London Writers' Salon

#194: Finding Peak Writing Flow & Focus — Dr Gloria Mark, Oliver Burkeman & Charlie Hoehn on Designing Your Day Around Peak Attention, Embracing Imperfection, and the Power of Play (Compilation)

Episode Summary

Attention researcher Dr Gloria Mark (Attention Span), bestselling author Oliver Burkeman (Meditations for Mortals) and book strategist Charlie Hoehn (Play It Away) on designing your day around peak focus, embracing imperfection in creative work and bringing play back to the page.

Episode Notes

You'll learn

The four states of attention every writer should know.
Two daily peak focus windows, and a simple method to find your own.
The reframe that gives writers permission — most writing isn't flow.
How the success of one bestselling book can paralyse the next.
A quantity-over-quality method that satisfies the inner perfectionist.
Why free writing isn't a warm-up but the engine of the next draft.
A counterintuitive trick for handling interruptions when you're trying to write.
What play deprivation quietly does to creative output.
A small experiment with play that resets your relationship to work.
Why fighting your own nature as a writer is a losing game.

Resources & Links

Dr Gloria Mark

Oliver Burkeman

Charlie Hoehn

Original Episode Links

About the Guests

Gloria Mark is Chancellor's Professor of Informatics at the University of California, Irvine. She received her PhD from Columbia University in psychology and studies the impact of digital media on people's lives. She has published over 200 articles, and in 2017 was inducted into the ACM SIGCHI Academy, which recognises leaders in the field of human-computer interaction. She has presented her work at SXSW and the Aspen Ideas Festival, and her research has appeared in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, NPR, CNN, The Guardian, the Dax Shepard show, the Dave Asprey show and many others. She is the author of Attention Span: A Groundbreaking Way to Restore Balance, Happiness and Productivity.

Oliver Burkeman worked for many years at The Guardian, where he wrote a popular weekly column on psychology, 'This Column Will Change Your Life.' His books include the New York Times bestseller Four Thousand Weeks: Time Management for Mortals and The Antidote: Happiness for People Who Can't Stand Positive Thinking. His latest book is Meditations for Mortals.

Charlie Hoehn is a three-time New York Times bestselling editor, five-time author, and the founder of Author Alliance. For three years, Charlie was Tim Ferriss' Director of Special Projects and first full-time hire. Together, they launched The 4-Hour Body to #1 New York Times, #1 Barnes & Noble, and #1 Amazon overall. Previously, he was Head of Multimedia for Scribe Media, where he produced over 500 videos and 300 podcast episodes. He is a keynote speaker who has presented to groups at Microsoft, PepsiCo, the Pentagon, U.S. Military, Stanford, TEDx and HEC Paris. His ideas on work-play integration have been featured on NPR's TED Radio Hour, Fast Company, Forbes, Financial Times, Huberman Lab, Chase Jarvis Live, TEDx, and many others.