Focus on This

What to Do When Life Hits the Fan?

Everyone has a plan until life punches them in the face. In this episode, Joel and Hannah tackle what to do when chaos strikes—a family crisis, a health scare, an unexpected bill, a work emergency—and how to stay productive, grounded, and sane while you're in the thick of it. The answer isn't pushing harder. It's doing less, on purpose, and protecting what keeps you human until you come out the other side.Key TakeawaysStrategically Lower the Bar. When a crisis hits, scaling back your expectations is one of the smartest plays you can make. A Daily Big One executed faithfully beats an abandoned planner every time. Consistency at a lower level preserves momentum.Protect Your Rituals. The small, predictable rhythms of your day—morning coffee, an after-work walk, a bath before bed—are more important during chaos, not less. They cue your nervous system that you're safe, help you downshift, and keep you feeling like yourself.Reduce Decision Load. Decisions cost you something, even small ones. In a hard season, eliminate choices wherever you can (meals, outfits, routines) so you can protect your best thinking for the decisions that actually matter.Ask for Help. It feels counterintuitive, especially when you're most stressed, but people want to help. Feeling supported doesn't just feel better—it makes the problem itself feel more manageable, even when nothing about the problem has changed.Ask the Essential Question. "What's the most important thing I can do right now?" works in productivity, and it works in crisis management. It separates what's truly essential from what can wait, be rescheduled, or dropped entirely.This episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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The Question That Cuts Through Everything

2w ago00:31:54Tap to summarize

Most of us are working hard, but not always on the right things. In this episode, Joel and Hannah dig into the one question that cuts through overwhelm, busyness, and the pressure to do it all: What's most important right now? Simple to ask, harder to live—but the rewards on the other side are clarity, purpose, and a life that actually feels like yours.Key TakeawaysDemands Will Always Outpace Your Capacity. No amount of optimization will give you more than 168 hours in a week. The goal isn't to fit it all in, but to decide what belongs. That shift, from doing more to deciding better, is where real productivity begins.Priority No. 1: Escape “Downhill Work.” Answering email, clearing notifications, filling out reports—none of it is bad, but it's easy to fill an entire day with tasks that don't require your best thinking and don't move anything meaningful forward. Recognizing the difference is half the battle.It’s a Two-Part Question (Both Parts Matter). What's most important identifies high-leverage, values-aligned work. Right now grounds it in the actual constraints of the real time, energy, and attention you have today—not some ideal non-reality.Know Your Yes Before You Say No. Saying no gets easier when you're clear on what you're protecting. When you know what you're committed to, the asks that compete with your priorities become much easier to renegotiate.Make It a Habit, Not Just a Question. The goal is to internalize this question until it becomes a filter: an automatic reflex that runs before you dive into your task list each morning. Tools like the Weekly and Daily Big Three exist to make that reflex concrete and repeatable.Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/68IkYuC9gJwThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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The Human Superpower That's Making Life Harder

3w ago00:25:51Tap to summarize

We’re wired to read other people's minds, or at least to think we can. And most of the time, we don't even realize we're doing it. In this episode, Joel and Hannah unpack the fascinating neuroscience behind mind reading, why it's both essential and deeply flawed, and what it actually costs us when we let our assumptions run the show. The good news: the solve is simpler than you think.Key TakeawaysMirror Neurons Are Almost Magic. In the 1990s, scientists discovered neurons that fire both when we perform an action and when we watch someone else perform it. These mirror neurons are the biological foundation of empathy. They’re also part of why we create stories about what other people are feeling and thinking.We Try to Read Other People’s Minds. Maybe you’re assuming everything is equally urgent (it’s not). Maybe you decide you’re in trouble (you’re not). Maybe you think others disapprove of your work (they don’t). These faulty stories burn emotional energy unnecessarily.We Expect Others to Read Our Minds. Not intentionally, of course. But the Curse of Knowledge can cause us to forget that other people don’t know what we know. The result? We leave other people guessing about important information, and the likeliness of miscommunication and relational tension skyrockets.Slow Down and Check the Story. Before acting on what you think someone means, ask. A little curiosity can create clarity that prevents stress, second-guessing, and conflict. Asking can sometimes take humility, but it beats the alternative.Make the Invisible Visible. Make your thinking obvious. “Show your work” and share your experience. Tools like the Vision Caster and the How to Work with Me Worksheet exist precisely to externalize the things we'd otherwise leave to mind reading. The more you make your thoughts and feelings explicit, the less you leave to chance.ResourcesHow to Work with Me Worksheet (Free)Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/6plem4A1qE4This episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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Procrastination: The Dungeons & Dragons Edition

