It was a hot summer day, and I’m grumbling while dragging a rolling carry-on suitcase full of books to sign and send to the post office, starting to build resentment at how much time it was taking. After two hours of signing, writing notes, punching endless kiosk buttons, I start tsk taking myself, saying I should never do this myself again (I’m the owner of the business, after all! This is admin I should surely be delegating out!).

But alas, I ended up with one extra copy, curious at who I missed or how I miscalculated. And then . . . right as I was walking out, someone walked through the door that made my heart leap out of my chest—and making the entire errand worth far more than the time-price of admission.

“You have to live spherically—in many directions. Never lose your childish enthusiasm—and things will come your way.” —Federico Fellini

This week’s delightful guest, Madeleine Dore, reminded me of this wonderful quote while reading her book, one that I know you will love as much as I did: I Didn’t Do The Thing Today: Letting Go of Productivity Guilt.

We talk about widening the measure and meaning of a day beyond our to-do lists, discovering the call of a new topic, shaping a big idea “blob of clay,” how she collects all the great quotes and stories for her book, why she sees herself as more of a guinea pig than an expert (and freelancer valuing independence even more than business owner), and how she decides when to sunset a project, rather than “maintaining something at all costs.”

Most of all, Madeleine reminds us to trust in new beginnings, saying we’re never truly starting from scratch. “Trust in yourself and the process; you bring yourself and your skills with you.”

There’s a wall in my house that I know would look gorgeous if it were painted a deep, velvety, rich navy blue. It’s behind the TV, so every day I stare in its general direction while watching shows, and on some days I even remember (*fantasize about!*) my vision of painting it blue.

But the wall remains stubbornly bare, stuck on factory settings. Why is it so hard to change one seemingly simple thing, even when a future vision is strong?

“Don’t be the best, be their favorite.” That’s just one of countless gems of creative wisdom that I’ve picked up from Jay Acunzo over the years. Jay is one of my favorite friendtors and coaches, and I know you will love every minute of this conversation as much as I did!

One thing I love about Jay is that his body of work is a love letter to craft and quality. In this conversation, we talk about mindset shifts and practices to help you focus more on resonance than reach; how to do work that matters to you so that your work can matter more; how he worked through his own existential creative crisis upon hitting the 200th episode milestone of his podcast; thinking like an explorer, not an expert; and “making the leap from what best practices say you should do to what your intuition is urging you to try.”

What business best practices drive you nuts? What are the best practices you *wish* people would follow, but they don't? These are clues to things you can be doing differently or stop doing altogether in your business.

Today’s episode starts with a few of my pet rants—err, peeves—followed by six specific examples of activities with diminishing returns in my business, ending with one big question antidote for when you, too, find yourself Sailing the Sea of Shiny Shoulds.

“Start with the truth, then edit.” That’s a gem that today’s guest picked up while working in corporate communications that maps directly to how she encourages business owners to write: quickly, and from the heart. Go for speed, not sense. Edit later.

In this conversation with copywriter Jacqueline Fisch, we talk about why she “quit video” in her business and how it has helped her focus; how you can make writing for your business faster *and* easier by leaning into your intuition; tackling bigger writing projects like a book by working with moon cycles; and how sending a “See You Soon” kit when wrapping up with a client helps her run a primarily referral-based business.

What if time wasn’t something we had to hoard, protect, or chase? What if we could change our relationship to time—to life itself—expanding beyond the linear, grid-like units running out as we race against the clock, and toward a true sense of aliveness instead?

Today’s I’m trying an experimental format: diving deep into a book that relates to so much of what we talk about here, Jenny Odell’s Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock. I haven’t landed an interview with her (yet!), but I also really appreciated her previous book, How to do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy, so am happy to spotlight both.

I’m delighted to welcome Daniel Doyon to the pod this week, co-founder of one of my favorite software services, Readwise. Every morning while I have my coffee, I look forward to checking out the daily email roll-up of five serendipitous snippets pulled from my entire library of Kindle highlights.

Readwise has also been a game-changer in preparing for podcast interviews with authors, and for book and newsletter writing, especially once they added the export to Notion feature. Now my entire Kindle library of highlights also lives within Notion, with pages for each book that are interlinkable and searchable from my externalized business mind.