When was the last time you got so absorbed in your work that time disappeared?

That's Flow State, the peak performance zone where tasks feel effortless, creativity flows, and your output boosts up to 500% without the usual exhaustion and burnout. It’s the powerful psychological phenomenon behind breakthroughs from Archimedes to Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater.

Join Moah and Alex as they unravel the science of optimal experience: what happens in your brain, why it's so elusive in our interrupted world and what those interruptions are costing you (2.1 hours daily adding up to 5 work weeks a year).

They will share actionable strategies to systematically create the conditions for 'Flow State’ that worked for them and their team; from setting up your personal "flow-prone" bubble to implementing company-wide initiatives like "Maker Time" and distraction-free hackathons.

Tune in to reclaim your time, boost your output, and finally love your work again.

Links from the show!

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi https://archive.org/details/flow-the-psychology-of-optimal-experience-pdfdrive

Flow and work place burnout https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032717317822?via%3Dihub

Group Genius: https://www.groupgenius.net/

Infinite Work Day Microsoft Report https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday

Neuro Imaging Study for Flow State https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2024/March/New-Neuroimaging-Study-Reveals-How-the-Brain-Achieves-a-Creative-Flow-State

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule by Paul Graham https://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

Tools

Boomerang for Gmail boomeranggmail.com

Boomerang for Outlook boomerangoutlook.com

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In Episode 6, Alex and Moah trace the origin and history of a simple productivity tool that transformed aviation safety, helped land humans on the Moon, slashed surgical fatalities by 47 percent, and saved their own product launches at Boomerang from chaos.

You’ll hear about the 1935 B‑17 disaster that birthed the first checklist for Boeing, the Checklist Manifesto research that turned skeptics into believers, and the sly NSFW surprise Apollo 12 astronauts found on their cuff checklists — one they had to hide from the public.

Along the way, they unpack two types of checklists: read-do vs. do‑confirm and explain when and how you should use each. They will also share three properties that make every checklist more usable and which kind of errors checklists prevent (it’s not errors of ignorance).

Whether you ship code, host events, or just want to stop leaving analytics off your product experiments, this episode will get you a head start on using checklists the right way.

Tune in to learn how a simple 19‑item checklist can save you up to 19 hours of rework.

Links from the Show!

Surgical safety https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2009/09/checklist-for-surgical-safety

B17 to Apollo Missions: https://blog.nuclino.com/the-simple-genius-of-checklists-from-b-17-to-the-apollo-missions

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande https://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/

Playboy Playmates on the moon: https://aphelis.net/seen-any-interesting-hills-valley-playmates-on-the-moon-1969/

Checklist Usage Paper: https://aircconline.com/csit/papers/vol11/csit112322.pdf

Picture of Neil Armstrong’s cuff checklist from Apollo 11 https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-media/NASM-SI-2006-11306

Van Halen and Bowl of Brown M&Ms https://www.acadia-software.com/landing-pages/checklists-standardwork/

Tools

Boomerang for Gmail boomeranggmail.com

Boomerang for Outlook boomerangoutlook.com

Got todos? Get GQueues gqueues.com

What do fad diets, New‑Year’s resolutions, and “miracle” morning routines have in common? They all work—until they don’t.

In this episode, Alex and Moah unpack why no single productivity system can serve everyone forever, and how embracing change (like a Buddhist) is the real path to getting more done while feeling less busy. They’ll share why short‑term wins are still wins, how weekly reviews act as an early‑warning system when output stalls, and the hidden cost of clinging to workflows that no longer fit your role, life stage, or team dynamics.

Stop chasing that one weird productivity trick, and pick up a simple framework for building (and refreshing) your personal “toolbox” of tactics. And remember, “better is good” in productivity too.

Links from the Show!

POUNDS : Weight Loss Trial https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2763382/

Quitters Day https://www.techradar.com/health-fitness/tired-of-your-busy-january-gym-strava-reveals-the-exact-date-itll-be-quiet-again

The Fresh Start Effect https://faculty.wharton.upenn.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/06/Dai_Fresh_Start_2014_Mgmt_Sci.pdf

Better is good https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VolsV0ox_yw

Tools

Boomerang for Gmail boomeranggmail.com

Boomerang for Outlook boomerangoutlook.com

Got todos? Get GQueues gqueues.com