Podcast
The To Do Show
Hosted by Jen Tracy · EN
Everyone has a to-do list. But nobody talks about what's actually on it.
I'm Jen Tracy, and I'm endlessly curious about how people get stuff done. I ask people from all walks of life to share their real to-do lists. We explore how daily tasks add up to whole careers and whole lives. How people prioritize. What systems they use. What falls through the cracks. And what makes them tick.
You'll discover new ways to think about your own work, relate to the messy reality of getting stuff done, and meet fascinating people you'd never otherwise encounter.
11episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Why I'm Quitting The To Do Show
Mar 1700:05:08Tap to summarizeI've been interviewing people about their to-do lists for months while mine was making me physically sick. I've been sick nonstop since I started recording. My body has been screaming at me to stop filling every moment with productivity and actually create space for stillness. I finally listened.What You'll Hear:Why nervous system regulation means doing less, not organizing betterThe impossible conflict between being a marketer and a storyteller (at least in this case)What the internet rewards (extreme angles, prescriptive rules) vs. what this show celebrates (everyone's way is valid)Why I can't reconcile myself as a marketing consultant with myself as a podcasterThe moment I realized I had to choose health over growthAbout This Episode:This is my final episode of The To Do Show. I loved every conversation and every guest. If you watched even one episode, I hope you walked away feeling like your way of doing things is completely valid.Links:Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Sarah Townsend: Freelance Copywriter & Word Wizard
Mar 1000:33:16Tap to summarizeSarah Townsend has spent 26 years as a freelance copywriter helping other people say exactly the right thing. She's written a bestselling guide to self-employment, sold books in 29 countries, and built her entire career around getting words right. She also has ADHD, still switches productivity systems mid-project, and has "learn to cook quinoa" on her bucket list.She's one of us.What You'll Learn:The "Do, Delegate, Delay, or Ditch" framework she uses instead of the Eisenhower Matrix, and why it works better for brains that need action words, not categoriesWhy she went five weeks without posting on LinkedIn and considers it the right callThe moment she stopped thinking "I can't afford to outsource" and started thinking "I can't afford not to"How her 60 before 60 bucket list works: firewalk, helicopter ride, rugby match redemption, and yes, eating a prawn (verdict: "still reminds me of maggots")What 26 years of freelancing actually looks like vs. what the hustle-bro crowd posts aboutAbout Sarah: Sarah Townsend is a UK-based freelance copywriter, author, and self-employment survival guide writer. Her book Survival Skills for Freelancers has sold in 29 countries and holds a 4.8-star rating on Amazon. She also writes books about language and spelling and runs her DocuMagic service turning documents nobody wants to read into ones people actually do.Links:Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizSarah's book: https://www.amazon.com/Survival-Skills-Freelancers-Self-Employment-Without/dp/1916371566More episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Esther Brown: VP of Operations
Mar 300:43:18Tap to summarizeEsther Brown wakes up at 4 AM to swim. She runs a diagnostic lab, gets her MBA, takes upholstery class with her mom every Tuesday, and is building a wellness brand on the side. She's had COVID five times. She's experienced burnout. And she told her friends she wants to start "dating" them because monthly is all she has time for.Now she treats her life like her lab: constant risk mitigation. Every morning starts with an energy check. Her entire to-do list adjusts based on that number.What You'll Learn:Why she bases her entire to-do list on her energy level each morning (low, medium, or high)The magnet method: how she redesigned a million-dollar lab using Staples poster board and cutoutsWhy thinking is harder than doing (and how she protects time for deep work)How she spent her first three months as VP at the bench, not in her officeThe "Do Not Do" list: protecting energy by writing down what you won't touch todayDating your friends: making a monthly pact when that's all you have capacity forHer Sunday ritual with jazz music: planning what must be true by FridayAbout Esther: Esther Brown is VP of Operations at Nexus Medical Labs. She's getting her MBA, building a wellness brand for working women, and applying risk mitigation thinking to everything from lab workflows to burnout prevention.Links:Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Jennifer Ruiz: Paper Florist
