Travel like a Pro: 7 hacks that will change your travel gameI’m writing this post from 35,000 feet in the air, which feels pretty fitting because today’s topic is all about travel hacks. By the end of this week, I’ll have been on six flights. So, I thought I’d share a few of my go-to strategies for making work travel a bit smoother (or at least how I try to do it). As a keynote speaker, travel is a big part of my job. Now that in-person events are back in full swing, so are my days on planes. (Side note: if you’re after a keynote speaker for your next...Read more
If you are NOT okay today, this tool might help.Sunday afternoon was FULL ON. My daughter had returned from a slumber party. She had 5 hours' sleep. It didn’t take a clairvoyant to predict that a challenging afternoon was on the cards. Emotional disregulation doesn’t just impact sleep-deprived 10-year-olds. It happens to us all. Ever felt like your emotions went from 0 to 100 faster than a Tesla on ludicrous mode, leaving your rational thinking in the dust? Yep - me too. It's called: amygdala hijacking. This fancy term, coined by...Read more
The night I started a fire in my hotel roomEarlier this week, I found myself in Sydney, staying at a hotel I hadn't visited in over a decade. As I entered my room, I was hit with an eerie sense of déjà vu. Not only was it the same layout, but it appeared to be the very room where, years ago, my clothes caught fire at midnight... Rewind to 2010. I'd entered a competition called Speakers Idol, put on by the National Speakers Association. I made it to the Nationals (which sounds more impressive than this feat was). This meant delivering...Read more
Rituals: The secret ingredient to elevate your (work) lifeView in browser Greetings! For those of you who have been subscribed to One Percent Better for a while, you’ll know that every so often, I do a (somewhat random) "recommendations post". This is one of those posts. Here are some of the things I have been loving in the last month: Rituals: The secret ingredient to elevate your (work) life Good habits automate us and good rituals animate us, according to Harvard Professor Michael Norton. So how can we create better rituals that drive more joy,...Read more
The counterintuitive strategy that conquered my public speaking fearsHave you ever found yourself doing something way outside your comfort zone, wondering how on earth you got there? That was me yesterday, dancing and singing to a conference room of 1000+ people at the Melbourne Convention Centre. No I am not a triple threat (I am, in fact, a zero threat). So how on earth did this happen? A few weeks ago, I learned that my very good mate Lisa Leong was going to be MC-ing a conference I was booked as the closing speaker for - the Australian Human Resources...Read more
Six unexpected ways I bounced back from burnoutBefore diving into today's post, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who reached out after last week's post. Your stories, your strength, and your care genuinely moved me. Burnout is a beast, isn’t it? Alrighty, let’s crack on with the post I promised last week. If you missed it, you might want to check out my burnout story here - it'll give some much-needed context to what I’m about to share. Here are six strategies that have been instrumental in my recovery (and trust me,...Read more
I teach productivity, but I burned out. Here's what I learned.Two months ago, I hit an all-time work low. I had all the classic signs of burnout: Emotional exhaustion. Tick. Cynicism. Tick. Lack of motivation. Tick. I was even having what my clinical psychologist friend Sabina Read called a “getting hit by a bus but not killed” fantasy, whereby I was having dreams of getting injured (but not too injured) so that I could take some time off work (without judgement) and people would empathise with my plight and offer the tonnes of sympathy. (I thought this...Read more
The 8-minute trick that skyrocketed students' grades (and can help you too)Photo by saeed karimi on Unsplash When my book Time Wise was published in 2022, I was constantly being asked to give advice on topics like procrastination, prioritising deep and focused work over checking your social media feed or email, and how to have more effective and efficient meetings. Multiple times a day, in meetings with clients, interviews with journalists, and in conversations with friends, I would be asked to solve these problems. At the same time, I became aware of a strong need...Read more
A simple way to boost your brain powerGetting off social media for one-week improves mood and self-esteem A study discovered that women aged 18-29 who took a one-week break from social media experienced a significant boost in self-esteem and body image. While this might not be surprising, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the impact of a short social media break on body image. If you are struggling with low mood or self-confidence, a short break from the socials might be just what the doctor ordered. Is ChatGPT...Read more
