An investigation into how history’s oddballs, outliers, and overachievers built systems to help them do their best work. Each episode unearths a so-called productivity hack from history to help you separate the brilliant from the bullshit, so you can build a methodology that works for you. Productivity isn’t about getting more done to feed a money-seeking monster with an ever-growing appetite. It’s about clearing the clutter so you can focus on what you do best. Because if Edison can invent the lightbulb without Inbox Zero, you can probably survive without 10x-ing your toothbrush routine.
Sun, June 08, 2025
Modern work pressures call for some radical resistance, and we’re going to look for it where resistance is needed most: the frontline battle against oppression. Check out our guest's podcast, You Are Not a Frog . Am I Stressed, Overwhelmed... or Burning Out? Get your free guide to help you tell the difference Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, June 01, 2025
Is there anything this 94 year-old business mogul can teach us about our attitude towards work and busyness? Check out our guest's podcast, You Are Not a Frog . Am I Stressed, Overwhelmed... or Burning Out? Get your free guide to help you tell the difference Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, May 25, 2025
Highlights from Mark's podcast dedicated to the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy , which covers – if not skewers – the subject of productivity in the loving image of Douglas Adams. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, May 18, 2025
We need a system to keep our brain clear of all those nagging little tasks and bits of info we arry with us, so it can focus on having better ideas. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, May 11, 2025
We can learn a lot from the world of manufacture and bring it into the work that we do. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, May 11, 2025
We can learn a lot from the world of manufacture and bring it into the work that we do. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, May 04, 2025
The whip-cracking "give it all you got" business bro bullshit isn’t just insensitive – it’s actually wrong. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, May 04, 2025
The whip-cracking "give it all you got" business bro bullshit isn’t just insensitive – it’s actually wrong. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, April 27, 2025
Modern work needs a more modern approach than Taylorism's simple "one right way". Enter systems theory, and one of its greatest proponents. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, April 27, 2025
Modern work needs a more modern approach than Taylorism's simple "one right way". Enter systems theory, and one of its greatest proponents. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, April 20, 2025
He’s the world’s first and only consulting detective, and his mind has fascinated us for over a hundred and thirty years. His methods are mysterious and complex, but goddammit he gets results. So what can Baker Street’s most famous resident teach us about how we do our most important work? Special thanks to this week's guest, Matthew Bellringer . Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, April 20, 2025
He’s the world’s first and only consulting detective, and his mind has fascinated us for over a hundred and thirty years. His methods are mysterious and complex, but goddammit he gets results. So what can Baker Street’s most famous resident teach us about how we do our most important work? Special thanks to this week's guest, Matthew Bellringer . Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, April 13, 2025
Could there be more to habit building than “just showing up”? On those days when you can’t find the inspiration, is there anything you can do to help keep you on track? Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, April 13, 2025
Could there be more to habit building than “just showing up”? On those days when you can’t find the inspiration, is there anything you can do to help keep you on track? Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, April 06, 2025
While we might not come up with a paradigm-shifting idea, we are capable of putting a dent in the universe, and putting something on the permanent record of the Internet. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, April 06, 2025
While we might not come up with a paradigm-shifting idea, we are capable of putting a dent in the universe, and putting something on the permanent record of the Internet. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Sun, March 30, 2025
How you can use this law of nature, work, productivity and creativity to focus on the stuff that will have the biggest impact, and eventually ditch the rest. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sun, March 30, 2025
How you can use this law of nature, work, productivity and creativity to focus on the stuff that will have the biggest impact, and eventually ditch the rest. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Bonus · Thu, March 27, 2025
This is a quick bonus episode to let you know about some of the changes happening to Undo. It's good news. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mon, March 24, 2025
Being a creative person in this most digital of decades means needing to be good at more than one form of creative expression. That means thinking like a polymath, and luckily we have history’s greatest multi-hyphenate to learn from. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mon, March 24, 2025
Being a creative person in this most digital of decades means needing to be good at more than one form of creative expression. That means thinking like a polymath, and luckily we have history’s greatest multi-hyphenate to learn from. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, March 17, 2025
Let’s spend a bit of time today with some of the women of productivity history, some of whom you know, some we’ll meet for the first time. Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mon, March 17, 2025
Let’s spend a bit of time today with some of the women of productivity history, some of whom you know, some we’ll meet for the first time. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, March 10, 2025
If you have to meet any kind of regular publishing schedule, you’ll know how time can stretch out into infinity until the night before you have to hit Publish, when suddenly it feels like you have to cram 8 hours of work into 30 minutes. But Benjamin Franklin had a neat little system that helped him keep on top of his commitments, and all it takes is a pen, some paper, and a watch. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, March 03, 2025
Inbox Zero is a pretty good way of organising your email, but behind the system is a dude who stepped off the hamster wheel of productivity, got some perspective, and became one of the Internet’s true treasures. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, February 24, 2025
Simple mistakes are more common than it’s comfortable to admit. But there’s a dirt-simple technique that has dramatically reduced the number of preventable deaths, and it’s stuff we can use to make our own lives run more smoothly. Thanks to Ayesha Khan of Every Single Sci-Fi Film Ever* for lending her voice to Mark's silly opening sketch. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, February 17, 2025
When things look bleak, either in your head or out in the world, being “productive” is probably the furthest thing from your mind. We live in difficult times, no doubt, but two outliers a hundred years apart, fought oppression, propaganda, and dehumanisation all while under their own personal dark clouds. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, February 10, 2025
Can this analogue system for a digital age really help us get more done? Has it strayed from its roots and become synonymous with people who call things “super aesthetic”? And, if we can learn what we need to about the system in 3 minutes, why does it cost three and a half grand to learn to teach it? Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, February 03, 2025
Time stands still and you’re in that sweet-spot where the work you're doing is challenging enough to hold your attention, but not so difficult that it causes you stress. This is flow, and it might just prove itself to be one of the keys that unlocks long-term happiness. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, January 27, 2025
It’s four o’clock in the afternoon, and you’re thinking over your day. Did you actually get anything done, or were you just reacting to a bunch of distractions? Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, January 20, 2025
“Eat a live frog every morning, and nothing worse will happen to you for the rest of the day.” So says Mark Twain. Or so says a productivity guru says Mark Twain. But as far as we can tell, Mark Twain never said that. So what’s with all the frogs, and how can they help us do more of the right stuff, and less of the wrong? Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, January 13, 2025
Studies show if you give people 60 minutes to complete a task that only takes 30, they’ll work the full hour instead of taking the rest off. That’s Parkinson’s Law in action, and by recognising it, we can buy back some time to ourselves. Just don’t tell the boss, or they’ll give you more busy work. Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Mon, January 06, 2025
How do you decide what needs to be done now, and what can wait? And how do you take care of the stuff that needs doing now, while not neglecting the things that make it worth getting out of bed in the morning? Support the show from $3 and get Episodes early and ad-free Join our listener community Join Mark for monthly Q&As Support Undo via Patreon
Trailer · Fri, November 08, 2024
Coming January 2025. Humans will do anything to avoid the actual work they said they’d do. While supposedly writing this trailer I checked my slow cooker, restocked the fridge, took my blood pressure (it’s dangerously high, btw), followed up on a WhatsApp conversation, picked up the post, checked in on the cats, tidied my desk and made another coffee. That’s genuinely true – these are all things I did while I should’ve been writing this script. And all I really need to tell you is that Undo is a podcast that examines productivity methods through the ages and tries to separate the brilliant from the bullshit, so you can figure out how to design your own system that matches your brain chemistry. I mean really, it’s just a fun show you can listen and tell yourself you’re working. Finally, procrastination in podcast form!
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