Feb 2400:23:31Tap to summarizeWhen Jennifer Ruiz tells people she makes paper flowers, they say "how cute." Then they see her four-foot installations for Valentino and L'Oreal and the reaction shifts to "oh." She works as a caregiver from 10:30pm to 6:30am, comes home to take her son to school, then creates massive floral installations on four hours of sleep. She's exactly at the financial breaking point where her business income matches her caregiver income. Not above it. Not below it. Right there.What You'll Learn:Why "paper florist" gets a different reaction than "I make paper flowers"How she learned to create giant flowers by watching YouTube tutorials in Russian and KoreanThe language kit she created so crafters can speak corporate to luxury brandsWhy her rental flowers (which last three years) are her biggest money makerHow the paper florist community shares leads and pricing instead of competingWhat it's like to keep 80% of your business details stored in your headWhy flowers became her escape and healing during a difficult time in her marriageAbout Jennifer: Jennifer Ruiz is a paper florist based in California who creates massive floral installations for luxury brands and weddings. She teaches monthly classes and is working toward running Petal Loft full-time.Links:Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizJennifer's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petal_loft/?hl=enMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Lauryn Reifinger: Wedding Photographer
Feb 1700:32:42Tap to summarizeLauryn creates dark, moody wedding photos. Not the bright, airy Pinterest style everyone expects. Her style makes people feel something they can't name. She edits each gallery two or three times, uploads it, then sometimes pulls it back down to re-edit more. While doing this obsessive perfectionism, she's listening to Stephen King and wondering who the killer is. Her 8-year-old daughter has adapted. She doesn't ask "Mom can you do this?" anymore. She says "Mom, can you set an alarm?"What You'll Learn:How constantly witnessing the deepest sentiment of people's hearts at weddings makes her "kinder to my husband. I'm like, aw my God, I guess I love you too."The printed list method: checking off every shot so the next 45 minutes are free to just be creativeWhy one bride grabbed scissors and redid her entire bouquet mid-wedding (and Lauryn just said "okay I'll be back")Her slow season list includes: taxes (sad face emoji), call Fidelity, make welcome guide, blog 47 weddingsThe question creative people face: "It's generally creatives who have the most awful evil taxes, and it's like, this is the opposite of what our brains were built for"What Taylor Swift knows about work-life balance that wedding photographers should stealAbout Lauryn: Lauryn is a moody wedding photographer based in the Philadelphia area who specializes in dark, saturated, atmospheric images. She got diagnosed with ADHD a little over a year ago and runs her business through a system of alarms, post-its, and organized chaos.Links: Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quiz More episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Alina Fattakhova: High-End Matchmaker
Feb 1000:40:34Tap to summarizeAlina Fattakhova tells her clients which women rejected them and exactly why. She's a luxury matchmaker in New York City, and people pay her to deliver brutal honesty wrapped in strategy. She treats finding a life partner like applying for jobs. Spreadsheets, data points, reverse engineering your timeline from age 35 backwards.What You'll Learn:Why people apply to 200 jobs in two weeks but won't do the same for datingThe "illusion of choice" problem in New York City dating (and why it makes people less willing to commit)How raising prices actually brought better, more self-reflective clientsWhat it's really like to tell a 40-year-old man why stunning blondes keep rejecting himWhy nerdy clients with dating spreadsheets often find patterns they need to breakThe accountability party trend: forcing yourself to do hard tasks (like scheduling a sleep study)About Alina: Alina Fattakhova is a matchmaker and founder of a boutique matchmaking agency in New York City. She went from luxury jewelry sales to construction bidding to discovering her real talent: connecting people. Now she runs events, screens matches, and gives people the reality checks they're paying for.Links:Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Vicky Daws: Calligrapher & Founder, Inviting Writing
