Does your inbox feel like a to-do list written by other people? You’re not alone. Even as communication has shifted to chat apps like Slack and Teams, the average knowledge worker receives 117 emails per day. It remains one of the biggest sources of workplace chaos.

In this episode, Alex and Moah take you on a tour of modern email management strategies, from David Allen’s “Getting Things Done” method and Merlin Mann’s Inbox Zero to why the infamous 43-folder system never really worked. They reveal why 30% of your inbox is stuff you can’t act on right away, how Gmail’s 15GB of storage changed the “delete vs. archive” debate, and why research shows you’re actually slower if you prioritize organizing messages in folders. Along the way, you’ll hear Moah’s hilarious multi-select purge routine, Alex’s trick for writing “hateful" emails you’ll never regret sending, and career-changing stories of an astronaut and a Michelin-starred chef whose big breaks almost died in spam.

If you’ve ever stared at an inbox full of decisions and felt paralyzed or if you wonder why your inbox continues to feel overwhelming despite spending hours each day clearing it out, this episode is for you. Tune in for research-backed workflows, funny war stories, and practical hacks you can try today—including a printable flowchart to retrain your brain for faster, calmer email handling. Your inbox may never be empty, but after this episode, it won’t own you.

Links from the show!

Microsoft's research on emails received per day https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday

David Allen's Getting Things Done https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Getting_Things_Done

Merlin Mann's series on Inbox Zero https://www.43folders.com/43-folders-series-inbox-zero

Study: Am I wasting my time organizing email? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/221518713_Am_I_wasting_my_time_organizing_email

Snooze messages to save them for later https://www.boomeranggmail.com/l/gmail-snooze.html

Do, Defer, Delete flowchart https://content.reviveyourinbox.com/img/UltimateEmailWorkflow.pdf

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We all know someone who rises with the sun every morning (or before it)… and we all know someone else who needs five alarms and a minor miracle to get out of bed on time for school or work. In this episode, Moah and Alex introduce chronotypes—your body’s natural rhythm for sleeping, waking, and working—and how they can make or break your productivity.

Why do some people get up and at 'em, hitting peak focus in the morning, while others don’t hit their stride until after dinner? How can you structure your work (and your team’s schedule) to match everyone’s natural energy levels? And what, if anything, can you do to change your daily productivity peaks? Listen to this episode to learn all that and more, like when different chronotypes perform best at tasks that require analysis vs. creativity.

Through scientific research, personal stories, and tips from their experience running a multimillion dollar company, Moah and Alex will help you rethink the way you manage your day so you can get more done without feeling exhausted.

Links from the show!

Study linking genes and chronotypes https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-08259-7

Munich ChronoType Questionaire https://www.thewep.org/documentations/mctq

Research paper: Time of day and chronotype in the assessment of cognitive functions https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10683050/

Research paper: The alignment between chronotype and time of day https://ink.library.smu.edu.sg/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=7688&context=lkcsb_research

Study on afternoon naps https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10091091/

Boomerang for Gmail boomeranggmail.com

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When was the last time you got so absorbed in your work that time disappeared?

That's Flow State, the peak performance zone where tasks feel effortless, creativity flows, and your output boosts up to 500% without the usual exhaustion and burnout. It’s the powerful psychological phenomenon behind breakthroughs from Archimedes to Frank Lloyd Wright's architectural masterpiece, Fallingwater.

Join Moah and Alex as they unravel the science of optimal experience: what happens in your brain, why it's so elusive in our interrupted world and what those interruptions are costing you (2.1 hours daily adding up to 5 work weeks a year).

They will share actionable strategies to systematically create the conditions for 'Flow State’ that worked for them and their team; from setting up your personal "flow-prone" bubble to implementing company-wide initiatives like "Maker Time" and distraction-free hackathons.

Tune in to reclaim your time, boost your output, and finally love your work again.

Links from the show!

Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi https://archive.org/details/flow-the-psychology-of-optimal-experience-pdfdrive

Flow and work place burnout https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032717317822?via%3Dihub

Group Genius: https://www.groupgenius.net/

Infinite Work Day Microsoft Report https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/worklab/work-trend-index/breaking-down-infinite-workday

Neuro Imaging Study for Flow State https://drexel.edu/news/archive/2024/March/New-Neuroimaging-Study-Reveals-How-the-Brain-Achieves-a-Creative-Flow-State

Maker's Schedule, Manager's Schedule by Paul Graham https://paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html

Tools

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