Apr 2000:42:04Tap to summarize

Procrastination has a reputation problem. We treat it like a character flaw, but what if some procrastination is actually the smartest move you can make? In this episode, Joel and Hannah borrow a framework from Dungeons & Dragons to map out four distinct types of procrastination. Once you know the difference, you can start being strategic about not just what you do, but when.Key TakeawaysLawful Good: Strategic Delay Is a Productivity Tool. Proactively putting something off—like waiting to give feedback until the timing is right or deferring a goal until you have bandwidth—is actually a form of good planning. This productivity strategy is wildly underused and incredibly simple.Lawful Evil: Just Because You Can Doesn't Mean You Should. This form of procrastination creates real harm for others, even if it’s technically in bounds. We’ve all done it: punting a meeting when everyone else is ready, sitting on a decision that affects your team, or RSVPing "maybe" when you know it's a no. You might not be footing the bill, but someone else is.Chaotic Good: Save Room for the Magic. Some people do their absolute best thinking on the edge of a deadline. That last-minute brilliance is real, but it causes ripples. The move isn't to eliminate it; it's to build in runway, communicate proactively, and keep it to a mindful minimum so the magic doesn't become a mess.Chaotic Evil: The Kind That Costs You. Some procrastination is reactive, avoidant, and genuinely harmful to others and to your future self. It includes: sitting on resentment until it explodes, ignoring the check-engine light on your body, not responding to a message until the relationship just quietly fades. This one deserves to be taken more seriously than most people take it.It's Not Just What You Do, But When. Getting strategic about timing, not just tasks, is what sets you up for a different kind of success. The Full Focus Planner's monthly calendar is a practical starting point for sequencing decisions and creating the margin you need to do your best work.Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/yKvGXP4jiocThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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Gremlins!

Apr 600:03:39Tap to summarize

Announcement for April 6th & April 13th episodes

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Work Is Never Finished (So Stop Waiting for It to Be)

Mar 3000:46:40Tap to summarize

Work is never really finished—so if you're waiting for the to-do list to run dry before you close your laptop, you'll be there all night. In this episode, Joel and Marissa tackle one of the most common struggles inside the Full Focus community: how to actually end your workday. From the always-on culture of remote work to the dopamine hit of checking dashboards after hours, the pulls are real. But so is your agency. With the right ritual and a few intentional shifts, you can stop letting work bleed into the rest of your life.Key TakeawaysWork Doesn't Have a Natural Finish Line. Unlike a project with a clear deliverable, the workday as a whole never truly ends—there's always another email, another task, another initiative. That means you have to decide when done is, rather than waiting for it to arrive on its own.Remote Work Has Erased the Built-In Boundary. The commute home used to signal the transition. Now, work lives in your pocket 24/7, and every time you open your laptop (even for personal reasons), it's staring you in the face. Awareness of this is the first step toward protecting your evenings.Overwork Is Often a Symptom, Not the Problem. If you can't seem to stop before 7pm, the real issue is probably something upstream—unclear priorities, an inability to delegate, or projects that need to be eliminated altogether. Ask why you're overworking, not just how to stop.Schedule the Shutdown. Block the last 30 minutes of your workday on your calendar. Review your Daily Big Three, check email and Slack, capture any open loops in your planner, and set up tomorrow in advance. If your calendar is booked to the final minute, you'll never actually shut down on time.Your Body Doesn't Clock Out When You Do. Physiological arousal outlasts the workday. Even when the work hours are technically over, your nervous system is still running. You need a deliberate transition—a walk, a change of clothes, dimmed lights, a warm drink—to signal to your brain and body that the day is done.Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/O6Kiahpv9nYThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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The Deeper Problem with Distractions

Mar 2300:37:25Tap to summarize

You know what distracts you. But do you know why? In this episode, Joel and Marissa dig into the real source of distraction—and it's not your phone, your boss, or the pile of laundry calling your name. Nearly half the time, we're interrupting ourselves. The good news: once you understand what’s driving your distraction, you can actually do something about it. Less white knuckling, more momentum.Key TakeawaysYou Are the Biggest Distraction. Research shows we self-interrupt about 49% of the time. External interruptions get the blame, but the real culprit is usually us—reaching for something easier the moment things get hard.Your Brain Is Optimizing for Easy. Distraction spikes when tasks get difficult, boring, or tedious. That pull toward Instagram or your inbox isn't laziness; it's your brain chasing a dopamine hit over a delayed reward.Design Your Environment to Win. Willpower runs out, especially as the day wears on. The smarter play is to remove temptations before they become a choice: turn off the phone, close the door, change your Slack status, and tell your team in advance when you're going dark.Lower the Bar to Raise Your Output. Making the hard thing more enjoyable is often more effective than trying to make yourself tougher. Temptation stacking, time-bounded work sessions, and background music might feel like cheating, but they’re actually strategic.Frustration Tolerance Is a Muscle. And like any muscle, you can build it. Every time you acknowledge that something is hard or boring and do it anyway, you're making it a little easier to do the next hard thing. That’s the essence of maturity: doing something you don’t like to get a result you do like.A Real Break Is Productive. Distraction is sometimes your brain's way of signaling it's spent. A 10-minute walk, a snack, or even a bath beats scrolling social media—and you'll come back sharper for it.Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/Ozw8NflvpRwThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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Want to Succeed? Stop Thinking About Your Goal

