversation with Lester Clowes, executive coach and author of Stop Lying to Yourself. Lester Clowes spent a decade running a school system before building a coaching practice around the exact motivational content he used to be hooked on himself. His new book, Stop Lying to Yourself, examines the quiet lies capable, organized people tell themselves right up until nothing changes. In this conversation, we cover: Promise debt: How years of small
601
Aug. 5, 2026
Burnout: Why Thought Load, Not Workload, Is Draining You with Liane Davey
Burnout, energy management, and decision fatigue are at the center of this conversation with Liane Davey, organizational psychologist and the "teamwork doctor." Liane Davey is a New York Times bestselling author and CEO advisor with 25+ years researching what makes teams work. Her latest book, Thoughtload: Manage the Madness and Free Your Team to Do Great Work, argues the number we've been tracking wrong all along isn't workload — it's the mental and emotional weight underneath it. She previous
600
Aug. 2, 2026
Creativity: How Rest, Wonder, and AI Redefine Productivity with Natalie Nixon
Creativity, rest, and mindset are at the center of this conversation with Natalie Nixon, author of The Creativity Leap and Move, Think, Rest. Natalie Nixon has spent two decades as a creativity strategist advising Fortune 500 companies on innovation strategy — work she calls being a "creative whisperer to the C-Suite." She's the founder of Figure 8 Thinking, and her two books make one connected argument: creativity means toggling between wonder and rigor, and rest isn't procrastination — it's f
599
July 26, 2026
Energy Management: What Johnny Carson Knew About Saying No with Mark Malkoff
Energy management, decision making, and knowing when to walk away are at the center of this conversation with Mark Malkoff, author of Love Johnny Carson. Mark Malkoff is a comedian, filmmaker, and interviewer who spent eight years and nearly 400 interviews building The Carson Podcast. That work became his first book, Love Johnny Carson, written with biographer David Ritz and a USA Today bestseller. He's back on the show fourteen years after his first appearance — back when he was the guy making
598
July 5, 2026
Time Management: Trading Time Scarcity for Abundance with Laura Vanderkam
Time management and time abundance are at the center of this conversation with Laura Vanderkam, bestselling author and time-use researcher. Laura Vanderkam has spent over a decade studying how people actually spend their time — tracking her own hours for 11 years and collecting data from thousands of others along the way. Her new book, Big Time: A Simple Path to Time Abundance, makes the case that time isn't the scarce resource we assume it is, and that shifting how you see it changes how you l
504
June 2, 2026
Charlie Gilkey on Team Habits: How Small Actions Create Better Teams and Better Work
I’m excited to revisit this conversation with Charlie Gilkey on his book, Team Habits: How Small Actions Lead to Extraordinary Results. Charlie is the founder of Productive Flourishing, a company that helps professional creatives, leaders, and changemakers take meaningful action on work that matters. He is an internationally recognized thought leader on productivity, planning, strategy, and leadership, and is also the author of Start Finishing: How to Go from Idea to Done and The Small Business
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About the Host
Erik Fisher
Erik Fisher has spent more than 15 years hosting conversations about productivity, creativity, and what it actually means to work and live well. He's the creator and host of Beyond the To-Do List, a podcast with nearly 600 episodes featuring guests like David Allen, James Clear, Cal Newport, Seth Godin, Gretchen Rubin, and Daniel Pink.
Beyond hosting, Erik has produced podcasts and audio content for brands and organizations, led live and virtual events, and helped communicators and teams find the through-line in what they're trying to say — the version of their message that actually lands.
The work he does best sits at the intersection of editorial judgment, audio storytelling, and genuine audience understanding. Not more content. Better content.
If you're looking for a podcast host, producer, or someone to help your brand or team communicate with more clarity and less noise — he'd love to hear from you.
Beyond hosting, Erik has produced podcasts and audio content for brands and organizations, led live and virtual events, and helped communicators and teams find the through-line in what they're trying to say — the version of their message that actually lands.
The work he does best sits at the intersection of editorial judgment, audio storytelling, and genuine audience understanding. Not more content. Better content.
If you're looking for a podcast host, producer, or someone to help your brand or team communicate with more clarity and less noise — he'd love to hear from you.
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