Best Larry Tribble Podcasts (2025)

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WFH: Don't Fall For The Hidden Challenge - DBR 081 48:37

8d ago48:37

48:37

WFH: Don't Fall For the Hidden Challenge Most everybody I hear wants to work from home. I’ve posted previously that most employees see WFH as a convenience and a perk. Is it possible that WFH is not all upside? What if WFH presents challenges to our thriving. I’m all about thriving, so I think you should know about this challenge that Gallup is rep…

1
Information Overload Is Simpler Than You Think - DBR 080 52:22

14d ago52:22

52:22

Eradicating information overload. The goal of personal information management is to put processes and tools around our information so we can “manage” it – that means control it, tame it, have fewer emergencies around it. Our fear that we don’t have it well-managed causes us stress and anxiety – we call this ‘information overload’. So, a feeling of …

1
Work-life Balance Is Nothing (... but an Attention Management Problem) - DBR 079 50:20

21d ago50:20

50:20

This episode is about the outcomes you can achieve with the information and coaching I am able to give. This is important, because it's gonna be work. It's not hard work but it is work. You'll need to change a couple of thought patterns and build a new habit or two. And in order for you to do that work, you need to know what's in it for you: what's…

1
Watch Out For The Three 'Micro' Wastes of Productivity - DBR 078 51:09

28d ago51:09

51:09

I want to describe calm productivity. And I want to contrast the results of attention management to the results of efforts to do time management. I’m going to take you over to a recording of a public talk I did at a conference at UA. It’s titled: "The Three Enemies of Productivity". The actual thing that we all want is productivity or efficiency (w…

1
Over-allocated Attention and the Associated Stress - DBR 077 54:26

1M ago54:26

54:26

Our attention is over-allocated by a nexus of events. This episode is what to do about that. I'm gonna acknowledge something that I'm not a big fan of. Apparently April is stress awareness month. So, if you weren't aware of stress, stress is a thing. I think most of us are aware of it. I don't want to be a curmudgeon but oh my word. Yes, I'm alread…

1
Yes! You CAN Be Happy At Work - DBR 076 41:43

1M ago41:43

41:43

The happiness at work episode. Yay. I’m happy to be at work. Last time we talked about pessimism versus optimism. A closely related subject is happiness versus misery. I do think that optimism is critical. I've heard it said that your number one goal as an entrepreneur is to protect your optimism. I think it's that important. If you’re in the knowl…

1
Pessimism Cloaked as Realism Considered Harmful - DBR 075 53:32

2M ago53:32

53:32

This one's about optimism and pessimism, and what that has to do with productivity. I and the whole thing is a productivity concern for me. We talk about confidence around these parts. That’s because I think confidence ties to productivity. The tie there is imposter syndrome. We struggle to understand what confidence is. But confidence is fundament…

1
How We Got Here and Where We're Going - History of Knowledge Work Productivity - DBR 074 50:36

2M ago50:36

50:36

I want to talk about the history of knowledge work productivity. And it's going to involve a lot of different names. It's going to involve the triumvirate, well, the quadrumvirate (that’s the real word), the Mount Rushmore. Only through understanding what they were thinking about can we extend that thinking. Then we can work on knowledge work produ…

1
Fable: Productivity Rain Dances - Watch Out - DBR 073 47:37

2M ago47:37

47:37

I started out talking about the lies of productivity, but I’m going to change to fables because it's just things we collectively believe without much evidence. Plus, I don't think anybody's intentionally trying to mislead us. We just move without much actual data. A couple of those fables collided with a post by Cal Newport with the evocative title…

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The Modern Productivity Paradox, What Should Knowledge Workers Do? - DBR 072 49:53

2M ago49:53

49:53

Most everybody involved in knowledge work is involved with technology. It's what we do. We deal in information, so we deal with information technology. We believe that it makes us more productive – “better” at our jobs. But what is the evidence that information technology is helping us be more productive? After all, that is its purpose in the moder…

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"Attention Crisis"? What is the Argument and the Evidence - DBR 071 45:36

3M ago45:36

45:36

There's an article in The New Yorker "What If The Attention Crisis Is All A Distraction" by Daniel Immerwahr. I think the attention problem (if there is one) is important for us to understand and resolve and, frankly, to have a debate about. I thought I'd report out on this article, and the state of play. Where are we? What's the evidence? How do w…

1
The Wrong Mindset May Be Causing Bad Results - DBR 070 51:53

3M ago51:53

51:53

It's time to update on philosophy of work; I've got some more info for you. A lot of this is going to be review, but I think it's absolutely critical that we put ourselves in the right mindset towards work. It's important because work is what actually produces the things that we then associate with productivity. Unfortunately, there's a lot of a lo…