Feb 300:38:56Tap to summarizeVicky used to run weddings. She'd be there when the couple arrived and couldn't bring herself to leave until the last guest did. Now she's a calligrapher doing around 100 weddings a year, engraving £360 perfume bottles while people watch, and trying to figure out how to stop saying yes to everything. What You'll Learn:What a calligrapher actually does in a day!The different perceptions of calligraphy in the UK versus the US.Why the creativity is always the first thing to go when your calendar gets too fullHow doing cold outreach feels like sending a naked photo of yourselfWhy two artists obsessed with beauty both keep the plainest to-do listsThe spa day that completely backfired because she couldn't stop thinking about workWhy this is the first year she's putting a cap on how many weddings she'll takeAbout Vicky: Vicky is the calligrapher behind Inviting Writing, based in the UK with her husband and dogs. She went from hotel management and wedding coordination to building a calligraphy business that covers weddings, luxury brand events, signage, and hand-lettered maps. She teaches calligraphy courses, listens to nineties dance music while she works, and is currently learning the hardest skill of her career: saying no.Links:Instagram (Inviting Writing): https://www.instagram.com/invitingwritingukInstagram (Signs by Vicky): https://www.instagram.com/signsbyvickyWebsite:https://www.invitingwriting.co.ukTeepublic:https://www.teepublic.com/user/inviting-writing Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Ryan Doyle: Comedian, Poet & Clown
Jan 2700:52:36Tap to summarizeRyan Doyle grew up with an Irish Catholic grandmother, strict rules, and a constant sense of doing everything wrong. Then he went to clown school in France where they insult you, f*ck with your head, and force you to face the fact that people are going to hate you...What You'll Learn:How Catholic guilt and shame actually become creative fuelHow clown school trains you to stop caring what people thinkThe cut-up technique: stealing text from anywhere and sculpting it with the delete keyWhy his fiancée is his only audience before anyone else sees his workGremlin Day: one day a month with zero rules, pizza, weed, and Real HousewivesThe Hindu priestess who gave him a flower that unblocked his throat chakraHow he's working 10-12 hours a day on one insane show after years of being scatteredAbout Ryan: Ryan Doyle is a writer, performer, and clown creating Free Speech, a one-hour show that performs every type of speech possible. He does typewriter poetry at weddings, wrote a board game over seven years, and paints himself green to sing Rat Pack songs as a goblin.Links: Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizFollow Ryan: ryan-doyle.comMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Coach Lee: Defense Attorney & Productivity Coach
Jan 2000:28:10Tap to summarizeCoach Lee wakes up at 2:30am. Works out, builds her coaching business, then goes to her full-time job as a criminal defense attorney. She's in bed by 8:30pm. And her coaching philosophy is "The goal is once we finish working together, for you not to come back." That's a terrible business model. And exactly why it works.What You'll Learn:Why she calls it "procrast-planning" (when you plan instead of actually doing the thing)Her 2:30am-8:30pm schedule that lets her run two full careers without burnoutThe three categories for any task: must do, need to do, want to doWhy following productivity gurus without adapting to your lifestyle always failsHer "terrible business model": teaching clients to never need her againHow to check if what you say is important is actually, factually what's importantWhy she's "very anti hustle and grind, but not anti hard work"About Coach Lee: Coach Lee is a criminal defense attorney and productivity coach who believes in realistic, sustainable systems over guru advice. She helps high-achieving women build schedules that actually work for their lives, not someone else's Instagram version of productivity.Links:Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizCoach Lee's Website: www.legallee.meMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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Amanda Kwan: Global Marketer & Underground Chef
Jan 1300:29:05Tap to summarizeAmanda Kwan works her corporate marketing job from 8:30am to 6:30pm. Then she preps food until 2am for her underground dining concept that seats 22 people and has a 400-person waitlist. She sleeps 4-6 hours a night. She hosts 60-person Thanksgivings. And she chose all of this.What You'll Learn:The invisible labor of being The Organizer: the friend who remembers birthdays, makes reservations, hosts everythingHow she manages calls at 3am with Japan and 11pm with the West CoastStarting a private dining concept during COVID that turned into a 400-person waitlist, all word of mouthHer "if I die tomorrow, I'd die happy" operating principleAbout Amanda: Amanda Kwan runs global marketing for a Hong Kong brand while operating Savour Cinema, an underground dining concept she co-founded during COVID. She also runs an events company, organizes TEDx talks, and leads Women of Influence at AmCham Hong Kong.Links: Discover your To-Do List personality: thetodoshow.com/quizSavour Cinema: @savourcinema on InstagramMore episodes: thetodoshow.com
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