How to beat worryingPhoto by Mike Dorner on Unsplash How to beat worrying As someone who has a tendency to worry (read: catastrophise), I found this post very helpful (and humorous). I will now be applying the magic question: Is there anything I can do about this? What does the future of work look like? My Inventium teammate Charlotte Rush has been leading a big research project to explore the biggest trends that are shaping the world of work in 2024 and beyond. You can check out 7 key insights that you need to...Read more
Surprising advice on how to become better at delegatingPhoto by Malvestida on Unsplash Why I am tracking my time again So many guests I have interviewed on How I Work (and often, tech Founder / CEO types), have told me about how and why they track their time. I have occasionally done this over the years - sometimes manually (and painfully) in Excel, and other times using clunky software. I have recently become interested (again) in where my time is going, as I am juggling quite a few different projects and some big deadlines. A few people I trust...Read more
Mastering the art of ending your day on a high notePhoto by Nikolay on Unsplash During the Melbourne Covid lockdowns, I fell in love. With software. Specifically: Mmhmm. I did (and continue to do) so many virtual keynotes and I hated that the default setting in Zoom/Teams/Hangouts was for the presenter to become the size of a postage stamp the minute slides were shared. Mmhmm solved this problem for me. I love Mmhmm because I can pop my slides behind me (just like a real presentation) and I can be in the foreground (which helps immensely when...Read more
How to Future-Proof Your OrganisationPhoto by Simon Abrams on Unsplash Why time goes more quickly as we age Ever wondered why the years seem to pass so fast, the older we get? This piece gives some reasons and also some solutions to slow things down. The big one is to: “break the predictability and actively plan to be (massively) surprised”. The demise of social connections - and how AI is exploiting this I am a big Scott Galloway fan and I loved this piece about the vital importance of social connections for wellbeing, the...Read more
Have you overcommitted yourself? You need the Iceberg YesA few years ago, I was asked to sit on the committee to review the MBA program of a prestigious Australian business school. I asked some vague questions about how much time would be required, but really, I was always going to say ‘yes’. Not only do I feel passionately about helping university students thrive in the business world, but Inventium had interviewed many MBA students from this university to fill consulting roles. As a result, I had some strong views on how this particular MBA...Read more
100 things you might be taking for grantedPhoto by Soragrit Wongsa on Unsplash Do you need to shrink/edit/convert a PDF document? This free tool can do it all. If you work with PDF documents in your job or life (and really, who doesn’t?), you probably have experienced frustrations such as: How on earth do I shrink this document by 80%? How do I quickly combine these two PDFs into the one document? How do I pull out one page of the PDF into a brand new document? Sure, there are workarounds I have found for all of the above, but now, I...Read more
How to make the most of the Easter long weekendPhoto by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash If you live in Australia, there is a good chance (depending on your job), that you have a four-day break over the Easter long weekend ahead of you. But if you’re a science nerd who also likes to optimise their life - like me - you may be wondering: How do I maximise these four days off? I’m so glad you asked. Here are five things you can do to have an even better long weekend. 1. Spend time looking forward to the holiday The earlier you can start planning your...Read more
Why you need a "light shower"Photo by Delphine Beausoleil on Unsplash What do the first couple of hours of your day look like? Are you lying in bed, hitting snooze, in denial that a new day has started and that it needs you in it? This is called sleep inertia. Or perhaps you were woken up by a little person at 5 am and are tending to their needs for the first 3 hours of your day before sending them off to school or child care. Maybe your mornings are spent wandering around your home half asleep until you’ve hooked...Read more
My company has been running the Four Day Week for over 3 years. But right now, I’m working a five day week.I have a secret. It’s about the Four Day Week (FDW). Inventium was the first company in Australia to adopt this novel way of working. Over the past 3.5 years, I have done literally hundreds of interviews about the policy. We call it Gift of the Fifth (GOTF) - if you can get your work done in four normal length days, you receive the gift of time on Friday. And you still get paid a full-time salary. But here’s my secret: I haven’t taken a Friday off all year. Right now, my business isn’t on...Read more
How to remain engaged at work when others around you are notA couple of weeks ago, I put out a call for questions for my semi-regular Ask Me Anything. Your questions were awesome - which was no surprise as you are a truly awesome bunch of subscribers 🙂 It’s always hard selecting which questions to include, but here are some that I covered: How to remain engaged and motivated at work when others around you are not How to balance having a social life with a healthy lifestyle What do I (really) think about back-to-office mandates What is a personal...Read more