1
Why you need commonplace books and how to create them - DBR 069 51:56

3M ago51:56

51:56

One of the primary uses of information is to help us learn. When we are explicitly learning, we work to collect information. It works the other way, as well. As we are exposed to new information, we have the opportunity to learn. The relationship between learning and merely storing information in our brains is mysterious. Many people would say that…

1
The History of Paper as a History of Personal Information Management - DBR 068 52:20

3M ago52:20

52:20

This episode is about the history of personal information management as viewed through a now ancient technology, PAPER We’ll have a couple of takeaways: One is human beings have been trying to manage their own personal information for a long time, so we don’t need to be so worried about the current need – we’re humans so we manage information. We’l…

1
Operating system for attention, tasks, information (and time) - DBR 067 54:04

4M ago54:04

54:04

We need a new operating system. We need one that is specifically dedicated to knowledge work. So I'm going to point you to one that already exists. When we start talking about ways to manage our information, the tech is really important, and I'll explain why. But the tech is dealt with and managed through some sort of overall plan, and some tech is…

1
Top 10 Productivity Tips? NOT - DBR 066 41:22

4M ago41:22

41:22

This episode is about what it is I'm trying to do with attention compass. And why I hate current productivity “help”. I developed this AC stuff. I didn't discover it. I didn't invent it. These are the principles, and they produce specific results. I make no bones about the fact that a lot of people went before me did a lot of really good thinking a…

1
Knowledge Work Careers via Resistance and Linchpin - DBR 065 48:29

4M ago48:29

48:29

I rarely talk about what we need to do to have a meaningful, successful career. So I gathered some sources... The first I'll bring up is Seth Godin, the author. The book that we'll look at today is called Linchpin. He’s got some things to say about being successful in the modern era. On this podcast, we're looking at knowledge work, at improving it…

1
Invest in Technique to Get Better at Knowledge work - DBR 064 55:53

4M ago55:53

55:53

If you've listened to this podcast for very long, you know that I'm fascinated with human performance. Particularly when it comes down to work, how do we do work? How do we get better at work? I don't think there's a ton of knowledge out there, so I'm trying to move the needle a little bit here, and get us some more information about this thing. We…

1
What does proactive have to do with busy and productive - DBR 063 46:10

4M ago46:10

46:10

I'm interested in this difference between busy and productive, if there is one. It’s hard to tell the difference, even from the inside. I think this has something to do with the relationship between the terms. Busy is a state that we are in intermittently, occasionally, as circumstances drive us. We mean that our time is fully or somewhat over comm…

1
Don't Like Work? Why? - DBR 062 50:36

5M ago50:36

50:36

I want to explore what we mean when we say we don't like to work, or we don't like our work, or we don't like a task. A buddy of mine, Justin Janowski, captured this recently saying about a task, “It didn’t feel like work, it felt like hanging out with friends and having discussions.” Punchline: I think he was referring to recording marketing video…

1
Humans Monotask; Computers Task-switch; Nothing Multitasks - DBR 061 57:26

5M ago57:26

57:26

I was having a sales conversation, discussing several ideas around managing tasks and attention. I happened to mention the background of the term multitasking and his eyes got really big and he started asking questions. I realized that he was not familiar with the story of how we arrived at the term “multitasking” and so I told it to him. He was fa…

1
Do I Have a Context Problem? - DBR 060 48:51

6M ago48:51

48:51

Anytime you talk about task management, you talk about actually doing things. It's one thing to know you have something to do. It's another thing to prioritize well and what I have to say will have something to do with prioritization. But actually doing things has a lot to do with the third thing which is, given a prioritized task, will you do it? …

1
Smart Glasses, Book Notes, and a Memex - DBR059 54:44

6M ago54:44

54:44

I got this question from one of the participants in the current Attention Compass group training – “What should I be recording/capturing?” I had mentioned that I kept Book Notes. There was some debate on the usefulness of capturing Book Notes, around the usefulness/efficiency/etc. of broad capture of information. For about 75 years now, people have…

1
No 60-0-60 Thanksgiving - DBR 058 8:23

6M ago8:23

8:23

The 0 - 60 - 0 model of vacation and time off It's pervasive in the Knowledge Work culture. I haven't decided what to advise for this. This is less than 10 minutes. I've given you 40+ minutes of your life back. Take the time you would have given listening to me and give it to someone else. Spend time over Thanksgiving and Christmas (in the US) with…

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Protecting Ourselves with a Model of Attention - DBR 057 53:25

6M ago53:25

53:25

Our attention is our primary productive asset. Therefore, we need to protect it. Today, we’ll talk about how to do that in the face of modern technology. I’ll describe the neuropsychological model of attention, how it gets abused by modern technology and what we can do about it. This is critical understanding – your productive asset is being hijack…

