Episode 114 - Still Drowning? You're Addicted to Noise

The Impactful Engineer Project - Mentorship, Career Growth, and Personal & Professional Excellence for Aspiring Engineers

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Tired of feeling overloaded no matter how hard you work? This episode breaks it down. It’s not about adding more energy—it’s about deleting what doesn’t matter. Jake lays out a ruthless framework for increasing clarity, output, and agency by maximizing your signal-to-noise ratio.
Not theory—practical, tactical advice for engineers buried in distractions and pointless obligations.

Key Topics Covered
• Why burnout often stems from noise, not effort
• How engineers accidentally hoard obligations and justify distractions
• The lie of being “informed” and how it ruins your clarity
• Deletion as a productivity framework (not just a mindset)
• Why strategy is really just energy allocation
• How to build your personal filter for prioritization
• The truth about letting people down—and why it’s worth it
• How to handle judgment when you start deleting things
• What most engineers are afraid to give up (and why they must)
• The one question that decides your real priority

Actionable Steps
• Ask: “Who is waiting on me to move forward?” Prioritize them.
• Ask: “If I don’t do this today, who suffers?” If nobody—delete it.
• Cut meetings where you add no value—ask for notes instead
• Delay or delegate anything that doesn’t serve your core mission
• Stop chasing notifications—disable them all
• Say no to vague requests until they’re clearly defined
• Build a to-don’t list and enforce it
• Automate or outsource low-value tasks
• Adopt “If someone’s waiting on me, they are the priority” as your rule
• Start tracking where your energy goes—then seal the leaks

Who This Episode Is For
• Engineers drowning in meetings, emails, and task lists
• Managers who feel like bottlenecks
• ICs trying to focus but constantly pulled away
• High-performers burning out despite “doing everything right”
• Anyone who’s tired of being tired

Why It Matters
Energy is your most valuable asset. If you waste it on distractions, you’ll never reach your potential. But when you delete ruthlessly, filter relentlessly, and prioritize precisely—you become unstoppable. This episode is about reclaiming that power. Delete more. Do better. Own your damn day.

Where to Listen
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Or wherever you get your podcasts

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