Mar 1600:34:48Tap to summarize

What if the fastest way to reach your goals is to stop fixating on the finish line? In this episode, Marissa and Joel explain why goal-obsession leads to discouragement, procrastination, and rigidity — and why progress actually accelerates when you focus on the process. Nine times out of ten, you'll get further when you focus on the next right thing.Key TakeawaysThe Game Isn’t the Score. If you stare at the “scoreboard” of your goal, you lose focus on the next play—the only thing you can actually control—and miss out on the satisfaction of feeling yourself grow.Progress Happens in the Present. A compelling vision can motivate you to change, but it's what you do right now that determines whether that vision becomes reality.Excellence is Better Than Success. The happiness of the moment you achieve a goal is fleeting. Becoming the kind of person who lives in alignment with your values and pursues hard things—that’s always satisfying.Plan Your Next Play. Use your Weekly Big 3 and Daily Big 3 to let your goal inform today's actionable next step. Then, do it.Goals Can Change (And That’s a Win). As you move, clarity increases. Sometimes the goal you start with isn’t the goal you need.Watch on Youtube at: https://youtu.be/QUvWUgkc3RoThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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Spring Clean Your Life (for Your Sanity)

Mar 900:38:21Tap to summarize

Spring is a natural reset—and not just for your junk drawer. In this episode, Marissa and Joel explore what it looks like to spring clean your life by removing what’s creating friction: too many goals, overly complicated routines, and nagging clutter that drains your attention. They talk about why subtraction often beats addition, how to build habits you can keep when life gets messy, and how a single clean-up win can create a ripple effect of momentum.Key TakeawaysSubtraction is a Growth Strategy. When you want a better life, your instinct is probably to add more tools, more rules, and more effort. But subtraction often creates faster relief and better results.Fewer Goals = Better Progress. Trying to chase six priorities at once usually leads to shallow progress and burnout. Limiting yourself to a small number of goals isn’t quitting—it’s choosing focus now so you can win over time.Pick the Goal that “Tips the Row.” A domino-style goal (or “push goal”) has an outsized effect on everything else. Find the priority that makes other goals easier—or makes them unnecessary.Stop Hyper-Optimizing Your Rituals. If your morning ritual only works when nothing goes wrong, it won’t last. Sustainable rhythms start with real constraints: the time and energy you reliably have.Use a Ceiling + Floor for Habits. Your ceiling is the ideal version (when everything goes right). Your floor is the version you can keep on a hard day. When you define both, you protect consistency—and consistency beats intensityClean One Squeaky Wheel. Choose one physical or digital space that’s quietly nagging you (a drawer, a chair pile, a desktop, an inbox) and restore order. Closing one loop can give you immediate mental bandwidth back.Watch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/Qbvuzn3bDAoThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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Breaking Out of “Busy” (Planning 2.0 Pt. 2)

Mar 200:50:49Tap to summarize

Do your weeks feel overstuffed—even when you’re trying to be intentional? In part two of this series, Marissa and Joel finish their conversation on Elizabeth Stanley’s Planning 2.0 (from Widen the Window) and get extremely practical: they break down how to use the Ideal Week as a “time budget” that creates margin, lowers stress, and helps you work with your energy instead of fighting it. You’ll learn how to build buffer for real life, knock out the nagging tasks that quietly tax your brain, and batch your work so your days stop feeling like mental pinball.Key TakeawaysExpect the Unexpected. Planning 2.0 doesn’t assume life will unfold perfectly. It anticipates that things will go sideways—and intentionally builds in room to absorb the impact.Margin Is Strategic. Planning 2.0 treats interruptions, transitions, and basic human needs as part of the design, not evidence that the plan failed.“Squeaky Wheels” Quietly Undermine You. Clutter, unfinished chores, lingering repairs, and small tolerations drain mental bandwidth in the background. Capturing them in writing and scheduling time to address them restores both order and confidence.Batch by Energy. When your day ricochets between deep work, meetings, and admin tasks, your brain pays a switching cost. Grouping similar work together protects focus and helps you finish with strength.The Ideal Week Is a Flexible Template. Think of it as a reusable map for the season you’re in. Revisit it quarterly, and let it guide your decisions—without turning it into a rigid rulebook.ResourcesIdeal Week PDFWiden the Window by Elizabeth StanleyWatch on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/Lv4DvAaIb9IThis episode was produced by Sarah Vorhees Wendel of VW Sound

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All episodes

What to Do When Life Hits the Fan?

The Question That Cuts Through Everything

The Human Superpower That's Making Life Harder

Procrastination: The Dungeons & Dragons Edition

Gremlins!

Work Is Never Finished (So Stop Waiting for It to Be)

The Deeper Problem with Distractions

Want to Succeed? Stop Thinking About Your Goal

Spring Clean Your Life (for Your Sanity)

Breaking Out of “Busy” (Planning 2.0 Pt. 2)