I’m writing this post from 35,000 feet in the air, which feels pretty fitting because today’s topic is all about travel hacks. By the end of this week, I’ll have been on six flights. So, I thought I’d share a few of my go-to strategies for making work travel a bit smoother (or at least how I try to do it). As a keynote speaker, travel is a big part of my job. Now that in-person events are back in full swing, so are my days on planes. (Side note: if you’re after a keynote speaker for your next...Read more
Sunday afternoon was FULL ON. My daughter had returned from a slumber party. She had 5 hours' sleep. It didn’t take a clairvoyant to predict that a challenging afternoon was on the cards. Emotional disregulation doesn’t just impact sleep-deprived 10-year-olds. It happens to us all. Ever felt like your emotions went from 0 to 100 faster than a Tesla on ludicrous mode, leaving your rational thinking in the dust? Yep - me too. It's called: amygdala hijacking. This fancy term, coined by...Read more
Earlier this week, I found myself in Sydney, staying at a hotel I hadn't visited in over a decade. As I entered my room, I was hit with an eerie sense of déjà vu. Not only was it the same layout, but it appeared to be the very room where, years ago, my clothes caught fire at midnight... Rewind to 2010. I'd entered a competition called Speakers Idol, put on by the National Speakers Association. I made it to the Nationals (which sounds more impressive than this feat was). This meant delivering...Read more
View in browser Greetings! For those of you who have been subscribed to One Percent Better for a while, you’ll know that every so often, I do a (somewhat random) "recommendations post". This is one of those posts. Here are some of the things I have been loving in the last month: Rituals: The secret ingredient to elevate your (work) life Good habits automate us and good rituals animate us, according to Harvard Professor Michael Norton. So how can we create better rituals that drive more joy,...Read more
Have you ever found yourself doing something way outside your comfort zone, wondering how on earth you got there? That was me yesterday, dancing and singing to a conference room of 1000+ people at the Melbourne Convention Centre. No I am not a triple threat (I am, in fact, a zero threat). So how on earth did this happen? A few weeks ago, I learned that my very good mate Lisa Leong was going to be MC-ing a conference I was booked as the closing speaker for - the Australian Human Resources...Read more
Before diving into today's post, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to everyone who reached out after last week's post. Your stories, your strength, and your care genuinely moved me. Burnout is a beast, isn’t it? Alrighty, let’s crack on with the post I promised last week. If you missed it, you might want to check out my burnout story here - it'll give some much-needed context to what I’m about to share. Here are six strategies that have been instrumental in my recovery (and trust me,...Read more
Two months ago, I hit an all-time work low. I had all the classic signs of burnout: Emotional exhaustion. Tick. Cynicism. Tick. Lack of motivation. Tick. I was even having what my clinical psychologist friend Sabina Read called a “getting hit by a bus but not killed” fantasy, whereby I was having dreams of getting injured (but not too injured) so that I could take some time off work (without judgement) and people would empathise with my plight and offer the tonnes of sympathy. (I thought this...Read more
Never regret a decision again with this simple questionRead more
A fail-proof trick to get your brain into flow every morning When you are finishing work for the day, resist the temptation to reach a natural conclusRead more
Say goodbye to unnecessary emailsRead more
Discover how to identify and eliminate projects that drain your productivityRead more
Superhuman CEO Rahul Vohra's secret to ultra-fast computer navigationRead more
Photo by saeed karimi on Unsplash When my book Time Wise was published in 2022, I was constantly being asked to give advice on topics like procrastination, prioritising deep and focused work over checking your social media feed or email, and how to have more effective and efficient meetings. Multiple times a day, in meetings with clients, interviews with journalists, and in conversations with friends, I would be asked to solve these problems. At the same time, I became aware of a strong need...Read more
Getting off social media for one-week improves mood and self-esteem A study discovered that women aged 18-29 who took a one-week break from social media experienced a significant boost in self-esteem and body image. While this might not be surprising, this study is the first of its kind to investigate the impact of a short social media break on body image. If you are struggling with low mood or self-confidence, a short break from the socials might be just what the doctor ordered. Is ChatGPT...Read more
