Worn down by your never-ending to-do list? Even though there’s been a shift towards a more holistic idea of productivity in the last years, a lot of people still think that being productive is all about efficient time managing and achieving more.

And this is where Erik Fisher comes in. Over the past 10 years, Erik's hosted some of the world's biggest productivity experts on his show, Beyond the To-Do List—people like Michael Hyatt, Cal Newport and James Clear. So we asked him: what are the most important productivity principles he's learned in his years studying the subject?

By the end of this episode, you will know what you need to do to achieve your goals and do your best work—and an important part of it is giving yourself a break!

Book recommended by Erik:

-        The Motivation Code: Discover the Hidden Forces That Drive Your Best Work, by Todd Henry with Ron Penner, Todd W. Hall, and Joshua Miller

In the interview Erik also mentioned David Allen’s Getting Things Done, Brian Tracy’s Eat That Frog!, as well as ideas from Michael Hyatt, Daniel Pink, and Jon Acuff.

Books recommended by Ben and Caitlin:

-        Indistractable: How to Control Your Attention and Choose Your Life, by Nir Eyal

-        A World Without Email: Reimagining Work in an Age of Communication Overload, by Cal Newport

-        Ready Aim Fire! A Practical Guide To Setting And Achieving Goals, by Erik Fisher and Jim Woods https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/browse/books/ready-aim-fire-en [1]

Try Blinkist for free for 14 days (and hear Erik's Shortcast!) by going to https://www.blinkist.com/simplify [2], tapping on Try Blinkist at the top right, and entering the code TODOLIST.

Let us know what you thought of this episode, or just come say hi on Twitter! Find Caitlin at @caitlinschiller https://twitter.com/caitlinschiller [3], Ben at @bsto https://twitter.com/bsto [4]

Simplify is produced by Caitlin Schiller, Ben Schuman-Stoler and Marta Medvešek. Big thanks to Odysseas Constantinou for audio engineering chops and music.

[1]: https://www.blinkist.com/en/nc/browse/books/ready-aim-fire-en[2]: https://www.blinkist.com/simplify[3]: https://twitter.com/caitlinschiller[4]: https://twitter.com/bsto