1
Say "No" List - DBR 056 52:40

7M ago52:40

52:40

We're looking at burnout, overwork, these kinds of things. They are a clear indication that we’re doing busy wrong and I don’t like that. I’m going to talk about one way to combat the problem. How to decline work assignments. But we talk about burnout, we talk about work life balance, we talk about all these challenges that we face around our level…

1
Interruption, office hours, and tech-driven chatter - DBR 055 47:24

7M ago47:24

47:24

We had group class yesterday. It was our second of eight group meetings to implement attention compass. Nick is in the class, and he was talking about communication and interruption. Nick's the one that has the office job with teammates and folks that that can reach out to him anytime. He has very little control over who can hit him up. So we were …

1
Where Should I Keep My Stuff? - DBR 054 50:09

7M ago50:09

50:09

I talk about the tool set for the kind of information and attention management that Attention Compass provides. I get a lot of questions about: I use tool X. What about tool Y? What tools should I use? Most of this revolves around “where should I keep my stuff?” And we'll talk about that today. When I say tool, I mean online service, system, databa…

1
Fable: Your Tasks Are Easy to List - DBR 053 59:30

7M ago59:30

59:30

Fable: It's quick and easy to figure out what I should do, or I just know what I should do. It shouldn’t take much effort. Corollary: I’m wasting time managing my stuff when I need to do things. Spoiler alert, it's not that easy, and I’ll talk about the reasons. For now, if we have this mindset it leads to poor management: I'll just get to the offi…

1
Principles, Philosophy, and Mindset - DBR 052 56:34

7M ago56:34

56:34

Do Busy Right – philosophy and some basic mindsets I'll start out with a client story. Her name's Kelly, and we were talking about attention compass. “Well”, she said, “I don't know anything about all that. But I admire the Larry Zen”. I loved it. But, I didn’t know what “Larry Zen” meant. So, I asked. And she said, “nothing seems to bother you, no…

1
What Do You Mean? I'm Not Doing Busy Wrong - DBR 051 50:27

8M ago50:27

50:27

What do you mean? I don't think I'm doing busy wrong. I don't really get this one directly, but it's a consistent subtext when I talk to folks, and it's not that I misunderstand. For years, I thought I wasn’t swinging a golf club wrong, but I think maybe people take it a little bit too personally, let’s think about why this might be so. The cultura…

1
Managing Oneself (part 2) - Identify and manage your maintenance roles - DBR 050 46:53

8M ago46:53

46:53

I've talked previously about managing oneself, and that was about Peter Drucker and Knowledge Work. That podcast is very popular, and it probably resonated with you. It’s one of my biggest downloads. There’s another aspect to Managing Oneself. I get a lot of questions like this: You might say “I’m pretty good at my Work, when I can find time to do …

1
Learning to Learn - DBR 049 57:07

8M ago57:07

57:07

Learning how to learn If we’re going to be more productive, we have to learn new skills and get better at the skills we have. Knowledge is important, but we get paid for producing results. This requires skills. I see people with limited desire to learn. And when learning does happen, it is usually more about knowledge than skill. I decided to think…

1
Build Confidence to Deliver Faster – DBR 048 52:46

8M ago52:46

52:46

Today, let’s talk about confidence. In my season of life right now, my daughter is entering the career world. She’s finished college and now has to find a job/career. She needs to enter conversations and situations that she’s never experienced before. Naturally, her confidence is not very high. This plays out in two ways: she tries to avoid certain…

1
Parkinson's Law and Quality - DBR 047 55:06

9M ago55:06

55:06

Ever feel like you didn’t get much done? Like you were kind of stuck in the mud most of the day? Ever said: “The work just wouldn’t get done”? I ran across Parkinson’s Law on a podcast from Cal Newport and Adam Grant. You may not know it by that name, but you probably heard the Law. Parkinson's Law: the work expands to fill the time available. Cal …

1
"Let Me Think About It" - Thought Tools - DBR 046 52:20

9M ago52:20

52:20

“Let me think about it” – Thought tools This episode is about the need for, nature of, and development of thought tools. I was having a conversation with my daughter. If you've listened to the podcast, you know my daughter is 23 and she's beginning her career, just having graduated college She's trying to figure some things out. She's confronted wi…

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The Role of Paper as a Modern Productivity Tool - DBR 045 52:55

9M ago52:55

52:55

What is the role of paper as a modern productivity tool? Is our use of paper just a habit we need to get rid of is it something more? Is it still a useful tool, or should we be trying to break some sort of addiction to it. This is inspired by a LinkedIn post by Chris Mullen. He’s talking about the glories of paper with respect to it's limited abili…