Photo by Mike Dorner on Unsplash How to beat worrying As someone who has a tendency to worry (read: catastrophise), I found this post very helpful (and humorous). I will now be applying the magic question: Is there anything I can do about this? What does the future of work look like? My Inventium teammate Charlotte Rush has been leading a big research project to explore the biggest trends that are shaping the world of work in 2024 and beyond. You can check out 7 key insights that you need to...Read more
Photo by Malvestida on Unsplash Why I am tracking my time again So many guests I have interviewed on How I Work (and often, tech Founder / CEO types), have told me about how and why they track their time. I have occasionally done this over the years - sometimes manually (and painfully) in Excel, and other times using clunky software. I have recently become interested (again) in where my time is going, as I am juggling quite a few different projects and some big deadlines. A few people I trust...Read more
Photo by Nikolay on Unsplash During the Melbourne Covid lockdowns, I fell in love. With software. Specifically: Mmhmm. I did (and continue to do) so many virtual keynotes and I hated that the default setting in Zoom/Teams/Hangouts was for the presenter to become the size of a postage stamp the minute slides were shared. Mmhmm solved this problem for me. I love Mmhmm because I can pop my slides behind me (just like a real presentation) and I can be in the foreground (which helps immensely when...Read more
Photo by Simon Abrams on Unsplash Why time goes more quickly as we age Ever wondered why the years seem to pass so fast, the older we get? This piece gives some reasons and also some solutions to slow things down. The big one is to: “break the predictability and actively plan to be (massively) surprised”. The demise of social connections - and how AI is exploiting this I am a big Scott Galloway fan and I loved this piece about the vital importance of social connections for wellbeing, the...Read more
A few years ago, I was asked to sit on the committee to review the MBA program of a prestigious Australian business school. I asked some vague questions about how much time would be required, but really, I was always going to say ‘yes’. Not only do I feel passionately about helping university students thrive in the business world, but Inventium had interviewed many MBA students from this university to fill consulting roles. As a result, I had some strong views on how this particular MBA...Read more
Photo by Soragrit Wongsa on Unsplash Do you need to shrink/edit/convert a PDF document? This free tool can do it all. If you work with PDF documents in your job or life (and really, who doesn’t?), you probably have experienced frustrations such as: How on earth do I shrink this document by 80%? How do I quickly combine these two PDFs into the one document? How do I pull out one page of the PDF into a brand new document? Sure, there are workarounds I have found for all of the above, but now, I...Read more
Photo by Toa Heftiba on Unsplash If you live in Australia, there is a good chance (depending on your job), that you have a four-day break over the Easter long weekend ahead of you. But if you’re a science nerd who also likes to optimise their life - like me - you may be wondering: How do I maximise these four days off? I’m so glad you asked. Here are five things you can do to have an even better long weekend. 1. Spend time looking forward to the holiday The earlier you can start planning your...Read more
Photo by Delphine Beausoleil on Unsplash What do the first couple of hours of your day look like? Are you lying in bed, hitting snooze, in denial that a new day has started and that it needs you in it? This is called sleep inertia. Or perhaps you were woken up by a little person at 5 am and are tending to their needs for the first 3 hours of your day before sending them off to school or child care. Maybe your mornings are spent wandering around your home half asleep until you’ve hooked...Read more
I have a secret. It’s about the Four Day Week (FDW). Inventium was the first company in Australia to adopt this novel way of working. Over the past 3.5 years, I have done literally hundreds of interviews about the policy. We call it Gift of the Fifth (GOTF) - if you can get your work done in four normal length days, you receive the gift of time on Friday. And you still get paid a full-time salary. But here’s my secret: I haven’t taken a Friday off all year. Right now, my business isn’t on...Read more
How Inventium designs its team off-sites. A behind-the-scenes look.Read more
A couple of weeks ago, I put out a call for questions for my semi-regular Ask Me Anything. Your questions were awesome - which was no surprise as you are a truly awesome bunch of subscribers 🙂 It’s always hard selecting which questions to include, but here are some that I covered: How to remain engaged and motivated at work when others around you are not How to balance having a social life with a healthy lifestyle What do I (really) think about back-to-office mandates What is a personal...Read more
