Which world famous masterpiece took its creator 16 years and still wasn’t finished? Yet it’s the one painting everyone has heard of. What’s worse, the painter died before the public ever saw his most famous piece. He was a perfectionist, and in this episode, Alex and Moah will explore the challenge so many face, from artists to authors to even themselves: completing a project you’ve started.

You’ll discover the three major barriers to calling a project “done,” why perfectionism is so hard to beat, how to harness the power of deadlines and accountability, and clever strategies to make the tedious “last 10%” manageable (and maybe even fun). Alex and Moah also attack the all-too-common problem of scope creep with practical tips you can implement with your team or on your own.

Tune in to transform your unfinished projects into completed victories, and finally experience the sweet satisfaction of “done.” Tune in to pick up powerful tools, principles rooted in psychology, and that final push you’ve been looking for.

Links from the show!

Small area hypothesis https://ideas.repec.org/a/oup/jconrs/doi10.1086-663827.html

https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relationships/how-to-turn-the-bureaucratic-grind-of-life-into-a-party-7205f690

Study of how NASA scientists stay motivated when mission times are forever https://news.virginia.edu/content/research-reveals-keys-sustaining-long-term-motivation

How to run a forcing party, from Tyler Alterman https://x.com/TylerAlterman/status/1947291319774159251

Admin Night - Wall Street Journal https://www.wsj.com/lifestyle/relationships/how-to-turn-the-bureaucratic-grind-of-life-into-a-party-7205f690

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What makes a company offsite productive and not just another expensive mini-vacation with name tags? In this episode of Less Busy Lab, Moah and Alex pull back the curtain on more than a decade of running offsites and hackathons for their now remote team.

From a castle in Mill Valley with more Greco-Roman statues than employees to a bioluminescent kayaking adventure, they share real stories of what went right, what went wrong, and the research-backed reasons offsites make teams more creative, connected, and collaborative.

You’ll hear why brainstorming after lunch is scientifically smarter, how silly icebreakers (like “Your plane crash-landed on a desert island. What would you pack?”) build psychological safety, and how offsites can increase collaboration by over 20%. Plus, learn their practical hacks for planning a great retreat, like why natural light matters and how to verify Airbnb Wi-Fi before you arrive.

Whether you’re organizing your first team retreat or wondering if you should attend an optional off-site, this episode will leave you with fresh ideas, science-based takeaways, and at least make it something you don’t dread.

Links from the show!

Babson/Dartmouth study: attendees received ~23.5% more new incoming collaboration ties after an offsite than non‑attendees https://faculty.tuck.dartmouth.edu/images/uploads/faculty/adam-kleinbaum/RewiringTheOrgNetwork.pdf

Microsoft’s 61,000‑employee study on collaboration time https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/publication/the-effects-of-remote-work-on-collaboration-among-information-workers/

Organizations now average 2.6 offsite events annually: Emburse https://www.emburse.com/resources/the-state-of-corporate-offsites-2025

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What does email apnea, Slack culture, and flow state protection have in common? They’re all part of how our digital communication habits have shifted since the pandemic—and how those shifts are reshaping productivity.

In this episode, Moah and Alex unpack what’s changed about email, chat, and meetings in the past five years. From the days of “batching email twice a day” to today’s blurred boundaries of hybrid work, they dig into surprising research on responsiveness, burnout, and the hidden costs of interruptions.

You’ll hear stories from their own remote team and insights from studies out of Microsoft and the University of Mannheim. Along the way, they explore how to balance synchronicity with deep work, why self-interruptions might be less harmful than external ones, and practical ways to protect your off-hours while staying connected to your team.

Tune in for practical tips, surprising science, and the kind of candid conversation that will help you get more done while feeling less busy.

Links from the show!

Media Synchronicity Theory — Multilingual Virtual Teams https://www.researchgate.net/publication/331209896_Language_Proficiency_and_Media_Synchronicity_Theory_The_Impact_of_Media_Capabilities_on_Satisfaction_and_Inclusion_in_Multilingual_Virtual_Teams

Email apnea https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Email_apnea

Positive feelings when we're more responsive https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/job.2239

Email patterns and self-interruption https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/2858036.2858262

Microsoft research on interruptions at work https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Modeling-Opportune-Moments-for-Transitions-and-Breaks-at-Work.pdf

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Back from vacation and drowning in emails, Slack threads, and jet lag? You’re not alone—87% of people dread re-entry, even though only 12% dislike their jobs.

In this episode, Moah and Alex explain why post-vacation blues hit so hard, from dopamine drops and major context switches to real jet lag, and share their re-entry playbook: pre-trip handoff notes, a tidy desk, staggered Boomerang returns, and AI-powered catch-up. Vacations also reset more than your calendar. They reset your brain, creating temporal landmarks that make it easier to restart good routines, drop bad ones, or launch new habits that actually stick.

From employees refilling their energy to managers preventing burnout and founders shaping vacation policy, you’ll learn why taking time off is one of the most productive choices you can make.

You will be ready to return from your next vacations sharper, steadier, and more effective than before with the tips and tricks learned from this episode.

Links from the show!

Only 12% of people hate their jobs! https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2024/12/10/job-satisfaction/

Harris Poll for Zapier: https://zapier.com/blog/time-off-report-part-2/

The Fresh Start Effect: https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2014-43171-006

Ernst & Young study: https://www.healthnet.com/portal/home/content/iwc/home/articles/health_benefits_of_vacations.action

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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/

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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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Pause your Inbox inboxpause.com

In Episode 6, Alex and Moah trace the origin and history of a simple productivity tool that transformed aviation safety, helped land humans on the Moon, slashed surgical fatalities by 47 percent, and saved their own product launches at Boomerang from chaos.

You’ll hear about the 1935 B‑17 disaster that birthed the first checklist for Boeing, the Checklist Manifesto research that turned skeptics into believers, and the sly NSFW surprise Apollo 12 astronauts found on their cuff checklists — one they had to hide from the public.

Along the way, they unpack two types of checklists: read-do vs. do‑confirm and explain when and how you should use each. They will also share three properties that make every checklist more usable and which kind of errors checklists prevent (it’s not errors of ignorance).

Whether you ship code, host events, or just want to stop leaving analytics off your product experiments, this episode will get you a head start on using checklists the right way.

Tune in to learn how a simple 19‑item checklist can save you up to 19 hours of rework.

Links from the Show!

Surgical safety https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2009/09/checklist-for-surgical-safety

B17 to Apollo Missions: https://blog.nuclino.com/the-simple-genius-of-checklists-from-b-17-to-the-apollo-missions

The Checklist Manifesto by Atul Gawande https://atulgawande.com/book/the-checklist-manifesto/

Playboy Playmates on the moon: https://aphelis.net/seen-any-interesting-hills-valley-playmates-on-the-moon-1969/

Checklist Usage Paper: https://aircconline.com/csit/papers/vol11/csit112322.pdf

Picture of Neil Armstrong’s cuff checklist from Apollo 11 https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-media/NASM-SI-2006-11306

Van Halen and Bowl of Brown M&Ms https://www.acadia-software.com/landing-pages/checklists-standardwork/

Tools

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