Productivity Nerd

Episode 52 - Buy Back Your Time | Dan Martell's Guide to Delegation & Freedom, with Claire Ennion

This week Kathy and co-host Claire Ennion dig into Dan Martell's bestseller Buy Back Your Time, and ask what if the thing holding your business back isn't your product, your market, or your team - it's you? Martell's central argument is simple but radical: stop hiring to grow your business and start hiring to get your time back. That means auditing what you're doing, working out what your time is actually worth, and letting go of the tasks that are quietly stealing your best hours.In this episode, Kathy and Claire unpack the DRIP Matrix (Delegate, Replace, Invest, Produce), the Buyback Loop, and why your first hire probably shouldn't be a salesperson. There's also a healthy debate about back-to-back meetings, the Replacement Ladder, and why video SOPs might just change your life.Because the goal isn't a more efficient business. It's a life worth buying back.

Episode 51.5 - The Dopamine-Driven Productivity Hack - How gamification can make work more engaging.

Kathy takes a deep dive into gamification and what neuroscience actually has to say about it. In this mini episode, she explores how borrowing tricks from video games and apps like Duolingo can hijack your brain's reward system and make even the most tedious tasks feel genuinely motivating. From points systems and streaks to Pomodoro timers and celebrating micro-wins, Kathy shares four practical hacks to make your to-do list something your brain actually wants to engage with. Serious didn't make you excited about expenses. Stickers might.

Episode 51 - The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom | Are You Rich in the Ways That Actually Matter? with Helen Taylor

In this episode, Kathy and Helen Taylor dig into The 5 Types of Wealth by Sahil Bloom.   Bloom walked away from a high-flying finance career with all the markers of success and a hollow feeling he couldn't explain. This book is what he figured out. Time, social, mental, physical, and financial wealth: most of us spend our working lives chasing the fifth while quietly going bankrupt in the other four. Kathy and Helen get personal about the parents calculation that reframes everything, the pyrrhic victory trap, and whether productivity culture might actually be making the whole problem worse. A thought-provoking, honest conversation about what you're really optimising for.Five types of wealth. Make sure you're not ignoring four of them.

Episode 50.5 - This Meeting Could've Been an Email

In this mini episode, Kathy Soulsby gets straight to the point on one of the biggest productivity drains in any working week: meetings that should have been an email.   Kathy walks through six practical steps to make meetings genuinely useful, not just shorter. From asking the right question before you even hit "invite," to building a proper agenda, managing the clock ruthlessly, keeping the guest list tight, and making sure actions actually get done. There's also a brilliant bonus tip on open office hours, Cal Newport-style. If your calendar is eating your day alive, take a listen and send an email instead.

Episode 50 - The Breathing Fix: How Your Breath is Running (or Ruining) Your Performance, with Phoebe Newman

In this minipod Kathy sits down with breathwork coach Phoebe Newman of Flown to explore one of the most overlooked productivity tools hiding in plain sight: your breath. They dig into what most of us are getting wrong about breathing, how chronic low-level stress is quietly wrecking focus and decision-making, and why the foundation of high performance might be less about your calendar system and more about your nervous system. Phoebe shares practical techniques for focus, calm, energy, and better sleep, plus the one small breathing change that could have the biggest impact on your day. It turns out the best productivity hack costs nothing and you're already doing it. Just, you know, wrong. Follow Phoebe on Instagram: @phlowspacewww.phlowspace.uk www.flown.com