1
Multitask? Why do you think you can? - DBR 044 47:22

9M ago47:22

47:22

I talk about the three big enemies of focus and productivity. They are interruption, multitasking, and distraction. They are in order from easiest to deal with to hardest. (But I’m faking that a little.) The biggest pushback I get is around multitasking – people defend their ability to do it. Let’s deal with that here. What's our drive to attempt m…

1
Your Brain on To-do List - DBR 043 56:54

10M ago56:54

56:54

What to do if our primary tool is not really helping us? I argue that this is the case with our to-do lists. I’ll talk about why and what you can do about it. To Do Busy Right, we are fighting three enemies: interruption, multitasking, and distraction. Distraction is the most difficult to defeat. To-do list is another tactic to deploy in that fight…

1
Why Do I Feel Like I Don't Get Anything Done - DBR 042 58:29

10M ago58:29

58:29

Today, I’m going to talk about a pretty common feeling around our work and productivity… Why do I feel like I didn’t get anything done? I think we’ve all experienced this feeling. We get home (or whatever we do in the WFH culture) and our significant other asks some form of “How was your day?” Sometimes we just say “Fine” and move on. But once in a…

1
Work From Home? Think About the Business Model - DBR 041 53:24

10M ago53:24

53:24

I'm going to talk about remote work, and this is a topic that continues to be a source of significant debate among folks out there. It’s fueled, in part, by people who are employees, who are arguing in favor of remote work. There are various arguments, and we'll dig into it. The point I want to make is to analyze the business model of the organizat…

1
What Does Our IT Really Do For Us - DBR 040 59:10

10M ago59:10

59:10

This episode is about the productivity paradox. The Productivity paradox has been around for a while, and it's the economist's way of saying “we don't see the productivity value from our investment in IT”. So the question is, companies and people have invested a ton of cash in, I'll say, desktop IT. Over the 40 years we've been doing this, we're no…

1
Don't Confuse Efficiency with Convenience or Hurry - DBR 039 47:45

11M ago47:45

47:45

I think we get confused about efficiency, and I think this leads us away from actually becoming efficient. There are two concepts that can confuse us. They disguise the challenge that we really actually face around efficiency. And I'll talk about what all those things are, but if we've got the wrong mindset, it leads us to wrong action. The notion …

1
Initial Coaching Call / Interview with Chris Craft - DBR 038 50:42

11M ago50:42

50:42

This is the 'set up' meeting in a typical AC coaching engagement - the first of eight weekly meetings. As a coach, I'm still motivating the work that my client will have to do. I'm also explaining mindset kinds of things. There should be a lot of knowledge you can take away. Chris's approach - Chris is an accomplished coach. He works with people on…

1
The Downside of Organizational Flexibility - DBR 037 58:34

11M ago58:34

58:34

We all try to help our organization be flexible. We hear about the benefits of flexibility, responsiveness, and flat organizational structure. In addition, we all hear about the power and benefits of teams. We feel that fast communication is good (fast information exchange). So, we avoid structure in the belief that this benefits our organization a…

1
Do We Define Productivity Correctly? - DBR 036 53:34

11M ago53:34

53:34

In this episode, I’m going to refine our definition of productivity in knowledge work. If you think you know the definition, there’s a good chance you’ll be surprised. I have my customers tell me their definition of productivity; I believe that the typical definition is broken. I’ve seen it lead people to over-think, hesitate, or even procrastinate…

1
Book Review - Cal Newport's Slow Productivity - DBR 035 58:34

11M ago58:34

58:34

This will be a review of Cal Newport's book, Slow Productivity. By the way of introduction, if you've listened to much of my podcast, you know that I pay a fair amount of attention to Cal and what he's doing, because I think he's really bright, really focused on the idea of productivity. If you don't know who he is, you should take a look. He's wri…

1
Deep Dive on Dealing with Distraction - DBR 034 55:48

12M ago55:48

55:48

When I talk about task and attention management, I usually talk about wastes of attention. And there are three primary wastes of attention that I've been able to identify with my clients. They are, in order of easiest to deal with to hardest to deal with: The first is interruption - external things in the world that attempt to catch our attention. …

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Email - Synchronous or Asynchronous Communication? - DBR 033 53:09

12M ago53:09

53:09

Let’s talk about email, and communication metaphors. You’re not going to be shocked when I tell you that we don't handle email well. It's not that we don't know how to use the app that produces email; that's pretty straightforward. And I'm not arguing that we don't know how to deal with emails as items of information, although I believe that's ofte…

1
Are You Wasting Attention (and Time) on Goal-setting? - DBR 032 59:57

12M ago59:57

59:57

I try to help you think about how you’re using your attention and, thus, how to manage yourself. What you need to manage is your attention. So, when I see systemic waste of attention or weak self management practices, I try to call them out for you so you can begin to think “do I really need to do this?” If you’re spending a lot of attention and ti…

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Larry Tribble Podcasts

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